The Gamemaker Podcast - Now Live- Episode 12 Out Now

Hey y'all!

Little bit late, but episode 6 is now available! Been up against it with time these last couple of weeks, glad I had the week off work - just managed to get it all edited and uploaded this morning!
Ahh I seem to be perpetually one episode behind :) Finished ep 4 this morning!

Just a quickie to say loving the podcast; I think the quality has really improved as you've got into the swing of it - well done. Loved hearing all the interviewees. Can't wait to move on to 5 where I see the audio has improved which is my only remaining criticism after listening to first 4.

Hope you don't get the historical 6 episode fatigue and keep on making them :)
 

rIKmAN

Member
Looking forward to listening to ep6 a little later, just wanted to say that there was a massive improvement in the audio quality in the last episode (which being honest, wasn't hard haha) and to thank you for your hard work in making / editing and improving each episode.

Keep it up!
 
M

mysticjim

Guest
Hi Guys

@Michael Bateman - thanks dude, I'm really pleased you're finding it useful. Got to thank my guests really for giving their time and taking part, I've certainly found all of them personally to be really inspiring and motivating - it's really helped me get back into the swing of things in terms of my own game development projects.

No signs of fatigue here at the moment, just arranged the interview for what will be episode 7, and I'm massively excited about it :)

@rIKmAN - cheers man, I was very pleased to sort out the audio issues as podcasts live or die by their audio quality. I hope to keep going - but it's a question of time and finding guests. So far it's not been too much of a problem - I'm going to evaluate it at 10 episodes, by that stage I hope to be at a point with the game I'm working on to see if I can still balance everything out. If I reach the point in development I'm hoping for then it's conceivable I may have to prioritise things differently. I don't want to just stop the podcast but might have to consider going monthly, or maybe take a few of weeks out to get a whole bunch of interviews of done then releasing them weekly for while in a like season. Either way, I think there's a lot more episodes to come. :)
 
B

Blazing

Guest
I had no idea there was a Game Maker podcast. I listened to episode 6 at work today and really enjoyed it. My only critique is I would prefer if you either make the voice audio 10-20% louder or the music 10-20% quieter. I work around some pretty loud machinery (soon to be replaced with quiet modern ones!) and have to turn the volume up very high and pay close attention to what's being said so loud music is more of an issue for me than most. However, it could just be the fact that your voice is on the soft side (which isn't a bad thing) and is therefore more affected than normal by all the racket coming from the machines.

Keep up the good work! I look forward to the next episode.
 
C

Chatterb0x

Guest
Yo, this podcast is really good! You have fascinating guests. The questions ensured conversation did not run dry. If you don't mind me asking, is there a particular reason your podcast is embedded? YouTube/iTunes is still more authoritative SEO wise, and more shareable.
 
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mysticjim

Guest
Yo, this podcast is really good! You have fascinating guests. The questions ensured conversation did not run dry. If you don't mind me asking, is there a particular reason your podcast is embedded? YouTube/iTunes is still more authoritative SEO wise, and more shareable.
Thanks mate :)

Dude, look closely! In addition to streaming you can download the MP3 directly or subscribe to the podcast by RSS or Itunes feeds, it's all there :) I like to cover all the bases. The only one I don't do is Youtube, which I probably should. I may well stick all the historic episodes up at some point.
 
M

mysticjim

Guest
I had no idea there was a Game Maker podcast. I listened to episode 6 at work today and really enjoyed it. My only critique is I would prefer if you either make the voice audio 10-20% louder or the music 10-20% quieter. I work around some pretty loud machinery (soon to be replaced with quiet modern ones!) and have to turn the volume up very high and pay close attention to what's being said so loud music is more of an issue for me than most. However, it could just be the fact that your voice is on the soft side (which isn't a bad thing) and is therefore more affected than normal by all the racket coming from the machines.

Keep up the good work! I look forward to the next episode.
Aw cool, another new listener! :) Sorry if the volume fluctuates. I try and balance it all out as best I can, I there is always a little bit of compression on the spoken parts to try and give a consistent level, but human voices do fluctuate, and my hearing judgement is probably subjective/a bit flakey due to the amount of time I spent playing in stupidly loud bands when I was younger!
 
