Dev Game Club

Welcome to our first episode examining 1996's survival horror classic Resident Evil. We discuss many of the features that are evident from the beginning of the game that set it apart from other sorts of 3rd person games of the time. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up until the Residence (in theory) Podcast breakdown: 0:24 Segment 1: History and themes 58:07 Break 1 58:35 Segment 2: Reader mail and next time Issues covered: last episode's interview, removing player empowerment, bold decisions in design, can this game be made in the US in 1996, other cultures borrowing genres and reinventing them, frustrating the player and the impossibility of getting this game made today, impatience vs methodical play, subverting player expectation, map coverage and "safety", a systemically light game, jump scares, vulnerability, accumulation of small details, resource management, feeling every shot, inventory management, inability

Welcome to our fifth and final episode examining 1997's classic RPG Fallout. We are lucky enough to interview Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, Producer/Lead Programmer and Art Director respectively on Fallout as well as two of the three founding members of Troika Games. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 0:38        Interview with Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky! 1:01:10   Break 1:01:35   Geek-outro Issues covered: the Wild West of early studio game development, the meta-installer, making engines in your spare time, tabletop after-hours, abstracting the operating system, GURPS character generator, working you way up, pizza and game dev, RPG renaissance, bold theme choices, filtering passionate ideas, making your dream game, career paths into game development, clubhouse Interplay and a creative atmosphere, business incursion, from the garage to the office park, right place right time, QA preferring your game over being p

This is a companion bonus episode to Dev Game Club, a weekly podcast in which Brett Douville and Tim Longo examine classic games and discuss their relevance and impact today.  We tie together our episodes about Fallout with a preceding title and a successor in Wasteland 1&2.   

Welcome to our fourth episode examining 1997's classic RPG Fallout. We finish off the game, discussing our various choices, and then turn to the various pillars we draw from it. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: The base and the Cathedral Podcast breakdown: 0:35    Segment 1: Finishing Fallout 45:12  Break 1 45:50  Segment 2: Pillars and Feedback Issues covered: going back to the Glow, voice acting, sharing assets between various animated characters, criminal underworld quests, the liberation of playing and letting the chips fall where they may, missing out on content, growing an audience by offering multiple play styles, murderous Tim Longo, blowing up the base, satisfying cinematic resolution, getting stuck on the force fields, obscure solutions to big problems, the many uses of the radio, close quarters rocketry, stealthy super mutants, inventory loophole and managing weight limits, hardened power armor, carrying

Welcome to our third episode examining 1997's classic RPG Fallout. We examine tactical combat, leveling strategies, encumbrance as a specific mechanic, and also a lot of what we saw and did. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Everything before the base and Cathedral Podcast breakdown: 0:42 Segment 1 -- all of the above 58:07 Break 58:38 Segment 2: Feedback, next time, and teasers Issues covered: weapon offerings, Power Fist empowerment, late leveling, Ian meets his maker, knowing when the kills are coming, feeding memory from the CD, Tim's last followers, tactical combat numbers, twitch tension, fantasy fulfillment, thoughtful decisions, sound design supporting mechanics, narrative moments in combat, stimpack use, encumbrance and survival, mechanics that force you to reload when you get lost, return to town loop, forcing choices through encumbrance, building tension through limits, making tactical decisions for a larg

Welcome to our second episode examining 1997's classic RPG Fallout. We talk about the lack of the hand-holding in the game, discuss our character builds a bit and talk about the choices we've made so far. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Note: Brett keeps mixing up Junktown with Hub. He blames illness. Our apologies. Sections played: Up until you resolve the Water Chip Podcast breakdown: 0:40    Intro/Segment 1 43:42  Break 1 44:22  What next and Feedback Issues covered: following different threads, Brotherhood of Steel, power armor, Death Claws, having less fun when there are fewer barriers, making your follower into your donkey, open world structure and directionlessness, paying to extend the life of the Vault, playing against type, having Dogmeat as a follower, living with consequences, playing morally ambiguous characters, the meaningfulness of followers, narrative depth of followers, JRPGs, how we dealt with Gizmo, Brett's hote

Welcome to our first episode in our series examining 1997's Fallout. We talk a bit about the RPG renaissance it seemed to kick off and then delve into the first few hours. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up until you reach Junktown Podcast breakdown: 0:37      Segment 1: Relevance 32:11    Break 32:36    Segment 2: Towards Junktown 1:08:46 Break 1:09:17 Segment 3: Listener feedback, next time Issues covered: Brett's workshopping and quotes collection, RPG resurgence in the late '90s, Interplay and other RPG-maker troubles, a new direction for Western RPGs, getting away from the high fantasy setting, accessible turn-based combat, supporting text, return to apocalypse, enabling a variety of settings, tabletop RPGs, hexagonal and rectilinear grids, maturity, relatability, gruesome deaths, archetypes, humor, RPGs vs RPG elements, numerical traits and skill systems, player agency over character destiny, filling out the

