Category Archives: matt chat

Matt’s Podcast History of Gaming?

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I don’t know how many of you out there love audio podcasts as much as I do, but I’m a big fan of the history podcasts by Dan Carlin, Mike Duncan, and, more recently, Benjamin and Adam. I was thinking that it’d be pretty fun to do my own dedicated history podcast about gaming and computers. If I go down this route, I want to really make a determined effort to get it right the first time. In short, I want to do something really slick and polished that would have a decent shot at getting featured on the iTunes store.

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Matt Chat 212: Dave on Blackwell & Steam

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Dave Gilbert returns this week to chat about his Blackwell series, a great adventure game franchise featuring a very unlikely duo–a medium named Rosangela Blackwell and a ghostly detective named Joey Mallone. If you’re a fan of classic LucasFilm and Sierra On-Line adventures, you’ll really enjoy it. We also talk about publishing third-party games, including the best-selling Gemini Rue game. Regardless of whether you’re into adventure games or not, you’ll really want to hear the final part of the segment, which covers Dave’s trials with Steam. See more of my thoughts below the fold.

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Matt Chat 211: Dave Gilbert on Adventure Games

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This week, Wadjet Eye founder Dave Gilbert is in the Matt Chat seat, spilling his guts about his career as a developer and publisher of point-and-click adventure games. Dave works extensively with Adventure Game Studio, a free, easy-to-use tool for making games in the style of Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle. Dave has taken the genre in intriguing new directions, beginning with his first game The Shivah, which puts players in the shoes of a rabbi. Be sure to see below the fold for my extended thoughts on the “freeware vs. commercial” part of our discussion.

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Matt Chat 210: Tales of Illyria

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For this week’s Matt Chat, I review Little Killers’ Tales of Illyria. This $5 Android game (PC version in the works!) is a fabulous take on Oregon Trail meets Betrayal at Krondor (both of which I’ve reviewed, too, so click the links!). I really enjoyed this game, which adds some nice touches that you won’t see in most turn-based CRPGs. I particularly liked the horses (my beloved Mustang!) and the huge variety of random encounters. You can play this for weeks and not see everything it has to offer. I interviewed one of the developers, Chad Mannicia, back in 2012.

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Matt Chat 209: Howard Sherman

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Hi, folks! I finally got a chance today to post the latest Matt Chat. Since I’m now on a private server (courtesy of Shane Stacks), I’ll just post the YouTube video and upload an MP3 of the audio for those on iTunes. I have no way of knowing how many people are watching the iTunes version anyway, so please let me know if this solution doesn’t work for you. My commentary on the interview is below.

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I really enjoyed this interview with Mr. Sherman. I’ve always enjoyed meeting, shall we say, “colorful” people who don’t mind ruffling feathers, and Howard certainly fits that bill. What really impresses me is how well he’s been able to market his interactive fiction, a genre that many of us probably assumed was defunct. I also like his willingness to travel to the locales of his games, absorbing the atmosphere and reflecting it back in his text. He strikes me more as an author than a game designer–more reader than gamer–which makes sense given his pursuit of text adventure games.

You can learn all about Howard and his games at malinche.net. While you’re there, be sure to check out his blog and the various developer diary blogs he keeps for each of his game projects.

If you enjoy text adventures, I highly recommend Nick Monfort’s excellent book Twisty Little Passages. It gives a lot of great history as well as criticism of the genre. It’s a must-read for fans of Infocom and anyone else wanting to know more about the later IF scene and culture.

Interview with Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games

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blackwell-bundle-titlebarHi, folks! I just finished conducting my interview of Dave Gilbert, president of Wadjet Eye Games. We discussed his lineup as well as his thoughts on point-and-click adventures in general. He’s encouraging–the market seems to be in full resurgence, though he makes a good point that, for whatever reason, people seem obsessed with the idea of adventure games “dying” and being reborn–you don’t hear the same sort of bombast about other genres such as SHMUPs and roguelikes. I’m definitely looking forward to playing more of his games, especially the Blackwell series. He’s currently offering the first three games in a bundle for only $14.99.

Dave uses Adventure Game Studio to make his games, which seems like a great choice. The only real limitations are portability and some outmoded engine details. I love it when people are able to use tools like this to actually  make commercially successful games.