#114 - Kynan Pearson Interview (Metroid Prime 2, Donkey Kong, Level Design, Management etc.)

Kynan Pearson is a game developer who has worked on prestigious game franchises such as Metroid, Donkey Kong and Halo. He is currently Creative Director at Discord. Kynan wrote a document on how to create a Metroidvania game that can be found here Part 1- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q0nMArDDA79ASJgiov9IvlTNpyYcCGTingLa02wwuvo/edit Part 2 - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F2NlTIlRDC8WlDp_FV9F-T6B0tkWCOCEq4gTQCcaxLg/edit SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @KynanPearson   #metroidprime #donkeykong #retrostudios   TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:56 - Knowing Retro Staff Before Joining/Jason Behr 02:29 - Approach To Level Design For Metroid Prime 2/Dark World 04:15 - Planning Of Metroid Prime Games 05:37 - World Layout/Planning Of Each Room In MP2 07:06 - Focusing On Each Hub/Compression Of Schedule In MP2 08:42 - Dark World Not Being Interconnected Due To Design & Time Constraints 10:20 - MP2 Multiplayer’s Influence On The Dark World 12:06 - Striking A Balance With Backtracking To Not Make It Tedious/MP2 Backtracking 14:27 - MP2 Fetch Quest 16:03 - Mark Pacini Suggested Idea Of GF Marines In Prime 2 Intro Later Into Development 17:55 - Nailing An Introduction/Intro To MP2 & MP3 19:13 - Approach To Design Of MP3/Ship Being A Big Focus 20:35 - Kynan’s Event Planning Role On Elysia, Skytown 23:00 - Elysia Was Built As A Showcase For MP3/Influences On Game Design 24:02 - Creatives Having So Many Ideas/Kynan Would Always Check Everyones Work At Retro 26:18 - Idea Of Background Impacting The Foreground In DKCR/Kynan’s Inspiration 30:58 - Idea Of Rocket Barrel Levels 33:09 - Retro Was A Well Oiled Machine During DKCR/Monday Morning Meetings At Retro 37:09 - Acting Like A Gorilla But Being Super Serious With Miyamoto 37:39 - Idea Of DKCR Silhouette Levels 39:18 - How They Placed Levels In Accordance With World Map 42:07 - Kremlings & K Rool Weren’t Considered As Retro Wanted To Incorporate A New Enemy 43:31 - Metroid Didn’t Have Influence On Halo/343 Industries 44:38 - Kynan’s Philosophy “You Have To Hate Something To Make It Better” 48:05 - No Project Is Ever Finished/Deadlines 49:25 - Working Out Balance Of When To Extend Deadlines & Polish/Release Estimates 51:20 - Adjusting To Different Studios Work Culture/Upper Management Being Key To Studio Culture 54:53 - Be Respectul & Honest With An Individual That Is Difficult To Work With 58:20 - Kynan’s Thoughts On Metroid Dread 1:00:18 - Metroid Dread Was The First Time In A Long Time Kynan Didn’t Critique A Game While Playing 1:01:12 - Where To Follow Kynan Pearson/Kynan’s “How To Design Metroidvania Games” Document