Dev Game Club 010 with guest Janos Flösser - a podcast by Brett Douville and Tim Longo

In the fifth and final installment discussing Hitman 2: Silent
Assassin, we talk to Janos Flösser, the founding Managing Director
of IO Interactive and ultimately the Chief Creative Officer for
Europe for Square Enix.

Podcast breakdown:

0:22      Intro

1:27      Interview part 1

31:52    Break

32:20    Interview part 2

1:11:24 Break

1:11:45 Next time

Issues covered: Janos's history and establishment
of IO Interactive, Scandinavian demo scene, prototype investment to
seek publisher and advance royalty funding, character first, "we
humans mess up everything... but we keep going," cloning, tone and
themes, Eastern European dictatorship, orphans, virtual revenge,
iconic design in mannerisms and feel, what makes stories matter,
ultimate conflict between humans, epic scope, how people play,
voluntary/outside of life/fantasy, character and genre, processing
power at the time, interaction between characters, MDA framework,
building technology, character identification, replayable design,
reflection of the player in the play style, rankings: meaning and
rules, competitiveness, irony, ninja extraordinaire, Brazilian
jiu-jitsu, stat collection, balancing, dopamine loop, managing
dysfunctionality, adaptation, save functionality - "there's no save
game in real life," budget, QAing a Hitman game, user
testing/user experience, insight into the statistics driving
feature development, emotional reward, different sorts of
successes, open world, hub-style level organization, concluding a
game, water cooler talk, angry parents, provocation, verbs and
freedom of expression, cloth, foliage, rag dolls, "bullet time,"
tech supporting a vibrant environment, symphony orchestra,
franchise iteration, staying in character, expanding the world,
"people had it coming," absurdity, engine development, "no nuns,"
child soldiers in Africa, controversy, innovation, VR, interface
challenges, looking forward.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or
discussed: IO Interactive, Nordisk Film, Atari, Rasmus
Kjær, Frankenstein, Hamlet, Icarus, James Bond vs
John Le Carré, Ceaucescu, Dr. Ortmeyer, Coca-Cola, Tim Schafer,
Day of the Tentacle, Brütal Lëgend, Jesper Vorsholt
Jørgensen, MacBeth, Terminator, Johan Huizinga,
Homo Ludens, Tomb Raider, Square Enix, Max Payne,
Remedy, Lumberyard, Epic, Unreal, Unity, Eidos, Crystal Dynamics,
Noah Hughes, Uncharted, Hitman (2016), Rebel FM,
Hitman: Blood Money, Skyrim, Fallout 3/4, Far Cry series,
Thomas Jakobsen, Jesper Kyd, Hakon Steinø, Oblivion, Xbox
360.

Next time:

Final Fantasy IX, up to battle with Beatrix

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub

DevGameClub@gmail.com

Further episodes of Dev Game Club

Further podcasts by Brett Douville and Tim Longo

Website of Brett Douville and Tim Longo