Irrational was once a tiny team that made games on miniscule budgets. Today we’re much, much bigger and the budget’s grown along with the ambition of the group’s games. This month’s episode of Irrational Behavior explores what these changes have meant for the studio’s culture and the individuals who’ve been on board as the industry itself has had to adopt the professional practices of big business. Episode highlights include an insider take on the making of Thief, designers Dorian Hart and Alexx Kay waxing nostalgic on the days when they were allowed to do voice over work for Freedom Force, as well as the story of a mysterious onanist who secretly used artist Shawn Robertson’s office for forbidden self-pleasures.
Stay tuned to IrrationalGames.com for more content related to this months podcast.
Discuss this episode of Irrational Behavior over in the forum.
Podcast music provided by:
- Josh Rathbun
- Matt Grimm
- Geoff Graves
- Rich Vreeland/DisasterPeace
- Signal Hill
nabeel | February 1, 2010 2:57 pm
I’d actually forgotten to expect this! Pleasant surprise, downloading now.
buckybit | February 1, 2010 3:25 pm
Thief: half of the time in this game was – for me – really about waiting in corners and my brain cracking, while listening to the sounds like a fox. The sound design in this game … man – years ahead of the rest of the industry at that time. It really played a role. It mattered!
The same occurred to me in System Shock 2 – the game environment creeped into my mind. I spent so much time enjoying the uncomfortable solitude and thrill enhanced, by the sound effects.
I listen(ed) a lot to old radio dramas ( thanks to Jeff Bezos archive.org !) and many of the Looking Glass/Irrational Games stuff has elements that remind me a lot of these (live) radio productions – sound matters.
btw,
I remember a programmer in the early 80’s who stank worse than a hobo. And I did some voluntary social work with homeless people, I know what I’m saying.
This Duder wasn’t even much of a great coder, but man, his ‘personality’ was sorta borderline. Nobody wanted to go near him. Every morning we hoped it would be the day, he took a rare shower.
Funny how cliche and reality seem to blend into each other.
February 1, 2010 5:01 pm
[…] | web | mp3 | rss […]
See Original Post at http://www.castmedium.com/2010/02/01/irrational-behavior-episode-2-the-way-things-were/
ig.kate | February 1, 2010 5:02 pm
Incredibly excited to learn that Drusilla did the little sister voice!
neuroman42 | February 1, 2010 6:26 pm
Another great show with great insights.
bandango | February 1, 2010 6:44 pm
lol shadowy past
shitblizzard | February 1, 2010 7:34 pm
way to cast the pods, cant wait for more
February 1, 2010 11:21 pm
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by irrationalgames: Irrational Behavior Episode 2 is now live! This month we take a look at the way things were. http://bit.ly/9yWR0P…
See Original Post at http://www.ubervu.com/conversations/irrationalgames.com/insider/irrational-behavior-episode-2/
gaald | February 2, 2010 1:34 am
Another great episode! Keep them coming!
sunjammer | February 2, 2010 3:26 am
Ahhhhh all things were better in the past 😉
sunjammer | February 2, 2010 3:48 am
Man this is a good ‘cast. The Thief design stuff in particular. Jesus that game was like coming home to me. I’d get into these stupid fights with friends about how “shit” it was, and i literally got the disc thrown after me at one point. But i’d sit in the dark replaying Bafford’s Manor over and over and over again and it just never got old. And i’ve never played a stealth game that did it anywhere near as good as the Thief series.
It really is the softness of failure and ambiguity of awareness that makes it. The sense that you can actually just try and bolt across the room and maybe get away with it, and worst case, you’ll still be out of the room to possibly greener pastures and more shadows.
crowejohn20 | February 2, 2010 6:01 am
Oh man the intro to Southie stories made me totally spew my coffee all over my monitor screen! 😀
IG.ShawnElliott | February 2, 2010 10:29 am
We’ll have more Southie Stories later in the month, crowe.
jillaman | February 2, 2010 10:57 am
Swweeeet.
#404 | February 2, 2010 12:47 pm
another great episode!
honkwas | February 2, 2010 3:51 pm
I dugg it for hopefully more listeners
IG.ShawnElliott | February 2, 2010 5:18 pm
Thanks honkwas.
February 2, 2010 7:48 pm
[…] for games like Bioshock and System Shock 2. They have a weekly podcast called Irrational Behavior (https://irrationalgames.ghoststorygames.com/insider/irrational-behavior-episode-2/) and in the latest episode they had many developers recalling their development memories. I was […]
See Original Post at http://sites.history.msu.edu/tc339/2010/02/02/are-games-getting-too-hollywood/
starbrowars | February 3, 2010 10:25 am
Great episode! I want more!
February 3, 2010 2:40 pm
[…] this February podcast of Irrational Games, Ken Levine, Dorian Hart, Rob Waters and some of the designers and artists from […]
See Original Post at http://dominus.ttlg.com/?p=118
lonepaladin | February 3, 2010 2:42 pm
Loved the part about pulling one over on the investors. “They’re on vacation,” indeed.
Thief was one of those mixed-reaction types for me. The very first mission pretty much got everything right: stay sneaky, avoid fights, look for secret passages, cover your tracks. But all of it got broken in the second mission — places where you couldn’t hide, goals that required fighting, few secret areas. I never played past that point.
February 3, 2010 3:40 pm
[…] Irrational, irrational games, ken levine, looking glass, rob waters, Thief In this February podcast of Irrational Games, Ken Levine, Dorian Hart, Rob Waters and some of the designers and artists from […]
See Original Post at http://gmzzz.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/irrational-talks-thief/
grommell | February 4, 2010 5:06 am
Great podcast, the only way it could get better is if it we’re weekly instead of monthly, but I guess it’s more special this way. Thanks again S.Elliot + Irrational.
omniavenger | February 4, 2010 6:17 pm
I love the stories — keep ’em coming!
mbourgon | February 11, 2010 12:58 am
Just wanted to add my appreciation for doing this. I’ve been playing games since ’80 or so, and some of my favorites were System Shock, the Thief games, and definitely Freedom Force (“For Freedom!”). It’s great to hear you guys tell stories, and I’m looking forward to the next podcast, and whatever game you guys do next (…and _so_ very glad to hear Thief 4 mentioned…)
scrapsflippy | February 11, 2010 4:42 pm
Outstanding podcast! Keep up the good work, etc.
The story about the guy whose wife waited in the car troubles me. I hope that guy eventually found a job! (And a better place to store his wife.)
saaaamo247 | February 23, 2010 10:44 pm
ken levine is god!
perfectdarkling | March 3, 2010 11:40 am
I’m Shahn Rahbahtson
drewjamicks | April 3, 2010 9:41 pm
That poor wife…
These podcasts are gold, I’m impressed by the storytelling aptitude of everyone. Good listening. Also, audio wise its very creatively done. Keep em coming!