Kiwi Talkz

Omar's story is amazing, he got an architecture degree before moving into video game art and film/tv vfx. He has worked on films such as Star Wars: Rogue One and Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, he also worked as a lighting artist on GTA V. #gtav #rockstargames #starwars TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:01 - How A Degree In Architecture Helped Omar With VFX 04:51 - How Omar Ended Up At Rockstar Games/China 07:15 - Omar Had Never Played GTA Before Joining Rockstar/Learning What GTA Was 09:15 - Doing Cutscenes On GTA V 10:00 - Only 2 Artists Did Lighting On Cutscenes/The Shock Of Working On GTA V 12:05 - Crunch On GTA V/ Difference Between Games & Film 15:00 - Challenges Of Lighting/Omar’s Approach To Lighting 17:15 - Working On Star Wars: Rogue One 19:16 - ARTWORK REEL - Star Wars: Rogue One 21:25 - ARTWORK REEL - GTA V 32:07 - ARTWORK REEL - Rings Of Power 38:46 - ARTWORK REEL - Avengers: Infinity War 43:00 - ARTWORK REEL - LEGO 45:26 - ARTWORK REEL - Batman Vs Superman 46:09 - ARTWORK REEL - The Division 2: Warlords Of New York 48:27 - ARTWORK REEL - Aquaman 50:38 - Where To Follow Omar Fernandes

Jonathan Gwyn is a veteran artist in the video game industry having been in the industry for over 25+ years. He has worked on prestigious franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, The Matrix, Resistance etc. #rockstargames #gta #gtav TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:01 - Jon’s Favourite Art To Work On Is Environment Art 03:00 - Stylised Environmental Art 04:20 - Restrictions Working On The Matrix Games 06:40 - Referencing The Matrix Movies While Working On The Games 09:10 - Jon Loves Movies/Seeing Reloaded & Revolutions Material Before The Movies Release 10:40 - The Wachowskis Were Video Games Guys/Path Of Neo/Animatrix 11:20 - Jon Likes To Draw While Watching TV & Movies 13:15 - Jon Doesn’t Like Being An Art Director & Prefers Working Alongside Artists 15:00 - Ego’s Getting In The Way With Some Artists Due To Age/Jon Doesn’t Want To Be A Lead Again 16:40 - Why Jon Has Moved Across So Many Gaming Studios 19:10 - How Jon Got The Job At Rockstar 20:10 - GTA Is Made In Scotland/Artists Pipeline For GTA V/Red Dead Redemption 2 22:00 - Rockstar Has A Toxic Work Environment 24:30 - The High Pressure Of Working At Rockstar/Rockstar Crunch 25:20 - People Love His Boring Environmental Work Just Because Its GTA 26:00 - The Art Lead’s Job For GTA V Would’ve Been Hell 27:35 - Concept Room At Rockstar 28:15 - Meeting Sam Houser/Houser Brothers 29:15 - Video Game Celebrities/Ego’s Within The Video Game Industry 32:13 - Brutal Commute In L.A. & San Diego 35:35 - Working From Home 36:40 - Being Extroverted/Mistakes Extroverts Make At Game Studios 38:30 - ARTWORK REEL - GTA V Environments 50:15 - ARTWORK REEL - The Matrix Games Environments 1:00:10 - Where To Follow Jonathan Gwyn

Chandler Murch worked at Valve for over 8 years in IT infrastructure; and oversaw a lot of esports Valve events specifically for Dota 2, he also did some work in the Dental AI space. #valve #steam #dota2 TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro/Being Associated With F.R.I.E.N.D.S 01:30 - How Chandler Ended Up At Valve 04:10 - What His First Job At Valve Was/Customer Service 06:59 - Valve’s IT Infrastructure When Chandler First Started 08:55 - How Chandler Improved Valve’s IT Infrastructure/Network Speeds 14:15 - Hitting Milestones With The Content Delivery Network/Capacity Planning 17:00 - Taking Into Account Internet Infrastructure Improvements Globally 19:09 - Organising E-Sports Events/DOTA 2 23:10 - Mitigating Problems With Live E-Sports Events/Audio & Player Problems 26:40 - Testing Live Setups With Players 29:20 - How Chandler Got Into Gaming & Steam 31:30 - Chandler’s Favourite Valve Games 32:45 - Chandler’s Involvement On Portal 2/How Valve Does Credits In Games 35:15 - Chandler’s Work On Left 4 Dead 2/Portal 2 Bugs 38:54 - Valve Games Have To Reach A Certain Milestone Before QA Testing 39:45 - A Valve Employee Did Wheatleys Voice Before Stephen Merchant 40:30 - Chandler Never Got The Passion For Game Design 41:35 - Chandler’s Interactions With Gabe Newell 46:45 - Steam Avoided Fragmentation Unlike TV/FIlm Streaming Platforms 49:35 - Misunderstanding That Valve Doesn’t Make Games Now 52:40 - The Cost Of Running Valve Servers/Valve’s Value 55:45 - What Chandler Did After Valve/Dentistry AI 1:00:37 - Dental Work Is Very Costly In The West/Dentistry AI Is Only Available In USA/Canada 1:04:00 - Where To Follow Chandler Murch

