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Checkpoints #20 is up! Twenty episodes! I wasn't sure I'd make it to ten. Anyway, today's guest is the amazing Chris Crawford. Chris was a visionary creator in a time when the industry was still finding it's feet and when anything seemed possible. Many of his design ideas and principles are still taught and read by new developers, and his influence can be seen through the generations. Not least of which in the annual Game Developer's Conference which Chris founded in 1987. The first GDC was in his living room. His longing for video games to broaden their horizons and his desire for new ways of playing led him to leave the established community in 1992 to focus on pushing these boundaries himself. His mission was laid out in his now famous Dragon Speech where he implored Video game creators to reach for the impossible, and warned how cycles of refinement and redevelopment could lead to stagnation. 23 years later he continues his lofty task of creating games about people rather than things, with Siboot being the most recent example. We talk about his beginnings in game design, working at Atari during the Video game crash, how he's currently building a tank (!), what prompted him to make the Dragon Speech, how he perceives stories as algorithms and why he thinks maths is the key to the future of our civilisation. We touch on Pacman, Balance of Power, Gossip, Civilisation and Papers Please. Dream well. iTunes RSS Web

Also, RE: the growing up thing, I've thought about this a lot and I wonder how much of it is down to the power of the music and sound effects. I think it's telling that one of main points that came up was the chest opening sound. The music in many of Nintendo's long running games have been absolutely stellar, and the various hints and remixes always fill me with a warm sense of comfort. I get the same with movies too. Jurassic World was mostly terrible but it had that music and suddenly I forgave it's myriad sins. Even something as crass and objectively bad as Michael Bay's Transformers would have got a pass from me had the music over the credits been Stan Bush's The Touch. OK maybe that's too far.

I genuinely couldn't believe his Zelda chat. I think he was just spoiling for a fight. No way! Is there any specific reason? I was going to say that's a shame (and it is for listeners) but it might be exactly what you want.

A few days before his 40th birthday I sat down for a meander through Video game past with Kieron Gillen. After a long and storied career in Video game journalism - from early beginnings at Amiga Power to becoming one of the founders of Rock, Paper, Shotgun via New Games Journalism - Kieron has moved on to a successful career as a comic book writer and been annoyingly great at that too. With a hugely successful run of books from Thor to Darth Vader, as well as his two creator owned books with Jamie McKelvie, Phonogram and the Wicked and the Divine, which has recently been optioned for a TV series. We discuss a lot of video games. Early disappointment with The Hobbit, the importance of Gauntlet, the quality of writing in Speedball 2, creating poets in Princess Maker, the communal joy of Chaos, an alternate God Hand future, how Let's Plays are the final form of New Games Journalism and you don't want to know what he thinks about Zelda. Also a story of a testicle based injury caused by City of Heroes. You're welcome. Checkpoints #19 - RSS iTUNES WEB

Checkpoints episode 18 is now up with guest Jason Rohrer. Web RSS iTunes When I started this show I made up a short list of dream guests, Jason was one of them, so as you can imagine this was a real thrill for me. Add in the fact that he talks in great detail about the game he's currently working on, a game which sounds incredible and one which I don't think has been featured or talked about anywhere else, and this is a truly great episode, please do share it around if you like it. If you're not familiar with Jason, just a quick glance through his wiki should make you realise how fascinating a guy he is, and do yourself a favour and play Passage. It only takes five minutes but what a five minutes: http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/

Checkpoints #17 is up - Today's guest is the Scottish novelist Christopher Brookmyre. Chris's love of video games is peppered through many of his books, but most distinctly in his recent novel Bedlam which has subsequently become it's own Video game. We talk Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy, video games as fuel for imagination, trolling Dreamcast players, and the parallels between the Quake scene of the 90s and the Punk scene of the 70s. All fun and games until someone loses an eye. Web RSS iTunes

It's crazy right? I felt bad for pretty much saying so while we were chatting but I'm sure John understood. You just don't expect those kind of projects from a company that's famous for this minimalist skateboarding game. It's stuff like this that keeps me really excited about the show. Video game creators are still largely anonymous, even amongst enthusiasts, yet there's so few avenues for people to discover these fascinating pasts and personal struggles.T Thanks for listening!

