DGC Ep 457: Pikmin (part three)

DGC Ep 457: Pikmin (part three)

Author: Brett Douville and Tim Longo January 21, 2026 Duration: 1:12:25

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Pikmin. We talk about building back from loss, a rough ending, and compact level design, amongst other things. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played:
Finished the Game (B) or Played a bit more (T)

Issues covered: the charity stream, how many parts do you need, maybe less necessary ship parts, coming back from a bad day, combat and losing units, strategies to build up your armies, fighting the slog and demoralization, the tyranny of the day timer, stats at the end of the game, having a day to rebuild, a mismatch of tone and play, figuring out how the conversion flowers worked, an economical game with economical levels, playing against enemy ecologies, small footprint with lots of overlay, a daily bombing task, a player type that interacts poorly with the game, not handling the vertical well, the first iteration, thinking about the unit types in other RTSes, the final level and its environmental challenges, the final boss and changing the rules, dev team size, genre conventions and inspirations, drawing inspiration from elsewhere, make the final boss easier, context and tone working together with gameplay, catching up with a review.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: CalamityNolan, BioStats, KyleAndError13, Silksong, LostLake86, Minecraft, N0isses, Hades, Brad Smith, Teenage Blob, Pilgrims, Kaeon, Untitled Goose Game, MegaMan X, Dwarf Fortress, Phil Salvador, Myst, Cyan, Splatoon 2, Project Octavia, Super Mario 64, Starcraft, Ensemble Studios, Halo Wars, Halo, Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Ogre Battle 64, Breath of the Wild, Benimanjaro, Hitman, Spelunky, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. 

Next time:

Defeating Games for Charity Links:
Donate! 
Follow on Bluesky
Defeating Games YT 

Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp
YouTube 
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: 50

Dev Game Club
Podcast Episodes
DGC Ep 487: Persona 3 (part three) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:02
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Persona 3. We talk about the boss fight, challenges in localization of content, more about the structure, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at class…
DGC Ep 486: Persona (part two) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:45
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Persona 3. We talk about the game's structure, how everything ties back to Tartarus, and the virtuous cycle around combat, among other things. Dev Game…
DGC Ep 485: Persona 3 (part one) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:51
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on Persona 3. We start off with a big announcement, then we get into setting the game in its time and with the general property of Shin Megami Tensei before…
DGC Ep 484: Soul Reaver Bonus Inteview with Riley Cooper [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:20
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we revisit our 2017 series on 1999's Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. We're interviewing Riley Cooper, a former colleague of Tim's who had a long career at Crystal Dynamics and worke…
DGC Ep 483: Peggle/Casual Games (part three) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:39
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we complete our series on two entries from the casual space by PopCap. We discuss Peggle before turning to takeaways. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through…
DGC Ep 482: Plants vs Zombies/Casual Games (part two) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:15
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on casual games with our continuing discussion of Plants vs Zombies. We talk about the mechanics some more, a bit about the economy, and our favorite eleme…
Discord Game Club Ep. 18 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:02
It's summertime and that means scheduling challenges. Therefore, this week we are reaching into the Discord Game Club interview archive. This time around, fan Discord members Artimage and Mors chat with Nick T, of The Ra…
DGC Ep 481: Plants vs Zombies/Casual Games (part one) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:07:02
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a short mini-series on casual games, beginning with PopCap's Plants vs Zombies. We spend a lot of time setting these lower-challenge games both in their time and against…
DGC Ep 480: Psychonauts (part four) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:25:05
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we conclude our series on Psychonauts. We talk about how the game gates certain things on the basis of what seems optional and Brett monologues a bit about some later levels befo…
DGC Ep 479: Splinter Cell CT Bonus Interview with Clint Hocking [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:14:57
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we revisit our Splinter Cell conversation with a return interview with Clint Hocking. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, pro…