Vernacular Games: Recent Episodes
Red Coat
An indie game development group with a focus on making unique content that pushes the medium forward creatively and makes opportunities for others to create content within said medium.
A series of lectures about Art at its core with the intention of eventually answering the question: Are Games Art.
A series of lectures about Art at its core with the intention of eventually answering the question: Are Games Art.
A series of lectures about Art at its core with the intention of eventually answering the question: Are Games Art.
A series of lectures about Art at its core with the intention of eventually answering the question: Are Games Art.
A series of lectures about Art at its core with the intention of eventually answering the question: Are Games Art.
A series of lectures about Art at its core with the intention of eventually answering the question: Are Games Art.
A series of lectures about Art at its core with the intention of eventually answering the question: Are Games Art.
Another Track from the Proto OST for Jacob's Highway. This scores another encounter with the Moon Man as he exercises his full capacities as a space ghost in an asteroid mine.Jason Javier once again brings out the guitars, combining them with many layers of electronic sounds and reverb to achieve a dangerous, haunting feel.
Yet another track from the Jacob's Highway ProtoOST. A track for a detour to the Moon as our protagonist deals with an old nemesis.
Jason Javier leans into his electronic acumen with this one, blending guitar licks with some dynamic textures.
Another track for a new entrant to the Interstellar Highway. Even when not rolling a full capacity, the Darkwalker is no joke with his ever destructive blackmatter. Another track arranged by Jason Javier. He goes to town on the guitars for this one.
Another proto track for Jacob's Highway, the Andromeda Express. This one goes with a new character, the Hero for hire and brilliant researcher of light's combat applications known as Refractress.
Another track by Jason Javier, he flexes his skills with electronica while still bringing in a bit of that rock/metal feel.
Another Track From Jacob's Highway, the Andromeda Express. This track accompanies the return of Angry Alexander, and his tech thieving gang of bikers and thugs
Done by Jason Javier
A prototype track from a title that is currently in work. Done by the musician Jason Javier. This track hails the return of the Moon Man and encapsulates the truth of his existence as a literal space ghost. You can hear call backs to the original Moon Man tune if you listen carefully!
Another theme from a scrapped project, this one is for a hard headed bouncer and rock enthusiast with a knack for getting into trouble and fighting his way out of it.
A track inspired by the thought of a trucker slaying fantasy beings to protect road ways the world over. Armed with his trusty single action pistol, enchanted ball cap, and two ton 16 wheeled steed of steel, no drow, demon or dragon is safe!
Inspired by the most recent animated outing for the Castlevania series. Upon hearing the main theme, I felt it was unfinished. This piece adds different leit motifs and chord progressions to complete the arrangement. Can you catch the references?
The final piece of the puzzle, the space in between mindscapes that twists and blends them into one mental abode. What visions await the detective in the palace of mind?
The Final Podcast of the Vernacademia Casts. Here we look back at some of the subjects we talked about and how this exploration of concepts has influenced our design sensibilities
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/ Our Audius: audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:11 Introduction 00:37 How has this affected our Design? 00:48 The Affect on Red Coat 01:34 The Affect on Sientir 02:46 Red Coat's Favorite Casts 03:03 The Complexity Series 03:39 The Randomness Cast 04:18 The Competitive Environment Series 04:45 Sientir's Favorite Casts 04:48 The Music Cast 05:21 Consistency of Musical Juxtaposition 05:33 Ocarina of Time and Musical Juxtaposition 07:06 Crafting Systems 08:29 Power of Loss in Storytelling 09:23 Technical Exploration 10:05 Why Explore Technique 10:25 Painting Appraisal 11:08 Consumer View, Creator View 12:01 Art for Art's Sake in the Past 12:51 Games from a Creative's lens 13:44 Developing Methods of Analysis 14:00 Games are a Unique Composite Experience 14:34 The Usefulness of Academic Analysis 15:47 Consumer Angle Usefulness 17:38 Game Connoisseurs? 18:04 Translating Enjoyment into Creation 19:14 Why Do These Casts? 20:08 Final Sign Off
In the after math of the alley brawl with the Aquamancer, we find Diego and Quetzal nursing their wounds at he Longhorn Steakhouse, as they resolve the new deal with the fishwoman.
In this cast we discuss the concept of Fast Travel and Its effect on game design
You can find the rest of the playlist at: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:05 Introduction 01:10 Fast Travel as a Functional Tool 01:49 The Lord Vessel in Dark Souls 02:12 Fast Travel Map and Shadow of War/Morder 03:19 Fast Travel Frequency 04:25 Airships in RPGs 05:01 Fly in Pokemon 05:45 Advantages of Not Having Fast Travel 06:06 A Strong Environment Design is Needed 06:34 Dark Souls and Discoverable World Design 07:15 Super Metroid and "Getting There" 07:51 Fast Travel is an Escape 08:46 Resident Evil 2 and Lack of Fast Travel 09:46 Ocarina of Time and Hubs (Lost Woods) 10:50 Designing Hub Areas with Interest 11:27 Dark Souls and Interconnected Hubs 13:18 Dark Souls and Dark Root Garden's Design 14:19 Ocarina of Time and Limited Fast Travel 15:07 Dark Souls and Limited Fast Travel 15:30 Travel as a Form of Engagement 16:14 Super Hero Open World Games and Engaging Travel 16:29 Hulk Ultimate Destruction 17:30 Navigation Skills 17:41 Ocarina of Time and Navigation Skills 18:19 Dark Souls and Navigation Skills 19:08 The Advantage of Re-Encountering Areas 20:17 The Opportunity to Notice 21:01 Super Hero Games and Events of Engagement 22:01 Yakuza and Dense World Design 23:09 Maijima Everywhere 24:06 Guidance Systems and Maps 24:49 Doom and Maps 25:38 Land Mark Design 26:20 Mechanical Differences Between Areas 26:44 Dark Souls and Mechanical Difference 28:13 Dark Souls 3 and Going Backwards 28:42 The Difference in Engagement 29:13 Questions to Ask About Your World Design 30:40 Consider Why You Want Fast Travel 30:59 Breath of The Wild and Traversal 32:42 The Original Legend of Zelda and Exploration 33:34 Fast Travel as a Crutch 33:52 Wrap Up 34:29 Sign Off
The center element of the Grey Matter Puzzle, the sources of the mindscapes and the fearful beings that live within. Built to administer exposure therapy to its patients, one mind's presence corrupted the scenario. Now it is a mechanical heart of darkness.
