Kiwi Talkz

Varun Mayya is an entrepreneur, content creator, author and now he is venturing into game development and working on India's most ambitious game ever. Unleash The Avatar

#unleashtheavatar #indiangaming

See the latest trailer gameplay footage here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_zBp21BWI0

WEBSITE - https://www.unleashtheavatargame.com/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:28 - Varun Loves The Mechanics Of Dota & Rocket League

03:56 - How Varun Started Making Video Games

05:15 - Journey To Making Unleash The Avatar/Multiplayer Games

06:00 - Soulslikes/Black Myth Wukong/Sekiro

07:39 - Games Are Sustainable/Gamers Demands

11:19 - Unreal Engine/Photogrammetry Of India For Unleash The Avatar

12:48 - Scanning An Entire Indian Town For Assets In Unreal Engine

15:00 - 1st Trailer For Unleash The Avatar Was To Hire Talent

16:15 - Varun’s Smart Plan To Hire The Best Engineers

19:12 - Aftermath Of 2nd Trailer

21:30 - Developing The Game Start Up Style/Revelation From The 2nd Trailer

23:02 - Bollywood Influence On The Game/Anatomy Of The Story

28:10 - Varun Is Closely Involved With The Entire Project

29:43 - Target Audience For Unleash The Avatar

32:10 - Using A Metronome For The Bosses

33:20 - Aura Farming/Taunts In The Game/Difficulty Settings

36:22 - Black Myth Wukong Inspirations & Differences

41:39 - Black Myth Wukong’s Marketing

43:16 - Bold Marketing Strategy For Unleash The Avatar

50:14 - Why India Hasn’t Produced AAA Games/Entrepreneurs

54:55 - Risk & Reward/Varun’s Views On Business

57:00 - Stigma From Parents Regarding Gaming & Content Creation In India

59:00 - Success & Failures Drives Everything Forward

1:00:10 - Economics Of AAA Games In India Vs U.S.

1:06:40 - Unleash The Avatar Was Largely Made Inhouse/Rockstar India

1:08:31 - Why India Will Become A Haven For Game Development

1:13:30 - Assassin’s Creed Setting In India

1:15:30 - Indian Lore & Culture In Unleash The Avatar

1:18:39 - Where To Keep Up To Date With Unleash The Avatar

John Ricchio was a former producer at Rockstar on games such as GTA 5, RDR1 & Max Payne 3. In this interview he covers his time training people on QA, being a producer and a leader to teams at Rockstar, working on GTA, RDR, MP and more..

#gta #gta5 #rockstargames

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:27 - The Importance Of QA/Training QA People

04:30 - QA People At Rockstar/Advancing Your Career From QA

08:19 - Will AI Be Used To Save Time For QA

12:21 - Unicorn Dev Specialists/T Shaped Game Developers

14:30 - Managing Over 200 People On RDR & GTA 5/Producing Challenges

21:45 - Relinquishing Control/R* San Diego Changed Processes For GTA 5

24:40 - Cut Content From GTA 5 Due To Resources

26:10 - Working Through Constraints/Picking Your Battles

27:10 - Having Your Work Cut From R* Games

28:37 - Will GTA 5 Cut Content Be In GTA 6

29:21 - Cancelled Game Content Ended Up In GTA IV/Tech Changes

30:02 - New Ideas Usually Transcend Cut Content

30:57 - RDR Undead Nightmare/Hot Coffee Mini Game

32:05 - Rockstar’s Approach To DLC

33:17 - Managing R* Devs During High Times Of Stress/Crunch

41:20 - R*Can Get Away With Anything/Unionisation

42:15 - R” Are Good Because Of Iteration But It’s At The Cost Of Crunch

43:26 - Why John Left Rockstar/Crunch

46:45 - Leaders Initiate Crunch Either For Results Or Out Of Fear

52:40 - John Speaks About GTA 6

57:40 - The Future Of The Industry

1:00:11 - Q+A - Will R* Devs Lose More Creative Freedom As The Studio Gets Bigger

1:03:43 - Hanging Out With Dan & Sam Houser

1:05:10 - Following GTA 5’s Model For GTA 6

1:06:03 - GTA 5’s Launch

1:07:02 - Q+A - How Much Did The 360/PS3 Limit The Scope Of GTA 5

1:09:30 - Why R* Release On Console First Before PC

1:12:30 - John Is Currently Unemployed/Where To Follow John

Andrew Kim is a freelance concept artist who has worked on video games, tv and film. Hes done numerous concepts for games in the MCU and he did concept art for Uncharted 2-4

