The Fourth Curtain – Details, episodes & analysis

Our guest this week is the legend Jordan Weisman. Creator of BattleTech, Crimson Skies and the world's first alternate reality game, he's now working on Adventure Forge, a platform to help non-engineers make videogames. We talk buying D&D from Gary Gygax, at Gary's house!, the secret to entrepreneurship and creating the "Bungie bubble" this week!

[00:07:00] Interview Introduction: Jordan Weisman’s Career Highlights
Alex introduces Jordan Weisman’s career and his influential work in gaming and alternate reality games (ARGs).

[00:10:00] The Origins of WizKids and Collectible Miniatures
Jordan talks about founding WizKids and the success of HeroClix.

[00:15:00] Early Gaming Experiences and Inspiration for Shadowrun
Jordan discusses how his early exposure to Mesoamerican culture and tabletop games influenced the creation of Shadowrun.

[00:26:00] Adventure Forge: A Platform for Game Creation
Jordan introduces Adventure Forge, a platform for user-generated content (UGC) in video games.

[00:34:00] The Rise of MechWarrior and Working with Activision
Discussion about the development of MechWarrior 2 and the challenges faced with Activision.

[00:44:00] Disney, Star Wars, and Interactive Experiences
Jordan talks about his work on interactive systems for Disney, including the development of a system that allows actors to recognize guests.

[00:59:00] Alternate Reality Games and Storytelling
Jordan explains his ideas for alternate reality games (ARGs) and the concept of discovery-based storytelling.

[01:08:00] The Making of "I Love Bees" and Pitching to Spielberg
Jordan recounts how the ARG I Love Bees came to life and his meetings with Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy.

Jordan's kickstarter campaign - check it out! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jordanweisman/sea-of-legends-open-world-crpg

Support the show

Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life!
Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron Marroquin
Find us at www.thefourthcurtain.com

Join our Patreon for early, ad-free episodes plus bonus content at https://patreon.com/FourthCurtain

Come join the conversation at https://discord.gg/KWeGE4xHfe
Videos available at https://www.youtube.com/@thefourthcurtain
Follow us on Twitter: @fourthcurtain
Edited and mastered at https://noise-floor.com

Audio Editor: Bryen Hensley
Video Editor: Sarkis Grigorian
Producer: Kimya Taheri
Art: Paul Russel
Community Manager: Doug Zartman
Featuring Liberation by 505

Our guest this week is the co-creative director of Arkane Studios, Harvey Smith. Starting out in QA for System Shock and other games, he went on to be lead designer for Deus Ex and ultimately made Dishonored at Arkane. We talk meeting your heroes, recombining systems and the secret to making a magical game this week! 

[00:00:00] - Harvey Smith discusses his first encounter with a game that sparked his passion, System Shock, comparing it to seeing one's first love in a movie.

[00:45:00] - Harvey recounts his experience with Ultima 8, explaining how he created a list of 100 ways the game could have been improved and how he was eventually given a team to fix these issues.

[01:05:00] - Harvey shares the development of Deus Ex, discussing how the team decided to extend the development period by six months after realizing the game could be significantly improved.

[01:13:00] - Harvey emphasizes the importance of having additional time for game development, citing examples like Deus Ex and Dishonored, where extra time made a substantial difference in quality.

[01:17:00] - Harvey and Alex discuss the challenges and rewards of working in the game industry, touching on topics like QA work, the grind of production, and the passion required to succeed.

[01:25:00] - The episode wraps up with thanks to the listeners, information about the production team, and a call to action to visit the podcast's website and follow on various platforms.

Support the show

Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life!
Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron Marroquin
Find us at www.thefourthcurtain.com

Join our Patreon for early, ad-free episodes plus bonus content at https://patreon.com/FourthCurtain

Come join the conversation at https://discord.gg/KWeGE4xHfe
Videos available at https://www.youtube.com/@thefourthcurtain
Follow us on Twitter: @fourthcurtain
Edited and mastered at https://noise-floor.com

Audio Editor: Bryen Hensley
Video Editor: Sarkis Grigorian
Producer: Kimya Taheri
Art: Paul Russel
Community Manager: Doug Zartman
Featuring Liberation by 505

Our guests this week are creators of the visually-striking games Cocoon, Limbo and Inside. Jakob Scmid is co-founder of Geometric Interactive and Erwin Kho is the artist guiding a couple of those projects. We talk about readable environments, demo scenes and more this week!

