David Hellman

While in Chicago last month, I recorded an interview with Columbia College’s gaming podcast, Critical Hit. This a well-made show which I whole-heartedly recommend. The interview was very well-prepared, and even later on, when the conversation becomes more freeform and casual, it remains a worthwhile listen. Hopefully my perception isn’t skewed because I enjoyed myself! We talked so much, they got two episodes out of it.

The show begins with an interview about Braid and indie game development. Later on the guys asked me about my career path (if you will) from art school through Braid and (conceivably) beyond. Then we talk about upcoming games and games of the past. The tone progresses linearly from polished professionalism (credit to Joe Locastro) towards irreverent improvisation (Anthony Sixto), finally into audience-insulting profanity (me). John Gosling accompanies throughout in a low register.

Direct Download for Part 1
Direct Download for Part 2

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Visit the Critical Hit homepage (and stream the show from your browser).

Thanks to the Critical Hit team for an enjoyable conversation.

Mihai Lazar from the GMZzz blog recently interviewed me about Braid, A Lesson Is Learned, and the future. Out of an abundance of caution, I frequently employed the “I don’t recall” tactic. Still, Mihai’s interrogative contortions and analytic ambushes are worth the read.

One nice thing about this interview is that although it started in email questionnaire format, we ended up going back and forth a little bit with follow-up questions.

You can read it here.

Online magazine The Arc just posted their latest issue, which includes an interview with me. They introduce me as a “genius” but then I spend the interview talking about parrots that say bad words on YouTube. So there you go.

It’s a cool magazine! Last month they interviewed Ian Dallas of The Unfinished Swan. But games are just one section in their rather well-rounded collection of interests, which include film, music, cooking, travel, and more. If you like it, consider subscribing. It’s just a free e-mail list that informs you of new issues.

I was recently interviewed by a Brazillian games podcast, Now Loading Round #45. My Portuguese being weak, the interview was conducted in English. The podcast includes both the original and translation (although it’s mostly Portuguese!).

English language readers can view the page translated by Google.

We talked about Braid’s art, the sometimes confusing marriage of gameplay and storytelling, and I even fielded a few questions that were obviously written for Jon!

Just a few days after my first appearance on At 1UP, I got to return alongside two intellectual giants of the indie games scene. Jason Rohrer is a pioneer of the so-called “art games” category — games which deliberately carry personal or philosophical statements in their logic and behavior — and Eskil Steenberg is a man creating a Massively Multiplayer Online game entirely by himself, using his own tools.

I had just seen both of their talks in the Indie Games Summit (where I snapped these photos), and leapt at the chance to share a table with them for an hour. In particular, I was very keen to pick Eskil’s brain, but it turns out it’s very good at picking itself, as one should deduce from his work.

Directly download the mp3 here.

Or subscribe to At 1UP on iTunes.

EDIT: I just listened to it … You might wonder, especially towards the end, if a producer sped up the tape to fit into a time constraint. But no, everyone was really talking that fast.

On Monday, the first day of GDC, I joined Scott Sharkey at 1UP and a dark cloud of indie developers for a roaming thunderstorm. Topics include respectful vs. jerky design, challenge/difficulty, inspiration, and more. There is also a lot of giggling. It’s more Judd Apatow than Charlie Rose.

There are two parts:

Starting at 5:30 Scott Sharkey, Derek Yu (Aquaria, Spelunky), Brandon McCartin (TIGSource, Balding’s Quest), Cactus (Psychosomnium, inappropriate hugging), and me

Starting at 38:30 Scott Sharkey, Tommy Refenes (Goo, Super Meat Boy), Mark Johns (Space Barnacle, Shit Game), Mark Essin (Flywrench), and me

Go to this page to download it.

This will only mean anything to you if you have already seen this.

Made by Action Button .net Video.

Time magazine has included Braid in its list of the top 10 games of 2008, slotting it into the high-ish position of 2. In his blurb, Lev Grossman strongly implies that Braid offers “near-infinite entertainment.”

Grossman’s list favors big-budget, well-marketed heavies like Grand Theft Auto IV, Little Big Planet and Rock Band 2, although it notably includes three exceptions. Besides Braid, those are Hunted Forever, a graphically spartan yet evocative Flash platformer at #8, and Fieldrunners, a tower defense title for iPhone at #9.

Here’s a segment from Spike’s recent indie games feature where Geoff Keighley talks to me about Braid. Will Wright also appears. This video is actually part 4 of 4.

The music is very dramatic!

You’ll notice I’m shy at first because Geoff was sitting very close to me for a man.

Below are parts 1 through 3, which feature Dylan Cuthbert (Pixeljunk Eden), Dylan Fitterer (Audiosurf), and Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel (World of Goo).

Read the rest of this entry »

Spike has nominated Braid for Best Independent Game, alongside World of Goo, PixelJunk Eden, and Audiosurf.

If you’d like to vote for your favorite, go here.

There’s something about “fuel,” which I don’t really agree with.

Earlier this month, a Spike TV crew came to my apartment to shoot an interview which is going to run close to (or perhaps immediately before?) the awards. I’m told it will be part of a half-hour feature on indie games of 2008. The crew left a huge number of Capri Sun juice pouches and Odwalla bars in my fridge.