Dev Game Club

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2003's Beyond Good & Evil. We talk a lot more about the camera, how it compares with Zelda some more, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through the Slaughterhouse Issues covered: pigs and pokes, hubs and spokes, feeling like a bigger place, manufacturing the sense of evolutionary trees, getting turned around in dungeons, having a rare moment with a whale, relatable science fiction, SAC and showing character information, a baby step towards tracking, re-purchasable resources, inconsistency of pearl gathering, what you use pearls for, a weird hybrid of various games, not getting the shark names (carcharadon), finding the most difficult looters cave first, going on tilt, competing for Francis's pearl, finding the Alpha Section areas in the pedestrian district, a cool vehicle, camera issues, fun boat physics, having a hard time tipt

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Beyond Good & Evil. We talk about a number of the game's systems, compare it with Zelda, and engage with the level design and characters. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Past the Factory Issues covered: who said that line, characterization and Frenchness, aesthetics, cosmic horror and the Domz, Hub, lacking symmetry to promote alienness, diagetic design in its systems, the first trailer, a world you want to hang out in, quirky aesthetic, the camera and when you get control, night and day between two camera systems, the PC port, the "Zelda bucket," modularity and object-orientedness in Zelda games, clockwork, the photojournalism of it, doing things because the narrative demands it and not systematically, stealth vs combat, giving your companions power-ups, companions in combat, two-heart buddies, lock and key enemies, being able to bolt on mecha

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 2003's Beyond Good and Evil. We talk a little bit about this kind of game, these story-based games that don't have a ton of focus but do have a lot of charm. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through first dungeon Issues covered: UbiSoft's best year, revisiting the game, setting the game in its time, just making ends make, appreciating Nintendo as a business model, the prequel still in development, enemy design and the 2D plane, getting straight into combat, tutorializing in the game, the connection with the weird alien, the vibe, lots of custom implementation, the very many things you do in the first half hour or hour, a time capsule of mixing adventure into everything, a one-use engine, hardware convergence post PS3, the broader experience games to tell ranging stories, competing with the movies, multiple types of cameras, the quirky snail, making y

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we return to our series on Homeworld with an interview with special guest Alex Garden, who co-founded Relic and directed the title. We talk about the inception of the idea to the implementation difficulties and much more. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 0:52    Interview 1:03:49 Break 1:04:24 Outro Comments Issues covered: the history of our guest, distributing pirated games, the cold intro, testing games, dropping out of high school, selling the company and working for some years, fixing someone else's bugs, the crystal sphere, "Spaghetti Ball," the lightning bolt, focusing on the loss, pulling together the team, a 50000-line demo, starting with multiplayer to demo, demoing for gods, "this has changed how I'll make games," not knowing how to tell stories in space, creating a reference for the ships, believing you can overcome the difficulties, finding your home and knowi

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our miniseries on rotoscoped games with part two of The Last Express. We talk about the sweep of history, playing parallel, ending in Vienna and other topics before turning to takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: To Vienna (Tim), Somewhere after Strasbourg (Brett) Issues covered: different puzzle formats and it still working, not knowing what to do with the bug, diverting to The Murder on the Orient Express plot, putting a spin on the old plots, Tim has a favorite tea, political violence in games, world history on the march, the tension of violence in political discourse, the legendary cities it passes through, avoiding caricature for the most part, the melting pot, strong writing and performances, naturalism and theatrics, countries shifting, passing through empires, playing parallel versions of the story, trying the wrong rooms, the medical issue of the

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on rotoscoped games by hopping aboard The Last Express, the graphic adventure from Jordan Mechner and Smoking Car Productions of 1997 via publisher Broderbund. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: To Vienna (Tim) and past Epernay (Brett) Issues covered: our history with the game, playing the game on the iPad, the adventure game at the time, budget and sales, some history of the game, the edutainment industry, critical response, how many discs, cost of goods, the history of Epernay, generic settings vs the highly specific dates in the game, the overwhelm, jumping onto a moving train, photo research, pulling the brake, what to do with a dead body, trial and error, the various ways things can play out from just the first puzzle, rain in Europe in 1914, a digression into multiple speed CD-ROMs, getting into rotoscoping, a 3D modeled train with rotoscoped chara

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series of one-off episodes about games that featured rotoscoping, turning to 1989's Prince of Persia. We set it in its time and discuss its publisher and author before talking about the game proper. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: To levels 4 (Tim) and 8 (Brett) Issues covered: the series hook, games from 1989, rotoscoping, similarities to Tomb Raider, tiles and metrics, a more systemic/discretized game, precision and replay, figuring out the level enough to know where to save, that speedrunning feeling, do you ever wish you could rewind time, requiring more game due to mechanics, having to learn the whole game, the feeling of running and jumping, the tension of animation and input, multiple inputs, the intertwining of animation and design, the feeling of swashbuckling, the great feeling, action as character and commitment, wondering how many people finished

