On Paranoia

DGC Ep 196: Civilization III (part one)

Release Date: 01/29/2020

Description: Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin our discussion of the game series beginning in 1991, Civilization, through its 2001 incarnation Civilization III. We talk about it in time, the type of sim it is, some bits about "civilization" and lots of other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to the Medieval Age Issues covered: choosing your names, looking at the series as a whole, one more turn, the 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) genre, situating the game in two times, additions to the Civilization franchise, needing the manual, the PC as the home of the deeper simulation game (wargames and flight simulations), "a game is a series of interesting decisions," Sid Meier's studio history, game perspective and the God Game, Brett and insomnia and a number of turns, learning through failure and why people bounce off, high highs and low lows, having a hard time making the early decisions, getting a better understanding of the early game by having a good roll, not knowing how far apart to place things, not cracking the manual, not knowing what to do, the difference between Civ and some other styles of Sim game, transparency of numbers and systems, the distinction of toys vs games, limited automation in Civ, digging into the Civilopedia, genre-defining creation of its own choice space, what you read in the Civilopedia, playing against harder AI levels, reading as a min-maxer, applying concepts as relatable, being pushed away from the "realism/historicity," colonialism and Western civilization as the framework, limiting historical tribes as "barbarians," scope and production realities, warping reality, using peoples as pure resources, colonialism and barbarians and their inherent game limitations, layering systems, leveling units against barbarians, limiting what you ask of an old game, being curious about a ruler, finding an essentialism in a representative leader, arguing that different civs might have an opportunity to rule, seeing another Civ pass through a first time, early game tranquility and the end of innocence, creating a story around a single resource, shifting to a new form of government, establishing Pax Romana, the simple power of names, layers of ironic naming, "the past is never dead, it isn't even past," film and games, not being part of the cultural conversation, the mystery of games to people, Oscars and Pulitzers and prizes, marketing and games, proud self-support, staying away from a side-hustle, a couple of well-wishes, Tim's charity walking. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Metal Gear (series, obliquely), Nintendo, Sonic the Hedgehog, Avalon Hill, Computer Gaming World, Sid Meier, Link to the Past, Super Mario World, Street Fighter II, Monkey Island 2, Metroid (series), Super Castlevania IV, id Software, Bungie, Blizzard/Silicon & Synapse, 3D0 Corporation, SNES, World of Warcraft, Neverwinter Nights, Stormfront Studios, SSI, Gold Box Series, Ico, Final Fantasy IX, Doom (series), Soul Reaver (series), Star Wars: Starfighter, Devil May Cry, Silent Hill 2, Halo: Combat Evolved, Jak & Daxter, Max Payne, Red Faction, Serious Sam, TIE Fighter, MicroProse, Spectrum HoloByte, Hasbro Interactive, Infrogrammes, Firaxis, 2K Games, Take-Two Interactive, SimCity, Populous, Will Wright, Maxis, Peter Molyneux, Bullfrog Productions, Sid Meier's Pirates, Istanbul (not Constantinople), They Might Be Giants, Flood, Soren Johnson, Puerto Rico (board game), UFO: Enemy Unknown, StarCraft, Requiem for a Nun, William Faulkner, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Candy Crush, Fortnite, Lady Gaga, Geoff Keighley, The Economy of Prestige, James English, Alexander, Luke Theriault, The Revenant, Persona 5. Next time: Civ III to the Industrial Age Twitch: brettdouville, instagram: timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Explicit: No

What is HUMANKIND? | Big Game Hunters Part 1 (Korea vs. Mali vs. Rome)

Release Date: 08/15/2020

Description: In this episode, we talk about an up and coming game by Amplitude Studios called HUMANKIND! It draws a lot of similarities between Civilization but also features a lot of additional content. In part 2 of this podcast, we compare and contrast some features in both games, as well as talk about how some of the mechanics work within HUMANKIND. Will it be the game that dethrones Civ from the 4X category?

