Kiwi Talkz

In this episode Ryan Trowbridge shares his journey in game development, focusing on facial animation technology, leadership at Naughty Dog, and pushing creative boundaries in AAA titles. #naughtydog #uncharted4 #uncharted TIMESTAMPS - 00:00 - Intro 00:28 - How Seeing Gollum In LOTR Impacted Ryan As An Artist 02:08 - Upgrading The Facial System For Uncharted 4 07:00 - Naughty Dogs Engine 08:53 - Moving Into A Leadership Role At Naughty Dog 10:34 - No Producers At Naughty Dog/The Lead’s Role 12:29 - ND Created Their Own Ticket Tracking System 14:10 - The Devs Just Wing It Every Day At Work 16:10 - Creating Pirates In Uncharted 1/Prototyping Quickly 17:15 - Working With Neil Druckmann/Neil Taking Over On Uncharted 4 22:05 - Early Production On Uncharted 4/Skin Pores 23:30 - Everyone At ND Is An Artist 26:20 - Drake Had 60,00 Animations In Uncharted 4 28:13 - Attention To Detail At ND 30:00 - ND Doesnt Makes Games On A Production Schedule 31:00 - Uncharted 1/Gears Of War Influenced Uncharted 2 33:15 - Pushing The Envelope On Uncharted 2/Rockstar Influences 38:30 - Pushing The Tech On Uncharted 4 40:15 - Crunch On Uncharted 4 43:31 - Becoming A Wizard At Python 46:37 - Interview At Naughty Dog/Building Characters With More Detail 50:16 - Working With Amy Hennig/Automation Flaps 52:30 - Automated Lip Syncing 53:14 - Working On Perfect Dark Before It Was Cancelled 56:00 - What Ryan Looks For When He Interviews Devs For Roles 58:26 - Working On Perfect Dark Before It Was Cancelled Part 2 1:03:14 - Q+A - How Do You Set The Bar For Character Quality 1:04:57 - Q+A - Where Was Inspiration Taken For The Fighting Style Of Drake 1:07:40 - Where To Follow Ryan Trowbridge/Artstation 1:08:51 - People Lying In Interviews At ND/NDAs

It took a long while to get here! Finally after much delay here is the review of Metroid Prime 4 with my good friend Jack Mathews (Lead Technical Engineer On Metroid Prime Trilogy) In this episode, Jack Mathews and I analyze the development, design, and production challenges of Metroid Prime 4. #metroidprime4 #metroid #nintendo iF YOU WANT TO BUY JACKS WIFES COOK BOOK YOU CAN GET IT HERE https://www.amazon.com/dp/0593853148?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:25 - Metroid Prime 4 Overview 04:00 - Nintendo & Retro’s Collaborations On Metroid Prime Trilogy 06:38 - Mark Pacini Knew How To Deal With Tanabe 08:04 - Working With Risa Tabata 11:05 - Tanabe Is The Reason Prime 4 Is The Game It Is 12:01 - Memory Fruit/Certification Whiplash 13:45 - Jack Breaks Down The Intro Of The Game 18:30 - Sol Valley/Shrines 20:00 - Federation Marines 21:00 - Federation Faces In Prime 3 22:00 - Retro Studios Artists 23:14 - Why Tanabe Is Obsessed With The Federation 24:30 - The NPCs Weren’t Necessary/Prime 3 NPCs 26:15 - Ice Belt/Grievers Climbing Through The Walls 28:30 - Missiles Alerting Grievers In The Mines 31:18 - Jack Thinks Samus Should Never Talk 33:30 - Sylux’s Origins Was Terrible 35:00 - Metroid’s Presence Was Pointless 37:15 - Retro Getting Handed Bandai Namco’s Version Of Prime 4 39:45 - Why Sol Valley Didnt Work From A Production Standpoint 45:40 - Original Idea For Samus’ Ship In Prime 3 48:15 - Missing Visors, Speedbooster & Screw Attack 49:15 - The Vi-O-La 51:30 - Jack Played Prime 4 Mostly In Handheld 53:35 - Free Aim Issues On The Bosses/Mouse-Mode 56:30 - Prime 4 Is A Technical Marvel 59:45 - Retro Wont Make Metroid Prime 5 or Prime 2 Remastered 1:01:44 - Retro Is Done With Metroid 1:03:22 - Item Upgrades Are Uninspired 1:05:30 - Prime 4 Wasn’t Innovative 1:07:45 - Mark Pacini Is One Of The Best Systems Designers Ever 1:09:29 - Metroid Prime Trilogy Worked Cause Of Coordination 1:11:30 - AAA Development Is So Large You Can’t Pivot Anymore 1:12:28 - Prime 4’s Design Is Linear Corridors 1:14:42 - Green Crystal Hunt 1:15:30 - Chrono Tower Had Nothing 1:17:35 - Jack & Kiwi Rank The Prime Games Best To Worst 1:19:50 - There Are Only 4 Enemies in The Game 1:21:23 - Jack’s Wife’s Cook Book

