The Zed to Zed Podcast: The Show For Xbox Achievement Hunters and Gamerscore Junkies

017 - The GRAW Special with Christian Allen

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017 - The GRAW Special with Christian Allen

Christian Allen, CEO of Serellan LLC and lead designer for Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (amongst many other things) joins us for a chat about GRAW, achievements, game development, and lots more. Oh, and Crandy finishes GRAW (spoiler alert!).

Show notes are available on http://www.zedtozed.com/

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Opening/closing music: "Jive Bot" by Jake Kaufman from the game Mighty Switch Force! developed and published by WayForward Technologies

Break music: "Game Cool Dubstep Mode Logo" by Sparximer

All audio production and podcast backend support provided by Tarragon Allen.

Show notes by everyone!

Hosts:

Brandon Fream aka "Freamwhole" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Tarragon Allen aka "zzUrbanSpaceman" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Randy aka "Crandy" - TrueAchievements - Xbox

Guest:

Christian Allen of Serellan LLC

0:00:00 - Intro

  • GRAW!
  • Sponsored Achievements: World Champion, Solo Champion and Team Champion from GRAW

    • 0:02:52 - Talking Zeds: Guest Christian Allen

    • 9+ years in the making - Crandy finishing GRAW
    • Christian Allen - CEO Serellan LLC, worked on Halo: Reach (Bungie), Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (Warner Bros), GR:AW and sequel
    • Veteran of US Marine Corps (mid-late 90s)
    • Making mods for Rainbow 6 - started with Rogue Spear (sequel)
    • Started career at RedStorm (5 years) with military shooters
    • WarGamer.com - Mario Kroll
    • Ulus (Alaska)
    • Bungie - Halo: Reach - cut two characters (team of 7 originally)
    • Warner Bros - Mad Max and Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
    • Something about the Forerunners…. I have no idea what is going on ;) (Halo ODST) - multiplayer maps on disc… originally 2.5 expansion pack?
    • Epsilon
    • Takedown vs Battlefield - Trying to price things appropriately is hard!
    • Hotel Blind
    • BIG MAPS - 60% of GRAW played on Boneyard (boosting map/smallest map)
    • Killstreaks
    • Rewards for stats… hit percentage, achievements - alter the way people play
    • Full Metal Jacket
    • How do I fly this thing?
    • Takedown sprint speed based on fastest recorded human movement in history (gamers thought it was slow!)
    • Trying to base accuracy on real life…. The most epic “Realistic” Ghost Recon mission never released!
    • Desert Bus: Unreleased Penn and Teller game

      • 0:51:27 - Talking Zeds: Achievements Suck

      • GRAW Terminology - Cycle: Moving up and down four levels (In ranked matches)
        • Invisible XP points
        • Based on ELO system, not TrueSkill
        • Designed before Xbox and Microsoft knew what achievements were going to be - Gary Stelmack driving the show on achievements
        • Originally layered achievements for the leaderboard - before 50 achievement limit
        • Seriously?
        • Shipped with 890GS
        • First time doing a ranking system in Ghost Recon
        • Set up like Chess (LINK)
        • GRAW Terminology – Blocking: Intentionally trying to prevent others from climbing a leaderboard and preventing others from earning the achievement.
        • Kane & Lynch Blocking Clan
        • BAFTA Game Of The Year Win and Worst Achievement Awards

          • 1:07:15 - How Have You Seen Achievements Change and How Much Do You Hate Them?

          • Combat Medic
          • Buggy GRAW 2 Achievement: Untouchable
          • Halo: Reach: Banshees Fast and Low
          • Halo: Reach – Kodiak
          • Christian yelling at a bear
          • Fream’s White Whale: If They Came to Hear Me Beg

            • 1:14:10 - Are You Surprised At The Lengths People Go Through For Achievements?

