WE FINALLY MADE IT TO GDC!
We’re packing a lot into this episode: previews of Sword & Sworcery and Bastion, a look at the Winnitron 1000 indie arcade machine, a quick catch-up with the Indie Game: The Movie crew and Tommy from Super Meat Boy, a meeting with the creator of Cave Story, and a video game art show.
But oh, there’s so much more. SO. MUCH. MORE. So all next week we’ll also be giving you bonus videos on our blog and YouTube. Be sure you’re subscribed:
http://www.bytejacker.com/blog
http://www.youtube.com/bytejacker
Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP
iPad, Superbrothers/Capybara Games/Jim Guthrie, Adventure, TBD
Sword and Sworcery is one of the most anticipated indie games of this year and one of the iPad games ever. We catch up with Craig D. Adams
and talk about what we can expect when it releases.
The Winnitron 1000
Somewhere in the wilds of Canadia, a country in the faraway north, indie developers banded together to create a kind of arcade machine the world had never seen before. The Winnitron 1000 is a totally indie arcade machine, free to play, that downloads and updates with tons of indie games and worldwide scoreboards.
The best part is that anyone who wants to build a Winnitron can do so and get the software to run it for free! We talked to a couple of its creators to find out how it’s changing the indie scene and why every town should have one. Built by you.
Bastion Preview
Supergiant Games’ Upcoming Bastion is a at the same time a retro-styled RPG and one that breaks new ground. Greg Kasavin talks to us about what we’ll see in Bastion, and more importantly, what we’ll hear with it’s innovative narrator system.
Supergiant Game: LINK
Indie Game: The Movie Update
Remember when we interviewed Indie Game: The Movie? How about when we interviewed Tommy from Team Meat? Well, it turns out a lot of the movie is about Tommy.
We talk to Tommy and the Blinkworks team about what it was like for them to be documenting the experience of creating one of the most popular indie games of last year.
Team Meat: LINK
Indie Game: The Movie: LINK
Cave Story Creator Daisuke Amaya
Cave Story 3D is coming! CAVE STORY 3D IS COMING!
And look at me! I’m sitting with Daisuke Amaya, AKA Pixel, the CREATOR of Cave Story. Life is pretty crazy, you guys.
Nicalis: LINK
Game Over 4 Art Opening at Giant Robot
We duck out of the main conference to check out Giant Robot’s Game Over 4, an art show dedicated to video games. We talk to the co-curator, Michelle Borok, and a few of the exhibiting artists and attendees.
More about Giant Robot San Francisco: LINK
Enfu: LINK
Dave Stolte: LINK
Stalking People is Fun!
Remember to check into our YouTube next week for more GDC videos! http://www.youtube.com/bytejacker
Be sure to check us out on twitter: twitter.com/bytejacker
And like us on Facebook: facebook.com/bytejacker
This Week’s Music
This week’s music is by Robot Science from his album “Good Luck.” Grab it here: LINK
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Amazing amount of content. Best episode ever
Whoops!
Our boy said “GameSTOP” instead of “GameSPOT” when referencing the video of his hosting at the start.
I hear the Gspot guys don’t like it when that happens. But we all do it though.
Oh…and great show as always.
Wow. I joked with Anthony on twitter about how great things go when Bytejacker goes back to being weekly AND YOU WENT AND WENT DAILY! Well played, my good man. Well played.
…Holy smokes, you’re there with Pixel!
Aaaaaand… the video locked for me both here and on YouTube at that point. I’ll finish watching the episode at work I guess. But I wanted to say a few things about pixel. Was going to make it a video comment but the camera doesn’t seem to want to work right now, so never mind that.
To call Daisuke Amaya AKA Pixel the grandfather of the indie games movement I think would be fair. So many people in independent games saw his work in Cave Story as an inspiration because he’s just one guy working in his spare time and makes this game. It took him 6 years to make this game because he did it in the evenings while he worked a full time job but he proved it can be done. Why him? Why Cave Story? Because it really is very good and at the time I don’t know of any other game that can claim to have one author behind it.
