What qualifies as a level in Skyrim? Caves, dungeons?
Skyrim, Morrowind, Cyrodill, etc.
What qualifies as a level in Skyrim? Caves, dungeons?
Games Discussed: Alf Protocol
No one?Anyone want to rehost this week's one for me as well?
(Mediafire preferred... and usually easiest, if I can be so picky)
What is the Halo trailer they spoke of?
I thought it was quite ironic that the guys mentioned Ubisoft as the one company that seems to be able to wrangle massive team sizes effectively, when what I've heard about Assassin's Creed 3 so far is that a lot of its systems just don't come together properly (and can be safely ignored), aren't well explained, buggy as hell, etc.
You could be right, though then I don't really see the distinction to other AAA developers. Is it just about being able to do it yearly, then? I assumed being able to do it well, not just timely, was part of the point.Effectively meaning actually managing to put out working games on time and on budget while working with such a giant spread out team. I don't think they made any qualitative judgement on whether these systems gel together well.
HA! Idle thumbs t-shirt
You could be right, though then I don't really see the distinction to other AAA developers. Is it just about being able to do it yearly, then? I assumed being able to do it well, not just timely, was part of the point.
It was a bit forced. Also Chris you should have left the Papa Roshan joke unexplained. If someone doesn't get it the first time they don't deserve your speedy wit and charm.Also, the Sean's fascination with the flaming skull was hilarious. And for some reason, I found it funny when they were referring to Master Chief as Halo.
I actually enjoyed JP's contributions to the cast.
Side note: How long has JP been working at DF? I knew he left Irrational and was briefly in one of the DFA "episodes" but didn't realise he was there on a more permanent basis. Great stuff.
Side side note: Didn't realise Chris was actively working on The Cave. (Obviously directed toward Chris) Did you know you'd have a chance to work on something when you signed up as CM for DF? In what capacity are you working on it? (If you don't mind me asking, obviously... not looking for fine detail, just curious)
Ah yes. I was more referring to his work with the Bioshock "teams", wasn't aware there was a distinct difference b/w Irrational and 2K Marin. Also had no idea he'd been there for that long. That's pretty awesome.JP left Irrational more than four years ago at this point. After that, he was one of the founding members of 2K Marin through the development of BioShock 2. He's been at Double Fine for about 18 months now or so. When you saw him in one of the episodes, it was simply because he works at Double Fine.
Great to hear! I'm genuinely relieved you're not getting pigeonholed as I (now once) thought occurs to most CMs in their job roles (and what seemed to happen at Irrational, nothing against them personally though, obviously). Seriously, the thought of you being "just" another community manager made my heart sink a little when you first announced it, if only for all those concepts and theories we'd heard through the podcast remaining unfulfilled.I'm the other writer on the game along with Ron Gilbert, although it's very much Ron's story and his game. I didn't get hired specifically to do that, although one of the reasons I wanted to work at Double Fine was because of the small-team structure and ability to contribute in multiple ways.
stuff
The Halo snark was a bit much. It is possible to like a game like Halo 4 as well as FTL, Dishonored, or DayZ.
If they're bashing a game you don't care about it's hilarious. If it's a game you do care about it's being assholish. Personally, I think the Halo bashing is hilarious.One thing I would say, though -- and this has been true of Idle Thumbs for a long, long time -- is that the snap judgments they make based on trailers, while funny, can fall into snark town very, very quickly. It's a razor thin line between hilarity and internet-assholism in those situations, and even if the discussions are usually funny, being within such close range to asshole-city makes me feel uncomfortable when listening.
If they're bashing a game you don't care about it's hilarious. If it's a game you do care about it's being assholish. Personally, I think the Halo bashing is hilarious.
So, sustainability, basically. Still a rotten way to operate.I think we basically meant--a game comes out essentially on time and on budget, the studio doesn't crumble, you don't constantly hear about tons of staff desertions. Basically, the company seems to basically be functional still. So many of those huge studios are just devastated by the process of making a large-scale video game. But it doesn't mean the end result game is necessarily great, regardless. And often, the studios with the most stuff going wrong end up making the best games--this is pretty common with Rockstar studios like Rockstar San Diego making Red Dead Redemption. They ended up with a great game but the hardships that were imposed on its staff are well-reported.
Bit late to the discussion but the one thing I hate about the Assassin's Creed series is how braindead the parkour stuff is. Just hold right trigger and A and move in a direction, you'll eventually reach the other side of the city. If it were more active it could elevate the game into platforming (traversing?) godliness, the world is already there and made. It's such a waste really.
I thought I remembered reading an interview with someone on that team and they said that originally the freerunning stuff was much more involved, but they eventually decided to automate it for some reason or another. It's a shame, it really is braindead. It's not just the controls either, just about every building is designed in such a way that you can just hold A and forward, and there will be a path.
It pales in comparison to the feeling of similar stuff in Mirror's Edge.
Prey 2 was axed? Fuck. I was looking forward to thatCan you imagine an open world Mirror's Edge. Holy shit that would be amazeballs. Prey 2 would've been something like that until it was axed.
Prey 2 was axed? Fuck. I was looking forward to that