In this cast we discuss the concept of building a game that players can come back to and still derive enjoyment from
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:04 Introduction 00:27 Mechanical Replayability 00:35 Inhibitors of Mechanical Replayability 00:55 Frustrating Difficulty 01:24 Annoying Mechanics 01:53 Slogs 03:15 One Trick Pony 04:10 Shallow Variance 04:52 Mechanical Depth 05:56 Wow vs. Depth 06:19 Variety 06:42 Examples of Variety 06:53 Pokemon Starters 07:09 Dark Souls Characters and Navigation 07:23 Mario 64 and Player Freedom 08:09 Randomization 08:17 Legend of Zelda Beta Quest 08:40 Item Randomizer Mods 09:00 Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past Randomizer 09:33 Meaningful Choice 09:46 Optimal Engagement Access 09:54 Growth of Ability Access Throughout The Game 10:47 Full Ability Access through Knowledge 11:14 Kirby and Replayability through Knowledge 11:46 New Game Plus 12:16 Nioh and New Game Plus 12:47 Player Choice Effecting Gameplay 13:29 X-com and Choice Effected Play 13:50 Varied Content Engagement 14:02 Sonic, 1, 2, 3, and Knuckles (also Mania) 14:46 Missable Content 15:06 Metroid and Missable Content 16:36 Achievements and Replyability 17:03 Rewarding Play at high and low levels 17:31 Soul Calibur 2 18:18 Narvisaud Replayability 18:46 Narrative Replayability 19:29 Tales of Symphonia and Narrative Replayability 21:02 Think About Books and Movies You Like Re-experiencing 21:28 Reactive Narratives 21:57 Perspective Variance 22:23 Procedural Narrative Creation 22:46 Re-experiencable Environments 23:35 Uniqueness of Location 24:19 Nintendo and Unique Locations 24:51 Contrasting Visual Design 25:21 Juxtaposition 25:37 Lost Izalith Gro 26:08 Shiverburn Galaxy 26:20 Studiopolis Zone 27:00 Mario 64's Basement and Unifying Thematic Ideas 27:29 Combining Normally Dissonant Concepts and Ideas 27:57 Intentionally Shifting Aesthetic Leaning 28:44 Immersion 29:39 Metroid Prime and Implied Reality Through Context 30:32 Audio Cues and Immersion 31:19 Weather and Color for Immersion 31:44 Nioh and Visual Immersion 32:04 Props for implied Denizens 32:34 Resident Evil and Prop Iimplications 33:19 Immersion's Repurcussions 33:46 Readability 34:54 Guild Wars 1 and Readability 36:34 Death of the Author 36:52 Wrap Up 37:36 Sign Off
In This cast We discuss and define the concept of Gimmicks in games
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:09 Introduction 00:23 Gimmick and Gimmicky in Colloquial Speak 01:40 Defining the Gimmick 02:17 Mechanical Gimmicks 03:32 Star Fox Adventure and Refining space Gimmicks 04:26 Guild Wars and Framing space Gimmicks 05:21 Narvisaud Gimmicks 05:43 Narrative Gimmicks 06:34 Skyward Sword and Narrative Gimmicks 07:18 Visual Gimmicks 08:42 Dark Souls and Visual Gimmicks 09:26 Audio Gimmicks 11:32 Accidental Narvisaud Gimmicks 12:31 Accidental Mechanical Gimmicks 13:04 Dev Time Tables and Emergent Gimmicks 13:39 Mechanical Overestimation 14:10 Intentional Mechanical Gimmicks 14:42 Intentional Narvisaud Gimmicks 15:11 Gimmicks in rarity and abundance 16:11 Tactful use of Gimmicks 16:45 Sign Off
The second scene of sequence four of Animal Gear. Quetzal has been spirited away by an unknown assailant. Can Diego find and rescue him in time?
For the rest of the sequences you can check out the playlist: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/animal-gear
In This cast Red Coat speaks at length about Soul Calibur and its design
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:04 Introduction 00:12 Soul Calibur as a Tekken Evolution 00:38 What is Soul Calibur 01:01 A 3D fighter with depth of field 01:32 Match flow in Soul Calibur 03:27 What is a Hit Confirm 04:11 Comboed out (or the One Touch) 05:11 How Does Soul Calibur Manage Combos 05:27 The Juggle State 06:11 Aerial Directional Influence 07:23 Damage Ratio and Proration 08:38 Counter hits and Combos 10:00 Arenas and their Influence 11:33 Comeback Mechanics 12:18 Street Fighter 4 and 5 Comebacks 12:57 Supers in Soul Calibur and Soul Edge 13:30 How does it control 13:55 Soul Calibur Frame Data 14:55 Soul Calibur Input Method 16:07 Movement within the 2D view 17:03 Symphonia Movement compared to Soul Calibur 17:29 Radial Movement 18:02 Visible Defensive Options 18:28 Soul Calibur Defensive Options 18:46 Guard Impact 20:11 Guilty Gear and Visible Defensive Options 22:26 Offensive Pacing In Soul Calibur 23:19 2D pacing vs 3D pacing 24:33 Zones in 2D games 25:47 Zones in 3D games 26:27 Soul Calibur 2 26:52 Soul Calibur 3 29:24 Soul Calibur 4 34:27 Soul Calibur 5 36:14 Damage Conversion 36:49 Ex Moves 40:10 Soul Calibur 2 And Character Balance 40:47 Soul Calibur 6 Impressions 41:46 Soul Charge 43:19 Lessons to learn from Soul Calibur 44:29 Pressure Construction in Anime Fighters 45:11 Stuffed Actions 45:40 Pressure Construction in Soul Calibur 46:35 Healthy Rhythm 47:44 Inspiration and Respect for the Martial Arts 49:23 Influence of Soul Calibur on Red Coat's Design Philosophy 50:09 Combat as a Conversation 51:26 Final Statements 51:42 Next Cast and Sign Off
For this cast we begin the task of exploring competitive environments. Particularly Defining what the Environments are and the kinds of Engagement they engender