#uncharted #uncharted4 #uncharted3

ANDREWS WEBSITE IS HERE https://www.andrewkimart.com/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:34 - Differences Between Working In Video Games & Film/TV

04:41 - Getting A Job at Naughty Dog

07:20 - Working With The Designers On Concept Art For Uncharted

09:03 - The Process Was Similar Between Uncharted 2,3 & 4

10:46 - Leaving Marvel/Being A Freelancer On Uncharted 4

12:30 - Why Andrew Left Naughty Dog

15:30 - How Film Union Works

18:23 - The Challenges Of Being A Freelancer In The Film Industry

20:55 - It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know

21:30 - How You Network In The Film Industry

23:10 - ART CONCEPT REEL - Uncharted 2

33:40 - Sony Santa Monica Has 6 Hour Interviews

35:30 - Naughty Dog Interview Was 20 Minutes

36:19 - Interviewing Process In The Game Industry Now

37:49 - Andrew Would Work On Uncharted 5 If Asked

39:20 - Andrew Had Limited Interactions With Amy & Bruce

40:17 - ART CONCEPT REEL - Uncharted 3

42:39 - Uncharted 3 Piece Got Andrew His Job At Marvel

44:00 - ART CONCEPT REEL - Uncharted 3

59:36 - Where To Follow Andrew

Quentin Cobb is the CEO and Co-Founder of Ironroot Games, he was previously a designer at Naughty Dog on Uncharted 4 & The Last Of Us and did a 5 year stint at Zenimax before on a cancelled project he was laid off.

#uncharted4 #uncharted #thelastofus

SOCIALS

TWITTER - @QTrainCobb

INSTAGRAM @qtrain.cobb/ @I

IronrootGames https://ironrootgames.com/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:30 - Why Quentin Cobb Loves Wutang Clan

01:37 - Crunch On Uncharted 4

04:02 - Working On Lost Legacy

04:40 - Why Quentin Left Naughty Dog

06:07 - Was It Harder To Salvage Uncharted 4 Rather Than Creating A New Game

07:36 - Quentin Worked On Chapter 8 In Uncharted 4

09:00 - Puzzle Sequences Were Difficult In Uncharted 4/Bruce Straley

10:35 - Difficulty Of Making Puzzles

11:50 - Shifting Mindset From Single Player To Multiplayer

13:39 - Why The Last Of Us Was A Life Changing Experience/Working With Bruce Straley

19:30 - Sony Executives Didn’t Believe The Last Of Us Would Succeed

20:30 - Naughty Dog Was Shocked How Well The Last Of Us Was Received

22:30 - Overcoming The Trauma Of Project Blackbird Being Cancelled

27:00 - Indie Dev Community Are Kind & Supportive

28:01 - Ironroot Games New Action-Adventure Project

29:40 - Naughty Dog Teams Were Well Connected/Small Team Sizes

32:00 - AAA Is All About Trends As Opposed To Making Games With A Heart

34:00 - Creating A Unique Game Can Be Tricky

36:30 - Advice From Bruce Straley/Pacing In Games

40:17 - Microsoft Pulled Funding For Bruce Straley’s Indie Game

41:40 - How Devs Try To Get In Front Of Layoffs/AAA Industry Isn’t Stable

43:04 - Naughty Dog Layoffs/No One Is Safe

44:00 - Last Of Us Part II/Quentin Is Glad He Didnt Work On It

45:39 - Working On Last Of Us Part 1 Was Nostalgic

46:30 - Intergalactic/Meeting His Old Naughty Dog Colleagues

48:05 - Quentin Didnt Work Much With Amy & Neil

48:58 - Q+A - Why Was India Chosen For Lost Legacy

50:17 - Is It Easier To Make A Story First Or Design Mechanics First

51:30 - Q+A - How To Get A Design Job At Naughty Dog

54:30 - A Portfolio Is More Important Than A Degree

57:19 - Q+A - What New Things Were Possible Going From PS3 To PS4 For Uncharted

58:55 - Diminishing Returns With The Next Hardware

1:00:30 - Padding In Open World Games

1:03:05 - Where To Follow Ironroot Games & Quentin

Jake Kazdal is a japanese game developer who has worked on games such as Galak-Z and Skulls Of The Shogun, he has worked for Nintendo, SEGA and Square Enix and is releasing his new game Awaysis very soon. This is a rare pullback of the curtain on Japanese design.

