In this episode Stace Harman and John Robertson of Indie By Design talk about the themes, impact and direction of Dontnod's Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 and whether or not they are so far impressed with the new cast of characters and their world.

***This episode contains spoilers. It is recommended that you finish Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 before listening.***

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This week's IBD podcast features James Cox and Mike Dailly, general manager and head of development respectively at YoYo Games, curators of the GamerMaker Studio toolset.

That makes this episode of the podcast a bit different to the norm, because while we usually speak to the people behind the games, this week we're speaking to the people behind the people behind the games.

The first iteration of Gamer Maker, called Animo, was released by Mark Overmars in 1999. Since then it's gone through dozens of iterations on its way to Game Maker 8.1, before becoming the multiplatform-supporting GameMaker: Studio in 2012 and now, as of March 2017, GameMaker Studio 2.

Many, many games that you'll have heard of and probably played have been created using this software, and so we sat down with James and Mike to talk about helping developers create many a memorable title, the democratisation of tools, learning on the job, combating hackers and piracy and much more.

 

Brought to you by the writers and creators of Independent By Design: Art & Stories of Indie Game Creation, the Indie By Design Podcast (IBD) is the show that goes behind the scenes to explore the world of game design and game designers.

Visit us at indiebydesign.net - Twitter: @indiebydesign - Facebook/independentbydesign

Music by Ben Prunty.

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In this episode of the IBD podcast we talk to Tim Conkling, creator of strategy title and digital board game, Antihero. 

We discuss design inspiration, Steam reviews, AI programming and curiously titled locations, such as the Salty Nonce and Windy Bottom.

Before all of that, however, we start with talk of games that have made the leap from the physical tabletop to the virtual one. Games such as Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Talisman, Warhammer Quest and many more besides, and to what extent Tim played those games for the purposes of education, motivation and inspiration for his own development journey of Antihero.

Brought to you by the writers and creators of Independent By Design: Art & Stories of Indie Game Creation, the Indie By Design Podcast (IBD) is the show that goes behind the scenes to explore the world of game design and game designers.

Visit us at indiebydesign.net - Twitter: @indiebydesign - Facebook/independentbydesign

Music by Ben Prunty.

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In this episode we’re talking to Felix Bohatsch co-founder of Broken Rules - the studio behind Old Man’s Journey, one of 2017’s most mesmerising and engaging games.

It’s also a game that asks us to look within ourselves in order to interpret the events and themes of the game. We’ll be talk about that and more with Felix.

Games typically ask us to inject ourselves into them, whether that’s by simply interacting with a button in order to open a door and progress to the next area or if it's by selecting dialogue options or making other kinds of decisions that gives us a seemingly subjective control over the plot.

Fewer games ask us to both inject ourselves into them and allow ourselves to be injected by them.

Old Man’s Journey demands that kind of open relationship between player and game. If you’re not prepared to try and define a personal interpretation of the happenings on screen then you’re not getting the full experience.

Felix Bohatsch elaborates of this idea throughout this episode of the Indie By Design podcast.

Brought to you by the writers and creators of Independent By Design: Art & Stories of Indie Game Creation, the Indie By Design Podcast (IBD) is the show that goes behind the scenes to explore the world of game design and game designers.

Visit us at indiebydesign.net - Twitter: @indiebydesign - Facebook/independentbydesign

Music by Ben Prunty. 

 

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Alex Thomas is co-founder of development studio Stoic, the team responsible for The Banner Saga series of games. Alex has also released stealthy heist management title, Killers and Thieves, which he developed alone and published though Stoic.

Here, he gives a raw account of his time developing Killers and Thieves, offering an honest assessment of his successes and failures throughout the project and highlighting what he believes have been the downsides of a low-key launch.

There's also discussion of why Alex avoided Early Access for Killers and Thieves but why he believes it could absolutely be the right way to go for a future release, the pressures of delivering on a successful Kickstarter campaign for The Banner Saga and his time writing the currently in-development Banner Saga 3.

We start this week's episode with talk about the formation of Stoic, the company Alex founded alongside John Watson and Arnie Jorgensen, whom he worked with at BioWare on Star Wars: The Old Republic. 

 

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The music used in this episode is owned by Ben Prunty.

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Gone Home was one of the first games upon which the term ‘walking simulator’ was bestowed, games in which you move around an environment, seeking out interactive artefacts and/or triggering audio and video logs that, together, tell a story - the interaction and player agency coming from the order and pacing through which you uncover moments of interest.

