Podcasts about ultima underworld

1992 video game

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Best podcasts about ultima underworld

Latest podcast episodes about ultima underworld

DOS Game Club
Ultima Underworld

DOS Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later May 26, 2025 190:53


We're back with a big one, in more ways than one! Normally we do a different game every month, but between December and February we've focused on Ultima Underworld for three months in a row. This was mainly done to give ourselves a chance to catch up, as we've been lagging behind with the podcast […]

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 424: Interstate '76 (part three)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 2, 2025 74:22


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we sadly conclude our series on Interstate '76. Poor Tim could not really play the game at all, so we're going to have to let this one go, but we'll still talk about a few things. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to Mission 10 (B) Issues covered: Tim being unable to get the game running, other cultural objects disappearing, physics implementation details from an implementer!, PC compatibility testing, running down bugs even today, flight stick vs controller, acceleration and turning, independent throttle, analog triggers on modern controllers, easy difficulty, getting a lot out of a few cars, making cars seem smarter, lack of uncanny valley, feeling a whole story in a mission, level design vs mission design, repetitive missions in other games, rewarding you with movies, impersonating a President, committing to a stylistic identity, standing out from the crowd, leveraging an IP shift, moving around between teams, the other game made with the same fiction, working remotely in the games industry, fear and trust. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Nosferatu, Moby Dick, Typee, Omoo, Emily Dickinson, Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit, Phil Salvatore, Carlos, Julio Jerez, Daniel Stanfield, Starfighter (series), Quake, Tomb Raider, Ultima Underworld, Trespasser, TIE Fighter, Wing Commander (series), George H. W. Bush, FASA, Duke Nukem, Blood, Shadow Warrior, Gladius, Final Fantasy Tactics, Red Rock, Sam and Max, Republic Commando, Rebel Assault, Mortimer and the Riddles of the Medallion, Wes, Twisted Metal, Luxoflux, Vigilante 8, Star Wars: Demolition, SNES, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Super Star Wars, Big Sky Trooper, Activision, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, Dave K, Grand Designs, Bethesda Game Studios, Microsoft, Kingdoms of Amalur, .38 Studios, LostLake, Mors_d, Minecraft, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Next time: TBA Twitch Discord DevGameClub@gmail.com

The Retro Hour (Retro Gaming Podcast)
466: Deus Ex, System Shock & Origin Systems: Harvey Smith Tells All - The Retro Hour EP466

The Retro Hour (Retro Gaming Podcast)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 7, 2025 99:46


This week, we chat to Harvey Smith, the legendary designer behind Deus Ex, System Shock, and Area 51! From his early days playing D&D and Ultima Underworld to working at Origin Systems on Super Wing Commander. We hear about the challenges of designing Deus Ex, working alongside Warren Spector, and the technical innovations that made it a classic! Contents: 00:00 - The Week's Retro News Stories  37:43 - Harvey Smith Interview Please visit our amazing sponsors and help to support the show: Bitmap Books - https://www.bitmapbooks.com Take your business to the next level today and enjoy 3 months of Shopify for £1/month: https://shopify.co.uk/retrohour The Retro Hour Book: https://retrohour.myshopify.com/ We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you'd like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://theretrohour.com/support/ https://www.patreon.com/retrohour Get your Retro Hour merchandise: https://bit.ly/33OWBKd Join our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/GQw8qp8 Website: http://theretrohour.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theretrohour/ X: https://twitter.com/retrohouruk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retrohouruk/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theretrohour.com Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theretrohour Show notes Mortal Kombat II for 3DO: https://tinyurl.com/mjf9hewr PS2 memory card that can run your entire library: https://youtu.be/mdxDRtfEXNg Dream Ride – a new Skidmarks style game for the Dreamcast: https://tinyurl.com/vnysuarv Tang FPGA console: https://tinyurl.com/pp3jhzun

Monsters, Madness and Magic
EP#303: Into the Stygian Abyss - An Interview with Warren Spector

Monsters, Madness and Magic

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 21, 2025 56:36


Join Justin as he chats with role-playing and video game designer Warren Spector about his vast personal library, heroic fantasy, Space Gamer Magazine, Ultima, the dawn of Deus Ex, and more!Warren Spector bio:Warren Evan Spector (born October 2, 1955) is an American role-playingand video gamedesigner, director, writer, producer and production designer. He is known for creating immersive simgames, which give players a wide variety of choices in how to progress. Consequences of those choices are then shown in the simulated game world in subsequent levels or missions. He is best known for the critically acclaimed video game Deus Ex that embodies the choice and consequence philosophy while combining elements of the first-person shooter, role-playing, and adventure gamegenres. In addition to Deus Ex, Spector is known for his work while employed by Looking Glass Studios, where he was involved in the creation of several acclaimed titles including Ultima Underworld, Ultima Underworld II, System Shock, and Thief: The Dark Project. He is employed by OtherSide Entertainment, where he was part of the development team for the stalled System Shock 3.”Monsters, Madness and Magic Official Website. Monsters, Madness and Magic on Linktree.Monsters, Madness and Magic on Instagram.Monsters, Madness and Magic on Facebook.Monsters, Madness and Magic on Twitter.Monsters, Madness and Magic on YouTube.

The Fourth Curtain
Warren Spector Gets the Keys to the Kingdom

The Fourth Curtain

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2024 89:23 Transcription Available


Our guest Warren Spector is the creative producer behind vastly influential games like Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Deus Ex and many others. Now working on (working title) Argos, he joins us to talk about the birth of the immersive sim, having amazing mentors and ways to start a game, this week!The conversation dives deep into Warren's career, discussing his design philosophy around player agency and choice, the history behind some of the most influential immersive sim games, and his experiences working at companies like Origin Systems, Ion Storm, and Disney. Warren shares behind-the-scenes stories about the development of Deus Ex, his transition from tabletop gaming to video games, and his collaborations with industry legends like Doug Church and John Romero. The episode also touches on Warren's current work with OtherSide Entertainment and his ambitious, upcoming project, Argos.Timestamped Highlights:[00:01:00] Warren discusses his design philosophy: player choice and agency.[00:02:30] Alex recalls working with Warren at Junction Point on Epic Mickey.[00:03:50] Aaron shares a humorous story about flubbing an interview with Warren during his early career.[00:10:00] Warren talks about his early work with TSR and Steve Jackson Games in the tabletop space.[00:12:00] Working on System Shock and the role of Looking Glass Studios.[00:18:00] Warren's transition from tabletop to video games and his early days at Origin Systems.[00:20:00] The creative process behind Deus Ex and Warren's work with Ion Storm.[00:24:00] Story of how John Romero offered Warren creative freedom at Ion Storm to make Deus Ex.[00:31:00] Warren shares his love for board games and his extensive library of books and car magazines.[00:39:00] Growing up in New York and his passion for film, leading to his career shift.[00:46:00] Warren's first exposure to Dungeons & Dragons in 1978, which profoundly influenced his game design philosophy.[00:53:00] His critique of games that lack meaningful player choice and why he strives to offer alternative solutions in his games.[01:00:00] A sneak peek into his new project at OtherSide Entertainment, Argos, though much remains under wraps.[01:05:00] Discussion about working with Disney and the creative challenges of designing Epic Mickey.[01:09:00] Alex and Warren reflect on their experiences working within Disney and the corporate dynamics.This episode is packed with gems on game design, industry insights, and entertaining stories from one of gaming's most celebrated designers.Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life!Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron MarroquinFind us at www.thefourthcurtain.comCome join the conversation at https://discord.gg/KWeGE4xHfeVideos available at https://www.youtube.com/@thefourthcurtainFollow us on twitter: @fourthcurtainEdited and mastered at https://noise-floor.comFeaturing the music track Liberation by 505

Um Eventual Ocultismo
Apenas Uma Mordiscada 52 - Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss

Um Eventual Ocultismo

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 28, 2024 89:00


Eu não consegui falar de maneira contida e rápida sobre esse jogo. É impossível. Enviem e-mails com comentários para: umeventualocultismo@gmail.com Participantes: Pedro Santos e Vítor Batista Músicas: Ultima Underworld OST (David Govett, George Alistair Sanger)

Epic Realms Podcast
Episodd 77 - Austin Grossman

Epic Realms Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 21, 2024 51:51


We are joined by video game designer, and author Austin Grossman. His novels include "Soon I Will Be Invincible", "You", and "Crooked". Soon I Will Be Invincible was nominated for the 2007 John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize. His writing has also appeared in Granta, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. His game credits include Ultima Underworld 2, System Shock, Trespasser, Deus Ex, Epic Mickey, and Dishonored. He is currently Director of Game Design and Interactive Storytelling at Magic Leap. Austin joins us and talks about his life and journey in two industries and the story telling process for both novels and video games. we also talk about his new Novel "Fight Me" which becomes available May 23rd in the UK. Pick It Up Here! https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/446205/fight-me-by-grossman-austin/9780241555941

The Retro Hour (Retro Gaming Podcast)
423: BioShock: Creating Rapture with Ken Levine - The Retro Hour EP423

The Retro Hour (Retro Gaming Podcast)

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 4, 2024 100:54


This week on the podcast, we sit down with Ken Levine, the mastermind behind Bioshock, to explore his gaming roots and creative journey. From his early fascination with electro-mechanical games to the immersive worlds of Ultima Underworld and Civilization, Ken unfolds the layers behind Bioshock's immersive narrative and art deco influences. We'll also peek into the development of his newest project, Judas, and its appeal to Bioshock fans.  Contents: 00:00 - The Week's Retro News Stories 48:37 - Ken Levine Interview Please visit our amazing sponsors and help to support the show: Get 3 months of ExpressVPN for FREE: https://expressvpn.com/retro Bitmap Books https://www.bitmapbooks.com/ We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you'd like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://theretrohour.com/support/ https://www.patreon.com/retrohour Get your Retro Hour merchandise: https://bit.ly/33OWBKd Join our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/GQw8qp8 Website: http://theretrohour.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theretrohour/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/retrohouruk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retrohouruk/ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theretrohour Show notes: Time Splitters Rewind seeks developers: https://tinyurl.com/ymwth8wy New Amstrad fan game: Mighty Street Fighter: https://tinyurl.com/y57hdmad NES cartridge turned into a console: https://youtu.be/ON-vArvervA Cyber Mission: New Genesis/Mega Drive game: https://tinyurl.com/mw3su79d PO'ed Mightdive remaster revealed: https://tinyurl.com/382vp9hk

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 375: Homeworld (part two)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 17, 2024 86:30


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, having the feeling of a base attack with a capital ship attack, the quick dock vs the slow drawn out wait, a diversion to explain Battlestar Galactica, setting up archetypes and breaking them, thinking about what our mistakes have been, sending the wrong ships against the capital ships, no one sets out to make a bad game, an anecdote about Skyrim, closing out the game and pushing it out and taking cover, artificial idiocy, whether the movie people ruined Trespasser, the interaction of movies and games, Defeating Games for Charity. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Halo, Planet of the Apes, Charlton Heston, Dune, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Warcraft, Starcraft, Star Trek, Ultima Underworld, Eye of the Beholder, Chris Corry, The Simpsons, God of War, Mikael, Matt Groening, Cory Barlog, Skyrim, Istvan Pely, Fallout (series), Republic Commando, Jedi Starfighter, EGM, Trespasser, Will Crosbie, Jim Gee, Alex Seropian, Noah Falstein, Dreamworks Interactive, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Tom Bissell, Nolan Filter/CalamityNolan, Dark Souls, Rogue, Final Fantasy IX, Mega Man, Kaeon, Devil May Cry, X-COM, Metroid, Belmont, Bvron, Kyle, Error, Lostlake, BioStats, Mark Garcia, D&D, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.  Next time: Up to M12? Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @devgameclub Discord DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 372: Trespasser (part three)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 13, 2023 88:58


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, more keys that aren't keys, not leaning on the license, a more straightforward puzzle, 526327, the extending weird finger, modeling "dexterity," throwing the keycard in the Atlantic, a helpful (?) velociraptor, pressure plates in the ruins, playing something mid-development, games that should be canceled, deals that forced the game out, breaking your game while you build it, getting better at making the game, hitting the board in the wrong place, setting up the physics and seeing the world a certain way, shaking the Jell-O, letting the Jell-O settle, learning how to kite the dinosaurs, spawning three dinosaurs, making terrible mistakes, choosing appropriate goals, not knowing if a thing is possible, mashing up things, being aspirational, leading the way, admiring the purity, dinosaur ecology, getting to see something like this, being consistent in your rules, providing clarity. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World, Through A Glass Darkly, Minnie Driver, Richard Attenborough, Jimmy Carter, Populous, Civilization, Peter Molyneux, Sid Meier, Ultima Underworld, Half-Life 2, DOOM (1993), Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Spielbergs, Bethesda Game Studios, Call of Duty, Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, Skyrim, Todd Howard, Velvet Underground, Jell-O, Fallout 3, Hal Barwood, Ray Harryhausen, Land That Time Forgot, Zoo Tycoon, Far Cry 2, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Next time: ?? Notes: Having not seen 1974's The Land That Time Forgot in quite some time, Brett misremembered the movie. He was actually thinking either about scenes from a movie called The Valley of Gwangi, which is from 1969, or One Million Years BC, (1966) both of which feature stop-motion animation by Harryhausen.   Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @devgameclub Discord DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 360: Eye of the Beholder (part five)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 6, 2023 112:40


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Eye of the Beholder. We talk more about D&D adaptation, spend some time with a sequel, and get to our takeaways before emptying the mailbag. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Issues covered: which levels count in the sequel, killing lots of beholders, whether you could have killed Xanathar in the original, striation of hit point values, scaling for sense of power, paying off on the quests, finding all the beholders, beholder physiology, having more fun with beholders as designers, bulettes and basilisks, "just keep going," being trained for level navigation, designing towards the player understanding, wanting coordinates, using simple concepts well, modular repeatable and combinable concepts, leaning into the limitations, an onion layer level, "mapping matters," loving drawing maps, sanding off of friction (various ways of telling the player how to get there), being more embodied in the dungeon, the more you take out the less the experience becomes, allowing for abstraction and having to draw you in other ways, translating D&D, why simulate the math, a bad game to simulate, "what is a saving throw?," using video games to inform the evolution of your tabletop game, emphasizing the human, a more elegant system, dice variance, a useless party experience, usability issues, bad games that were influential on us, remembering movie moments but not the gameplay, even bad actors are better than what we could do at the time, digging into all the RPGs, not knowing what to do in SimCity, DOS vs Mac music and early audio, a craftman's respect for audio, warm analog music, hearing multiple versions of the same soundtrack, not playing a lot of real-world games, physics in games and pitting against fun, wanting to get to specific rides vs how you build a park, Tim gets turned off on the CRPG book, building on foundations and the legacies they carry, business concerns, shipping code passing cert, climbing uphill to make changes, maintaining the feel. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Eye of the Beholder II, Winnie the Pooh, The Dungeon Run, Metal Gear Solid (obliquely), Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM (1993), Gary Gygax, PS5, Xbox Series X, Dark Souls, Temple of Elemental Evil, Indiana Jones (series), Far Cry 2, Starfighter, Jurassic Park, Ultima Underworld, God of War, Baldur's Gate (series), World of Warcraft, William Shatner, Vampire: the Masquerade, Call of Cthulhu, Mechwarrior, Mechassault, Warhammer, Morrowind, Fallout, Diablo, Westwood, Ashton Herrmann, Kyrandia (series), Lands of Lore, Trespasser, Clint Hocking, Assassin's Creed (series), Darkstone, Neverwinter Nights, Kingdom Hearts, Twisted Metal Black, Warcraft II, Quake, MYST, Grim Fandango, The 7th Guest, NextGen, Sam Thomas, The CRPG Book, Skyrim, The Bard's Tale, Disco Elysium, Rogue, Betrayal at Krondor, Cobra Mission: Panic in Cobra City, Andrew, SimCity 2000, GameBoy, MegaMan, NES/SNES/N64, Grant Kirkhope, GoldenEye 007, Metroid (series), Half-Life (series), Rollercoaster Tycoon, The Matrix, Disneyworld, Great Adventure, Canobie Lake Park, Dungeon Master, Chris, Populous (series), Dungeon Master, Fallout 3, mysterydip, Commander Keen, Dwarf Fortress, Metroid Prime, Bethesda Game Studios, Halo (series), Bungie Studios, Tomb Raider, Galleon, Toby Gard, Redguard, Reed Knight, Todd Howard, Starfighter, Grand Theft Auto (series), Starfield, Unreal (series), Gears of War, Republic Commando, Jack Mathews, Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.  Next time: Our next game? Links: The CRPG Book Dungeon Master Encyclopedia and video Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub Discord  DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 359: Eye of the Beholder (part four)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 30, 2023 67:57


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Eye of the Beholder. We killed Xanathar! We saved Waterdeep! And we talked about simulation vs game vs narrative and various other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Finished the game! Issues covered: potential NPCs, getting misled by the star, hating the missing buttons, good reveals on secret doors, unmotivated puzzles, brute force, accidentally solving a puzzle, up into a small enclosed space, not finding the Drow, wanting more of a sense of NPC presence, leaning into narrative and game-iness, using game-iness to add drama, simulation elements in D&D, being more naturalistic, spiking a door vs more elaborate narrative elements, having to abstract rest mechanics, having consequences for time advancing, JRPGs and rest mechanics, dying many times to the beholder, getting so much of the map connecting moments, identifying magic items, using enemies as clues via audio, the silent mind-flayers, not seeing the dice and having the opportunity to balance, terrifying appearance of Xanathar, being unprepared, not seeing all of the beholder effects, respawning monsters, not being able to level up your mages enough, running away from Xanathar, mouse panic, using collision audio to know where he was, wand spamming, being teleported into the final room, not understanding the teleporters, portraits and the art style, not knowing when to stop pushing, giving impressions through simple art, adding audio to later games, D&D of particular eras. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Crystal Shard, Ultima Underworld, Temple of Elemental Evil, Fallout, Baldur's Gate III, Pool of Radiance, Star Wars, William Shatner, Sierra, LucasArts, Diablo (series), Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.  Next time: Takeaways and mail bag Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub Discord DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 358: Eye of the Beholder (part three)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2023 73:00


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1991's Eye of the Beholder. We talk quite a bit about adaptation and the things that are not entirely.... fun... about D&D. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to level 10 or 11 Issues covered: Discord Game Club, finding the dwarves, the injured dwarf, information as a reward, inconsistent locks, messages you can only read if you have a dwarf, using up keys and not knowing when you should use them, communities below ground, "Xanathar: he's kind of a big deal," history in the built environment, the sewer map, "feelies," wishing the computer would do the rules for us... or not?, translation of D&D, the problems of adaptation, diving into the movie, respawning hellhounds and imagining hell, what's a xorn?, puzzle opacity, good puzzles, holdover concepts that stick around, level connectivity, the pleasures of linking up segments of map, removing useful friction, games where there's not a lot of high hights nor low lows, podcast games, having to learn the world and feeling the mastery, great connections in Dark Souls, landmarking and not wanting a map. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: D&D, Discord Game Club, Artimage, Mark Garcia, BioStats, Final Fantasy IX, Kotaku, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Temple of Elemental Evil, Infocom, Zork (series), Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, Republic Commando, Baldur's Gate (series), Diablo, Chris Pine, Ultima Underworld, Richard Garriott, System Shock, King's Quest, Assassin's Creed, World of Warcraft, Dark Souls, Ico, Dragon/Dungeon magazines, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.  Next time: Finish the game! Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @devgameclub Discord DevGameClub@gmail.com

Pixelated Audio
LIVE: MAGWest 2023 with George Sanger – PA182

Pixelated Audio

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2023 84:19


Another titan of the game industry, George "The Fat Man" Sanger, joins us live at MAGWest! George has done so much to shape the course of game audio in America that the best we can hope for is scratching the surface with this post. During his career he's worked on numerous games, alongside his legendary group of cowboy composers under the moniker "Team Fat" which consisted of himself, Dave Govett, Joe McDermott and K. Weston Phelan. A short list of projects that George and Team Fat worked on: Thin Ice for Intellivision, Maniac Mansion and Rad Gravity for NES, Zombies Ate My Neighbors on SNES, a litany of computer games including Loom, The 7th Guest, The 11th Hour, Wing Commander I and II, Ultima Underworld, Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon, Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo, Pajama Sam 3, and many other games. He's done work for so many companies it'll be faster to just link to his Wikipedia or Mobygames pages. His influence in PC game music is especially strong. He's created think tanks and collaborated with audio companies which led to the adoption of hardware like the MT-32, General MIDI, and even redbook audio as data on CD-ROM games like the 7th Guest. In the 1990s, he was also one of the first to bring American VGM composers together through "Project Barbecue", an early precursor to events like GameSoundCon, MAGWest and others. We loved every minute of talking with George and hearing his hilarious stories; from his humble beginnings, to his lengthy career and accomplishments, to his work with Team Fat. He is a larger than life character in a suit and cowboy hat and we wouldn't have it any other way. If you haven't got your fill of George yet, check out a few more things: Team Fat Bandcamp page - buy some of their classic albums! George's website - Learn more about the man himself And a few plugs from George for good measure The 7th Guest VR Soups On - Remade music from 7th Guest and 11th Hour in a 4 vinyl set (fully funded Kickstarter) Pixelated Audio and the Fat Man Music composed by George Sanger or other members of Team Fat (Dave Govett, Joe McDermott, K. Weston Phelan) unless otherwise stated 0:00:00 (Bedding) Swing Commander (Rec Room) ver 1.7 - Wing Commander Remastered (MT-32) - Dave Govett and George Sanger 0:05:39 Surfin on Thin Ice - Intellivision Lives! (GC) Based on "Carnival of the Penguins" for the 1983/1986 Intellivision game "Thin Ice" - George Sanger 0:13:49 (Excerpt) Main Music - Capture the Flag (Atari 8-bit) 0:15:08 (Excerpt) Surfin on Thin Ice (Live) - Intellivision Lives! (GC) 0:18:02 Planet Theme - Rad Gravity (NES) 0:22:19 Title Theme - Rad Gravity (NES) 0:23:31 Go Get 'Em! - Wing Commander Remastered (MT-32) - Dave Govett and George Sanger 0:26:22 (Excerpt) Main Theme - Loom (MT-32) Based on "Pas de trois - Intrada" originally by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, transcribed by George Sanger and Gary Hammond 0:27:32 Main Theme - SSN-21 Seawolf (MT-32) 0:34:33 Putt in Tunisia - Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon Remastered 0:48:28 Bedspread - The 7th Guest Remastered 0:54:00 I R Sam or Sam's House - Pajama Sam 3 Remastered 1:01:51 Train: The Lost Puzzle Piece (Unused) - The 7th Guest Remastered 1:06:57 Zombie Panic - Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES) - Joe McDermott and George Sanger 1:18:13 Dave's Theme - Maniac Mansion (NES) - David Hayes and David Warhol 1:21:53 Welcome to the Zoo (Final) - Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo Remastered - George Sanger and Team Fat

