Podcast appearances and mentions of jolie menzel

It's been an embarrassingly long time but we are BACK! Again!!! And this time we've brought returning guests Adam Dolin and Jolie Menzel to discuss breaking in, how they define narrative design, the differences between creative directors who come from narrative versus other displiclines, the three c's, can game writers exist without knowing narrative design, favorite narrative tools, what makes a good opening to a game, tutorials, letting players have choices where the results lead to them missing lots of content, bad habits they've noticed in younger writers/narrative designers, the future of the industry, pieces of media they go back to get reinvigorate/inspired, the themes they're always writing into their stories, stuff they're always editing out of their writing, how to write good dialogue, and maybe one or two other things. It's great!Our Guests on the InternetJolie's Linkedin. Adam's Linkedin and BlueSky, and his ELVTR class starts in April!Stuff We DiscussedLarian Cinematics: A Top-Down Look at Our Bottom-Up Approach in 'Baldur's Gate 3'Jolie's 3C's of Game Design PresentationTwineVisual Studio CodeHighland 2 (FYI looks like a Highland 3 launch is imminent)InkYarnSpinnerCastlevania: Symphony of the NightPentimentAgainst the StormUFO 50BalatroMagic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast The Callisto ProtocolGod of War (2018)Detroit: Become HumanThe Darkness 2Another Crab's TreasureThe Videogame Industry Does Not Exist by Brandon KeoghSonic Adventure 2Hank confronts Walter in Breaking BadBarryThe Adventures of Brisco County, JrBurn NoticeClerksDogmaNick's Dialogue PlaylistGame Narrative Summit: Building Rome in a Day: A Sociological Storytelling PrimerTomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle ZevinFuturama Commentaries Tetris ForeverListen To a MovieScript Lock BlueSkyOur Theme Music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita. The vampire sucking noise was created by Robinhood76.

My guest on today's episode is the Jolie Menzel. Jolie is a game designer and developer who started her career at Telltale games and currently works at Ubisoft as the Narrative Desiger for the upcoming South Park - The Fractured But Whole. We talk arcade games on the Jersey Shore, the pride and shame in Dance Dance Revolution, how her science teacher taught evolution via Pokemon, her love of the Sonic Fandom, and how she maybe got a little too into Minecraft. We also hit on her time in Japan, a side quest into Fashion, why Dave Mirra BMX holds such fond memories, her teenage foray into sprite comics, working on South Park, and how she rage quit out of her very first date. "You can just hang around outside in the sun all day, tossing a ball around, or you can sit at your computer and do something that matters!" PATREON - patreon.com/checkpoints iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW Games discussed: Ms. Pac Man, Pokemon Stadium, Smash Bros, Galaga, Sonic Adventure, Marvel vs Capcom, Final Fantasy V, Dance Dance Revolution, Kirby, Secret of Mana, Animal Crossing, Katamari Damacy, Minecraft, Niddhogg, Fables, Theme song by Samuel Baker Art work by Craig Stevenson

This week your Nice Hosts appear out of nowhere to discuss Stealth Games and Motion Controls! Mark shoots lasers, Stephen time travels and Martha joins a geriatric gang.Dishonored 2 cover art copyright Bethesda. Stealth Games 0:01:30 Martha MegarryGame DesignBanana Bread (Griffin & Justin of Polygon play SpyParty) - Polygon, YouTubeGiant Bomb Plays Hitman Let's Plays - Fly On The Wall, YouTubeWhy Fashion in (Most) Games Sucks, and Why You Should Care - Victoria Tran, GDC Our Interview with Freya Holmér of Neat Corporation maker of Budget Cuts Self-education, et al.Spider-Man is (Definitely Not) Murdering People - Brian David Gilbert, Polygon, YouTubeLevel Design Workshop: A Narrative Approach to Level Design (Or, why Die Hard g… - Jolie Menzel, GDC Motion Controls 0:28:52 Mark LaCroixHardwareProgrammingSega ActivatorSega's Forgotton Motion Game - Rerez, YouTubeMicrosoft "Microsoft announces an Azure-powered Kinect camera for enterprise" - Brian Heater, TechCrunchRhythm Game Accessories on Wikipedia (including the Rock Band pro controller) - Wikipedia

This week your Nice Hosts appear out of nowhere to discuss Stealth Games and Motion Controls! Mark shoots lasers, Stephen time travels and Martha joins a geriatric gang. Dishonored 2 cover art copyright Bethesda. Stealth Games 0:01:30 Martha Megarry Category Game Design "Banana Bread" (Griffin & Justin of Polygon play SpyParty) - Polygon , YouTube Giant Bomb Plays Hitman Let's Plays - Fly On The Wall , YouTube "Why Fashion in (Most) Games Sucks, and Why You Should Care" - Victoria Tran , GDC Vault Our Interview with Freya Holmér of Neat Corporation maker of Budget Cuts Self-education, et al. "Spider-Man is (Definitely Not) Murdering People" - Brian David Gilbert, Polygon , YouTube "Level Design Workshop: A Narrative Approach to Level Design" (Or, why Die Hard… - Jolie Menzel , GDC Vault Motion Controls 0:28:52 Mark LaCroix Category Hardware Programming Sega Activator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a43vv34PG_s - Rerez , YouTube Microsoft "Microsoft announces an Azure-powered Kinect camera for enterprise" - Brian Heater , TechCrunch Rhythm Game Accessories on Wikipedia (including the Rock Band pro controller) - Wikipedia