David Crislip has had quite the life! The man studied Japanese at Ohio University before moving to Japan to become an English Teacher there before ending up at Capcom Japan where he did localization for over 10+ years. #capcom #residentevil #streetfighter SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @DavidCrislip INSTAGRAM - @davidcrislip TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:20 - What Prompted David Wanted To Learn Japanese 02:50 - How Long It Takes To Be Fluent In Japanese/Being An English Teacher In Japan 05:20 - Early Days Of Localisation Capcom Japan 06:20 - Why Direct Translation Doesn’t Work 08:16 - Japanese Is A Very Dense Language 09:00 - How Localisation Has Changed From The Old Days 11:20 - Playing Games In Different Dubs 12:30 - Ghost Of Tsushima Is An Example Of A Western Game That Got Japanese Correct 13:20 - Lip Flapping In The Old Days Vs Now/David Is Glad He Doesn’t Have To Localise AAA Games These Days 14:10 - Immigration Officers Geeking Out Over David Working At Capcom 16:42 - David’s Favourite Capcom Games 19:45 - Resident Evil 4 Remake 20:30 - Capcom Were Aware Well Making Resident Evil 4 That It Would Be Special 22:20 - Capcom’s Renaissance Is Very Gratifying 24:00 - David’s Favourite Capcom Game To Work On 25:45 - Capcom Have Westernised Games With Japanese Flavour 26:15 - How David Ended Up Voicing Winston Payne/Recording Lines 28:10 - Difference Between Translating Text Vs Dialog 29:40 - The Misunderstanding Gamers Have Of Localisation 31:00 - How Long It Took David To Adapt To Japanese Culture 35:10 - Its Very Difficult To Get A Job At Capcom/Applying For Jobs In Japan 36:40 - Japanese Are Aware Of Western Culture/Language Shapes Your Behaviour  38:15 - David Doesn’t Translate In His Head Whether Its Japanese Or English 39:15 - Why Lay Offs Don’t Happen Often In Japan 42:00 - Japanese & Western Games Are Both On Equal Footing Now 43:00 - Consoles David Plays/David Shows Off His Game Collection 44:15 - David’s Favourite Game Of All Time/David Plays Games Most Days 46:09 - David’s Advice For Getting Into The Video Game Industry In Japan 48:07 - Where To Follow David Crislip

Happy 10th anniversary to DKC: Tropical Freeze!! Let's celebrate former artists on the game Eric Kozlowsky and Ted Anderson to go on a deep dive of working on it. TWITTER LINKS Eric Kozlowsky - @VoNKoZ Ted Anderson - @Pixel_Possum #donkeykong #donkeykongtropicalfreeze #retrostudios TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:50 - DKC: Tropical Freeze Early Days/Wii U Hardware 04:55 - Artists Experimented Very Early On/Mangroves Were The First Levels Worked On 07:15 - Office Structure Of Retro Studios 08:50 - Artists Collaborating With Animators 10:00 - Playtesting/Brilliant Design Of The Levels/Meltdown Mayhem 12:40 - Ted & Erics Collaboration On The Steamship 14:05 - ARTWORK REEL - World 3 Boss Behind The Scenes Art 16:15 - ARTWORK REEL - World 2 Boss Behind The Scenes Art 17:20 - ARTWORK REEL - Updating DKCR Art 19:45 - ARTWORK REEL - Creating A Texture Map 22:20 - ARTWORK REEL - Difficulty Of The Fruit In World 5 23:15 - ARTWORK REEL - Ensuring Colours Don’t Blend In With Donkey Kong 24:20 - ARTWORK REEL - Foreground To Background 25:10 - ARTWORK REEL - Rocket Barrel/Barrel Cannons 26:30 - Will They Use Tropical Freeze Art For The DK Movie? 27:10 - ARTWORK REEL - Fruity Factory Level 28:30 - ARTWORK REEL - Wireframes/Nintendo Ninjas 29:48 - ARTWORK REEL - Steamship Level Of Detail 31:20 - Alternate Universe - Working On Metroid Prime 4/Metroid Dread 33:25 - Limitations Fosters Creativity 34:30 - Tropical Freeze’s Crunch Period 37:00 - Oversight From Nintendo Of Japan/DK Fur Tech 39:30 - How To Deal With Frustration Of Having To Redo Art Due To NOJ 41:30 - Sign Off For Easter eggs 42:21 - Backlash Of The Tropical Freeze Trailer/Tropical Freeze Was Made Due To DKCR Sales 45:20 - The Legacy Of DKC: Tropical Freeze 46:50 - Where Donkey Kong Goes From Here/DK Spinoff Film 49:00 - Q + A - Working With Vince Joly & Ryan Harris 50:20 - Q + A - Stuff That Was Discussed But Never Made It Into DKC:TF 52:50 - Q + A - How Did The Snowmads Idea Come Up/Ted Voicing The Penguins 55:36 - Q + A - Would A David Wise Track Or Level Layout Inspire The Artwork 59:58 - Favourite Level In DKC: Tropical Freeze 1:03:28 - Plugs For Ted & Eric’s Games

