Kvlt Games, The Great Rebellion - Roland Moritz
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 37 minutes
Words per Minute
178.1262
Summary
In this episode, we have a special guest, Henrik Hirsig, a game developer from the Austrian game development scene. Henrik talks about how he got started in the game development industry, why he started making games, and what he thinks about the current state of video games.
Transcript
00:01:00.420
Definitely in terms of revenue, the money in it and things like that.
00:01:03.840
And a lot of people are, well, sometimes we kind of forget about video games.
00:01:14.740
This is like 20 years ago almost or something like that.
00:01:17.760
So I'm kind of a little rusty on the gaming front.
00:01:19.580
But it's such an important world because there's so many of our young people that are playing these games, right?
00:01:24.580
And all the AAA games have, of course, gone woke.
00:01:40.880
And yeah, as you already said, there is little to add.
00:01:44.060
Computer games are an extremely relevant medium, especially young people, but not only.
00:01:49.180
Also boomers like myself, or Chinese, I guess, technically, are playing.
00:02:00.740
The other part, I have to be honest here, is I just always had a passion for making games, for playing them.
00:02:12.620
When I was young, the first thing I played was the games on the Commodore Amiga of my older brother.
00:02:33.180
But yeah, Amiga, I remember I had a friend who had that too.
00:02:40.520
I mean, these games back then were different than the games now.
00:02:46.320
There was a lot of, you could say, like the handwriting of single individuals that made the game in them.
00:02:53.420
And some of them were very bizarre, fantastical, psychedelic, even weird.
00:03:00.080
But from nowadays perspective, everything is very slick and tightly produced and so on.
00:03:07.180
And they just, I don't know, stimulated my imagination.
00:03:13.160
So when did you start working with games, getting into that and wanting to do your own?
00:03:20.840
I mean, I started like really early when I was around either 12 or 13.
00:03:31.160
So I just walked to the local bookstore and said like, hey, do you have any games on programming?
00:03:36.220
And then I just ordered some books, I mean, and then I just ordered whichever books kind of sounded like they could be fitting.
00:03:46.000
But eventually I started writing my first little games when I was maybe 14 or so in BASIC and Turbo Pascal and MS-DOS still.
00:03:54.860
And like text adventures and Pac-Man clones and such things.
00:04:01.520
I just, you know, I copied them on a diskette back then.
00:04:09.060
And then gave them to my friends in school and then they played them.
00:04:12.780
And that was just a lot of fun because I just did like, I put in little references and in-chokes that only people from our group would understand.
00:04:20.700
So it was really, I found it fascinating, this idea that I would make these little games and then like my friends could play them, could play in those worlds that I came up with.
00:04:36.180
And for some time I lost interest in it a little bit, but I always, up to my like mid-20s and so on, always like sort of dabbled in game dev a little bit.
00:04:48.180
And then I, when I, when I was a bit older, I got into the game development scene here in Austria.
00:04:55.280
I was, I was also hosting like game development events together with friends when, when I started in Vienna, game champs and such things.
00:05:08.700
And that was already when it started that everything became very political.
00:05:13.140
Before that, it was really just like nerd stuff.
00:05:15.820
You know, we didn't really care about all that.
00:05:17.640
We just wanted to play cool games and have fun and play Counter-Strike and Quake at LAN parties and shoot each other and have fun.
00:05:25.120
But, but, but it, it, it, I noticed it that it was like creeping in.
00:05:30.040
Suddenly you had to, when you made like a, like a gaming event, you had to, you had to fill out those like disclaimers that like, I don't know, all, nobody gets discriminated based on gender and blah, blah, blah.
00:05:41.040
So, and then it suddenly, suddenly it was everywhere.
00:05:43.520
And then, and then like Anita Sarkeesian came up and then this whole family is being a gaming thing.
00:05:53.940
And, and suddenly it was from like nerdy guys who listen to metal and like to play games where you shoot each other to like, yeah, let's play games about, I don't know, exploring our gender identity and queerness in games and all that.
00:06:08.560
And so that was, yeah, that really was a turnoff.
00:06:12.760
And I kind of stopped, like I kind of retweeted from that whole scene.
00:06:16.640
And it was also around the time when I became politically active.
00:06:19.520
I was a political activist in Generation Identity for some years.
00:06:23.640
Where I also was active together with Martin Sena and a bunch of others.
00:06:27.980
And we did like our actions in Austria, unrolling banners on, on buildings and all that stuff.
00:06:38.700
And eventually I came to the point where I, I still, despite all of that in the background, I was always kind of interested in game development.
00:06:48.660
And at some point I felt like I just want to combine these two things because it has been my lifelong passion and I'm a political activist.
00:07:04.260
My first game that I, that I, my first political game under the moniker of cult games kind of came to be as just like, it was just like an offhanded remark in a conversation with, with one of my fellow activists.
00:07:16.580
Like, hey, we could make a game, blah, blah, blah.
00:07:19.340
And in the beginning I didn't take it very serious.
00:07:24.300
And then I, I was working together with these people also from our circles.
00:07:30.240
Ein Prozent, it's a German, yeah, like, like they fund patriotic projects.
00:07:37.660
So I would develop this game into like a full blown game.
00:07:43.240
And it was like Heimat Defender, the first game.
00:07:46.700
It was a bit of a, an homage to like the, I guess the right wing circles I was in at the time in, in, in, in Austria and in Germany.
00:07:58.340
I put in like real life people like Martin Sena and a bunch of others from Germany.
00:08:14.200
It's, it means homeland, but it's just, it's the place where you're at home.
00:08:17.480
It can also be like a more metaphorical thing where you have your roots.
00:08:24.840
So, so I, I made this game and it's, it's, it's, it's a relatively simple platformer.
00:08:34.040
I was basically making it on my own together with a, with a friend who made the music.
00:08:40.740
Um, and it's, uh, yeah, it was like a platformer, relatively simple game in a kind of like a dystopian
00:08:50.680
cyberpunk setting, very satirical, uh, lots of like poking fun, uh, at, at, at, at current
00:09:00.700
Um, so, so, uh, yeah, like, like kind of like humoristic approach to the whole thing.
00:09:07.740
And yeah, we released it and it, it definitely, uh, found quite the echo.
00:09:15.480
Um, um, as I already mentioned in our talk, like before we started, uh, the game was eventually
00:09:23.140
Um, it was put on the list of youth endangering media, which is a very special thing that you
00:09:29.600
Um, there are also classic games like Doom and Half-Life have been on for many years.
00:09:34.580
So I personally see that as, as, as like a big honor.
00:09:41.640
Uh, I mean, they are not on there any, any more, um, but Half-Life has been, has been on
00:09:50.120
Yeah, because, yeah, every, every game that was, basically every first person shooter,
00:09:54.220
every game that was somewhat violent, they were extremely strict with that for a long
00:10:00.260
Um, I mean, the original idea is maybe not even so bad.
00:10:03.800
You just have this authority that, uh, was, you know, if something is like, I don't know,
00:10:08.340
pornographic or like very degenerate or extremely violent or so, then you don't want to make
00:10:19.220
So now it's like, yeah, actually let's push it on the kids.
00:10:23.740
Because my game was literally banned because one of the reasons was that it's, uh, it's,
00:10:28.360
it's, it's, uh, homophobia because, uh, yeah, because I was making fun of certain, uh,
00:10:35.660
And, and, uh, so I guess it wasn't, it wasn't gay enough.
00:10:52.860
It was like a 30 page document where they meticulously went through all the game and, and
00:10:57.560
interpreted what I, what they think I meant with it.
00:11:01.860
I mean, they also just literally got a lot of stuff wrong.
00:11:09.540
So that that's an official like a position someone holds at the government that are going
00:11:14.620
through these games and, and yeah, interpreting this and yeah.
00:11:19.800
It's a formally independent, uh, uh, uh, authority, no, not authority, but you know, like, um, an
00:11:30.080
It's not part of the government, but, um, it is legally binding.
00:11:33.960
Like, uh, if you advertise this game now, or just mention its name publicly, you can get
00:11:39.100
a fine, um, and, um, this, this, this office, uh, the Bundesprüfstelle für Jugendgefährende
00:11:46.240
Medien has been, um, like they, they, they have to have some other authority that approaches
00:11:52.320
them and tells them like, listen, here is this medium, check it, whether it's youth endangering
00:11:58.500
If you think it is in our case, it was the Bundeskriminalamt, like literally the, the criminal
00:12:03.980
police, the criminal police, uh, that, that, uh, approached them because apparently the
00:12:12.500
So, I mean, it's, it's like, again, it's like a retro platformer.
