Dev Game Club Brett Douville and Tim Longo

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Beyond Good and Evil. We talk about the end parts of the game and the variety of the experiences you can have, before turning to our takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Sections played:
Finished the game!
Issues covered: the bad guy, the end of game battles, the risk of forgetting when you do a lot of side content, misremembering the game, being delighted, smoke and mirrors, wanting the spaceship to be the lighthouse, the various tricky bits of the slaughterhouse, being taught how to get rid of electricity, one of the most memorable characters of all time, saying yes until the end, the jumping enemies, supporting the inventory, reflection puzzles, an annoying trigger for a cutscene, wanting more time with Pey'j, the Chosen One, many breadcrumbs at the end, diluting narrative, optional content being part of gameplay content, getting all the animals or not, flawed gem, a good looping track section, escalating the General's ship, religion coming in at the end, intriguing questions, nailing the tropes, improving user experience, put a moat around it, less stressful reintroductions of mechanics, the teleporting boss, touching moments, earning the sweet moments, looking at the prequel, the world-building of it all, subtle ways to reinforce the world-building, don't underestimate the camera, saying yes maybe too much, being uncategorizable, keeping the surprises coming, standing apart in its era, "it's the way to Gao, anyway."
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Apocalypse Now, Nintendo, Ocarina of Time, Michel Ancel, Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, Tim Schafer, Uncharted (series), Star Wars, Metal Gear (series), Assassin's Creed, Ghost of Tushima, Far Cry, Anachronox, Final Fantasy IX, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Final Fantasy VI, Biostats, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 
Next time:
??!
Notes:
It's General Kehck
Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @devgameclub
Discord https://t.co/h7jnG9J9lz
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 1997's Final Fantasy Tactics, which took the series into a new genre. We talk about the game's presentation, basics, and technology as well as how the game begins. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Sections played:
First few battles
Issues covered: finals fantasies, 1997 in games, testing various games, placing us in that time, a surprising departure in the series, TTRPGs and being "like chess," translating a genre to the PS1, closer combat/smaller spaces, opacity, not remembering the game well, the Zodiac, some other series, a niche genre, limited input options and menus, Ivalice and medieval setting, a deeper simulated system than FF combat generally has, translating well to the genre, the opening cinematics, preferring alignment of story with general engine use, developing technology to stream video, in-game stuff holding up better, getting the leverage from sprites, the diorama look, merging gameplay with non-interactive content, pre-rendered rewards, terrain rendering and spinning the camera, the close-in space vs larger areas and fog of war, elevation and abilities, map differentiation for visuals and challenge, the game over screen, modern engagement.
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy (series), Johnny "Pockets", GoldenEye, Diablo, Fallout, Castlevania: SotN, The Last Express, FF 7, Curse of Monkey Island, Grand Theft Auto, JK: Dark Forces 2, Myth: The Fallen Lords, Ultima Online, Outlaws, XvT, Starfox 64, Quake 2, Blade Runner, Dungeon Keeper, Age of Empires, Riven, Gran Turismo, Interstate '76, Populous, LucasArts, MechWarrior, Ogre Battles (series), SNES, Quest Corporation, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Chris Hockabout, Chris Corry, X-COM (series), Mario/Rabbids (series), Fire Emblem (series), Mark Garcia, Disgaea (series), Anachronox, Front Mission (series), Shining Force (series), Vandal Hearts (series), Valkyria Chronicles, Mass Effect (series), Star Wars, Blizzard, Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon: Forbidden West, God of War, The Sims, Vagrant Story, Metal Gear Solid, Axis and Allies, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers.
Next time:
More battles!
Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @devgameclub
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 2003's Beyond Good & Evil. We talk a lot more about the camera, how it compares with Zelda some more, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Sections played:
Through the Slaughterhouse
Issues covered: pigs and pokes, hubs and spokes, feeling like a bigger place, manufacturing the sense of evolutionary trees, getting turned around in dungeons, having a rare moment with a whale, relatable science fiction, SAC and showing character information, a baby step towards tracking, re-purchasable resources, inconsistency of pearl gathering, what you use pearls for, a weird hybrid of various games, not getting the shark names (carcharadon), finding the most difficult looters cave first, going on tilt, competing for Francis's pearl, finding the Alpha Section areas in the pedestrian district, a cool vehicle, camera issues, fun boat physics, having a hard time tiptoe-ing through narrow areas, "a partnership between camera and level design," the many demands on the camera from different departments, you can brute force at cost, going a different direction with cameras, a dungeon sewn together from three different mini-dungeons, the map and solving design problems (or not), getting off and on the hovercraft, the bee in Skyrim, the diagetic save game and cutting the camera, Tim's poor port, how is the title tied in, the state of the industry, standing by your beliefs, businesses taking advantage of cheap money and making bad bets.
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: LoZ: Ocarina of Time, Star Wars, Star Trek, Breath of the Wild, Okami, Nintendo, Mario, Mission: Impossible, Jackie Chan, Half-Life, Diddy Kong Racing, Prince of Persia (series), Remi Lacoste, Ghost Recon, Assassin's Creed, Tomb Raider, Skyrim, Nathan Purkeypile, Jean Simonet, Sasha/ScaryTiger, Friedrich Nietzsche, Larian Studios, Sony, Final Fantasy VI, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.
Next time:
Finish the game!
Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @devgameclub
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Beyond Good & Evil. We talk about a number of the game's systems, compare it with Zelda, and engage with the level design and characters. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Sections played:
Past the Factory
Issues covered: who said that line, characterization and Frenchness, aesthetics, cosmic horror and the Domz, Hub, lacking symmetry to promote alienness, diagetic design in its systems, the first trailer, a world you want to hang out in, quirky aesthetic, the camera and when you get control, night and day between two camera systems, the PC port, the "Zelda bucket," modularity and object-orientedness in Zelda games, clockwork, the photojournalism of it, doing things because the narrative demands it and not systematically, stealth vs combat, giving your companions power-ups, companions in combat, two-heart buddies, lock and key enemies, being able to bolt on mechanics, air hockey, keys that aren't keys through the characters, committing to the characters, The Myth of Zelda, making real statements, forgiving and fail-forward stealth, great camera framing, photojournalism as heroic act, the themes of information control and propaganda, what's with Alpha Section, keys that you can use in the inventory, Ubisoft and politics (Cuba, Myanmar and... Montana), tackling universal themes with story specifics to avoid preachiness.
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: The City of Lost Children, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Zootopia, Star Wars, Rayman, Jean-Luc Godard, Jerry Lewis, Artimage, Starfield, No Man's Sky, Spider-Man 2, Double Fine, Mario 64, Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Remi Lacoste, Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, Final Fantasy IX, Psychonauts, Tim Schafer, Mortal Kombat, Grim Fandango, Shufflepuck, Anachronox, George Orwell, 1984, The Last Express, Omikron: The Nomad Soul, David Cage, Metal Gear (series), Aleksandr Solzhenitzen, Andrei Sakharov, Final Fantasy VI, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.
Note:
Mark HH's (Agent HH!) camera book did not debut until 2009
Next time:
Past the Slaughterhouse
Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @devgameclub
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on 2003's Beyond Good and Evil. We talk a little bit about this kind of game, these story-based games that don't have a ton of focus but do have a lot of charm. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Sections played:
Through first dungeon
Issues covered: UbiSoft's best year, revisiting the game, setting the game in its time, just making ends make, appreciating Nintendo as a business model, the prequel still in development, enemy design and the 2D plane, getting straight into combat, tutorializing in the game, the connection with the weird alien, the vibe, lots of custom implementation, the very many things you do in the first half hour or hour, a time capsule of mixing adventure into everything, a one-use engine, hardware convergence post PS3, the broader experience games to tell ranging stories, competing with the movies, multiple types of cameras, the quirky snail, making you find everything, unique characters and special, time to build content, the precambrian explosion, what is the sequel/prequel, focus vs many games in one, being okay with the jank, using procedural solutions, personal taste, specific sequences for the one use, more games with jank, the voice acting being quite good, the modern examples, looking forward to lots of pearls, the wild world of randomizers. 