Ryan Kaufman is an award-winning writer that came up working at Lucas Arts on games such as Revenge Of The Sith & Republic Commando before moving onto Telltale where he was one of the main writers. #telltalegames #thewalkingdead #starwars SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @M1sterFox LINKTREE - https://linktr.ee/w.ryan.kaufman TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:47 - Ryan’s Dream Game To Make Would Be About Titanic 03:10 - What Should Come First Narrative Or Design 04:30 - Revisions Of A Script/Writers Room 06:00 - Constraints Of Game Of Thrones & Star Wars 06:59 - Being In Charge Of The Expanded Universe Of Star Wars For Lucas Arts 08:50 - Stigma At Lucas Arts For Star Wars Fanboys 10:10 - The Republic Commando Lay-Offs Made Ryan Leave Lucas Arts 12:08 - Not Being Too Attached To An Idea/Game Design 13:20 - The Hardest Part Of Writing/Stressing Over Writing 15:20 - Ryan Doesn’t Like To Play Narrative Based Games/Shadow Of The Colossus 16:35 - Story Vs Gameplay/What Is Story/DOOM 18:55 - Environmental Storytelling 19:50 - Ryan Finds Himself Critiquing Games/Film & Television Narratives All The Time 21:10 - The Good & Bad About Chat GPT 24:40 - Film Narratives Are Terrible These Days/Ryan Critiques Himself All The Time 26:20 - Telltale James Bond Pitch For James Bond To Be Pakistani 29:25 - The Experience Of Working At Telltale 30:50 - Telltale Game Development Had An Intense Schedule/Directing Voice Actors 35:40 - Ryan’s Strengths & Weaknesses As A Writer 38:30 - Reading A Dictionary & Thesaurus/Novel Writing Vs Game Writing 39:36 - Kiwi Reminds Ryan Of His Own Advice Regarding First Person/Third Person Writing 41:30 - Ryan Uses A Whiteboard For Story Beats/Pixar Storybeats 45:00 - Ryan Wanted To Make A Hellboy Telltale Game/Cost Of Redoing Narrative/Voice After Its Already Implemented 48:10 - Lip Syncing/Localisation Troubles With Dialogue 51:20 - Japanese Games Having Terrible English Dialogue/Translations 53:40 - Ryan Would Love To Work On A Rockstar Game 54:40 - Where To Buy Ryan’s Novel “Gawain A Year To Live 56:23 - Where To Follow Ryan

Peer Schneider is one of the co-founders of IGN and is currently IGN's EVP and Chief Content Officer. #ign #gaming #games SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @peerign INSTAGRAM - @peerign TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:20 - How Peer Fits In Gaming Time With His Busy Schedule 04:50 - IGN’s Current Work Model/Remote & Office Work 07:40 - Interview Process At IGN/Bad Interviewees 10:05 - How IGN Knows When To Change Strategy With Its Content 13:40 - The Different Youtube Channels/Youtube Algorithm 18:40 - Optimising Content/SEO 19:30 - Peer’s Views On Chat GPT & AI 23:40 - Other Publications Ripping Off IGN’s Content 26:20 - Mortal Kombat Guide Content That Was Ripped Off/ Contacting The Perpetrators 28:00 - Crediting Sources 29:00 - Being Blacklisted By Gaming Publishers/THQ Scandal 34:10 - Political Nature Of Gaming Journalism/Being Trustworthy 36:30 - Moving To America From Germany/Living In Japan 39:00 - Places In America Peer Hasn’t Been To 40:10 - Travelling For Work And Maintaining Energy/Gaming Behaviour Tour/Presentations 42:10 - Flight Times/Peer Hasn’t Been To New Zealand & Australia Yet 43:10 - Why There Won’t Be A Fourth Hardware Competitor 45:20 - Fortnite Itself Is A Platform 46:10 - IGN’s Approaches To Leaks 48:27 - The Legend Of Zelda Live Film Discussion/Video Game Movie Adaptations 51:40 - Metroid Prime 4, Wii U & Switch 2 Discussion 56:40 - The Biggest Misunderstanding People Have With IGN/ Publishers Do Not Pay IGN For Good Reviews 1:02:09 - How IGN’s Top Lists Are Made/Peer Doesn’t Like Ninja Gaiden/IGN Doesn’t Have A Hive Mind 1:03:58 - The Obsession With The Metacritic Score 1:05:12 - Starfield’s Review Score 1:06:56 - Reviewers Having Enough Time To Review A Game 1:07:50 - Kiwi’s PAX West 2024 Pitch With Retro Studios Devs/Outro

Garrett Young has been in the video game industry for over 25 years and has worked on games such as DOOM 2016, Rage Forza and James Bond: Quantum Of Solace. #doom #doom2016 #forza SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @garretty TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:05 - Working On DOOM 2016 06:43 - Early Builds Of The Game/Garrett’s First Week On DOOM 2016 12:30 - Single Player Mode/Push Forward Combat/ 17:05 - Difficulty Story On Nightmare 21:56 - Tackling The FPS Platforming Problem In DOOM 2016 24:20 - Metroid Prime & Batman’s Influence On DOOM 2016 26:50 - Cancelled Soccer Game For Xbox/EA Sabotaged The Dreamcast 31:21 - Working On Forza 33:23 - Working On The City Tracks Vs Forza/Building Up The Team/Publishing Vs Game Studios 37:26 - Diversity In Skillset/ Knowing When To Pivot When Something Isn’t Working 39:51 - The Reality Of Crunch In The Industry/Management 48:20 - Fake Deadlines/Agile Development 51:20 - Where To Follow Garrett Young/Doing Another Podcast In The Future

