Dev Game Club

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2002's Morrowind. We talk about our own weird experiences some more, since we are essentially playing different games, and how we are feeling the intersection of different quest lines. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Another handful of hours Issues covered: down and out in Vivec City, getting around in an oddly constructed city, weather effects, lava in dwarven ruins and by the side of the road, whether there are arenas in every game, feeling like you found something secret, the way the writing tricks you about being special, assassination writs, getting map markers vs directions, chaining silt strider vs boats to locations, the most Bethesda hour and a half, finding a way out of Suran, walking your dad all the way through the world in Fallout 3, QAing while you play, bursting at the seams, you never forget your first assassination, a little short

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. We talk a little bit about how leveling appears to work, finding quests and using the journal, and just heading off on your own. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: More hours Issues covered: two roads diverging in a wood, the various Tongs, having some fantasy etymology and naming conventions, the emergence of groups and politics, a huge leap forward from prior Bethesda games, clear analogies to Forgotten Realms, the Dark Brotherhood quest lines, murder triggering a quest line, quests being tied to guilds, worrying about the flexibility of the game to support player choices, grinding reputation in an MMO as opt-in, the QA/dev speedrun challenge, game exploits vs bug exploits, fictional identity to align quests vs clear differences between main and side quests, getting lost on the "roads," modularity and reuse, going d

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we add a bonus to our series on Halo with a chat with designer Jaime Griesemer, whose sniper rifle talk we referenced in the series. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 1:01 Interview 1:13:02 Break 1:13:37 Outro Issues covered: looking up Halo lore for the intro, going to school to be a physicist, blackmailing someone for a studio tour, quickly leaving QA by making multiplayer maps, teams stacked with talent, refusing to return the keys, building the level before the play, enjoying the economy-free RTS, "sci-fi Myth," the early version being mostly vehicle- and exterior-based, finding the fun with multiplayer first, having long single rounds, Microsoft seeing something in Halo, how the demo worked, rehearsing to capture one long take, having no sound engine and covering it with music, desperation is the mother of intervention, a hair's breadth from disaster, FedEx-ing the dis

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Bethesda Game Studios RPG classic from 2002. We situate it in time and then dive right in, having been released from imprisonment and sent on a specific mission. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: A few hours of play Issues covered: 2002 in games, Todd Howard's first mainline game as director, a little about Bethesda, Tim's history with the series, early games feeling open world, finding the titles generic, Brett confesses, not playing just the main quest, directing the player via POIs, self-motivated quests, interview homework, the prophecies, something is going on in Vvardenfell, name/job, situating you in the world with character creation, the census bureau, the clever setups, tutorial and usability, the death of Ultima as a franchise, Brett the battlemage, being able to pick up anything, we try to find the names of

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we reflect on the year that was, looking back at the interviews and lessons we took away. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Issues covered: work and long hours, how we generate our lists, more keys that aren't keys, the tangibility of character sheets, the impact of D&D campaigns, your love and fun translating into what you make, labors of love, feeling games that no one felt a spark making, feeling like your hard work paid off, cancelling projects, ideas coming up again later, maintaining the fragile connection between player and character, a perspective on the effort that it takes to deliver a great experience, trailblazing a new feature, thinking about a camera, camera design is like puzzle solving, good camera work being invisible, Uematsu loves prog rock, accessibility, "the team makes the game," sharing credit, bringing in all your players, collaboration, finishing games you hadn't

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we really wrap our series on Halo by providing our takeaways, and then dive in and out of feedback to talk Halo Infinite. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: A few hours of Halo Infinite Issues covered: being stuck with the helmet silhouette, 30 seconds of fun, the feel of the controls, elevating lesser elements, world-building and an iconic character, compelling people through mystery, the feeling of the epic, bringing the world to life through physics, verticality and memorability, knowing where you are in the outdoors, mixing up enemies for AI variability, directing the player, possible physics changes, things that the graphics changed, playing with your son, sampling some types of missions, the tank simulation, resetting the story of the series, picking Master Chief out of the debris, having a grappling hook, returning to the spirit of the first game, revealing the ring, re

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we finish our series on Halo: Combat Evolved. We talk about some of the major story beats here towards the end, the repetitive aspects good and bad, letting the fights play out in front of you, music, and more! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Finished the game! Issues covered: why is the Flood on Halo, a floor wax and a dessert topping, how do you prevent people from visiting dangerous places, proper noun series, wiping the galaxy of food, Sentinels working for and against you, the deeper meaning of Halo and religious resonance, dealing with big archetypes and lending timelessness, explaining/contextualizing as you move on, losing the mythic, having to get Keyes's authorization codes, using the enemies against one another, engaging and becoming the focus, detecting when the player should be the focus of attention, sandboxes and thinking you can do more than you actually can

