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#126 - Josh Weier Interview (Portal 2, Valve, Game Design, Gabe Newell, Play Testing, Management, Crunch, Certification etc.)
Episode 126
Josh Weier was a game developer at Valve for over 14 years and worked on franchises such as Portal and Half Life. He was the project lead designer on Portal 2.
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SOCIAL MEDIA
TWITTER - @weier_josh
Zero Page: http://zero.page
Zero Page Twitter: @zeropage_game
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
00:53 - Memories Of Valve
02:01 - Orange Box/How Josh Ended Up As Project Lead On Portal 2
05:20 - Portal 2 Storyboards/Design Approach With Portal 2
06:45 - Elevator Doors Are Actually Portals
07:40 - Playtesting/Design Of Game Mechanics
11:00 - Design & Storytelling Working Together/Changing Environments
13:00 - Story Constantly Changed Through Development
14:15 - The Moon Segment Was Added Very Late In Development
15:45 - Catapults/Bridges/Linear & Non Linear Aspects Of The Design
19:23 - Walking On Walls & Bullet Time Were Cut Game Mechanics
21:30 - The Gel Was Hard To Implement/Digipen
23:05- Difficulties Of Programming For PS3/Smoothing Out Portal Transitions
26:20 - Manscaped Sponsored Segment
27:23 - Momentum Physics/Where People Would Quit On The Original Portal
29:04 - Gabe Newell/Gabe Wanted GLaDOS To Have A Face/Gabe’s Struggles
31:05 - Underground Area Was The Hardest Area To Work On
32:55 - Portal 3/Portal For Xbox Was The Genesis Of Developing Portal 2
37:20 - Portal 2’s Intro Is Inspired By Super Metroid’s Intro
39:20 - Original Idea For GLaDOS In Portal 2/Announcer
41:40 - Trying To Sell The Part When Wheatley Turns Bad
43:20 - Dealing With The Weight Of Expectations/Valve Doesn’t Have A Template Of Developing
45:20 - Game Designing Is Stressful/Complications Of Crunch
46:50 - Portal 2 Almost Ruined Josh’s Marriage/Game Developments Effect On Family Life
48:30 - Josh’s Management Style/Communication
50:52 - Josh Cant Switch His Brain Off
53:09 - Crunch Process For Portal 2
54:35 - Certification Problems For PS3 & Xbox/How Much Time Certification Adds To Development
58:24 - Politics Of Certification
58:59 - Zero Page Game
1:00:13 - Where To Follow Josh Weier
Published on 3 years, 10 months ago