Kiwi Talkz

Kiwi Talkz

By KiwiTV & FilmLeisureVideo Games
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Kiwi Talkz episodes

  • #156 - Paul Topolos Interview(Star Wars, Lucas Arts, Lucas Film, Art, Rogue Leader, 9/11, American Flag etc.)
    Paul Topolos is currently an artist at Pixar and worked on over 18+ Films but before this he worked in the video game industry on various games for Lucas Arts & Factor 5 most notably the Star Wars Rogue Squadron games and Episode 1 Racer #starwars #roguesquadron #lucasfilmTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:50 - Difference Between Lucas Arts & Lucas Film3:00 - Working On Episode 1 & Episode 25:00 - Making Art Looking Like Star Wars/Artwork On The Prequels07:30 - Working On Episode 1 Racer While Phantom Menace Was Being Developed09:30 - Being Blown Away By The Artistry On Phantom Menace/Story Of Phantom Menace13:10 - Paul Is A Fanatic Of The Original Star Wars Trilogy14:00 - Visual Effects Of The Original Star Wars/2001 Space Odyssey16:00 - Limitations Of N6419:35 - Pushing The Pixels On Rogue Leader23:35 - Visuals Are Very Important25:30 - Factor 5 Was Programmer Heavy/Learning From Rogue Squadron On Rogue Leader28:00 - Crunch/Working 2 Full Time Jobs At Lucas Film & Factor 531:26 - What Paul Loved About Working On Rogue Leader32:30 - Maintaining Energy Well Working 2 Full Time Jobs/Ian McCaig/Deadlines38:00 - Paul Had A Meltdown On His 2nd Day Of Work On Phantom Menace39:28 - Pauls Superpower Is Making Something Look Real In Photoshop40:30 - 9/11 Affecting Rogue Leaders Final Days Of Development42:45 - America’s Infatuation With The American Flag/Foreigners Confused By 9/11/Aftermath Of 9/1148:20 - Work On Grim Fandango/ Grim Fandango Got Paul His Job At Pixar55:40 - Working At Pixar56:20 - Unspoken Rules Of Interacting With George Lucas/Geeking Out Over Celebrities1:00:11 - Paul Doesn’t Have Social Media
    1 hr 2 min
  • #155 - Kevin Schmitt Interview (Rogue Squadron, Republic Commando, LucasArts, Halo, Leadership etc.)
    Kevin Schmitt has been working in the video game industry for over 25 years and currently works for Epic Games, he previously worked at 343 on the Halo Series and Lucas Arts where we worked on many Star Wars properties such as Rogue Squadron, Republic Commando, Obi-Wan and Mysteries Of The Sith #starwars #roguesquadron #lucasarts TWITTER- @kevindschmittTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:50 - Kevin’s Time In The Industry Has Flown By03:00 - Biggest Changes In The Industry/Kevin’s Early Years07:25 - AAA Games Size08:24 - Stories Of The Design For Star Wars Rogue Squadron11:50 - Mark Haigh Hutchinson Was A Great Leader15:40 - Importance Of Good Leadership/Making Multiple Projects At Once At LucasArts20:50 - How Designs Were Originally Mapped Out At LucasArts24:10 - Metroid Prime’s HUD influenced Republic Commando’s25:30 - How You Approach Design For Different Genres/FPS’s Are Kevin’s Bread & Butter27:00 - Frustration Of Creative Constraints With Star Wars IP/Ideas Being Shot Down32:30 - LucasArts Vault With Sacred Phantom Menace Info/ Team Seeing A Rough Cut Of Phantom Menace36:00 - The Process Of Pitching Games37:20 - Kevin Shows Off LucasArts Game Design Folders/Archiving39:30 - Phantom Menace Game Idea That Didnt Pan Out41:50 - Approach To Halo Campaign Vs Multiplayer44:15 - How Kevin Became A Writer48:20 - Kevin’s Thoughts On ChatGPT51:40 - Vetting Leaders In The Game Industry/The Industry Doesn’t Allow Discussions Of Failures55:00 - Post Mortem At The End Of A Game Project58:20 - Leaders Recognising Their Own Faults/Mark Recognising His Strengths & Weaknesses1:00:15 - Being Confrontation When You Aren’t A Confrontational Person1:01:25 - A Cohesive Team Is The Most Important Factor On A Project/Communication Differences1:04:30 - Republic Commando Team Being Told Their Being Laid Off When The Project Finishes1:06:40 - Where To Follow Kevin Schmitt
    1 hr 9 min
  • #154 - Steve Jude Interview (Project Management, Lego 2K Drive, Deus Ex, Tantalus etc.)

