Up Up Down Down

Kristen Bornemann, Development Director of the critically acclaimed MMO Guild Wars 2, joins us to talk scaling MMOs and other games. We talk about smooth and rocky launches, the death of “realms”, and Guild Wars 2’s novel business model. We also discuss hackers, shipping bi-weekly updates, and Blizzard’s Titan. We finish on a dark and stormy note. Massively’s Archeage interview Patrick Wyatt on Scaling Guild Wars for massive concurrency Kristen’s GDC Talk, “Every Two Weeks: Accelerating Guild Wars 2” Blizzard killing their seven-year MMO project, Titan Up Up Down Down’s new Steam Curator Recommendations The Rektreational Dota 2 tournament Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Every Book Ever The Bulwer-Lytton contest

Asher Vollmer, creator of Threes and Close Castles, joins us to talk puzzle games. We discuss the process of designing developing Threes, and what goes in to making a great little puzzle game. We then talk about the whimsical minimalism that works so well in indie games, and how to bring them to life. We talk about difficulty, complexity, and how to tune games. We touch on the effects of free to play on puzzle games, and how it makes us feel weird. Afterwards, we talk Wii U games, Divinity: Original Sin, trying to get our RPG fix, and Manwiches. Asher’s game Threes The development of Threes Greg Wohlwend, the artist that brought Threes to life Mike Bithell on Thomas Was Alone and ‘ugly games’ SpyParty’s Chris Hecker on doing depth first, and accessibility later Asher’s upcoming multiplayer game Close Castles Asher’s blog Divinity: Original Sin

Matthew Marteinsson, audio designer at Klei Entertainment, joins us to discuss sound design in games. We talk about the various techniques Matt used in Klei’s recent game Don’t Stave, from bees to gobblers. We discuss recording sound effects, what makes great sound design, what makes bad sound design, and some of what makes voice acting a pain. We also touch on Destiny, and get a little epic. Don’t Starve FMOD The existence of Electronic Wind Instruments The Bastion Narration that was recorded in a closet The Incomparable RX Audio Repair Hollywood Edge sound libraries Matt’s podcast, Beards, Cats, and Indie Game Audio Polygon’s Destiny review Astro gaming headphones Klei’s upcoming game, Invisible, Inc.

Martiancraft’s Jeff LaMarche joins us to discuss 3D game engines. We discuss the core features of a game engine, what Unity brings to the table, and why it has become so popular for indie games like Martiancraft’s Republic Sniper. Then we dig in to Unreal, Jeff’s team’s switch to it from Unity, and what makes it so wonderfully fantastic. Jeff’s blog post An Unreal Decision on switching away from Unity Unity Licensing Republic Sniper List of Unreal Engine games Blueprints in Unreal Engine BRDF library Metro Redux

Daniel Cook of Spry Fox joins us to discuss content-focused and system-focused game design. We talk about the rise of narrative games like Gone Home and Journey, and contrast them to system-centric games that offer deeper gameplay, at the expense of greater risk to game developers. We talk about how these forces have affected Spry Fox’s games, and dig in to their latest, Road Not Taken. Dan’s Lost Garden article, How game forms are shaped by their environment Full Indie Summit Machinations Dan’s previous game, Triple Town Great games that seems obvious in retrospect, like Letterpress and Threes Procedural level generation in Steambirds Road Not Taken Sam Machkovech’s Road Not Taken review Architecture and Forgiveness, our interview with Monument Valley’s Ken Wong Raph Koster’s theory of chunking and games Steambirds

Curtis Lassam joins us to discuss the great failures in video games. We kick things off with Jurassic Park: Trespasser, then learn about Curtis’ Three Rules to Not Doom Yourself. We follow the rocky career of Tim Schafer, then Nigel tells us all about Daikatana. Afterwards, we bat around a bad idea for a video game, and talk couch co-op games. Research Indicates Let’s Play Trespasser Physics Bugs in Trespasser Gamasutra’s post-mortem of Trespasser Poor Tim Schafer Grim Fandango and Old Man Murray’s Death of Adventure Games Psyhonauts and Brütal Legend Big Rigs Over the Road Racing on the Angry Video Game Nerd Daikatana, one of the canonical disappointments in video gaming The Game Idea Generator Crawl