Explicit: No

DGC Ep 201: Bonus Interview with Soren Johnson

Release Date: 03/04/2020

Description: Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our Civilization III discussion with an interview with Soren Johnson, Civilization III designer and programmer and head of Mohawk Games. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 0:49 Interview 1:39:20 Break 1:39:54 Feedback Issues covered: surprises on the 200th episode, getting into games, mispronouncing a California city, computer science as a term, figuring out where to work, being into history, getting away from games in college, the troubled history of Civ III, preferring not to do sequels, bad choices at MicroProse, not thinking about walking away from IP, a rights battle, getting Sid Meier to make a Civ game, Brian Reynolds turning away from Civ games, brain drain, a golden opportunity, "the adults had disappeared," evolving into designer-programmer, the beginning of a franchise, switching away from adding proper nouns to the game, incorporating culture as a fountain to establish borders, design ideas that feel like they should have always been there, adding strategic and luxury resources, pushing trade and tension through resources, the advantages of particular historic civilizations and that not being a good fit for Civ, game play coming from map generation, lacking a single AI technique, starting the AI by starting at the beginning of the game, keeping hard-coded values out of the AI, making things data-driven, mod-ability, adapting the AI to changes and iteration in development, whether an AI is "cheating," being careful with how the AI interacts with the player, the intricacy of a naval invasion, how to choose a good city for your invasion and how players subvert that, making small decisions plausible, having no firewall between AI and game data, scaling for difficulty by bonuses and penalties, beating the opponent vs providing behaviors as a challenge, the inherent difficulty of diplomacy, AI as NPC, the negotiating table, AI career beginning when Civ III released, optimizing the fun out of the game, you don't give up anything to trade technologies, limiting what the AI is allowed to do, Civ is a game about math, giving up floating point math, balancing the numbers through Early Access now but patches in the past, being on the frontier of live games, holding the game together via time with the audience, discovering the perfect strategy for asymmetrical games via iteration, re-examining the 4X with his next game, automating as a poor solution, removing unnecessary vestigial stuff, taking away decision-free micromanagement, being afraid of changing mainstays, revisiting your prior design ideas, working like film and being out-of-order vs starting at the beginning, GDC postponement, Irene of Athens, Tim's love for Civ stories, manga and comics, the variety in the Japanese games market, the prevalence of handheld and mobile in the Japanese market, greater variety of games in smaller budgets, the value of common language, Tim's charity pledging. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Mark Sean Garcia, EA, Knockout Kings, Firaxis, Maxis, Spore, Dragon Age Legends, Mohawk Games, Offworld Trading Company, Adam Saltsman, Designer Notes, Idle Thumbs, Commodore 64, Amiga, Black Isle Entertainment, Avalon Hill, Sid Meier, MicroProse, Brian Reynolds, Spectrum Holobyte, Sid Meier's Gettysburg, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Activision, Infogrammes, Hasbro Interactive, Sid Meier's Dinosaurs, Starcraft, Age of Empires: Age of Kings, Tim Train, Jason Coleman, David Inscore, Railroad Tycoon, Pirates, X-COM, Julian Gollop, Jake Solomon, Jeff Briggs, Bohnanza, Settlers of Catan, Guns Germs and Steel, Warcraft, Paradox Interactive, Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, A Few Acres of Snow, Dominion, Ten Crowns, Empire, Beyond Earth, John Romero, SIGIL, DOOM (1993). Warren Linam-Church, Oedipus, Shakespeare, Johnny Grattan, Maus, PlayStation 2, Mr. Mosquito, Xbox (original), Prey (2017), Batman: Arkham Knight. Next time: Another interview?! Links: Playing to Lose, GDC 2008 Irene of Athens Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Explicit: No

DGC Ep 199: Civilization III (part four)

