Checkpoints

Checking for autosave. From January 29th to January 31st 2016, thousands of teams around the world decamped to various locations, formed teams, and made videogames. I spent the weekend at the site in Glasgow Caledonian University, and this special episode of Checkpoints follows three teams on that site through the whole weekend. It also features never before heard interviews with Adam Saltsman, Richard Lemachand, Iain Simon and Greg Rice about their experience with Game Jams. As an extra modifier for this episode, I decided to try and record, arrange and edit the show in the same time frame as the people taking part in the show. I've had to add on a few extra hours so I could add in the final day's recordings, but I've pretty much finished it. I am exhausted. It was an amazing weekend and I saw so many brilliant and inspired game created by passionate and devoted creators. The teams I specifically followed were For The Village, No Code and Kecak. You can checkout their games at the Glasgow Game Jam page here: http://globalgamejam.org/2016/jam-sites/scottish-game-jam-glasgow If you click locations at the tope of that page you can also check out some of the thousands of other games made this weekend. I'm about to check out some of the games made in Nepal. What a world!

Today's guest is Kerry Turner. Kerry makes games under the banner of The Rabbit Club, is a freelance unity developer and founded Make,Play,Code - a course designed to encourage more women to make games. We talk about videogames as places to visit, rediscovering a love of coding, solo LARPing, why snow in games is amazing, revisiting that game that you could never beat and the videogame equivalent of guitar feedback. Some of the games we talk about include - Granny's Garden, The Sims, Fable, Cities Skylines, Sweatshop, Final Fantasy, Rodland and the Secret of Monkey Island.

Today's guest is Kerry Turner. Kerry makes games under the banner of The Rabbit Club, is a freelance unity developer and founded Make,Play,Code - a course designed to encourage more women to make games. We talk about videogames as places to visit, rediscovering a love of coding, solo LARPing, why snow in games is amazing, revisiting that game that you could never beat and the videogame equivalent of guitar feedback. Some of the games we talk about include - Granny's Garden, The Sims, Fable, Cities Skylines, Sweatshop, Final Fantasy, Rodland and the Secret of Monkey Island.

Our first guest for 2016 is Adam 'Atomic' Saltsman. Adam is perhaps best known for creating the genre defining endless runner, Canabalt, as well as creating the Flixel design tool and founding the game studio Finji alongside his wife Rebekah. We talk the Super Mario Bros. piano grip, playing in punk bands, how Street Fighter changed his life, the creation of Canabalt, working with Keita Takahashi and the importance of degaussing. Also discussed: Symphony of the Night, Katamari Damacy, Sonic the Hedgehog, Journey to Silius, Sumotori Dreams and Castlevania - Symphony of the Night and Adam's current project Overland.

Our first guest for 2016 is Adam 'Atomic' Saltsman. Adam is perhaps best known for creating the genre defining endless runner, Canabalt, as well as creating the Flixel design tool and founding the game studio Finji alongside his wife Rebekah. We talk the Super Mario Bros. piano grip, playing in punk bands, how Street Fighter changed his life, the creation of Canabalt, working with Keita Takahashi and the importance of degaussing. Also discussed: Symphony of the Night, Katamari Damacy, Sonic the Hedgehog, Journey to Silius, Sumotori Dreams and Castlevania - Symphony of the Night and Adam's current project Overland.

Checking for autosave. About two or three episodes into the show, I decided it'd be quite fun to make shows that were compilations of smaller stories. Twenty four episodes in I've finally finished one. There's jokes and embarrassing stories and pained memories and enthusiasm and joy and a drinking game that ends with bloodshed. It's a Christmas episode. Featuring: 03:12 - Samuel Baker - the composer of the Checkpoints theme tune talks videogame music, easter eggs & developing an ear. 23:17 - Raph Perks - Do you ever have a memory pop into your head that's so excruciatingly embarrassing that you actually wince at just the thought of it? 31:08 - Dan Copeland - a collector collects. 37:48 - Chris Moore & Nick John - two old school friends of mine talk about a legendary Street Fighter 2 drinking game. Don't try this at home. 46:35 - Mani Franchetti - a school yard Videogame troll. 49:53 - Craig Stevenson - the creator of the artwork for the show talks about his love of spectrum graphics. 01:03:40 - Benny Webb - our DDR past and Trials PTSD. Back to normal for the next episode, have a terrific New Year!

Checking for autosave. About two or three episodes into the show, I decided it'd be quite fun to make shows that were compilations of smaller stories. Twenty four episodes in I've finally finished one. There's jokes and embarrassing stories and pained memories and enthusiasm and joy and a drinking game that ends with bloodshed. It's a Christmas episode. Featuring: 03:12 - Samuel Baker - the composer of the Checkpoints theme tune talks videogame music, easter eggs & developing an ear. 23:17 - Raph Perks - Do you ever have a memory pop into your head that's so excruciatingly embarrassing that you actually wince at just the thought of it? 31:08 - Dan Copeland - a collector collects. 37:48 - Chris Moore & Nick John - two old school friends of mine talk about a legendary Street Fighter 2 drinking game. Don't try this at home. 46:35 - Mani Franchetti - a school yard Videogame troll. 49:53 - Craig Stevenson - the creator of the artwork for the show talks about his love of spectrum graphics. 01:03:40 - Benny Webb - our DDR past and Trials PTSD. Back to normal for the next episode, have a terrific New Year!

My guest on today's show is David Farrell, lecturer in videogame design at Glasgow Caledonian University. We recorded this live at the university and discuss the amazing set up that they have and the fun toys they can use to understand how people play games. There is some serious 'What is a game?' chat so be prepared, and we delve into David's videogame history, from tape trading on the spectrum to time management in The Witcher 3. David also talks about his job, and how teaching games and teasing apart how they work can be just as much fun as playing them.

My guest on today's show is David Farrell, lecturer in videogame design at Glasgow Caledonian University. We recorded this live at the university and discuss the amazing set up that they have and the fun toys they can use to understand how people play games. There is some serious 'What is a game?' chat so be prepared, and we delve into David's videogame history, from tape trading on the spectrum to time management in The Witcher 3. David also talks about his job, and how teaching games and teasing apart how they work can be just as much fun as playing them.

My guest on today's show is Brendon Chung. Founder of Blendo games and creator of Gravity Bone, Atom Zombie Smasher, Thirty Flights of Loving and the upcoming Quadrilateral Cowboy. Many of Brendon's games have been built using the mod tools from games like Half Life 2 and Doom 3, so the games that Brendon creates and the games that have shaped his life intertwine in fascinating way. Things like Doom, Quake, and Thief are both videogame milestones in his life but also their mod tools form the backbone of the games he makes. We talk about kind uncles, pulling things apart to see how they work, environmental story telling in Doom, making movies about a golf club wielding hitman, being so good at Quake multiplayer that you can echo locate players through the pick ups they collect and how you would really act if you were your character in Fallout 4.