Kiwi Talkz

Tyvic Stallworth is a game developer who has worked on games such as Last Of Us Part II and Call Of Duty: Warzone, he is currently a developer at Sucker Punch productions.

You can check out his gaming channel here https://www.youtube.com/@UCQP8-hs7qhuV9PQpIjTcjng

#lastofus #callofduty #naughtydog

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:39 - Tyvics Workout Regime/LA Traffic

03:00 - Naughty Dog Staff Traffic Commute

03:40 - Naughty Dog Documentation/Tyvis Early Days At Naughty Dog

04:10 - Moving From QA Into Design

06:20 - Moving From Last Of Us II Multiplayer Team To Single Player Team

07:24 - Tyvics First First Job As A Designer On Last On Us II/LISP

08:50 - Work In QA

10:45 - Tyvics Philosophy On Design

12:00 - Why Naughty Dog Is One Of The Best Studios

14:10 - Why Tyvic Left Naughty Dog

15:03 - Working On Call Of Duty: Warzone

16:40 - Working On Clash Mode/Nebular 5 Bomb

19:10 - Who Comes Up With Game Mode Ideas On Warzone

20:10 - Convincing Colleagues With Proof Of Concept

21:20 - Prototyping Vs Pitch Documents/Super Mario Example

23:30 - Why Mario Is Tyvics Favourite Character Of All Time

25:20 - Being Skeptical Of Super Mario Odyssey Before Release/PC Gaming

26:10 - Tyvic Will Only Watch Super Mario Film For The Culture

27:35 - Last Of Us Series/Uncharted Film/Video Game Adaptations

29:16 - A.I. Art/AI As A Tool/Hypothetical Scenario

33:50 - Traditionalists Vs Adapters

35:00 - Tyvics Approach To Time Management

39:06 - Interaction With Neil Druckmann/Hierachy Of What People Are Going Through

41:50 - If You Have A Question About Something Just Ask

42:25 - Learning Music So He Could Understand Sound Design Lingo

42:50 - Structures Of Desks In Gaming Studios/Tunnel Vision

44:30 - Emotional Roller Coaster Of Last Of Us II Multiplayer

47:50 - Factions For Last Of Us Part 1 Was Made In 4 Months

48:30 - Disconnect Between Developers And Higher Ups In A Game Studio

52:38 - Hating A Game Once Its Complete/Burnout

56:00 - Finetuning Last Of Us Part II During The End Of Development

57:40 - Finding Bugs Despite Gruesome Work Schedule

1:00:15 - Cut Off On Reap Of Return On AAA Games

1:03:45 - PS5 Has Been Out For Years Already

1:04:15 - Where To Follow Tyvic Stallworth

Jack Burrows a game level designer best known for his tenure at Treyarch as a Level Designer on Call Of Duty: Blacks Ops Cold War and Call Of Duty:Warzone Season 6. Before that he did QA on Black Ops 4 and World War II.

#callofduty #callofdutymobile #callofdutyblackops

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00: 40 - Jack’s First Day At Activision Was Brutal

03:10 - Relatability

04:18 - QA Is A Great Way To Gain Experience/QA In The Old Days

05:30 - QA Call Of Duty: World War II/Looking For Bugs

07:27 - Testing For Different Platforms

08:27 - How Jack Moved From QA To A Level Designer

12:30 - How Jack Approaches Level Design/Call Of Duty Level Design Multiplayer Examples

14:54 - Freedom Of Call Of Duty: Warzone Level Design

15:45 - Designing Downtown & Stadium In Call Of Duty:Warzone 

17:00 - Brainstorming Prototypes For Level Designs

19:23 - Destructible Terrain In The Levels

20:53 - Collaborating With The Artists

22:40 - Level Designers & Artists Reaching A Balance

23:54 - You Cant Be A Game Designer And Be Sensitive To Criticism

25:23 - College Prepared Jack For Criticism/Jack Became Brutal Of Critiquing Others Work

27:45 - Moving Into Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War/Ruka Map

28:41 - Making Content For The Game That Got Cut

29:39 - Content Is Usually Cut Because It Doesnt Mesh With The Final Vision

31:08 - Developers Day Dreamed How Microsoft Buying Activision Would Change The Studio

32:00 - Call Of Duty On Nintendo Consoles/Why Call Of Duty Isnt On Switch

34:00 - Why Jack Hasnt Attempted To Get Jobs At Studios For His Favourite Games(Metroid Prime, Dead Space, Bioshock etc.)