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:04 Introduction 00:20 Tweaking Competitive Environments 00:37 Desired Environment Shape vs Reality 00:55 Internal Play Testing 01:41 External Play Testing 02:01 Magic Un-sets and Unintended Play 03:07 Identifying What Can Change 03:46 Predicting Tweak Affects 05:12 Modulating Vision With Tact 06:06 Listening to your Audience 06:40 Do You Know Your Play Environment 07:15 Enabling Player Feedback 08:04 Player Complaints and Profiles 08:56 Completeness of Player Environment Lens 09:19 Player Skill and Complaints 10:02 Metrics and Context 10:20 Congruency of Vision 10:43 Outliers and Broad Complaints 11:14 Handling the Community 11:40 Encouraging Positive Community Interaction 12:27 Guilty Gear Xrd 12:42 Establish the Environment Style 13:13 Clayfighter and Aggressive Environments 13:43 Sportsmanship and Tournaments 14:25 Incentivise Sporstmanship and Exemplify it 14:42 Tournaments and Commentators 15:35 New Player Acquisition 16:19 Provide Ways to Prepare Before Engaging 16:43 Encourage Good Etiquette 17:02 Learn and Teach The Jargon 17:33 The Value of Older Players 18:06 Mixed Player Environments and Smash Bros 19:12 4 Player Interaction Motivations 20:30 Clashing Interaction Motivations 20:50 Questions For the Meshed Environment 21:07 Managing Player Archetype Interactions 22:16 Local Play and Communication 22:36 Gating and Player Interaction 22:49 Gating in Splatoon 23:30 Single Player Modes 23:56 How Much Playstyle Interaction Do You Want 24:28 Indirect Playstyle Changes 24:41 Dark Souls and Indirect Functional Effects 24:56 Guild Wars 1 and Unintended Player Conflict 25:35 Dark Souls and PVP Playstyles 25:56 Smash Brothers and PVP Playstyles 26:19 House Rule Viability 26:41 Dark Souls and Player Imposed House Rules 27:20 Smash Brothers and Crew Battles 27:56 Smash Brothers and Variable Rulesets 28:20 Maintain an Understanding of the Full Community 28:53 For Fun and For Glory In Smash 4 29:53 Clarity of Intention and Audience Awareness 30:44 Next Cast and Sign Off
Sequence 4 of the Animal Gear Story. We follow Quetzal back to Diego's restaurant the day after the meeting at the docks. The day seems normal enough but...
For the rest of the sequences you can check out the playlist: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/animal-gear
The piece to the puzzle that belongs to the detective herself. A subconscious vault, full of sequestered fears and memories from what one could call an...interesting life.
For this cast we begin the task of exploring competitive environments. Particularly Defining what the Environments are and the kinds of Engagement they engender
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:04 Introduction 00:27 Identifying Competitive and Party Environs 01:15 Smash Bros as Both Competitive and Party Environs 02:30 What Comes from Understanding Competitive Environs 03:22 Defining Victory Conditions 04:10 Best Performance Victory Conditions 04:33 First to Goal and High Score Games 05:02 Olympics as High Score and Races as First to Goal 06:24 First Goal Type Games 06:51 Highest Score Type Games 07:14 Last Player Standing Environments 07:33 Player Interaction Scale 08:17 Psychologically Focused Interaction 08:56 Functionally Focused Interaction 10:08 Psyche and Function Together 10:40 Best Performance and Player Interaction 11:20 Last Player Standing Games 12:12 Competitive Games And Tests of Skill 12:36 Skills Tested In Competitive Games 13:05 Physical Skills 13:42 Cognitive Skills 14:41 Chess and Cognitive Tests 14:59 Fighting Games and Cognitive Tests 15:19 Logistic Skills 15:40 Prioritization 15:50 Allocation 15:59 Optimization 16:08 Magic the Gathering and Logistics 17:40 Star Craft 2 and Logistics 19:19 Long and Short Term Logistics 19:49 Intuition Skills 21:03 Physical Intuition 21:40 Intuition vs. Habit 22:40 Adaptation Skills 23:31 Card Games and Adaptation 23:54 Smash Bros. and Adaptation 24:27 How We Can Use All This 25:04 Influencing Product Construction 25:50 Influencing Marketing 26:17 Influencing The Base Skills Needed 27:14 Easing the Parsing of Player Feedback 27:56 Next Cast and Sign Off
Sequence 3 of the ongoing Animal Gear story. We follow Quetzal to the docks, as he presents his Aether Aloe to some interested (if shady) parties.
For the rest of the sequences you can check out the playlist: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/animal-gear
For this cast I take a moment to interview Sientir about his experiences modding Starcraft
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:04 Introduction 00:14 Some Background 01:31 How does Modding Effect the Design Process 03:06 Simplified Design from an Established Base 03:36 Lessons Learned from Modding 03:47 Rote and Emergent Role Interplay 05:19 Building Emergent Counterplay 06:03 Magic's Color System and Emergent Counterplay 06:45 The Carrier Mod Example 07:27 Exploring the Removal of Air Units 08:41 Age of Exploration Mod 09:32 The Value of Idea Exploration 11:39 Developed Design Intuition? 12:20 StarCraft and StarCraft 2 Modding Differences 13:20 The Research Backbone 14:17 End State Variance 16:07 Limitations in Starcraft and Starcraft 2 Modding 18:13 Player or Modder? 20:11 Lesson Carry Over 20:30 The Value of Modding 24:14 Next Cast 24:57 Sign Off
Another entry into the Animal Gear story. The second scene of Sequence 2
For the rest of the sequences you can check out the playlist: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/animal-gear
In this cast we talk about the idea of creating emotional investment in game concepts and how to do so well and poorly.