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 356: Eye of the Beholder (part one)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 26, 2023 83:44


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 1991's Eye of the Beholder, from Westwood Studios and published by Strategic Simulations Inc. We set the game in its time before exploring its primary mechanics and the feel of being in this world. 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: knowing who the evil is, tactical top down Gold Box, the opening cutscene, being amazed at how much they get into the Game Boy version of a Metroid game, lots of movie tie-ins, a wide variety of machines, lack of automap, being everything one wanted for a Forgotten Realms nerd, one of the ten games, semi real-time, living inside the depths of Waterdeep, a style of play which continues today, having to rest immediately, gaining information through audio, uncovering the whole map vs racing towards the goal, tournament play, losing is fun, the only way out is through, annotating a later map, interacting with the play space, accessibility and the mouse, contextualization and abstraction in game design, having to throw weapons in the world, how cool the audio is, using items to locate yourself, creating a party, crunchy spells, shout-outs to upcoming work, difficulty in the bosses in Metroid games then and now, games influencing games, getting the green light, justifying the game via the sweet spot of trends, why not just make this a Star Wars game, how green lighting changes with bigger franchises, games that changed our perspectives. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Gold Box games, Westwood Studios, Dune 2, A Link to the Past, Super Castlevania IV, SNES, Mega Man 4, Final Fantasy IV, Metroid II: Return of Samus (and Metroid series), Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega Genesis, Battletoads, Rare, Stamper Bros, Civilization, Another World, Space Quest IV, Monkey Island 2, Wing Commander 2, Hudson Hawk, Terminator 2, American Gladiators, Hunt for Red October, The Godfather, Amiga, PC-98, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Apple ][, Spectrum ZX, Amstrad, Questron, Disney, Legend of Kyrandia, Command and Conquer (series), Electronic Arts, Earth and Beyond, Louis Castle, Brett Sperry, Strategic Simulations Incorporated, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Pool of Radiance, The Ruins of Myth Drannor, Ultima (series), Wizardry (series), A Bard's Tale (series), Ultima Underworld, Dungeon Master, Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest (series), Diablo, Wasteland, Temple of Elemental Evil, Legend of Grimrock, Etrian Odyssey (series), The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, The Tomb of Horrors, Infocom, Ocarina of Time, Rogue, Deluxe Paint, Baldur's Gate, Jarkko Sivula, Single Malt Apocalypse, Sierra, LucasArts, Wierd Tales, Amazing Stories, Tintin, Pippin Barr, David Wolinsky, Game Thing, The Stuff Games Are Made Of, Walker, Dark Souls, Nintendo, Skyrim, Breath of the Wild, Johnny Pockets, Mad Max, Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, Republic Commando, Sam and Max: Freelance Police, Bounty Hunter, RTX Red Rock, Gladius, PlayStation, Tomb Raider (series), Halo: Infinite, Quake, MYST, Lode Runner, Sabotage, Robotron 2084, Joust, Dark Forces, WoW Classic, Everquest, MUD, Ultima Online, Meridian 59, Adventure, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Next time: more Eye of the Beholder! Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub Discord  DevGameClub@gmail.com

Quest
Návrat legendy: Moderní předělávka System Shocku není jen lekcí herní historie

Quest

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2023 55:13


Lukáš, Šárka i Jarda si libují ve hrách žánru immersive sim, jehož kořeny na počátku devadesátých let položily tituly jako Ultima Underworld nebo System Shock. Právě druhý jmenovaný se v těchto dnech dočkal přepracovaného vydání, které hře obléká moderní kabátek nejen po grafické stránce.Všechny díly podcastu Quest můžete pohodlně poslouchat v mobilní aplikaci mujRozhlas pro Android a iOS nebo na webu mujRozhlas.cz.

Stay Forever
Ambermoon (SF 131)

Stay Forever

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 30, 2023 188:31


Ambermoon ist ein deutsches Rollenspiel für den Amiga von Thalion Software. Es erschien 1993 als Nachfolge von Amberstar, spät in der Lebenszeit des Amiga, bot dafür aber scrollende 3D-Grafik in Dungeons, ein Feature, das zu dieser Zeit auch auf dem PC noch nicht alltäglich war - Ultima Underworld war erst ein Jahr zuvor erschienen. Eine PC-Version war geplant, kam aber nicht mehr zustande, weil Thalion pleite ging. Was bleibt, ist eine unvollendete Serie, Amberstar und Ambermoon hätten noch einen Nachfolger namens Amberworlds bekommen sollen. Aber es bleiben auch zwei der besten Amiga-Rollenspiele, die bis heute eine Fanbasis haben. Christian und Gunnar sprechen in diesem Podcast über Amberstar und Ambermoon, Gunnars warme Jugenderinnerungen daran und erzählen die Geschichte der Entstehung. Bei Letzterer kommen drei Mitglieder des Entwicklerteams zu Wort: Karsten Köper, Jurie Horneman und Erik Simon, alle seinerzeit bei Thalion Software im Einsatz. Wir bedanken uns herzlich auch an dieser Stelle nochmal für die Bereitschaft, das mitzumachen. Das Interview veröffentlichen wir gesondert am Stück im offenen Feed, Unterstützer erhalten noch eine Folge mit Nachträgen und Extras. Thema: Ambermoon, 1993 Plattform: Commodore Amiga Entwickler: Thalion Software GmbH Publisher: Thalion Software GmbH Genre: Rollenspiel Designer: Karsten Köper, Erik Simon, Jurie Horneman, Thorsten Mutschall Musik: Matthias Steinwachs Podcast-Credits: Sprecher: Christian Schmidt, Gunnar Lott Mit O-Tönen von: Karsten Köper, Jurie Horneman, Erik Simon Audioproduktion: Fabian Langer, Christian Schmidt Titelgrafik: Paul Schmidt Intro, Outro: Nino Kerl (Ansage); Chris Hülsbeck (Musik) www.stayforever.de

Retro Spectives
Episode 104: Arx Fatalis

Retro Spectives

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 26, 2023 89:19


Arkane Studios was founded with a dream: to create a sequel to the highly revered grandfather of immersive sims Ultima Underworld.  Unfortunately for them, they couldn't quite secure the rights to the IP, and instead decided to make a game that was evocative of the original in every way.  Enter Arx Fatalis, a game that was released to widespread critical acclaim, but unfortunately for Arkane suffered commercially.  It wasn't until the far more action orientated release of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic that Arkane started to see more widespread appeal.But did the original Arx Fatalis deserve to go under the radar?  It features an unusual magic system where players have to inscribe runes on their screen to create spells.  Its level design is a complicated web of caverns layered on top of one another with secrets galore connecting them together.  And its quest design is almost puzzle-like in structure, requiring players to have their wits about them to actually progress through the game.  Does this all add up to a dream game for immersive sim purists, or is it just a messy and janky homage to a much greater game?On this episode, we discuss:Level Design.How easy is it to navigate the labyrinthian caverns that make up most of the world of Arx Fatalis?  Is it easy to get lost in the web, or are objectives always clear despite the lack of quest markers?Combat.How enjoyable is the combat in Arx Fatalis?  How does melee combat stack up against other first person fantasy RPGs like Skyrim?  Does spellcasting give you a different approach to combat like in Dark Messiah?Puzzles.Arx Fatalis features some fairly involved puzzles in its dungeons, like the crypt or mysterious Hall of Illusions.  How well are these puzzles integrated into the regular gameplay and interface?  Does the game make full use of your utility spellcasting options to create the most interesting puzzles possible?We answer these questions and many more on the 104th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast! Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen KOutro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to anotherArx Fatalis OST: Kemal Amarasingham,  Simon Amarasingham Arx Fatalis Libertatis Mod Join the conversation and recommend us games to play on our community discord server!You can support the show on our Buy me a Coffee Page!

Saturday Morning Gaming Show
Episode 52 - Ultima Underworld (PC)

Saturday Morning Gaming Show

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2023 76:15


Continuing the Ultima lineage, Ultima Underworld takes cryptic hints, compelling dungeons, powerful spells and rolls them all over into a new genre. In this episode... All 8 talismans are talked about, along with the somewhat lengthy description on how to obtain them Find out why Thefatwizard hates and loves this game! We befriend ghouls, ogres, humans, goblins, and dwarves The next game we're covering is announced: Sam & Max Hit the Road (PC) Support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/SaturdayMorningGamingShow Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@Saturdaymorninggamingshow Listen: https://open.spotify.com/show/23fvPj6yEVe4iQMAeXz44x Discord: https://discord.gg/px6p3qj Email: SaturdayMorningGamingShow@gmail.com Twitter: @SaturdayMGaming for updates LobosJr: https://www.twitch.tv/lobosjr https://twitter.com/Lobosjrgaming Alamaxia https://twitter.com/Alamaxia

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 341: Dwarf Fortress (part four)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 22, 2023 73:43


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Dwarf Fortress. We turn to the Steam version of the game and especially talk about how a more graphical presentation changes the feel of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: 2 - 8 hours (Tim - Brett) Issues covered: starting over, an unhappy bard who you just can't make happy, the necromancer who injured himself in a ravine and who raised an undead to defend him, exploring the game's systems to try and make her happy, goals that arise indirectly, the accomplishment of making her happy, abandoning saves, letting the simulation run, walling in your staircase and the art being unclear, 500K events, the history of the world, watching the world be built or discarded, being curious about a smaller world, resource pressure, task management, a relatively frictionless first year, the leap of graphics, zooming up through the canopy, seeing your floors, realizing what things represent, going narrow so you can go deep, generating stories, hidden personality variables, dating sims, adding pressure by adding a bunch of new dwarves, meeting areas, a starving cow, so many timers and spinning many plates, the evocative melancholy of the music, games from our childhood. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Animal Crossing, Black & White, Chris Corry, Andrew Kirmse, Valheim, Minecraft, Kitfox Games, Starfighter, Chris Crawford, Rimworld, Populous, SimCity, Tarn Adams, Colin Tougas, Pokemon Red/Blue, Wizardry (series), Ultima (series), Eye of the Beholder, Etrian Odyssey (series), King's Quest, Space Quest, Tetris, Lode Runner, Ultima Underworld, Docobron, Final Fantasy IX, Super Mario World, Metal Gear Solid 3, Chrono Trigger, The Witness, Artimage, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.  Next time: More DF and our takeaways Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Saturday Morning Gaming Show
Episode 51 - Faxanadu (NES)

Saturday Morning Gaming Show

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2023 69:35


The war between Elves and Dwarves rages on, and it's up to 1 wanderer to mediate the conflict, by killing The Evil One! In this episode... The mysterious origins of the name 'Faxanadu' are revealed! We walk through the crit path of the story Weapons, items, armor, shields, and magic are all covered We announce the next game we're covering: Ultima Underworld on the PC Support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/SaturdayMorningGamingShow Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@Saturdaymorninggamingshow Listen: https://open.spotify.com/show/23fvPj6yEVe4iQMAeXz44x Discord: https://discord.gg/px6p3qj Email: SaturdayMorningGamingShow@gmail.com Twitter: @SaturdayMGaming for updates LobosJr: https://www.twitch.tv/lobosjr https://twitter.com/Lobosjrgaming Alamaxia https://twitter.com/Alamaxia

SuperJuegos30
Episodio 6 - Octubre 2022

SuperJuegos30

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 7, 2022 293:21


El otoño nos ha traído el primer invitado a la revista Superjuegos : Kanu2021, con quien repasaremos las distintas adaptaciones de Kick Off 2 a los sistemas domésticos, y nos contará como prepara su participación en el mundial del próximo mes. Todo eso sumado al habitual repaso a la revista, con títulos tan destacados como Sonic 2, Batman Returns, Krusty's fun house, Terminator 2, Jackie Chan, Galaga'90, Wing Commander 2, Ultima Underworld o Rampart! Entre medias, locos concursos y todas las secciones bizarras habituales : Bazar, Horoscopo, Dale Marcha, Trucos, Cartas...Esperamos que os guste y os ayude a pasar un buen rato (largo). Enlace para leer la revista : https://archive.org/details/Superjuegos_006 Síguenos en la cuenta de Twitter @superjuegos30 Ven a comentar el podcast a nuestro grupo de telegram : t.me/sj30podcast

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 311: MegaMan 2 & X (part one)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 14, 2022 83:05


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series on MegaMan 2/X, looking at them as different platformers from the time. We set it in context a bit. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Three enemies Issues covered: Dog Game Club, playing a couple games instead of one, fighting mens for their weapons, playing second iterations, bringing in past favorites, setting the game in its time, mascot games, structure and wanting to choose your order of attack, using the boss for its weapons, technical limitations and difficulty, learning a level, generosity with powerups, run-based play, grinding for drops, some things that feel unfair the first time you fight them, getting the gist, having wall stages, annual release schedule, Mega Man 10 or X, tic-tac-toe enemy board, dabbling in some enemies, not knowing what order to progress, using passwords, possible orders of enemies, damage types and using the right tools for the job, Tim shades Billy Mitchell, deriving stuff from Mega Man, wanting to run, spawning enemies rhythmically rather than placement, how the platforming feels, being more methodical, character design for collision in this and Mario, good characterization with fewer states, swapping, not designing for you controller, having to be able to go to any level first, where you can get to powerups, homework: watch out for cool level design moments, books about the inside, keeping the good stuff, keeping current through peer recommendations, finding a friend group, listening to podcasts, not feeling like you have to keep up, finding threads through games, following journalists, first person football, losing perspective, the ways games are impacted by other media, butt explosion T-shirt, reactions in games, why games hit when, a return to Anor Londo. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Bark Souls, Soul Rover, Mark Garcia, Shibaenmue, Resident Beagle, Castlevania, SNES, PlayStation, Pokemon, GameBoy, Metroid (series), Zelda (series), Capcom, System Shock 2, Wasteland, Electronic Arts, Fallout, Dragon Quest 3, Enix, RC Pro/Am, Rare, Bionic Commando, Ultima V, Nintendo, Tecmo, Ninja Gaiden, Final Fantasy II, Pool of Radiance, Baldur's Gate, Chrono Trigger, Populous, Super Mario Land, Prince of Persia, Broderbund, SimCity, Castlevania III, Konami, Contra 2, Sierra, King's Quest, Space Quest, Manhunter, Colonel's Bequest, Keiji Inafune, Resident Evil (series), Monster Hunter, Dark Souls, Tetris, Guacamelee, Sonic (series), The Brady Bunch, Johnny Grattan, Crash Bandicoot, Ultima Underworld, Donkey Kong, King of Kong, Ratchet & Clank, Shonen Jump, Astro Boy, Sega Genesis, Tomb Raider, Spelunky, Super Meat Boy, Blood Sweat Pixels, mysterydip, Junction Point, Jason Schreier, Press Reset, Ray Chase, Bioshock Infinite, John Webb, Prey, Bioshock, Triple Click, Waypoint Radio, DLC, Kirk Hamilton, Maddie Myers, Hollow Knight, Kingdom Hearts, Dishonored, Austin Walker, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, ESPN NFL 2k5, Trespasser, Coleco, Mattel, Morrowind, The Honorable T. H. Isismyre Alname, Robin Hobb, David Eddings, Velvet Underground, Bloodborne, Demons's Souls, Drew Scanlon, Jeremiah Johnson, Giant Bombcast, Aaron Evers. Next time: Finish MegaMan 2! Notes: The King of Kong person Brett was thinking of was Billy Mitchell Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Gameography
S2 E10: Ultima Underworld

Gameography

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2022 64:57


Paul Neurath took a look at the dungeon crawling landscape and knew he could do better. He wanted something immersive and fluid that you could lose yourself in. What he and his team ended up creating was the first texturemaped 3D first person game. Not only that it is considered the first immersive sim, with […] The post S2 E10: Ultima Underworld first appeared on Gameography Podcast.

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 298: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (part five)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2022 81:23


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Morrowind. We talk a little bit about the systems and friction, our individual stories, and Brett solves his Magicka problem. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Just more hours of Morrowind Issues covered: not sharing the same experience, we compare hours played, a Chocobo Paradise situation, finding where the UI tells you what factions want from your skills, joining the Imperial Legion, working on my long blades, paying off your murders, the weird reveal of the fog of war, very specific usability in terms of having to talk to people, the strangeness of the setting, the friction of the navigation of literal space and its basis in tabletop, wanting to get more usable and sacrifices are made, pure open world design, Eurojank with systems and friction, physical movement in the 3D space, discovering a community of vampires, being guided to points of interest, using markers on the map, training limits, how level design has evolved for dungeons in open worlds, the things that have started to work, finding the Ghost Wall, spending two hours on one assassination, seeing layered architecture in a place, managing the inventory with single icons for groups of potions, having your own diseases, an above-ground Underdark, conjuring a ghost to absorb its magic attack, being so systemic that weird actions result, equations that scale up, emergence of systems, the acrobatics of 1000, Valestra the Thinker, loving the support of all the different play styles, Tim atoning for his sins, a Mage's Guild where you have to teleport to get in, the creative goals of the game guiding how much art you reuse, marketing needs, being responsible with making your art, Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Legend of Zelda (series), Final Fantasy IX (obliquely), Tolkien/LotR, Dungeons & Dragons, World of Warcraft, Mount and Blade, Fallout 3, Ultima Underworld, Assassin's Creed (series), Hitman (series), Pulp Fiction, Halo, National Lampoon's European Vacation, mysterydip, Zeriquinn, Dan Hunter, The Witcher (series), Eye of the Beholder, Logan, Mario (series), BioWare, Call of Duty, Bungie, Horizon (series), Tom Cruise, Robert Mitchum, Resident Evil 7, David Collins, Uncharted/The Last of Us, Resident Evil Village, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Next time: When does it end? Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 293: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (part one)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 19, 2022 82:28


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Bethesda Game Studios RPG classic from 2002. We situate it in time and then dive right in, having been released from imprisonment and sent on a specific mission. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: A few hours of play Issues covered: 2002 in games, Todd Howard's first mainline game as director, a little about Bethesda, Tim's history with the series, early games feeling open world, finding the titles generic, Brett confesses, not playing just the main quest, directing the player via POIs, self-motivated quests, interview homework, the prophecies, something is going on in Vvardenfell, name/job, situating you in the world with character creation, the census bureau, the clever setups, tutorial and usability, the death of Ultima as a franchise, Brett the battlemage, being able to pick up anything, we try to find the names of the elven races, all the skills and accidentally thieving, sleeping in the wrong bed, having laws enforced, not being able to barter because of contraband, thoughtful world-building, imagining a bigger world from small interactions, playing the good assassin, being opposed to the outlanders, coming up with concepts from the real world, coding the Khajiit as shifty Arabs, homebrew and archetypal sources, steering away from making particular races evil, slavery in RPGs, walking to Balmora, doing some quests, different architecture, Tim's sidequest to woo a Dunmer, directions to get to a quest, what is the arc of the game?, feeling like you have chapters even when a game doesn't have progression or leveling up, the small decisions you make all the time in game design, the crosshairs in Halo. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Jonah Lobe, Jean Simonet, Andrew Kirmse, Republic Commando, Oblivion, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Kingdom Hearts, Eternal Darkness, Ratchet & Clank, Xbox, Metroid Prime, Splinter Cell, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Sly Cooper, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Jedi Starfighter, Battlefield 1942, Age of Mythology, Jedi Knight II, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Neverwinter Nights, Bioware, Jade Empire, Knights of the Old Republic, Todd Howard, Redguard, Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones, NHL series, Terminator, Fallout (series), Starfield, The Witcher III, Reed Knight, Ultima Underworld, Arena, Daggerfall, Patrick Stewart, Firaxis, MechAssault, DoubleNegative (youtuber), Liam Neeson, Fallout: New Vegas, Underworld Ascendant, Paul Neurath, Baldur's Gate, Tyranny, Planescape: Torment, Pillars of Eternity, Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, WoW Classic, Infinity Engine, Sea of Thieves, Ifthatisyo U'rerealname, Halo, RE VII, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Next time: More hours? Links: You're Finally Awake Errata: The game we referred to as the spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld was Underworld Ascendant and not Ascension (which was the subtitle to Ultima IX). We regret the error. Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Stevey's Tech Talk
Stevey's Tech Talk S1E17 - What it's like to work for Google

Stevey's Tech Talk

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 17, 2022 45:23


Several people asked me to talk about Amazon vs. Google and compare them, so I'm doing that in this episode.  I talk a lot about what it's like to work for Google.The dude in the beginning is a little joke, since one of you said I look like a bearded floating head. Which is accurate, since that's the look I'm going for, inspired by the guy at the beginning of Ultima Underworld.

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine
Paul Neurath - Interview

Video Game Newsroom Time Machine

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2021 75:19


Few technological leaps have been more impressive in the history of gaming than the move from 2D to 3D and few developers have contributed more to that revolutionary step towards immersion more than our guest Paul Neurath.   Paul tells us of his career, starting out as a solo coder to cofounding and running one of the most legendary studios in PC gaming history, Looking Glass.   Recorded - January 2021   Get us on your mobile device: Android:  https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly92aWRlb2dhbWVuZXdzcm9vbXRpbWVtYWNoaW5lLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz iOS:      https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/video-game-newsroom-time-machine   And if you like what we are doing here at the podcast, don't forget to like us on your podcasting app of choice, YouTube, and/or support us on patreon! https://www.patreon.com/VGNRTM   Send comments on twitter @videogamenewsr2 Or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/vgnrtm Or videogamenewsroomtimemachine@gmail.com     Links:   Paul Neurath - https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,5226/ Ned Lerner - https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,1507/ Apple II - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II Deep Space - https://www.mobygames.com/game/deep-space-operation-copernicus Sir-Tech - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir-Tech Origin Systems - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_Systems Space Rogue - https://www.mobygames.com/game/space-rogue Chuck Yeager's AFT 2 - https://www.mobygames.com/game/chuck-yeagers-advanced-flight-trainer-20 Warren Spector - https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,127/ Blue Sky Productions - https://www.mobygames.com/company/blue-sky-productions Ultima Underworld - https://www.mobygames.com/game/ultima-underworld-the-stygian-abyss Doom - https://www.mobygames.com/game/doom Looking Glass Studios - https://www.mobygames.com/company/looking-glass-studios-inc System Shock - https://www.mobygames.com/game/system-shock Thief - https://www.mobygames.com/game/thief-the-dark-project Flight Unlimited - https://www.mobygames.com/game/flight-unlimited Jerry Wolosenko Interview - https://www.patreon.com/posts/42014024 OtherSide Entertainment - https://otherside-e.com/wp/ Underworld Ascendant - https://www.mobygames.com/game/underworld-ascendant

ene3cast
Retrospectiva — Arx Fatalis

ene3cast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2021 46:29


Para celebrar o lançamento de Deathloop, libertamos pela primeira vez ao público geral uma retrospectiva / dissecação ao primeiro jogo da Arkane: Arx Fatalis! Neste episódio que esteve guardado a sete-chaves — até hoje! — nos arquivos dos subscritores pagos do ene3cast, guardados por trolls e feiticeiras-serpente, os irmãos Magalhães discutem a fundo este RPG que pretendia ser o sucessor espiritual do clássico Ultima Underworld. Arx Fatalis pode não ter alcançado esse objectivo, mas veio a determinar para sempre o DNA da Arkane, com influências que podem ser seguidas até ao Deathloop. Juntem-se ao nosso Discord (https://discord.gg/zMQy2bZjpx ) para conversar connosco acerca dos tópicos do podcast e muito mais! Querem apoiar o programa? (E receber uns miminhos em troca?) Dirijam-se a www.patreon.com/ene3cast e tornem-se patronos! É o vosso apoio que permite que este program exista! Fiquem bem, e joguem muito!