36:31 - Youre A Cog In A Machine On AAA And Need To Be A Jack Of All Trades With Indie Development

38:48 - A.I Art Generators Cant Compete With Artists On Game Development

41:10 - Training Interns At Treyarch

44:30 - Level Design Devs Dont Crunch For The Most Part At Treyarch/Imposter Syndrome

47:05- What Kills Devs Passion For Development  Is The Sense Of Wonder

48:04 - Jack Thinks Its Bad That Game Devs Dont Play More Games, Its Imperative For The Craft

49:00 - Franchise Fatigue

50:00 - Family Life/How Jack Finds Time To Play Games

52:18 - Working On Aven Colony/Paul Tozour/Metroid Prime

58:01 - Where To Follow Jack

58:18 - Tyvic Stallworth

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Metroid Prime, Lead Technical Engineer on the Metroid Prime Trilogy, Jack Mathews returns to the show talk all about the behind the scenes development of the game.

#metroidprime #metroid #nintendo

You can watch our previous podcast here

https://youtu.be/_vkczsDyZp4

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:47 - How Often Super Metroid Was Referred To During Development

02:20 - A.I Systems/Beetle In Chozo Ruins

05:45 - Chozo Ruins Was The First Area Worked On

06:44 - Mirror Plate In Chozo Ruins

07:45 - Finding Ways To Show Samus’ Reflection In First Person

09:00 - Reflections Causing Frame Rate Issues

10:40 - Third Person Vs First Person Optimisation 

11:20 - Why Speed Booster/Shinespark Isnt In The Prime Games/Motion Sickness

16:20 - Limitations On The Space Jump & Screw Attack

19:34 - Andy O’Neil’s Contributions

24:00 - Crunch On Prime 1/Retro Studios Old Studio

27:25 - Whata Burger Story/Debugging During Crunch

29:38 - Bug In The Pause Screen Story

30:00 - Elevator Glitch Story

36:30 - Wanting The Metroids To Be More Dangerous In The Prime Games

39:11 - Writing And Story Of Prime Games/Video Game Writing Problems

43:00 - Environmental Story Telling Of Prime 1 & Super Metroid

44:20 - Why The Fetch Quests Were Implemented

46:00 - Prime 1’s Pacing

47:20 - Why Kraid Was Cut/Omega Pirate Scripting

50:30 - Parasite Queen

52:00 - Flaaghra 

54:10 - Thardus/Meta-Ridley

55:20 - Metroid Prime Battle

56:20 - Bosses Of Prime 2/Development Problems Of Prime 2

57:20 - Difficulty Vs Stressfulness To The Player/Prime 2 Examples

1:01:00 - Difficulty Of Light Bubbles In Prime 2

1:02:00 - Prime 4 Will Not Be Metroids Breath Of The Wild Moment

1:05:00 - Fans Having Unrealistic Expectations

1:07:00 - Jack Misses Working For Nintendo/Prime 4 Wishes

1:08:26 - Metroid Prime HD Rumors/Game Rumors

1:10:50 - Kiwi Thanks Jack & Devs As Metroid Prime Helped Him Cope With His Mother’s Death

1:12:00 - Jack & Kiwi Reflect On Feeling Old & Prime 1

1:13:20 - QOL Improvements Jack Would Want For Prime 1 HD

1:14:50 - Elevator Between Phendrana Drifts & Tallon IV Overworld Wasnt Considered

1:15:40 - During Development The Devs Were Constantly Worried Prime 1 Would Be Too Short

Sean Chiplock is a well known voice actor who has voiced many characters for film, anime and video games.

#zelda #mortalkombat #voiceover

SOCIAL MEDIA

YOUTUBE -  @sonicmega 

TWITTER - @sonicmega

TWITCH -  @sonicmega 

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:34 - Sean’s Schedule/Having No Free Time

01:42 - Bayonetta 3 Voice Actor Controversy/Difficulty Of Being A Voice Actor

03:40 - Handling Rejection As A Voice Actor

06:50 - Odd Taxi Story/Trusting Yourself And Abilities

07:50 - Forgetting About Roles He Auditioned For

09:40 - Noob Saibot Voice/Phineas Voice/How Sean Finds A Voice

13:20 - Finding What Is Different & What Is Similar/AI: The Insomnium Files/Revali Voice

16:40 - How Much Voice Actors Get Paid

18:40 - Sean Chiplock Loves Anime/Film Dubs/Narrating Training Modules

20:45 - Emceeing A Gamestop Conference

22:15 - Relationship With Nintendo After Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

24:15 - Never Advocate For A Role/Zero Story 

25:34 - Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Audition/Bang Zoom!