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Nietzsche, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Michel Ancel, Rayman (series), Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation, Okami, Knights of the Old Republic, Call of Duty, Simpsons Hit and Run, GTA, Freedom Fighters, WarioWare: Mega Microgames, Ikaruga, Jak 2, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, Mario Kart: Double Dash, XIII, Manhunt, Final Fantasy X-2, Tony Hawk's Underground, Silent Hill 3, Legacy of Kain: Defiance, LotR: The Return of the King, Max Payne 2, Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, Rabbids (series), Nintendo, Jerry Lewis, Rainbow Six, Tom Clancy, Sonic the Hedgehog, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy IX, Anachronox, Valiant Hearts: The Great War, Breath of the Wild, Shenmue, GoldenEye, Jack Mathews, Metroid Prime, Galleon, Sly Cooper, Wolfenstein, DOOM (1993), Quake, Wil Wright, Nightfire, Everything or Nothing, No Man's Sky, Valhaim, Lethal Company, Half-Life (series), Mr Mosquito, Dragon's Dogma (series), Jodi Forrest, David Gasman, Dark Souls, Remnant: From the Ashes, Dr McEvilly, Archipelago, John and Brenda Romero, Calamity Nolan, mysterydip, Johnny Pockets, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 
Next time:
More of this game!
Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @devgameclub
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we return to our series on Homeworld with an interview with special guest Alex Garden, who co-founded Relic and directed the title. We talk about the inception of the idea to the implementation difficulties and much more. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Podcast breakdown:
0:52    Interview
1:03:49 Break
1:04:24 Outro Comments
Issues covered: the history of our guest, distributing pirated games, the cold intro, testing games, dropping out of high school, selling the company and working for some years, fixing someone else's bugs, the crystal sphere, "Spaghetti Ball," the lightning bolt, focusing on the loss, pulling together the team, a 50000-line demo, starting with multiplayer to demo, demoing for gods, "this has changed how I'll make games," not knowing how to tell stories in space, creating a reference for the ships, believing you can overcome the difficulties, finding your home and knowing you were in the right, the gravity of the situation and losing people, every life being precious, you are not the target audience, making the story and the gameplay the same, lack of dynamic range, one revolution multiple evolution, changing the licensor, ships with fantastic shapes and colors, the main ship and why it has that design, ship scale on LODs, a frequency domain audio engine, doing a lot procedurally, clock radios, joining the rebellion, what sticks with you today, trusting your vision, expectations smashed, the new game gods, trying to make designers rock stars, knowing your collaborators.
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Madden (franchise), Triple Play, The Divide, PlayStation, Impossible Creatures, Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, Nexon, Xbox Live, Zune, Zynga, US Robotics, Distinctive Software, Chris Taylor, Don Mattrick, Omar Sharif On Bridge, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, Sega Genesis, Beavis and Butthead, Conceptual Interface Devices, Luke Moloney, Radical Entertainment, Electronic Arts, NASA/JPL, Ptolemy, Battlestar Galactica, Jon Mavor, Greg McMartin, Scott Lynch, Sierra, Valve, Erin Daly, Rob Cunningham, Aaron Kambeitz, Jane Jensen, Rob Lowe, Roberta and Ken Williams, Peter Molyneux, Black & White, Wing Commander, Chris Roberts, Star Citizen, The Breakfast Club, Blizzard, Starcraft, Republic Commando, Games Workshop, Blur Entertainment, Chris Foss, Peter Elson, Monkey Island, Shane Alfreds, Deus Ex, Warren Spector, Harvey Smith, Tim Cain, Fallout, Ion Storm, Ken Levine, Cliff Bleszinski, Killcreek (Stevie Case), John Romero, Hal Barwood, Wil Wright, Tim Schafer, Larry Holland, Gabe Newell, American McGee, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 
Next time:
???
Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @devgameclub
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com