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

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

00:00 - 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