Thimbleweed Park Podcast #1

by Ron Gilbert
Apr 13, 2015

Welcome to the first Thimbleweed Park Standup Meeting Podcast.

Standup meetings are the trendy hip meetings that agile projects have each day to quickly talk about what is happening. Management will tell you they are standup so everyone stays focused, but the real reason is they want to save money on chairs. Don't be fooled. It's all about the bottom line. Do you ever see the fat cat executives standing during meetings? No! They are sitting in their comfy diamond encrusted Herman Miller chairs, paid for by pained soles of the exploited worker. But I digress...

Gary and I will record a weekly edition of our standup (I'm actually sitting, screw standing) meeting each Friday that recaps the week and we'll chat about what we're trying to get done next week. Going forward, they will be posted Friday afternoon and include other team members as they come on the project.

We'll try and keep them to around 5 minutes.

You can also subscribe to the Thimbleweed Park Podcast RSS feed if that's 'your thing'.

- Ron

Brian Riff - Apr 13, 2015 at 13:51

Great idea. Thanks for sharing!

Uli Kusterer - Apr 13, 2015 at 14:02

Any chance of making this an actual podcast, i.e. with an RSS enclosure tag pointing to an audio file in the feed? Tried subscribing to it from my podcatcher, but it thinks there are no episodes. Would be neat if it showed up with all others on my commute :-)

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Apr 13, 2015 at 14:05

OK, I'll look into that.

Mattias - Apr 14, 2015 at 04:21

You can create a RSS-feed straight from Soundcloud perhaps, see: http://help.soundcloud.com/customer/portal/articles/1197932-how-do-i-find-my-rss-feed-

Damian - Apr 14, 2015 at 11:14

Besides using Podcast Generator as I mentioned in the other comment (that I wrongly put as reply of a non-related comment, doh!), you can maybe join a Podcast Network, something like http://www.relay.fm/ or something similar.

Mafti - Apr 13, 2015 at 14:04

It sounded you two were not in the same room for some bizarre vortex reason.
Which pops up the question.. do you work seperately and discuss over skype/icq/bbs or ...?

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Apr 13, 2015 at 14:07

We live about 80 miles apart. We use Skype. The days of your team all being the same place are vanishing fast, especially for indie devs.

Damian - Apr 13, 2015 at 14:22

Maybe you want to take a look at this?: http://podcastgen.sourceforge.net
(Hope it helps).

Peter Campbell - Apr 13, 2015 at 17:39

Do you prefer working at home or at a company office? Obviously there's pros and cons of each, such as at home you don't have to travel to work and you can pretty much make up your own schedule and work and rest whenever you please for however long you wish. But then for example when you guys were at Skywalker Ranch I'm guessing that there was probably a secretary who would serve you coffee, make you breakfast, etc. and of course it's easier to quickly communicate with the rest of the team in such a company office environment.

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Apr 13, 2015 at 17:43

I prefer to work in an office with other people on the team. I think it's better for collaboration, but I also enjoy working at home because I have get a lot done without interruptions and quiet. I would be better if Gary and I were in the same place, but it's not an expense we can afford and we live too far apart.

Joost - Apr 14, 2015 at 02:22

Oh... Coding for two hours straight without interruptions by coworkers...
*sniff*
I envy you.

Jammet - Apr 15, 2015 at 02:22

At least Skype one thing ... you can - if you wanted to - basically have a conversation open all day long, so working together is generally no problem, it just feels different, and maybe a little distant at times. However, I hope the funds include the occasional car trip or ticket to meet up from time to time.

Alex - Apr 13, 2015 at 14:12

Cool idea. I like the casting of pods!

Damian - Apr 13, 2015 at 14:20

Oh, boy! I love podcasts. I really love podcasts about games. I absolutely love a podcast about Thimbleweed Park!
Thanks! :)

Yuri Brunetto - Apr 13, 2015 at 14:39

Yeah! I was expecting for this :D

Christopher Griffin - Apr 13, 2015 at 15:03

I tried to compliment the podcast genuinely, but my wording always sounded sarcastic for some reason, so I just scrapped all of that and decided to write this:

* Thank You! *

Jalte Sorensen - Apr 13, 2015 at 15:18

I like such podcasts, because they are much more relaxing to listen to than reading a long text-post (I dont have a long attention span).

