Game Devastation

It's Game Devastation Ep. 18 and we're talking with the Creative Director at Hinterland Games, Raphael Van Lierop. We talk about Raphael's current survival crafting game "The Long Dark" and it's origins, single player vs. multiplayer, balancing systems, emergent gameplay, successful usage of early access, acting on gameplay feedback, starting a new indie studio in Canada, sandbox vs. story mode, and Kickstarter funding for games.

Episode 17 features Creative Director at The Molasses Flood, Forest Dowling. Forest talks about his new game The Flame and the Flood, his background, survival crafting game mechanics, indie game studios vs. AAA development, setting up a successful video game Kickstarter, and how to get into the industry as a level designer.

Lead System Designer Adam Maxwell, aka Snipe Hunter, talks Systems Design. Combat, death mechanics, and how Revival iterates on content before releasing it out into the world. If you're interested in Systems Design, check out this episode.

Episode 15 of Game Devastation features Art Director Matt Mocarski.

Matt presently works at Amazon Game Studios in Seattle, but has previously worked on WildStar, World of Warcraft, Daxter, and Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver in various art positions. We talk about how to break into the game industry, being a game developer vs. being an artist, and talking about what is important in game art for the experience vs. the aesthetic.

Episode 14 features WildStar Product Director Mike Donatelli. Mike has worked on WildStar, Warhammer, Crime Craft, and Dark Age of Camelot. In this episode, Mike talks about WildStar's new free to play business model shift, MMORPG design vs. single player RPG design, the future of MMOs, and why he feels game design schools can be "Like a Puppy Mill for Game Designers." Join us for the most edited version of Game Devastation!

It's episode 13 of Game Devastation and we talk about comic book video games, character development in games, and discuss what is more difficult to implement in games... horror or comedy? Adam has worked as a director on games like Till Morning's Light, Batman: The Brave and Bold, Lit, Justice League Heroes: Flash, and other great WayForward titles.

In Game Devastation Ep. 12, EQ Next Lead System Designer Michael Mann talks about balancing classes, how to create tradeskills that are viable to the game economy, progression systems, answers community questions, and discusses how to get into the industry as an MMO designer.

Episode 11 of Game Devastation features Asa Dang, designer/tech director on the Kickstarter success  Slain. Asa talks about his experiences working on games like Slain, Grand Theft Auto 5, Kick Ass, and (the ultimately cancelled) Metalocalypse. Frost and Asa also talk about their experience working on Major League Eating: The Game. Yeah, seriously. MAJOR LEAGUE EATING.

It's Game Devastation Ep. 10 and we talk with Chasm Game Director James Petruzzi and Indie Biz Dev/Marketing Guru Dan Adelman. We talk about procedural Metroidvania creation, how to create a successful Kickstarter, Dan's time at Nintendo bringing indie games to the digital download market, and what you need to know if you want to get started in the indie game dev scene.

It's Game Devastation episode 9 with WildStar Composer Jeff Kurtenacker. We talk about the music composition process, his inspirations, sound design, how to use music in games, where Jeff got his start, and his experience recording at Sony sound stage. There's plenty of great info and terrible jokes ahead, so prepare yourself for GAME DEVASTATION: AFTER HOURS.