Does Irrational Games have a mission? Can there possibly be any methods to its well-documented madness? We’re ringing in the new year with an attempt to answer those questions, viewed through the lens of an employee who joined Irrational just four months ago. Discussions with studio members of all stripes–ranging from other relative newcomers all the way to co-founder Ken Levine–reveal that nothing is certain in the world of game development. And that’s just fine.

• Part 1: The Co-Founder – Ken Levine
• Part 2: Immigrants – Don Norbury, Jeff Seamster, Josh Davis, Murray Kraft
• Part 3: Gatekeepers – Bill Gardner, Shawn Robertson, Robert Tzong, Chris Kline
• Part 4: Natives – Alexx Kay, Nate Wells, Scott Sinclair, Shawn Robertson

Going forward, Irrational podcasts will continue to release once a month, but our plan is to alternate Irrational Behavior with Irrational Interviews. If you already subscribe to the individual podcast RSS feeds, please replace them with this new combined feed that incorporates both Behavior and Interviews.

Direct Download Episode 8

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Irrational Podcasts iTunes Page

Podcast music provided by:

• George Glass (Theme music)
• Spirit Kid (Part 1 intro)
• Permafav (Part 2 intro)
• Patrick Balthrop (Part 3 intro)
• Walking Sleep (Part 4 intro)
• The Monolators (Ending music)

Here’s why we think Tim is swell:

Design director Bill Gardner: As a former programmer, Tim brings over a decade of coding experience to help bridge the gap between design and programming.  “Daywalker,” “Hybrid,” “Zed” — whatever his friends here call him, history will look at Tim’s time at Irrational and call him “The Great Gap Bridger”–only some historian will probably have a fancier name.  He’s played a huge part in helping designers stay on the same page as the programming department, all while coming up with awesome gameplay mechanics and squeezing the most fun possible out of our engine.

An obsessive gamer, Tim plays everything short of Michael Jackson: The Experience.  Seriously, this dude is a savant — and it’s not just video games either.  He’s about as avid a board gamer as you can imagine.  Tim channels all of this experience and passion into helping develop the best games possible, while creating Excel-based design documents that would make an accountant’s head explode.

You’re a designer. What does that mean?

Tim Austin: It means we make the game fun!

Specifically, my job is on the technical side of design: working out the math behind game systems, translating wacky ideas into a specification that can be implemented, and making many colorful spreadsheets comparing one thing to another.

What games have you worked on?

TA: I started making games around 25 years ago, bedroom coding for the Apple II and the BBC Micro. Since then I’ve worked on a number of games, large and small, from most genres: racing, sports, platformer, RTS and FPS.

I’ve worked on several critically acclaimed commercial failures, including Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising for PC and Cold Winter for PS2.

With BioShock Infinite, I have the opportunity to help make an awesome game that will get the recognition it deserves!

Describe Life at Irrational in three words or less.

TA: “Inspiring to greatness.”

What is your favorite game of all time?

TA: X-Com: UFO Defense (or UFO: Enemy Unknown, as I knew it). When I first discovered this game, I ended up playing in shifts with a friend. One of us slept while the other played, as we only had one PC to play it on.

The way your troops turn from bags of random stats into strong personalities though the stories they share with the player is still unmatched.

Name a game everyone should play once in their life.

TA: Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. It’s a rare blend of FPS and RTS gaming, with an interesting story told in an unusual way. It’s a huge shame it’s almost unheard of, and I’d like to see more people get to experience it.

What is your favorite movie?

TA: The Princess Bride, of course. It is the best film of all time, after all. There’s so much subtlety and self-referential humor in the dialog and performances. Each time I watch it I notice things I’ve never seen before.

What are your hobbies outside of work?

TA: Gaming, gaming and more gaming–board games, card games, roleplaying games. I have had an ongoing MMO playing hobby since I first played EverQuest in 1999 (how we miss you, Veeshan). I’ve played dozens since then, but only EverQuest and now World of Warcraft have held my interest for more than a month or two. I play much more casually now, but several years ago, I helped lead a guild that was in the top 50 worldwide WoW raid guilds.

What recent board game have you loved? What do you look for in a new game?

TA: Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game. It’s a cooperative game in which all players must work together to survive a journey on extremely limited resources. Except…some of the players are Cylons. Their job is to sabotage the other players’ efforts without getting caught doing so. The atmosphere of mistrust and paranoia this dynamic creates is wondrous.

When seeking out new board games, I look for interesting new mechanics–different ways of interacting with the game and with other players.

Tell us your favorite story about life at Irrational.

TA: Just after joining Irrational, I went to my first game design meeting. Ken Levine explained the philosophy of BioShock Infinite, then he told us: “If there’s one thing I can teach you designers, it’s this…”

What that thing is will have to remain a secret!

