1 00:00:09,876 --> 00:00:10,543 Welcome to 2 00:00:10,543 --> 00:00:14,214 User Friendly 2.0 with host Bill Sikkens. 3 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:17,250 Technology architect. 4 00:00:22,022 --> 00:00:25,025 And this is user friendly 2.0 I am your host Bill. 5 00:00:25,058 --> 00:00:26,226 And joining me Gretchen. 6 00:00:26,226 --> 00:00:28,395 Bill welcome to this week's show. 7 00:00:28,395 --> 00:00:29,596 Hello there. Hello. 8 00:00:29,596 --> 00:00:32,599 So how do you feel being another year older, 9 00:00:33,533 --> 00:00:35,402 Whoopi. It's good. Yeah. There you go. 10 00:00:35,402 --> 00:00:36,469 Working is right. 11 00:00:36,469 --> 00:00:37,103 So either 12 00:00:37,103 --> 00:00:42,542 we all have our birthday on the same day or user friendly is turning 14 this year. 13 00:00:42,575 --> 00:00:44,811 We're going into our 14th year. 14 00:00:44,811 --> 00:00:48,281 So that's middle school or just starting high school. 15 00:00:48,381 --> 00:00:49,115 Yeah. There you go. 16 00:00:49,115 --> 00:00:52,118 Okay, so this could be a chaotic time, but 17 00:00:52,752 --> 00:00:56,356 certainly with events of the world it would qualify as that. 18 00:00:57,223 --> 00:00:57,624 Yeah. 19 00:00:57,624 --> 00:01:02,629 But but anyway so yeah we started the show back in 2013, 20 00:01:02,629 --> 00:01:05,632 in Reno, Nevada, in a station 21 00:01:05,865 --> 00:01:09,335 that had a studio in a mall 22 00:01:09,869 --> 00:01:13,540 and not one of the more used malls in Reno. 23 00:01:14,307 --> 00:01:15,642 Nice. You know, City Town Mall. 24 00:01:15,642 --> 00:01:16,543 What is that called now? 25 00:01:16,543 --> 00:01:18,678 A Reno town mall? Town. 26 00:01:18,678 --> 00:01:20,480 Old town used to be Old town mall. 27 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:22,015 Yeah, I think they changed the name. 28 00:01:22,015 --> 00:01:23,783 But anyway, so it's a nice mall. 29 00:01:23,783 --> 00:01:25,785 I mean, it's really cool and still has the esthetic 30 00:01:25,785 --> 00:01:29,122 from when it was older, which has all these fountains and things. 31 00:01:29,155 --> 00:01:30,023 Definitely worth a visit. 32 00:01:30,023 --> 00:01:33,660 It's not a dead mall or anything, but it is definitely not 33 00:01:33,660 --> 00:01:36,663 the one with your anchor stores and all that kind of thing anymore. 34 00:01:36,696 --> 00:01:38,865 There's a lot of cool local stuff in there, 35 00:01:38,865 --> 00:01:42,168 and one of them is the radio station that we started at, which would be fine. 36 00:01:42,202 --> 00:01:43,736 The fact that it's in a mall is no big deal. 37 00:01:43,736 --> 00:01:47,173 The fact that the studio did not have a door was a big deal. 38 00:01:47,173 --> 00:01:49,943 And I know we've talked about this a little bit in the past, but, 39 00:01:49,943 --> 00:01:53,213 you know, some of our sound effects, which we did on purpose, of course, 40 00:01:53,279 --> 00:01:56,683 included drills and crying children and other things. 41 00:01:56,683 --> 00:01:59,652 So people warming up musical instruments. 42 00:01:59,719 --> 00:02:03,890 But, you know, the weird thing about that whole mall that you guys don't 43 00:02:03,890 --> 00:02:07,994 obviously remember is that a the mall used to look like an old West 44 00:02:07,994 --> 00:02:13,433 town on purpose, and there was an actual radio station 45 00:02:13,433 --> 00:02:17,937 in the lower area in the center of the walking area, 46 00:02:18,138 --> 00:02:21,908 and there was an actual little room that was completely closed off, 47 00:02:21,908 --> 00:02:25,912 and it had windows and you could see the DJ. 48 00:02:26,312 --> 00:02:26,513 Yeah. 49 00:02:26,513 --> 00:02:31,251 And it was a legitimate, really good radio station 50 00:02:31,784 --> 00:02:33,853 that wasn't infestation we were on was legitimate, 51 00:02:33,853 --> 00:02:36,990 but it wasn't certainly wasn't anything of that high of a production. 52 00:02:37,023 --> 00:02:41,427 No, no, it was the one that was there was like one of the normal ones 53 00:02:41,427 --> 00:02:44,664 that people listened to, like the entire town. 54 00:02:45,265 --> 00:02:47,600 So yeah. Yeah. 55 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:48,535 So that was definitely. 56 00:02:48,535 --> 00:02:52,138 And then we kind of went from there and have settled when user friendly. 57 00:02:52,372 --> 00:02:54,040 So user friendly 2.0 for anybody 58 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:57,177 that doesn't know was a reboot of the show that was done in 2019. 59 00:02:57,343 --> 00:03:00,313 So we went from a half hour to an hour format. 60 00:03:00,313 --> 00:03:04,817 We signed on with Salem Salem Media at that point and I heard podcasts. 61 00:03:04,817 --> 00:03:08,655 So basically what you hear now is from that reboot, 62 00:03:08,655 --> 00:03:11,991 but there were seasons of user friendly prior to that. 63 00:03:12,025 --> 00:03:14,427 A lot of them are on the website. If you want to go back and listen. 64 00:03:14,427 --> 00:03:17,230 If you do, that's on you. I'm warning you. But 65 00:03:18,865 --> 00:03:22,635 but it's, you know, something that this is become 66 00:03:22,669 --> 00:03:25,772 a lot longer running show than I think any of us would have ever thought. 67 00:03:26,339 --> 00:03:27,874 Yeah, yeah. 68 00:03:27,874 --> 00:03:28,875 You know. 69 00:03:28,875 --> 00:03:30,910 Idea started around my kitchen table. 70 00:03:30,910 --> 00:03:33,713 I remember that in all of us were there, and we still had our two 71 00:03:33,713 --> 00:03:35,548 missing people at the time. 72 00:03:35,548 --> 00:03:38,551 And it was, 73 00:03:38,551 --> 00:03:41,521 you know, Jeremy and Molly have left us. 74 00:03:41,521 --> 00:03:44,991 And it's also very interesting because we still have our original team together, 75 00:03:45,024 --> 00:03:47,360 and they didn't leave by choice. 76 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:52,465 So, you know, it's a situation where it's a little bit unusual as these things 77 00:03:52,465 --> 00:03:55,535 go and has something that we've really enjoyed doing over the years. 78 00:03:55,535 --> 00:03:58,338 We started out as a pure technology show. 79 00:03:58,338 --> 00:04:01,241 We added the pop culture. And what about 2017? 80 00:04:01,241 --> 00:04:05,311 I think actually I kept trying to add it sooner than that. 81 00:04:05,478 --> 00:04:09,582 Yeah, the one that we actually do it, I don't recall because we started 82 00:04:09,616 --> 00:04:12,785 talking about lightsabers and other things earlier. 83 00:04:12,952 --> 00:04:13,219 Yeah. 84 00:04:13,219 --> 00:04:16,422 So, because it was it was more interesting. 85 00:04:16,422 --> 00:04:21,494 People who like science and technology tend to like science fiction 86 00:04:21,494 --> 00:04:25,898 and comic books and and and fantasy literature. 87 00:04:26,132 --> 00:04:30,403 They they're more outgoing and they want to explore the world. 88 00:04:30,436 --> 00:04:32,038 Right. So. Right. 89 00:04:32,038 --> 00:04:32,572 Absolutely. 90 00:04:32,572 --> 00:04:35,174 Like, you know, but from that time, 91 00:04:35,174 --> 00:04:37,210 you know, we've grown up and it's been kind of cool. 92 00:04:37,210 --> 00:04:40,747 I don't think we've lost kind of the what we love to cover. 93 00:04:40,913 --> 00:04:43,783 Like you say, Gretchen, is technology and pop culture 94 00:04:43,783 --> 00:04:46,519 and kind of all the fun stuff that goes along with it. 95 00:04:46,519 --> 00:04:48,821 It, you know, we used to do movie reviews. 96 00:04:48,821 --> 00:04:50,456 We don't do that so much anymore. 97 00:04:50,456 --> 00:04:52,191 We do them once in a while, like last week. 98 00:04:52,191 --> 00:04:56,796 But the reality of the situation is, is there's enough new stuff coming out 99 00:04:56,863 --> 00:05:00,800 in both areas right now that it really creates something 100 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:01,834 that's a little unique to cover. 101 00:05:01,834 --> 00:05:02,602 And we get some things 102 00:05:02,602 --> 00:05:06,539 that aren't necessarily covered by everyone else, which is kind of fun. 103 00:05:06,639 --> 00:05:09,242 Definitely attending the comic cons and all that kind of stuff. 104 00:05:09,242 --> 00:05:12,512 We're going to be having a review of some East Coast things coming up 105 00:05:12,512 --> 00:05:16,416 in the next couple of weeks from our reporter Bradley over there, 106 00:05:16,716 --> 00:05:17,850 but it is something where it's 107 00:05:17,850 --> 00:05:19,252 kind of fun to be able to do these things 108 00:05:19,252 --> 00:05:21,954 and look at it from a little different perspective. 109 00:05:22,922 --> 00:05:26,392 So, you know, I don't know, it's just been kind of a cool thing. 110 00:05:26,392 --> 00:05:29,662 And I don't know, Gretchen, we even want to 111 00:05:29,762 --> 00:05:32,732 costume contest one year I think in San Jose. 112 00:05:32,799 --> 00:05:34,734 Yeah, yeah, yeah we did. 113 00:05:34,734 --> 00:05:37,036 And that was funny, you know. 114 00:05:37,036 --> 00:05:41,040 And it wasn't the first time long before Bill you were involved. 115 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:43,910 Jeremy and Gretchen and I had met kind of coming out of high school. 116 00:05:43,910 --> 00:05:48,381 So this was like a million years ago, and it feels like it. 117 00:05:48,715 --> 00:05:53,453 And we ended up entering a costume contest at a Star Trek convention. 118 00:05:53,619 --> 00:05:56,622 Yep. Dressed in Renaissance Faire gear. 119 00:05:57,123 --> 00:05:59,659 And we entered into the Q continuum and took first place. 120 00:05:59,659 --> 00:06:02,428 And boy, was everybody else unhappy with us. 121 00:06:02,428 --> 00:06:04,897 Yeah, well, those Trekkies were mad. 122 00:06:04,897 --> 00:06:08,735 You know, the year before, I tripped on the stage dressed 123 00:06:08,735 --> 00:06:13,139 as a cross between Lieutenant Uhura and Yeoman Rand. 124 00:06:13,172 --> 00:06:14,040 Yeah. So. 125 00:06:15,575 --> 00:06:18,811 And I remember Jeremy had a really long ponytail back then, 126 00:06:18,811 --> 00:06:21,147 and he was dressed, I think, as a Starfleet 127 00:06:21,147 --> 00:06:24,050 officer or something, and he was asked to Starfleet officers. 