Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1999's Outcast. We talk about world structure, world building, concrete vs abstract implementations of mechanics, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Up to/through Talanzaar

Issues covered: sad news, a digression on Edgar Rice Burroughs and Project Gutenberg, finally "getting" the game, depth of story and environment at the time, the "second" world, moderating your own difficulty, supporting narrative goals, a dynamic "find this person" system, concrete interactions to increase believability of the world, the big impact of the world state change, organic architecture, cheesing the terrain collision, world-building in conversations, Mogi and his history, the crane puzzle, auto-targeting the swinging cube, the brothers competing for the business, the flautist and singer, the adventurous music, world state music, reputation as a concept, enemy states.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Belmont/Jesse Lane Nelson, Defeating Games for Charity, Jedi Starfighter, BioStats, LostLake, Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter/A Princess of Mars, Project Gutenberg, Computer Gaming World, Tomb Raider, Anachronox, LoZ: Ocarina of Time, Total Recall, Grim Fandango, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Star Wars, Castlevania X: Rondo of Blood, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.

Next time: Finish (?) Outcast

Links:

Belmont hosts Tim & Brett on JSF

Twitch: timlongojr Discord [email protected]