Dev Game Club

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we add a bonus interview to our series on Final Fantasy VI. We are joined by Sebastian Deken, whose new book explores especially the music in the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 0:51 Interview 1:05:21 Break 1:06:03 Outro Issues covered: not being able to talk about video game music, researching live performances of video game music, pitching Boss Fight Books, playing a friend's copy of Final Fantasy, racking up Blockbuster fines from pushing the rental, knowing that you're a musician from early on, studying to be an opera singer, having punishing stage fright for performance, getting into the Columbia MFA program, getting a great thesis advisor, the influence of prog rock on FF6's soundtrack, "the steampunk of music," Celtic music as an influence, the other influences you hear, having the Chocobos take you out of the game, the transitions from overworld to Zozo, kno

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we mostly conclude our series on Final Fantasy VI, though we'll be back for takeaways and more email. Brett takes us through the ending and we discuss some other late-game content. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through the end Issues covered: games we haven't finished for the 'cast, setting aside a day to finish, three hours of the final dungeon, the advantage of the SNES Classic, the emulation problems, delving into the magic points per battle for Espers, cross-pollination of Espers and various systems, gaining Ultima and Ragnarok, Ragnarok's weird power, grinding for Ultima, using Phantom to vanish as a strategy, having Dualcast and whether you can find it, naming things with X-, potential localization differences, games with multiple translations and intending different things, needing Mog to get the Yeti and not Gau, Relm's dad, the credits for the characters, betting

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Final Fantasy VI. We are deeply into the world of ruin, seeking out our friends, and relating our strange adventures, before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: More of the World of Ruin Issues covered: breaking the Internet, reaching the Dream Stooges, naming Cyrano, The Dark Chuckler, Tim's plan going off the rails, exploring Zozo, returning to places from the World of Balance, the sad story of the woman's departed beau, getting a lot of mileage out of small amounts of animation, not enjoying the battle system enough to avoid the feelings of interruption, the challenge of the dragon, Brett's unchanging strategy, Celes's Runic action, searching the map for Locke, the hidden stuff in Doma, getting into Cyan's dream, defeating the Dream Stooges, puzzles on the Phantom Train, being begged to save Cyan by his dead family, the tough ba

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Final Fantasy VI. Tim catches up and fails to save the world, so we talk about making it work, in the ashes, as we got the band back together, before turning to listener feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: A few hours past Floating Continent Issues covered: the messed up inner turmoil of Terra, being stuck in a maze with random encounters, five hours on the floating continent, wiping after racing to the ship, waiting because of the walkthrough (or not), Timmy saves the day and holds back Kefka, cutscenes that age well or poorly, saving Cid or not, the cost of resetting the party, fears of apocalypse, meaningful sequences of finding each character again, finding a dragon and failing, Terra not rejoining you, wandering around Zozo, Sabin holding up a house and another timed sequence, regaining Edgar, going through Darill's/Daryl's Tomb, restori

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Final Fantasy VI. We continue talking about the story, the mechanics that make an area like Floating Continent so frustrating, the new characters, and more! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up through the Floating Continent Issues covered: sketching my enemies to death, whether there are other characters named Relm, setting things up to be open, retreading a lot of territory due to random battle interruptions, the psychology of spatial changes, running away and smoke bombs, leaving the area and returning, crashing the airship and getting that Mode7 goodness, the rough-and-tumble empire town of Maranda, the impact of Empire, having to sustain disbelief, not buying that the Emperor would sue for peace, introducing dialog trees for a one-off, designer jokes, Cid becoming a Returner, General Leo's honor, Kefka being locked up, mastering 16-bit cutscenes

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Final Fantasy VI. We talk about more of what we've played so far, dipping into issues of where we grind, how we approach combat, and touching on the Espers. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to Opening the Gate! Issues covered: the gold hairpin/Moogle choice, Lone Wolf in a cell, being confused about the Atma Weapon, random battles and preventing player goals and expression, exploring the Vector facility, having to fight the sub-boss and then save, meeting Cid, the grim origins of Magitek, cultural origins of what the game might be about, grinding in the facility for tents, Brett's physical damage approach vs Tim's magical damage approach, Scanning, losing a magic-user due to Lore Reasons, some discussion of Espers and leveling their skills, how the summons work in later FFs, streaming rules and audience support, being unprepared to lose a charact