Your resultant depth of understanding is determined by how far you're willing to explore both the world around you and how you decide to interpret what you've seen, heard and ingested.

Here Steve Gaynor of The Fullbright Company (Gone Home, Tacoma) talks to Indie By Design's John Robertson about the progress he and his studio has made since Gone Home, what is the core nature of his games and how he goes about constructing and designing them. We also discuss his work on the Bioshock series and where games as a whole sit within wider culture and why they find themselves in their current position. 

Find more by Indie By Design at IndieByDesign.net | Twitter: @IndieByDesign | Facebook.com/IndieByDesign 

Music is kindly provided by Ben Prunty.

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Housemarque is famed for its downloadable console games including Super Stardust, Dead Nation, Alienation and PS4 launch title Resogun. The veteran Finnish developer has made a name for itself crafting, precise, polished, technically accomplished and visually striking titles in publishing partnership with Sony.

With its latest title, Nex Machina, launching for both PS4 and PC, Housemarque is taking its first step into self-publishing. Working in collaboration with pioneering developer Eugene Jarvis, who created arcade classics such as Defender, Robotron: 2084 and Smash TV, Nex Machina represents both a refinement and evolution of Housemarque’s design principles, as well as an opportunity for the developer to directly benefit from establishing and retaining its own IP.

Here, Housemarque CEO Ilari Kuittinen and head of publishing Mikael Haveri discuss how the decision to self-publish has led to greater autonomy, a collaboration with Eugene Jarvis and how a game titled "Death Machine" could mean a new lease of life for the company.

 

Visit us at IndieByDesign.net - Twitter: @indiebydesign - Facebook.com/IndieByDesign - YouTube -Patreon.com/IndieByDesign

 

Music by Ben Prunty.

 

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In this special additional episode of the Indie By Design podcast Stace Harman and John Robertson round-up and discuss those indie games that have stuck out for them from E3 2017 and chat about the nature of E3 as a forum for such games.

Games discussed include: A Way Out, Materfall, Griftlands, Nidhogg 2, Donut County, Ruiner, The Swords of Ditto, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Nex Machina, Steamworld Dig 2 and more.

A video version of this episode is available via YouTube.

IndieByDesign.net

Twitter: @indiebydesign - Facebook/indiebydesign - Patreon.com/indiebydesign

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Is it a game, isn’t it a game – this is a question becoming increasingly popular in discussion about certain games and has certainly, for better or worse, been the central topic around which a lot of criticism of Variable State’s Virginia has revolved.

We talk to the studio’s co-founder Jonathan Burroughs about his reaction to that question, whether it’s a meaningful point of enquiry, the design goals of Virginia and much more over the course of the interview coming.

If you’ve ever played Virginia, and we recommend you do or at least watch some of the playthrough we have on our YouTube channel, you’ll know that it’s a game that celebrates ambiguity and subjectiveness in storytelling – and it’s these discussion about these aspects that kick off our conversation with Jonathan.

Visit us at IndieByDesign.net - Twitter: @indiebydesign - Facebook.com/IndieByDesign - YouTube - Patreon.com/IndieByDesign

 

Music by Ben Prunty.

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Giant Sparrow and the studio's creative director Ian Dallas state that their goal is to make the world a stranger, more interesting place. With both The Unfinished Swan and What Remains of Edith Finch they have certainly realised that ongoing ambition.

Both The Unfinished Swan and Edith Finch are games that present striking, stylishly presented visual narratives and that feature poignant tales with ample room for personal interpretation. Their highly subjective stories make for games that will mean very different things to different people but, regardless of your personal take, both offer an interesting space to explore.

It's with this notion in mind that we begin this week's hour-long chat with Ian Dallas, discussing how we, as players, determine the boundaries of our virtual playgrounds so as to better understand the freedom of our interactive journeys.

A complete, 3-part, no-commentary playthrough of What Remains of Edith Finch can be found on our YouTube channel. Subscribe for games with no nonsense. 

Brought to you by the writers and creators of Independent By Design: Art & Stories of Indie Game Creation, the Indie By Design Podcast (IBD) is the show that goes behind the scenes to explore the world of game design and game designers.

Visit us at IndieByDesign.net - Twitter: @indiebydesign - Facebook.com/IndieByDesign - YouTube - Patreon.com/IndieByDesign

 

Music by Ben Prunty.

 

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