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Description
A podcast about the life of games and the game of life. Swimfan, a reformed marketing director at various large game companies, and Regal, a software engineer, give multitudinous lukewarm takes on game design and development, the industry as a whole, and ideas about how to improve...everything. Occasionally, we also play games.
23 Episodes
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Music games are all the rage these days!
Also, I'm selling a bundle of 2 Rock Band drumkits (markedly used) and a crate of unopened DJ Hero turntables for $9.99 USD. Please like and comment if you're interested.
Outro music by I Am Jemboy
YouTube.com/@OpenBetas
Paul Sottosanti, game design veteran and certified cool guy joins Regal and Swimfan to talk about the role that randomness, variance, and luck affect games, mostly from a designer's perspective, in both general and case-specific terms.
0:00:00 Who is Paul Sottosanti?
0:29:18 Basic concepts and a tangent about the popularity of games
0:43:00 Drawing cards
1:20:00 Build complexity
1:42:27 Play-by-mail games
2:22:29 Horizontal progression and strategic diversity
2:39:45 Damage range
2:54:14 Rapidfire topics
Outro music by Cyranek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46LF80G6nB4
YouTube.com/@OpenBetas
1337 G@m3rz UNITE!!
We broadly discuss the difference between people who consider themselves "gamers" and people who simply play games, the effect this has on the industry discourse, and the icky associations the label carries.
0:00:00 Intro and patch notes
0:17:19 The influence of the online discourse about games
0:40:45 Identity and gamerism
1:18:55 The use of games
1:47:25 Finding your voice
2:02:10 The use of gamers
Outro music by DatManOvaDer: https://soundcloud.com/datmanovader/throwback-funk
YouTube.com/@OpenBetas
Yip schools us on TCGs, CCGs, DCGs, and all other card-based games.
0:00:00 Introductions, who the heck is Andrew Yip, and the LoR experience
0:17:33 History with card games
0:49:01 Hanging out in settings and MMOs
1:05:51 Mana, variance, and all its implications
1:41:31 Different players, different skill expression
1:53:44 Back to mana (color pie, mana flood)
2:05:32 Making losing fun and making the game approachable
2:24:51 Can more interesting games be made if we didn't try to make more money?
2:37:56 Single player TCGs
Outro music by BotanicSage: https://soundcloud.com/botanicsage/16bit-magic-sped-up
YouTube.com/@OpenBetas
Do not trust Swimfan to inspect your door, physical or digital.
0:00:00 Intro and patch notes: nets
0:06:15 The joy of thievery
0:12:16 Why are steal games less popular and sometimes more frustrating than combat games?
0:39:39 How do the NPCs or the game itself handle ethics?
0:50:30 Singleplayer vs multiplayer
1:18:22 Society in the apocalypse
1:34:20 Ethics (in singleplayer games)
2:01:40 What makes a good thieving game?
Outro music by Nathan Miller: https://youtu.be/_tPeNHBy5GQ
YouTube.com/@OpenBetas
babby's second video. but babby's, like, 18th audio!
0:00:00 What is Against the Storm?
0:16:51 What sets ATS apart and its core mechanics
0:27:19 Some ideas for high level changes
0:54:14 Endless mode
Against the Storm on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1336490/Against_the_Storm/
YouTube.com/@OpenBetas
You can attempt to contact me at regal@openbetas.com. I will probably check it at least once in my lifetime. Probably.
Even your parents want to play! 🙄
0:00:00 Intro and patch notes: death note
0:16:00 The universal nature of simple games
0:35:45 Solitaire and games as a way to fill time
0:59:24 Tetris, platforms, and popularity
1:07:00 Randomess & replayability
1:14:05 Wordle
1:30:00 Pokemon GO
1:54:04 What can we learn?
Outro music by beat_shobon: https://soundcloud.com/beat_shobon/mario-paint-but-you-can-dance-to-it
YouTube.com/@OpenBetas
An episode about superpowers in which we learn that we should never under any circumstances tell Swimfan any of our secrets.