00:12:15.820
That's just mostly just, it's in my opinion, relatively harmless jokes.
00:12:20.980
I know completely other types of games out there.
00:12:30.200
Is this just in Austria or is it, is it in Germany too, other European countries as far
00:12:38.200
Austria was always the, the country where everybody went to, to, to get all those games
00:12:47.200
So that's kind of my, my advantage in this, in this, uh, situation actually, since I'm in
00:12:56.200
But if, if somebody else in Germany would, I don't know, make a stream like we do now
00:13:01.200
and, and after the words Heimat Defender, they might get a fine.
00:13:13.200
And somehow people are supposed to know this too.
00:13:15.200
How they should be kept up with this, you know?
00:13:17.200
Obviously every German citizen constantly reads the list of used endangering media.
00:13:27.200
Cause you have a few hit pieces here, obviously vice, right?
00:13:28.200
A German, which is, I guess then technically not true, right?
00:13:31.200
Austrian for four, right group is trying to recruit kids with a free video game.
00:13:39.200
Here we go with the experts against are concerned.
00:13:41.200
The game could be an effective gateway for newcomers into radical right ideology for the identitarians.
00:13:48.200
Because the left never used any kind of cultural means to get people involved into their political
00:13:56.200
Whose goal is to mainstream the narrative that quote, the great replacement engineered by elites
00:14:00.200
is taking place through immigration into Europe.
00:14:15.200
It says, yeah, right-wing computer game is propaganda for easy to influence, for easily
00:14:27.200
No Child's Play, the Identitarian Movement's patriotic video game by Global Network on Extremism
00:14:37.200
So many different groups out there, like looking at this all the time.
00:14:40.200
And it's like, I mean, it's a little bit of whack-a-mole, I guess, for them.
00:14:43.200
But for now, since it's not like, you know, it's not thousands of these, you know, kind
00:14:48.200
of more right-wing nationalistic game manufacturers, they can kind of whack them down where they
00:14:52.200
But eventually, hopefully they will like not be able to keep up with this, right?
00:14:58.200
And that's also why I'm very busy or why it's one of my goals to like foster, not just one
00:15:07.200
that there is one developer with me, but I want to have like a scene.
00:15:14.200
Because you kind of need a scene, you need multiple people that can, I don't know, influence
00:15:25.200
I can talk about that a bit later, what we're doing in that regard.
00:15:38.200
Actually, even before the game was even officially available there, we put it in for...
00:15:45.200
It was interesting because we put the game up for review and it's like the Steam review
00:15:50.200
process usually takes a week or two where they take a look at the game.
00:15:55.200
They just kind of check whether it works, whether there's malware in there, whether there's
00:15:59.200
something extremely offensive that is very obvious.
00:16:01.200
But apart from that, they don't really care much usually.
00:16:04.200
So in the beginning, it all went fine and they went ahead with the review and we announced
00:16:10.200
that we would put the game on Steam, but it was still under reviewed.
00:16:14.200
But there was already like a shop page with a message coming soon.
00:16:22.200
And then when the shitstorm started, when all the media reports came in, when all the
00:16:30.200
I'm pretty sure that the government actually intervened there with Steam because normally
00:16:35.200
Steam doesn't really care much about like minor media shitstorms or something.
00:16:39.200
So because suddenly after initially the review process went completely normal, they said
00:16:44.200
like, yeah, due to the nature of your game, we actually needed to have like an age rating.
00:16:49.200
So we would have to get an age rating, which would have cost a bit of money.
00:16:55.200
But then like two days later, another message came, no, we have deleted your game because
00:17:01.200
it's a troll game and we don't want to ever do business with you again.
00:17:09.200
So before we ever even had the game on Steam, like for sale, not for sale because it was
00:17:15.200
for free, but for download, it got taken off again.
00:17:21.200
Is there any other platforms you would like to be?
00:17:24.200
I mean, I'm not sure if these games are developable for like the App Store or for Android.
00:17:31.200
Have you tried or have you just like it's not worth it?
00:17:34.200
I mean, this game that we are like the first game and also the game we're currently working
00:17:39.200
on is for desktop PCs and also its design is for desktop PCs.
00:17:44.200
It would be a bit of effort to adopt them to a mobile device.
00:17:49.200
We might do that eventually if there is enough demand for it.
00:17:53.200
And then we'll see if we can put it in the app stores.
00:17:57.200
I mean, I don't really think that Apple would keep us.
00:18:04.200
I mean, with Android, you can at least have people download the application.
00:18:28.200
There is Steam, which is, you know, the monopolies.
00:18:35.200
Then there's Epic Game Store, which is becoming, you know, a good competition to Steam.
00:18:41.200
And then there is Good Old Games, which is a bit smaller.
00:18:44.200
But, yeah, I mean, there are some smaller ones.
00:18:46.200
But it's mainly Steam, Epic Game Store, and Good Old Games.
00:18:54.200
If they get pressure, they always, eventually, they always fold if pressure.
00:19:02.200
And, basically, we will sell the game over our website.
00:19:10.200
And maybe this shop, if we make more games in the future, if other developers who want
00:19:15.200
to sell their games separately from the big stores, we can maybe turn that eventually
00:19:23.200
into a platform for selling, you know, dissident, non-conformist, whatever, games.
00:19:29.200
So, that is also something I kind of have in the back of my mind, but that's its own project
00:19:36.200
These things take time and effort and, you know, manpower, lots of hours.
00:19:39.200
You don't just, you know, do it overnight like that.
00:19:46.200
It's because, like, everybody has to pay their rent, and it's not something you can
00:19:53.200
Well, and that's why we need our guys to have these positions.
00:19:56.200
We need more like this, whether it's, you know, people engaging in music or other art
00:20:01.200
forms, movies, television shows, independent stuff.
00:20:04.200
And, you know, AI and all that stuff, it's a two-edged sword.
00:20:08.200
I'm not sure even what, if any, aid in the development you can use there in terms of
00:20:14.200
game developments, whether it's, you know, generative AI in terms of actually developing
00:20:19.200
Or even if you want to do that, I'm not even sure what the legal, you know, is there
00:20:23.200
licenses involved, but anyway, I'm bringing it up because, obviously, you know, wherever
00:20:29.200
people stand on AI, whether it's good, whether we should use it, do we use it for propaganda,
00:20:35.200
But the reality of it is, it is going to be used to generate and create content that
00:20:43.200
But, like, things have freed up quite a bit as well.
00:20:48.200
And you can do a lot more today than you could just even a few years ago with a lot of tools
00:20:52.200
Granted, everyone has that to their, you know, to their advantage.
00:20:56.200
So then, of course, the bar gets higher and higher and so forth.
00:20:58.200
But is that something you're looking into at all?
00:21:00.200
Is there any tools out there these days that are much more helpful in terms of, you know,
00:21:11.200
And at first, I was more, I was also, I found it, I mean, it's quite an impressive technology.
00:21:22.200
You know, there is some really, yeah, uncanny stuff going on there.
00:21:27.200
So I can see why people react to that like that.
00:21:30.200
And I was also like that a bit in the beginning when I looked into it a bit more.
00:21:35.200
I mean, it's also a bit of a, I mean, it's not a fad because the technology is here to stay.
00:21:44.200
But it's also not, like, I don't think it's going to replace, it's going to replace maybe some like, you know, more like simpler tech, tech jobs, like, or also maybe some run of the mill art creation that is already very generic, that is probably easy to emulate via AI.
00:22:07.200
But from what I've seen so far, I do use ChatGPT sometimes to help me with coding, not because I can't code it myself, but because it's just faster.
00:22:17.200
I see just like as a, when I was starting out with programming, like, I just had like three books, and that's it.
00:22:23.200
And then eventually the internet came along and search machines came along and Google.
00:22:27.200
And then it just became a part of programming that you obviously would Google all the time, because you can't keep all of that stuff in your head.
00:22:36.200
It just makes you more efficient and more effective if you can, if you can use search machines to get all the information at any time.
00:22:42.200
And AI, generative AI language models like ChatGPT are in a way the next step for that.
00:22:49.200
I can, if there is like some, if I don't know the specifics of some API that I'm using in my code, instead of having to dig through all the documentation, I just can ask the AI and it's faster.