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:04 Introduction 00:17 Spoilers 00:33 Through the Lens of Loss 00:53 Emotion and Thematic Dissonance 01:27 Prince Rurik and Dissonant Emotional Investment 02:58 Star Fox and Dissonant Emotional Investment 04:23 Escort Quests and Mechanical Dissonance 05:00 Dad of Boy and Good Escort Quests 06:26 Producing Congruent Emotional Response 06:44 Pre-Searing Ascalon's Congruent Emotional Response 07:55 Final Fantasy 7 and Effective Loss 09:14 Tales of Symphonia, Kratos and Zelos 10:23 Tales of Symphonia, First and Second Act Characters 11:15 Fire Emblem Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn 12:13 Recap and Investment Cash In 13:00 Narvisaud Build Up to Mechanical Cash In 14:06 Give the player a Functional Reason to care 14:35 But Don't forget the Narvisaud Identity 14:56 Wrap Up and Sign Off
Sequence two of Animal Gear. A story about rising technology in a magical world and the effect it has on its society at large (Updated Audio Level)
For the rest of the sequences you can check out the playlist: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/animal-gear
In this cast Red Coat talks about Racing games that eschew reality in service of fun and spectacle
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:04 Introduction 00:19 What is a Fantastical Racing Game 00:44 Modern Racers and Reality 01:07 Kart Racers 02:33 Kart Racers as Party Games 02:50 Examples outside of Kart Games 03:09 Burnout (the series) 04:47 Split Second 05:52 Motorstorm 08:04 The Boost Gauge 08:53 Episode 1 Pod Racer 10:23 Hydrothunder 11:09 F-zero GX and AX 11:32 Back to Hydrothunder and water racers 13:25 Vehicular Combat 14:02 Combat in Kart Racers 14:23 Non Kart Style Combat and Extreme G 15:05 Combat in F-Zero 15:47 Evolving Vehicular Combat 16:50 The Core Weakness of Racing Games 17:23 Kart Racers and Rubberbanding 18:30 Why Rubberbanding and Comeback Mechanics? 18:49 A More Interactive Combat Paradigm 20:52 The Secondary Skill Set 21:39 SSX Tricky and Additional Skills 22:26 Horse Racers and Resource Management 23:37 Watching the Indy 500 and Formula 1 24:27 Racing Prep and Stock Car Racing 25:44 My Opinion on Stock Car Racing 26:28 What I like about Fantastical Racers 27:34 Distance/Nitronic Rush 28:02 Cruis'n USA and San Francisco Rush 28:43 Digital Survival Racing 29:08 Want More Creative Racing Games 29:42 Hydrothunder Plug 30:09 Dragon Racer? Other Horizons? 30:51 Underwater Racer? 31:12 Nobody Knows the Sub Mariner 31:40 Sign Off
Another piece of the Grey Matter puzzle. The mindscape of a military policeman. His fear of reflections and ghostly superstitions have placed him as sheriff of a ghost town of glass prism buildings in the middle of desert. Spirits reside in the buildings' reflections and refraction, watching, waiting.
Sequence one of Animal Gear. A story about rising technology in a magical world and the effect it has on its society at large (Updated Audio Level)
For the rest of the sequences you can check out the playlist: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/animal-gear
In this cast we explore Randomness as a concept and how it can be applied to video games
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:04 Introduction 00:13 What is Randomness 01:03 Suspension of Disbelief 01:57 Predictability and Disbelief 02:32 Deterministic Unpredictability is Hard 03:04 Randomness and Suspension of Disbelief 03:47 Randomness and Gameplay Variance 04:00 Card Games and Randomness 04:34 Predictability and AI 05:08 Randomness and Risky Play 05:24 Random results and Pokemon 06:09 How can Randomness can be implemented 06:29 Progressive and Insular Randomness 07:15 Humans and Pattern Seeking 08:22 Pattern Seeking and Player Perception 09:29 Result Relevance and Pattern Seeking 10:20 Pokemon and Result Relevance 11:40 Audio Cues and Impact Perception 12:34 "Owed" Luck or Unluck 13:21 Contextual Randomness and Disbelief 14:29 Implementing Insular Randomness 14:40 Implementing Progressive Randomness 14:48 Bag of Results or Deck of Cards 15:11 Results History 15:28 Adjusting Chance 16:20 Progressive RNG to Match Player Expectation 17:04 Sample Size and Standard Distribution 19:09 Pokemon and Binary Result Logic 19:45 Miss Chance and Binary Result Logic 20:50 Card Games and Gradated Result Logic 21:40 Result Gradation 22:11 Gradated Results and Fire Emblem 22:47 Randomness and Skill 24:13 Skill, Randomness and Exciting Play 25:54 Next Cast and Sign Off
In this one we explore various elements of crafting systems creation and how they can be used to produce positive engagement
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:04 Introduction 00:11 What is a Crafting System 00:15 Conversion Systems 00:48 Conversion System Parameters 01:24 Trade Systems 02:13 Grab Bags 02:58 The Crafting System in Detail 04:11 Customization and Modification Systems 05:05 What are Crafting Systems for 05:28 Increasing Player Immersion 06:07 Increasing Player Freedom 06:21 Crafting Materials to increase differentiation 07:06 Crafting Material examples 07:09 Guild Wars 1 (Weapons) 07:37 Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (cooking) 08:09 Adding polish to the reward structure 08:19 Increasing Game Depth 08:34 Altelier Series and Crafting Depth 09:24 Cooking Mama 10:00 Meshing a Crafting system into your game 10:20 Mechanical Identity Reminder 11:21 Questions to define Crafting's Role 12:24 Ask why your player is Crafting in you game 13:57 Recap of purpose and discovery questions 14:13 How to make it interesting to engage with 14:30 Player Skill Based Crafting 16:09 Character Skill Based Crafting 18:25 Points to Remember when creating crafting systems 19:00 Meaningful Choice in Crafting 20:18 Breath of the Wild and Meaningful Choice 21:51 Next Cast 22:04 Sign Off
Yet another part of the Grey Matter puzzle, here we embark into the mindscape of a marine biologist with nyctophobia, the fear of the dark. Manifesting as a research facility at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, it is surround by and infested with shapeshifting monsters whose neon body patterns only hint at their true horrors.
