Interview with Impie

On February 5, 2018, in , by alfonzo

Hello and welcome to 2018 aka not another barren wilderness of Doom Radio/TangoTV content as we embark for the umpteenth time on a mission to improve the frequency of everyone’s favorite double-barreled podcast. I didn’t surgically replace my face with a microphone for the looks, you know. Together we’re going to make this thing work!

This interview with author/level designer Mike “@Impie” MacDee explores the creative process from a different perspective. Impie’s Winter Agent Juno tie-in series of WADs, including Project Einherjar and Midgard Outlaw, is a rare example of cross-platform world-building with Doom at its center. It allows for a fascinating insight into how an understanding of level design can help empower the development of a seemingly unrelated practice. We talk about managing creative commitments, the importance of limitation in making good games, the indie game movement, Heretic and Hacx (and how neither are much good), Matthew Costello, the repeat ignorance displayed by game and film studios, the death of the splatterhouse genre, the marketing skills required of self-publishing writers, similarities between the structuring of good levels and good stories; and all of it is complimented by someone with a remarkable breadth of knowledge in film, books, and video games (no, really—his name-dropping game is off the charts).

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