House of Games

Is crunch in the video games industry a real problem or not? What do you use a test kit for? What is a debug menu, and why does your game need one? — All this and more, on this week’s episode of House of Games! Your Hosts and Their Games https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/knifeboy-rebooted-switch/ — The Nintendo Switch store page for KnifeBoy Rebooted. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1799590/Red_Colony_3_Uncensored/ — The Steam store page for Red Colony 3 Uncensored. https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=RunicCodes&ndl=1&ignore_preferences=1 — Rune’s Steam page. https://theeliteinstitute.net/2022/12/26/the-elite-goty-awards-2022/ — The Elite Institute’s GOTY Awards 2022, where KnifeBoy Rebooted won the “Biggest Improvement Over a Previous Title” award. https://ottowretling.medium.com/list/our-first-game-175f8c8b7ce1 — Otto’s blog about the development of “Tulip Craze”. https://discord.gg/mYM72SQ9CP — The discord server for Game Hub Umeå. Other Games https://www.minecraft.net/en-us — The homepage for the game Minecraft. https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/xenoblade-chronicles-definitive-edition-switch/ — The Nintendo store page for Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. https://store.steampowered.com/app/214510/LEGO_The_Lord_of_the_Rings/ — The Steam store page for LEGO Lord of the Rings. https://store.steampowered.com/sub/53403/ — The Steam store page for the LEGO Batman Trilogy. Articles, and Other Links https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania — The Wikipedia page for the phenomenon “Tulip Mania”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procedural_generation — The Wikipedia page for procedural generation. https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2017-life-of-black-tiger-is-the-worst-ps4-game-weve-ever-played — An article detailing the issues with the game “Life of Black Tiger”. https://spoti.fi/JoeRoganExperience — The Spotify page for “The Joe Rogan Experience”.

How does culture influence the visual style of games? Is it reasonable that some video games should be censored? What is the difference between developing a game for a Japanese audience vs. a Swedish one? Join us as we discuss how culture relates to gameplay, censorship, UX, style, and work culture in the video games industry. Your Hosts and Their Games https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/knifeboy-rebooted-switch/ - The Nintendo Switch store page for KnifeBoy Rebooted. https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=RunicCodes&ndl=1&ignore_preferences=1 - Rune’s Steam store page. https://ottowretling.medium.com/list/our-first-game-175f8c8b7ce1 - Otto’s blog about the development of “Tulip Craze”. https://discord.gg/mYM72SQ9CP - The discord server for Game Hub Umeå. Read the full description for this episode, including games and articles mentioned in the episode here: https://medium.com/@ottowretling/house-of-games-episode-9-culture-65cfcff0ac78

This week, we talk about the “when”, “how” and “why” we got started with game development, and how you can do the same! Your Hosts and Their Games https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=RunicCodes&ndl=1&ignore_preferences=1 — Rune’s Steam page. https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/knifeboy-rebooted-switch/ — The Nintendo Switch store page for KnifeBoy Rebooted. https://theeliteinstitute.net/2022/12/26/the-elite-goty-awards-2022/ — The Elite Institute’s GOTY Awards 2022, where KnifeBoy Rebooted won the “Biggest Improvement Over a Previous Title” award. https://hereder.newgrounds.com/ — Rune’s profile page on Newgrounds. https://ottowretling.medium.com/ — Otto’s blog. https://youtu.be/KFziBfvAFnM?t=2621 — The defining moment when John Romero convinced Otto to start making games. https://discord.gg/mYM72SQ9CP — The discord server for Game Hub Umeå. More Games, Game Engines, and Game Companies https://arstechnica.com/tag/war-stories/ — The homepage for Ars Technica: War Stories, mini-documentaries about the development of famous games. https://ghosttowngames.com/overcooked/ — The homepage for the game Overcooked. https://www.stardewvalley.net/ — The homepage for Stardew Valley https://www.storyofseasons.com/ — The homepage for the Story of Seasons franchise, formerly known as “Harvest moon”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_(1993_video_game) — The Wikipedia page for the game Doom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros. — The Wikipedia page for the game Super Mario Bros. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda_(video_game) — The Wikipedia page for the game The Legend of Zelda. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear_Solid_(1998_video_game) — The Wikipedia page for the game Metal Gear Solid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pong — The Wikipedia page for the game Pong. https://unity.com/ — The homepage for the Unity game engine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Tools — The Wikipedia page for Crystal Tools, a game engine created and used internally by Square Enix. https://www.square-enix.com/ — The homepage for Square Enix. https://www.capcom.com/ — The homepage for Capcom. https://www.konami.com/en/ — The homepage for Konami. https://www.fromsoftware.jp/ww/ — The homepage for FromSoftware. https://www.dice.se/ — The homepage for DICE. https://www.playstation.com/ — The homepage for PlayStation. Articles https://en.japantravel.com/tokyo/the-capcom-bar/16579 — An article about “The Capcom Bar”, which was closed in 2018. https://sweden.se/life/society/a-cashless-society — An article by the Swedish Institute about how Sweden is a mostly “cashless” society. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mother-ignoring-kid-drowning-in-a-pool — The Know Your Meme page for the meme “Mother Ignoring Kid Drowning in a Pool”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigeru_Miyamoto — The Wikipedia page for Shigeru Miyamoto, a Japanese video game designer, producer, and game director at Nintendo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjuku — The Wikipedia page for Shinjuku in Tokyo, a hub for entertainment, business, and shopping. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara — The Wikipedia page for Aokigahara, the so-called “Suicide Forest”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature_creep — The Wikipedia page for the phenomenon “feature creep”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux — The Wikipedia page for Linux. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software — The Wikipedia page for open-source software. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dick-measuring_contest — The Wiktionary page for the phrase “dick-measuring contest”.