00:23:02.200
But I have also made the experience, if I use it to actually write some more complex code or longer parts of code, then it's very quickly, it gets murky and it makes mistakes and you basically have to do it yourself.
00:23:18.200
Yeah, then you don't know where you are or where the errors are or you have to go through it all manually yourself.
00:23:27.200
Sometimes actually, sometimes I think it actually took me longer than if I would have just written it myself.
00:23:31.200
In a way, I hope it's a little bit like it was in the 1950s with like a nuclear technology, we'll have flying cars, you know, by like 1980 or whatever.
00:23:43.200
Maybe, but I mean, some parts of it is definitely, I'm just thinking of this, like how immersive these environments, and ultimately these will be, the idea of a game slash a movie will probably kind of merge at some point, right?
00:23:57.200
And you will just be able to be in these worlds and stuff and I'm, you know, that fear I have, it's like, man, a lot of people are going to spend a lot of time in those environments, man-made, all their own dreams and preferences.
00:24:10.900
Someone even showed, I saw it today, someone who generated like, oh, Sweden in the 60s, right, and was AI generated.
00:24:16.600
And I'm looking at this and I'm like, at some point, considering what's happening out there in the streets now, right, with just the misery with everything and us being replaced and the overall, you know, kind of, what does he call it, bowling alone, right?
00:24:32.800
Forget the, forget the author's name, who did the seminal work on multiculturalism, his argument was, makes people closed in, right?
00:24:40.240
They don't want to engage as much with the outside world, they don't want to engage in their community, they tend to sit at home more, watch television more, that's one of the pluses, of course, with wonderful multiculturalism and diversity, right?
00:24:50.340
So, my point is, you can just see a lot of people would just, instead of then engaging in the real world, instead of actually, you know, doing something, they would just flee into like a VR world where like everything is like they want it to, an idyllic world, you know, kind of thing.
00:25:06.020
And it scares me a little bit, because I think it will be a very easy choice at some point here, you know?
00:25:12.780
What part AI will really play in that, or whether it's overhyped, or whether it really can eventually do that, that it's just like on a whim creates your perfect utopian world that you personally want to live in, and then you never have to leave the house again, or so.
00:25:33.600
But in one way or another, this is, of course, a trend that has got to continue, and that's happening, that technology is more and more used for escapism, and it's created specifically in such a way, especially modern AAA computer games are created specifically in such a way that they drain as much of your time as possible.
00:25:55.120
You're supposed to spend as much of your lifetime in those games as possible, so they can also monetize them in an optimal way, and then they basically are designed to addict you.
00:26:10.040
So you can make, you can do like really bad things with games, and a lot of those modern AAA games, like I hate them, really.
00:26:18.360
Like this whole monetizing, monetization concept of season passes, where you don't buy a game, and then you play it for some hours, and then you do something else.
00:26:28.740
Instead, you only subscribe to seasons, and then you have to constantly resubscribe again.
00:26:38.500
So that's, that's horrible, and I hate it, and I have no, because of course, you know, if you are a right-wing, and you make video games,
00:26:45.300
there will always be people that are like very critical of that, and why do you make video games?
00:26:49.640
They are degenerate, you know, go outside, touch some grass, whatever.
00:26:54.160
I get that, but I have a different perspective on that.
00:26:57.380
I see this in art form, and just like movies and music, and there is a lot of really horrible music out there,
00:27:03.100
and there is a lot of really horrible movies out there.
00:27:04.960
It doesn't discredit the entire medium in itself, in my opinion.
00:27:10.440
Yeah, and it's always something we can use to our advantage as well.
00:27:15.860
You know, we talked about that before we came on, but a lot of, you know, nationalists and dissidents, right-wingers,
00:27:21.400
whatever you want to call it, have, you know, facts, and it's statistics, and it's numbers,
00:27:26.600
and look, here's the truth, you know, kind of thing, and all those things are important,
00:27:31.260
But at the end of the day, we've been very bad at engaging people with their emotions, right,
00:27:36.760
and kind of hooked them a little bit, and that's, of course, what the left and many of our enemies out there
00:27:48.340
And so we have to kind of engage in that world, like you do, and like others do as well,
00:27:52.960
and produce content and do things that are available for people that want a different side of this, right?
00:27:59.800
And, you know, hopefully, as you said, more and more people will come along.
00:28:03.540
It will get better and better, more resources will be poured into it,
00:28:06.940
and as we go along, we can be there and actually offer something else as well,
00:28:11.720
I say the movie thing is very much this, right?
00:28:14.240
I think a lot of us have been hooked, or a lot of, I should say,
00:28:18.540
a lot of people in the West overall were swayed, right, by the other side,
00:28:24.880
because they've grown up with these movies and stuff.
00:28:27.660
It's all emotional, and we have virtually none of that, I'd say, at this point, right?
00:28:36.180
We actually really have almost none, and that's something that kind of like,
00:28:42.500
the realization that hit me some time ago, because I was very much thinking like,
00:28:47.300
yeah, we're building like a counterculture here and so on, but are we really?
00:28:50.620
We're mostly just talking about the same things ever over and over again,
00:29:00.540
Like, what right-wing or, I mean, it's a difficult topic,
00:29:06.340
but let's just, for the sake of simplicity, say right-wing music, right-wing art.
00:29:10.560
There is there that you listen to on a daily basis, that touches your heart,
00:29:14.980
that makes you feel better, that makes you feel good when you're down,
00:29:20.960
that makes you motivated to go out and do stuff.
00:29:24.480
I don't know, that you're just like engaging in your everyday life,
00:29:28.820
maybe even not so much on an ideological ground, but just because you like it,
00:29:33.440
because it's something that you like and that is good, that is well-made.
00:29:40.020
And in some cases, they'd be like, if we're going to exclude the AIDS and have something,
00:29:44.380
Like, actually, that's just well-produced and still good,
00:29:47.060
but it doesn't have any of the poison that is now always in there.
00:29:50.460
Even that would be positive in and of itself, however.
00:29:55.320
But if you can, an additional layer to that, right,
00:29:58.120
of actually adding, you know, good messages and, you know, yeah,
00:30:01.720
take stabs at some of the cringe mainstream cultural now,
00:30:04.380
because the left always had this, like, oh, we're counterculture and blah, blah, blah.
00:30:09.420
But now, like, well, you have BlackRock on your side now.
00:30:18.300
We have that position, but not yet kind of fully, I think, actualized that.
00:30:23.980
Like, actually, we are kind of our, you know, we're the hip, cool outsiders now.
00:30:37.200
and I also grew up with this notion that popular culture, music, et cetera,
00:30:47.760
because obviously that was, like, you know, music produced, like,
00:30:52.240
with a lot of money behind it, and it was the mainstream.
00:31:01.320
And so it comes natural for me that, like, now I do this, you know,
00:31:05.240
how I actually do this when I grew up with as a kid.
00:31:09.300
Only for me it's obvious that me as a right-winger, like,
00:31:15.940
But it also, I also found out quickly what it actually means if you're really
00:31:19.780
anti-establishment and not fake anti-establishment.
00:31:26.460
But what you said is, like, a very important thing for me that I think a lot about
00:31:33.660
these days when I'm working on our current game, that you remove the pause,
00:31:41.120
and then you add some of our own, yeah, ideas into it.
00:31:50.420
Because the first game we made, Hammer Defender, was not subtle at all.
00:31:54.060
It was very obvious, born out of my political activism.
00:31:58.780
And now with our new game, I still want it to be political.
00:32:01.900
I still want it to be, like, very, yeah, have a very clear message.
00:32:06.160
But at the same time, it should just work as a game.
00:32:11.440
They shouldn't just play it because, okay, it's right-wing,
00:32:13.600
so I guess I have to play it now because there is nothing else that's right-wing.
00:32:18.300
So it should be, you know, it should work as a game.
00:32:21.100
It should be, should have an interesting world that people want to, like,
00:32:29.120
And that's, like, also criticism I got from, or not a criticism,
00:32:34.000
but a feedback I got, which I found really interesting from a friend of mine.
00:32:37.380
He played the game, and he said, man, it's like a waste.
00:32:48.360
Yeah, it's like, it's like, I get what, I absolutely get what he was getting at.
00:32:53.660
But, I mean, the game is not just about making fun of trannies.
00:32:58.960
But there is a lot of other stuff in there also.
