How is January treating everyone out there? Staying warm, I hope? Here in Japan the temperature has been quite low for weeks. We had snow in Osaka on New Year's Eve!
Winter as a topic is hyper-relevant to this week's episode of Retronauts (as the cover art can confirm) for our special guest is Giles Goddard. Giles moved to Japan to join Nintendo at a young age and among his many projects for the Kyoto company was 1080° Snowboarding, an early and highly influential winter sports game. These days, Giles runs his own studio, Vitei, and he's still active in the Kyoto developer scene.
This is a very special episode for a number of reasons. Not only was this an opportunity to sit down with a veteran game developer who has experienced a lot in his career, this was also my very first opportunity to host Retronauts on my own (those other episodes you've heard by now were recorded much later). Also, Kyoto is a beautiful city and I relish any opportunity that work sends me there.
So please enjoy me, Giles, and Chuhai Labs producer Mark Lentz in this conversation from Spring 2021, and take note that the teased "upcoming" release of Carve Snowboarding has long since become a reality.
Description: Senior Japan correspondent Diamond Feit goes inside Vitei in Kyoto to speak to studio founder Giles Goddard and Chuhai Labs producer Mark Lentz about 1080° Snowboarding, Giles' history with Nintendo, and indie game development.
Retronauts is a completely fan-funded operation. To support the show, and get exclusive episodes every month, please visit the official Retronauts Patreon.
MP3, 36 MB | 1:16:51 Direct download Retronauts on iTunes Retronauts at Libsyn
Artwork for this episode by Ceren Gunes.