ACTION! BOMBAST! MULTI-HIT COMBOS! FURY!!!!!!!!!!

Hugging a tree.

Yep, both these things happen in Sony Santa Monica's smash-hit God of War series. Rob is playing the 2018 game, while Patrick counts the original trilogy amongst his all-time favorite games. They talk about the differences between old and new and what works well for both. 

Topics discussed:

The high-action introductions of the original game, versus the intimate, peaceful introduction of the 2018 game.

How the camera creates the chaotic frency in the original trilogy, versus how the "documentary" style camera creates a personal feeling more appropriate to the older Kratos in the 2018 title.

Mico-hubs: how the new game encourages exploration within the context of a linear game.

Living versus dead game worlds: Rob opines about how many games take place in post-apocalyptic worlds.

You're already listening. At least, we hope so! We welcome "Japanese Games Correspondent" Patrick as a regular co-host by having a brief conversation about the newest Fist of the North Star game: Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, by Sega's Yakuza studio!

We discuss our history with the series (the 11th highest grossing media franchise of all time!) and our thoughts about the game so far.

For the first "whitebox commentary" (short discussions with minimal editing), Rob discusses the game and level design of Far Cry 5.

• Character Persistance being a common trait in AAA games

A CRT monitor, an original Xbox, the trunk of your car... and fun. Everyone loves the original Halo, but most people remember the map "Hang Em' High" specifically. Why is this map so beloved? Rob and Kip dig deep to figure it out!

Episode Notes:

-In Hang Em' High, gameplay was king. Had to keep at a high framerate, no fluff.

-"Level Design always has to take the ingredients of the game design and enhance them." -Rob

-Rob and Kip's amazing firefight during our play session and what the says about the map.

-"It [Hang em' High] takes into account every ounce of the multiplayer game design [of Halo CE] and has something to say about it." - Rob

"You use the design work as the palette for the visuals and to apply applicable shapes; ascribe visuals that lend themselves well to the environment you are trying to make." - Kip Carbone

"You can create shapes that work well for the space you need to make that's fun for the gameplay." - Kip Carbone

"I try to be true to the game design. I rely on the game designer, their vision. I'm accentuating that." -Kip Carbone

"You can make the most amazing Mise-en-scène... but you're gonna run past them at a million miles per hour, versus the monolithic structures in a Halo map. You gotta have those." -Rob

-Capture the flag as a great level design exercise.

-What is a whitebox?

-Exile from Halo 4 being a great example of the design process at work.

In part 2 of Grid Snaps' series on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Rob and Kip take us on a design deep dive of the Nova Braga Airport playspace. What makes this a great place to sneak, shoot, and fulton extract soldiers? Rob and Kip also explore many great level design and environment art processes and techniques, in one of the most info-packed episodes to date!

Topics Discussed:

Here's the hilarious "real life Metal Gear" video Rob and Kip referenced.

NOTICE: The version of this podcast released around midnight 8/2 has an audio error (music from the last podcast that was left in). If you downloaded this episode before 11:00 pm Thursday August 2, please re-download it to get the corrected version, thank you!

We loved the Phantom Pain so much, we wanted to do a two part episode on it! In this episode, Rob talked to Chris Millar of Millartime.com, who listeners may remember from the ECM podcast. Millar has put an enormous amount of time into the Phantom Pain, and has a lot to say about it from a player's perspective. Topics include:

• Favorite story moments

In addition, there is plenty of awesome music from the OST in the breaks!

Check out some of Millar's incredible MGSV gameplay here:

Zero Kills, Zero Alerts in Ground Zeroes

Deja Vu Mission (with Cyborg Ninja!)

Daytime FOB Invastion No Alert (Wow, this is awesome!)

Stay tuned for part 2, when Rob and Kip talk about the design and art of The Phantom Pain!

When Rob puts 200 hours in a game... he's gonna podcast about it, even if there was one already. While the first Xenoblade Chronicles podcast is a deep dive on the game's world design, Rob and Brandon instead talk about the game as a whole. Topics discussed include:

• The history of developer Monolith Soft

Make sure to visit Nichegamer.com, a great website that loves to cover games such as Xenoblade Chronicles 2!

You can also follow Nichegamer via twitter @nichegamer, facebook at nichegamer, and niche_gamer on Instagram!

When Rob puts 200 hours in a game... he's gonna podcast about it, even if there was one already. While the first Xenoblade Chronicles podcast is a deep dive on the game's world design, Rob and Brandon instead talk about the game as a whole. Topics discussed include:

• The history of developer Monolith Soft

Make sure to visit Nichegamer.com, a great website that loves to cover games such as Xenoblade Chronicles 2!

You can also follow Nichegamer via twitter @nichegamer, facebook at nichegamer, and niche_gamer on Instagram!

Grid Snaps favorite Adam Pratt returns to promote his newest book, Arcade Heroes: Arcade Gaming Almanac 2018/2019, coming soon! We also discuss the latest developments in the arcade scene, including:

• How has the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game affected arcade game design? Can we expect more "joystick" (not wheel or plastic gun based) games now?