And I also like the short format. Because then you know that you dont have to put in hours to listen to it. Kinda like how Matt Stone and Trey Parker makes commentary-minis on their south park DVD's, in contrast to so many commentary tracks that goes on for so long, that i will never invest time in listening to them.

Vegetaman - Apr 13, 2015 at 15:32

Finally, a meeting I want to attend!

Sweet idea; I think this works really well.

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 13, 2015 at 15:50

Nice to hear! :-)

@ 3:28 The clock inside the mansion? Spoiler? Perhaps you meant inside the bank, Ron?

MrY - Apr 13, 2015 at 20:37

Have they introduced the hot ivy league babe yet? Haven't been tuning in recently/

Pedram - Apr 14, 2015 at 05:13

It all becomes clear. now. Podcasts, standup meetings, sound cloud ... Now it occurs to me, that you must have invented the SCRUM bullshit (nice hint to SCUMM btw.) and made a shitload of money. Not bad Mr. Gilbert. Probably you were the most generous donor in your KS project.

Also: wouldn't it be cool, if standup meetings were actual "standup" mettings? "Ever notice how kickstarters never get done? I participate to get them started, but later I just want to kick them!" *laughter* *applause* *whoooo*

;-)

Iron Curtain - Apr 14, 2015 at 18:36

Is there any way you can upload the podcast into iTunes?

You won't have to worry about DRM as this is one of the few pieces of content Apple doesn't put their grubby DRM on.

(For those wondering, Apple doesn't put their DRM on music, music videos, some books and podcasts. I'm not sure about university lectures overall though some of them are creative commons and thereby DRM-free.)

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Apr 14, 2015 at 18:38

You should be able to add the podcast RSS feed to iTunes. I don't listen to podcasts, so this is all somewhat new to me. Why do they need to be "on iTunes"?

Iron Curtain - Apr 14, 2015 at 20:04

"Why do they need to be 'on iTunes'?"

So you can download the podcast to the iDevice and keep all of the metadata intact. Also, so you can set the settings to download automatically within the iTunes application and not have to worry about dragging the podcast into iTunes and setting up all the settings when you put them there. Those are what I can think of off of the top of my head.

Iron Curtain - Apr 14, 2015 at 20:14

Edit: Okay, I misinterpreted what you meant. You will not have to upload the podcast into iTunes. You should, however, enable the downloads on soundcloud so people can download it. That way, it would be a true download.

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Apr 14, 2015 at 20:23

OK, the podcasts are now downloadable and I added it to iTunes just to check it out. Seems to work, but who knows.

Iron Curtain - Apr 14, 2015 at 20:38

Okay, that did the trick. It's downloading now! Thank you so much, Mr. Gilbert!

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 15, 2015 at 16:44

Shouldn't it be Sir Gilbert? I think Ron was knighted by Queen (the rock band).

Frank - Apr 17, 2015 at 04:29

I looked on iTunes but I couldn't find a Thimbleweed Park Podcast. Saw the Soundcloud Page. I would love longer versions of the Podcast (maybe approx. 30min to one hour). It would be also nice, to add the Podcasts to the game in the Main Window of the game. I recently checked out the "Grim Fandango Remastered" version and what I think would be cool are comments by Ron and Gary that you can switch on during the game... Recently I played again, after a long time, far far away "Indy 3". Will you integrate action sequences in the game like in "Last Crusade" or the sword fights in "Monkey Island " , which will work without " SCUMM " ? And what about Retro Sound? You guys need "iMuse" !!!

Iron Curtain - Apr 17, 2015 at 09:32

It's easy to add the podcast to iTunes. In the upper-left corner of the iTunes panel, switch to "Podcasts". Then click File on the display bar, then "subscribe to podcast", then the RSS feed that Ron Gilbert has given you.