He released Cave Story for free because (I thing) he didn’t think it was that great, after all one guy making a game, it can’t be worth paying for, and it exploded, and it inspired, and it took on a life of it’s own. Finally, 3 years later, he’s quit his job and is making games full time, and he still can’t seem to wrap his head around that it’s okay to do that.
There’s a lot of conversation about what is indie. To me, Daisuke Amaya is indie. His making Cave Story was “in”, completely enveloped, in his regular life with a regular work a day job. He was dragged, perhaps not kicking and screaming but blinking and disoriented, into being supported by the community who he didn’t even realize he created so that he could do more. Now he’s no longer indie in that way since this is what he does full time, but he still very much embodies the indie spirit.
He’s no charismatic leader, and maybe that’s good. Because when a charismatic leader starts something it dies with them. (Mark my words, Apple will fade away with the passing of Steve Jobs.) And we should be careful not to deify him. The level of exposure and attention he’s getting right now is just about right. Just recognize that this guy right here, he started it all.
Whooooooaaaaaaaaaaa, cowboy. No one said ‘daily.’ We’re going to have a lot of extra GDC stuff, and there are some changes in the works, but let’s not pin me to daily.
Yeah, Daisuke’s great for exactly those reasons. He did the work and didn’t try to take credit for the scene. It’s good to see him making a living off of it.
Just on the whole indie label topic:
I think there is still a weird vive on who’s indie and who’s not, and who needs to be and what needs to happen. I think there are some pretentious cliques that exploit the term, and you can kind of see those at GDC, but the most awesome people I’ve met at that conference are those who make games independently but are typically not in the media center of attention. I think the most important part of being “indie” or whatever is that you’re doing the game that you want and it’s awesome and other people love your work, too. Hopefully you can make a living out of it. I think Pixel is that kind of guy, just someone who likes making his own games and found a way to finally do it for a living. His ego doesn’t seem elevated by what other people think of his game or what he started. He’s a pretty humble guy for what he caused.
(Off topic, I do totally agree with you on Steve Jobs and Apple, and I think that’s kind of sad because I feel no one else has really done anything remotely close to what he has done with Apple, and I feel that we need that more of the curated visionary perfectionist direction in other hardware and software companies. I’m not saying that doesn’t have to be done with the same attitude, though.)
Marvelous episode, one of your best, but that’s easy considering the breadth of wonderful content available to record while you were at GDC. Looking forward to more!
Not that I’m not totally into Cave Story 3D, but I’m more curious as to whether Pixel has thought about making any other games. Absolutely get the cash money while you can off of your established indie content, but I’d imagine as a creative person sooner or later you want to move on to the next new thing.
Favorite part of the episode? The Star Fox/Elite Beat Agents background image. Yup, I am totally that guy.
I asked him about upcoming projects and getting away from Cave Story – he’s working on things, but isn’t ready to talk about them.
ISN’T THAT IMAGE PHENOMENAL?
Is Jackthreads going to do any Bytejacker apparel? They could call them Bytejackthreads.
Where’s the thumbs up button?
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Hey Anthony, it was totally cool to finally got to meet you in person! I’m really glad that you finally made it to GDC this year. I sat at the awards show and you did an awesome job, perhaps better than Tim Schafer. That’s right… I said it: You’re better than Tim Schafer. Oh, and sorry abou that shot of Danish liquor…
The only reason why I go to GDC these days is for the independent stuff. It’s kind of refreshing to see people doing what they want and making great things, even if the conference is much louder on gimmicky technology, making money, some more obnoxious stuff, and valuing games as products rather than crafty works of art. I think you can pretty easily ignore the noise by just taking your time, sitting at the IGF booths and playing those games, and talking to the folks who made them. It shows that there is a gleam of hope in the whole games scene.
My favorite part of the episode is the Sword and Sorcery interview but mostly because I want that game to come out… right now! I got a chance to play the iPhone version last year, and have been in love with that game ever since.
So you planning on an episode today or next week? Just curious.
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