Kiwi Talkz
by Kiwi
Podcast with various Video Game developers as well as other people involved in entertainment such as TV/Film
Podcast episodes
DOOM Eternal - 5th Anniversary Interview With Animator Chris Cantero
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO DOOM ETERNAL!! To celebrate I spoke to former DOOM Eternal animator Chris Cantero, he left a few years to make his own indie game High Fructose, you can find here https://store.steampowered.com/app/2506550/High_Fructose/ #doom #doometernal #idsoftware SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @canterochris BLUESKY - @canterochris.bsky.social TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:28 - Glory Kills 03:48 - Mocap/Principals Of Animation 05:55 - The Hardest Part Of Animating Glory Kills 07:30 - Making The Marauder Hard/QAing At The End Of The Project 08:52 - Working With Hugo Martin/Jiu-Jitsu 12:04 - Working On The ID Tech Engine 14:48 - Animating Maligog/Chris Loves The Lord Of The Rings Films 17:30 - Chris’ Thoughts On DOOM The Dark Ages Trailers 19:15 - Doing Pre Production On DOOM The Dark Ages 21:10 - Animal Crossing/DOOM Eternal Meme 22:00 - Favourite Areas 22:56 - Favourite Bosses 24:11 - Speedrunning 25:55 - Favourite Music Track/Mick Gordon/Using The OST For The Gym 27:15 - Self-Imposed Crunch 27:45 - Banana Story/Getting In Trouble From HR 29:15 - Marty Stratton Story/Commander Keen Story/Meeting The OG ID Software Crew 31:40 - Q+A - What Is Some Cut Content From The Game 33:47 - Q+A - Was Slower Gameplay Than DOOM 2016 Ever Considered 34:20 - Motion Sickness/Camera Work 36:00 - Chris’ New Game High Fructose 40:57 - Marketing High Fructose 42:15 - Hugo Martin Is Amazing At Marketing 43:00 - ID Software Teams Are Siloed/Marty & Hugo Are Very Approachable 45:20 - Multiplayer Being Cut From DOOM The Dark Ages 46:15 - DOOM Benefits From Not Being Grounded In Realism 47:20 - Where To Follow Chris Cantero
#185 - Jeremy Bryant Interview (Animator On Skyrim, Fallout 4, 76 & Starfield)
Jeremy Bryant was an animator at Bethesda for over 15 years from Skyrim to Starfield. This is his first interview! #starfield #fallout #skyrim TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:26 - Jeremy Commuted To Work By Plane 04:07 - Working With Dennis On The Werewolf 06:26 - How The Animation Tools Evolved From Skyrim To Starfield 08:43 - Mocap Use On Skyrim/Jeremy Used His Own Mocap On Skyrim DLC 10:35 - Animating Hands/Hardest Things Animating 11:54 - Jeremy Was Known As The Gun Reloader Animator Guy 14:06 - Non-Combat Animations 15:20 - Non Humans Were Key Framed Not Mocapped/Only 7 Animators On Skyrim 16:55 - Bethesda’s Management System In The Old Days Doesn’t Scale Well 18:50 - Bethesda Expanded Too Fast For The Culture To Remain The Same/Team Sizes 20:15 - Starfields Roadmap Required A Massive Team 21:45 - Rockstar’s Level Of Polish/Downsides Of Large Teams 24:00 - Animating Procedural Generated Content 25:00 - Jeremy’s Thoughts On Todd Howard 28:50 - Jeremy Changed From A Full Time Employee To A Contractor Part Way Through Starfield 30:00 - Pros & Cons Of Remote Work/How Covid Impacted Starfields Development 32:15 - Microsoft Acquisition 33:15 - Modding Community 35:20 - Bethesdas Feature Creep Culture 36:30 - Why Jeremy Left Bethesda 39:10 - Games Are Costing Too Much To Make/Layoffs/Dev Salaries 43:15 - Larian Studios/Growing Studios Gradually 44:45 - Q+A - Why Slo Mo Kills Were Removed From Starfield 45:45 - Q+A - How Does An Animator Go About Animating A Mythical Creature 47:00 - Game Jams At Bethesda/Originally There Was A Mad Max Motorcycle In Fallout 4 50:00 - Many Vehicles Made For Starfield That May Still Be Added/Vampire Lord In Skyrim 51:30 - Pros & Cons Of Bethesda Migrating To Unreal Engine 5/Creation Engine 57:52 - It’s Easier To Make Realistic Graphics Than Stylized Graphics 1:00:25 - Elder Scrolls VI/Gameplay Is More Important Than Anything Else 1:02:10 - Bethesda’s Culture Is Great/Game Devs Who Have Never Shipped A Game Due To Layoffs 1:04:30 - Jeremy Asks Kiwi For His Thoughts On Xbox Multiplatform Strategy/Gamepass & Game He Played Most In 2024 1:08:30 - Closing Comments/LinkedIn Is Facebook 2.0
#184 - Shawn Layden Interview (Former CEO & Chairman of Playstation & SIEA)
