SteamLUG Cast

Twenty Minute Chat and Expandalones edited by Corben78

Season 03, Episode 20

Recorded
Published
Hosts
ValiantCheese hmccio DerRidda
Special Guests
nullspeak Stephen_FX EntropicFlip

Description

Question joins our hosts to talk about The Magic Circle, a satirical game about the game industry

Clean language

78.08 MB Ogg 100.82 MB MP3 YOUTUBE

Creative Commons By-Share‐Alike license logo

Shownotes written by HeroOhOne

Introduction

introduces
Special guests from Question, Stephen Alexander ()
Kain Shin ()
Jordan Thomas ()

Chat with Special Guests Stephen Alexander, Kain Shin, and Jordan Thomas of Question

The Magic Circle summary
A game about making games [source] [source]
Stephen and Jordan met at Irrational Games [source] working on Bioshock 1 and Bioshock Infinite
Decided to form Question [source] to work together on their own project
Kain and Jordan worked together at Ion Storm [source] on Thief: Deadly Shadows
Question wanted to make something less serious
Unity was quicker to prototype than UDK
Attractive cost of license
The Magic Circle is a playful commentary on the game industry
Player input influences the world
Many possible combinations and solutions to puzzles
Alludes to game design
Ending has a change in gameplay
Balancing story and gameplay was a unique challenge
enjoyed the art and wanted to see more of the story
Demo includes the first 30 minutes of the game
Saves progress to continue in full game
Stephen is proud of the sketch world
liked the spoiler!
Question risked being mysterious in the marketing
Balancing presenting game's fiction and game itself
Fictional crowdfunding webpage [source] for game within The Magic Circle
They always wanted to make a Linux build but did not have an install at first
Linux users help other Linux users in community
Linux sales of The Magic Circle is near the Mac sales
JP LeBreton () influenced the desire for a Linux port
A character in game was made with him in mind
appeared as a guest in SteamLUG Cast s02e16
Game released in early access in May 2015 and launched in July 2015
Linux support soon after
Question had a very pleasant and helpful early access experience
The Magic Circle has continued to receive updates
May get more content in the future
Question has interest in creating a more serious game in the future
Considering making a unique horror game
The Magic Circle may come to console platforms
There are many interesting ideas that could be implemented in the game
The challenge is choosing the correct ones
Stephen is the artist while being well versed in many other disciplines
Kain does engineering work
Jordan is writer, level designer, promoter; enjoys unique concepts
Being smaller and independent, everyone works on tasks they may be uncomfortable with
James Urbaniak () helped humanize a character with voice over
Leave feedback on the game in forum [source]
Kain likes the Dark Souls series [source] [source] and has recently enjoyed The Beginner's Guide [source]
Stephen liked SOMA [source]
Jordan crawls through Darkest Dungeon [source]

Our Gaming

has been playing Binding of Isaac: Rebirth [source]
Stephen has been playing SOMA [source], The Forest [source], ARK: Survival Evolved [source]
has been playing Assault Android Cactus [source], Expand [source], and ARK: Survival Evolved [source]

SteamLUG Community Stuff

Past Events
PULSAR: Lost Colony [source]
Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball [source]
Skullgirls [source]
Assault Android Cactus [source]
Upcoming Events
Altitude [source]
Synergy [source]
Headcrab Frenzy [source]
Terraria [source]
talked to Expand developer Chris Johnson () [source]
GamingOnLinux hosting a Linux game jam [source]

Steam/Valve News

Steam Hardware (Steam Controller and Steam Link) preorders arriving
A udev rule is required for the controller to work properly [source]
Team Fortress themed Steam Link promotional video [source]
Ars Technica reviewed Alienware Steam Machine [source]
Valve has been removing SteamOS icon from games which have dependencies outside of the Steam Runtime [source]

General Gaming News

Humble Bundle lays off employees [source]
Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power has a Linux beta [source]
Virtual Programming has updated their site to show Overlord, Overlord 2, Saints Row 2, Saints Row 3 [source]
Saints Row: Gat out of Hell showing signs of Linux support [source]
A Telltale engine developer has asked Linux community to show interest in Minecraft: Story Mode port [source]
Firewatch has a release date of February 9th [source]
Civilization: Beyond Earth expansion Rising Tide has been released [source]
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut released [source]

Crowdfunding

The Journey Down chapter three has been funded [source]
New gameplay video released of Thimbleweed Park [source]
Descent Underground now playable by alpha and beta backers [source]

Sign-off

SteamLUG Cast is a casual, fortnightly audiocast which aims to provide interesting news and discussion for the SteamLUG and broader Linux gaming communities.

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