Randy Linden is a legendary programmer who is best known for doing what was thought to be impossible porting DOOM from the PC to the SNES, hes also responsible for porting Dragon's Lair to the Amiga and making Bleem an emulator for the Playstation. He is currently working for Limited Run Games. #doom #supernintendo #snes SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @RandalLindenTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:40 - Being In The Industry For Over 40 Years01:57 - Randy’s Thoughts On Zelda: Breath Of The Wild & Super Mario Odyssey06:03 - Randy’s Standout Moment In Zelda: Breath Of The Wild07:25 - Honing In On The Programming Aspect of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild & Super Mario Odyssey09:50 - Zelda Inspired Randy To Improve On His Programming Skills/Writing A Program11:34 - Why The Rocket Launcher Is More Powerful In DOOM SNES/Reverse Engineering15:25 - Why Monster Infighting Isn’t In DOOM SNES18:08 - Why Monsters Don’t Respawn In Nightmare Mode/Monster Speed In Nightmare/SNES Violent Games21:59 - Guessing The AI For The Monsters/Tight Deadline For DOOM SNES25:14 - Being In The Zone Creatively/Crunch For DOOM SNES/Managing Time Effectively34:16 - How Randy Balances Quality Vs Quantity In Programming36:50 - Story Of Metal Gear Solid Bug For Bleem On Dreamcast42:45 - Randy’s Terrible Diet While Working44:26 - How To Get In The Zone45:30 - List Of Programming Priorities/Priority On DOOM SNES49:11 - How The Quake GBA Prototype Came About51:21 - The Hardest & Most Misunderstood Thing About Programming56:50 - Game Development Roles These Days Are More Specialized/AAA Development1:01:00 - Cost Of Games1:05:18 - Gaming Has More Value For Money Than Film/Game Studios Lay Offs1:08:35 - Its Harder For Game Studios To Be Successful Today Than It Was In The Past1:11:05 - Incremental Hardware Increases1:12:06 - Sandy Peterson Never Worked On DOOM SNES1:14:31 - E2M2 In DOOM SNES/John Coffey Level Edits That Got Rejected By ID Software/Metallic Grates1:17:45 - Where To Follow Randy Linden/Jurassic Park

Here is the recorded panel I did at PAX 2023 with the one and only Mick Gordon. All video footage is owned by PAX Australia. FUN FACT: After the panel finished, 200+ people converged on Mick to ask him questions and get him to sign things. As a result he remained at the venue for 3 hours and he missed our dinner reservations #mickgordon #doom #killerinstinct PAX AUS TWITCH - https://www.twitch.tv/pax2 PAX AUS YOUTUBE - @PAXAustraliaOfficial BLACK DOG INSTITUTE - https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Early Intro00:30 - Generozity Game/Raising Money For Mental Health01:40 - Introductions04:43 - Evolution Of Video Game Music/Mick’s Introduction To Video Games Music & Melody17:35 - Creating Tracks With Vocals For Killer Instinct20:45 - The Writing & Creative Process Of Killer Instinct And How It Differed From The Original29:18 - Main Menu Themes/Creating Opening To Hell Remix For DOOM Eternals Main Menu Theme33:48 - Sampling Original Themes35:38 - AI And How It Will Affect Musicians And The Creative Process40:56 - Advice For Up & Coming Composers/Stem Separators 46:14 - Mick’s Favourite Game Score Over The Last Few Years48:05 - Q+A - Mick’s Musical Influences49:48 - Q+A - How To Improve Your Weaknesses As A Musician50:53 - Q+A - Creating The Partisan For Wolfenstein Old Blood52:19 - Q+A - Practice Routines54:20 - Q+A - How Mick’s Musical Style Has Changed And The Difference Between Band Music and Video Game Music56:26 - Q+A - Where The Thunder Chants From PAX 2013 Are In Killer Instinct

Jeffrey Kung is a game developer with over 27 years experience. He is best known for his tenure at Lucas Arts working on games such as Mysteries Of The Sith, Rogue Squadron and Republic Commando. He studied Psychology before dropping it to pursue game development. #starwars #lucasarts #republiccommando SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITE - https://www.jeffreykung.com/ INSTAGRAM - @pinecone.jeffTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:33 - Why Jeffrey Stopped Studying Psychology To Make Video Games04:30 - Early Days In Video Games/Lucas Arts06:15 - Level Design Test At Lucas Arts/Level Design On Mysteries Of The Sith09:00 - Designing Search For Nonnah In Rogue Squadron11:40 - Rogue Squadron Crunch/Bonding With His Team13:30 - Incorporating Psychology Into Leadership/1 On 1 With His Team16:30 - How To Stop Bickering In A Meeting18:30 - Being A Star Wars Fan/Multiplayer Level In Mysteries Of The Sith20:50 - The Fundamentals Of Level Design22:35 - Live Ops Games Are Great For Level Design/Tuning A Game24:20 - Where To Still Play Jeffrey’s DOOM Levels/Designing DOOM Levels/Breaking A Level32:30 - Terrible Crunch Story/EA’s Crunch Drama Helped The Industry/Why Crunch Is Bad36:30 - Why Mobile Development Doesn’t Have As Intense Crunch38:40 - Industry Is Starting To Learn About Crunch/Productivity Loss40:50 - Experience Of Developing Republic Commando/Visor Wipe44:48 - Fine Tuning The System Design In Republic Commando/Xbox Controller & Halo Influences47:10 - Switch Port Of Republic Commando Is Bad/Joy-Cons Are Terrible For FPS48:50 - Being Laid Off After Republic Commando/Constant Lay Offs51:26 - Working Remotely Vs Working In The Office/Perks Of Discord56:18 - How Jeffrey Learned To Be Extroverted/Teaching Game Design At College59:20 - Imposter Syndrome/Kevin Schmitt1:01:20 - Where To Follow Jeffrey Kung/Carnivores Plants