26:40 - Sean Is Extremely Introverted/Sean Is Confident At Conventions

30:34 - Sean Would Like To Do Conventions Outside Of America

32:45 - What Sean Would Like To Work On

35:00 - Dealing With Sinuses/Being Sick As A Voice Actor

36:30 - Avoiding Foods To Prevent Mucus & Acid Reflux

38:10 - Giving Lectures On Voice Acting

39:10 - Side Incomes/Streaming

40:40 - Royalties 

41:30 - Sean Wants To Be A Voice Actor Till He Dies/Things He Wants To Do Before He Dies

42:50 - What Sean Does In His Downtime

44:15 - Being Bullied Is What Led To Sean Becoming A Voice Actor

45:15 - Where To Follow Sean Chiplock

46:15 - Sean Has Never Played Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

Matt T. Wood is a video game developer who is best known for his tenure working at Valve on some of its most prestigious franchises, he is currently working on his own indie open-world title Little Kitty Big City.

#csgo #halflife #portal2

SOCIAL MEDIA

TWITTER - @matttwood

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro/Matt Being A Common Name

02:10 - Matt Doesnt Like Cellphones

04:40 - Choreography/Scripted Scenes In Half Life 2

07:30 - Crafting Out The Scripted Sequences

08:50 - Episode 2 Scenes/Most Challenging Scenes To Choreograph

13:30 - Privilege Of Working On Half Life 2/Working At Valve

15:00 - Interactions With Gabe Newell

16:00 - Working On Portal 2 Co-Op

19:20 - Co-Op Team Never Referred To The Campaign Well Designing It

21:17 - Mapping Out Designs On The Whiteboard

24:00 - Balancing The Difficulty Of A Puzzle/Puzzles In Portal 2 Co-Op

28:45 - How Counter Strike:Go Came About

31:40 - Evolution Of First Person Shooters/FPS Influences On CS:GO

37:30 - Borrowing Game Ideas Subconsciously 

41:40 - How Little Kitty Big City Game Idea Came About

46:30 - Little Kitty Big City Will Be Open World

48:20.- Open World Influences

49:28 - Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Is Influencing Little Kitty Big City

50:35 - How Matt Finds Time To Play Games Despite Not Having Time

53:15 - Matt Is Overly Motivated And A Workaholic

54:40 - Matt Cant Shut His Brain Off And Always Having Ideas/Sleeping

57:20 - Where To Follow Matt & Little Kitty Big City

Yannis Brown is a composer, sound designer and programmer. He is best known for composing DBZ: Legacy Of Goku II and Buu's Fury. 

WEBSITE - http://www.yannisbrown.com/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro/SAE 

01:30 - How Yannis Got Into Music/Sound Design

04:10 - Learning How To Compose For Handheld Chip Set

05:20 - How Yannis Got The Job To Compose For Legacy Of Goku II

07:17 - Bruce Faulconer/OST Took A Month To Make/Ear Translations

09:00 - Devs Picked The Music To Use For LOGII

09:34 - Yannis Loved Working On The DBZ Theme Song

09:55 - Emulating Guitar Samples

10:55 - When To Keep DBZ Music The Same And When To Deviate/Music Tracking

13:03 - Translating Pieces

16:20 - Memory Management Of Music For LOGII

17:40 - Fans Remixing His Music

19:19 - Perfect Cell/Track Breakdown/LOGII Was A Sidegig

21:10 - How Yannis Got Into Sound Design

23:10 - Blurring Music & Sound Design

24:40 - Working On Star Wars Imperial Academy

25:59 - Process Of Composing

28:20 - Cutting Corners But Still Saving Quality

29:40 - Yannis Is Both Spontaneous & Analytical With Composing & Sound Design

30:00 - Royalties

31:30 - Yannis Always Has Work

32:20 - Yannis Is Unsure If He Could Work On AAA Projects/Imposter Syndrome

34:10 - Imposter Syndrome

35:30 - Yannis Forgets Writing Music For Certain Games

36:20 - Yannis’ Does Try To Keep His Work In A Vault

37:39 - Evolution Of Composing For Handhelds Compared To Mobile Games

39:40 - Restrictions Allowed More Creativity Back In The Day

41:40 - Yannis Listens To Reference Material Before Starting A Project

42:20 - Yannis Would Love To Compose For Zelda

43:10 - Enjoying Other Games Without Being Analytical About It

44:10 - Multiple Mixes/Implementation

47:10 - Writers Block

48:10 - Ear Fatigue

49:43 - Atlas Reactor Story

50:38 - Working With A Co-Composer/Gauntlet ROM

52:15 - Composers That Inspire Yannis

53:00 - Networking At Gaming Events

54:10 - Transporting Music When Moving Countries

56:12 - Where To Follow Yannis Brown

Mike Morasky is a composer at Valve who worked on franchises such as Left 4 Dead, Portal, Half Life, Team Fortress and more. Before his time at Valve he was VFX supervisor on the LOTR film trilogy and has also composed music for short films. 