Release Date: 02/19/2020

Description: Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our discussion of Civilization III (and of the Civilization series generally). We talk about Tim bending the game to his will and falling down the game's rabbit hole before turning to takeaways and feedback. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Through the Modern Era! Issues covered: Brett just can't play the game, making a very specific game, finding the ceiling of your audience, sticking with the series, interacting with the game at a narrative level, our rabbit holes, OCD: The Game, pursuing the space race victory, Tim leaving a perfectly good planet, techno-utopianism, the final frontier, espionage and the information fog of war, losing to the United Nations wonder, trying to get to a victory as fast as possible, skipping unnecessary tech, turning to another game in the series, setting your own goals and being drawn into a game, "all games are the same," building a society of the industrious and unhappy, choosing your Civ to suit, building a rocket in 1890, not being able to copyright gameplay, interlocking systems and numbers, balance and cost/benefit and personality, politics and responsibility, how bad American history education is, emerging stories due to interlocking systems, the strength of the AI, kudos to us, what we play and why, considering more recent AAA and indie games, being mindful of our positions in the industry, looking forward to next episode (our 200th!). Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Telltale Games, Apple ][, Ancient of Art of War, Rob Zacny, Waypoint, Three Moves Ahead, Star Trek, Skyrim, Fallout, Leonard Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, Anna Karenina, Elon Musk, SpaceX, Dominion, Jurassic Park, Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams, Nellie Bly, Sigmund Freud, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Nikolai Tesla, Beyond Earth, LOOM, Bruce Shelley, Age of Empires, Avalon Hill, MicroProse, Firaxis, Jon Shafer, Barbarians at the Gates, Soren Johnson, Offworld Trading Company, World of Warcraft, Mike Morhaime, Rob Pardo, Civ Revolution, Ani_Mitchell, Jesse, John Romero, MYST, Return of the Obra Dinn, Undertale, Fez, Zack, Breath of the Wild, God of War (2018), Pokemon Let's Go, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy IX, Death Stranding, 343 Industries, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Persona 5, Prey (2017), Spider-Man (2018). Next time: Beyond Earth Bonus! And Episode 200! Twitch: brettdouville, instagram:timlongojr, @brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Explicit: No

PolyCast

Release Date: 04/13/2021

Authors: Daniel Quick

Description: PolyCast is the official bi-weekly podcast of Apolyton Civilization Site (ACS), the most comprehensive Civilization website on the internet. Co-hosts Dan Quick (DanQ), Wouter Snijders (Locutus), Imran Siddiqui and Makahlua bring you up to speed with all things Civ: news, hot issues in the forums, game strategy, game concepts and ideas, interviews, community member questions and more. Primary game series covered are Civilization, Galactic Civilizations, Call to Power, Rise of Nations, Alpha Centauri, Colonization and Master of Orion.

Explicit: No

Mr. DiSanti’s Western Civilization Podcast

Release Date: 03/29/2021

Authors: David DiSanti

Description: Western Civ stories for my students during quarantine.

Explicit: No

Tales from the Vault: A Podcast about the Tabletop Roleplaying Hobby

Release Date: 08/29/2020

Authors: John Ferrara

Description: Tales from the Vault is an audio podcast about the Tabletop Roleplaying Games. The podcast covers hobby news, stories about game sessions, and hints and insight in how to run a game.

Explicit: No

Chronicles of the Crescent

Release Date: 09/04/2020

Authors: Abdul Rahman Latif

Description: This sorta-weekly podcast focuses on stories drawn from across Islamic civilization. The language of the birds series tells (often mystical) tales of avians in islamic lit. The Ramadan blitz was a podcast-a-day series in Ramadan 1440/2019. Blog: https://samosazen.wordpress.com/Insta: @arlatif24 Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/abdul-rahman-latif/support

Explicit: No

Tales of the Vampire Hadley Price

Release Date: 11/05/2020

Authors: Warren Onufer

Description: Audio stories based on characters from the the Tales of the Vampire Hadley Price Book Series by W. J. Onufer

Explicit: No

Так и живём

Release Date: 09/24/2020

Authors: takijivem

Description: ”That’s how we live” podcast series born in Moldova. Real people, real stories. The very best human tales from around Moldova.

Explicit: No

Tales From The Underworld : Horror Stories

Release Date: 05/04/2021

Authors: Aa’Keem Jackson

Description: Tales From The Underworld features fictional horror stories about paranormal, darkness, creepy and unexplained phenomena. A series of short horror stories that gives the devil himself night terrors.

Explicit: No

Effects of the Holocaust

Release Date: 05/04/2021

Description: World Civ Final

Explicit: No

French Revolution

Release Date: 08/31/2020

Authors: Griffin Conaway

Description: Western Civ Podcast

Explicit: No

The Regista

Release Date: 04/28/2021

Authors: The Regista

Description: A new podcast sharing the stories that shaped the game we love - exploring legendary players, managers and unlikely tales

Explicit: No

Dream Traveler's Tales

Release Date: 04/17/2021

Authors: Dennis Galloway

Description: Readings from books of the series, Dream Traveler's Tales

Explicit: No