    Steve Jude is a game developer and currently Senior Producer at Tantalus, he has worked on franchises such as Zelda, Borderlands, Lego, Star Wars and more.... #zelda #lego2kdrive #skywardsword TWITTER - @SteveJudestorm TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro/Disclaimer Regarding The Legend Of Zelda:Skyward Sword HD 01:15 - Why Northlane Is Steve’s Favourite Band 03:05 - Steve Doesn’t Listen To Music While He Is Working 03:45 - What Is Required In Project Management 07:01 - Adjusting Management Styles 08:50 - How Steve Ended Up In The Video Game Industry 12:03 - Interview At Krome Studios 14:41 - Portfolio Matters More To Employers Than University Degrees 17:12 - Lego 2K Drive Is The Most Challenging Project Steve's Worked On 20:43 - Porting A PS5 Game To Switch Is Hard/Working With Visual Concepts 23:34 - Steve Is Still Relatively Young With Nearly 20 Years XP And Where He Wants To Be As A Senior Producer 24:00 - Steve Wants To Be More Of A Technical Producer Down The Line 24:40 - Adapting Deus Ex Human Revolution For The Wii U Gamepad 27:46 - Deus Ex Didn’t Have Too Many Wii U Gamepad Bugs/How Testing Works 29:50 - Steve’s Turbulent Career Path 37:30 - History Of Tantalus Media 39:37 - The Harsh Reality Of Working In The Video Game Industry 41:13 - Where To Follow Steve Jude