Jérémy Hartvick is a former designer at Rockstar, best known for his work on RDR2 (he left Rockstar early in 2020). In this episode, Jérémy shares insights from his experience at Rockstar, discussing leadership, mission design, technical challenges, and the future of game development.CONSULTING WEBSITE - https://jeremyhartvick.com/ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:03 - Having A Good Leader At Rockstar 03:00 - Moving Into Leadership 05:00 - Modern Day Leadership Is Different 07:50 - Jeremy’s Goals At Rockstar & In The Industry 09:50 - Rockstar Has The Best Engineers 13:00 - Doing Mission Design 14:30 - Work On Horseman Apocalypse & Honor Amongst Thieves In RDR2 16:00 - Working On Details In RDR2/Rockstar Has No Centralised AI System 18:50 - Pitching A Mission In A Rockstar Game 21:15 - Internal Deadlines At Rockstar 23:40 - Cross Collaboration Between The Different R* Studios 25:40 - Not Being Able To Separate Work From Personal Life 28:09 - Doing 100 Hour Weeks On RDR2 31:20 - Having To Standout Compared To Everyone Else 34:26 - Your Job Is Largely Safe At Rockstar 35:28 - Why Jeremy Left Rockstar 37:30 - GTA 6 39:30 - How Programmers Optimize Rockstar Games 42:20 - You Can Hire Devs For Greater Concessions Now 43:40 - The Game Industry Needs A Restructure 45:45 - Asia Is Now Making The Best Games 49:20 - Hollywood Has Indoctrinated Western Devs To Make Cinematic Games 55:40 - Jeremy’s Future Endeveurs 57:45 - Q+A - How Much Do Designers & Writers Collaborate With Missions 59:14 - Q+A - What Missions Were Possible From More Powerful Hardware 1:01:30 - Todd Howard/You Can Do Everything 1:03:47 - Switch 2/Building Games Around Hardware 1:05:15 - GTA 6 Port Potential On Switch 2 1:08:34 - Q+A - Were There Any Missions That Were Cut From RDR2 1:10:20 - Eye Of Sauron/Sam Houser 1:11:50 - Where To Follow Jeremy/Jeremy’s Consulting Website

Matt Radford was a VFX Artist on TLOU and Uncharted 4, he began research into volumetric rendering during the development of Uncharted 4 and that led to it being used in TLOU Part 2. He has now founded his own studio 5th-Corner which is also the name of his studio's upcoming game. #uncharted #uncharted4 #unrealengine WEBSITE - https://www.5th-corner.com/ X - @mradfo21 TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:39 - Matt Started A Hoverboard Trend At Naughty Dog 03:30 - Culture Of Naughty Dog/Crunch 06:42 - Naughty Dog’s Engine Is Bad/Litmus Test 09:30 - Should Naughty Dog Devs Migrate To Unreal Engine 11:52 - Why Matt Left Naughty Dog/Legacy Of Artists 14:00 - Ending A Relationship Due To ND/Starting A Start Up 16:00 - Naughty Dog Is A Cult 17:45 - Researching Volumetric Rendering On Uncharted 4 24:50 - Uncharted Games Have A Specific Artstyle/PS3 To PS4 Memory Increase 26:29 - The Ray Marching Technique 27:50 - Restrictions Of PS3/Freedom Of PS4/PS5 29:10 - Intergalactic 33:38 - Talent Has Moved On Which Affects Uniqueness 35:17 - Technology Has Plateaued /Working At Epic On UE5 37:20 - Technology Has Come At The Cost Of Game Design 40:12 - Matt Doesnt Play On Console Anymore Due To Steam 41:57 - GTA 6 44:25 - Matt Wants Shorter Games 45:14 - Young People Have Too Many Options For Entertainment 46:33 - Matt’s Indie Game 5th-Corner 52:30 - Running A Business When You Are Broke/Helpful Mentors 54:12 - Game Development Is More Collaborative Than Film 55:44 - Matt Is Hopeful & Scared For His Career 56:45 - Q+A - Any Regrets Working At Naughty Dog 59:06 - Resilience/Traumas Make Entrepreneurs 1:00:06 - Q+A - What Is The Most Efficient Way Of Bulding Large Environments Solo 1:01:46 - Q+A - Details Of Amy’s Uncharted 4 1:05:43 - Working With Amy Hennig 1:06:55 - Where To Follow Matt & Keep Up With 5th-Corner

Emanuel Palalic was a former character artist on DOOM 2016 & DOOM Eternal he has now founded the studio emptyvessel and is working on their indie game DEFECT (which looks sick). https://www.emptyvessel.io/ TWITTER/INSTAGRAM - @epalalic ARTSTATION - https://www.artstation.com/drheadpop @emptyvesselplay #doom #doometernal #idsoftware TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:30 - Working With Teams On Different Continents 02:20 - Founding Emptyvessel 05:30 - Emptyvessel’s High Calibre Team. 06:45 - Being Overwhelmed Setting Up emptyvessel 09:10 - Destructible Terrain In DEFECT 11:30 - Gore System In DEFECT & DOOM Eternal 15:40 - Being An Intern At ID Software On DOOM 2016 18:15 - Working With Hugo Martin 20:15 - The Culture Of ID Software 22:00 - Rebooting DOOM/DOOM 2016 25:30 - ART REEL - Icon Of Sin 27:45 - Gore Wounds 29:00 - ART REEL - Baron Of Hell 31:15 - ART REEL -Shotgunner 34:30 - Attention To Detail At ID Software 35:28 - ID Software Thought People Would Hate doom 2016 39:40 - The Pressure Of Working On DOOM 2016 & Eternal 40:34 - Mick Gordon 45:42 - The Mistakes AAA Games Make. 48:18 - There Is No Safety In AAA Anymore 50:58 - Focus Group Testing/Devs Following Trends 52:05 - Investors Are Apprehensive Towards Realistic FPS Games 55:30 - Motion Sickness With FPS Games 57:50 - DEFECT Won’t Have Third-Person 59:26 - Q+A - Was DOOM Guy Mini Face Considered In The UI 1:01:17 - DOOM 2016/Eternal Was Influenced By Metroid Prime/ID Software Loves Metroid 01:02:35 - Q+A - How Long Does It Take For Art To Be Approved 01:04:29 - Q+A - How Did The Pipeline Work With ID Tech Engine 1:08:40 - Where To Follow Emptyvessel & DEFECT