128 00:06:24,050 --> 00:06:24,751 Do you wear your hair? 129 00:06:24,751 --> 00:06:25,618 Long Wharf was. 130 00:06:25,618 --> 00:06:27,987 It was the best answer he could have given to you. 131 00:06:27,987 --> 00:06:29,021 It was really cool. 132 00:06:29,021 --> 00:06:32,859 So, yeah, we still have some of the prizes and stuff that go back to that. 133 00:06:32,859 --> 00:06:35,995 And, you know, so there's a history of all of this. 134 00:06:35,995 --> 00:06:40,266 And then back in 2013, we had all met through some other things 135 00:06:40,299 --> 00:06:42,068 and started putting this together. 136 00:06:42,068 --> 00:06:46,439 And it's just been usually a weekly some seasons it's been weekly, 137 00:06:46,439 --> 00:06:47,507 some seasons it hasn't. 138 00:06:47,507 --> 00:06:51,744 But since User friendly 2.0 came out, we've been strictly weekly 139 00:06:51,744 --> 00:06:54,814 and have had a lot of fun with it and the listenership. 140 00:06:54,814 --> 00:06:59,218 All of you listening to the show is really grown up and we appreciate that. 141 00:06:59,218 --> 00:07:01,721 It's amazing some of the input that we're getting 142 00:07:01,721 --> 00:07:05,625 and this isn't input sometimes, like the stuff 143 00:07:05,625 --> 00:07:08,694 I will use that word since we're on the air that some YouTube 144 00:07:08,761 --> 00:07:11,898 things get, that it's just like trolls and things. 145 00:07:12,064 --> 00:07:15,034 But most of the feedback we get from you is actually very informative. 146 00:07:15,034 --> 00:07:15,435 It's good. 147 00:07:15,435 --> 00:07:18,971 It's how we program the show and I really appreciate it. 148 00:07:18,971 --> 00:07:20,573 I love that interaction. 149 00:07:20,573 --> 00:07:23,276 You know, it's a lot of fun. 150 00:07:23,276 --> 00:07:25,778 So this week we're going to be doing a clip show. 151 00:07:25,778 --> 00:07:28,815 We're going to give you a couple of interviews that have been 152 00:07:28,815 --> 00:07:33,986 the most talked about in the last year, according to AI that analyzed it. 153 00:07:34,020 --> 00:07:39,492 Now, I will forewarn you, this isn't the three most loved interviews necessarily. 154 00:07:39,559 --> 00:07:42,562 It's the three that created the most conversation. 155 00:07:42,762 --> 00:07:46,466 That doesn't mean they're bad, but it just means that there were certainly 156 00:07:46,466 --> 00:07:50,236 a lot of well-founded comments on some of the different things here. 157 00:07:50,236 --> 00:07:52,371 And instead of trying 158 00:07:52,371 --> 00:07:54,674 to talk about all this before we actually have the interviews, 159 00:07:54,674 --> 00:07:57,243 we'll just go ahead and switch over to that here in a second 160 00:07:57,243 --> 00:08:01,113 and let you hear them and tell us what you think about hearing them again. 161 00:08:01,180 --> 00:08:02,682 All right. Here we go. 162 00:08:02,682 --> 00:08:05,318 Joining us now, guest Heather Rose Walters, game writer 163 00:08:05,318 --> 00:08:09,722 and inventor of Iffley, the code free game writing software. 164 00:08:09,755 --> 00:08:11,624 Welcome to user Friendly. 165 00:08:12,692 --> 00:08:13,559 Thank you so much. 166 00:08:13,559 --> 00:08:15,962 Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here. 167 00:08:15,962 --> 00:08:16,996 Oh, this is going to be great. 168 00:08:16,996 --> 00:08:20,399 I'm reading through everything before we started the interview today. 169 00:08:20,399 --> 00:08:23,736 This sounds very interesting because I'm curious to know what this even is. 170 00:08:23,736 --> 00:08:26,772 I'm a programmer, so anytime stuff like this comes up, 171 00:08:26,839 --> 00:08:29,642 it's just an area of like, okay, let's see how that works. 172 00:08:29,642 --> 00:08:33,813 But let's start with you and your company and what is interactive fiction, 173 00:08:33,813 --> 00:08:34,881 because I think that kind of 174 00:08:34,881 --> 00:08:37,850 gets us into the realm of what we want to talk about today. 175 00:08:38,751 --> 00:08:39,352 Definitely. 176 00:08:39,352 --> 00:08:41,587 Interactive fiction is exactly what it sounds like. 177 00:08:41,587 --> 00:08:44,891 It's fiction that you interact with, although some people have used it 178 00:08:44,891 --> 00:08:47,360 also with nonfiction, but that's a whole nother interview. 179 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:50,830 It's a form of gaming, but it's just entirely text based. 180 00:08:50,830 --> 00:08:53,533 So technically, all of the original games out there 181 00:08:53,533 --> 00:08:57,303 where you just were typing text is a form of interactive fiction. 182 00:08:57,303 --> 00:09:00,673 So right now there's a whole bunch of different versions of it, like 183 00:09:00,706 --> 00:09:04,610 Bandersnatch on Netflix is kind of a form of interactive fiction. 184 00:09:04,810 --> 00:09:07,613 B choose your own adventure books from like back in the 80s, 185 00:09:07,613 --> 00:09:11,317 although they do still publish now are like a, you know, a 186 00:09:11,751 --> 00:09:13,786 physical copy of interactive fiction. 187 00:09:13,786 --> 00:09:16,722 And now there's a ton of apps out there where you can play 188 00:09:16,722 --> 00:09:20,693 interactive fiction games on your phone, and they're just text based stories 189 00:09:20,693 --> 00:09:23,696 where you get to choose and affect the narrative. 190 00:09:24,063 --> 00:09:26,065 So I'm going to date myself here, but this would be like 191 00:09:26,065 --> 00:09:29,268 in the old days, Zork or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that kind of thing. 192 00:09:29,268 --> 00:09:31,671 Right? Yeah, exactly. 193 00:09:31,671 --> 00:09:35,107 Yeah, I know now the more common ones. 194 00:09:35,141 --> 00:09:36,108 Oh, sorry. Go ahead. 195 00:09:36,108 --> 00:09:37,243 I would just say I used to it. 196 00:09:37,243 --> 00:09:39,078 I love those games. 197 00:09:39,078 --> 00:09:40,780 Yeah, yeah. Super exciting. 198 00:09:40,780 --> 00:09:43,983 Now it's more common for the interactive fiction to have like 199 00:09:44,083 --> 00:09:47,520 buttons that you select as opposed to typing in, you know, 200 00:09:47,553 --> 00:09:50,823 an infinite number of options, although those still do exist. 201 00:09:50,856 --> 00:09:52,458 But typically when someone talks 202 00:09:52,458 --> 00:09:55,761 about interactive fiction, more often than not it's an app 203 00:09:55,761 --> 00:09:58,798 that's all text based, and you have buttons that you can select 204 00:09:58,798 --> 00:10:01,267 and you're following the story down a path. 205 00:10:01,267 --> 00:10:04,737 I remember old software like that that would tell you 206 00:10:04,770 --> 00:10:06,138 take you on an adventure. 207 00:10:06,138 --> 00:10:08,507 So this makes a lot of sense. 208 00:10:08,507 --> 00:10:11,110 I enjoy that more than some of the new games too. 209 00:10:11,110 --> 00:10:14,981 Still, it's just there's more ability to be in there and you're not having 210 00:10:14,981 --> 00:10:18,784 to learn like five hours of how to play the game before you play the game. 211 00:10:18,784 --> 00:10:22,254 So, you know, it's just it makes a huge difference. 212 00:10:22,321 --> 00:10:22,755 All right. 213 00:10:22,755 --> 00:10:25,291 If we what is Iffley. 214 00:10:25,291 --> 00:10:26,192 Why did you invent it? 215 00:10:26,192 --> 00:10:28,494 Tell us a little bit about what you're doing. 216 00:10:28,494 --> 00:10:30,563 Sure. Yeah, well, I'm a game writer. 217 00:10:30,563 --> 00:10:34,500 I was working in a game studio in Oregon, Soma Games in Newburgh. 218 00:10:34,500 --> 00:10:37,336 They're awesome. We were working on the red wall games. 219 00:10:37,336 --> 00:10:39,505 If you're familiar with Redwall, it's a book series. 220 00:10:39,505 --> 00:10:42,174 I was obsessed with it as a kid. 221 00:10:42,174 --> 00:10:44,910 We were working on the games and we started an interactive fiction 222 00:10:44,910 --> 00:10:46,545 app, Lost Legends of Red. 223 00:10:46,545 --> 00:10:49,982 So essentially it's the story set within the Red wall universe. 224 00:10:49,982 --> 00:10:52,151 But me and the writers were creating 225 00:10:52,151 --> 00:10:54,620 interactive fiction stories for that space. 226 00:10:54,620 --> 00:10:57,690 And as I was working on it, me and one of the writer were the ones 227 00:10:57,690 --> 00:10:59,692 who are kind of mainly creating that stuff. 228 00:10:59,692 --> 00:11:03,629 We just really hit a wall in our creative process of writing, 229 00:11:03,629 --> 00:11:08,467 whereas I had come from more screenplay and book writing has been 230 00:11:08,467 --> 00:11:10,236 what I've kind of done in the past, more linear. 231 00:11:10,236 --> 00:11:13,773 You can really get into a flow like you sit down and you just write. 232 00:11:13,773 --> 00:11:17,777 You don't have programing, you don't have technical things kind of blocking you. 233 00:11:17,777 --> 00:11:22,581 So I just kept thinking to myself like, man, I wish there was something I could do 234 00:11:22,581 --> 00:11:23,582 that would just be really easy. 235 00:11:23,582 --> 00:11:26,552 We ended up the studio used artist's draft, which is amazing 236 00:11:26,552 --> 00:11:29,755 if you're creating bigger games, but we would have to like 237 00:11:29,789 --> 00:11:31,424 write it in Google Docs and then kind of 238 00:11:31,424 --> 00:11:33,559 send it to the devs and they would have to like copy and paste 239 00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:35,461 it, or we'd have to copy and paste it into our draft. 240 00:11:35,461 --> 00:11:38,698 It was very like just kind of not ideal. 241 00:11:38,698 --> 00:11:41,200 And I just thought, you know, for a game studio, 242 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:44,003 you use the bigger things like artist's draft or whatever. 