    42 min
  • Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Review With Ex Retro Studios Developer(Eric Kozlowsky)
    I review Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom with former Environmental Artist from Retro Studios, Eric Kozlowsky #tearsofthekingdom #zelda #zeldatearsofthekingdom You can stay up to date with on Project Saturn here https://www.fuzzybot.com/ Eric's Twitter - @vonkozTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:33 - Eric’s Zelda Tattoo/Miyamoto Signing Zelda 1 For Eric02:30 - The Pain Of Tattoos04:30 - Creative Thinking Of TOTK/TOTK Being Overwhelming06:45 - Link To The Past Compared To TOTK07:30 - How Eric Got The Master Sword/Eric’s Thoughts On The Game11:10 - The Seamless Physics Engine/BOTW Having A Better Artstyle Than TOTK12:35 - TOTK Doesn’t Respect People’s Time/Item Duplicate Glitch18:12 - Ganon’s Final Form Should’ve Been A Pig18:37 - The Story Has Massive Plotholes/Zelda Timeline & Lore23:04 - Being Objective With Criticism/Frustration Kills Games25:21 - Voice Acting For Female Characters Are Cringe26:31 - Link Needs To Have A Voice30:20 - TOTK’s Voice Acting/Zelda’s Voice Acting Is Bad31:45 - Lead Up To Ganon In BOTW Was Better /Ganondorf Fight In TOTK33:48 - The Dungeons In TOTK35:40 - Emerging Gameplay In TOTK Is What Makes It Special36:40 - Only One Way To Solve Puzzles In The Older Zelda Games37:50 - 2D Games Should Remain Traditional And 3D Should Be Sandbox Going Forward40:12 - Art Direction On TOTK/Strain On Switch Hardware41:22 - Twilight Princess Art Direction Being Constrained By Hardware42:12 - Art Direction Vs Art Execution43:26 - Metroid Prime Remastered Has Stylised Realism In Art44:22 - Could Metroid Prime Go Open World Like TOTK46:18 - Metroid Prime 4 Will Be A Launch Title For Switch Successor47:15 - Where Does The Zelda Series Go From Here/The Crazy Stuff Fans Are Building48:00 - Eric Needs To Reserve Being Creative For Work Not Building Contraptions In TOTK48:30 - Forgetting That You Have The Ascend Ability49:10 - Feeling Smart Moments50:15 - Clunkiness Of The UI51:32 - The Biggest Highlight Moments For Eric And Kiwi54:44 - Shortcomings Of TOTK’s Music/Limitations Caused Music To Flourish During 8 & 16 Bit1:01:20 - Sum Up Of TOTK/TOTK Is Not A Relaxing Game1:02:58 - Being An Adult And Not Having The Time Like You Used To1:04:00 - Plug For Fuzzybots New Game Project Saturn
    1 hr 7 min
  • #152 - Kursad Karatas Interview (Rogue Squadron, Star Wars, Art, Game Engines, A.I., Factor 5 etc.)
    Kursad Karatas is an artist who is best known for his tenure at Factor 5 working on Rogue Leader and Rebel Strike. #starwars #roguesquadron #lucasarts00:00 - Intro00:30 - How Kursad Became An Artist/Ending Up At Factor 5/Star Wars04:30 - Reference Art For Rogue Squadron Games07:30 - Using Stills From The Movies For Direct References(Both, Death Star)09:25 - Building Models From Scratch/What Kursad Worked On10:34 - Kursad Didnt Get To Play Rogue Leader Till Its Release/Most Devs Not Having Dev Kits15:30 - Doing Proper Character Models For Rebel Strike(Pictures Shown)17:00 - Kursad Prefers During Organic Material18:40 -Prequel Influence On The Games/ Kursad’s Drawing Of Liam Neeson19:15 - Differences Between Rogue Leader & Rebel Strike20:25 - Time It Took To Do One Level22:02 - Interacting With Designers & Programmers/Yavin Level24:30 - Hitting 60FPS26:00 - Factor 5 Understands Gameplay29:00 - Game Engines/Unreal/Rogue Squadron Could Be Made Much Easier Today32:00 - Kursad Would Love To Work On A Remake Or Remaster Of The Rogue Squadron Games33:00 - Rendering Engines/Technology Advancement34:00 - Judging Artwork Based On Its Times/Polygons Per Level36:40 - Kursad Taught Himself Programming/Math Should Be Taught In Schools Via Video Games38:00 - A.I. Technology/Midjourney41:00 - Jobs Being In Danger Due To A.I./Human Vs A.I. Art45:00 - Overpopulation Of Games/Humans In The Loop49:00 - Why Kiwi Doesn’t Do Youtube FullTime/Kursad’s Concerns For Podcasting52:00 - Free Will In The Future54:37 - A.I. To Make Star Wars56:00 - Advocating For A Remaster For Rogue Squadron Games
    58 min
  • #151 - John Lowrie Interview (Accents, Valve, Search For The Sandwich, A.I., Team Fortress 2 etc.)
    John Lowrie is a voice actor who is best known for voicing Sniper in Team Fortress 2 as well as many other Valve games. #valve #teamfortress2 #dota2 SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER- https://twitter.com/johnpatricklowr YOUTUBE - @johnlowrie3070 TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:35 - Difference Between The Australian And NZ Accent01:14 - Learning Accents/Different British Accents/NZ & Australia Accents04:38 - South African Accents/NZ TV Shows/Studying An Accent05:55 - Studying Accents Well Watching A Series/German Accents07:15 - Doing An Accent Without It Sounding Comical08:46 - Differences In How Americans Speak10:20 - Accents That Are Hard To Do11:39 - History Of Writing In Then Video Game Industry/Working With Valve Writers13:27 - The Art Of Recording Vocals For Video Games15:20 - Adlibbing/Zany Nature Of Valve Writers16:55 - Being The Narrator On Total Annihilation20:35 - Film Vs Voice Acting23:15 - Composing For The Church And The Darkness/Composing For Search For The Sandwich24:30 - Time Vs Space25:00 - How Search For The Sandwich Came About29:15 - Being Invited To The Major For Dota 2 In Peru30:27 - Countries John Has Travelled To31:10 - John Wants To Do PAX Aus32:45 - Keeping Team Fortress 2 Alive33:48 - Team Fortress 3/Valve Hierarchy 34:51 - Gabe Newell/Buffer Between Devs & Questions/Fan Mail36:40 - Deadlines/Artistic World Vs Business World42:20 - Chat GPT& A.I.ba Can Be Used For Good Or Evil46:45 - Western Culture Monetises Everything/The Brain Is Not Aware Of Itself/Amazing Things Coming Out Of Pain50:15 - YouTubers Compromising/Quality Vs Quantity/ The Infinite Cage54:00 - Artistic Goals
    57 min
  • #150 - Denis Dyack Interview (Eternal Darkness, Twin Snakes, Deadhaus Sonata, A.I., Narrative, Martial Arts etc.)
    Denis Dyack was the director on games Eternal Darkness: Sanitys Requiem, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes and Legacy Of Kain: Blood Omen. He is currently working on the free to play game Deadhaus Sonata #eternaldarkness #metalgearsolid #legacyofkain WEBSITE - https://deadhaussonata.com/TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:12 - Doing Taekwondo & Wrestling Before Video Games05:00 - How His Martial Arts Background Influenced Game Design09:20 - Having A Bushido Mentality In Game Design/Mark Cerny Advice & Help13:05 - Eternal Darkness Not Selling Well/Being Ahead Of Its Time16:41 - Denis Is Keen For A Eternal Darkness Remaster17:45 - You Can’t Predict Where The Industry Is Going To Go19:50 - Eternal Darkness Originated From Influences Of Resident Evil22:40 - Analysing Film For Ideas/Origin Of Camera System For Eternal Darkness25:40 - Difference Between Japanese & Western Development31:40 - Eternal Darkness Nearly Being Cancelled33:22 - Why There Are Limitations On Enemies In Eternal Darkness/Testing Schedule34:40 - Satoru Iwata Told Nintendo To Buy Silicon Knights/Relationship With Iwata36:33 - Denis Met Yamauchi (Photo Is Shown)/ How Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes Came About40:15 - Approaching The Design On Twin Snakes/First Person Mode43:15 - Mario & Yoshi Easter Egg In Twin Snakes45:00 - Eternal Darkness Was Denis’ Most Stressful Project/Rewriting The Story Due To 91147:38 - Martial Arts & Wrestling Helped Denis Have The Perseverance To Finish Eternal Darkness50:45 - Creating Narrative In Games/AI Being Used In Narrative/Deadhaus Sonata Story55:15 - Why Denis Likes The Free To Play Model/What Denis Hated On Legacy Of Kain58:20 - Utilising AI & Cloud For Narrative/Criticism For Free To Play Narrative Model1:00:56 - Social Effects Of Technology/Chat GPT Won’t Magically Solve Narrative In Games1:04:11 - Deadhaus Sonata Is Still A Few Years Away/Miyamoto Famous Quote1:05:10 - Where To Follow What’s Happening With Deadhaus Sonata1:05:54 - The Word “Sonata” References The Gameplay In Deadhaus
    1 hr 10 min
  • Metroid Prime Remastered Review With Ex Retro Studios Developer(Jack Mathews)

