Meet Jason Lutes, whose comic books make him the most famous person on the forum until Book of Eli comes out. We start off talking about Solium Infernum but veer far and wide in a discussion about emergent narratives that’s not nearly as high falutin’ as it sounds. Sorry for the echoing, but we eventually stamp it out. I blame Mr. Lutes for using a Mac.
This week, listeners can win a Collector’s Edition of Demigod signed by Brad Wardell and Chris Taylor. Well, not so much signed by them as including a Post-It where I wrote their names. It does have a little pewter dude in the box or something. And congratulations to Kid Socrates for winning Assassin’s Creed 2 for the Xbox 360.
listening to Mr Lutes now, will comment later. But MAN, am I psyched about the Chromehounds discussion next week.
Also, I’m guessing Wardell, Soren, or other game designers here might be more famous than Jason. Or did you mean among muggles (gag-worthy expression)?
Same! And I hear what Tom means by the echo. I was on a Mac, too. That’s not what’s causing it. I think Jason just had his volume up too much, and he really should have worn headphones.
Guilty. This was my first time in a Skype recording situation, so I flubbed the echo prep. And I think Tom was just getting a dig in on Macs when he saw the opening.
Jason Lutes has designed Dom 3 maps that are great, so he’s more famous. I had the pleasure of playing him on his map in a dom 3 game in I think my first dom 3 win. I had a rather large advantage b/c his land only nation ended up on an island in an ocean and was stuck for a long, long time as I recall.
This discussion made me very interesting in Reiner’s co-op LTR game. I have pandemic as some of his other drier games that I thoroughly enjoy. But games like pandemic are missing a little bit of the flavor narrative. I take that trade-off though b/c the wife is more likely to play those than say x-com.
Solid interview and Jason let us know on the newest Lutes. Good luck.
First, congratulations and best of luck to Jason on his upcoming child’s birth. Also, it’s great to hear he teaches at CCS (which, if you love comics like I do, is a great place to visit… I doubt Michelle, James and Robyn remember me, but they are wonderful people, and White River Junction is quite picaresque).
My purchased and unplayed games backlog is ever-expanding, but after all the forum hoopla and this podcast, I think I’m going to pull the trigger and get Solium Infernum.
My ex-girlfriend was in the first group of students accepted to CCS. She wasn’t a huge fan of comics but had a degree in fine arts photography, and was looking for something to pursue after she graduated. I was (and continue to be) a big comics geek and was aware that James Sturm was founding a school. So I pointed her to the applications and helped her move there and visited a few times between 2005 and 2006.
Tom Chick, Jason Lutes, Derek Paxton, Troy Goodfellow and Vic Davis should get together for a semi-regular podcast to discuss designing a super strategy game with all the emergent narrative coolness they (and I) love.
It’ll be like Fall from Heaven meets Solium Infernum meets Berlin! Ok maybe not Berlin, but it will still be awesome.