Shane Plays Geek Talk
Chiptunes with Matt Lister aka Cobra Commander - Episode 246 - 9-1-2021

Shane Plays Geek Talk

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2021 91:23


Matt Lister aka Cobra Commander joins to talk chiptune music, retrocomputing, and some classic G.I. Joe and Transformers. Trackers, hardware, and sound chips, oh my! What is MIDI (and can MIDI be chiptunes)? PAL, NTSC and electron guns. Atari 2600 game development and racing the beam. Yars' Revenge had very tricky programming. Behold the Casio XW-PD1 Trackformer, aka the Millennium Falcon, and grovel before its amazingness. Shane Plays Geek Talk Episode #246 - 9/1/2021 Like what you hear? Support Shane Plays Geek Talk on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/shaneplays Shane Plays Geek Talk is carried on Krypton Radio! Krypton Radio is SciFi for your Wifi http://kryptonradio.com/ Listen to the Shane Plays Geek Talk podcast on YouTube, SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play Music, Amazon Music, Podbean and Stitcher (and other fine, fine podcast directories). Hey, you! Yeah, you! Buy cool stuff, support Shane Plays Geek Talk with these affiliate links! Humble Bundle https://www.humblebundle.com?partner=shaneplays DriveThruRPG.com https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=488512 SHOW NOTES Cobra Commander Chiptunes https://youtube.com/channel/UCqEk4PpkeoHlK738h83o1Cg Matt's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cobracommanderrules/ Matt's Twitter https://twitter.com/CobraYouFools Matthew Lister on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/2yWikE7D9y14AwYoiPILCT Matthew Lister Classical Guitar http://www.matthewlister.com/wordpress/ LSDJ Little Sound DJ - Game Boy music sequencer https://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/index.php FamiTracker - free windows tracker for producing music for the NES/Famicom-systems http://famitracker.com/ Slocum Tracker - Web based Atari 2600 music tracker https://www.igorski.nl/apps/slocum-tracker Arduino - Open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software https://www.arduino.cc/ GenMDM - MIDI interface for the 16-bit Sega Genesis/Megadrive https://catskullelectronics.com/products/genmdm SID-Wizard - Commodore 64 tracker https://sourceforge.net/projects/sid-wizard/ Casio XW-PD1 Trackformer https://www.casio-intl.com/asia/en/emi/products/xw-pd1/ Artiphon Instrument 1 https://artiphon.com/pages/instrument1 Matt's Chiptunes Inspirations Luc Hash Pixel Pedant Chipxel (?) Defense Mechanism Kemikziel Rob Hubbard Bad Gear - The show about the world's most hated audio tools https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOJVsjPZcE9HxsgPKCxZfAg MAGFest - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAGFest Steve Ballmer: Developers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhh_GeBPOhs MIDI on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI Theremin on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin 1950's SciFi Theremin Music DEMO (Sound Clips Only) JARichardsFilm 720p https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYaT704C7_w The Visual Trick That Makes Yars' Revenge Work https://retrovolve.com/the-visual-trick-that-makes-yars-revenge-work/ Matt Barton interviews George Sanger aka "The Fat Man" on Matt Chat Matt Chat 143: Introducing The Fat Man (George Sanger) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp2ESjStMbU Matt Chat 144: The Fat Man Talks Business https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE4AjdWtdnM Matt Chat 145: Why The Fat Man? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFiSv-z98rY Matt Chat 147: Wing Commander, Ultima Underworld, and The 7th Guest with The Fat Man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVDiKGTRTE8 Matt Chat 148: The Fat Man's Topiary Creatures https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttno9RAQZOE --- Dungeons and Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games 2nd Edition Shane's book! Co-authored with Matt Barton of Matt Chat https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Desktops-History-Computer-Role-Playing/dp/1138574643/

The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast
The Five Games Of... Warren Spector

The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 5, 2021 100:54


The Five Games Of is a special series of The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast that explores the evolution of the video games business through the career of prominent developers, executives and more. This time, we explore five games from the career of Warren Spector, industry veteran and one of the key figures crediting with defining the immersive sim. We explore the breadth of Spector's career, starting with his time on classic Ultima RPGs and the groundbreaking Ultima Underworld. We also exploring the origins of the acclaimed Deus Ex and the biggest commercial hit of Spector's career: Epic Mickey. Title music by Juilan Villareal. As always, you can get more news, insight and analysis at www.gamesindustry.biz.

Technology Botcast
Morning Technology News for Saturday Jun 26, 2021

Technology Botcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 26, 2021


Popular Anime Game Adaptation Officially Coming West - IGN Daily Fix - IGNApple reportedly sends warning letter to Chinese leaker - The Verge“Kang” is known as a highly reliable source for Apple leaks. This week he posted on Weibo that a law firm hired by the company wrote him a letter claiming his leaks are harmful to Apple and potentially its customers.Ultima Underworld,, Syndicate games being delisted from GOG.com - PolygonGOG.com said on Thursday, June 24, that Ultima Underworld 1+2, Syndicate Plus, and Syndicate Wars would be delisted on Monday, June 28 at 9 a.m. EDT. The games, all published from 1993 to 1996 by Origin Systems and Electronic Arts, are currently for sale on G…Here's how Android apps on Windows 11 are going to work - Ars TechnicaMicrosoft is building an Android framework on top of the Windows Subsystem for Linux.Poll: When Do You Expect the Next Major PS5 Livestream? - Push SquareThe future of gaming

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 262: Final Fantasy VI (part four)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2021 84:23


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Final Fantasy VI. We talk about more of what we've played so far, dipping into issues of where we grind, how we approach combat, and touching on the Espers. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to Opening the Gate! Issues covered: the gold hairpin/Moogle choice, Lone Wolf in a cell, being confused about the Atma Weapon, random battles and preventing player goals and expression, exploring the Vector facility, having to fight the sub-boss and then save, meeting Cid, the grim origins of Magitek, cultural origins of what the game might be about, grinding in the facility for tents, Brett's physical damage approach vs Tim's magical damage approach, Scanning, losing a magic-user due to Lore Reasons, some discussion of Espers and leveling their skills, how the summons work in later FFs, streaming rules and audience support, being unprepared to lose a character, finding a way to incorporate things you love, the airship as reward, milking the mode 7, multiple control modes for the airship, having to figure out the discrete interface, having even more freedom in another JRPG, an interactable flashback interlude, having a baby on screen and learning how Terra came to be, inviting Tim to come and play FFVII for a week, Terra wanting to open the gate to elist the Espers, gating in Thamasa, monster town, friction with random encounters and disappearing floors, losing your save files and being pushed to finish, doing unpaid labor for your brother, other ways of delivering cutscenes, the whelk and ATB. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Mark Garcia, Park Chan-wook, Parasite, The Host, Bong Joon Ho (obliquely), Wasteland 2, Waypoint, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ultima Underworld, Mario Kart, Chrono Trigger, Baldur's Gate, Suikoden II, Mikael Danielsson, Zach, James Roberts, Super Mario RPG, Square Enix, Sam, Dungeons & Dragons, Ultima, Wizardy, Dragon Quest, Rubik's Cube, Tetris, Spelunky, Death Stranding, Dragon Quest Builders, Aaron Evers, Kirk Hamilton. Links: Super Mario RPG pantomime Opera House Track OCR Next time: Up to the World of Ruin! Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 257: Prince of Persia Sands of Time (part four)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2021 106:49


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our series on 2003's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. We talk about the unfortunate elevator sequence, the final platforming of the game, its circular story and of course, our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Finished the Game Podcast breakdown: 0:52 Prince of Persia 56:16 Break 56:46 Takeaways and Feedback Issues covered: rewinding time, feeling bad about the elevator section, spending two hours on one combat encounter, leaning on the worst things of the combat system, tight space, companion AI, being unable to see the Prince, being able to render more stuff and having that in tension with what you want to see, the "Kung Fu Circle," using the death blossom and wanting fewer sand bubbles, taking away all the things I enjoyed about the combat, the rewind resource, feeling over-designed, "fun is challenge," the history of challenge in digital game design, tightness and the tension with other goals, being too good at your game at the end, giving a lot of verbs that are fluidly deployed via context, trying to jump away but instead running me up an enemy, help me look cool getting away, not making the lock-on specific, finding the right balance for players, advocating for how to make your enemies/systems look great, the value of a locked camera, Tim looks up the solution to an audio puzzle, more puzzle discussions, misreading a puzzle and having a good moment, long checkpoints for the final exam, flipping the difficulty, really demonstrating how far the Prince has come by holding the blade edge of the dagger, maybe missing some of the transitions, rewinding the whole story back to the beginning so he tells this wild story (tying into the failures), the grand vizier trope, the cobra staff, compressing character development, the right difficulty for the final boss, doing a deep reading of the Prince disrobing through the game, not loving the rewound smooch, Brett's Book Recommendation, those mechanics that are just Great Ideas, allowing for soft failure and experimentation, contextual traversal (and combat), making the player look awesome with gentler difficulty, distilling down/all killer no filler, allowing for games that are shorter, the excellence of the animation blending system to achieve fluidity, the history of that fluidity to the original, the narrative space, trying different things in the narrative, how much we use mods, grief and games, the way games are more fixed in time, playing single player games with friends, getting streaming now, where to add quality of life improvements, asking why and what a game is about, Mister E. Dip, the sweet spot for Animal Crossing quality of life, "would fast travel help this game," being in the natural world, where the interesting friction is. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Star Wars, Brian/dontkickfood, Todd Howard, NES/SNES, Mario (series), UbiSoft, Nintendo, Troy Mashburn, Tomb Raider, Nathan Martz, Republic Commando, John Hancock, God of War, Starfighter, S. A. Chakraborty, Aladdin, Groundhog Day, Zelda (series), Dungeons & Dragons, G. Willow Wilson, Wonder Woman, Ms. Marvel, Alif the Unseen, Gears of War, Ocarina of Time, Uncharted, Shenmue, Assassin's Creed, Baldur's Gate, PixelJunk Eden, Q Games, Rez, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Alien, The Matrix, Jill Murray, Zac Katis, Anachronox, Diablo, Bethesda Game Studios, DOOM (1993), World of Warcraft, Ashton Herrmann, Morrowind, Marcel Proust, mysterydip, Civilization, Animal Crossing, Ultima Underworld, The Witcher 3, Shadow of the Colossus, Minecraft, Death Stranding, Hitman (2016), Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Links: Big World Setup tool for Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition Game Setup Ashton Herrmann on sharing single-player games Next time: TBD! Notes: I call it the "Death Blossom" but the manual calls it the Power of Haste. Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 240: Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (part five)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 16, 2020 94:20


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. We dive into the Water Temple (see what I did there?) as well as elaborating more about some topics we touched on last time. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through the Water Temple Issues covered: what Tim means when he talks about Hyrule Field, lack of prior art for 3D hub and spoke, the beginnings of an open world, sight lines for blocking and enticing, breaking the prior structures, physically representing the choice space of macro decisions, looking at a level in a tool to get a sense of scale, getting different perspectives, seeing the DNA of 3D Zelda, getting a sense of a space, a return to Goron City, revisiting areas with new tools, stealing object-oriented quest design, filling in the slots and a sense of accomplishment, gaining levels or using an economy for reward, hybrid systems, allowing for player choice, renting tools in later versions, getting to Breath of the Wild and having all tools fairly early, not caring about remaining progression stuff, what happened to Jabbu-Jabbu?, dabbling with buoyancy and friction on the ice, having a tool that's only useful in one dungeon/Domain, having to give up something in a bottle, having a need for that analog stick, having to make decisions about how you'll use a container, concretizing the abstract, an area of effect key, how they devised their rules, Navi's... cryptic hint, using stores as a clue mechanism, a usability feature, replacing lost items, how many hearts Dark Link have, a camera problem with the Forest Temple boss, taking off the boots as soon as you get in the temple, the water level as a state you can change many times, the floating platforms as an item of interest, hookshot anchors, the potential influence of Tomb Raider and The Cistern, a quick aside on which versions we're playing, the creepy reveal of Dark Link, how we each defeated that boss, the evolution of wearables as also bindable in the future, upgrading a tool instead, making it clearer that you need another means of solving a puzzle, the cold hard truth about fishing games, variant gameplay should be easy, a preference for Tim's explanation for all the Legends of Zelda. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dark Souls, Demon's Souls, Super Mario 64, Disney World, LucasArts, N64, Shadows of the Empire, Dark Forces, Rogue Squadron, DOOM (1993), TIE Fighter, World of Warcraft, Republic Commando, Dave Collins, Jesse Harlin, GTA III, Metroid, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Troy Mashburn, Arkham (series), Link Between Worlds, Skyward Sword, Kingdom Hearts, Diablo, Path of Exile, Torchlight II, Tomb Raider, 3DS, Chrono Trigger, Milo Kent, Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, Okami, Jak and Daxter, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Link to the Past, Switch, Dungeons & Dragons, Sam Thomas, Brian David Gilbert, Polygon, Halo, Vlad, Kirk Hamilton, Strong Songs, Ultima Underworld, Final Fantasy, Aaron Evers. Links: Brian David Gilbert's total Hyrule timeline Next time: The next two Temples Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 230: Bonus Interview with Glenn Corpes

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2020 91:07


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we conclude our series on Populous with a special guest interview with Glenn Corpes, the original programmer who came up with a little generator for height maps that ended up launching a whole genre; we'll talk about that and tons of other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 0:45 Interview 1:18:41 Break 1:19:02 Next time Issues covered: how Glenn got in, seeing a computer for the first time, being a computer operator, getting a job for your woodgrain, getting hired as an artist, porting a game without the code, winging it on things like collision detection, being unable to port something and casting about for something else, writing a level generator to avoid writing an editor, having to add the ability to raise and lower land, having the whole world with a pixel per cell, the game on top being all Peter's, working backwards from mouse coordinates, having the original disk, the potential for the landscape to rise up over the interface elements, updating the map every frame, limiting the use of the blitter, size of Bullfrog at the time, the musician/salesman, understanding the "metal-bashing aspect" or not, three man weeks of graphics, blocks vs sprites, one thing per square and no more than 256 total, managing character state, no pathfinding, map steps: the opposite of pheromones, buildings based on the flat space around, people as groups of people, the interaction of weapons multipliers and population, getting an explanation of what all the bars mean, the most significant digits, the strategy for managing population, the strategy for clearing land, a clarifying button on the SNES, near-launch title, sales and the UK Chart, multiplayer only until shortly before ship, communicating through a networked file, writing the game in 7 months, watching two AIs play each other, the ways in which AI difficulty is managed, reimplementing all the gameplay in two weeks, faking out the AI because it will always attack your oldest building, AI speed, responding to flood, the manna rules, going into a manna debt and paying it off, making inroads for the knights, stuck messages, adding a campaign two weeks from the end, having an accountant QA the game, the most difficult level of the game: Biloord, how to beat "Biloord: The Hardest Level in Populous," slowing the game vs arcade-ing it up, faking out a sphere, making the cube without the stickers, flat land as currency, synergy and serendipity, revolutionary gameplay from an unexpected place, last minute additions, fights on Populous: The Beginning, heretical choices in game development. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Bullfrog Productions, Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate, Lost Toys, Moho, Battle Engine Aquila, Kuju, EA, Weirdwood, 22 Cans, Edge, Topia, Fat Owl with a Jet Pack, Ground Effect, powARdup, Commodore PET, ZX-81, Sinclair, Telex, Amiga, Taurus, Peter Molyneux, DPaint, Druid 2: Enlightment, Gauntlet, Spectrum, Fusion, The Ultimate Database, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Alienate, Knight Lore, Spindizzy, Marble Madness, Dungeon Master, Ultima Underworld, Andrew Bailey, Dene Carter, Big Blue Box, Fable, Lionhead, Kevin Donkin, Powermonger, GDC, SNES, The Sentinel, The Promised Lands, LEGO, Black&White, Godus, Sean Cooper, Civilization, Alan Wright, Alex Trowers, Command & Conquer, Ernő Rubik/Rubik's Cube, X-COM, Wayne Frost, Julian Gollop, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, Leonard Boyarsky, Fallout, Tim Cain, The Outer Worlds, Obsidian, Microsoft, Dungeons & Dragons, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers. Next time: Vampire: the Masquerade: Bloodlines (up through.... some of Santa Monica) Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 227: Populous (part two)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2020 77:41


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1989's Bullfrog Productions hit and originator of the God Game genre, Populous. We talk about using the mouse in 1989 and dive into particular strategies and the surprising depth of the game, before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Another... 5? Levels Issues covered: the tutorial just going on, restarting a conquest, having a false sense of security in the tutorial, generating more manna early in the tutorials, games being more keyboard-only at the time, evolving use of home computers for games, adventure games/text adventures and interfaces, figuring out the input interface, hard-to-use mouse input, the Taurus/Torus mix-up that gave us Bullfrog Productions, the PC platform space in 1989, RTS improvements to help navigate, keyboard controls, figuring things out on the second or third game, unanticipated phases to the game, avoiding arcadey controls by indirection, slow manna generation, the costs of raising land, the dangers of flooding, leaving a lone knight errant to decimate the enemy, the enemy flooding himself, unanticipated stories, flooding yourself to kill the enemy, the ways the AI cheats, rubberbanding of a sort, using swamps and earthquakes to disrupt the enemy, papal magnet management, the impact of the map, how to analyze a map for an RTS, developing a simple unit-based AI, the Game of Life/cellular automata approach to AI, focusing on knights, using the gather behavior to make tougher nights, how much space castles take up and the borders around them, the macro around score and how far to advance in the 500 levels of Populous, how would one speedrun Populous, modern descendants of the game, loving having Molyneux in the industry, "to think, it all started with baked beans," machine speed in DosBox, not adjusting for time in old video games, what is an honorific, honorifics and first-person identification in Japanese, observing sexism as potentially embedded in the writing alphabet, gendered particles/radicals and similarities to Romance languages. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Prince of Persia, Civilization, Ultima (series), Doom (series), Quake, King's Quest, Space Quest, LucasArts, Dark Forces, Ultima Underworld, Duke 3D, Amiga, Peter Molyneux, World of Warcraft, 22 Cans, EA, Microsoft, Fusion, SNES, SimAnt, Game Developer, Warcraft, Dune, Command & Conquer, Game of Life, John Conway, Darwinia, WarGames, Introversion Software, DEFCON, Uplink, Prison Architect, Scanner Sombre, Godus, Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube, Dungeon Keeper, Fable (series), Mr. Beast, Chris Corry, Syndicate, Johnny Pockets, Chrono Trigger, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Harry Potter, George Orwell, allthosewhowander.org, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers. Next time: More Populous Link: That Italian translation article I mention Note: It is in fact possible to navigate the view window with the number pad. But the number pad does in fact control the viewport scrolling. The problem is, the number pad and the mouse are typically both controlled with the right hand. Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 226: Populous (part one)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 2, 2020 91:30


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a series on the Bullfrog classic Populous. We set the game in its time and place and talk a little bit about Bullfrog and the different directions simulation games were going, driven by different designers, before talking a little bit about the weirdnesses of this game proper. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Tutorial and First Battle Podcast breakdown: 0:51 Populous 1:03:48 Break 1:04:17 Feedback Issues covered: welcoming Tim back and a discussion of his trip, 1989 in video games, a little discursion into Midwinter, creating the God Game, the immense sales of Populous, the Bullfrog game legacy, absorbing smaller developers into a larger publisher, the different directions that simulations were going under different developers, geographic distinctions, creating genres, limitations in processing power and UI representations, trying Populous in 1992 without a manual, the tutorial in the manual, failing the tutorial, the UI representation, performance concerns and filling the space, raising and lowering terrain, overloading icon use, the pause menu, GDC Lifetime Achievement Award, trying to figure out the best way to do a thing, influencing a game vs controlling the game, reading the map, using cartographic techniques in lieu of shading, killing the enemies indirectly, making your leader into a knight, mixing religious iconography, "we" are good and "they" are evil, the macro of the game, the way characters become stronger, overloading the use of the bars on the shield, lowering land to prevent a new leader forming, raising land to create a path for your knight, visual novel recommendations, an update on Pockets the Great, how deep the Civ rabbit hole goes, finding appropriate mentors, not always having the answer, listening to and asking questions of a report, the Socratic method, getting to know your people, setting Phoenix Wright in LA for a Western market, regional dialects, Shu Takumi's dog. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Revenge of Shinobi, Phantasy Star II, Golden Axe, Herzog Zwei, NES, River City Ransom, Castlevania III, Mother (Earthbound Beginnings), Final Fight, Strider, Xbox One, Nintendo GameBoy, Super Mario Land, SimCity, Midwinter, Minesweeper, Prince of Persia, Stunt Car Racer, Commodore 64, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, LucasFilm Games, The Colonel's Bequest, Roberta Williams, Batman, Bullfrog Productions, Peter Molyneux, Fusion, Amiga, Black & White, Lionhead, Microsoft, EA, Dark Forces, Dungeon Keeper, Powermonger, Syndicate, Syndicate Wars, Magic Carpet, Theme Park, Theme Hospital, 22 Cans, Godus, Origin Systems, LucasArts, Maxis, The Sims, Spore, Will Wright, Respawn Entertainment, Sid Meier, Civilization, Ultima Underworld, Warcraft, Rogue, MYST, Richard Garriott, Looking Glass, id Software, Tropico (series), Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Hotel Dusk, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Danganronpa, 999, Nonary Games, Jonathan Stoler, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, Nolan Filter/irreverentQ, Murder by Numbers, Picross, Johnny Grattan/Pockets, Morrowind/Arena/Daggerfall, Brian, Republic Commmando, Nick Faulhaber, Shu Takumi, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers. Next time: Five (?) more battles? Links: Amusingly enough, it *was* a Populous postmortem talk where I first heard Peter's anecdote Shu Takumi's Pomeranian Errata: Thank you for playing... Wing Commander! Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Shane Plays Geek Talk
Darklands - Episode 226 - 8-22-2020