C

Chatterb0x

Guest
Thanks mate :)

Dude, look closely! In addition to streaming you can download the MP3 directly or subscribe to the podcast by RSS or Itunes feeds, it's all there :) I like to cover all the bases. The only one I don't do is Youtube, which I probably should. I may well stick all the historic episodes up at some point.
Ah, sorry, missed those. Do consider uploading to YouTube.
 
M

mysticjim

Guest
Quick update, Episode 7 of the podcast will be released tomorrow, but it's going to be a bit late! Got some work and childcare commitments to sort out first! The whole episode is basically edited and ready for upload, but I've got to get the shownotes together tomorrow evening - as soon as that's done it'll go live.

Got a great interview with Rob Quist aka @DukeSoft - it's cracking insight for anyone thinking about creating an online multiplayer game. AND - there is a competition to enter this episode!

AND (more!) have just done an interview for episode 8. I got to speak to one of the coders who has worked on a particularly seminal game made with GameMaker Studio. But you'll just have to wait for that!!!
 

rIKmAN

Member
Not listened to the latest episode yet as iTunes gives me an error when I try to download any of the podcast episodes, although I can subscribe just fine.
Anyone else having this issue or just me?

I've listened to previous eps either through the player on the website or downloaded the mp3.
 
M

mysticjim

Guest
Not listened to the latest episode yet as iTunes gives me an error when I try to download any of the podcast episodes, although I can subscribe just fine.
Anyone else having this issue or just me?

I've listened to previous eps either through the player on the website or downloaded the mp3.
Very odd. The feed seems to be fine, and people have been successfully downloading via RSS and Itunes feeds. It's possible that at the moment you tried to download that the Internet Archive, where the actual audio files live, was down. That's happened a few times previously. That would explain why you can subscribe but can't download.
 
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mysticjim

Guest
Quick update! Hopefully episode 8 will be ready to go live for tomorrow evening. Have again been pushed for time - the interview is edited, but I've yet to do the linking sections in the show. It will happen, but if there is no sign of a new episode tomorrow then it's going to have to be over the course of the weekend!

Update!

Excuse my tardiness again, having a crazy time with work and childcare at the moment. Episode 8 is pretty much finished, just doing the last edits, will try and get that out tomorrow evening :)
 
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chamaeleon

Member
Haven't listened yet, but have been going through withdrawal.;) Thanks in advance for what will surely be another good episode. :)
 

rIKmAN

Member
Listened to it last night, and it was was favourite one so far - 10/10.

I know of Juju from here, reddit and Discord, and respect his obvious knowledge, skills and past work - but he actually seems like a pretty down to earth normal guy too and comes across as a really likeable bloke. The audio quality was also top notch on this one.

Is the bleep filter just for iTunes?
You should host an unbleeped version too for those that want all the filth and vulgarity like me! :D

Have to agree with @Michael Bateman about the competition, even when you gave the answer I was none the wiser.

Well done @mysticjim - every episode is seeing improvements in one area or another, keep up the good work!
 
Finished ep 8 in record time. Really really enjoyed it. Great interview and great quality!

I vote the competition is rerun and the question is "what is the big html5 game Juju is working on?" I have a good guess!:D

Oh and that 3d planet model is insane. I literally cannot begin to work out how I would code that...
 
M

mysticjim

Guest
Hello people

Many thanks for listening and for your feedback, and really happy you're all diggin' it! :)

Big Thanks to @Juju for coming on the show, and extra big thanks to @Seabass (The Human) for suggesting him as a guest! :)

The competition was something of a non-starter, and @DukeSoft did indeed get the answer right - before I'd even asked the question! Therefore I think I'll have to declare him the winner by default (dude, I'll send you a Steam code shortly!)

For the rest of you uneducated lot :);

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_scream

and some examples that will prove you all have heard it, even if you weren't aware;


I may try another competition next time, will obviously need to come up with a better question. How about

"What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?" :)

Haven't got an interview in the can for episode 9 yet, but hoping to sort that out shortly. It is harder harder in terms of time to put the show together at the moment, had a seriously busy few weeks.

And pity the poor interviewer, who in his daily existence swears more than anyone else he knows, but is not allowed to swear at all in the show!

And while I'd like to do an 'uncut' version of the podcast, the reality is that it just take too f***ing long to edit! :)
 

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
Just listened to the interview with @Juju Adams. It was a good interview and an excellent choice for guest. Fun to hear about his early experiences with Acorn Electron. I think his experiences are familiar to most of us who started with computers like Commodore and Atari (or similar 6502 boxes).

