Announcing Devs Play, a New Series from 2 Player Productions
2 Player Productions and Double Fine Productions are proud to announce a new video series, Devs Play, that pairs the running commentary of a “Let’s Play” with the insight of an experienced game developer. The series will be hosted on the Double Fine YouTube channel, and the first episode is available now right here!:
Featuring personalities from within Double Fine and special guests from outside the studio, six episodes comprise the eclectic first season. These episodes of Devs Play are scheduled to release for free on Youtube starting December 23, 2014, and continue weekly through January 27, 2015:
The Lion King - Featuring Greg Rice with guest Louis Castle
Double Fine’s Greg Rice is joined by Louis Castle, co-founder of Westwood Studios, for a full play-through of the classic platformer The Lion King. Louis tells the story of how, with a small team and a tight schedule, Westwood developed the spiritual successor to the classic Aladdin at a time when action platformers were still king and the Disney Renaissance was in full swing.
Earthbound (The Mother Trilogy) - Featuring Ben Burbank
Programmer on Costume Quest 2 and Mother superfan Ben Burbank shows off selected scenes from the entire trilogy and explains the complicated history of this beloved cult series. Featuring a mix of Japanese and English releases, fan translations, and imported hardware, Ben takes us on a journey through the bizarre cultural mashups and heartfelt story that define Mother.
Gauntlet DS - Featuring Anthony Vaughn and Geoff Soulis with guest Mike Mika
Massive Chalice producer Anthony Vaughn and artist Geoff Soulis take a trip to the legendary game dungeon of Backbone Entertainment head Mike Mika to play the unreleased Gauntlet DS. The plug was pulled on Gauntlet DS shortly before its release after unfortunate events caused the title to be bumped from one publisher to another. In true Gauntlet fashion, Mike, Anthony, and Geoff tackle the campaign in multiplayer wireless before jumping in to some local deathmatch action.
The Legend of Zelda - Featuring Brandon Dillon and Matt Hansen
Hack N Slash creator Brandon Dillon and producer Matt Hansen get to the roots of Brandon’s inspiration by cracking open the NES classic The Legend of Zelda, literally. After taking apart the cartridge, de-soldering and dumping the rom, and booting the game up in an emulator, Brandon sets about altering the running memory of the game to cheat his way through and unlock some unexpected secrets about how the game was developed.
Doom - Featuring JP LeBreton with guest John Romero
Doom history enthusiast and Spacebase creator JP LeBreton joins id Software co-founder John Romero as the two play though the first episode of Doom, “Knee Deep in the Dead,” in its entirety. John Romero’s run through each level turns up fresh and encyclopedic insight into how this genre-defining title was designed and set the stage for first-person action games for years to come.
Psychonauts - Featuring Tim Schafer, members of the original development team, and special guest Stephen Kiazyk
This very special episode features many of the original members of the Psychonauts development team watching in frustration and amazement as speed runner Stephen Kiazyk blows through the entire game faster than they thought possible. The creator of many popular techniques used for running Psychonauts, Stephen takes the team through many of his tricks step by step, explaining what he’s doing while receiving insight from the team as to how the glitches are possible in the first place. Perhaps most upsetting to Tim, much of the dialogue is skipped.