243 00:11:44,003 --> 00:11:47,139 But for a new writer, especially someone who's never done game 244 00:11:47,139 --> 00:11:51,143 writing, it's really hard to get into because of the technical block. 245 00:11:51,143 --> 00:11:54,914 And so I just I just had this picture in my mind of how I wanted it to be. 246 00:11:54,914 --> 00:11:56,582 And I am not a programmer. 247 00:11:56,582 --> 00:11:57,983 I'm not a developer. 248 00:11:57,983 --> 00:11:59,618 I'm a writer writer first. 249 00:11:59,618 --> 00:12:01,954 So I ended up getting laid off from that job, 250 00:12:01,954 --> 00:12:05,157 which was a big bummer, but a blessing disguise because I 251 00:12:05,157 --> 00:12:08,894 then had time to work on the design for this, so I just designed 252 00:12:08,894 --> 00:12:11,630 exactly how I wanted it to look, but I didn't actually build it. 253 00:12:11,630 --> 00:12:16,602 I hired amazing devs to build it and now have partners devs who are working on it. 254 00:12:16,602 --> 00:12:22,708 But basically it is no code, no syntax, no logic, just typing. 255 00:12:22,875 --> 00:12:24,810 You just type. You can create your whole story. 256 00:12:24,810 --> 00:12:26,946 There's no design, you don't. 257 00:12:26,946 --> 00:12:28,914 There's just nothing but words. 258 00:12:28,914 --> 00:12:32,017 So the same experience you get, like writing a screenplay 259 00:12:32,017 --> 00:12:35,454 in Final Draft or writing your book in Microsoft Word. 260 00:12:35,654 --> 00:12:40,059 This is what a flea is for interactive fiction if we also is a platform. 261 00:12:40,059 --> 00:12:43,262 So with one click you can publish your interactive game on 262 00:12:43,262 --> 00:12:46,265 iFly and anyone can go play it and it's free. 263 00:12:47,733 --> 00:12:48,467 That sounds amazing. 264 00:12:48,467 --> 00:12:52,738 So is it like an AI picks up what you send to it and creates the game? 265 00:12:52,738 --> 00:12:54,640 How does that work? 266 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:57,710 No, no no, I mean the 267 00:12:57,710 --> 00:13:00,713 AI has a lot of great uses. I 268 00:13:01,413 --> 00:13:03,149 so I don't want to bash it too much. 269 00:13:03,149 --> 00:13:06,352 Although I know a lot of writers are very like not pro AI. 270 00:13:06,385 --> 00:13:07,953 So I want to be really sensitive to 271 00:13:07,953 --> 00:13:11,023 like how much we do use it and we don't use it with Iffley at all. 272 00:13:11,023 --> 00:13:14,894 It is a software built, a browser based software. 273 00:13:14,894 --> 00:13:17,029 So you're typing and it 274 00:13:17,029 --> 00:13:20,099 the software is designed to take what you're typing and create the game. 275 00:13:20,099 --> 00:13:24,570 So you have content blocks, which is where your story is and you have budgets. 276 00:13:24,837 --> 00:13:29,175 You type into a content block, you hit shift, enter, and it makes a button. 277 00:13:29,175 --> 00:13:33,078 When a person is playing that, they see the text and they see a button. 278 00:13:33,078 --> 00:13:37,016 So it's very simple writing to playing. 279 00:13:37,016 --> 00:13:39,118 And you also as a writer, 280 00:13:39,118 --> 00:13:42,354 you'll see like the tracking lines, you'll see the trails of the story. 281 00:13:42,354 --> 00:13:43,189 Whereas the writer, 282 00:13:43,189 --> 00:13:46,826 the reader player will just see the text and the immediate buttons before them. 283 00:13:46,826 --> 00:13:48,060 And you can obviously test it. 284 00:13:48,060 --> 00:13:50,396 There's like a reader view as you're writing. 285 00:13:50,396 --> 00:13:53,599 There's you can now we've added a feature 286 00:13:53,599 --> 00:13:56,602 where you can actually add images if you want, but you don't have to. 287 00:13:56,735 --> 00:13:59,939 And so that's kind of it's behind 288 00:13:59,939 --> 00:14:04,043 the scenes like a I sort of compare it to a bread maker. 289 00:14:04,143 --> 00:14:08,214 Creating bread is a very long, arduous technical process. 290 00:14:08,514 --> 00:14:11,217 And if you get a bread maker, as long as you have the ingredients 291 00:14:11,217 --> 00:14:15,020 and the ingredients in my mind are good writing and a good story, you 292 00:14:15,020 --> 00:14:19,258 just throw it in and the game comes out and it really is that simple. 293 00:14:19,959 --> 00:14:22,228 Oh, that sounds absolutely amazing. 294 00:14:22,228 --> 00:14:25,130 Gretchen's our resident author here, and we've been thinking about some stuff 295 00:14:25,130 --> 00:14:26,098 for some of her books. 296 00:14:26,098 --> 00:14:28,734 And, Gretchen, you know, this might be interesting to try. 297 00:14:28,734 --> 00:14:30,803 Yeah, it sounds interesting. 298 00:14:30,803 --> 00:14:33,372 I'm thinking more like dad adventure. 299 00:14:33,372 --> 00:14:37,977 But, you know, you know, because you believe in different directions. 300 00:14:37,977 --> 00:14:38,677 Yeah, 301 00:14:40,479 --> 00:14:40,713 yeah, I 302 00:14:40,713 --> 00:14:44,850 think it would be really cool for Dungeon Master's to, like, draft their games 303 00:14:44,850 --> 00:14:48,954 ahead of time or preserve the choices that their players made to, like, 304 00:14:48,988 --> 00:14:50,189 replay campaigns. 305 00:14:50,189 --> 00:14:53,025 You could have it all in a game. 306 00:14:53,025 --> 00:14:53,259 Yeah. 307 00:14:53,259 --> 00:14:55,861 You know, you could almost you could actually. 308 00:14:55,861 --> 00:14:56,695 Now that's interesting. 309 00:14:56,695 --> 00:14:58,697 Now I'm starting to get an understanding of what this is. 310 00:14:58,697 --> 00:15:01,901 And I'm starting to think there's a million ways to use something like that. 311 00:15:01,934 --> 00:15:02,234 Yeah. 312 00:15:02,234 --> 00:15:06,438 And you know, and I asked the AI question because this always comes up, 313 00:15:06,438 --> 00:15:07,273 our other co-host 314 00:15:07,273 --> 00:15:10,676 who's not on right now, it tends to agree with you on your opinion of AI. 315 00:15:10,709 --> 00:15:12,778 So you're in a friendly environment with that. 316 00:15:12,778 --> 00:15:14,947 I and I was an artist. 317 00:15:14,947 --> 00:15:16,882 Yeah. And he's so. 318 00:15:16,882 --> 00:15:17,616 Yeah. 319 00:15:17,616 --> 00:15:21,320 And I'm always one I like AI when it's used properly. 320 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:24,857 But you know people are doing things that are not within that environment. 321 00:15:24,857 --> 00:15:26,225 Other conversation. 322 00:15:26,225 --> 00:15:30,329 But you know so well back now 323 00:15:31,397 --> 00:15:32,831 red will game series. 324 00:15:32,831 --> 00:15:36,802 Let's looking into a little bit of your background and so many games. 325 00:15:36,902 --> 00:15:38,671 Go ahead and talk about this writing. 326 00:15:38,671 --> 00:15:42,141 How was that like and what was your adventure there. 327 00:15:43,342 --> 00:15:43,943 Oh yeah. 328 00:15:43,943 --> 00:15:48,314 Well I was kind of a I'll try and give the Reader's Digest 329 00:15:48,314 --> 00:15:51,317 version here, but I was actually trying to be a screenwriter in LA. 330 00:15:51,350 --> 00:15:54,586 And through some like family health issues, I had to move back to Oregon. 331 00:15:54,586 --> 00:15:57,389 And that was kind of devastating at the time. 332 00:15:57,389 --> 00:15:59,558 But then I discovered this local game studio, 333 00:15:59,558 --> 00:16:00,993 and they're working on the Red wall 334 00:16:00,993 --> 00:16:04,897 series, which Red wall is a beloved series of books like If somebody. 335 00:16:04,930 --> 00:16:09,068 It's kind of this like secret fandom, because some people have just 336 00:16:09,068 --> 00:16:10,703 never heard of it, but the people who've heard of it 337 00:16:10,703 --> 00:16:13,939 are like obsessed because it's it's got tons of books there long. 338 00:16:13,939 --> 00:16:17,743 They're about these anthropomorphic forest animals who essentially act 339 00:16:17,743 --> 00:16:19,311 as like Knights of valor. 340 00:16:19,311 --> 00:16:22,815 And, you know, they have amazing feasts and like, battles with bad guys. 341 00:16:22,815 --> 00:16:25,451 And it's like, right and wrong and good and evil 342 00:16:25,451 --> 00:16:28,554 and they're beautiful by Brian Jacks 343 00:16:28,954 --> 00:16:31,957 recipes. Like, they just an amazing series. 344 00:16:31,957 --> 00:16:34,426 If you haven't checked it out, highly recommend. 345 00:16:34,426 --> 00:16:35,394 They're great for ages. 346 00:16:35,394 --> 00:16:38,430 I would say like ten and up, but really adults can enjoy it too. 347 00:16:38,464 --> 00:16:41,467 They're quite thick, like the books are quite thick. 348 00:16:41,500 --> 00:16:43,135 So yeah. 349 00:16:43,135 --> 00:16:48,907 So this game, this studio is the has the right to those books for games. 350 00:16:48,907 --> 00:16:51,977 So they have a 3D adventure game, a few 3D adventure games 351 00:16:51,977 --> 00:16:53,212 that I was the head writer on, 352 00:16:53,212 --> 00:16:56,582 and the interactive fiction app, which I was also the head writer on. 353 00:16:56,582 --> 00:16:59,918 The very first one I wasn't there for, but the 3D adventure, 354 00:16:59,918 --> 00:17:03,055 first one for the second and third, and then the app. 355 00:17:03,055 --> 00:17:04,456 And then I think they also have created 356 00:17:04,456 --> 00:17:07,626 like a cooking app, because food is super big in the red whale universe. 357 00:17:07,659 --> 00:17:12,798 Like the food descriptions are kind of famous, the famously beautiful. 358 00:17:12,931 --> 00:17:14,433 So they played with that a lot too. 359 00:17:14,433 --> 00:17:17,436 But yeah, writing was a dream. It was. 360 00:17:17,436 --> 00:17:21,707 I was just so grateful to be working with the writers I was working with. 361 00:17:21,707 --> 00:17:25,978 Working in a world that you love is like a dream come true as a writer. 362 00:17:26,311 --> 00:17:26,612 Yeah. 363 00:17:26,612 --> 00:17:28,480 So it was really, really magical. 364 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:30,015 And the layoff was a bummer. 