            • Fallout 3
            • Fallout Shelter
            • Citizen Kane
            • Bomberman Act Zero
            • Takedown: Red Sabre
            • Assassin – First Viral Achievement

              • 1:30:02 - Microtransactions according to Christian

              • Zynga
              • Atari Crash
              • Rovio Layoffs
              • Halo Pelican

                • 1:43:40 - Voice Acting in Epsilon

                1:47:45 - Talking Zeds: The GRAW Journal

                  • Starflight
                  • 5.25” Floppy Disk
                  • The GRAW Journal
                  • Boosting
                  • ~300 traditional cycles for for team/solo leaderboards
                  • Yes GRAW is still possible! (just extremely time consuming)
                  • Time to complete GRAW ~five months playing eight hours a day
                  • Christian Allen thought "achievements are stupid" on original pitch from Microsoft
                  • GRAW consistently winning worst achievements ever
                  • Committed (Multiplayer) was not supposed to be eight consecutive hours
                  • What achievements have become
                  • Christian Allen on gaming habits of a game designer
                    • Arcade games
                    • The Division
                    • Fallout 3/NV/4
                    • Dead Rising 1/2/3
                    • Ryse

                      •  

                      • "I'll get to it after GRAW"

                        •  

                        • Crandy's post GRAW ratio dive
                          • My Horse and Me 2
                          • Hannah Montana
                          • Monster High
                          • Barbie and Her Sisters Puppy Rescue
                          • Even more!
                          • Christian Allen on Takedown: Red Sabre and Kickstarter
                            • Gaming nostalgia
                            • Social media harassment
                            • Rainbow Six Siege
                            • Ubisoft corporate training
                              • "you-be-soft" not "oo-be-soft"
                              • Toilet logo
                              • Ad nostalgia in GRAW
                              • Dodge® cars are good cover in GRAW 2

                                • 2:37:25 - Talking Zeds: Zombie Interlude

                                • Zombie books
                                • Threat matrix (includes zombie apocalypse planning)

                                  • 2:40:46 - GRAW IS COMPLETED

                                  • 3389 days 21 hours 29 minutes later

                                    • 2:43:40 - Shovelware Cemetery: Hotel Blind

                                    • Hotel Blind
                                      • Inspired by This American Life podcast episode and helping others get into indie development
                                      • Development recorded and posted online from start to finish
                                      • Big Rig Truck'n
                                      • Possible future Goat Simulator episode
                                      • Origin of "Serellan"

                                        • 3:10:10 - Shovelware Cemetery: GRAW

                                        • Too Brown
                                        • Looks like a ten year old game
                                        • Those achievements, wtf
                                        • Too many big maps
                                        • Can’t use rockets akimbo
                                        • Gunplay, damage and movement is “unrealistic”, unlike COD

                                          • 3:15:43 - Talking Zeds: Wrap up

                                          • Brandon offering guided tours thru Destiny
                                          • Randy offering to play GRAW 2 (More Drinking!)

                                            • 3:17:01 - Housekeeping and Recap

                                            • Mug of the week: Starbucks Canada with Sencha Fuji Green Tea
                                            • PM from Wise Yorick: Will there be a new great random to do list?
                                              • Stay Tuned
                                              • Join the ZedtoZed leaderboard to get in the closed beta
                                              • PM from O NexusPlexus O: Will support Brandon quitting Dark Souls
                                                • Catch Brandon play live on Twitch for 2 hours on April 23rd @ 22:00 CST (UTC -5)
                                                • Tarragon was on Episode 98 of Achievement Hounds Community Show
                                                  • Brandon will be on Episode 100
                                                    • Brandon’s April Goals
                                                      • 6180 the moon Completed during a conference call (Multitasking FTW).
                                                      • SpongeBob SquarePants: Plankton's Robotic Revenge
                                                      • Kinect Fun Labs: Mars Rover Landing
                                                      • Magic 2014 - Duels of the Planeswalkers
                                                      • Ben 10 Alien Force: The Rise of Hex
                                                      • Tales from the Borderlands
                                                      • Destiny

