Hey everyone.
This time it is a new month, which means only good things new recommendations, new resources, new things for us to learn.
So let's get into it.
Intro hey everyone, i hope you're well playing on making the games that you all love.
You're joining me.
Your host, max pairs, lead level designer, happy to be here with you, and thank you for taking time.
Whether it's morning, evening or night, i appreciate you listening to this.
So yeah, it is a new month.
It is some really cool stuff going on.
By the time i'm recording this, It's September when this comes out, but it's just roughly coming to the end of Gamescom while I'm recording this one.
So I want to talk about a few things that I've seen there, some cool elements that I've been listening to watching, learning from and I think could be interesting for all of us to learn and grow.
So that's where I want to kick things off.
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And the first recommendation is going to come of that for Silent Hill F.
Many of you know that I'm very passionate about Silent Hill franchise.
Absolutely love it.
And to see even a new take, even after short message release, I think is great.
I know this one has a few questions with it being based out in Japan.
But I was fortunate enough recently to go give a talk over that of the new developers behind Silent Hill F.
I say new, they've been around for a long time.
But new, shall we say, taking ownership of the franchise, which is that of Neo Bards.
And there is a great behind-the-scenes episode on the Silent Hill channel where it's called silent hill f, designing the world of silent hill f, and basically you'll see and hear about the collaboration between that of konami and that of neobards as well, discussing what it is, how they came together, what made them align on this vision and how they contribute as well as work together on such a beloved franchise And, as we've seen, that on Gamescom and, more recently, with it coming out this month in September.
It's the end of August when I'm recording this.
So hopefully future me is playing it and enjoying it.
We've got some great stuff going on with them kind of sharing their design process.
And that to me is fascinating.
Again, how do we get...
That horror, but not only the essence of traditional horror, but more Japanese horror, like many of you'll know, with Ring being one of the big breakout hits from Japan that got reimagined into the Western world for better or for worse, and their own distinct value of of this aspect of horror and how they've kind of translated that across into the silent hill franchise.
Again, i think it's a incredible behind the scenes.
I'm really looking forward to this one.
So i hope you enjoy this one and we'll move on to now resource number two.
So for those you may not know, i think we talked about this briefly before, But we've talked about that of a game developer formerly known as Gamasutra have their own podcast.
And one of the episodes that came out recently is that of Mike Biffles.
And him talking about his kind of experience going from really one of I guess I guess we can call it one of the first more renowned indie game developers to making and hosting his own studio.
Some of you may be aware that Sully, they did have layoffs as well.
I think it was either end of July or early August.
But still, it sounds like people who even were sadly laid off, they really do rate the company.
And I think thinking about that aspect, right, where you've gone from just being a one team developer, but before that, I know Mike before worked at Lion's Head, I believe. you know, from that multi-person team to then just a solo dev to then that solely expanding, I know, his business partner, Alex, which is, again, he's a very passionate and just very dedicated developer as well.
How is it that you've gone from designing just by yourself to now running a team, as you may not get a chance to actually really engage in the design aspect because there's a lot going on from the business side.
So it was a really fascinating one, especially if those of you who are interested in starting up your own company transitioning to that, I think again an all around good place for this one.
So yeah, that being number two, we're going to transition over to number three.
This one I came across recently and I'm very excited to try this out.
I've recently just picked it up myself.
It is a plugin for that of Unreal Engine.
It's on Fab.
I'll have a link to it.
I'll have a link to both the video and the actual product itself.
It's by that of the team at Black Eye Technologies and it is a very powerful camera system, right?
It's called Black Eye Camera, but they really break down How it is they've changed it, right?
If any of you have done sequence editing, it would be something of key framing out your cameras.
But this now is a system that allows you to have a much smoother transition point in terms of the camera locks onto that of a target follows, it moves around with this and how they've just upgraded the traditional camera system into something that's far more, I guess dynamic, far more intuitive.
And it's something that I've been looking for for a long time while working over at Ninja Theory.
Their internal camera system was incredible, arguably one of the best definitely best in doing things.
I think there's a room of improvements for the usability, but I'm sure they've improved that.
So to see a team kind of take this and bring it for anyone to purchase and use, I think it's incredible.
As I said, we'll be looking at.
I'll put a link both to their tutorial and to the actual product down below, as with all the other links.
And to me.
