The Game Engine

In this episode of the Game Engine Podcast, Andrew, Saul and Paul bite the bullet and definitively answer that fateful question: Are videogames art? When Roger Ebert famously declared that games could not be considered art, many leapt onto soapboxes, outraged, and pointed their fingers at this game or that as an example of why what he said could not be true. Most of what they put forward, it has to be said, was shrill and poorly-argued. Was Roger right? Or were his critics justified in their whining? No-one has yet been able to settle the matter once and for all. Until now. Truly, this is our finest hour. Donning our Bullshit-Proof Overcoats, we venture into territory where few have dared to tread. We tie on our Skis of Infallibility and slalom unflinchingly down the treacherous slippery slope of Mount Truth, sailing through gate after gate with supreme precision. When we reach the bottom, we pin down the Butterfly of Art with a single stroke, before finally pulling back the Blanket of Eternity and putting this baby to bed. Are our conclusions correct? Yes. But wed still like to hear what you think, via the usual channels of Facebook, Twitter , email (gameenginepodcast@gmail.com), and or Google+. And we love suggestions for new topics, several of which weve previously used. This one, for example, was suggested by the indomitable Harrison. Thanks for having faith in us, mate. We hope the discussion was all that you hoped for. To save yourself visiting this fugly website too often you can watch for new podcasts on our RSS Feed or by subscribing on iTunes.

Happy New Year! Welcome to the first podcast of 2012! This week we go retro! No, Im not talking 8 bit retro but that real life we used to spend more time on than the virtual life. Because most of us have fond memories of gaming before we even started video-gaming with experiences involving rolling dice, hands of cards and pieces of painted cardboard. For Episode 24 of the Game Engine Podcast we discuss the potential forefather of our video games - the board game. This week was back to the 4-man podcast staple of Andrew Bittman, Paul Sztajer, Saul Alexander and Dan Graf who have all played at least a board game or two in our lovely christmas break. We also talk a little bit about our new years resolutions for game development and we have an actual news piece about game development in the Daily Telegraph. As always, feedback and topic ideas can be thrown at us via a baffling plethora of communications media: Facebook, Twitter , email (gameenginepodcast@gmail.com), and now Google+. Along with manually checking this website, you can keep an eye out for new ‘casts on our RSS Feed or by subscribing on iTunes.

Most of us probably remember with strong vividness the first games we played. Those wonderful adventures through time and space to worlds of jumping plumbers, rising boxing champions and raising electric rats for battle. These were the glory days before bills and realising the joy of exploding zombies, yet there are always other little tykes getting into videogames in an effort by parents worldwide to stop them drawing on walls (amongst others). For our 23rd Episode of The Game Engine Podcast we all attempt to regress decades to discover our inner child and discuss what specific issues occur when creating a game for the younger audience. Because despite once being a child, weve gotten old and hairy and still struggle to understand an audience that goes to bed before 9pm. Saul, Andrew and Paul are this week joined by two special guests for the topic: Paul Grey, a returning guest from Bubblegum Interactive, discusses issues they discovered in the development of their child-targeted MMO Little Space Heroes; and Sam Whitton, a new guest hailing from the forgotten country of South Australia who is a primary school teacher, avid gamer and brother to Saul Alexander (Whitton). Because news was sparse we also may have just spoken about games of the year, and not to spoil it but us Game Engine Podcast regulars might be of one mind. As always, feedback and topic ideas can be thrown at us via a baffling plethora of communications media: Facebook, Twitter , email (gameenginepodcast@gmail.com), and now Google+. Along with manually checking this website, you can keep an eye out for new ‘casts on our RSS Feed or by subscribing on iTunes.