Shane Plays Geek Talk

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2020 76:48


Darklands! The cult classic open-world RPG from 1992 that lets you adventure in the Holy Roman Empire during the 15th century… or rather, 15th Century Europe as people believed it to be at the time! Darklands broke a lot of CRPG ground, still has fans, and influenced games like Baldur’s Gate and the Elder Scrolls. Fellow fans Matt Wirkkala and Keith Hiorns join. Shane Plays Geek Talk Episode #226 - 8/22/2020 Like what you hear? Support Shane Plays Geek Talk on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/shaneplays Shane Plays Geek Talk is carried on Krypton Radio! Krypton Radio is SciFi for your Wifi. http://kryptonradio.com/ Listen to the Shane Plays Geek Talk podcast on YouTube, SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play Music, Podbean and Stitcher (and other fine, fine podcast directories). Hey, you! Yeah, you! Buy cool stuff, support Shane Plays Geek Talk with these affiliate links! Humble Bundle https://www.humblebundle.com?partner=shaneplays DriveThruRPG.com https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=488512 SHOW NOTES Podcast Zinger is from Monty Python and the Holy Grail Topic Notes: Arnold Hendrick, creator of influential '90s RPG Darklands, has died | PC Gamer https://www.pcgamer.com/arnold-hendrick-creator-of-influential-90s-rpg-darklands-has-died/ (Aged 69) Darklands on GOG https://www.gog.com/game/darklands Darklands on Steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/327930/Darklands/ Darklands FAQ 3.0 http://www.darklands.net/faq/faq.shtml Matt Wirkkala’s Darklands Site http://darklands.net/index.shtml Darklands Group on Groups.io https://groups.io/g/darklands Matt Chat 77: Darklands https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQLLW3ApIcY Matt Chat 78: Arnold Hendrick Interview Pt. 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I30dzwiNxLk Matt Chat 78: Interview with Arnold Hendrick Pt. 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZClSiClBuQ Matt Chat 78: Interview with Arnold Hendrick Pt. 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIlsepGUW30 CRPG Addict’s List of Games Played (look for Darklands multi-part entry) http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_3.html Todd Howard quote: "The main inspiration for The Elder Scrolls comes from games like Ultima Underworld, Darklands, and Legends of Valour. And of course, D&D.; The whole idea was to do a grand RPG, where you could do pretty much whatever you wanted." Source: http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/fullstory.php?id=159095 via Archive.org’s Wayback Machine https://web.archive.org/web/20120808185406/http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/fullstory.php?id=159095 Darklands has a new publisher -- Ziggurat? https://steamcommunity.com/app/327930/discussions/0/1754646299859536640/ BOMBSHELL: Original Darklands source material at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY https://groups.io/g/darklands/message/9724?p=,,,20,0,0,0::relevance,,ziggurat,20,2,0,72417865 Historia Ludens: The Playing Historian (academic book with some Darklands content, inspired in part by the game and the Darklands FAQ) https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429345616 Dungeons and Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games 2nd Edition Shane's book! Co-authored with Matt Barton of Matt Chat https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Desktops-History-Computer-Role-Playing/dp/1138574643/

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 220: SWRC Bonus Interview with David Bogan

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 15, 2020 95:32


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we just keep on rolling about Republic Commando, on which both of your hosts worked. This week we talk with lead animator Dave Bogan, about his journey into the industry and what stuck out for him on this project, among many other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 0:44 Interview 1:19:32 Break 1:20:05 Feedback Issues covered: our rampant professionalism, stepping in the right potholes, taking an early liking to art, half arts school/half regular high school, finding out you're not a draftsman, learning about animation, having industry professionals for teachers, not knowing you can work in games, putting in the devotion and the time, a little who's who of great LucasArts artists, making a choice based on comedy and drawing, early experience on CMI and other titles, getting a title axed, finding roles for people rather than laying them off, getting involved in a project and working with other people, doing what you have to to ship, not having a plan and realizing: we always need to have a plan, taking on additional responsibility, the limitations of some of early characters, eyes and face and hands for animation, where one of the animators went, looking for an opportunity as a lead, thinking about how characters behave before you see them, getting expectations set, being intimidated by Daron Stinnett, looking at the competition, feeling elevated by Daron, the excellence of the animation team, learning from Joe Bacciocco, trigger discipline, when good behavior meets up with video game needs, how much an expert cared for people, using soldier expertise, composition and correctness, translating the authenticity, a well-integrated and organized animation team, the Trandoshan who runs at you like a gorilla, having to tell Dave no, various games they thought about post-SWRC, being afraid of not doing a Jedi game, being a pragmatist, lacking strife, having real characters, wanting stories at the forefront, Brett's Book Recommendation, being a salve in tough times, the hidden co-op version of Republic Commando. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Curse of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Obi-Wan, Escape from Monkey Island, Rogue Squadron, Telltale Games, The Walking Dead, Wolf Among Us, Fame, Degrassi Street, Amanda Stepto, This Is Spinal Tap, Tara Campbell, Sheridan College, Disney, Fox, Pixar, ILM, LucasArts, SquareSoft, Magnum PI, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Kevin Boyle, Chris Miles, Graham Annable, Karen Chelini, Sangeeta Prashar, Sega/Secret Level, Starcraft, Jedi Knight, Ray Gresko, SCUMM, Derek Sakai, Mark Overney, Kevin Micallef, Chris Williams, Daron Stinnett, Eric Ingerson, Tippett Studios, Troy Molander, Dan Connors, Kevin Bruner, John Hancock, Chris Ross, Ryan Kaufman, Stephen McManus, Jeff "Pinecone" Kung, Ian Milham, Dead Space, Bret Robbins, Ascendant Studios, Justice Unlimited, Michael Stemmle, Diablo, Patrick McCarthy, Camela Boswell, Afterlife, Sean Clark, Force Commander, Factor 5, Magpie, Bounty Hunter, Armando Lluch, Cory Allemeier, Loren Cox, Matt White, Medal of Honor, Halo, Ryan Hood, Brett Schulz, Rebecca Perez, Jeremie Talbot, Nathan Martz, Joe Bacciocco, Call of Duty, Hulk Hogan, Haden Blackman, Patrick Sirk, Matt Omernick, GTA, The Force Unleashed, George Lucas, Sledgehammer Games, EA, Soul Reaver, Full Throttle 2, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Martha Wells, The Murderbot Diaries, Chrono Trigger, Mark, Ultima Underworld, Super Mario RPG, Nintendo, Bill, Johnny Szary, Short Circuit. Link: Video of training the animators Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Games Insider
Retrorunde #1: Lands of Lore

Games Insider

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 5, 2020 39:16


Wir schreiben das Jahr 1993. Die in Las Vegas beheimateten Westwood Studios veröffentlichen ihr neues PC-exklusives Rollenspiel: Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos. Hatten die Kalifornier 1991 mit Eye of the Beholder und dessen Nachfolger bereits zwei sehr gute Spiele nach Machart des Klassikers Dungeon Masters abgeliefert, markiert das zugängliche Lands of Lore den Höhepunkt des klassischen Dungeon-Crawler-Konzepts. Neben den obligatorischen Kerkern und Höhlen bietet die atmosphärische Fantasy-Welt auch lauschige Wälder, miefige Sümpfe und mittelalterliche Städte. Sinnvolle Komfortfunktionen, erinnerungswürdige Charaktere nebst der Hexe Scotia als Fiesling des Spiels, eine gesunde Portion Humor sowie eine prächtige Grafik, die Amiga- und Atari-ST-Besitzer vor Neid erblassen lässt, runden das Rollenspiel ab. Und die Edel-Synchronisation der 1994 nachgereichten CD-Version ist für die damalige Zeit eine kleine Sensation. Doch wie spielt sich der Rollenspiel-Klassiker fast 30 Jahre später, wenn man ihn zuvor noch nie gezockt hat? Spitzet die Ohren und lauschet, Benedikt nimmt euch mit auf eine packende Retrorunde! "Retrorunde" ist ein monatliches Bonusformat für unsere Patreon-Unterstützer. Die erste Folge stellen wir allen Hörer*innen zum Reinschnuppern frei zur Verfügung. Ihr seid an weiterem Exklusiv-Content interessiert? Das volle Programm mit sämtlichen Bonusinhalten erhalten alle Unterstützer ab der 5€-Klasse. Klick: https://www.patreon.com/gamesinsider

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 204: Chrono Trigger (part two)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2020 133:07


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series playing Chrono Trigger. We talk exploration vs following the story threads, delve deeper into the combat, chat about the game's difficulty and accessibility, along with story recaps and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to the Magus's Castle Podcast breakdown: 0:52 Chrono Trigger 1:30:48 Break 1:31:22 Feedback Issues covered: why Tim hates JRPGs, why Tim took a little longer this time, irascible exploratory Tim, getting to the top of the mountain and finding nothing, feeling discouraged from leaving the main path, what the rewards of the game are, having the prototype of what additional interactions would look like, exploring party make-up, when Ayla met Bobo, the blandness of Crono, being able to put yourself in the character, characters who start at the beginning of their story vs somewhere in the middle, party members standing out more, where you decide to spend your development time, swapping out party members and when you can, the pressure relief valve for difficulty, what is the real set of defaults for this game, having a more dynamic combat with Active Time Battle, developing your menu-diving skill, being forced into repetition and limiting ability exploration, wait mode as being more accessible, having higher highs in active mode, feeling like active mode is an experiment, having menu difficulties with Kingdom Hearts, the burden of memorizing key sequences, the timer as animation tell, having too many characters to manage to memorize things, escaping combat, using run as a means of skipping combat, dealing with status effects (Heal/Panacea), cutting out the searching for specific status healers, using specific attacks for elemental weaknesses, generally not needing to worry about weaknesses, using lightning to remove defense, fighting Spekkio, needing to restore the timeline, returning to a changed Medina, not knowing what we changed in the past, having weird interactions with monsters, localizing using stuff based on your real life, turning assumptions on their head, translation barriers, looking for Masamune, starting to subvert tropes, a kid who's no hero, a good boss battle, going to Melchior with both halves of the sword, meeting Ayla and having a big party, making Crono dance, echoes through time, losing the dreamstone via Kino, fighting Azala and the Megasaur, learning the history of Cyrus and... Glenn?, echoes of Tolkien, making a significant commitment to characters, having calls to action, integrating Glenn into the main quest, getting to equip the badge to Glenn, an update on Tim's hike, the responsible thing, stay safe and healthy, cultural references, beating up robots, variations in the courtroom and jail scenes, localization and emotional intent, the business case for localization, the high costs of localization, making choices about what content to keep in Yakuza and a design which accommodates players ignoring it, friction between an original market and a new market, growing to appreciate the underlying value of the business end, looking to journalism to fill in the gaps. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: irreverentQ, Chrono Cross, The Outer Worlds, Fallout (series), Prey, Earthbound, Final Fantasy (series), Kingdom Hearts, Batman: Arkham (series), Pokemon (series), Ray Bradbury (obliquely), Narnia, The Clan of the Cave Bear, Ultima Underworld, Minecraft, The Two Towers/Return of the King, Mass Effect (series), Sam Thomas, Short Circuit 2, Westworld, The Terminator, James Roberts, Patrick Holleman, Gothic Chocobo, Persona 5, Andrew Dice Clay, Yakuza (series), Kotaku, Robert Downey Jr, Iron Man, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Wasteland 2, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers. Links: Short Circuit 2 Hitchhiking Robot Beheaded Robot falls into fountain Reverse Design: Chrono Trigger Yakuza: Judgement replacing actor Next time: Up to "What Lies Beyond?" Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 202: Bonus Interview with Jeff Morris

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2020 113:27


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our Civilization III discussion with an interview with Jeff Morris, producer on Civilization III and long-time producer in the industry. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 0:47 Interview 1:09:53 Break 1:10:25 Feedback Issues covered: not being suited to programming, being part of the problem, the huge shadow of Origin growing up, getting a job through the hospitality suite, the game culture in Austin, the game dev scene of a city, rivalry between studios, sinking the MicroProse battleship, QAing a flight simulator, the difference between single-vehicle and survey sims, falling in love with modern air combat, Baltimore as actual flight sim town, loosening up or not, learning about the American Civil War, embedding in QA from remote, the number one job in QA, wearing multiple hats, only being able to get better as a producer working with a team, the team not needing design input, keeping a firewall between production and design, different kinships between QA and design or production, the difference between done and good, learning the tools of production, looking at Civilization as a war game, Baltimore and Avalon Hill, reading the effin' manual, boardgame legacy, localization complexity, what's in the manual vs not, rewarding a style of play, loving the early and middle game, where the one more turn comes up from mixed levels of goals, Sid's Dinosaurs game transforms, "the manual for Civilization is in your brain," shipping, the benefits of programmer + designer as one person, fast iteration, being able to predict when assets would be done, feeding scheduling data back in, keeping track of people and their implementation rate, difficulty of scaling, being rewarded for neglecting certain programmers, paying the production tax and getting something for it, getting Civ II experts involved, doing everything possible in a game being impossible, compliance testing machines, having bug reports from dev heroes, being driven by playtest, playtesting with post-its, shipping your 518th implementation, "wouldn't it be cool if," spending time in the right places, streamlining the advisors, the elasticity of production titles, in the trenches production, making mistakes into small bumps in the road, insomnia Civ play, the influence of where you've been on what you do, playing the game every day, production notes, reasons for designers to be programmers, the mix of people on a project, avoiding obfuscation, trusting your experts, what Tim will do on the trail, the Superman hate minute, we review Olrox, Tim's JRPG education. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Origin Systems, Janes (military sims), Ultima Collection, Firaxis, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Epic Games, Unreal Tournament (series), Gears of War, Red Five, Planet Moon, Crystal Dynamics, LucasArts, Kabam!, NCSoft, Free Range Games, Ultima Underworld, Apple ][, Warren Spector, Starr Long, Richard Garriott, Steve Jackson Games, MicroProse, Longbow, US Navy Fighters, Advanced Tactical Fighters, Top Gun, Marine Fighters, NATO Fighters, A-10 Warthog, F-15, Larry Holland, Battlehawks 1942, SWotL, Autoduel, Moebius, Andy Hollis, EA, Sid Meier's Gettsyburg, Jeff Briggs, Soren Johnson, Jason Coleman, JACKAL, Avalon Hill, Empire, Pool of Radiance, SSI games, Beyond Earth, Sid Meier's SimGolf, Maxis, Pat Dawson, Blizzard, Casey O'Toole, Microsoft Project, Tim Train, Brian Reynolds, Alan Emrich, Computer Gaming World, Bruce Shelley, Absolute Quality Incorporated, Archon, Jon Freeman, Bethesda Game Studios, Aaron Loeb, Star Wars Uprising, Ed Catmull, Pixar, Lulu LaMer, Daron Stinnett, Spotify, Stitcher, Derek Achoy, Josh Harding, Oliver Uvman, Designer Notes, Idle Thumbs, Scratch, GameMaker, Doom (1993), Minecraft, Portal, Noita, Richard Feynman, John Lethbridge, Ben Zaugg, Superman, The2ndQuest, Batman: Arkham Knight, Chrono Trigger, John Romero, SIGIL, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Final Fantasy IX, SNES, Dragon Warrior, Dragon Quest, Eye of the Beholder, PlayStation, Kingdom Hearts, Spider-man. Next time: The beginning of Chrono Trigger! Links: Scratch programming language Twitch: brettdouville, Instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 200: Beyond Earth Bonus and 200th Episode!

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 26, 2020 110:56


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we engage in a little bonus talk about 2014's Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth. We talk about the game's strengths and iterations over Civ III and also the things that particular work for the hosts in the game, before turning to a brief celebration of our episode 200 and some feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: A few hours of Beyond Earth (9 for Brett, 15 for Tim) Podcast breakdown: 0:57   Beyond Earth Discussion 40:31 Break 41:16 Ep 200 and Feedback Issues covered: how much Beyond Earth we played, getting its hooks in, knowing you've lost, many types of victories, pursuing victory types, not stacking units, board game simplicity, being mocked by other leaders, having a good set-up for interest if not for victory, being condemned for violence against aliens, getting over the hump, the huge benefit of tooltip additions, integrating advisors into the UI, the web of technology rather than the linear development, more visually parsable tech web, colorblind settings in Civ III, affinity colors and positions, exploring the tech web, adding RPG elements/progression to units, expanding your city, preferring the tone and setting, putting money into an opening cinematic, Brett's Book Recommendations, 200th episode surprises, the castle flip, being into the JRPG nonsense, our good fortune in interviews, spending time with immersive sims, Brett unwraps a thing, our poster with six Easter Eggs (true video game fashion), a heartfelt thank you from a listener, our own thank you to our listeners, some gentle ribbing about our ability to count, whether designers should be programmers, not being held back by what you know to be possible, being able to communicate clearly between design and engineering, the value of communicating and terminology, Caveman Tim, finding a way to say yes as an engineer, laying out logical steps for programmers, following up on older episodes, why Shenmue contracts down to having a job, autobiography in Shenmue, the Civilopedia being what you can do and not what you should do, Civilopedia as a legacy feature, a fantasy Civ. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Jurassic Park, Dark Souls, Confucius, Boris Johnson, Shenmue, Simon Parkin, A Game of Birds and Wolves, The New Yorker, Metroid (series), Castlevania (series), Alex Neuse, SNES, PlayStation, Kingdom Hearts (series), Disney, MYST (series), Final Fantasy (series), Persona 5, Prey (2017), David Brevik, Robyn Miller, Ken Levine, Bill Roper, King's Quest, Space Quest, Mark Crowe, DOOM (1993), Diablo, Quake, System Shock II, Hitman 2, Deus Ex, Thief, Ultima Underworld, Arkane Studios, Dishonored (series), Giant BeastCast, Vinny Caravella, Aaron Evers, Mark Sean Garcia, Devil May Cry, Mario 64, Halo, Skyrim, Fallout, Gothic Chocobo, Pokemon, Game Maker's Toolkit, Johnny Grattan, John Romero, Murray Lorden, Roberta Williams, David Perry, Shiny Entertainment, Republic Commando, MDK, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Warcraft (series), Jedi Starfighter, GTA III, Bill & Ted Face the Music, Yu Suzuki, Björn Johannson, Magic: The Gathering, Warren Linam-Church, Mikael Danielsson, Master of Magic, GOG.com, MicroProse, Ultima VII, SimTech, Master of Orion, Wargaming, Star Control II. Brett's Book Recommendations: For Civ III: A Game of Birds and Wolves by Simon Parkin For Shenmue: What I Carry by Jennifer Longo Next time: more Civ bonuses! Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 187: World of Warcraft (part one)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2019 82:17


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week we start a new series with a bit of a different goal: a game we'll play for an initial couple of episodes and then return to from time to time. We discuss 2004's seminal and crowning MMORPG World of Warcraft, discussing the year in which it came out, a history (personal and not) of MMOs, and then dig a bit into the initial hours of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up until level 8 Issues covered: revisiting our chat with John Romero, looking at 2004 in games, a live game model in EverQuest, self-cannibalization, early history of MUDs, a sad discovery, reflecting on Brad McQuaid's career, sharing games as source, MUDs and theming, talking through the history of a number of MMOs, talking about the market and approachability of other MMOs, peak users, the influence of other Blizzard games on WoW, Brett's confession, introducing characters through the RTS, modding and Warcraft III, launch and WoW, pulling the games from the shelves, server queues, revenue gross, Brett does some on-the-fly math, Activision-Blizzard merger, the starting area for gnomes and dwarves, inviting you into the world like a DM, learning the design language of the game, usability of the quest system, shifting the focus to quests (vs combat grinding), doing multiple things with the quests and rewards, changing your character's look, each race having its own animation set, differentiating races strongly, pre-rendered introduction, RTS influence again, seeing your first human (on a horse), simplifying WoW in the modern version, having to read the text to understand where to go, adding user interface mods, increasing intrinsic reward through difficulty, managing your own grouping, growing the scale of what you see, scale of towns and villages, growing up with the world through exploration, experience ramp. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: John Romero, LucasArts, Republic Commando, God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, Half-Life 2, DOOM 3, Metal Gear Solid 3, Fable, Halo 2, Far Cry, Chronicles of Riddick, Katamari Damacy, Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, Source Engine, Troika Entertainment, Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, The Outer Worlds, EverQuest & EverQuest II, 989 Studios, Sony Online Entertainment, Rob Pardo, MUD, Roy Trubshaw, Richard Bartle, DikuMUD, Brad McQuaid, Zork, Adventure, MOO, Pantheon, Saga of Heroes, Habitat, LucasFilm Games, Randy Farmer, Chip Morningstar, Meridian 59, Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Asheron's Call, Raph Koster, Star Wars Galaxies, Ultima Underworld, Turbine Entertainment, Lord of the Rings Online, Mythic, EA, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Blizzard, Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, Bill Roper, Diablo, David Brevik, Warcraft III, Chris Metzen, DotA, Icefrog, Riot Games, Dark Souls. Next time: To level 20 https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 186: DOOM Bonus Interview with John Romero

