Dev Game Club

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2012's Fez, looking at coming back to a puzzle game and perception in its many forms, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: More cubes! Issues covered: video game development ephemera, coming back to a puzzle game, not enjoying the map but maybe you should be, a text adventure map, secret doors, retraining your brain, key ordering, not knowing if you should walk away from puzzles, developing trust with the game, being motivated to solve every puzzle, when do you walk away, planning for the player to get stuck, adventure game slop, getting stuck in a more linear game, putting in scaled difficulty, getting to a point where you're stuck everywhere, different types of puzzling in the game, the steps of a particular puzzle, a meta discussion, a game about perspectives where the activity is manipulating perspectives, being proud of being in

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we return with a bonus interview for our series on Interstate '76. We talk about shipping the game's predecessor, pulling together, and making something new. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 1:15 Interview 1:05:22 Break 1:06:00 Outro Issues covered: introducing the guests, having fun making games, great manuals, marrying video games and Hollywood, having more video game applicable experience than you realize, having to right the ship well into development, preordering a game you ended up working on, living in the office, getting enough memory to run the games, opening up space for something new, superheroics and glue, "high polygon counts," muscle cars with guns, being ahead of the curve, sims being in the blood, engine development, come back with your tenth idea, a 28-year scoop on engine work, "I can do that," optimizing and making things up as you go along, making a gam

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Fez. We talk about its platforming and how it fits to taste, game style, and rule escalation. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: More cubes! Issues covered: platforming feelings and taste, inspirations and how they play out here, additional move set, floaty physics, a mental game with mostly generous platforming, a game that takes place in your head rather than in your fingers, seeking high highs, sloppiness and guiding the player, no longer seeing the whole world but only the tells, the pleasure of figuring things out, checking out the achievements, how many people get everything, the craft of the game, wanting to feel capable, finding a solution that was not the intended solution, dominated by the puzzle side, those moments where you give a big "no way," extending a simple idea and iterating on it for a fleshed-out game, iterating ideas, a chain of

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series of series on the independent games of the last couple of decades, starting with 2012's Fez. We set the game in its time, talk a bit about its precedents and the landscape of independent games in the middle of that console generation. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Single-digit cubes Issues covered: our real plan or lack thereof, early games, the indie revolution, the influences back and forth, the pressure of the space we're in, a highly visible indie, games from that year, sequels vs the different stuff in the indies, democratization of the market, the console cycle, always online fiasco, getting on the Steam store, opening console store fronts to independents, limitations, the broadband market and bandwidth costs, the publicity on the store, low cost of goods, continuing power of retail, a two dimensional puzzle game in a three dimensional world, c

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we sadly conclude our series on Interstate '76. Poor Tim could not really play the game at all, so we're going to have to let this one go, but we'll still talk about a few things. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to Mission 10 (B) Issues covered: Tim being unable to get the game running, other cultural objects disappearing, physics implementation details from an implementer!, PC compatibility testing, running down bugs even today, flight stick vs controller, acceleration and turning, independent throttle, analog triggers on modern controllers, easy difficulty, getting a lot out of a few cars, making cars seem smarter, lack of uncanny valley, feeling a whole story in a mission, level design vs mission design, repetitive missions in other games, rewarding you with movies, impersonating a President, committing to a stylistic identity, standing out from the crowd, leveraging

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1997's Interstate '76. We talk about physics again, mission design, input, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played:  Roughly six missions (B), technical difficulties (T) Issues covered: end of mission two sitting duck and acting, many controller bindings, driving an automatic, mapping onto the character's body instead of the car, the hardware abstraction layer and Direct X, enumerating devices and buttons, IBM PC light grey numpads, mechanical keyboards, the nostalgia of two hands on the keyboard, extra peripherals, simulating the character vs the car, the car as the crosshairs, getting stuff off the battlefield, upgrades, managing weight, racing missions, the potential of weight impacting the simulation, a game that's not well-preserved, weird configuration and axes, mission design, following the guy you're racing, broken physics world, c

