Comments on: Cat’s Away Chronicles IV

By: HM

HM — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 19:35:01 +0000

Gregg, you’re catching up! The question you are looking for is “What was Doug Wilson’s game of the last two weeks?” Answer is 0space.

By: Gregg B

Gregg B — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 14:30:27 +0000

I’ve really been enjoying these videos as well but as somebody who’s dabbled with video in the past can also appreciate the time and effort involved making them. And I’m with Nicholau in that I prefer watching/listening to interviews, not because I can do something else while listening (I’m crap at multi-tasking) but because I’m a slow reader and it’s much quicker for me.

Anyway, another great interview. Quick question: why does 0space get a link? Did I miss that in the interview or something?

By: HM

HM — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 13:29:36 +0000

Maybe I should put up a Kickstarter to fund the videos. =)

On Twitter, Michael Brough said he got his highest score on ZiGGURAT while watching this video. So I guess he’s not the only one who enjoys the multitasking luxury afforded by a video interview.

Interesting extract you highlighted there, Nicolau. Good answer.

By: Nicolau

Nicolau — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:36:11 +0000

I prefer watching interviews than reading them. And watching takes less time, because I can do two things at once (listening and doing something else). But that’s just me.

Also, 04:40 – 05:11.

By: HM

HM — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 09:43:48 +0000

@Nicolau: Yes I think that cycle you refer to is a pretty common thing for game development and gets much worse with the length of the project. I can only imagine the difficulty going from Beautiful Escape to the unexpectedly epic development time of Polymorphous Perversity. (Well, I can do more than imagine as I had much experience of short vs longform game dev in the early 90s.)

I feel like I should have named the series something else, though. I don’t think casual visitors have any idea what these Cat’s Away posts are about through the title. I left the name obscure because I thought video conversations would sort of sell themselves. Ah, well…

@Shaun: I don’t think even I’ve given every one of Pippin’s games a spin. Most but not all. However, I can say I was there right in the beginning when he was released his first title, Guruquest.

I’m aware that the views trickle in over several weeks but the previous videos have already ground to a halt; Ed Key is the most successful with 150 views and that’s nowhere near the hits for a popular article (~600). So I’m not inclined to repeat this video conversation thing just because they sap so much time (writing, playing and commenting have been smashed for weeks). I’ll still do the odd thing here and there and podcasts are still on the menu, but I think committing these long conversations to video just dissuades people from clicking in. Matt Chat did a couple of really long interviews with David Fox and also Jonas Kyratzes on YouTube and I didn’t watch either, simply because of the time constraint.

Yeah, someone was bouncing a basketball along the path behind the camera. I was annoyed afterwards that I hadn’t taken any film of the park itself.

By: ShaunCG

ShaunCG — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:55:48 +0000

Still loving this series. I’ve only played a few of Pippin’s games but I see now that there are, well, loads of them. So a good session of masochism is in order sometime.

I really enjoy your videos HM, though with Cat’s Away I do tend to bookmark and watch them at a later date – due to the length. I can imagine that they do take a long time to put together, though. Especially when interviewees get you drunk. :)

Was someone bouncing a basketball right behind the camera towards the end?

“I’m not sure what my favourite Pippin 20Q response is. Perhaps his answer to “What’s your favourite creation?” which is apparently “Earth”.”

I was tickled by the fact that almost every answer was “Jesus”.

By: Nicolau

Nicolau — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 17:32:58 +0000

For some reason, I’ve been reading “Castaway Chronicles” this whole time.

By: Nicolau

Nicolau — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 17:24:06 +0000

Pippin Barr is a very cool guy, almost in an intimidating way. That was a great interview (and great video)! I love Pippin Barr’s games, as well as his relationship with them – the pregnancy-birth-depression cycle he talks about in his blog for each project. Some of the things he said were pretty insightful in terms of game design (and the gaming community as a whole), and I’m looking forward to the upcoming ED posts about him.

By: Why Ambiguity Matters « Games That Exist

Why Ambiguity Matters « Games That Exist — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 01:06:05 +0000

[...] ambiguity, I don’t just mean “what the fuck was Braid about?” Ambiguity in videogames doesn’t have to be about confusion. The best games, like [...]

By: HM

HM — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 22:42:14 +0000

Thanks Eric! At least you can hear the birds and the words. I had to strike out a section where a helicopter decided to hover overhead. No birds and words then, I can assure you.