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 14, 2019 114:29


Following on from our DGC series on 1993's DOOM, we've been lucky enough to get connected with John Romero to talk about his early career and how id and DOOM came to be. We hear all sorts of stories about those early days, and we hope you enjoy it. Podcast breakdown: 0:42 Interview segment 1:40:30 Break 1:41:00 Next time Issues covered: a brief history of John Romero, playing games at the arcade and on a mainframe, programming without being able to save them, living with hyperthymesia, learning BASIC and 6502, hand-assembling without a computer, bailing from college, selling games to a bartender, meeting a fellow programmer for the first time, zeroing in on Origin Systems, co-opting a demo PC, Origin in New Hampshire, overlapping between John and Brett, being up against other Commodore programmers, killing the interviews, making every life change at once, making your own hardware and writing your own protocol, getting your first raise, the death of 8 bit, learning PC and moving house, missing out on your chance to make a great 8-bit game, wanting to make games all day, hiring an artist based on musical taste, knowing a coder from the game, Carmack renting a PC to port his own RPGs, getting your own room and making your own games, two games in a month, becoming the game everyone in Pakistan and India played, dividing up the work, vertical scrolling vs smooth horizontal scrolling, getting stuff done in a night, knowing when it's time to move on, pitching a game to Nintendo, mistaking fan mail, making deals through the mail, making bank and cutting a deal to avoid a lawsuit, nearly selling the company, shareware just taking off, moving into the black cube, writing a... strong press release, riding the rocket, being fluent in code and creativity at the same time, multi-user editing, breaking out of a rectilinear world, getting out of the intellectual model, no room could have been made in the prior game, having to solve unknown problems, coding everything into the editor and coming up with the needs, programming all sorts of wild secrets, goals for SIGIL, coming up with new ideas that are reasonable extensions, someone stealing your thunder, flipping switches to get from multiplayer to single player, loving designing stuff, the Empire RPG, dream game with the dream team, spending time with John Romero, working on 90 games, working solo, the history of games in one man's head, June calls out, we talk our next game, SWotH. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sigil, Origin Systems, Softdisk, John Carmack, Adrian Carmack, Tom Hall, id Software, Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, ION Storm, Daikatana, Deus Ex, Anachronox, Monkeystone Games, Midway, Slipgate Ironworks, Gazillion, Loot Drop, Brenda Romero, Romero Games, Empire of Sin, Poison Cookie, Hunt the Wumpus, Nim, Adventure, Robert Lavelock, Will Wright, Dr. Cat (David Shapiro), David Crane, Capital Ideas Software, Apple ][, Nibble Magazine, Scout Search, InCider Magazine, AppleFest 1987, UpTime, Jay Wilbur, Cocktail, Epic Software, Lane Roathe, Ultima I, ManPower, John Fachini, Denis Loubet, Robert Garriott, Ultima Underworld, Mapping the Commodore 64, Inside Out Software, Might & Magic 2, Tower Toppler/Nebulous, Epyx, Lynx, Crush Crumble Chomp, Temple of Apshai, Alien, Dark Castle, Ideas from the Deep, Al Vekovius, Karateka, LodeRunner, Choplifter, PlayStation 2, LucasArts, Gamer's Edge, Sub Stalker, Tennis, Mark Crowe, Paul Lutus, GraFORTH, Catacomb, SuperNES, Mario, Zelda, Dangerous Dave, Solitaire, Minesweeper, Slordax, Michael Abrash, Captain Cosmic, Nintendo, Scott Miller, Kingdom of Kroz, Commander Keen, Aliens Ate My Babysitter, FormGen, Sierra, Ken and Roberta Williams, Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny, Kevin Cloud, NextSTEP, Wizardry, REKKR, Civilization, Paradox, The Irishman, Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, Skyrim, World of Warcraft Classic. Next time: World of Warcraft Classic (up to level 5) Links: Making of SIGIL https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 179: DOOM (part three)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 18, 2019 84:05


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week we complete the main game in our series on 1993's seminal FPS DOOM. We talk about the level design some more as well as the use of maps and other topics before turning to our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Episode Three: Inferno! Podcast breakdown: 0:39 Segment 1: Inferno 57:32 Break 58:04 Segment 2: Takeaways Issues covered: the feel of the new levels as the descent into Hell continues, use of terrain and more Gothic elements, the arc in DOOM II, BSP-ing symbols into the walls, being unclear about landmarks vs puzzles, the Unholy Cathedral and puzzle teleporters, personal pacing then and now, Slough of Despair and the spare room, where we got our BFGs, Brett makes his first Cyberdemon/Baron of Hell mixup and keeps doing it all episode (sorry), contrasting arenas with corridors, comparing Gromesh Mines, BSP improvements, 2D topology and mapping vs fully 3D maps these days, feeling like you can lean on the map, what companies do with maps, underestimating the needs and use of the map, the map as crutch, avoiding blood-locking through good level design, blood-locking and speed, speed as score attack, death animations and audio, the exploding Pinky in alpha, mechanical information conveyed through death feedback, persistent bodies and landmarking, the memory and performance expense of dead bodies in modern 3D shooters, favorite moments, using the chainsaw, punching Barons, the rabbit ending, heads on pikes, lap claps, big steps in first-person level design, story and level design, video games growing up, bringing Hell to Earth, unapologetically being what you are, going over the top, propulsive play, the importance of technology, Tim speaks to the younger generation by bringing up Howard Hughes, being on the bleeding edge, emergent enemy behavior/orthogonal design, simple rules for enemies, simple tools for generating game play, high numbers of enemies, being able to drop an enemy anywhere. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Roald Dahl, Paradise Lost, Sandy Petersen, Dark Forces, Thief, Ultima Underworld, Legend of Zelda (series), Nintendo, Metroid (series), Wolfenstein 3D, id Software, Dungeons & Dragons, Quentin Tarantino, GTA III, The Ramones, Once Upon A Time... in Hollywood, Masters of DOOM, James and Dave Franco, John Carmack, Howard Hughes, Epic/Unreal, Star Wars Republic Commando, Halo, Randy Smith, Bungie, Bethesda Game Studios. Next time: Episode 4: Thy Flesh Consumed & SIGIL! Tracks: Unholy Cathedral (intro) Slough of Despair (break) Links: Bunny ending Maybe... Randy Smith talking about emergence Note: Dis, in Dante's Inferno, is a City and not a "plains." We regret the error. https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 178: DOOM (part two)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 11, 2019 75:35


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week we continue our series on 1993's seminal FPS DOOM. We spend some time especially on level design and the environments and specifically how they feel different from the first, as well as other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Episode two! Issues covered: figuring out where we actually are, Hell bleeding through, chaotic and asymmetric geometry, non-critical path key use, additional exploration, pace of play then and now, Tim uses the "I-word" on a non-explicit podcast, immersion then and now, speed of play in the 2016 sequel, cover and higher lethality in modern shooters, reasons shooters slowed down, getting use out of smaller amounts of play-time, the authoring of levels then and now, expectations of differing business models, wanting to live in the space for longer, using the keys to get weapons rather than just to get to the exit, communicating change to the player, setting and rules surprises, cosmic horror influence, specialization of level design, holistic differences, teleporter and stair and platform use, where you got your shareware in 1993, Steam collecting data on cards and such vs Quake_Test, simple puzzle, dungeon master influence, using lighting for effect, AI rules, emergent behavior, escalation of clutter from human body parts to demon body parts, knockback, having additional sprites/frames, communicating AI state visually, closing the Pokemon Pandora's Box, diving deep on EVs and IVs and fans finding a way, high degrees of systems plus social equals success?, slimness of Nintendo UI, Nintendo patching glitches out, Marathon on modern systems, pitch-counting your Pokemon battles, areas to run through in games that are okay. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: John Romero, Sandy Petersen, Wolfenstein 3D, Call of Cthulhu, Quake, Half-Life, Tomb of Horrors, Tom Hall, Anachronox, Predator, Splinter Cell, Nintendo, fulltilted, Bard's Tale Remastered, Prey, System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Eye of the Beholder, King's Quest, Wizard and the Princess, Pokemon, Gothic Chocobo, Mario Maker 2, Patrick Klepek, Waypoint, Smash Bros, Marathon, Alelph One, Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Daggerfall, Chris Mead, Ben Zaugg, minatorrent, Tomb Raider, Metroid: Samus Returns. Next time: The final episode! https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Last Game Standing
FINALE: "Bestes Spielejahr" 1992 vs 1998

Last Game Standing

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 4, 2019 50:10


Es war einer Staffel voller Dramen, Emotionen und knappen Entscheidungen, doch jetzt endlich entscheidet sich, welches Spielejahr den Staffel-Pokal in den Nachthimmel recken darf. Im Finale stehen sich 1992 gegen 1998 gegenüber und das verspricht wieder einmal ein Duell der Extra-Klasse zu werden: 2D gegen 3D, MS-Dos gegen Windows 98, Super-Nintendo gegen Playstation, Delphine gegen Dark Projekt! Mit unseren Gästen Matti Sandqvist (PC Games) und Sascha Brittner (Pew Pew Pew Blog) fachsimpeln wir über das Thema der Staffel und am Ende gibt es wie in jedem Finale noch einen Satz „Fragen des Todes“. Welches Jahr sich am Ende den begehrtesten Preis der internationalen Computerspiel-Szene ins Regal stellen darf, das entscheidet wie immer ihr in unserem Forum: https://forum.lastgamestanding.de/

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 177: DOOM (part one)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 28, 2019 77:09


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week we begin a new series on 1993's seminal FPS DOOM. We talk briefly about the year in games before digging into the game proper. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: First Episode! Issues covered: where the game takes place, adventure games at a good spot, hard drives and CD-ROMs, designing for efficiency, polar opposite of rendering presentation from MYST, first-person perspectives, tone and subject matter, how each host met up with the game, Brett's hoarding problem, "things have changed," shareware model, how you could write from/to a disk, "free to play," levels becoming more organic, pushing technology, avoiding drawing pixels multiple times, simplicity of rooms and limited enemies, having a better sense of place, adding a map (which ten years before would have been the game), moving in the map, comparing goals of different FPSes, abstract levels vs grounded ones, trying to find the first-person formula and simplifying down, limited enemy types in the first episode, dealing with enemies in a mix, hearing before you see, high school aesthetic, the whole aesthetic in the cover, gore, leaning into what your technology can do, contrasting themes in first-person games, falling into the game, getting your skills back, developing your vocabulary, we totally get the dates wrong on a couple games, playing with a mouse and keyboard vs sticks, speed speed speed, weird choices for sprites, the pacing of the intro, having a horror intro the overshadows, organic bits of design, being able to see across spaces, feeling exploratory, having a sense of place through vistas, addressing an elephant in the room, professionalism in development, Blast Processing, a faster memory pipeline, design beating technology, Riven and Metroidvania, looking across spaces to an exit and being spit out near it later, stat experience and Pokemon (as well as other stat stuff), players figuring stuff out, the game making an argument to you, how does a player reason about a thing and letting a player intend to do a thing, non-exposed systems, Tim guesses who is who. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Day of the Tentacle, MYST, Link's Awakening, Syndicate, Mortal Kombat II, X-Wing, TIE Fighter, Masters of Orion, The 7th Guest, Eye of the Beholder, Ultima VII, Wizardry (series), Dark Forces, LucasArts, Chris Corry, Commander Keen, Castle Wolfenstein, Space Quest, Daron Stinnett, Andrew Kirmse, George Lucas, Star Wars, Matt Tateishi, Quake, Dune 2000, Marathon, System Shock, Ultima Underworld, Diablo, Beavis & Butthead, Frank Frazetta, Mysterious Island, Marvel, DC, Spider-Man, Batman, Mario (series), Thief, Nick Foster, Outlaws, Skyrim, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, DOOM (2016), Halo Infinite, 343 Industries, Fallout 4, Sam Thomas, SNES, SEGA, Super Mario Kart, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy, Dreamcast, Saturn, PlayStation, Steve Race, Walker Ferrell, Castlevania, GoldenEye 007, Nier: Automata, Riven, FF6, EarthBound, Chrono Trigger, Pokemon, Gothic Chocobo, Shigeru Ohmori, SimCity, Nintendo Power, World of Warcraft, Rich Davis, Derek Achoy/Speakyclean, Jackbox. Next time: Second Episode! Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlulSyBI2aY Formulae: Change in Stat = floor{ min{ ceiling[ sqrt(Stat Exp.) ], 255} * Level / 400 } Correction: Steve Race was the director of development for Sony America, not its President. He left three months or so after his announcement at E3 1995. The Sega Saturn was $399, and the PlayStation debuted at $299. https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 176: SNES Classic One-Off

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 21, 2019 80:30


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we this week the podcast does something a little bit different and takes a quick side-turn into the SNES Classic. After playing two games off-cam and two games on, the hosts talk about each game in turn. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: A bit of a number of SNES Classic Games Issues covered: the difficulty of Contra games, old school punishing difficulty, power-ups, memorization, eating quarters, shooters and brawlers, reflex-based games, playing on d-pads, putt-putt golf, unlocking where the hole is, more interactions than golf, politics and interfering with other players, screen-watching and Kirby's Dream Course, bards and paladins, physics and ricochet prediction, playing defensively, having a number of shots before being tired, forward feedback loop, the other Kirby game on the Classic, discussion of various other consoles of the time, down the rabbit hole of other consoles of the time, seeing the depth of fighting games right there on the screen, more quarter plugging, move discovery, the beauty of Street Fighter IV, fighting game sticks and cheating, dabbling in fighting games, knowing you could systematically improve, labor practices, story modes in fighting games, covering e-sports and fighting games, raising your game to a higher level of play through muscle memory, obsession, EVO, Nintendo being tentative about their fighting games, lack of player support, racing games and digital control time, casual racing games that you can get good at, solo joy-con play, getting demolished, getting better at racing games over time, rubber-banding and other balancing, getting better power-ups in the back, balancing difficulty dynamically, trying to incorporate both a child and a parent, clearing up Brett's confusion about the time that has elapsed between Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night, Castlevania in the future, the rug that looks like the Himalayas, getting tons of upgrades to change the feel of a Metroidvania, the pure moment-to-moment enjoyment in Castlevania, first-person retreading spaces, completion and percentages, having a parry in Return of Samus, learning by failure, being constantly focused, appreciating just moving your character around, solving various additional problems, twin-stick control, more inviting combat, a bug in TR Anniversary revealed, collecting souls and shards, being able to grind for what you like, having the ability to customize Pokemon abilities, using crafting to better ends, unavailability of Castlevania DS games, chipset emulation, what we're playing next. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Street Fighter II, Super Mario Kart, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Contra III: The Alien Wars, PS2, Andrew Kirmse, Streets of Rage, Double Dragon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men, Xbox 360 controller, Bloodstained, Nintendo Switch, Kirby's Dream Course, Marble Madness, Super Mario World, Link to the Past, Final Fantasy VI/III, Sega Genesis, Atari 2600, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Metal Gear (series), Intellivision, Dungeons & Dragons, Shamus, Adventure, Street Fighter movie, Mortal Kombat (series), Crystal Dynamics, Tekken Tag Tournament, Battle Area Toshinden, Virtua Fighter, Soulcalibur, NetherRealm Studios, Injustice (series), Maddy Myers, Kotaku Splitscreen, Compete, Smash (series), Mario Party (series), Mario Maker, Nintendo DS, Steve Ash, Chris Klie, Daron Stinnett, Forza, Mario Kart Double Dash, Mario Kart 8, Nintendo Wii, Donkey Kong Country, Secret of Mana, Super Mario Galaxy, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, Pokemon: Red/Blue, Gothic Chocobo, Dave Wisecarver, Metroid Prime, Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, Return of Samus, Dark Souls, Dead Cells, Platinum, Bayonetta, Halo, Skyrim, Twilight Princess, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Nolan Filter/irreventQ, Castlevania 64, Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia, Giant Bomb, Konami, Virtual Console, Koji Igarashi, Shenmue, Seaman, DOOM, Bethesda, John Romero, Sigil, DOOM Eternal, Half-Life, System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Thief, Dark Forces, Ultima Underworld. Note: Brett indeed also played Earthbound on the SNES Classic but forgot in the heat of podcasting Next time: DOOM (Whole first episode) https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Stay Forever
C&C: Wusstet ihr eigentlich ...? (Zwischenfolge)

Stay Forever

Play Episode Listen Later May 11, 2019 53:59


Die normale Vorbereitung auf einen Podcast ist, neben dem Spielen des betreffenden Spiels, seiner Konkurrenten und seiner Nachfolger (und manchmal Vorgänger) eine ausführliche Recherche. Daraus resultieren dann umfangreiche, mal mehr, mal weniger geordnete Notizen. Die sind dann die Basis für das Gespräch, das aber natürlich seine eigene Dynamik hat, was dazu führt, dass zuweilen Dinge besprochen werden, die gar nicht auf dem Zettel standen, häufig aber auch Sachen nicht zur Sprache kommen, die eigentlich geplant waren. Wir haben neulich mal testhalber unsere "Recherchereste" zu Ultima Underworld als Podcast auf Patreon/Steady veröffentlicht, das kam ganz gut an – daher machen wir das nochmal zu C&C und weil Westwoods RTS ein so beliebtes Thema ist, kommt unsere "Wusstet ihr eigentlich ...?"-Folge zu Command & Conquer im öffentlichen Feed.

Axe of the Blood God: USG's Official RPG Podcast
The Top 25 RPG Wrap-up and Honorable Mentions

Axe of the Blood God: USG's Official RPG Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 8, 2019 79:10


The Top 25 RPG Countdown is officially finished! But there are a whole bunch of amazing RPGs we didn't get a chance to cover. From Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door, to Final Fantasy Tactics, to Ultima Underworld, Nadia and Kat talk about the best of the rest. Also, they dive into the big Anthem expose and what it means for BioWare, and talk about everything they saw at PAX East, including Kat's conversation with The Outer Worlds development team!

Stay Forever
Ultima Underworld (Stay Forever, Folge 86)

Stay Forever

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2019 117:29


Infos zum Spiel: Thema: Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss Erscheinungstermin: März 1992 Genre: Rollenspiel Plattform: MS-DOS Entwickler: Blue Sky Productions Publisher: Origin Systems Designer: Paul Neurath, Warren Spector Podcast-Credits: Sprecher: Christian Schmidt, Gunnar Lott Audioproduktion: Fabian Langer, Christian Schmidt Titelgrafik: Paul Schmidt Intro, Outro: Nino Kerl (Ansage); Chris Hülsbeck (Musik) Chronist: Herr Anym Community Management: Christian Beuster

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 152: Diablo (part one)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2019 71:01


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new game: Blizzard Entertainment's 1996 classic, Diablo. We situate the game in time and in the RPG landscape of the 90s before diving into the first quarter of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Levels 1-4 Issues covered: Brett's Ph.D. falls to Diablo, playing in the various pits of LucasArts, games slipping across the industry due to Diablo multiplayer, RPGs of the 1990s, apparent look of Diablo as an isometric turn-based game, tabletop lineage and Western RPGs, limitations on casting, coming from arcade design, the origin of rogue-likes, loot drops, the death of RPGs and the rise of first-person shooter, overturning genre conventions, moving a strategy game reinvention to the RPG, having multiplayer, underpinnings of so many loot systems, screenshot test, limiting down to one character, balancing AI design to allow the player to react, mechanics/dynamics/aesthetics framework, lack of health bars, being pulled in and freneticism and panic, position maintenance and target prioritization, doing everything with one input, lack of numbers, streamlining health/stats, quest selection, saving frequently/infrequently, memorable terrifying boss, simple quest system, multiplayer games, getting a friend to help you retrieve your corpse, lack of game history in the curriculum, DGC timeline, lack of cursing, tenets and pillars of studios as well as for the games, incorporating players into games, fighting each other, Japanese interviews, the show music and production, leveling up spells. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal, Doom, Quake, LucasArts, Duke Nukem 3D, Pokemon Red/Blue, Super Mario 64, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, PlayStation, Civilization II, Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Mario Kart 64, Crash Bandicoot, Meridian 59, Andrew Kirmse, 3DO, Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, Betrayal at Krondor, Sierra Games, Ultima VI, Ultima VII, System Shock 2, Fallout, Elder Scrolls: Arena, Might and Magic VI, Wizardry (series), Eye of the Beholder, Ultima Underworld, Gold Box (series), Halo, Dungeons and Dragons, Gary Gygax, Jack Vance, Chainmail, Gauntlet, Nethack, Moria, Rogue, Dave Brevik, Condor Games, PC Gamer, Computer Gaming World, Rise of the Triad, Dune, Command and Conquer, BioWare, World of Warcraft, Fallout 4, Destiny, Dark Forces, Jogsidf, Deus Ex, King's Quest/Space Quest, Johnny Grattan, Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill 2, Julian Gollop, X-COM, TIE Fighter, Sakaguchi Hironobu, Ueda Fumito, Kojima Hideo, Suda Goichi, SWERY65, Deadly Premonition, Aaron Evers. Next time: The Catacombs Links: PC Gamer Diablo Preview Original Diablo Pitch Document Dave Brevik Classic Game Postmortem IGN Interview with Dave Brevik Arcade Attack Podcast Interview with Dave Brevik Diablo 2 Office Tour https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 146: Pokémon Red/Blue (part four)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2019 77:33


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our series on 1996 Game Boy classic Pokémon Red/Blue. We talk about the tension of the final battles and then of course chat about our lessons and takeaways from the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Finishing the Game! Podcast breakdown: 1:15 Pokémon discussion 50:04 Break 50:35 Takeaways and Feedback Issues covered: renaming your rival and Professor Oak chiding him, being less precious about what things are named and such, separating out boxes and pure memory limits, the punk rival, coming full circle, naming your Pokémon, finding the legendaries, our final six, Brett's end-game, whether or not you can buy the elixirs, Tim's Frankensteined Pokémon team, how Brett leveled his top Pokémon, Tim coming down to running out of PP and items to take on the Elite Four, save states in the middle of the Elite Four battles, charging your adrenaline, four color palette, having very tight hardware limitations, squeezing more out of consoles late in hardware lifecycle, dungeons as puzzles, dungeon as palate cleanser and tuning/balancing pinch points, dungeon variety, trainers as gates and auto-grinds and tests of where you should be, map as revealing the order in which you will encounter stuff, the collection mechanics, evolution and collection, unique Pokémon, designing to your hardware constraints, music constraints, the depth of the roshambo, flexibility in supported approaches and player goals, emergent story in individual Pokémon, zany aesthetics of the Pokémon, collecting game play depth, whether playing Pokémon on release would have impacted our design or hardware thinking, most huggable Pokémon. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Metal Gear (series), Ultima Underworld, Final Fantasy IX, God of War, Anachronox, Chrono Trigger, Junichi Masuda, Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, Raymond, Ester Olsen. Next time: Play some Pokémon Let's Go! https://twitch.tv/brettdouville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

IGN Unfiltered
Episode 37: BioShock Infinite's and Underworld Ascendant's Joe Fielder

IGN Unfiltered

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2018 48:42


Underworld Ascendant creative director Joe Fielder has enjoyed quite a career. From starting out as a video game journalist to crossing over to game development and working with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Ken Levine (BioShock), and Warren Spector (Deus Ex), he is now releasing a spiritual successor to the beloved Ultima Underworld. 

