– Westwood Studios cofounder Louis Castle explains why The Lion King was made much more difficult at the last minute.
This week San Francisco-based independent studio Double Fine (Costume Quest 2) and long-time video production partner 2 Player Productions launched a new video series that aims to put video game makers on a couch to chat about development while playing through a classic game.
Inspired by the “Let’s Play” video production style popularized by YouTubers, Double Fine’s new series may potentially offer fresh insight into the design and development of seminal titles.
The series is called “Devs Play”, and the inaugural episode (embedded above) features Double Fine’s Greg Rice playing through Westwood Studios’ 1994 game The Lion King alongside Westwood Studios cofounder Louis Castle.
“Devs Play” is really just a formal vehicle for some of the videos Double Fine has been publishing to its YouTube channel for years, many of which feature Tim Schafer and other Double Fine staff members playing through Double Fine games while ruminating on their development.
Not all episodes will include a member of the featured game’s development team, but between Double Fine’s deep bench of development talent and the multiple non-Double Fine developers who have already signed on to be part of the series (including Mike Mika and John Romero), the first season seems worth watching for developers of all stripes.