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a little miniseries of games which heavily feature rotoscoping and different ways in which that technology is used, starting with Another World (1991). We set the game in its time, talk about rotoscoping, and discuss a lot about the world and games which seem descended from it. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Whole darn thing (well, almost, Tim) Issues covered: swinging back and forth in cages, starting and stopping the game, rotoscoping and some places it's been used, the basics of rotoscoping, how far Tim got in the past, baffling fluidity, echoes of other media, excellent character design, a "yes" game, other influences, thinking of this in terms of Mario, a cinematic moment, not making the movement a goal, choosing moments over systems, a fork in the lineage road, doing a project of this length solo, having a singular vision, hinting what you should pay attenti

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we return to our series on Alan Wake with a special interview with Sam Lake, Creative Director at Remedy Entertainment. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 0:52 Interview 1:02:20 Break 1:02:50 Outro Issues covered: getting started with PCs and TTRPGs, starting out as a writer, starting with a positive audience, Greyhawk/Temple of Elemental Evil, coming out of the demoscene, teaming up with Apogee, finding ways to insert story into games, selling the IP due to its success, knowing they'd have the ability to make something new, second album syndrome, concepting tons of ideas to make the dream game, themes that stuck around, wanting a flawed main character whose not an action hero, writing a story about the creative process, inspirations, post-modern writing and games, how to work within the grab bag of design elements, the sauna crew, making hard decisions, a sense of relief, r

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on 1999's Homeworld, the 3D space RTS from Relic Entertainment. We talk a bit more about dynamic difficulty, address the final missions, and turn to our takeaways before a couple of mails. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Finished (B) and almost (T) Podcast breakdown: 0:00:47 Discussion 1:05:45 Break 1:06:14 Email Issues covered: Defeating Games for Charity, Video Game History Foundation, watching someone blast Mother Brain, Tim streaming, streaming and getting paid, a chill Dark Souls player, enjoying playing with people, joyful weekend, not finishing a game, how to make the game interesting over and over again, carriers and docking, learning skills for one use, RTSes using the campaign to prepare for multiplayer, micromanaging, managing the brutal rescue of the trading ship, freeing up everything for the final assault, watching ships crawl through sp

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Relic Entertainment's Homeworld. We talk about the difficulty of a couple of the missions, how our RTS expectations maybe work against us, and fighting the camera. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through MS10 (Tim) or MS12 (Brett) Issues covered: religious experiences, Defeating Games for Charity, dynamic difficulty, scuttling vs recycling, trading off the unit types you have for the ones you need right now, dynamic difficulty, being too clever with difficulty design, the usefulness of playtesting different skill levels, having the wrong guess of how many units you need, reactionary play or more in the moment, a puzzle-solving feel, a lot of empty time and strange pacing, getting over the hump, being unable to plan, fighting the 3D nature for probes, trailblazing but not quite getting there, wanting help from the game for 3D targeting, fighting the

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1999's Homeworld, the innovative RTS from Relic Entertainment. We talk about interacting with the game and its presentation, and discuss some of the ways in which it creates and eliminates friction in that genre. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to M8 Issues covered: a separate manual for the lore, the mysterious science fiction/fantasy, a circle?, meeting the traders for the first time, a matter-of-fact aesthetic, feeling the stakes, grounded vs exaggerated, how each of us interact with the game, setting up the attitude of the ships, Tim's strategies to steal things and get ahead, opening up the side of the mother ship, a leap forward in some ways, limiting the resource type down to one, comparing to 2D tech trees, simplified building queues, dealing with the small fast drones, taking out an enemy fleet, the weird feeling of building at the end,

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series on 1999's Homeworld, from Relic Entertainment. We set the game in its time and then turn a little bit to the opening moments and the tutorial. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: First couple of levels + tutorial Issues covered: a layered intro, our history with RTSes, the music hitting, transitioning to a console player, console RTSes, a new timeline, setting the game in its time, going against the norm, Relic and its RTS series, the big genre of the time but one that never grew, grognard capture, the appeal of online games, early e-sports, popularity in Korea, the feel of a space sim, checking all the boxes, how 3D it really is, switching views to elevate a target point, mouse and keyboard, doing their own thing with hotkeys, evolution working on games, presentational advantages, a graphics benchmark game, economical game development, elegant ship design