365 00:17:30,015 --> 00:17:34,253 But as you guys probably know, like game studios and the world of gaming, 366 00:17:34,319 --> 00:17:36,555 you know, layoffs are kind of rampant. Unfortunately. 367 00:17:36,555 --> 00:17:39,091 It's just kind of part of the industry right now. 368 00:17:39,091 --> 00:17:44,797 Another also another interview where it goes in cycles to I mean you see that. 369 00:17:44,830 --> 00:17:48,867 And yeah, right now is not the best time to be getting into this industry, 370 00:17:48,867 --> 00:17:51,103 but it is a good time to do what you're doing and creating 371 00:17:51,103 --> 00:17:55,274 something that's, you know, unique and kind of fun to work with. 372 00:17:55,307 --> 00:17:56,942 I could see where that would be. Now. 373 00:17:56,942 --> 00:17:59,812 I totally see how Bill Snodgrass could fit into this. 374 00:17:59,812 --> 00:18:01,980 I wish he were on this interview with us. 375 00:18:01,980 --> 00:18:04,016 He would be just I think he would love that. 376 00:18:04,016 --> 00:18:04,783 I can tell you that. 377 00:18:04,783 --> 00:18:08,387 So and then local game studios, summer games. 378 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:09,154 I'm sorry. 379 00:18:09,154 --> 00:18:11,423 Did you see that was in Newburgh, Oregon? 380 00:18:12,658 --> 00:18:15,260 Yes. That's interesting. 381 00:18:15,260 --> 00:18:18,864 Town for a game studio for those that don't work 382 00:18:18,997 --> 00:18:22,267 is kind of a, oh, about half hour outside of Portland. 383 00:18:22,301 --> 00:18:25,304 It's a really cool small town, but it's more wine country 384 00:18:25,304 --> 00:18:29,675 and it seems a little bit like there wouldn't appear there. 385 00:18:29,675 --> 00:18:31,543 But hey, you never know, right? 386 00:18:31,543 --> 00:18:34,379 Yeah, yeah. 387 00:18:34,379 --> 00:18:37,382 So where do you see this going? 388 00:18:37,616 --> 00:18:40,219 Well, my goal is to grow the community. 389 00:18:40,219 --> 00:18:42,254 Grow the company right now. 390 00:18:42,254 --> 00:18:46,091 You know, it's a it's like a side project that I'm working on. 391 00:18:46,091 --> 00:18:49,962 I'm working with a couple other devs and another marketer friend 392 00:18:49,962 --> 00:18:51,396 who are working on building it up 393 00:18:51,396 --> 00:18:55,200 and adding more features to make the writing tool easy to use. 394 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:59,371 Building the community, giving writers more resources to market to their readers. 395 00:18:59,371 --> 00:19:03,909 I really dream of this being like a very viable indie publishing 396 00:19:03,909 --> 00:19:07,212 path for writers to create their own work, because you can also actually 397 00:19:07,279 --> 00:19:08,847 sell games on a flea. 398 00:19:08,847 --> 00:19:13,418 You can just set a price tag and people can purchase and play it right there. 399 00:19:13,418 --> 00:19:14,653 You can also post it for free. 400 00:19:14,653 --> 00:19:17,356 You don't have to sell it, but I do really dream of it 401 00:19:17,356 --> 00:19:21,360 being like a sustainable source of income for writers in the future, because 402 00:19:21,593 --> 00:19:25,631 publishing and the game industry, you know, is just really rough 403 00:19:25,631 --> 00:19:28,800 right now for creative writers who want to make a living. 404 00:19:29,001 --> 00:19:32,738 And I would love for this to be an opportunity for them, 405 00:19:32,738 --> 00:19:36,975 a source of income for them, and just a community of readers 406 00:19:36,975 --> 00:19:41,480 and writers to enjoy what we love, which is games and game writing. 407 00:19:41,513 --> 00:19:45,517 And then personally, yeah, I really hope it grows into a company 408 00:19:45,517 --> 00:19:46,718 that I can be proud of. 409 00:19:47,719 --> 00:19:49,521 And, you know, I think the other thing about this too, 410 00:19:49,521 --> 00:19:52,691 that's unique from a lot of you've talked about game engines in the past. 411 00:19:52,691 --> 00:19:54,826 I've worked with unreal a little bit in some of these things. 412 00:19:54,826 --> 00:19:58,263 And one of the problems with that is if you're just getting into that industry 413 00:19:58,263 --> 00:20:03,335 or want to try something out, it is extremely expensive to do it that way. 414 00:20:03,335 --> 00:20:04,336 And it sounds like 415 00:20:04,336 --> 00:20:07,439 this would be a great entry point for somebody that just wants to stick 416 00:20:07,439 --> 00:20:09,274 their toll in the water and see if they like it, 417 00:20:09,274 --> 00:20:13,679 and do it in a way that they can kind of just make it work. 418 00:20:13,679 --> 00:20:14,947 So I'm enthused. 419 00:20:14,947 --> 00:20:18,750 I think this sounds like a really cool for thank you. 420 00:20:18,750 --> 00:20:20,185 I'm really excited about it. 421 00:20:20,185 --> 00:20:24,223 And I will add that there are other free platforms for interactive fiction. 422 00:20:24,223 --> 00:20:28,794 There's twine, there's choice script, but I will say all of them have some kind 423 00:20:28,794 --> 00:20:32,898 of technical element that could be a barrier of entry for writers. 424 00:20:32,898 --> 00:20:35,734 Now some writers go to twine and they love the technical element. 425 00:20:35,734 --> 00:20:39,504 You can make a really detailed game with twine if you want to get into code 426 00:20:39,504 --> 00:20:40,272 and all of that. 427 00:20:40,272 --> 00:20:41,373 But for writers 428 00:20:41,373 --> 00:20:44,576 who have no interest in code and who really just want like 429 00:20:44,643 --> 00:20:46,211 a book with choices, they want to write that 430 00:20:46,211 --> 00:20:49,681 and they want it to be available for their writers to play electronically. 431 00:20:49,815 --> 00:20:51,717 Twine and Troy script. 432 00:20:51,717 --> 00:20:54,920 And as far as the draft is expensive, but even the free choices 433 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:55,988 are just too technical. 434 00:20:55,988 --> 00:20:58,557 Like I tried before I was a game writer. 435 00:20:58,557 --> 00:21:00,392 I was like, I'm going to just break into this. 436 00:21:00,392 --> 00:21:03,395 And I mean, I'm the least technical person, you know? 437 00:21:03,395 --> 00:21:04,796 So it was very hard for me. 438 00:21:04,796 --> 00:21:06,431 So that's kind of the inspiration behind it. 439 00:21:06,431 --> 00:21:08,066 But yeah, it's it's free. 440 00:21:08,066 --> 00:21:11,670 You can just go to if and sign up and start writing right away. 441 00:21:11,670 --> 00:21:14,439 You can literally publish right away. I mean, we have content guidelines. 442 00:21:14,439 --> 00:21:17,509 You can't publish, you know, horrible things. 443 00:21:18,176 --> 00:21:20,345 Other generally flexible. 444 00:21:20,345 --> 00:21:23,482 It's a it's go and make a game. 445 00:21:23,482 --> 00:21:28,053 You can literally make a game in a day if it's short, you know, think of a world 446 00:21:28,053 --> 00:21:28,453 you love. 447 00:21:28,453 --> 00:21:29,821 If it's a book already working on, 448 00:21:29,821 --> 00:21:33,692 you can make a game set in that world and have it just be a ten minute game. 449 00:21:34,026 --> 00:21:37,429 You could go do that right now and be have it be live by the end of the day. 450 00:21:38,196 --> 00:21:39,298 Wow. Amazing. 451 00:21:39,298 --> 00:21:41,466 I think we're going to have lots of questions about this. 452 00:21:41,466 --> 00:21:46,338 So I we might be needing to have you on again. 453 00:21:46,371 --> 00:21:47,873 What do you think, Bill? 454 00:21:47,873 --> 00:21:50,742 I was just about to say that actually because this is going to be 455 00:21:50,742 --> 00:21:51,710 I know our listeners 456 00:21:51,710 --> 00:21:54,780 well, and we've got a lot of people that ask a lot of good questions. 457 00:21:54,780 --> 00:21:58,650 But the interest in something like this, because it's unique, is there. 458 00:21:58,650 --> 00:22:00,585 And I don't know, Gretchen, you're a published writer. 459 00:22:00,585 --> 00:22:02,220 You are an in-depth programmer, right? 460 00:22:02,220 --> 00:22:03,722 You wouldn't need something like this. 461 00:22:03,722 --> 00:22:05,223 Oh, yeah. Right. 462 00:22:05,223 --> 00:22:06,391 In-depth programing. 463 00:22:06,391 --> 00:22:10,495 I could probably destroy your computer with the knowledge I have 464 00:22:10,495 --> 00:22:12,264 and not be able to fix it. 465 00:22:13,532 --> 00:22:15,801 I relate, 466 00:22:15,801 --> 00:22:19,237 and I and I bring that up sarcastically, of course, because it's just it's a thing 467 00:22:19,237 --> 00:22:21,373 that those are two very different disciplines. 468 00:22:21,373 --> 00:22:24,042 You know what you're saying? 469 00:22:24,042 --> 00:22:25,110 It reminds me of a meme. 470 00:22:25,110 --> 00:22:28,947 I saw this little girl daddy, what is formatting C colon mean? 471 00:22:29,014 --> 00:22:32,451 You know, it's like, yeah, that's the thing that I do know how to do. 472 00:22:32,517 --> 00:22:35,520 And that's what would ruin your computer. 473 00:22:36,455 --> 00:22:39,458 If, you know, if. 474 00:22:40,192 --> 00:22:41,626 That's right, that's great. 475 00:22:41,626 --> 00:22:42,961 All right. We'll check it out and let us know. 476 00:22:42,961 --> 00:22:44,763 And like we were just saying send in your questions 477 00:22:44,763 --> 00:22:46,732 and comments on this because this is really cool. 478 00:22:46,732 --> 00:22:48,934 Give it a try and let us know what you think. 479 00:22:48,934 --> 00:22:50,936 Yeah. There is there anything else you'd like to tell us? 480 00:22:52,304 --> 00:22:55,507 Well, if you do use if we 481 00:22:55,507 --> 00:22:59,177 love your feedback, we're, you know, it's me and two devs right now working on it. 482 00:22:59,177 --> 00:23:02,681 So it's a small but but hardy team and we'd love your feedback. 483 00:23:02,681 --> 00:23:04,683 If you encounter any bugs, let us know. 484 00:23:04,683 --> 00:23:06,451 If you have future ideas, let us know! 485 00:23:06,451 --> 00:23:09,821 There's a contact form on the page, so you can just drop an email 486 00:23:09,821 --> 00:23:12,057 that goes to my personal email box, you know? 487 00:23:12,057 --> 00:23:13,792 So I will see everyone. 