The Game Engine

In Episode 54 of the Game Engine Podcast we discuss the representation of Gender in Games. Andrew and Paul are joined by Chloe Paul (twitter) to discuss gender in games based upon a recent Anita Sarkeesian (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/566429325/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games/posts). andnbsp; You can, as always, contact us through email, Twitter, Facebook or Google+. This episode can be found here (of course!), as well as via the RSS Feed or iTunes (we would love more ratings and reviews!). If there’s somewhere you can’t find us but wish you could, let us know. Super apologies for late post! We record them on time! We just suck at this posting! Also sorry if recording is a bit funny, we didnt get an audio clean this week unfortunately. Again apologies for being late!

In Episode 53 of the Game Engine Podcast we discuss Sequels. This weeks on-the-spot topic was inspired by a GDC vault piece on Gamasutra (link below) where writers for Portal 2 discussed designing the sequel to a game most people felt was complete. Andrew and Paul do the old two man podcast routine to discuss what makes for a sequel. The link for the GDC talk can be found here: http://gamasutra.com/view/news/173723/Video_Making_Portal_2_the_sequel_to_a_game_that_didnt_need_one.php) You can, as always, contact us through email, Twitter, Facebook or Google+. This episode can be found here (of course!), as well as via the RSS Feed or iTunes (we would love more ratings and reviews!). If there’s somewhere you can’t find us but wish you could, let us know. Super apologies for late post! We record them on time! We just suck at this posting! Also sorry if recording is a bit funny, we didnt get an audio clean this week unfortunately.

We finally reached a year!  Join us for our anniversary episode where regulars Andrew, Paul and Saul are joined by Dan Graf and Tim Taylor to discuss 3 things weve learned in the past 6-ish months about making games. Were also joined through text by Paul Grey, who couldnt make it but was able to send his thoughts through. Apologies to listeners, but we had a second episode recorded with Rebecca Fernandez and Jens Schroeder on the same topic which was unfortunately lost. Our apologies to them also. So a year on weve come to know more about ourselves. 54 weeks or so ago Andrew and Paul discussed the potential for a game development podcast and a year ago we began recording it. Saul joined us at Episode 4 and Dan at Episode 6 and magic happened week in and week out. As always a year is a good point of reflection, so we look into ourselves and discover what weve learned. You can, as always, contact us through email, Twitter, Facebook or Google+. This episode can be found here (of course!), as well as via the RSS Feed or iTunes (we would love more ratings and reviews!). If there’s somewhere you can’t find us but wish you could, let us know. As always, thanks to Jordan Darcy for the audio work, and thanks to Dan for pre-recording the informative intro! Also, apologies for a very late post. I (Andrew) was going to write this one for the first time in forever but my body has an allergic reaction to Winter.

This week, Paul, Andrew and Saul (with the help of an intro by Dan!) step out of the Ordinary World and set off on a quest to examine The Heros Journey, that much trumpeted storytelling template that originates in the works of Joseph Campbell, famously expounded by Christopher Vogler and employed by the likes of George Lucas. Is the Journey the be-all and end-all of storytelling? How relevant is it to games? Which famous game developer recently expressed his dislike of it? And whats it got to do with shamans and their use of hallucinogenic substances? Find out, as we Cross the Threshhold. A few links to media discussed on the show: Joseph Campbells The Hero With a Thousand Faces (book). Christopher Voglers The Writers Journey (book). Daniel Benmerguis Storyteller (unreleased game), and an interview with him about it. Vladimir Propps Morphology of the Folktale (book), mentioned in the Benmergui interview. You can, as always, contact us through email, Twitter, Facebook or Google+. This episode can be found here (of course!), as well as via the RSS Feed or iTunes (we would love more ratings and reviews!). If there’s somewhere you can’t find us but wish you could, let us know. As always, thanks to Jordan Darcy for the audio work, and thanks to Dan for pre-recording the informative intro! Apologies for the late post - it seems I promised to write this and then completely forgot. For shame.

Gamification: its a wonderful word. And by wonderful I mean woefully defined. Join Andrew and Paul as we attempt to weave our way through this minefield of meanings. You can, as always, contact us through email, twitter, facebook or google+. This episode can be found here on this lovely website, as well as via the RSS Feed or iTunes (we would love some more ratings and reviews, if you please!). If there’s somewhere you can’t find us but wish you could, let us know. Thanks again to Jordan D’Arcy for editing the podcast.

