Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2001's Fatal Frame. We talk about the economy of the design, some sticky puzzles and usability thoughts, and mechanical considerations. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
A few more hours

Issues covered: economy and discipline, the warbling space that signifies a ghost, a possible positive reinforcement loop and the score economy, making every ghost matter, high stakes camera use, unsettling your comfort, the disorienting movement and camera shifts popping out of combat, melodramatic and zany, the different movie eras these series connect to, the Mothman, Japanese making Western horrors, Buddhism vs Shintoism, playing croquet with the Old Ones, brute forcing a puzzle, "well there's a note," head-look, wanting a little more from the map, usability issues, the gap in the wall, mechanical inconsistency, seeing patterns that aren't there, the adventure game of it all, exponential vs linear, the talisman photos in your inventory, RTFM, various reminiscences of Father Beast on HOMM, discovery in HOMM.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Resident Evil (series), Clue, Capcom, Dead Rising, Unsolved Mysteries, Jen Longo, Silent Hill, Don't Look Now, Eternal Darkness, Day of the Tentacle, Father Beast, Heroes of Might and Magic, King's Bounty, Master of Magic, Archon, X-COM, Final Fantasy VI, Dave Wolinsky, Pippin Barr, Beyond Good and Evil, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
More Fatal Frame

Twitch: timlongojr
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin our annual spooky series, this time on 2001's Fatal Frame. We briefly talk about the year it came out, its developer/publisher, and why we picked it before turning to other introductory topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
An hour-ish

Issues covered: Discord-only going forward, why this game?, photo mode games, changing culture of photography, re-elevating photography, Sony shenanigans, best years of all time, the ubergame, years where genres were introduced or forks were in the road, being able to fit more games in, risk aversion and uniqueness, indie games, too big to feel?, a bit about Tecmo, Japanese horror, based on a true story?, the cover and the possible origins of the game, the correlations screen, connecting up details, following the ghosts, pushing characters in the directions of the horror, using ghosts in interesting ways, pixel hunting with the characters, interaction prompts on key items, controls, meticulous camera placement and movement, entering a piece of furniture, not overthinking it, the straining of fixed cameras, distinguishing between cameras, something refreshing, feeling extremely different, the visual aesthetic, relying on tropes but using it to enrich, less is more, audio and horror, games that feel like save states due to repetition, accessibility options, give players options and opportunities and not getting in the way of that, accessibility as a frontier, save anywhere, games that get sanded down, more game boxes. 

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Heroes of Might and Magic, Resident Evil (series), Pokemon Snap, Umurangi Generation, Toem, Beyond Good & Evil, Deadly Premonition, Minecraft, Halo, Animal Crossing, GTA III, Devil May Cry, Civ III, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Ico, Silent Hill 2, Final Fantasy X, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, MSG 2: Sons of Liberty, Myst III: Exile, SSX Tricky, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Advance Wars, Burnout, Gothic, Black & White, Ghost Recon, Jak and Daxter, Max Payne, Onimusha: Warlords, Koei, Pikmin, Red Faction, Serious Sam, GameCube, Xbox, GameBoy Advance, Spider-Man 2, Horizon, Ubisoft, Valheim, Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, Tecmo Bowl, Pac-Man, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Hideki Itegaki, Makoto Shibata, Ringu, Criterion Channel, Ju-On: The Grudge, Audition, Amityville Horror, The Entity, Until Dark, Skyrim, Alone in the Dark, Sam, MegaMan, Hitman, Tunic, Castlevania IV, Alien: Isolation, P. T., Dead Rising, Celeste, Far Cry 2, Ben Abraham, Ben Zaugg, Grim Fandango, Father Beast, Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, Dave K, Half-Life 2, Starfighter/Jedi Starfighter, Raven Software, World of Warcraft, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
More of Fatal Frame!

Twitch: timlongojr
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on 2000's The Sims. We give some anecdotes, Tim builds his own from the ground up, and of course, we turn to our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
A few more hours

Issues covered: losing the alien, making the middle-of-the-road character, pecs and glutes, not being able to hire, having to have someone work on the house full time, the light bulbs need replacement, building a house from scratch, a one-room apartment, getting to know your Sim by them walking around, the dread setting in, finding a daily schedule, the newspaper, managing one of the Sims, the chaos of several Sims, figuring out the daily morning routine, getting repeatedly burgled, fighting for detente, finding perfect synchrony, a lonely Sim existence, proactive socialization and obligations, preferring the remove of fantasy or science fiction, how you feel about this game at different points in life, finding other demographics, object encapsulation, gravity wells, attaching animation to the objects themselves, the online stories of the Sims, high value UI choices, realism leading to anxiety, finding the right level of abstraction but simulating a lot of life, breadth and depth, a wider range of feelings, progression vs maintenance, exposing the bars all the time, the design choices we make and the commentary that results, astrological signs, the things I thought about, Zen and the importance of weekends, teams make games.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Mr. Rogers, Piet Mondrian, Bob Newhart, Mia Goth, Will Wright, Grand Theft Auto, SimCity, Sid Meier, Animal Crossing, Nintendo Switch, Portal (obliquely), Halo, World of Warcraft, Maxis, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
?

Links:
Alice and Kev (Sims 3 story)

Animal Crossing Mom

Twitch: timlongojr, Twitter/Threads/Insta: @devgameclub
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Dark Souls, and so we turn to our takeaways and discuss our final hours with the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Brett finished

Issues covered: the podcast mirrors the game, feeling like you have godlike powers in New Game+, spending hours on farming different resources, putting the pieces together, enjoying mysteries and putting the clues together, what you take from Dark Souls as an imitator, examining a space and trying to figure out where you can go, senses of accomplishment and discovery as opposed to the checklist, where the studio goes from here, attribute changes in the sequel, miracles and their mechanics, the flexibility of having options, seeking out the things I hadn't found, poor Solaire, feeling of coming full circle, memorable fights and world connections, "butt exposion!", smaller memorable moments, the snoring of Frampt, the inadequacy of the camera in tight spaces, keeping from going on tilt, teaching patience and observation, antithetical game design, a game of secrets, having little guidance, the impossible balance of this game for multiple classes, the knowledge you gain along the way, controlling ambience and tone, the vague pieces of history, Brett's Book Recommendation, character and player knowledge, leaning on archetypes, the weird afterlife metaphor, Star Wars as arsenic, how far do you go to explain a thing, finding your line per game.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Kingdom Hearts, Sherlock Holmes, Day of the Tentacle, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Tomb Raider (1996), Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven, Practice/NYU, Rob Daviau, Morrowind, Skyrim, Demons's Souls, King's Field, GTA III, Wolfenstein, Mario (series), Artimage, Platinum Games, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, Dungeons & Dragons, Mass Effect, Star Wars, Keza MacDonald, Jason Killingsworth, Robin Hobb, Assassin's Apprentice, Dan Hunter, Jedi: Fallen Order, JJ Abrams, Half-Life, Neverwinter Nights, Legend of Zelda (series), Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
We don't know!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Dark Souls. The big story is about how Brett is a monster, but we also dig into setting goals for yourself. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Brett 154h, Level 160
Tim 39.5h, Level low 50s

Issues covered: squeezing the Dark Orb, Drunk Souls, having more options as you level, having multiple hammers, the fire centipede, liking feeling really nimble, fighting death skullops, entering the painted world and going back to the Asylum, the curiosity killing the cat, Gwynever and Gwyndolin, Timmy bringing twilight to Anor Londo, murdering a fire keeper, wanting to uncover the mysteries, usability in exposing ethical choices in other games, signposting choices, digging into the Catacombs, Patches the cleric-hater, not knowing if you should go places yet, having things you want to do, using simple systems to recontextualize sections or skills, dealing with curse resistance, farming humanity, black knights and going on a black knight murder spree, avoiding an enemy for hours and hours and turning the tides, setting goals for yourself, #consequences, lack of quest log, designing to require the Internet, egg vermifuge removes parasitic egg from body, the importance of discovery, using humanity where it's dropped, "I may have died 28 times but at least I learned something," the uncanny valley of player performance, gameplay as escape from the limitations of reality, accepting film as reality, sports games emulating tv presentation, usability and difficulty, the value of figuring out how things work, accessibility and difficulty.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Artimage, Mass Effect, God of War, The Matrix, The Walking Dead, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Mario (series), Peter, mysterydip, Michael Abbott/The Brainy Gamer, Johnny "Pockets," Shakespeare, James Joyce, Microsoft, David Cronenberg, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Notes:
Brett's "rendering bug" is actually a reflection of the sky dome, but it doesn't read that way on his PS3

The Higgins Armory did in fact close in 2014, but the collection lives on in the Worcester Museum of Art

Links:
How players behave (h/t mysterydip)

Next time:
Brett finishes?

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Dark Souls. We catch you up a little bit on where we are before trying to catch up with the mail bag! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Brett 115hrs, lvl 114
Tim 33hrs, lvl 50

Issues covered: getting and placing the Lordvessel, Frampt and the second bell, Anor Londo and the two bosses, farming rats for humanity, getting invaded and hiding, the mystery of Gwynevere and leaving Anor Londo and also what's with Gwyndolin, meeting Reah (sp?) again and again, being ambushed by paladins, grinding to upgrade, Tim defeats the Ceaseless Discharge, having sorcerors that revivify the skeletons, powering up your spells, the fire keeper's soul, kindling more, fast traveling, a level design joke, twinkling sounds and occasional marks, being invaded and the costs of banishing, parallel play, recordings of other players, asynchronous multiplayer, fellow-feeling, a Metroid moment, making a big soul-infused thing, good RPG math tropes, missable bosses, the actual level cap, what weapons we use, the reward is the knowledge and the items, the origin of that quote I mentioned, pushing scale, using framing really well for landmarks and aesthetics, "butt explosion!"

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ashton Herrmann, Morrowind, Bloodborne, Demons's Souls, Elden Ring, Death Stranding, Animal Crossing, Metroid, Jarkko Sivula, Ben Zaugg, Sam Thomas, The Honorable T.H. Sismyre Alname, VaatiVidya, Triple Click, Kotaku Splitscreen, Shadow of the Colossus, Disney parks, Brandon Fernandez, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Links:
That Majestic Quote

Next time:
Maybe Brett finishes?

