One Life Left

We’re easing ourselves into GDC week with a low-key hotel room recording, but there is nothing low-key about our brilliant guests.

Adriel Wallick fills us in on how Train Jam went, Rami Ismail from Vlambeer talks to us about his talks this year, Unity’s Kerry Turner tells us what it’s like being on a booth.

We’re also joined by The New Yorker’s Simon Parkin, Shailesh Prabhu from Cape,  Mediocre’s Henrik Johansson, and Runa Haukland and Henriette Myrlund from Splash Jam.

If that’s us at low-key, imagine where we’ll be by the end of the week.

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It’s the final One Life Left of the season, before we go into our cocoon and emerge as One Life Left X Gamasutra for this year’s GDC. Unfortunately Simon didn’t obey our rules and went into hibernation earlier than expected due to a cold. This also probably means that Simon will be Patient Zero for this year’s Con Flu. One Life Left is always ahead of the game.

Our Super-Special Guest this week was the always-excellent Matt Sheret. Some might argue that he actually doesn’t have much to do with videogames and he was only on the show as he was in the area and answering our calls. But he’s actually very big in VR (our alternative title for this episode was Lawnmower Matt).

We also spoke about the hot topic of gender in Pokemon and gave a typical One Life Left response, found out which Batmen Ann identifies with and tried to remember where our Blackberry Playbooks were. And we give more info about our New York and San Francisco Marioke parties, the gist being: Get there early.

Cheerio and see you in America!
Team OLL x

Links:
https://twitter.com/mattsheret
https://www.facebook.com/events/672291596276893/
https://fundraiser.resonance.fm/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDEfaonoQvg

Tracklist:
1. Jellica - Side Rmx 4three
http://chipmusic.org/Jellica/music/jellica---side-rmx4three-c64--909
2. Klamm - Prisma
http://chipmusic.org/Klamm/music/prisma
3. Plants of Prisms - ekononom
http://chipmusic.org/Plants+Of+Prisms/music/ekononom

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This week’s show sees two BIG Marioke announcements. The first is that we’re doing a Marioke gig in New York on 24th February (we would put 24/02, but it would just confuse everyone who is going there). It promises to be a great event and not just because Simon won’t be there.

The second Marioke announcement involved our Super-Special Guests, Henry and Chris. They’re in a band that play live backing tracks to people singing songs. But hang on, don’t we have a side-project that changes the lyrics of karaoke songs to be about videogames? Is there some way that we combine these two aspects and make a Marioke with a live backing band? And perhaps we could make it a fundraising event for Resonance FM (the best radio station ever)? The answer to all these questions is YES.

Other than our amazing announcements we further developed our relationship with Lewis Schaffer, had a cameo appearance from Producer Chris and Ann confirmed that smoking is cool. She’ll probably have to speak to HR over the week about this.

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Links:
https://twitter.com/Henryhbarnes
https://www.facebook.com/events/672291596276893/

Track list:
1. Business Pastel - Mutual
http://chipmusic.org/business+pastel/music/mutual-2xlsdj-demo
2. POPCORNKID - Out The Sound
http://chipmusic.org/POPCORNKID/music/out-the-sound-demo-lsdj-and-more

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It’s just the lads tonight as Ann had a migraine. And being a kind, trusting team at One Life Left we take her at her word and don’t try to work out where else she could be - at least for the first half-hour anyway.

We also failed to have a Super-Special Guest in the studio. But luckily that meant we could talk to David Heslop about videogame tv via Skype. David told us how difficult it is to get videogames on television (usually through a SCART lead or HDMI cable) and how frustrating that is considering the many opportunities that games offer children’s tv.

Normally Ann being away causes issues with the news, but luckily Ann came to the rescue. There was also a bit of Parkinson chat, Simon told us what it’s like to be a big deal on Twitter and Ste nearly broke his NDA. Ouch.

