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Sep 20, 2021

Ready for more? Well, here you go! The Jason Schreier "Press Reset" special goes on and continues to feature interviews with people from the book. “Press Reset” details the stories of game development studio closures and how it affected the people behind some of gaming's biggest titles to date. This time I am joined by Joe Quadara, the former lead combat designer at Big Huge Games on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Joe touches upon his journey into the games industry, how to design great combat and how a legendary baseball player ended up being his boss. We also discuss the closure of Big Huge Games and how indie games are creating a path to a better games industry.

 

Time – Topic Discussed:

0:00 - Intro

03:56 - How did Joe’s story end up in the book?

05:20 - What it was like reading his own story

06:34 - Did Joe learn something new about 38 Studios? 

07:40 - How Joe ended up in the games industry

12:42 - Joe’s Tekken Tag Team Tournament Team

13:46 - Quality assurance back in the day

16:52 - How Joe became a combat designer

18:25 - The best designers are multi disciplinary

19:40 - Joining Big Huge Games

24:30 - The creation of the combat pit

27:20 - The balance of criticism 

31:56 - What makes good combat design?

34:56 - The difference of combat between East and West 

38:30 -  Why do combat designers hate combat barks?

40:22 - The secret internal build of Urban Chaos

42:42 - The uncertain future of Big Huge Games

48:18 - Politely saying no

50:27 - The feedback for the combat of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

52:07 - The end of Big Huge Games

54:01 - The chaos that comes along with a studio closure

54:40 - How Joe tackles the issue of sustainability of the the games industry 

59:41 - Outro

 

Things mentioned on the show:

The Curse of the Bambino

Curt Schilling

 

Social Media:

Joe Quadara

Joe Quadara on Twitter (@bazooie)

Joe Quadara on Instagram (@bazooie)

Joe Quadara on Facebook (@Joe Quadara)

 

YOU ME AND THE INDUSTRY

YOU ME AND THE INDUSTRY on Twitter (@youmeindustry)

Dorian on Twitter (@DorianChou)

YOU ME AND THE INDUSTRY on Instagram (@youmeindustry)

Dorian on Instagram (@dorian.chou)

YOU ME AND THE INDUSTRY on Facebook (youmeindustry)

Intro/Outro by FreshMcZone

Artwork by Thomas Martin (Instagram: @thomas.martin.martin)