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Final Fantasy VI. We talk about more of what we've played so far, including differences between each of our experiences especially, and culminating in the Opera House. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up through the Opera House! Issues covered: not being able to play every day, lack of recaps, enjoying the thief play, fighting a merchant and stealing his clothes, "who does this?," playing different games, the influence of party members on combat play, the trickster as main character, missing out on surprises because you spent so much time on a space, recontextualizing a space, paying off the cider/setting up things that needed to be dealt with later, transitioning based on order, a little bit of proto-Tower Defense, how/why Brett lost, fighting Kefka, the transformation of Terra, spell ordering in the menus, learning from Espers (rather than treatin

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Final Fantasy VI. We talk about the story and the utility of allowing players to choose the order in which to play a few sections, among other things, before turning to your feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up through two of the post-rapids sequence Issues covered: the ins and outs of S. Figaro, finding the rebel base, Tim forgets the names, whether longer names would be easier to remember, having a way to introduce several characters quickly, a digression into how several FFs are related in terms of tone, enjoying the presentation because it's more cohesive, potentially not predisposing a player to particular characters, strategy guides and long manuals, learning to control Sabin's moves, suplexing the train, the death of Doma, the tension of melodrama and darkness, conveying moments through simple tools, the possibility of anything comin

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we present a bonus interview with Remi Lacoste, who reflects on what it took to make the camera of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, which was far more authored than previous 3rd person platformers and action adventures. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 0:50 Interview 1:04:29 Break 1:05:00 Outro Issues covered: trial by fire with the last talk of the week, "If the job is well-done, people won't realize how much work there is," being the bad goalie, exploring a new medium for storytelling, working with level designers, developing an aesthetic, setting up the alternate camera, providing the player more spatial context, expressing yourself as an artist, getting views you couldn't have gotten otherwise, building a relationship with level design, anticipating problems, discovering the rules as they went, attempting to preserve the feeling of the 2D game, a 3D navigation puzzle,

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on Final Fantasy VI, which is often in the conversation surrounding the pinnacle of the 16-bit JRPG. We set the game in its time, and then turn to it directly, talking about world-building and how 2D feels better than 3D for these sorts of games, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to South Figaro Issues covered: who chose this game, stringing out the announcement of the game, how the numbering happened, the apex 16-bit JRPG, Square leaving Nintendo, 1994 in games, knowing what they're doing, feeling like a late-generation game, the transition from VI to VII, the expense of cartridges vs CDs, getting to the limits of cartridges, investing in the cinematics department, self-correcting the numbering scheme, how good the cinematics department was, moving to more of a cinematics-based storytelling style, caveat: this is our darned podcas

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our series on 2003's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. We talk about the unfortunate elevator sequence, the final platforming of the game, its circular story and of course, our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Finished the Game Podcast breakdown: 0:52 Prince of Persia 56:16 Break 56:46 Takeaways and Feedback Issues covered: rewinding time, feeling bad about the elevator section, spending two hours on one combat encounter, leaning on the worst things of the combat system, tight space, companion AI, being unable to see the Prince, being able to render more stuff and having that in tension with what you want to see, the "Kung Fu Circle," using the death blossom and wanting fewer sand bubbles, taking away all the things I enjoyed about the combat, the rewind resource, feeling over-designed, "fun is challenge," the history of challenge in digital game desi

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. We talk about the Library, our problems with it, how we were misled, and how such things happen, as well as other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to "On the Ramparts" Issues covered: the Prince as a jerk, what did you call me?, feeling hamfisted but trying for the heart, a stepping stone to better-formed relationship in a game, inter-character action in later Ubisoft games, skipping to the end puzzle of a sequence as a possible goal, misunderstanding the point of the puzzle, skipping a chunk of stuff and being thrown off mentally, having to re-run the room to understand what was going on, building the puzzle piece-by-piece instead of holistically, wanting to see a pattern when it's just a series of steps, the language of the space, Tim loves his cisterns, recontextualizing a space, being able to compa

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we return to our series on Baldur's Gate with an interview with James Ohlen, who was lead designer on the title. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 0:50 Interview 52:50 Break 53:21 Outro Issues covered: starting a comic book store at 19 right before the market crashed, the origin of Minsc, starting at BioWare, building an IP bible as a way to start, working the killer hours and becoming the lead designer, putting in the 25000 hours, getting lucky and selling millions of copies, the impossibility of faking love, the choice between real-time and turn-based leading to pause-and-play, being delayed by Diablo, having contributions from everyone for design, sharing credit, feeling of playing D&D more important than perfect translation, balancing being easy due to so many party members, feeling smart, finding patterns in your party, relying on save and load, random numbers, the

