Dev Game Club

This week, the Dev Game Club podcast welcomes special guest Ken Levine, founder of Irrational Games and designer/writer of System Shock 2! Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown:0:33      Intro1:50      Early days of SS2 and Irrational31:33    Break 131:57    SS2 World-building, design, future1:17:16 Break 21:17:29 Quick note about next episode Issues covered: "Shock" prototype, Looking Glass relationship and Ken's early career there, Irrational Games beginning, business structure, imagining your audience and what you'd like to make, fingering .plan files, emergence and immersion, simulation, persistent world, personal ownership of experience, engine strengths and weaknesses, making fish stew, the benefits of constraints and happy accidents, polish, sense of place, naturalism in a science fiction setting, making the most of minimalism, turning a weakness into a strength, economical design, race track design/nooks and cra

In this fourth beta edition episode of Dev Game Club, we continue to examine System Shock 2, finishing what remains of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Note: Though this is the fourth and final episode about our playing the game, we will have a special guest for episode 5! Having already started spoiling story stuff in Episode 3, we continue to do so here. If you're playing along, you may want to finish the game first and come back to the podcast after you have. Sections played:Rickenbacker 1 & 2The Body of the ManyWhere Am I? Podcast breakdown:0:35      Intro1:38      End of playthrough48:06    Break 148:49    Pillars and takeaways1:11:42 Break 21:12:12 Next time, what we're playing, next game Issues covered: psi combos, puzzle-y nature of sections, ammo starvation, red ninjas, end-game difficulty, egg hunt, audio occlusion, lack of maps through end of game, gravity inversion, Tim's narrow escape, Shodan giveth and Sh

In this third beta edition of Dev Game Club, we continue to examine System Shock 2, moving through the rest of Hydroponics, then through Ops and Recreation (Decks 4 and 5). Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Note: This is the first episode where we'll spoil story stuff, so be warned if you're playing along. There's a big beat at the beginning of Ops that we discuss in detail in particular. I'll leave particulars out of the show notes. Sections played:Hydroponics A/DOps (Deck 4)Recreation (Deck 5) Podcast breakdown:0:20 Intro1:50 Discussion begins58:32 Break58:52 What next, what we're playing, production note Issues covered: elevator directions, level play order and support for order of play, grouping of skill stations, player empowerment vs. simulated spaces, progressive strangeness of levels, spiders and bees, skill costs, psionics strategy, marines strategy, depth vs. breadth, energy weaponry, loot tables, systems interaction/recycl

In this second beta edition of Dev Game Club, we continue to examine System Shock 2, moving through R&D and ultimately into Hydroponics B/C. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: R&DCargo BaysEngineering Control/Engine Core Hydroponics B/C Podcast breakdown:0:36   Intro1:15   Discussion of SS2 begins (with level persistence)55:22 Break55:43 What we're playing/next time Issues covered: level data persistence, navigation cues or lack thereof, lack of clarity to certain interactions, not focusing the player, health buffs and de-buffs, inversion of RPG skill-ups, using the environment to kill your foes, the world continuing while you interact with inventory and HUD, Brett's biggest scare in games, monkey terror, enemy introductions, emergence and player agency, exploitability of AI, do sleeping robots notice you?, cargo section as stealth, quantum entanglement reconstruction tank expert use Games, people, and influen

In this inaugural beta edition of Dev Game Club, we talk about the relevance of System Shock 2, its precedents and antecedents, and cover the first couple of hours of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Show notes: DGC Ep 1 Sections played: Opening area, tutorial, character customization area, von Braun Med/Sci and Crew Quarters. Podcast breakdown:0:00:33 - Reason behind 'cast0:02:27 - History of hosts0:05:00 - Expected 'cast layout0:07:55 - History of System Shock 20:29:05 - Break 10:29:25 - Talk about beginning parts of SS2 in depth1:24:14 - Break 21:24:34 - What we're playing, plans for next episode Brett & Tim Common History: Star Wars Starfighter, Star Wars Jedi Starfighter, Star Wars Republic Commando. Brett History: Fallout 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4 Tim History: X-Wing v TIE Fighter, Mysteries of the Sith, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, Tomb Raider 2013, Halo 5. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discus