Episode 152 - Arc

Erik from Imaginary Game Studios joins Ben this week for, to Norah's chagrin, a math-free conversation about curved paths. After discussing a little game design philosophy as it relates to the games Ben has been playing (Stellar Wander DX and the Pragmata Sketchbook Demo), chatting about Erik’s first viewing of the 1983 movie Brainstorm, and dispensing with the miscellaneous “what have we been up to” pleasantries, they move on to the definition accompanied by a brief homophone detour. In the video games segment, they apply the Kübler-Ross model for processing grief to Ben’s experiences with the multiplayer third-person extraction shooter developed and published by Embark Studios, ARC Raiders. To close out the program, Erik asks Ben to share the life lesson he learned from the 300+ hours he invested in playing the game.

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00:00:20 - Germ factories, the next project, cosmic horror gardening, and a dumb memory joke00:05:45 - Getting older, an unorthodox method for attracting bats, and stale game mechanics00:07:56 - Ship combat, pastry mining, lengthening, pushing buttons, and minimalist games00:13:28 - Getting out of hand, Ben’s thoughts on the Pragmata demo, and production costs00:17:57 - Crayon fingers, different big daddy, compact level design, and accidental purchase00:22:01 - Douglas Trumbull’s divorce from major film directing, and renting a laserdisc player00:28:39 - Tackling concepts in relatable ways, way too high, CQ, and not choosing favorites00:32:16 - It’s a sled, a math-heavy definition, stocks, Canadian energy, and the homophone00:40:04 - Watch-along videos, misunderstanding the premise, and lucrative retirement plans00:44:25 - They prefer sandwiches, SURPRISING NO ONE, copyright law, and arc versus arch00:48:46 - Erik’s excitement, Billy has depression, texts from Ben, and the Kübler-Ross model00:52:27 - Denial, anger, 65 minutes versus 300 hours, Warframe, and exploring and collecting00:56:27 - Erik gets Ben back on track, bargaining, industrial plumbers, and on to depression00:59:34 - Acceptance, Buddhism, psychological healing, the Hairpin Bandit, and matching01:03:04 - B.F. Skinner, public service message, back to bargaining, and session improvements01:06:14 - ARC Raiders life lesson, Erik’s retort, a beefy Nicolas Coppola, and nothing positive

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