War Stories

gaming & entertainment

With 150,000 possible land battle locations, 2,500 river crossing locations, 20,000 possible ambush locations and much more, Total War: Rome II was quite the ambitious project. Pawel Wojs, lead battlefield artist on Total War: Rome II, discusses how the plan to integrate land, sea, and siege battle elements into the game was nearly too ambitious a task.

gaming & entertainment

Glen Schofield, the co-founder of Sledgehammer Games and the creator/director of Dead Space, goes in-depth on the development of the classic third-person horror shooter. Glen set out to create the scariest video game of all-time, borrowing gameplay elements from Resident Evil 4 to create a product with a unique blend of horror and action.

gaming & entertainment

In 1995, Westwood Studios set out to make a game based on one of the most beloved science fiction films ever made. They took a big risk, applying unproven technology and storytelling methods. Blade Runner wold go on to become of the highest-selling action-adventure games of all time.

technology

When creating Ultima Online, Richard Garriott had grand dreams. He and Starr Long planned on implementing a virtual ecology into their massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It was an ambitious system, one that would have cows that graze and predators that eat herbivores. However, once the game went live a small problem had arisen...

gaming & entertainment

1998's Thief: The Dark Project was a pioneer for the stealth genre, utilizing light and shadow as essential gameplay mechanics. The very thing that Thief became so well-known for was also the game's biggest development hurdle. Looking Glass Studios founder Paul Neurath recounts the difficulties creating Thief: The Dark Project, and how its AI systems had to be completely rewritten years into development.

gaming & entertainment

Brad Wardell, founder of Stardock Corporation, details the difficulties in the development of Elemental: War of Magic, a game that shipped in a largely broken state.

gaming & entertainment

Croteam founder Davor Hunski discusses the long development history of the first game in the Serious Sam series. Starting development all the way back in 1996, Serious Sam went through many different iterations, with big shifts occurring every time a new ground-breaking game released. With money running out, Croteam went for a Hail Mary. They crafted a vertical slice that packed all the best bits of the game into one demo.

gaming & entertainment

Toys for Bob's Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford talk in-depth about the development history of Star Control and Star Control II.

gaming & entertainment

Tim Jones, lead artist and producer for the classic PC game "Aliens vs. Predator," talks about the risky development choices that ultimately led to the game's incredible success.

gaming & entertainment

Westwood Studios co-founder Louis Castle talks about the development of the classic RTS, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun.

gaming & entertainment

Reactor Online. Sensors Online. Weapons Online. All Systems Nominal! In this Special Edition of War Stories, Russ Bullock (President, Piranha Games), Derek James (Designer), and Brian Windover (Lead Engineer) discuss the development of the upcoming MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. We also speak with Jordan Weisman, founder of FASA Corporation and creator of the BattleTech universe, and get a little bit of a history of the MechWarrior and BattleTech franchises.

gaming & entertainment

Thomas Grip, designer of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, discusses the development of one of the most frightening games ever made. Clip pulled from this video: https://youtu.be/L1RKuM57nPA?t=109

gaming & entertainment

Mega Crit Games co-founders Casey Yano and Anthony Giovannetti set out to combine the roguelike and deck building genres into one game, but found themselves faced with an obstacle: how to reveal the enemies’ intent. With the help of an active playtesting base on Steam, they realized that to make the game succeed they would need to scrap the ‘next move’ system for something more Twitch Streaming friendly. And thus, the ‘intent’ system was born.

gaming & entertainment

Lucas Pope, creator of Return of the Obra Dinn, explains how the localization of the game's logbook put the game in some seriously dangerous waters.

gaming & entertainment

Aleksander Kauch, lead game programmer for This War of Mine, goes behind the scenes of the game's development and explains how they turned a management sim into a visceral experience about civilians at war.

gaming & entertainment

Charlie Cleveland, design director for Subnautica, goes behind the scenes of the game's development and explains how they crafted an exciting and dangerous experience without allowing the player to fight back. Charlie shows some early prototypes for Subnautica, and describes why they decided to create a game with primarily non-violent gameplay.

gaming & entertainment

Sébastien Bénard, lead designer at Motion Twin, goes behind the scenes of Dead Cells' development. Sébastien explains the challenges they came across and how they made the game feel so good to play.

gaming & entertainment

Sid Meier, the creator of the popular Civilization video game series, goes behind the scenes of the development of the franchise's first entry. Sid explains some of the challenges they came across while transitioning the game from real-time to turn-based strategy.

business

When Lorne Lanning first conceived of what would become Oddworld, he wasn't necessarily setting out to make video games. What he needed to do was tell a story. On this episode of War Stories, we hear from the co-founder of Oddworld Inhabitants and learn all the ups and downs of Abe's journey to the screen over the past 22 years, including what comes next for the franchise in Oddworld: Soulstorm.

gaming & entertainment

Cyan Worlds co-founder Rand Miller goes behind the scenes of the development of one of the best selling PC games of all time, Myst. The HyperCard-developed title ran into some snags when trying to run on the CD-ROM format. Rand and his brother, Robyn, compressed the image and audio data as much as they could so the game could run smoothly on 1x CD-ROM drives.

technology

For today’s episode of War Stories, Ars Technica sat down with Naughty Dog Co-founder Andy Gavin to talk about the hurdles in bringing the original Crash Bandicoot to gamers around the world. When Andy and his partner Jason Rubin made the decision to bring the action platforming genre into three dimensions, it required living up to their company ethos of “leaving no stone unturned” in the search for memory - even if it meant hacking Sony’s library code.