00:33:02.040
There's, like, positive, like, things that not just, like, that I make fun of,
00:33:06.980
but that represent something actually uplifting.
00:33:10.660
Like, you're fighting this evil corporation in the cyberpunk future.
00:33:15.220
But there is also, there is this kind of hideout.
00:33:19.720
I mean, we will see that later when we play the game.
00:33:23.240
But there is also, like, I have the negative aspect and the positive aspect,
00:33:33.620
Yeah, because sometimes, yeah, it's like, yes, I understand exactly what you mean.
00:33:38.360
And you can get, sometimes you get that in music, too.
00:33:41.000
It's like this, well, this is not, you know, this is anti, you know,
00:33:45.320
So, therefore, here, let me shove this in your face of, like, our messages.
00:33:49.600
And it's almost, like, too much, you know what I mean?
00:33:54.080
And sometimes you just have to kind of back off.
00:33:55.620
And, yeah, this would be more subtle and stuff.
00:34:05.020
Like, this game is definitely a lot more, a lot less blatant,
00:34:10.380
or whatever you want to call it, than the first one.
00:34:12.820
I think the next game we will make, I mean, I hope we will make more games
00:34:24.200
It will be politically in some way, but not explicitly political.
00:34:30.120
But I definitely want to make at least one game at some point
00:34:36.040
That probably transports certain values and ideas that we have.
00:34:44.980
But not, like, this game very clearly, the Great Rebellion,
00:34:48.720
very clearly refers to, like, the current events and current trends and such.
00:34:59.320
Look at Zono's Tricet, but look at The Lord of the Rings.
00:35:02.740
It's a great, timeless story that you can read a lot out of.
00:35:08.560
You can interpret many things into it, but it's not completely obvious.
00:35:17.020
Tolkien himself actually didn't like this analogous way of reading his book,
00:35:25.580
And then that's also kind of something I'm, let's say, I'm working towards.
00:35:39.140
You know, people are trying, but yeah, subtlety is very important.
00:35:42.160
You want to leave that, you kind of want to leave room, right?
00:35:44.520
And that's what I even feel with modern movies.
00:35:46.260
I mean, you know, itself, there's like, yes, it's propaganda in them,
00:35:52.740
It's constant, whether it's, you know, the action, the music, the pace,
00:35:57.920
Just you go back a couple of decades and watch something.
00:35:59.860
It was much more of an art form, and you're invited into it.
00:36:03.320
And you become part of it, and you're in it, as opposed to just this,
00:36:07.780
I'm not saying that this is that, or any people in the right does that,
00:36:10.720
but I'm saying leftist culture, mainstream culture does that these days.
00:36:14.120
If here's, let me shove these, you know, first two minutes of this new TV show,
00:36:18.260
let me shove all the degenerate crap in your face right away.
00:36:21.660
And he's like, all right, okay, I'm turning that off.
00:36:26.780
There is this, I'm sure you know American Krogan.
00:36:30.600
And he was on Guide to Culture, and they talked about this movie,
00:36:36.120
A Time to Kill, I think it was called, where, like, this black guy's daughter,
00:36:40.780
I think, gets raped and killed by a bunch of white rednecks,
00:36:45.740
as is, of course, constantly happening in real life.
00:36:57.100
I saw it as a kid myself, this movie, and I didn't realize that it was propaganda.
00:37:01.800
I just thought, oh, I guess that's how it is, like, in the United States.
00:37:08.480
So that was good propaganda, but they've gotten really sloppy.
00:37:13.860
It's fascinating that they get lazy, and they just think they got it now in the bag.
00:37:17.700
And, of course, that's producing now, when it gets too obvious,
00:37:20.440
then it's producing a lot of more, yeah, pushback against those things, essentially.
00:37:26.300
And therefore, the need for, like, something outside of those realms.
00:37:29.620
Most people just kind of revert back a few decades.
00:37:33.500
But I wish we had, you know, I think we'll get there.
00:37:36.080
But, you know, more movies, newer movies, movies that people like us make.
00:37:41.180
There's so many stories that can and should be told that I'm just feeling we're, like, forgetting.
00:37:45.320
Whether it's, you know, old European stories about our own history, about our own heritage,
00:37:52.100
You know, there's so much there that can just be dug into.
00:37:54.520
Or the current thing that's happening, the pain and the hurt from our experiences and us and seeing our kids growing up.
00:38:06.320
And in some parts, there are minorities now in our own country.
00:38:08.560
I think those stories need to be told, you know what I mean?
00:38:10.600
And they need to be told in an emotional way that gets this across, that people connect with.
00:38:23.200
Stories about things that we experience ourselves.
00:38:25.660
And, I mean, I personally am a fan of the whole cyberpunk genre.
00:38:32.220
And cyberpunk is dealing with certain, yeah, technological developments and social trends and developments.
00:38:41.780
But it's a product of mostly liberal writers from the late 80s, early 90s, maybe.
00:38:51.040
And there are many topics that are just completely, like, never touched.
00:38:54.700
Like, yeah, ethnic conflicts, the results of multiculturalism.
00:39:01.240
And in all these stories, like, that's just kind of, like, glossed over.
00:39:07.000
So you could write a lot of stories that deal with that in a realistic way.
00:39:12.100
Of course, you would probably also get banned if you do that.
00:39:18.880
I know it's hard, and it's also, like, it's hard in the sense that you have to, like, kind of force yourself sometimes if you're politically active.
00:39:27.420
Because, at least in my experience, there is often this thinking, like, but that's a waste of time.
00:39:35.080
I can't, like, make video games or play video games or tell stories or so.
00:39:40.320
But, yeah, at least some people, and not everybody, I think, has the right mindset for that or character or whatever.
00:39:49.680
But some people who are good at this stuff, they really need to get to it, basically.
00:39:57.580
Yeah, the natural talent that's there, I think it's better to hone that than to try to force something that you're maybe not good at.
00:40:05.100
Or would, you know what I mean, like, you would do kind of a half-assed job at that or whatever.
00:40:08.920
Yeah, use the talents, you know, anyone, you know, listening, watching this out there as well.
00:40:14.360
Find some way of tapping that into still doing something that's good and pushing things in our direction, if you will.
00:40:21.880
But still something that you're passionate about, that you like to do.
00:40:24.640
Because you'll do a better job at it at the same time.
00:40:26.840
As opposed to force in something and going against, you know, your own, you know, kind of what you want to do.
00:40:33.340
And obviously, we'll play here in a little bit.
00:40:35.320
So, the Great Rebellion, that's the follow-up game here.
00:40:42.000
Obviously, I think of the Great Reset at the same time.
00:40:44.720
You know, there are a lot of those kinds of themes in there.
00:40:46.860
Yeah, I've been thinking a lot about the name for the new game.
00:40:50.780
Because, of course, Heimat Defender is now like a bird name in Germany.
00:40:54.040
You can't use it anymore if you want to advertise the new game.
00:40:58.600
But also, creatively, it has moved a bit away from the first game.
00:41:04.520
So, it was, I think, appropriate to give it a different name.
00:41:07.060
And the Great Rebellion, it's like, it kind of like came very naturally.
00:41:09.900
Because it could either be interpreted as the counter to the Great Reset or the Great Replacement.
00:41:20.100
And it's, yeah, we really tried to put in, like, deeper gameplay, more involving gameplay.
00:41:33.060
Like, I wanted to try out some new technologies that I've not been, that I've never done something with before.
00:41:39.940
The levels in this game are quasi-randomly generated.
00:41:43.460
So, it's a little bit different every time you play it.
00:41:46.380
Because that's something I really wanted to try out for a long time.
00:41:56.220
When you enter a room with enemies, then the music gets more, you know, a bit more, like, action.
00:42:03.400
Like, faster, you know, more adrenaline pumping.
00:42:12.220
I mean, sure, we are still working on a shoestring budget and with very limited resources.
00:42:19.500
The first game, as I said, was mostly made by two people, Retro Rebel and me.
00:42:26.700
But I do get quite some support from other people who work in their free time on the game.
00:42:33.560
There's two more developers that have joined over the course of the development of the game.
00:42:40.680
I have a good friend of mine from England who writes all the texts.
00:42:46.260
Like, people from the UK, from Denmark, from France, from Germany, Austria.
00:42:53.820
And the United States are, in some way or another, involved with this game.
00:43:00.640
Well, let's fire this up here a little bit, huh?