#nintendo #zelda #botw

WEBSITE - http://awaysis.jp/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3334760/Awaysis/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:45 - Differences Between Japanese & Western Development

02:30 - Differences Between SEGA & Square Enix/Japanese Work Culture

07:00 - Nintendo Devs Are Retiring/Japanese Devs Are Nimble

09:15 - Kyoto’s Indie Scene/Hiring People At 17-Bit

10:39 - Japanese Labour Laws

11:40 - What Nintendo Devs Do Once They Retire/Retirement Age At Nintendo

11:46 - Nintendo Dev Legends Have Playtested Awaysis

14:11 - Playtesting With Awaysis

16:25 - Importance Of Iterating On Tutorials/What Is Awaysis

20:20 - Local Multiplayer Can’t Be Matched/Online Multiplayer/Covid

23:30 - Getting Hirokazu Tanaka To Compose Awaysis/Jake Is A Huge Nintendo Fan

25:40 - Pitch To Hirokazu Tanaka

26:50 - Physics System Of Awaysis

29:54 - Super Mario 64/Game Controls Are Too Tight Nowadays

33:28 - Graphics Take Precedent Over Physics

34:28 - The Physics System In Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

36:40 - Being Friends With Eiji Aonuma/The Glider In BOTW

38:14 - Physics Limitations In Unreal Engine

42:24 - Zelda BOTW & TOTK Are Masterpieces/Next Zelda

43:15 - Friendship With Eiji Aonuma

44:17 - Working At SEGA/Being Mentored By Tetsuya Mizuguchi

46:19 - Working With Steven Spielberg On Elemeno/Mirrors Edge

50:21 - Original Ideas In Games Are Few & Far Between

52:30 - Oversaturation Of Indie Games/Devs Leaving The Industry

55:11 - Devs Getting Laid Off Despite Success/The Dire State Of The Industry

56:15 - Stability Working At Nintendo & Valve/Struggles For Funding

01:01:00 - Gen-Z Play GAAS/Gamers Are Playing Old Games

1:03:49 - Where To Keep Up With Awaysis

I got together some of the old Retro Studios crew including Kynan Pearson (Metroid Prime 2,3 & DKCR), Jay Epperson (DKCR & Tropical Freeze), Eric Kozlowsky (DKC Tropical Freeze) and Brad Taylor (DKC Tropical Freeze), the latter has never appeared on the show before. Hope you enjoy this, cause we had a blast recording it.

#supermariogalaxy #supermario #mariogalaxy

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:25 - Overrall Thoughts

08:30 - Fox/Starfox Movie

09:53 - Smash Bros Movie

12:00 - Super Mario World Vinettes

13:12 - Lack Of Story/Nintendo Are Still Learning How To Make Movies

14:53 - Nintendo Fans Are Aging Out

16:00 - The Movie Shouldve Been Super Mario World Instead Of Super Mario Galaxy

18:03 - No Licensed Music

19:46 - Should Mario Have A Deeper Story?

24:04 - Film Critics Don’t Respect Gaming/Video Game Films

25:01 - Peach Is OP/Super Mario Bros 2

27:15 - Where Do They Go From Here

30:21 - Rumored Star Fox Game/Fox Appearance

33:38 - Kiwi’s Opinion On The Film/Hollwood Actors Being Mario Fans

36:25 - Being An Artist And Picking Apart Art In The Movie

39:43 - The Film Should Be Watched At 0.7 Watch Speed

40:30 - Nintendo Are Hands On With Legacy Characters

43:10 - Bowser Jr

44:30 - Koopalings/3rd Mario movie/Cappy

45:30 - Super Mario Odyssey/Original Idea For SMO’s Artstyle

48:00 - The Soundtrack/Starfox

49:23 - Nintendo Cross Promotion

52:40 - DKC Tropical Freeze Original Name

53:53 - Final Thoughts/Plugs For Nothing LOL

54:57 - The Dire State Of The Game Industry

Heather Cerlan a former artist at Naughty and Bethesda, in this interview she shares her journey from a passionate artist to a studio founder, discussing her experiences at Naughty Dog and Bethesda, her insights on game development, and her ambitious new project Hawthorne. Discover lessons on persistence, navigating industry challenges, and the future of game art and design.

