Bonus Episode 245: Build-A-Game
Raz opens with a hot take — "video games aren't good" — so naturally we spent two hours designing the one that would be. No genre is safe: we argue core loop, game feel, story, art style, multiplayer, monetization and live-service, then Frankenstein the whole thing out of real games (movement from Titanfall, combat from Tarkov, story and progression from Cyberpunk, gun feel from MW2019).
The pick that started it all: a perfect 10/10 story OR gameplay that feels perfect forever — and why that's not even a real debate. From there it spirals into Grand Theft Jake, the GTA worlds you'd actually live in (and the BG3 ones that would curse you forever), the perfect anti-cheat, whether the perfect game ships finished, and the one thing no dev is brave enough to do.
Jake wants a living open world you can get lost in. Raz wants you to suffer. Specifically. At your expense.
Chapters below. New bonus ep drops Sunday/Monday.
0:00 - Intro — late record, peanut butter discovery
7:10 - "Video games aren't good" — why we're building the perfect one
9:18 - Story vs. gameplay: you can only keep one
15:03 - Core loop & genre — does it need multiplayer?
17:00 - Grand Theft Jake: the GTA-meets-extraction sandbox
24:40 - Bolting PvP onto Cyberpunk, Mass Effect 3 & the meta-game idea
33:11 - Game feel & controls — why COD movement still wins
38:30 - Hit reg, gun feel & the MW2019 vs MW3 split
39:26 - Difficulty: simple to play, hard to master
54:55 - Story, world & writing — lore, Easter eggs, conspiracy radio
1:03:05 - The game worlds you'd actually live in (and BG3 nightmares)
1:08:16 - Art style & sound — photorealism, Hans Zimmer, vibe
1:14:33 - Single-player, co-op or competitive? Ranked & factions
1:20:00 - Mod support: why no add-ons in the perfect game
1:21:01 - The business — free-to-play, the perfect anti-cheat, live service
1:25:26 - Frankenstein mode: steal the parts from real games
1:30:57 - The missing piece: it has to be punishing (why no game nails it)
1:36:00 - Wrap-up — tell us your perfect game