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Dark Souls. We catch you up a little bit on where we are in the game, leveling weapons, and the mix and match of combat, to name a few topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Brett: Level 80, 77 hrs
Tim: Level 41ish, 27 hrs

Issues covered: defeating the Iron Golem, finding the bonfire, discovering you can dash and jump, watching a giant drop rocks into a hole, killing a hydra, switching back to the leather armor, fighting the nerves, fiero, pushing it too hard, a scripted invasion, one-shotting the gaping dragon, seeing a space and then fighting in it, the game clicking, a game of patience and intent, having a mace for a long time, transient curses, getting all the moves at once in some games, feeling like you push to a place where you farm things, twinkling titanite, lot of cool armor sets, walking with the silent ring, considering some souls already lost, Blighttown's scaffolding, having to push quickly when cursed, planning gear against what an area is like, vertigo feelings, "Hey, I just got a humanity," thinking that humanity drops from killing lots of enemies, lots of little button combos, the discovery of mechanics versus explicit telling, speculating on the benefits of magic weapons, attacking with two hands, the rhythm of switching weapons, omnicompetence, wish fulfillment, market conditions and getting through games, choices that cut you off from experience, usability problems and fairness, player skill and spectacle.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: "They Might Be Giants," John Huizinga, Shadow of the Colossus, Mario (series), Jedi: Fallen Order, God of War, Morrowind, Dagur Danielsson, Deus Ex (series), Skyrim, Epic Mickey, Warren Spector, Junction Point Studios, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
More Dark Souls

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2011's Dark Souls. We talk about some bosses, exploration, and our quest for humanity. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Brett: 66h, level 75
Tim: 21h, level 30ish

Podcast breakdown:
0:48 Dark Souls
1:01:57 Break
1:02:23 Feedback

Issues covered: that dang mimic, Brett's fistful of rings, Tim the Tree and moth killer, production budget, the cost of polishing any given encounter, making specific choices about your systems and how they interact with the level design, forcing the player to think about how to use the space, farming to have equipment, the things Tim has that I don't have, running through the Firelink Shrine to get elsewhere, the game trolling you with resources, rushing and pushing too hard and dying, Tim one-shots the Butterfly trading off with a bow, the area beyond the Crest of Astorias, changing strategy mid-game, being able to self-balance, clearing a whole area and feeling powerful and accomplished, similarities to MMOs, the "no way" moment of a shortcut, encountering a sad demon, admiring the majesty of some of the bosses, understanding the impact of the game, more polish and usability choices, giving permission to return to run-based games, learning telegraphs vs being given telegraphs, Brett is old, the birthday gift for Tim, stripping down mechanics and watering down, not really hurting the bottom line, being numb to your own game, losing perspective, making games for yourself, finding the balance for a different audience, being proud of Fumitsu ratings.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Assassin's Creed, Nintendo, Prince of Persia, Elden Ring, World of Warcraft, Shadow of the Colossus, Half-Life, Studio Ghibli, Capcom, Tunic, Legend of Zelda, Hollow Knight, Jedi: Fallen Order, Tomb Raider, Uncharted, Gothic Chocobo, Pokemon, Bethesda Game Studios, Fallout 3, Morrowind, Dungeons & Dragons, Artimage, Skyrim, Republic Commando, Hidetaka Miyazaki, Bloodborne, Sekiro, CoD: Modern Warfare, Fumitsu, Starfighter (series), Metal Gear, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
More Dark Souls!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Dark Souls. We talk about how we use our souls, where and how we farm for resources, the player's goals, the variety in any given encounter, and much more! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Tim: ~15h, Brett: ~52h

Issues covered: worrying about the level cap, the variety of a single encounter, farming for arrows, fighting down in Quelaag's lair, the satisfaction of escaping Blighttown, recontextualizing spaces, the flow of the world design, convincing smoke and mirrors, brains and memory, getting time away and confidence, the huge help of an NPC in a battle, when and whether you want to fight the dragon on the bridge, finding sets of armor, feeling locked in to your choices, the curse mechanics, the choice of a lack of a map, having to earn the bonfire every time, the two weapon slots, not being able to buy miracles, clearing up the weapon confusion, the black knights, mini-bosses as skill checks for bigger bosses, playing similar approaches but with very different skills, progressive deepening, the bell ringing cinematic, having only a single/simple goal, being confused about the Darkroot Garden mist, gaining Humanity randomly, missing out on the full Humanity experience, bow timing, Drunk Souls, piecing the narrative together, using the Master Key.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Half-Life, Elden Ring, Monkey Island, King's Quest/Space Quest, Demons's Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, Artimage, Qhuenta, Morrowind, Bloodborne, Alien: Isolation, Resident Evil (series), Tunic, Death's Door, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
More Dark Souls!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Dark Souls. We talk about how progress is made, the run-based approach, and the mix of player skills and RPG stats, amongst other discussions. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Brett: ~29h, Tim: ~12h

Issues covered: the melodramatic NPCs, enjoying the architectural setting, seeing dragons, not knowing there were tree creatures, the bosses Brett has seen, being different from other RPGs with equipment and loot, mixing player stats and player skill, having trouble with the parry, having to memorize enemy attacks, learning and losing the timing on counters, feeling like you are learning to speed-run the sections you enter, cheesing a boss, whether or not you click, the cost of upgrading a low stat because of the XP costs, the XP system granting the same number of souls for an enemy type, the sense of progress and accomplishment being in the player and not tracked by the game, feeling like losing souls is a huge setback vs knowledge, learning and mastery as progress, dropping some Humanity knowledge on Tim, having a helping hand from an NPC, the slow death of manuals, wanting to feel like you discover secrets, the usefulness of the messages, moving trees and revealed paths, Brett drops the trompe l'oeil, being afraid you'll miss important things, personal progression and increasing confidence, grinding to find out what things will drop, the double gargoyle, seeing players who get really good, getting invaded and getting wrecked, not understanding the invasion mechanics.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dragon's Dogma, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, The Last Guardian, Demons's Souls, Elder Scrolls (series), Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft, Labyrinth, Jedi Fallen Order, Star Wars, Triple Click, Dishonored, Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Tunic, Death's Door, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
More Dark Souls

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on Dark Souls, the 2011 breakout from From Software. We briefly set it in its time before going on to make our characters and discuss the outset of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
A few hours (Brett: 3, Tim: 6)

Podcast breakdown:
0:49 Dark Souls
56:52 Break
57:25 Reviews & Feedback

Issues covered: an exception, the thing we mention all the time, the look of Western fantasy tropes by Japanese developers, exaggerated architecture and the third person perspective, working on the same style of game for so long, picking female characters, pushing against normal choices, picking classes and not understanding what all the stats mean, cheesing the final boss in Demons's Souls, picking a rogue character, figuring out what the builds are, not being a transparent game, accentuating the moment to moment, punishing gratification, allowing players to customize the experience, the in-game messages that other players can leave, tutorialization messages, beautiful grotesquerie, series that don't maintain consistency, whether you can plunge on the Taurus Demon, a Singing Review, the mudcrab merchant and all the books in Skyrim, lore reasons, a listener makes his own game, lack of accessibility vs usability, vibrancy in a medium, stagnation, "I guess this is my life now, I'm Dracula," rebuilding a temple in Morrowind, being pointed in the direction of everything vs not, being grabbed by the weird friction.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Elden Ring, Portal 2, Batman: Arkham City, Uncharted 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, L.A. Noire, Rockstar, Team Bondi, LoZ: Skyward Sword, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Bastion, Limbo, Rayman: Origins, Skyrim, Morrowind, Microsoft, Bioshock, Amy Hennig, Nintendo 3DS, Switch, Metroid Dread, From Software, Hidetaka Miyazaki, Bandai Namco, King's Field, Dragon's Dogma, Monster Hunter World, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, Dungeons & Dragons, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Susanna Clarke, God of War, Hideo Kojima, Resident Evil Village, Tunic, Baldur's Gate, Tomb Raider (series), Death Stranding, Sekiro, Bloodborne, mysterydip, Jeffool, Brian David Gilbert, LoZ: Ocarina of Time, Halo, Republic Commando, Frank O'Connor, LucasArts, Starfighter, Rogue Squadron, Warcraft, Zimmy Fingers, A Short Hike, Darren from Cleveland, Todd Howard, Calamity Nolan, Disney, Spike & Mike's, Pixar, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Nickelodeon, Adult Swim, The Book of Kells, Hayao Miyazaki, Logan, Lord of the Rings, The Witcher 3, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy (series), Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Links:
Quote from Design Works book about the dragon design

Skyrim's Top 5 Books

Zimmy Fingers new game

Next time: More Dark Souls!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Morrowind, giving our takeaways and then trying to get to the bottom of our mailbag. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
103 hrs (Brett) vs 36 hrs (Tim)

Issues covered: Brett destroys the heart of Lorkhan and meets another god, games that don't end, wondering about what would happen with the quests, grandmaster quests, not caring about the prophecy, the ur-game, building up a lot of game over time, a leveled-up version of Morrowind, slimming down the dialog options and NPCs, the potential to do everything, approaching the MMO grind loop, feeling like you're in the same game, delivering on the dragons, the sense of a real living world in the abstract and in the experience, the art direction, naming rules, the time to push back to strange, useful frictions, systems you can experiment with, not being handholdy, going big but going built, being in the right era to find a template, interconnected systems, unintended consequences and the ripple effects, emerging systems, the value of continuing to iterate on your ideas, the accessibility of Oblivion, not having to kill a guild master, crazy late game stories, delivering for the writers, creative collaboration, integrating into the creative goals and finding a way to avoid antagonism.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Fallout 3, Tunic, Dragon Age, Monster Hunter World, Halo, Menzobarran, Eye of the Beholder, Starfield, Ubisoft, Far Cry, DOOM (1993), Quake, Father Beast, Xbox, Ashton Herrmann, OpenMW, mysterydip, Evan Skolnick, Halo, Star Wars, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
A bit... of Dark Souls

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Morrowind. We thought we were so close, but neither of us has finished and so we talk about some late quest stuff. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Brett 102 hrs, Tim 36 hrs

Issues covered: losing a quest item, Brett spends many hours playing weekend games, having no next steps for a quest, having guild quests to finish, not obvious when there's more stuff, having to talk to everybody, the journal breaking under it's own weight, not remembering names, voice anchoring you to a character, skipping stuff in the world and not being curious, having the idea of the space but not quite having enough support to see the transitions, not being able to identify the current quest for yourself, a good formula to build upon, becoming acclaimed by all the councilors, speaking to the Gods, having to buy a slave in the main quest, the main quest being a whole game on its own, maximal games and being what you want, a brief tangent into Enchanting, going after the Dark Brotherhood, the commitment to the books, rewriting The Lusty Argonian Maid, a good quest, the feeling of a homebrew campaign, having a character be recalled for politics, carrying too much stuff, devaluing items, MMO levels of systems, having a long life with a game, discovering stuff for ten years, making a specific class, the "and" games, Brett and lore, wanting the lore to impact what you're seeing, finding the vampire clan houses, curing vampirism, saying yes to everything and the costs that incurs.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Psychonauts 2, Reed Knight, Dungeons & Dragons, Fallout 4, Meridian 59, Ultima Online, Chrono Trigger, AD&D Gold Box, Artimage, Kingdom Hearts, Mass Effect, Star Wars, LucasArts, Ashton Herrmann, mysterydip, Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
Takeaways and Mailbag catch-up

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on The Sims. We talk about a dark spiral, read some poetry, the problem of having enough time, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
A few more hours

Issues covered: alien life, Windows snippet tool vs print screen, not saving, random seeds, introducing a chaos event, theorizing about end games for careers, Tim's persistent chip bag, forums and forever games, games you can play daily, free-to-play mobile games, appointment-based gaming, min/maxing psychology, selling the kids' doll house for food, Dianne being negative, "I'm too depressed to even look at myself," lack of weekends, two Sims having a day off, a podcast first, multiple burners, having to closely manage Bob's fun, the Sims for therapy, externalizing developer feelings of 21st century life, using the room meter to understand what needs to be done, the ultimate plate-spinning game, "did you know that love could be lucrative?," falling in love to increase your net worth, 3D characters and a 2D environment, modding goals and having 3D characters, dimetric vs isometric, revisiting gender normativity, liking problematic things, listening to their audience, how you might approach things the second time around, remastering Final Fantasy VI, a party of side characters, two automated characters healing each other.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: SimCity, Dianne Feinstein, Apple ][, Farmville, Diner Dash, Bejeweled, Animal Crossing, Sims Online, Maxis, Firaxis, Ensemble Studios, Terry Pratchett, Mia Goth, Halo, Kenneth Koch, David Sedaris, Diablo, Quake, Tomb Raider, Super Mario 64, Michael, EA, Wing Commander, Anita Sarkeesian, Northern Exposure, Starfighter, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia, Final Fantasy VI, BioStats, Kaeon, Unity, Final Fantasy Tactics, Cloud Strife, Apocalypse Now. 

