Filed under: Article, Interview | Tags: jason_rohrer, kill_screen_magazine, jamin_brophy_warren, chris_dahlen, gamesetwatch, gamasutra, the fader, rolling_stone, the_believer, new_yorker, the_colbert_report, popmatters, paste, esquire, paris_review, gay_talese, kickstarter
[[This article originally appeared on GameSetWatch and Gamasutra. This version is a little longer, adding in a couple of interesting bits and bobs from Jamin that didn’t make the final cut.]]
[In this GameSetWatch-first interview, writer Lee Bradley sits down with Jamin Brophy-Warren to discuss the imminent debut of Kill Screen, a magazine that is trying to take a distinctly different approach to print writing about video games.]
“We’re so concerned about the minutia that we’ve missed the much more interesting question of ‘how does this game make me feel?’”
Kill Screen is the ambitious new magazine from ex-Wall Street Journal reporter Jamin Brophy-Warren. Launching in January, it’s a project that promises a fresh approach to games journalism. Rejecting the established cycle of news, previews and reviews, Kill Screen aims instead to provide literate, thoughtful pieces on the people, culture and meaning of the medium.
In Brophy-Warren’s own words, “We want to be what early Rolling Stone was to rock n’ roll or Wired was to tech. We want to look like the Fader and walk like the Believer.” It’s an enticing prospect.
Filed under: Wandering | Tags: 3d_realms, duke_nukem_forever, george_broussard, wired
Fuelled by ego, ambition and an unquenchable desire for perfectionism, the story of Duke Nukem Forever’s demise is a sad one. As documented today over at Wired, it’s also a tale of how near-unlimited freedom can squash all but the most disciplined of artists.
For 12 long years George Broussard and his team at 3D Realms labored over creating a sequel that would change the gaming landscape. They wanted to make the same impact that the original Duke did back in 1996. So they chased the ever-shifting pinnacle of technology, tossing aside months and years of work each time a new game engine emerged. For Broussard, buoyed by the creative and financial freedom offered by Duke’s first outing, only absolute perfection would do. Unfortunately, that proved to be the game’s undoing. By the time it became apparent that DNF would likely never be completed, more than $20m had been spent.
It’s a fascinating story that’s definitely worth a read. Perhaps the saddest part is that nobody close to the project says DNF was a bad game. Just that, in the mind of its creator at least, it was never even nearly finished.
It would be good to hear Broussard’s side of the story, but with a court case underway to clean up the resulting financial and legal mess, I wouldn’t count on hearing it fora while.
Making games is a tricky business, regardless of the size of the studio. UK-based indies Beatnik Games know this all too well. They’ve had a rough couple of years creating Plain Sight, their multiplayer robot-ninja-em-up. It’s a title with a fascinating premise, in which you gain points and power by destroying your enemies, but only bank those points when you destroy yourself and return to your original state.
With such intriguing set-up it would have been terrible if the game had never seen the light of day. Thankfully, after a couple of setbacks Plain Sight is back on track, better than ever and gearing up for release. We dragged producer Robin Lacey away from his booth at the Eurogamer Expo to talk development hell, accessibility and shitting rainbows.
That VideoGame Blog (TVGB): You showed the game at the Eurogamer Expo last year. Tell us a little about the game’s journey since then.
Robin Lacey (RL): Well last year was pretty much an Alpha build, it was just the basic gameplay concept. What we were trying to judge whether people thought the idea fun and if they found it visually interesting – it was basically a prototype. The response was fantastic and we were like, ‘This is great!’ So we went and spent about 3 months or so just working away on it and we thought, ‘Great we’re in Beta stage.’
So around Christmas last year we launched our open beta, which we thought would be fine – we thought maybe 10 people would download it and we’d get a bit of forum feedback. But 50,000 people downloaded it and everything burst into flames and went horribly wrong.
We realized that the game mechanics were broken and it was an absolute nightmare. So over the last 12 months what we’ve done is take the feedback and all of the harsh lessons we learned and tried to make the most refined game we possible can. It’s certainly been interesting.
Tiny UK development outfit Hello Games couldn’t of wished for a better introduction to the world. They’ve just finished showing their debut game to packed crowds at the Eurogamer Expo and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
It’s easy to see why. Just watching Joe Danger in action is enough to put a smile on your face. A gorgeously colorful racer-cum-platformer that just bursts with character, it’s a throwback to happier times. Oh and it’s fun too. Should have said that before.
We’ll have a proper preview of the game coming up for you soon, but in the meantime here’s our chat with Sean Murray, Hello Games’ Managing Director and one of the men that brought Joe Danger to life.
That VideoGame Blog (TVGB): First of all, your blog is outstanding, some of the best writing about games we’ve read in a while.
Sean Murray (SM): Oh thanks! I think we were probably too honest in it, about the mistakes we have made and stuff. But people seem to like it.
TVGB: It’s like the Show and Yell event last night (read about it here). It was a bit chaotic and mental, not even approaching slick, but really, really fun. It had character and you could tell that everyone was really in love with what they were doing.
SM: You’ve just summed up indie games, haven’t you? Pretty rough around the edges but fun.
Filed under: Interview | Tags: Interview, matt_korba, paul_bellezza, the_misadventures_of_p_b_winterbottom, the_odd_gentlemen
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, the time-bending puzzle-platformer from devs The Odd Gentlemen, is set for release on Xbox Live Arcade next year. It’s been on the receiving end of many admiring glances here at TVGB, so we thought a chat with The Odd Gentlemen themselves was well overdue. Read on for the thoughts of Matt Korba (Creative Director, Lead Designer, President) and Paul Bellezza (CEO, Producer, Diet Coke Fetcher) on the indie scene, why they’ll never make an FPS and, inevitably, pies.
That VideoGame Blog (TVGB): Winterbottom began as a student thesis. It then became a fully-fledged indie game, and it now has the support of one of the bigger publishing houses. How much has the game changed over that time?
Matt Korba: Well, the core has very much remained the same. We have smoothed out and refined the mechanics from the student game to make them as clear and fun as possible and added some new time tricks. We basically took a short demo of a game and expanded it to a full game’s worth of content, complete with a narrative, leader boards, achievements, the whole nine. The art has gotten a huge update as is apparent from looking at the screenshots side by side. The tech has also dramatically changed. Unfortunately, there is no magic button to take a flash game to the Xbox. We had to build our tools and engine entirely from scratch to make Winterbottom possible.