How does culture influence the visual style of games? Is it reasonable that some video games should be censored? What is the difference between developing a game for a Japanese audience vs. a Swedish one? Join us as we discuss how culture relates to gameplay, censorship, UX, style, and work culture in the video games industry. Listen to the full episode here: https://youtu.be/huGNK6sJw9Y

Is crunch in the video games industry a real problem or not? What do you use a test kit for? What is a debug menu, and why does your game need one? — All this and more, on this week’s episode of House of Games! See the full video here: https://youtu.be/Ln34LD6l57Y

What do game development, medtech, youth centers and a theory to explain the lack of aliens have in common? Listen to our interview with Daniel Olofsson from The Fine Arc Nordic AB to find out! Listen to the full interview here: https://youtu.be/VF1UBykrNm4

What do game development, medtech, youth centers and a theory to explain the lack of aliens have in common? Listen to our interview with Daniel Olofsson from The Fine Arc to find out! Your Hosts and Guest, and Their Games http://thefinearc.com/ — The homepage for The Fine Arc. https://twitter.com/thefinearc — The Twitter account for The Fine Arc. https://store.steampowered.com/app/543740/Medieval_Story/ — The Steam page for Medieval Story, one of Daniel’s first games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvlEwJw7iiQ — Gameplay footage from Rymdraket, Daniel’s first game. http://www.oddgames.com/rymdraket/ — The homepage for Rymdraket. https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=RunicCodes&ndl=1&ignore_preferences=1 — Rune’s Steam page. https://ottowretling.medium.com/ — Otto’s blog. https://discord.gg/mYM72SQ9CP — The discord server for Game Hub Umeå. More Games and Toys https://www.ubisoft.com/en-gb/game/assassins-creed/odyssey — The homepage for the game Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. https://www.nomanssky.com/ — The homepage for the game No Man’s Sky. https://housemarque.com/games/resogun — The homepage for the game Resogun. https://atari.com/products/atari-vcs-base — The store page for the Atari VCS, a modern console for playing Atari games. https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/atari-2600-10306 — The store page for the Atari 2600 Lego set. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Jetman — The Wikipedia page for the game Solar Jetman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust_(video_game) — The Wikipedia page for the game Thrust. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Invaders — The Wikipedia page for the original Space Invaders game. Game Engines, Programming Languages, and Other Tools https://unity.com/ — The homepage for the Unity game engine. https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US — The homepage for the Unreal game engine. https://www.photonengine.com/ — The homepage for Photon, an engine for creating multiplayer functionality in games. https://www.ea.com/frostbite — The homepage for the Frostbite Engine. https://www.rpgmakerweb.com/ — The homepage for RPG Maker, an engine for creating 2D RPG games. https://www.blender.org/ — The homepage for Blender, a tool for 3D modeling. https://github.com/features/copilot/ — The homepage for GitHub Copilot, an AI assistant for programming. https://www.mysql.com/ — The homepage for the MySQL database. https://www.php.net/ — The homepage for the PHP programming language. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens/ — The homepage for the Microsoft HoloLens. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%2B%2B — The Wikipedia page for the C++ programming language. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenGL — The Wikipedia page for OpenGL, an API for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC — The Wikipedia page for the BASIC programming language. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMOS_(programming_language) — The Wikipedia page for the AMOS programming language. Companies https://bufferleaf.se/ — The homepage for Bufferleaf, a Consulting firm offering development for apps, systems, and web products (in Swedish). https://www.uminovainnovation.se/about/ — The homepage for the incubator Uminova Innovation. Articles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter — The Wikipedia page for “Great Filter”, a theory on why we haven’t found aliens yet. https://githubcopilotlitigation.com/ — The homepage for the lawsuit challenging GitHub Copilot. https://www.gamegrin.com/articles/why-donkey-kong-country-was-a-technical-marvel/ — An article about the development of Donkey Kong Country, when they had to render animations overnight. https://www.eurogamer.net/ea-admits-battlefield-2042-flopped-but-would-have-been-less-than-10-percent-of-annual-revenue-anyway — An article about why Battlefield 2042 flopped. https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-aims-hobble-chinas-chip-industry-with-sweeping-new-export-rules-2022-10-07/ — An article about how the U.S. government aims to slow China’s technological progress with new export rules. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_2600 — The Wikipedia page for Atari 2600. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64 — The Wikipedia page for the Commodore 64. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga — The Wikipedia page for the Amiga. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_jam — The Wikipedia for game jams. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_length — The Wikipedia page for an Arc length, the type of arc used in the name “The Fine Arc”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah%27s_Ark — The Wikipedia page for Noah’s Ark from the bible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_of_the_Covenant — The Wikipedia page for the Ark of the Covenant from the bible.