Voilà! Instant subscription to Thimbleweed Park Podcast!

Stacy Davidson - Aug 30, 2015 at 10:06

Knighted by Queen? Good enough for me.

Jammet - Apr 15, 2015 at 02:28

They don't need to be on iTunes, but having them there is a good idea. There are a few big podcast feed distribution sites that are polled every time a client pushes a users search request.

So it would make sense to have them one, better yet two of these because iTunes is very much limited to a certain group of users.
Many others will try podbean.com. Like me, usually.

Iron Curtain - Apr 15, 2015 at 12:42

I concur 100% with what Jammet has said. I suggest you listen to him here.

Juan Diego - Apr 15, 2015 at 02:59

By being on iTunes you make it easier for many of us to listen to the podcast.

Jammet - Apr 15, 2015 at 02:19

Oh! What interesting tidbits to be had :). Thanks for sharing this, the podcast is a good idea, and I'll be sure to listen to those!

Soong - Apr 15, 2015 at 02:53

Thank you so much for this! You keep on making this already awesome blog even greater! The download option and the RSS feed are perfect - now I can have this episode and future one automatically added to my portable player. Thank you!

longuist - Apr 15, 2015 at 17:35

Wow. First this blog, now the podcast. Awe-some. I am eager to know which future technology will be introduced next. (Even now awards are just a matter of time!)

Peter Campbell - Apr 15, 2015 at 21:49

Kind of a belated message, but it's very cool to hear that development on the game engine is coming along much faster than you anticipated. I'm absolutely not trying to jinx you guys lol, but if development continues to accelerate faster than what you planned and you have the game at about 95% finished around 5 or 6 months before the scheduled release date, would you be willing to let kickstarter backers try beta versions of the game to try and find glitches/bugs and also simply give feedback on possible improvements/changes to be made?

MrY - Apr 16, 2015 at 04:22

Not going to happen. Might diminish the revenue. And we want this game to be UBER successful so Ron & Co can keep bringing us great games :)

Christopher Griffin - Apr 16, 2015 at 11:15

In what way would letting backers testing the beta diminish revenue? They've already backed/bought the game...

Peter Campbell - Apr 16, 2015 at 13:06

None, it would only benefit the project and reduce the odds of having to patch the game post-release to fix glitches such as players walking outside of the walkboxes and walking all the way to the moon or the game freezing if you try to use an item on a certain object or whatever. Plus it would make backers want to back additional projects in the future that Ron and Gary do. Creating playable beta versions for backers to test out is additional work and it could cause major leaks for spoilers, but there are workarounds for that such as only limiting backers of a certain kickstarter tier and higher from beta testing, having them have to agree not to leak info, or just leaving out major story elements from the beta version.

mr. T - Apr 16, 2015 at 06:03

Pretty cool idea this mini podcast! I be pampered.

badd - Apr 16, 2015 at 14:12

I dont need a podcast! Keep on runing gameplay ; - )

Natalija - Apr 17, 2015 at 01:03

You forgot to put your name at the end of the blog (By Ron) ;-)

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Apr 17, 2015 at 01:13

FIXED!

Dino Vamdas - Apr 18, 2015 at 05:52

Hi,

This is a really unique and fascinating insight into your process. Thanks so much to you and Gary for doing this.

A question I have is whether this is helpful to you guys? I imagine you have various ongoing conversations and status updates. How do you find summarising all this for us? Is this something you'd do if the peanut gallery weren't listening?

AnthonyAmmo - Apr 21, 2015 at 13:59

The sound of a ticking clock in a mansion...

Sounds familiar :P

Revino - May 21, 2015 at 10:12

Hi Ron.

Thanks for this nice article. We figured out that standup meetings are great but needed improvement (they took a lot of time, de-focussed our colleagues and interrupted their workflows). Because of this we developed a SaaS tool to ʺautomateʺ the daily standupmeetings - with just a single email.

If you like to take a look: www.30secondsmail.com.

Best, Revino