Welcome to our final episode in our series examining Super Metroid. We delve specifically into the last couple of boss battles and the concomitant storytelling, and spend some time thinking about our favorite areas. We also talk about the pillars and takeaways of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: End of the game! Podcast breakdown: 0:47    Section 1: Final bosses, storytelling, and Zebes's areas 42:12  Break 1 42:55  Section 2: Takeaways, listener feedback, next game Issues covered: Tim wants to be a pill bug, Samus's backstory and narrative wrappers, feedback/feed-forward loop, player skill, being stuck near Ridley, difficulty curves, developer blindness to difficulty, earning the end vs other Nintendo titles, Space Pirates, map problems and telling the player what they can find, controls difficulty, storytelling in the endgame, Christian the lion, getting to know the world, difficulty adjustment, creature

Welcome to the third episode in our series examining Super Metroid. We delve specifically into the boss battles we've played thus far and spend some time talking about player skill and both positive and negative feedback loops in its play. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through the boss "Draygon" Podcast breakdown: 0:29      Segment 1: Intro and boss battles 36:57    Break 1 37:22    Segment 2: Player empowerment, feedback 1:05:54 Break 2 Issues covered: choosing the Chozo suit, boss design, back history, negative reinforcement, not reading the manual, telegraphing, reappearance of Crocomire (and others), Kraid two-step shooting, skill-based bosses, experimentation and nearby save points, using lesser monsters as foreshadowing, robots that activate, 1950s robots, art directing towards technical limitations, wanting more meaning from the holes Botwoon disappears into, working within constraints, chasing fidelity, c

Welcome to our second episode in our series examining Super Metroid. We talk a bit about what we might do with the series if it were handed to us, and delve deeply into the way Samus fits into the world completely. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up until the Ice Beam Podcast breakdown: 0:33    Segment 1: innovating Metroid and character context 48:13  Break 1 48:45  Segment 2: Skill-based play, bits and bobs, and reader mail! Issues covered: what do you do with this franchise if they hand it to you, destructability, history of Samus Aran as a potential exploration angle, the game hitting its stride, are most of the weapons missable?, getting stuck (or are you), not reading the f'ing manual again (running), a nearly perfect game design, abilities you can disable, the big gold statue and Ridley, scanning and lore and collection, what the manual reveals, players skip everything, economy of character design, building

Welcome to our first episode in our series examining Super Metroid, our first foray into playing something that is exclusively on console. We first situate the game and the series in importance and discuss the influence of Japanese design before turning to the first couple of hours of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up until the Charge Beam Podcast breakdown: 0:31      Segment 1: Relevance/Impact 26:47    Break 1 27:23    Segment 2: First part 1:10:30 Break 2 1:10:54 Segment 3: Outro/Next time Issues covered: how one pronounces "Douville," synchronization bugs, impact of Japanese, mix of skill-based play and environmental puzzles and exploration and tactical decisions, concurrent original development of multiple storied franchises, the time constraints on adult players, open world games and growing the space, narrative and the environment, foreshadowing in the main menu, narrative tone, stylized minimali

Welcome to our final episode in our series examining Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, where we welcome guest Bill Roper! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Quick show note: We had some technical difficulties with Bill's mic, so he's a little quiet. Apologies. It is worth boosting your headphones to hear him. Podcast breakdown: 0:38      Bill Roper Interview 1:12:41 Break 1 1:13:06 Outro, next game Issues covered: Blizzard pre-Warcraft, how Bill got in, voice over, joining up to do anything, having empathy for orcs, manual symmetry, making investments in quality, notepads add heft, guerrilla marketing, "Growing up Blizzard," inclusivity and the "Mom test," getting into the RTS market, raising the bar back and forth with Westwood, SVGA resolution, LAN multiplayer, desynchronization bugs, pushing the capabilities of the engine, stringing missions together into a story, constant iteration of game writing, ebb and flow of mission types, longer d

A sudden emergency made recording our guest interview with Bill Roper impossible, so we postponed. Brett hops on the mic to quickly brief you on that, and to announce our next game! Next time: Still Bill Roper!   @brett_douville, @timlongojr, @devgameclub www.devgameclub.com devgameclub@gmail.com

Welcome to our fourth episode in our series examining Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. We finish off our discussion of the game, discussing the last few missions and turning to our takeways and pillars. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Humans 10-12 and Orcs 10-12 Podcast breakdown: 0:36     Segment 1: Last four missions 32:35   Break 1 33:12   Segment 2: Takeaways, pillars, and next time Issues covered: big army missions, Brett's final strategy: wizards and warlocks FTW!, demons and elementals as hero units, level design as scheduling, cheating AI, Brett the programmer nerd: using a unit as a counter variable, constraints inspire creativity, finding the fun, player-centric design, mission customization in later RTSes, unique locations at the end of the game (Stormwind Castle and Blackrock Spire), limiting need for upgrades at end of game, "more" instead of "different," turning drama into tedium, Warcraft nerd-out time, Wa

