Kiwi Talkz

I got together some of the old Retro Studios crew including Kynan Pearson (Metroid Prime 2,3 & DKCR), Jay Epperson (DKCR & Tropical Freeze), Eric Kozlowsky (DKC Tropical Freeze) and Brad Taylor (DKC Tropical Freeze), the latter has never appeared on the show before. Hope you enjoy this, cause we had a blast recording it. #supermariogalaxy #supermario #mariogalaxyTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:25 - Overrall Thoughts08:30 - Fox/Starfox Movie09:53 - Smash Bros Movie12:00 - Super Mario World Vinettes13:12 - Lack Of Story/Nintendo Are Still Learning How To Make Movies14:53 - Nintendo Fans Are Aging Out16:00 - The Movie Shouldve Been Super Mario World Instead Of Super Mario Galaxy18:03 - No Licensed Music19:46 - Should Mario Have A Deeper Story?24:04 - Film Critics Don’t Respect Gaming/Video Game Films25:01 - Peach Is OP/Super Mario Bros 227:15 - Where Do They Go From Here30:21 - Rumored Star Fox Game/Fox Appearance33:38 - Kiwi’s Opinion On The Film/Hollwood Actors Being Mario Fans36:25 - Being An Artist And Picking Apart Art In The Movie39:43 - The Film Should Be Watched At 0.7 Watch Speed40:30 - Nintendo Are Hands On With Legacy Characters43:10 - Bowser Jr44:30 - Koopalings/3rd Mario movie/Cappy45:30 - Super Mario Odyssey/Original Idea For SMO’s Artstyle48:00 - The Soundtrack/Starfox49:23 - Nintendo Cross Promotion52:40 - DKC Tropical Freeze Original Name53:53 - Final Thoughts/Plugs For Nothing LOL54:57 - The Dire State Of The Game Industry

Heather Cerlan a former artist at Naughty and Bethesda, in this interview she shares her journey from a passionate artist to a studio founder, discussing her experiences at Naughty Dog and Bethesda, her insights on game development, and her ambitious new project Hawthorne. Discover lessons on persistence, navigating industry challenges, and the future of game art and design. HAWTHORNE INFO https://playhawthorn.com/ #thelastofus #starfield #unchartedTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:55 - Being In A Rockband02:30 - Heather Kept Pestering Naughty Dog Till They Hired Her06:17 - Having Imposter Syndrome At Naughty Dog/Naughty Dog Didnt Have Producers08:30 - Bethesda Are About Quantity/Naughty Dog Is About Quality10:36 - Heather’s Role At Bethesda/Starfield13:45 - Pros & Cons Of Creation Engine15:05 - There Was Pressure Internally For Bethesda To Migrate To Unreal Engine16:59 - Uncharted Lost Legacy Production Issues/Intense Crunch22:44 - Working On The Shiva Temple24:28 - Heather’s View On Her Work Getting Remastered/Originals Vs Remasters29:28 - Working With Neil Druckmann/Lesbian Stories33:04 - Heather Had Concerns On LGBTQ Themes In Last Of Us Part II38:00 - Naughty Dog Were Split On Joel’s Death In TLOU Part II38:48 - The Reason Heather Left Naughty Dog40:04 - Work On Hawthorne/NEAR Studios43:41 - Bruce Nesmith46:00 - Hawthorne Is Skyrim Meets Stardew Valley/Raising Money/Bad Publisher Terms48:15 - How Naughty Dog & Bethesdas Culture Has Influenced Hawthorne51:16 - Q + A - Differences Between Naughty Dog & Bethesda54:54 - Todd Howard Is A Neil Druckmann Fanboy56:42 - Heather Feels Very Lucky/The Decision To Start Her Own Company59:18 - Overcoming Fear With Hawthorne1:05:22 - Where To Follow Heather & Keep Up With Hawthorne

Gabriel Betancourt is a former lighting artist at Treyarch and of course Naughty Dog. We cover his career at Naughty Dog and various other topics on the game industry. #thelastofus #lastofus #lastofuspart2 WEBSITE - https://gabereel.com/ CALORIE GAME - https://www.caloriequest.app/TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro/Gabriel Watches Kiwi Talkz & Lists His Favourite Guests01:44 - It’s Hard To Find Info On Lighting Artists/Early Days As A Lighting Artist03:00 - Naughty Dog Has A Designer First, Speciality Second Philosophy06:25 - Naughty Dog Devs Had Huge Arguments During The Last Of Us09:17 - Game Development Requires The Risk Of Offending People13:00 - Delivering Negative News In A Positive Way14:54 - Game Devs Being Passionate & Emotional18:45 - Naughty Dog Changed As The Studio Got Bigger/AAA Team Sizes Are Too Big24:43 - The Brilliance Of Nintendo/Making Your Game Fun27:35 - 60 People Worked On World Of Warcraft/Small Teams Make The Best Games29:38 - Graphics & Gameplay Were Even During The Seventh Generation31:00 - Art Is Used To Cover Up Gameplay Issues32:34 - Everyone At Naughty Dog During The Last Of Us Was A Monster In Skill33:00 - How Gabriel Joined Naughty Dog/New IP’s Increasingly Are Risky36:20 - Bruce Straley & Neil Druckmann Risked Their Careers For The Last Of Us37:45 - Uncharted 2 Put Naughty Dog On The Map38:42 - Last Of Us Happened Because Bruce & Neil Were Influenced By Robert McKee Conference43:44 - Why Gabriel Left Naughty Dog46:49 - Last Of Us Part 2 Pre-production Ran Like Clockwork49:58 - Gabriel Was Surprised By The Last Of Us Part 2 Controversy/Gabriel’s Suggestion Was Shot Down By Neil52:19 - Neil Druckmann’s Specialty/Problems With The Last Of Us Part 255:00 - Dubar’s Number/Bureaucracy01:01:40 - Changes At Naughty Dog That Impacted Last Of Us Part 21:06:30 - Specialists Left Naughty Dog Which Created Gaps In Skills Needed In The Teams1:07:50 - A Game Will Be Good If The Director Has A Vision1:09:54 - Gabriel Was Initially Skeptical Of The Last Of Us1:11:39 - On Gabriels First Day Neil & Bruce Had A Special Presentation About The Last Of Us1:16:35 - Q+A - How Did The Lighting Change Between Uncharted & The Last Of Us1:30:22 - Q+A - Is Baked Lighting Better Than Path Traced Lighting 1:35:00 - Lighting On GTA 6 Trailers1:36:03 - Closing Comments/Where To Follow Gabriel

Benson Russell was a former designer at Naughty Dog on The Uncharted Trilogy and The Last Of Us.He has now started his own consulting firm to help game developers navigate a lot of the pitfalls in game development. #uncharted #thelastofus #naughtydog WEBSITE FOR CONSULTING https://www.unhandledexceptions.io/ TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:32 - The Most Important Aspect Of Design/Player Fantasy02:50 - Why Games Take So Long To Make/North Star You Need For Development05:45 - Why Naughty Dog Games Are So Well Made/Story Is Their North Star08:18 - Games Shouldn’t Take So Long To Develop/Wandering13:30 - Scope Neglect/The Doomsday Clock16:00 - Why Intergalactic Crunch Happened/Naughty Dog Treats Internal Deadlines Like External Deadlines18:23 - Bureauacracy/How Games Differ From Other Creative Outlets23:13 - Naughty Dog’s Work Structure26:20 - Planning/Core Mechanics27:00 - Flexible Working Hours At Naughty Dog/Crunch At Naughty Dog29:00 - Why Benson Left Naughty Dog32:45 - Benson Was P!ssed Off With Naughty Dog Deleting His Work On Last Of Us Part 146:01 - Working With Evans Wells & Neil Druckmann47:00 - Clashing With Neil Druckmann50:14 - Working With Amy Hennig51:20 - Uncharted 2’s Introduction/Creating Introductions In Games56:00 - Focus Testing At Naughty Dog/Companies Interpret Data Wrong1:02:30 Q+A - How Much Naughty Dog Looks At The Competition When Designing Games1:06:10 - AAA Studios Pivoting When They Are Too Deep/Games Should Be Cheaper1:10:00 - Cost Of Game Development On The West Coast/China’s Meteoric Rise1:16:04 - Uncharted 2 Was Influenced By Resident Evil 51:16:48 - Q+A - What Is Naughty Dog’s Hiring & Training Process1:24:00 - Why Naughty Dog Started Losing Talent1:26:00 - Is Game Development A Young Person’s Game/Knowledge Isnt Being Passed Down1:31:00 - Closing Comments

Rob Carr is an audio designer who is best known for his tenure at Rockstar Games on L.A. Noire, RDR1, GTA 5 and RDR2. He is currently living in Finland working on his game Nyrkkipöytä #rockstargames #gta #gta5 WEBSITE - https://audioexpat.wordpress.com/TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:30 - How Rob Went From Being A Music Teacher To Working At Rockstar Leeds07:51 - Moving From Handheld Games To Console Games/Rockstar Have Unlimited Resources08:30 - The Psychology Of Sound/Finding Sounds That Sound Like Other Sounds11:19 - There Are No Constraints On Audio With Rockstar Open World Games13:10 - In Audio Everything You Can Use Is Recordable/Rob Has A 3TB Audio Library15:17 - Tools & Workflow19:50 - Technology Evolution/AI 23:51 - Rob Has Been Unemployed For Over A Year/Problems With The Game Industry/25:50 - Learning A Coding Language27:40 - Difference Between Numbers People & Creative People30:30 - Working On Audio Bugs For Red Dead Redemption 1/Why It’s One Of Rob’s Favorite Games34:30 - Playing A Game And Not Disecting It37:30 - The Cost Of Buying Games39:10 - GTA 643:21 - Why Rob Left Rockstar45:24 - Crunch Culture/Europe Has Better Work Life Balance46:45 - Moving To Finland/Rob’s Brother Has Motor Neuron Disease51:35 - Rob Can’t Relocate For Work Anymore/Dire State Of The Game Industry53:10 - Working From Home Has Ceased Because Of Security Reasons55:20 - Why Rob Worked At The Office During Covid56:51 - Dealing With Ear Fatigue During Crunch/How Audio People Deal With Crunch1:05:30 - Q+A - Do You Physically Go On Location To Get Raw Recordings1:08:00 - Q+A -What’s Rockstar Setup To Test Audio Systems1:10:48 - Q+A - Is There A Particular Idea That Had To Be Cut1:13:52 - Robs Game - Nyrkkipöytä1:21:19 - Where To Follow Rob

I got some of the old devs who worked on Fallout to help review Season 2 of the Fallout series. Bruce Nesmith got the time wrong so didnt join until the last 20 minutes. #fallout #falloutnewvegas #bethesdaTIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Fallout Is The Best Video Game Adaptation Of All Time 02:21 - Fallout S2 Thoughts Overrall 05:40 - Macauley Caulkins Acting 06:48 - Walton Goggins/The Ghoul 07:44 - Ella Purnell’s Accent As Lucy 08:40 - The Deathclaws 17:05 - The Prydwens/Factions 18:06 - Brotherhood Of Steel Tone Was Wrong 18:50 - Trust The Audience More/Have More Talking Instead Of Actions Scenes 20:21 - S2 Is A Setup For S3/The Roaches Were Scarier Than The Deathclaws 21:07 - Release Strategy 21:56 - Super Mutants/Ron Perlman 26:15 - Super Mutants In Fallout 4/Todd Howard’s Direction 26:50 - Deprioritize Brotherhood Of Steel In Fallout 5 28:10 - Bethesda’s Views On Fallout New Vegas 31:45 - Where Will S3 Go?/The Toddification Might Cause A Degrade 33:00 - Thaddeus/Keep The Show Low Key & Not Focused On Spectacle 35:55 - Casuals Buying The Games As A Result Of The Show 36:37 - Fallout 3 Remaster Will Release After S3/Remasters 37:50 - Bethesda Games Won’t Be Remade 38:57 - Deathclaw Differences Between Fallout 3 & 4 40:10 - Favourite Scenes 46:18 - Devs Give The Show A Score Out Of 10 47:00 - Making The Show Go On Indefinitely 48:13 - Bruce Nesmith Joins & Gives His Review 50:25 - Bruce’s Hopes For S3 50:45 - Will The Show Influence Fallout 5 51:56 - Bethesda Will Give Fallout 5 To Someone Else/Todd Howard 55:45 - Todd Howard’s Retirement 59:22 - Story Threads In S3 Will Be Less 1:01:20 - Hank’s Story/Will The Ghoul’s Story End In S3 1:03:30 - Practical Effects 1:04:59 - Actors Everyone Would Like In A Cameo 1:10:09 - Final Thoughts