Next time:
A few more hours and maybe finish with The Sims

Links:
Here's an audio recording of the poet Kenneth Koch reading his poem

Twitch: timlongojr, Twitter/Threads/Insta: @devgameclub
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Morrowind and briefly celebrate 300 episodes of Dev Game Club. We've mostly devolved into discussing what has happened in our individual playthroughs at this point, but what else is one to do with an RPG this substantial? Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Tim: 29 hrs, Brett: 90 hrs

Issues covered: 300 episodes, Thermopylae, skill-based play, Brett finishes the Assassin's Guild, having the writs to get off easy, economical use of the mechanics they have, wanting the NPCs to cross your path more so you have a bigger moment when they intersect with the main story, feeling lost in the main quest, nothing handed to you on a silver platter, readability with a pixel-perfect font, the correlation between level advancement and guild advancement, being unable to get in to the Houses, not knowing what to do to become Hortator, opacity to figure out what to do, too big a game to be trial and error, "if I could just find some poetry," Tim pretends he hasn't read "The Lusty Argonian Maid," getting blocked by NPCs, being generous with fast travel, having a lot of unresolved mystery and meeting the dwemer, leaving all the lore behind, using all the hooks to do things, the flexibility for modding, the first time you enter a dwemer dungeon, whether there are callbacks to earlier games, having to finish this thing, running the game below minimum spec, the ways games bring people together, voice acting vs text, the broader reach that voice allows, experimentation in the indie space.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dungeons & Dragons, Reed Knight, Greg Knight, The Witcher 3, Final Fantasy IX, Kevin Kauffman, Fallout 3, Todd Howard, A Beautiful Mind, Oliver UV, Baldur's Gate, PC Gamer, Daron Stinnett, Falcon 3.0, Mig-29, Jeffool, Wildermyth, Janine Hawkins, LMNOP, Steven Spielberg, Deathloop, Elsinore, Harley Baldwin, Hamlet, Emily Short, Chris Crawford, mysterydip, Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Notes:
The name I couldn't come up with was Emily Short.

Next time:
Finishing Morrowind!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Morrowind. We talk about the role-playing feeling of the game, how the guilds have a sense of real progression and reputation, and motivating play. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Brett to 71 hrs, Tim to 24

Issues covered: Tim decides he's going to be a good assassin from now on, having to kill the leads of guilds I'm head of, a level design soapbox moment, not leveraging symmetry, getting lost in Vivec City, victory in the Arena, self-guided missions, feeling like some quest-givers gave meaner quests, going to various locations for guild quests, doing work for the Night Mother, the squabbling over artifacts, an assassination behind locked doors, "the most Mel Brooks assassination," being OP for the game, feeling like the later games are more generic, feeling like you are really playing the role, infiltrating a base for a target, backbiting amongst the academics, having a bold moment of quest design, iterating on the formula, developing a sense of place, enjoying motivated play, friction between groups motivating play, having a complete experience from a quest line, revisiting the game, MMO feeling, the structure of The Witcher 3 and side quests that aren't, figuring out the alchemy system and its power, using the mad magician as motivation, a sum of parts game, not proud, adding time to every quest line.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Three Musketeers, Greg Knight, Mel Brooks, Starfield, Fallout (series), Reed Knight, Crazy Taxi, Dungeons & Dragons, The Witcher, Sam, Stephen, Kingdom Hearts, The Matrix (obliquely), Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
??? What is time?

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Morrowind. We talk a little bit about the systems and friction, our individual stories, and Brett solves his Magicka problem. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Just more hours of Morrowind

Issues covered: not sharing the same experience, we compare hours played, a Chocobo Paradise situation, finding where the UI tells you what factions want from your skills, joining the Imperial Legion, working on my long blades, paying off your murders, the weird reveal of the fog of war, very specific usability in terms of having to talk to people, the strangeness of the setting, the friction of the navigation of literal space and its basis in tabletop, wanting to get more usable and sacrifices are made, pure open world design, Eurojank with systems and friction, physical movement in the 3D space, discovering a community of vampires, being guided to points of interest, using markers on the map, training limits, how level design has evolved for dungeons in open worlds, the things that have started to work, finding the Ghost Wall, spending two hours on one assassination, seeing layered architecture in a place, managing the inventory with single icons for groups of potions, having your own diseases, an above-ground Underdark, conjuring a ghost to absorb its magic attack, being so systemic that weird actions result, equations that scale up, emergence of systems, the acrobatics of 1000, Valestra the Thinker, loving the support of all the different play styles, Tim atoning for his sins, a Mage's Guild where you have to teleport to get in, the creative goals of the game guiding how much art you reuse, marketing needs, being responsible with making your art,

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Legend of Zelda (series), Final Fantasy IX (obliquely), Tolkien/LotR, Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft, Mount and Blade, Fallout 3, Ultima Underworld, Assassin's Creed (series), Hitman (series), Pulp Fiction, Halo, National Lampoon's European Vacation, mysterydip, Zeriquinn, Dan Hunter, The Witcher (series), Eye of the Beholder, Logan, Mario (series), BioWare, Call of Duty, Bungie, Horizon (series), Tom Cruise, Robert Mitchum, Resident Evil 7, David Collins, Uncharted/The Last of Us, Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
When does it end?

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Morrowind. We spend some time catching each other up on our successes and failures, talk about it as a preparation game, and the interconnectedness of the lore. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
More hours of Morrowind

Issues covered: Brett finds Tim's yurt, "Dare I continue," being out at the boundaries of the systems, a preparation game and not a find the things you need on the way, finding things to be too difficult, the mercenary who couldn't follow me, asking the game to cheat, Tim having Divine Interventions from early in the game, paying to teleport, Morag Tong sharing quests around, needles in haystacks, carrying armor back to sell, Dark Elven Barbarian Ashlanders, reuniting the clans, defeating the Dwemer, the feeling of richness of the world, creating mysteries and webbing them together, quests as direction rather than reward, white folks writing Africa/colonialism, hearing repeated references to slavery, Tim revisits Elder Scrolls lore, navigating the web of connections, diving into Daedric lore, playing Skyrim looking for how it will fit in memory, diving into memory and virtual memory, Z-keying a head all the way to Tenpenny Towers, the memory systems of consoles, Tim learns about crime and the uses of the writs, sleeping in the wrong bed, avoiding theft, accommodating the assassin's playstyle, being taught how to play the game, finding a bug in Halo and being unable to finish the fight, weird mission select structures, the opacity in the structure of Morrowind, individual playthroughs and how it makes you think about the game, having the low friction and higher friction layers of play, a frictionless model with weirder content, checking out the whole Halo series.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dragon Magazine, Ray Winninger, Fallout 3, Double Negative, Bioware, PlayStation, Sony, XBox, Half-Life, Guy Carver, Dreamcast, Dungeons & Dragons, mysterydip, The2ndQuest, Halo (series), GoldenEye, Agent Under Fire, Final Fantasy VI, Animal Crossing, Dragon Quest Builders, Ashton Herrmann, Breath of the Wild, Ubisoft, The Witcher 3, LoZ: Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword, Psychonauts 2, Watch Dogs (series), Far Cry (series), Assassin's Creed (series), Shoe, Bungie, 343 Industries, DOOM (2016), Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
Still More-owind

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2002's Morrowind. We talk about our own weird experiences some more, since we are essentially playing different games, and how we are feeling the intersection of different quest lines. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Another handful of hours

Issues covered: down and out in Vivec City, getting around in an oddly constructed city, weather effects, lava in dwarven ruins and by the side of the road, whether there are arenas in every game, feeling like you found something secret, the way the writing tricks you about being special, assassination writs, getting map markers vs directions, chaining silt strider vs boats to locations, the most Bethesda hour and a half, finding a way out of Suran, walking your dad all the way through the world in Fallout 3, QAing while you play, bursting at the seams, you never forget your first assassination, a little short for a stormtrooper, Tim enters cheese mode, using the door trick, paying your way through quests, having to kill a whole family, the various reactions to assassination, returning to the dwarven ruin, is this my life now?, high sense of discovery, choosing what you want to spend your time on, modern games and the externalized question mark vs Morrowind and the internalized question mark, activating quests, decoupling race in D&D, buying your way into NPC's hearts, a mushy game, paying your crimes off or sitting in jail, being mechanically mushy to compensate for lack of DM, everything having a purpose, being approached by the Dunmer hare krishna, "have you heard the good word about Dagoth Ur?," dreaming and prophecy, simple quests with rich text, overlapping every location with multiple quest lines, keyword unlocking, "always be sneaking," "we don't care if they finish the story," having your own story, some feedback about technical terms.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Knights of the Old Republic, Assassin's Creed (series), The Walking Dead, Choose Your Own Adventure (series), Trevanian, Breath of the Wild, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Fallout 3, Star Wars (obliquely), Hitman (obliquely), Darren Johnson, TIE Fighter, Miller's Crossing, Resident Evil (series), Witcher III, Fallout (isometric series), Dungeons & Dragons, Le samourai, Dragon Quest Builders, Richard Lemarchand, Crystal Dynamics, Amy Henning, Soul Reaver, Naughty Dog, _cpjk, Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
Even More-owind

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. We talk a little bit about how leveling appears to work, finding quests and using the journal, and just heading off on your own. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
More hours

Issues covered: two roads diverging in a wood, the various Tongs, having some fantasy etymology and naming conventions, the emergence of groups and politics, a huge leap forward from prior Bethesda games, clear analogies to Forgotten Realms, the Dark Brotherhood quest lines, murder triggering a quest line, quests being tied to guilds, worrying about the flexibility of the game to support player choices, grinding reputation in an MMO as opt-in, the QA/dev speedrun challenge, game exploits vs bug exploits, fictional identity to align quests vs clear differences between main and side quests, getting lost on the "roads," modularity and reuse, going deep and losing focus, committing to a character concept, the "good" assassins, etymology of cantor vs canton, the hugeness of Vivec City, tracking a serial killer, trying to track down the Morag Tong under the Arena, the trade-offs between single-character and party RPGs, raising your open skill, "I want to kill people but I want to be good!," opposing the old guilds and the new in the underbelly, cities are their own thing, surprise moment to introduce a spell, opening up all the variables as fodder for quests, adding layers of backstory pieces as you go, going deep into every bit of content, your major skills and how they contribute to leveling, born under a bad sign, the ability to break the game, loving the game because of its flexibility, the user experience problem, not reading the effing manual, having the strategy guide, success breeding stagnation and not pursuing the bugs, isolation and bringing in new talent and the same people making the games, building up technical debt and the costs of servicing technical debt, making different triage decisions and the balance of your focus, sailing the Ship of Theseus, managing scope and risk, 404'ed credits, changing the feel with dual wielding vs the grenade, player overwhelm with choices.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Emil Pagliarulo, Witcher III, Fallout 3, Factor 5, Rogue Squadron, Reed Knight, Xbox, Dragon Age 2, Baldur's Gate, Ultima, Dungeons & Dragons, Just Once/James Ingram (obliquely), Breath of the Wild, Less Than Zero, mysterydip, NetImmerse/Gamebryo, Billy Idol, Grand Theft Auto (series), Uncharted (series), Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Halo (series), 343 Industries, Jaime Griesemer, UbiSoft, Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
More-owind