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 1997's Interstate '76. We set the game a bit in its time, talk about Activision (almost as an afterthought), and then start getting into the characters and the vibe, of which there is much. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Early mission or two Issues covered: a game time forgot, playing a sim game genre, a unique take on the sim genre plus car combat, prepping the sim elements vs the actual play, other games from that year, taking a formula and doing something different with it, modern exploitation-inspired games, exploitation cinema, grindhouse, other potential influences and inspirations, why you pick sparse environments, breakable cacti, a huge variety of games, low-cost film-making and democratization, vigilantes, a bland corporation, text adventures, a business and not a game company, seeing the impact of acquisition or mergers, character introd

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on 1999's Outcast. We talk a bit about the end of the game, the challenge of plate-spinning, gadgets we missed out on for much of the game, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Finished (Brett)... some more (Tim) Podcast breakdown: 00:47 Discussion 54:07 Break 54:36 Takeaways/Mailbag Issues covered: getting captured and losing your stuff, getting some ammo from your subquests, some of the other weapons, the silenced sniper tranquilizer, not fulfilling stealth, a difficult puzzle in the tree world, the deep sound puzzle of the forest world, getting one key from a complicated puzzle and then a physics puzzle, doing what you think is right for your goals, modest budgets vs today's indie and AAA, the lower development cost and the challenge of readability, making big hard decisions to collapse away a problem, market size, the delusion of ship

With Tim's power out for multiple days, we again lean on the Discord community for an episode. This time around, BioStats and Calamity Nolan interview LostLake86, one of the Discord's mods, a highly experienced Minecraft player and a streamer. We expect to return to finish off Outcast next week. Twitch: timlongojr Discord DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1999's Outcast. We talk about world structure, world building, concrete vs abstract implementations of mechanics, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to/through Talanzaar Issues covered: sad news, a digression on Edgar Rice Burroughs and Project Gutenberg, finally "getting" the game, depth of story and environment at the time, the "second" world, moderating your own difficulty, supporting narrative goals, a dynamic "find this person" system, concrete interactions to increase believability of the world, the big impact of the world state change, organic architecture, cheesing the terrain collision, world-building in conversations, Mogi and his history, the crane puzzle, auto-targeting the swinging cube, the brothers competing for the business, the flautist and singer, the adventurous music, world state music, reputation as a concept,

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1999's Outcast. Tim can't get enough of the voxels, and we dive a little bit into combat, mounts, and structure. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Mostly through Shamazaar Issues covered: revisiting Defeating Games for Charity, the work behind the event, launch of VGHF library, accepting the voxels, possible benefits of voxels, how to represent transfer, back to metaballs, generating noise in the voxels, collision and voxels, looking unlike other games of the time, leaving out polygons for the voxels to show through, avoiding the enemies vs blasting, apparent resource scarcity, weak stealth, projectile-based shooting, combat and missing all the time, enjoying dodging but hating missing, abstraction in games, enemies dropping guns that disappear, voice work, stand-out characters, having fun with the NPCs, not being too self-serious, investigating the

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 1999's Outcast, from Appeal and Infogrames. We first talk about this past weekend's charity event, before setting the game in its time and discussing its early presentation. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through tutorial Issues covered: Defeating Games for Charity, variety of streamers, offerings to the foundation, the speedrun seed, commenting on our own game, more memories of Jedi Starfighter, how a developer sees a game vs a player, a big doodyhead, the crossover of European games, setting the game in its time, not fitting in with others of its time, a weird company in gaming history, not being sure what's in the game, a parody of 1980s action heroes, pop culture origins, proper noun soup and a lexicon, waking up in another place, doling out too much worldbuilding at once, othering non-Western cultures, building on golden era science fiction, e

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we are catching up on our mailbag! Let's face it, it's mostly about Minecraft, though we spend a lot of time on video game preservation. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Issues covered: the manananggal, Defeating Games for Charity, ownership of work materials, Tim's notes on the Discord Game Club interview with Phil Salvador, our own games disappearing, the value of libraries, preserving all games, copyright lawyers, the tension between corporations and preservationists, protecting children online, defending your kids, engaging with your kids over games, external references, limits on exploration interest, Tim and Brett disagree about whether Minecraft devs relied on the existence of a wiki, older version availability in Minecraft Java Edition, speedrunning Minecraft, modding and Minecraft, YouTube and Minecraft trajectories, Lego Fortnite's means of directing you, limited building or buildi