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. We talk a bit about combat and especially the way the baths area expands the level design, despite a few visual language missteps. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up through the Soldier's Mess Hall Issues covered: the physics of ponytails, trying to make the palace feel like a real place, deathtraps, major locations, a thin narrative, establishing a relationship between the Prince and Farah, who he's telling the story to, a charming rogue, differences with other similar heroes, the upcoming elevator scene, a companion character that is genuinely helpful, the scripting of Farah to be helpful, Farah as an element of the combat space, having different voice lines for small changes in order, the availability of further linearization, making your small choices make an experiential impact, not being forced to learn by

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. We set the game in its time and studio, and then speak a fair amount about its holistic approach to design, its fluidity, and its contextualization of game mechanics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to defeating Demon Dad Issues covered: 2003 with lots of sequels and licenses, when you launch a new IP, a strange sort of gap year, the prior incarnation of the game, emulating Tomb Raider and feeling heavy, buliding one you can learn with, burning Jordan Mechner, UbiSoft becoming a bigger player, the continuation of the series into the next generation, maintaining IP rights, rebooting with your own flavor of a thing, partnering with Nintendo, branching out with outside the box thinking, UbiSoft model of layering in content, supporting four engines internally, the Jade engine, the feeling of flying, feeling like a

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we conclude our series on Baldur's Gate. We talk takeaways and then clean up a very full mailbag. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Issues covered: the long-term quest of the franchise, Baals everywhere, converting from D&D, not every rule translating well, limiting the story to a generic "Gorion's Ward," having different expectations for their other games, a full campaign, feeling like a bad adventurer, mechanical map support, fog of war, stories about the side content, the story picking up from the flooding of a mine, tactical hybrid combat, the wide variety of character choice, companion quests, addition of voice, closing off branches, RPG elements, holistic design and RPGs, the use of archetypes, the spectrum of being a role-playing game, companion pairs, richness for companions, leaning into the save system, the puzzle nature of the combats, the ideal in level design vs core mechanic

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Baldur's Gate, the 1998 D&D interpretation that put BioWare on the map, as it were. We talk about the end of the game based on our two approaches to play, some fun side content, and other issues! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Finished the game! Podcast breakdown: 0:48 Baldur's Gate 1:09:35 Break 1:10:06 Feedback Issues covered: names in reverse, a brief tour of one title in Brett's childhood library, side content, discovering someone swapped your Oil of Speed for a Potion of Confusion, when things were added to the map vs being actually playable, the potential for hitting the level cap, balancing to the save system, the sense of going out and finding stuff being missing for a non-completionist, the way the main story is much clearer, the journal as guide, the way we draw connections in the tabletop that make their own stories and how that cro

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we celebrate our five years of podcasting by doing something a little bit different. We look at our first Adventures, the Atari 2600 Adventure and Colossal Cave Adventure. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Issues covered: why we're doing the adventure games, the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, birds and videos, connecting the printer to the modem, arcade games we played, action games, seeing a representation of a dungeon crawl, the dynamics of the simulation, clockwork and the surprising depth, a surprising story of a bat and a sword and a dragon, playing games with Dad, what you show the player and what you leave to the imagination, mapping problems, a score rush, muscle memory, wanting to explore to find new text, discovery, using text as game design and the emergence of narrative design, the ongoing life of interactive fiction, being able to page back through your work, other games of interest,

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Bioware's 1998 CRPG classic, Baldur's Gate. We talk a bit about the structure of the world, the difference between playing straight through on the main story and indulging in side quests, companions, and some about audio and music before turning to your feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through Chapter 5 Issues covered: Brett explains Tim's intro, consistency of tone in the writing, economics in pop culture, considerations of what mixes badly with chocolate, the flow of Cloakwood, Brett makes a map, leaning into quicksaving, pulling back like a tactical map, how much time has been spent in-game, Tim's Cloakwood PTSD, CRPG arachnophobia, a few standout side areas, the slowness of D&D's progression mechanics, a well-written side character, companion characters from the beginning, adding in 3e backstab rules, the compositions of our partie

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Baldur's Gate. We talk about racing through versus following multiple sidequests, about tactical battling, and about the huge variance in verb sets for different party members, amongst other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Chapters Two and Three Podcast breakdown: 0:57 Baldur's Gate 1:02:11 Break 1:02:43 Feedback Issues covered: meeting Drizz't, chasing side quests and not knowing where to go, balancing with side content, the hidden cost of racing through, replaying battles, dynamic difficulty, JRPGs vs western RPGs for grinding XP, low XP rewards, getting too much data, potential fixes for allowing multiple styles of play, giving the player points to spend, discussing XP accrual when you choose not to level up, milestone-based leveling, giving the player options, enjoying the tactical battles, wanting more clarity as in an action point sys