Another game impressions/interview piece. This time Sientir talks about Guild Wars 1 and 2 and his impression of their approach to designing the two games.
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:04 Introduction 01:07 A brief history 03:08 The Modes of Play 04:28 The iteration process 05:44 Guild Wars 1 Crafting 08:14 Guild Wars 2 Crafting 11:57 Material Acquisition in both Games 12:40 Experimenting with Questing 16:48 The Point of Quests 18:32 Contextualization, Hearts and Presence 19:34 Goblin Slayer and Reputation 20:50 Level Cap and Skill Acquisition 21:19 Guild Wars 1 Progression 23:25 Guild Wars 2 Progression 24:46 Guild Wars 1 and Early Level Cap 26:47 Guild Wars 2 and Later Level Cap 28:00 Guild Wars 2 Combat and Build System 28:51 Comparing Guild Wars 2 to Middle Earth Shadow of War 32:24 Guild Wars 1, Balance, and Bad Builds 37:16 Guild Wars 2, and Lowered Build Variance 39:56 Guild Wars 1 and Barrier of Entry vs. Depth 40:25 Guild Wars 2 and Opportunity Cost 42:33 The Removal of the Healer Class 43:35 Play Variance or Lack there of 46:05 Big Take Aways 46:39 Managing Scope 47:55 You Need to Define a Game's Design Identity 48:41 Overall Guild Wars 2 is not a bad game 49:14 Wrap Up, Next Podcast, and Sign Off
The Second part of our exploration of Complexity. Here we explore the for different types of Complexity
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:05 Introduction 00:23 The 4 Complexity Manifestations 01:25 Identifying Negative and Positive Engagement 02:41 Comprehension Complexity 03:31 Negative Comprehension Complexity 04:37 Games that Focus on Comprehension Complexity 04:57 Phoenix Wright, Professor Layton, and Ghost Trick 05:24 Engagement from Discovering What Something Is 05:32 Situational Complexity 06:52 What is Situational Complexity 07:10 Situational Complexity and The Word Search 07:48 The Situation Assessment Triangle 08:46 How Memory Grouping Interacts with Situational Complexity 10:21 Strategic Complexity 10:54 Startegic Complexity and the Learning Curve 11:59 Make sure Strategy involves Meaningful Choice 12:59 Positive Strategic Engagement 13:26 The Importance of Readability for Strategy 14:00 Readability and E-sports 14:26 Executional Complexity 14:55 All objects have Executional Complexity 15:17 Executional Complexity and the Learning Curve 15:51 Executional Complexity as a barrier to play 16:25 Conventional Sports Games and Training 16:56 Training and Video Games 17:20 Positive Executional Complexity 18:17 How do we apply these concepts to Game Design 19:18 Ghost Trick and Focusing on specific elements of Complexity 20:18 Multi-faceted Complexity manipulation 20:59 The Counter System Example 21:20 Examining a Forced Stealth Sequence for Complexity 22:24 Complexity as a function of Learning and Wrap up 23:55 Next Cast 24:23 Sign Off
The first part of our exploration of Complexity. Here we dig into the concept of Barrier of Entry and how it interacts with Level of Depth
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:06 Introduction 00:28 What is Complexity 01:24 The Four Types of Complexity 02:12 Comprehension Complexity 02:56 Situational Complexity 03:41 Three parts of Situational Complexity 04:04 Strategic Complexity 04:24 Strategic Complexity in Pokemon 05:49 Executional Complexity 06:31 What does Complexity do for Games? 06:59 Barrier of Entry 07:32 Barrier of Entry in Chess 08:10 Depth as Positive Complexity 09:19 Managing Complexity 09:58 Barriers of entry as Doors 10:19 How to identify your Barriers of Entry 11:05 Keep new players in mind 11:54 Depth in Depth 12:08 Depth as rooms in a building 13:27 Barrier of Entry ratio to Level of Depth 14:02 Mark Rosewater and Lenticular Design 14:36 Wrap Up 14:54 Sign Off
An interview of the musician Disomikron exploring musical quirk and the influencers of his compositional methodology
Sientir speaks a bit on his experience with ID's earlier first person shooter games and other tangentially related things
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:03 Introduction 00:52 What did Sientir like about FPS games? 01:37 How do you compare current FPS to old school FPS? 02:33 What pushes him away from current FPS games? 03:39 How did FPS impact Sientir's design sensibilities? 04:22 Impact of Player Speed 04:57 Old school color compared to new school 05:57 Worlds designed for fun rather than to imitate reality 06:38 Opinions on Doom 2016 07:04 Graphical Stylization vs. Realism 08:16 GI-Joe style 08:39 ID and Arcade play 09:51 Weapon Limitations and unreality 10:41 Demon Souls to Dark Souls and Encomberance 11:27 Weapon Selection and the weapon dial 12:04 Environment Exploration, Speed to world size 13:55 Interesting Traversal in games 15:05 Alternative Movement, Ocarina of Time 15:42 Quake and Environment Design 16:02 Hexen and Environment Design 16:32 Dark Souls 2 and area resonance and implementation 18:59 The dying creepy forest aesthetic 19:40 The Aesthetic feelings that stuck with Sientir 21:33 Projectile Design that allows the player to interact with it 22:44 Encapsulating Thoughts 24:31 Sign Off
One more piece the Grey Matter puzzle. The mindscape of a young aspiring meteorologist, traumatized by a pirate raid during a family cruise. He now relives that moment, his Aquaphobia turning the pirates into beings of pure water while his fascination causes the skies to storm and the oceans to rage.