#valve #lotr #halflife

SOCIAL MEDIA

TWITTER- @MikeMorasky

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:00 - Transferring VFX & Programming Skills To Composing Music

04:05 - How Mike Structures Music/LOTR VFX Structures

07:45 - Physical & Mental Interaction

08:45 - Challenge Of Composing For Half-Life:Alyx

10:45 - Half-Life:Alyx Was The Hardest Project Mike Ever Worked On

12:40 - Mike Found It Hard Adapting To Valve’s Work Structure

15:37 - Valve Does Have A Hierarchal Structure Its Just Not Traditional 

17:35 - Mike’s Views On Deadlines & Structure/Film Music Structure

21:50 - How Mike Structured The Music For Half-Life:Alyx 

23:00 -Mike Didn’t Know Music Was His Calling Well Working On LOTR/Working On LOTR

25:20 - What Made Mike Change From VFX To Composing Music

28:00 - How Mike Ended Up Working At Valve

30:40 - How Mike’s Interview Process Went To Get Hired At Valve

35:45 - Working With Peter Jackson & Wachowski Brothers

37:22 - Working With Gabe Newell

42:15 - Meetings In Regards To Setting Up A Valve Office In NZ/Other Offices

44:44 - Journalists/Being Careful What You Say

46:15 - Why Mike Didn’t Get NZ Residency/Attending The LOTR Film Premiere In Wellington

47:15 - Mike Clears Up What His Role Was On LOTR

48:30 - Fear Of Failure/The Gravity Of Working On LOTR

50:45 - Dealing With Imposter Syndrome

54:45 - Finding A New Musical Palette With Every Valve Franchise

57:20 - Mike Has Synesthesia 

59:39 - Mike Wants To Do Portal 3 But Doesn’t Want To Do Team Fortress 3

1:00:30 - Where To Follow Mike Morasky

Ellen McLain is an accomplished singer and voice actress who is best known for voicing GLaDOS in Portal 1 and Portal 2.

#portal2 #valve #glados

SOCIAL MEDIA

TWITTER - @ellenmclain

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro/Kiwi Talkz Name

01:23 - Original Intention Of Robotic GLaDOS Voice

03:35 - How To Sound Like A Robot/Initial Recordings

06:07 - Candide Operetta/Broadway

08:05 - Throwing Out Ideas In The Studio

09:02 - Dynamic In The Studio With Valve Devs

10:32 - Advocating For More Valve Games/Erik Wolpaw

11:45 - Ellen Worked On Portal 2 From The Very Beginning Of Development

14:42 - Working On Other Projects Well Working On Portal 2

15:20 - Studio Sessions Never Became Monotonous/Ellen Never Gets Bored

16:40 - Books Ellen Is Currently Reading/Russia & Putin

20:02 - Drawing On Your Own Life To A Voice Project

21:00 - Ellen Has Dreams Of Murdering People

22:50 - Working With Valve

24:20 - How Still Alive Song Came About//Jonathan Coulton/Turret Choir

29:00 - Approaching Recording GLaDOS different for the Portal Songs

32:00 - Recording Dialogue Out Of Order

34:00 - Ellen Got Given Recordings Of Stephen Merchant & JK Simmons For Portal 2

34:38 - Outlaws/Stephen Merchant/Not Disappointing Fans

38:00 - Whiplash/JK Simmons/Juiliard School//Teaching

40:34 - Ellen Is Keen For Portal 3

41:10 - The Job Of The Actor Is To Not Make A Role Stale/Ellens Marriage

43:30 - Bickering Couple In Left 4 Dead/Valve Not Knowing Ellen Was Married To John Lowrie

45:58 - Improvising On Portal

48:20 - Getting The Call To Come Back For Portal 2/How GLaDOS Influenced Ellens Work On Pacific Rim

51:22 - Projects Ellen Has Worked On Recently

54:50 - Ellen Loves Working & Rehearsing 

56:24 - Ellens Favourite Performance Was Opera

58:40 - Ellen Doesn’t Like Watching Her Own Performances

1:01:00 - Where To Follow Ellen McLain

Paul Tozour is a former engineer and video game developer with over 25 years of experience. He is most well known for his work on Metroid Prime 2 & 3. He is currently in the process of finishing his book The Four Swords: A Parable of Leadership, Video Games, and Dead Dragons which is due for release at the end of 2022.