I've always enjoyed the tutorials / examples he's posted on the GMC (here and here for anyone interested). Juju's coding style and basic approach appeal to me. Haven't played many of his games, but I should. I agree with his optimism about HTML5 and Studio2. (Just checked out the world/planet demo he mention.)

Good interview overall. I enjoyed it.
 
M

mysticjim

Guest
Just listened to the interview with @Juju Adams. It was a good interview and an excellent choice for guest. Fun to hear about his early experiences with Acorn Electron. I think his experiences are familiar to most of us who started with computers like Commodore and Atari (or similar 6502 boxes).

I've always enjoyed the tutorials / examples he's posted on the GMC (here and here for anyone interested). Juju's coding style and basic approach appeal to me. Haven't played many of his games, but I should. I agree with his optimism about HTML5 and Studio2. (Just checked out the world/planet demo he mention.)

Good interview overall. I enjoyed it.
Cheers Chance, glad you thought it was useful :)

On listening back to the interview, and taking the times into context I reckon it was actually an Acorn Archimedes, not the much earlier Electron, that @Juju must have been referring to - sounds like he's definitely describing something from the 16 bit era rather than the 8 bit, but didn't clock it at the time :)

Possibly taking a short break from the podcast while I gather together some new interviews, and follow up on a few previous requests that I haven't had chance to do yet, but new episodes will be coming shortly.
 

chamaeleon

Member
My Acorn A310, upgraded from 1MB RAM to 4MB (enabling the use of memory as a virtual drive for the Acorn C compiler, yay!) and ARM2 to ARM3 at the time, has been collecting dust for many years and it makes me sad. Zarch was fun but slightly infuriating in how easy it was to end up upside down and crash.. :)
 
M

mysticjim

Guest
What are the odds on three people on here having owned an Acorn Archimedes??? All I can remember is that it was much more expensive that either the Commodore Amiga and the Atari ST, had fewer games and the only time I ever actually saw one was sitting, unsold and gathering dust on the shelf at Dixons!
 

Juju

Member
I wonder if there's some compsci survivor bias going on here: People who got to tinker with an Archimedes had a better platform to learn on so they stuck with programming into adulthood? These computers in particular were also very popular in schools.

Who knew the GMC had so many old geezers? ;)
Hey now!
 
M

mysticjim

Guest
Who knew the GMC had so many old geezers? ;)
And I can actually remember 8bit computers, which I'm assuming qualifies me as an uber-old geezer??!!
 
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mysticjim

Guest
I wonder if there's some compsci survivor bias going on here: People who got to tinker with an Archimedes had a better platform to learn on so they stuck with programming into adulthood? These computers in particular were also very popular in schools.
You know, I don't think the Archimedes made it into many schools - it's forerunner, the BBC Micro was synonymous in schools in 1980's, but my recollection, having been in secondary school in the period transitioning the 80's into the 90's was that there was zero investment in computers in schools during the 16 bit era (for the most part I think this can be put down to the ginormous financial recession of around this time). Just as I was leaving my school they finally junked all the BBC Micros and got a very cheap and nasty suite of Nimbus PC's! I distinctly recall that one of the flagship applications they had installed on them was this bit of careers software. I believe it was supposed to replace the full time careers tutor who they'd just laid off! You basically answered a load of questions about your interests and career aspirations, then it was supposed to magically calculate what careers would suit you and the paths you could take to starting out in those careers. No matter what you put in, no matter how outlandish you tried to be, it always seemed to advise you that your best option was to take a retail YTS training apprenticeship in B&Q or Halfords! It poured scorn on my ambitions to be a stuntman or a demolitions expert!
 

Juju

Member
The videos I've watched on the machines so far mention schools, and my class in primary school had one (I played a puzzle game based on Rome, I think). My perspective is warped somewhat by this being my earlier years, but y'know.
 
