Audio Interview with Randolph Turpin

2nd April 2011

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

Well, I have an interesting audio interview for you today. It’s with Randolph Turpin who recently became a mini-Internet sensation when his son posted videos of him playing Portal for the first time.

I became interested for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was clear we are of similar ages and I find the concept of grey gaming very interesting and secondly because of the thought processes involved for new or non-gamers to Portal. This is a double first for me. He is the first “famous” person I have interviewed and perhaps more importantly he is the first interviewee who is older than me!

He became “famous” when the videos were posted on Escapist Magazine but came from his son’s You Tube channel.

Here is the video of the 3-year-old playing Mirror’s Edge and Portal mentioned in the podcast.

Randolph has agreed to stop by and respond to any comments, so feel free to ask him your own questions.

Listen to the interview

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5 Comments

  1. Zekiran

    Phillip this is my first time listening to a cast of yours and the first thing that sprang into my mind was, “Why are YOU not Wheatley!!” 😀

    A good interview! It’s nice to see things about people “our age” (I’m 43 and female) getting into games and enjoying their children’s activities. Though I was a bit sad to hear that he’s not really “into” other games. He might have a little easier time in HL2 though.

    Portal was my “gateway” to FPS games. I think it took me around 20 hours to get through it the first time. My most recent play through: 2 hours. It really is a skill builder though, because I know I’ve watched other people’s videos and walk-throughs and been thinking to myself “but that’s now how you do it! this way is much easier/quicker” so everyone does things differently. Maybe a more linear, clear path would be best for Randy. 🙂

    And HAH don’t trust GLaDOS. But the lines on the floors? They’re good. 🙂

  2. I’ll be 47 when I get done/or can afford portal2.I’ll play him as long as he alows me naps every 30 minutes lol.I suck at most parts where jumps through multiple portals are required.And thats just one part where I’m no good.Most of the game really lol but I still like the puzzle mods

    1. I should of mentioned that it was the best interview I have heard in a long time.This seemed more like a couple of guys sitting at a table/couch just having a conversation about normal stuff.

  3. Now that’s what I’m talking about. This is just a great example of what developers need to consider while developing their games.

    Gaming community (who know their way around a game with a knowledge of basic mechanics without even playing most games) is a minority when it comes to selling games. It’s not a big surprise that Big Fish Games are the one of the biggest game developer in the scene. They make simple games but they sell more than most big budget developers (and their games are not cheap I must add).

    That’s mainly because casual gamers are a reality. They do buy games and they don’t care much about them. They just want to install (as simple as possible) and open a game then play a few hours. You can’t give a casual gamer a Neverwinter Nights game and expect him/her to enjoy it. For casual gamers “simple” and “fun” are the key words. By “simple” I don’t mean stupid things. Game mechanics should be simple, you shouldn’t use whole keyboard to create a response in the game. Left click of the mouse for example good enough for most games.

    I can start talking about “consolization” of PC games, “watered down” games, “short” games, and even Call of Duty in this case but that’d make this post unnecessarily long. Just let me tell you this: Call of Duty is a game that’s easy to play and even easier to enjoy. Casual gamers love it, hardcore gamers like it, Activision is a billionaire.

  4. homesite ins co

    Agi88Ahogy te is írtad, semmi újat nem kapunk, ezeket a színeket kézzel is beállíthatjuk, meg beállíthatunk egy másik háttérképet. Nem is értem miért kellett létrehozni azt a Windows 7 témák weboldalt… Őszintén szólva nem értek a gépekhez, de ennyit még én is be tudok állítani a Windowsomon 🙂

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