Tone Control

We've been through a lot together, Karla and I. And now, in what seems a fitting series finale for Tone Control, my business and creative partner sits down with me at the Fullbright office for a long conversation about her background in TV animation, how we came to cross paths in the games industry, and what we've made together. That's it, folks. Thank you for listening.

Derek Yu has been making video games for almost as long as he can remember. In that time he's helped build thriving game developer communities, created more than one classic indie game, and called Jack Thompson's bluff. Now he's on to his next adventure: fatherhood, and reflecting that experience in the upcoming Spelunky 2. Learn all about Derek's life work, and where he's headed next, in the penultimate episode of Tone Control.

Robert Yang is awesome. Educator, advocate, and subversive game developer all in one, his work focuses on issues of gay culture, sex and sexual politics, consent, surveillance, and the absurdity of digital eroticism. He also does great talks at conferences like GDC, where I caught up with him this year to chat about his work and outlook on what games can be.

Due to some scheduling requirements, we take a break from our GDC chats to visit sunny London, England! While I was in the UK for BAFTA, I sat down with longtime Media Molecule Siobhan Reddy to talk about her time spent helping run her parents' skate shop in Australia (!), the world of mid-'90s web design (!) and working on Discworld Noir (!!) before her time as a producer on the Burnout series, and her years at Media Molecule helping lead creativity-focused productions like Little Big Planet and the upcoming Dreams.

Some games love you. Some games are indifferent to you. Some games fucking hate you. Some game DEVELOPERS fucking hate you. Bennett Foddy, by god, fucking loves you. He believes in you. He knows you can do it. And also he'll be there, laughing, every time you fail. Get to know one of modern game design's uncompromising masters of the absurd and the sublime in this installment of Tone Control. And also try to figure out what the fuck cricket even is.

Naughty Dog Month is completed by my interview with Richard Lemarchand! One of the sweetest, most thoughtful and supportive folks I know in game development, Richard charts... ;) his course from jolly olde England to the sunny shores of Santa Monica, California, going from a kid growing up on ZX Spectrum and arcade games, to helping create one of modern gaming's most iconic series.

Naughty Dog Month begins on Tone Control! This time I'm talking to former Dog Bruce Straley about his long and storied career-- starting with a Sega Genesis X-Men game I played as a kid (!) all the way through his work as a game director on the Uncharted series and The Last of Us. Join us on a trip across console generations, with a view into how some of Naughty Dog's most iconic series came to be.

Anyone who's been to GDC knows, it's a massive, vibrant, overwhelming, inspiring event. As a game developer, it's one of the most important weeks of the year-- and holy hell, it seems like a lot to manage, generally! So I spoke to Meggan Scavio, longtime General Manager of GDC (who's now moved on to be President of the AIAS, running the DICE conference instead) about her years helping to shape what GDC is, and how she came to run some of the biggest and most exciting game development events in the world.

A thirteen-foot-tall octopus named Edward Scissorhands rampages into your life and destroys everything you love. What do you do? If you're me, you interview him! This hellish creature, also known as Davey Wreden, is the creator of two of the most mind-bending indie story games in recent history, The Stanley Parable and The Beginner's Guide. Discover how his life and outlook, and his propensity for eight-armed havoc, led to the creation of these modern indie classics.

Harvey Smith is a mensch. Not only has he been a lead or director on some of the most inspiring and foundational Immersive Sim games of the last 20 years, he's also just a sweet, friendly, thoughtful guy who's great to talk to and has a wonderful southern accent. And lucky you, last time I talked with him, I had my recorder turned on! Hear insight on everything from the advent of the System Shock and Deus Ex series, up through modernizing those concepts into Dishonored, and beyond.

It's like rain on your podcasting day. It's when a train goes by, and you can't hear what I say. It's the hammer blows, that ruin your take. And who woulda thought, it figures. Despite a variety of exciting sonic interruptions, Steve and Nina soldier on to talk through her work a s Nuovo Award-winning indie game designer of titles like how do you Do It?, Cibele, and Lost Memories Dot Net, and her experience becoming a level designer on Tacoma at Fullbright. Pull up a chair, settle in, and don't let the distant hooting throw you.

Charles Webb, self-styled "Senior Black Writer" at Hangar 13, joined the Mafia III team after a long and winding path that included writing narrative-driven cell phone games in the early 2000's (!), a bit of professional film criticism, and some time with Master Chief. Join us as we learn that led Charles to help bring Mafia III's Lincoln Clay, one of the most fascinating game characters in recent years, to life. Recorded live on site at 2K's studios in Marin.

Classic 2D animation: the art of drawing the same thing in slightly different poses over and over and then flipping through them so fast that they look like one fluid, moving thing. Beautiful, inspiring... but gosh, that sounds like a lot of work! And that work falls to intrepid folks like Mariel Cartwright, the Lead Animator of Skullgirls, and Art Director/Lead Animator of the upcoming INDIVISIBLE! Come along with us on a journey that involves Shrek, Marvel vs. Capcom, the harshest of Canadian winters, and of course, lots and lots of drawing.