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Halo: Combat Evolved. We talk vehicles, architecture, lore, and level design before turning to feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to the Library! Issues covered: the ungainly Marine vehicles vs the sleek Covenant vehicles, enjoying the shooting quite a bit, the driving model of the Warthog, camera-based driving, driving into walls and off edges, co-op driving, the freedom of driving in the sandboxes, checkpointing based on logic vs location, promoting experimentation, having the feel of an RTS and having the freedom to move around, component-based mix and match, watching an RTS fight from both sides, having the ability to use the damage model to your advantage, having two guns and not constantly refilling just one or two weapons, knowing what weapons you can pick up, orthogonal weapon design, high-level play, the feeling of the different

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series about Halo: Combat Evolved, Bungie's seminal 2001 FPS on the Xbox. We set it in time, discuss its development history, and delve into tutorialization. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to rescuing Keyes on the Truth & Reconciliation Issues covered: 2001 in games, lull in PC shooters that year, Bungie history, the astonishing development, seeing the migration in the game from the units on the battlefield, betting big, other shooters on consoles, the unexpected internal hit at Microsoft, Oni's complex combat system, the seminal paper on first-person controls, aim acceleration, the big impact of being purchased, the audacity of a PC-focused developer muscling into the market, the library advantage of Sony, lack of distinguishing system sellers, the sole mascot, the enterprise/application/services mentality, the alienation of PC games, DirectX as a un

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this add a bonus to our series on Resident Evil 4 by taking a look at Resident Evil Village. We talk about the bit of the game we played, some of the things that come with first-person and realistic rendering, and then turn to some feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: The first couple hours Issues covered: the entrancing Lady Dimitrescu, looking forward to playing more over the break, the very different storybook introduction, whether these games are a continuation, building on things others have been doing, the way photorealism falls into an uncanny valley from even props, the way older games signify what is interactable, feeling like you're in a vision mode, knowing the baselines from your initial experience, the acceptability of something rundown, a modern update of RE4, "why does this keep happening to me," wanting to know who you are, being a cipher should maybe go all the

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Resident Evil 4. We talk about various set pieces at the end, a bit about ammo types and balance, 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! Issues covered: having more cutscenes and quotable lines, set piece stuff that reminds you of other series, tying back to the series, parallels with Metal Gear Solid, being campy vs leaning into camp, new enemy types, whether an enemy was skippable, feeling resource poor, weapon choices, conserving resources as much as you can, losing resources to being unable to line up enemies, making ammo more powerful via upgrades, killing parasites with flash grenades, whether resource constraints are balanced for all players dynamically, leaning more heavily on QTEs, replacing mechanics with QTEs, forcing exposition, camera authoring, uninteresting skill challenges, Ashley driving an

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Resident Evil 4. We take a little sidestep into the things that aren't mentioned in the manual, and then work through Chapter 4. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through the end of Ch 4! Issues covered: things we didn't notice about the game, target practice, going to apparent side tracks first, extending play to try to slow trade-in, collectibles, gacha mechanics, needing to enjoy the core thing, a precursor to lootboxes, expanding to other types of players, ways to expand the mechanics, upgrading treasures, having the nagging idea that you might need to go back, hidden mechanic that extends play, adding discovery, Eastern vs Western design philosophies, misreading the thing they wanted from the El Gigantes, the dragon room, having to come back to a side room, leaving Ashley behind, the layers of history of Europe vs Japan, looking for locations an

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Resident Evil 4. We talk about the ecology of the monsters, defense sequences, and bobbing and weaving. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to the end of 3-4 Issues covered: sagacity and gardens, finding the PS4 to be a slightly easier platform, the enemy count, the easier tram ride as a setpiece, running out of ammo in the town on replay, being thoughtful of ammo use and switching to the knife, the suplex, the retinal scanner, Mendez taking the stylized symbol shape, the ecology of the parasite, the dev-evolution of the parasites, feeling like a cohesive setting, a place that used to be a place, Saddler's insectoid form under the robes and his cosmic horror staff, the creep Salazar, gunning and running, taking advantage of AI slowness, higher breeds of hybrids, using the sandbox in interesting ways, having to defend Ashley when separated, having th