This week, your nice hosts talk about Star Trek for longer than usual, and Mortho returns with an NGC Sports Update. Also: Stephen executes a delicious self-own in a discussion on Achievements, Mark sings a song about cities, and Martha hopes to design puzzles that even Stephen will appreciate.The Greatest Discovery podcastReport: Geguri Will Be The First Woman Signed To An Overwatch League Team - Nathan Grayson, Kotaku Achievements 0:08:10 Stephen McGregorGame DesignGamingPortal 2's best achievement: This is the Part Where He Kills You - BuddytheRat, YouTubeAchievement Unlocked is a parody game about achievementsHUDdledLudum Dare Nice Plays specialThe Simpsons Game - AchievementBros, YouTubeAlexander Hamilton, a Federalist, probably wouldn't have liked Achievements eit… Puzzle Design 0:39:46 Martha MegarryGame DesignLevel Design Workshop: Solving Puzzle Design - Jolie Menzel, GDCAnalysis: Puzzle Design in the Myst Series - Gregory Weir, Game DeveloperTim Schafer on Day of the Tentacle's awful car wash puzzle: “[It] seemed a lot … - Bob Mackey, USgamerThis Might Be Persona 5's Biggest Localization Fail - Chris Kohler, KotakuGrumpy Gamer on Puzzle Dependency Charts - Ye Olde Grumpy Gamer BlogOur pal Martin's company Abstract Puzzle makes games including Puzzle Prison VRVisual Understanding Environment is an Open Source project for managing digital…Embedded Puzzle Manifesto - Joey Jones, Far Far Future

This week, your nice hosts talk about Star Trek for longer than usual, and Mortho returns with an NGC Sports Update. Also: Stephen executes a delicious self-own in a discussion on Achievements, Mark sings a song about cities, and Martha hopes to design puzzles that even Stephen will appreciate. The Greatest Discovery podcast “Report: Geguri Will Be The First Woman Signed To An Overwatch League Team” - Nathan Grayson , Kotaku Achievements 0:08:10 Stephen McGregor Category Game Design Gaming Portal 2’s best achievement: This is the Part Where He Kills You. Achievement Unlocked is a parody game about achievements. HUDdled Ludum Dare Nice Plays special The Simpsons Game Alexander Hamilton, a Federalist, probably wouldn’t have liked Achievements eit… Puzzle Design 0:39:46 Martha Megarry Category Game Design "Level Design Workshop: Solving Puzzle Design" - Jolie Menzel , GDC 2016 Analysis: Puzzle Design in the Myst Series - Gregory Weir , Gamasutra Publication Tim Schafer on Day of the Tentacle’s awful car wash puzzle: “[It] seemed a lot … “This Might Be Persona 5's Biggest Localization Fail” - Chris Kohler , Kotaku Grumpy Gamer on Puzzle Dependency Charts Our pal Martin’s company Abstract Puzzle makes games including Puzzle Prison VR. Visual Understanding Environment is an Open Source project for managing digital… "Embedded Puzzle Manifesto" - Joey Jones , Far Far Future

This week, your nice hosts talk about Star Trek for longer than usual, and Mortho returns with an NGC Sports Update. Also: Stephen executes a delicious self-own in a discussion on Achievements, Mark sings a song about cities, and Martha hopes to design puzzles that even Stephen will appreciate. The Greatest Discovery podcast Report: Geguri Will Be The First Woman Signed To An Overwatch League Team - Nathan Grayson, Kotaku Achievements 0:08:10 Stephen McGregor Game Design Gaming Portal 2's best achievement: This is the Part Where He Kills You - BuddytheRat, YouTube Achievement Unlocked is a parody game about achievements HUDdled Ludum Dare Nice Plays special The Simpsons Game - AchievementBros, YouTube Alexander Hamilton, a Federalist, probably wouldn't have liked Achievements eit… Puzzle Design 0:39:46 Martha Megarry Game Design Level Design Workshop: Solving Puzzle Design - Jolie Menzel, GDC Analysis: Puzzle Design in the Myst Series - Gregory Weir, Game Developer Tim Schafer on Day of the Tentacle's awful car wash puzzle: “[It] seemed a lot … - Bob Mackey, USgamer This Might Be Persona 5's Biggest Localization Fail - Chris Kohler, Kotaku Grumpy Gamer on Puzzle Dependency Charts - Ye Olde Grumpy Gamer Blog Our pal Martin's company Abstract Puzzle makes games including Puzzle Prison VR Visual Understanding Environment is an Open Source project for managing digital… Embedded Puzzle Manifesto - Joey Jones, Far Far Future

Jolie Menzel is Lead Narrative Designer on South Park for Ubisoft, before that did level design and storytelling at Telltale Games for the Walking Dead series. Find her on Twitter at @joliemenzel or for more information visit joliemenzel.com Music by Danny Baranowsky

Talking all about design this week with Jolie (cinematic artist & game designer at Telltale Games on The Walking Dead: 400 Days, The Wolf Among Us, Tales from the Borderlands and more, and currently a level designer at Ubisoft San Francisco on South Park: The Fracture But Whole) and Teddy (writer and game designer, worked on Shove Pro, The Moonlighters, and Hyper Light Drifter, and currently a creative director at Square Enix Montreal). We also chat about the story and lack of text in Hyper Light Drifter, games being different based on what department heads the studio, breaking design down into systems/levels/narratives, narrative puzzle design, iteration, having intimate conversations with developers by playing their game, giving players choice when they don’t expect it, the balance of showing how much a game is listening to players, subtlety in design, storytelling through level design, games withholding their payoffs for too long, and the need to not be precious with your work. Our Guests on the Internet Jolie's Twitter. Teddy's Twitter, Podcast, and Hyper Light Drifter. Stuff We Talked About The Moonlighters Catherine Jolie’s GDC 2016 talk - Solving Puzzle Design Teddy’s Lost Levels talk Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud The Five C's of Cinematography: Motion Picture Filming Techniques by Joseph V. Mascelli Alias Prison Break Sleep No More (again) Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.