Welcome to our third episode in our series examining Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. We specifically discuss micro management, real-time strategy as a genre, and a bit of the Warcraft lore, though not to excess. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Humans 7-9 and Orcs 7-9, interleaved Podcast breakdown: 0:37 One long take this time! Issues covered: dealing with spellcasters, MOBAs, target-focused management of time and resources vs spatial, conjurers as generators of free units, balancing against Rain of Fire, spellcasters turning into hero units, automating unit production in later games, reducing clicks to manage greater complexity (but further abstract the game), defeating micromanagement, micromanagement pros and cons, street by street combat, catapults, "My Garona," mission variety and RPG influences, tactical turn-based combat, fewer decisions which mean more vs lots of decisions which mean less, evolving back towards

Welcome to our second episode in our series examining Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. We specifically discuss unit introduction and the evolution of the genre and how it does and doesn't parallel tabletop wargaming. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Four more of each campaign -- Human 3-6, Orc 3-6 Podcast breakdown: 0:31       Intro and segment 1 37:11     Break 1 37:31     Segment 2 1:05:08  Break 2 1:05:34  Next time Issues covered: destroying bases, unit introduction as enemies and as friendlies, unit costs as a bar to trying out new types, usability issues, Tim's difficulties with having to restart, preconceived notions, seeding towns with units for difficulty, ranged strategy and pull radii, abusing pathfinding, similarity to tower defense, playing orcs differently from the humans, Tim's changing style of play, micromanaging formations, tuning difficulty for different speeds of play, archers vs catapults, Brett think

In this first episode of our series discussing Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, we examine the relevance of the original game to the series as a whole and its genre in particular and begin delving into the mechanics on display in the first few levels of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: First two levels of each campaign: H1, O1, H2, O2 Podcast breakdown: 0:32        Intro and segment 1 (relevance, personal and industry wise) 33:55      Break 1 34:23      Dev and mechanics talk 1:07:05   Break 2 1:07:32   Quick additional topic and next time Issues covered: committing to the division of Orcs and Humans, reading the freaking manual, what went into manuals and not, training the player and avoiding the manual, credits in the PS2 era, what did you need a manual for, the Indie Box, tooltips and in-game instruction, story development inside of Blizzard games vis a vis Westwood, CD-ROM and FMV, mission type variety, mods

In this final interview episode discussing recently remastered LucasArts classic Day of the Tentacle, we welcome two guests, DOTT co-leads Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer! We had a fascinating time talking with the two of them and getting their insights on what they were trying to do and where some of the decisions came from. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Production note: Some of Brett's voice cut out during recording, and so there are a couple places where that is patched up. Podcast breakdown: 0:39 Interview with Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer 1:01:55 Segment 2: Next time on DevGameClub! Issues covered: long introductions of our interviewees, holding your breath for ten minutes, the puzzles you remember when you revisit a game, openness in adventure game design, the lessons of inexperience, three- and four-act structures, puzzle miasma, non-linearity and agency, "Why Adventure Games Suck," backwards puzzles, "how's the player supp

In this third episode discussing recently remastered LucasArts classic Day of the Tentacle, we finally move on to talk about specific puzzles -- this is a spoilery podcast. Plus, Tim has a moment of psychological devastation as Brett unveils the implications of his approach. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Last third of the game! Finish it off. Podcast breakdown: 0:30 Specific puzzles where we got stuck 38:20 Break 1 38:53 History and its discontents (okay, grab bag) Issues covered: puzzle games and programming/debugging, Ron Gilbert's Rules of Adventure Game Design, getting to a point where a game is unsolvable (and not knowing), squeaky bed puzzle, when objects are decomposed and not, interface differences between PC and console, spatial relations in adventure games, the right time to cut away from a scene (what to show and what not to -- production solutions), fixating on the bowling ball, Rosebud, "Meanwhile..

In this second episode discussing recently remastered LucasArts classic Day of the Tentacle, we talk about how to move on when you get stuck and speculate about how these games were constructed. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Hard to say; approximately another third of the game (~3 hours) Podcast breakdown: 0:24       Segment 1: How you get unstuck 34:03     Break 34:30     Segment 2: puzzle development, reader mail 1:15:19  Outro Issues covered: Gabe Newell's non-joining of Twitter, what you do when you get stuck, stepping away from the game, re-walking the whole space, training you away from the straightforward solution, moving all the inventory to one person, squirting disappearing ink on everyone, discovering clues via what's allowed to move back and forth in time, holding yourself back from looking it up on the Internet, inventory item combination, getting clues about what to do next, Tim getting stuck on S