Paul Topolos is currently an artist at Pixar and worked on over 18+ Films but before this he worked in the video game industry on various games for Lucas Arts & Factor 5 most notably the Star Wars Rogue Squadron games and Episode 1 Racer #starwars #roguesquadron #lucasfilmTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:50 - Difference Between Lucas Arts & Lucas Film3:00 - Working On Episode 1 & Episode 25:00 - Making Art Looking Like Star Wars/Artwork On The Prequels07:30 - Working On Episode 1 Racer While Phantom Menace Was Being Developed09:30 - Being Blown Away By The Artistry On Phantom Menace/Story Of Phantom Menace13:10 - Paul Is A Fanatic Of The Original Star Wars Trilogy14:00 - Visual Effects Of The Original Star Wars/2001 Space Odyssey16:00 - Limitations Of N6419:35 - Pushing The Pixels On Rogue Leader23:35 - Visuals Are Very Important25:30 - Factor 5 Was Programmer Heavy/Learning From Rogue Squadron On Rogue Leader28:00 - Crunch/Working 2 Full Time Jobs At Lucas Film & Factor 531:26 - What Paul Loved About Working On Rogue Leader32:30 - Maintaining Energy Well Working 2 Full Time Jobs/Ian McCaig/Deadlines38:00 - Paul Had A Meltdown On His 2nd Day Of Work On Phantom Menace39:28 - Pauls Superpower Is Making Something Look Real In Photoshop40:30 - 9/11 Affecting Rogue Leaders Final Days Of Development42:45 - America’s Infatuation With The American Flag/Foreigners Confused By 9/11/Aftermath Of 9/1148:20 - Work On Grim Fandango/ Grim Fandango Got Paul His Job At Pixar55:40 - Working At Pixar56:20 - Unspoken Rules Of Interacting With George Lucas/Geeking Out Over Celebrities1:00:11 - Paul Doesn’t Have Social Media

Kevin Schmitt has been working in the video game industry for over 25 years and currently works for Epic Games, he previously worked at 343 on the Halo Series and Lucas Arts where we worked on many Star Wars properties such as Rogue Squadron, Republic Commando, Obi-Wan and Mysteries Of The Sith #starwars #roguesquadron #lucasarts TWITTER- @kevindschmittTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:50 - Kevin’s Time In The Industry Has Flown By03:00 - Biggest Changes In The Industry/Kevin’s Early Years07:25 - AAA Games Size08:24 - Stories Of The Design For Star Wars Rogue Squadron11:50 - Mark Haigh Hutchinson Was A Great Leader15:40 - Importance Of Good Leadership/Making Multiple Projects At Once At LucasArts20:50 - How Designs Were Originally Mapped Out At LucasArts24:10 - Metroid Prime’s HUD influenced Republic Commando’s25:30 - How You Approach Design For Different Genres/FPS’s Are Kevin’s Bread & Butter27:00 - Frustration Of Creative Constraints With Star Wars IP/Ideas Being Shot Down32:30 - LucasArts Vault With Sacred Phantom Menace Info/ Team Seeing A Rough Cut Of Phantom Menace36:00 - The Process Of Pitching Games37:20 - Kevin Shows Off LucasArts Game Design Folders/Archiving39:30 - Phantom Menace Game Idea That Didnt Pan Out41:50 - Approach To Halo Campaign Vs Multiplayer44:15 - How Kevin Became A Writer48:20 - Kevin’s Thoughts On ChatGPT51:40 - Vetting Leaders In The Game Industry/The Industry Doesn’t Allow Discussions Of Failures55:00 - Post Mortem At The End Of A Game Project58:20 - Leaders Recognising Their Own Faults/Mark Recognising His Strengths & Weaknesses1:00:15 - Being Confrontation When You Aren’t A Confrontational Person1:01:25 - A Cohesive Team Is The Most Important Factor On A Project/Communication Differences1:04:30 - Republic Commando Team Being Told Their Being Laid Off When The Project Finishes1:06:40 - Where To Follow Kevin Schmitt