Shawn Layden was former CEO of Playstation worldwide studios and former chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment America. His career in Sony is legendary as a Japanese localizer that had a meteoric rise to be one of the head honchos of the whole company. #playstation #sony #ps5 SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER -@SHAWNLAYDEN BLUESKY - @shawnlayden.bsky.social TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:02 - Why Playstation Used Numbers For Each Console Iteration 03:26 - Being The Fix It Guy At Sony/What Motivates Shawn 05:45 - Building A Reputation 07:00 - Doing 18 Hour Days During The PSN Hack 09:00 - Why Sony Is So Good At Marketing 13:01 - How FOMO Is Used In Marketing 14:00 - Why Sony Now Releases 1st Party Games On PC/Initial Pushback 15:50 - Why Astro Bot Was Shawn’s 2024 GOTY 18:30 - Why The Japanese Are So Good At Game Design 21:57 - Western Games Are Too Big In Scope/Dev Costs Come From Salaries 23:05 - Why So Many Game Studios Are On The West Coast Of America/Environmental Costs 24:57 - Game Devs Commute Times Create Major Sunk Costs/Working From Home 28:30 - Shawn Pushed Realistic Graphics Well Acknowledging It’s Not Sustainable 30:52 - How Sony Prices Games & When To Drop The Price 33:40 - Concords Failure/Why Games As A Service Was Popular And No Longer Isnt 37:31 - Why The PS6 Won’t Be Discless 40:00 - Launching Handhelds Are Hard/Why The PS Vita Failed 43:00 - Sony Characters Won’t Appear In Super Smash Bros 44:20 - Why Playstation All-Stars Didn’t Sell Well 46:48 - Q+A - How Will The Market Of Fortnite/Roblox Players Change As They Get Older 49:28 - Q+A - Shawn’s Opinion On Microsoft’s Multiplatform Approach 51:22 - Nintendo Are Best Positioned To Navigate The “Diminishing Returns” Problem 54:18 - Q+A - What Games Did You Think Would Be Big Hits But Weren’t. 58:21 - You Learn More From Failures Than Successes 59:43 - Closing Comments
#182 - Dennis Mejillones Interview (Character Artist On Skyrim, Fallout 4, 76 & Starfield)
Dennis is an exceptional character artist who is best known for his tenure at Bethesda from Skyrim to Starfield. He has now retired from the video game industry. #starfield #fallout4 #skyrim SOCIAL MEDIA ARTSTATON - https://www.artstation.com/vsions INSTAGRAM - @vsions1 TWITTER - @Vsions Y OUTUBE - @Vsions TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:30 - Rivalry With Jonah Lobe At Bethesda 04:10 - Werewolf Was Almost Cut From Skyrim 08:40 - Dennis Broke Work Protocol To Get Things In Bethesda Games Resulting In Burned Bridges 12:40 - Work On NPC Eyes In Fallout 4 That Todd Rejected 17:03 - Dennis’ Thoughts On Todd Howard 20:48 - Creation Engine Has Been Rewritten Multiple Times/Misunderstanding Of Bethesda Development 24:00 - Difference Between Rockstar & Bethesda Games 26:00 - Bethesda Devs Agree With Fan Criticisms 28:48 - Modding Community 29:50 - Beauacracy Has Changed Bethesda/Staff Are Underpaid 34:30 - Fun Isn’t The Focus Of Games Anymore 37:05 - Todd Is In A Tough Position With Elder Scrolls VI Cause Of Microsoft 40:10 - No One Can Ever Replace Todd 42:00 - Q+A - What Were The Teams Feelings Towards The End Of Developing Skyrim 44:57 - Q+A - Why Heavy Gore Was Cut From Starfield 47:22 - Q+A - Which Model Changes Most From Concept Art To In Game 49:20 - Robots Age More Gracefully Than Humans 50:58 - 3D Models/Full Sentry Bot Robot Malfunctioning Story 55:20 - Fallout TV Show 57:16 - Closing Comments
#181 - Will Shen Interview(Designer On Skyrim, Fallout 4, 76 & Starfield)
Will Shen was a designer at Bethesda for over 20+ years and his story is amazing as he started off as an intern on Fallout 3 and became lead designer on Starfield. #starfield #fallout4 #bethesdagamestudios SOCIAL MEDIA X - @WillShen101 BLUESKY - @willshen101.bsky.social Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9jtZN92eGHA9Hxh-jYGqBw/join TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:30 - Will’s Internship At Bethesda Was A Trial By Fire 02:08 - Who Interviewed Will Both Times 02:56 - Will’s Relationship With Todd Howard 09:20 - Emil Telling Will His Quest In Skyrim Was The Worst Quest In The Game/Redoing Skyrims Design 11:44 - The Most Important Aspect Of An Intro & Tutorial 13:30 - Bioshock Is An Example Of A Good Intro 14:35 - In Leadership You Don’t Have Any Control 16:30 - Bethesda Delegates Voice Acting To An External Company 18:09 - Learning To Let Go From Being In Control Of Voice Acting/Guidance 20:18 - Including Multiple Accents In Starfield 22:30 - Maori Tattoo Controversy/Ballooning Of Bethesda Staff 30:15 - How Will Would Become More Productive With A Bureaucratic System 32:30 - Why Will Left Bethesda 35:03 - Elder Scrolls VI/GTA VI Discussion 37:30 - More Money = More Problems 40:45 - Games Are Too Long Nowadays 49:03 - Q+A - Has Bethesda Experimented With Other Game Genres 51:34 - Settling On The Number Of Planets In Starfield/Procedural Content System 55:16 - Q+A - Who Has Replaced Kurt Kuhlmann As Lore Master Of The Elder Scrolls 58:52 - Q+A - Balancing The Main Quest & Side Quests 1:01:50 - Production Pipeline/Curveballs 1:05:15 - Where To Follow Will Shen