488 00:23:13,792 --> 00:23:15,660 I'd love to hear it. And on the show. 489 00:23:15,660 --> 00:23:16,895 Of course, put your questions in. 490 00:23:16,895 --> 00:23:18,697 I'd love to come back and answer any questions. 491 00:23:18,697 --> 00:23:20,499 That'd be amazing. 492 00:23:20,499 --> 00:23:22,000 Yeah, well, that will be a given. So. 493 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,136 All right. Well, listen, Heather, thank you so much for joining us today. 494 00:23:24,136 --> 00:23:24,936 This is amazing. 495 00:23:24,936 --> 00:23:27,873 And I'm just looking forward to people trying this out. 496 00:23:27,873 --> 00:23:29,674 I think I might even give it a go myself. 497 00:23:29,674 --> 00:23:32,344 So again please do not co. 498 00:23:32,344 --> 00:23:35,147 And and again thank you for being here. 499 00:23:35,147 --> 00:23:37,949 Thank you so much for having me I really appreciate it. 500 00:23:37,949 --> 00:23:39,751 This is user friendly 2.0. 501 00:23:39,751 --> 00:23:43,622 We are going to be having another interview for you in the next segment. 502 00:23:43,622 --> 00:23:45,557 So stay tuned for that. 503 00:23:45,557 --> 00:23:47,159 This is user friendly 2.0. 504 00:23:47,159 --> 00:23:48,560 We'll be back after the break. 505 00:23:49,828 --> 00:23:51,830 He's from the future. 506 00:23:51,830 --> 00:23:55,100 He's got a really big computer 507 00:23:55,467 --> 00:23:58,637 and he uses it uses it every day. 508 00:23:58,970 --> 00:24:02,107 And he uses it uses it in every way. 509 00:24:02,374 --> 00:24:07,913 What she uses for you know, I'm not that sure because we use is huge. 510 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:09,681 Welcome back. 511 00:24:09,681 --> 00:24:12,184 This is user friendly 2.0. 512 00:24:12,184 --> 00:24:13,518 Send us your questions. 513 00:24:13,518 --> 00:24:15,620 Send us your comments. We'd love to hear from you. 514 00:24:15,620 --> 00:24:18,890 User friendly Dot show is the one stop place to be able to do that. 515 00:24:18,890 --> 00:24:21,059 Also to listen to back episodes. 516 00:24:21,059 --> 00:24:25,096 Find out where we're streaming, check out Tech Wednesday, read the blog 517 00:24:25,096 --> 00:24:28,233 and all of the other cool things that we have out there for you to do. 518 00:24:28,266 --> 00:24:31,036 So user friendly dot show. 519 00:24:31,036 --> 00:24:33,472 All right, so our guest today is Al Kushner. 520 00:24:33,472 --> 00:24:37,075 He is an expert on growth strategy 521 00:24:37,108 --> 00:24:40,345 using AI with social media specifically linked in. 522 00:24:40,712 --> 00:24:46,151 Has written a number of books on the subject and classes, and just is 523 00:24:46,151 --> 00:24:49,187 the general expert that I've ever talked to on this kind of thing. 524 00:24:49,187 --> 00:24:52,491 So let's go ahead and jump to the interview. 525 00:24:52,591 --> 00:24:55,560 Joining us now, guest Al Kushner, who is an author 526 00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:58,663 and does a lot of very interesting things with LinkedIn. 527 00:24:58,663 --> 00:25:00,432 Welcome to User Friendly. 528 00:25:00,432 --> 00:25:03,034 Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to be here. 529 00:25:03,034 --> 00:25:05,470 So before we begin on everything, let me give you an opportunity 530 00:25:05,470 --> 00:25:07,339 to give a little bit better background than I just did. 531 00:25:07,339 --> 00:25:08,073 Can you tell us a little bit 532 00:25:08,073 --> 00:25:11,910 about what you're doing on both fronts and where you're headed with things? 533 00:25:12,410 --> 00:25:16,815 Well, I wrote the book on the link, the LinkedIn advantage. 534 00:25:16,882 --> 00:25:22,187 So I'm hoping to educate people about how to use AI and LinkedIn together 535 00:25:22,387 --> 00:25:25,390 to help streamline the process 536 00:25:25,390 --> 00:25:28,493 and make it much faster and easier to use 537 00:25:28,493 --> 00:25:33,231 so they can be more not afraid of using the platform, 538 00:25:33,231 --> 00:25:36,868 which a lot of people can get intimidated by, say the least. 539 00:25:36,902 --> 00:25:39,905 So, and that's true about LinkedIn, I've noticed that, you know, 540 00:25:39,905 --> 00:25:41,306 I think it's a little bit different. 541 00:25:41,306 --> 00:25:43,909 I like it, but I know there's a lot of people that are like, oh, 542 00:25:43,909 --> 00:25:47,579 I don't know, you know, what to do or how to do it or that type of a thing. 543 00:25:47,746 --> 00:25:51,416 So interesting to talk about the idea of using 544 00:25:51,416 --> 00:25:54,553 AI with social marketing and social media and that kind of thing. 545 00:25:54,553 --> 00:25:57,055 And, you know, it's involved in everywhere else. 546 00:25:57,055 --> 00:26:00,292 Obviously, this has been the big news of the last 2 or 3 years now. 547 00:26:00,458 --> 00:26:03,361 Tell us a little bit about what it means to work with 548 00:26:03,361 --> 00:26:07,899 LinkedIn or social media in general with AI versus a conventional way of doing it? 549 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:11,903 Well, what I like about AI is that it actually helps 550 00:26:11,903 --> 00:26:18,009 to create ideas for content that normally may take hours or days. 551 00:26:18,043 --> 00:26:20,111 Some people get writer's block, don't know what to say. 552 00:26:20,111 --> 00:26:24,382 So using AI technology will give you ideas of what to say, 553 00:26:24,382 --> 00:26:29,588 and if you use it strategically, you can post more frequently on LinkedIn, 554 00:26:29,588 --> 00:26:33,825 which is always going to be an advantage, as well as to create 555 00:26:33,825 --> 00:26:37,796 content for scripts, for videos, or for a whole host of other things. 556 00:26:37,796 --> 00:26:41,132 So it really gives you will save you a lot of time, 557 00:26:41,132 --> 00:26:46,271 and as well as efforts that normally you would do with conventional ways. 558 00:26:47,872 --> 00:26:48,173 All right. 559 00:26:48,173 --> 00:26:50,308 So let's talk specifics about your book. 560 00:26:50,308 --> 00:26:54,145 Go ahead and give us a little background and synopsis on specifically 561 00:26:54,179 --> 00:26:58,316 what you are putting together and what is for also people 562 00:26:58,316 --> 00:27:02,988 who are want to use AI technology, who want to use LinkedIn 563 00:27:02,988 --> 00:27:06,625 in a way that help to make more quality connections. 564 00:27:06,858 --> 00:27:10,996 The idea, of course, is that by reading the book, you can become possibly 565 00:27:10,996 --> 00:27:15,033 a thought leader in your field and dominate the competition. 566 00:27:15,033 --> 00:27:17,569 Because of the resources that I have available. 567 00:27:17,569 --> 00:27:20,872 AI technology is changing in so many ways, 568 00:27:20,905 --> 00:27:24,676 and and LinkedIn is very receptive to people 569 00:27:24,676 --> 00:27:28,747 who put content on LinkedIn that is of value. 570 00:27:28,747 --> 00:27:33,118 And if you do it the right way, if you be more of a giver than a taker, 571 00:27:33,151 --> 00:27:37,355 you'll find LinkedIn will be very much a great platform to make all the 572 00:27:37,389 --> 00:27:43,028 connections and to gain followers and to grow your business exponentially. 573 00:27:43,261 --> 00:27:46,798 So what inspired you to create this book? 574 00:27:47,265 --> 00:27:50,235 Well, I've looked at the books in the market that were talking 575 00:27:50,235 --> 00:27:53,872 about LinkedIn, and most of them didn't really address AI at all. 576 00:27:53,872 --> 00:27:56,341 So I said, well, there's an opportunity over here. 577 00:27:56,341 --> 00:27:57,575 And I jumped at it. 578 00:27:57,575 --> 00:28:04,315 I think it was great because the fact that LinkedIn is close to a billion users, 579 00:28:04,349 --> 00:28:07,819 I mean, this was huge as far as the opportunity 580 00:28:07,819 --> 00:28:12,791 to have the book reach so many people and the fact that the AI technology 581 00:28:12,791 --> 00:28:16,628 is always changing and evolving, that is just going to be the future. 582 00:28:16,661 --> 00:28:21,032 And I think that those who are looking to embrace it 583 00:28:21,066 --> 00:28:26,304 have a resource that they can use to help, whether it's creating content 584 00:28:26,304 --> 00:28:30,408 or scripts or video or a whole host of other things to save you time. 585 00:28:30,442 --> 00:28:34,612 This will definitely be a good way to to learn about how to do that. 586 00:28:34,612 --> 00:28:38,383 So it doesn't become a time suck as a lot of platforms do 587 00:28:39,951 --> 00:28:41,119 now. Have you 588 00:28:41,119 --> 00:28:44,222 actually sat down and done metrics on the difference between just using 589 00:28:44,222 --> 00:28:47,392 a platform, liking LinkedIn, and then using it with your system 590 00:28:47,392 --> 00:28:50,395 and see what the real difference is time saving being one of them. 591 00:28:50,428 --> 00:28:52,063 But it would seem like you would get a lot more back. 592 00:28:52,063 --> 00:28:55,400 Like you were saying earlier, from being able to set up partnerships 593 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,403 and followers and all of that kind of thing. 594 00:28:58,670 --> 00:29:01,873 Well, what I found to be is helping and creating videos. 595 00:29:02,140 --> 00:29:05,977 Videos on LinkedIn has become pretty much a 596 00:29:06,978 --> 00:29:07,545 well, I guess. So. 597 00:29:07,545 --> 00:29:10,782 It's pretty rare that people post videos, but now it's become more prevalent. 598 00:29:10,815 --> 00:29:15,787 I think that it's actually the algorithm really loves videos on LinkedIn 599 00:29:15,787 --> 00:29:21,059 and will help to create more awareness once you post it on the site. 600 00:29:21,092 --> 00:29:25,196 So it really encourages you to do video as much as possible. 