Topic: Reset Button 3: Big Sky Trooper

[Karl Castaneda #2]

Reset Button returns in June for an in-depth discussion on Big Sky Trooper for the SNES
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/podcastArt.cfm?artid=23546

 Reset Button 3: Big Sky Trooper    

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Reset Button's back again for more classic-gaming action! This month, Karl talks to Hal Barwood, formerly of LucasArts, about his space-faring action/RPG, Big Sky Trooper.    

Aside from the game itself, Hal talks about the differences between developing a licensed and original game at the company, how the internet has changed gaming and the deafening cacophony of teletype machines. It's a great listen, so we hope you'll enjoy it.    

See you next month, folks!    

This episode was edited by Karl Castaneda.

[Jonnyboy117]

This was very interesting to hear, though challenging since I was not at all familiar with the game. This is one of those situations where the website version of the feature could help provide context with a lot of screens and videos.

I really like the technical details, like cramming data into a tiny save   game file. Also, it's funny but understandable to hear a game's producer openly talk about playing the ROM on emulators.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

It was fun to hear Hal talk about the curse of licensed games. He was my very first interview at Planet N2000 just before we became PGC. It's good to hear he's doing well on his own, doing his own thing.

[NWR_Karl]

Hal was a real treat to talk to, and yeah, I was kind of surprised that he endorses playing the game via a ROM so openly, but LucasArts clearly doesn't care about re-releasing it, and I doubt JVC even remembers they published it, so it's pretty harmless. And the art style is actually really perfect for a handheld screen.

The next Reset Button interview is also a game from LucasArts (actually from around the same time), so the subject of licensed vs. original IP is something that I'll be re-visiting in July.

[xcwarrior]

I've really enjoyed these talk, which is surprising since I haven't played any of the games before this. But keep them coming, hearing a different perspective from the developers is great.

[TJ Spyke]

I am listening to this now, good interview. I would like to point out though that Naughty Dog and Zipper Interactive do not live and die by how well their games do. They are both internal studios of Sony, so it doesn't really matter how well the games they develop sell; Sony could close them down even if they make a game that sells 10 million copies. Insomniac Games is technically third party though (they just chose to develop only for Sony until recently), so they are a different situation.

[noname2200]

I know I'm late listening to this podcast, but I'd still like to give you kudos on a job well done; you've gotten three great interviews in a row.  I never played or even heard of this game before this podcast, but after listening to Barwood speak I'm up for giving it a shot.  Think I should emulate it...?

Seriously though, this is the first time I've heard a developer tear into the small cartridge sizes so vociferously, although I'm sure that he's not alone on that.  It was interesting to hear how ordering cartridges worked though, and I can only wince at how much worse things must have gotten during the N64 era.

I'm also surprised to hear someone from Lucasarts openly admit that Lucasarts is terrible at marketing anything that isn't Star Wars or Indy: I grew up loving their original Adventure games, but I always suspected that for all the internet love they were never huge sellers, and that individual developers often had to fend for themselves.  Was Sierra a bigger player on the market?  Also, while I love Grim Fandango and would never want it to be undone, I'm sorry to hear that its failure led to other projects' cancellations.