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We caught up with Jane Whittaker to talk about their remembrances of working on the Atari Jaguar's Alien vs Predator and ask questions about their upcoming projects.

Here's a sample of the full show notes - make sure to click through and check them out.

Show Notes

We were joined by Jane Whittaker for this episode. Some folks will know Jane by another name: Andy Whittaker. Jane had previously identified as Andy, but has left that name behind them. We didn't see that change in identity as relevant to our conversation, so we didn't bring it up.

Why did we want to talk to Jane? Well, it's because they were part of the development team behind the Atari Jaguar's killer app: Alien vs Predator - which Jay has written about before.

We'd asked Jane to come into this interview focusing on AvP and to bring a little silliness. And Jane did just that.

Side note: Jane and MobyGames

For those who don't know, MobyGames is a great resource for learning about who was behind some of your favourite titles, and it works a little like IMDB. As Jane has changed the way they identify, sites like Moby Games need a little time to update - as they aren't automated services.

Recent Games

As we do with all of our guests, we'd asked Jane to share with us what they had been playing recently

You've got to play games to make games
- Jane

And, of course, we shared ours too. Would we recommend the games that we've all been playing? Or course!

Jane's Recent Games

• Valheim

Which is another great example of a wonderful game created by a small team - just like Minecraft and Super Meat Boy.

It also lead to a short discussion on our episode with Philip Oliver (of The Oliver Twins) which was released a few weeks prior to this episode - here's a link to that - as they had also worked in the 8-bit era of video games development, and Philip talked about a one month turn around time. That was a turnaround time for a full game, however, and Jane had mentioned creating conversions - these days, we'd call that a port - in a week.

Squidge's Recent Games

• Torchlight 3

Squidge had picked this title up on the day that we recorded with Jane, so he didn't have a huge amount to say about it; other than that he was enjoying it so far.

Jay's Recent Games

• Astral Chain

Whilst it's a button basher -and there's a strange side quest involving a "Toilet Goblin" -it has a wonderful anime / futurism aesthetic.

• RetroMania Wrestling

Another button basher, but this time as a pro-wrestling game. Seriously, this game is a _lot_ of fun.

The Thunder Plain Games

For those who are new to the pod, we have a section called "Thunder Plain Games" which might be vaguely reminiscent of a [certain programme on BBC Radio 4 - but for copyright reasons, it is completely different.

The usual rules of the Thunder Plain Games are:

• You have been trapped in the Thunder Plains
• You will get help, at some point in the future
• Before you are sent there, you can pick a number of video games to take with you
  • You can have an Internet-connected game if you wish
  • But you cannot tell anyone that you are stuck in the Thunder Plains or ask for help

We challenge all of our guests to come up with a short list of games that they would take with them, in order to keep themselves busy whilst waiting for help to arrive.

Jane's Choices

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• A Legend of Zelda title
• Tempest 2000
• Microsoft Flight Simulator
• Train Simulator

If it brings you joy, and it makes you happy, what's the problem?
- Jay

Full Show Notes

Make sure to check out the full show notes for more discussion on the points we raise, some extra meta-analysis, and some links to related things.

Have you ever played Alien vs Predator on the Jaguar? If so, did the first time that a facehugger "got" you cause you to jump out of your skin?

Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, leave a comment on the show notes or try our brand new contact page.

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