Design Room

designroom.siteDesign Room is turning 1 and we're lowering pricesTo celebrate our first anniversary, we're making five changes to the site — and dropping the price of our most popular paid subscription tier.

We're a year-old today! To celebrate, we're making five changes to the site — and dropping the price of our most popular paid subscription tier.

designroom.siteLorelei and the Laser Eyes: An oral historyJust a couple of years post-release, we round up the team behind Simogo's puzzle masterpiece to look back at its five-year development process.

Now free for all members!

Design Room@designroom.site

For our next big story, @nicolecarpenter.bsky.social talks to Simogo about one of 2024's best games. (Available now for paid subscribers, next week for all.)

For our next big story, @nicolecarpenter.bsky.social talks to Simogo about one of 2024's best games. (Available now for paid subscribers, next week for all.)

designroom.siteSam & Max's War Song: An oral history, 20 years laterSix former Telltale Games team members look back on the time they made a group of Secret Service agents dance the can-can.

We're making our Sam & Max War Song oral history free this week to celebrate the game's 20th anniversary. Available now!

Design Room reposted

kheehoon chan Still Needs Work

@crapstacular.bsky.social

Happy 5th anniversary for Inscryption - one of my fave games in recent memory. Wanted to tshare two related stories I wrote earlier this year. Firstly, I spoke to Daniel Mullins and Jonah Senzel about its music for @designroom.site: www.designroom.site/inscryption-...

designroom.siteBreaking down the influences behind Inscryption's musicAlmost five years after the game's release, we talk to creator Daniel Mullins and composer and sound designer Jonah Senzel about Inscryption's standout audio.

designroom.siteAfter almost a decade, Rez Infinite remains gaming's greatest tease"If we're using the word 'prologue,' obviously something has to come after..."

Today marks the 10th anniversary of Rez Infinite. Still one of the best things you can play in VR! Last year, we did an oral history with the team from @enhance-experience.com.

designroom.siteVib-Ribbon: An oral historyAlmost 27 years later, we round up the team behind NanaOn-Sha's procedurally generated playground to look at the legacy of PlayStation's wireframe rabbit.

Big new story! The best 8,000 words you'll read on Vib-Ribbon today.

Monday

Since we published our Spore oral history in June, we've been talking to members of the mod community about how they've kept the game going for the past 18 years.

designroom.siteThe modding community keeping Spore aliveWe talk to three members of the Spore modding community about their efforts to continue Maxis' work and keep the game active for new generations of fans.

9 Sept

We're open for freelance pitches! Have any ideas for oral histories, roundtables, Q&As, or other stories that feel in line with what we've published so far? Feel free to DM. Rates typically range from $250-$750.

designroom.siteSam & Max's War Song: An oral history, 20 years laterSix former Telltale Games team members look back on the time they made a group of Secret Service agents dance the can-can.

26 Aug

Almost 20 years after Sam & Max Season One's release, six Telltale team members look back on the time they made a group of Secret Service agents dance the can-can.

Design Room reposted

Molia

@molia3d.bsky.social

22 Aug

Couple of companion pieces I did for @designroom.site a few months ago for a Spore focused article! You can read it for free on their website, it’s a very interesting and in depth piece! #b3d #blender #3dart

Design Room reposted

Read-Only Memory

@readonlymemory.com

13 Aug

The planet has a history. So does the game that made millions of players want to save it. Hear the story of Final Fantasy VII from the people who were there. readonlymemory.com/products/500...

designroom.siteThe 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.

31 July

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

Design Room reposted

Simogo

@simogo.com

24 July

Design Room: very good. Addams Family pinball: very good.

Design Room@designroom.site

For our latest big story, @duncanfyfe.net dives deep the bestselling pinball game of all-time, The Addams Family.

Design Room reposted

Read-Only Memory

@readonlymemory.com

24 July

They came. They strummed. They activated Star Power. The Oral History of Guitar Hero, Rock Band and the Music Game Boom — five coloured buttons, one unforgettable era. readonlymemory.com/products/gui... #guitarhero

designroom.siteHow 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.