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 136: Interview with Randy Smith and Greg LoPiccolo

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 31, 2018 67:46


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we in this episode we are lucky enough to enjoy an interview with Greg LoPiccolo, project lead on Thief, and Randy Smith, who was a level designer on the title. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 0:40       Interview 1:00:08  Break 1:00:50  Feedback Issues covered: World Series, how Randy got his start, psychology and programming as substrate for game design, "Suck it down" and toxic masculinity, cold-calling, the attraction of LG games, how Greg got in, the origins of Thief, competition, seeking limited but rich interaction, being weak, controlling the world from observation, AI with sense perceptions, the success of Thief, working counter to the prevailing winds, writing documentation to think about the space, commodities of space: loud/quiet and light/dark, tools support or lack thereof for those spaces, carving shapes, spaces that are hard to read, the level Escape, experimentation to find how to make a level, inventing sound propagation, dynamic lights impacting game play, player reading the lighting of a space, optimization, pulling back on combat in Thief II, "winging it and doing our best to survive," having nothing until you had everything, "like digging the Chunnel," polygon limitations, how do you build a cathedral with that?, the Emil vs Randy systems of building, designers having to be artists at the same time, putting the systems first, systemically reading space rather than tagging it, leading the team without having the tech yet, directing the narrative, writing lots of narrative to provide background and use it sparingly, people making their own stories, high quality voice acting, the bear pits, dialog as part of the game play loop, witty characters poking through, having to learn how to build a GANTT chart, repossessing the plants, the role of a leader, deep backstory, starting from a 1-4 page document, making up cool ideas and running with them, not being aware you couldn't do a thing, the trend of risk aversion in the industry, the indie spirit, an attempt to be more commercial, object hierarchy of inheritance, being in a submarine in the cold war, debugging console, the fundamental trick of game design: player brain and designer brain, starting testing much earlier, empathy as a design skill, overcoming doubt when innovating, saying yes to everything -> saying no to everything -> it's hard but we can do it, what the guests are doing next, having taste in game design and finding that audience, feeling like a musician vs being a musician, a touching father/daughter story. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Looking Glass Studios, Thief (series), ION Storm, Electronic Arts, Steven Spielberg, Edge Magazine, Tiger Style, Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon, Sega Genesis, Bimini Run, Nuvision Entertainment, System Shock, Flight Unlimited, Harmonix, Frequency, Rock Band VR, Tribe, Waking Mars, Nate Blaisdell, MYST, Tim Schafer, Eric Brosius, Rex Bradford, Activision, Tim Ries, Doug Church, Dan Schmidt, Ned Lerner, Terra Nova, Terri Brosius, 2001: A Space Odyssey (obliquely), DOOM (1993), Paul Neurath, Metal Gear Solid, Ultima Underworld, id Software, Tim Stellmach, DromEd, Unreal, Emil Pagliarulo, Bethesda Game Studios, Marc LeBlanc, Stephen Russell, Ken Levine, Tom Leonard, Red Dead Redemption 2, Game Developer's Conference, Kevin Brown, Halo: Combat Evolved, Far Cry 5, Andrew Kirmse, Star Wars: Starfighter. Next time: Another interview! @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 135: Thief (part four)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2018 95:47


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we in this episode we conclude our discussion of 1998's Thief: The Dark Project. We talk a bit about equipment and gadgets, the story and enemy shifts that happen late in the game, the commitment maybe to story over what was working, and as always, our takeaways from the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through the end! Podcast breakdown: 0:45 Segment 1: Thief discussion 54:53 Break 55:20 Segment 2: Thief takeaways, Brett's Book Minute, and Feedback Issues covered: good ending dialog, using the whole toolkit, kiting enemies to a trap, firing off gadgets immediately on acquisition, gas and fire arrows, having trouble on Escape, leaning away from the core fantasy, being a little too story-forward, other directions that might have worked, an easier last level, having to experiment to take down enemies, making good extensions to the enemy mix vs bad, finding an in-game way to give you information about your tools, the Hammerite mythology and technological disruption, conflicts between technology and nature, Hammerites and the Brotherhood of Steel, the texts before the cutscenes, setting tone, using first-person tools for storytelling, not being able to rely on lore, usability and testing, being a developer and being too good at your game, enjoying little loops of locations and story, missing subobjectives and having to go back, kicking the hornet's nest and having to go back, moving the goalposts too many times, the frustrating Escape level, returning to the Hammerite cathedral and having it changed, one-way gating your way through the final level (vs stealth), changing the tone of the game, how do you end a game?, going to an otherworldly place, Garrett talking to himself, listening to the Trickster do his summoning, heist/switching the idol, committing to the thief fantasy, technology as a feature, writing their own engine, focusing on simulation and systems in first-person, rope arrows and surface types, designing ancillary systems to support your core experience, consequential map, lockpicking vs a minigame, inventory and the store, horror beats, Garrett as a character, Brett's Book Minute, a correction, quiet and loneliness in Tomb Raider, loner vs loneliness, the golden age of the immersive sim, the genre as a success or not, expense of making AAA, level designers' ability to make whole levels, immersive sims at the indie level and procedural elements, flesh levels. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Looking Glass Studios, Everquest, Edge of Tomorrow, Fallout, Monty Python, The Princess Bride, Gone Home, Dear Esther, D&D, JRR Tolkien, System Shock 2, Indiana Jones/Raiders of the Lost Ark, Baldur's Gate, ION Storm, Ultima Underworld, Deus Ex, Thief (2014), Tomb Raider, Tony Cliff, Delilah Dirk (series character), Timothy Hallinan, Junior Bender (series character), Ethan Johnson, Greg LoPiccolo, Vijay Lakshman, Elder Scrolls, Alex Rigopulos, Eran Egozy, Tim Dore, Half-Life, Dan Hunter, Dishonored, Prey, TIE Fighter, Daron Stinnett, Bethesda Game Studios, Zenimax, Arkane Studios, Kotaku, Neon Struct, We Happy Few, The2ndQuest, Contra, Aliens, Predator, Abadox, Alien Syndrome, Halo, Eric Bartoszak, Jill Murray. Next time: Next time we expect an interview! Keep your eyes peeled. Links: Fansy the Famous Bard (CW: homophobia, probably other chat grotesqueries, MMO chat can be ugly) Brett's Twitch Channel Stealth Docs YT Channel (recommended by a listener) Podcast with Looking Glass folks @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 132: Thief (part two)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 3, 2018 89:29


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are in the midst of our series about 1998's Thief; we talk about the story development of the world, some small mechanical bits, and then dig into the level design of the four levels we played. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through "The Sword" Issues covered: getting shot with an arrow, starting with the day in the life of a thief, establishing a baseline of a life, introducing the Hammerites and other groups, verses from religious texts, things are getting weird, weaving in "The Dark Project," upsetting the balance, the trope of stumbling into something larger, significance of what you're stealing, interludes vs cutscenes, preferring the mundane to the strange in this game, player expectations of story, surprising the audience, industrial/steampunk setting mixing with magic, wanting more from the city, leaning into weird backstory but drifting away, not needing the bizarre framing devices, constructing your story level to level, individual contributions driving story, extending the core fantasy with new mechanics, knucklehead stealth, sword swinging mechanics, complexity of collisions, the efficiency of the blackjack, adding traps and lock picks, slow projectiles, being able to see the mechanisms behind the traps, methodical trap avoidance, player skill in reading the environment, committing to first-person in lock-picking, triggering character skill, adding a lock-picking mini-game to the franchise, being a predator in other games, claustrophobia in narrow corridors, hacking a zombie to bits, the mournful music of the horn, building Garrett's character and placing him in the world, surprise switch objective, a level that is too long, not having the texture budget to support the level design, being lost, picking up things and having them in your inventory, doing stuff in the wrong order, banging up against the banners, being a second story guy, rope arrow mechanics, a weird space, relying on physics engines, level as character building, weird promotions, flipping the script and driving you away. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dungeons & Dragons, Tomb Raider, System Shock 2, The Usual Suspects, Memento, Hitman (series), Assassin's Creed, Dario Casali, Half-Life, Dark Forces, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Hal Barwood, Die By The Sword, Ultima Underworld, Leon: The Professional, Ken Levine, Dark Souls, Pipe Dreams, Kent Hudson, Thief: Deadly Shadows, Arkham Asylum, Deus Ex, Stephen King, Creepshow, Swamp Thing, Cthulhu, HP Lovecraft, Gothic Chocobo, Fallout 3, Bulletstorm, People Can Fly, EA Partners, Turok, Dante's Inferno, Brutal Legend, Jack Black, The Way, Grand Theft Auto IV. Next time: Through "Undercover" Links: Assassin's Creed's Functional Story @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 131: Thief (part one)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2018 86:40


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we now begin our series about 1998's Thief; as usual, we start by setting the game in its time before diving into a few of its systems and technology requirements. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through Cragscleft Prison Podcast breakdown: 0:41 Thief 53:13 Break 53:45 Feedback Issues covered: reflecting on 1998, first-person shooter games of the time, having different first-person goals, differing pacing, original design goals, high enemy lethality and comparative weakness of the protagonist, methodical style of play, punishing the player for an action approach, getting sucked into the demo, niche and sales, sticking to a core fantasy vs going to a more action-oriented design, an aesthetic that spreads to other places, going in a different direction with tone, establishing a different fantasy setting, painterly cutscenes, functional lore, quality of the voice acting, the light meter, audio surface changes, lack of direct information about the AI, technology considerations, dynamic lighting, dynamic and attenuated audio, not cheating for the AI, setting an expectation for future games in the genre (particularly with shooting out lights), doing a job at Lord Bafford's Manor, setting the stage for the game, introducing the mission, having alternate routes, picking pockets, level and experiential density, clear level direction (moving up), dynamic goals, turning off transparency and ledges, following the dotted line or not, movement weight, making trade-offs of immediacy vs groundedness, weapon roles, progression and weapon roles working against one another, extending character through weapon choices, making more interesting choices from your systems (including weapons). Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Starcraft, Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid, Unreal, Rainbox Six, Final Fantasy Tactics, Resident Evil 2, Tomb Raider 3, Rogue Squadron, Grim Fandango, Half-Life, Baldur's Gate, Spyro the Dragon, Battlezone, Descent: Freespace, Star Wars: Starfighter, Kotaku Splitscreen, Half-Life 2, Fallout 2, Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow, Quake, Epic Games, id Software, Duke Nukem, Heretic, Eidos Interactive, Die by the Sword, Treyarch, Trespasser, Daron Stinnett, System Shock 2, Looking Glass, Hitman, Splinter Cell, Dishonored, Ultima Underworld, Origin, Flight Unlimited, System Shock, Terra Nova, Strike Force Alpha Centauri, Ken Levine, Doug Church, Harvey Smith, Randy Smith, Mark LeBlanc, Warren Spector, Paul Neurath, Underworld Ascendant, Emil Pagliarulo, Lulu LaMer, Crystal Dynamics, Tim Stellmach, Terry and Eric Brosius, Greg LoPiccolo, Stephen Russell, Arx Fatalis, Arkane Studios, Raf Colantonio, Gothic Chocobo, Mark Brown, Morrowind, Skyrim, The Witcher 3, Batman, Dead Space, Rômulo Santos, Monster Hunter (series), Andrew from Cincinnati, Deus Ex, Doom, Halo, Uncharted, Star Wars: Republic Commando. Next time: Through The Sword Links: Is the reboot of Lara Croft more feminist? 10 things (women were doing in Video games in the) 1990's (2:45-4:28) Why Nathan Drake doesn't need a compass. Following the little dotted line @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 124: Deus Ex (part five)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 25, 2018 86:28


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are finishing out our discussion of 2000's Deus Ex. In our fifth episode in the series, we talk a bit about the game's viewpoint(s) and turn 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 at last Issues covered: Tim's marathon of M:I, the othering of Anna and Gunther as well as Walter Simons and Bob Page, building a sense of place and history, the inhumanity of JC Denton, a game about the grey area of decision-making, Tim merges with the AI, choosing a little less globalization, wealth operating in secret, playing the good guy, turning off the Illuminati-sicle, pulling the opposing threads back further into the game, the gas station level, Tim finds a prototype AI, mashup of genres, robust optional content, stealthing the end of the game, using thermoptic camo, leveling up the sword, a fully-realized Vandenberg Base, flying the drone and blowing up the robots, using the AI's rules to stealth through, doing the mission impossibly, like we're playing two different games, emergent design, using tools for mayhem vs success, paying off on story choices/the game watching and keeping track of little things you do, the RPG lineage, projecting onto the character because of flat affect, allowing Paul to live, Tim likes the trains to run on time, bringing in all the various conspiracy theories, tracking things and setting up the sorts of things that we track today, choosing story beats instead of being able to fully get through non-lethally, level design feeding into emergence, the saga of BobPage51, adding surrealism to everyday life, the modern Deus Ex games, lockpicking and time, knucklehead stealth and limited playtime, assigned roles vs created roles, player tracking, internal vs external, expectations of privacy, the challenge of interpreting player data, heat maps and ways to tie the data together, justifying any decision, tracking and part of the competitive landscape. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Mission: Impossible, Terminator (series), RoboCop, Peter Weller, The Witcher 3, Fallout, Warren Spector, Far Cry 4, X-COM: UFO Defense, Kindergarten Cop, Jack Black, Nacho Libre, Grand Theft Auto III, Ultima Underworld, Dragnet, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Starfighter (series), Rick Butler, Metal Gear Solid V, Splinter Cell (series), Thief, Ben from Iowa, Clint Hocking, Aaron Evers, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, UbiSoft, God of War, Tomb Raider, Jumanji, 343 Industries, Microsoft, Halo 5, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, League of Legends, DotA 2, Fortnite, Unreal Engine, Unity, Prey. Next time: A big chunk o' Prey @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 123: Deus Ex (part four)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 18, 2018 67:38


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we have finally turned our attention to 2000's Deus Ex. In our fourth episode in the series, we talk about maps, the damage model, augmentations, and more! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up through the Paris Cathedral Issues covered: stealth and non-lethal play, hitting your foes with tranq darts, externalizing statistics, the things you track, a decision or a priority, a stuffed UI, adding notes to images, self-motivated play vs auto-mapping, usability, detailed maps, orienting yourself via the maps, feeling in conversation with the designer, map fidelity and playing into the fantasy, leaning on the existence of a map as a designer, leaning on navigation mapping as a crutch, spatial sense, making navigation design choices based on the needs of the game, emergent design and not holding hands, navigation as a resource, taking away mechanics you lean on, sneaking up on snipers, accurate modeling of bullet trajectory, making weapons feel like they should feel, suspected player collision model, accuracy model, difficulty making decisions, understanding the weapons having not using them, the damage model, weapons being more lethal sometimes than others, random vs statistical distributions, seeing the RNG and damage model, tuning and spread and balance, player expectations and numbers, progressive improvement in random chance in MMOs, perception is everything, "it's not a blunderbuss," augmentation choices, not meeting tougher creatures when you make the choices, not upgrading, recycling + healing non-stop, playing into power fantasies of different types, potential "best way to play," being a sum of parts rather than strong at any individual thing, VO issues, player stories in the Dowd level, making weird decisions with guns, audio design, triggering enemies through walls, provoking exploration, more player stories in the Dowd level, scripting interactions and weirdness, clash of script and AI, player feedback, a future bonus episode, proper noun soup. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Fable, Metal Gear Solid (series), Ultima Underworld, Far Cry 2, Elder Scrolls (series), Perfect Dark Zero, Xbox 360, Dead Space, Resident Evil, Dark Forces, Unreal, Halo, X-COM: UFO Defense, Sid Meier, Civilization, World of Warcraft, Planescape: Torment, Fallout, Thief, Grehtn/Zimmy Finger, Darren from Ohio, Prey (2017), The Witcher 3, Warren Spector. Next time: Finish the game, no really, really! @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Kotaku Splitscreen
E3 2018: Warren Spector's Return To System Shock

Kotaku Splitscreen

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2018 31:45


At E3 2018, Jason sat down for an entertaining conversation with game design legend Warren Spector (Deus Ex, Ultima Underworld, System Shock) about his storied career in video games, his wildest game design idea, and his return to immersive sims with Underworld Ascendant and System Shock 3.

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 114: Dark Forces (part one)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later May 23, 2018 67:32


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are beginning a new series about 1995's Star Wars: Dark Forces. We situate the game in its time a bit and then turn to the first three levels of the game, specifically talking about its level design and a bit about squeezing Star Wars into games. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through The Subterranean Hideout Podcast breakdown: 0:46    Segment 1: Dark Forces 49:50  Break 50:25  Segment 2: Feedback Issues covered: Star Wars character class, Bothan spies, Tim as Dark Forces tester, PlayStation version, credits up front, lots of adventure games in 1995, fond memories of DF, faking co-op by phone, project leader Daron Stinnett, prior Star Wars games, level design, not a discipline, innovating beyond DOOM, grounding the level design in architecture, creating a sense of place, increased complexity, verticality, auto-aim, ducking and jumping, lighting, scale of rooms and levels, grounded vs abstract levels, Star Wars economics, using more detail in rooms being visited multiple times, characters and story lines fitting into Star Wars, hunger for new Star Wars stories, loving and respecting Star Wars, building characters on Star Wars archetypes, bringing in Star Wars elements and fitting them into the game, Crix Madine, flexibility with using a new character, mechanics, vertex lighting, enemies who aren't facing your way, reimagining the Williams aesthetic, seeing Star Wars a bunch of times, controls, differences between GOG and Steam versions, Brett's weird keyboard configuration, sliding movement, pace of play, cover shooters, seeing canonical characters in mission briefings, seeing the hive of scum and villainy side of things, leaning on the existing world-building of Star Wars, polygonal Moldy Crow, fixed point and floating point math, seeing a thing in a cutscene and then in-game, levels getting bigger, resources carrying between levels, Brett delivers a punk serenade to the audience, Tim mispronounces "proliferation," pitch docs, DVD-style commentary on Jedi Starfighter, surfacing unreleased content, lack of bang for buck, not showing things that aren't complete, saving stuff for a sequel. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: George Lucas, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Sierra, The Dig, Phantasmagoria, The Beast Within, The 11th Hour, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Warcraft 2, Blizzard Entertainment, TIE Fighter, Command and Conquer, Flight Unlimited, Looking Glass Studios, Chrono Trigger, Square, Enix, King Arthur and the Knights of Justice, Descent, Marathon 2, Hexen, DOOM, Daron Stinnett, Starfighter (series), Republic Commando, Outlaws, Jedi Knight, Bioforge, D, Super Star Wars, Rebel Assault I & II, Myst, Reed Knight, Darren Johnson, Kevin Schmidt, Ingar Shu, Matt Tateishi, Ultima Underworld, Anachronox, Mysteries of the Sith, Empire Strikes Back, Clint Bajakian, Half-Life, Amy Hennig, DOOM 3, Wolfenstein, Quake, id Software, Unreal, Descent, Brian Taylor, Buttercup Scratchnsniff, The Ramones, The Platters, Bing Crosby, God of War, Daniel C, Andrew Kirmse, Nathan Martz, Doug Modie, Troy Mashburn, Rich Davis, Halo 5, Arkham (series), Fallout 3. Next time: Through The Death Mark @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

The Sandbox Podcast
The Sandbox Podcast: Episode 120 – Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy

The Sandbox Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2018 72:24


On this episode Cobra Kai. Ultima Underworld. Shroud of the Avatar. Pillars of Eternity. Skyrim. Morphite. Legends of Aria. Darkfall. Red Dead Redemption. Question of the week. If you had to live the rest of your life in a small colony on Mars, and could only bring one game, which game would you take? @SandboxPodcast @Nateryl […]

Watch Out for Fireballs!
Listener Responses: April 2018 (Bioshock 2, Minerva's Den, Ultima Underworld)

Watch Out for Fireballs!

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 26, 2018 49:30


Let's see what you think of Bioshock 2, Minerva's Den, and Ultima Underworld!

Watch Out for Fireballs!
Episode 192: Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss

Watch Out for Fireballs!

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2018 233:03


We can think of 0451 reasons to love this grandaddy of the modern immersive sim. We go all the way back to 1992, before Looking Glass was called Looking Glass, and see where one of our favorite genres of games began. Ultima Underworld is a shockingly friendly game for its vintage, and it's absolutely worth playing to get more perspective on games as a whole. A huge thanks to special guest Justin Gutt for backing us on Patreon and getting us to take a leap of faith to play this game.