Featurecast is a DJ turned video game composer, he is most associated with @BitmapBureau and his most recent work was his stellar work on Terminator 2D No Fate. #terminator #terminator2 #terminator2dnofateTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:19 - How The Name Featurecast Came About04:05 - Working With Bitmap Bureau08:57 - Learning To Make SFX While Doing It10:50 - Getting Creative Freedom On Terminator 2D No Fate14:30 - Scrapping Music And Starting From Scratch/Reviews Praising The Soundtrack15:45 - Trusting Your Gut16:00 - How Featurecast Composed For Terminator 2D No Fate18:10 - Researching The T2 Score/Recreating The Score For T2D No Fate20:58 - Easter Eggs From T1 & T2 Score/T1000 Death22:31 - Having The T2 Score On Loop To Prepare/Different Genres In The Music24:15 - Melody/Terminator Film Scores Don’t Have Melody26:50 - Blurring The Line Between Music & Sound Design28:00 - Later Terminator Movies Didnt Capture Brad Fiedels Musical Identity29:30 - Different Time Signatures/Police Station Time Signature/Future Level 331:20 - Writing & Mixing At The Same Time34:56 - Making The Soundtrack Loud For Bitmap Bureau Games36:00 - Playing The Game For Inspiration On The Music38:05 - Music In The Escape From Hospital Level/Bitmap’s Custom Engine 40:10 - Recording The T1000 SFX/Creating SFX/Finding Your Own Way Of Doing Things43:01 - Not Wanting To Be Influenced By Other Music44:25 - Going Back And Listening To Your Own Music/LEGO Breakfasts46:28 - It’s Not What You Know But Who You Know48:12 - No Longer DJing In Clubs/Patreon/Mashups51:49 - Q+A - What Drives Composition For Licensed Material53:22 - Dealing With Imposter Syndrome54:00 - Playing Music For The Devs The First Time57:14 - Q+A - What Is Your Favourite Moment From Terminator 259:08 - Q+A - What Are Your 3 Favourite VST Instruments1:00:42 - Changing VSTs For Every Project1:03:26 - Closing Comments

Jay Epperson is a concept artist who is probably most famous for his concept art on Donkey Kong Country Returns and especially on Tropical Freeze. #nintendo #donkeykong #donkeykongcountry Thanks to the Patreon Producers for making this happen Stipe, Borkey, Magic8TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:35 - How Jay Went From Being An Illustrator To Becoming A Concept Artist At Retro04:50 - Interview Process At Retro/Getting Artists To Draw In Interviews07:22 - Coming In As A Concept Artist Towards The End Of DKC Returns10:20 - Retro’s Environmental Artists Were Smart11:13 - Jay’s Art Is In The DK Theme Park13:15 - Working With Designers16:10 - Doing Concept Art On Tropical Freeze18:42 - Choosing Vikings Over Aliens For The Concept19:57 - Tikis Vs Snowmads/Reusing Assets21:20 - Why The Ice World Is The Last Level22:00 - Sales On Wii U/Coming Up With The Different World Themes25:06 - CONCEPT ART REEL - Juicy Jungle World29:27 - CONCEPT ART REEL - Water World31:11 - CONCEPT ART REEL - Mangroves World/Cut Concepts32:38 - CONCEPT ART REEL - Savannah World33:18 - Showing Portfolios To Potential Employers Without Breaking NDAs33:50 - There Arent Limitations On The DK IP34:35 - Referencing Rare’s Work35:33 - Nintendo Japan Were Hands Off On Concept Art36:22 - Working On Mario Kart 7/Jay Isn’t Included In The Credits38:30 - Jay’s Outlook “My Next Piece Will Be My Best Piece”40:25 - Japan & Retro Testing Mario Kart 741:06 - Jay Reviews DK Bananza25:29 - Jay Thinks DK Bananza Is A One Off47:00 - Jay Doesnt Like K Rool’s Character Design50:39 - DK’s New Look52:22 - Why Jay Left Retro Studios53:20 - Retro Studios Is One Of The Best Studios To Work For54:00 - Retro Studios Art Team/Metroid Prime 455:35 - Nintendo Are Art Forward Not Technology Forward56:35 - Will Retro Work On Donkey Kong Again?57:35 - Will Retro Work On Metroid Prime 5/Would Jay Work On DK Again If Retro Asked59:40 - Closing Comments

Denis Dyack is a legend in the industry and one of the few devs who has been exposed to both the Japanese and Western way of designing games. He is the man behind Legacy Of Kain and Eternal Darkness. I spoke with him in 2023 and he returns to promote his new game Deadhaus Sonata #nintendo #legacyofkain #epicgames My first interview with him is here https://youtu.be/Txt85DT68rQ WEBSITE - https://deadhaussonata.com/ TWITTER - @DDyack TWITTER - @DeadhausGameTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:00 - Whats Changed In 3 Years Regarding Deadhaus Sonata05:02 - Deterministic Systems/Quantum Theory12:00 - Why Taking A Break Benefited The Project/Celestial Clock14:50 - Weather Physics/Zelda: BOTW/History20:20 - The Game Will Live Forever/Stop Killing Games25:20 - The Different Engines Used For Deadhaus Sonata/Unreal Engine 527:40 - Why Unreal 5 Games Are Badly Optimised/The Industry Is In Dire Straits34:20 - GTA 6’s Impact On The Industry/AAA Games Are Too Big In Size37:29 - Denis’s Thoughts On Resident Evil/Pitching A Game To Nintendo42:00 - Western Publishers Only Care About Graphics44:00 - Embracers Demise/Why Pitching Games Now Is So Hard47:28 - Game Devs Are Terrified Of Nintendo Treehouse51:20 - How Marketing Teams Look At Games/Lack Of Innovation53:50 - Getting Investment For Games/Denis Couldnt Get Funding58:30 - U.S. Culture/Talent/ Japan’s Advantage Over The Rest Of World In Game Development1:01:50 - Darwinism/People Misunderstand AI1:12:20 -Technology Doesnt Save Time1:19:30 - Why Nintendo Will Easily Survive The Dire Times InThe Industry1:22:15 - AI In Games Can Beneift Gamers1:24:20 - Prophecy Of Tothe1:28:09 - Silicon Knights Demise Deeply Hurt Denis/Society Is Crumbling1:29:30 - Making Up With Epic & Tim After The Lawsuit1:32:10 - Working With Tanabe/Friendship With Iwata1:35:00 - Exploitation In The West/Denis Is A Japanese Developer1:38:00 - Why Miyamoto/Kojima Are One Of A Kind1:41:11 - Denis Was Crushed When Miyamoto Wasnt Impressed By Realistic Graphics1:44:10 - Denis Changed Deadhaus Sonata Art From Realistic To Stylized1:46:15 - Criticism Of Game Trailers/CGI Trailers1:48:48 - Q+A - Who Came Up With TV Change Effect In Eternal Darkness1:50:30 - Q+A - What Would A Hyperthetical Sequel To Legacy Of Kain Be1:57:53 - Q+A - Nintendo’s Approach To Marketing On Eternal Darkness2:00:02 - Eternal Darkness On NSO/Possible Remake And Sequel2:02:10 - Worldbuilding In Legacy Of Kain & Eternal Darkness/Narrative Games2:07:41 - Q+A - Adding Transitions In Eternal Darkness Because The Gamecube Loaded Too Fast2:10:00 - Consoles Are All The Same Now/AAA Is Now A Bad Moniker2:13:45 - Closing Comments

Alpha 7 is a professional mocap studio that was spun off from owner Maciej Kwiatkowski from working with CD Projekt RED( He played Geralt in the Witcher from 1 through to III.) Staff as follows Maciej Kwiatkowski, Madeline Page and Michal Derlicki #cdprojektred #witcher #cyberpunk2077SOCIAL MEDIA INSTAGRAM MACIEJ - @maciej_kaskader MADELINE - @madeline_maddie_page MICHAL - @derlickimichal WEBSITE - https://alpha7.pro/TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:50 - Mocap Performers Training Regime 03:21 - Gameplay Sessions/Behind The Scenes Of Mocap04:44 - Advantages Of Mocap Over Shooting On Location05:45 - Differences Between Mocap In Film & Video Games07:50 - Motion Capture Changes From Witcher I To Witcher IV11:21 - Becoming Geralt In The Witcher14:35 - How The Game Industry Changed In Poland After Witcher III/CD Projekt RED18:00 - Poland Has An Advantage Over America Now In Terms Of Development Costs21:23 - Working On The Witcher IV Trailer25:09 - How They All Met/You Need To Be A Good Actor To Do Mocap31:35 - Males & Females Playing The Opposite Gender In Mocap36:55 - Explaining Motion Capture Is Hard To Do Through Words/Gollum37:50 - Most Challenging Characters To Work On42:28 - Doing Mocap Despite Being In Pain43:39 - How Alpha 7 Started49:21 - Q+A - What Equipment You Need To Do Mocap At Home52:50 - Q+A - What Is Special About Working With CD Projekt Red58:55 - Q+A - Benefits & Drawbacks Of AI In Motion Capture & Game Development1:05:45 - Where To Follow Alpha 7/Gaming Industry Advantages Over Hollywood

I am joined by Kynan Pearson (Senior Designer on DKC Returns) and Ted Anderson (Environmental Artist on DKC Returns & Tropical Freeze) to review DKC Bananza#donkeykongbananza #donkeykong #donkeykongcountry TED ANDERSONS UPCOMING GAMES https://store.steampowered.com/app/3565460/Tahitian_Driftin/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/3968340/Foolish_Earthlings/ TED ANDERSONS GAME STUDIO PROMOTION IN AUSTIN TEXAS INFO IS HERE https://www.oddwoodbrewing.com/TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:39 - 2D Sections In DK Bananza02:45 - Voxel Tech Limiting DK Bananza/Destructible Terrain06:15 - Animal Transformations/Nintendo’s Design Philosophy Evolution17:29 - DK Bananza Is A Beautiful Mess/Honouring Rare’s Contributions22:00 - DK Bananza Music/David Wise’s Absence Is Felt26:15 - Nostalgia In Nintendo Games27:10 - Favourite Layer Debate spoilers 30:20 - Void Kong31:53 - The Final Boss/Ending ***SPOILERS***37:50 - Nintendo Universe Merging40:51 - Mario & DK Crossover 42:50 - DK Bananza Was Built On The Foundation Of Odyssey43:49 - DK Bananza Control Scheme51:20 - Voxel Terrain/Camera Issues53:33 - Art Direction Of The Final Boss55:30 - Void Kong Boss Fight/Ending Build Up58:07 - Pauline Singing Mechanics01:00:28 - Donkey Kong Film01:02:03 - Closing Comments/Pixel Arcades