In this episode of Irrational Behavior we let you look behind the scenes of the creation at the BioShock Infinite trailer.  Some of the people responsible for directing and creating the trailer discuss the constant evolution of the material as well as the hurdles that had to be overcome along the way in order to get to what you see released.

WARNING: This episode of Irrational Behavior is filled with spoilers.  Watch the trailer at http://www.BioshockInfinite.com before listening to the podcast.

• Part 1: The Creative Vita-Chamber
• Part 2: Infinite’s Horizon
• Part 3: Listen Up!
• Part 4: Days in the Dark

This completes the first season of Irrational Behavior.  The show will be going on a break but stay tuned to IrrationalGames.com for the latest news and content on BioShock Infinite as well as the return of Irrational Interviews starting September 1st.  Continue to discuss this episode of Irrational Behavior and BioShock Infinite in our forums.

iTunes Link

Direct Download Episode 7: Part 2

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Podcast music provided by:

• Signal Hill
• Taxpayer
• Cathode Rays

Do game makers game differently?  In this episode of Irrational Behavior we ask the team if they are able to turn off their critical filters and play the part of consumer.  From the untold developer chatter during lobby sessions in the latest multiplayer games to conquering  great single player experiences, how do we play and what do we think.  We also ask the team on games that influenced them in their roles and impacted the games they helped create.

• Part 1: Team Deathmatch
• Part 2: Appetite for Deconstruction

Stay tuned to IrrationalGames.com for more content related to this month’s podcast.

Discuss this episode of Irrational Behavior over in the forum.

iTunes Link

Direct Download Episode 6

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Podcast music provided by:

• Signal Hill
• Patrick Balthrop
• Rich Vreeland
• Razors in the Night

Additional Production provided by:

• Tim Franklin

Sharks, spiders, the dark, and chemistry exams.  These are just a couple of the things that we are scared of.  In this episode of Irrational Behavior we look at the things we are scared of and how it affects the way we make games.  Guest Andrew Weaver of Indiana University explains why we enjoy fun and the staff shed light on the challenges of making a game scary.

• Part 1: What Are We Afraid Of
• Part 2: Why Fear is Fun
• Part 3: The Art of Fear
• Part 4: The Feel of Fear
• Part 5: The Sound of Fear

Stay tuned to IrrationalGames.com for more content related to this month’s podcast.

Discuss this episode of Irrational Behavior over in the forum.

iTunes Link

Direct Download Episode 5

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Podcast music provided by:

• Signal Hill
• Walking Sleep
• Geoff Graves
• The Happy Hollows

Telemarketer Ken Levine. Playboy illustrator Scott Sinclair.  This month’s episode of Irrational Behavior explores what we did before we began developing videogames.  This months episode highlights include the commiserations of former game store clerks, an artist who accidentally concealed a Satanic message in a Christian comic for children, and a confession from the man who claims to have created the deer in Golden Tee Golf.

Stay tuned to IrrationalGames.com for more content related to this month’s podcast.

Discuss this episode of Irrational Behavior over in the forum.

iTunes Link

Direct Download Episode 3

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Podcast music provided by:

• Signal Hill
• Josh Rathbun
• Patrick Balthrop
• Justin Schwenk
• Fillipo Beck Peccoz
• Giancarlo Feltrin

In any game development studio, you’ll find a bunch of inspired and imaginative people who have a lot to get off their chests. To save on counseling fees, we decided to sublimate these repressed feelings about their gaming lives by sticking a microphone in their faces and creating a series of podcasts that offer an insight into what makes us – and our games – tick.

Each podcast will explore a particular theme in what we hope is an entertaining and insightful way, and this theme will also evolve throughout the month on the Irrational Games website itself. Visit regularly and you’ll find content on the site that helps illustrate what we’re trying to describe in the podcast, or expands and explores the theme further.

Please contribute to the discussions about the podcasts in the forums and if you have a great idea for a future theme then let us know! We might even send you something to say thanks. But don’t hold us to it.

So to kick off, we chose a brutal theme – “ideas that died”. We explore what happens when creativity runs into technical restrictions, a lack of clear consensus, and – at times – its own convolution. You’ll glimpse abandoned BioShock tidbits, as well as an as yet unrevealed game from four years ago when Irrational Games backed away from a zombie invasion. And much, much more.

Oh, and you’ll understand why ‘dog in a wheelchair’ is the answer to just about any question…

Irrational Behavior podcasts act as tables of contents for stories that appear here on IrrationalGames.com each month. January’s content continues to explore dead ideas with the following features:

Discuss this episode of Irrational Behavior over in the forum.

iTunes Link

Direct Download Episode 1

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Podcast theme song, “Luna Park”, provided by Signal Hill from the album, “More After We’re Gone”.