This time, Paul and guest Anurag (SeeThrough Studios) take Andrew for a spin as they discuss how dance relates to game design, stepping between the concepts of connections, leading/following, improvisation and pacing amongst others. You can, as always, contact us through email, twitter, facebook or google+. This episode can be found here on this lovely website, as well as via the RSS Feed or iTunes (we would love some more ratings and reviews, if you please!). If there’s somewhere you can’t find us but wish you could, let us know. Thanks again to Jordan D’Arcy for editing the podcast.

This week, Andrew, Saul and Paul are joined by Rebecca from Convict Interactive to discuss what happened last weekend at Supanova. Supanova is a pop culture expo where SeeThrough Studios and Convict Interactive were joined by 6 other Sydney-based indie studios to show their wares. In this episode, we look at Supanova as a case study for showing your games in public places. You can, as always, contact us through email, twitter, facebook or google+. This episode can be found here on this lovely website, as well as via the RSS Feed or iTunes (we would love some more ratings and reviews, if you please!). If there’s somewhere you can’t find us but wish you could, let us know. Thanks again to Jordan D’Arcy for editing the podcast.

This week, the Game Engine Podcast gets a special double episode as Andrew and Paul are joined by Ben Sand of Brainworth to discuss games for education. In this first episode, we discuss why the gaming medium is a great way to educate real-world skills. Our action item for this week: What have games taught you? You can, as always, contact us through email, twitter, facebook or google+. This episode can be found here on this lovely website, as well as via the RSS Feed or iTunes (we would love some more ratings and reviews, if you please!). If theres somewhere you cant find us but wish you could, let us know. Thanks again to Jordan DArcy for editing this weeks double header.

This week, the Game Engine Podcast gets a special double episode as Andrew and Paul are joined by Ben Sand of Brainworth to discuss games for education. In this first episode, we discuss why the gaming medium is a great way to educate real-world skills. Our action item for this week: What have games taught you? Be sure to tune in for part 2 of the education extravaganza, where we ask how best to make games that educate. You can, as always, contact us through email, twitter, facebook or google+. This episode can be found here on this lovely website, as well as via the RSS Feed or iTunes (we would love some more ratings and reviews, if you please!). If theres somewhere you cant find us but wish you could, let us know. Thanks again to Jordan DArcy for editing this weeks double header.

This week, Andrew, Saul, Paul and the returning Dan Graf delve into sci-fi author and blogger John Scalzis article, Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is [link]. The article, which created a minor poopstorm in gaming circles when he published it a couple of weeks back, uses difficulty settings in games as an analogy to explain social inequality. What do we, four straight, (mostly) white males make of it? Listen and find out. Our Action Item question this week is: What other game mechanic makes a good analogy for some aspect of life? Answer in the comments, via  twitter or on our facebook page! You can, as always, contact us through email, twitter, facebook or google+. This episode can be found here on this lovely website, as well as via the RSS Feed or iTunes (we would love some more ratings, if you please!). If theres somewhere you cant find us but wish you could, let us know. Thanks again to Jordan DArcy for his mad audio skillz.

This week, Andrew, Saul and Paul ask the question: what is the Game Engine Podcast? After most of a year of coasting along, the Game Engine Podcast is getting a facelift. A new mission, new format, new length, and new... other things. In this episode we discuss the changes, the biggest of which is an actual mission statement: that nothing is irrelevant to game design. So the question we have for you, our listeners this week is: What do you think is least relevant to game design? You can, as always, contact us through email, twitter, facebook or google+. The episode can be found here on this lovely website, the RSS Feed or iTunes (which we would love some more ratings on if possible). If theres somewhere you cant find us but wish you could, let us know. Thanks again to Jordan DArcy for his mad audio skillz.

Join us for episode 44 of The Game Engine Podcast to discuss the question: 2D or 3D? Andrew, Saul and Paul are this week joined by Louise, also from See Through Studios, to answer this age-old question. News for this weeks episode: GAME goes into receivership in Australia Unreal Engine 4 is going to C++! Diablo III is a game that was released... More Indie Bundles! This weeks music is brought to us by Mark Weller of Those City Lights, who brings us the score for the game Townseed. You can, as always, contact us through email, twitter, facebook or google+. The episode can be found here on this lovely website, the RSS Feed or iTunes (which we would love some more ratings on if possible). If theres somewhere you cant find us but wish you could, let us know. Dont forget we are on the hunt for your music! (Details) Apologies again for the large delay on the episode: we had to record a bit later than usual. Thanks to Jordan DArcy for editing our audio.

