Back Seat Designers

Somehow we neglected to post our latest episode here. Which is really inexcusable and we feel really horrible. (Not really.)

Last week, we somewhat drowsily (Fred had just moved, and I was just oddly tired) talked about sound design -- ostensibly in adventure games, but the conversation really went further into general computer game sound design, with some talk about music synthesizers and the art of film scoring thrown in for good measure.

Near the end of it, we decided that we'd better call it a two-parter (perhaps more), because we didn't even get to talk about anything other than music. And, of course, sound effects and voices are just as integral part of a game's sound design as the music. So we are going to get to those topics in due time.

You are standing in a darkened room. Two gentlemen look eager to showcase their lack of knowledge about text adventures at you.

>RUN AWAY

You try for the door, but the two gentlemen block your exit. They seem even more eager than ever to talk about text adventures. One of them motions towards a chair in the middle of the room and says, "Take a seat."

>BEAT MAN OVER HEAD WITH CHAIR

You lunge for the chair in a too-obvious fashion. One of the gentlemen trip your feet and you fall flat on your face. As you get up and brush the dirt from your pants, he motions towards the chair again and says, "Please. Take a seat."

>COMMIT SUICIDE

You have no means of doing this, although it does seem like a preferable alternative to just about anything right now.

>TAKE A SEAT

You take a seat. The two gentlemen take a deep breath and begin talking about text adventures.

The two men have finished talking. A strange calm washes over you. You feel fulfilled, and a little light-headed. You wonder if you may have been hypnotized. One of the men smiles at you, then hands you a small ball-peen hammer.

>BASH HAMMER INTO OWN FACE

You repeatedly hit yourself in the face with the small ball-peen hammer until your nose comes lose. Feeling like you're on the right track -- and feeling no pain -- you proceed until your skull cracks and your brains ooze out of what used to be your nasal cavity.

YOU WIN. 255 POINTS OUT OF 250 POSSIBLE. THE END.

Yesterday, we resurrected a concept Troels introduced way back in season 1 called "Blowing Smoke Up X's Ass" where X is whichever adventure game designer we feel like praising and rambling about. And in this episode, the dubious honour fell on an unsung hero: Josh Mandel.

We spent a little less than an hour rambling about Josh's design, writing, humour and basically what a cool guy he is. You can listen to the results below.

The FMV genre and the so-called "Interactive Movie" have long been problem children for a lot of oldschool adventure gamers. Much like 3D, in fact, which we've discussed in a prior episode. So what's the deal with FMV? Why do many people think it sucks? And could you make one that doesn't?

We attempted to set the record straight in yesterday's episode. We had originally allocated half an hour to the taping of it, but wound up doing another hour-long episode, complete with (offscreen) peeing breaks. The conclusions we eventually reach and the advice we bestow upon current-day adventure game developers may surprise you!

If our deadline-defying ramblings inspire you to discuss the subject with us, feel free to hit us up on the IRC channel (freenode.net, #backseatdesigners), or on any of the social media we're on (check backseatdesigners.com if you can't remember the links).

Till then, a most prolonged and laboured "WEREWÖLF" to y'all, from Troels, Herr Werner Huber and myself.

Easter eggs are fascinating. No, not the chocolatey ones that are guarded by creepers in bunny suits, but the ones that are placed in our video games, adventure or otherwise, by mischievous game developers.

It is currently Easter, and in remembrance of that fateful day where Frank descended from the heavens to tell Donnie he had to get his shit together and save the world, we had a little chat about Easter eggs in adventure games.

This concludes a rare experiment for us; for once, we actually had an on-air agreement about the following week's episode. But fear not - we genuinely don't know what we'll be bitching about next.

Enjoy your holidays, and don't do anything we'd do!

Since our last episode went really well, we decided it was time to juggle a subject that's been a bit of a hot potato for a decade: did the advent of 3D gaming kill off adventure games as we know them?

With a subject of such magnitude, this was never gonna be a short discussion, so we ended up doing a 55-minute episode where we really got out hands deep into the hornet's nest. We even got so much into it that we forgot to play Baldwinian Roulette! And, as a little bonus for people who've listened to Troels' Space Quest Historian podcast, there's also a surprise appearance a from a good friend of ours! And by "a good friend", I mean "a deluded, despicable son of a bitch who may or may not be a fictive character".

The second episode gets underway with us tackling that age-old question: "Does Size Matter?"

Despite our love of juvenile innuendo, we managed to get through the topic with some semblance of dignity and astonishingly few dick jokes.

Yesterday marked the first proper episode of Back Seat Designers to have been recorded in a while - and it's also the season premiere. Incidentally, those were the exact words I was looking for when I, hungover as I was, managed to describe our session as a "season 2... thing". And they say our language is degenerating.

The Back Seat Designers are both proud and just a little bit humble to welcome a roundtable of illustrious people to discuss pretty much every topic from this season. Listen to Frederik Olsen and Troels Pleimert debate moon logic, pet peeves and jamming inventory objects up rabbits' asses with Steven Alexander (IQ Adventures), Francisco Gonzalez (Wadjet Eye Games), Scott Murphy (Guys From Andromeda LLC), Natalie Juhasz (Reventure Games) and Joe Mastroianni (Upper Memory Block podcast).

You can also watch the video version at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_sbO522ClY

It's been a great season, everyone! Thank you so much for listening to us ramble about adventure games and we're looking forward to another season of bitching about adventure games and telling people who are much smarter than us how to do their job.

The Back Seat Designers decide to elaborate on the promised Monkey Island episode with the introduction of a concept which Troels likes to call "Blowing Smoke Up X's Ass" where X is a legendary (and, after each episode, traumatised) adventure game designer. And the first legend to be subjected to the Back Seat Designers' misplaced love is Monkey Island designer Ron Gilbert.

Over the course of ~50 minutes, the Back Seat Designers discuss Ron Gilbert's body of work, including Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, The Cave, his weight loss (?!) and the recently Kickstarted Thimbleweed Park. Topping it all off, they also attempt to play a game invented by Frederik called Baldwinian Roulette. Because, actually, it's about ethics in games journalism.