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we add a bonus to our series on Halo with a chat with designer Jaime Griesemer, whose sniper rifle talk we referenced in the series. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown:
1:01 Interview
1:13:02 Break
1:13:37 Outro

Issues covered: looking up Halo lore for the intro, going to school to be a physicist, blackmailing someone for a studio tour, quickly leaving QA by making multiplayer maps, teams stacked with talent, refusing to return the keys, building the level before the play, enjoying the economy-free RTS, "sci-fi Myth," the early version being mostly vehicle- and exterior-based, finding the fun with multiplayer first, having long single rounds, Microsoft seeing something in Halo, how the demo worked, rehearsing to capture one long take, having no sound engine and covering it with music, desperation is the mother of intervention, a hair's breadth from disaster, FedEx-ing the disc, "tell us the formula," being bound to legacy, reverting to the roots, the philosophy background helping influence his design, incepting to understand design process, working with lousy controllers, reconfiguring other games, using the Usability Lab, the interrogation room/psych experiment lab, cameras pointed, being unable to ask whether controls are inverted, testing allowing natural configuration of buttons (and failing), how default became the default, an intro level that holds up, threading the needle between boredom and forgetting, people who forgot to look, people who can't use both sticks, the connection between the tutorial and the Usability Lab, a boring part making the exciting part more exciting, contextualizing the 30 seconds of fun, recontextualizing, why Halo has two weapons, limited memory, constraints inspiring creativity, having to make the right decision, the power of violating conventions, removing what's between you and the fun part, "random access controls," making all the decisions available "right now," thinking and having actions happen immediately, enabling the golden tripod, adding more buttons or sticks doesn't help, the co-evolution of games and controllers, the limitations of arcade controls, the Griesemer Click, the iterative process of tuning, synaesthesia, coming back to re-tune from scratch after a week, craft yourself into a good experiencer, "if I was good at the games, the games wouldn't be good," appreciate things while they're happening... and then seek something new, seeing whether games can do something new in nonfiction, regretting your quotes, reflecting back on a panel, enjoying the specifics, a restrained amount of progression, not having an RPG character in Master Chief.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Myth, Tyson Green, Jason Jones, Destiny, Sucker Punch, Infamous: Second Son, Highwire, Marty O'Donnell, Golem, Evan Wells, Dustin Browder, Blizzard, Starcraft, Matt Tateishi, Randy Smith, Paul Bertone, Chris Barret, Alex Seropian, Oni, Warcraft, Company of Heroes (series), MacWorld, Microsoft, ARMA (series), Steve Jobs, Julian Gollop, X-COM, Marathon, TimeSplitters, GoldenEye, PlayStation, Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted, Jim McQuillan, Tetris, Call of Duty (series), Shigeru Miyamoto, DOOM (1993), Half-Life, Nintendo, Six Days in Fallujah, Thief, Hal Barwood, Halo: Infinite, AC: Odyssey, Troy Mashburn, Resident Evil VII/Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
More Morrowind!

Links:
Halo MacWorld Demo (1999)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YJ53skc-k4

On All Levels (2003 GDC Talk, audio only)

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Bethesda Game Studios RPG classic from 2002. We situate it in time and then dive right in, having been released from imprisonment and sent on a specific mission. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
A few hours of play

Issues covered: 2002 in games, Todd Howard's first mainline game as director, a little about Bethesda, Tim's history with the series, early games feeling open world, finding the titles generic, Brett confesses, not playing just the main quest, directing the player via POIs, self-motivated quests, interview homework, the prophecies, something is going on in Vvardenfell, name/job, situating you in the world with character creation, the census bureau, the clever setups, tutorial and usability, the death of Ultima as a franchise, Brett the battlemage, being able to pick up anything, we try to find the names of the elven races, all the skills and accidentally thieving, sleeping in the wrong bed, having laws enforced, not being able to barter because of contraband, thoughtful world-building, imagining a bigger world from small interactions, playing the good assassin, being opposed to the outlanders, coming up with concepts from the real world, coding the Khajiit as shifty Arabs, homebrew and archetypal sources, steering away from making particular races evil, slavery in RPGs, walking to Balmora, doing some quests, different architecture, Tim's sidequest to woo a Dunmer, directions to get to a quest, what is the arc of the game?, feeling like you have chapters even when a game doesn't have progression or leveling up, the small decisions you make all the time in game design, the crosshairs in Halo.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Jonah Lobe, Jean Simonet, Andrew Kirmse, Republic Commando, Oblivion, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Kingdom Hearts, Eternal Darkness, Ratchet & Clank, Xbox, Metroid Prime, Splinter Cell, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Sly Cooper, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Jedi Starfighter, Battlefield 1942, Age of Mythology, Jedi Knight II, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Neverwinter Nights, Bioware, Jade Empire, Knights of the Old Republic, Todd Howard, Redguard, Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones, NHL series, Terminator, Fallout (series), Starfield, The Witcher III, Reed Knight, Ultima Underworld, Arena, Daggerfall, Patrick Stewart, Firaxis, MechAssault, DoubleNegative (youtuber), Liam Neeson, Fallout: New Vegas, Underworld Ascendant, Paul Neurath, Baldur's Gate, Tyranny, Planescape: Torment, Pillars of Eternity, Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, WoW Classic, Infinity Engine, Sea of Thieves, Ifthatisyo U'rerealname, Halo, RE VII, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
More hours?

Links:
You're Finally Awake

Errata:
The game we referred to as the spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld was Underworld Ascendant and not Ascension (which was the subtitle to Ultima IX). We regret the error.

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we reflect on the year that was, looking back at the interviews and lessons we took away. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: work and long hours, how we generate our lists, more keys that aren't keys, the tangibility of character sheets, the impact of D&D campaigns, your love and fun translating into what you make, labors of love, feeling games that no one felt a spark making, feeling like your hard work paid off, cancelling projects, ideas coming up again later, maintaining the fragile connection between player and character, a perspective on the effort that it takes to deliver a great experience, trailblazing a new feature, thinking about a camera, camera design is like puzzle solving, good camera work being invisible, Uematsu loves prog rock, accessibility, "the team makes the game," sharing credit, bringing in all your players, collaboration, finishing games you hadn't before, being a finisher vs not, Master Chief as the iconic space marine, feeling like Master Chief is black, being more about the lore than the story, CW Suicide (skip 54:20 - :30), getting hooked on Halo, a game series following you through major events, the LucasArts Halo tournament, connecting with your kids through games.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Baldur's Gate, Ratchet & Clank, Brian Allgeier, James Ohlen, Michael Backus, Dungeons & Dragons, Joel Gifford, Control, Girl with a Stick, Ted Price, LucasArts, Tim Schafer, Grim Fandango, Double Fine Productions, Psychonauts, Headlander, Lee Perry, Lee Petty, Epic Games, Jon Knoles, Bounty Hunter, Blackout Club, Question Games, Bethesda Game Studios, Remi Lacoste, Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft Montreal, Donald Duck Gone Quackers, Crash Bandicoot, Nintendo, Sebastian Deken, Final Fantasy (series), Nobuo Uematsu, Halo, Sony, Microsoft, Patrice Desilets, Resident Evil 4, Ocarina of Time, Prey, Arkham Asylum, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Jarrko Sivula, 343 Industries, Star Wars, Book of Boba Fett, The Mandalorian, Ashton Herrmann, Bungie, Half-Life, The Fellowship of the Ring, Crystal Dynamics, KB, Lia, Minecraft, Sasha/Truffles Moccachino, RE 7, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
Either an interview *or* our next game!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we really wrap our series on Halo by providing our takeaways, and then dive in and out of feedback to talk Halo Infinite. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
A few hours of Halo Infinite

Issues covered: being stuck with the helmet silhouette, 30 seconds of fun, the feel of the controls, elevating lesser elements, world-building and an iconic character, compelling people through mystery, the feeling of the epic, bringing the world to life through physics, verticality and memorability, knowing where you are in the outdoors, mixing up enemies for AI variability, directing the player, possible physics changes, things that the graphics changed, playing with your son, sampling some types of missions, the tank simulation, resetting the story of the series, picking Master Chief out of the debris, having a grappling hook, returning to the spirit of the first game, revealing the ring, really committing to the grappling hook, showing all the things you do with the grappling hook in the opening cinematic, extending the golden triangle, explicit damage types, ammo crates, having more headshotting, audio, story missions, switching from in-person to remote, having sneakernet be part of the normal production process, designing process and culture for your working environment, video game adjacent spaces, machinima, recording matches, shipping the complete package, having so many products and just one team, franchise history, all the things that a TES game is expected to have, Tim getting scared.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: George Lucas, Ratchet and Clank, Ringworld, Larry Niven, Discworld, Half-Life 2, Myth, Bungie, Republic Commando, The Red, Linda Nagata, John K, Goldeneye, Will, Microsoft, Paul Crocker, Lani Lum, Star Trek, Legend of Zelda, Sotaro Tojima, Metal Gear (series), Assassin's Creed (series), Ben Zaugg, Red vs Blue, Rooster Teeth, Netflix, Xbox Live, Forge, Luke S, Red Dead/GTA Online, Ghosts of Tsushima, Last of Us II, Skyrim, Activision, Call of Duty (series), Ubisoft, 343 Industries, Resident Evil VII, Saw, PT, Paranormal Activity, Silent Hill, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Brett's Book Recommendation: The Red, by Linda Nagata

Errata:
Brett looked it up, and it's the Battle of Wolf 359. We regret the error.

Next time:
Possibly an interview!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2000's The Sims. We spend a little time on the gender normativity of the title, sprinkle in some stories about our various households, and also fit in some reader mail! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
A few more hours!

Issues covered: satire and farce, Timmy's toilet troubles, Betty's rapid rise in scientific circles, sexual orientation and the Sims, dark times for Bob, Jeff in the military, whether the game is conforming to gender biases all the time or not, Diane and politics, how Betty got her job, thinking about design decisions around careers, the value systems that the game systems express, working with smaller spaces and the difficulties for game development, the American Dream qua Nightmare, being in the 1950s and the music, "None of my good points are inadvertent," opacity of systems in other simulations vs this game's clarity, a toy vs a game, Bob winning things via the phones, Chance and Community Chest, Potty Talk with Tim and Brett, dolls and trains, finding SimCity more serious, can the Sims die?, not knowing that we had to pay the bills, investing in Bob's creativity, touching on the animation and object systems, teenagers and hygiene, getting Bob's confidence up, a little ditty, the shlubs getting the gals, encouraging community via modding and engagement, moon names, code names, hunting for things in games, the tension of player cleverness and wasting your time, environment scanning, visual language and level design, getting playersr to have intuition.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Mia Goth, Mad Men (obliquely), SimCity 2000, Unpacking, Fallout (obliquely), Will Wright, Monopoly, John Mellencamp, Seth Rogen, Raid on Bungeling Bay, Bethesda Game Studios, Skyrim, Jonah Lobe, Quiet: Level One, Sasha, Tomb Raider, mysterydip, Kaeon, Might and Magic, NES, Where's Waldo, Ratchet & Clank, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, UbiSoft, Witcher III, World of Warcraft, Morrowind, Arkham (series), Breath of the Wild, Ocarina of Time, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
More of The Sims!

Links:
Jonah Lobe's Quiet: Level One 

Twitch: timlongojr, Twitter/Threads/Insta: @devgameclub
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our series on Halo: Combat Evolved. We talk about some of the major story beats here towards the end, the repetitive aspects good and bad, letting the fights play out in front of you, music, and more! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Finished the game!