00:43:08.520
If you want to have some input on top of it or something.
00:43:12.580
Well, one thing I have to, like, a little disclaimer.
00:43:20.100
I'm pretty sure there is a bug in the intro, which we will probably encounter.
00:43:44.900
Your guns, cash, and health are reset to how they were before you started the first level.
00:43:49.180
You can also replay any previous level as many times as you want.
00:43:52.180
You won't get to see the real ending of the game, though.
00:43:57.800
The difficulty setting for real gamers contains permadeath, meaning if you die, you lose all
00:44:02.760
your weapons and items and have to start at level one again.
00:44:07.360
You can, however, keep all your black market upgrades.
00:44:10.580
Well, I'm not a gamer, but I have to play as white male.
00:44:15.440
I think we'll pick that because I'm not usually...
00:44:18.300
My son, Rourke, is just getting into playing some games now, so I'm, like, reviving my Steam
00:44:23.200
account here for the first time, playing a couple of games, you know what I mean, here
00:44:34.220
Many years ago, globalist oligarchs formed the immensely powerful corporation for global
00:44:40.280
In the first half of the 21st century, many terrible crises have unfolded.
00:44:46.880
The corporation now owns everything, and we own nothing.
00:44:53.380
We also got a singer to contribute to the soundtrack.
00:44:59.960
So we also have some real vocals in there, which are really...
00:45:06.240
They systematically destroyed the hopes that our world was built on and replaced it with
00:45:11.920
All things are now registered in the digital cyberverse.
00:45:14.600
Every animal, tree, bird, marriage, contract, or person.
00:45:22.960
Or your very thoughts, I should say, are legally theirs.
00:45:29.420
Majority of people in what used to be Europe have been transformed into so-called beyond humans.
00:45:35.700
Once human beings, now genetically altered and controlled by implants in their brains.
00:45:39.840
Man's essence to the new overlords is nothing but a source of errors in need of fixing.
00:45:46.060
Identity, heritage, fate, outdated concepts, hindrances to an AI-controlled heaven.
00:45:56.360
After showing most people into rootless drones, the next step will be to reset the world and
00:46:01.120
remove the human factor from the equation entirely.
00:46:03.840
Some high-tier members of the corporation hatched a new sinister plan and are swarming around
00:46:11.480
Build the world back better into an automated system that they have absolute control over.
00:46:22.340
Here's the story of those who oppose the global machine.
00:46:32.980
I'm narrating for some of the podcast audience here, too.
00:46:35.420
It's hard for the music to start show over again, huh?
00:46:51.980
It says there, I refuse to go along with this any longer.
00:46:55.700
The corporation doesn't have anything over me anymore.
00:47:25.940
Smash this chip back into the supercomputer it came from.
00:47:30.460
Maybe this is also something I should talk about.
00:47:32.740
Like, we are a relatively diverse team in certain ways, and we also have people of different
00:47:43.460
And the guy who wrote the text is Orthodox, but we also have people who are more like pagans
00:47:59.200
So, scanning your face, checking against blockchain facial recognition data, logging in.
00:48:13.200
We have added you to another subscription service, so this currency can continue to circulate.
00:48:17.660
Please enjoy your new subscription to the Pretty Little Ponies Cosplay Meetups.
00:48:26.360
Here you can indulge a little bit in the life that people have in this world.
00:48:31.020
So, products, rent, sexual food, order synthetic food, post your opinions to social...
00:48:43.300
Please wait while we scan the blockchain for your recent meal data.
00:48:46.680
We've noticed you have been eating a lot of organic food recently.
00:48:54.820
We're downgrading you from synthetic meat to our bug-based diet.
00:49:07.880
So, now you have to just keep on running without taking a finger off the...
00:49:28.320
So, this is your workplace with all the inspirational corporate art, of course.
00:49:33.540
Worshipping the bearded diversity higher up there.
00:49:42.740
No, it's been cooler than the day to see that you are not having any incorrect dreams.
00:49:50.620
Thank you for uploading your dream data to the global home home blockchain.
00:49:55.940
It will be analyzed according to our compass and community guideline rules.
00:49:59.020
You've received a green pass value for the next 24 hours and may not proceed.
00:50:10.600
The new Beyond Human model will be taking your place.
00:50:14.800
Go home now and consume product, human number 1028.
00:50:39.540
You've removed your safety and tracking microchip.
00:50:42.780
We're closing your central banking digital currency account.
00:50:50.820
You're a threat to equality as laid out by the community standards of the corporation
00:50:56.940
As a white person, you're not entitled to a trial in order to atone for your privilege.
00:51:17.880
And now you're going to the tutorial where you learn the controls and all that.
00:51:22.140
Europa has transported you to safety and shows you ropes.
00:51:29.200
Scream data living in a pot on the rule of an oppressive multinational corporation that
00:51:37.580
That's all very much the reality of the situation.
00:51:39.480
I just like to mess with people after they've been through a portal for the first time.
00:51:48.160
Here you can practice new abilities I've given you.
00:51:54.340
I've been partying with the physical fitness of heroes of the Bronze Age.
00:52:03.920
Then jump again in midair to perform a double jump and reach the other side.
00:52:27.420
Now you will need to practice using laser weapons.
00:52:35.540
Actually free the Europeans trapped inside the corporation's box.
00:52:52.220
Made this as a little nod to the old Sonic the Hedgehog games.
00:53:03.520
It's a bit of a departure from the basic classic platforming formula.
00:53:20.860
Oh, so there's a European inside of each drone there, huh?
00:53:29.600
Well, not that that's anything wrong with, you know, taking out your enemy, but you know
00:53:34.880
But we, you know, I mean, there is also legal reasons why we have to keep it as well as free
00:53:40.580
No, you got to be smart to think outside the box.
00:53:50.120
You can now dash by pressing the right mouse button.
00:53:52.960
You always dash in the direction you're aiming.
00:53:55.680
To get the platform above, you have to use your dash in combination with your double jump.
00:53:59.580
Double jumping alone won't be enough to get you over some obstacles.
00:54:43.040
So basically just point upwards with the mouse.
00:55:07.740
But basically, I can also tell you, you can just dash through these.
00:55:15.440
She said that you can't be hurt while you're using it.
00:55:17.860
So basically, you have to use that, especially for some boss enemies.
00:55:22.340
Because otherwise, you can't dodge the bullets.
00:55:36.900
Now, you can only jump through certain platforms from below.
00:55:41.600
Because down on the platform, up one's below you now.
00:55:46.500
So this is why these tutorials, you know, many people are already involved in that.
00:55:53.260
Because there's always something, you know what I mean?
00:55:55.740
I mean, sure, if you play these games a lot, then you will know most of it.
00:55:59.220
But, yeah, so many people have been dumbfounded without it.
00:56:09.580
So you have to have the game explain it to you.
00:56:13.560
If you have once played the tutorial, you can just skip it.
00:56:29.920
Now, in your auto map, you can scroll around and see the entire level by clicking and dragging
00:56:42.120
It's going to be helpful if you're going back to pick up items you may...
00:56:44.180
Well, that's good because you don't have to, like, walk all the way back, right?
00:56:52.380
And you maybe have, like, an item that you have to pick up or so.
00:57:26.700
Yeah, it was hidden by the prompt that you can talk to.
00:57:42.280
You will find them through your missions, and they can only be opened with a key card.
00:57:45.500
They can contain magical items that grant you special powers, or they can contain laser weapons.
00:57:50.880
Collect the key card, open the chest, and you'll find a crown of Caesar in this one.
00:57:55.180
The crown will grant you the ability to damage enemies when you hit them with your dash.
00:58:01.040
Yeah, so basically, you can find all kinds of items in the levels that give you special powers that are usually some reference to some European cultural...
00:58:13.360
Like, you can find the crown of Caesar or Alexander the Great's armor and things.
00:58:25.040
Inside the destructible chest is a spirit companion to pick up.
00:58:28.120
Companions will follow you through anything and give you more special attacks.
00:58:34.700
Companions are partial spirits of historical and mythical figures.
00:58:38.420
This one part of the spirit will be King Arthur.
00:58:40.800
King Arthur can unleash the Knights of the Round Table with his attack.
00:58:43.960
Companion abilities will take short time to recharge before you can use them again.
00:58:47.240
They're a little rusty, as European has mostly forgotten them for so long.
00:58:50.500
You can speed up the recharge by destroying enemies, however.