HAWTHORNE INFO

https://playhawthorn.com/

#thelastofus #starfield #uncharted

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:55 - Being In A Rockband

02:30 - Heather Kept Pestering Naughty Dog Till They Hired Her

06:17 - Having Imposter Syndrome At Naughty Dog/Naughty Dog Didnt Have Producers

08:30 - Bethesda Are About Quantity/Naughty Dog Is About Quality

10:36 - Heather’s Role At Bethesda/Starfield

13:45 - Pros & Cons Of Creation Engine

15:05 - There Was Pressure Internally For Bethesda To Migrate To Unreal Engine

16:59 - Uncharted Lost Legacy Production Issues/Intense Crunch

22:44 - Working On The Shiva Temple

24:28 - Heather’s View On Her Work Getting Remastered/Originals Vs Remasters

29:28 - Working With Neil Druckmann/Lesbian Stories

33:04 - Heather Had Concerns On LGBTQ Themes In Last Of Us Part II

38:00 - Naughty Dog Were Split On Joel’s Death In TLOU Part II

38:48 - The Reason Heather Left Naughty Dog

40:04 - Work On Hawthorne/NEAR Studios

43:41 - Bruce Nesmith

46:00 - Hawthorne Is Skyrim Meets Stardew Valley/Raising Money/Bad Publisher Terms

48:15 - How Naughty Dog & Bethesdas Culture Has Influenced Hawthorne

51:16 - Q + A - Differences Between Naughty Dog & Bethesda

54:54 - Todd Howard Is A Neil Druckmann Fanboy

56:42 - Heather Feels Very Lucky/The Decision To Start Her Own Company

59:18 - Overcoming Fear With Hawthorne

1:05:22 - Where To Follow Heather & Keep Up With Hawthorne

Gabriel Betancourt is a former lighting artist at Treyarch and of course Naughty Dog. We cover his career at Naughty Dog and various other topics on the game industry.

#thelastofus #lastofus #lastofuspart2

WEBSITE - https://gabereel.com/

CALORIE GAME - https://www.caloriequest.app/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro/Gabriel Watches Kiwi Talkz & Lists His Favourite Guests

01:44 - It’s Hard To Find Info On Lighting Artists/Early Days As A Lighting Artist

03:00 - Naughty Dog Has A Designer First, Speciality Second Philosophy

06:25 - Naughty Dog Devs Had Huge Arguments During The Last Of Us

09:17 - Game Development Requires The Risk Of Offending People

13:00 - Delivering Negative News In A Positive Way

14:54 - Game Devs Being Passionate & Emotional

18:45 - Naughty Dog Changed As The Studio Got Bigger/AAA Team Sizes Are Too Big

24:43 - The Brilliance Of Nintendo/Making Your Game Fun

27:35 - 60 People Worked On World Of Warcraft/Small Teams Make The Best Games

29:38 - Graphics & Gameplay Were Even During The Seventh Generation

31:00 - Art Is Used To Cover Up Gameplay Issues

32:34 - Everyone At Naughty Dog During The Last Of Us Was A Monster In Skill

33:00 - How Gabriel Joined Naughty Dog/New IP’s Increasingly Are Risky

36:20 - Bruce Straley & Neil Druckmann Risked Their Careers For The Last Of Us

37:45 - Uncharted 2 Put Naughty Dog On The Map

38:42 - Last Of Us Happened Because Bruce & Neil Were Influenced By Robert McKee Conference

43:44 - Why Gabriel Left Naughty Dog

46:49 - Last Of Us Part 2 Pre-production Ran Like Clockwork

49:58 - Gabriel Was Surprised By The Last Of Us Part 2 Controversy/Gabriel’s Suggestion Was Shot Down By Neil

52:19 - Neil Druckmann’s Specialty/Problems With The Last Of Us Part 2

55:00 - Dubar’s Number/Bureaucracy

01:01:40 - Changes At Naughty Dog That Impacted Last Of Us Part 2

1:06:30 - Specialists Left Naughty Dog Which Created Gaps In Skills Needed In The Teams

1:07:50 - A Game Will Be Good If The Director Has A Vision

1:09:54 - Gabriel Was Initially Skeptical Of The Last Of Us

1:11:39 - On Gabriels First Day Neil & Bruce Had A Special Presentation About The Last Of Us

1:16:35 - Q+A - How Did The Lighting Change Between Uncharted & The Last Of Us

1:30:22 - Q+A - Is Baked Lighting Better Than Path Traced Lighting

1:35:00 - Lighting On GTA 6 Trailers

1:36:03 - Closing Comments/Where To Follow Gabriel

Benson Russell was a former designer at Naughty Dog on The Uncharted Trilogy and The Last Of Us.He has now started his own consulting firm to help game developers navigate a lot of the pitfalls in game development.

