Favorite Developer Interviews

[Pyro]

It's been almost 7 years since this interview happened for the 20th anniversary of DOOM, but I always come back to it every ~18 months or so.




It's more of a fun interview (playing through the first act of DOOM with John Romero) than a serious one, but it's entertaining and his insights are pretty neat.

So what are your favorite interviews with developers? What tidbits did you enjoy from them? Feel free to link 'em.

 

[Fadewise]

The NoClip series on Warframe really digs into that studio's culture and has some fantastic insights into the evolution of the game.

 

[Dhruvenator]

Great thread topic! So it's a bit tangential and I hope you allow it (since almost everyone in the interview is a past dev) but this AMAZING interview between Ryan and almost every single exec throughout the history of Xbox is perfecto. A must watch for everyone regardless of platform imo. And lots of nuggets in there that will surprise people...

3 Xbox Bosses Share Secrets of the Console's Past - Podcast Unlocked 201

Current head of Xbox Phil Spencer joins former head Peter Moore, Xbox creator Seamus Blackley, and Podcast Unlocked host Ryan McCaffrey in a tell-all roundta...

youtu.be

 

[mattiewheels]

I'd love to buy a nice book full of Iwata Asks interviews. Those were excellent.

 

[Deleted member 12790]

This is great to watch, Jeff Minter is incredible. The bit where he gets sort of choked up talking about his back being up against the wall early in his career, resorting to literal shareware (not crippleware) where he was mailing out disks with his full game on them in zip lock bags to people asking if they'd like it to send a donation, and how the public actually rescued him and his careeer is pretty uplifting stuff.

 

[djplaeskool]

Anything with Yoko Taro

One that sticks in my mind is the interview he did with SE UK for the release of Drakengard 3 where he used a sock puppet to pontificate on the morality of the massive amount of killing you do in the game.

 

[cj_iwakura]

 

[Pyro]

The NoClip series on Warframe really digs into that studio's culture and has some fantastic insights into the evolution of the game.

Click to shrink...

Everything by Noclip is amazing, the Half-Life 2 doc is prolly my favorite.

Great thread topic! So it's a bit tangential and I hope you allow it (since almost everyone in the interview is a past dev) but this AMAZING interview between Ryan and almost every single exec throughout the history of Xbox is perfecto. A must watch for everyone regardless of platform imo. And lots of nuggets in there that will surprise people...

3 Xbox Bosses Share Secrets of the Console's Past - Podcast Unlocked 201

Current head of Xbox Phil Spencer joins former head Peter Moore, Xbox creator Seamus Blackley, and Podcast Unlocked host Ryan McCaffrey in a tell-all roundta...

youtu.be

Click to shrink...

This definitely counts and I really need to listen to it again.

Click to shrink...

Everything by Archipel is also amazing! I think their Dreamcast doc will also be something I'll rewatch for quite some time.

 

[Pyro]

Bumping for the morning crowd: also check out Steve Gaynor's Tone Control: Conversations with Game Developers. I've listened to these interviews a lot over the years and always enjoy their stories. It's been over for almost two years and the first episode stretches back almost 7 years but I think what they touch upon in regards to game design will forever be relevant.

 

[MDSVeritas]

Great thread topic! So it's a bit tangential and I hope you allow it (since almost everyone in the interview is a past dev) but this AMAZING interview between Ryan and almost every single exec throughout the history of Xbox is perfecto. A must watch for everyone regardless of platform imo. And lots of nuggets in there that will surprise people...

3 Xbox Bosses Share Secrets of the Console's Past - Podcast Unlocked 201

Current head of Xbox Phil Spencer joins former head Peter Moore, Xbox creator Seamus Blackley, and Podcast Unlocked host Ryan McCaffrey in a tell-all roundta...

youtu.be

Click to shrink...

This one is so good, I distinctly remember listening to it when it came out and being amazed they got that lineup of guys.

I love Peter Moore's "they hurt my Dreamcast" moment

 

[Strings]

I really like this interview featuring character designers Kazuma Kaneko (SMT etc) and Tomomi Kobayashi (the SaGa series).

They're both super fun interviewees and get into some interesting info regarding their backgrounds, their thoughts on real life fashion (and how it compares to game characters), etc. Random choice quotes:

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It's adorable how Kaneko works on such dreary games (down to deciding the tone and designing the story and aesthetic) but is such a dorky and funny dude. I recommend reading the whole thing and a bunch of other cool stuff shmuplations has translated and compiled over the years.

 

[Pyro]

Shameless self bump since I recently went down into a Virtua Fighter rabbit hole for some reason. These fan translated interviews for the 20th anniversary have some fascinating insights.

 

[azeke]

Iwata Asks in general are excellent, but Iwata interviewing Ono for Street Fighter IV 3DS release was a treasure trove of character moments from both Ono and Iwata himself:

Iwata Asks

iwataasks.nintendo.com