0:00

Welcome , dear listener , to Desert Island Gamer

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. A quick fire interview podcast

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digging into those video games that shake

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us into the wholesome kind-hearted

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people we are today . The entirely

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original premise , one Desert Island

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, one guest , three games they adore

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, one game they abhor and

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a carefully selected gaming character

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with which to spend an eternity of

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moonlit walks along the beach . It

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could be weird , it could be unhinged

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and it could have crappy sound quality

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, but at least it will be short to

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the island .

0:44

Today on Desert Island Gamer , we are

0:46

joined by George , who is one of the

0:48

developers and director of

0:50

a new game called Astro Zombies

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. It's a cracking game and I recommend you get

0:55

it . Before we kick in , I would normally start

0:57

with icebreaker questions , but we're

0:59

going to scrap that today . Let's just talk about Astro

1:01

Zombies and a few things that I was really

1:03

curious about in particular is your own

1:05

journey . What is that journey being like ?

1:08

Well , it's been really

1:10

difficult . I'm a graphic designer

1:12

. I always thought

1:14

about making games , but since I'm

1:16

from a country called Argentina

1:18

, we don't have the industry really developed

1:21

, you know . So it was really

1:23

hard to get into

1:25

it . But I had a moment in my

1:27

life where I didn't really know what I wanted to

1:29

do . So I was with someone

1:31

that told me hey , if you love

1:33

video games so much , why don't you try

1:35

it ? I mean , why don't you get someone that can

1:38

make the program ? You draw

1:40

the assets , and well , you figure

1:42

it out . You know , and that's the basic

1:44

premise . You know , it's the

1:46

way I did it .

1:48

Yeah , I want to shake whoever told you to do

1:50

that by the hand and say it was a great choice

1:52

to send you down this path . Having

1:55

known and just experienced the game , it's been a real great

1:57

experience . It's a real triumph In

1:59

terms of putting the game out there for myself I've come

2:01

from a background of writing and even for

2:03

me to put something out there that then is scrutinized

2:05

by the public , it's kind of daunting , it's

2:07

kind of emotional . So , to put something that you've poured your

2:09

heart and soul into like a video game , what has

2:12

the emotional experience been like

2:14

?

2:14

I must say it's really hard . I know

2:16

from my previous working experience that

2:18

you need to kind of detach yourself

2:21

from your work . When people criticize

2:24

it , when they give their opinion , it's

2:26

not personal , it's not like they're

2:28

criticizing you or saying things

2:30

exactly to you . It's like their

2:32

experience and what they think about it and

2:34

it's okay if they like it and if they

2:37

don't like it . But it's really difficult

2:39

.

2:39

Yeah , yeah , I imagine .

2:40

Because when you put so many years

2:43

of your life and so much hard work

2:45

into something , it's pretty

2:47

much like some sort of

2:49

baby . You know it's hard

2:51

not to say there's a part of me there

2:53

, there's a lot of me there . You just need

2:55

to remind yourself of that

2:58

. You know , put it there . Listen , because

3:00

I've heard a lot of really interesting

3:03

critiques . Take the ones that

3:05

really add to your experience

3:07

so you can make it , make it better and

3:09

improve it . And if somebody doesn't

3:11

like it , it's OK . They cannot like

3:13

it and it doesn't mean that either they

3:15

don't know or that the game sucks

3:17

. You know it's different

3:19

strokes for different folks .

3:21

That's a good mindset . That's a nice way to

3:23

approach things because , yeah , it can be

3:25

difficult at times , for sure . So , yeah

3:27

, I like that mindset very much . In terms of

3:29

where you go , obviously we're right at the birth of

3:31

Astro Zombies . Don't know if you even thought about

3:33

where you go .

3:34

I envision it like a three part

3:37

video game which can be played in

3:39

separate chapters , pretty much like the

3:41

first Star Wars trilogy . I

3:43

mean , it's I'm not saying I'm them please

3:46

.

3:47

On the way .

3:49

But what I mean is that I wanted each

3:51

game to start and finish in

3:53

itself , but when , when you get the three of

3:55

them together , you get like a bigger

3:57

picture , a bigger experience .

3:59

Awesome yeah .

4:00

To tell you the truth , I am we're still

4:02

watching because we need to see if we

4:04

have our day jobs . So we need to see

4:07

what will come out of this , but we're

4:09

we're really looking forward to the opportunity

4:12

of expanding the universe .

