Episode 203 presents a tale of two indie gaming pioneers
The story of Two Tribes, from start to finish.
Another one of those "interview" episodes this week, where instead of us telling you about our opinions regarding classic games we instead ask the people who made classic games to give us actual facts about them. In this case, the people dealing truths are Martijn Reuvers and Collin van Ginckel of the studio Two Tribes, creators of indie darlings Toki Tori and Rive.
It's an episode that means a lot to me personally, as I mention in the course of the conversation; back when I was a dumb kid running a tiny website about old-school games before much of anyone online had an interest in dwelling on gaming's past, I reviewed Toki Tori for Game Boy and, much to my surprise, received a friendly email from someone at Two Tribes thanking me for taking the time to write the article. (Never mind that it was probably ever read by like 100 people.) That was one of my first real interactions with the games industry, and it stuck with me.
It also didn't hurt that Toki Tori was a fun little game that did some impressive things with Game Boy Color tech...
I'd like to say this episode is equally uplifting, but in truth it's a more honest and unflinching look into the realities of game development. For every success story in games, there are probably several dozen tales of struggle and disappointment. Two Tribes closed its doors a while back, so unfortunately you know how their story went. But both Martijn and Collin have plenty of fond memories to share, and plenty of insight into the ups and downs of creating games... not to mention some fascinating tales of subterfuge to bluff their way into the industry.
Special thanks to Niels 't Hooft for making this interview happen!
A tale of Two Tribes
MP3, 57.2 MB | 1:56:30
Direct download | Retronauts on iTunes | Retronauts at Libsyn
Episode description: Jeremy Parish talks to Martijn Reuvers and Collin van Ginckel about the history of their development studio, Two Tribes, a company that bluffed its way into existence in the sunset days of Game Boy and became indie game pioneers with Toki Tori and Rive.