0:00:00 Intro and patch notes: positive religious relationships and experiences
0:10:10 The rules
0:17:30 Saving and loading as a superpower
0:59:10 What it's like to be older than one human lifetime
1:11:49 What would we do?
1:36:20 Superpower #2: mind reading
2:01:00 Superpower #3: simulate until end of season
YouTube.com/@OpenBetas
Whether 'tis nobler to suffer or to just load and try again.
0:00:00 Intro
0:12:20 Saving basics
0:34:24 Checkpoint systems
0:55:45 Upsides and downsides
1:28:30 What happens if we switch the paradigms?
1:51:04 Is Skyrim the best game of all time?
Outro music by otherlink
YouTube.com/@OpenBetas
Swimfan confesses his sordid past and shares the secrets to retiring early as a billionaire.
0:00:00 Regal's...last intro ever?
0:14:52 Swimfan's early work, from getting in to Modern Warfare
20:37:55 Life after Call of Duty
1:02:40 Where did it all end up?
1:18:30 Where did it all come from?
1:50:30 Was it what you expected?
2:18:50 How do I become Swimfan?
2:45:00 Advice for advancing in your career
Outro music by I am Jemboy
YouTube.com/@OpenBetas
A discussion about why it's important that games don't always tell you exactly how everything works, starting with Individual Values (IVs) in Pokémon, branching to other games from other times, and exploring how different hidden game mechanics are sneakily working behind the scenes.
0:00:00 Obfuscation in game systems
0:09:50 The very first Open Betas Patch Notes
0:26:05 Why do IVs exist?
0:43:50 Examples in other games
1:22:34 Gacha games
1:49:20 Hidden mechanics in older games
2:20:30 Security by obscurity
Youtube.com/@openbetas
Outro music by That One Lil' Nitro Man
Swimfan has sobered up and joins Regal to talk religion in games: depictions of real world faiths, completely made-up fantasy doctrines, and the role of god(s). Let us play...
0:00:00 Why religion, and where do we stand?
0:31:00 What is religion?
0:57:50 Religion as a plot device
1:24:40 Back to games
1:53:20 Swimfan's insatiable desire for sexy games
2:03:00 Gods in games
2:31:06 Games as religion
Article on Homelessness in Jordan
Outro music by I am Jemboy
YouTube.com/@OpenBetas
Regal experiments with solo content, which turns out to be harder than expected. A complaint pod about the EO Soulfist rework in Lost Ark.
00:02:06 What is Soulfist's identity?
00:09:10 How do Soulfist's skills make it unique?
00:21:59 What is changing?
00:33:18 Niche classes
00:37:40 What were the "real" problems with Soulfist?
00:50:06 Cost of reworks for players
YouTube.com/@openbetas
We finish our talk about player feedback, and go down the rabbit hole on hate, internet and otherwise.
0:01:15 Feedback's necessity in the workplace
0:09:00 Social media feedback
0:32:30 Hate
0:40:28 Is dehumanization ever justified?
0:56:50 Managing your own hate
1:04:20 What do you do with hate?
1:18:19 The importance of knowing the person
1:43:00 Objective and subjective feedback
1:55:55 Why not have public dialogue?
Outro music by DatManOvaDer
YouTube.com/@openbetas
Regal n' Swimfan talk about how game developers collect feedback from players. What's useful and what isn't? Why put yourself through that?
0:01:25 Why talk about feedback?
0:05:22 The "creative visionary"
0:12:10 Random movies tangent
0:26:30 The difference in interactions between online and real life
0:37:35 It's actually pretty hard to get feedback
0:56:30 Feedback and open-mindedness
1:16:23 Feedback is usually useless
1:35:50 Hateful comments do damage
1:55:20 Is it worth trying to wrangle social media feedback?
Outro music by Zach CG
Also, Regal was wrong, the amount of caffeine in Coca-Cola and tea is pretty comparable.