Joe Houston who worked on Demon Souls Remake joins me to review the GTA of indie games Hollow Knight:Silksong!! I did an interview with him a number of years ago, which you can find here. https://youtu.be/skAWid5zYfg #silksong #hollowknight #hollowknightsilksongTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:40 - Silksong Overview01:30 - Silksong’s Difficulty/The Purpose Of Difficulty In Games07:10 - Runbacks10:54 - Bosses Of Silksong13:40 - Progression Doesnt Help With The Difficulty16:20 - Top Moments In The Game/Story19:50 - Best Areas In Silksong22:45 - Demon Souls & Dishonored Shaping Joe’s Views On Silksong26:37 - Why Demon Souls Remake Didnt Have An Easy Mode/Silksong Nerfs29:10 - Team Cherry Sticking To It’s Vision/Serving Core Players31:30 - Silksong Is Too Long/Length In Games35:12 - Replayability37:45 - Bosses That You Die on The Most39:37 - Will Silksong Win GOTY/GOTY Nominees44:05 - Specificity Of Silksong45:09 - Tastes In Games Change As You Get Older 48:18 - Distribution Model Of Games50:00 - Team Cherry’s Intentions/Devs Get Bored While Developing Games52:00 - Playtesters On Games56:00 - Team Cherry Won’t Make An Easy Mode/Achievements Provide Data To Devs 58:30 - WHATS MORE IMPORTANT TO DEVS - PLAY TIME OR SALES?1:00:20 - Vertical Slices/Why A Games Quality Can Be All Over The Place1:02:40 - Closing Comments/Silksong DLC

In this engaging conversation, Filip Coulianos, co-founder of Keepsake Games, discusses his journey in game development, the influence of Half-Life 2 on his career, and the creative processes behind his latest project, Jump Space. He shares insights on addressing motion sickness in games, the importance of marketing for indie developers, and the evolving landscape of the gaming industry. The discussion also touches on the impact of working with Josef Fares and the lessons learned from successful titles like It Takes Two.#jumpspace #ittakestwo #fpsgamesTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:42 - Half-Life 2 Is The Citizen Kane Of Video Games01:52 - Becoming A Video Game Designer03:34 - How Half-Life 2 Influenced Jump Space06:00 - FPS Evolution/Animation Is Key To A Good FPS Camera09:10 - Motion Sickness In FPS Games14:30 - Moving Between First Person & Third Person In Jump Space17:30 - Camera Techniques/It Takes Two Camera19:19 - It Takes Two Devs Studied Super Mario 64 & Odyssey To Make The Game23:20 - The Making Of It Takes Two28:22 - Working With Josef Fares36:30 - Why Filip Left Hazelight/Having The Idea Of Jump Space Since 201241:43 - Jump Space’s Popularity/Daniel Kaplan’s Importance/Marketing48:00 - Jump Space’s Early Access Release Was Threatened By Silksong And GTA 651:09 - Jump Space’s Release Date52:00 - The Cost Of Game Development/Why So Many Game Studios Close57:38 - Where The Term AAA Came From/Some Games Will Survive The Game Studio Apocalypse59:37 - Studios Need To Sell 10 Million Units To Break Even On $100 Million Budget1:02:10 - Sweden Game Industry/Filip Was Determined To Succeed In The Game Industry1:05:15 - Will Jump Space Be Relased On Switch 2/PS5?1:08:17 - Where To Follow Keepsake Games & Jump Space

Joshua Jay was a former world artist at Bethesda who worked on Fallout 4, 76 & Starfield, prior to that he was a world artist on the Gears Of War trilogy. Josh built a living saloon set in the style of Fallout 76 here! Check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7gBi3_lyag&t=167s #fallout #starfield #gearsofwar JOSHUAS ARTWORK CAN BE FOUND HERE https://www.joshuajayart.com/ https://www.artstation.com/joshua_jay_artTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:38 - Lord Of The Rings/Kurt Kuhlmann04:18 - Building A Fallout 76 Saloon13:43 - Todd Howard/Early Work On Fallout 417:51 - Fallout 4’s Colour Palette19:00 - Josh’s Work On Fallout 4’s World Art21:38 - Josh’s Gears Of War 3 Art Was Inspired By Fallout 322:30 - Epic Games Base Their Games On Licensing/Bethesda Vs Epic Culture25:10 - Unreal Engine Vs Creation Engine28:20 - Problems Developing Fallout 7633:25 - Why Fallout 76 Wasnt Delayed/Starfield Was Delayed Due To F07635:18 - Josh & Kiwi Butcher Shigeru Miyamoto’s Quote37:00 - Game Development Costs/Fallout 538:45 - What Josh Wants To See In Fallout 540:15 - Fallout TV Show Being 5 Seasons/TV Shows With Filler42:50 - Video Games With Filler/Alien Isolation45:15 - Video Games Should Be Shorter/Elder Scrolls VI/Rockstar Games48:30 - Josh Got Burned Out On Gears Of War/Josh Avoided Starfield For As Long As Possible52:40 - Working On Starfield53:30 - Q+A - How Bethesda Seamlessly Transition From Different Biomes In Their Games58:09 - Q+A - Were There Talks For Smaller Galaxies In Starfield In Pre-Production59:25 - Game Devs Not Having Time To Play Games/Josh Doesnt Play Many Games These Days1:01:42 - Josh Loves Shadow Of Mordor & War1:02:10 - Q+A - How Was Josh’s Day Organised In A Pie Chart At Epic & Bethesda1:04:45 - Pros & Cons Of Big & Small Studios/Star Wars Games1:07:32 - Josh Loves & Hates The Industry/Story Of Soldiers In Afghanistan1:11:24 - Josh Tells A Touching Story Of A Fallout Fan Who Died1:16:41 - Outro

GOG is a digital distribution platform with a mission to preserve video games. I spoke with 3 employees Piotr(Senior PR), Marcin (Senior Business Developer) and Adam(Technical Producer). #gog #gamepreservation #pcgaming SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITE - https://www.gog.com/en/ X - @GOGcom NOTE: Unfortunately the guys had some technical and internet issues, so we needed to use Google Meet to record this so the audio quality and even the video feed arent up to my usual standard, this is also why the layout is different to my usual format. Apologies for this, the guys are keen to do another one at some point, so if you would like that then like this post. timestamps00:00 - Intro00:50 - FFVII Is The Best Game Ever/Why Final Fantasy Isnt On GOG Yet03:29 - Japanese Publishers Are Coming Around To No DRM In Games08:50 - Why No DRM Is Important/Games Are Aging Slowly11:10 - Making GOG Viable For Publishers From A Cost Perspective16:34 - Working Around The Rights/Japanese Rights Are Very Complicated21:05 - GOG Preservation Program27:05 - GOG Has A Small Amount Of QA People/GOG’s Internal Tools31:48 - Simplying The Tools To Preserve Games32:58 - GOG’s Thoughts On AI36:01 - Working With Sony Was A Milestone/Japanese Publisher GOG Wants To Get38:20 - Offline Launchers40:20 - People Approaching GOG With Rights To Games/System Shock 243:29 - Gamers Care More About Gameplay Than Graphics Now49:57 - Q+A - What Has Enabled GOG To Give Away Free Games On Twitch/Amazon Prime52:34 - Q+A - Recreating Box Art & Manuals For Old Games55:55 - Q+A - Will GOG Collaborate With Stop Killing Games Initiative58:30 - Working With Politicians In The EU59:10 - Most Important Lesson Piotr Learned From His Late Uncle(THIS IS FUNNY ASF LOL) 1:00:46 - Closing Comments

David O'Reilly is a former game developer who is best known for his work at Rockstar on GTA, RDR2 and GTA VI, yes you read that right he worked on GTA VI up until 2023 when he left the video game industry. He now has a Youtube channel where he reviews environmental art in games. David's Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@Game-World-Art #rockstargames #gta6 #rdr2TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:30 - Having Imposter Syndrome Working At Rockstar04:30 - Having A Good Manager06:05 - Doing Caves For GTA V08:29 - Doing Environmental Easter Eggs In Rockstar Games10:11 - Rockstar Devs Dont Even Know Whats In Their Games At Release12:53 - David’s Art On GTA VI/The Tech Process At Rockstar15:01 - David Will Be Going Into GTA VI As A Fan16:13 - David Hopes His Name Is In The Credits Of GTA VI17:34 - Character & Environmental Artists Dont Work Together/Trevor Motion Capture Sequence18:42 - Problems With Art In Ubisoft Games20:59 - The Houser Brothers23:11 - Why David Left Rockstar/Burnout27:00 - Telling People You Worked On GTA29:00 - David’s Youtube Channel33:00 - How David Decides What Games To Play On Youtube35:15 - Sending Devs To U.S. To Use For Reference Footage39:15 - Different Leads For Each Rockstar Game/Changes In Development Processes40:40 - Art Is Becoming More Specialized 42:30 - Benefits And Drawbacks Of AI On Art/Chat GPT47:12 - GTA 7/GTA VI Trailer49:00 - Difference Between Movie Trailers And Game Trailers51:00 - How Rockstar Make Game Trailers/Reaction Internally To Trailers53:15 - Assassins Creed/There Is More Potential For Games57:30 - Q+A - How Great Does Your Portfolio Have To Be To Get Hired At Rockstar1:00:31 - Why David Doesnt Have His Rockstar Art On Artstation1:03:20 - David Wont Return To The Games Industry1:04:46 - Q+A - What Is The Most Challenging Part Of Making Environments1:06:53 - Q+A - How Much Freedom Are You Allowed On The Games1:10:07 - Closing Comments/David’s Youtube Channel

Kurt Kuhlmann was a jack of all trades at Bethesda, he was one of the studios most proficient designers and writers, he's best known as the lore master of the Elder Scrolls #elderscrolls #starfield #falloutTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:06 - How Kurt Became The Lore Master Of The Elder Scrolls06:26 - Maintaining The Lore07:57 - Studying History At University/Why Kurt Went To Bethesda09:40 - Evolution Of Quest/Narrative Design At Bethesda10:50 - Using History To Influence Lore/Tolkien’s Influence14:50 - Changing Writing Styles For Fallout18:34 - Using Different Words And Thesaurus For Writing Elder Scrolls/Fallout20:24 - The Evolution Of Voice Acting At Bethesda24:39 - Limitations On Writing At Bethesda26:30 - How Bethesda Changed As The Team Size Grew29:35 - Kurt’s System Designer Role On Starfield32:25 - Why Starfield Took So Long To Make34:30 - The Creation Kit/Things Carried Over From Elder Scrolls/Fallout To Starfield36:15 - Problems With Fallout 7637:00 - Elder Scrolls VI Will Be Bittersweet For Kurt39:17 - Fallout TV Show40:36 - Lord Of The Rings Movies42:38 - Todd Howard/Remote Work Benefited Starfield49:30 - Q+A - What Is Kurts Ideal Sequel To Redguard?51:14 - Q+A - What Makes The Elder Scrolls Feel Grounded54:53 - Q+A - Does Kurt Prefer The Psychelic Lore Of Morrowind Over The European Style Of Oblivion57:58 - Closing Comments/TES:VII/Morrowwind RemakeFollow me on Social Media TWITTER -https://twitter.com/kiwitalkz Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kiwi_talkz/?hl=en Discord - discord.gg/yWRCM2aDRT FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/KiwiTalkz TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@kiwitalkz BlueSky - @kiwitalkz.bsky.social

Obbe Vermeij, a former technical director at Rockstar Games during GTA III to GTA IV, is now working on his indie game Plentiful, and the demo is out now here.#grandtheftauto #gta #rockstargamesPlentiful Demo is here - https://store.steampowered.com/app/3044790/Plentiful/SOCIAL MEDIATWITTER - @ObbeVermeijBLUESKY - ‪@obbevermeij.bsky.social‬TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:46 - GTA IV Design Document01:20 - Working With The Designers On GTA On What’s Possible & Not Possible02:15 - Gang Wars In San Andreas Was Very Difficult04:05 - GTA Series Moved Away From Gameplay First To Story First06:30 - Obbe’s Thoughts On GTA VI 2nd Trailer07:23 - GTA VI Will Be 30FPS08:39 - GTA III’s Success Caught Obbe By Surprise09:50 - The Vibe At Rockstar When GTA III Kept Selling & Selling11:34 - How 9/11 Affected GTA III13:03 - The Houser Brothers15:20 - How GTA An American Parody Game Was Made In Edinburgh16:40 - What Obbe Worked On In The GTA Trilogy18:10 - Obbe’s Role Decreased As Rockstar Got Bigger And Bigger 21:04 - GTA VI Is The Most Expensive Game Ever22:03 - GTA VII Will Be Cheaper To Make Than GTA VI Due To AI22:50 - AI’s Effects On Programmers/How AI Will Help Game Development27:17 - Leslie Benzies/Mindseye30:40 - Rockstar Were Great With Hiring Staff/Indie Games32:00 - Obbe’s Indie Game Plentiful37:02 - Prototyping To Show A Publisher/Obbe Loves Making Games38:00 - Obbe Is Making Plentiful As A Solo Dev/Music39:15 - Obbe Made A Museum App Called Guide App40:28 - Obbe Misses The Rockstar Games Days/Rockstar North Has A Great Work Culture43:28 - Q+A - What Were The Main Differences Developing GTA IV For PS3 & XBOX36044:53 - Q+A - How Much Is The Product Different From The Start Till Release46:37 - Q+A - Favourite Project & Career Highlight47:39 - The Original Intention With Vice City49:21 - Q+A - The Most Impressive Thing The Devs Pulled Off That They Thought Was Impossible53:30 - Where To Follow Obbie & Get His Game Plentiful/GTA IV Delay Story.