Steve Jude is a game developer and currently Senior Producer at Tantalus, he has worked on franchises such as Zelda, Borderlands, Lego, Star Wars and more.... #zelda #lego2kdrive #skywardsword TWITTER - @SteveJudestorm TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro/Disclaimer Regarding The Legend Of Zelda:Skyward Sword HD 01:15 - Why Northlane Is Steve’s Favourite Band 03:05 - Steve Doesn’t Listen To Music While He Is Working 03:45 - What Is Required In Project Management 07:01 - Adjusting Management Styles 08:50 - How Steve Ended Up In The Video Game Industry 12:03 - Interview At Krome Studios 14:41 - Portfolio Matters More To Employers Than University Degrees 17:12 - Lego 2K Drive Is The Most Challenging Project Steve's Worked On 20:43 - Porting A PS5 Game To Switch Is Hard/Working With Visual Concepts 23:34 - Steve Is Still Relatively Young With Nearly 20 Years XP And Where He Wants To Be As A Senior Producer 24:00 - Steve Wants To Be More Of A Technical Producer Down The Line 24:40 - Adapting Deus Ex Human Revolution For The Wii U Gamepad 27:46 - Deus Ex Didn’t Have Too Many Wii U Gamepad Bugs/How Testing Works 29:50 - Steve’s Turbulent Career Path 37:30 - History Of Tantalus Media 39:37 - The Harsh Reality Of Working In The Video Game Industry 41:13 - Where To Follow Steve Jude

I review Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom with former Environmental Artist from Retro Studios, Eric Kozlowsky #tearsofthekingdom #zelda #zeldatearsofthekingdom You can stay up to date with on Project Saturn here https://www.fuzzybot.com/ Eric's Twitter - @vonkozTIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:33 - Eric’s Zelda Tattoo/Miyamoto Signing Zelda 1 For Eric02:30 - The Pain Of Tattoos04:30 - Creative Thinking Of TOTK/TOTK Being Overwhelming06:45 - Link To The Past Compared To TOTK07:30 - How Eric Got The Master Sword/Eric’s Thoughts On The Game11:10 - The Seamless Physics Engine/BOTW Having A Better Artstyle Than TOTK12:35 - TOTK Doesn’t Respect People’s Time/Item Duplicate Glitch18:12 - Ganon’s Final Form Should’ve Been A Pig18:37 - The Story Has Massive Plotholes/Zelda Timeline & Lore23:04 - Being Objective With Criticism/Frustration Kills Games25:21 - Voice Acting For Female Characters Are Cringe26:31 - Link Needs To Have A Voice30:20 - TOTK’s Voice Acting/Zelda’s Voice Acting Is Bad31:45 - Lead Up To Ganon In BOTW Was Better /Ganondorf Fight In TOTK33:48 - The Dungeons In TOTK35:40 - Emerging Gameplay In TOTK Is What Makes It Special36:40 - Only One Way To Solve Puzzles In The Older Zelda Games37:50 - 2D Games Should Remain Traditional And 3D Should Be Sandbox Going Forward40:12 - Art Direction On TOTK/Strain On Switch Hardware41:22 - Twilight Princess Art Direction Being Constrained By Hardware42:12 - Art Direction Vs Art Execution43:26 - Metroid Prime Remastered Has Stylised Realism In Art44:22 - Could Metroid Prime Go Open World Like TOTK46:18 - Metroid Prime 4 Will Be A Launch Title For Switch Successor47:15 - Where Does The Zelda Series Go From Here/The Crazy Stuff Fans Are Building48:00 - Eric Needs To Reserve Being Creative For Work Not Building Contraptions In TOTK48:30 - Forgetting That You Have The Ascend Ability49:10 - Feeling Smart Moments50:15 - Clunkiness Of The UI51:32 - The Biggest Highlight Moments For Eric And Kiwi54:44 - Shortcomings Of TOTK’s Music/Limitations Caused Music To Flourish During 8 & 16 Bit1:01:20 - Sum Up Of TOTK/TOTK Is Not A Relaxing Game1:02:58 - Being An Adult And Not Having The Time Like You Used To1:04:00 - Plug For Fuzzybots New Game Project Saturn

Kursad Karatas is an artist who is best known for his tenure at Factor 5 working on Rogue Leader and Rebel Strike. #starwars #roguesquadron #lucasarts00:00 - Intro00:30 - How Kursad Became An Artist/Ending Up At Factor 5/Star Wars04:30 - Reference Art For Rogue Squadron Games07:30 - Using Stills From The Movies For Direct References(Both, Death Star)09:25 - Building Models From Scratch/What Kursad Worked On10:34 - Kursad Didnt Get To Play Rogue Leader Till Its Release/Most Devs Not Having Dev Kits15:30 - Doing Proper Character Models For Rebel Strike(Pictures Shown)17:00 - Kursad Prefers During Organic Material18:40 -Prequel Influence On The Games/ Kursad’s Drawing Of Liam Neeson19:15 - Differences Between Rogue Leader & Rebel Strike20:25 - Time It Took To Do One Level22:02 - Interacting With Designers & Programmers/Yavin Level24:30 - Hitting 60FPS26:00 - Factor 5 Understands Gameplay29:00 - Game Engines/Unreal/Rogue Squadron Could Be Made Much Easier Today32:00 - Kursad Would Love To Work On A Remake Or Remaster Of The Rogue Squadron Games33:00 - Rendering Engines/Technology Advancement34:00 - Judging Artwork Based On Its Times/Polygons Per Level36:40 - Kursad Taught Himself Programming/Math Should Be Taught In Schools Via Video Games38:00 - A.I. Technology/Midjourney41:00 - Jobs Being In Danger Due To A.I./Human Vs A.I. Art45:00 - Overpopulation Of Games/Humans In The Loop49:00 - Why Kiwi Doesn’t Do Youtube FullTime/Kursad’s Concerns For Podcasting52:00 - Free Will In The Future54:37 - A.I. To Make Star Wars56:00 - Advocating For A Remaster For Rogue Squadron Games