Paragraph 1 It is Christmas Eve. You are yourself and you are in your house. Please choose from the following options: a) spend tonight and tomorrow enjoying food and laughter with loved ones. If you chose this option, go to paragraph 2. b) download and listen to the second Game Engine Podcast posted in three days! Yes, were that good to you. Please go to paragraph 3. c) if you dont understand how this game works, please close your web browser and have a little lie down. Youre obviously overwhelmed by an excess of the holiday spirit(s). Paragraph 2 You get drunk and wake up in a strange bed. The television is on, but you cant understand the language that emits from its speakers. Do you: a) whimper, rock back and forth and call your Mummy. Go to paragraph 4. b) run naked and screaming into the snow. Go to paragraph 5; or c) Go back in time and assassinate Hitler, hoping that this will change the course of history just enough that youll be less inclined to booze it up, but not so much that you no longer exist. Go to bed. Paragraph 3 Heres the point - we all love the idea of interactive stories where the players actions have an impact on the way the narrative plays out. One of the great strengths of games is that they theoretically allow the player to do what they want, not necessarily following the pre-determined arc laid down by an author or director. So why do we find that games are, more often that not, almost as linear and directed as a movie? Its because branching narratives are hard. Last weekend, Paul and Saul took part in Ludum Dare, the glorious quarterly international game jam. And what did we decide to work on? Why only a a competitive-multiplayer time travel game based on Romeo and Juliet. We didnt properly finish it, but we did learn a lot about planning and implementing branching narratives in games. Now you can listen to the two of us babble with Andrew about the experience, along with other non-linear narrative games. Here are some links to things mentioned in the episaode Our unfinished game/toy. You cant play multiplayer, some aspects of the timeline are broken and the user feedback is rubbish, but you can still play with the timeline of old Wills play, and see what happens if Romeo and Paris both survive (for example): http://www.pdyxs.org/whenfor/bin/index.html The trailer for Indie Game: The Movie, which awesomely made it into the Sundance Film Festival next year: http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/ A proper explanation of the Fighting Fantasy: Creature of Havok emergent gameplay thing that I (Saul) ramble about in the episode. Its pretty great: http://plover.net/~bonds/creatureofhavoc.html Thankyou to all of our listeners. Have an awesome Chistmas (or other holiday of your choice), and we may even have one more for you before New Years (or at least soon after)! Paragraph 4 There there, itll be okay. Paragraph 5 Its a bit cold. Get in by the fire, you. Ill make some hot chocolate.

Were still here! No, really. Though the dreaded Holiday Season(tm) is playing merry havoc with our scheduling, we are still recording episodes, and will serve them up, if not piping hot, then at least before the gravy turns to glue. This week - programming! For twenty weeks, weve largely managed to avoid those pesky strings of gibberish that are at the core of our dear medium. But theyre only gibberish to those not closely acquainted with them, and so we felt it high time we dragged the wriggling stuff into the light. Logic! Thats the stuff - the bane of artists and designers everywhere, but oh so vital to building games that dont fall apart as soon as you look at them. Saul, Andrew and Paul each have a degree of experience with coding - ranging from very little to quite a lot, and finally to pretty much breaths it instead of oxygen, respectively. So we ask each other a lot of questions, with a particular focus on explaining programming to beginners, and hopefully we come up with some useful answers. I cant really remember, because we recorded the thing a week ago. Youll just have to listen and find out! As always, feedback and topic ideas can be thrown at us via a baffling plethora of communications media: Facebook, Twitter , email (gameenginepodcast@gmail.com), and now Google+. Along with manually checking this website, you can keep an eye out for new casts on our RSS Feed or by subscribing on iTunes. As always, thanks to Jordan Darcy for transforming our gabbling into something at least vaguely listenable. Merry xmas/assorted-other-holidays!

Twenty episodes without missing a week feels like an achievement (the real kind, not a stupid badge). So we decided to try something a little wacky and different this week. Dum dum dum ... Game Dev Bingo! How does it work? First, we broke our stupid number of hosts record by squeezing seven sweaty geeks into a booth. That sounds gross. Actually, we werent that sweaty, but it did get a bit warm by the end, and a few brains attempted meltdown at various points, as did Dans phone. Next, each of us produced a list of our top 5 game development tips, which wed prepared earlier. Then we went around in a clockwise direction, announcing and then discussing each of our tips in turn. If someone announced one substantially similar to one on your list, you crossed it off. The first person to get through their whole list was the winner. Or maybe the loser, we couldnt decide. But that wasnt the point. The point is that we had an awesomely wide-ranging discussion on game development best practices, and covered way more ground in an episode than usual. It was so successful that I suspect well be incorporating some aspects of the game into every episode from now on. New format, yo. Our esteemed guests this week were  Tim Grant (Puny Human Games), Paul Gray (Bubblegum Interactive) and Tim Taylor (Convict Interactive). The GEP’s social media, as always, consists of our RSS Feed, iTunes iFeed, Facebook like-magnet and Twitter followdome. We’ve even got an email address (gameenginepodcast@gmail.com), and we’d love to hear from you on any or all of the above with your thoughts on past, present and future topics. As always, a special Bingo thanks to Jordan Darcy for his help with the audio editing.

