Podcast appearances and mentions of jason vandenberghe

Lauryn and Nicholas finally get around to defining (and critiquing) the concept of immersion, what flow is, and why the two concepts are not all that distinct. Also: Lauryn hates chess. Jason VandenBerghe, "Applying the 5 Domains of Play" Episode 3 - Gaming Player Psychology Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality

I welcome Richard Lemarchand from the USC Games program tonight. We begin by discussing his Associate Professor role in the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the recent release of his book, A Playful Production Process, for Game Designers (and Everyone). Hear about how he got his first job at MicroProse, the importance of psychology in game design, along with wishing he'd known how to manage projects better when starting. We discuss the effects of crunch, the importance of managing projects, and how his book is a textbook of his class covering intermediate level design and production.  We then share stories of outdated GDDs, Mark Cerny's Game Design Macro format, and moving over to Crystal Dynamics in the mid-90s to work on the Gex and Soul Reaver series. Hear about going over to Naughty Dog to work on Jax, the critically acclaimed Uncharted series, and how the game industry is really more like a dozen industries. Learn Rich's advice for game designers to understand psychology, systems dynamics, along with having T-shaped skills. Hear how soft skills were taught back at Crystal Dynamics, cultivating empathy, and treating others with respect. We then discuss Uncharted 2, his favorite game to work on, how well the team worked together, and the quality of the storytelling and the cast.  Hear about his interests in VR, immersive design, narrative design, and storytelling that doesn't involve violence as a core mechanic. We then discuss how crunch is the biggest threat to the industry, how it's getting better, and studios moving to the 4-day work week. Towards the end we get into a great story about promoting Uncharted 3, trivia about Jake's journal, and his recommended games - Subnautica, Boyfriend Dungeon, Beast Breaker, Jett, and Ring Fit Adventure. At the end we discuss music, the band XTC, the importance of audio, his book, how to get in contact with him, along with his parting advice.  Bio: Richard Lemarchand is an Associate Professor in the USC Games program at the University of Southern California, where he teaches game design, development, and production, and is working on a series of experimental virtual reality game design research projects as part of the USC Game Innovation Lab. Previously he was a lead game designer at Naughty Dog and led the design of all three PlayStation 3 games in the Uncharted series, including Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, winner of ten AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards, five Game Developers Choice Awards, four BAFTAs, and over 200 Game of the Year awards. He also worked on Jak 3 and Jak X: Combat Racing for Naughty Dog, and helped to create the game series Gex, Pandemonium, and Soul Reaver at Crystal Dynamics. He is also the author of a new book, A Playful Production Process, for Game Designers (and Everyone), published by the MIT Press in October 2021. Show Links: * A Playful Production Process, for Game Designers (and Everyone) MIT Press * USC Games program website * Jason VandenBerghe's 2013 GDC Talk YouTube  *Soul Reaver 2 wikipedia * Game Design Workshop Amazon * Mark Cerny wikipedia * Naughty Dog website * Jax X: Combat Racing wikipedia * Uncharted wikipedia * Thinking in Systems Amazon * T-Shaped Skills wikipedia * Young Horses website * The Well-Played Game Amazon * Subnautica website * Boyfriend Dungeon website * Beast Breaker Nintendo * Jett: The Far Shore website * Ring Fit Adventure Nintendo * XTC Spotify Connect Links: * Richard Lemarchand Twitter * Richard Lemarchand email * Richard Lemarchand website * Richard Lemarchand LinkedIn Game Dev Advice Links:  * New: Game Dev Advice Patreon - help support the show if you find it entertaining or useful * Game Dev Advice Twitter * Game Dev Advice email (info@gamedevadvice.com) * Game Dev Advice website * Level Ex website - we're hiring * Game Dev Advice Hotline: (224) 484-7733, give a call! * Subscribe and go to the website full show notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode we welcome Jason VandenBerghe, VP Studio Creative Director at Level Ex. We start by discussing COVID-19, his excitement about making games for doctors, and thoughts about the future of game design. He shares his story of breaking into the industry with The X-Files Game and his transition from programmer to producer to creative director at EA. Jason then offers specific advice for people in the industry and those looking to break in while telling about the fastest hire ever made at Ubisoft. He shares intriguing stories on his favorite games so far, including the development of For Honor at Ubisoft and working with Van Halen on Guitar Hero. He speaks about his excitement for this golden age of design experimentation right now, along with threats that include a backlash to diversity and inclusion, engaging with players, and the dangers of self-defeating beliefs amongst developers. Before telling a few more hilarious industry stories Jason shares candid thoughts on AR & VR, and his love for Beat Saber. We wrap things up talking about his two current favorite games that include his must-play “Game of the Year”, along with parting advice to game designers. Jason VandenBerghe has led creative teams for over two decades, developing triple-A games for Ubisoft (For Honor), Activision (Call of Duty), and Electronic Arts (James Bond 007). At Level Ex, he employs game design methodologies, honed through extensive experience in the consumer games industry, to capture the greatest challenges of medical and surgical procedures as video game mechanics.    Discussion Details: [01:10] Introducing Jason VandenBerghe [02:00] Thoughts about pandemic life [03:40] His passion around game design [09:51] The challenges and excitement of working at Level Ex [13:39] What it’s like to work with medical professionals [15:37] How he started in the industry on The X-Files Game [22:00] Going from Programming into Production then Creative Director at EA [24:49] When his annual reviews changed, he knew he was in the right path [26:21] What he wishes he’d known when starting out [28:38] Quality vs. Sales - his NPD discovery [32:14] Key advice for getting your first job and the fastest hire ever made [37:46] How to advice your current career [44:29] Favorite projects so far – For Honor and Guitar Hero: Van Halen [54:51] Excitement around Diversity and Inclusion, which is long overdue in the industry [1:00:36] Threats including the backlash about Diversity and Inclusion, triple-A player engagement, and self-defeating beliefs [1:05:20] Thoughts on AR & VR and love for Beat Saber [1:07:55] Funny stories about Mythic Quest roots and Red Steel 2 [1:16:57] Playing the game of spotting Creative Directors at GDC [1:18:36] His love for Spelunky 2 and obsession with Hades [1:21:18] Player psychology and motivation [1:23:19] Why he wanted to be a filmmaker [1:24:12] How to connect [1:24:49] Parting piece of advice – tear down the walls [1:26:28] Cut to outro   Show Links: Noah Falstein Wikipedia Level Ex website Level Ex SIGGRAPH 2019 YouTube The X-Files Game Wikipedia James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing Wikipedia For Honor Wikipedia Playing Hard IMDb (on Steam) Guitar Hero: Van Halen IMDb Unity website Beat Saber website Red Steel 2 IGN Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet IMDb Spelunky 2 Steam Hades Steam GDC Engines of Play: Talk 3 YouTube Thoughts on Games for Change YouTube   Connect with Jason: The_DarkLorde Twitter The_DarkLorde website Jason VandenBerghe Designing the Future at Level Ex Jason VandenBerghe YouTube videos   Game Dev Advice: *New: Game Dev Advice Patreon *Game Dev Advice Twitter *Game Dev Advice email *Game Dev Advice website *Level Ex website - we’re hiring for all kinds of roles *Game Dev Advice Hotline: (224) 484-7733 – give a call and ask a question *www.gamedevadvice.com for full show notes with links