John Lowrie is a voice actor who is best known for voicing Sniper in Team Fortress 2 as well as many other Valve games. #valve #teamfortress2 #dota2 SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER- https://twitter.com/johnpatricklowr YOUTUBE - @johnlowrie3070 TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:35 - Difference Between The Australian And NZ Accent01:14 - Learning Accents/Different British Accents/NZ & Australia Accents04:38 - South African Accents/NZ TV Shows/Studying An Accent05:55 - Studying Accents Well Watching A Series/German Accents07:15 - Doing An Accent Without It Sounding Comical08:46 - Differences In How Americans Speak10:20 - Accents That Are Hard To Do11:39 - History Of Writing In Then Video Game Industry/Working With Valve Writers13:27 - The Art Of Recording Vocals For Video Games15:20 - Adlibbing/Zany Nature Of Valve Writers16:55 - Being The Narrator On Total Annihilation20:35 - Film Vs Voice Acting23:15 - Composing For The Church And The Darkness/Composing For Search For The Sandwich24:30 - Time Vs Space25:00 - How Search For The Sandwich Came About29:15 - Being Invited To The Major For Dota 2 In Peru30:27 - Countries John Has Travelled To31:10 - John Wants To Do PAX Aus32:45 - Keeping Team Fortress 2 Alive33:48 - Team Fortress 3/Valve Hierarchy 34:51 - Gabe Newell/Buffer Between Devs & Questions/Fan Mail36:40 - Deadlines/Artistic World Vs Business World42:20 - Chat GPT& A.I.ba Can Be Used For Good Or Evil46:45 - Western Culture Monetises Everything/The Brain Is Not Aware Of Itself/Amazing Things Coming Out Of Pain50:15 - YouTubers Compromising/Quality Vs Quantity/ The Infinite Cage54:00 - Artistic Goals

Denis Dyack was the director on games Eternal Darkness: Sanitys Requiem, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes and Legacy Of Kain: Blood Omen. He is currently working on the free to play game Deadhaus Sonata #eternaldarkness #metalgearsolid #legacyofkain WEBSITE - https://deadhaussonata.com/TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:12 - Doing Taekwondo & Wrestling Before Video Games05:00 - How His Martial Arts Background Influenced Game Design09:20 - Having A Bushido Mentality In Game Design/Mark Cerny Advice & Help13:05 - Eternal Darkness Not Selling Well/Being Ahead Of Its Time16:41 - Denis Is Keen For A Eternal Darkness Remaster17:45 - You Can’t Predict Where The Industry Is Going To Go19:50 - Eternal Darkness Originated From Influences Of Resident Evil22:40 - Analysing Film For Ideas/Origin Of Camera System For Eternal Darkness25:40 - Difference Between Japanese & Western Development31:40 - Eternal Darkness Nearly Being Cancelled33:22 - Why There Are Limitations On Enemies In Eternal Darkness/Testing Schedule34:40 - Satoru Iwata Told Nintendo To Buy Silicon Knights/Relationship With Iwata36:33 - Denis Met Yamauchi (Photo Is Shown)/ How Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes Came About40:15 - Approaching The Design On Twin Snakes/First Person Mode43:15 - Mario & Yoshi Easter Egg In Twin Snakes45:00 - Eternal Darkness Was Denis’ Most Stressful Project/Rewriting The Story Due To 91147:38 - Martial Arts & Wrestling Helped Denis Have The Perseverance To Finish Eternal Darkness50:45 - Creating Narrative In Games/AI Being Used In Narrative/Deadhaus Sonata Story55:15 - Why Denis Likes The Free To Play Model/What Denis Hated On Legacy Of Kain58:20 - Utilising AI & Cloud For Narrative/Criticism For Free To Play Narrative Model1:00:56 - Social Effects Of Technology/Chat GPT Won’t Magically Solve Narrative In Games1:04:11 - Deadhaus Sonata Is Still A Few Years Away/Miyamoto Famous Quote1:05:10 - Where To Follow What’s Happening With Deadhaus Sonata1:05:54 - The Word “Sonata” References The Gameplay In Deadhaus

