Dev Game Club

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on Persona 3. After talking about a game we're releasing, we talk about how this story can go mature places, modern themes, and other things. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Sections played:
Up through Arqa
Issues covered: finaling a 90-day game, great graphic design, the rhythms of life, school testing and the "level playing field," knowing more about what's going on but everyone talking about it anyway, looking forward to a new character, the tiles changing in the second set of Tartarus levels, just understanding everything, what you leave out, dwelling on modern problems, adding little additional mechanics, managing the tonal palette, the voice acting, the presentation, style and substance, the modern setting, how the stories and the systems tie together, well-presented menus, the excellence of the audio and music, reusing motifs for impact, "hate mail" and thanks. 
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: BioStats, Calamity Nolan, bookslap, From Software, Project Octavia, The Wizard's Assistants, H. R. Giger, Metal Gear (series), Final Fantasy (series), JRR Tolkien, Diablo, Elite Beat Agents, Yakuza (series), Judgment, Sega, RGG Studio, LucasArts, Like A Dragon, Spider-man (series), Yuri Lowenthal, Jennifer Hale, Peanuts, Valheim, World of Warcraft, Spelunky, Witcher III, Baldur's Gate III, LoZ: Breath of the Wild, kdw/Not Mysterydip, Matthew, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 
Next time:
??
Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp
YouTube
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Tim and I are super busy this week finishing a small, short game at Twin Suns Corp. Therefore, we are reaching into the Discord Game Club interview archive. This time around, BioStats and Calamity Nolan interview bookslap, talking about streaming and his work with Inner Sloth, makers of Among Us. We expect to return next week.
Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp 
Discord 
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Persona 3. We talk about the boss fight, challenges in localization of content, more about the structure, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Sections played:
Through first boss
Issues covered: meeting a foreign exchange student, the calendar in the menu, seeing all of the pieces now, unlocking another level of Tartarus, an easier version of the game, enjoying the lack of grind, rebalancing the game, separating the flow of combat from other systems, the feel of the little vignettes, directing the player to new places, parallelizing development, an evolving market, respecting the rhythm of the original game, Japanese cultural differences, censorship questions, cultural undercurrents, games as entry points, various social links, the tension of spending time, how stats progress, story mode should be super-easy, choosing your social links, finding secrets via the purchased URLs, getting contacted by Elizabeth for quests. 
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Final Fantasy (series), Baldur's Gate, Yakuza (series), Kingdom Hearts, Fear Effect, The Ring, Ju-On: The Grudge, Tales (series), Metal Gear (series), Psychonauts, PlayStation Vita, Raymond, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 
Next time:
More Persona 3!
Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp
YouTube
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Persona 3. We talk about the game's structure, how everything ties back to Tartarus, and the virtuous cycle around combat, among other things. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Sections played:
Into late April (T), early May (B)
Issues covered: how you spend your hours and days, small levels and menus, scheduling school, a same-y grindy dungeon, a well-presented simple concept, exhaustion, major arcana and social links, upping your stats and having a preview of other options, tying progression into Tartarus, stories and S-Links, advancing a social link and failure, explaining fusion and additional XP, falling down a vicious cycle, the snappy feel of combat, a virtuous cycle of simple things you do one by one, dividing options up well, turn-based that feels almost like a direct action, dividing up abilities into personas, games for casual players, protections around digital goods, letting things go, first good-bye email.
 
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Final Fantasy (series), Chrono Trigger, Square, Metal Gear Solid, Dark Cloud (series), Mass Effect, Bioware, Baldur's Gate, Pokemon, Ashton Herrmann, Plants vs Zombies, Mario (series), Split Fiction, LoZ: Twilight Princess, Zach and Wiki, Metroid Prime 3, Skyrim, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Solitaire, Gorogoa, Matthew, Fallen London, Zuma, Raymond, Sony, Drew, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 
Next time:
More Persona 3!
Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp
YouTube
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on Persona 3. We start off with a big announcement, then we get into setting the game in its time and with the general property of Shin Megami Tensei before turning to the game's opening few hours. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.
Sections played:
To first fight (T), most of Tartarus 1 (B)
Issues covered: the end, our focus on genre and the difficulty of saying something new, picking the time to end, knowing when to quit, the next few months, picking the final game, Discord Game Club, Tim continuing to stream, the basis of this spin-off series and the hosts' history, common elements, a little discussion of the suicidal imagery, updates to the remake, "similar to Metal Gear for me," loving the modern setting games, the weird mixture of other JRPGs, groundedness, having entry into a game developed in another region, starting with a big mystery, the modern setting cutting both ways, a good player parallel, following your heart when you play, punk rock and its problems, signing your name on a contract, understanding the archetypes, setting up characters/characterization in advance, Apathy Syndrome as a metaphor, a game with voice.
Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: June, The Odd Couple, System Shock 2, Dwarf Fortress, Dead Rising, PlayStation, Wii, GameCube, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Kingdom Hearts 2, Hitman: Blood Money, Final Fantasy XII, LoZ: Twilight Princess, New Super Mario Bros., Tomb Raider: Legend, Onimusha, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Brain Age!, Nintendo DS, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Condemned: Criminal Origins, Okami, Bully, Gears of War, Metal Gear Solid (series), Reed Knight, Andrew Kirmse, Shin Megami Tensei, Devil Devil Summoner, Final Fantasy (series), Atlus, Phoenix Wright (series), Ghost Trick, Resident Evil, Grasshopper Interactive, Suda 51, No More Heroes, Square, Ultima (series), Wild Arms (series), The World Ends with You, Yakuza (series), Hideo Kojima, Snoop Dogg, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:
More Persona 3!
Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp
YouTube
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com