4:14

I'm sure I speak for many players who will experience

4:16

Astro Zombies . I hope this becomes the

4:18

new day job down the line and this

4:20

is the start of a road to a future

4:22

basically doing this , because what future that will

4:24

be ? I hope so . I really hope so . Everything

4:26

else is getting bigger , these open worlds

4:29

. It's nice that we can go back and put a smile on your face

4:31

. I love that and respect you for bringing that to us

4:33

.

4:33

Yeah , oh , thank you . Thank you very much . It's

4:36

something you know . It's something that I really gave

4:38

a lot of thought to , because I do know

4:40

that they are not like the current

4:42

trend of video games . So I thought

4:44

like , well , maybe if I'm going to make a video

4:46

, I might need to do something that

4:49

belongs to these times . But then I

4:51

figured that there's already a lot of

4:53

people doing that . I can try something

4:55

I want to do . It's kind of out

4:57

of time .

4:58

It could introduce a whole new generation

5:00

of gamers to where we came from . Basically

5:02

, people still listen to the music from the 60s

5:04

and 70s , and these things go in cycles , don't

5:07

they ? Things never get old . If it's fun , it's fun . It's

5:09

as simple as that , I think .

5:10

Absolutely . That's the way I

5:12

think about it .

5:13

Thank you , george , we will crack on

5:15

, because unfortunately , you're going to have to forget

5:17

about Astro Zombies for a while because you've just been stranded

5:19

upon the desert island . But

5:22

luckily , in some strange fortune

5:24

, you have the whole universe

5:26

of video games to choose from . Let's kick

5:28

in with Game One .

5:30

It's hard to narrow it down to three , but

5:32

say that my first

5:35

choice would be Mega man X .

5:37

Oh wow , One of those foundation stones . What

5:39

is it about Mega man X that has made it shine for

5:41

you ?

5:42

It kind of blew my mind when I was a

5:44

kid because games were a lot

5:46

simpler . This was the first in

5:48

the X series of Mega man

5:50

, where you kind of had

5:52

a lot of collectibles and it had

5:54

a lot of repriability and it had

5:56

all these bosses that were a mix

5:59

between animals and technological

6:01

things and it was like wow , it's

6:03

a lot of space for creativity

6:06

, you know , and the story was simple but

6:08

it had a lot of emotion going for it

6:10

. You know with Ciro that he sacrifices

6:13

at some things and then he's

6:15

really powerful and you look up to

6:18

him so you can battle another

6:20

evil foe , and it was like wow

6:22

, there's so much going on here with

6:24

so little .

6:25

I thought it was beautiful . Yeah , amazing . Absolutely

6:28

agree , it is definitely one of those games that , as

6:30

a kid , your jaw drops open and

6:32

your eyes go wide , and it's one of them that just

6:34

stays inside and you never kind of forget

6:36

those . Is it one of those games that transports

6:39

you straight back to being a kid again when you

6:41

boot it up ?

6:42

absolutely . I love it . I keep on

6:44

playing it to this day . You grow better

6:46

so you can finish it in in a

6:48

couple of hours , yeah . So I really

6:50

put it up from time to time and I

6:52

do get that kick . I mean , it's my favorite

6:55

. Even after there are a lot of other Mega

6:57

man X in the series

6:59

, sure , my absolute favorite it's the

7:01

one I can play with my eyes

7:03

closed that's so cool .

7:05

It's cool that you have games that do that to you , and

7:07

that's a great first choice . I really really

7:10

like that one . What would be game two ?

7:12

game two would be a game I

7:14

have so much fun with , especially

7:17

with friends it's Turtles

7:19

in Time oh right , okay

7:21

, I've never played Turtles in Time

7:23

, so please sell .

7:24

Sell this game man

7:27

, it's incredible .

7:28

It's incredible , you know it

7:30

was . Well , it comes from the time where where

7:33

the teenage mutant ninja Turtles

7:35

were like big time and Konami

7:37

came up with this , beat them up

7:39

, which was incredible . It has

7:41

amazing anime style

7:43

graphics . You go through time

7:45

, you start in New York

7:47

City I think they live and

7:50

then suddenly they go back to

7:52

the prehistoric times . They

7:54

go through pirate ships , they

7:56

go through trains , you

7:58

go through everywhere , you even go to the future

8:00

and they come back . And

8:03

the whole thing is because Shredder

8:05

, the enemy of

8:07

the ninja Turtles , he just takes

8:09

the statue of liberty as

8:12

she did they

8:14

gotta get it back , you know . So

8:17

the final battle you're against

8:19

super Shredder , which is , you

8:21

know that as if Shredder wasn't bad enough yeah

8:24

, he's super bad , you know . And in the background

8:26

you have the face of the statue

8:28

of liberty looking at you while you fight

8:30

this final boss , and

8:32

everything is incredible . And the

8:34

soundtrack , oh man , you

8:36

got to listen . If you don't play , at

8:39

least listen to the soundtrack , because it's

8:41

beautiful , it's a work of art .