    I review Metroid Prime Remastered with the former Lead Technical Engineer on the Original game Jack Mathews. #metroidprimeremastered #metroidprime #gamereview NOTE: Jack had some audio issues for the first minute, which disappeared after that.TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:14 - Metroid Prime Remastered Is How You Remember It03:01 - Updates To The Audio/Gameplay Holding Up04:15 - UI Fixes05:12 - Trilogy Code Being Used For Remaster05:52 - Mirror Reflection Removal/Physically Based Rendering12:45 - Updated Artwork/Lights On The Orpheon15:38 - Animation Rig For Metroid Prime Form 1 Boss17:14 - Metroid Prime Hasn’t Been Replicated/Games Copying Metroid Primes Visors19:00 - Jack & Kiwi Joke About Pitching An FPS With The Morph Ball Mechanic20:00 - Space Pirate Morph Ball Lore/Morph Ball Makes No Sense Logically21:20 - Original Team Being Puzzled Trying To Animate The Morph Ball23:10 - Complexity Of Making The Morph Ball25:00 - Why The Original Team SHOULD Be Credited31:15 - Why The Thermal Visor In MPR Is Worse Than The Original Game37:54 - Why Your Beams Don’t Light Up Rooms In MPR44:20 - It Would’ve Been A Herculean Effort To Make The Game Run At 60FPS47:00 - MPR Was Retro Proving They Have Still Got It/Setting The Stage For Metroid Prime 451:00 - Jack Falling For The Gravity Suit Trap54:04 - Ramping Of Difficulty In The Phazon Mines Gauntlet57:50 - Jack Wanted Checkpoints59:30 - What Constitutes An HD Port, Remaster And Remake.1:04:35 - Controller Options & Issues For MPR1:09:33 - Hot Light Sticks In Phendrana Drifts1:10:10 - Particle Effects Upgrades/Magmoor Caverns Looks Amazing Now1:11:45 - Metroid Prime Biomes1:14:45 - Patches Jack Wants Added To The Game1:18:38 - Samus Character Model In The End Cutscene1:22:35 - Why Samus’ Character Model Changed In Subsequent Games1:23:40 - Jack Is Proud Of Everyone That Worked On The Game1:25:00 - The Weirdness Of Not Marketing MPR/Repeat Of History Of Retro Being Underdogs Again 1:27:57 - We Are In A Renaissance Of Metroid Series1:28:50 - Dread Vs Prime Remastered/Older 2D Metroids Have Aged1:32:30 - Jack Plugs His Wifes New Cook Book