A game jam is an event where the participants try and make a game from scratch, finish it, and then release it in a single weekend. In this episode, you will hear both the ups and downs of making a small game in a very short amount of time and things to think about if you are curious to join a game jam or host your own event, and most importantly: why you should join a game jam! Your Hosts and Guests, and Their Games https://itch.io/jam/all-hallows-game-jam/entries - The itch.io page for the “All Hallows' Game Jam”, where you can find all submissions to the game jam. https://itch.io/jam/all-hallows-game-jam/rate/1779975 - “Bedmonster”, the game that Alex’s team created. https://itch.io/jam/all-hallows-game-jam/rate/1780037 - “Drive or Die - Midnight Zombie Taxi”, the game that Per’s team created. http://thefinearc.com/ - The company that Per started together with Daniel Olofsson. https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=RunicCodes&ndl=1&ignore_preferences=1 - Rune’s steam page. https://medium.com/@ottowretling – Otto’s blog. Other Games and Other Links https://unity.com/ - The Unity game engine. https://unity.com/features/probuilder - The homepage for Unity Probuilder, a feature for level design in the Unity game engine. https://www.blender.org/ - Blender, a tool for 3D modeling. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockula - The folklore of “Blåkulla”, where witches would steal children to, and party with the devil. https://github.com/ - GitHub, a platform for building software and collaborating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Taxi - The Wikipedia page for the “Crazy Taxi” franchise. https://www.newgrounds.com/ - Newgrounds, a website that hosts browser games and animations, among other things. https://www.fmod.com/ - FMOD, a sound effects engine.

This time, Otto and Rune discuss the testing process for their games in development, whether you should make creative decisions to satisfy your audience or stick to your own creative vision, and the future of video game art and innovation. Your Hosts https://store.steampowered.com/app/889130/KnifeBoy_Rebooted/ - The game KnifeBoy, by Rune. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/24596/Red_Colony_Uncensored_Threesome_Bundle/ - The Red Colony trilogy, by Rune. https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=RunicCodes&ndl=1&ignore_preferences=1 - Rune’s steam page. https://medium.com/@ottowretling – Otto’s blog. Games and Other Links https://asciicker.com/ - The homepage for ASCIICKER, a 3D browser game rendered completely with text. https://www.factorio.com/ - The homepage for the game Factorio. https://www.ea.com/games/harry-potter - The homepage for the Harry Potter games on PC. https://www.playstation.com/en-us/the-last-of-us/ - The homepage for The Last of Us games. https://www.playstation.com/en-us/god-of-war/ - The homepage for the God of War franchise. https://www.crytek.com/games/crysis - The homepage for the game Crysis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breath_of_Fire_III - Breath of Fire III Wikipedia page. https://www.reddit.com/r/matrix/comments/q2xefs/batteries_not_processors/ - Discussion on the “battery or processor” theory in The Matrix. https://www.cbr.com/jurassic-world-nearly-featured-human-dinosaur-hybrids/ - “Before Jurassic World, the Franchise Nearly Featured Human-Dinosaur Hybrids”. https://sea.ign.com/elden-ring/184231/news/fromsoftware-shouldnt-feel-pressured-to-add-an-easy-mode-in-their-games - An article attacking the idea of an “easy mode” in the Souls franchise. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2jFu0fN09rL5KnUGMCu6xH?si=bf5dabe3beed4b02 – [In Swedish] Josef Fares tells the story of transitioning from being a movie director to starting his own game studio. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Persistence_of_Memory - The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí (the painting with melting clocks). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dXOVze5hRk&list=PLiB-by5UlBGahp40kLH5e9xlCdAZtgpmz - “Minecraft - Race to The Moon” video series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging - The Wikipedia page for Rubber duck debugging. https://youtu.be/tffX3VljTtI - Classic Game Postmortem: Deus Ex, GDC talk by Warren Spector