8:43

George , you've sold it . You saw , I'll look

8:45

, I'll . I'm gonna dig this game out at some

8:47

point today and see if I can get the children on it , because it

8:49

sounds fantastic , sounds like my sort of game

8:51

as well , actually , talking to soundtracks , I really

8:53

should have mentioned the soundtrack from your own game

8:55

, because , wow , that is driving that game

8:58

along at some rate of knots . That's

9:00

really special . Congratulations

9:02

on that . Is that where it's born from you , you

9:04

are noticing the music as well as the game

9:06

yeah , it's very .

9:07

It's a very important part for me the soundtrack

9:09

, because , as I told you before

9:12

, a lot of these platformers have amazing

9:14

soundtracks Castlevania and Mega man

9:16

alone . They're beautiful . So I

9:19

really wanted to keep the pace going

9:21

with some nice tune . And it

9:23

was made by a friend of mine . You know his

9:25

whole heart was into it because it

9:27

wasn't only a job for a friend

9:30

, so it was great , because

9:32

he doesn't have a gaming background . He's

9:35

a musician but he didn't play games

9:37

, so he really got the

9:39

references I gave him .

9:40

Oh , it's , it's captured it . It's a real like

9:42

marriage between the game and the music

9:44

. It really marries together and creates this outstanding

9:47

sort of beast out there . It's fantastic . Two

9:50

cracking games . Can you keep it up with

9:52

game number three ?

9:53

well , I'm gonna get a little

9:55

bit more modern , so I'm going to choose

9:57

Bloodborne oh my god , I

9:59

adore this game .

10:01

Tell me why you love it .

10:02

First if I would make

10:04

a game . The game , I mean any

10:06

game , with any budget

10:08

, you know , and yes , well , knowledge

10:10

, that's the game I would like

10:12

to make . It's just beautiful , it's

10:15

incredible . The gameplay

10:17

is amazing . I mean I love Dark

10:19

Souls , but Bloodborne takes it so

10:21

much further . Without all the

10:23

blocking , it's just action

10:25

, action , action , action , dodge rolling

10:27

and the creature design

10:30

, oh my God . I

10:32

mean the Japanese really knocked it out

10:34

of the park . It's amazing what

10:36

they come up with . It's so Lovecraftian

10:39

.

10:40

Yeah , exactly .

10:41

It's , and every time I play and

10:44

every time I see a video of

10:46

it and I read things , there's

10:48

something new , a new detail

10:50

. It's so much into the details

10:52

that I can only love it .

10:54

Yeah , it is absolutely gothic , all beauty

10:57

. It's one of the few games I

10:59

will stop and take screenshots just

11:01

because it is so stunning to look at . It's

11:03

part Tim Burton movie and just

11:05

part masterpiece video game

11:07

creation . It's absolutely a wonderful , wonderful

11:10

game . Bloodborne is one of those games can go

11:12

back to again and again and kind of get the same

11:14

experience from it , perhaps even more , because

11:16

I'm taking notice of other things going on

11:18

. That is your free games , done

11:20

Very good games . I mean potentially

11:23

the top three choices we've had so far

11:25

. Obviously , as a developer yourself

11:27

, this is going to be painful , but there is one game

11:29

you're going to have to throw on the fire for heat

11:31

and which is the porn unfortunate

11:34

game that is getting burnt today .

11:35

This one kind of has a little story

11:37

, very short story , I don't know if you know

11:39

it because it's not

11:41

such a big game . It's called Sonic

11:44

Shuffle . It's a game for the Dreamcast

11:46

and well , I remember having it when I was

11:48

a kid and I didn't have a lot of

11:51

money to buy games , so it was like a gamble

11:53

and it was so bad . Today

11:57

we all know that Sonic is

11:59

kind of , you know , he kind of fell from

12:01

grace . But

12:04

by those days we didn't know

12:06

Sonic was like Mario's equal

12:08

. It was , I mean , oh yes , yeah , they

12:11

were told to tell . Yeah , and

12:13

suddenly they come up with this Mario

12:15

Party knockoff , which was so

12:17

bad you didn't get to play . It was all dialogue

12:19

and dialogue and explanations

12:21

, and it was man . It's a party

12:24

game I want to play . So

12:26

if I have to erase a game from

12:28

the history of humankind

12:30

, I'm sorry but I would erase

12:33

Sonic Shuffle .

