Kiwi Talkz

It took a long while to get here! Finally after much delay here is the review of Metroid Prime 4 with my good friend Jack Mathews (Lead Technical Engineer On Metroid Prime Trilogy) In this episode, Jack Mathews and I analyze the development, design, and production challenges of Metroid Prime 4.

#metroidprime4 #metroid #nintendo

iF YOU WANT TO BUY JACKS WIFES COOK BOOK YOU CAN GET IT HERE https://www.amazon.com/dp/0593853148?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:25 - Metroid Prime 4 Overview

04:00...

Jérémy Hartvick is a former designer at Rockstar, best known for his work on RDR2 (he left Rockstar early in 2020). In this episode, Jérémy shares insights from his experience at Rockstar, discussing leadership, mission design, technical challenges, and the future of game development.CONSULTING WEBSITE - https://jeremyhartvick.com/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:03 - Having A Good Leader At Rockstar

03:00 - Moving Into Leadership

05:00 - Modern Day Leadership Is Different

07:50 - Jeremy’s Goals At Rockstar & In The Industry

09:50 - Rockst...

Matt Radford was a VFX Artist on TLOU and Uncharted 4, he began research into volumetric rendering during the development of Uncharted 4 and that led to it being used in TLOU Part 2. He has now founded his own studio 5th-Corner which is also the name of his studio's upcoming game.

#uncharted #uncharted4 #unrealengine

WEBSITE - https://www.5th-corner.com/

X - @mradfo21

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:39 - Matt Started A Hoverboard Trend At Naughty Dog

03:30 - Culture Of Naughty Dog/Crunch

06:42 - Naughty...

Emanuel Palalic was a former character artist on DOOM 2016 & DOOM Eternal he has now founded the studio emptyvessel and is working on their indie game DEFECT (which looks sick).

https://www.emptyvessel.io/

TWITTER/INSTAGRAM - @epalalic

ARTSTATION - https://www.artstation.com/drheadpop

@emptyvesselplay

#doom #doometernal #idsoftware

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:30 - Working With Teams On Different Continents

02:20 - Founding Emptyvessel

05:30 - Emptyvessel’s High Calibre Team.

06:45 - Being Overwhelmed Setting Up...

Andrew Willis was a producer on DOOM TDA & Revelations and planned on staying at ID Software till retirement, till the dreaded Microsoft layoffs. In this episode he covers his time at ID Software and the terrible layoffs.

#doom #doomthedarkages #idsoftware

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:35 - Going From Manager At A Pizza Place To ID Software Producer

06:38 - Why ID Software Culture Was So Great

09:00 - Realising His IT Knowledge Was Useless At ID Software

10:45 - Being A Producer At ID Software

The legendary Shawn Layden returns to provide wisdom on things surrounding the video game industry. As was the case last time, I tried to ask him a lot of stuff he hasn't been asked before. Enjoy!!

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro/Shawn Layden Made Kiwi Smarter

01:49 - Differences Between Working At Sony’s Offices In Japan,UK & US

05:45 - How The Japanese Felt When Sony HQ Moved From Tokyo To California

07:00 - Salaries In The US Are Hurting Game Development There/Outsourcing

10:20 - Nothing Will Beat GTA/Strauss Zelnick

Rico Flores is an animator who is best known for his tenure on Uncharted 3 & 4, he is currently at emptyvessel working on their game DEFECT

#uncharted4 #uncharted #uncharted3

TWITTER - @r1c00

WEBSITE - https://www.emptyvessel.io/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:34 - Animating Doors Is Tedious/Naughty Dog Has A Door System

03:12 - Being Chucked In The Deep End On Uncharted 3/How Rico Got Hired

08:10 - Rico Had No Idea How Prestigious Naughty Dog Was When He Got Hired

Kris Roberts was a former designer on Midnight Club 3, Los Angeles and Red Dead Redemption, in this episode he talks about his work at R*.

WEBSITE - https://www.robertsmania.com/ T

WITCH - https://www.twitch.tv/robertsmania

YOUTUBE - @Robertsmania

TWITTER - @Robertsmania

#rockstargames #midnightclub #reddeadredemption

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:30 - How Kris Got Into Cars

01:58 - Working On Midnight Club Series/Angel Studios Early Days

05:57 - Midnight Club 2/Working In Gamesb

07:40 - The...