Adam “Atomic” Saltsman joins us to discuss collaboration and sustanability in the world of indie games. We talk about Adam’s new venture Finji Games, and collaborating with fans, from early access to Earliest Access. We fondly remember Canabalt, remember that critical hits aren’t always commercial hits, and discuss how contracting fills the gaps between projects. We finish by discussing the intense competitive pressure in the indie market, and the daunting task of building a 3D game. Finji Games Clockwork Empires’ Earliest Access program Offworld Trading Company Adam’s classic iPhone game Canabalt (on sale for $0.99) Gone Home The Finji Blog @finjigames Overland Super Time Force The Last of Us, which Adam has somehow not played yet Concept art for Overland Johnathan Blow’s process of producing The Witness

Guy English returns this week to discuss 3D graphics APIs, so hold on to your butts. We start with the origins of the GPU, and recount the evolution of graphics APIs. We dig in to what a modern GPU actually does, and then discuss Apple’s new graphics API, Metal. Guy and Nigel reminisce about just how horrible programming for the PlayStation 2 was, we talk latency, and finally Guy explores his relationship with Riddler trophies. OpenGL The good but weird Voodoo GPUs 3dfx’ Glide API Microsoft Direct3D’s long winding path GLQuake Retained Mode, an evolutionary dead end in graphics APIs that lives again The Geforce 3 and programmable shaders Metal, Apple’s new low-level 3D API John Carmack on MegaTextures Guy’s MacWorld article on Metal Steamclock’s 3D Map of the Internet app John Carmack’s battle with latency and Oculus Rift Guy and Rene Ritchie’s excellent podcast, Debug Batman: Arkham Origins reviews The Hearthstone tournament that attempted to ban women

Brianna Wu and Amanda Warner of Giant Spacekat Games join us to talk about narrative in games. We talk about our favourite storylines, the development of Giant Spacekat’s imminent game Revolution 60, Unreal Engine, hand-crafted animations, and some initial thoughts on the final build of Revolution 60. Giant Spacekat’s Revolution 60 for iPad The Isometric Podcast Journey driving Thatgamecompany to bankruptcy Unreal Engine’s Matinee system Parasite Eve Final Fantasy X Railroading in RPGs The Last of Us motion capture outtake Pete Paquette on using motion capture as a reference for hand-tuned animation Disney’s use of live reference footage for traditional animation Revolution 60 tho

Philippe Casgrain of NSNorth and formerly of Transgaming joins us to discuss porting games. We discuss the technologies behind virtualizing games on the Mac, ports gone bad, and the effects of consoles on the PC versions of games. Then, we talk a bit about Wii U games and Hearthstone. Transgaming WINE Cedega MiniGL, the subset of OpenGL that 3dfx shipped to get Quake ported to their cards Cider Steamclock Software Mario Kart: Double Dash New Super Luigi Bros. U 3D Bros. Hearthstone Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo

Toca Boca’s Amanda Rösler joins us to discuss making great games for kids. We talk about why Toca Boca’s apps are more like toys than they are games, games for kids on the App Store, the pitfalls of making games for kids, and tea parties. Later, we talk about co-op games we’re looking forward to playing. Toca Boca Toca Town The Kids section of the App Store The Úll Conference Oregon Trail Dead Space 3 The Luigi Death Stare Splatoon Super Hot

iMore’s Peter Cohen joins us to discuss morality in video games, and what it means to play dictators, serial killers, and just plain jerks. We determine whether or not this makes us bad people, and whether or not it’s going to traumatize our kids. Finally, we discuss the futility of going to E3. BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic The Modern Warfare 2 Fastest Speed Run Ever Skyrim’s evil missions Being a demon in The Darkness Trying to be good in Deus Ex: Human Revolution Tropico, everybody’s favourite dictator game Black & White The Torture Mission in GTA V The Milgram experiment Locking your Sims in a tiny room The effects of violent video games on children Emotes in Hearthstone Saving the Little Sisters in BioShock PuzzleJuice BioShock Infinite killing Irrational Games and Journey almost killing thatgamecompany Attending E3 vs. GDC

Justin Voss of Low Earth Orbit joins us to talk stealth games. We discuss the origin of stealth games, instant failure, and the joy of finding alternative ways to complete a mission. Then, we rag on Metal Gear Solid and salivate over E3 announcements. The original Thief Eavesdropping in Assassin’s Creed Splinter Cell Outposts in Far Cry 3 Deus Ex: Human Revolution Metal Gear Solid 3’s River of Sorrow and The End Polygon’s Best of E3 Alien: Isolation Preview Bungie’s Destiny on previous-gen and current-gen consoles Greatest box office bombs of all time