601 00:29:25,230 --> 00:29:27,866 And a lot of people don't do it for a number of reasons. 602 00:29:27,866 --> 00:29:31,803 And a sweet spot for videos, I would say is about 90s long. 603 00:29:31,803 --> 00:29:36,107 So if you do that and post consistently at least 2 or 3 times a week, 604 00:29:36,274 --> 00:29:37,108 you'll certainly. 605 00:29:37,108 --> 00:29:40,178 I mean, I've seen a difference in terms of the amount of views that I've, 606 00:29:40,478 --> 00:29:44,549 that I've reached because of using videos compared to standard tech. 607 00:29:44,582 --> 00:29:47,786 So that already was, for me, a game changer right there. 608 00:29:49,420 --> 00:29:49,954 Now, is there 609 00:29:49,954 --> 00:29:52,957 a difference between posting a video directly to the platform 610 00:29:52,957 --> 00:29:55,960 and sharing ones like say, that you would already have posted on YouTube? 611 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:58,930 Does that work the same way or is posting it directly better? 612 00:29:59,330 --> 00:30:00,665 Posting directly is better. 613 00:30:00,665 --> 00:30:04,435 The algorithm definitely views it more native 614 00:30:04,602 --> 00:30:07,705 compared to sharing a link that goes outside of LinkedIn. 615 00:30:07,705 --> 00:30:09,307 They really frown against that. 616 00:30:09,307 --> 00:30:12,310 So if you have a video, even though it may take longer 617 00:30:12,310 --> 00:30:14,913 to upload directly to LinkedIn as opposed 618 00:30:14,913 --> 00:30:17,916 to sharing a link outside, 619 00:30:18,082 --> 00:30:19,384 and that makes sense. 620 00:30:19,384 --> 00:30:21,319 So how does somebody find your book? 621 00:30:21,319 --> 00:30:26,024 They can go to Amazon will be available July 4th, 622 00:30:26,291 --> 00:30:31,596 and it's currently available in hardcover so they can actually purchase directly. 623 00:30:31,629 --> 00:30:33,198 It's also available in audiobook. 624 00:30:33,198 --> 00:30:37,001 You can go to Spotify and you on the waiting list 625 00:30:37,001 --> 00:30:40,638 for July 4th release for the audiobook, as well as e-book version. 626 00:30:40,638 --> 00:30:43,641 So also my website Linked Vantage. Com. 627 00:30:43,942 --> 00:30:46,344 There's a lot of great resources, including free ebooks, 628 00:30:46,344 --> 00:30:49,347 how to optimize your profile so you can go there. 629 00:30:49,347 --> 00:30:52,250 Reach out to me on LinkedIn. Another way to connect. 630 00:30:52,250 --> 00:30:55,420 So just off the top few options 631 00:30:55,420 --> 00:30:58,590 there that gives us a few different places to look. 632 00:30:58,623 --> 00:31:01,793 And I know you're giving us a QR code that will also help to narrow 633 00:31:01,826 --> 00:31:03,027 that down a little bit. 634 00:31:03,027 --> 00:31:05,196 So we have that shared out to everybody. 635 00:31:05,196 --> 00:31:07,365 Is there anything else you want to tell us? 636 00:31:07,365 --> 00:31:11,636 Nothing that comes to mind, in fact, that if you're going to 637 00:31:11,736 --> 00:31:15,874 be posting on LinkedIn, you really need to, before you do 638 00:31:15,874 --> 00:31:17,242 any outreach is optimize 639 00:31:17,242 --> 00:31:21,279 your profile was the first thing people to do is to check out your profile. 640 00:31:21,279 --> 00:31:24,382 And if your picture is really not where it's at. 641 00:31:24,415 --> 00:31:25,717 You know, invest money, 642 00:31:25,717 --> 00:31:29,187 get a headshot portrait professional, that would be the first thing to do. 643 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:33,691 Take a look at your background image as well and see if you can update that. 644 00:31:34,058 --> 00:31:36,761 These things are essential for any type of outreach on there. 645 00:31:36,761 --> 00:31:38,596 A lot of times people don't even do that. 646 00:31:38,596 --> 00:31:39,864 You know, they leave their head 647 00:31:39,864 --> 00:31:44,002 or blank in the background and images, some car image they took. 648 00:31:44,135 --> 00:31:47,171 You know, with a camera, you've really got to take the time 649 00:31:47,171 --> 00:31:49,607 because you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. 650 00:31:49,607 --> 00:31:51,342 And that's really makes a difference. 651 00:31:51,342 --> 00:31:54,012 So before you do any outreach, optimize your profile. 652 00:31:54,012 --> 00:31:55,513 Look for keywords. 653 00:31:55,513 --> 00:32:00,051 Also include anything that you've done, any awards that you've received, 654 00:32:00,051 --> 00:32:04,322 any volunteer work you have is always going to be looked upon more favorably. 655 00:32:04,322 --> 00:32:08,159 And others who haven't done that, and most importantly is recommendations 656 00:32:08,159 --> 00:32:10,595 in as many recommendations as you can. 657 00:32:10,595 --> 00:32:10,962 You know, 658 00:32:10,962 --> 00:32:14,799 because that third party endorsements are critical to any type of outreach. 659 00:32:14,832 --> 00:32:18,670 They want to know who's use your services, who's satisfied with your work. 660 00:32:18,670 --> 00:32:19,938 And a lot of people ignore that. 661 00:32:19,938 --> 00:32:23,775 And that's something that I always stress to people as optimize your profile. 662 00:32:23,875 --> 00:32:26,878 I have a course on it that tells you how to do the right thing, 663 00:32:26,945 --> 00:32:28,980 keywords, and it really makes a difference. 664 00:32:28,980 --> 00:32:31,416 You can really achieve a lot higher results 665 00:32:31,416 --> 00:32:34,819 if you do something like that, because people are going to judge you. 666 00:32:34,819 --> 00:32:37,855 And if you don't look well on LinkedIn, it's 667 00:32:37,855 --> 00:32:40,591 going to not be in your interest to do any outreach. 668 00:32:40,591 --> 00:32:42,226 I'll let you get that up to speed. 669 00:32:43,561 --> 00:32:43,828 All right. 670 00:32:43,828 --> 00:32:45,396 So you just mentioned something I didn't know about. 671 00:32:45,396 --> 00:32:47,131 Tell us about your course. 672 00:32:47,131 --> 00:32:50,134 I have, of course, my website where it 673 00:32:50,601 --> 00:32:53,571 it's about a ten, 674 00:32:53,771 --> 00:32:58,843 ten modules that go through the steps and how to optimize your profile 675 00:32:58,843 --> 00:33:02,814 from the headshot to creating bio 676 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:08,386 that is going to be impactful, and also how to use it with AI to generate 677 00:33:08,586 --> 00:33:09,854 the keywords that are going to get 678 00:33:09,854 --> 00:33:12,991 you found on LinkedIn, which I think is really crucial. 679 00:33:13,157 --> 00:33:15,159 So it goes you through all the details on it. 680 00:33:15,159 --> 00:33:20,331 And I have a second one, of course, that teaches you how to do outreach 681 00:33:20,331 --> 00:33:24,635 and what words to say to people who you're connecting with and offer value 682 00:33:24,635 --> 00:33:26,104 to whoever you're connecting with. 683 00:33:26,104 --> 00:33:29,974 When I do not reach, I offer a free e-book, you know, to help people. 684 00:33:29,974 --> 00:33:31,042 And it's really, 685 00:33:31,042 --> 00:33:34,479 you know, you want to really just connect with someone and give them value. 686 00:33:34,545 --> 00:33:37,548 A lot of times people, when they first connect, they pitch slept. 687 00:33:38,082 --> 00:33:42,186 Not sure if you're familiar with the term, but nobody likes me pitch at all 688 00:33:42,186 --> 00:33:45,189 and I find majority of wise they're doing it, and that's a really turn off. 689 00:33:45,189 --> 00:33:48,059 And usually unfriend these people, even block them, 690 00:33:48,059 --> 00:33:49,994 because they just really didn't make common sense. 691 00:33:49,994 --> 00:33:53,664 So you really, whenever you're connected with someone, don't do anything like that. 692 00:33:53,664 --> 00:33:54,999 Just be friendly. 693 00:33:54,999 --> 00:33:59,170 If you can offer any book that's great or, you know, just keep it under wraps. 694 00:33:59,170 --> 00:34:03,374 And most importantly, when they post on LinkedIn, you want to comment in the post. 695 00:34:03,441 --> 00:34:06,411 You know, you want to show that you're adding something to the post, 696 00:34:06,411 --> 00:34:09,547 because most of the time when they do post, most people don't even look at it. 697 00:34:09,580 --> 00:34:11,549 The most part, it's kind of lonely. 698 00:34:11,549 --> 00:34:13,584 So and do something more than you know. 699 00:34:13,584 --> 00:34:14,852 Thanks for sharing and stuff. 700 00:34:14,852 --> 00:34:15,353 You know, 701 00:34:15,353 --> 00:34:19,190 trying to be a little more descriptive and how the post was helpful for them. 702 00:34:19,190 --> 00:34:22,627 And and that's something that will help to create awareness. 703 00:34:22,627 --> 00:34:25,396 And they may decide to reach out to you and say, 704 00:34:25,396 --> 00:34:27,465 you know, I appreciate your comments on it. 705 00:34:27,465 --> 00:34:29,534 And you know, what else do you do? 706 00:34:29,534 --> 00:34:32,036 That's really a good way to connect with someone. 707 00:34:32,036 --> 00:34:36,274 Sometimes it's better to be a follower of an influencer 708 00:34:36,274 --> 00:34:40,311 and try to do an outreach connect, because most of the time you won't get accepted. 709 00:34:40,311 --> 00:34:44,348 And if anything more you do that, it may be considered like spam 710 00:34:44,348 --> 00:34:47,218 with LinkedIn algorithms. So you want to try to avoid that. 711 00:34:47,218 --> 00:34:51,422 Ideally, follow if it's an influencer you want to be with, and if they do post, 712 00:34:51,422 --> 00:34:53,558 you can actually be alerted when they do post, 713 00:34:53,558 --> 00:34:56,661 so you can respond quickly to that post and provide them 714 00:34:56,661 --> 00:34:59,831 with commentary that would be favorable to whatever they're saying. 715 00:34:59,831 --> 00:35:02,233 I think is a great way to connect with people. 716 00:35:03,301 --> 00:35:03,634 All right. 717 00:35:03,634 --> 00:35:06,170 Perfect. Well, thank you for joining us today. 