Issues covered: why is the Flood on Halo, a floor wax and a dessert topping, how do you prevent people from visiting dangerous places, proper noun series, wiping the galaxy of food, Sentinels working for and against you, the deeper meaning of Halo and religious resonance, dealing with big archetypes and lending timelessness, explaining/contextualizing as you move on, losing the mythic, having to get Keyes's authorization codes, using the enemies against one another, engaging and becoming the focus, detecting when the player should be the focus of attention, sandboxes and thinking you can do more than you actually can, stealth and not for Halo, the repetition of the Library, the strength of the original graphics, the golden triangle, the dance of combat and the depth of multiplayer, switching grenade types, tactical choices behind weapons for the enemy types you'll fight, going out and returning to the Pillar of Autumn, feeling different if you have vertical movement, the confusion of the engineering space, having to find the armory, finishing the game co-op, Brett's many failures, requiring skill checks along the way to lead you to the challenge, art/architecture getting in the way, payouts getting drowned out by frustration, time pressure, high skill ceiling, smoothing out the experience, orchestral accompaniment, combining disparate musical elements, the impact of music, the theme song matching the character, setting tone and mood with the Flood themes, pairing opposites, conservative plus primal.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Destiny, Portal 2, Stephen Merchant, Wesley, Star Wars, Legend of Zelda (series), Bruce Willis, Looper, Call of Duty (series), Medal of Honor (series), DOOM (1993), Resident Evil 4, Star Trek, Andrew Kirmse, Skyrim, Death Stranding, Marty O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori, John Williams, Indiana Jones, ET, Harry Potter, Nintendo, Myth, Resident Evil VII/Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
A little bit of Infinite

Errata:
Brett realizes it's not a beholder but a cacodaemon in DOOM, but has D&D on the brain. We regret the error.

Also, the Covenant ship is the Truth and Reconciliation.

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Halo: Combat Evolved. We talk vehicles, architecture, lore, and level design before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to the Library!

Issues covered: the ungainly Marine vehicles vs the sleek Covenant vehicles, enjoying the shooting quite a bit, the driving model of the Warthog, camera-based driving, driving into walls and off edges, co-op driving, the freedom of driving in the sandboxes, checkpointing based on logic vs location, promoting experimentation, having the feel of an RTS and having the freedom to move around, component-based mix and match, watching an RTS fight from both sides, having the ability to use the damage model to your advantage, having two guns and not constantly refilling just one or two weapons, knowing what weapons you can pick up, orthogonal weapon design, high-level play, the feeling of the different difficulty levels, looking at the original artwork, space Egyptians, beton brut, building from an architectural principle, lower noise in the original art, the huge sense of scale, the story being told in a particular way, not wanting the lore to take precedence, archetypes and mystery, liking a reboot, losing your bearings from the repeated nature of the spaces, the granularity of its environmental modules, kitbashing in other games, differentiating through enemy mixes, Halo being best as a horror game, the Covenant had a point!, suddenly having a shotgun, AR tie-ins fueled by Doritos and presented by Mountain Dew, how Halo holds up, not loving the horror, loving the horror.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Andrew Kirmse, Myth, Baldur's Gate, Triple Click podcast, DOOM (1993), John Romero, Jaime Griesemer, Mark Garcia, Stargate, James Cameron, Aliens, Nic Bouvier, GoldenEye, Star Wars, RA Salvatore, Bungie, Destiny, Ridley Scott, Prometheus, Resident Evil (series), Final Fantasy (series), Witcher (series), Mario (series), Mike Wu, Skyrim, Fallout (series), Bethesda Game Studios, Flood/They Might Be Giants, Polygon, Nolan Filter, Paranormal Activity, Pokemon Go, 7-11 Presents Halo 4: King of the Hill Fueled by Mountain Dew, Geoff Keighley, Tim, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time:
Finish the game!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series about Halo: Combat Evolved, Bungie's seminal 2001 FPS on the Xbox. We set it in time, discuss its development history, and delve into tutorialization. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to rescuing Keyes on the Truth & Reconciliation

Issues covered: 2001 in games, lull in PC shooters that year, Bungie history, the astonishing development, seeing the migration in the game from the units on the battlefield, betting big, other shooters on consoles, the unexpected internal hit at Microsoft, Oni's complex combat system, the seminal paper on first-person controls, aim acceleration, the big impact of being purchased, the audacity of a PC-focused developer muscling into the market, the library advantage of Sony, lack of distinguishing system sellers, the sole mascot, the enterprise/application/services mentality, the alienation of PC games, DirectX as a unifying force, friends lists and achievements, Xbox Live, politics derailing JSF being the Xbox Live launch title, orthogonal approaches like GamePass, unthawing the Chief, the usability lab, just asking you to look to establish preferences, Technical Requirements Checklist/Technical Checklist of Requirements, being rebellious, a lot of mysteries right at the beginning, sequences for health/shields, giving context, having a motion tracker, Covenant mirroring you vs grunts that don't, low morale pests, clear and different silhouettes, target prioritization, dropping the weapons they carry and enabling different decisions, being able to swap to the old graphics, hating our wokeness, dynamic ability and missability of treasure stuff in RE4, being a bit obscure, survival horror working against scouring an area, possibility of inviting a critic, indie games, the age difference between Leon and Ashley (vs the apparent difference), aging the protagonist towards your own age.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: GTA III, Silent Hill 2, Ico, Civ III, Anachronox, Animal Crossing, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Devil May Cry, MGS 2: Sons of Liberty, Super Smash Melee, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3, Jak & Daxter, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Game Boy Advance, Advance Wars, Max Payne, Black & White, Dark Age of Camelot, Baldur's Gate II, Painkiller, DOOM 3, World of Warcraft, Everquest II, Asheron's Call, Bungie, Marathon (series), Myth (series), Mumbo Jumbo, Take Two Interactive, Apple, MacWorld, Microsoft, Ed Fries, Oni, Republic Commando, Starfighter (series), GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Rare, Jason Jones, id Software, Epic Megagames, PlayStation, Forza, Brute Force, MechAssault, George Lucas, Bill Gates, Nintendo, Sega, Dreamcast, Star Wars, Geoff Jones, Medal of Honor, Saber Interactive, 343 Industries, Troy Mashburn, Karl Popper, Resident Evil 4, Zachary Crownover, Nick Miller, Limited Run Games, Indie Game: The Movie, Suikoden 2, Jason Schreier, MinnMax, Rebel FM, Undertale, Braid, Call of Duty (series), This War of Mine, 11bit Studios, Ben Zaugg, Resident Evil VII, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
More!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this add a bonus to our series on Resident Evil 4 by taking a look at Resident Evil Village. We talk about the bit of the game we played, some of the things that come with first-person and realistic rendering, and then turn to some feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
The first couple hours

Issues covered: the entrancing Lady Dimitrescu, looking forward to playing more over the break, the very different storybook introduction, whether these games are a continuation, building on things others have been doing, the way photorealism falls into an uncanny valley from even props, the way older games signify what is interactable, feeling like you're in a vision mode, knowing the baselines from your initial experience, the acceptability of something rundown, a modern update of RE4, "why does this keep happening to me," wanting to know who you are, being a cipher should maybe go all the way, age-appropriate character delivery device, the over-the-top murder of Mia, the impressive engine they are using, good claustrophobic audio and camera design, finding your sweet spot, slowing in ADS, good resource balancing, a single enemy being terrifying, the creepy guy who is like Mendez and being transported with the ringing of the bell, the systemic daughters that can be defeated in specific ways but short-term dealt with, the slower pacing, doing less with more, prioritizing the right things/focusing on the right stuff, survival horror and working through dark stuff safely, the game you had in your memory, how a game is set against the background of other games you're playing, how we deal with things that are pretty gross, calling it out, needing to be better, being open to perspectives, listening.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Calamity Nolan, Metal Gear Solid, Inside, Limbo, Last of Us 2, Gone Home, Dear Esther, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, What Remains of Edith Finch, P.T., Metal Gear (series), Half-Life, Alien: Isolation, Monster Hunter World, Capcom, Artimage, God of War (2018), Sasha Visari/Truffles Mochacchino, Wii, Ratchet & Clank, BioShock, Ocarina of Time, Hitman 2, Trespasser, Reed Knight, Seamus Blackley, JJ, Karl Popper, RockStar, GTA III, Activision/Blizzard, Chris Corry, Xbox Live, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
???

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Resident Evil 4. We talk about various set pieces at the end, a bit about ammo types and balance, and of course, our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Finished the game!

Issues covered: having more cutscenes and quotable lines, set piece stuff that reminds you of other series, tying back to the series, parallels with Metal Gear Solid, being campy vs leaning into camp, new enemy types, whether an enemy was skippable, feeling resource poor, weapon choices, conserving resources as much as you can, losing resources to being unable to line up enemies, making ammo more powerful via upgrades, killing parasites with flash grenades, whether resource constraints are balanced for all players dynamically, leaning more heavily on QTEs, replacing mechanics with QTEs, forcing exposition, camera authoring, uninteresting skill challenges, Ashley driving and the rail-shooting, being more action-y than survival horror, wish fulfillment/power fantasy, where you can kill enemies, Krauser and backstory, leaning on prior character knowledge, feeling like the Saddler battle doesn't pay off, not having the right location, the eye in the mouth, the series going darker, replaying the jetski scene again and again, controller problems, planned obsolescence, the rainbow proposition, sturdier controllers, credits story time, ending with a bit of a whimper, Mike we hardly knew ya, Brett's Book Recommendations, the commitment to design tension, the pacing of combat, linear macro design with arena sections, agency in level flow, the AI states and how they work everywhere, the great balancing across the whole game, balancing a game you can't change, pushing your game further but not too far, adding the right things and leaving the right things behind.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Metal Gear Solid, Konami, Capcom, Die Hard (obliquely), Killer 7, Grasshopper Interactive, Suda51, Fatal Frame, Hideo Kojima, Dark Souls, 28 Days Later, Gamecube, PS4, Nintendo, Deus Ex, Sylvia Moreno-Garcia, Mexican Gothic, Julian Gollop, X-COM, Soren Johnson, Civilization III, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
Good question! Thought you might ask!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Resident Evil 4. We take a little sidestep into the things that aren't mentioned in the manual, and then work through Chapter 4. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Through the end of Ch 4!

Issues covered: things we didn't notice about the game, target practice, going to apparent side tracks first, extending play to try to slow trade-in, collectibles, gacha mechanics, needing to enjoy the core thing, a precursor to lootboxes, expanding to other types of players, ways to expand the mechanics, upgrading treasures, having the nagging idea that you might need to go back, hidden mechanic that extends play, adding discovery, Eastern vs Western design philosophies, misreading the thing they wanted from the El Gigantes, the dragon room, having to come back to a side room, leaving Ashley behind, the layers of history of Europe vs Japan, looking for locations and ideas that can support a lot of varied fictional, differences between systems and level design and parallels with programming, the creature that seems unkillable, being unable to read the boss' states, the Salazar bot and Salazar as an enemy (versus others), the mine car section and its tensions, failing the QTE at the end, wanting an indication that a QTE is coming, feeling unfair, Brett makes a plan, the problem with setpieces, matching expectations, insta-killed by being grabbed by a lava gigante, dropping barrels on your enemies, fighting in close quarters, being absorbed into a giant plant, jumping down to avoid QTEs, turning and running and fighting the design, Your Princess is in another castle, giving a little bit of thanks.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Shenmue, Arkham Asylum, Metal Gear (series), Dark Souls, Demon's Souls, Assassin's Creed, Legend of Zelda (series), Arkane, Dishonored (series), Prey, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Ico, Dragon's Lair, Republic Commando, God of War, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Donkey Kong, The Thing, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia, Temple of Doom.