gaming & entertainment

On this episode of War Stories, Ars Technica sits down with Rob Cunningham to revisit the groundbreaking 1999 3D real-time strategy game, Homeworld. When Rob and a group of friends founded Relic Entertainment, they set out to marry the gameplay of Command & Conquer with the feel of Battlestar Galactica - all in a full 3D environment. On top of the everpresent memory limitations of the day, the team needed to get creative in figuring out how to orient players when, in space, no direction is up.

gaming & entertainment

For today’s episode of War Stories, Ars Technica sat down with Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner to learn about the challenges he faced while bringing his ambitious vision for the game to life. As the 1980's wound down, he found himself fighting against not only the limitations of the Apple II hardware but the impending death of the platform itself. Decades later, Prince of Persia remains a classic example of how the constraints of early gaming led to solutions that advanced the artform.

gaming & entertainment

For today’s episode of War Stories, Ars Technica is joined by Sam Hargrave, director of the Netflix action film “Extraction.” Hargrave breaks down the technical challenges he and his crew overcame in conceiving, choreographing and executing a breathtaking, 12-minute action scene with star Chris Hemsworth. Hear directly from the man behind the camera as he details every factor that needs consideration when stitching a series of chaotic set pieces into a single, uninterrupted shot.

gaming & entertainment

In conjunction with the 10th anniversary of its release, today Ars Technica is joined by Sam Lake, Creative Director of Remedy Games, to share insights on the development of 2010's influential action thriller Alan Wake.

gaming & entertainment

On today’s episode of War Stories, Ars Technica is joined by the creators of the film “Robert The Bruce” to breakdown the bone-chilling conditions under which they worked while bringing the story to life. Despite having a budget more suited to an independent film than a Hollywood period piece, the cast and crew of “Robert The Bruce” overcame each challenge and delivered a film that feels intimate from moment to moment, but epic in scope.

gaming & entertainment

Boomshakalaka! Today on War Stories, Ars Technica is joined by NBA JAM lead designer and programmer Mark Turmell to talk about the chaotic birth of an epically successful sports franchise. From the early days of earning the NBA's blessing, to the uncharted territory of digitizing superstars' likenesses into the game, Mark and team delivered an experience that captured imaginations around the globe, altered the landscape of sports simulations, and gave rise to some truly enduring catchphrases. When you collect a billion dollars worth of quarters after just a year in arcades, it's safe to say your creation is "On Fire!"

technology

Today on War Stories Ars Technica is joined by Hisko Hulsing, director and production designer of the Amazon original series “Undone.” The award-winning animator breaks down how he and his team achieved the show’s unique look, taking footage of actors shot on a soundstage and transforming them into impressionistic dreamscapes. Combining modern digital techniques like projection mapping with environments handcrafted in oil paints, “Undone” represents a new apex in Hikso Hulsing’s craft and a new frontier in cutting-edge, adult animation.

gaming & entertainment

Today on War Stories, Ars Technica is joined by Diablo lead programmer David Brevik to break down the genesis and development of a PC hack & slash masterpiece. Unbeknownst to some, the original concept for Diablo called for a traditional, turn-based RPG - a genre Brevik came of age with and was heavily influenced by. However, following a fateful vote by show of hands at the Blizzard North offices, Diablo became something new entirely and an initially reluctant David Brevik was on the cusp of creating the first entry in a legendary action role-playing series.

gaming & entertainment

Today on War Stories, Ars Technica is joined by Dan Greenawalt, Creative Director of the Forza franchise, who takes us through the colossal potential (and many challenges) of utilizing deep neural networks to build sophisticated racing AI. Beginning with the original Drivatar AI in Forza Motorsport for XBOX in 2005, Greenawalt and his colleagues experimented with computer learning, refining their methods from iteration to iteration. It was once the AI system was unshackled from local hard drives and placed online in Forza Motorsport 5, however, that the floodgates truly opened. As the AI rapidly evolved, producing unexpected new behaviors, the Forza team quickly learned how challenging it would be to wield this two-edged sword in creating realistic opponents.

business

Today on War Stories, Ars Technica is joined by Gail Tilden, the visionary marketing mind behind Nintendo of America's triumphant launch of the NES in 1985. 35 years ago, Nintendo knew they had a winner on their hands with the revolutionary Nintendo Entertainment System. However, following the early-1980’s collapse of the U.S. video game market, skeptical retailers and consumers alike would prove a difficult obstacle in bringing their product to the masses. Learn surprising details about the ups and downs Gail and her band of colleagues overcame in making the NES the cultural icon it is today, the methodology and partnerships that went into convincing doubtful retailers, and how Nintendo ultimately persuaded millions of families to open their living rooms to more than "just the next fad." If Gail's interviews for "High Score" on Netflix left you wanting more, this episode has you covered.

gaming & entertainment

Today Ars Technica is joined by Warren Spector, designer and director of the highly influential Deus Ex. Released in 2000, Spector set out to create the game of his dreams, one that would blend aspects of stealth, role playing, and first person shooters in innovative ways - and the legacy of his success can be seen across all modern shooting games.

gaming & entertainment

On this edition of War Stories Lee Perry, Gameplay Designer and Level Designer of the original Gears of War, joins Ars Technica to recount how the legendary shooter that spawned a franchise almost left its multiplayer mode ambitions on the cutting room floor.