    1 hr 36 min
  • #148 - Geoffrey Day Interview (Atomic Heart, Viscerafest, DOOM, AI, Leadership, Mick Gordon etc.)

    Geoffrey Day is a video game composer that has become a youtube sensation for his DOOM/Argent Metal remixes of game music. He recently composed for Atomic Heart and Viscerafest.

    SOCIAL MEDIA

    TWITTER-@geoffplaysguit

    INSTAGRAM - @geoffreydaymusic

    YOUTUBE - @GeoffPlaysGuitar

    Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/geoffplaysguitar

    #atomicheart #viscerafest #doometernal

    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00 - Intro

    00:45 - Geoffrey Initially Thought Mundfish Contacting Him Was Spam

    02:37 - Geoffrey Gets Spam Collaboration Emails Everyday

    04:10 - Pitch From Mundfish For Atomic Heart

    06:04 - Geoff Was A Given A List Of Russian Songs To Pick To Remix/Composition Of Russian Songs

    07:45 - Evolution Of Zyvozdnoe Leto Track

    10:51 - Deadline To Submit Songs

    13:19 - Who Did The Mixing On The Game

    14:13 - Geoff’s Interaction With Mick Gordon

    15:10 - People Mistaking Geoff’s Music As Mick Gordon’s/Admiration For Mick Gordon

    17:40 - Overlap Of Composing For Viscerafest/Burnout

    20:07 - Imposter Syndrome/Negative Comments

    23:20 - How Geoff’s Work As A Software Engineer And People Manager Transferred To His Music Career

    26:34 - Lockdowns Are The Reason Geoff Ended Up On His Current Path/How Geoff Started Doing DOOM Game Covers

    30:41 - Dangers Of AI Music Technology

    33:00 - Kiwi’s Thoughts On AI/Geoff Used Moises To Get Stems To Compose On Atomic Heart

    34:10 - Cleaning Up The Stems From Moises Before Sampling

    35:25 - Seeing The Flaws In The Stems The Original Russian Songs/Modernising Vocals

    36:10 - Mixing References While Composing/Fan Remastering Arlekino/Metal Vs Pop Vocals

    37:50 - Geoff’s Patreon Perks

    39:09 - How Geoff Decides What To Do DOOM Remixes Of

    41:35 - How The Super Metroid Ridley DOOM Remix Came About/Skyrim DOOM Mod

    43:30 - Working With A Team On Covers

    44:00 - Viscerafest & Atomic Heat Caused Geoff To Spend Less Time On His Youtube Channel

