Have you ever played a game with developer commentary?

[rusty_shackleford]

If so, which?

[Oyster Sauce]

I've roamed TF2 maps with it on. It adds speech bubbles you can interact with to trigger specific commentary. Just to kill time.



It led to this video, and Gabe pronouncing his name differently to this day

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I would much rather read/hear about the design process in an interview online than read/hear game dev notes while trying to be immersed or engaged in the game.

[rusty_shackleford]

I've roamed TF2 maps with it on. It adds speech bubbles you can interact with to trigger specific commentary. Just to kill time.

I suspect most of the 'yes' answers are going to be Valve tbh

[Roguey]

I liked the Valve and Pillars of Eternity commentaries.

[J1M]

The value of this is directly correlated with the quality of the average developer. The interest level directly correlated with the quality of the game.

Was probably a higher value proposition for developers when the number of titles released per year was 10x less.

EDIT: I replayed something half life with dev commentary. I have also watched enough retrospective commentary from Deus Ex developers to essentially have listened to a multiple developer commentaries for that as well.

[wndrbr]

I liked commentary mode in Valve games, played HL2 with episodes and L4D with commentaries turned on.

I also played Blackwell games with developer's commentary mode on, I don't recommend it. Dave Gilbert has an annoying voice, and he keeps digressing into uninteresting stuff about his personal life.

[Oyster Sauce]

Old dev playthrough of Conker's Bad Fur Day



You'd think developer Let's Plays would be more common.

[wndrbr]

Old dev playthrough of Conker's Bad Fur Day



You'd think developer Let's Plays would be more common.

"Furry Detail" huh

[SpellSword]

Cthulhu Saves the World... Or it may have been Breath of Death VII. I can't remember which one, possibly both.

► They kind of blur together in my mind.

Not bad games for the asking price.

[Magick]

Half Life & Portal ones were pretty insightful, on how they got you to look certain directions, why they designed certain scenes the way they did, what they were like in the past as they were refined, blabla.

[Tadeusz]

If so, which?

Aside from Valve games there's a blooper reel mission in Thief with dev comments - it was pretty fun.
Deus Ex: Invisible War also had dev comments.

[Cedric]

A few. But I only remember Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay by name. Good game, doesn't overstay its welcome. The commentary didn't make it more enjoyable for me.

[ghardy]

• Half-Life 2 - Original developer commentary

• Half-Life 2 Episodes - Original developer commentary

• Portal - Original developer commentary

• Half-Life 2 Update - Community commentary

On the other hand, I've seen playthroughs of games like DooM with John Romero playing while talking. And there was one video which featured some of the developers of the original System Shock talking about things such as sound design, level design, development, programming, etc. while playing the game.

[Stack of Turtles]

My favorite part of the Portal developer commentary was at the very beginning when the project leader devoted an entire commentary balloon to explaining that the devs had originally planned to do all the commentary using the word "he" for the player, but they felt bad about it, and then they were saved because somebody explained to them that ackchully Shakespeare used "they/them" and "they/them" was secretly a standard part of the English language all along because the illuminati wrote it on all the grammar textbooks in invisible ink for when the time would come that we needed it.

By "favorite" I mean "most likely to make me do a mass shooting in California".

[aimlesshealer]

On the other hand, I've seen playthroughs of games like DooM with John Romero playing while talking. And there was one video which featured some of the developers of the original System Shock talking about things such as sound design, level design, development, programming, etc. while playing the game.

Do you have a link?

[Norfleet]

By "favorite" I mean "most likely to make me do a mass shooting in California".

Don't be a mass shooter. The virgin crazed gunman vs. the Chad mad bomber or chemist. If you do decide to do a mass shooting, at least be unique and do it with a longbow or something. Preferrably in full period dress, so there's a medieval archer running around shooting up the place.

[ghardy]

On the other hand, I've seen playthroughs of games like DooM with John Romero playing while talking. And there was one video which featured some of the developers of the original System Shock talking about things such as sound design, level design, development, programming, etc. while playing the game.

Do you have a link?

Have fun!

[rusty_shackleford]

There's either a lot less than I thought, or the mobygames list is really incomplete
https://www.mobygames.com/group/9162/ga ... ommentary/

[Roguey]

Most devs don't like explaining their intentions, something that can be used against them.

[Rienen]

While I like watching the "after action report" style videos, that touch on how devs problem solved technical hurdles (because I'm a freaking nerd), I don't know about ever listening to dev commentary during a game. I'm not one who lives and dies on "immersion" but that kinda thing seems like it would be a bit too meta for me.

[Oyster Sauce]

Most devs don't like explaining their intentions, something that can be used against them.

True. The HL2 Episode Whichever commentary is still known to this day for having the part where they admit they dumbed down a level for some ******** playtester.

[J1M]

Most devs don't like explaining their intentions, something that can be used against them.

True. The HL2 Episode Whichever commentary is still known to this day for having the part where they admit they dumbed down a level for some ******** playtester.

Most depressing example of this is probably the Portal 2 commentary where they talk about scripting that 'fixes' when a player shoots the wrong color of portal in segments that require reflexes and eliminating alternative solutions to make it 'easier' for players to see the intended puzzle solutions.

[just]

one of the monkey islands, some remake or whatever it was

[Kalin]

No never. I also never watched a movie with director's commentary. Shut the **** up bozo, I'm trying to enjoy myself.

[DrSneed]

your mom gave developer commentary on you when I was bangingh er

[DrSneed]

she said you're a very handsome boy and that you should apply yourself more

[Baldric]

I played HL2 recently with the deveoper commentary on. It was actually enjoyable to hear the background of the game while playing. Would recommend 10/10.

[asf]

monkey island and it sucked