                                                        • 3:27:11 - Listener Feedback

                                                        • iTunes Canada feedback from TheNyghty
                                                        • AB0MINAT10N: Clarify power brick tangent from Randy
                                                          • In short, throw out the power brick not from your region on your import console, and just use an in-country power adapter.
                                                          • Randy & Brandon explain how not to fix a RROD…
                                                          • Sinicide IiI
                                                            • Brandon apologizes for butchering the name.
                                                            • When do you release the show?
                                                              • Wednesday night Australia / Wednesday morning US.
                                                              • Saucy Slingo: Tarragon makes a guest appearance in OXENFREE
                                                              • Griffey95: Comprehensive list of demo games with achievements?
                                                                • Tron Runner
                                                                • Kung Fu Panda: Legend of the Legendary Legends
                                                                • Dead or Alive 5
                                                                • Killer Instinct
                                                                • Make a ZedtoZed list?
                                                                • Montana97: Do I need to eject external HDD before disconnecting them?
                                                                  • Unknown if you pull it while in use.  Maybe turn off the console before you remove. Editor’s note: generally it’s probably fine to pull it whenever, but you may cause some hiccups if it’s saving a game at the time. Note that game saves are always stored on the internal drive and the cloud though.
                                                                  • GRAW (Drink!) Questions
                                                                    • Facial: Favorite game in the GRAW series? Excited for Wild lands?
                                                                      • Brandon has never played a GRAW game
                                                                      • Randy has only played the original GRAW (No substitutes)
                                                                      • Jury is still out for Wild lands, but skeptical.
                                                                      • Don’t give a company money in advance for 2 years in the future.  Finance 101.
                                                                      • xXxB1G311xXx: That guy?
                                                                        • Please stop mentioning GRAW? (Drink)… Doubtful.
                                                                        • GRAW has uneven Gamerscore (So you have to do the leaderboard to be even)
                                                                        • Salsbar: How can I get the leaderboard achievements to even up my gamerscore?
                                                                        • Anno Mundi: Would you recommend I try for the leaderboard achievements at this point? How much did it cost you for the gold subs?
                                                                          • Randy says “No”. Cost of 8 accounts with Gold. So apx $80 a month.
                                                                          • jjaldana: The leaderboard achievements takes about 6 months of playing all day everyday. This account for 8 hours of sleep days.
                                                                          • YODA12320: Yes what other than graw do you talk about..
                                                                            • Listen to past Podcast episodes.  ;-)
                                                                            • IXI B1G3L1 IXI: Since GRAW is rated T for Teen, when does your mom say you will be allowed to play games that are rated M?
                                                                              • Randy’s mom will allow him to play rated M games if he chooses, since he is such a big boy.
                                                                              • People are still pulling a Fream! (Marknocturnal, Damien, WebChimp UK: did it in Roblox and Project Spark)

                                                                                • 3:50:51 - News

                                                                                • Guitar Hero Live Freestyle laying off staff
                                                                                • Xbox neXt? Sure, whatever
                                                                                • Killer Instinct’s Shadow Jago will be permanently available now
                                                                                • DOOM open beta 15-17 April
                                                                                • BattleBorn open beta 13-18 April

                                                                                  • 3:59:03 - Game Delays and Backwards Compatibility

                                                                                  • Long Dark Delayed Again
                                                                                  • Outland and Gunstar Heroes are Backwards Compatible

                                                                                    • 4:00:50 - Zombie News

                                                                                    • Telltale Games publishing 7 Days to Die

                                                                                      • 4:02:52 - Outro

                                                                                      • A timely generation

                                                                                        •  

                                                                                        Glossary of Xbox Gamerscore and achievement jargon and terms: http://zedtozed.com/xbox-gamerscore-and-achievement-glossary

                                                                                         

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