718 00:35:06,170 --> 00:35:07,672 Welcome the opportunity. 719 00:35:07,672 --> 00:35:08,372 Thank you again. 720 00:35:08,372 --> 00:35:10,741 And now for something completely different. 721 00:35:10,741 --> 00:35:12,844 I hope that didn't get us banned on the BBC. 722 00:35:12,844 --> 00:35:16,547 Bill, you have a new role playing game 723 00:35:16,547 --> 00:35:19,550 that you've been looking at, Call of Cthulhu. 724 00:35:19,650 --> 00:35:22,954 Go ahead and tell us about it and give us your thoughts. 725 00:35:23,454 --> 00:35:26,591 Well, it's a new campaign from for, colloquially called 726 00:35:27,892 --> 00:35:30,495 Sutra of the Pale Leaves Twin Sons Rising. 727 00:35:30,495 --> 00:35:34,265 It's the first book of two, contains three scenarios. 728 00:35:34,332 --> 00:35:37,268 And the interesting thing is usually 729 00:35:37,268 --> 00:35:41,105 takes place back in the 1920s or Victorian era. 730 00:35:41,572 --> 00:35:44,575 This one is set in 1980s Japan. 731 00:35:45,343 --> 00:35:47,979 Oh, okay. That's different. 732 00:35:47,979 --> 00:35:50,314 Yeah, yeah. 733 00:35:50,314 --> 00:35:53,584 Which is interesting because Japan has a very big following of color. 734 00:35:54,051 --> 00:35:55,820 They they love their color. 735 00:35:55,820 --> 00:35:57,121 Like we love our dad. 736 00:35:58,923 --> 00:35:59,624 No, but I think 737 00:35:59,624 --> 00:36:03,694 this is the first time I've ever heard of a different situation at all. 738 00:36:03,961 --> 00:36:07,331 Is it always been 1920s, or is it that just usually the case, 739 00:36:07,665 --> 00:36:08,866 just usually the case? 740 00:36:08,866 --> 00:36:11,869 I mean, I've had some that are 1950s. 741 00:36:13,104 --> 00:36:14,672 It all depends. 742 00:36:14,672 --> 00:36:18,509 They like that era because of the noir. 743 00:36:18,543 --> 00:36:23,281 I think feeling well is it wasn't the original writers stories 744 00:36:23,314 --> 00:36:26,918 set in the 20s or am I wrong? 745 00:36:27,585 --> 00:36:30,021 Lovecraft was in the tens and 20s. 746 00:36:30,021 --> 00:36:33,024 Yeah. Okay. Yeah. 747 00:36:33,391 --> 00:36:33,691 Okay. 748 00:36:33,691 --> 00:36:34,692 So that makes sense. 749 00:36:34,692 --> 00:36:37,628 So tell us a little bit more about it. 750 00:36:37,628 --> 00:36:40,331 Well, like I said, it's set in 1980s Japan. 751 00:36:40,331 --> 00:36:43,334 And it is a. 752 00:36:44,835 --> 00:36:46,037 Interesting 753 00:36:46,037 --> 00:36:50,541 take on The Yellow King, which is a creature in the mythos of H.P. 754 00:36:50,541 --> 00:36:53,544 Lovecraft in the mythos. 755 00:36:53,711 --> 00:36:57,548 And it has him being more 756 00:36:57,548 --> 00:37:01,452 of a neutral party than an antagonist or a protagonist, 757 00:37:02,453 --> 00:37:05,456 which is going to be interesting. 758 00:37:07,358 --> 00:37:09,360 What do you end up with the scenarios here? 759 00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:10,828 Just a quick rundown. 760 00:37:10,828 --> 00:37:13,864 You have Dream Eater, which is a strange dreams of monstrous torment. 761 00:37:13,898 --> 00:37:16,901 The people of Ikaruga 762 00:37:17,034 --> 00:37:18,502 fanfic rumors speak of a 763 00:37:18,502 --> 00:37:21,505 cursed manga comic book, 764 00:37:21,505 --> 00:37:23,140 the Pallid Mask of Tokyo. 765 00:37:23,140 --> 00:37:26,177 A murderer is discovered, but the corpse has no face. 766 00:37:27,278 --> 00:37:29,380 You. That's creepy. 767 00:37:29,380 --> 00:37:32,116 Yeah. 768 00:37:32,116 --> 00:37:35,620 Yep. So these can be played as a campaign setting. 769 00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:40,691 All three together in order or individually as you like. 770 00:37:41,192 --> 00:37:44,762 So do you play characters that are supposed to be Japanese? 771 00:37:45,062 --> 00:37:47,064 Yes. Or. Oh, cool. 772 00:37:47,064 --> 00:37:49,000 Okay, so it is a completely different setup. 773 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,669 And these modules are like storylines, right? 774 00:37:51,669 --> 00:37:55,640 Yeah, they're like normal campaigns, like we used to play, you know, 775 00:37:56,173 --> 00:37:59,543 like descent into Avernus or other things. 776 00:37:59,577 --> 00:38:01,746 Right. Okay. So yeah. No that's it. 777 00:38:01,746 --> 00:38:05,750 So is the environment immersive into Japan, 778 00:38:05,783 --> 00:38:08,786 you know, like the cities and the landscape and. 779 00:38:08,786 --> 00:38:09,754 Oh wow. Oh yeah. 780 00:38:09,754 --> 00:38:11,155 I mean it's got a, 781 00:38:11,155 --> 00:38:15,793 it's got a map in here of just the rail line system, you know, that Japan uses and 782 00:38:16,794 --> 00:38:20,197 say, I am impressed by how much detail they put into it, but 783 00:38:20,231 --> 00:38:21,699 they really threw it. 784 00:38:21,699 --> 00:38:25,803 A lot of that 1980s feel, the artwork style, 785 00:38:26,671 --> 00:38:29,340 just what different things you could find. 786 00:38:29,340 --> 00:38:31,509 You know, the internet was coming of age. 787 00:38:31,509 --> 00:38:36,147 What what role computers in such plays in this campaign? 788 00:38:36,580 --> 00:38:40,851 Video games of course, manga, 789 00:38:40,851 --> 00:38:43,854 which was a big thing in the 80s and still is. 790 00:38:45,189 --> 00:38:47,625 And again, 791 00:38:47,625 --> 00:38:51,295 like I said, the artwork style in here really is reminiscent of that era. 792 00:38:52,263 --> 00:38:55,266 Nate, I wish I could, I wish I could see it. 793 00:38:56,100 --> 00:39:00,171 Well, I'm imagine that out and you could certainly do that online. 794 00:39:00,338 --> 00:39:04,342 Yeah, you know Gretchen, but I know with role playing games 795 00:39:04,342 --> 00:39:08,346 in general, you have some that a lot of care and quality goes into. 796 00:39:08,379 --> 00:39:09,513 And Bill, it sounds like you're saying 797 00:39:09,513 --> 00:39:13,818 that this is one that's fairly well done like that he does that. 798 00:39:13,818 --> 00:39:19,357 I've noticed they really put the time and effort into every product they put into. 799 00:39:19,857 --> 00:39:24,762 Just give you a as best to experience as possible. 800 00:39:24,795 --> 00:39:29,834 Like we just covered two weeks ago, age of likings, just the amount of detail 801 00:39:29,834 --> 00:39:34,338 they went into that to character creation, let alone the setting. 802 00:39:34,772 --> 00:39:37,541 You know, they they really pull out the stops on that. 803 00:39:37,541 --> 00:39:39,577 And I'm always impressed by their company. 804 00:39:40,745 --> 00:39:40,978 I mean, 805 00:39:40,978 --> 00:39:43,981 role playing games, when done right are your true open world. 806 00:39:44,482 --> 00:39:47,151 We could say that in video games when you can kind of all around 807 00:39:47,151 --> 00:39:50,388 and stuff, but the imagination is really the limit on these things. 808 00:39:50,388 --> 00:39:54,859 If it's done well, it really is a lot of fun and you know, 809 00:39:54,892 --> 00:39:57,395 some are better than others. In this case, it sounds great. 810 00:39:57,395 --> 00:40:01,432 Now, are you actually playing a campaign with these or Call of Cthulhu right now? 811 00:40:01,465 --> 00:40:03,901 And I know you have in the past. 812 00:40:03,901 --> 00:40:06,837 I'm looking forward to running this one 813 00:40:06,837 --> 00:40:10,141 when I have some downtime in my current campaigns. 814 00:40:11,142 --> 00:40:13,310 We are very in-depth into what we're 815 00:40:13,310 --> 00:40:17,014 at with daddy currently, but I'm looking forward to these. 816 00:40:17,081 --> 00:40:19,450 Like I usually run them 817 00:40:19,450 --> 00:40:22,820 when we have people that are going to be gone for a period 818 00:40:22,820 --> 00:40:25,856 of time or something like that, just so we have something to do. 819 00:40:27,892 --> 00:40:29,460 That makes that makes total sense. 820 00:40:29,460 --> 00:40:32,863 I mean, we kind of do the same thing up here too, is we have the main one, 821 00:40:32,863 --> 00:40:35,866 and then if people are missing or if we just don't feel like it, 822 00:40:35,866 --> 00:40:39,570 you have a backup mission, you know, like game. 823 00:40:39,637 --> 00:40:42,373 Yeah. Yeah. Like West. 824 00:40:42,373 --> 00:40:44,708 I don't know if that's exactly the right term for it, but it's 825 00:40:44,708 --> 00:40:48,212 certainly that kind of an idea and and. 826 00:40:48,279 --> 00:40:49,380 Yeah. So all right. 827 00:40:49,380 --> 00:40:53,551 Is this something you just order from Amazon or pick up at your game shop or. 828 00:40:54,018 --> 00:40:54,218 Yeah. 829 00:40:54,218 --> 00:40:56,654 Or you can pick it up from Chaosium directly. 830 00:40:56,654 --> 00:40:59,790 I always suggest ordering directly from them 831 00:40:59,790 --> 00:41:03,561 because you also get that and usually you get the PDFs of it. 832 00:41:04,829 --> 00:41:05,029 Yeah. 833 00:41:05,029 --> 00:41:07,064 And plus you're supporting the author a little bit more 834 00:41:07,064 --> 00:41:09,467 if you go through a third party site and it's just the way it is, 835 00:41:09,467 --> 00:41:12,970 and that's how they make money, but they take a little bit more of a piece of it. 836 00:41:12,970 --> 00:41:16,974 So I try to do that, especially with artistic things like this, 837 00:41:16,974 --> 00:41:20,211 whether it's books or, you know, of artwork of some other kind, 838 00:41:20,277 --> 00:41:25,115 and get it straight from the person that actually published it when you can. 839 00:41:25,816 --> 00:41:28,552 Yeah, it totally makes sense. 840 00:41:28,552 --> 00:41:28,953 All right. 841 00:41:28,953 --> 00:41:32,156 So question that's come in from listeners when you've talked about this 842 00:41:32,189 --> 00:41:35,192 in the past, is there a Call of Cthulhu video game? 843 00:41:35,359 --> 00:41:36,227 Yes there is. 844 00:41:36,227 --> 00:41:39,396 I think there was actually a few of them really. 