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For over a year now, Max and Michael have fangirl-ed about Dark Souls in every single episode we have done, and now the time has come for us to drop all pretense and just go for it. The Dark Souls episode is here, and this time, we brought back-up. Jason Killingsworth (Founder & Creative Director of Tune & Fairweather, Author of You Died) has joined us from Ireland to discuss this masterpiece! Check out the "You Died" book HERE Check out the entire Tune & Fairweather shop HERE! Join the Tune & Fairweather Discord HERE! Check Out the PGC Merch Shop Join the PGC Discord AND ENTER THE BOOK GIVEAWAY Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Podcast brought to you by Thirteen Palm Trees Podcast Productions
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we catch up on our mail bag and tackle a ton of different topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Issues covered: catching up on the mail bag, kind words, jumping down onto back of a Chardalyn Dragon, the most important bowling bowl in the universe, frames for playing games, when are you playing the game, going deep on a game and joining its community, moments of discovery, reflections on the 'cast, how we approach our play, what you miss when you play and what you look up later, communities around game, responsive move sets, where you put your investment in development, learning the move sets, invading and being invaded, having a manager, getting way deeper into the game, the stress levels of the game, adventure mode, the Very Pouty Bard, the stress levels of this game, sunk cost fallacy, the weight of continuing a game, expecting not to get too deep in the game. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dwarf Fortress, Kodie Martin, Super Mario 64, John Romero, Vampire: The Masquerade, Brian Mitsoda, Collin "The Shots" James Tiberius Tsougas, Diablo, EverQuest, PlayStation, David Brevik, Dungeons & Dragons, Troy Mashburn, 343 Industries, Brian Taylor, Alien, Final Fantasy IX, Nier: Automata, OliverUV, Jason Grinblat, Freehold Games, Boatmurdered, Dark Souls, Kruggsmash, Tarn and Zach Adams, Eve Online, Frog Fractions, Brenda Romero, Train (board game), Sea of Thieves, Valheim, Roll20, Johnny "Pockets" Grattan, Minecraft, Legend of Zelda, Jeff Cannata, World of Warcraft, The Dungeon Run, LucasArts, Game Theory Group, Harley Baldwin White-Wiedow, The Walking Dead, Videogame Atlas: Mapping Interactive Worlds, Assassin's Creed, Luke Caspar Pearson, Sandra Youkhana, Keza MacDonald, Jason Killingsworth, YOU DIED, Michael Justice, FROM Software, Namco Bandai, Skyrim, Jeffool, Artimage, X-COM, Pong, Kingdom Hearts, Demons's Souls, Civilization, Magic: The Gathering, Flight of the Conchords, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Next time: New game series! 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 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
NEW EPISODE OUT OF NOWHERE! My good friend Jason Killingsworth is Kickstarting a new edition of You Died, the book he and Keza MacDonald wrote about Dark Souls back in 2016. You Died is a celebration of Dark Souls, and contains stories, anecdotes, and lore about the game. It was an inspriation for this podcast, and I'm not just saying that because I'm in it, I promise! Jason brought his designer, Andrew Hind, to the podcast, and the three of us talk about the book, the game, and of course, the community. Enjoy! You can support the show by leaving an iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/dont-give-up-skeleton/id1106166382?mt=2) review, or by sharing the podcast with your friends. Merch! Wear a skelly on your belly! (https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/2442044-dont-give-up-skeleton-logo-shirt?store_id=124826)
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our discussion of 2001's Devil May Cry, discussing enemy introductions, the mission structure, grinding to find your difficulty level, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Missions 5-10 Podcast breakdown: 0:32 Devil May Cry part one 34:32 Unintentional break 34:56 Devil May Cry part two and feedback Issues covered: enemy introductions, bosses or more fodder enemies, finding first rooms for enemies that fit, introductions in Republic Commando, first person camera intros, marionettes and dread, weapon intros, smoke and mirrors in intros, ceding character for game play, cutting polygons from a model, high poly counts smoke and mirrors, introducing weapons, lacking weapon introductions in Jedi Starfighter, ideal intros, devoting a mission to introduce a new unit, limited introductions in Diablo, Japan and "cool" culture vs "hot" culture, cultural appropriation, snapping your fingers to open the door, Dante's insouciance when talking to a giant boss, changing and growing Capcom's brand identity, time pressure, teaching the player that time is a factor in getting the best rank, timed levels in games, being all about speed, eating your health away and an avenue to increase time, integrating time into games, kill streaks and time, overlaying a mission structure on a physical location, saving the game between missions, putting the mastery forward, giving frequent feedback, using trophies as a means to give feedback, ranking play in general, intrinsic gratification vs feedback, having multiple save slots and experimentation, being able to go back to earlier sections of the castle, limited resources in Resident Evil, upgrade stations being in the world, being able to move back and forth through the world, fast loads, grinding to find your equilibrium difficulty-wise, increasing player skill, using all the tools and feeling accomplished, using the shotgun for the banshees, taking another look at Bayonetta, level capping in Diablo and Paragon, ways of elongating games (as a service), accessibility in games, interpretative difficulty, commercial benefit to being "the difficult game," being more positive on the Internet, Nintendo and difficulty, doing a good job of making a hard game, feeling "guilty" about lowering difficulty, applauding commitment, the accessible controller. