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I always find the most useful resources after they are most relevant. Capcom has uploaded a series of videos from their 2019 Open Conference to YouTube, many of which are close-captioned into English. This would have been a wonderful resource for many of Shamus’ own questions regarding the RE Engine, how it operates, and the viability of licensing it.

Oh, yes, Shamus Young is our special guest this week. Hello, Shamus’ crowd over at Twenty-Sided Tale! Some of you may recognize me as one of the verbose commenters on his blog, begging the question of why I don’t just write more of my thoughts here on my own blog instead of within his comments section. That’s a good question, and I gleefully refuse to answer! Instead, I’d like to assure some of you that I have left this episode free of background music. I know some of you have found it distracting in past episodes in which he was a guest, so I instead have retained the awful silence that captures every little sound in the background and ultimately creates more editing work for me. I tried my best, but I decided to leave the clinking of ice in glasses behind. If there are coughs, sniffles, or weird guttural noises caused by the inconvenience of organic bodies with gross habits, I apologize. I did my best.

Speaking seriously, it really was wonderful to have Shamus back for such topics. He managed to provide a lot of knowledge and considerations regarding game engines that I had not considered or been familiar with, while simultaneously providing me an opportunity to dig deep into development concepts I hadn’t been able to ponder or theorize in a long time. I certainly hope to have him on board again for more delightful discourse.

Regarding the conversation surrounding The Meta, I did find that video regarding DOOM Eternal I had mentioned. You can fast-forward to the relevant moment here, though anyone interested in a deep dive on the Total War franchise may be interested in viewing more of Volund’s work. Alternatively, you could also watch his videos where he demonstrates some insane brutality I didn’t even know was possible in Dishonored.

I think the best way to sum up my thoughts on this concept of “the Meta” is that the developer should not impose specific playstyles on the player, particularly if they are going to create a variety of classes, equipment, and abilities. Whether that’s what Destiny 2 is doing right now or not, I don’t really know. However, I do think encouragement to play how they want has diminished my desire to play. Even if player freedom is technically encouraged, it still feels diminished when specific champion-slaying abilities are locked to specific gun types, or quests and bounties continue to demand you get a massive quantity of kills with specific classes of weaponry. That, however, is likely another discussion with Steve, begging the question of whether the bounties and quests should be enhancing my reasons to play the game rather than being the reason I play the game.

Hopefully you enjoyed the episode as much as we enjoyed recording it! Have any of your own thoughts on game engines or The Meta? Please leave a comment below or send us an e-mail with your opinions.

Opening theme music by Fallen Prophecy.