Dev Game Club

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we revisit our 2017 series on 1999's Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. We're interviewing Riley Cooper, a former colleague of Tim's who had a long career at Crystal Dynamics and worked on the title in level design and combat design roles. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Podcast breakdown:
1:01 Interview
1:07:10 Break
1:07:40 Outro
Issues covered: the Universe coming together, getting in, making terrain layers in Photoshop, moving to the next thing, working on the combat, the parts that had to be there, incorporating lateral movement for combat, applying fighting game discipline, not inventing from whole cloth, rebuilding a camera system, design as open source, defensive patents, jamming so much into levels, spectral morphing and lack of follow-ups, blind ambition coming from Amy Hennig, being two weeks from ship for one to two years, time to market vs time to quality, people simply not knowing, jumping between genres, the victory of European labor laws, knowing how to build what you're building, a vacuum of upper management, being able to just make the game, the tension between business and creation, wanting to design without interference, execs who want to play with the toys, "problems down solutions up," wanting appropriate ownership at every level, getting the same letter at the end of two different projects, the feeling at the start vs the feeling in the middle, thoughtful refactoring, starting from the right constraints, locking yourself in a room with a design problem to find the solution, gameplay goes at the speed of thumbs, a sports game that's a video game first, good places to be from.
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Lord of the Rings, LucasArts, Solar Eclipse, Legacy of Kain (series), Tomb Raider (series), EA, Need for Speed (series), Sony, Atari 2600, Dave Morse, 3D0, Saturn, Noah Hughes, Amy Hennig, Silicon Knights, Denis Dyack, Seth Carus, Street Fighter 2, Super Mario 64, Jim Conrad, Andrew Hynek, Roberta Williams, Daniel Chayer-Bison, Pete Lake, Microsoft, X-COM, Fallout, Populous, Sean Vesce, Richard Lemarchand, Naughty Dog, Uncharted, Hitman, Hakan Almer, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.
Next time:
TBA!
Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp
YouTube
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on two entries from the casual space by PopCap. We discuss Peggle before turning to takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Sections played:
All mainline levels (B), about half (T)
Issues covered: crossing over from casual to hardcore, awards contention, describing Peggle and pachinko, the Peggle masters, talking about removal games and Match-3, how someone engages with one of these games typically, a bunch of animals, the manipulation and the presentation, accentuating moments and playing with physics, shorter vs longer games, PopCap in other games, refining and polishing a genre, removing the biomechanical hurdle, tone and identity for design, accentuating moments especially with audio, trailblazing, don't overthink it, really exploring the space, taking out the real Slim Shady.
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Bejeweled, Alchemy, Zuma, Arkanoid, BioShock, Portal, Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy, God of War II, Mass Effect, Metroid Prime III, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, CoD4: Modern Warfare, Crysis, Uncharted, Assassin's Creed, The Witcher, Rock Band, Buddy, Candy Crush, Ridiculous Fishing, Vlambeer, Zach Gage, Spelltower, Spider, Randy Smith, World of Warcraft, Gears of War, Drop 7, Blizzard, Breakout, Atari 2600, Into the Breach, Advance Wars, Psychonauts, Double Fine, Pixar, Supercell, Hitman, Hakan Almer, Martin Ansdal, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.
Next time:
??
Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp
YouTube
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on casual games with our continuing discussion of Plants vs Zombies. We talk about the mechanics some more, a bit about the economy, and our favorite elements. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Sections played:
Thru 5-4 (T) or 5-8ish (B)
Issues covered: thanks on the Discord Game Club, new plants and shaking up strategy, classic RTS arcs and introducing new units, the lack of a difficulty spike, games to replay, being in the zone with your strategy, lack of wall missions, play rhythms, how this is a full RTS, removing a step from processes, cutting out biomechanical or memory things, hybridization and making the same decisions to allow other hardcore issues, playerbase ceilings, the mechanics of the coin economy, a grindy mechanic, where we go after the roof, adding mechanics for the roof and an angle, paying for the coffee bean, some favorite zombies and plants, good uses of minigames, some good tower defense games, meaning and invested time and digital loss, theater and ephemera, letting things go.
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Blizzard, WarCraft (series), StarCraft (series), Diablo, Homeworld, Bejeweled 3, Unreal Tournament, Road Warrior/Mad Max, Ratchet & Clank (series), John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever, Peggle, Project Octavia, Hakan Almer, IO Interactive, Hitman, Ryan, Bloons td6, They Are Billions, Orcs Must Die! (series), Kingdom Rush, Dungeon Defenders, Threes, mysterydip, Minecraft, PT, Fortnite, Roblox, Valheim, World of Warcraft, Kongregate, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.
Next time:
Peggle
Errata:
I of course meant Saturday Night Fever. 

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp
YouTube
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

It's summertime and that means scheduling challenges. Therefore, this week we are reaching into the Discord Game Club interview archive. This time around, fan Discord members Artimage and Mors chat with Nick T, of The Race Against Time. We expect to return next week.
Links:
The Race Against Time - August 15th & 16th, 11AM - 1PM EDT
http://raceagainsttime.io
http://raceagainsttime.io/donate
https://translifeline.org/
http://Twitch.tv/nt3rp
Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp 
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a short mini-series on casual games, beginning with PopCap's Plants vs Zombies. We spend a lot of time setting these lower-challenge games both in their time and against other genres before talking a bit about the game itself. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Sections played:
Through 2-1
Issues covered: setting the game in 2009, PopCap's fortunes, repackaging a genre, puzzly games in Java, appealing to core games and casual, being good at rewards, walled gardens, starting on desktops and moving to phones, phone fragmentation, A/B design testing, hidden objects, translating well to mobile, the history of EA's acquisitions, the early tower defense games, coining the term, automated elements, the stress of the RTS, MOBAs, removing the dev hurdles from a genre, modders doing something they could do, autochess, recognizing it, a simple concept that reads quickly, the impenetrable defense, turtling: the video game, the way zombie movies build, design ideas can come from anywhere, easily visualizing new things, archetypes, easily reading how much health is left, having a moment of joy in a reveal, seeing the zombie affordances, locking into strategies.
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2, Demons's Souls, Ratchet & Clank, Brutal Legend, Assassin's Creed II/series, Borderlands, Infamous, Dragon Age: Origins, Left 4 Dead 2, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Bayonetta, PS3/Xbox 360/Wii, EA, Peggle (series), Bejewelled, Blizzard, Zuma, Alchemy, Drop 7, Threes, Diner Dash, Resident Evil 4, Fortnite, Facebook, Farmville, Zynga, Kongregate, Ultima, Westwood, Bioware, Mass Effect, Crystal Dynamics, Morgan Gray, Desktop Defense, Atari, Rampart, Defense of the Agents, Warcraft III, Starcraft, League of Legends, Riot, Valve, George Fan, Diablo, PixelJunk Monsters, Orcs Must Die!!, Vermintide, Tower of Goo, The Birds, Tippi Hedren, Portal, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.
Next time:
More PvZ
Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp
YouTube
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com