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Links:
https://twitter.com/dtHeslop

Tracklist:
1. Hide Your Tigers - Decaying Tigers
http://chipmusic.org/Hide+Your+Tigers/music/decaying-tigers-lsdj
2. Enders Crusade - Xenocide
http://chipmusic.org/Enders+Crusade/music/xenocide
3. Shintarou Music - Hanging
http://chipmusic.org/ShintarouMusic/music/hanging

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One thing we always forget to check before each show is if Simon’s workplace proximity acquaintance John believes our Super-Special Guest for this week’s show is excellently named. Luckily this week we remembered and we can confirm that week’s SSG - Jake Tucker - has a John-Approved name.

Jake is currently writing for Rock Paper Shotgun, but has also been involved with Videobrains, which Vice described as TED talks for videogames. He’s also created a game called 20something that is based on his personal experiences and is currently working on a new game that will presumably be based on when he was on the show. Either that or Ste persuaded him to make a cricket themed sequel called 20twentysomething.

We also found out the difference between Itch and Steam, Ann made a slight mistake in her news that Ste and Simon were far too gentlemanly to point out, had a debate about Outrun (that was easily solved) and had features from Rob Beer and Sega Badawi.

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Links:
https://twitter.com/_jaketucker
http://store.steampowered.com/app/582840/
https://jaketucker.itch.io/20something

Track list:
1. Draggs Connor - Cats!!
http://chipmusic.org/Draggs+Connor/music/c-a-t-s-!-!
2. HEADBAND - Buddhic Bossa
http://chipmusic.org/HEADBAND/music/buddhic-bossa

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It’s difficult when you have a decision to make and both options are fantastic. On one hand we all had an invite back to Lewis Schaffer’s where we would have discussed how great both of our shows are and possibly someone would have understood Simon’s t-shirt reference. On the other hand we had a show to make and produce. And if we didn’t make the show would Lewis have invited us to his place?

Luckily there was an additional factor to bear in mind when making our decision as videogame legend Mev Dinc was on the show. We covered loads of topics from the 8 bit computers up to the present day, but it was good to find out the easiest way to port Enduro Racer from the Spectrum to the Amstrad, how/why First Samurai was possibly the most pirated game on the Amiga and what it was like to be one of the main people to make Ubisoft the success it is today.

We also found out that Ste has come up with some merch ideas (which might mean we finally have a chance of monetising our brand), Ann went on a walk (but forgot to play Pokemon Go) and Simon might not need to put his Wii U in the canal. Our GDC Marioke was advertised at the end of this show, but it’s already sold out so the news was a bit out of date (kind of like Sega Badawi’s Local News).

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Links:
https://Twitter.com/mevdinc
https://Twitter.com/pixelagestudios
http://pixelagestudios.com/
https://twitter.com/LewisSchaffer

Track list:
1. ATKstat - Pressure
http://chipmusic.org/ATKstat/music/pressure-lsdj-demo
2. Chrome Cobra - How Cobra Got His Groove Back
http://chipmusic.org/Chrome+Cobra/music/how-cobra-got-his-groove-back

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It’s the first show of a new year (4AL* if you’re keeping note) and all the team is back. Ste returned from his overseas holiday to the Caribbean and Ann came back from Spain. Jamaica? Yes, otherwise she’d be hearing from our HR director.

To ease us into the new year, we got a guest in who is always willing to talk to us on numerous topics. Well, as long as that topic is the game that his company has recently released. It’s David McCarthy from Cygames! He managed to make all our questions relate to Cygames’ latest release Shadowverse, except for when we asked if Shadowverse was made by magicians. Shadowverse is Hearthstone meets Magic The Gathering and is played by 15 million Japanese people everyday, and 15 million people can’t be wrong (Insert EU Referendum reference here)!

We also found out if Ste has become bloodthirsty now his Mum says he can play violent games (Sub please check this), what DAU stands for, what Simon has recently ordered to put at the bottom of the canal and what is frustrating Ann. Sega Badawi also made a return and we announced a very special guest for next week (cue the Hallelujah chorus).