Midwest Game Nerds Podcast
Bonus Episode – Underworld Ascendant Preview

Midwest Game Nerds Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 16, 2018 13:40


While at PAX East 2018, Alex got to play a brief demo of Underworld Ascendant! This sequel to the Ultima Underworld games is currently in development by OtherSide Entertainment under producer Paul Neurath who you may know from Ultima Underworld, System Shock 2, or Thief fame among many other games. In this bonus episode, Alex … The post Bonus Episode – Underworld Ascendant Preview appeared first on The Midwest Game Nerds Podcast.

thief pax east system shock ultima underworld underworld ascendant otherside entertainment paul neurath
Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 107: Space Quest (part one)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 4, 2018 73:10


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we continue to discuss a pair of very early Sierra adventure games, now turning to Space Quest 1: The Sarien Encounter. We talk a little bit more about adventure games and general and talk about some specific ways this game differs from King's Quest, including its use of space. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to Planet Kerona Podcast breakdown: 0:45   Segment 1: SQ1 37:19 Break 37:43 Segment 2: Feedback Issues covered: humor in adventure games, obvious influences, nostalgia for Tim, playing adventure games as a shared experience, getting stuck, linear vs open structure/points of no return, not getting the cartridge, stealth game play, fearing death and rushing through the game, quick beginning to the game, how you measure play time, designing around player death, embracing shorter game length, frustration points, inability to predict puzzle pain points, prodding the edges out of frustration, how you QA or player test a game like this, how to innovate or adjust in light of success, knowing whether you can fail, the market at the time, extending a specific audience rather than trying to grow the whole audience, attention to detail and commitment to a consistency of the world, requiring less knowledge from the player, discovery at the same pace as the character, Guybrush Threepwood, from Space Zero to Space Hero, characters who change or that don't, character development over a series, humor, fish out of water, Tim gives Brett a hint (survival kit), use of screen space, explorable spaces, payoff on finding nothing vs keycard, using splitscreen, economical screen use, text adventure structure, dramatic tension, having fun with death and exploring that, double whammy of enemies you can't kill and a timer, the daily chase of the most recent releases, learning as much if not more from an old game, doing a lot with a small team, legendary games we missed out on, picking between systems, classic strategy wargames, getting a survey vs playing in depth, games history and film history, playing the history at LucasArts, the tip line, ickiness of 1-900 numbers. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sierra, LucasArts, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Star Wars, Tacoma, The Walking Dead, Telltale, Deadline, Republic Commando, Monkey Island, Leisure Suit Larry, Gabriel Knight, Phantasmagoria, Quest for Glory, Al Lowe, Anachronox, Tom Hall, Outlaws, Daron Stinnett, Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, Super Metroid, Out of this World/Another World, Planescape: Torment, Dan Hunter, Guernsey College, Fallout, Skyrim, Zachary Crownover, Unity, Unreal, Derek Achoy, Aaron Evers, Raphael Cornford, Mikkel Lodahl, Dungeons and Dragons, Temple of Elemental Evil, Keep on the Borderlands, Ultima Underworld, M.U.L.E., Commodore 64, Mario (series), Megaman, Bomberman, NES/SNES, Sega Genesis, Flashback, PS2, Atari, IntelliVision, Vectrex, Chuck E. Cheese, Avalon Hill, Art of War, Panzer (series), Larry Holland, HMS Pegasus, Will Wright, Raid on Bungeling Bay, SimCity, SimEarth, SimAnt, Guy Morgan, XCOM, Soul Reaver, Game Boy Pocket, Link's Awakening, Discworld, Psygnosis, Activision, Infocom, Vivendi. Next time: Finish Space Quest! @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 105: King's Quest (part one)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 21, 2018 64:33


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing a pair of very early Sierra adventure games, beginning with 1984's King's Quest: Quest for the Crown. We talk a bit about Sierra and its early contributions to games as a whole and the specific form of the adventure game, setting it in context and discussing taste. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: "About half" of King's Quest Issues covered: crossing a drawbridge, being top of the game food chain, the rise and fall and rise of adventure games, establishing a formula early on, being unable to get games, hint lines, IBM funding, sweet development deal, four-color video cards, reusable engines, general-purpose machines vs custom machines, leveraging programming work, local-ish company, building a string of franchises, first developers whose names you know, typing in directions, diving into the manual, how to make an adventure game map, the need to restart, lack of direction, number pad, playing with a parser, getting source code for text adventures, verb usability in LucasArts vs Sierra, finding parser edges and the sense of discovery, one-use verbs, having visual feedback in addition to the parser, open world exploration in the parser, different taste in adventures and animation, a brainy game, experimentation, engineers vs pure designers, character mechanics, timing element, hint books, using friends like a hint line, pen and paper similarity, willing suspension of disbelief, blocking off inaccessible areas via art, the wrap-around map, connected world, usability decision?, multi-use puzzles and inventory items, waiting for things, relying on fairy tale lore. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: LucasArts, Day of the Tentacle, Apple ][, Infocom, Wizard and the Princess, Roberta and Ken Williams, Egghead Software, IBM, Out of this World/Another World, Karateka, Dynamix, Vivendi, CUC International, Havas, Andromeda, Zork, ADVENT/Colossal Cave Adventure, Ultima, Tetris, ExciteBike, Marble Madness, Montezuma's Revenge, Commodore 64, Ancient Art of War, Ballblazer, Archon, Lode Runner, Disney, Pixar, Ubisoft, Dark Souls, Felix the Cat, Warner Bros, Ralph Bakshi, Mystery House, Manhole, HyperCard, Cyan, Myst, Enchanter, Lost Treasures of Infocom, Activision, Dungeons and Dragons, Greensleeves, Ultima Underworld, Pac-Man, Lucas Rizoli, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, Daryl Gates. Note: It might have been more accurate to say source might have been "assembled" rather than "interpreted" Links: Duncan Fyfe on PQ4, writing for Waypoint Next time: Finish King's Quest @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 104: Ultima Underworld (part four)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2018 94:30


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing 1992's immersive sim classic Ultima Underworld. We talk about how the game comes together at the end and the interconnectedness of it all before we turn to our pillars and takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Finished the game! Podcast breakdown: 0:42 Segment 1: finishing the game 44:23 Break 44:59 Segment 2: Takeways and feedback Issues covered: serviceable weapons, Tim realizes he never beat the game before, reuniting pieces of key, going in between levels, breaking down a door, getting a little help from your friends, cup talisman, the taper being a different piece of art, the writ of Lorne, killing all the trolls, Tim finds nine talismans, the crux ansata, Tom and Judy quest, themes of loss throughout the game, the lost world of Cabirus, thematic storytelling here vs larger open worlds, usability issues and keeping track, missing clues and having to scour levels, having an unbreakable sword, worrying about the final room, anticlimactic final room, the final maze and its length, hallucinatory images while running away, dream sequences in Max Payne, wearing the special crown, the moonstone room, Brett ends with a ton of scrolls, wondering about other skill possibilities, finishing at level 15/16, clip of the ending screen, interconnected quests and dungeon, being nervous about a game being broken, QAing this game and finding workarounds, hinting at how to move around the dungeon space, getting frustrated to the point of exploring the non-obvious, the game that justifies the inclusion of quest journals, the wane that proceeds the RPG renaissance, full commitment to simulation, simulating the staleness of food, leaving bloodspots, pushing forward to any idea you could think of, supporting the core fantasy of being in this place, interconnecting systems, focusing on one dungeon, committing to a motivating idea, balance, interconnected levels, pen and paper games, fallen utopia, old rotten and seasoned, choosing enemy types, borrowing from the main games, using archetypes, picking characters based on their abilities and lore, orthogonal design in enemies, varieties of damage types, top-down vs bottom-up approach, potentially bad tropes to take into here, lack of random monster encounters, balancing for different sorts of characters, separating systems, iterating on numbers, leaning on QA, changing enemy behaviors based on weapons, putting the onus on the player, cheating on behalf of the player, GDC and planned interview, parser games. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Ultima (series), Mark Eldridge, Max Payne, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Origin, Baldur's Gate, Gold Box games, Martian Dreams Ultima Adventure, Wolfenstein, Doom, The Elder Scrolls: Arena, H. P. Lovecraft, Icewind Dale, The Witcher (series), Bard's Tale, Eye of the Beholder, Dungeons & Dragons, Underworld: Ascendant, Mark *Sean* Garcia, Tader Chip, Maas Neotek Proto/Keane, Republic Commando, Halo, Diablo, Brian Taylor, Metal Gear Solid, Skyrim, Deus Ex, Sierra Games, LucasArts, King's Quest, Space Quest, Day of the Tentacle, GOG.com, Wizard and the Princess. Next time: King's Quest I, "About half" @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 103: Ultima Underworld (part three)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 7, 2018 66:17


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing 1992's immersive sim classic Ultima Underworld. We take a deeper dive into the leveling system and the magic system and talk about the intersection of RPGs and immersive sims and the various analog elements of this game in particular. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Levels 4-6 Issues covered: rotworm stew, taking notes and having too much to sort through, keeping track using the map, space for a legend, cartography, how the leveling system works vs other games, strengths and weakness of a leveling system, ceding control of the player experience to the RNG, rewarding the finding of mantras and pushing you to search for them, awarding of XP, pushing you to other skills via randomness, sticking with the Sword of Justice because it doesn't break, the intersection of two very difficult genres in terms of balancing, encouraging you to fully explore the map, finding an angry ghost and a talking door, mixing runes to come up with spells, the consistency of 8 virtues and 8 races and 8 talismans, role-playing your decisions, embracing the pen and paper origins, combat pacing and space with magic and weapon timing, swinging a weapon and hitting a wall, weapon mechanics, the tale of Sir Rodrick, essential objects and the possibility of losing the game, sources of weird rendering artifacts, potential optimizations to avoid clipping, Longo Rooms, low fidelity games, using the silver seed for resurrection -- Tim teaches Brett a trick, tracking ownership of objects, identifying AI state using the look button, analog fidelity of systems, inter-level connections of quests and objects, adventure game elements, finding a moonstone and other favorite moments, Tim confesses his hacker past. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dungeons & Dragons, Warren Spector, Planescape: Torment, Gold Box games, Eye of the Beholder, GURPS/Steve Jackson Games, Wolfenstein 3D, Mark Eldridge. Next time: Finish the game! (Levels 7 & 8) @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 102: Ultima Underworld (part two)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2018 71:23


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing 1992's immersive sim classic Ultima Underworld. We discuss the specifics of levels two and three a bit, but also tackle inventory, encumbrance, taking notes on paper, and the delightful map and how those have changed over the years. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Levels 2 and 3 Podcast breakdown: 0:43    UU Discussion 48:46  Break 49:12  Feedback Issues covered: Brett learns some Lizardman, chatting with goblins and the many civilizations, relationships between factions, killing a she-spider, being fully engaged, the mystery of Sir Cabirus, Tim falls down a hole, leveling up quickly, Brett loses some chain mail, taking paper notes as you play, making lists of details like clues and mantras, physical keys vs logical keys and design trade-offs, imagining player stories, keeping track of key rules, attributing influences to this game vs prior games, annotating the map, drawing a dungeon as you went, automapping and writing on the map, writing a legend, player agency on the map, some map games, the shadow of the map pin, handling inventory, bags within bags, putting inventory responsibility on the player, respecting the player's intelligence, anxiety from previous play-throughs of losing objects, having help from viewers, needing encumbrance space and dropping objects to make room, asking a lot from the player, return of older styles of gameplay to support usability, jankiness of erasing, adapting map to a controller, rules that you discover along the way: leeches and spiking doors, using player tools in Bethesda games, game developer view on objects that you have, dwarf section: beginning middle and end, sense of place, the gazer shooting a beam at you, looking for Shak, repair skills, potential for overspecialization, level cap of 16, the eight virtues and corresponding classes, Joy to the Underworld, playing music on stream, being a completionist and hoarding everything in the hoard room, fixing the audio, podcasts/interviews, level design as a discipline, level design for stealth gameplay, onboarding stealth mechanics and their combination, avoiding overwhelming player (and designer), fantasy fulfillment in Thief, a little goes a long way, designing from moments and working backwards, having vignettes to implement towards, client-facing programming, merging geometry and systems and mechanics, tension in Thief II. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dungeons and Dragons, Eye of the Beholder, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, UbiSoft, The Witcher, Far Cry 2, Miasmata, Joe and Bob Johnson, LOST, Etrian Odyssey, Nintendo, Brian Taylor, Mark Eldridge, Dark Souls, Looking Glass Studios, Fallout 3, Skyrim, Ultima Underworld 2, System Shock 2, Ultima series and classes, Final Fantasy (series), JohnCaboose/Bjorn, Makendi, MaasNeotekProto, Tom Francis, Heat Signature, Floating Point, Gunpoint, PCGamer podcast, Crate and Crowbar, Aaron Evers, Thief, Paul Neurath, Mark Allen Garcia, Metal Gear Solid, Chris Mead, GAMBIT/MIT, Irrational Games, Bioshock, Phillip Staffetius, Final Fantasy IX, Kotaku, MSXII, Gamemaker, Game Developers Conference, Metal Gear Solid 4, John LeCarre, Mark of the Ninja, Star Wars: Republic Commando, Nels Anderson, Thief II, Alien: Isolation. Links: Tom Francis on emergent narrative GOG forum link for audio care of Mark Eldridge Paul Neurath on Thief  c/o Aaron Evers GAMBIT/MIT on Looking Glass c/o Chris Mead Next time: Levels 4, 5, and 6 @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 101: Ultima Underworld (part one)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2018 85:01


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are beginning a new series on 1992's immersive sim classic Ultima Underworld. As usual, we situate the game in time a bit and in the Ultima series as a whole, before delving into the first few hours of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Level 1 Podcast breakdown: 0:40    Underworld 54:54  Break 55:22  Feedback Issues covered: Brett gets hooked, first person game and a lot of clicking, getting over the initial hump, taking a long time to finish a game, 72-hour game benders, epilepsy and flashing, firsts of their kind year, seeing the walls of the design, branching out with the Ultima series, Ultima Worlds of Adventure, adding simulation to the point of view, not being alone in the first-person space, vector wireframe rendering in the first Ultima dungeons, feeling the presence of the developer, exploration of controls, limited verbs in FPSes, free look, overdesigned mouse interface, not reading the manual, coming full circle to analog controls in the modern day, fine-tuning movement, "this will never catch on," clarity in input, instinct was right but implementation was wrong, poll rates, mechanical mice vs optical mice, Trish the Bard, 80s looking character portrait, innovating on taking a thing from world and dragging into the inventory, the Trello of inventory systems, adding too many things to a bag, UX nightmare, convergence game with systems coming together, top-down design vs bottom-up design, RPG differences between player skill and character skill, gesture-based combat, idea to implementation, fewer barriers to implementation, lack of level designers, taking more risks because of lower costs, dark side of games, using a key in a door, verbs and similarity to adventure games, where the three hours went for Brett, fearing dropping something that you'll need later, traipsing all over, jumping difficulty, factions as an underpinning of the underground society, lack of quest log/journal, does dialogue hint at actions you can take, clarity of the rules, fading fortunes of SSI, playing MGS vs remembering MGS, coloring what follows a good moment, CGI cutscenes painting in the player's impressions of fidelity, the legacy of Lara Croft's portrayal, avoiding blind spots through diverse representation in your development team, preferring Twin Snakes. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The Chronicles of Narnia, Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, Origin Systems, EA, Ultima (series), Richard Garriott/Lord British, Wizardry, Dungeon Master, Gold Box, Eye of the Beholder, The Bard's Tale, Dark Corners of the Earth, Elder Scrolls (series), Looking Glass Studios, Warren Spector, Doug Church, System Shock, Marc MAHK LeBlanc, Tim Stellmach, Deus Ex, Harvey Smith, Randy Smith, Prey, Dishonoured (series), Paul Neurath, Underworld Ascendant, Dune II, Warcraft, Ultima VII, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Hal Barwood, Ecco the Dolphin, Super Mario Kart, Mortal Kombat, Night Trap, Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil, Flashback, Another World/Out of this World, Martian Dreams, Savage Empire, Quake, Wing Commander, Space Rogue, id Software, Stonekeep, Final Fantasy (series), Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest (series), Ogre, Quake, DOOM 2, Terminator, Planescape: Torment, SoundBlaster, Fallout 2, Elder Scrolls: Arena, SSI, Thief, Kupo1256, Christian Schuster, Metal Gear Solid (series), Fallout 3, Todd Howard, Jonah Lobe, Silent Hill 2, Final Fantasy VII/IX, Travis Grasser, Symphony of the Night, Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider, Jason Schreier, Kirk Hamilton, Michael, Final Fantasy XV, Christianne Meister, Skyrim, Jeff Buttaccio, GameCube, MGS: Twin Snakes, Shigeru Miyamoto. Next time: Levels 2 and 3 @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Electronic Wireless Show
Electronic Wireless Show Ep 31 - Remakes, reboots and remasters

Electronic Wireless Show

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2018 62:26


We're talking about remakes, remasters and recurrent nightmares. What would we like to see remade? Katharine wouldn’t mind a spruced up Deus Ex. Brendan thinks a rejigged Assassin’s Creed could work (how perverse). While Adam doesn’t want any of his loves remade, lest they pollute his fond memories (OK, maybe Pathologic 2). However, the real question is what games from today will be remade in the distant future? Links: Remaking old adventure games is bad, says Ron Gilbert: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/11/22/when-is-it-ok-to-remake-a-classic-game/ Okami HD review: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/12/18/okami-hd-review-pc/ Pathologic remake confusingly renamed Pathologic 2: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/08/31/pathologic-remake-renamed-pathologic-2/ Have you played… Doom II? https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/05/24/have-you-played-doom-ii-hell-on-earth/ How Doom’s Glory Kills maintain momentum: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/07/15/doom-glory-kills-mechanic/ Everything you need to know about Final Fantasy XII: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/01/29/spawn-point-what-to-know-about-final-fantasy-xii/ Underworld Ascendant is a bit of an Ultima Underworld remake: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/10/14/underworld-ascendant/ Prey review: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/05/09/prey-review/ Resident Evil 2 remake is in the works at Capcom: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/08/16/resident-evil-2-remake/ Can you SURVIVE the evil!? https://youtu.be/lgAJB9Q2LzM?t=13s Grow Home’s flailing hero is a good robot: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/09/23/how-grow-home-uses-maths-to-generate-a-personality/ Adam talks to a nice man in Budapest: https://twitter.com/noneconomical/status/958381777155969029 Assassin’s Creed’s post-murder chatting: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/06/05/have-you-played-assassins-creed/ Have you played… Anachronox? https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/09/30/anachranox-retro/ The god game From Dust: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/07/27/from-dust-review/ Have you played… Startopia? https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/03/22/startopia-retrospective/ Psst! You can play No One Lives Forever for free: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/07/05/no-one-will-sell-no-one-lives-forever-so-lets-download-it/ The cancelled Legacy of Kain game, Dead Sun: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/02/24/legacy-of-kain-dead-sun-cancelled/ The long road to Timesplitters Rewind: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/06/06/timesplitters-rewind-pc/

RPG Cast
RPGCast – Episode 436: “Nostalgia Goggles”

RPG Cast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 19, 2017


The Bard’s Tale, Realms of Arkania, and Ultima Underworld all try to get a piece of the good old nostalgia today. Sadly, that’s already owned...

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 075: Super Mario World (part three)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 16, 2017 74:18


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we currently playing 1991's Super Mario World. This week, we talk about how the difficulty of the game more and how it interacts with the exploration of the space. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through the Forest of Illusion Podcast breakdown: 0:33 Segment 1 (SMW Discussion) 34:35 Break 35:11 Feedback Issues covered: finding a key, picking things up mechanic, directing the player, repeating use of mechanics, picking up and placing objects, difficulty controlling the cape, progression of mechanical complexity, building on fundamentals, doing new things with hardware, similarity of modern consoles and PCs, meta infrastructure, controller changes over time, what do you add and remove with sequels, serving old fans vs serving new fans, helping you to be a completist, incentive to explore, discouraging exploration, exploration and requirement for high skill, lag in the Wii and switching to emulation, mastery as a design choice, user experience of difficulty, joy of playing as an incentive, "every level you find is a gift," precision of Mario play, lack of collectibles as proof of mastery, seeing other games in Nintendo games, the picture of Brett in Nintendo World HQ, taking Yoshi or the cape through every level, getting corrected on lore, retconning the lore, trying to make sense of long series, films and world-building, disconnected ("title-related") series, paying down the Wii points, alternate reality games, adventure games being dead, archiving server-based games, appreciating the fleeting experience, Jen's Majestic experience, reflecting on the podcast through a review, eavesdropping mission in Thief II, user experience in literature/theater/film/comics/etc, different every time, role-playing vs boss battles. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Star Wars Starfighter, Prey, Dark Souls, Breath of the Wild, Assassin's Creed, Shadow of the Colossus, Metroid (series), Tomb Raider, Halo, Super Meat Boy, Wolfenstein 3D, Skyrim, New Super Mario Bros 2, Link Between Worlds, Ben Zaugg, Mighty Joe Young, King Kong, The Giant BeastCast, Skyward Sword, Marvel Cinematic Universe, John Wick 2, James Bond, Casino Royale, Final Fantasy (series), Wizardry (series), Ultima (series), The Witcher (series), Metal Gear (series), C. J. Zimmerman, Super Princess Peach, Chrono Trigger, In Memorium, mym1nd, Blade Runner, Eternal Darkness, Discworld (series), Reed Knight, Majestic, The Black Watchmen, The Secret World, Antioch Scarlet Bay, Republic Commando, Computer Gaming World, Andrew Kirmse, Meridian 59, Chris Kirmse, 3D0, Star Wars Galaxy, The Matrix Online, Giant Bomb, KaiN - if that's my real name, Half-Life, mjwaz, AddictArts, DocBrutals, Soul Reaver, DreamCast, Thief II: The Metal Age, Looking Glass, System Shock 2, Ken Levine, Ultima Underworld, Origin Systems, Deus Ex, Warren Spector, Dishonored, Raph - some artist guy, Diablo II, Final Fantasy IX, True West, Daron Stinnett, Hitman 2, Tacoma, @giant_rat/Ficus. BrettYK: 6 TimYK: 52 Side note: What the heck is a "pedi-stool"? Correction: Super Princess Peach was a Nintendo DS title. Links: Bananas and Gigantism Next time: Finish the game! @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

IGN Unfiltered
Episode 21: Deus Ex and System Shock Creator Warren Spector

IGN Unfiltered

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 14, 2017 65:53


The creator of Deus Ex, System Shock, Ultima Underworld, Epic Mickey, and more sits down for an hour-long interview about his entire fascinating career.

