Dev Game Club

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we add another to our interview series where we talk through a career or a set of games and how they influenced an important person to our industry. This week, it's Sir Ian Livingstone, of Fighting Fantasy, Games Workshop, Eidos, and so much more. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 00:17 Interview 1:07:10 Break 1:07:40 Outro

Issues covered: getting the title wrong, a Lifetime achiever, no dice -- only negotiations, being near to others who played, encountering D&D and ordering six copies, getting a deal for Europe, phoning around for deals and then backstabbing away, sharing a payphone with the landlord, attending GenCon 1976, delivering cars around the US, going to borrow from the bank when not investor-ready, naming White Dwarf, finding the tribe, branching into miniatures, "failure is success work in progress," hiring enthusiasts, hosting a games convention, writing a solo adventure, splitting the work, getting lucky with a refusal, spreading by word of mouth, the Satanic panic, teachers encouraging the use of these books, the many benefits of games, learning in different ways, the Steves Jacksons, a prize for completing the game, creating Eidos, deciding to cross the mountains in the snow, an incredible success, putting out a sequel every year, moving the IP, writing the Fiend Folio, saying no to a merger with TSR, creating tabletop rules for Warhammer, an incredible phenomenon, needing something of your own, a culture around miniatures, humility and motivation, signing in Budapest, enthusiasm as a through line, why we do this, keeping an eye on the creative side, a creative off-site, quite a room.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: John Peake, Steve Jackson, Owl and Weasel, White Dwarf, Fighting Fantasy, Deathtrap Dungeon, Dicing with Dragons, Domark, Eidos, Square Enix, Tomb Raider, Hitman, Hiro Capital, Tomb of the Golden Skull, Peter Molyneux, Dicemen, Ed Fries, Diplomacy, Don Turnbull, Albion, Brian Bloom, Gary Gygax, Dungeons and Dragons, TSR, Ral Partha, Van Morrison, Empire of the Petal Throne, Fantasy Games Unlimited, Chaosium, Judge's Guild, Bryan Ansell, Citadel Miniatures, Games Day 1979, Penguin Books, Play and Politics, Geraldine Cooke, Allen & Unwin, Lord of the Rings, Puffin Books, Citadel of Chaos, The Forest of Doom, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Hidetaka Miyazaki, Dark Souls, Elden Ring, Car Wars, Eureka!, Tom Kirby, US Gold, Silicon Dreams, CORE Designs, Jeremy Smith, Sony, PlayStation, Crystal Dynamics, Toby Gard, Planet Cherry, Tank Girl, Morgan Gray, Fiend Folio, Apocalypse, Talisman, Judge Dredd, Battle Cars, Rick Priestley, Richard Halliwell, Henry Cavill, Golf Clash, Paul Gouge, Playdemic, Alex Rigby, City of Thieves, Janos Flosser, Ed Fries, Spacewar, Spelunky, Bloodborne, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Links: Sir Ian Livingstone: The first Knight of the nerds

Next time: Alone in the Dark (1992)

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube Discord [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Persona 3. After talking about a game we're releasing, we talk about how this story can go mature places, modern themes, and other things. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up through Arqa

Issues covered: finaling a 90-day game, great graphic design, the rhythms of life, school testing and the "level playing field," knowing more about what's going on but everyone talking about it anyway, looking forward to a new character, the tiles changing in the second set of Tartarus levels, just understanding everything, what you leave out, dwelling on modern problems, adding little additional mechanics, managing the tonal palette, the voice acting, the presentation, style and substance, the modern setting, how the stories and the systems tie together, well-presented menus, the excellence of the audio and music, reusing motifs for impact, "hate mail" and thanks.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: BioStats, Calamity Nolan, bookslap, From Software, Project Octavia, The Wizard's Assistants, H. R. Giger, Metal Gear (series), Final Fantasy (series), JRR Tolkien, Diablo, Elite Beat Agents, Yakuza (series), Judgment, Sega, RGG Studio, LucasArts, Like A Dragon, Spider-man (series), Yuri Lowenthal, Jennifer Hale, Peanuts, Valheim, World of Warcraft, Spelunky, Witcher III, Baldur's Gate III, LoZ: Breath of the Wild, kdw/Not Mysterydip, Matthew, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: ??

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube Discord [email protected]

Tim and I are super busy this week finishing a small, short game at Twin Suns Corp. Therefore, we are reaching into the Discord Game Club interview archive. This time around, BioStats and Calamity Nolan interview bookslap, talking about streaming and his work with Inner Sloth, makers of Among Us. We expect to return next week.

