Welcome to The Examined Game!

Episodes

3
March 5, 2026

Why Play Matters | Julia Minamata (The Crimson Diamond)

Send us Fan Mail The Examined Game #3 Julia Minamata is the solo developer of The Crimson Diamond, a love letter to the classic Sierra On-Line parser adventures. I adored playing The Crimson Diamond and wanted to talk with Julia about the power of play in video games and why classic adventure games still resonate so strongly with players today. We discuss Julia’s inspiration for the game and the idea of building a game like a doll’s house for the player to lose themselves in. We wade into som...
2
March 2, 2026

Restoring the Mona Lisas of video games | Larry Kuperman (Nightdive Studios)

Send us Fan Mail In today’s episode I speak with Larry Kuperman, Vice President of Business Development at Nightdive Studios. Larry retired not long after this interview, so I was pleased to chat with such an industry veteran. Nightdive have made a well-deserved name for themselves with their remakes and remasters of classic games including System Shock, System Shock 2, Blade Runner, Star Wars: Dark Forces, The Thing, Quake and many others. I sat down with Larry to discuss the ups and downs o...
1
Feb. 23, 2026

When Naughty Dog Took A Risk On Uncharted 2 | Richard Lemarchand (Uncharted, Naughty Dog)

Send us Fan Mail I sat down with co-lead game designer on the original Uncharted trilogy, Richard Lemarchand, to talk about the creative process Naughty Dog took when making Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and how Naughty Dog approached pacing, cinematic gameplay and level design. Richard talks about working alongside Amy Hennig, Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann on the original Uncharted trilogy, and how the studio evolved from games like Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter into more story-driven g...