12:34

It sounds a very , very valid

12:36

reason to erase it . I

12:39

think I'll help you throw that one on the fire . To be honest

12:41

, especially as the Dreamcast just

12:43

to mention in the Dreamcast , that was for me a

12:45

console that I absolutely adore and

12:47

it was heartbreaking when that kind of got canceled

12:49

. That was the blue . It was like there's going to be no more games

12:51

for Dreamcast , and unfortunately that is

12:53

how it is .

12:54

Yes , I had the Marvel

12:56

vs Capcom 2 , I remember for

12:58

the Dreamcast it was . At the time it

13:00

was the only console you could get that game

13:03

and I mean it was an amazing

13:05

system . It was fantastic . It was such

13:07

a pain to see it go .

13:08

It certainly was . I don't think I'll ever quite get over

13:10

that , to be honest . But having said

13:13

that , Sonic Shuffle can go on to the flames

13:15

, because that sounds like an absolutely terrible

13:17

game on the Dreamcast

13:20

. Fantastic choice again . And obviously

13:22

everyone needs a companion on the island

13:24

. Who will be your companion on the island

13:26

?

13:27

Well , I'd say that my companion

13:29

will be Jill Valentine from the

13:31

Resident Evil series Sure , and

13:34

what will Jill bring to the party

13:36

? She's

13:42

a pretty interesting character . She

13:48

seems to survive , you

13:50

know that's important .

13:51

She's been through a lot . She certainly has .

13:53

She's been through a lot the .

13:55

Desert Island will feel like a picnic by comparison

13:57

, to be fair .

13:58

Yeah , full of sandwich . Jill's sandwich .

14:00

Yeah , is Resident Evil a game , then Is

14:02

that another game , that kind of figured ?

14:04

Resident Evil and Silent Hill are

14:07

two franchises . I absolutely love

14:10

Silent Hill . It kind of disappeared

14:13

.

14:13

I think that was probably the first real horror game . I remember

14:16

playing Silent Hill . It was the first one that felt like an

14:18

adult horror game .

14:19

Yeah , I was really afraid . But I

14:21

was afraid , I mean that's , I recall

14:23

, because I love horror things , you

14:25

know , books , movies , games . But

14:28

that was the first time that I felt man

14:30

, I don't know if I can .

14:32

Yeah , I definitely understand that . I had the similar

14:35

with . There was a Japanese game called Project Zero

14:37

, I think it had a few different names , oh my god

14:39

, I couldn't play it .

14:40

We know it as a fatal frame

14:43

.

14:43

Yes , yes , of course , same game , yeah , the one with

14:45

the camera . That's it , and you're taking pictures of

14:47

the creepiest ghosts , it's

14:49

incredible .

14:50

Yes , I love those games too .

14:51

Yeah , yeah , fantastic game , but I've never

14:53

seen the end of it because I was too terrified

14:56

to continue . That

14:59

is awesome . Thank you very much , george . Were there any games

15:01

that were on the cusp that almost made ? They

15:03

made the list . I'm sure there was a vast

15:05

amount , I suppose .

15:06

Yeah , I mean people remember Castlevania

15:09

, symphony of the Night , which is a beautiful game

15:11

. I love it , but I prefer the original

15:13

. You know the , the kind of structure

15:16

, yeah , cool , yeah . Which game

15:18

? An arcade feeling ? Castlevania , certainly

15:20

. Mega man , well , resident Evil

15:23

, silent Hill .

15:24

I'm sure we could probably go on for a

15:26

long time . We go on forever

15:28

.

15:28

Yeah , I'm sorry , you start

15:31

me going and I yeah , oh

15:33

, it's . I'm really sorry .

15:34

It's nice to meet a like minded player . It really

15:37

is . Thank you so much , george . I can wish

15:39

you absolutely all the best with Astro

15:41

Zombies . I hope it delivers everything you want

15:43

it to and , more hopefully , this is the start

15:45

of changing day job .

15:48

I want to thank you very much because

15:50

, I mean , the review was amazing

15:52

oh thank you . And for having me in

15:54

your podcast . I mean it's it's

15:57

the first time I am in a podcast , it's

15:59

a first experience , and it

16:01

was it was I felt really

16:03

comfortable .

16:04

It's put you off for life , hasn't it ? You'll

16:07

never do another one now . I

16:09

really appreciate it . I honestly do . It's

16:11

brilliant to get you on here . It's been brilliant to

16:14

have a chance to play Astro Zombies , and

16:16

I hope that it turns out to be a brilliant experience

16:18

for yourself too . Take care and cheers

16:20

, george , until next time . Thank you very much . Bye

16:23

, bye , bye , cheers you

16:51

.