00:58:54.440
So, basically, these companions are very important.
00:58:57.180
You can find them in your level and they will give you special attacks.
00:59:12.480
It takes some time to recharge before you can use it again.
00:59:26.780
And there is also, you can unlock characters throughout the game that you can talk with.
00:59:34.220
And there is one that is kind of based on the historical, like the historian Herodotus.
00:59:43.060
And he will tell you stories about each of the companions you can find in the game.
00:59:48.280
So, like, basically gamers, you know, there is a bit of an educational aspect in it as
00:59:59.100
So, I wanted to really, like, to have this, like, marriage of the old and the new on the
01:00:02.840
It's like a futuristic cyberpunk setting with laser guns and hacking and cyberspace and
01:00:09.720
There is also the spirit of old Europe kind of, like, giving you wings, so to say, and
01:00:22.480
Go back to Waldgang, so I use E to go back and check that out.
01:00:44.840
There is a mountain in the center of the forest.
01:00:46.720
I wonder if Europa would let me take some men up there to build a village.
01:00:51.740
They are always randomly generated and a bit different every time.
01:00:54.780
And if you talk to these during the mission, I mean, not unlimited, but there's, like,
01:01:02.900
It's a little, basically, after every mission, you return here to the Waldgang and you can,
01:01:07.160
like, chill a bit, you know, talk to them, buy upgrades.
01:01:10.600
Okay, so this is, like, your home base kind of place.
01:01:13.960
And you will find characters throughout the game that you can unlock.
01:01:16.920
Currently, it's still a bit empty, but the longer you play the game, the more characters
01:01:20.700
will be in there and they can give you also, like, bonuses and tell you stories and such.
01:01:25.980
Or here you can watch the news, what's happening outside.
01:01:28.120
Mostly peaceful protesters of color have torn down the big steel tower made by old white men
01:01:37.680
Experts are working to find out the exact socioeconomic factors in which might have caused this.
01:01:42.420
But we can all agree the world is a better place without such relics of a dark past.
01:01:48.080
Come back after your next mission for more news.
01:01:51.020
So there's always a bit, like, the poking fun at the current world.
01:01:59.660
But at the same time, trying to have, like, a better world.
01:02:02.240
I saw, what is that, some, like, cyborg tranny there, too, on the news?
01:02:30.400
The Waldgangs, if I want to get out of here, I should go...
01:02:37.920
Priestess, we're guarding the Fountain of Youth.
01:02:40.280
It allows us to bring some of the Resistance members back to you if they fail the mission.
01:02:47.740
So, basically, if you die, you will be resurrected here and you will lose all your weapons, but
01:02:51.740
there is a certain type of upgrade you can keep.
01:02:55.000
So, even if you die, you have to start all over again, or you at least have to start the
01:03:00.440
But you can buy upgrades so that it gets a bit easier next time.
01:03:04.780
So, even if you die, you progress, you make some progress, at least.
01:03:13.160
No, you will automatically spawn here if you die.
01:03:23.600
Because you die, and then you have to play the current level again, and it will be randomly
01:03:55.800
On your adventures, you're likely to gain negative social credit scores for your, let's just call
01:04:04.400
Bring me that social credit after every mission, and I can upgrade your health, movement, ammo,
01:04:10.860
You don't have to ask me how, and I don't ask you how you can buy your social credit
01:04:18.360
So, basically, during the levels, you lose social credit.
01:04:23.940
The less social credit you have, the more credit you have in the Valkon, the more the
01:04:28.540
system hates you, basically, the more respect you have, and then you can get those upgrades
01:04:38.720
A powerful disinformation bot called the Eye has a hold on all the tracking technology
01:04:46.020
If I open up a portal to the rest of the resistance commandos, we risk being tracked.
01:04:50.760
You must go back to the city and destroy the disinformation bot so I can safely bring them
01:04:56.180
The summation information, it makes no difference.
01:05:00.620
Yeah, we made a point of making the protagonist only talk in an action hero one-liner.
01:05:12.840
This is a good, wholesome game I can show to Rorick here, you know?
01:05:17.600
I mean, it's something you can play with your kids.
01:05:22.400
Okay, now it's generating the level because it's randomly generated every time.
01:05:28.940
And now you can press E and then the actual game starts.
01:05:45.240
You can press escape and then you can check your inventory.
01:05:54.040
Here you can, these are all the upgrades you can get.
01:05:56.600
So you can buy in the black market throughout the game.
01:06:55.300
In the beginning, in the beginning, we only have this pea shooter, but enemies.
01:07:05.780
Like, the enemies are all robots, but we don't have humans as enemies.
01:07:25.860
Yeah, her holy aura clears the bullets around you.
01:07:29.420
So basically, if you press shift with her, all the bullets will disappear from there.
01:07:40.100
You've got to be careful, because I'm a white male here, so everything will be, I will die.
01:07:46.040
That was a little mine almost or something there.
01:07:50.340
Like, if you get hit, they also take damage and eventually will disappear.
01:08:25.000
Like, when you watch someone playing again, you always have to go away.
01:08:36.260
You can also hear the bullets that they need to catch into.
01:08:47.080
Okay, now you defeated all the enemies in this room, and you lost some social credit.
01:08:58.300
Yeah, these are rooms where you sometimes find unlockable characters or new upgrades.
01:09:05.900
And if you want to go back, you can just press tab.
01:09:16.700
So that way you don't have to backtrack so much.
01:09:25.160
Where I need to go, is that usually what it shows me?
01:09:31.060
Yeah, little posters of Europe and, you know, here and there.
01:09:46.520
Yeah, but you have to basically go to the right.
01:11:07.260
If you have a good time in the skin of your teeth, mate,
01:11:16.040
This character has been written by our guy from the UK
01:11:43.880
If you defeat the boss's enemy, he'll drop more health.
01:11:46.440
And you can also buy key cards to open chest with...
01:12:13.140
Because if you have armor, if you get hit, first of all, it will trigger like a little
01:12:20.440
attack that will actually damage the enemies to keep you.
01:12:23.720
And also, if you get hit with armor, your companions don't take damage.
01:12:27.100
So, if you want to protect your companions, it's good to always have armor.
