Armchair Arcade Radio

Matt Chat 197: Lord British on Virtue

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:43:04 +0000

Lord British returns this week to flesh out our discussion of the later Ultima games, including the groundbreaking virtue system. Richard relates some of his favorite fan mails and comments, which include a heartfelt letter about a little girl whose life was changed forever by Ultima.

Please help spread the word about Matt Chat by posting this episode on your favorite social networking and bookmarking sites! Download the episode here.

Matt Chat 196: Lord British on Ultima

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:04:59 +0000

In the second part of my interview with Richard Garriott--aka Lord British, we chat about the origins of Ultima, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Apple II.

Download the mp4.

Matt Chat 195: Towns

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 15:17:54 +0000

This episode is a review of the game Towns, a 2012 release reminiscent of games like Settlers, Rogue, Dungeon Keeper, and Minecraft.

Download the mp4.

Matt Chat 194: Neal Hallford on Dungeon Siege and More

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Tue, 28 May 2013 19:22:33 +0000

In the fourth and final installment of my interview with Betrayal at Krondor designer Neal Hallford, we chat about a variety of topics starting with Dungeon Siege. Was Dungeon Siege too big for its britches? Then we chat about the hit game Champions of Norrath and why Neal prefers PC gaming to consoles. We wrap up with a discussion about Chris Taylor and his excellent leadership.

Download the mp4.

Matt Chat 193: Neal Hallford on Swords & Circuitry

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:51:22 +0000

I'm back this week with part three of my interview with Neal Hallford, designer of Betrayal at Krondor. In this installment, we chat about why Ron Gilbert's Cavedog company failed followed by a discussion of Neal's book Swords & Circuitry, the best-ever guide to creating your own computer role-playing games.

Download the mp4 here.
Sadly, Neal's Thief of Dreams kickstarter failed, but a third party has emerged to back him anyway.

Matt Chat 192: Neal Hallford on Betrayal at Krondor

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:41:02 +0000

In my second installment of my interview with Neal Hallford, we chat about his masterpiece, Betrayal at Krondor. Famous among CRPG aficionados for its epic story and superb writing, BaK is set in the fantasy world of Raymond E. Feist. Unfortunately, Neal did such a great job mimicking Feist's style that many people wrongly assume that it was Feist who penned the game script! The interview also covers why a proper sequel to the game was never made.

Download the mp4.

Matt Chat 191: Neal Hallford's Early Days

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:34:27 +0000

This week's Matt Chat features the first slice of an interview with fantasy author and game designer Neal Hallford, best known for his work on Betrayal at Krondor, Dungeon Siege, and Planet's Edge. He talks here about his roots and inspirations, which include Cinematronic's Space Wars arcade game. We also chat about his time at New World Computing, where he worked with Might and Magic creator JVC. There's lots of great stuff here for retro fans to enjoy.

Download the MP4.
You can support Neal's new Kickstarter project for his fantasy novel here.

Matt Chat 190: Divine Divinity

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:39:26 +0000

I'm back this week with a retrospective of Larian Studio's Divine Divinity, a 2002 release. It's a brilliant take on the Diablo genre, with immaculate artwork and one of the best soundtracks ever.

Download the mp4.
Support the Divinity: Original Sin kickstarter--3 days left!
Buy Divine Divinity from GOG.com using this link. No extra cost to you, but the show gets a kickback!

Matt Chat with Swen Vincke

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 20:22:20 +0000

Hi, all! I'm back this week to chat with Swen Vincke, the founder of Larian Studios, a Belgian outfit. Swen is a hilarious and passionate dude, so this is a riot even if you're not a big fan of Divine Divinity. The new game is definitely worth checking out, though, since it's a big move from action to turn-based battles. They've also got some great ideas for item combining and co-op concepts. This is one where I really want them to not just hit the basic goal, but start getting into their stretch goals. Check out their Kickstarter and see this thing; I'm sure you're enjoy it if you're at all into RPGs. Their kickstarter video has a genuine LOL moment that will have you in tears.

Download the video here.

Matt Chat 188: Joel Billings on the Decline of SSI

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:06:26 +0000

Joel Billings is back for one final time (at least for this interview series!) to tell us about the decline and fall of his one great company. Why isn't SSI with us today? Then there's the great What-ifs--What if Trip Hawkins had been at the meeting with EA? What if SSI had held off just a bit longer before selling out to Mindscape? Enjoy!

