Steve

! Tone Control 11: Ryan Payton of Camouflaj

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https://www.idlethumbs.net/tonecontrol/episodes/ryan-payton

 

Creeping. Sneaking. Running and hiding. Ryan Payton has spent many years working on games about sticking to the shadows, keeping out of sight. Now the first episode of his own company's new iOS game series, Republique, has stepped out into the light. Follow us on a journey from Portland to Japan to Seattle, and finally onto your fucking telephone.

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Look at all that sweet Metal Gear Solid talk. I am pumped.

 

However, it would be appreciated if someone could describe the extent of Republique spoilers. I'm waiting on the PC version. 

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I don't think very much at all re: spoilers? But I guess I'm a bit biased so second opinions are welcome.

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I'm also waiting for the PC version of Republique, so I'm, postponing this episode, just in case.

 

Also, this is the first time I hear about the Camoflaj people being involved in Metal Gear Solid. Then again, I've never played a Metal Gear game.

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I don't remember any spoilers, but I might have a bad recollection (I was playin' a game while listening).

 

Anyway, good cast. That WoW story had me in stitches. 

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Hello,

 

Your podcast is really good. But I think you should not record a talk show in stereo. You have the interviewer on the left track and the interviewee on the right track. It is not good as it creates a bit of an echo effect. And what is worse is that when I listen while jogging and I keep only one earbud in (so I can hear traffic coming from behind me) and I can't hear only one side of the interview.The other side's volume level is too low.

 

Please mix down to mono…the same audio on both tracks.

 

Here is what it sound like in mono. Which do you think is better?

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ullw1fggumhzksi/GrLhbgrdwn

 

Regards,

Dan

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there's a bit of recurring theme in the tone control episodes i've heard about getting your foot in through good luck then being willing to take the initiative with extra responsibility. i'm not in the games industry but i think that's a useful idea for success in lots of things.

 

ryan was a bit guarded about the number one thing i was curious about from someone who worked with him but doesn't have to follow the pr script, which was how much kojima is responsible for the games he produces. as a big fan of kojipro's games i find it fascinating, especially as i find the games oscillate between the sublime and the dreadful in a way few things do and i can't work out whether it's that kojima is incredibly eccentric or whether it's a push and pull between him and his team or both or whatever.

 

crunch in the japanese game industry sounds especially brutal

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Hello,

 

Your podcast is really good. But I think you should not record a talk show in stereo. 

 

The separation makes my hearing feel weird for hours after listening to an episode. Steve is using a stereo microphone positioned so that each participant is at the extreme of each channel, and the result is very strange, especially with headphones or in the car. 

 

It would definitely be worth fading each side aggressively toward the middle, or going mono like TokyoDan suggests. I'm usually a proponent of maintaining separation in order to prevent the destruction of detail, but it's not like people really talk over each other in these interviews, so mono is totally fine.

 

I'm super stoked about Metal Gear all the time, so I'm digging this episode so far. It took a long time and many tries for the Metal Gear series to click with me, but once I developed a taste for it, it took over my brain.

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Maybe it was just Ryan's incredible career path that almost seemed like a counterfactual history of my post-college years, but I really enjoyed this podcast as much if not more than any other, despite having never played a single Metal Gear game or Republique, although I do use the voice I learned from Chris and Steve in the early episodes of Idle Thumbs to great effect.

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Man, the story of being asked to work with Kojima is blowing my mind. When is it my turn to win the opportunity lottery! I'm ready to say yes!

 

Also, my best pal has a similar story to the "easiest way to get a thing from A to B." He works for the pro-wrasslin' and because of a holiday schedule a show was being taped within 24 hours of it's airdate, so the easiest way to get the footage to edit was to put my friend, a lowly Production Assistant on the company's private jet, fly to texas and pick up like 4 beta tapes, and immediately fly back to CT. 

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I'll admit, I didn't recognize the name Ryan Payton, or Camouflaj, or Republique, and I'm not super interested in iOS games, so I was tempted to skip this episode. I'm glad I didn't; Payton's career story alone is worth it.

 

Steve, I wanted to compliment you on your interview-sense. When Payton mentions having lots of "war stories" that he doesn't have time to go into, your response ("What's the one that's still on your mind right now?") was absolutely perfect.

 

On the topic of stereo vs mono, I prefer the subtle stereo effect, myself. It feels more natural to me. I can see the advantages of mono (especially for your running, TokyoDan), but I think you should keep releasing them in stereo, since the listener can always use something like Audacity to collapse the two channels.

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Just getting around to listening to this one, and I really appreciated Ryan's story about going from being bad at math in college to an eventual winding path to games.  My daughter is in the midst of that right now, end of sophomore year and in a very similar place (the math is just wrecking her).  I'm sending this podcast on to her for some encouragement.  Not so much that it's guaranteed that she can still end up in games (it's absolutely not), but that other smart and talented people also went through where she's at and still found success in life. 

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Just getting around to listening to this one, and I really appreciated Ryan's story about going from being bad at math in college to an eventual winding path to games.  My daughter is in the midst of that right now, end of sophomore year and in a very similar place (the math is just wrecking her).  I'm sending this podcast on to her for some encouragement.  Not so much that it's guaranteed that she can still end up in games (it's absolutely not), but that other smart and talented people also went through where she's at and still found success in life. 

 

But that's really cool to hear! Among other things I hope this podcast will at least make some people feel like becoming a game dev is attainable, if that's what they want to do. I am also awful at math! I haven't taken a math class since 10th grade! And look at me now!! **stumbles and falls over a railing**

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But that's really cool to hear! Among other things I hope this podcast will at least make some people feel like becoming a game dev is attainable, if that's what they want to do. I am also awful at math! I haven't taken a math class since 10th grade! And look at me now!! **stumbles and falls over a railing**

 

Looks like you're the ghost now, Steve. What a twist! *munches popcorn*

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That's not a reason not to try hard at maths kids.

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