01:12:34.920
yeah groomers yeah groomers like it's an advertisement for whatever you can take what
01:12:50.700
i think there was a health up there if you if you count up those up there yeah there we
01:13:25.980
so the great weapon but sometimes enemies drop like basic weapons okay it's the plasma prototype
01:13:42.840
but it shoots very slow bullets but it's better than nothing
01:13:46.840
well there's a few of them at least that's nice
01:14:05.840
yeah see this is fun i wish i could do this the rest of the day
01:14:10.840
this is oh i can't go back oh shit no now you have to keep that okay
01:14:40.840
where's my overall health oh it's up there yeah it's kind of low there yeah uh yeah exactly i see health armor social credit and money and on the top on the bottom left you see your ammunition
01:15:12.840
you have to jump just so into the platform games that's always funny
01:15:21.840
i personally like it that's a better weapon i think i should take a go
01:15:27.840
yeah this one okay that's faster too okay yeah there we go
01:16:18.840
okay so that you really should like clear clear all the rooms type thing yeah exactly okay if you
01:16:28.940
enter a room you have to clear it before you can leave it again gotcha okay yep and some of the
01:16:33.340
rooms are optional but yeah wait if you go down uh there are two more you can kind of see the doors
01:16:41.900
on the on the minimap yeah okay okay now you've got a new one oh okay let me get out of here
01:16:55.280
has the white male died is that it yes so it seems he will rise again there we go well this is fun i
01:17:11.220
like i like this it was a good round i'm gonna keep playing some of this later you know yeah
01:17:15.520
it's designed around this this loop you it's basically intended if you die a few times and
01:17:22.340
then you can buy upgrades and then you can progress and so you kind of die through the game gotcha
01:17:27.100
nice no i like it good it's good it's good stuff so uh so tell us a little bit how people can uh
01:17:33.300
or you um when do you anticipate a release can people pre-order the game or how does that work
01:17:38.960
through your site that's primarily where people would get it yeah exactly i mean um as as said like
01:17:45.700
steam etc they'll probably kick us again whatever i don't even want to bother anymore at this point
01:17:50.920
you can you will be able to buy the game through our site uh great slash rebellion.com
01:17:55.600
um we don't really have a possibility to pre-order at the moment because we kind of have to build the
01:18:02.380
shop system still um but it will like i'm pretty optimistic that we will be able to release before
01:18:09.340
christmas still so you can buy the game as a as a present for your loved ones or whatever yeah um
01:18:15.180
and then you can buy it on on our website and um one thing that that i really want to reiterate is
01:18:21.040
like this isn't the one-time thing we want to become an actual game studio we want to keep on making games
01:18:25.840
making games is a lot of work i want to do this full-time and i want other i want to allow other
01:18:31.960
people to do it full-time and all of that stuff basically costs money and so we are really dependent
01:18:38.200
on this game becoming a success so um this will decide basically what we can do in the future
01:18:43.700
so yeah um if you support what we are doing buy our game yeah that's that's i know it sounds it
01:18:51.400
sounds like uh there is this thing among many right-wingers or at least some right-wingers that
01:18:55.920
that you're basically like you know uh it's almost like like dishonorable or something to try and
01:19:04.200
actually make money i know you know what i mean you know yeah no we we need people to do this full
01:19:09.940
time that's the that's the point of it you have to have people that are exactly so why shouldn't you
01:19:14.180
get paid for your work like everybody else does i mean yeah well if we have a bunch of uh i mean
01:19:20.500
let's just be honest that's usually that's just that that's poverty thing that's like you know
01:19:24.620
loser mentality we have yes we should we should have more resources we should have millions at
01:19:29.980
our disposal and do these things and you know inject our messages into into mainstream culture on
01:19:35.220
every level on on every in every uh point and every sphere so that's no no i i don't agree with
01:19:40.820
that at all we have to have more people that are professional that do these things full-time we
01:19:44.840
got to support our own community that's just what it is i mean we don't have any
01:19:47.940
there's no angel investors or like you know massive uh you know sponsors and big corporations
01:19:53.640
and stuff so yeah for for right now it's it's you know support support your people that do stuff like
01:19:58.300
this guys that that's what it's all about uh and the more you know we uh make the better it gets the
01:20:03.360
more time we have the more resources we can get the more resources you have you can do it better etc
01:20:07.700
and then you keep building i mean as i say i mean look at um look at how you know what hollywood was
01:20:13.440
or beginning which we started started talking about that right how the video games were in the beginning
01:20:17.440
it's not that we're starting all over but it's almost like we're you know are in our sphere of
01:20:22.760
things not infected by all these global homo aids everywhere we're essentially starting over right
01:20:27.860
we're starting small and you have to build that up slowly one piece at a time and and it's going to
01:20:32.900
grow and it's going to snowball i think it's just a matter of time to be honest
01:20:35.640
yeah i think so too and and i see myself kind of like these people these bedroom programmers that
01:20:41.940
were a bit my heroes also when i was a kid when i was a teenager uh people like i don't know
01:20:47.580
richard garriott or sid meyer or something like that uh they they made those games because they
01:20:52.840
had like a real passion and um then built something great out of that passion and i really think that's
01:20:58.800
that's what we need because um as as we already talked about the facts the logic the the the grim
01:21:06.040
reality of the situation that is that is one thing but but people just want to do things that they
01:21:12.160
they feel passionate about that they really love doing yeah like there is a difference between having
01:21:17.380
to do something because you think it's a duty and and just feeling like that fire you just want to do
01:21:22.680
something yeah and i think art of all kind and i do see video games as art even though to be fair most
01:21:28.200
video games these days are very very bad art but it can be art um yeah that that's what what
01:21:35.040
what what drives people to do something out of like this intrinsic motivation that they just want
01:21:40.600
to create yeah and and i think that's what we what we also need yeah yeah no 100 i'm uh i'm with you
01:21:48.020
um yeah i mean good good work this is great i love seeing this i'm glad that we can be we're here
01:21:53.320
um you know i remember dropping this just you know what is it six years seven years eight years ago i
01:21:59.400
can't remember but at some point they're like yeah i remember just having that hey we gotta have like
01:22:03.700
as many people as possible just you know start making stuff produce things be creative have fun
01:22:09.340
with it you know i mean and the more you do that it's going to get easier and easier in a sense i
01:22:14.080
think uh along the way there's going to be more people supporting you the audiences are certainly
01:22:18.840
there i mean you look around there's a lot of people are sick and fed up with everything that's
01:22:22.180
happening um i think there's a lot of discontent out there and and at least initially if we can kind of
01:22:28.100
join that you know work that wave and then making something that's that's a positive out of this as
01:22:35.120
well that's the other uh you know aspect of this where you you change culture you make things more
01:22:39.800
positive you get get people along you make the more white-pilled you realize that there's there's
01:22:44.360
things we can do if we work together we push in one direction but that's just the fact of it it's
01:22:48.580
not like and you've you know stated that i think perfectly as well you can't just have like a bunch
01:22:54.220
of people like all right all right we're going to do this politically i know there's so many people
01:22:57.600
already like oh you know political solution that's over kind of thing well do something in the arts
01:23:02.180
then you know i mean do something on a different level do something in with culture do something
01:23:05.960
with music uh whatever you need to do get involved uh so this is this is good stuff uh what what have
01:23:12.000
we left something out here i want to make sure people follow you guys here as well and keep
01:23:15.100
updates then you guys are interested in getting a copy of the game uh the great rebellion on uh x or
01:23:22.140
or twitter of course you can follow them there you have a telegram channel if you prefer that
01:23:26.600
cult games that's with a v the old way i like that cult games uh true cult exactly cult games on
01:23:34.040
telegram uh and you have the the website same thing there cultgames.com with a v again cultgames.com
01:23:40.140
uh and you have great hyphen rebellion.com for the for the website so you said maybe maybe by christmas
01:23:46.420
that's the eta we hope so i mean if it gets a little bit longer please don't be mad at us
01:23:51.740
oh no we won't but uh i think we can do it yeah all right cool well it's good having here roll
01:23:59.160
anything else we left out uh some some some plugs you want to make or anything else uh you can think
01:24:03.480
of that we've left out i want to give a big shout out to everybody who has helped me uh realize this
01:24:10.160
like it's not just uh me anymore like it's a real team effort the great rebellion um there is uh
01:24:17.020
akramas who is a great uh artist who has been helping us a lot with drawing concept art and and
01:24:22.900
and enemy designs and so on um you can also find her on twitter and on gab and on telegram
01:24:28.820
akramas art um i want to thank every one of our donors because uh we have made a crowdfunding campaign
01:24:38.320
that allowed us to to fund uh the great rebellion or at least to have an initial um capital is that
01:24:45.560
up still or have you closed that now it's not up anymore we we ended it but um yeah we we got some
01:24:52.240
start money and then like the whole the whole process of making that game was really very diy
01:25:00.220
and very improvised i have to say because in the beginning i had no idea whether i would actually
01:25:05.460
be able to pull it off whether i would find people who would fund this but eventually more
01:25:11.600
and more people also came and joined us so so the original concept of the game is completely different
01:25:17.140
than it is now and it was also far lower scale because it was just me but then it grew over time
01:25:22.140
um and and and turned out like it is now and uh yeah i couldn't have done it alone so i just want
01:25:28.580
to thank everybody on our team how long how long does it take you would you say i mean it's different
01:25:33.060
because of you know the scope of it and you can expand it you can do so much more with it but just
01:25:37.020
like generally what would you say like well what's the time frame on something like this i i don't even
01:25:41.520
know i have no idea it's really difficult to say i mean this this game took longer to make i guess
01:25:48.200
and it absolutely had to if you if i would have started out like with everybody already on board and