M

mysticjim

Guest
Hello! Bit of an update. Having a bit of a break from the podcast at the moment - mostly due to work and childcare commitments, but also because I've been finding it a bit hard to locate developers to interview where our schedules have been compatible. Am in discussion with a few people at the moment, but been finding it hard to sync up times, especially with developers outside of Europe. Hoping to get a couple of interviews done within the next couple of weeks so I can get episodes 9 and 10 in the bag. Once I reach double figures I'm going to take stock of things a bit and decide how to move forward with the show. Definitely don't want to stop - it's been a really useful exercise and the feedback I've had has been very kind, constructive and positive. But I'm now finding myself so busy that I've prioritised working on games less just recently, so that's defeating the object ever so slightly!

One thing I wouldn't mind doing is seeing if there are any other budding interviewers out there prepared to get involved - if anyone fancies doing a few interviews I'd be quite happy to have a pool of guest interviewers contributing to the show :)

Rest assured, the podcast will continue because there is definitely a decent listener-base for it and I still love producing it. :)
 

hogwater

Member
And Episode 9 is now live!!!! Big thanks to @Chatterb0x for coming on the show despite my horrible schedule and a series of postponements! It was worth it in the end!
Glad to see the podcast isn't dead! I'm really enjoying it, you're doing a great job. My only note would be that we don't really need 45 seconds of intro music, but that's a pretty minor gripe.

Derek Yu would probably be a fun interview, he's got a book out and a new game coming up. He also worked/works with Game Maker, maybe he'd be up for being on.
 
W

Wayfarer

Guest
Derek Yu would probably be a fun interview, he's got a book out and a new game coming up. He also worked/works with Game Maker, maybe he'd be up for being on.
Seconded on Derek Yu.

In regards to the intro, the only thing that annoys me is the huge volume increase when the Wilhelm Scream comes in. Though it's kind of funny at the same time :D

Edit:
Also, Zack Bell would be a great guest! He's also writing a book.

Edit 2:
Thought of some more:

You may've already asked them but I thought they're worth mentioning anyway.
 
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tris2n

Guest
I am new to Gamemaker and your Gamemaker podcasts. Just listened to and enjoyed the first episode, especially the history of how you became involved in gaming through the 8bit platforms (I started off on the Acorn Atom in the early 80's). Anyway, thanks!
 
M

mysticjim

Guest
Hello everyone! Haven't been around too much this week, missed these latest comments, thought I'd check in and give an update;

Episode 10 interview is in the bag, big thanks to @WarpDogsVG :)

I've got four overdue days off from work now so taking a break but so expect the episode to drop next Friday - 1st September.

And we may have a winner for the ill-fated competition!

---------------

@Chatterb0x - another big thank you for coming on the show :)

@hogwater - thanks dude, glad you're enjoying the show. Apologies to anyone who thinks the theme music is too long. I'm more used to composing music of a more substantial length, most of my intros don't hit their stride until a minute and a half! I find it surprisingly difficult to write anything coherent under 45 seconds long. I will possibly have a go at a new theme soon and see if I can trim it down a bit.

I'll make enquiries into getting to speak to Derek Yu. Many thanks for the suggestion :)

Cheers @chamaeleon - glad to have you aboard

@Wayfarer - And massive thanks for the further suggestions of potential interviewees.

I'll be perfectly honest, after episode 10 I have no future interviews currently lined up, and I haven't really gone outside this forum much to find people to interview so far. But seeing as I'm getting some listener feedback here I'll have a go at getting hold of them :)

And the volume difference is by design. The idea is that the first few quiet bars of the music have most of the low end sounds eq'd out - so it sounds a bit like 8 bit chiptune music coming out of a tinny little speaker - there's no bass. You get the first few measures of that, then the Scream and everything, then all the frequencies are brought back in and the volume goes up dramatically and a dodgy Dubstep beat comes. It's sort of meant to signify the transition from old to new.

The loud bit isn't that loud, but the quiet bit is very quiet. I have had a few people mention that they instinctively turn up the quiet bit so they can hear it properly, then have their eardrums burst by the load bit. What can I say? I slightly enjoy messing with people by putting subversive things in bits of music! Watcha' gonna' do, sue me?

(please don't sue me! :) )

And @tris2n - very many thanks. If you're only on Ep1 then I'm pleased to tell you the sound quality does get better after about episode 4 and I waffle a lot less now than I did in the first episode! :)
 

chamaeleon

Member
Thank you for another great episode. It's inspirational hearing from people who take the plunge of leaving their more or less stable work environments in order to follow dreams and passions.
 
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