Send us Fan Mail Today on The Examined Game I am speaking with Stephen Kick, Studio Head at Nightdive Studios. Stephen is responsible for some of the greatest video game remasters, remakes and re-releases of the last decade, including System Shock, System Shock 2, The Thing: Remastered, Turok, Quake, DOOM + DOOM II, STAR WARS: Dark Forces Remaster, Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, Blood, Outlaws and many more. This was an extremely personal deep dive into ...

Send us Fan Mail Today I'm speaking with actor Doug Cockle. Doug is best known as the voice of Geralt in The Witcher series, but has also voiced Bhaal in Baldur's Gate 3, Victor Vran in Victor Vran, and the Narrator in Tails of Iron. This is Part One of a two-part interview. This is probably the most open and honest conversation i've had to date on the podcast. When I sat down with Doug, I had no idea we'd end up spending so much time talking about one of the biggest decisions of his life: ...

Send us Fan Mail Today I'm talking with indie game designer Edmund McMillen (The Binding of Isaac, Mewgenics, Super Meat Boy) about the way he approaches making games. Edmund has a pretty simple philosophy when it comes to game design, even if the games themselves are extremely complex and multilayered. He designs games to please himself, and so far that's worked remarkably well as a business model because it turns out there are millions of other players who want to play the kinds of games he...

Send us Fan Mail This is Part 2 of my two part interview with Obsidian's Josh Sawyer. The first episode can be found here: WATCH HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HDXqBgMxy0&t=1448s LISTEN HERE: https://www.theexaminedgame.com/from-icewind-dale-to-fallout-new-vegas-josh-sawyer-obsidian-part-1/ In today's episode we dive into Pillars of Eternity, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire and Pentiment, what it took to get Pentiment made, and the act of defiance that came from making a g...

Send us Fan Mail Today on The Examined Game I am talking with the writer, developer and designer of The Drifter, one of my absolute favourite point and click adventure games of the last few years. I am in a constant pursuit of a great point and click adventure to scratch an itch that's been bothering me since childhood, after being exposed to the classic LucasArts (Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, Monkey Island) and Sierra (King's Quest, Police Quest, Gabriel Knight) games....

Send us Fan Mail Today on The Examined Game, I’m joined by Josh Sawyer (Joshua Sawyer) Studio Design Director at Obsidian Entertainment. Josh is an industry veteran whose credits include Icewind Dale, Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, The Outer Worlds, Pentiment, and many more. So what do you talk about with someone who has worked on so many beloved RPGs? We discuss how games can convey grief, the joy and frustration of not letting players kill God, his beginnings as a web...

Send us Fan Mail write me at steven@theexaminedgame.com and let me know what you think! What does it feel like to land your dream job working on the follow-up to a game that blew your mind? This is exactly what happened to Jonathan Zimmerman when he landed a writing gig on Life Is Strange: Before The Storm. What followed was a near-decade-long relationship with this beloved franchise, alongside his work as Narrative Director for The Expanse: A Telltale Series. Among the many influences Jonat...

Send us Fan Mail In today’s episode of The Examined Game I talk with co-founder of Inkle Studios (80 Days, TR-49, Heaven’s Vault, Overboard, A Highland Song, Expelled, Sorcery) Joseph Humfrey. This interview is a counterpart to my chat with Jon Ingold, the other co-founder of Inkle. I talked with Joseph about what it takes to make a video game company sustainable in this day and age, and their approach to efficient game design, narrative design, branching narrative, not over extending and the...

Send us Fan Mail In today's episode of The Examined Game, I am talking with the creator of Outer Wilds, Alex Beachum. We get into the weeds of how the original prototype of the game came about back when Alex was studying game design, his approach to development, including the idea of "emotional prototyping", which helped build the bedrock that would become one of the most loved games of all time. Honestly, I don't think that is an understatement. People who play Outer Wilds love Outer Wilds, ...

Send us Fan Mail Today we are talking with Francisco Gonzalez as we go in depth on the genre of video game that I have been playing longer than any other in my life: point and click adventure games. I have been a fan of Francisco's games ever since I stumbled upon Lamplight City. I then had the pleasure of playing back retrospectively through his earlier work, which includes A Golden Wake and Shardlight, before eagerly anticipating the release of Rosewater, an epic western point and click adv...