I got some of the old Bethesda crew back together (Jeremy Bryant, Nate Purkeypile, Bruce Nesmith & Kurt Kuhlmann) to review the remaster and talk about the old game and Bethesda as a whole. Enjoy! #bethesda #elderscrolls #oblivionremastered Nate Purkeypiles Games! Check them out! The Axis Unseen - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1807810/The_Axis_Unseen/ Deedlee Doo Carkour! - https://store.steampowered.com/app/3582590/Deedlee_Doo_Carkour/ Bruce Nesmiths Books https://www.amazon.com/Books-Bruce-Nesmith/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ABruce%2BNesmithTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:50 - The Artstyle Of TESIV:Oblivion Remastered06:34 - Unreal Engine Replacing Game Bryo Engine In Oblivion Remastered09:14 - TES VI/Fallout 3 Remaster10:35 - History Of The Levelling System In TES:IV Oblivion 16:31 - Devs Tricking Todd Howard To Get Stuff In Oblivion19:11 - Oblivion’s Influence From The LOTR Films22:40 - Copyright Lawsuits24:10 - Why You Couldn’t Sprint In The Original Game25:10 - Getting Oblivion To Run On Xbox 360 Was A Huge Endeavor 26:37 - TESVI Launch Title For The Next Xbox/Cross-Gen Games28:21 - The Overworld Map Design30:00 - The Dungeon Design/Level Designers Started With Oblivion32:15 - Radiant AI Evolution/Emerging Gameplay36:50 - Why Bethesda Games Have So Many Bugs39:00 - Why Bethesda Games Will Never Be Bug Free46:50 - Challenges Of Making An Elder Scrolls Film/TV Show52:40 - Shivering Isles/DLC58:37 - Nate Speaks About His Indie Games/Bruce Speaks About His Novels

Jeremy Huxley is a former environmental artist at Naughty Dog who worked there for 11 years on the Uncharted & Last Of Us franchises. #uncharted #lastofus #lastofuspart2 TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:31 - Coming To Naughty Dog Partway Through Uncharted 302:30 - Art Test/Learning From The Veterans05:20 - Team Being Split Off After Uncharted 3/Working On Uncharted 4/PBR09:00 - The Jump For Art From PS3 To PS410:20 - Naughty Dog’s Reference Material For Uncharted 412:40 - Uncharted 4’s Jungle Environments13:50 - Ray Tracing Vs Baked Lighting17:40 - Jeremy’s Thoughts On AI For Artists22:10 - Reusing Art Assets From Uncharted For Last Of Us23:20 - Transitioning From Uncharted To Last Of Us Seamlessly (Snow Sections)25:30 - Pressure Of Working On Naughty Dog27:30 - Friendly Rivalry Between Devs At Naughty Dog29:30 - What References Were Used For Snow In Last Of Us Part II30:30 - Working On Last Of Us Remaster/Respecting The Original Artists34:00 - Importance Of Remasters & Remakes/Neil Druckmann36:40 - Jeremy Would Love To Work On Zelda/The Game Industry Is In Trouble Due To Realistic Graphics40:10 - Jeremy Praises From Software/Jeremy Is Playing Older Games42:30 - As A Dev Jeremy Analyses Games/Final Fantasy VII Remake45:30 - Q+A - How Artists Work With Designers51:00 - Q+A - Favourite Environment To Work On52:39 - Q+A - Would You Like To Work On A Stylized Game Over Realistic54:32 - Jeremy Critiques Zelda: TOTK’s Art56:25 - Where To Follow JeremySOCIAL MEDIA ARTSTATION - https://www.artstation.com/jeremyh BLUESKY - @jeremyhuxley.bsky.social

Former Retro Studios Dev Eric Kozlowsky (Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze) and I review the direct and go way off on another tangent lol. You can watch my life reaction to the Switch 2 direct(with former retro studios devs in the chat) here https://www.youtube.com/live/ocm4oRD-aik Get all the info on Eric and Fuzzybot's game Lynked here http://playlynked.com/ www.landofkoz.com www.fuzzybot.com Bluesky Eric - @vonkoz.bsky.social #nintendoswitch2 #switch2 #nintendoTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:55 - Eric’s & Kiwi’s Overall Thoughts On The Switch 2 Direct04:30 - Discussion On Mario Kart World, Price & Bundle08:50 - Trumps Tariffs10:51 - Price Of Video Games12:05 - Switch 2 Edition Prices/GTA VI16:29 - Metroid Prime 4 18:54 - Nintendo Makes Bad Trailers20:48 - Nintendo Does Weird Stuff21:32 - DS Online/Remastering 3DS Games22:28 - Twilight Princess With Wii U Tech Demo Graphics23:05 - Difference Between Remasters & Remakes/Wind Waker & Twilight Princess24:40 - What Will Happen With Metroid Prime 2 & 3 Now27:35 - Metroid Prime Hunters/Multiplayer28:30 - Smash Bros Is Years Away29:45 - Star Fox 99/Animal Crossing Sales/Nintendo Budgets32:10 - Tears Of The Kingdom/The Future Of Zelda/Zelda II Remake34:15 - Donkey Kong Bonanza/David Wise40:30 - Koji Kondo/Shigeru Miyamoto/The Old Guard Retiring42:28 - Third Party Games On Switch 2/Handheld Market46:04 - Hollow Knight:Sliksong/Drag X Drive48:10 - Eric Home’s In On Art Straight Away49:45 - Linked: Banner Of The Spark’s Development54:26 - Steven Spielberg/Mouse & Keyboard56:00 - Accessibility Options In Game Development57:00 - Kiwi & Eric Won’t Buy A Switch 2 At Launch58:12 - Cost Of Switch 2 In NZ/Zelda Film Trilogy Being Shot In NZ1:01:00 - Chris Mason Working On The Last Of Us/Mario Movie1:02:29 - Will The Zelda Movie Be Original?/Shooting The Trilogy All At The Same Time1:04:00 - Pop Songs In The Mario Movie/Bluelight Samurai/Zelda Trailer1:06:40 - Closing Comments

Chris Detyna is a video game composer who is best known for his brilliant score for Terminator Resistance. #terminator #terminatorresistance #theterminatorTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:00 - Meeting Teyon/How Chris Got The Job Composing Terminator Resistance04:19 - Including Electric Guitar In The Main Theme/Being Scared Of Making The Music05:52 - Adapting The Terminator 1 Theme/T1 Theme Weird Time Signature09:05 - Directions From Teyon’s Director On The Music11:25 - The Gear Chris Used To Make The Soundtrack13:52 - Kiwi Praises The OST/Teyon Were Nervous Of The Reception/Ear Fatigue17:06 - Music & SFX Balancing18:27 - Why The Terminator Resistance OST Isnt On Spotify20:04 - Scoring The Kyle Reese Cutscene From T1/Transcriptions23:00 - The Approach To Scoring The Game 25:00 - Composing The HK Combat Theme25:49 - Only One Of Chris’ Tracks Were Cut From The Game27:50 - Communication At Teyon Is Great/No Crunch At Teyon29:00 - Working On Robocop: Rogue City/Autotune32:15 - Writing Melody & Lyrics/Ideas Don’t Get Lost36:15 - Doing The T-800 Heartbeat Theme(Infiltrator Mode)41:00 - Chris & Kiwi Discuss Mixing Tips45:25 - Q+A - What IP Would You Like To Compose For48:50 - Q+A - What Does Chris Feel About The Forgettable Scores Post T251:31 - Q+A - What Was Chris’ Influences Growing Up54:35 - Closing Comments

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO DOOM ETERNAL!! To celebrate I spoke to former DOOM Eternal animator Chris Cantero, he left a few years to make his own indie game High Fructose, you can find here https://store.steampowered.com/app/2506550/High_Fructose/ #doom #doometernal #idsoftware SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @canterochris BLUESKY - @canterochris.bsky.socialTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:28 - Glory Kills03:48 - Mocap/Principals Of Animation05:55 - The Hardest Part Of Animating Glory Kills07:30 - Making The Marauder Hard/QAing At The End Of The Project08:52 - Working With Hugo Martin/Jiu-Jitsu12:04 - Working On The ID Tech Engine14:48 - Animating Maligog/Chris Loves The Lord Of The Rings Films17:30 - Chris’ Thoughts On DOOM The Dark Ages Trailers19:15 - Doing Pre Production On DOOM The Dark Ages21:10 - Animal Crossing/DOOM Eternal Meme22:00 - Favourite Areas22:56 - Favourite Bosses24:11 - Speedrunning25:55 - Favourite Music Track/Mick Gordon/Using The OST For The Gym27:15 - Self-Imposed Crunch27:45 - Banana Story/Getting In Trouble From HR29:15 - Marty Stratton Story/Commander Keen Story/Meeting The OG ID Software Crew31:40 - Q+A - What Is Some Cut Content From The Game33:47 - Q+A - Was Slower Gameplay Than DOOM 2016 Ever Considered34:20 - Motion Sickness/Camera Work36:00 - Chris’ New Game High Fructose 40:57 - Marketing High Fructose42:15 - Hugo Martin Is Amazing At Marketing43:00 - ID Software Teams Are Siloed/Marty & Hugo Are Very Approachable45:20 - Multiplayer Being Cut From DOOM The Dark Ages46:15 - DOOM Benefits From Not Being Grounded In Realism47:20 - Where To Follow Chris Cantero

Jeremy Bryant was an animator at Bethesda for over 15 years from Skyrim to Starfield. This is his first interview! #starfield #fallout #skyrimTIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:26 - Jeremy Commuted To Work By Plane 04:07 - Working With Dennis On The Werewolf 06:26 - How The Animation Tools Evolved From Skyrim To Starfield 08:43 - Mocap Use On Skyrim/Jeremy Used His Own Mocap On Skyrim DLC 10:35 - Animating Hands/Hardest Things Animating 11:54 - Jeremy Was Known As The Gun Reloader Animator Guy 14:06 - Non-Combat Animations 15:20 - Non Humans Were Key Framed Not Mocapped/Only 7 Animators On Skyrim 16:55 - Bethesda’s Management System In The Old Days Doesn’t Scale Well 18:50 - Bethesda Expanded Too Fast For The Culture To Remain The Same/Team Sizes 20:15 - Starfields Roadmap Required A Massive Team 21:45 - Rockstar’s Level Of Polish/Downsides Of Large Teams 24:00 - Animating Procedural Generated Content 25:00 - Jeremy’s Thoughts On Todd Howard 28:50 - Jeremy Changed From A Full Time Employee To A Contractor Part Way Through Starfield 30:00 - Pros & Cons Of Remote Work/How Covid Impacted Starfields Development 32:15 - Microsoft Acquisition 33:15 - Modding Community 35:20 - Bethesdas Feature Creep Culture 36:30 - Why Jeremy Left Bethesda 39:10 - Games Are Costing Too Much To Make/Layoffs/Dev Salaries 43:15 - Larian Studios/Growing Studios Gradually 44:45 - Q+A - Why Slo Mo Kills Were Removed From Starfield 45:45 - Q+A - How Does An Animator Go About Animating A Mythical Creature 47:00 - Game Jams At Bethesda/Originally There Was A Mad Max Motorcycle In Fallout 4 50:00 - Many Vehicles Made For Starfield That May Still Be Added/Vampire Lord In Skyrim 51:30 - Pros & Cons Of Bethesda Migrating To Unreal Engine 5/Creation Engine 57:52 - It’s Easier To Make Realistic Graphics Than Stylized Graphics 1:00:25 - Elder Scrolls VI/Gameplay Is More Important Than Anything Else 1:02:10 - Bethesda’s Culture Is Great/Game Devs Who Have Never Shipped A Game Due To Layoffs 1:04:30 - Jeremy Asks Kiwi For His Thoughts On Xbox Multiplatform Strategy/Gamepass & Game He Played Most In 2024 1:08:30 - Closing Comments/LinkedIn Is Facebook 2.0