Support the show

Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life!
Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron Marroquin
Find us at www.thefourthcurtain.com

Join our Patreon for early, ad-free episodes plus bonus content at https://patreon.com/FourthCurtain

Come join the conversation at https://discord.gg/KWeGE4xHfe
Videos available at https://www.youtube.com/@thefourthcurtain
Follow us on Twitter: @fourthcurtain
Edited and mastered at https://noise-floor.com

Audio Editor: Bryen Hensley
Video Editor: Sarkis Grigorian
Producer: Kimya Taheri
Art: Paul Russel
Community Manager: Doug Zartman
Featuring Liberation by 505

This past March, 30,000 people went to San Francisco for the annual Game Developers Conference. Going since 1988, GDC, brings together people from all corners of the game development community. The Fourth Curtain followed four different journeys intersecting this conference.

The First Timer: Aaron has never gone to GDC and it terrified him.
The Seasoned Pro: Patrick Curry, game studio founder on how he grew up at the conference and how it changed him.
The Founder: Chris Crawford on why he started the conference and how it ultimately drove him from the industry.
The Indie: Geometric Interactive, their award nominated game Cocoon goes to GDC and they come back with something better than trophies.

Support the show

Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life!
Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron Marroquin
Find us at www.thefourthcurtain.com

Join our Patreon for early, ad-free episodes plus bonus content at https://patreon.com/FourthCurtain

Come join the conversation at https://discord.gg/KWeGE4xHfe
Videos available at https://www.youtube.com/@thefourthcurtain
Follow us on Twitter: @fourthcurtain
Edited and mastered at https://noise-floor.com

Audio Editor: Bryen Hensley
Video Editor: Sarkis Grigorian
Producer: Kimya Taheri
Art: Paul Russel
Community Manager: Doug Zartman
Featuring Liberation by 505

In this inaugural Lunch Club episode of The Fourth Curtain we discuss starting a Game Studio, something Alex has done a few times. We fail to actually eat lunch, but we do talk about the following topics:

1) Why? Why do you want to start one? What are good reason to do so and what’s a game studio really?

2) Strategies. If you are starting a studio, does it have a strategy? Platform, genre, technology, IP? What’s the “sum is greater than its parts” part?

3) Funding. How to get off the ground

4) Needs. Team, Legal, Accounting, Technology Infrastructure, Nuts and Bolts and other operational considerations.

5) Team. How to recruit, building a culture, keeping focus, motivating long term and balancing hard skills vs soft skills

Support the show

Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life!
Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron Marroquin
Find us at www.thefourthcurtain.com

Join our Patreon for early, ad-free episodes plus bonus content at https://patreon.com/FourthCurtain

Come join the conversation at https://discord.gg/KWeGE4xHfe
Videos available at https://www.youtube.com/@thefourthcurtain
Follow us on Twitter: @fourthcurtain
Edited and mastered at https://noise-floor.com

Audio Editor: Bryen Hensley
Video Editor: Sarkis Grigorian
Producer: Kimya Taheri
Art: Paul Russel
Community Manager: Doug Zartman
Featuring Liberation by 505

This week’s guest Tim Morten has been putting the “real” in real time strategy for years. Formerly lead on Starcraft II, he’s now CEO of Frost Giant Studios, where they’re making Stormgate, a game intended to broaden the RTS audience. We talk compromises, learning how to make games and Korea’s love of Starcraft this week!

