John August

Videogames

Young Billionaire’s Guide to Hollywood

Episode - 122

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Film Industry, Producers, Scriptnotes, Three Page Challenge, Transcribed, Videogames

John and Craig offer advice for super-rich aspirants about the film and television industry. If you have enough money to do anything, what should you do first? Do you want to make money, or make art? Or do you just want to hang out with famous people? No judgements.

Then we tackle another set of Three Page Challenges, with scripts ranging from Twitter-age slashers to animated birds.

Our next episode will be the Live Holiday Show, which airs Tuesday after Thursday’s recording. We hope to keep on our normal schedule through the end of the year, but there’s a chance we’ll skip a week.

LINKS

* [Company, Making of Original Cast Recording](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVf78joLfSg) part 1 of 6, on YouTube
* Boston Magazine on [Curt Schilling and 38 Studios](http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2012/07/38-studios-end-game/)
* The [Development of Duke Nukem Forever](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Duke_Nukem_Forever) has its own Wikipedia entry
* [How to submit your Three Pages](http://johnaugust.com/threepage), and [Stuart’s post on lessons learned from the early batches](http://johnaugust.com/2012/learning-from-the-three-page-challenge)
* Three Pages by [Blake Kuehn](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/BlakeKuehn.fountain)
* Three Pages by [Steve D’Arcangelo](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/SteveDArcangelo.pdf)
* Three Pages by [C.L. Stone](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/CLStone.pdf)
* [The Room Two](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-room-two/id667362389) is available now
* [Skitch](http://evernote.com/skitch/) and [Evernote](http://evernote.com/) are great together
* Download the Scriptnotes app for [iOS](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scriptnotes/id739117984?ls=1&mt=8) and [Android](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.johnaugust.android.scriptnotes) devices
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Scriptnotes listener Andreas Hornig

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_122.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_122.mp3).

**UPDATE** 12-21-13: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-ep-122-young-billionaires-guide-to-hollywood-transcript).

Punching the Hawk: Karateka 2.0

Karateka, Videogames

karateka cover artAlmost three years ago, Jordan Mechner and I set out to make a new version of his amazing 1984 videogame Karateka, which I’d played endlessly one summer on the Atari 800.

Rather than going to a publisher, we decided to make the game ourselves. We raised money. We hired artists and coders. We sweated a lot of details, from story points to footfall sounds.

Today, we shipped. Karateka is [now available on the Xbox](http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Karateka/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025841128c), with a free trial download.

If you have an Xbox, stop reading and start punching.

If you have a PS3, a PC, a Mac or an iOS device, your version is coming soon. So sit tight.

Even if you don’t normally play fighting games, I think you’ll enjoy it. The combat rewards precision rather than button-smashing, and Jordan’s multiple-protagonist mechanic makes it easy to survive but hard to triumph. I think you’re going to see other games adopting this idea.

Plus, Karateka looks and sounds terrific. Christopher Tin’s music isn’t just frosting on top — it’s integral to the gameplay in a unique way.

I was so happy with how the game was coming together that last March I went to [Adam Lisagor](http://sandwichvideo.com/people/adam-lisagor/) and asked (well, begged) him to make a video for us.

That debuted today as well:

(There’s a [director’s cut](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pDy-CSFsPs&feature=player_embedded) available too.)

I’ll have more to blog about as we discover how the game fares in the wild, but it’s been an amazing process to get to this point.

I’ve made movies and I’ve made apps, but making a videogame was another beast altogether. Jordan deserves all the accolades, yet I’m sure he’d agreee that it wouldn’t have been possible without his remarkable team at Liquid. I also need to single out Jeff Matsuda for creating the look of the world with his concept art, and Ryan Nelson for building countless iterations of product artwork in every conceivable specification.

It’s hard to believe it’s finally in the store. [Check it out](http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Karateka/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025841128c), and as always, ask questions.

We’re all Disney princesses now

News, QandA, Scriptnotes, Transcribed, Videogames

John and Craig discuss the big movie news of the week: Disney buying Lucasfilm, and with it, the rights to Star Wars.

Everyone’s already talked about what it means for fans and stock prices, but what does it mean for screenwriters? It could lead to new jobs creating extensions to the Star Wars universe — both in film and television — but does the reliance on giant brands make it harder to create the next culturally-defining franchise?

On the topic of new old things, John has his first-ever videogame coming out tomorrow on Xbox: Karateka, a reinvention of Jordan Mechner’s seminal fighting game from the 1980s. He talks about the challenges of making an indie game and what his role was as an executive producer.

From there, we answer listener questions. Is it okay to love your own writing? How young is too young to write a screenplay? What can be done about a 212 page script? And what does “going out wide” with a spec script really mean?

All this and more in episode 62 of Scriptnotes.

Special thanks to everyone who’s rated us and left comments in iTunes. They help new users find us, so if you haven’t left one recently, drop us a line.

LINKS:

* [Disney buys Star Wars](http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118061434)
* The [original Karateka](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karateka_(video_game))
* [Karateka](http://karateka.com) launches Nov. 7 on Xbox
* [Letterpress](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/letterpress-word-game/id526619424?mt=8) game for iOS
* [Screenshot](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/johnvcraig.jpg) of John beating Craig in Letterpress
* [Red Cross](https://www.redcross.org/donate/index.jsp?donateStep=2&itemId=prod10002&utm_source=Disney_DayofGiving&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=Sandy) donations to Hurricane Sandy relief
* [Scriptnotes](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/scriptnotes-podcast/id462495496) on iTunes
* INTRO: [Card Sharks theme song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDugzjCJP6Y)
* OUTRO: [Star Wars Call Me Maybe](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBM7i84BThE)

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_62.m4a).

**UPDATE** 11-9-12: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2012/scriptnotes-ep-62-were-all-disney-princesses-now-transcript).

Escape from Age of Monsters

Videogames

[escape from age of monsters](http://bit.ly/efaom-ipad) My compatriots at Massive Joe have just released their second game, Escape from Age of Monsters. It’s available today for the [iPhone](http://bit.ly/efaom-iphone) and in super-HD on the new [iPad](http://bit.ly/efaom-ipad).

The game plays like Tiny Wings, but with monsters and hell gloves and a great soundtrack by The Binges.

It continues the franchise elements set up by the original game, featuring some top-notch animation by Jeff Matsuda.

It’s slick, fun and worth your dollar.