YouTube.com/@openbetas
Good news: today (some of) you will become legendary! Don't worry too much about percentages; as long as you keep a positive attitude, you'll be fine (ya frickin' loser)!
0:02:40 What is Legion, what is a legendary, and why did it matter?
0:16:40 How did you get them and why was that problematic?
0:24:50 Why does a 5% damage increase matter?
0:38:00 Blizzard's official statement
0:55:10 Is it wrong to pick up raid members based on dps? (and a long tangent about different mentalities about spending money)
1:24:50 What was the original intention with legendaries?
1:42:40 How do players pick between options?
2:14:50 Why does performance-based selection happen?
2:25:48 Is a perfectly balanced situation where players can pick whatever they want actually ideal?
2:44:05 Player retention
Blizzard's WoW:Legion patch discussion
Outro music by WindyCityBanter
YouTube.com/@openbetas
Can ChatGPT learn to press X on Nintendo controllers but Y on Xbox controllers? How is grandma going to learn to score headshots?
0:00:00 Intro
0:04:10 Playing games for a non-gamer
0:17:54 Being a new player as a kid vs as an adult
0:38:11 Games targeted toward various skill levels
1:04:20 Learning on different control schemes
1:17:50 Learning from other people
1:27:00 Realism
1:48:15 The value of parasocial relationships
2:00:00 Improving tutorials
2:33:00 Elements of positive tutorial experiences
Gaming for a Non-Gamer: https://youtu.be/ax7f3JZJHSw
Outro music by Tatami DAZE
YouTube.com/@openbetas
Fighting games, round 2! Regal and Swimfan become armchair designers, and they fix all the problems of fighting games so more people will play them. Directional inputs got you down? Fixed. Single player sucks? Not anymore!
0:00:00 Intro
0:03:30 Did fighting games come from beat-em-ups?
0:10:55 Arcade and grassroots culture
0:37:58 Single player content in fighting games
0:59:20 What kind of single player can we put in a fighting game if we build it from the ground up?
1:17:25 Laying out the goals, basic framework, and roguelike inspirations
1:37:35 The Magicka-style control layout
2:09:30 Example characters
Outro music by BotanicSage
YouTube.com/@openbetas
Hadouken!!
Don't panic; Ryu's not in your house...the Open Betas are talking about fighting games! Yes, we're gonna take you for a ride through the history, the ups, the downs, and the QCFs of the genre. What an incredible cast of warriors has gathered here! Hopefully the soul still burns, or else you might as well go home and be a family man. Show me your moves, etc.
0:00:00 Pillars of fighting games
0:22:21 Fighting games we've played
0:28:41 History of the genre
0:45:11 Player barriers to entry
0:51:55 Practice mode
1:02:09 Skill gap
1:11:54 Small communities, friends
1:18:06 Online play, netcode
1:30:15 Too few new players
1:32:06 Directional inputs and spreading out tutorials
YouTube.com/@openbetas
Regla & Fwimsan have an award-winning conversation about Nintendo PR & Pokémon, devs talking about games early in development, and live service games. As if that weren't exciting enough, the 2nd half of this episode discussing randomizers and procedurally-generated content is included FREE for all listeners!
0:04:40 Speedrunning revisited
0:10:54 Nintendo & Pokémon Scarlet & Violet update
0:13:50 Uhh...long-term product revenue curve? Marketing?
0:20:18 Back to Pokémon, Nintendo PR
0:34:25 Smash tournaments, Nintendo's Competitive team
0:49:40 Talking about games early in development
1:02:20 Live service games, balance, & content release schedules
1:09:12 Randomizers
1:24:49 Nintendo & randomizers
1:28:12 Procedurally-generated content
1:34:43 Problems with randomizers, replayability
1:42:37 Meow
1:46:14 Should pro game devs release randomizers?
1:52:10 Game sales data
YouTube.com/@openbetas
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