Next time:
Finish the game!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Resident Evil 4. We talk about the ecology of the monsters, defense sequences, and bobbing and weaving. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to the end of 3-4

Issues covered: sagacity and gardens, finding the PS4 to be a slightly easier platform, the enemy count, the easier tram ride as a setpiece, running out of ammo in the town on replay, being thoughtful of ammo use and switching to the knife, the suplex, the retinal scanner, Mendez taking the stylized symbol shape, the ecology of the parasite, the dev-evolution of the parasites, feeling like a cohesive setting, a place that used to be a place, Saddler's insectoid form under the robes and his cosmic horror staff, the creep Salazar, gunning and running, taking advantage of AI slowness, higher breeds of hybrids, using the sandbox in interesting ways, having to defend Ashley when separated, having the final exam with Ashley and changing up the challenges, Brett discovers that Tim didn't get the turret gunner, getting a lot out of spaces, the back and forth with Ada Wong, localization issues, another test of the player, Ashley's contextual attacks, the camera closing in and Ashley sticking super close, avoiding the hard thing, noticing the weirdness, poor localization choices, investing in decisions you make (especially when it comes to cultural sensitivity), justifying the investment, othering and foreignness, screaming at Leon, playing RE4 more as a strategy game, pacing and a strategic spectrum, using games to do games stuff.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: PS4, Zach, Dungeons & Dragons, James Bond, Alien, Benjamin Button, Tomorrow Never Dies, Michelle Yeoh, Kumail Nanjiani, Call of Duty, David Cage, Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Max, Guillermo del Toro, Akira Kurosawa, Ghosts of Tsushima, The Seven Samurai, Sony, Stephen, Xbox, X-COM, Alien: Isolation, DOOM (1993), Control, Alan Wake, Reed Knight, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
All of Ch 4

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Resident Evil 4. We talk about the new horror in the game, our systematic companion and the other NPC, look at the choice of paths, and then take the tram. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
To Chapter 3

Issues covered: remembering the game, recovering the map, El Gigante reveal, stabbing the creature in the back, getting to no health but being allowed to recover, taking big swings early, foreshadowing traps and the dog, the systematic companion, the church and navigating to Ashley, the quality of the puzzles and being more grounded, the emergence of the Las Plages virus, introducing the enemies, reuse of gameplay objects in the siege, ugh-inducing achievement names, losing Ashley to the Gigante, the many ways Ashley interacts with the game, mechanical/narrative consonance, being introduced to interactions before you have Ashley to interact with them, being able to plan and having accommodations for the plan and executing the plan, maximizing the amount of play you can get from a space, having an apparent plan but being unable to pay it off because of camera movement, changing the camera to be lower in the El Gigante fights, the difficulty of the tram section, the accuracy of the Wii version, another potential way to play BioShock, the soft way BioShock reinforces whether you should deal with the Little Sisters, systems and endings, the interconnectedness of RE4, modality of fire and move at the same time being key to the pacing, finding all the little things in a game you love, tapping A once or twice for slow or fast doors, returning to Ordinary,

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Zachary, God of War, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Leon: The Professional, DayOfTheDan, The Lonely Island, Andy Samberg, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, Mark Garcia, BioShock, Dishonored II, Wildermyth, Janine Hawkins, Walker Farrell, David Graeber, Debt: The First 5000 Years, Zachary Crownover, Sam, Grim Fandango, Silent Hill, Control, God of War (2018), Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time:
More RE4!

Links:
"Play" in evolutionary science

Death animations in RE4

Sam Thomas's RE4RL game and trailer

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Resident Evil 4. We talk a bit about the modern mechanics it introduces to the series and consider how it maintains its balance despite it. And, of course, we take a peaceful boat ride across a lake. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up past the lake

Issues covered: quoting the merchant, how the chain saw Ganado appears in the opening section, approaching the town in a particular way, bottlenecking, the dynamism of the enemies, knifing enemies, integrating the merchant into play, art object collection and the economy, trends in 2005, player agency not working against survival horror, the risk of breaking your economy, wondering if they tune for money drops, wanting to find all the things, tuning dynamic difficulty, navigation puzzles, paths to be able to run away, the canyon area, the ups and downs of the series, excellent and non-excellent helicopter rides, QTEs and non-repeatability, maybe being generous in the remaster, attracting you to the collectible, the peasants just farming, keeping performance up with lots of characters, not using tons of tricky spawning, film grain look plus feeling color graded, the lake creature being a cryptid and not just a big alligator, having more characters, introduction of Ada Wong, the scale of the first big monster feeling so overwhelming, getting tossed from the boat in the lake, upgrading weapons and carrying a lot of grenades, are guns worth more after being upgraded?, obsolete upgrades, ideology and abstraction, how the DLC recontextualizes BioShock Infinite, maybe giving BioShock too much credit for its themes, are there horror games that fill us with dread, being scared at a young age, psychological horror getting to you, the importance of audio, power dynamics and increasing tension.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Zachary, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Rage, id Software, Designers Notebook, Left 4 Dead, God of War, Lord of the Rings, Devil May Cry, Tobe Hooper, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tim, BioShock, Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Message, Baron/Daniel, Tanner, Fatal Frame/Project Zero, WiiU, PT, Alien: Isolation, The Exorcist, Mortimer and the Riddles of the Medallion, Minecraft, Valheim, Dragon Quest Builders, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
Find out on Twitter, maybe, if I remember :)

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series on 2005's Capcom horror classic, Resident Evil 4. We place it in its time and then talk immediately about how it really kicked the third-person action-adventure game into higher gear. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to the second typewriter

Issues covered: the Capcom 5, having some trouble getting the game off the ground, success of the remake, a really different feel, relying on establishing POV shots from slashers, horror movie touchpoints, moving away from straight-up zombie games, differences between Chris and Leon, meeting Hunnigan via the Codec, popularizing the third-person shooter, hold-overs from the older controls, fighting the controls, embodying the character, disempowerment, pick a spot and stand your ground, jerky enemies, shooting a weapon out of the air, opening up the level design to multiple paths, the gun-and-run, Leon's better tactics, "various awesome actions," moving saves away from being a resource, a more revealed map, having people coming at you with pitchforks and torches, can you get the chainsaw guy?, disconnects with marketing, getting lucky to have marketing departments who got it, moral choices and the morally objectionable, motivating the character choices for evil, coloring the tone of dialog to reflect your choices, what weapons we chose with BioShock, talking about the wrench kill, loving crossbows, style over substance in Control.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, SW: Republic Commando, Psychonauts, Guild Wars, Civ IV, FEAR, The Undying, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, AC: Wild World, Guitar Hero, Mercenaries, Battlefront II, KotOR II, Lego Star Wars, Xbox 360, Capcom, GameCube, PN 03, Vanquish, Viewtiful Joe, Suda51, Killer 7, Clover Studio, Hideki Kamiya, Dead Phoenix, Panzer Dragoon, PlayStation 2, Devil May Cry, PT, Game Developer Magazine, Friday the 13th, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, Godzilla, Classic Monsters, The Hills Have Eyes, 'Salem's Lot, The Omen, The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Living Dead, Shawn Cassidy, Silent Hill, Gears of War, Metal Gear Solid, Frankenstein, Deathloop, Sam Thomas, BioShock, The Green Knight, David S. Lowery, Ghost Story, Jarkko S, Dishonored, Metro, Hitman, Control, Aki Kaurismaki, The Last of Us Part II, Ryan, Deus Ex, No More Heroes, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
Check Twitter!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series on 2000's The Sims. We first set the game in its time, and then turn almost immediately to what happened with our Sims. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
A couple of hours

Issues covered: spiders and ant farms, last few episodes, our interview with Michel Ancel, games from 2000, all-time sales by brand, an expansion-pack driven business model, games that don't end, a precedent, building up to simulating people, our memories, jumping in without the manual, following the tutorial, talking about Bob and Betty Newbie, a little shade on the console version, what you learn in the tutorial, getting a job, roleplaying the newbies, being visited by the Goths, an interview with John Romero, another visit from the Goths, Tim diving into level design, making messes, options for reading, promoting experimentation, people eating all over the place, Bob and Betty dividing up labor, Bob the freeloader, the people in your neighborhood, horror movie on the TV, kids running in the streets, Mrs Goth collecting her child, the bed against the wall, building versus micromanaging, finding our own fun, comedy factory, inter-system friction, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, spinning the plates, "some dude got water everywhere," discussing how the pathfinding might work, keeping it clean, our Easter Egg, the Aw Jeez files.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: BioStats, Calamity Nolan, Ben from Iowa, Mark Garcia, Michel Ancel, SW: Starfighter, Final Fantasy IX, Deus Ex, THPS 2, SSX, Perfect Dark, NOLF, Baldur's Gate 2, Vagrant Story, Diablo 2, Banjo-Tooie, Spyro: Year of the Dragon, Majora's Mask, Crazy Taxi, Counter-Strike, Thief II, PlayStation, Pokémon, Tetris, Assassin's Creed, Legos, Minecraft, FIFA, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Mario, Game Boy, Little Computer People, Seaman, Tamagotchi, Amiga, Atari, David Crane, Rich Gold, Pitfall!, Famicom, Will Wright, Raid on Bungeling Bay, Maxis, EA, Final Fantasy Tactics, Donald Pleasance, SimCity, Dwarf Fortress, John Romero, Spore, Mr Rogers, The Exorcist, George Lucas, Far Cry 2, Abraham Maslow, Dave K, Final Fantasy VI, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers. 

Next time:
More The Sims!

Twitch: timlongojr, Twitter/Threads/Insta: @devgameclub
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we add a little splice to our series on BioShock by revisiting and discussing its sequels, somewhat vaguely. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: whether Elizabeth is a grown-up Little Sister, getting a chance to revisit Rapture, breaking cycles and circles, overstuffing the narrative space, the mechanics, Skyline rollercoasters, kitchen sink combat, trapping with vigors, combining vigors, being on the nose, dehumanizing the enemies and putting that next to more serious topics, a creator revisiting previous work, friction between teams, wanting more BioShock, "it is a big ole TWO," being able to use both types of weapons at the same time, simplifying hacking, finding new types of puzzles, fleshing out Rapture, paying off on a wish fulfillment you didn't know you have, "getting the franchise," going deeper, the difficulty of seeing someone else work on your work, the weirdness of the DLC, what would they do with a sequel, earning the ending, having more fun via creativity.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Lottery (Shirley Jackson), Dishonored, Fallout 3/Fallout New Vegas, Alien: Isolation, Prey, Halo (series), Daron Stinnett, Star Wars, George Lucas, Escape from New York, Arkham (series), UbiSoft, Death of the Outsider, Deathloop, Resident Evil 4, GameCube, Tantuar, Drew, The Prestige, Hannah Arendt, Ken Levine, Sunset Overdrive, Ratchet & Clank, Insomniac, Control, Todd Howard, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Notes:
The quote is "There's always a lighthouse, there's always a man, there's always a city." We regret the error.

Next time:
Resident Evil 4!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on BioShock. We delve into the end and endings of the game, and of course address our takeaways.Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Finished the game!

