#109 - Bryan Walker Interview (Metroid Prime Trilogy, Donkey Kong, Mario Kart 7, Project Management)

Channel:

KIWI TALKZ

Subscribers:

19,100

Published on October 2, 2021 6:00:03 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sWfE2x-ClM

Game:

Metroid Prime: Trilogy (2009)

Category:

Vlog

Duration: 1:05:56

9,665 views

358

Bryan Walker is currently the Lead Producer at Deck Nine Games but is most well known for his tenure at Retro Studios where he was was Senior Producer on Metroid Prime 2 & 3 and Senior Director of Development on Donkey Kong Country Returns and Mario Kart 7.

#retrostudios #metroidprime #donkeykong

SOCIAL MEDIA
LinkedIn - Bryan Walker

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
00:20 - Joining Retro Studios Right After Success Of Metroid Prime 1
03:02 - Correcting Retro Studios’ Toxic Environment
05:38 - Keys To Managing Game Developers/Management Tips
08:19 - Tanabe Is A Super Genius Of Boss Design
10:06 - Bryan Walker Can Beat The Boost Ball Guardian Outside Of Debug Mode
11:10 - Due To A Military Background Bryan Gave Input On The Galactic Federation Marines
12:13 - Bryan Praises Scott Peterson For Implementation Of Voice Acting
14:07 - It Didn’t Take Much To Convince Nintendo To Do The Metroid Prime Trilogy Package
15:05 - How Retro Studios Got The Donkey Kong IP/Miyamoto’s View On DK
20:21 - Nintendo Are Not Impressed Until They See Game Prototypes
22:00 - Western Publishers Are More Interested In Documents Than Prototypes
23:01 - Unreal/Unity Have Streamlined Development
24:00 - Mark Pacini’s Genius/Original Pitch For Metroid Prime 3 Was To Be Open World
26:06 - Bryan Feels They Fell Short With Prime 3
27:10 - Nintendo’s Slogan Is “To Delight And Surprise The Player”
28:03 - Bryan’s Experience With Satoru Iwata
29:03 - Most Gaming CEO’s Don’t Understand Whats Involved In Development
32:04 - Game Design Summed Up As “Turning Big Rocks Into Little Rocks”
33:22 - Hyper Mode In Prime 3 Took A Year To Implement
35:34 - Retro Studios Was The First Western Studio To See The Wii Remote
36:50 - Retro Studios Initially Were Really Worried About The Wii/Wii’s Success
38:28 - Iwata Was A Proponent Of The Blue Ocean Strategy/The Book - Innovators Dilemma
39:46 - Why Bryan Joined Deck Nine Games/Story Driven Games
41:45 - Writing Process Of Story Driven Games Like True Colour
43:10 - Giving Publishers The Reality Of The Cost The Implementing Certain Things
44:32 - Headcount Determines Budget/Cost Of Running An AAA Studio Per Month
46:03 - Cost Of Printing Discs, Retail and Marketing
48:30 - Digital Sales For Games
49:13 - Publishers Do Not Pay Out Bonuses Based On Metacritic Rating
49:44 - Retro’s Work On Mario Kart 7
51:12 - Mario Kart 7 Iwata Story
53:03 - Retro Did A Lot Of The Mario Kart Retro Tracks/Retro Were Huge Nintendo Fans
54:37 - Nintendo Were Inspired By Retro Studios Design Tool Kits
56:49 - Retro Studios Went To Japan Headquarters Quite A Number Of Times During Mario Kart 7
58:20 - Moment At Retro Studios That Sticks With Bryan Walker The Most
1:00:56 - Better To Have A Superstar Team Than A Team Full Of Superstars
1:03:11 - Deck Nine Games Going Forward
1:03:37 - How To Keep Up To Date With Bryan Walker

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