I just think again what a small team can do and how you can now start to really be far more engaged and knowing it's quicker to use this system than previously with a more traditional unreal system.
It blows my mind.
I'm very excited that i've picked this up.
I will be testing this out in personal projects, so anyone who's interested in more the camera work side looking at how do we use this is currently talking more about sequencer, But I think there's definitely ways that we can use this in gameplay as well, right.
Like just to help make transitions feel better, maybe emphasize a certain feeling of mechanic elements there.
I think it's all available for us to use.
So do check out that of the black eye camera.
I think it's really cool.
We're going to hop back over to the Game Developer Podcast.
This one recently came out, episode 53, which was released with that of Design Director Liz England.
Liz England is the Design Director at Systems Era Software.
They're the ones responsible for Astroneer. and she's previously worked at insomniac i believe ubisoft and a fair few others she's a very respected designer out there and she's talking about the door problem one of the articles she wrote that like blew up back in 2014 which really dates me i remember reading that article and it's fascinating to me because It's been a long time since I've read the article, but just how she explains what the purpose of the article was versus the actual interpretations have become of said article.
And to me, it's, yeah, it's a genuine...
Genuinely interesting just conversation.
I think she's a Fascinating designer.
I clearly she's worked on a lot, really designed a lot, and she talks about that also in terms of Time progressing from that of a junior designer all the way up to where she is now as design director and how her role changes and one of the big challenges each this specific kind of role does adapt and change.
To me, I think it's a really cool space to see.
I think it's worth checking out.
Now we're talking with Gamescom.
I actually want to give a little throw over to that of some former, some former colleagues, friends of mine who are working on the Blood of Dawn Walker and basically IGN talking about it kind of, with different styles, their systems.
And to me it's been such a fascinating experience from the outside, looking in at how because they're not really a huge team from my understanding of Revel Wolves, but how they're creating their own game, which we talked about, the Blood of Dawnwalker, and just how the IGN have found that the design decisions, and it looks to me to be something turning out to be something incredible.
Like I really do rate everyone there, like from my experience working with all of them.
Yeah, they're very, very good.
So I'm very excited to see this.
I think it's also great for Poland in general.
The fact that there is more developers out there and more developers gaining good traction in general is amazing.
So yeah, very excited to see that one.
If you're interested about the game, there'll be links there below.
And the final one to wrap things up, we've gone for six for a change here, team.
Just to spice up your life. that is the game makers notebook.
And that's talking with uh, that of uh I'm going to mispronounce some names here, but that of Stefan Warult over at Guerrilla Games, and Xu Sorry Xu, I'm going to definitely mispronounce your name here, mate.
Xu Xiaojun.
I believe I've got that correct.
Hopefully I have.
But them talking about how they collaborated from Guerrilla Games and Studio Gobo to make that of the LEGO Horizons Adventure.
And yeah, that released end of last year.
I've got a couple friends who worked on that one as well.
And so for me to see more of again how we're seeing codev changing, how we're seeing it adapt is incredible.
So they break down their own experiences, how they came together, how they work together.
As we know, there were three studios involved.
We talked about Guerrilla Games, who obviously owned the license of Horizon.
Then we have that of Studio Kobo, the creators.
And then you've got Lego in there as well.
So how do you put together or pull all three shareholders into a unified vision that is to lead?
And where do you get the freedom, right?
How do you find the balance that appeases both studios but still gives you creative freedom to go?
Take this in a different direction.
So to me, I think it's great.
I think it was a really good episode.
I really enjoyed this.
They both seem like incredible people developers, and I just rate them both highly from how they come across.
I think it comes across very, very well and fascinating for us to learn as game development is ever shifting, ever growing and ever changing.
So thank you all very much for taking the time to join me today.
The episodes we talked about was that of resource number one, which was Mike Biffle's journey into creating his own studio, and We looked then at resource number two, which was Silent Hill F designing the world for that.
Resource number three was the Black Eyed Camera system.
Resource number four was revisiting the door problem with Liz England.
And resource number five was that of the Blood of Dawnwalker.
And the final resource being that the Game Maker's Notebook with that of the LEGO Horizons adventure.
So thank you all very much.
I hope you appreciate this as I appreciate you listening.
Go off, join, learn, and can't wait to hear from more resources from you all.
Take care, everyone.
I'll catch you all next time.
