Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2001's Fatal Frame. We talk about retreading, camera upgrade strategies, how ghosts move and how that impacts level design, and various other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A few more hours

Issues covered: the strangling places, replaying the beginning of the game, knowing where to go or not, variety of uses for talismans, blocked off paths, pieces and doors and showing locks before you can find the keys, intentional design with controls, creating tension with controller choices, series evolutions, having less fun, feeling frustrating, not unifying movement around one stick, zombies vs ghosts, building levels around your enemies, the outdoor areas and fear, forests and atavistic fears, things not being fully representational and adding layers of fear, the Abyss, lots of lenses to view the same events, the meta of visiting this haunted place to make a game, ammo and bonus functions, upgrading the camera strategies, feeling skittish about the bonus functions, how many nights, the use of stone mirrors, looking forward to the future, pressing your luck, how many shots do you have left, wanting to take pictures with a camera, worrying about film amounts, dragon and mime hunting.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Resident Evil (series), Halo, GameCube, Nathan Martz, Dead Rising, Keiji Inafune, Dark Souls, Pharaijin, Dagur Danielsson, Final Fantasy VI, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Finish the game?

Twitch: timlongojr Discord [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2001's Fatal Frame. We talk about the economy of the design, some sticky puzzles and usability thoughts, and mechanical considerations. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: A few more hours

Issues covered: economy and discipline, the warbling space that signifies a ghost, a possible positive reinforcement loop and the score economy, making every ghost matter, high stakes camera use, unsettling your comfort, the disorienting movement and camera shifts popping out of combat, melodramatic and zany, the different movie eras these series connect to, the Mothman, Japanese making Western horrors, Buddhism vs Shintoism, playing croquet with the Old Ones, brute forcing a puzzle, "well there's a note," head-look, wanting a little more from the map, usability issues, the gap in the wall, mechanical inconsistency, seeing patterns that aren't there, the adventure game of it all, exponential vs linear, the talisman photos in your inventory, RTFM, various reminiscences of Father Beast on HOMM, discovery in HOMM.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Resident Evil (series), Clue, Capcom, Dead Rising, Unsolved Mysteries, Jen Longo, Silent Hill, Don't Look Now, Eternal Darkness, Day of the Tentacle, Father Beast, Heroes of Might and Magic, King's Bounty, Master of Magic, Archon, X-COM, Final Fantasy VI, Dave Wolinsky, Pippin Barr, Beyond Good and Evil, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More Fatal Frame

Twitch: timlongojr Discord [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin our annual spooky series, this time on 2001's Fatal Frame. We briefly talk about the year it came out, its developer/publisher, and why we picked it before turning to other introductory topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: An hour-ish

Issues covered: Discord-only going forward, why this game?, photo mode games, changing culture of photography, re-elevating photography, Sony shenanigans, best years of all time, the ubergame, years where genres were introduced or forks were in the road, being able to fit more games in, risk aversion and uniqueness, indie games, too big to feel?, a bit about Tecmo, Japanese horror, based on a true story?, the cover and the possible origins of the game, the correlations screen, connecting up details, following the ghosts, pushing characters in the directions of the horror, using ghosts in interesting ways, pixel hunting with the characters, interaction prompts on key items, controls, meticulous camera placement and movement, entering a piece of furniture, not overthinking it, the straining of fixed cameras, distinguishing between cameras, something refreshing, feeling extremely different, the visual aesthetic, relying on tropes but using it to enrich, less is more, audio and horror, games that feel like save states due to repetition, accessibility options, give players options and opportunities and not getting in the way of that, accessibility as a frontier, save anywhere, games that get sanded down, more game boxes.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Heroes of Might and Magic, Resident Evil (series), Pokemon Snap, Umurangi Generation, Toem, Beyond Good & Evil, Deadly Premonition, Minecraft, Halo, Animal Crossing, GTA III, Devil May Cry, Civ III, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Ico, Silent Hill 2, Final Fantasy X, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, MSG 2: Sons of Liberty, Myst III: Exile, SSX Tricky, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Advance Wars, Burnout, Gothic, Black & White, Ghost Recon, Jak and Daxter, Max Payne, Onimusha: Warlords, Koei, Pikmin, Red Faction, Serious Sam, GameCube, Xbox, GameBoy Advance, Spider-Man 2, Horizon, Ubisoft, Valheim, Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, Tecmo Bowl, Pac-Man, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Hideki Itegaki, Makoto Shibata, Ringu, Criterion Channel, Ju-On: The Grudge, Audition, Amityville Horror, The Entity, Until Dark, Skyrim, Alone in the Dark, Sam, MegaMan, Hitman, Tunic, Castlevania IV, Alien: Isolation, P. T., Dead Rising, Celeste, Far Cry 2, Ben Abraham, Ben Zaugg, Grim Fandango, Father Beast, Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, Dave K, Half-Life 2, Starfighter/Jedi Starfighter, Raven Software, World of Warcraft, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More of Fatal Frame!