Shawn Layden was former CEO of Playstation worldwide studios and former chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment America. His career in Sony is legendary as a Japanese localizer that had a meteoric rise to be one of the head honchos of the whole company. #playstation #sony #ps5SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER -@SHAWNLAYDEN BLUESKY - @shawnlayden.bsky.socialTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:02 - Why Playstation Used Numbers For Each Console Iteration03:26 - Being The Fix It Guy At Sony/What Motivates Shawn05:45 - Building A Reputation07:00 - Doing 18 Hour Days During The PSN Hack09:00 - Why Sony Is So Good At Marketing13:01 - How FOMO Is Used In Marketing14:00 - Why Sony Now Releases 1st Party Games On PC/Initial Pushback15:50 - Why Astro Bot Was Shawn’s 2024 GOTY18:30 - Why The Japanese Are So Good At Game Design 21:57 - Western Games Are Too Big In Scope/Dev Costs Come From Salaries23:05 - Why So Many Game Studios Are On The West Coast Of America/Environmental Costs24:57 - Game Devs Commute Times Create Major Sunk Costs/Working From Home28:30 - Shawn Pushed Realistic Graphics Well Acknowledging It’s Not Sustainable30:52 - How Sony Prices Games & When To Drop The Price33:40 - Concords Failure/Why Games As A Service Was Popular And No Longer Isnt37:31 - Why The PS6 Won’t Be Discless40:00 - Launching Handhelds Are Hard/Why The PS Vita Failed43:00 - Sony Characters Won’t Appear In Super Smash Bros44:20 - Why Playstation All-Stars Didn’t Sell Well46:48 - Q+A - How Will The Market Of Fortnite/Roblox Players Change As They Get Older49:28 - Q+A - Shawn’s Opinion On Microsoft’s Multiplatform Approach51:22 - Nintendo Are Best Positioned To Navigate The “Diminishing Returns” Problem54:18 - Q+A - What Games Did You Think Would Be Big Hits But Weren’t. 58:21 - You Learn More From Failures Than Successes59:43 - Closing Comments

Dennis is an exceptional character artist who is best known for his tenure at Bethesda from Skyrim to Starfield. He has now retired from the video game industry. #starfield #fallout4 #skyrim SOCIAL MEDIA ARTSTATON - https://www.artstation.com/vsions INSTAGRAM - @vsions1 TWITTER - @Vsions YOUTUBE - @Vsions TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:30 - Rivalry With Jonah Lobe At Bethesda04:10 - Werewolf Was Almost Cut From Skyrim08:40 - Dennis Broke Work Protocol To Get Things In Bethesda Games Resulting In Burned Bridges12:40 - Work On NPC Eyes In Fallout 4 That Todd Rejected17:03 - Dennis’ Thoughts On Todd Howard20:48 - Creation Engine Has Been Rewritten Multiple Times/Misunderstanding Of Bethesda Development24:00 - Difference Between Rockstar & Bethesda Games26:00 - Bethesda Devs Agree With Fan Criticisms 28:48 - Modding Community29:50 - Beauacracy Has Changed Bethesda/Staff Are Underpaid34:30 - Fun Isn’t The Focus Of Games Anymore37:05 - Todd Is In A Tough Position With Elder Scrolls VI Cause Of Microsoft40:10 - No One Can Ever Replace Todd42:00 - Q+A - What Were The Teams Feelings Towards The End Of Developing Skyrim44:57 - Q+A - Why Heavy Gore Was Cut From Starfield47:22 - Q+A - Which Model Changes Most From Concept Art To In Game49:20 - Robots Age More Gracefully Than Humans50:58 - 3D Models/Full Sentry Bot Robot Malfunctioning Story55:20 - Fallout TV Show57:16 - Closing Comments

Will Shen was a designer at Bethesda for over 20+ years and his story is amazing as he started off as an intern on Fallout 3 and became lead designer on Starfield. #starfield #fallout4 #bethesdagamestudios SOCIAL MEDIA X - @WillShen101 BLUESKY - @willshen101.bsky.socialJoin this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9jtZN92eGHA9Hxh-jYGqBw/joinTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:30 - Will’s Internship At Bethesda Was A Trial By Fire02:08 - Who Interviewed Will Both Times02:56 - Will’s Relationship With Todd Howard09:20 - Emil Telling Will His Quest In Skyrim Was The Worst Quest In The Game/Redoing Skyrims Design11:44 - The Most Important Aspect Of An Intro & Tutorial13:30 - Bioshock Is An Example Of A Good Intro14:35 - In Leadership You Don’t Have Any Control16:30 - Bethesda Delegates Voice Acting To An External Company18:09 - Learning To Let Go From Being In Control Of Voice Acting/Guidance20:18 - Including Multiple Accents In Starfield22:30 - Maori Tattoo Controversy/Ballooning Of Bethesda Staff30:15 - How Will Would Become More Productive With A Bureaucratic System32:30 - Why Will Left Bethesda35:03 - Elder Scrolls VI/GTA VI Discussion37:30 - More Money = More Problems40:45 - Games Are Too Long Nowadays49:03 - Q+A - Has Bethesda Experimented With Other Game Genres51:34 - Settling On The Number Of Planets In Starfield/Procedural Content System55:16 - Q+A - Who Has Replaced Kurt Kuhlmann As Lore Master Of The Elder Scrolls58:52 - Q+A - Balancing The Main Quest & Side Quests1:01:50 - Production Pipeline/Curveballs1:05:15 - Where To Follow Will Shen

Nate Purkeypile is a former world artist and art lead at Bethesda who worked there for over 14 years. He has now released his indie game The Axis Unseen that you can purchase here! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1807810/The_Axis_Unseen/ SOCIAL MEDIA FOR NATE WEBSITE - https://www.justpurkeygames.com/home BLUESKY - @npurkeypile.bsky.social TWITTER - @NPurkeypile YOUTUBE - @justpurkeygames #skyrim #fallout #bethesdaTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:53 - Working At Retro Studios On Metroid Prime 302:25 - Why Nate Left Retro Studios04:40 - Moving To Bethesda/Fallout 3’s Brown Colour Palette06:15 - Fallout 4’s Vibrant Colour Palette/Fallout TV Show09:24 - Nate Handed In Resignation To Bethesda On April Fools Day10:46 - Bethesda’s Inefficient Management Style13:23 - Unrealistic Expectations Of Elder Scrolls VI15:21 - Game Developers Who Don’t Play Games17:02 - Nate’s Relationship With Todd Howard18:06 - How Nate Mastered Quantity & Quality19:46 - Morons, Crunch & Insane Commutes22:30 - Remote Work/Forcing People Back Into The Office23:32 - Shadow Of The Colossus Influence On The Axis Unseen24:57 - The Scope Of The Axis Unseen26:50 - Timeline Of Axis Unseen27:53 - Useless Meetings At Bethesda30:45 - Being A Lead On Fallout 7632:05 - Todd Howard Obssesses Over UI/Convincing Todd Of Things33:59 - UI In The Axis Unseen34:20 - Working With Different Gaming Engines36:00 - Bethesda Should Migrate To Unreal Engine 540:20 - Nate Programmed The Edge Trimming For Fallout 341:30 - Working Within Constraints/Layoffs44:10 - Q+A - Favourite Project To Work On45:08 -Q +A - How Far Along In Development Would Elder Scrolls VI Be?47:01 - Q+A - Game Development Differences Between Nintendo & Bethesda50:38 - Fallout 3 Switch Port With Metroid Content52:34 - Console Ports Of The Axis Unseen/Certification/Logos57:09 - Vacations Aren’t Vacations With Bethesda1:00:10 - How Pay Works At Bethesda1:01:47 - Nate’s Blood Pressure Was Bad Due To Bethesda1:03:00 - Final Thoughts

Kenny Young is the composer on the Astro Bot series including the recently acclaimed new Astro Bot game. He has also worked on games such as Tethered, Little Big Planet, Tearaway and more.... #astrobot #littlebigplanet #ps5 KENNY YOUNG SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @kcmyoung FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/KennyYoungMusic/ BLUESKY - @kcmyoung Follow me KIWI TALKZ on Social Media TWITTER -https://twitter.com/kiwitalkz Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kiwi_talkz/?hl=en Discord - discord.gg/yWRCM2aDRT FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/KiwiTalkz TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@kiwitalkz Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9jtZN92eGHA9Hxh-jYGqBw/joinTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:42 - Astro Bot Is A Culmination Of All His Work To Date04:20 - Blending Different Genres Seamlessly/Catchy Melodies07:40 - How Long To Make Melodic Tracks/Nic Doucet’s Advice11:05 - Relationship With Nic Doucet/Astro Bot Originally Had Licensed Music15:26 - Using The Vocoder & Talkbox In Astro Bot20:01 - Getting Access To The Stems For GOW, Uncharted & Horizon Themes22:14 - Working On The Remix Themes Of GOW/Uncharted & Horizon Themes30:00 - Using AI For Extracting Stems/AI Technology/Melodyne36:04 - Using The Nyckelharpa For Bot Of War & Tethered OST39:20 - How Many Times Kenny Had To Iterate On Themes42:46 - Leaving Sony To Do Freelancing 46:46 - Making Disco Schmisco In LBP253:01 - Q + A - What Are You Looking For From Game Devs In The Creative Process57:30 - Q + A - What Was The Main Inspiration With Astro Bot1:00:42 - Q + A - How The Gardens Theme Was Made In LBP 11:06:30 - Outro/Astro Bot

MP2 Designer Kynan Pearson returns to talk about all his work on Metroid Prime 2 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Prime 2. You can check out our previous interview here https://youtu.be/4sWfE2x-ClM #metroid #nintendo #metroidprime Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9jtZN92eGHA9Hxh-jYGqBw/joinTIMESTAMPS00:00 - EA Preparing Bryan To Work With Japanese Producers01:49 - Challenges Of Working With Nintendo Japanese Producers06:12 - Streamlining The Production Of Metroid Prime 209:35 - Managing Differences Between Japanese & American Culture11:15 - Nintendo Is Obsessed With Microsoft Excel12:30 - After Mario Kart 7 Nintendo Were Giddy With Retro Studios Processes13:45 - “Always Give Developers Options” 15:08 - Bryan Was Hands Off With Prime 2’s Development16:52 - Nintendo Doesnt Care About Marketing/Reggie Fils-Aime20:18 - Metroid Prime 2 Sales/Metroid Prime 2 Remastered22:38 - Favourite Boss23:50 - Tanabe’s Influence On Bosses26:00 - What Aspect Of Development Is The Most Costly28:57 - Cost Of Game Development33:10 - Metroid Games Are ONLY Made To Diversify Its Games LineUp35:29 - Favourite Area37:40 - Favourite Item Upgrade39:10 - Favourite Music Track/Importance Of Music & Sound Design41:54 - Celebrity Game Developers44:22 - AAA Games These Days Are An International Endeavor47:12 - Q+A - What Inspired The Darker Direction Of Prime 2 48:43 - Nintendo Thinks Of Games In Isolation50:04 - Q+A - Nintendo’s Guard Rails51:00 - Sakamoto’s Involvement52:30 - Q+A - Lore Details That Bryan Thought Were Cool/Galactic Federation53:43 - Bryan’s Thoughts On Metroid Prime 4 Trailer55:43 - Metroid Fans Often Knocked On Retro Studios Doors Asking About Metroid Dread57:09 - Retro Studios Is Kept In A Bubble/Metroid Series Sales59:08 - Final Thoughts