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Matt Chat 187: Lord British on Shroud of the Avatar

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:39:40 +0000

This week, I'm pleased to present a very special guest: Richard "Lord British" Garriott, the father of computer role-playing games. I'm sure this man needs no introduction with you guys. We talk mostly here about his Shroud of the Avatar kickstarter, which you definitely don't want to miss if you're a fan of Ultima and Ultima Online. The game will offer some really neat innovations, including a scalable multiplayer option and tons more interactivity than we've grown accustomed to. I'm in at the $125 tier for the box and cloth map.

Download the mp4.

Announcing Matt Barton's Kickstarter Project: Untitled, A Game with Various Rules and a Quantifiable Outcome

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:28:12 +0000

After days of planning and hours of editing, I have finally completed my Kickstarter announcement video. Please pledge right now to help me reach my funding goal of 100 million dollars in 30 days. That may sound like a large sum, but when you hear this pitch and what I'm planning, I think you'll agree it's well worth taking out a second mortgage on your home.

Download here. More details about the game below.

Matt Chat 186: Tom Hall on his Worlds of Wander Kickstarter

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:19:09 +0000

This week I'm joined by distinguished designer and id co-founder Tom Hall. In this first 20 mins or so of a 60+ minute interview, we chat about Tom's Kickstarter project Worlds of Wander. An ambitious platform game creator tool, WoW has unfortunately not done well, raising only $45,000 of a $400,000 goal. Tom's obviously disappointed and bit disheartened, but we still have a good chat about platform gaming in general and some of Tom's picks for exemplars that aspiring designers should study.

Download the mp4.

Matt Chat 185: Agustin Cordes on his Asylum Kickstarter

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:39:20 +0000

Mr. Agustin Cordes of Argentina is back this week to tell us about his Asylum kickstarter. In brief, he's trying to raise $100,666 to fund the last bit of development for what looks like an awesome "node-based" 3D graphical adventure. Unlike (ahem) other Kickstarters, he's got a working prototype (the "Interactive Teaser"). Josh Mandel is voicing the main character--and doing a fantastic job, of course. You might remember my interviews with him back in October of 2011. Anyway, enjoy the vid, and please pledge to Agustin's kickstarter quickly if you want that gorgeous boxed copy.

Download the mp4.

Matt Chat 184: Joel Billings talks Gold Box

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:11:19 +0000

In my third installment with SSI founder Joel Billings, we chat about the Gold Box series, Panzer General, and Dark Sun. If you've ever wondered why TSR chose SSI to represent its interests in the videogaming world, this is the video to see. Also check out my rad 3D effects on two of the classic Gold Box box covers.

You can download the video.

Matt Chat 183: Joel Billings and SSI's Rise

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:58:29 +0000

In the second part my interview with Joel Billings, founder of SSI, we chat about his company's growth and publishing strategy. During this period, SSI was publishing games from third-parties such as Questron and Phantasie, before doing some in-house work with Wizard's Crown.

You can download the mp4 here.

Matt Chat 182: Chris Taylor's Confession

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 16:44:31 +0000

Here it is, the Matt Chat to end all Matt Chats! Gas Powered Games' latest project, Wildman: An Evolutionary Action RPG, hasn't been going well, and Chris blames himself. In this hour-long interview, we see Chris at times sad, grateful, guilty, and brilliant. Without doubt, he's a Good Person, someone that nobody should want to see fail regardless of the project he takes on. What makes the situation worse, though, is that Wildman actually looks like a great game, especially for folks like me who love Civilization-style tech building. Check out the video, and don't forget to pledge a few dollars to the Kickstarter campaign. Every little bit helps.

You can download the mp4.

Matt Chat 181: Joel Billings on Computer Bismarck

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 16:56:19 +0000

Here's the first part of my interview with Joel Billings, founder of SSI and strategy wargame aficionado. We focus on Joel's background in wargaming and video games and then the earliest days of SSI and their battles with Avalon Hill.

You can download the video here.

Matt Chat 180: The Longest Journey

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:17:50 +0000

I'm back this week with The Longest Journey, a game proposed by Crow of Retro Road Show. While the game suffers from a very slow start, if you can get through the first couple hours you'll be rewarded with one of the best game narratives ever.

Download the mp4.

Matt Chat 179: Dave Marsh on FMV and More

matt@armchairarcade.com (Armchair Arcade Staff) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 18:19:42 +0000

In the fourth and final installment of my interview with Dave Marsh, we talk about a variety of topics including his later FMV games (including MTV's Club Dead), AOL-era MMOs (Starship Troopers Online, Aliens Online), and finally, his thoughts on getting a good job in the industry.

You can download the video here.