01:25:53.420
you know just as it is now and we have a certain budget and we know everything then i think we could
01:26:00.980
have probably done it in half the time or so but uh yeah this is very much was like during making the
01:26:06.580
game we were also finding ourselves or whatever you want to call it yeah so that that that's why
01:26:12.600
it took longer but i would say a game like the great rebellion i mean yeah it it just takes
01:26:18.920
a year or two that's yeah so say a couple of years at least right yeah or even three years like
01:26:24.800
you're not gonna do something like that in a few months i mean you can make small games in a few
01:26:30.140
months actually would like to do in the future also just like small very focused games i don't
01:26:35.560
actually want every game to take three years because yeah it's not gonna be a lot of output
01:26:39.460
that way um what you need is multiple people working with these things right that's yes that's
01:26:45.380
what you need so you can just pump out stuff you know i mean yep that's the thing like if we were
01:26:49.200
a team of like i don't know just six seven developers uh then we could we could like work on maybe
01:26:56.420
even two games at the same time and and and put out like two games per year or so yeah um or at
01:27:02.640
least at least one every year and then it would have a bigger scope and be more professionally made
01:27:08.480
and that's that's not even like very uh you know that's not even overly ambitious like i mean this
01:27:14.500
is a very small team size like to play games are made by teams of hundreds of people and they have
01:27:18.860
literally like half a billion of budget or something like that people people have no idea also how much or
01:27:25.520
not no idea but i think sometimes people for instance just a very small casual game uh that
01:27:31.640
has like a small team something that is actually below the scope of great rebellion usually has a
01:27:37.500
budget of something like 200 300 000 euro oh jeez um because you have to pay people full time that's
01:27:44.300
just it exactly a few years salary if you have four or five people that you have to pay that's true
01:27:49.300
time for years that's how much money you need exactly and this is and the money i had to make this game
01:27:54.620
was not even a fraction of that i wish i had that money so i really like want to eventually get out
01:28:01.620
of that yeah that's that's i guess our next goal to get out of that situation where we're just barely
01:28:08.600
scraping by and have to like somehow always find a way to get from month to month like you can
01:28:13.500
uh get beyond that then i think we can already work in a completely different way and also make more
01:28:19.460
professional games more often in in shorter shorter time that's right yeah everyone out there watching
01:28:25.240
listening you know it's like you you're in the in the game world you like this stuff support these
01:28:30.060
guys they need the help they need the uh funds they want to continue they want to do yeah if there
01:28:34.900
are developers out there who want to join us then of course also that's it exactly what's the easiest
01:28:40.880
way to uh get a hold of you if there are uh guys out there um you can just write us a dm on twitter
01:28:45.380
or uh write us an email uh we have a proton mail code games at protonmail.com okay just write this
01:28:51.780
there awesome also something should uh yeah code kvlt games at protonmail.com gotcha perfect well i've
01:29:00.120
enjoyed this this is a lot of fun uh again something different but it's still totally within the sphere
01:29:04.900
of everything we do so i i like that you know one last thing i want to plug once we finally get this
01:29:11.700
game done yeah we want to do our next uh game champ game champs are like little events oh yeah that's
01:29:17.440
right maybe a week or so um where just developers like programmers but also artists musicians graphics
01:29:26.800
artists whatever um they like usually there is a theme um can be really anything uh very abstract
01:29:33.740
usually and then these people form teams and they spontaneously work up an idea for like a mini
01:29:38.800
game like a prototype obviously there's not so much you can do in such a short time but uh yeah
01:29:43.220
this is the heima jam we made we made we did that a few times already and and then people make mini
01:29:48.160
games and uh in the best case scenario um actual projects are being cooked up in such events that
01:29:55.300
will then eventually be turned into real uh full-blown games there is actually um one game in
01:30:02.260
development by people who participated in one of our game champs um that is probably going to be
01:30:07.900
turn into a full-blown game um it's called the last guy um which is also like a very uh spooky or
01:30:15.520
i don't know like a very unsettling kind of like horror game where you are uh also in like a dystopian
01:30:20.780
world and you i think the premise is that you're trying to commit suicide because everything is so
01:30:25.660
horrible but there is this like that basically keeps you completely safe so you just can't and you
01:30:31.760
basically have to find a way how to actually die because uh the system won't let you die or something
01:30:36.600
it's very it's very uh dark but uh yeah um this is something that they came up with uh in one of
01:30:46.180
our uh game champs and yeah we definitely want to do that again i haven't had time for it right now
01:30:50.480
because we're so busy with the game but um that's also something we really want to do so is this uh
01:30:54.580
18th to 20th of march and basically formed former com that was uh last year this is last year okay
01:31:00.340
gotcha yep okay this is already an old one yeah those games that you saw those mini games they were
01:31:04.860
yeah this is the last man yeah this is the prototype and this prototype is now being turned
01:31:08.820
into a real game oh krampus survival that's funny i like that yeah that's cool here's the last man yeah
01:31:16.780
now because i i know that from like i was organizing those game champs back when i was still in the in the
01:31:22.560
in the normal uh game development scene here in austria um we were we were organizing um yeah
01:31:29.440
game champs regularly and it was always a lot of fun and lots of uh and and this is something i i
01:31:36.120
learned uh back then when i was in the game that i've seen and of course most people there were
01:31:41.300
liberals or apolitical or whatever but something i i found amazing there was just this like creative
01:31:48.600
approach like let's just get together and come up with some fun stuff whatever um and and and
01:31:56.320
usually it was also at the same time very productive like as i said like actual projects
01:32:01.980
that are then being turned into real games are born in such events or teams are being formed
01:32:06.400
and this is also something i maybe miss a bit on the right you know this this kind of approach to
01:32:14.800
things it's kind of like easygoing like let's just do something attitude everything is always very
01:32:20.520
serious and very death or survival you know and i mean it is serious i get it i'm not realizing
01:32:27.980
you gotta have some fun too yeah you just have to you gotta live life a little bit yeah no i no i
01:32:35.420
i get i get what you're saying for sure yeah no i totally get it exactly creativity in order for
01:32:39.640
creativity to thrive you need that kind of environment you can't always just be like i don't know you
01:32:45.780
know yeah i know serious reading reading evil lines hating the modern world no it's true exactly
01:32:53.020
relax a little bit no it's it's uh it's definitely uh that's how you do it though you got to kind of
01:32:57.040
smash uh smash some heads together so to speak uh and you know forget that you know creativity to
01:33:02.660
come out you bounce off each other you you you know you figure out what works or whatnot uh i i had
01:33:08.180
no idea how common you know kind of that is but it's just like a band i guess right you jam you got
01:33:12.320
to just like you know come up with something that's the idea that's why they're called like
01:33:15.220
that yeah it's like a music jam but with video games yeah there you go exactly all right cool so
01:33:20.160
so what's the uh what's the date for the uh upcoming one if people want to take part in that or i'm not
01:33:24.680
sure if you per invite or how that works or whatnot but since you're plugging everybody can uh everybody
01:33:30.300
can uh participate we don't have uh a date just yet okay just uh follow us and and keep keep
01:33:36.620
uh your eyes out um we will um announce it as soon i i assume probably maybe february march or so
01:33:44.300
beginning of next year and i really want to do something like that again once the game is finished
01:33:48.380
basically yeah depends a little bit on how long it will take us still sounds good no worries all right
01:33:53.220
well here's uh roland moritz joining us today cult game lead developers great to have you here uh keep
01:33:58.900
up the good work and uh absolutely again everyone out there who uh enjoys games want to play games
01:34:04.640
help out these guys support these guys get a copy of the game make sure that they can continue and
01:34:09.300
do more and build from there and turn this into a real uh a real engine for something on our side so
01:34:14.500
thank you roland really appreciate your time today it was good having you here thanks for having me
01:34:20.660
thank you so much for watching red ice tv today i hope you enjoyed it great having you with us as always
01:34:31.240
we're going to be back with more tomorrow for flashback friday just as usual uh then we have
01:34:36.000
our halloween special coming up and of course wednesdays we do no go zone and then normally
01:34:40.100
western warrior will not do that this weekend due to the fact that we do have a halloween stream that
01:34:45.820
we're doing monday so that's monday the 30th uh that's when that's uh coming up so make sure you
01:34:51.660
tune into that got some new uh cool uh costumes this year anyway thank you guys hope you enjoyed the
01:34:55.740
interview here today with roland moritz thank you to him again for joining us we'll be back with
01:34:59.900
more soon thank you so much today to our executive producers t lothrop stoddard v miller
01:35:07.220
wrestle revolt good luck laugh jake red pill rundown french 47 mark smith no one jeeves president
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and commie combo deal also thanks to our producers mr walker 696 johansson leroy demand snark pup
01:35:40.220
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01:35:48.080
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consider it we don't have any venture capitalists funding us like some of the other shit live media out
01:36:38.280
there does we don't have any angels investors we don't have any large sponsors although if you
01:36:43.040
do want a kind of a special executive producer tier if you are a business you want to get your website
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screenshots or whatnot into the rotation you can definitely reach out to us for that we have
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a couple of ideas of what we can do there so if you do want to sponsor the show we are open to that
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red eyes at pro time l.com but anyway thank you to all our members out there you make this possible
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we'll see you guys for flashback friday coming up next have a great rest of your day see you later