MP2 engineers Jack Mathews & Zoid Kirsch return to reminisce on the development of Metroid Prime 2 #metroidprime2 #nintendo #metroidTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:45 - Developing Multiplayer/Original Ideas08:15 - Biggest Engineering Challenges In Prime 214:42 - Sanctuary Fortress17:07 - Metroid Prime 2 Remastered Challenges/Prime 2 Constraints20:15 - Devs Didnt Recognise Prime 2’s Difficulty At The Time22:41 - Japanese Versions Were Made Easier23:50 - Tanabe, Miyamoto & Sakamoto’s Involvement In Prime 2/Luminoth28:06 - Rezbit29:55 - Dark Visor30:50 - Why Dark Visor Wouldn’t Have The Same Problems As Thermal In A Remaster32:12 - Favourite Boss33:10 - Favourite Item Upgrade35:00 - Most Memorable Music Theme37:01 - Favourite Puzzle/Caretaker Drone39:20 - Boost Ball As An Offensive Weapon41:34 - Q+A - Sales Of Metroid Prime 242:21 - Q+A - Why Prime 2 Has Samus’ Ship From Super Metroid & Metroid II43:20 - Q+A - Ridley Being Cut From Prime 244:29 - Q+A - Experience Working With Android Jones48:12 - Q+A - Scrapped Metroid 1.5 Concept Of Rogue AI Personalities49:59 - Concept Of Memento Film Gameplay For Prime 251:33 - Thoughts On Metroid Prime 4 Announcement Trailer56:13 - Gap Between Prime 3 & 457:42 - Problems With Prime 2’s Ammo System1:03:13 - Final Thoughts On Prime 2

MP2 Designer Kynan Pearson returns to talk about all his work on Metroid Prime 2 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Prime 2. You can check out his previous interview here https://youtu.be/y6YKebkPZNM you can follow Kynan on Twitter - @KynanPearson #metroid #nintendo #metroidprimeTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:50 - How Metroid Prime 2 Ended Up With Its Zelda Esque Design03:00 - Every Nintendo Game Is It’s Own Thing/Link To The Past Discussions04:00 - Designing Prime 2’s Biomes/Dark World Was Originally Silhouetted 05:50 - How The Designers Decided What To Put In A Room/Morph Ball Puzzles09:50 - Boost Balling Off Spider Ball Tracks12:30 - Reserving Pickups For Player Testing Outcome13:30 - Design Is About Perception17:00 - Coming Up With Prime 2’s Unique Upgrades/21:50 - Working On The Boss Rooms23:50 - Deciding How Big To Make A Boss Room27:16 - Limitations Fosters Creativity 29:30 - SPD & Retro’s Collaboration On The Prime Games32:57 - VR Will Never Be Mainstream Due To Motion Sickness34:30 - How Speed Booster Would Work In First Person35:54 - How They Figured Out How To Do Screw Attack/Metroid Is For Hardcore Gamers38:00 - What QOL Changes Should Be In Metroid Prime 2 Remastered40:50 - Kynan Doesn’t Like Prime 2’s Key Hunt42:30 - Kynan’s Favourite Boss43:35 - Kynan’s Favourite Item Upgrade44:32 - Kynans Favourite Area/Biome46:30 - Kynan’s Favourite Puzzle48:02 - Kynan’s Favourite Room49:16 - Q + A - Biggest Missed Opportunity In Prime 253:16 - Q + A - Why The Dark Luminoth Was Cut55: 03- Q + A - Most Difficult Puzzle1:00:37 - Wall Jump Design1:01:07 - Q + A - What Would Be Included If Prime 2 Was Made Today1:03:55 - Prime 2’s Amazing Team/ Jack Mathews Funny Story1:08:43 - Final Thoughts

Here is the panel I did with Sonia Coronado at PAX AUS. Due to NDA's, we had to cover generic things involving her role for Playstation. All content is courtesy of PAX Australia, also thanks to the amazing crowd! Make sure you keep up to date with @PAXAustraliaOfficial #playstation #godofwarragnarok #ghostoftsushima TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:49 - How Sonia Got Into The Video Game Industry03:19 - What Does A Music Designer Do05:56 - How Sonia Approaches Mixing 100+ Stems06:55 - Blending Music & Sound Design/Composers Involvement10:09 - What Is Playstation Studios Creative Arts13:32 - How The Interactive Systems Work15:27 - Scenes Sonia Enjoys The Most/Implementation17:50 - Making Sure Music Doesnt Hit The Same Frequencies As Sound Effects18:57 - Dealing With Work Being Chucked Out20:10 - Ear Fatigue22:18 - How Covid Changed Creative Arts Work Situation26:13 - Sonia’s Favourite Game She Worked On27:05 - Where Sonia Wants To Go With Her Career28:20 - Evolution Of The Interactive Systems30:36 - Writers Block32:17 - Q+A Game To Win Prizes/33:25 - Q+A - Do Sony’s First Parties Pay For Creative Arts To Work With34:00 - Q+A - Adapting To Working With Studios In Different Timezones35:00 - Q+A - Game Designers Working With The Audio Team?37:22 - Q+A - Procedurally Generated Music37:50 - Q+A - Non Sony Game Music Sonia Likes38:30 - Q+A - Working With Other Music Designers Outside Sony40:20 - Q+A - Avoiding Mud & Clutter42:00 - Q+A - Favourite Film Scores42:20 - Q+A - 3D Audio43:20 - Q+A -Sneaking In Musical Cues44:20 - Q+A - DAW That Is Used45:00 - Q+A - Advice For Upcoming Music Designers45:45 - Q+A - Being Brought On Too Late With Music47:40 - Q+A - Most Valuable Skills Required For Music48:55 - Q+A - Using Different Speaker Systems For Mixing49:57 - Q+A - Involvement In On Streaming Platforms For Soundtracks51:11 - Q+A - What Instruments Sonia Plays52:20 - Q+A - Being A Female In Game Development53:22 - Q+A - Making Something Melodic54:46 - Prizes For Questions/Outro

Here is the panel I did with Josh Weier at PAX AUS. I spent a year planning this with Josh and PAX AUS to make this happen. #portal2 #valve #halflife2 TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 02:21 - Why Valve Games Are Very High Quality 05:25 - Steam Originally Had Some Skepticism 09:07 - Importance Of The Source Engine On Valves Games 12:04 - Advanced Physics In Half-Life 2/Gravity Gun 15:20 - The Modular Nature Of Portal & Portal 2 17:10 - Why Valve Games Have Great Pacing 20:35 - Valve's Approach To Tutorials 22:30 - Super Metroid's Influence On Portal 2 25:00 - Why Valve Games Don't Have Cutscenes 28:02 - Interweaving Design & Story 31:08 - Original Idea Of Wheatley/Rehabilitating Ideas 34:27 - Valve's Structure To The Ending Of Games 38:04 - Overcoming Despair During Game Development 41:30 - Q + A - Game Mechanics That Were Removed 42:22 - Q + A - Difficult Parts Of Development 44:26 - Q + A - Wheatley Killing You Section 46:21 - Q + A - Things That Were Cut 47:39 - Q + A - Thoughts On Speedrunners 48:30 - Q + A - Hardest Things To Implement 50:11 - Q + A - The Best Qualities Of The Valve Devs 53:04 - Q + A - Josh's Hopes For Valve In The Future 54:46 - Q + A - How Josh Stays Fit 55:44 - Deciding Who Should Get Prize Money/Outro

Jason Schreier the legendary video game journalist talks to me about his new book PLAY NICE that you can purchase here https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jason-schreier/play-nice/9781538725429/ #blizzard #blizzardentertainment #bloomberg NOTE: Jason had to bail urgently which is why the podcast ended very abruptly.TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:23 - Researching & Preparing For Play Nice04:01 - Movie/TV Adaptation Of Play Nice04:50 - Blizzard Sex Parties07:09 - Will Blizzard Ever Be On The Level They Once Were08:40 - Why Jason Wanted To Write About Blizzard 10:02 - How Jason Decided To Finish The Book11:30 - Crunch At Blizzard & In The Industry14:30 - Blizzard Employees Dating & Marrying Each Other16:30 - Blizzard Approach To Polish20:00 - Blizzard Devs Clashing With Upper Management21:30 - CEO’s In The West Won’t Follow Iwata’s Model25:15 - Trauma For Devs Following Lay Offs26:51 - Commute Times For Blizzard Devs28:39 - Crunch/Devs Being More Open Of Work Conditions29:57 - Jason Doesn’t Leak Info/Still Being Blacklisted From Bethesda31:40 - Jason’s Dream Book To Write/Japanese Culture Barrier33:50 - Japanese Game Industry35:10 - Play Nice Is A Very Dense Book In Terms Of Stories36:19 - Blizzard Devs Opinions Of Armin Zerza37:09 - Game Devs Vs The Suits

Joel Mason was a developer on the indie game Dredge and works for @blacksaltgames #dredge #gaming SOCIAL MEDIA FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/blacksaltgames/ INSTAGRAM - @blacksaltgames YOUTUBE - @blacksaltgames TWITTER - @blacksaltgames TWITTER JOEL MASON - @bsg_joel TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:37 - How The Concept Of Dredge Came About03:10 - The Artstyle Of Dredge04:56 - Most Difficult Things To Implement07:47 - Joel Has Never Played Zelda: Wind Waker/Keeping Scope In Check08:50 - Comparisons To Resident Evil 4 With The Inventory/Influences10:45 - How The Panic Eye/Sanity Meter Came About/Time13:30 - Why Multiplayer Wasn’t Implemented/Overcoming Hardware Limitations15:32 - How They Came Up With The Biomes/Cut Jungle Level18:55 - Feature Creep20:52 - Being Nervous About The Reception After Release22:19 - Dredge Film Adaptation25:47 - Evolution Of The Fishing Mechanic28:31 - The Endings Of Dredge**MINOR SPOILERS**31:30 - Evolution Of The Story32:50 - The Leviathan35:44 - Development Of The Iron Rig DLC39:05 - Next Stages Of Dredge/Team Size41:50 - Being Out Of Your Depth/Team Effort43:30 - Joel Is Tired Of Working On Dredge44:45 - Expectations On Their Next Game46:54 - Where To Follow Joel & Dredge Social Media

Bruce Nesmith was a former designer at Bethesda and worked at the studio from Elder Scrolls II:Daggerfall before leaving and returning part way through Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion up until Starfield. He is now a novel writer who just launched his newest novel Glory Seeker Book One: Feast Of Ghouls #skyrim #bethesda #starfield Purchase Bruce's new book here! https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Seeker-Ghouls-LitRPG-Adventure-ebook/dp/B0D94KTJTNTIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:45 - Lord Of The Rings Film Trilogy’s Impact On Oblivion 03:11 - Re-learning Game Development When Rejoining Bethesda 05:37 - Todd Picking Bruce To Be Lead Designer On Skyrim 07:30 - Bruce’s Relationship With Todd Howard 09:15 - Todd Howard’s Time Management Skills 14:15 - Todd Will Be Difficult To Replace/Todd Doesn’t Let Go Of Things 16:10 - Reality Vs Expectations/Elder Scrolls VI 18:20 - Negative Effect Skyrim Had On Bethesda Games 20:05 - Pressure Of Developing Elder Scrolls VI/Larian Studios 21:45 - Developing Sequels 24:10 - Feature Creep In Bethesda Games/Cut Systems From Starfield 26:00 - Designers Block/Being Hard Headed 28:45 - Self-Identity Being In Your Job/Writing Novels 34:45 - Bethesda’s Retention Rate Created A Problem/Layoffs 38:30 - Why Fallout 76 Initially Failed 43:06 - Fallout TV Show 45:30 - Travelling Inspiring Bruce’s Work/Being A Jack Of All Trades 52:40 - Glory Seeker Book One: Feast Of Ghouls 57:00 - Process Of Writing A Novel 1:00:11 - Q+A - Challenging Aspects Of Starfield 1:01:47 - Q+A - Criticism Of Starfield/Differences In Terms Of Design Between Fallout 4 & Starfield 1:04:21 - Q+A - Features Cut From Fallout 4 & Starfield 1:07:18 - Where To Get Glory Seeker Book One: Feast Of Ghouls