Issues covered: Brett's terrible fathering, Big Daddy issues, developing Suchong more as a character, Yellow Peril, leaning into pulp, being like a ship, turning the lower classes via demogoguery, leaning on the Irish, tracing the arc of Diane McClintock, using abstraction to hide real harm, character dualities, turning you into a Big Daddy, seeing the evolution and development of the program, putting the big boots on, fully integrating the backstory into the level and narrative design, redesigning to support the movement of the Big Daddy, changing the perspective, moving from alien camera views to first-person perspective, forcing the section where you protect the Little Sister, being paranoid about keeping the Little Sister alive, playing this section on Hard, BioShock 2 as a better-playing game, handing you the syringe, also becoming a Little Sister, where the series goes from here, the specificity of the series, how to adapt the themes of the series repeatedly, the point of no return, the boss working on paper and maybe not in-game as much, Fontaine being under-developed, still getting Ryan's story after his death, not knowing enough about Fontaine before meeting Ryan, the binary that drives the bad ending, becoming like your fathers, unmotivated world monstrosity, the good ending, doing something other games hadn't, BS jobs, failures of capitalism, a shooter with the heart of an immersive sim, greater approachability, two senses of place (sight and sound), high production values, ease of use/play how you like to/forgiving design.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Fu Manchu, Titanic, Ratchet & Clank, Revenge of the Jedi, 2K Games, Cloud Chamber Studios, Activision, Call of Duty, Fallout, Star Wars, Metroid, Prometheus, Alien, Six Feet Under, The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand, Bullshit Jobs, David Graeber, Debt: The First 5000 Years, Occupy Wall Street, Dishonored 2, Prey, God of War (series), Portal, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
Bonus: the sequels!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on BioShock. We talk a lot about the surprise of the scene of Ryan, and some mechanical and production aspects we haven't had a chance to talk about yet. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to Apollo Square!

Issues covered: where the game should (?) have ended, playing golf with your dad, finding a way to incorporate a power station, Ryan the abstract monster vs Ryan the concrete monster, changing the lens you view Ryan through, rationalizing one's choices, the red yarn board, forcing the player to see a scene the way they want you to, egocentric Ryan and seeing oneself as a tragic hero, every villain as the hero of his own story, mythological framing, other ways you could tackle player agency here, "The Cake Is A Lie," the Irish charmer becoming the Irish thug, using Atlas to puff out Ryan as a monster, the many many layers of references and archetypes, all that matters to me is me and all that matters to you is you, killing people who are much like you, differentiating the Little Sisters in the Tenenbaum section, the mind-control plasmid, walking a tightrope with difficulty and challenge, mixing up your plasmids, the simplicity of upgrades, some numbers change or more things can be impacted, not feeling the power of tonics and plasmids, lack of builds, the limited number of axes across which powers and weapons apply, compressing the depth, modularity in world construction, solid art direction, regularity in the built world, kit-bashing, a couple of kind reviews, dealing with issues of preservation, what gets lost, wanting leaders to do more, having let's plays for reference.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: System Shock 2, Snowpiercer, Portal, Walt Disney, Wide World of Disney, PIXAR, Studio Ghibli, William Hearst, Citizen Kane, Modern Warfare 2, The Last of Us 2, Death Stranding, Hideo Kojima, Arkham City/Arkham Knight, Robert De Niro, The Irishman, Ken Levine, Village of the Damned, Metroid, Ratchet & Clank, Unreal, Gears of War, Skyrim, Fallout (series), Jarkko S., Baldur's Gate, Diablo, Final Fantasy VI, Metal Gear Solid, Chris_3646363, Ocarina of Time, mysterydip, Phil Spencer, Vectrex, Double Fine, Square Enix, The Matrix (series/Online), The Wachowskis, Meridian 59, Andrew and Chris Kirmse, Control, The Lost Room, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Links:
Twitter thread on preservation

Next time:
Finish the game!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on BioShock. We talk about Fort Frolic and the arc of what's coming, guns and plasmids and a bit about their crossover, crafting, and gene tonics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up through Fort Frolic

Issues covered: hitting the best beats of the game, having the future be a little blurry, Cohen's theatricality, using the camera purely as a framing camera artistically, the multiple payoffs of the camera, critical path integration of the camera, time-delayed gratification, a bottle episode, the statue splicers, using spotlights theatrically, how do you produce oxygen and filter out carbon dioxide, riffing on space games, putting crafting on the critical path, not having inventory as a presented system but having it underneath, not a lot of difficult decisions, always being able to get enough stuff through grinding, minimal benefits to adding crafting stations, only just getting better plasmids and tonics (not spending to improve them), the changing approach to respecs in modern design, wanting to ground systems in the world, categorizing tonics as a sop to balancing, Trojan Horsing the immersive sim, alienating a smaller audience in favor of a larger one, Jack's mother and father, themes of family in the series, getting a lot of mileage from the narrative setting, the uselessness of the map and the way the objective marker can put you on the rails, not having decisions that mean a lot, the greater impact of the older games, the rise of blogs and critical outlets, explosion of other outlets around the time.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Pokemon Snap, Dead Rising, Xbox, Unreal Engine, System Shock, Thief, The Chronicles of Riddick, Repblic Commando, Prey, Dishonored, Fallout 3, Tomb Raider (2013), Ayn Rand, Resident Evil, Peter, Planescape: Torment, Control, Blarg42, Twin Suns Corp, Batman (film series), Calamity Nolan, Airplane!, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
To Apollo Square

Links:
1998: Why it's (probably) the Greatest Year Ever in video games

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Bioshock. We talk about the horror elements early on, the use of minibosses, how low-friction the game is, hacking and of course, the Choice. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to end of Neptune's Bounty

Issues covered: reading how Atlas talks about Ryan knowing what we know, introducing Fontaine and audio tapes indicating maybe death at first, temporal setting, the game's argument both against and for the primacy of the individual, horror and the Medical Pavilion, doling out a good step-by-step game, having a solid target in Steinman, framing cinematic events well, theming characters in areas, audio design heightening the horror, seeing ghosts/echoes and the direct lift from System Shock 2, the setup and payoff of the Choice, Tim the Harvester, the difference between harvesting and rescuing, wondering about their goals in making the choice, the sea slug and the original version of the game, killing the protector and traumatizing the girl, not questioning Atlas even though he's wrong, the melancholy of the Big Daddies, the strength of the music and the use of diagetic music, the horror of the 1950s, dealing with the Sisters and Daddies as you go, the pipe hacking mini-game, being low friction, a very forgiving immersive sim, AI state vocalization, richness of AI voice lines, the shift of perspective and how it gives permission to allow for variety of lines, humanizing vs dehumanizing in AI state communication, Bioshock the power fantasy/shooter/hero story.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Half-Life, Arkham Asylum, Pablo Picasso, System Shock 2, Shadow of the Colossus, Bernard Herrmann, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Prey, Thief, Deathloop, Splinter Cell, Uncharted (series), The Last of Us, Naughty Dog, No One Lives Forever, James Bond, Austin Powers, Artimage, Control, The X-Files, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
To the end of Fort Frolic

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 2007's Bioshock. We set the game in its time and talk about how it expanded the audience for a shooter with sim elements, as well as other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to Neptune's Bounty

Issues covered: the name change, retaining identity after being acquired, what is a brand, the games that year, the Shock-verse, wanting System Shock 3, missing the immersive sim, starting with the wrench and a power, the success of the game, broadening the appeal of immersive sim elements, the difficulty of balancing immersive sims and testing them, improving the shooting, a successful E3, keeping secret the weird beginning, the theme park opening, the bathysphere and the mystery, marine life being used once, delivering a really solid moment, a single location that is a character in and of itself, a sleeper hit, the games blogosphere, the "Bioshock slot", taking a chance on something quirky, superhero games often being bad, establishing an Art Deco aesthetic, amplifying fear by setting it underwater, leaning into the horror early, Dutch angle usage, needles, survival horror elements, staying in first person, story bits and teasing narrative out over time, growing story space, well-implemented audio logs, a good choice for narrative delivery, foreshadowing and making a place feel lived in, easy to enjoy, getting some stuff really right, Kindly filling folks in on Atlas, setting up the smoke and mirrors, reapproaching the 4X genre from an old hand, the fun that is Ratchet & Clank, choosing a language based on the regional flavor, how long to show the tutorialization, teach the player without them knowing they are being taught, dynamic tutorials.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Irrational Games/2K Boston, Firaxis, Microsoft, Bethesda Game Studios, SWAT 4, Republic Commando, Portal, Halo 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, Metroid Prime 3, Crysis, Nintendo Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, The Orange Box, Half-Life (series), Team Fortress 2, Medal of Honor: Vanguard, Call of Duty: Vanguard, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, The Witcher, Peggle, PuzzleQuest, Crackdown, WoW: The Burning Crusade, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Lulu LaMer, PlayStation, Xbox, Rainbow Six: Vegas, System Shock 2, Ken Levine, Cloud Chamber, Prey, Arkane, Deathloop, Bioshock Infinite, The Incredibles, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Todd Howard, Fallout 3, Arkham Asylum, Skyrim, Rocksteady, Warner Bros., Jules Verne, Control, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Johnny Pockets Grattan, Old World, Soren Johnson, Civ III, Drew, Ratchet & Clank, Traveller's Tales, LEGO (series), GTA, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Ni No Kuni, SEGA, Ghost Squad, House of the Dead, Yakuza, Metal Gear (series), Death Stranding, Alan Wake, Remedy, Dragon Quest Builders, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
TBD! More Bioshock!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we interview Brian Allgeier, the Lead Designer of the first Ratchet & Clank (as well as many others) in connection with our series. We cover 20 years of career at Insomniac, creative leadership, Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown:
1:12 Interview
59:45 Break
1:00:13 Feedback, Next Time

Issues covered: Girl with a Stick, first jobs, getting in as an animator and artist, getting a good demo reel together, being excited to work on Spyro, having trouble thematically connecting disparate elements, playing in a toy store, an alien traveling from planet to planet collecting weapons and gadgets, evolving the character, building levels diorama-style, getting the attitude of the character across, relatability, kitchen sink design, try it and see what happens, tinkering to find the fun, coming up with jokes except they were weapons, fun in the room translating to fun for the player, an iteration that last for years, grinding, having a rhythm of constantly getting more stuff, getting exciting to work on the games, focusing on story in a generation swap, eating up preproduction on a downloadable title, using challenges to develop as a studio, tricks from the book, switching to user experience research, learning about disability, figuring out movement in VR, always pushing forward, falling into pits, removing friction.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Spyro the Dragon (series), Sony, Ted Price, Phillips Interactive Media, CD-i, Scooby-Doo, Michael John, Mark Cerny, Vinnie the Penguin, Cuphead, Warner Bros/Loony Tunes, Doom, Blue Shift Inc, Running Wild, 989 Studios, PlayStation 2, Brian Hastings, Marvin the Martian, The Little Prince, Iron Giant, Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind, Conker's Bad Fur Day, David Guertin, Naughty Dog, Game Developer, Thomas Edison, Disruptor, Resistance (series), Call of Duty (series), Nintendo, Mike Stout, Halo, Pixar, Brad Santos, TJ Fixman, Directing Video Games: 101 Tips for Creative Leadership, Edge of Nowhere, Lucky's Tale, Sunset Overdrive, Remote Control, Nnedi Okorafor, Binti, Sam, Super Meat Boy, Spider-man, Tony Hawk, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Notes:
Agent 9 was the spy-monkey in Spyro: YotD

Next time:
BioShock!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our series on 2002's Ratchet & Clank, with our takeaways and a bonus look at the 2016 remake. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Actually finished the game

Issues covered: the quality of the cinematics in the new game, Quark's criminal status, being underpowered for the final boss, getting money by going back so you can buy additional weapons, fun timing challenges, giving you a greatest hits in the last couple levels, the difficulty being a thing of its era, getting the benefit of dynamic difficulty, promoting grinding with currency systems, wanting additive rewards, the magic of the RYNO, the inaccessibility of the RYNO, keeping players stuck in one game, balancing on average vs minimum, giving you more navigation tools earlier and by default, doing what's coolest for the player, leaning into variety, infusing RPG elements into another genre, having lenses to navigate the environment, leaning into weapons, embracing the shooter/platformer combo, the Rule of Cool, generosity and finding ways to say yes to your designers and players, handcrafting lots of different things, the many things Insomniac does, the layout of the credits, character attitude, how Ratchet becomes more sympathetic, referring to Halo, character design changes, embracing modern third-person action, transmedia influence, appreciating the company.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Galaxy Quest!, Halo, Bungie, Insomniac, Dungeons & Dragons, Ted Price, Sony, Crash Bandicoot, Warner Bros, Animaniacs, Bugs Bunny, Spider-Man, Edge of Nowhere, The Unspoken, Song of the Deep, Slow Down Bull, Magic Leap, Control, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Marc Garcia.

