Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 1998's Dreamworks Interactive title, Trespasser. We set it in its time (a year with many great games... and also Trespasser) and then discuss a bit of the games foibles and noble attempts. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
First level or two

Issues covered: an intro that works on many levels, repeating lines, games from this great year, a fan base that loves this game, Steven Spielberg bringing weight to bear, a relic, shooting for the stars, experimentation and memorability, the blase noting of dinosaurs, not reflecting a player's needs, learning from bad games, bringing in film people to do a game person's job, needing to get the game out, spotty voice acting, representing the character poorly, the weird IK and dinosaur behaviors, open spaces, committing to the bit, leveraging my hand, having to figure out how to solve a puzzle, outsmarting a procedurally generated raptor, other wonky games swinging for the fences, shipping a game without patches, 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Jurassic Park, Minnie Driver, Richard Attenborough, Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid, Baldur's Gate, Half-Life, Thief, Starcraft, RE 2, Grim Fandango, Unreal, Myth II, Fallout 2, Descent: Freespace, Starfighter, Rogue Squadron, MediEvil, Gran Turismo, Starsiege Tribes, Banjo Kazooie, Steven Spielberg, Boom Blox, EA, Wii, Louis Castle, Seamus Blackley, The Dig, Gilmore Girls, Quake, Velvet Goldmine, Studio 54, Good Will Hunting, Circle of Friends, Big Night, RTX Red Rock, Austin Grossman, Spider-man 2, Jamie Fristrom, Clint Hocking, Far Cry 2, Wayne Knight, Jeff Goldblum, DOOM (1993), System Shock (series), Surgeon Simulator, Goat Simulator, Octodad, Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, X-COM, Julian Gollop, Arkham City, Galleon, Toby Gard, Die By The Sword, Artimage, Bloodborne, Kenneth Baker, Sea of Stars, SNES, Chrono Trigger, Sabotage Studios, Twin Suns Corp, Nintendo, Switch, Tacoma, Maas Neotek, Space Oddity, David Bowie, Alan Wake, Epic, Omicron: The Nomad Soul, Quantic Dream, Microsoft, Quantum Break, Roy Orbison, The Coconut Song, Guitar Hero, Brutal Legend, Ozzy Osborne, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Megadeth, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Arkham Knight, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
More of Trespasser

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Alan Wake. We talk a little bit about what's going on in the DLC and Tim talks us through American Nightmare, before we turn to takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
The Signal and The Writer
American Nightmare

Issues covered: what's going on with Zane, was the DLC originally part of the game, the better use of the light mechanic with the words, feeling like the main game was a proof of concept, becoming more open world, delays and fuzziness, naturally exploring mechanics with the words, easy should be easy, coming into the lighthouse and then the cabin, opening up spaces for combat, the swinging light, remixing the original game for DLC, figuring out which Alan you're at, connecting the universes through the wikihole, the structure of American Nightmare, using the currency to purchase weapons, there's nothing like a Remedy game, removing the distance to the character, applying the team while fulfilling obligations, growing the team, world building is everything (for Tim), the audio scape, the importance of narrative and mechanics converging, going for the weird, physics matters... but it doesn't have to, there's something attacking me!... it's a chair, you have to be able to relate to the character, paying off on the relationship.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Control, Quantum Break, Silent Hill 2, Arkham City, Microsoft, Max Payne, Prey: Mooncrush, Alien: Isolation, The Punisher, Commando, Twilight Zone, Trespasser, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
???

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Alan Wake. We dive into the ocean that is the story and talk about the game's themes and how they layer, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Finished the main game!

Issues covered: not thinking through the tanning bed, the underwritten FBI agent, the effectiveness of the woods, changing pace with the town, The Well-Lit Room, connecting to Control, discovering it's Baba Yaga, enjoying the band shell, challenges in balancing the end of games, the centrality of the lake vs the open world, open world challenges for horror games, enjoying the meta, foreshadowing, wanting just the story, layering the themes, primal themes, Mr Scratch in the sequels, replayability, player personae mismatches, wanting an easier story mode, finding their way, the benefit of returning to something later, having longer and maybe too many cutscenes, camera choices, switching genres and committing to bit, bending the mechanics at the end, a studio strength, weak female characters, unlikeability, comparing heroes between the games, whether you need to play American Nightmare, stupid things we fought over, why thermoses, the week of meat, descoping, the different games that the pros play, the age of social media. 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Silent Hill, Control, Quantum Break, Quantum Leap, Primer, Twin Peaks, Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, Hellboy, BioWare, Baldur's Gate III, Epic, Naughty Dog, Uncharted, The Last of Us, Gears of War, Max Payne, Maas Neotek, Adam Adamowicz, Skyrim, Fallout 3/4, Halo (series), Star Wars, Tomb Raider, Batman, Luke Theriault, 1989 (Taylor's Version), Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
The two DLC

Links:
Adam Adamowicz (more about Adam) 

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Alan Wake, which we're playing via a remaster. We talk especially about the combat, amongst other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to Ch 3 or 4

Issues covered: Night Springs episode, word salad, feeling the need to have it wrapped up, PNW locations, not quite hitting right, representing the setting, Remedy touchpoints, primal fears, collectibles and types, the three Cs, the cohesion of the lights, making you feel like a putz, pulling the camera away, lack of situational awareness, a difficulty diversion, wanting to almost die, inanimate objects, finding the right tension, spawned Taken?, weapon progressions, getting a better flashlight, the excellence of the 5.1 mix, annoying difficulty bugs, the RROD, what do you do when source material conflicts with good game principles, adaptation, where are all the women?, lack of promotion, game choice, demographics and the birth of the industry, our negative reviews.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Control, Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure, Grand Theft Auto, Stephen King, Max Payne, Resident Evil (series), Silent Hill 2, Capcom, Trespasser, C. Ross, Psycho Mantis/Metal Gear Solid, Eternal Darkness, Lego Movie Game, Mystery Dip, Starfighter (series), Republic Commando, Tomb Raider (series), Halo (series), Barbie, Oppenheimer, Branden, Rockstar, Epic, Maas, Kotaku, Jason Schreier, Nintendo, Atari, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
Finishing the main game

Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com