Shawn Green was a former developer at ID Software, ION and Escalation Studios. He was part of the original ID Software team and worked alongside legends such as John Romero and John Carmack #doom #idsoftware #johnromeroTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:36 - How Shawn Ended Up At ID Software/Commander Keen05:05 - Learning The DOOM Editor06:40 - Doing The Ports For DOOM10:55 - Designing Levels For Ultimate DOOM13:10 - Making E4M8 - Unto The Cruel16:25 - How Shawn Learned To Design DOOM Levels18:15 - Working With John Romero21:30 - Romero & Carmack’s Differences23:40 - ID Software Didn’t Have A Hierarchy27:00 - John Carmack Is A Monster28:30 - The Circumstances Of Crunch Matters/Carmack Is A Workaholic30:30 - John Carmack Sacrificed A Lot To Be Who He Is32:30 - Getting Into A Zone/Working On Halo: Combat Evolved38:30 - Shawn Puts His Programming Hat On While Playing Games39:31 - Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom’s Amazing Physics Engine41:15 - The QA On DOOM Ports43:20 - The Hardest Thing About Programming44:30 - Integration Is An Important Part Of Coding46:30 - The Curve Balls Of Running Escalations Studios48:35 - The Pros And Cons Of AI53:10 - Design Differences Between Japan & The West/Layoffs1:06:40 - Shawn’s Final Thoughts/Working For Nintendo

Jonah Lobe is a former artist at Bethesda and did the art for a number of characters on Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as well as Fallout 3 and Fallout 4. He is currently working on his Fantasy Novel: Quiet Level One that you can support here. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/quietlevelone/quiet-level-one-by-jonah-lobe #bethesda #fallout #skyrim SOCIAL MEDIA YOUTUBE - @JonahLobeDraws TWITTER - @Jonahlobe FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/jonahjonahlobe INSTAGRAM - @iamjonahlobe00:00 - Intro01:14 - Getting Tendonitis From Working On Alduin The Dragon08:47 - How The Balrog From LOTR Influenced The Deathclaw Horns14:15 - What Makes Art Iconic/Why Deathclaw Is Iconic21:00 - Critiquing Games & Movie Art/Why The Sharks In Aquaman Are Terrible22:35 - Sandworms In Dune Are Iconic/Across The Spiderverse Is Perfect24:30 - Deadlines On Art At Bethesda/Jonah’s Specialty/Iterations Of Art29:04 - What Jonah Learned From Adam Adamowicz/Letting Go Of Your Ego33:50 - Why Bethesda Has High Retention Of Its Employees39:10 - Working With Todd Howard45:10 - Todd Howard Is Irreplaceable46:50 - Fallout 76 Was Wasnt Decided By Todd But By The Suits48:40 - Jonah’s Review Of The Fallout TV Series51:40 - Why Bethesda Games Don’t Have A Signature Artstyle53:15 - Realism Vs Stylized Art54:30 - Jonah’s Fantasy Novel Quiet: Level One

Stephen Hughes is a renowned director, producer, voice actor and teacher. He is well known in Spain in the voice over industry. He helped to direct the voice actors on Metroid Dread including Nikki Garcia(The Voice Of Samus) and he voiced the character Quiet Robe. #metroid #metroiddread #nintendo TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:00 - How Stephen Ended Up In Madrid, Spain 05:05 - Ongoing Consulting Work For American Companies 06:19 - Spain Is The Best Country In The World For Dubbing/Dubbing For The Arabic World 10:15 - So Many Studios In Spain/How Mercurysteam Found Stephen 11:50 - Early Work With MercurySteam/Acting For Animation 15:25 - Voice Acting For Videogames Compared To Animation 17:30 - Language Of The Chozo/Nikki Garcia Did Voice Of Samus In 1 Take 18:30 - Stephen Helps Direct The Voices Sometimes At MercurySteam/Enric Alvarez Is Well Versed In English 19:50 - Game Directors Are Like Film Directors 21:55 - Previous Work Stephen Has Done For Mercurysteam 22:49 - How MercurySteam Made The Chozo Language/Nikki Has A Great Sense Of Language 25:31 - How To Speak In Made Up Languages And Make Them Sound Good 26:50 - Confidence Comes A Lot Easier To Americans Than Other Cultures 28:24 - How Stephen Did The Voice Of Quiet Robe/Being Careful With The Voice You Create 30:30 - Vitamin A + E Repairs Vocal Chords 31:55 - Foods & Drinks To Avoid Before A Vocal Session/Anchovies Are Great For Your Voice 37:45 - The Problems Of AI On Voice Artists 41:00 - Being A Jack Of All Trades/Advertising/Jobs Already Taken By AI 48:43 - AI Is Replacing Jobs For Young People/Being Adaptable 51:10 - Voice Actors Won’t Be A Sole Career 54:40 - Stephens Early Days In Voice Acting 57:08 - Why Pro Voice Actors Sometimes Give Bad Performances 58:00 - Translations/Translating Spanish/Dubbing 1:08:00 - Where To Keep Up Stephen

Omar's story is amazing, he got an architecture degree before moving into video game art and film/tv vfx. He has worked on films such as Star Wars: Rogue One and Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, he also worked as a lighting artist on GTA V. #gtav #rockstargames #starwarsTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:01 - How A Degree In Architecture Helped Omar With VFX04:51 - How Omar Ended Up At Rockstar Games/China07:15 - Omar Had Never Played GTA Before Joining Rockstar/Learning What GTA Was09:15 - Doing Cutscenes On GTA V10:00 - Only 2 Artists Did Lighting On Cutscenes/The Shock Of Working On GTA V12:05 - Crunch On GTA V/ Difference Between Games & Film15:00 - Challenges Of Lighting/Omar’s Approach To Lighting17:15 - Working On Star Wars: Rogue One19:16 - ARTWORK REEL - Star Wars: Rogue One21:25 - ARTWORK REEL - GTA V32:07 - ARTWORK REEL - Rings Of Power38:46 - ARTWORK REEL - Avengers: Infinity War43:00 - ARTWORK REEL - LEGO45:26 - ARTWORK REEL - Batman Vs Superman46:09 - ARTWORK REEL - The Division 2: Warlords Of New York48:27 - ARTWORK REEL - Aquaman50:38 - Where To Follow Omar Fernandes

Jonathan Gwyn is a veteran artist in the video game industry having been in the industry for over 25+ years. He has worked on prestigious franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, The Matrix, Resistance etc. #rockstargames #gta #gtavTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:01 - Jon’s Favourite Art To Work On Is Environment Art03:00 - Stylised Environmental Art04:20 - Restrictions Working On The Matrix Games06:40 - Referencing The Matrix Movies While Working On The Games09:10 - Jon Loves Movies/Seeing Reloaded & Revolutions Material Before The Movies Release10:40 - The Wachowskis Were Video Games Guys/Path Of Neo/Animatrix11:20 - Jon Likes To Draw While Watching TV & Movies13:15 - Jon Doesn’t Like Being An Art Director & Prefers Working Alongside Artists15:00 - Ego’s Getting In The Way With Some Artists Due To Age/Jon Doesn’t Want To Be A Lead Again16:40 - Why Jon Has Moved Across So Many Gaming Studios19:10 - How Jon Got The Job At Rockstar20:10 - GTA Is Made In Scotland/Artists Pipeline For GTA V/Red Dead Redemption 222:00 - Rockstar Has A Toxic Work Environment24:30 - The High Pressure Of Working At Rockstar/Rockstar Crunch25:20 - People Love His Boring Environmental Work Just Because Its GTA26:00 - The Art Lead’s Job For GTA V Would’ve Been Hell27:35 - Concept Room At Rockstar28:15 - Meeting Sam Houser/Houser Brothers29:15 - Video Game Celebrities/Ego’s Within The Video Game Industry32:13 - Brutal Commute In L.A. & San Diego35:35 - Working From Home36:40 - Being Extroverted/Mistakes Extroverts Make At Game Studios38:30 - ARTWORK REEL - GTA V Environments50:15 - ARTWORK REEL - The Matrix Games Environments1:00:10 - Where To Follow Jonathan Gwyn

Chandler Murch worked at Valve for over 8 years in IT infrastructure; and oversaw a lot of esports Valve events specifically for Dota 2, he also did some work in the Dental AI space. #valve #steam #dota2TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro/Being Associated With F.R.I.E.N.D.S01:30 - How Chandler Ended Up At Valve04:10 - What His First Job At Valve Was/Customer Service06:59 - Valve’s IT Infrastructure When Chandler First Started08:55 - How Chandler Improved Valve’s IT Infrastructure/Network Speeds14:15 - Hitting Milestones With The Content Delivery Network/Capacity Planning17:00 - Taking Into Account Internet Infrastructure Improvements Globally19:09 - Organising E-Sports Events/DOTA 223:10 - Mitigating Problems With Live E-Sports Events/Audio & Player Problems26:40 - Testing Live Setups With Players29:20 - How Chandler Got Into Gaming & Steam31:30 - Chandler’s Favourite Valve Games32:45 - Chandler’s Involvement On Portal 2/How Valve Does Credits In Games35:15 - Chandler’s Work On Left 4 Dead 2/Portal 2 Bugs38:54 - Valve Games Have To Reach A Certain Milestone Before QA Testing39:45 - A Valve Employee Did Wheatleys Voice Before Stephen Merchant40:30 - Chandler Never Got The Passion For Game Design41:35 - Chandler’s Interactions With Gabe Newell46:45 - Steam Avoided Fragmentation Unlike TV/FIlm Streaming Platforms49:35 - Misunderstanding That Valve Doesn’t Make Games Now52:40 - The Cost Of Running Valve Servers/Valve’s Value55:45 - What Chandler Did After Valve/Dentistry AI1:00:37 - Dental Work Is Very Costly In The West/Dentistry AI Is Only Available In USA/Canada1:04:00 - Where To Follow Chandler Murch

David Crislip has had quite the life! The man studied Japanese at Ohio University before moving to Japan to become an English Teacher there before ending up at Capcom Japan where he did localization for over 10+ years. #capcom #residentevil #streetfighter SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @DavidCrislip INSTAGRAM - @davidcrislipTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:20 - What Prompted David Wanted To Learn Japanese02:50 - How Long It Takes To Be Fluent In Japanese/Being An English Teacher In Japan05:20 - Early Days Of Localisation Capcom Japan06:20 - Why Direct Translation Doesn’t Work08:16 - Japanese Is A Very Dense Language09:00 - How Localisation Has Changed From The Old Days11:20 - Playing Games In Different Dubs12:30 - Ghost Of Tsushima Is An Example Of A Western Game That Got Japanese Correct13:20 - Lip Flapping In The Old Days Vs Now/David Is Glad He Doesn’t Have To Localise AAA Games These Days14:10 - Immigration Officers Geeking Out Over David Working At Capcom16:42 - David’s Favourite Capcom Games19:45 - Resident Evil 4 Remake20:30 - Capcom Were Aware Well Making Resident Evil 4 That It Would Be Special22:20 - Capcom’s Renaissance Is Very Gratifying24:00 - David’s Favourite Capcom Game To Work On25:45 - Capcom Have Westernised Games With Japanese Flavour26:15 - How David Ended Up Voicing Winston Payne/Recording Lines28:10 - Difference Between Translating Text Vs Dialog29:40 - The Misunderstanding Gamers Have Of Localisation31:00 - How Long It Took David To Adapt To Japanese Culture35:10 - Its Very Difficult To Get A Job At Capcom/Applying For Jobs In Japan36:40 - Japanese Are Aware Of Western Culture/Language Shapes Your Behaviour 38:15 - David Doesn’t Translate In His Head Whether Its Japanese Or English39:15 - Why Lay Offs Don’t Happen Often In Japan42:00 - Japanese & Western Games Are Both On Equal Footing Now43:00 - Consoles David Plays/David Shows Off His Game Collection44:15 - David’s Favourite Game Of All Time/David Plays Games Most Days46:09 - David’s Advice For Getting Into The Video Game Industry In Japan48:07 - Where To Follow David Crislip