Latest Checkpoints is up, with guest John Ribbins from Roll7, developers of OlliOlli. We talk Urban Chaos, Rocket League, Doom, Death Tank, Bullet Storm and California Games amongst many others. Plus a chat about the surprising history of Roll7, from designing games to raise awareness of knife crime to games augmented by reading your brainwaves. Hope you enjoy it! RSS Web iTunes

Hey so I've done a few more eps of Checkpoints since I last stopped in here. The episode with Geoff Glendenning was very UK centric and quite niche so I wasn't sure if it'd appeal to you guys, but for me it was amazing. He's a marketing guy, and he basically came up with all the branding and advertising for the Playstation launch in the UK. It was bold stuff, and caused a monumental shift in gaming perceptions for the country. He made it cool. The last ep was with Cara Ellison was great, and having listened to the Justice Points ep with Cara I can also guarantee they are very different chats Do subscribe and tell your friends etc. I think I'm too quiet online, I'm really proud of the show but I've kind of plateaued with listeners. If anyone who runs a show has any tips for growing an audience I'm all ears. I've do have some great guests coming up including John Ribbins, the creator of Olli Olli, the author Christopher Brookmyre and the amazing Jason Rohrer. Thanks! RSS iTunes Web

Thanks for listening folks, hope you enjoyed it. Also love the sound of You Must Remember This, will definitely be checking that out, cheers for the tip!

Since everyone was so kind about the episode with Sean, there's a new ep of Checkpoints out: Web RSS iTunes My guest this episode is Meg Jayanth who was the lead writer on 80 Days. She was a total delight, I really enjoyed talking with her. I worried we went on about 80 Days a little too much but I really loved the game and was genuinely fascinated by the process. It just seems like a logistical nightmare to write and organise but all of it is invisible when you play. Listen, enjoy, tell your friends etc! Thanks!

Thanks so much for listening! I was really pleased with it. I've now also checked out the Justice Points podcast and it's incredibly refreshing to hear different voices on a gaming podcast. Great stuff. I know Sean is what brings everyone to the party but I'd really encourage folk to listen to some of the others too. Particularly the ones with Kirsten Kearney and Simon Parkin. I'm not choosing favourites because they're all good, but both of those have so far felt the most like what the show was in my head. i.e. personal stories that become inextricably linked to the games people were playing at the moment. Kirsten met her husband in a Rainbow Six game!

I figured this would be of particular interest to Idle Thumbs fans. I host a radio show/podcast called Checkpoints. Each week, a guest on the show talks about the games that have shaped their life in one way or another. Games that have inspired them, games that forged connections with others and games that have soothed wounds. Checkpoints! ​My guest in the latest episode is Idle Thumbs own Sean Vanaman. It's a great talk, I was thrilled to have Sean on. You can listen here: RSS iTunes Web I hope you enjoy it!

I literally just created an account to plug my own podcast which is admittedly a little bold but I am just keen for other people to hear it. Conceptually it's something I would be completely into, and since Idle Thumbs is my favourite podcast, then maybe fans of that show would be fans of mine, right? OK, here's the pitch: CHECKPOINTS This is a show about video games. The people who make them and the people who play them. Each episode, a guest on the show discusses the games that have shaped their lives: games that have forged friendships, games that have broadened horizons and games that have soothed wounds. Checkpoints! I've only done 6 episodes so far, but I've got great feedback from the listeners I have and all the guests have been great. The latest episode is with Iain who is one third of the popular music group CHVRCHES. The one thing I'm most happy with is how diverse everybody's histories have been. When I started I was worried everyone would have the same games as their checkpoints but it's fascinating to see the different games that hit people at different points. If you're interested, you can listen to it in all of these ways: Web: declandineen.com/checkpoints RSS: feeds.feedburner.com/checkpoints-declandineen iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/checkpoints-declan-dineen/id961200224 Thanks so much!