Wow, over a month already! Sorry about the delay here… been busy with work, social life, and finishing Crysis 2, Homefront, and Borderlands (I missed it the first time around). With Portal 2 right around the corner, it’s time to chime in!
I’ve recently stumbled across some fantastic video from the recent Game Developer’s Conference in March. This was listed on my friend Matt Barton’s site, www.armchairarcade.com, which I recommend checking out as it’s got a lot of fascinating stuff going on, particularly with a retro-spin.
Anyhow, a new segment begun in GDC 2011 is the “Classic Game Postmortem”, where developers of the classics go down memory lane to explain the game development experience, from conception to delivery, of games as old as 25 years! Not only are these loaded up with nostalgia, but it’s great to get a kind of “director’s commentary” on the design, hardships, innovations, and overall experience of making the title. Each is approximately 60 minutes, sometimes with a Q&A at the end.
Here are a couple of links I thoroughly enjoyed:
- Ron Gilbert talks about making Maniac Mansion
- Peter Molyneaux pokes fun at himself (and discusses the development of Populous)
- John Romero and Tom Hall talk about making DOOM
- Jordan Mechner talks briefly about the game he made in college – Karateka, before focusing on the (drawn-out) development of Prince of Persia
- The ever-entertaining Will Wright discusses Sim… nope! – Raid on Bungeling Bay
There are a lot more listings, from Another World (Out of this World) and Elite to Pitfall! and Bejeweled. The entire “free” GDC Vault listings are here. Note that there are also free vids from previous GDC conferences, so it’s the gift that keeps on giving! I hope you enjoy it!
- Al
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