Twitch: timlongojr Discord [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we conclude our series on Heroes of Might and Magic. We confess that we should have learned more about this game before we tried it, and then turn to takeaways and email. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Some... more?

Issues covered: games we've fallen down on, the commitment, why we don't play certain genres, falling short, the possibility of finding guest hosts, game selection moving forward, having a tech tree in the manual but things we missed, board games and picking up strategy, hot seat multiplayer, modernizing the series, the limits of the audience, adding narrative, the heroes off the battlefield, June alert, whether you should do something, thinking about the computer audience, clarity and taste, how you present the information to the player in the manual, ramping up the campaign, "board games can be fun," creating your own space, learning design from board games, enjoying the tactical map, coming up with the names for things, not overthinking it, deepening and alienating people, machinima, stories from The Sims, boxes from the past.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Waypoint, Austin Walker, Patrick Klepek, Danielle Riendeau, MegaMan, GTA III, Final Fantasy Tactics, Kaeon, Dwarf Fortress, Artimage, The Sims, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Smash Brothers, NES/SNES, Apple ][, Lode Runner, Wizardry, Final Fantasy VI, Ubisoft, Jurassic Park, Jeff Goldblum, Slay the Spire, Civilization, X-COM, Warhammer, Andrew Kirmse, mysterydip, Bethesda Game Studios/Zenimax, Notch, Halo, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Battlefront, Battlezone, Jeffool, Red vs Blue, Quake, Tacoma, PUBG, LucasArts, Father Beast, Margot Robbie, Barbie, Ashton Herrmann, Lords of Magic, Lords of the Realm, Stonekeep, Interplay, Day of the Tentacle, Burn: Cycle, Phantasmagoria, Tony Rowe, Trespasser, Bill Roper, Warcraft, Diablo, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: TBA!

Note: I think the person Tim was thinking of is Natalie Watson. We regret our lack of memory. Also note: Philip Johnson is the architect Brett was thinking of, with his "Glass House" in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Twitch: timlongojr Discord [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series on Heroes of Might and Magic. We talk about the boardgame of it all and where the vibes are with this one, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Some standard, some campaign

Issues covered: hearing the journey and thoughts of our listeners, deep regrets about Megaman, games that scare us, learning the patterns, hearing about the Final Fantasy thoughts, learning about FF15 at two different publishers, a game you can't pick up and play for an hour, seeking out a full game experience, dialing down the map challenge, a more dense map, lots of map options, seeing a new map, considering whether the maps are generated algorithmically, playing a little too disposably, how this game might be played, lack of boardgame clarity, extreme depth, depth of the tactical mode, opacity and complexity, the aesthetics of the time, dormant franchises vs active ones, lacking iteration and interaction on the design and with the players, possible outcomes from opacity, balance in defending the castles, how slowly should I move on the map, getting over the hump, getting services in The Sims, kind words about the 'cast.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Kaeon, Biostats, CalamityNolan, Megaman, Day of the Tentacle/Maniac Mansion, Contra, Cuphead, Andrew Kirmse, Full Throttle, Dark Souls, Belmont, Final Fantasy (series), Jason Schreier, Mark Garcia, LostLake, Metal Gear Solid V, Crystal Dynamics, Tomb Raider (2013), Square Enix, Eidos, Halo Infinite, 343 Industries, The Sims, X-COM, Soren Johnson, Civilization, Jurassic Park, Wizardry, Ubisoft, New World Computing, Infogrammes, Dwarf Fortress, Avalon Hill, Universal Paperclips, Frank Lantz, G, Tristan, Stone Librande, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.