In this episode of the podcast, I talk to one veteran game designer Jason Vandenberghe, who has tackled the issue of understanding what kinds of experiences gamers want with the aid of psychology and psychological theories. He aims to avoid false consensus and advocate for what he calls "player empathy." That is, using a framework of personality and motivation psychology to break out of our false consensus and talk about what kinds of gaming experiences that players may want and how to give it to them. Jason Vandenberghe's blogGDC 2012 Talk GDC 2013 Talk GDC 2016 Talk  Audio Credits "Robot Motivation" by The Polish Ambassador, licensed under Creative Commons: CC BY-NC-SA 3."Industrious Ferret" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion talk to Jordan Thompson, lead software engineer for the latest Google Doodle game, about building games for a massive search-engine audience with unique control constraints and compatibility concerns (0:15). Then they bring on Ubisoft creative director Jason VandenBerghe to discuss the innovative combat system at the center of newly released fighting game 'For Honor,' why sword-fighting is so tough to translate to video games, and how he created the concept of Vikings versus Samurai (19:30).

The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion talk to Jordan Thompson, lead software engineer for the latest Google Doodle game, about building games for a massive search-engine audience with unique control constraints and compatibility concerns (0:15). Then they bring on Ubisoft creative director Jason VandenBerghe to discuss the innovative combat system at the center of newly released fighting game 'For Honor,' why sword-fighting is so tough to translate to video games, and how he created the concept of Vikings versus Samurai (19:30).

Jonathan talks to Roman Campos-Oriola and Jason VandenBerghe, the Game Director and Creative Director on For Honor from Ubisoft. For more information, check out the links below.

Tonight on Good Game, a review you can't refuse! Bajo and Hex return to the city of New Bordeux with Mafia III; plus a review of walk 'em up Virginia and Goose sits downs with For Honor's creative director, Jason VandenBerghe!

I en extrainsatt podcast så sätter vi oss ned tillsammans med Jason Vandenberghe – Creative Director på Ubisoft och en av de mest intressanta männen inom tv-spelbranschen. De senaste åren har Jason bedrivit forskning inom den mänskliga psykologin och hur denna spelar in inom vårt spelande.

I en extrainsatt podcast så sätter vi oss ned tillsammans med Jason Vandenberghe – Creative Director på Ubisoft och en av de mest intressanta männen inom tv-spelbranschen. De senaste åren har Jason bedrivit forskning inom den mänskliga psykologin och hur denna spelar in inom vårt spelande.