Support the show

Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life!
Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron Marroquin
Find us at www.thefourthcurtain.com

Join our Patreon for early, ad-free episodes plus bonus content at https://patreon.com/FourthCurtain

Come join the conversation at https://discord.gg/KWeGE4xHfe
Videos available at https://www.youtube.com/@thefourthcurtain
Follow us on Twitter: @fourthcurtain
Edited and mastered at https://noise-floor.com

Audio Editor: Bryen Hensley
Video Editor: Sarkis Grigorian
Producer: Kimya Taheri
Art: Paul Russel
Community Manager: Doug Zartman
Featuring Liberation by 505

Our guest this week was a founder of Glu and Playfish and an early investor in Supercell. Now he’s CEO of Super Evil Megacorp working on TMNT for Switch. We talk the early days of mobile, the great Vainglory and roguelites in a very educational episode this week!

Support the show

Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life!
Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron Marroquin
Find us at www.thefourthcurtain.com

Join our Patreon for early, ad-free episodes plus bonus content at https://patreon.com/FourthCurtain

Come join the conversation at https://discord.gg/KWeGE4xHfe
Videos available at https://www.youtube.com/@thefourthcurtain
Follow us on Twitter: @fourthcurtain
Edited and mastered at https://noise-floor.com

Audio Editor: Bryen Hensley
Video Editor: Sarkis Grigorian
Producer: Kimya Taheri
Art: Paul Russel
Community Manager: Doug Zartman
Featuring Liberation by 505

Beginning with a 3DO dev kit he was developing on alone (!), Ted Price went on to make Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet and Clank and Spiderman. His company Insomniac has been making games for a boggling 30 years! We talk odd jobs, Hail Marys and hands for mechanics this week.

Support the show

Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life!
Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron Marroquin
Find us at www.thefourthcurtain.com

Join our Patreon for early, ad-free episodes plus bonus content at https://patreon.com/FourthCurtain

Come join the conversation at https://discord.gg/KWeGE4xHfe
Videos available at https://www.youtube.com/@thefourthcurtain
Follow us on Twitter: @fourthcurtain
Edited and mastered at https://noise-floor.com

Audio Editor: Bryen Hensley
Video Editor: Sarkis Grigorian
Producer: Kimya Taheri
Art: Paul Russel
Community Manager: Doug Zartman
Featuring Liberation by 505

Our guests Paul and Katy Bettner are the Co-CEOs of Playful Games. Paul got his start making Age of Empires and Halo Wars. Together Paul and Katy made the leap into mobile founding NewToy, where Words with Friends became one of the most-played games of all time. They’re now working on Wildcard, a game aiming to fulfill the promise of web3. We talk Alec Baldwin, terrible MySpaces and feelings this week!

Support the show

Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life!
Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron Marroquin
Find us at www.thefourthcurtain.com

Join our Patreon for early, ad-free episodes plus bonus content at https://patreon.com/FourthCurtain

Come join the conversation at https://discord.gg/KWeGE4xHfe
Videos available at https://www.youtube.com/@thefourthcurtain
Follow us on Twitter: @fourthcurtain
Edited and mastered at https://noise-floor.com

Audio Editor: Bryen Hensley
Video Editor: Sarkis Grigorian
Producer: Kimya Taheri
Art: Paul Russel
Community Manager: Doug Zartman
Featuring Liberation by 505

Our guest Peter Moore keeps ending up on top, whether it’s Reebok, Sega, EA Sports or Liverpool FC. His remarkable journey begins with semi-pro football, veers into videogames to become a father of the Dreamcast, head of EA Sports and has come full circle as owner of Santa Barbara Sky FC. Stories of recruiter calls, a dead Seaman and the Four C’s this week!

Visit Peter's new football team: https://www.santabarbaraskyfc.com/
Peter's Ted Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/peter_moore_how_my_life_journey_led_to_becoming_ceo_of_liverpool_fc

Support the show

Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life!
Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron Marroquin
Find us at www.thefourthcurtain.com

Join our Patreon for early, ad-free episodes plus bonus content at https://patreon.com/FourthCurtain

Come join the conversation at https://discord.gg/KWeGE4xHfe
Videos available at https://www.youtube.com/@thefourthcurtain
Follow us on Twitter: @fourthcurtain
Edited and mastered at https://noise-floor.com

Audio Editor: Bryen Hensley
Video Editor: Sarkis Grigorian
Producer: Kimya Taheri
Art: Paul Russel
Community Manager: Doug Zartman
Featuring Liberation by 505