Next time: More of HOMM!

Twitch: timlongojr Discord [email protected]

Friends from the Discord discussing their recent parallel play of Final Fantasy XV! We return to Heroes of Might and Magic next week.

Next time: Another Discord Game Club

Twitch: timlongojr Discord [email protected]

Friends from the Discord provide some audio from back in December, and we've been dropping it in here from time to time when our schedules get tight. (Tim is traveling this week and next and time is short!) We'll return to Heroes of Might and Magic in two weeks.

Next time: Another Discord Game Club

Twitch: timlongojr Discord [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series on Heroes of Might and Magic. We set the game a little in its time, talk about the way the game creates a divergent path from other tactical turn-based combat games. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Some tutorial, some standard, some campaign

Issues covered: the multiverse/divergent evolution, a game that wasn't copied, long games, setting the game in its time, moving more to real-time combat, finite audiences, action became important for larger audiences, the experimentation in the space, the unexpected battle map, an automated complicated board game, tabletop wargaming, wondering how you get from the main series to this, SSI's path, playing the tutorial, the early game, resources and time and other elements, the city view, generating armies and garrisoning, other things that buildings provide, the hero doesn't fight, choosing your heroes and what units you get, retreating and surrendering, leveling your heroes, not being expected to win the first game, the world map, exploring and watching the world map progress, considering multiplayer, metaphors for humanity (computing, industry, alignments, attributes), grinding, wanting cinematography controls in in-game cutscenes, deleting the chip bag, giving the cheats, #PecsAndGlutesForLyfe.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Ubisoft, New World Computing, Jon Van Caneghem, Final Fantasy Tactics, X-COM, Populous, Black & White, Marvel Midnight Suns, Freedom Force, Wildermyth, Civilization, Richard Garriott, Kaeon, NES/SNES, Chrono Trigger, Dark Forces, Full Throttle, Jagged Alliance, Dragon Quest VI, Rayman, Hexen, Suikoden, PlayStation, Warcraft 2, The Dig, Twisted Metal, Kings Field 2, Command & Conquer, Total Annihilation, World of Warcraft, Fallout, Firaxis, Final Fantasy (series), Baldur's Gate, Diablo, David Brevik, Archon, Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, Chivalry, Dungeons & Dragons, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, Commandos, SSI, Ultima (series), Eye of the Beholder, Cinemaware, Defender of the Crown, Taylor, The Sims, Majora's Mask, GURPS, Baron, Shadow Tactics, Tacoma, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, Metal Gear Solid (series), Halo, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Braid, Quake, Daron Stinnett, Celeste, Jeffool, Final Fantasy VI, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: More of HOMM!

Twitch: timlongojr Discord https://t.co/h7jnG9J9lz [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we revisit our series on Trespasser: The Lost World with an interview with Tony Rowe, who did QA on the title. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 00:49 Interview 1:13:20 Break 1:13:55 Outro