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 065: Half-Life (part one)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2017 87:20


Welcome to Dev Game Club, where we are discussing Valve Software's 1998 classic Half-Life. We talk about what a year 1998 was, and a good deal about the restrained opening to the game and its provenance. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to "We've Got Hostiles" Podcast breakdown: 0:34 Segment 1: History and Half-Life beginning 1:00:57 Break 1:01:30 Segment 2: Feedback, Next Time Issues covered: 1998 as a year, engine licensing and 3D engines, Radiant level editor, Steam's launch, diving back into the FPS, "Doom clones," raising the bar for shooters, fully committing to the introduction, discipline and pacing, mundanity and attention to detail, "the world's slowest rollercoaster," the mundane hero vs the military hero, the everyman, genesis of the "walking simulator," leaning on a license, making the environment more responsive, unlikely hero, standing out in a sea of shooters, "immersive world rather than shooting gallery," stark contrast, teleporting between worlds, the in-fiction tutorial, learning verbs through achieving goals, mantling, NPCs who will follow you a ways, usability testing, momentum in player movement, contiguous space and level loads, console/PC hardware differences, points of no return, topics for the future, particularly enjoyable moments, indies taking risks to push boundaries out, giving players what they don't know what they want, avoiding calcification, students and game analysis, when you introduce your kids to games, innocence lost, reviews. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Halo 3, Gabe Newell, Valve Software, Jason Schreier, Kirk Hamilton, Starcraft, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Unreal, Ocarina of Time, Grim Fandango, Rogue Squadron, Rainbow Six, Pokemon: Red and Blue, Thief, Descent: Freespace, Dune 2000, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, Quake, NOLF 1 & 2, Tron 2.0, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Steam, Final Fantasy Tactics, Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Chris Avellone, Jeff Morris, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom 2, Dark Forces, Duke Nukem 3D, Starfighter, Obi-Wan, System Shock, Chris Corry, System Shock 2, Halo, Marathon, Rise of the Triad, Heretic, Alien vs. Predator, Michael Biehn, Team Fortress, Mark Laidlaw, The Mist, Stephen King, The Outer Limits: The Borderland, "Area 51," id Software, Nintendo, Tribes, Mario, John Romero, Jazz Jackrabbit, Ultima Underworld, Republic Commando, Chris Suellentrop, JJ Sutherland, Shall We Play A Game, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Tyranny, Johnson "Blue" Siau, Ian Milham, League of Legends, Overwatch, Troy Mashburn, Jordan Innerarity, Kye Harris, Putt-Putt, Pyjama Sam, Freddi Fish, Nintendo DS, Nintendogs, Animal Crossing, Minecraft, Disney Infinity, Lego series, Mario Kart Double Dash, Raiders of the Lost Ark, LesserOfFour, Zelda: A Link to the Past, KRL360, ChiliDogJr, GoodJobMr2Percent, RebelFM. Next time: Play up through "Apprehension" (stop at "Residue Processing") Links: Thoughts about Violence in Video Games and when to expose kids to stuff @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 051: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (part two)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2017 78:06


Welcome to the second episode in our series exploring PS1 and PC 3rd person action-adventure game Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. We delve into character design and how it is supported by character art and animation and pick a bone with lack of environmental direction. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to Zephon TTAG: 49:28 Podcast breakdown: 0:42   Segment 1: Soul Reaver discussion 56:32 Break 57:00 Segment 2: Feedback Issues covered: year anniversary, gothic horror elements, color choices, silhouette, mechanics reinforcing narrative, animation reinforcing character, economic character design, ludonarrative consonance and dissonance, navigation and puzzles rather than combat, pacing strengths and problems, death mechanic elegance, getting away from "lives," rivalry between vampires, character design of bosses, gaining your first power, boss fight with Kain, revenge fantasy propulsion, having nothing to fear, enabling player experimentation, lack of directionality or map, having to scour the map, missing portals, giant organ design meeting, lack of Cathedral organ payoff, Brett finds a bug, bad dungeon mastering, solving the three pipes puzzle, unfounded architecture, broke-not-Baroque, stumbling on a solution, Zephon character design, Zephon boss hint and point of interest, inconsistent use of torch, visual design of doors and belly, free look mode, unfinished game, clues for free look, reaching to the toolkit, surprise Halo info, Christian literary influence, maturity of writing and narrative. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Paradise Lost, Darkman, Phantom of the Opera, Jak and Daxter, Crash Bandicoot, Mario (series), Uncharted, Arkham Asylum, Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones, Medi-Evil, Ghosts and Goblins, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Assassin's Creed (series), Divine Comedy (obliquely), Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dungeons and Dragons, Aliens, Dan Cabuco, Ultima Underworld, Scott Nebel, FF IX, Shadow of the Colossus, Zelda (series), Game Developer (RIP), Chris Corry, Star Wars: Starfighter, Jonathan DeLuca, 343 Industries, Halo, Yanni, Guillermo del Toro, Richard Wagner, Faustus, "Twivver." Next time: Two more bosses/ up to Rahab Links: Legacy of Kain: The Lost Worlds @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Core Elements
CE 73: Warren Spector

Core Elements

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 24, 2016


This week we return to the laboratory with Warren Spector, creator of some of the most iconic experiences in gaming history. In addition to discussing his illustrious career making games like Ultima Underworld, Wing Commander, Deus Ex, and Epic Mickey, we learn about his work with the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy, the myriad of games he's playing but would never design, and why he'll never get a job in this industry again. Guest Co-Host: Joel Levin of MinecraftEDU.[MP3 AUDIO]Warren on TwitterDenius-Sams Gaming AcademyJoel on TwitterMinecraftEDUPlease help support my Patreon!Try out Loot Crate and support the show!My latest Unboxing video[LINK] The Psychonauts 2 funding campaign.[LINK] Winners of the 2015 Game Awards[LINK] System Shock 3 revealedFor a video of this episode go to: https://youtu.be/fWbXyy0A5Ng

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 16: Day of the Tentacle

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2016 104:59


In this first episode discussing recently remastered LucasArts classic Day of the Tentacle, we talk about the influence of adventure games generally and the reputed mis-reporting of games being dead, as well as talking about the format of this game in particular. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Note: Brett keeps referring to Monkey Island 2 and Secret of Monkey Island kind of interchangeably. We regret the error. Sections played: Hard to say! But we both tried to get to where Laverne drapes herself in the flag, about three hours of play. Podcast breakdown: 0:33      Intro and segment 1 41:50    Break 1 42:17    Segment 2: intro to game, usability, format 1:24:10 Break 2 1:24:41 Segment 3: next time, FF9 follow-up, Hitman follow-up, outro   Issues covered: Hosts' early history with adventure games, playing text adventures on a 200 baud modem, calling hint lines, how to get hired at LucasArts, "death of the adventure game," exploring new directions for the genre, nostalgia factor and moving on from adventure games in 1993, usability issues in adventure games, grognard capture (and the audience base), exploration and getting into the head of the designer, player vs simulation, keeping the adventure game alive and evolving it this millennium, user-facing features and a request for reader input, wish fulfillment in your adventure games, immediacy of power fantasy in 1993, enthusiast press and what they focus on, Gold Guy animations, opening credits, building on existing technology vs building new technology (and the 3D revolution), no Star Wars games at LucasArts, art style for DoTT to preserve a look rather than lose it through low resolution, sparseness of initial playable environment -- tutorialization? or just lucky..., expanding the possibility space, puzzle threads, repetitive dialog as hints and lack of that in the inventory items, puzzles as quests but without a supporting journal or log, clarity or consistency of object or puzzle state, figuring out the weird constraints of time travel, level design thoughtfulness, a mechanical misstep that induces a lot of repetitive play, fighting the game, a jigsaw puzzle where you're not sure you have all the puzzle pieces, film references, choice of language and what's important to reinforce themes, maintaining consistent vision and the difficulties that team size present. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Double Fine Productions, Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, Secret of Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, Defenders of Dynatron City, Tim Schafer, Zork, Sierra On-Line, King's Quest, Space Quest, Infocom, Advent.exe, The Wizard and the Princess, On-Line Systems, Mystery House, King's Quest, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, Daron Stinnett, Aric Wilmunder, Ray Gresko, Steve Dautermann, Starfighter, Curse of Monkey Island, Escape from Monkey Island, Jonathan Ackley, Larry Ahern, Final Fantasy IX, Resident Evil, Myst, The 7th Guest, Phantasmagoria, Gabriel Knight series, Police Quest series, Manhunter series, Doom, Ultima Underworld, Ultima IX Ascension, Sean Clark, The Dig, Mike Stemmle, Minecraft, Dave Grossman, Ron Gilbert, Sam and Max Hit the Road, Humongous Entertainment, Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam, Putt-Putt, Spy Fox, Wadjet Eye, Emerald City Confidential, Blackwell series, Sam and Max Freelance Police, Kevin Bruner, Telltale Games, Dan Connors, Obi-Wan, The Walking Dead, Wallace and Gromit, Uncharted, Tomb Raider, Brütal Lëgend, Psychonauts, Dead Space, Pixar, Metal Gear Solid, Wayne Cline, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Haden Blackman, Vince Lee, Rebel Assault, X-Wing, TIE Fighter, Larry Holland, Fractalus, Habitat, Peter Chan, Broken Age, Minecraft: Story Mode, Majora's Mask, Daniel Johanson, Josh Arman, Jon Hassan, Doctor Who, Jason Schreier, Hitman (2016), Echochrome, Remember Me, Don't Nod, Life Is Strange, David Cage, Mirror's Edge. Next time: Another 3 hours or so of the game! Look on Twitter to see what's what. @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Ep 15: Final Fantasy IX (part 5)

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 8, 2016 77:11


In this fifth and final episode discussing Final Fantasy IX, we explore Tim's difficulty finishing the game on time, the ending of the game, and the things we take away from it. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Pandemonium to end of game! Podcast breakdown: 0:32    Segment 1: Finishing the game 35:03  Break 1 35:35  Segment 2: What we take away Issues covered: the difficulty in the final area, sharing a save file, the difficulty of the endings of more than one game, preconceived notions (including button use on controllers), level as a measure, Chaos Lords, forced puzzling (Reflect), Tim the total cheater, ability leveling, subverting player goals with random battles, negative reinforcement to movement, eating your JRPG vegetables, thoughtful endings (and their rarity in games), world state changes, Zidane winning Tim over, the shape of Zidane's character arc, one-off vs reusable moments, minimal interactivity maintaining your focus, status system discovery, "mixed experiences"/multiple modes of play vs cohesive experiences, conventions of form, epic themes and effects, creating one's life for oneself vs destruction and death, reader mail: design choices to promote new business interests, strategy guides as crutch, Bobby Corwin. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Final Fantasy VIII, Star Wars Republic Commando, Halo, Full Throttle II, World of Warcraft, Andrew Kirmse, Ni No Kuni, Gabriel Garza, other FFs, SNES, Xbox 360/Xbox, Justin Bieber, Starfighter, Jedi Starfighter, Final Fantasy XIII, Witcher III (drink), Wild Arms 3, Reed Knight, Monster Hunter, Ultima, Might & Magic, Metal Gear Solid series, Nintendo, Sly Cooper series, Bard's Tale, Eye of the Beholder, Ultima Underworld, Planescape: Torment, Sakaguchi, Bob Chesser, Zelda 2, Kevin Schmitt, LucasArts, Troy Mashburn, Half-Life 2, Dead Space 2. Next time: Keep your eyes on @devgameclub, because we are still figuring it out! @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
DGC Episode 5 Beta with guest Ken Levine

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 30, 2016 77:56


This week, the Dev Game Club podcast welcomes special guest Ken Levine, founder of Irrational Games and designer/writer of System Shock 2! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown:0:33      Intro1:50      Early days of SS2 and Irrational31:33    Break 131:57    SS2 World-building, design, future1:17:16 Break 21:17:29 Quick note about next episode Issues covered: "Shock" prototype, Looking Glass relationship and Ken's early career there, Irrational Games beginning, business structure, imagining your audience and what you'd like to make, fingering .plan files, emergence and immersion, simulation, persistent world, personal ownership of experience, engine strengths and weaknesses, making fish stew, the benefits of constraints and happy accidents, polish, sense of place, naturalism in a science fiction setting, making the most of minimalism, turning a weakness into a strength, economical design, race track design/nooks and crannies, lack of time for level review, "spreading the butter thinner over the bread," elevator as storage chest, balancing, player skill vs. character skill, the "genius of the novice," story influences and groundedness, leaning on the audio space, writing towards the voices you have, bringing everything you have to the party, single-player squad shooters, letting people figure things out, crunchier design, the pendulum of accessibility, dealing with player frustration as a resource, what next Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Paul Neurath, Looking Glass, Jon Chey, Rob Fermier, Apocalypse Now, Dark Engine, Thief, EA, Origin, Se7en, Doug Church, The Magnificent Seven, Star Trek: Voyager, Hideo Kojima, Eric Brosius, Dorian Hart, Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, Star Wars, System Shock 1, John Carmack, Ultima Underworld, Choplifter, Defender, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Might and Magic series, Doom, Warren Spector, Bethesda Game Studios, Quake, Todd Howard, Fallout 3, Skyrim, The Division, Republic Commando, GTA series, Starfighter, Terra Nova, Roberta Williams, Alien/Aliens, Kemal Amarasingham, Stephen Russell, Terry Brosius, Courtnee Draper, Sean Vanaman/Jake Rodkin, Firewatch/Campo Santo, Bioshock, Freedom Force, SWAT 4, Tribes Ascend, The Lost, Firaxis Games, Minecraft, Dark Souls, Don't Starve, Fallout 4, Left 4 Dead, Battlezone, Austin Grossman. Next time:Hitman 2: Beginning through level 4 @IGLevine, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclubDevGameClub@gmail.com

Dev Game Club
Dev Game Club Podcast Beta Episode 4

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2016 86:19


In this fourth beta edition episode of Dev Game Club, we continue to examine System Shock 2, finishing what remains of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Note: Though this is the fourth and final episode about our playing the game, we will have a special guest for episode 5! Having already started spoiling story stuff in Episode 3, we continue to do so here. If you're playing along, you may want to finish the game first and come back to the podcast after you have. Sections played:Rickenbacker 1 & 2The Body of the ManyWhere Am I? Podcast breakdown:0:35      Intro1:38      End of playthrough48:06    Break 148:49    Pillars and takeaways1:11:42 Break 21:12:12 Next time, what we're playing, next game Issues covered: psi combos, puzzle-y nature of sections, ammo starvation, red ninjas, end-game difficulty, egg hunt, audio occlusion, lack of maps through end of game, gravity inversion, Tim's narrow escape, Shodan giveth and Shodan taketh away, persistent projections, sphincter doors and blue veins, god mode, circle-strafing, final character builds, hacking Shodan, save-scumming, economic design, orthogonality of enemy design, balancing and system design, weapon condition, forced choice, world design and level design, map and listening, storytelling and Bioshock Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Sly Cooper, Thief, Cthulhu, Quake series, Halo, Republic Commando, Resident Evil, Far Cry 2, Looking Glass, Irrational Games, Dishonoured, Reed Knight, Doom, Bioshock, Ultima Underworld, Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect series, Starfighter, Freedom Force, SWAT, System Shock 3, Noah Hughes, IO Interactive. What we've been playing:Brett: Prune, A Good Snowman is Hard to Build, Dark SoulsTim: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void Special Guest for Episode 5: Ken Levine, founder of Irrational Games! To play for next time:Check the Twitter account for Hitman 2 information! @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclubDevGameClub@gmail.com

Geek's Guide to the Galaxy - A Science Fiction Podcast
193. Warren Spector on the New Ultima Underworld and System Shock Sequels

Geek's Guide to the Galaxy - A Science Fiction Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 12, 2016 63:33


Dev Game Club
Dev Game Club Podcast Beta Episode 1

Dev Game Club

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2016 92:27


In this inaugural beta edition of Dev Game Club, we talk about the relevance of System Shock 2, its precedents and antecedents, and cover the first couple of hours of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Show notes: DGC Ep 1 Sections played: Opening area, tutorial, character customization area, von Braun Med/Sci and Crew Quarters. Podcast breakdown:0:00:33 - Reason behind 'cast0:02:27 - History of hosts0:05:00 - Expected 'cast layout0:07:55 - History of System Shock 20:29:05 - Break 10:29:25 - Talk about beginning parts of SS2 in depth1:24:14 - Break 21:24:34 - What we're playing, plans for next episode Brett & Tim Common History: Star Wars Starfighter, Star Wars Jedi Starfighter, Star Wars Republic Commando. Brett History: Fallout 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4 Tim History: X-Wing v TIE Fighter, Mysteries of the Sith, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Tomb Raider 2013, Halo 5. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: System Shock 1, Ultima Underworld, Ultima series, Doug Church, Warren Spector, Ken Levine, Thief, Starfighter games, Republic Commando, Tomb Raider 2013, BGS games, Naaughty Dog, Insomniac Games, Jonathan Chey, Freedom Force 1&2, Paul Neurath, Other Side Games, Junction Point Studios, Epic Mickey 2, Marc LeBlanc, Randy Smith, Harvey Smith, Dishonoured, Arkane Studios, Quake, Doom, Bioshock, Half-Life, Enemy Territory, Team Fortress Classic, Fallout, Baldur's Gate, Halo 5, Alien, Star Wars, Star Trek, Blade Runner, Mad Max, Mass Effect series, Oxenfree. One interview in which Doug Church talks about eliminating conversations: http://gillen.cream.org/wordpress_html/676/doug-church/ What we're playing: Brett discusses the similarities and differences in the beginning Firewatch, Tim talks about Metal Gear Solid V, Witcher 3, and his ten year journey on Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth To play next: R&D through the end of Hydroponics B/C. @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclubDevGameClub@gmail.com

Spam Spam Spam Humbug
Spam Spam Spam Humbug 32 - Ranking the Ultima Games

Spam Spam Spam Humbug

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 22, 2015 110:29


The Spam Spam Spam Humbug team offer up their rankings of the Ultima games, and discuss why they like (or dislike) each one.Subscribe on iTunes | Subscribe on Stitcher | Subscribe on PodbeanIntroUltima VI Gates of Creation by OC ReMixPodcast Topic(s)Slashing Dragon recently posted, on his blog, his ranking of the Ultima games. And while he lists the games in chronological order of their release, he appends his ranking to the end of his discussion of each entry in the series. He also makes the interesting move of grouping Akalabeth, Ultima Underworld, and Ultima Und --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ssshpodcast/message

Quarter to Three Games Podcast
Qt3 Games Podcast: Underworld Ascendant

Quarter to Three Games Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 12, 2015 70:26


Why is Ultima Underworld, a game from 1992, still relevant? Join me for a conversation with Underworld Ascendant developers Paul Neurath and Joe Fielder. The post Qt3 Games Podcast: Underworld Ascendant appeared first on Quarter to Three.

quarter games podcast ultima underworld underworld ascendant paul neurath joe fielder
Quarter to Three Games Podcast
Qt3 Games Podcast: Underworld Ascendant

Quarter to Three Games Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2015 70:26


Why is Ultima Underworld, a game from 1992, still relevant? Join me for a conversation with Underworld Ascendant developers Paul Neurath and Joe Fielder. The post Qt3 Games Podcast: Underworld Ascendant appeared first on Quarter to Three.

quarter games podcast ultima underworld underworld ascendant paul neurath joe fielder
The Sausage Factory
The Sausage Factory Episode 83: OtherSide Entertainment

The Sausage Factory

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 12, 2015 75:01


Paul Neurath has been making games for over 30 years and he has co-founded OtherSide Entertainment and by doing so brought about the creation of Underworld Ascendant, the 3rd game in the Ultima Underworld series, which does not have the word Ultima before it. This is because EA still own the rights to the Ultima series and so the 3rd game in the series cannot take on that moniker. Be that as it may, OtherSide Entertainment has forged ahead and crowd funded a new game based within the celebrated Underworld series from the late 1990s. Show host Chris O'Regan talks to Paul about his long history in the industry including his time at Looking Glass Studios. http://media.blubrry.com/caneandrinse/caneandrinse.com/sausage/TSF_Episode83.mp3   The Sausage Factory 83 was edited by Chris O'Regan

factory ea other side underworld sausage ultima chris o ultima underworld underworld ascendant otherside entertainment paul neurath
The #NOTplaying Podcast
#68: Godus, Underworld Ascendant & more

The #NOTplaying Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2015 32:38


A promise from Peter Molyneux is something we've begun to value less and less over the years, yet his child-like optimism can still charm the most cynical of us. This was really put to the test a few week's back in the wake of a couple of press interviews that probably did even more damage than the controversy he was seeking to address. Now with the dust settling, here's our take on the unmitigated disaster, albeit with a few more positive crowd-funding stories for good measure, not least of these being the success of Otherside Entertainment's resurrection of the (Ultima) Underworld series with Underworld Ascendant. We also check in on Shadowrun: Hong Kong and Kingdom Come: Deliverance and finally, in what is essentially a teaser for next week's episode, there's a bit of chat about the recently changed VR landscape and how Valve's recently announced VIVE hardware fits into it...Molyneux Meltdown http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/13/peter-molyneux-game-designer-interview-godusKingdom Come: Deliverance - 1 year later http://youtu.be/SXFeRnTxsvwShadowrun: Hong Kong kickstarter concludes at $1.2m http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-02-17-shadowrun-hong-kongs-kickstarter-concludes-at-usd1-2mUnderworld Ascendant - Otherside Entertainment (Made up of ex Looking Glass/Naughty Dog/Bioware/Irrational) want $600,000 to make the next Ultima Underworld game https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/othersidegames/underworld-ascendant Kickstarter Goal reached: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/othersidegames/underworld-ascendant/posts/1149122Rob @bobirokaPatrick @patrickjkayIain @ebowgbAdam @koorahContact us on Email at: notplayingpodcast@gmail.comFollow us on Twitter: @notplayingpodYou can find the show notes for this show at www.notlistening.co.ukIf you're listening on iTunes, please give us a review!To Check out other shows in the Collection visit:http://barkerpodcasts.webs.com Including the #NOTwatching Podcast: http://www.spreaker.com/show/the-notwatching-podcast

Quarter to Three Games Podcast
Qt3 Games Podcast: a look at Underworld Ascendant

Quarter to Three Games Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2015 48:37


Tim Stellmach and Chris Siegel join Jason and Brandon for this weeks podcast. Nearing the end of their Kickstarter for Underworld Ascendant, which would revive the Underworld series that began with Ultima Underworld, Tim and Chris stop by to discuss game development, boardgaming, and what current games are occupying our time. The post Qt3 Games Podcast: a look at Underworld Ascendant appeared first on Quarter to Three.

Quarter to Three Games Podcast
Qt3 Games Podcast: a look at Underworld Ascendant

Quarter to Three Games Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2015 48:37


Tim Stellmach and Chris Siegel join Jason and Brandon for this weeks podcast. Nearing the end of their Kickstarter for Underworld Ascendant, which would revive the Underworld series that began with Ultima Underworld, Tim and Chris stop by to discuss game development, boardgaming, and what current games are occupying our time. The post Qt3 Games Podcast: a look at Underworld Ascendant appeared first on Quarter to Three.

DLC
62: I'm a Steampunk Dude

DLC

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2015 107:22


Jeff and Christian welcome not one, but TWO developers to the show this week, Chris Siegel and Tim Stellmach from OtherSide entertainment, currently revitalizing the legacy of of Ultima Underworld with their Kickstarter project, Underworld Ascendant. They talk about the possibility of a new version of Rock Band on current gen consoles, a correction that The Last Guardian is NOT dead, A Settlers of Catan movie, TwitchCon, and more! For the Playlist, Jeff and Christian get into it over The Order 1886, Chris and Tim discuss playing games as research for design, as well as Marvel Heroes, Far Cry 4, and Borderlands. Christian talks about getting ahold of a New 3DS. During Tabletop Time, Tim talks about Sentinels of the Multiverse and Flashpoint: Fire Rescue, Chris talks Cash and Guns, and Jeff joins in for a discussion of Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. All that, plus a new edition of Stories of Glories/Tales of Fails!

DLC
62: I'm a Steampunk Dude

DLC

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2015 107:22


Jeff and Christian welcome not one, but TWO developers to the show this week, Chris Siegel and Tim Stellmach from OtherSide entertainment, currently revitalizing the legacy of of Ultima Underworld with their Kickstarter project, Underworld Ascendant. They talk about the possibility of a new version of Rock Band on current gen consoles, a correction that The Last Guardian is NOT dead, A Settlers of Catan movie, TwitchCon, and more! For the Playlist, Jeff and Christian get into it over The Order 1886, Chris and Tim discuss playing games as research for design, as well as Marvel Heroes, Far Cry 4, and Borderlands. Christian talks about getting ahold of a New 3DS. During Tabletop Time, Tim talks about Sentinels of the Multiverse and Flashpoint: Fire Rescue, Chris talks Cash and Guns, and Jeff joins in for a discussion of Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. All that, plus a new edition of Stories of Glories/Tales of Fails!

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Fight Club #213

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Play Episode Listen Later Feb 6, 2015 74:46


Ultima Underworld se vrací ve velkém stylu | (19:10) Renoir nebude jen další černobílou plošinovkou | (27:15) Oprašte VHS kazety! | (33:40) Týden s Blizzardem

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Fight Club #185

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Play Episode Listen Later Jul 3, 2014 84:33


Věda žije | (10:00) Účtujeme nákupy ve výprodejích | (18:00) Ultima Underworld se vrací | (31:00) Opět rozkouskované Dreamfall Chapters | (38:00) Crytek popírá existenční problémy | (43:00) 30 versus 60 fps | Soutěž o Sniper Elite 3 a knížku Země bez zákona