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp Discord [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Persona 3. We talk about the boss fight, challenges in localization of content, more about the structure, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Through first boss

Issues covered: meeting a foreign exchange student, the calendar in the menu, seeing all of the pieces now, unlocking another level of Tartarus, an easier version of the game, enjoying the lack of grind, rebalancing the game, separating the flow of combat from other systems, the feel of the little vignettes, directing the player to new places, parallelizing development, an evolving market, respecting the rhythm of the original game, Japanese cultural differences, censorship questions, cultural undercurrents, games as entry points, various social links, the tension of spending time, how stats progress, story mode should be super-easy, choosing your social links, finding secrets via the purchased URLs, getting contacted by Elizabeth for quests.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Final Fantasy (series), Baldur's Gate, Yakuza (series), Kingdom Hearts, Fear Effect, The Ring, Ju-On: The Grudge, Tales (series), Metal Gear (series), Psychonauts, PlayStation Vita, Raymond, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More Persona 3!

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube Discord [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Persona 3. We talk about the game's structure, how everything ties back to Tartarus, and the virtuous cycle around combat, among other things. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Into late April (T), early May (B)

Issues covered: how you spend your hours and days, small levels and menus, scheduling school, a same-y grindy dungeon, a well-presented simple concept, exhaustion, major arcana and social links, upping your stats and having a preview of other options, tying progression into Tartarus, stories and S-Links, advancing a social link and failure, explaining fusion and additional XP, falling down a vicious cycle, the snappy feel of combat, a virtuous cycle of simple things you do one by one, dividing options up well, turn-based that feels almost like a direct action, dividing up abilities into personas, games for casual players, protections around digital goods, letting things go, first good-bye email. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Final Fantasy (series), Chrono Trigger, Square, Metal Gear Solid, Dark Cloud (series), Mass Effect, Bioware, Baldur's Gate, Pokemon, Ashton Herrmann, Plants vs Zombies, Mario (series), Split Fiction, LoZ: Twilight Princess, Zach and Wiki, Metroid Prime 3, Skyrim, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Solitaire, Gorogoa, Matthew, Fallen London, Zuma, Raymond, Sony, Drew, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More Persona 3!

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube Discord [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on Persona 3. We start off with a big announcement, then we get into setting the game in its time and with the general property of Shin Megami Tensei before turning to the game's opening few hours. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: To first fight (T), most of Tartarus 1 (B)

Issues covered: the end, our focus on genre and the difficulty of saying something new, picking the time to end, knowing when to quit, the next few months, picking the final game, Discord Game Club, Tim continuing to stream, the basis of this spin-off series and the hosts' history, common elements, a little discussion of the suicidal imagery, updates to the remake, "similar to Metal Gear for me," loving the modern setting games, the weird mixture of other JRPGs, groundedness, having entry into a game developed in another region, starting with a big mystery, the modern setting cutting both ways, a good player parallel, following your heart when you play, punk rock and its problems, signing your name on a contract, understanding the archetypes, setting up characters/characterization in advance, Apathy Syndrome as a metaphor, a game with voice.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: June, The Odd Couple, System Shock 2, Dwarf Fortress, Dead Rising, PlayStation, Wii, GameCube, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Kingdom Hearts 2, Hitman: Blood Money, Final Fantasy XII, LoZ: Twilight Princess, New Super Mario Bros., Tomb Raider: Legend, Onimusha, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Brain Age!, Nintendo DS, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Condemned: Criminal Origins, Okami, Bully, Gears of War, Metal Gear Solid (series), Reed Knight, Andrew Kirmse, Shin Megami Tensei, Devil Devil Summoner, Final Fantasy (series), Atlus, Phoenix Wright (series), Ghost Trick, Resident Evil, Grasshopper Interactive, Suda 51, No More Heroes, Square, Ultima (series), Wild Arms (series), The World Ends with You, Yakuza (series), Hideo Kojima, Snoop Dogg, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More Persona 3!