Happy 10th anniversary to DKC: Tropical Freeze!! Let's celebrate former artists on the game Eric Kozlowsky and Ted Anderson to go on a deep dive of working on it. TWITTER LINKS Eric Kozlowsky - @VoNKoZ Ted Anderson - @Pixel_Possum #donkeykong #donkeykongtropicalfreeze #retrostudiosTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:50 - DKC: Tropical Freeze Early Days/Wii U Hardware04:55 - Artists Experimented Very Early On/Mangroves Were The First Levels Worked On07:15 - Office Structure Of Retro Studios08:50 - Artists Collaborating With Animators10:00 - Playtesting/Brilliant Design Of The Levels/Meltdown Mayhem12:40 - Ted & Erics Collaboration On The Steamship14:05 - ARTWORK REEL - World 3 Boss Behind The Scenes Art16:15 - ARTWORK REEL - World 2 Boss Behind The Scenes Art17:20 - ARTWORK REEL - Updating DKCR Art19:45 - ARTWORK REEL - Creating A Texture Map22:20 - ARTWORK REEL - Difficulty Of The Fruit In World 523:15 - ARTWORK REEL - Ensuring Colours Don’t Blend In With Donkey Kong24:20 - ARTWORK REEL - Foreground To Background25:10 - ARTWORK REEL - Rocket Barrel/Barrel Cannons26:30 - Will They Use Tropical Freeze Art For The DK Movie?27:10 - ARTWORK REEL - Fruity Factory Level28:30 - ARTWORK REEL - Wireframes/Nintendo Ninjas29:48 - ARTWORK REEL - Steamship Level Of Detail31:20 - Alternate Universe - Working On Metroid Prime 4/Metroid Dread33:25 - Limitations Fosters Creativity34:30 - Tropical Freeze’s Crunch Period37:00 - Oversight From Nintendo Of Japan/DK Fur Tech39:30 - How To Deal With Frustration Of Having To Redo Art Due To NOJ41:30 - Sign Off For Easter eggs42:21 - Backlash Of The Tropical Freeze Trailer/Tropical Freeze Was Made Due To DKCR Sales45:20 - The Legacy Of DKC: Tropical Freeze46:50 - Where Donkey Kong Goes From Here/DK Spinoff Film49:00 - Q + A - Working With Vince Joly & Ryan Harris50:20 - Q + A - Stuff That Was Discussed But Never Made It Into DKC:TF52:50 - Q + A - How Did The Snowmads Idea Come Up/Ted Voicing The Penguins55:36 - Q + A - Would A David Wise Track Or Level Layout Inspire The Artwork59:58 - Favourite Level In DKC: Tropical Freeze1:03:28 - Plugs For Ted & Eric’s Games

Ryan Kaufman is an award-winning writer that came up working at Lucas Arts on games such as Revenge Of The Sith & Republic Commando before moving onto Telltale where he was one of the main writers. #telltalegames #thewalkingdead #starwars SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @M1sterFox LINKTREE - https://linktr.ee/w.ryan.kaufmanTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:47 - Ryan’s Dream Game To Make Would Be About Titanic03:10 - What Should Come First Narrative Or Design04:30 - Revisions Of A Script/Writers Room06:00 - Constraints Of Game Of Thrones & Star Wars06:59 - Being In Charge Of The Expanded Universe Of Star Wars For Lucas Arts08:50 - Stigma At Lucas Arts For Star Wars Fanboys10:10 - The Republic Commando Lay-Offs Made Ryan Leave Lucas Arts12:08 - Not Being Too Attached To An Idea/Game Design13:20 - The Hardest Part Of Writing/Stressing Over Writing15:20 - Ryan Doesn’t Like To Play Narrative Based Games/Shadow Of The Colossus16:35 - Story Vs Gameplay/What Is Story/DOOM18:55 - Environmental Storytelling19:50 - Ryan Finds Himself Critiquing Games/Film & Television Narratives All The Time21:10 - The Good & Bad About Chat GPT24:40 - Film Narratives Are Terrible These Days/Ryan Critiques Himself All The Time26:20 - Telltale James Bond Pitch For James Bond To Be Pakistani29:25 - The Experience Of Working At Telltale30:50 - Telltale Game Development Had An Intense Schedule/Directing Voice Actors35:40 - Ryan’s Strengths & Weaknesses As A Writer38:30 - Reading A Dictionary & Thesaurus/Novel Writing Vs Game Writing39:36 - Kiwi Reminds Ryan Of His Own Advice Regarding First Person/Third Person Writing41:30 - Ryan Uses A Whiteboard For Story Beats/Pixar Storybeats45:00 - Ryan Wanted To Make A Hellboy Telltale Game/Cost Of Redoing Narrative/Voice After Its Already Implemented48:10 - Lip Syncing/Localisation Troubles With Dialogue51:20 - Japanese Games Having Terrible English Dialogue/Translations53:40 - Ryan Would Love To Work On A Rockstar Game54:40 - Where To Buy Ryan’s Novel “Gawain A Year To Live56:23 - Where To Follow Ryan

Peer Schneider is one of the co-founders of IGN and is currently IGN's EVP and Chief Content Officer. #ign #gaming #gamesSOCIAL MEDIATWITTER - @peerignINSTAGRAM - @peerignTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:20 - How Peer Fits In Gaming Time With His Busy Schedule04:50 - IGN’s Current Work Model/Remote & Office Work07:40 - Interview Process At IGN/Bad Interviewees10:05 - How IGN Knows When To Change Strategy With Its Content13:40 - The Different Youtube Channels/Youtube Algorithm18:40 - Optimising Content/SEO19:30 - Peer’s Views On Chat GPT & AI23:40 - Other Publications Ripping Off IGN’s Content26:20 - Mortal Kombat Guide Content That Was Ripped Off/ Contacting The Perpetrators28:00 - Crediting Sources29:00 - Being Blacklisted By Gaming Publishers/THQ Scandal34:10 - Political Nature Of Gaming Journalism/Being Trustworthy36:30 - Moving To America From Germany/Living In Japan39:00 - Places In America Peer Hasn’t Been To40:10 - Travelling For Work And Maintaining Energy/Gaming Behaviour Tour/Presentations42:10 - Flight Times/Peer Hasn’t Been To New Zealand & Australia Yet43:10 - Why There Won’t Be A Fourth Hardware Competitor45:20 - Fortnite Itself Is A Platform46:10 - IGN’s Approaches To Leaks48:27 - The Legend Of Zelda Live Film Discussion/Video Game Movie Adaptations51:40 - Metroid Prime 4, Wii U & Switch 2 Discussion56:40 - The Biggest Misunderstanding People Have With IGN/ Publishers Do Not Pay IGN For Good Reviews1:02:09 - How IGN’s Top Lists Are Made/Peer Doesn’t Like Ninja Gaiden/IGN Doesn’t Have A Hive Mind1:03:58 - The Obsession With The Metacritic Score1:05:12 - Starfield’s Review Score1:06:56 - Reviewers Having Enough Time To Review A Game1:07:50 - Kiwi’s PAX West 2024 Pitch With Retro Studios Devs/Outro

Garrett Young has been in the video game industry for over 25 years and has worked on games such as DOOM 2016, Rage Forza and James Bond: Quantum Of Solace. #doom #doom2016 #forza SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @garrettyTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:05 - Working On DOOM 201606:43 - Early Builds Of The Game/Garrett’s First Week On DOOM 201612:30 - Single Player Mode/Push Forward Combat/17:05 - Difficulty Story On Nightmare21:56 - Tackling The FPS Platforming Problem In DOOM 201624:20 - Metroid Prime & Batman’s Influence On DOOM 201626:50 - Cancelled Soccer Game For Xbox/EA Sabotaged The Dreamcast31:21 - Working On Forza33:23 - Working On The City Tracks Vs Forza/Building Up The Team/Publishing Vs Game Studios37:26 - Diversity In Skillset/ Knowing When To Pivot When Something Isn’t Working39:51 - The Reality Of Crunch In The Industry/Management48:20 - Fake Deadlines/Agile Development51:20 - Where To Follow Garrett Young/Doing Another Podcast In The Future

Randy Linden is a legendary programmer who is best known for doing what was thought to be impossible porting DOOM from the PC to the SNES, hes also responsible for porting Dragon's Lair to the Amiga and making Bleem an emulator for the Playstation. He is currently working for Limited Run Games. #doom #supernintendo #snes SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @RandalLindenTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:40 - Being In The Industry For Over 40 Years01:57 - Randy’s Thoughts On Zelda: Breath Of The Wild & Super Mario Odyssey06:03 - Randy’s Standout Moment In Zelda: Breath Of The Wild07:25 - Honing In On The Programming Aspect of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild & Super Mario Odyssey09:50 - Zelda Inspired Randy To Improve On His Programming Skills/Writing A Program11:34 - Why The Rocket Launcher Is More Powerful In DOOM SNES/Reverse Engineering15:25 - Why Monster Infighting Isn’t In DOOM SNES18:08 - Why Monsters Don’t Respawn In Nightmare Mode/Monster Speed In Nightmare/SNES Violent Games21:59 - Guessing The AI For The Monsters/Tight Deadline For DOOM SNES25:14 - Being In The Zone Creatively/Crunch For DOOM SNES/Managing Time Effectively34:16 - How Randy Balances Quality Vs Quantity In Programming36:50 - Story Of Metal Gear Solid Bug For Bleem On Dreamcast42:45 - Randy’s Terrible Diet While Working44:26 - How To Get In The Zone45:30 - List Of Programming Priorities/Priority On DOOM SNES49:11 - How The Quake GBA Prototype Came About51:21 - The Hardest & Most Misunderstood Thing About Programming56:50 - Game Development Roles These Days Are More Specialized/AAA Development1:01:00 - Cost Of Games1:05:18 - Gaming Has More Value For Money Than Film/Game Studios Lay Offs1:08:35 - Its Harder For Game Studios To Be Successful Today Than It Was In The Past1:11:05 - Incremental Hardware Increases1:12:06 - Sandy Peterson Never Worked On DOOM SNES1:14:31 - E2M2 In DOOM SNES/John Coffey Level Edits That Got Rejected By ID Software/Metallic Grates1:17:45 - Where To Follow Randy Linden/Jurassic Park

Here is the recorded panel I did at PAX 2023 with the one and only Mick Gordon. All video footage is owned by PAX Australia. FUN FACT: After the panel finished, 200+ people converged on Mick to ask him questions and get him to sign things. As a result he remained at the venue for 3 hours and he missed our dinner reservations #mickgordon #doom #killerinstinct PAX AUS TWITCH - https://www.twitch.tv/pax2 PAX AUS YOUTUBE - @PAXAustraliaOfficial BLACK DOG INSTITUTE - https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Early Intro00:30 - Generozity Game/Raising Money For Mental Health01:40 - Introductions04:43 - Evolution Of Video Game Music/Mick’s Introduction To Video Games Music & Melody17:35 - Creating Tracks With Vocals For Killer Instinct20:45 - The Writing & Creative Process Of Killer Instinct And How It Differed From The Original29:18 - Main Menu Themes/Creating Opening To Hell Remix For DOOM Eternals Main Menu Theme33:48 - Sampling Original Themes35:38 - AI And How It Will Affect Musicians And The Creative Process40:56 - Advice For Up & Coming Composers/Stem Separators 46:14 - Mick’s Favourite Game Score Over The Last Few Years48:05 - Q+A - Mick’s Musical Influences49:48 - Q+A - How To Improve Your Weaknesses As A Musician50:53 - Q+A - Creating The Partisan For Wolfenstein Old Blood52:19 - Q+A - Practice Routines54:20 - Q+A - How Mick’s Musical Style Has Changed And The Difference Between Band Music and Video Game Music56:26 - Q+A - Where The Thunder Chants From PAX 2013 Are In Killer Instinct