    46:04 - Geoff Loves Working With Technology & A Team

    47:20 - Geoffs Schedule

    48:45 - Always Being In A Creative State

    50:14 - How Geoff Deals With Ear Fatigue & Writers Block

    51:45 - Suffering From Insomnia

    52:45 - Geoff Would Like To Have Routine/Missing Working In A Office

    55:42 - Needing More Time

    57:45 - Not Being Able To Relax/Being A Workaholic

    59:45 - Why Geoff Doesn’t Publicly Stream Games

    1:01:28 - How Geoff Destresses/Getting Out Of The House

    1:03:48 - Time Management

    1:04:10 - Where Argent Metal Can Still Evolve

    1:07:00 - Mick Gordon Requested For Geoffrey Day To Cover Crazy Bus Song

    1:08:30 - Vol 2 Soundtrack/Atomic Heart OST Speculation

    1:11:10 - Closing Comments/Geoff’s Youtube Channel Plateauing

    1:12:20 - Where To Follow Geoffrey Day

    1 hr 14 min
  • #147 - Anthony Garcellano (Metroid Prime Remastered, Tony Hawk, Film, Art, Crunch etc.)

    Anthony Garcellano is an artist who is best known for his contract for GameSim working on Metroid Prime Remastered, he has also worked on Tony Hawk, Call Of Duty and Crash Bandicoot and also sound scoping for films such as Man Of Steel and Transformers Dark Of The Moon. He currently works for gaming studio InXile.

    #metroidprimeremastered #tonyhawk #gamedev

    SOCIAL MEDIA

    Artstation - https://www.artstation.com/garcellano

    Instagram - @agarcellano3d

    Twitter - @agarcellano

    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00 - Intro

    01:37 - Frustration Of Waiting To Put Metroid Prime Remastered On The Resume/Bloodlines

    04:45 - Anthony’s Career Path/Florida/How Anthony Ended Up At Gamesim

    07:00 - Making The Art For Tony Hawk Pro Skater

    08:19 - Making The Art For Metroid Prime Remastered/Retros Art Palette/Rooms Anthony Worked On

    12:18 - Metroid Prime Remastered Best Looking Game On Switch

    13:20 - Anthony Seeing The Modular Kit From Retro Studios

    14:45 - Flaaghra Transitioning Tunnel/Refining Collision For Remasters

    16:31 - Tony Hawk Example

    17:34 - QAing At An External Studio Is Limited/Working Remotely

    18:45 - Being An Ambivert/Seattle

    20:22 - Office Vs Remote Work/Working On Call Of Duty

    22:35 - Not Being Credited On Call On Duty And Understanding The Reasons

    24:40 - Getting Familiar With Metroid Again When He Got Contract

    25:53 - When Contract On Metroid Prime Finished/Gamesim’s Team

    27:00 - How Retro Contracted Out/Why Anthony Left Gamesim

    30:02 - Anthony Loves Metroid Primes Soundtrack

    30:58 - Anthony’s Artistic Strengths

    32:00 - Artistic Pipeline Materials For Tony Hawk

    34:29 - Tony Hawk Vs Metroid Prime Differences With Art Pipeline

    35:52 - How Many Passes Anthony Made Before Lead Approved His Metroid Prime Art/Nintendo QA Testers On Collision

    38:48 - Tallon IV Overworld Caused Anthony Trouble/Framerate

    42:00 - Weekly Meetings

    43:45 - Sound Conversions For Film/Not Being Credited

    45:41 - Having An Interview And Not Being Able To Prove That He Worked On A Film/Rotoscopes

    48:39 - Anthony Left Film And Joined Gaming Industry Because He Wasn’t Credited On Films

    49:00 - Anthony’s CRUNCH On Smurfs Film

    51:15 - Crunch On Films Vs Games

    54:33 - Michael Bay Visit

    55:40 - Worshipping Celebrities/Gaming Industry Not Having Celebrity Devs

    57:25 - Film Is Finally Recognising VFX Artists

    58:09 - Mandatory Vs Self Inflicted Crunch

    59:50 - Anthony Being Puzzled As To When Metroid Prime Remastered Would Be Announced

    1:00:22 - Shadow dropping/Metroid Primes Japan Release Date/Japan

    1:02:18 - Anthony Can’t-Wait For His Project At Xile Gets Announced

    1:05:20 - Where To Follow Anthony Garcellano

    1 hr 7 min

About Kiwi Talkz

From the publisher's feed

Podcast with various Video Game developers as well as other people involved in entertainment such as TV/Film