Welcome back... to Tone Control! Steve shipped another game, so conversations with video game developers begin anew. Kicking off Season 2 of Tone Control, Steve sits down with Leighton Gray, one of the main creative forces behind the daddy dating hit Dream Daddy! Steve discusses daddies, art school, Disneyland, the perils of sudden success, toilets, and daddies, with one of the most exciting up-and-coming creative figures in indie game development. Thanks for joining us!

A long journey's road comes to an end. We always arrive back where we started. Circles within circles... there's always a man.. there's always a city.. there's always a podcast. In this, the final episode of Tone Control Season 1, I sit down with my former boss Ken Levine to talk about the origins of Irrational Games, BioShock, and that time we worked together on BioShock Infinite. Thanks again for listening.

Do you like aliens? No-- you like KILLING aliens. And so does Jake Solomon. He's made a career of it, in fact. But how? Learn all the alien-killing secrets from the Creative Director of Firaxis's XCOM: Enemy Unknown (as well as a little side talk about his career, his mentorship by Sid Meier, and the design philosophy that brought one of strategy gaming's all-time classics back into the modern age.)

Few creators in the games industry are fortunate enough to have decades-long careers, much less ones where their own work and that of their studio is constantly vital and inspiring. Between leading projects like Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, Psychonauts, Brutal Legend and Broken Age, and facilitating the creation of games like Costume Quest, Stacking, and more at Double Fine, Tim Schafer is one of those lucky few. Listen in as I blitz through the long, long career of this incredibly old man.

Creeping. Sneaking. Running and hiding. Ryan Payton has spent many years working on games about sticking to the shadows, keeping out of sight. Now the first episode of his own company's new iOS game series, Republique, has stepped out into the light. Follow us on a journey from Portland to Japan to Seattle, and finally onto your internet telephone.

Amir's dad's living room. Computers on folding tables. One busted old car. These are the humble beginnings that would lead to the hit indie game Bastion. Amir and Greg sit down to talk about what came before and after their time in that house, and the design philosophy that they're carrying through to Supergiant's next game, Transistor.

We all know Jonathan Blow as the creator of Braid and The Witness. But what was he up to before bursting onto the scene circa 2008? Not crazy multiplayer-only squad warfare shenanigans, surely. Not online games that used huge server farms to do their physics calculations. Not learning deadly martial arts! Surely not! Discover the truth on episode 9 of Tone Control.

Tom Francis: Journalist, Game Developer, British. Steve talks to the creator of Gunpoint about his path through games journalism into game development, and his inspirations and approach to designing a stealth game all about throwing yourself through plate glass windows.

Piranha. Barracuda. Beluga Whale. A frog. These and other fish-types are discussed in episode 7 of Tone Control with Brendon Chung, founder of Blendo Games. Hear discussion on Brendon's earliest mod work, to his time in AAA at Pandemic, to the creation of Blendo games like Flotilla, Atom Zombie Smasher, 30 Flights of Loving, and the upcoming Quadrilateral Cowboy. Salamander.

In a very special episode of Tone Control, Steve and Randy Smith got onstage at FantasticArcade in Austin, TX to talk about their games and approaches to game design. Afterwards they huddled in an alley and worked back through Randy's career at Looking Glass, Ion Storm Austin, and through to the founding of Tigerstyle Games.

Tom Bissell: author, critic, video game writer. What was his path to authorhood? What inspired him to write the video game-focused essay collection Extra Lives? And how did he end up in Cliffy B's lambo? The writer of Gears of War: Judgment (and a number of unannounced upcoming games) tells all. Also this month, Steve is joined by co-host Michael Abbott of the Brainygamer blog and podcast! Savor his dulcet tones.

It's what all Idle Thumbs readers have been waiting for: a personal appearance by none other than the man behind that legend of legends, FAR CRY 2. Roll this pod down a hill into your ears and observe as a procedural conversation emerges in your brain. This is what video games are all about.

Steve visited Seattle to talk with one of the creative minds behind the classic series No One Lives Forever, F.E.A.R., and now co-founder of Blackpowder games. Hear white-knuckle tales of checking in code for a new weapon on ship day and other wild west reminiscences from one of game development's veteran creators.

Steve sits down with Neil Druckmann at the Naughty Dog offices to talk about his long and winding path to becoming Creative Director of The Last of Us. Explore the origins of the critically acclaimed game's world and characters. It's possible Joel, Ellie, Hartigan from Sin City, and a certain ottsel share more history than you'd expect...

Steve talks to Jake & Sean, design and story leads of Telltale's The Walking Dead Season 1, and founders of the indie studio Campo Santo. You can't put lipstick on a manatee, according to Jake but not Sean. And yet these very differences are what set this timeless love story in motion...