Scott Stevenson of Low Earth Orbit joins us to talk open world games. We discuss side quests, railroading, and trying to tell a story when the player can ruin everything. As usual, we end with a diversion into games we’re excited about, and some peculiar Kickstarters. Thief Hey cousin! Let’s go bowling! Thank goodness everything is back to normal! Infamous Second Son Polygon’s Spider-Man 2 Review Red Dead Redemption Nathan Drake Radical’s Prototype Fez’ $40,000 bug fix Fuel ReRoll, the Kickstarter for a game world that was literally the entire earth Danielle Riendeau’s Transistor review Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn

Ars Technica’s Kyle Orland joins us to discuss the great failures in game consoles. We talk about our favourite doomed consoles, the story of Sega’s downfall, and Nintendo’s journey through the desert with the Wii U. The Apple Pippin TurboGrafx-16 Console prices adjusted for inflation The heinously bad Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties Steven Frank’s Dragon’s Lair story Virtual Boy The Sega Saturn The Sega Dreamcast Nintendo lowering the bar for the Wii U and missing anyway Paying to Win Soul Calibur Shadow of Mordor preview The Atari Landfill

Developer and humourist Curtis Lassam joins us to discuss humour in games. We discuss comically hard games, sandboxes as a vehicle for comedy, what makes it hard to write a funny game, and a goat. Octodad QWOP Enviro-Bear 2000 The Worms series Dwarf Fortress Boatmurdered Team Fortress’ “Meet The Team” shorts Steamclock Software Cave Johnson’s dialogue from Portal 2 The dialogue in Duke Nukem Forever Goat Simulator Trailer “Xbox Sign Out” trolling Spelunky Super Time Force review on Polygon

Neven Mrgan, designer of wonderful apps and games, joins us to discuss retro games. We discuss his upcoming game Space Age, the challenges of pixel art, and Neven’s previous games The Incident and Blackbar. Space Age The Incident Scaling Pixel Art from Microsoft Research Gus Mueller’s excellent Acorn Shaun Inman’s letter M Sword and Sworcery Retro Game Crunch Monkey Island in CryEngine The rights to No One Lives Forever Firewatch Paradox Factor Blackbar Hitman GO

Myke Hurley, world-renowned podcaster, joins us to discuss portable consoles, the future of the PS Vita, and the iPhone as a portable game console. Directional, Myke’s gaming podcast with Federico Viticci OlliOlli for PS Vita Indie games on the PS Vita MOGA Power Ace Game Controller for iOS VGChartz, purveyor of worldwide console sales numbers One Song, 7.5 Writers by I Fight Dragons Eirik Suhrke’s wonderful video game music Hitman GO David Smith on how to improve the App Store

Grace “GTZ” of Fat, Ugly, or Slutty joins us to discuss jerks on Xbox Live, getting people to play nice together, and hellbanning. Fat, Ugly, or Slutty League of Legends and the fine art of Jungling Grace’s panels at PAX 2013 and earlier about positively shaping player behaviour Riot Games’ experiments with Restricted Chat Mode and toxic behaviour The lessons Journey teaches us Guild Wars 2 staff respond to Redditors as to why their account was banned Castro, the nicest podcast app Smart Match, Xbox Live’s version of hellbanning Everybody is a Trevor in GTA V Online Multiplayer piano

Angelina Fabbro of Mozilla joins us to discuss games on the web, why the hell people are still using C++, and business models for web-based games. After that, we jump in to games we’re playing on the iPad, what’s wrong with MMOs, and how Pokémon will never die. Mozilla’s GDC 2014 announcements Unreal 4’s pricing drop to $19 per month The Unity 3d Engine The Mozilla Manifesto asm.js, the low-level subset of JavaScript LLJS Cookie Clicker Monster Madness in WebGL WebGL on iOS devices The death of UnrealScript in favour of… C++. FTL for iPad Republique BROFORCE Ironclad Tactics Hearthstone, which is clearly better than Magic Warcraft: the Movie New Super Mario Bros. Wii U 3D World Bros. U Garbador, the garbage-type Pokemon