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube Discord [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we revisit our 2017 series on 1999's Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. We're interviewing Riley Cooper, a former colleague of Tim's who had a long career at Crystal Dynamics and worked on the title in level design and combat design roles. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 1:01 Interview 1:07:10 Break 1:07:40 Outro

Issues covered: the Universe coming together, getting in, making terrain layers in Photoshop, moving to the next thing, working on the combat, the parts that had to be there, incorporating lateral movement for combat, applying fighting game discipline, not inventing from whole cloth, rebuilding a camera system, design as open source, defensive patents, jamming so much into levels, spectral morphing and lack of follow-ups, blind ambition coming from Amy Hennig, being two weeks from ship for one to two years, time to market vs time to quality, people simply not knowing, jumping between genres, the victory of European labor laws, knowing how to build what you're building, a vacuum of upper management, being able to just make the game, the tension between business and creation, wanting to design without interference, execs who want to play with the toys, "problems down solutions up," wanting appropriate ownership at every level, getting the same letter at the end of two different projects, the feeling at the start vs the feeling in the middle, thoughtful refactoring, starting from the right constraints, locking yourself in a room with a design problem to find the solution, gameplay goes at the speed of thumbs, a sports game that's a video game first, good places to be from.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Lord of the Rings, LucasArts, Solar Eclipse, Legacy of Kain (series), Tomb Raider (series), EA, Need for Speed (series), Sony, Atari 2600, Dave Morse, 3D0, Saturn, Noah Hughes, Amy Hennig, Silicon Knights, Denis Dyack, Seth Carus, Street Fighter 2, Super Mario 64, Jim Conrad, Andrew Hynek, Roberta Williams, Daniel Chayer-Bison, Pete Lake, Microsoft, X-COM, Fallout, Populous, Sean Vesce, Richard Lemarchand, Naughty Dog, Uncharted, Hitman, Hakan Almer, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: TBA!

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube Discord [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on two entries from the casual space by PopCap. We discuss Peggle before turning to takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: All mainline levels (B), about half (T)

Issues covered: crossing over from casual to hardcore, awards contention, describing Peggle and pachinko, the Peggle masters, talking about removal games and Match-3, how someone engages with one of these games typically, a bunch of animals, the manipulation and the presentation, accentuating moments and playing with physics, shorter vs longer games, PopCap in other games, refining and polishing a genre, removing the biomechanical hurdle, tone and identity for design, accentuating moments especially with audio, trailblazing, don't overthink it, really exploring the space, taking out the real Slim Shady.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Bejeweled, Alchemy, Zuma, Arkanoid, BioShock, Portal, Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy, God of War II, Mass Effect, Metroid Prime III, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, CoD4: Modern Warfare, Crysis, Uncharted, Assassin's Creed, The Witcher, Rock Band, Buddy, Candy Crush, Ridiculous Fishing, Vlambeer, Zach Gage, Spelltower, Spider, Randy Smith, World of Warcraft, Gears of War, Drop 7, Blizzard, Breakout, Atari 2600, Into the Breach, Advance Wars, Psychonauts, Double Fine, Pixar, Supercell, Hitman, Hakan Almer, Martin Ansdal, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: ??

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube Discord [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on casual games with our continuing discussion of Plants vs Zombies. We talk about the mechanics some more, a bit about the economy, and our favorite elements. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Thru 5-4 (T) or 5-8ish (B)

Issues covered: thanks on the Discord Game Club, new plants and shaking up strategy, classic RTS arcs and introducing new units, the lack of a difficulty spike, games to replay, being in the zone with your strategy, lack of wall missions, play rhythms, how this is a full RTS, removing a step from processes, cutting out biomechanical or memory things, hybridization and making the same decisions to allow other hardcore issues, playerbase ceilings, the mechanics of the coin economy, a grindy mechanic, where we go after the roof, adding mechanics for the roof and an angle, paying for the coffee bean, some favorite zombies and plants, good uses of minigames, some good tower defense games, meaning and invested time and digital loss, theater and ephemera, letting things go.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Blizzard, WarCraft (series), StarCraft (series), Diablo, Homeworld, Bejeweled 3, Unreal Tournament, Road Warrior/Mad Max, Ratchet & Clank (series), John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever, Peggle, Project Octavia, Hakan Almer, IO Interactive, Hitman, Ryan, Bloons td6, They Are Billions, Orcs Must Die! (series), Kingdom Rush, Dungeon Defenders, Threes, mysterydip, Minecraft, PT, Fortnite, Roblox, Valheim, World of Warcraft, Kongregate, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Peggle

Errata: I of course meant Saturday Night Fever.

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube Discord [email protected]

It's summertime and that means scheduling challenges. Therefore, this week we are reaching into the Discord Game Club interview archive. This time around, fan Discord members Artimage and Mors chat with Nick T, of The Race Against Time. We expect to return next week.

Links: The Race Against Time - August 15th & 16th, 11AM - 1PM EDT http://raceagainsttime.io http://raceagainsttime.io/donate https://translifeline.org/ http://Twitch.tv/nt3rp

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp Discord [email protected]