GameDev Breakdown

Well we did it. 100 episodes of GameDev Breakdown.

For the big event, we rolled the webcams and just let it happen. Matt Hill joined in for a discussion about recent events, a trip down memory lane, and a quick look at what's to come.

This podcast wouldn't be worth doing without our friends listening all over the world. Your emails, tweets, and reviews don't only make it worthwhile, they make it fun. Thank you for being a part of this community--this is why we continue to do it.

What do you think? More video shows? Subscribe to the channel just in case!

Thanks to Matt for joining in the fun. Check out his streams at Twitch and keep up with the latest happenings on our server over at Discord. We'll be back with #101 next week.

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• Follow us on Twitter: @GameDevPod, @CodeWritePlay, @Mechatodzilla
• Check show notes and articles at CodeWritePlay.com Join us on Discord!
  

Reunited at last, Todd spills the beans on a huge freelance project, an awkward problem emerges ahead of GDC, and John formally apologizes for his previous PUBG commentary over Chopin's Prelude in E Minor.

Todd's weird connection to the game that set the world ablaze, and what's happened since.

Last week's discussion of community management with our friend Matt Hill spun off some great discussion around other promotional topics. Although it's not the first time we've explored the optimal role of a website in your ongoing creative efforts, some time has passed and a lot has changed.

In this episode we'll look at the current benefits and challenges involved in running a game development-centric website, how to get going easily, how to expand on it, and how to make it competitive in search engine results. If you don't currently believe you need a website--or the work involved intimidates you--give me a chance to change your mind. I should note here that I don't have anything to sell you, I don't want to be involved in building it, and I frankly don't even want to hear about it when you're done. That's how you know I'm being sincere.

Here are some points you'll hear about in this "second edition" of GameDev Breakdown's Guide to Websites:

• Benefits of controlling your web presence
• Building out your website in manageable phases
• How to establish a killer press kit
• What to offer your visitors and (hopefully) players

Happy building. Holler if we missed anything.

If you enjoy GameDev Breakdown

• Sign up for our free game dev newsletter!
• Subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice
• Follow us on Twitter: @GameDevPod, @CodeWritePlay, @Mechatodzilla
• Check show notes and articles at CodeWritePlay.com Join us on Discord!
  

Tactic Studios developer and CEO, Jesse Attard (BioShock, BioShock 2, Street Fighter II: Champion Edition (2006)), calls in for a podcast chat about the studio's new Portal-style puzzle adventure game, Claire de Lune. We discuss his transition from major AAA teams to heading up an indie studio, parenting at publish time, best pandemic home office purchases, and more.

A "Fantastic" Transition to Indie Development

It's difficult to imagine a triple-A veteran more optimistic than Jesse Attard. Since 2005, he's contributed to major projects at Ubisoft, Capcom, and Digital Extremes, putting him in the right places at the right times to work on everything from old flip phone games up to the BioShock series and even a late port of Street Fighter II. You'd be right to anticipate a story about burnout and the evisceration of hope in a notoriously brutal industry, yet Attard simply describes the move to indie development as a nice change of pace.

"Oh, it's fantastic. It's great. I love doing it," Attard says about the move from the major-budget studios. "I love having my own engine. I loved working on [Digital Extremes'] engine as well...because you have a lot of flexibility in terms of what you can do and add to it."

Tactic's upcoming title, Claire de Lune, uses the studio's own proprietary engine that the team started building back when the major game engine terms weren't nearly as inviting as they are now. The graphics and gameplay seen in the game's trailers look right at home alongside just about any modern title.

Attard has stories about why game engine freedom is important to him.

"BioShock was on [Unreal Engine]," he says. "And so we worked on BioShock, and you're terrified about touching any of the Epic code because if Epic decides to change that code, now you've got to merge them and it's just a big nightmare. Having your own engine, you have 100% flexibility. You can make it do exactly what you want. It's much easier to work with, from our standpoint. So that's been great."

Beyond leveraging his technical experience, Attard is enjoying the additional creative influence he has as part of a small team. He wrote and took care of the full sound design for Claire de Lune.

Tactic Studios is targeting a June 14th release date for Claire de Lune.

Show Links

• Claire de Lune on Steam
• TacticStudios.com