DGC Ep 423: Interstate '76 (part two)

DGC Ep 423: Interstate '76 (part two)

Author: Brett Douville and Tim Longo March 19, 2025 Duration: 1:06:08

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1997's Interstate '76. We talk about physics again, mission design, input, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: 
Roughly six missions (B), technical difficulties (T)

Issues covered: end of mission two sitting duck and acting, many controller bindings, driving an automatic, mapping onto the character's body instead of the car, the hardware abstraction layer and Direct X, enumerating devices and buttons, IBM PC light grey numpads, mechanical keyboards, the nostalgia of two hands on the keyboard, extra peripherals, simulating the character vs the car, the car as the crosshairs, getting stuff off the battlefield, upgrades, managing weight, racing missions, the potential of weight impacting the simulation, a game that's not well-preserved, weird configuration and axes, mission design, following the guy you're racing, broken physics world, compounded errors, blowing up the diner, 90s references, failing the mission multiple times, guiding the player back, being unable to save Skeeter, level of detail issues, sim mission design, cheating the sim, car condition, wanting to try the flight stick, the band, good looking cars, mayhem on the field, now available on YouTube.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Falcon, XvT, MechWarrior, Steel Battalion, Guitar Hero, Microsoft, Forza, TIE Fighter, Tipper Gore, Escape from New York, Third Eye Blind, fbrccn, MuzBoz, Twisted Metal Black, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Notes: 
The more common and cheap keyboard type that Brett didn't know the name of is a "membrane" keyboard. 

Next time:
More I '76

Twitch: timlongojr
Discord
DevGameClub@gmail.com


Dev Game Club is a conversation between two working game developers who have been there. Each week, hosts Brett Douville and Tim Longo pick a classic video game from the past-often a title that shaped design thinking or introduced a new technical standard-and break it down from their professional perspective. Their discussions go beyond nostalgia, examining how these older titles functioned, why certain creative decisions were made, and what lasting impact they left on the industry. You’ll hear specific analysis of game mechanics, narrative structure, and technical achievements, all filtered through decades of hands-on development experience. The goal isn’t just to reminisce but to extract tangible lessons that are still relevant for creators and deeply interesting for passionate players today. They invite you to play the game in question alongside them, then settle in for a detailed, insider’s post-mortem. This podcast offers a unique blend of critical appreciation and practical insight, treating video game history as a living textbook. It’s for anyone who loves games and wants to understand the craft behind them on a deeper level. New episodes release regularly, diving into a different influential game from the archives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Dev Game Club
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