Here we explore how Music is used in games and what it does to the overall experience
You can find the rest of the playlist at: soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:05 Introduction 01:19 What roles can music play? 01:43 Mood and Ambiance Management 02:02 Hyrule Field in the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 02:54 The Courtyard in Super Mario 64 04:11 Sound Choice in the Souls Series 04:31 Guild Wars 1 and Musical Contrast 04:54 Emotional control through Music 05:23 Musical Alerts 06:20 Musical Alerts in Legend of Zelda 06:43 Sonic and the Drowning Alert 06:58 Creating Emotional Continuity Through Anthems 07:56 Songs Influence Player perception of characters 08:15 Captain Falcon and F-Zero GX 08:39 Musical Selection and Pokemon 09:22 Fighting Games and Anthems 10:13 How to use music? 10:53 Dynamic in game music 11:55 Minamalist Dynamic Music 12:26 Reactive Compositions 12:39 Randomized Compositions 13:29 Transitioning between Musical Elements 14:23 Transitions and Fire Emblem 15:43 Silence as a musical choice 16:14 An example of Audio Mixing 17:14 Megaman X3 and Sound Management 18:29 Benefits of Effective Music Usage 19:37 Song types to pay particular attention to 20:39 Make sure to communicate with your composer 21:31 Wrap Up and Next Cast 21:54 Sign Off
Experimenting with an off the cuff interview format on this one. Here we take some time to chat with one our artists on Legends of Mathmatica²
Here we explore the concept of transitions in games and why they are important to the overall experience
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:04 Introduction 00:20 What are Transitions 00:58 Why are they important? 02:08 Why use them in games? 02:46 Data Management 03:18 Ways to Manage Memory 03:53 Transitions to Manage Pacing 04:51 Increasing Impact of Events 05:22 Methods of doing Transitions 05:41 Cut Transitions 06:08 Masked Transitions 06:50 Super Metroid vs Metroid Prime 07:46 Other styles of Cut and Masked Transitions 08:47 What to keep in mind 08:53 Establish Transition Rules 09:42 What do your Transitions say? 09:57 Dark Souls 2 and Transitions 10:50 Ocarina of Time and Cut Abstraction 11:19 Ocarina of Time Beta Quest 11:50 Zonal Transitions 12:12 Sonic the Hedgehog Zonal Transitions 13:13 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Zonal Transitions 14:03 Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Zonal Transitions 14:45 Overview and Wrap up 15:17 Next Cast and Sign Off
Red Talks about and Defines his concept of Run and Gun games
You can find the rest of the playlist at: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:04 Introduction 00:20 What is a Run and Game 00:35 Reflexive versus Contemplative 01:02 What are Run and Gun Games like 02:30 Enemies as the focus 02:51 Guns n' projectiles 03:35 Pacing in Run and Guns 04:27 Difference between Shmup and Run and Gun 05:49 Shadow the Hedgehog - Run and Gunner? 06:35 The Flowering of Skill 09:30 Design Philosophy of Tough Love 11:05 Mechanical Media Res 11:20 Where to start the learning curve
Another Piece of the Grey Matter puzzle. The mindscape of a miner with a love of Norse Mythology and a fear of trees. Manifesting as an underground temple encroached upon by the roots of Yggdrasil, the innards and sap of the tree imitate the beings told of in Norse lore . Were it not for his Dendrophobia, this would be a dream come true. As it stands it is a nightmare he'll be hard pressed to leave.
An examination of the dissonance that can occur when the Mechanical and Narvisaudal Identity of a game are at odds with each other
You can find the rest of the playlist at: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes:
00:08 Introduction 00:24 What are Mechanics 00:33 Developer Intention 00:51 Dissonanace Overview 01:27 Non-Harmonious Alignment Overview 01:45 Mechanical Dissonance in Pokemon 04:44 How could we solve this? 05:31 Narvisaudal Dissonance 05:57 Cut-Scene Guns 07:38 Accepted Narvisaudal Dissonance 09:04 Non-Harmonious Alignment 10:11 Sonic R and Non-Harmonious Alignment 12:23 Cast Summary
The theme of the mindscape of an Astrologer with a crippling fear of falling. Their world manifests as a starbound research center built around a black hole. Here one could very well fall forever, and were it not for the Astrologer's fascination with celestial bodies she would have naught to fear...
The First podcast of Season 2. Here we do a brief recap of the things we went over in Season 1
You can find the rest of the playlist at: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2
Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/ Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/ Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/ Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames
Cliff Notes
00:06 Changes for this Season 00:27 Recap Start 00:44 The Composite Experience 01:11 Narvisaud 02:17 Mechanical Layers 03:07 Game Balance 05:09 Terminology 05:36 Game Object 05:41 Player Object 05:53 Non-Player Object 06:11 Objectives 06:26 Obstacles 06:35 Tense Obstacles 06:51 Relaxed Obstacles 07:08 Traps 07:23 Agency 07:39 Agents 08:01 Foes 08:23 Assets 08:42 Resource 08:50 Currency 09:11 Consumables 09:21 Tools 09:36 Collectibles 09:55 Collectible Parts 10:12 Wrap Up 10:58 Sign Off
In this cast we take a moment to talk to our soundtech on staff for the game Legends of Mathmatica, Under the Shadow of Certainty.
You can find Softy! at:
Link Tree https://linktr.ee/softy_music
Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/softestboi
Twitter https://twitter.com/Softy_Music
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/softy_music/
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/softymusic
Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG_kB2Yp-aCxYj6q4DgtWKQ
Discord https://discord.com/channels/715915873315192844/715915873969242165
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/6lVyJs7tl1zEoZ56t1WzHD?si=usduDOp8QIaNxzbmeWwfmg
The final track of The Ballad of the Sun Crusher. Zako 900 has finally reached its destination and begins the arduous task of extinguishing the sun. It dives through the outer layers of heat and flame, through the molten mantle, past man made factories that were somehow placed within, to reach the core. There it enacts the chain reaction, that destabilizes that core, causing it all to implode into a powerful black hole. And though it tries to escape, Zako and, soon, much of its home solar system are sucked into the black maw that remains. The task is done and so too is the machine that embarked upon it. But at what cost?
Track 4 in the five part Album Ballad of the Sun Crusher. Zako 900's journey continues as it makes one last stop at an unsettled Earth like planet that teems with life and verdure. We follow the wayward robot as it blasts through forests, oceans, caves and volcanoes before launching back into space for the final sojourn
Track 3 of the Ballad of the Sun Crusher. We continue to follow Zako 900 as he encounters an abandoned space colony and charges through it's inner workings to reach, dislodge and absorb energy from its core, destroying the colony in the process. A trial run for its imminent encounter with the Sun.