23 July

Following yesterday's Addams Family oral history, we have a story on how pinball licensing exploded in the '90s.

22 July

For our latest big story, @duncanfyfe.net dives deep the bestselling pinball game of all-time, The Addams Family.

10 July

Inscryption is almost 5, so let's talk about its music.

designroom.siteThe 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.

11 June

We also have a couple of Spore bonus stories today for paid subscribers, like this one on the game's Wind Waker connection.

designroom.siteWhy the Spore team didn't move to EA's campusTeam members discuss working in an abandoned spaceship, a greenhouse, and a Russian space museum — and being across the bay from Electronic Arts.

11 June

And this one on the time Maxis split in two, with the Sims team on one side of the bay and the Spore team on the other.

designroom.siteSpore: 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...

11 June

We'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.

designroom.siteHow 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.

15 May

Namco's exercise bike-powered flying contraption is almost 30 years old, so we tracked down the game's director to look back.

14 May

Friday

Design Room reposted

designroom.siteYoko 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.

27 Apr

"It's like trying to make three games within the budget for one. Realistically, it's not possible."

27 Apr

"It's like trying to make three games within the budget for one. Realistically, it's not possible."

18 Apr

Archipel's latest book, The Worlds of Yoko Taro, showed up today and is beautiful. Get it here: archipel.jp/collections/...

Design Room reposted

designroom.siteFinal 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.

13 Apr

We dig into Capcom's infamous U.S.-made fighter, with a 5,000-word feature and never-before-seen development assets.

13 Apr

We dig into Capcom's infamous U.S.-made fighter, with a 5,000-word feature and never-before-seen development assets.

13 Apr

FYI this story is exclusive to paid subscribers, but you can see some of the new art above the cutoff line.

10 Apr

Monday

Design Room reposted

designroom.siteSuperbrothers: 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.

Sworcery turns 15 today, and we've got a big new feature looking back for the anniversary.

Design Room reposted

deadlyyucca

@deadlyyucca.bsky.social

happy 15th anniversary! even after 15 years, it’s still one of my favorite games :) if it weren't for this wonderful piece, i don't think i'd be drawing pixel art right now. (by the way, i drew the header image. i’m truly honored)

Design Room@designroom.site

Sworcery turns 15 today, and we've got a big new feature looking back for the anniversary.

Sworcery turns 15 today, and we've got a big new feature looking back for the anniversary.

Credit for that birthday cake header art to @deadlyyucca.bsky.social.

23 Mar

Big new story up tomorrow.

12 Mar

When the tutorial is the title.

designroom.siteThe '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.

3 Mar

New story up on what happened to Ocean Software's Lobo fighting game, with a bunch of never-before-seen renders made for the game.

Some of the art!

The planned box art is everything that's great about '90s CG.

youtube.comCapcom CPS Promo from VHS TapeYouTube video by ottosb

25 Feb

An 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.

readonlymemory.comLike a Hurricane: An Unofficial Oral History of Street Fighter IILike a Hurricane traces the creation and cultural legacy of Street Fighter II through over 60 interviews with the developers, artists, composers and fans who shaped its story. Compiled by journalist M...

25 Feb

This will all make a lot more sense if you've read the book!

20 Feb

Friend of the site @milkman.bsky.social has a new book on the way.

This post is unavailable.

11 Feb

In 1996 for Ultimate Gamer magazine, @vgephemera.bsky.social dug up a bunch of lost Atari projects like the Mindlink headset that let you control games using brain waves.

10 Feb

Gamest, September 1991

A lot going on here.

Love to see it.

Game Informer@gameinformer.com

Fallout has gone from a small side project to a worldwide phenomenon. We spoke with many of the people behind the various eras of the franchise to tell the story of the series in their own words. This is Game Informer's oral history of Fallout: gameinformer.com/FalloutOralH...

5 Feb

When SNK promoted Samurai Shodown II to arcade operators with some creative math.