Issues covered: time to take out the prehistoric trash, getting in, doubling up the QA team, the clay model of an island, having to rebuild the island, cutting a more open level, the empty plantation house, Microsoft Hiking Simulator, the bowling shirt, how long games took at the time, rising expectations, developing a software renderer, length of time and risk, entirely procedurally driving the critters, using a hill to escape a dinosaur, everything being a box, exploding physics boxes, choosing procedural animation, saying yes to too many things, a richer first person experience, locking the arm, emergent gameplay, a different context, building a separate demo level, overtime/double time/golden time, lack of friction, the floating plants, taking the blame, programming and managing at the same time, video game history and documenting game development, influences later, making it hard for game stores, dinosaur brains and subtlety, cranking up the anger, the importance of preservation, regressing bugs and test plans.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Star Wars, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Jurassic Park, Dreamworks, Electronic Arts, Spark Unlimited, LucasArts, Force Unleashed (series), First Assault, Drexel University, Greg Knight, Interweave, WayForward Technologies, Microshaft: Winblows 98, X-Fools, Star Warped, MYST, PYST, Parroty Interactive, Monopoly, Spielberg, Katzenberg, David Geffen, DOOM, Neverhood, Dark Forces, Skyrim, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, PS3, Microsoft 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, AMD, Quake, 3dfx Voodoo2, Dreamcast, PS2, Seamus Blackly, Looking Glass, Terranova: Strike Force Centauri, Richard Wyckoff, Austin Grossman, Andrew Grant, Tai-Fu, Small Soldiers, Crystal Dynamics, Noah Hughes, Kung Fu Panda, Unreal, Clive Barker's Undying, Fall Guys, 3D Studio MAX, Starfighter, Video Game History Foundation, Phil Salvador, Frank Cifaldi, UNESCO, Dinosaur Train, Terry Izumi, Clint Hocking, Far Cry 2, Half-Life 2, Octodad, Eidos, Spectre, Max Spielberg, Jet Lucas, Assassin's Creed, David Wolinsky, Apple ][, The Sims, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: TBA!

Links: David Wolinsky's Interview with Steven Horowitz

Twitch: timlongojr Discord https://t.co/h7jnG9J9lz [email protected]

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we revisit our series on rotoscoping with a fun chat with Jordan Mechner, of Karateka, Prince of Persia, and The Last Express fame. We also talk about his new graphic memoir: Replay, Memoir of an Uprooted Family. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Podcast breakdown: 00:50 Interview 1:01:50 Break 1:02:03 Outro

Issues covered: his history, train trips, caricatures and making stuff, not living up to the greats, improvising into his games, animation not holding up, filming his mother's karate teacher, his father, and his brother, handcrafting for rotoscoping, taking silent film classes, cross-cutting and wipes, the moment it came to live, the power of abstraction vs the uncanny valley, the impact on what we wanted for animation, caricature and capturing someone, finding the essence of a person, specialization and stepping into direction, drawing ten real people and getting into the graphic memoir, caricature and selling the big moments of small animations, abstraction and universality, adapting to higher resolution, breaking the illusion of interactivity, not being photorealistic but still having the nuance of real actors, highly compressible art and fluidity, uncanny valley of interactivity, picking the right constraints, the train's limitations enabling the possibility of depth, the fascination of interactive theater, holding up better, physical recording separated from voice, allowing for improvisation or variability, being attracted to historical fiction, his family's history, drawing the real things into the memoir, experience, technical nuance and caricature, moments of impactful character interactions, committing to a high bar.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Karateka, Prince of Persia, The Last Express, Smoking Car Productions, Disney, Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family, LucasArts, Space Invaders, Apple, Hitchcock, Thief of Baghdad, Sabu, Conrad Veidt, 1001 Nights, MAD Magazine, Al Hirschfeld, Frank Sinatra, Broderbund, Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud, MYST, Dragon's Lair, Buster Keaton, Robyn Miller, The 7th Guest, Rebel Assault, GTA, Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot, Deadline, The Witness, Infocom, Sleep No More, Assassin's Creed, Zoetrope Studios, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Seven Samurai, Fathom, Michael Turner, The Last of Us, Uncharted, Templar, Count of Monte Cristo, Emily, Michel Ancel, Eric Chahi, Ubisoft, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: TBA!

Links: Jordan Mechner's website

Twitch: timlongojr Discord [email protected]