Next time:
Another Bonus!

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Ratchet & Clank. We talk about the late game, variety in the game in its many forms, getting things out of order, favorite stuff, and more. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Finishing the game?

Issues covered: what the remaster improved or didn't, finding upgrades, having to backtrack, how many weapons we have left, getting to the end of a sequence and not having a payoff, our bonus episode, the entertainment of Mr. Zurkon, comparing the film adaptations, favorite or favored weapons, throwing the wrench, getting the weapon placed in your hands when you pick it up, UI fighting design, chorded weapon wheels later, putting devices on or off the item select, silly trophies, skill points, the space battle with Quark, getting to be Giant Clank, fun being the giant monster, pounding lots of big enemies, the Gadgetron grind rail, tools for making things epic, having only two hoverboard sections, having the confidence to let your enemies look dumb, setting up the level design to make you feel clever, embracing the medium, "smart dumb fun," killer dogs, dynamic difficulty,

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Metroid (series), World of Warcraft, Fallout, Spyro (series), LEGO (series), Iron Giant, Psychonauts, Rampage, Final Fantasy (series), SSX (series), God of War, Halo (series), Jak & Daxter, Zachary, Starfighter, Republic Commando, Resident Evil 4, Mark Brown, Game Designer's Toolkit, Bloodborne, Horizon: Zero Dawn, The Last Guardian, Pokemon, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Note:
In LEGO games, the currency is the "stud"

Next time:
Finishing the game! and a bit of the re...visit

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Ratchet & Clank. We delve primarily into the variant game play we start to see at this point in the game, though admittedly with other topics sprinkled in. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up through Bomb Factory

Issues covered: voice cast, Ratchet's longer story arc, dark and snark, opposing ideas of what have to be done, building story around archetypes, attitude mascots, moving from mascots to more realistic rendering and characters, PlayStation moving to more "mature" themes, Microsoft pulling Sony, changing strategy, wanting the variant game play to reinforce the setting, spline enemies, aim down sites, using tools to create problem-solving scenarios with weapons, having lots of rewards for completing variant play, enjoying being able to visit a space a second time, sticking with a single design structure for years, fighting the Snagglebeast, what we have to look forward to, miniaturization for backwards compatibility and as a business plan, picking the right version of a game to play, not looking to fans for what they want, having the tools to talk about game design through engaging with the podcast, talking about the end of Death Stranding.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Lost, Hitman, Pulp Fiction (obliquely), David Kaye, Transformers, GI Joe, Paul Giamatti, Mikey Kelley, Michael Richardson, Mortal Kombat, TMNT, Jim Ward, Prince of Persia, Star Trek, Mario (series), Nintendo, Sonic the Hedgehog, Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter, Uncharted, The Last of Us, Sly Cooper, Infamous, Ghosts of Tsushima, Spider-man (PS4), Sony Santa Monica, Twisted Metal, God of War, Xbox, Halo, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Mark Cerny, Starfighter, Rogue Squadron, Starfox, Zelda (series), Spyro, Sunset Overdrive, Tony Hawk, Jet Grind Radio, Kingdom Hearts, Death Stranding, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, PSOne, Metal Gear Solid, LucasArts, Truffles Mochachino, Final Fantasy VI, Square Enix, Waypoint Radio, Chrono Trigger, Sebastian Deken, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Dark Souls, Horizon: Zero Dawn, biostats, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
Finishing the game

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

Friends from the Discord provide some audio from back in December -- sorry to get to it so late, I admit I forgot. No show notes as I'm just back from vacation and settling in. See you next week.

Next time:
New series!

Twitch: timlongojr, Twitter/Threads/Insta: @devgameclub
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2002's Insomniac action shooter platformer Ratchet & Clank. This week we talk about the weapons systems, watching a game evolve over a few years, level design, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to Blarg Station Nebula G64 or thereabouts

Issues covered: propulsion, stretch and squish, humor along the lines of Warner Bros, comedy and timing, matching comedy style to the game, weapon upgrade systems and the many levels of weapons, contextualizing upgrades and gadgets, the zaniness of weapons, gold bolts, having help with the collectibles, getting a lot of trophies, the ways gadgets improved, improving usability, third-person shooting on consoles, early 3D still, filling in the gaps for Nintendo, collection-focused mechanics vs generosity of bolts, failing forward, channels of reward, skill-based leveling systems, adding behaviors to weapons as they level, the variant gameplay forms, looping back to the beginning of sections in level design, taking over Clank, ordering a small squad of robots, a series that blends together, Ratchet being a little irritating, good enemies, music with zany sci-fi, world-building on the nose in a good way, why Gau is a great character, CRTs vs monitors, picking favorite RPG characters, hidden mechanics, an announcement of Brett and Tim working together again.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Marvin the Martian, Warner Bros., Disney, Hanna Barbera, Jackass (film series), the 1619 Project, Nintendo, Oddworld, Stranger's Wrath, The Mask, Sly Cooper, LucasArts, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, LEGO Star Wars, Elder Scrolls (series), Ready at Dawn, High Impact Games, Full Throttle, Anachronox, Space Quest, The Incredibles, Michael Giacchino, David, Bergeaud, Disruptor, Resistance, mysterydip, Final Fantasy VI, Pokemon, zachary, SNES Classic, Blarg42, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest, Dragonball, Sebastian Deken, BioWare, Planescape: Torment, Mass Effect, Dragon Age (series), Ni No Kuni, Freddy Prinze Jr, Baldur's Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, JRR Tolkien, Mikael Danielsson, Gears of War, Starfighter, Republic Commando, Jak & Daxter, Resident Evil (series), Death Stranding, Calamity Nolan, Twin Suns Corp, Harley Baldwin, Greg Knight, Paul Pierce, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
Up through the Bomb Factory!

Link:

CRT vs Monitor in Pixel Art

Hidden Mechanics

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on the delightful action platformer shooter thing called Ratchet & Clank. We set it in its time a little bit, and talk a bit about developer Insomniac, and then turn to talk about introductory impressions and continue to catch up on feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Up to Novalis

Issues covered: destroying your enemies with flame, tone and charm and humor, 2002: a Good Year with a Thick Coat of Peanut Butter, the mascots, playing PlayStation games at the start of the PS2 lifecycle, the Cerny Method, Tim's first time, the war on consoles surrounding mascots and third person action, what Microsoft was up to, Brett projects that Tim will be amazed about with the guns, a little sideline into Resistance, the titles, future streamlining, getting animation to film quality, stretch and squish as a frontier, making a character feel very alive, Brett dives into the hardware, wishing you could take your technical expertise back, seeing lots of characters and structure very early, consistency of tone, enjoyable juvenalia, a series of gags, the surprise of having a map and quests, a variety of enemy types, the tendency of consoles towards PCs, a huge pile of FF6 secrets, a game coming to you at a time where it helped you get through, what we'd want from JRPG combat, taking a week off, thinking you've finished the game,

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Insomniac, PlayStation 2, Disruptor, Spyro (series), Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Kingdom Hearts, Eternal Darkness, Animal Crossing, GameCube, Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Wind Waker, Republic Commando, Xbox, Sly Cooper, MechAssault, Splinter Cell, BG: Dark Alliance, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4, Phantasy Star Online I & II, Andrew Kirmse, Warcraft III, Jedi Outcast, Freedom Force, Irrational Games, Jonathan Chey, Dungeon Siege, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, No One Lives Forever 2, Neverwinter Nights, Battlefield 1942, Jedi Starfighter, Rez, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Metroid Fusion, Metroid Dread, Sonic (series), GTA III: Vice City, LucasArts, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy Tactics, Sunset Boulevard, Sunset Overdrive, Fuse, Mark Cerny, Game Developer Magazine, Jak & Daxter, Super Mario 64, Nintendo 64, Crash Bandicoot, Rare, Banjo Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Sega, UbiSoft, Rayman, Gex, Crystal Dynamics, Croc, Bonk, Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Frogger, Halo, Max Payne, Brute Force, Psychonauts, Viva Pinata, Perfect Dark Zero, GoldenEye, Sea of Thieves, Resistance, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Agent Carter, Skylanders, Toys for Bob, Star Wars, Space Quest, Anachronox, Warner Bros, Animaniacs, Bugs Bunny, Ryan/Biostats, Top Gun, Ninja Turtles, Ducktales, Chrono Trigger, Mark Garcia, Undertale, Skyrim, Death Stranding, Calamity Nolan, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time:
Play more! How much more? Peep the Twitters.

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

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we at last conclude our series on Final Fantasy VI. We give our takeaways and then turn to some of the mountain of feedback that's been piling up. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Issues covered: June says hello, developing deep character backstories, differing combat mechanics for each character, being pushed to mix parties at the end of the game, full world state changes, going against the grain, going dark places, getting a lot out of their engine and their small set of sprites, stretching beyond your audience's expectations, the alienness of opera, merging exploration with linear story, not knowing what order the story might come in, storylets and minimum expectations of how much game you get, Brett's Book Recommendation, dealing with the end of the world, having trouble getting past an early fight, a strange fan theory, having lots of story and wanting to split the characters, cautioning against reading too much into "original plans," marketing input, the contrasts of Terra and Celes, games as products of their constraints, the business constraints of a changing technology base with many developers, Terra's special ability, input lag in the Anthology, more about the weird Relm sketch glitz, how tools lag, higher fan expectations, the slowing of velocity with each generation, going towards the lowest common denominator or what we know works.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sebastian Deken, biostats, Chrono Trigger, Baldur's Gate, BioWare, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Ultima (series), Gold Box (series), Wizardry, Dungeons & Dragons, SNES, Batman (obliquely), Shadow of the Colossus, God of War (series), Deus Ex, The Uninhabitable Earth, David Wallace-Wells, Death Stranding, Logan Wells, Skyrim, Star Wars, Sega, Phantasy Star, Wes from DFW, Ted Turner, The Museum of Film and Television, Mikael Danielsson, Sam, Johnny Pockets, Valheim, Cyberpunk, The Witcher III, Marvel, Wonder Woman, John Romero, DOOM (1993), Quake, Stardew Valley, Ratchet & Clank, PS3, Hideo Kojima, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time:
Ratchet & Clank (first level)

Links:
An Ultima-te fail

Podcast rec from Johnny Pockets

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