This week, the Game Engine Podcast leaps into the way-back machine to look at the conception of games. Convict Interactive devs Tim Taylor and Stephen Barnes join GEP regulars Andrew Bittman, Dan Graf, Saul Alexander and Paul Sztajer to yabber about just where the heck good games start, pre-prototype, pre-anything-at-all, really. How does the Spermatozoa of a Darn Fine Idea enter the Egg of Actualisation, the first step on its journey to becoming the quirky-yet-stylish Game That People Actually Want to Play. How can Tim, Paul and Dan possibly have so much to say on this topic, refusing to progress the topic along the Pre-appointed Schedule of Doom? And how tired does Saul have to be before his episode descriptions descend into random gibberish? Learn all this and maybe even some interesting stuff: right here, right now, in Episode 19. Also, before all that beautiful nonsense, we do some news and talk about some games: First we talk about the spoof trailer for Video Game Journalism: The Movie, which you should watch right now. Then we admire the latest Humble (Introversion) Bundle for giving buyers access to the source code of a bunch of games. And finally, we remark on a few games weve played and liked this week, namely: These Robotic Hearts of Mine, Rochard and Saints Row: The Third. Please enjoy, and come back next week for our 20th episode super-special, where were going to attempt (probably) the first ever game of Game Development Bingo! Yes, weve finally flipped.

For the 18th outing of the Game Engine Podcast, Andrew (Moving Target Games), Saul (Ark Games) and Paul (Throw the Looking Glass) join forces to not talk as much about GCAP as may have been advertised. Instead, we tackle the topic of controllers: which ones work and which ones dont, and why. We even dare to leap into the console controller or keyboard/mouse debate (spoiler: Andrew hates keyboards), and Paul explains what the hell a perceived affordance is. News of the week includes: Will Wright talks about his new gaming project; Steam has an Autumn Sale; Indie game developers build planets (in game); and our (fairly short) GCAP recap In the arsenal that is the GEPs social media, we have our RSS Feed, iTunes iFeed, Facebook like-magnet and Twitter followdome. Weve even got an email address (gameenginepodcast@gmail.com), and wed love to hear from you on any or all of the above with your thoughts on past, present and future topics. Next week, a much anticipated episode entitled The Beginning, where we explore the conception of game ideas and what exactly happens next with special guests Rebecca Fernandez and Tim Taylor from Convict Interactive. A special thanks to Jordan Darcy for doing our audio editing.

This week of the Game Engine, Paul and Dan are off cavorting at GCAP, so Andrew (Moving Target) and Saul (Ark) recruit games journalist Mark Ankucic to delve into the wheres and whyfores of the RPG genre. First up, we discuss the following happenings: Steam was hacked (yowch); The winner of IGF China was Pixel May Cry; and Sony takes a punt at the indie market with PS Suite. The meat of the discussion takes us far and wide - through the past, present and future of RPGs in their various forms. Along the way, we make reference to the following articles: Tom Ewing on de-gamification; and Brian Fargo (Bard’s Tale, Baldurs Gate, Fallout) on what an RPG be. There are many means to keep abreast of the GEP. Keep track of us via our RSS feed or subscribe on iTunes, ‘Like’ us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter. Or if youre a traditionalist, email us about past, present or future topics at gameenginepodcast@gmail.com. A special thanks to Jordan D’arcy for doing our audio editing.

This week on The Game Engine, Andrew (Moving Target Games), Paul (Throw the Looking Glass), Saul and Dan (Ark Games) are joined (briefly) by Jeremy Ray (5-inch Floppy) to talk difficulty. We also go over the news of the week: R18+ Rating is signed off on by all Australian states; and Take On Helicopters has an unorthodox DRM solution. Also check out indie games To The Moon and Stealth Bastard: Tactical Espionage Asshole. You can get a handle on our rss feed or subscribe on iTunes, ‘Like’ our facebook page and email us about past, present or future topics on gameenginepodcast@gmail.com. Were also now on twitter at @TheGameEngine. A special thanks to Jordan D’arcy for doing our audio editing, and to SAE for allowing us to use their studio space.