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we recap 2023 through our interviews. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Issues covered: good interviews with non-designers, lots of gems, Statue Park, keeping 60 and visor modes, limiting scripting, building spaces and Lincoln logging gameplay, talking to a marketing person, putting the name in the symbol for a new logo, challenging norms, challenging rinse and repeat and generating trust. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Artimage, Grant Kirkhope, GoldenEye: 007, N64, Neil Harrison, Rare, John Barry, Monty Norman, Jack Mathews, Metroid Prime, GameCube, Switch, Lincoln Logs(TM), Legend of Zelda (series), Retro, Karl Stewart, Arkham Asylum, DC, Warner Bros, Star Wars, Republic Commando, LucasArts, Chris Williams, Greg Knight, Tomb Raider, Eidos, Rocksteady, Crystal Dynamics, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Next time: Our first game of 2024! (Wonder what it'll be?)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Trespasser. We look through the glass darkly at the mistakes and how they illustrate some things, before turning to 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: the funhouse mirror, writing the weird things on the whiteboards, voice acting, a game lost to time, the inner monologue, some good set up of a level, the invisible blocking wall surrounding Hammond's, box lifting master, weird technical friction about saves, looking for the white keycard, a misaligned bookshelf and visual language, the green disc, the personal memoir, rubbing the disc on the drive, the keycard mess, finding an alternate solution, immersive sim stuff, parallel developments, shining a light on something you didn't know you wanted, the preset objects, restoring forces, deconstructing what the designers put to place your own, contrivances,

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Trespasser: The Lost World. We talk more about the physics of the game, the problems of video game proprioception, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: To level 4 (Brett), to level 6 (Tim) Issues covered: abracadabra, discussing fixed point vs floating point, obvious and easy-to-fix bug or patch problem, backface culling, finding a human space, inelastic collisions vs elastic collisions, physics modeling and fussiness, infinite forces, doors and jambs, physics object modeling, tech demos, the box stair stepping problem, imagining a third person view, spending an hour to get up to a second floor, box vs pill, your arm and proprioception, snaking through doors, being able to rotate the boxes, a diversion into evolutionary/genetic algorithms, the abominable procedural animation, lining up the crosshairs and weird satisfaction, learning ho

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 1998's Dreamworks Interactive title, Trespasser. We set it in its time (a year with many great games... and also Trespasser) and then discuss a bit of the games foibles and noble attempts. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: First level or two Issues covered: an intro that works on many levels, repeating lines, games from this great year, a fan base that loves this game, Steven Spielberg bringing weight to bear, a relic, shooting for the stars, experimentation and memorability, the blase noting of dinosaurs, not reflecting a player's needs, learning from bad games, bringing in film people to do a game person's job, needing to get the game out, spotty voice acting, representing the character poorly, the weird IK and dinosaur behaviors, open spaces, committing to the bit, leveraging my hand, having to figure out how to solve a puzzle, outsmarting a proced

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Alan Wake. We talk a little bit about what's going on in the DLC and Tim talks us through American Nightmare, before we turn to takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: The Signal and The Writer American Nightmare Issues covered: what's going on with Zane, was the DLC originally part of the game, the better use of the light mechanic with the words, feeling like the main game was a proof of concept, becoming more open world, delays and fuzziness, naturally exploring mechanics with the words, easy should be easy, coming into the lighthouse and then the cabin, opening up spaces for combat, the swinging light, remixing the original game for DLC, figuring out which Alan you're at, connecting the universes through the wikihole, the structure of American Nightmare, using the currency to purchase weapons, there's nothing like a Remedy game, removing the

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Alan Wake. We dive into the ocean that is the story and talk about the game's themes and how they layer, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Finished the main game! Issues covered: not thinking through the tanning bed, the underwritten FBI agent, the effectiveness of the woods, changing pace with the town, The Well-Lit Room, connecting to Control, discovering it's Baba Yaga, enjoying the band shell, challenges in balancing the end of games, the centrality of the lake vs the open world, open world challenges for horror games, enjoying the meta, foreshadowing, wanting just the story, layering the themes, primal themes, Mr Scratch in the sequels, replayability, player personae mismatches, wanting an easier story mode, finding their way, the benefit of returning to something later, having longer and maybe too many cutscenes, camera choi

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Alan Wake, which we're playing via a remaster. We talk especially about the combat, amongst other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to Ch 3 or 4 Issues covered: Night Springs episode, word salad, feeling the need to have it wrapped up, PNW locations, not quite hitting right, representing the setting, Remedy touchpoints, primal fears, collectibles and types, the three Cs, the cohesion of the lights, making you feel like a putz, pulling the camera away, lack of situational awareness, a difficulty diversion, wanting to almost die, inanimate objects, finding the right tension, spawned Taken?, weapon progressions, getting a better flashlight, the excellence of the 5.1 mix, annoying difficulty bugs, the RROD, what do you do when source material conflicts with good game principles, adaptation, where are all the women?, lack of promotion, game cho