Track 2 of the Sun Crusher's Ballad, we follow along as Zako 900 travels through the emptiness of space into a densely populated asteroid field, zipping up, over, around, and through the many asteroids and meteors that comprise the field.
Track 1 of a concept album that musically tells the story of a machine, who was called upon to destroy the sun of his own solar system. Here we follow along as Zako 900 activates and launches up through the atmosphere of its home planet.
Yet another track from an unreleased title, this came from a game about construction worker tasked with re-acquiring the hammers of creation from various villains around the world. This particular tune plays in the desert as he scours its expanse for a castle made of glass.
A track from an unreleased title featuring a sea priestess on a quest to the deepest depths of the ocean. This theme would play in areas of where high currents tossed the player about.
Sister track to Holy Waters, this would play in submerged air pockets and caves that the sea priestess would encounter.
Another track from the saga of the sea priestess, this track would play in and near submerged shrines and cities that she would encounter.
A song from an unreleased title that followed a sea priestess in her journey to the depths of the ocean. This theme was meant for submerged shrines in which our protagonist would find herself returned to should she die in her travels.
Another track from an unreleased title about the journey of a sea priestess into the depths of the sea. This track is the theme that would've played during encounters with the various monstrous beings that exist in the ocean's deepest depths.
A song from yet another unreleased title. This one featured in an underwater adventure as a sea priestess journeys deep into the abyss of the sea. This theme played while in the open ocean far above the dark depths.
Another track to evoke the sound and feeling of progress through hard work. Something that could be played over a montage.
A song, unaffiliated with any game, rather one meant to evoke the feeling of a job well done.
A theme unaffiliated with any particular game, it is a concept piece attempting to evoke the feel of fictional virtual expanses, such as the digital fields of Tron, the networks of Reboot, or the virtual world of Code Lyoko
A piece made as a birthday gift for an old friend. It is an uplifting tune expressing a sense of progress and accomplishment.
Another track from an unreleased tactics title, this was to be associated with the preparation screen, where the player chooses which characters they would like to field in battle.
This is a partner track to the song "Go Down", acting as the theme for a relatively peaceful hub world in the sky.
The theme for the villain behind the villains in an unreleased tactics title. A stylistic change for added effect.
A left over track from an unreleased fighting game, this was to be the theme of a chronically optimistic younger brother who jogged incessantly and threw one mean shoe-doken.
One of a pair of tracks associated with the villains of an unreleased tactics game. This is for combat encounters the player has with them
Another track from an unreleased tactics title, it is one of a pair of theme tracks for the villains of the story, who's twisted logics have lead to strife in the world at large.
Another discarded track from an unreleased title, this was to be the theme of a socially awkward recliner salesman who moonlighted as an agent for a CIA-esque organization. A chronic liar with a penchant for making his lies turn into creative truths
Another track from an unreleased title, this was a prototype theme for the title screen. It was intended to have a bit of an upbeat, carefree feel to it.
This track is related to a strange entity that appears within the shared mindscape of the various victims that our detective investigates. Created by the collision of the minds themselves, its nature changes based on the player's actions. One thing is certain however: Where the Wayfarer is, trouble follows.
This track evokes the mindscape of a mountain climber with a fear of the aging and its related negative effects. The person in question is a career rock climber and hobbyist mushroom collector, resulting in a tower full of the dead, dying and undead, all of which are surrounded fungal pollens, molds and various forms of sludge that accelerate or manifest the effects of the aging process.
Another track from the unreleased title Grey Matter Detective. This one represents the mindscape of researcher of trees with a crippling fear of spiders and a virulent hatred of poachers. His mindscape has turned this into a world full of enormous trees accosted by poachers, spiders and mutated combinations of the two all ensconced in an ever present net of treacherous spider silk.
This track is partnered with Hellfire Flows, as the theme song for the tramway stations and the trains themselves when the player boards them. Like its predecessor the song describes the mindscape of a reserves-man and train engineer with a fear of melting, manifesting as a maze of subway systems filled with mutated being and lava
Another track from the unreleased title, Grey Matter Detective, this is one of a pair of tracks associated with a particular individual's mindscape. A member of the army reserves who works as a part of railway maintenance when not on call, his fear of melting has mixed with his knowledge of urban myth to create an underground labyrinth of subway tunnels and maintenance stations, filled with lava and mutated beasts. This is the first of two songs for that space.
Another Concept Song for the unreleased title, Grey Matter Detective, this is the theme for the mindscape of an old harbor worker, where his conspiracy theories and fear of freezing have taken shape as a frozen harbor and warehouse that hides an area 51 style government research facility.
Another track from my various leftovers. This was a random song made for a game about flight. I took more of a classical approach to the it's arrangement. Enjoy!
A left over track from yet another unreleased title, this was to be the theme song of a steam yard hero who could build anything out of nearly nothing.
Partnered with the previous "Sad Song" this theme was for when battles occurred during sad moments in the story of the tactics game.
Another track from the tactics game. As the name suggests this was to be a theme for sadder moments in the game.
Another track from an unreleased title, this particular was made as a prototype theme for a steamyard hero
This track was intended to be the theme song for a wharfsman and sailor known as Hokai, who had a penchant for umbrellas and skeevy underworld deals. This in particular was his battle theme.
Another track from a game that never saw the light of day. This one was a later draft of a combat theme for a turn based fantasy tactics game.
An electronic track for an unreleased title, The Legend of the Steamyard. This track was used for the opening junkyard stage
The theme song for detective Tag, a small time private eye caught up in a big time predicament as she gets stuck in a merged menagerie of variphobic mind spaces while investigating a corporate conspiracy. This plays in her mindscape, a recreation of the rainy slums in which her office resides.
Another song from the unreleased game Abstract, this one plays as the player finally enters into the realm of the soul, where, oddly everything seems to be fine. However, the "something wrong" is still there, hiding amidst the purity of the soul.
The track to the third level in the unreleased game known only as Abstract, this is a theme of celebration as the player enters into the realm of the heart, a place in which joy and happiness is constantly sought after.