For Episode 15, Andrew (Moving Target Games), Saul (Ark Games) and Paul (Throw the Looking Glass) are joined by special guests James Colley (Invention of Dragons) and Adam Chalmers (Throw the Looking Glass) to talk about the funnier side of games: what makes games funny, and how do we, as developers, master that thing called humour? On the news front: A horror game... or is it comedy?; Sword and the Stars 2 is released unfinished; Lemarchand speaks out about Uncharted 3s Reviews; and Macquarie Universitys TheoryCraft happened. As per usual, you can get a handle on our rss feed or subscribe on iTunes, ‘Like’ our facebook page and email us about past, present or future topics on gameenginepodcast@gmail.com. A special thanks to Jordan D’arcy for doing our audio editing.

Just in time for Halloween,  Andrew Bittman (Moving Target Games), Saul Alexander (also Ark Games) and Paul Sztajer (Throw the Looking Glass) leaf through the chills, thrills and skills in making a great horror game. In the news: CCP are now firing 20% of their staff, to “concentrate on EVE”; The Indie Royale bundle, and Valves pricing policies; and Blindside - a game without graphics. Also check out the article on gamasutra that we based this topic on. As always, get a handle on our rss feed or subscribe on iTunes, ‘Like’ our facebook page (we need 20 likes so we can get ourselves a shiny username!) and email us about past, present or future topics on gameenginepodcast@gmail.com. A special thanks to Jordan D’arcy for doing our audio editing. Next week, we look at Comedy in Games with special guests James Colley and Adam Chalmers.

This week, Andrew Bittman (Moving Target Games), Dan Graf (Ark Games), Saul Alexander (also Ark Games) and Paul Sztajer (Throw the Looking Glass) explore the depths of player empathy, with topics ranging from the perspective of game narratives to differences in empathy for the player character and NPCs. Also, some news: The Digital Media Initiative has been renewed; KMM Games Brisbane has shut down; Flash 11 has been launched; and Project Zomboid suffers a setback. As always, get a handle on our rss feed or subscribe on iTunes, Like our facebook page (we need 20 likes so we can get ourselves a shiny username!) and email us about past, present or future topics on gameenginepodcast@gmail.com. A special thanks to Jordan D’arcy for doing our audio editing. Next week, we look at Horror in time for Halloween. Send us your favourite horror games and experiences.

This week, the Game Engine breaks its number of people crowded around a macbook pro record as Andrew Bittman (Moving Target Games), Paul Sztajer (Throw the Looking Glass) and Dan Graf (Ark Games) are joined by Paul Nunes and Tim Grant (Puny Human Games) to talk about the wonders of modding. This week, we also take a brief look at the life and impact of Steve Jobs, Unreal Engines decision to support flash, and iGEAs Digital Australia 12 Report. Andrew recounts his experience at the recent BarCraft in Sydney, and HalfBrick is Hiring. Oh, and check out this game prototype made by some AIE students in just 8 days. As always, you can follow us through rss or iTunes, email us at gameenginepodcast@gmail.com and like our facebook page. A special thanks to Jordan Darcy for doing our audio editing. Next week, well be looking at player empathy (whether it be for the player character or for other characters).

This week, with Andrew Bittman (Moving Target Games) sick, Dan Graf (Ark Games) and Paul Sztajer (Throw the Looking Glass) are rejoined once more by Saul Alexander (also Ark Games) as he returns from his month-long sojourn in India. In episode 11, we explore the world of cinematic storytelling, from what exactly the term means, through how and why cinema is compared to games and... wait, Left 4 Dead is a pretty cool game isnt it? We also check out some news items: Gamers Discover Planets; The Kinect might be able to tell your age; and Portal 2 releases free DLC As always, get a handle on our rss feed or subscribe on iTunes, Like our facebook page (we need 20 likes so we can get ourselves a shiny username!) and email us about past, present or future topics on gameenginepodcast@gmail.com. Speaking of future topics, weve planned far enough in advance to have one! Next week, were joined by Paul Nunes of Puny Human games to discuss the world of modding.