[IndieCast] Bastion – An Interview with Greg Kasavin

[Ravenlock]

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Some games are simply a privilege to play. From the moment I started Bastion, I had the impression that I was going to come away from it with that feeling, and after a playthrough and a half, it hasn’t waned on me yet. I expect I’ll start a third playthrough, when I’m done with the second.

If you’ve played through the game, you know that the superbly sparse and evocative writing makes up a large portion of its appeal. So we were thrilled to have the chance to interview Greg Kasavin, Bastion‘s writer and creative director, for this episode of the IndieCast. If you haven’t played through Bastion, don’t worry, we stay almost entirely spoiler-free. (But really, you should play Bastion.)

Our thanks to Supergiant Games (http://supergiantgames.com/) for lending us some of Greg’s time, and for making such a phenomenal game. It was a tremendous pleasure to get to talk to one of its creators, and we can’t wait to see what they do next.

We did ask for your questions (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=24279), of course, and the vast majority of them are answered within. And one of you won a free copy of the game! Was it you? You’ll have to listen and find out (http://www.immortalmachines.com/?p=706).

Hosted and Summarized by Eric [Ravenlock]
Participants are James [Vigil80] and Greg Kasavin of Supergiant Games
Produced by Clayton [Voodoo]

Direct Download (http://www.immortalmachines.com/public/podcast/IndiecastGregKasavin.mp3)

http://www.immortalmachines.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/button_itunes.png (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=301414682) http://www.immortalmachines.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/button_rss_podcast.png (http://www.immortalmachines.com/?feed=podcast)

[Abednigo]

Too bad I didn't see your question about my convoluted question until this morning. Doh! Sorry about that. What I MEANT was if Bastion was planned as a multi-platform title or was it designed initially with one platform in mind (PC or XBox) and then ported to the other.

I'll just have to listen to see if someone else asked it in a way that was less stupid. :)

[Abednigo]

Ah ha! You asked it exactly as I meant it. :)

[Ravenlock]

Secret psychic, that's me. ;)

[Abednigo]

Secret psychic, that's me. ;)

That's why you do the interviewing and we do the listening. :)

Bummer I didn't win, but I guess my convoluted question had me out of the running anyway. :D

[TheKeck]

I didn't win! :)

So, it sounded like his opinion is that this is a game where I'll want to use my 360 controller.

[Ravenlock]

He was being pretty diplomatic about the whole platform divide thing. ;) But that's a statement I would agree with. Having played it both ways, the KB/M controls work fine, but you're doing so much "button mashing" to attack and dodge that you might as well be doing it on a controller, and there aren't any real advantages to the KB/M setup.

[Abednigo]

He was being pretty diplomatic about the whole platform divide thing. ;) But that's a statement I would agree with. Having played it both ways, the KB/M controls work fine, but you're doing so much "button mashing" to attack and dodge that you might as well be doing it on a controller, and there aren't any real advantages to the KB/M setup.

I guess I should have asked if there were any plans to bring it to PSN (a la Limbo and Braid that came to PSN months later). With so much coming out over the next 2 months I can wait a bit. Not being an XBOX owner I was going to get the PC version. But it does look like it would be preferable on a controller.

[AversionFX]

That was a great listen. And yay! I contributed to the interview!

Good stuff here, kudos to you guys.

[Superman's Dead]

Your guys' conversation about what he would have done at the end got way deeper than I meant it. But that is okay. =)

[Codicier]

Why does eveyone pronounce my username like it's French?

Co-diss-e-er. There's no 'a' in there.

Good interview guys. :)

[kyrieee]

For me the fact that each voice only plays in one ear makes it very hard to listen to =[

[Troggles]

For me the fact that each voice only plays in one ear makes it very hard to listen to =[

I agree with this. I don't like the shifting left and right channels.

[Ravenlock]

That's my fault and I apologize for that; I did the editing, and kind of liked the channel separation for the crosstalk, but I realize some folks don't. I can get an updated version to Clayton that doesn't do that this weekend.

[tacitus]

That explains it; I was very disappointed when I loaded it into my mp3 player to listen to at work. Alas, my current mp3 player only has one bud, so I got the questions and no answers. I am listening to it now on my home computer.

[edit - Woo Hoo! I won. Thanks! and Great Interview!]

[kyrieee]

I really enjoyed the podcast production issues aside :P big fan of Kasavin from his GameSpot days. I hope you get more people on for interviews.

[TheKeck]

The audio channels thing really threw me off until I realized what was going on with it, and then it was fine. Probably having stereo sound throughout would be preferable, though.

[Ravenlock]

I haven't confirmed this personally, but I believe a non-channel-separated MP3 is now on the feed, so if that was bugging you, please try again. :)