A new website dedicated to video game oral histories from @mattleone.bsky.social. Find us at designroom.site. Logo by asawallander.se.
Hi, we're a new video game oral histories site. Want to read the story of Shadow of the Colossus, as told by 11 people who worked on it? Or hear what Will Wright has to say about Spore in retrospect? Or see previously unreleased footage of Nintendo's Sound Fantasy? Check us out at designroom.site
Following yesterday's Addams Family oral history, we have a story on how pinball licensing exploded in the '90s.
How licensing changed the pinball industryRoger Sharpe, Ken Fedesna, Pat Lawlor, and others discuss how licensed games took over pinball around the time that The Addams Family released.www.designroom.siteFor our latest big story, @duncanfyfe.net dives deep the bestselling pinball game of all-time, The Addams Family.
The Addams Family pinball: An oral historyWe talk to the team behind the 1992 breakout hit to learn about licensing, magnets, and how it designed the most popular pinball game of all-time.www.designroom.siteWe also have a couple of Spore bonus stories today for paid subscribers, like this one on the game's Wind Waker connection.
The Wind Waker 'obsession' that influenced SporeOne of Spore's early influences came from an unexpected place: Nintendo's "toon-shaded" GameCube game The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.www.designroom.siteWe've got a big one today. Almost 20 years after Maxis released Spore, we talked to eight people -- including Will Wright -- about the studio's big experiment.
Spore: An oral historyA wild bet in development for the better part of a decade, Spore reached for the stars — and, at times, got there. We recently spoke to eight team members, including chief designer Will Wright, to loo...www.designroom.siteNamco's exercise bike-powered flying contraption is almost 30 years old, so we tracked down the game's director to look back.
How Namco built 1996's best arcade cabinetWe talk with the director of the bike-powered Prop Cycle about how the game came about, its international success, and sidelined sequel plans.www.designroom.site"It's like trying to make three games within the budget for one. Realistically, it's not possible."
Yoko Taro looks back on his first directing jobWe have a new book excerpt from Archipel's "The Worlds of Yoko Taro" looking back on the development of Square Enix's action-RPG Drakengard.www.designroom.siteHi, we're a new video game oral history site, and we're having a subscription sale this week. www.designroom.site/design-room-...
We just passed our six-month anniversary, so it seems like a good time to check in and post a sale on subscriptions.
Design Room is six months-old (and we're having a sale)Six months in, we look back at what we've gotten up to so far, look ahead at what's coming up, and announce a subscription sale.www.designroom.siteArchipel's latest book, The Worlds of Yoko Taro, showed up today and is beautiful. Get it here: archipel.jp/collections/...
We dig into Capcom's infamous U.S.-made fighter, with a 5,000-word feature and never-before-seen development assets.
Final Fight Revenge: An oral history, 26 years laterFive team members look back at the origins and development challenges behind Capcom's first — and still only — internally-developed, U.S.-made fighting game.www.designroom.siteSworcery turns 15 today, and we've got a big new feature looking back for the anniversary.
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP: An oral historyCelebrate the 15th anniversary of Superbrothers, Jim Guthrie, and Capybara releasing their musical adventure game, and everyone wondering what was up with that.www.designroom.siteNew story up on what happened to Ocean Software's Lobo fighting game, with a bunch of never-before-seen renders made for the game.
The '90s Lobo fighting game got censored because of... Tupac?It never got the attention of Mortal Kombat or Night Trap, but Ocean's Lobo fighter was saddled with a similar form of censorship.www.designroom.siteAn old Capcom promo video popped up on YouTube with, as Ryan Cravens mentions in the comments, "the only real video" of Bill Cravens, the guy who sold Street Fighter 1 in the U.S.
Capcom CPS Promo from VHS TapeYouTube video by ottosbwww.youtube.comFriend of the site @milkman.bsky.social has a new book on the way.
ミルキー The Duke of URLBig news. I wrote a biography on Nobuo Uematsu and it drops this Fall, published by @viz.com. It is jam-packed with amazing revelations about the Final Fantasy composer that the public has never heard about, as shared by himself and those closest to him. This is the definitive chronicle on Uematsu.
