All The Gamers

A blog about video games and game design.

Video games studies book – “The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games” (University of Minnesota Press, 2018) – Chris Paul interview

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Christopher Paul teaches at the Seattle University where he focuses on applying tools rooted in rhetorical analysis to elements of new media, especially video games.  We discussed his latest book on meritocracy in video games.

0:45 – Chris talks about how he got into studying digital media and video games.

3:26 – Chris talks about the subject matter of the book – video games and meritocracy. He talks about Michael Young and his novel “The Rise of the Meritocracy.”

6:11 – The book delves deep into specific games and how they relate to meritocracy.

8:31 – Chris compares indie games and triple A games.

12:30 – Chris talks about diversity in video gaming.

16:28 – Chris talks more about how people are affected by succes in games.

17:44 – Chris talks about how he did his research.

21:33 – Chris talks about games that are breaking the meritocracy mold.

28:04 – Chris talks about the effects of what video games are teaching people.

37:46 – On twitter he’s @real_chris_paul.

Links of interest

https://www.seattleu.edu/artsci/departments/communication/faculty-and-staff/christopher-paul-phd.html

https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-toxic-meritocracy-of-video-games

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Chris Paul

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, fantasy, art, artist, jesuits, Journey, “Papers, Please”, game jam, twitch, skyrim, gone home, mercy, overwatch, fortnite

Fantasy Flight Games game producer – Molly Glover interview

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Molly Glover is a game developer for Fantasy Flight Games. I spoke to her at Escape Velocity 2018 about how she got into the business, her inspirations, the gaming business and what she does in the field.

1:15 – Molly Glover talks about how she first got into game development. She started in games sales. She then moved into development and production. She started as a geeky child who played a lot of games.

3:50 – She did LARPing when young and as an adult she got more into it including Arkham Horror.

5:30 – She read a lot of large novels when she was young. Stephen King was an influence.

7:20 – When she worked in sales, she dealt with some people who didn’t think girls understood games well enough and preferred dealing with men. But things have gotten better in the last few years.

9:05 – She’s a big Star Wars and Marvel fan. She also likes Asimov and Star Trek.

11:50 – She used to be on Citadel BBSs and played those games like Legends of the Red Dragon.

12:50 – There’s a lot of narrative in games now. There are a lot of young people in gaming too.

16:50 – The average person can find good educational games on Amazon or local game stores. There are a lot of brick and mortar game stores. People can also write to the game manufacturers to get games.

19:20 – Talking to people at conventions and just playing games are good ways to get inspired for new game development.

20:10 – She always wanted to be able to teleport.

21:50 – We discuss gamifying game production itself. Non gaming industries should try to gamify their workplaces.

 

Links of interest

Fantasy Flight Games – https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/index/

 

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Molly Glover

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, fantasy, board games, arkham horror, game development, educational games, Marvel, Star Wars, Star Trek, Fantasy Flight games, Cosmic Encounter

Sci-fi graphics specialist – Anthony Ur interview – Far Point 2018 – youtube

Anthony Ur is a graphics designer supporting the military but spends his free time helping design graphics and special effects for an independent science fiction show, Dark Operations: Terminus. I interviewed Anthony at Far Point 2018.

1:16 – The graphics designer for Dark Operations Terminus tells me how he works on the project. He’s been an art director for the US Army in using graphics for training.

3:01 – Anthony is an avid gamer which inspires his work. He played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons and watched a lot of Star Trek.

3:41 – His most important tools are Autodesk studio suite and the Unreal Game Engine for rendering. His Transformers toys around his office gets him into the right state of mind for his work.

5:21 – Anthony’s favorite element of graphic design is figuring out how to turn his 3D models into actual physical reproductions. Small items like laser pistols are printed in segments.

6:44 – He got into graphic design when he was working in Visual basic in high school. He saw another student working on computer animation and he went in that direction. He started in 3D and then got into art. He continues because it’s a passion. He thinks of his designs in an engineering way.

8:31 – Over time he’s learned to adjust to what a client wants rather than trying to push his vision of a design.

9:55 – Graphic design touches everything. Products and independent films all have elements of graphic design. Designers think about how an item will interact with people ergonomically.

11:01 – Cartoony sci-fi does not need to look realistic. But other sci-fi might need more believable looking technology.

11:52 – Animation inspires Anthony. Cartoon network has stuff that inspires him. Early stop motion films inspire him. Disney animation quality inspires him. Pen and paper work can provide very good animation compared to digital.

13:06 – He likes to read quantum theory and quantum mechanics. He also loves LOTR and wanted to do Hollywood videos. Music from sci-fi shows and movies inspire him. Howard Shore for example.

15:01 – Some older games can grab him more than newer games. People focus a lot on multi-player but he likes more of the single player. Puzzle Quest is one game he loves.

16:09 – He was fascinated with the Nightcrawler power to teleport. Techie-wise he’d be interested in having a bionic part.   He’d also like to create a game where someone terminally ill could go into this game and forget about their problems while they’re inside. He’d also like create a game where people might not even know they’re in a game.

18:51 Dark Operation Terminus is on facebook. His work is also on Nextgenimaging.com

Links

https://www.facebook.com/DarkOperations/

http://www.nextgenimaging.com/

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Anthony Ur

Host: Cris Alvarez