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

* After Luigi

Links:
https://twitter.com/shadowversegame
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/01/scorpion-on-a-train-delays-london-to-edinburgh-journey

Tracklist:
1. Veenomn - Drifting Away
http://chipmusic.org/veenomn/music/drifting-away
2. Drags Connor - Game Over
http://chipmusic.org/Draggs+Connor/music/game-over

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It’s a Christmas special with lots of surprises so we don’t really want to spoil them in this intro (although the links bit does give it away a little). We guess we can tell you that Luke Williams from Bossa Studios was in to talk a little bit more about Worlds Adrift and what it’s like making a game where people are generally nice to each other. But any more information will affect your enjoyment of a show that is different to our usual ones but just as great.

Cheerio and Merry Christmas!
Team OLL x

Links:
https://twitter.com/eternz
https://www.worldsadrift.com/
https://twitter.com/plentyspace
https://twitter.com/teenytinylisa
https://twitter.com/CharlesCecil
https://twitter.com/notken
https://twitter.com/mattsheret

Track list:
1. Ding Dong Merrily on High - Robby Duguay
https://robbyduguay.bandcamp.com/
2. Go Tell It To The Mana - Robby Duguay
https://robbyduguay.bandcamp.com/

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This week’s Super-Special Guest is John Vega who works at Curve Digital as a business developer. Luckily as Simon was away, there was no conflict of interest in the interview section. Unluckily as Simon was away, there were lots of questions we could ask John about working with Simon. We found out what it is that a business developer does, what the success rate of the game pitches Curve receives is like and how we can improve our chances of getting our game published (probably by not asking personal questions about Simon).

Little Acre is one of the first games that John biz devved and it should be out now! John told us a little bit about what made him interested in the game and also that Lord Sir Charles Cecil had a small role in proceedings. That must mean it’s going to be great, or that a goat has been put into the game somewhere.

Ann proved her news hound credentials by uncovering the new name for Super Mario Run and also a new price point for the app. This news may be related to Ann’s new glasses which have a new prescription and make it hard for her to read accurately. Ste was feeling a bit melancholy about videogames. He’s obviously missing his guns, when the bells ring out for New Year’s Day he’ll have a great big smile on his face as 2017 is the Year of the Guns.

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Links:
https://twitter.com/John_F_Vega
http://www.pewtergamesstudios.com/the-little-acre/

Track list:
1. VCMG - The Func
http://chipmusic.org/VCMG/music/the-func
2. Hitekx - Zack0 Beat
http://chipmusic.org/hitekz/music/zakk0-beat
3. Burryleak - Snow.scr
http://chipmusic.org/burryleak/music/snowscr

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It’s a Christmas miracle: Simon’s back! He did forget to bring Sega Badawi or a Super-Special Guest with him but made it up by managing to get Skype working in our studio. This meant that we managed to get Gary Plowman on the show as our Super-Special Skype Guest. Gary spoke about his ZX Spectrum Code Club book, which is a good stocking filler for all family members (depending on the size of the stocking). Incredibly Gary has managed to get a Basic version of Flappy Birds working on the Spectrum which we’re already excited about coding. Gary allowed two thirds of Team OLL to reminisce about typing in programmes from magazines and books - along with the typos and misprints that caused the whole programme to fail.

Anyway, with Gary being our inaugural Skype guest it now opens the whole world to being Super-Special Guests. So if you live in a non-Brexit country and still want to be involved in One Life Left then let us know (offer also open to UK residents who just don’t fancy coming to London).

We spent last Sunday on a barge and did a super-secret Marioke project that will become clear at our Christmas party next week (which is already sold out). There’s also an in depth discussion of popcorn and we get our Sinclair Users and Your Sinclairs mixed up. What an (R tape loading) error.

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Links:
https://twitter.com/gazzapper
https://twitter.com/zxspectrum_club
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0993474403

Track list:
1. Jaar - Commodorable
http://chipmusic.org/jaar/music/c-o-m-m-o-d-o-r-e-a-b-l-e
2. Hide Your Tigers - Vitaminte
http://chipmusic.org/Hide+Your+Tigers/music/vitaminte-lsdj
3. Klamm - Cracks
http://chipmusic.org/Klamm/music/cracks

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