Varun Mayya is an entrepreneur, content creator, author and now he is venturing into game development and working on India's most ambitious game ever. Unleash The Avatar

#unleashtheavatar #indiangaming

See the latest trailer gameplay footage here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_zBp21BWI0

WEBSITE - https://www.unleashtheavatargame.com/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:28 - Varun Loves The Mechanics Of Dota & Rocket League

03:56 - How Varun Started Making Video Games

05:15 - Journey To Making Unleash The Avatar/Multiplayer Games<...

John Ricchio was a former producer at Rockstar on games such as GTA 5, RDR1 & Max Payne 3. In this interview he covers his time training people on QA, being a producer and a leader to teams at Rockstar, working on GTA, RDR, MP and more..

#gta #gta5 #rockstargames

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:27 - The Importance Of QA/Training QA People

04:30 - QA People At Rockstar/Advancing Your Career From QA

08:19 - Will AI Be Used To Save Time For QA

12:21 - Unicorn Dev...

Andrew Kim is a freelance concept artist who has worked on video games, tv and film. Hes done numerous concepts for games in the MCU and he did concept art for Uncharted 2-4

#uncharted #uncharted4 #uncharted3

ANDREWS WEBSITE IS HERE https://www.andrewkimart.com/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:34 - Differences Between Working In Video Games & Film/TV

04:41 - Getting A Job at Naughty Dog

07:20 - Working With The Designers On Concept Art For Uncharted

09:03 - The Process Was Similar Between Uncharted 2,3 & 4

Quentin Cobb is the CEO and Co-Founder of Ironroot Games, he was previously a designer at Naughty Dog on Uncharted 4 & The Last Of Us and did a 5 year stint at Zenimax before on a cancelled project he was laid off.

#uncharted4 #uncharted #thelastofus

SOCIALS

TWITTER - @QTrainCobb

INSTAGRAM @qtrain.cobb/ @I

IronrootGames https://ironrootgames.com/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:30 - Why Quentin Cobb Loves Wutang Clan

01:37 - Crunch On Uncharted 4

04:02 - Working On Lost Legacy

04:40...

Jake Kazdal is a japanese game developer who has worked on games such as Galak-Z and Skulls Of The Shogun, he has worked for Nintendo, SEGA and Square Enix and is releasing his new game Awaysis very soon. This is a rare pullback of the curtain on Japanese design.

#nintendo #zelda #botw

WEBSITE - http://awaysis.jp/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3334760/Awaysis/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:45 - Differences Between Japanese & Western Development

02:30 - Differences Between SEGA & Square Enix/Japanese Work Culture

07:00...

I got together some of the old Retro Studios crew including Kynan Pearson (Metroid Prime 2,3 & DKCR), Jay Epperson (DKCR & Tropical Freeze), Eric Kozlowsky (DKC Tropical Freeze) and Brad Taylor (DKC Tropical Freeze), the latter has never appeared on the show before. Hope you enjoy this, cause we had a blast recording it.

#supermariogalaxy #supermario #mariogalaxy

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:25 - Overrall Thoughts

08:30 - Fox/Starfox Movie

09:53 - Smash Bros Movie

12:00 - Super Mario World Vinettes

13:12 - Lack Of Story/Nintendo...

Heather Cerlan a former artist at Naughty and Bethesda, in this interview she shares her journey from a passionate artist to a studio founder, discussing her experiences at Naughty Dog and Bethesda, her insights on game development, and her ambitious new project Hawthorne. Discover lessons on persistence, navigating industry challenges, and the future of game art and design.

HAWTHORNE INFO

https://playhawthorn.com/

#thelastofus #starfield #uncharted

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:55 - Being In A Rockband

02:30 - Heather Kept Pestering Naughty...

Gabriel Betancourt is a former lighting artist at Treyarch and of course Naughty Dog. We cover his career at Naughty Dog and various other topics on the game industry.

#thelastofus #lastofus #lastofuspart2

WEBSITE - https://gabereel.com/

CALORIE GAME - https://www.caloriequest.app/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro/Gabriel Watches Kiwi Talkz & Lists His Favourite Guests

01:44 - It’s Hard To Find Info On Lighting Artists/Early Days As A Lighting Artist

03:00 - Naughty Dog Has A Designer First, Speciality Second Philosophy

06:25...