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Resident Evil 4. We talk about the new horror in the game, our systematic companion and the other NPC, look at the choice of paths, and then take the tram. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: To Chapter 3 Issues covered: remembering the game, recovering the map, El Gigante reveal, stabbing the creature in the back, getting to no health but being allowed to recover, taking big swings early, foreshadowing traps and the dog, the systematic companion, the church and navigating to Ashley, the quality of the puzzles and being more grounded, the emergence of the Las Plages virus, introducing the enemies, reuse of gameplay objects in the siege, ugh-inducing achievement names, losing Ashley to the Gigante, the many ways Ashley interacts with the game, mechanical/narrative consonance, being introduced to interactions before you have Ashley to interact with them,

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Resident Evil 4. We talk a bit about the modern mechanics it introduces to the series and consider how it maintains its balance despite it. And, of course, we take a peaceful boat ride across a lake. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up past the lake Issues covered: quoting the merchant, how the chain saw Ganado appears in the opening section, approaching the town in a particular way, bottlenecking, the dynamism of the enemies, knifing enemies, integrating the merchant into play, art object collection and the economy, trends in 2005, player agency not working against survival horror, the risk of breaking your economy, wondering if they tune for money drops, wanting to find all the things, tuning dynamic difficulty, navigation puzzles, paths to be able to run away, the canyon area, the ups and downs of the series, excellent and non-excellent helicopte

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we start a new series on 2005's Capcom horror classic, Resident Evil 4. We place it in its time and then talk immediately about how it really kicked the third-person action-adventure game into higher gear. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to the second typewriter Issues covered: the Capcom 5, having some trouble getting the game off the ground, success of the remake, a really different feel, relying on establishing POV shots from slashers, horror movie touchpoints, moving away from straight-up zombie games, differences between Chris and Leon, meeting Hunnigan via the Codec, popularizing the third-person shooter, hold-overs from the older controls, fighting the controls, embodying the character, disempowerment, pick a spot and stand your ground, jerky enemies, shooting a weapon out of the air, opening up the level design to multiple paths, the gun-and-run, Leon's better ta

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we add a little splice to our series on BioShock by revisiting and discussing its sequels, somewhat vaguely. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Issues covered: whether Elizabeth is a grown-up Little Sister, getting a chance to revisit Rapture, breaking cycles and circles, overstuffing the narrative space, the mechanics, Skyline rollercoasters, kitchen sink combat, trapping with vigors, combining vigors, being on the nose, dehumanizing the enemies and putting that next to more serious topics, a creator revisiting previous work, friction between teams, wanting more BioShock, "it is a big ole TWO," being able to use both types of weapons at the same time, simplifying hacking, finding new types of puzzles, fleshing out Rapture, paying off on a wish fulfillment you didn't know you have, "getting the franchise," going deeper, the difficulty of seeing someone else work on your work, the weirdness of

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on BioShock. We delve into the end and endings of the game, and of course address our takeaways.Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Finished the game! Issues covered: Brett's terrible fathering, Big Daddy issues, developing Suchong more as a character, Yellow Peril, leaning into pulp, being like a ship, turning the lower classes via demogoguery, leaning on the Irish, tracing the arc of Diane McClintock, using abstraction to hide real harm, character dualities, turning you into a Big Daddy, seeing the evolution and development of the program, putting the big boots on, fully integrating the backstory into the level and narrative design, redesigning to support the movement of the Big Daddy, changing the perspective, moving from alien camera views to first-person perspective, forcing the section where you protect the Little Sister, being paranoid about keepin

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on BioShock. We talk a lot about the surprise of the scene of Ryan, and some mechanical and production aspects we haven't had a chance to talk about yet. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to Apollo Square! Issues covered: where the game should (?) have ended, playing golf with your dad, finding a way to incorporate a power station, Ryan the abstract monster vs Ryan the concrete monster, changing the lens you view Ryan through, rationalizing one's choices, the red yarn board, forcing the player to see a scene the way they want you to, egocentric Ryan and seeing oneself as a tragic hero, every villain as the hero of his own story, mythological framing, other ways you could tackle player agency here, "The Cake Is A Lie," the Irish charmer becoming the Irish thug, using Atlas to puff out Ryan as a monster, the many many layers of references and archetype

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on BioShock. We talk about Fort Frolic and the arc of what's coming, guns and plasmids and a bit about their crossover, crafting, and gene tonics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up through Fort Frolic Issues covered: hitting the best beats of the game, having the future be a little blurry, Cohen's theatricality, using the camera purely as a framing camera artistically, the multiple payoffs of the camera, critical path integration of the camera, time-delayed gratification, a bottle episode, the statue splicers, using spotlights theatrically, how do you produce oxygen and filter out carbon dioxide, riffing on space games, putting crafting on the critical path, not having inventory as a presented system but having it underneath, not a lot of difficult decisions, always being able to get enough stuff through grinding, minimal benefits to adding crafting