#uncharted #thelastofus #naughtydog

WEBSITE FOR CONSULTING

https://www.unhandledexceptions.io/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:32 - The Most Important Aspect Of Design/Player Fantasy

02:50 - Why Games Take So Long To Make/North Star You Need For Development

05:45 - Why Naughty Dog Games Are So Well Made/Story Is Their North Star

08:18 - Games Shouldn’t Take So Long To Develop/Wandering

13:30 - Scope Neglect/The Doomsday Clock

16:00 - Why Intergalactic Crunch Happened/Naughty Dog Treats Internal Deadlines Like External Deadlines

18:23 - Bureauacracy/How Games Differ From Other Creative Outlets

23:13 - Naughty Dog’s Work Structure

26:20 - Planning/Core Mechanics

27:00 - Flexible Working Hours At Naughty Dog/Crunch At Naughty Dog

29:00 - Why Benson Left Naughty Dog

32:45 - Benson Was P!ssed Off With Naughty Dog Deleting His Work On Last Of Us Part 1

46:01 - Working With Evans Wells & Neil Druckmann

47:00 - Clashing With Neil Druckmann

50:14 - Working With Amy Hennig

51:20 - Uncharted 2’s Introduction/Creating Introductions In Games

56:00 - Focus Testing At Naughty Dog/Companies Interpret Data Wrong

1:02:30 Q+A - How Much Naughty Dog Looks At The Competition When Designing Games

1:06:10 - AAA Studios Pivoting When They Are Too Deep/Games Should Be Cheaper

1:10:00 - Cost Of Game Development On The West Coast/China’s Meteoric Rise

1:16:04 - Uncharted 2 Was Influenced By Resident Evil 5

1:16:48 - Q+A - What Is Naughty Dog’s Hiring & Training Process

1:24:00 - Why Naughty Dog Started Losing Talent

1:26:00 - Is Game Development A Young Person’s Game/Knowledge Isnt Being Passed Down

1:31:00 - Closing Comments

Rob Carr is an audio designer who is best known for his tenure at Rockstar Games on L.A. Noire, RDR1, GTA 5 and RDR2. He is currently living in Finland working on his game Nyrkkipöytä

#rockstargames #gta #gta5

WEBSITE - https://audioexpat.wordpress.com/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:30 - How Rob Went From Being A Music Teacher To Working At Rockstar Leeds

07:51 - Moving From Handheld Games To Console Games/Rockstar Have Unlimited Resources

08:30 - The Psychology Of Sound/Finding Sounds That Sound Like Other Sounds

11:19 - There Are No Constraints On Audio With Rockstar Open World Games

13:10 - In Audio Everything You Can Use Is Recordable/Rob Has A 3TB Audio Library

15:17 - Tools & Workflow

19:50 - Technology Evolution/AI

23:51 - Rob Has Been Unemployed For Over A Year/Problems With The Game Industry/

25:50 - Learning A Coding Language

27:40 - Difference Between Numbers People & Creative People

30:30 - Working On Audio Bugs For Red Dead Redemption 1/Why It’s One Of Rob’s Favorite Games

34:30 - Playing A Game And Not Disecting It

37:30 - The Cost Of Buying Games

39:10 - GTA 6

43:21 - Why Rob Left Rockstar

45:24 - Crunch Culture/Europe Has Better Work Life Balance

46:45 - Moving To Finland/Rob’s Brother Has Motor Neuron Disease

51:35 - Rob Can’t Relocate For Work Anymore/Dire State Of The Game Industry

53:10 - Working From Home Has Ceased Because Of Security Reasons

55:20 - Why Rob Worked At The Office During Covid

56:51 - Dealing With Ear Fatigue During Crunch/How Audio People Deal With Crunch

1:05:30 - Q+A - Do You Physically Go On Location To Get Raw Recordings

1:08:00 - Q+A -What’s Rockstar Setup To Test Audio Systems

1:10:48 - Q+A - Is There A Particular Idea That Had To Be Cut

1:13:52 - Robs Game - Nyrkkipöytä

1:21:19 - Where To Follow Rob