Benson Russell was a former designer at Naughty Dog on The Uncharted Trilogy and The Last Of Us.He has now started his own consulting firm to help game developers navigate a lot of the pitfalls in game development.

#uncharted #thelastofus #naughtydog

WEBSITE FOR CONSULTING

https://www.unhandledexceptions.io/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:32 - The Most Important Aspect Of Design/Player Fantasy

02:50 - Why Games Take So Long To Make/North Star You Need For Development

05:45 - Why Naughty Dog Games Are...

Rob Carr is an audio designer who is best known for his tenure at Rockstar Games on L.A. Noire, RDR1, GTA 5 and RDR2. He is currently living in Finland working on his game Nyrkkipöytä

#rockstargames #gta #gta5

WEBSITE - https://audioexpat.wordpress.com/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:30 - How Rob Went From Being A Music Teacher To Working At Rockstar Leeds

07:51 - Moving From Handheld Games To Console Games/Rockstar Have Unlimited Resources

08:30 - The Psychology Of Sound/Finding Sounds Th...

I got some of the old devs who worked on Fallout to help review Season 2 of the Fallout series. Bruce Nesmith got the time wrong so didnt join until the last 20 minutes.

#fallout #falloutnewvegas #bethesda

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Fallout Is The Best Video Game Adaptation Of All Time

02:21 - Fallout S2 Thoughts Overrall

05:40 - Macauley Caulkins Acting

06:48 - Walton Goggins/The Ghoul

07:44 - Ella Purnell’s Accent As Lucy

08:40 - The Deathclaws

17:05 - The Prydwens/Factions

18:06...

Featurecast is a DJ turned video game composer, he is most associated with @BitmapBureau and his most recent work was his stellar work on Terminator 2D No Fate.

#terminator #terminator2 #terminator2dnofate

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:19 - How The Name Featurecast Came About

04:05 - Working With Bitmap Bureau

08:57 - Learning To Make SFX While Doing It

10:50 - Getting Creative Freedom On Terminator 2D No Fate

14:30 - Scrapping Music And Starting From Scratch/Reviews Praising The Soundtrack

15:45 - Trusting...

Jay Epperson is a concept artist who is probably most famous for his concept art on Donkey Kong Country Returns and especially on Tropical Freeze.

#nintendo #donkeykong #donkeykongcountry

Thanks to the Patreon Producers for making this happen Stipe, Borkey, Magic8

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:35 - How Jay Went From Being An Illustrator To Becoming A Concept Artist At Retro

04:50 - Interview Process At Retro/Getting Artists To Draw In Interviews

07:22 - Coming In As A Concept Artist Towards The End Of DKC Returns

Denis Dyack is a legend in the industry and one of the few devs who has been exposed to both the Japanese and Western way of designing games. He is the man behind Legacy Of Kain and Eternal Darkness. I spoke with him in 2023 and he returns to promote his new game Deadhaus Sonata

#nintendo #legacyofkain #epicgames

My first interview with him is here https://youtu.be/Txt85DT68rQ

WEBSITE - https://deadhaussonata.com/

TWITTER - @DDyack

TWITTER - @DeadhausGame

TIMESTAMPS

00:00...

Alpha 7 is a professional mocap studio that was spun off from owner Maciej Kwiatkowski from working with CD Projekt RED( He played Geralt in the Witcher from 1 through to III.) Staff as follows Maciej Kwiatkowski, Madeline Page and Michal Derlicki

#cdprojektred #witcher #cyberpunk2077

SOCIAL MEDIA INSTAGRAM

MACIEJ - @maciej_kaskader

MADELINE - @madeline_maddie_page

MICHAL - @derlickimichal

WEBSITE - https://alpha7.pro/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:50 - Mocap Performers Training Regime

03:21 - Gameplay Sessions/Behind...

I am joined by Kynan Pearson (Senior Designer on DKC Returns) and Ted Anderson (Environmental Artist on DKC Returns & Tropical Freeze) to review DKC Bananza

#donkeykongbananza #donkeykong #donkeykongcountry

TED ANDERSONS UPCOMING GAMES https://store.steampowered.com/app/3565460/Tahitian_Driftin/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/3968340/Foolish_Earthlings/ TED ANDERSONS GAME STUDIO PROMOTION IN AUSTIN TEXAS INFO IS HERE https://www.oddwoodbrewing.com/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:39 - 2D Sections In DK Bananza

02:45 - Voxel Tech Limiting DK Bananza/Destructible Terrain

06:15 - Animal Transformations/Nintendo’s De...