I review Metroid Prime Remastered with the former Lead Technical Engineer on the Original game Jack Mathews. #metroidprimeremastered #metroidprime #gamereview NOTE: Jack had some audio issues for the first minute, which disappeared after that.TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro01:14 - Metroid Prime Remastered Is How You Remember It03:01 - Updates To The Audio/Gameplay Holding Up04:15 - UI Fixes05:12 - Trilogy Code Being Used For Remaster05:52 - Mirror Reflection Removal/Physically Based Rendering12:45 - Updated Artwork/Lights On The Orpheon15:38 - Animation Rig For Metroid Prime Form 1 Boss17:14 - Metroid Prime Hasn’t Been Replicated/Games Copying Metroid Primes Visors19:00 - Jack & Kiwi Joke About Pitching An FPS With The Morph Ball Mechanic20:00 - Space Pirate Morph Ball Lore/Morph Ball Makes No Sense Logically21:20 - Original Team Being Puzzled Trying To Animate The Morph Ball23:10 - Complexity Of Making The Morph Ball25:00 - Why The Original Team SHOULD Be Credited31:15 - Why The Thermal Visor In MPR Is Worse Than The Original Game37:54 - Why Your Beams Don’t Light Up Rooms In MPR44:20 - It Would’ve Been A Herculean Effort To Make The Game Run At 60FPS47:00 - MPR Was Retro Proving They Have Still Got It/Setting The Stage For Metroid Prime 451:00 - Jack Falling For The Gravity Suit Trap54:04 - Ramping Of Difficulty In The Phazon Mines Gauntlet57:50 - Jack Wanted Checkpoints59:30 - What Constitutes An HD Port, Remaster And Remake.1:04:35 - Controller Options & Issues For MPR1:09:33 - Hot Light Sticks In Phendrana Drifts1:10:10 - Particle Effects Upgrades/Magmoor Caverns Looks Amazing Now1:11:45 - Metroid Prime Biomes1:14:45 - Patches Jack Wants Added To The Game1:18:38 - Samus Character Model In The End Cutscene1:22:35 - Why Samus’ Character Model Changed In Subsequent Games1:23:40 - Jack Is Proud Of Everyone That Worked On The Game1:25:00 - The Weirdness Of Not Marketing MPR/Repeat Of History Of Retro Being Underdogs Again 1:27:57 - We Are In A Renaissance Of Metroid Series1:28:50 - Dread Vs Prime Remastered/Older 2D Metroids Have Aged1:32:30 - Jack Plugs His Wifes New Cook Book

Geoffrey Day is a video game composer that has become a youtube sensation for his DOOM/Argent Metal remixes of game music. He recently composed for Atomic Heart and Viscerafest. SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER-@geoffplaysguit INSTAGRAM - @geoffreydaymusic YOUTUBE - @GeoffPlaysGuitar Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/geoffplaysguitar #atomicheart #viscerafest #doometernal TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:45 - Geoffrey Initially Thought Mundfish Contacting Him Was Spam 02:37 - Geoffrey Gets Spam Collaboration Emails Everyday 04:10 - Pitch From Mundfish For Atomic Heart 06:04 - Geoff Was A Given A List Of Russian Songs To Pick To Remix/Composition Of Russian Songs 07:45 - Evolution Of Zyvozdnoe Leto Track 10:51 - Deadline To Submit Songs 13:19 - Who Did The Mixing On The Game 14:13 - Geoff’s Interaction With Mick Gordon 15:10 - People Mistaking Geoff’s Music As Mick Gordon’s/Admiration For Mick Gordon 17:40 - Overlap Of Composing For Viscerafest/Burnout 20:07 - Imposter Syndrome/Negative Comments 23:20 - How Geoff’s Work As A Software Engineer And People Manager Transferred To His Music Career 26:34 - Lockdowns Are The Reason Geoff Ended Up On His Current Path/How Geoff Started Doing DOOM Game Covers 30:41 - Dangers Of AI Music Technology 33:00 - Kiwi’s Thoughts On AI/Geoff Used Moises To Get Stems To Compose On Atomic Heart 34:10 - Cleaning Up The Stems From Moises Before Sampling 35:25 - Seeing The Flaws In The Stems The Original Russian Songs/Modernising Vocals 36:10 - Mixing References While Composing/Fan Remastering Arlekino/Metal Vs Pop Vocals 37:50 - Geoff’s Patreon Perks 39:09 - How Geoff Decides What To Do DOOM Remixes Of 41:35 - How The Super Metroid Ridley DOOM Remix Came About/Skyrim DOOM Mod 43:30 - Working With A Team On Covers 44:00 - Viscerafest & Atomic Heat Caused Geoff To Spend Less Time On His Youtube Channel 46:04 - Geoff Loves Working With Technology & A Team 47:20 - Geoffs Schedule 48:45 - Always Being In A Creative State 50:14 - How Geoff Deals With Ear Fatigue & Writers Block 51:45 - Suffering From Insomnia 52:45 - Geoff Would Like To Have Routine/Missing Working In A Office 55:42 - Needing More Time 57:45 - Not Being Able To Relax/Being A Workaholic 59:45 - Why Geoff Doesn’t Publicly Stream Games 1:01:28 - How Geoff Destresses/Getting Out Of The House 1:03:48 - Time Management 1:04:10 - Where Argent Metal Can Still Evolve 1:07:00 - Mick Gordon Requested For Geoffrey Day To Cover Crazy Bus Song 1:08:30 - Vol 2 Soundtrack/Atomic Heart OST Speculation 1:11:10 - Closing Comments/Geoff’s Youtube Channel Plateauing 1:12:20 - Where To Follow Geoffrey Day