A track from one of Vernacular Games' unreleased titles, called Abstract, a game that takes the player on a journey from the body to the mind to the heart and finally the soul. This song is paired with the first theoretical level in the game and is supposed to convey the idea that something has corrupted the body that you are tasked to journey through.
The final cast for season 1 of our podcast series. Here we talk about our favorite casts from the previous season and some of the things we've been doing over the course of the year.
In this cast we talk about the concept of building games with different player considerations in mind and various ways to try and understand players that are different from yourself.
Here we take some time to talk about some of the pitfalls and reasons to make sequels as well as methods that are employed to make sequels feel like justified entries in their franchises.
Here we delve into the concept of the follow up title, and propose our own ideas on what constitutes different types of follow ups, in preparation for our next talk on the concept of the graceful sequel
In this cast, we talk about the concept of player types, the idea of trying to understand different players by seeing products from other perspectives, and the implications of this on the development of products.
Here we look into the idea of gaming communities and how they split into smaller sub communities and some of the dynamics that arise from these community splits and their interactions with each other.
We complete our investigation of build systems in video games, using the lens of Guild Wars 1 and 2 to help inform our position and continue into our hypotheses about what it means to make a "good" build system
A continuation of our examination of character build systems in games, using Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 as examples. Here we look at the changes made to the build system between two games and the overall effects on the player experience.
Part 1 of a 3 part series investigating concepts relating the development and design of good character build systems. Here we examine the intricacies of Guild Wars 1's build system as an example of a custom character building system.
In this podcast, we examine the difficulties of developing and designing MMOs. In particular, the elements of player experience, design focus and the general environment of the MMO market at large, that make building these games to provide enjoyable experiences to the most people effectively difficult.
This podcast examines the concept of in game economies and how hard they can be to manage, as well as examining various concepts of how they are created and how they generally function.
In this track, we go over the concept of character progression and posit our own theories about how to make it interesting to players.
A further examination of storytelling in games, this time exploring the concept of Interactivity's effect on storytelling and narrative in games through scales of interactivity, and game variability.
Another examination of storytelling in games, this time examining the various methods employed to convey or construct narrative in games
A podcast talking about the intricacies of Kickstarter, with an emphasis on the roles and actions developers and backers (or venture capitalists) take on when using it.
The track that plays during a secret level in Highway to the Moon, the Rainbow Rush, as you face off against the Leadersquad one last time.
The theme of the incorrigible Leader Red. This plays when Jake first encounters the Leader Squad and battles with Red.
The theme of the final stage, a battle with the Moon Man in his space ship in preparation for the final showdown.
The theme in between themes; ie the loading screen theme. Made to build anticipation for the next level.
In this cast, we talk about the different development roles (or hats) that members of a game team can take on, and the complications inherent to developing a game product.
Another Track from Highway to the Moon. This plays during the final showdown with the Leadersquad as they form the unfortunately named (but overwhelmingly powerful) Leaderhosen super tank.
Here we talk about the stages of game development and what all they entail from the development team.
In this cast, we discuss the concept of product or piece analysis from an artistic standpoint and the difference that analysis approach from that of a consumer review.
We continue to explore the gaming histories of our hosts, today focusing on Red Coat and the games that have greatly influenced his design sense.
We take a break from examination and analysis of gaming concepts to look at what games have influenced Sientir as a game designer and why.
Here we get into the concept of world arrangement. Specifically the idea of how you present the various segments of your game's levels, areas, and content.
Here we examine concepts surrounding the defining of game genres using our previous definitions of Foundational, Framing and Refining mechanics, as well as the NarVisAud to seek a better way of identifying the differentiating elements of games.
An examination of the concept of just what a video game is, and the implications of its definition as a "composite experience". We use many examples and coin a lot of terms in this one.
In this cast, we go over the concepts of visceral and cerebral engagement when it comes to video games (dipping frequently into cinema) and the implications of managing the ratios of these engagement styles in games. Note that we use the terms Emotional and Visceral interchangeably in this cast.
An examination of how the amount of interesting items in an environment affect the overall interest of an environment and the relationship of that affect to the overall size of said environment.
For this cast, we're digging into the concept of Inspiration and our theories on how one can attempt to draw it out of themselves and the world around them.
An examination of the concept of failure handling and how we approach it in real life, with a focus on education systems at large and how video games effect one's personal approach to failure handling.
The last part of our examination of gross player failure handling methods. Here we examine the resume style of gross player failure handling, and give some closing remarks on gross player failure handling methods overall.
Join us as we continue our examination of gross player failure handling, this time exploring the concepts involved in the Reload style.
Part one of an examination of the concept of failure handling in video games. In this portion, we briefly define each of the three methods that we've observed, and then dig into the Reset style and its implications on gameplay.
For this podcast, we take a moment to create and define our lexicon for analyzing games and their interactions with players.
Part four of our talk about the development of Vernacular Games' first title, Highway to the Moon. Here we discuss elements of the game's core design and our reasoning behind many of the design decisions we made.
A continuation of the Highway to the Moon podcast set. In this portion, we talk about the design of our tools for making HTTM and their impact on the game development process.
Part 2 of the Highway to the Moon set. Here we talk about some of what went into building our own engine from scratch and the pros and cons that came with doing so.
We look back at the development process for our first game Highway to the Moon. In this portion we talk about the situation that predicated its creation.
An examination of Boss Design in games with a focus on the purpose of Bosses and what makes them good or bad when it comes to implementation.
An interview with the team at Warding Circle on the development of their current project Mysteries of the Yokai. Check out the link below to find out more information: http://www.mysteriesoftheyokai.com/
Check out their Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/warding-circle/mysteries-of-the-yokai-an-rpg-inspired-by-japanese?ref=nav_search
An examination of the concept of balance in video games with an emphasis on balance of environment and concepts relating to PvP (player vs. player) and PvE (player vs. enemy) play environments
Vernacular Games' third podcast, an examination of storytelling methods in video games.
Examining concepts and ideas with regards to the nature of Challenge in video games and how to make them enriching.