SOCIAL MEDIA

TWITTER - @fourswordsbook

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:50 - What His Role Was At Retro Studios

02:30 - Challenges Between Retro & Nintendo/Dark Samus Fight In Prime 3

06:16 - Working With Tanabe/Western Vs Eastern Design

09:02 - Adapting To Nintendos Design Philosophies

10:55 - Project X And How It Fell Apart

17:17 - Michael Kelbaugh’s Influence On Retros Culture/How Paul Got Into Leadership 

21:00 - No Evidence To Show Crunch Is Productive/Cultural Norms

24:58 - Leadership Is Building Culture Intentionally

25:55 - Paul’s Crunch Stories/Underlying Problems Of Leadership

28:44 - Game Studio Values/Fear Of Conflict

31:35 - Leadership Is Leaving Your Ego On The Table

32:20 - Activision’s Scandal A Symptom Of A Deeper Problem

33:20 - Day Courses For Studios/Devs Having 100% Ownership Of Studios/Unions

35:50 - Andy O’Neills Saying/Mark Heigh- Hutchinson

37:15 - Michael Kelbaugh’s Leadership

38:25 - Different Disciplines 

41:40 - Pauls Book THE FOUR SWORDS And How It Came About

47:34 - Aven Colony/Helios Boss In Prime 3

50:15 - Pauls Frustration With A.I. In Gaming

53:31 - A.I. Gaming Evolution Is Very Slow/Flowchart Of Boss A.I. While Working On Prime 2 

57:01 - Idol State Of Dark Samus Battle In Prime 2

59:40 - Tanabe Didnt Like The Original Design Of The Pirate Homeward

1:01:44 - In Nintendo Meetings You Never Reference Another Game In Design Pitches

1:03:30 - The Game Is The Design Document With Nintendo

1:06:20 - Massive Design Documents Never Get Read

1:07:29 - Retro Devs Were Halo Fans And So It Influenced Prime 3/East & West Design Meet In Metroid Prime Trilogy

1:08:50 - You Gain New Perspectives From Working With Nintendo

1:10:30 - Wrap Up/FOUR Swords Book Promotion

1:11:45 - Where To Follow Paul Tozour

Eric Kozlowsky is an artist who has worked at multiple game studios and is most well known for his short but important tenure at Retro Studios on Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. He is currently Art Director at Fuzzybot.

SOCIAL MEDIA

TWITTER -@vonkoz

INSTAGRAM - @von_koz

ARTSTATION - https://www.artstation.com/vonkoz

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

#tropicalfreeze #nintendo #retrostudios

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:00 - Deadlines/Crunch

03:30 - Early Days At Retro Studios

06:00 - Working On Mangroves For Tropical Freeze

07:40 - Intimidation Factor/Camaraderie At Retro

09:20 - Eric’s Collaboration With Ted Anderson On Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze

12:31 - Eric’s Work On Windmill Hills

14:55 - Working On Rodent Ruckus

15:46 - Crunch At The End Of Tropical Freeze/Meltdown Mayhem/Destructive Terrain

17:29 - Working With Tanabe

19:40 - Tropical Freeze Levels Being Worked On Out Of Sync/Creating & Working With A Kit

23:59 - Learning From Your Peers/Nintendo Doesn’t Let You Share RAW Files

27:00 - Why Eric Left Retro Studios

29:10 - Eric Is Gutted He Isn’t Working On Metroid Prime 4/Eric Wasn’t A DK Fan Until Working On Tropical Freeze

30:40 - Eric’s Thoughts On Metroid Dread/Super Metroid

33:40 - Pacing In Games/Artist’s Should Understand Basic Design

34:40 - Layoffs In The Industry/Why Eric Moved From Studio To Studio

38:18 - Fans Starting False Rumours When Eric Started At Retro/Being Adaptable

39:30 - Retro Studios Staff Laughing At Stupid Rumours/Wrong Expectations Affected Tropical Freeze

40:30 - Differences Between Stylised & Realistic Graphics

45:00 - Eric Struggles To Stay Up With With Technology/Tunic/Having A Critical Eye

46:50 - Eric Tries To Be Broader Than Just Games/Looking At The Source

48:54 - Catch The Essence But Not Have Direct Influences/Link’s Awakening Rip Off Indie Game

50:40 - Trying To Stay Up With Artists He Mentors/Some Artists Shouldn’t Be Directors

52:40 - Keep Your Skills Sharp As An Artist/Having Tunnel Vision With Art Sometimes

55:00 - Where To Follow Eric Kozlowsky

55:57 - Eric’s Book Arma