Despite some delays, here it is! The second episode of the Game Engine Podcast Game Club! Despite some issues with the files themselves, this time were able to bring the game club to our audio subscribers as an mp3 AND in video form! Of course, it sounds poor and Pauls webcam decided it didnt want to be a part of this. But were working on it hey? So enjoy our second Game Club episode where  Andrew, Saul and Paul dissect, analyse, critique and just generally talk a lot about our second game club game: Vessel. You can find the episode on all of the following locations: Over on our livestream channel - http://twitch.tv/gameenginepodcast andlt;- Nevermind I forgot to save it! It will be here next time also. Over on our youtube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/GameEnginePodcast Over on our...here. The website. Below. As a mp3, so you wont see our glorious faces =( This is still very much a work in progress, so please do give us comments and feedback about what you liked, disliked and would like to see with the Game Club. Well be trying to improve it steadily, but it will be a regular thing on the second Monday of every month until the end of time (give or take time + 1). The next Game Club will occur on the 11th of June with the modification DayZ for ARMA II and youll be able to tune in live at 8pm over at http://twitch.tv/gameenginepodcast Were looking for feedback on this episode, and comments/questions/feedback on the DayZ mod for our next episode! You can send feedback to us through email, twitter, facebook or google+. As always, you can find us through all the available means necessary such as this lovely website, the RSS Feed or iTunes (which we would love some more ratings on if possible) for the mp3 and any video content on our livestream and youtube channels. If theres somewhere you cant find us but wish you could, let us know.

The dream of all game developers is to make good games that players can enjoy. But how do players find our beloved games. Because without players, our games might as well not exist. That and without players, earning a living doing game development is impossible. Join us for episode 42 of The Game Engine Podcast to discuss The Marketing Paradigm where Andrew, Saul and Paul are this week joined by Rebecca Fernandez [Twitter] (Convict Interactive), Paul Gray [Twitter] (Bubblegum Interactive) and Toto (Floating Man Games). News for this weeks episode: The EA Indie Bundle http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/05/03/ea-indie-bundle-released-on-steam-wait-what/ Valve using Animal Psychologists to assist with design http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/169842/Taking_advantage_of_a_players_animal_instincts_with_Portals_Kim_Swift.php This weeks music is brought to us by Todd Tucker with a piece from his 2nd album: Space Dragons. You can find Todds work over at http://todd5747.bandcamp.com/ You can, as always, contact us through email, twitter, facebook or google+. The episode can be found here on this lovely website, the RSS Feed or iTunes (which we would love some more ratings on if possible). If theres somewhere you cant find us but wish you could, let us know. Dont forget we are on the hunt for your music! (Details) The Game Club episode will go up soon. Apologies again for the large delay on the episode also, we had to find someone else to make us sound good. On that note: Thanks to Angus OSullivan from Studio Ripple.

The cost of things has risen over the years. Why, I remember when petrol was 60cents a litre, but I dont think anyone else remembers that oddly enough. Pricing for games in Australia in particular has always been difficult to gauge as our dollar has risen and fallen over the years. However with our dollar more stable on par with the USD, were still paying more than expected. So we discuss pricing over various forms of games from both a player and developer perspective, though unfortunately weve no publishers in the room to tell us where all that money is going! Join us for Episode 41 of the Game Engine Podcast where our cozy podcast of Andrew and Saul discuss all things Pricing andamp; the Value of Games. News for this weeks episode: Australian Government releases Convergence Review: http://www.dbcde.gov.au/digital_economy/convergence_review Pebble Smart Watch - Potential Gaming Device? http://gamasutra.com/view/news/168980/A_new_game_platform_on_an_unexpected_place_Your_wrist.php XBox Live to include TV-like ads http://gamasutra.com/view/news/169153/Microsoft_expands_network_of_TVlike_ads_on_Xbox_Live.php Portal 2 Map Editor http://www.thinkwithportals.com/blog.php?id=7853andamp;p=1 [Topic] Price Inquiry into tech/games http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/04/australian-government-goes-ahead-with-price-inquiry-into-the-cost-of-techgames-in-australia/ You can, as always, contact us through email, twitter, facebook or google+. The episode can be found here on this lovely website, the RSS Feed or iTunes (which we would love some more ratings on if possible). If theres somewhere you cant find us but wish you could, let us know. Though we forgot it this week: dont forget we are on the hunt for your music! (Details) Also remember: The next Game Club will occur on the 14th of May with the game Vessel and youll be able to tune in live at 8pm over at http://twitch.tv/gameenginepodcast