BlueCupTools Podcats! Grundislav & ThreeOhFour! Episode 82!

[AnasAbdin]

Thanks for covering my suggestion
I can't explain how much I respect both of you and what you do.

[SilverSpook]

Great 'cast!  That was an enlightening bit on the point about game development, choosing what to redo and what to let go of before calling the game 'finished'.

Here's a question if you feel like answering it on your podcast: If you had the resources to fund your own small team (say 3-7 full time employees for a year) and had full creative direction of the game, no strings attached, what would you work on and why? 

[Ponch]

Here's a question if you feel like answering it on your podcast: If you had the resources to fund your own small team (say 3-7 full time employees for a year) and had full creative direction of the game, no strings attached, what would you work on and why? 

Besides Spaceman (In Space): Remastered, obviously.

[Amayirot Akago]

Is it bad that I would actually want to see that?

[Grundislav]

So, we're going to be doing some special episodes leading up to #100, and I'd like to ask you, the listeners, for some input.

Have you got any questions for either Ben or me about our lives/careers? Post them here, and don't be afraid to go as crazy as you want. Nothing is off limits!

[Ponch]

Here are my important questions:

1) How much does Grundy weigh?
2) What is Ben's shoe size? (In freedom units, please, none of that flash-in-the-pan metric stuff)
3) Who would win in a no-holds-barred thumb wrestling contest?
4) Which of you loves your mom more?

These questions have kept me awake at night since the beginning of the podcast.

[Amayirot Akago]

What are some of your favorite movies/shows/bands/artists/non-adventure games/adventure games and why?

What were your favorite AGS projects to work on in the past?

Which IP would you want to make into an adventure game?

What were the hardest parts of some of your previous AGS projects and how did you overcome them?

Would you take me out to dinner sometime?

EDIT: One more before I forget: where did the name Grundislav come from?

[Sslaxx]

Well:

• Are there any frustrations about the AGS community? Because no community is perfect - we all have our disagreements and bad apples, after all.
• Have you ever been bitten by issues like licenses? Thinking "Oh, I want to use this" in a game (be it a module, or an idea or anything) and then finding out something about it (like a license) that makes it impossible to use would be frustrating.
• What's the hardest scene that you ever wrote/designed/played, emotionally speaking? The stuff that's been hard to complete because it was hard on your emotions.
• What would make you switch from AGS? What would you like to come along tomorrow to make you go "Let's use this instead!"...

[Stupot]

How much glue could a dairy farmer chuck if a rubber chicken could chuck cows?

[Stupot]

Not to cross-post, but perhaps you could talk a bit about some of the decisions that have gone into naming your games (as per this post).

[Cogliostro]

Okay, my question is about group projects...

1) We are a bunch of introverts with regards to our AGS projects.  Which means they can take years to complete.  (Honestly, Ben is a serious exception to the rule.)  I have to ask, how does one make the leap to a group production and what challenges does it entail?

2) Obviously a key aspect of a group production is successful recruitment, but in my experience recruitment works for narrowly defined requests, but it doesn't cut development time by 75%.  For me, so far, it has only made the difference between music that truly fits a scene vs. Kevin MacLeod's work at incompetech.com. 

3) Finally, since I'm convinced it makes a huge impact, any insights into the differences in group efforts between commercial vs. free projects?

- Cogliostro

[Grundislav]

Ninety-eight

[Grundislav]

99

[Stupot]

I think I may have been one of the people who said Shartlight. If so, I'm sorry
However, I also said I had a massive shard-on for the game. That's a complement, right? \/

[LameNick]

Hi Grundislav and Ben ThreeOhFour,
I discovered the BlueCupTools podcast just about a week ago and whenever I hear your voice Ben, I can't help but see you as Simon Amstell. So you can't ever reveal your appearance or it will be a very confusing experience for me.

Also its sad you guys stopped doing deliverance, the one about switching layer and undoing in PS made me laugh hysterically through tears of pain. If I visited Adobe HQ wearing a dynamite belt every time that happened to me, by now, there would be no Silicon Valley just a muddy mass extinction meteor impact crater.

Anyway, I thought it to be of the utmost importance to share these thoughts with you. Looking forward to 100. Thanks and keep it up!

[ThreeOhFour]

I think I may have been one of the people who said Shartlight. If so, I'm sorry

I don't want to seem like a massively humorless arse with my rejection of that bastardization; I'm light-hearted enough to see the funny side in it, I just reject it as a legitimate criticism of the name, and there were some people who treated it as thus! No need to worry about actually offending me or anything!

I discovered the BlueCupTools podcast just about a week ago and whenever I hear your voice Ben, I can't help but see you as Simon Amstell. So you can't ever reveal your appearance or it will be a very confusing experience for me.

Whether or not I look anything like Simon Amstell is up to your imagination, but I'm definitely a fan of his work and will accept this as my new imagined appearance with grace.

[Andail]

Good one.

The thing with naming your game is that it's kind of hard to give general advice about it; it's one of those things that you know it's right when you hear it. Also, it seems that games with really generic titles, like Total War or Final Fantasy, don't seem to suffer immensely for being unoriginal, and weird and non-descriptive ones also generally are fine, so I'm not sure how important titles are anyway. Is there a way to ascertain that a game would have sold better had it had a better title? Not sure.

As you said, the change from God's Algorithm to Whispers of a Machine is a pretty big change, but it was like a bandaid that had to ripped off quickly - the longer we'd hesitate, the harder would it be to change it. In terms of actual title power - originality etc - the former might be stronger, but it also is less relevant to the actual game, so, yeah.

The trick to subtly include the title - or a reference to it - in your game can be cool, but sometimes it can come across as clichéd and forced. I loved the title "Gemini Rue" until there was this dialogue snippet along the lines of "he doesn't have to live this life of rue any longer", which seemed utterly shoe-horned in and a bit cheesy. It just doesn't seem like a thing you'd say unless you really wanted to use that exact word.

I'm extremely satisfied with the title The Samaritan Paradox, to the point that it might be the best aspect of the game - too good for the game, almost. Awww.

A Golden Wake is a superb title, in every way. Shardlight slightly less so, because it struck me as pretty apparent from the outset that the shards were basically painted as cool lighting effects (the kind of lighting Ben is known to use in his art), and they might not be essential enough to the game to be the basis of its title. But that's just my two cents.

Looking forward to the big 100!

[MiteWiseacreLives!]

Hey man, just got around to this episode 99 that should mean 100 is ready to go, right?
BTW Toque-Babylon is basically my life, so don't forget old Mite when your mocking Canada..
I think you should name your game 'Hard Raven', it is very much Poe-Dickens and it is also a terrible name that won't be found on another IP, totally safe.

[Yitcomics]

Can you guys pls update the list on the first page,the last one was on 82.

Not sure if you guys have covered any of this topic yet since I haven't listen to all of them but here's some suggestions for #100:

  Where do you guys see yourself in the next 5-10 years,any big plans or dreams?

  There are a lot of indie games these days,too many games so little time.What are your thoughts on making a game standout from the rest.

  I have always found that my puzzles is either too simple,cliche or boring and when I try to fix it,it's too convoluted or you could say not
        "Realism" enough.How do you find a middle ground.

  Is there any books that you have read that was inspirational for your "Adventure game making" that you'd recommend to us.It could be about
         drawing background or maybe how to think about puzzles,anything.

[Grundislav]

Episode 100 is finally here!

Thanks to all who submitted questions, and sorry to Yitcomics whose questions I didn't see in time!