Joe Houston who worked on Demon Souls Remake joins me to review the GTA of indie games Hollow Knight:Silksong!!

I did an interview with him a number of years ago, which you can find here. https://youtu.be/skAWid5zYfg

#silksong #hollowknight #hollowknightsilksong

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:40 - Silksong Overview

01:30 - Silksong’s Difficulty/The Purpose Of Difficulty In Games

07:10 - Runbacks

10:54 - Bosses Of Silksong

13:40 - Progression Doesnt Help With The Difficulty

16:20...

In this engaging conversation, Filip Coulianos, co-founder of Keepsake Games, discusses his journey in game development, the influence of Half-Life 2 on his career, and the creative processes behind his latest project, Jump Space. He shares insights on addressing motion sickness in games, the importance of marketing for indie developers, and the evolving landscape of the gaming industry. The discussion also touches on the impact of working with Josef Fares and the lessons learned from successful titles like It Takes Two.

#jumpspace #ittakestwo #fpsgames

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:42...

Joshua Jay was a former world artist at Bethesda who worked on Fallout 4, 76 & Starfield, prior to that he was a world artist on the Gears Of War trilogy.

Josh built a living saloon set in the style of Fallout 76 here! Check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7gBi3_lyag&t=167s

#fallout #starfield #gearsofwar

JOSHUAS ARTWORK CAN BE FOUND HERE

https://www.joshuajayart.com/

https://www.artstation.com/joshua_jay_art

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:38 - Lord...

GOG is a digital distribution platform with a mission to preserve video games. I spoke with 3 employees Piotr(Senior PR), Marcin (Senior Business Developer) and Adam(Technical Producer). #gog #gamepreservation #pcgaming

SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITE - https://www.gog.com/en/ X - @GOGcom

NOTE: Unfortunately the guys had some technical and internet issues, so we needed to use Google Meet to record this so the audio quality and even the video feed arent up to my usual standard, this is also why the layout is different to my usual format. Apologies for this, the guys...

David O'Reilly is a former game developer who is best known for his work at Rockstar on GTA, RDR2 and GTA VI, yes you read that right he worked on GTA VI up until 2023 when he left the video game industry.

He now has a Youtube channel where he reviews environmental art in games.

David's Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@Game-World-Art

#rockstargames #gta6 #rdr2

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:30 - Having Imposter Syndrome Working At Rockstar

04:30 - Having A Good Manager

06:05 - Doing...

Kurt Kuhlmann was a jack of all trades at Bethesda, he was one of the studios most proficient designers and writers, he's best known as the lore master of the Elder Scrolls

#elderscrolls #starfield #fallout

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:06 - How Kurt Became The Lore Master Of The Elder Scrolls

06:26 - Maintaining The Lore

07:57 - Studying History At University/Why Kurt Went To Bethesda

09:40 - Evolution Of Quest/Narrative Design At Bethesda

10:50 - Using History To Influence Lore/Tolkien’s In...

Obbe Vermeij, a former technical director at Rockstar Games during GTA III to GTA IV, is now working on his indie game Plentiful, and the demo is out now here.

#grandtheftauto #gta #rockstargames

Plentiful Demo is here - https://store.steampowered.com/app/3044790/Plentiful/

SOCIAL MEDIA

TWITTER - @ObbeVermeij

BLUESKY - ‪@obbevermeij.bsky.social‬

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:46 - GTA IV Design Document

01:20 - Working With The Designers On GTA On What’s Possible & Not Possible

02:15 - Gang Wars I...

I got some of the old Bethesda crew back together (Jeremy Bryant, Nate Purkeypile, Bruce Nesmith & Kurt Kuhlmann) to review the remaster and talk about the old game and Bethesda as a whole. Enjoy!

#bethesda #elderscrolls #oblivionremastered

Nate Purkeypiles Games! Check them out!

The Axis Unseen - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1807810/The_Axis_Unseen/

Deedlee Doo Carkour! - https://store.steampowered.com/app/3582590/Deedlee_Doo_Carkour/

Bruce Nesmiths Books https://www.amazon.com/Books-Bruce-Nesmith/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ABruce%2BNesmith

TIMESTAMPS<...