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Ben Grimm, Lobot, Professor X, Nick Fury, Republic Commando, Todd Howard, Fallout 3, Jedi Starfighter, Nintendo, Blizzard, Starcraft (series), Warcraft (series), Diablo (series), Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents, Metal Gear (series), Hideo Kojima, Suda51, Ghost of Tsushima, Infamous (series), Akira Kurosawa, Capcom, Resident Evil (series), Clover, Platinum, Bayonetta, Viewtiful Joe, PN 03, DOOM (1993), Metal Gear Rising, Jedi Knight, Reed Knight, Matt Tateishi, Unreal Tournament, Quake III Arena, Gran Turismo, NES/SNES, Castlevania, Metroid, Pit Droids, Kingdom Hearts (series), God of War, Alpha Protocol, Destiny II, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Darren from Ohio, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, War and Peace, Captain Underpants, Tacoma, Gone Home, Steve Gaynor, Return of the Obra Dinn, From Software, Souls (series), Bloodborne, Patrick Klepek, Super Meat Boy, Celeste, Keza MacDonald, Jason Killingsworth, King's Field, Microsoft Game Studios, Nathan Martz, Once Upon A Monster, Sesame Street, Hidetaka Miyazaki. Next time: Missions 11-17 https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com
Hello skellies! This week's guest is Paul Canavan, a video game artist and creator that also happens to love the Souls games. Paul did the cover for the book You Died, written by my good pal and former guest of the show Jason Killingsworth (along with Keza Macdonald, of course), which is a gorgeous picture of the grave Sif is guarding. He's done a lot of work since then, so be sure to check out his portfolio below, and then tweet at him about how much you love Bloodborne. Enjoy everyone! Don't Give Up, Skeleton is on Patreon (https://patreon.com/dontgiveupskeleton), which is a great way to support the show if you can. Donations go to keeping the podcast bills paid, as well as my ever growing collection of Souls games. You can also support the show by leaving an iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/dont-give-up-skeleton/id1106166382?mt=2) review, or by sharing the podcast with your friends. Merch! Wear a skelly on your belly! (https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/2442044-dont-give-up-skeleton-logo-shirt?store_id=124826)
This week's guest is the great Jason Killingsworth, one half of the team that literally wrote the book on Dark Souls. Jason was one of those people that inspired me to do this podcast, even though I don't think he knew that until we recorded this episode. Jason has been into Souls since the very beginning, and has wrote numerous articles on the series. This conversation drifts in between Souls and life, religion, and how Dark Souls can teach us lessons on parenting. If you're reading this (and I have no idea how many of you read these notes), I just want to say thank you for listening and/or guesting. Episode 100 is just a number, but it seems like an accomplishment. Over 100 individual guests, all with their own unique stories, all told in their own voice in their own way. I've been remarkably lucky to have all of you listeners and guests. I'm writing this before recording the intro of the show, and I'm planning on rambling a bit thanking people there as well, so I'll try to keep this brief: Thanks!
#18 Jason Killingsworth (You Died, Edge Magazine) by Matthew Squaire
Keza MacDonald and Jason Killingsworth, the authors of "You Died: The 'Dark Souls' Companion," talk about how “Demon’s Souls” hooked them, whether “Dark Souls” is a 21st-century "Super Mario Bros., " and why “Souls” players are like figure skaters. The post ‘Dark Souls’ appeared first on Shall We Play a Game?.
Gary Butterfield, Kole Ross, and Jason Killingsworth talk about the High Wall of Lothric. LINKS OF NOTE: You Died Jason on Twitter Press Select Buddy Holly Cutthroat Kitchen No Poise Frowny Emoticon
Gary Butterfield, Kole Ross, and Jason Killingsworth read your responses to the Crown of the Old Iron King DLC. LINKS OF NOTE: RE Alternate Costumes The Hero Known as... Cheeseburger
Gary Butterfield, Kole Ross, and Jason Killingsworth talk about the Crown of the Old Iron King DLC for Dark Souls II. LINKS OF NOTE: Vaati Stuff 1 Vaati Stuff 2 Castlevania Clocktower This makes me not want to play Lords of Shadow Donny Dishonored Trap Street Grima Wormtongue Artifacts King Allant There You Are This Guy... Jason on Twitter
Gary Butterfield, Kole Ross, and Jason Killingsworth talk about World 1-1 and World 1-2 of Demon's Souls. If you're playing along, we cover everything up through the Tower Knight. Next episode, we're going to talk about World 2-1. LINKS OF NOTE Press Select Roger Rabit The Cable Guy Disney Transformation 10,000 Maniacs Deku Mask Mewtwo Epic Name Bro Ico Phalanx Shadow of the Colossus You Have to Burn The Rope
While they may not always do so in the most graceful fashion, even even the most mainstream games address complex issues like sex and violence. Religion, however, remains a relatively understudied topic. This week, we draw inspiration from Richard Clark and Jason Killingsworth, two authors who examine the ways religion is manifested in games and how theology impacts our relationship with them. Over the course of the discussion we touch upon faith as a game mechanic, how religion impacts cultural expression, the deity's of Dungeons and Dragons, as well as the inspiration for this episode's silly title. As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Some discussion starters: - In which games has religion played a major role? - Can issues like faith and spirituality be conveyed with game systems or should religion be explored through thematic details? - How does your religious background affect your response to religion in games? How do you want to see the subject addressed, if at all? To listen to the podcast: - Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes here. Additionally, here is the stand-alone feed. - Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking the title. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format. - Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right. Show notes: - Run time: 31 min 53 sec - “Not Beyond Belief - How Religion And Gaming Interact,” by Richard Clark, via Gamasutra - “In Your Game We Play,” by Jason Killingsworth - Music provided by Brad Sucks