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we conclude our series on Minecraft. We talk about our stories, multiplayer, and other topics, before turning to our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: A few more hours of Minecraft Issues covered: the upcoming charity event, Tim not knowing where Site D is, milestones for Tim, an epic story of loss with Mors, having high stakes and risk, Brett makes a long deep dive into an enormous open cavern, the procedural elements of exploration, connected caverns, Lost Lake's skill and visiting his place, the causeway that takes you to Lost Lake, automating systems, never finding an emerald, ad campaigns from the 1950s, a game developer muses about his existence in the universe, terrain modeling and erosion, not being able to tell that something wasn't hand-modeled, changes in the algorithm over time, getting lost in narrow caverns, simple goals that are obvious needs for sur

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we recap 2024 through our interviews. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. It's all about our takeaways -- I'm going to let the clips speak for themselves and remove the usual stuff from here. In the past year, we interviewed Michel Ancel, Alex Garden, Sam Lake, Jordan Mechner, and Tony Rowe, and every interview was fun to listen to again. Terrific slate. We're so lucky. It's humbling. Next time: Either Minecraft or a mail bag Links: Defeating Games for Charity Note: Tony Rowe's whitepaper was not yet on the Internet as of this recording; we'll keep an eye out and share it when we discover its publication. Twitch: timlongojr Discord DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Minecraft, with this special Christmas edition. We talk a little about seeds and sharing them, carpeting your friend's base, stories of ongoing Minecrafting, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: A few more hours of Minecraft Issues covered: wall-to-wall carpeting, Defeating Games for Charity, Minecraft gear, motion capture, finding Tim's base, stairs being my hallmark, the importance of community, a potato generator, farming spaces and pens, not being deep on the tech tree, building being an important part, learning about sheep and their needs, grass propagation, sudden appearance of grass, emergent properties and experimentation, getting quickly to the nether, leaning on villagers, building up the spawn point, monster generation, XP as currency, upgrading villagers, a system to get quickly to villages, a very deep hole, climbing out o

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2009's Minecraft. We talk about it birthing the survival genre, and a bit about what that means on several levels, drive into player motivation, and talk a little bit about how our play has gone. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: A few more hours Issues covered: announcement about servers, the importance of iteration and innovation in game development, implementing on the basis of what you need, layering with survival in play, exploratory game-making and seeing where choices take you, not knowing the opportunities for things, spatial exploration and buildable exploration, not knowing what to do with all this copper, adding things to challenge your assumptions, setting up traps, having to do a lot of stuff to get to the nether, having a hard time sustaining an open game, digging towards a mountain, finding an abandoned mine, a minimal story that doesn

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 2009's Minecraft. We talk about the early access history of the title, the impact on the industry, and then dive into some initial thoughts on our first few hours. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: A few hours Issues covered: Brett kills Tim, an announcement about opening world, an announcement about Defeating Games for Charity, the Minecraft Timeline, the beginning of Early Access, starting with creative mode, adding core concepts later, viral success, cellular automata, emergence in a user-created space, free-to-play vs early access, hunger, huge success, a smart purchase, a rough start, undirected and unexplained, the key to the experience, building a game with a community, the crafting table and drawing little items, sanding edges off, crafting blocks with blocks, connecting to your humanity, how long you can go without stuff, building up a city,

This time around, BioStats and Calamity Nolan interview Phil Salvador, Library Director of the Video Game History Foundation. We expect to return with a new series next week. Twitch: timlongojr Discord DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we conclude our series on 2006's Dead Rising. We visit the end of the game a bit and then turn to our takeaways, before tackling a reader question. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Finished the game! Issues covered: the enemy mix, just being a journalist, being interrupted by Otis, the arrival of the army, captured by cultists, constant use of the chainsaw, adding an enemy and its impact, greater XP rewards, state changes and controlling the state change, an ongoing narrative, how games end, overtime mode, the helicopter arrival, how new game+ or post-game works these days, frustration with unplugging the bombs, vehicle troubles, reach exceeding grasp, having the wrong feelings, the wall mission, early replay to skills gather, the bomb cyclone, the open world structure and its rogue-like nature, picking the good inspiration, weapon variety and payoff, finding new things to d