Jeremy Huxley is a former environmental artist at Naughty Dog who worked there for 11 years on the Uncharted & Last Of Us franchises. #uncharted #lastofus #lastofuspart2

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:31 - Coming To Naughty Dog Partway Through Uncharted 3

02:30 - Art Test/Learning From The Veterans

05:20 - Team Being Split Off After Uncharted 3/Working On Uncharted 4/PBR

09:00 - The Jump For Art From PS3 To PS4

10:20 - Naughty Dog’s Reference Material For Uncharted 4

12:40 - Uncharted 4’s Jungle Environments

13:50 - Ray Tracing Vs Baked Ligh...

Former Retro Studios Dev Eric Kozlowsky (Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze) and I review the direct and go way off on another tangent lol. You can watch my life reaction to the Switch 2 direct(with former retro studios devs in the chat) here https://www.youtube.com/live/ocm4oRD-aik

Get all the info on Eric and Fuzzybot's game Lynked

here http://playlynked.com/

www.landofkoz.com

www.fuzzybot.com

Bluesky Eric - @vonkoz.bsky.social

#nintendoswitch2 #switch2 #nintendo

...

Chris Detyna is a video game composer who is best known for his brilliant score for Terminator Resistance.

#terminator #terminatorresistance #theterminator

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:00 - Meeting Teyon/How Chris Got The Job Composing Terminator Resistance

04:19 - Including Electric Guitar In The Main Theme/Being Scared Of Making The Music

05:52 - Adapting The Terminator 1 Theme/T1 Theme Weird Time Signature

09:05 - Directions From Teyon’s Director On The Music

11:25 - The Gear Chris Used To Make The Soundtrack

13:52...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO DOOM ETERNAL!! To celebrate I spoke to former DOOM Eternal animator Chris Cantero, he left a few years to make his own indie game High Fructose, you can find here https://store.steampowered.com/app/2506550/High_Fructose/

#doom #doometernal #idsoftware

SOCIAL MEDIA

TWITTER - @canterochris

BLUESKY - @canterochris.bsky.social

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:28 - Glory Kills

03:48 - Mocap/Principals Of Animation

05:55 - The Hardest Part Of Animating Glory Kills

07:30 - Making The Marauder Hard...

Jeremy Bryant was an animator at Bethesda for over 15 years from Skyrim to Starfield. This is his first interview!

#starfield #fallout #skyrim

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:26 - Jeremy Commuted To Work By Plane

04:07 - Working With Dennis On The Werewolf

06:26 - How The Animation Tools Evolved From Skyrim To Starfield

08:43 - Mocap Use On Skyrim/Jeremy Used His Own Mocap On Skyrim DLC

10:35 - Animating Hands/Hardest Things Animating

11:54 - Jeremy Was Known As The Gun Reloader Animator...

Jeremy Bryant was an animator at Bethesda for over 15 years from Skyrim to Starfield. This is his first interview!

#starfield #fallout #skyrim

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:26 - Jeremy Commuted To Work By Plane

04:07 - Working With Dennis On The Werewolf

06:26 - How The Animation Tools Evolved From Skyrim To Starfield

08:43 - Mocap Use On Skyrim/Jeremy Used His Own Mocap On Skyrim DLC

10:35 - Animating Hands/Hardest Things Animating Hands

11:54 - Jeremy Was Known As The Gun Reloader...

Shawn Layden was former CEO of Playstation worldwide studios and former chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment America. His career in Sony is legendary as a Japanese localizer that had a meteoric rise to be one of the head honchos of the whole company.

#playstation #sony #ps5

SOCIAL MEDIA

TWITTER -@SHAWNLAYDEN

BLUESKY - @shawnlayden.bsky.social

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:02 - Why Playstation Used Numbers For Each Console Iteration

03:26 - Being The Fix It Guy At Sony/What Motivates Shawn<...

Mike York is an animator with an extensive resume but is probably best known for his tenure at Rockstar working on GTA V & RDR2. He has a cool Youtube channel called @YorkReacts he reacts to videos and speaks on the industry.

#rockstargames #rdr2 #gta

SOCIAL MEDIA Youtube - @YorkReacts

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:21 - Mike Is So Energetic He Doesn’t Need Red Bull Or Coffee

01:45 - Rockstars Tight Security

03:20 - Difference In Cultures Between Rockstar New England & Edinburgh

08:20 - Th...