Welcome back to the house of games! In this episode, we debate the future of the video games industry and whether there is cause for optimism or pessimism, if you need a publisher to be successful, and more... Your Hosts https://i.imgur.com/nXXGNoJ.jpg - “Matrix Pension” by Rune. https://store.steampowered.com/app/889130/KnifeBoy_Rebooted/ - KnifeBoy https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/24596/Red_Colony_Uncensored_Threesome_Bundle/ - The Red Colony trilogy. https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=RunicCodes&ndl=1&ignore_preferences=1 - Rune’s steam page. https://medium.com/@ottowretling – Otto’s blog. Games and Other Links https://youtu.be/kjyeCdd-dl8 - A breakdown of Bethesda Game Studios’ fiasco with Fallout 76. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/horse-armor - The horse armor DLC for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. https://youtu.be/y2cKUzMjxcY - A breakdown of CD PROJEKT RED’s fiasco with Cyberpunk 2077. https://youtu.be/DTvBgmNL-p0 - Making Games That Stand Out and Survive, GDC talk by Nick Popovich. https://www.slimerancher.com/ - The homepage for Slime Rancher. https://www.ea.com/games/alice - The homepage for American McGee's games inspired by Alice in Wonderland. https://en.bandainamcoent.eu/elden-ring/elden-ring - The homepage for Elden Ring. https://www.rockstargames.com/games?franchise=grand-theft-auto – The homepage for the Grand Theft Auto franchise. https://www.saintsrow.com/ - The homepage for the Saints Row franchise.

Join us for our second episode where we interview Hannes(Seyloj), the creator Haste-Miner 2. In the episode, we discuss topics such as the development process of Haste-Miner 2, bug testing, releasing a game on Steam, the effect of influencers on game sales, monetization and interacting with fans, among other things. Your Hosts and Guest, and Their Games https://linktr.ee/seyloj - A collection of links to Hannes’ social media profiles.https://store.steampowered.com/app/2113580/HasteMiner_2/ - Haste-Miner 2 on Steam. https://www.crazygames.com/game/haste-miner-3-eternamine - “Haste-Miner 3: Eternamine”, Hannes’ newest game that he has released since recording this episode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jisSBJpekb8 - Angory Tom’s video about Haste-Miner 2. https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=RunicCodes&ndl=1&ignore_preferences=1 - Rune’s steam page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T-LIPXfFyk - “This Game Just Mogged Elden Ring for GOTY | Red Colony 3 Ending” by Yippee Ki Yay Mr Falcon. https://youtu.be/KZpAfrtglTc?t=2873 - Kinda Funny Games Showcase 2018, featuring Rune’s game Knifeboy. https://medium.com/@ottowretling – Otto’s blog. Games and Other Links https://ecrettmusic.com/ - ecrett, an AI tool for creating music. https://thunderfulgames.com/games/steamworld-dig/ - The homepage for SteamWorld Dig. http://supermotherload.com/ - The homepage for Super Motherload. https://terraria.org/ - The homepage for Terraria. https://www.minecraft.net/en-us - The homepage for Minecraft. https://www.teamfortress.com/ - The homepage for Team Fortress 2. https://twitter.com/TeamFortress/status/1529970640224018433 - The official Team Fortress 2’s twitter response to #savetf2. https://store.steampowered.com/app/225840/Sven_Coop/ - The Steam page for Sven Coop. https://www.crowbarcollective.com/games/black-mesa - The homepage for Black Mesa. https://undertale.com/ - The homepage for Undertale. https://oldschool.runescape.com/ - The homepage for Old School RuneScape. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_Dot_Game_Heroes - The Wikipedia page for “3D Dot Game Heroes”, published by FromSoftware. https://en.bandainamcoent.eu/elden-ring/elden-ring - The homepage for Elden Ring. https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/demons-souls/ - The homepage for Demon's Souls. https://grandiahd.com/en/- The homepage for Grandia HD Collection. https://stray.game/ - The homepage for “Stray”, the cat game.

Welcome to our very first episode with your hosts Otto and Rune as well as our first guest Stefan Eriksson, the community manager for Game Hub Umeå. In this episode, we talk about what Game Hub Umeå is, and where it’s headed, crunch in the video games industry, incubators and what they can do for game developers, and more! Related Links https://gamehubumea.se/ - The website for Game Hub Umeå. https://discord.gg/mYM72SQ9CP - The discord server for Game Hub Umeå, where all the magic happens! https://medium.com/@ottowretling – Otto’s blog. https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=RunicCodes&ndl=1&ignore_preferences=1- Rune’s steam page. https://store.speedtree.com/ - A tool for creating procedurally generated trees for game development. https://futuregames.se/ - A vocational school for game development. https://expressionumea.se/en/ - An incubator for the creative industries located in Umeå. https://expressionumea.se/en/program/express/- eXpression’s pre-incubation program.