845 00:41:39,430 --> 00:41:40,998 Have you have you played any of them? 846 00:41:40,998 --> 00:41:42,700 I didn't know this until 847 00:41:44,001 --> 00:41:44,735 I've played 848 00:41:44,735 --> 00:41:48,272 one based on the Call of Cthulhu Mythos idea. 849 00:41:49,039 --> 00:41:51,976 Came out really good. 850 00:41:51,976 --> 00:41:53,744 It was a story driven one. 851 00:41:53,744 --> 00:41:57,348 I know there's what was it, 852 00:41:57,348 --> 00:42:01,118 The Sinking City or something, I believe was a video game that came out 853 00:42:02,119 --> 00:42:04,455 3 or 4 years ago. 854 00:42:04,455 --> 00:42:07,458 It was based on, 855 00:42:08,859 --> 00:42:10,160 that sounds familiar. 856 00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:11,695 A number of them. 857 00:42:11,695 --> 00:42:15,866 Have we played the game Sinking City, where it's like it's getting lower 858 00:42:15,866 --> 00:42:20,070 and the water is rising, and you have to figure something out before 859 00:42:21,772 --> 00:42:25,142 a certain time, otherwise everything goes under. 860 00:42:25,543 --> 00:42:26,710 Yeah, you're playing a video. 861 00:42:26,710 --> 00:42:28,178 That's what he is. 862 00:42:28,178 --> 00:42:30,881 The main character's doing is trying to figure out different things. 863 00:42:30,881 --> 00:42:34,151 Now it's a little bit more pulp than I believe most color, 864 00:42:34,585 --> 00:42:38,188 because there was a lot of enemies and shooting and 865 00:42:39,690 --> 00:42:42,493 stuff that not necessarily happens in the blue, 866 00:42:42,493 --> 00:42:45,496 which is usually just you against the universe of. 867 00:42:46,030 --> 00:42:46,297 Right? 868 00:42:46,297 --> 00:42:49,300 Right. 869 00:42:50,134 --> 00:42:52,102 But totally makes sense. 870 00:42:52,102 --> 00:42:55,706 And I like I say, I didn't I hadn't even really thought about that 871 00:42:55,906 --> 00:42:57,675 until someone asked the question. 872 00:42:57,675 --> 00:43:01,545 And, you know, it's worth checking some of these out to, especially 873 00:43:01,545 --> 00:43:05,482 if this is a jara that you're into and a quick search on the internet. 874 00:43:05,482 --> 00:43:09,053 I actually see looks like five games that are based on 875 00:43:10,588 --> 00:43:13,591 the sinking city being the one that you just talked about 876 00:43:13,591 --> 00:43:17,661 dark corners of the Earth, Bloodborne dredged, to name a few of the other ones. 877 00:43:17,661 --> 00:43:21,899 And yeah, so no, it totally makes sense that that that would be the case. 878 00:43:21,932 --> 00:43:24,935 And if anybody's listening that has played these, let us know 879 00:43:24,935 --> 00:43:26,136 what you think of them. 880 00:43:26,136 --> 00:43:29,840 Because sometimes video game ports of role 881 00:43:29,873 --> 00:43:33,744 playing games can be great and other times not so much. 882 00:43:33,744 --> 00:43:37,514 We've seen a lot of games based as a, for example, on Dungeons and Dragons 883 00:43:37,514 --> 00:43:42,119 over the years, and this is something that goes back to, well, retro computers. 884 00:43:42,119 --> 00:43:44,922 I think there's actually a Dungeons and Dragons game on the in television. 885 00:43:44,922 --> 00:43:49,660 There might even be on the first Ataris, and some of them are very good, 886 00:43:49,660 --> 00:43:52,830 and some of them are just like, what is going on here, you know? 887 00:43:53,197 --> 00:43:54,264 Yeah. 888 00:43:54,264 --> 00:43:57,868 So definitely, absolutely, definitely worth checking out. 889 00:43:57,901 --> 00:43:59,503 And one of the things too, that's kind of cool 890 00:43:59,503 --> 00:44:02,239 and this time is you can actually look at playthroughs 891 00:44:02,239 --> 00:44:03,440 and different stuff like that. 892 00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:07,745 And even on the role playing game front, it's kind of interesting to check it out 893 00:44:07,745 --> 00:44:10,814 and see, you know, what others do and get some ideas. 894 00:44:10,814 --> 00:44:14,051 And I think I might have even mentioned this a few weeks ago on the show, 895 00:44:14,051 --> 00:44:19,223 but we're playtesting Shadowrun and ended up 896 00:44:19,256 --> 00:44:23,460 I didn't know much about the character generation, so I asked ChatGPT 897 00:44:23,494 --> 00:44:26,830 to generate a character for me, and in about 10s 898 00:44:26,830 --> 00:44:29,833 had the character sheet and everything the way I wanted. 899 00:44:30,300 --> 00:44:33,370 I made a few changes on it, but yeah, some things like that 900 00:44:33,370 --> 00:44:37,441 have certainly changed over the years, but the face of it, not so much. 901 00:44:37,474 --> 00:44:41,779 It's still, you know, about imagination, usually more or less. 902 00:44:41,779 --> 00:44:44,648 So how did that playthrough go? 903 00:44:44,648 --> 00:44:46,216 We haven't had it yet. 904 00:44:46,216 --> 00:44:47,785 We were supposed to do it last Friday. 905 00:44:47,785 --> 00:44:51,188 I had a personal emergency last week, so we had to put it off. 906 00:44:51,388 --> 00:44:55,559 And I think we're going to be doing it this coming Friday 907 00:44:55,793 --> 00:44:56,860 if everything goes well. 908 00:44:56,860 --> 00:44:59,863 So I will certainly talk about it here when I know 909 00:45:00,230 --> 00:45:02,599 you'll have to tell me how initiative is. 910 00:45:02,599 --> 00:45:05,436 I've heard it can be quite a complicated subject. 911 00:45:05,436 --> 00:45:06,737 Oh, yeah. 912 00:45:06,737 --> 00:45:09,139 Just creating the characters, you know, it's 913 00:45:10,541 --> 00:45:12,042 because mine was done in 30s. 914 00:45:12,042 --> 00:45:14,078 Everybody else took 2 or 3 hours, so, you know. 915 00:45:14,078 --> 00:45:15,512 But yeah, really, 916 00:45:15,512 --> 00:45:18,182 I'm sure they figured, yeah, I'm sure they figured out how I did it. 917 00:45:18,182 --> 00:45:21,185 But it's an in-depth creation. 918 00:45:21,819 --> 00:45:23,420 Yeah. And that's not the longest one. 919 00:45:23,420 --> 00:45:28,092 There are some systems where take 6 or 8 hours, I think I want to say 920 00:45:28,158 --> 00:45:31,428 Elfquest or something was one like that that I did a long time ago. 921 00:45:31,428 --> 00:45:34,598 And the session zero was, was like a whole day. 922 00:45:35,232 --> 00:45:35,532 Yeah. 923 00:45:35,532 --> 00:45:40,037 Dredd is like that where it's based on Judge Dredd, where you create a character 924 00:45:40,070 --> 00:45:42,439 and your character can die in character creation. 925 00:45:42,439 --> 00:45:45,275 So it's, you know, that's nice, 926 00:45:45,275 --> 00:45:48,879 but you basically have a session just for character creation. 927 00:45:48,879 --> 00:45:52,216 And if your character survives, you get the character of the end, but 928 00:45:52,950 --> 00:45:55,452 it can take six hours. 929 00:45:55,452 --> 00:45:55,786 Yeah. 930 00:45:55,786 --> 00:46:01,258 And I know with Triton Gaming System, that one took me quite a while 931 00:46:01,291 --> 00:46:05,596 to figure out because as they said, they don't hold handhold for anybody. 932 00:46:05,696 --> 00:46:09,032 So that one took me a while to get a character made. 933 00:46:10,033 --> 00:46:10,934 Yeah, and some of these. 934 00:46:10,934 --> 00:46:15,139 It's not easy either, because some of it is intuitive. 935 00:46:15,139 --> 00:46:15,773 And then you have 936 00:46:15,773 --> 00:46:18,776 some of these other systems where there's charts and graphs, 937 00:46:18,776 --> 00:46:22,212 and I think more information than you need to become a pilot. 938 00:46:22,946 --> 00:46:23,347 Yeah. 939 00:46:23,347 --> 00:46:25,382 You have to figure out to get a dump properly. 940 00:46:25,382 --> 00:46:28,051 And then if you don't do something right, the character doesn't work out. 941 00:46:28,051 --> 00:46:31,822 And we're missing some, you know, characteristic or something 942 00:46:31,822 --> 00:46:32,756 you need for the game. 943 00:46:32,756 --> 00:46:35,692 And then you get to do it all over again. 944 00:46:35,692 --> 00:46:37,961 Or in my case, the nice to our game masters 945 00:46:37,961 --> 00:46:42,833 and just allow them to let me respawn with the appropriate changes. 946 00:46:45,202 --> 00:46:47,337 Oh my god. 947 00:46:47,337 --> 00:46:48,672 Yeah, that is kind of a bummer. 948 00:46:48,672 --> 00:46:49,740 I used to have that happen. 949 00:46:49,740 --> 00:46:50,707 What was? 950 00:46:50,707 --> 00:46:51,875 We used to play with some friends. 951 00:46:51,875 --> 00:46:55,712 It was a desk part game 952 00:46:56,380 --> 00:46:59,216 and I would always die. 953 00:46:59,216 --> 00:47:01,251 It seemed like right in the beginning of it, 954 00:47:01,251 --> 00:47:03,253 I can't even remember the name of that anymore. 955 00:47:03,253 --> 00:47:04,388 I wasn't part of that. 956 00:47:04,388 --> 00:47:08,091 I don't remember that this would have been 15 years ago, 957 00:47:08,091 --> 00:47:11,295 and you and Jeremy were there, but we were. 958 00:47:11,662 --> 00:47:13,330 Yeah. I'm not surprised that you don't remember. 959 00:47:13,330 --> 00:47:15,432 It was not that. Was it that bad? 960 00:47:17,601 --> 00:47:17,935 I don't 961 00:47:17,935 --> 00:47:21,772 know if I would go that far, but it definitely 962 00:47:21,772 --> 00:47:25,108 was not, let's just say, not as much fun as the actual role playing game. 963 00:47:25,108 --> 00:47:27,511 And being that it was as complicated, it's like, 964 00:47:27,511 --> 00:47:29,813 why wouldn't you just do the regular game, you know? 965 00:47:29,813 --> 00:47:31,982 Yeah, little Pathfinder put out a card game. 966 00:47:31,982 --> 00:47:35,219 And that one was really interesting 967 00:47:35,219 --> 00:47:38,755 because it played like Pathfinder, right? 968 00:47:38,789 --> 00:47:42,793 But you were using the cards instead of worrying about character sheets. 969 00:47:45,095 --> 00:47:46,997 Had a little card, and then you had a weapon 970 00:47:46,997 --> 00:47:50,000 card and your magic card and yeah, 971 00:47:51,001 --> 00:47:55,038 I mean, it seems like you I want to say it was like Dungeon Mayhem or something. 972 00:47:55,272 --> 00:47:57,074 Oh, yeah. 973 00:47:57,074 --> 00:47:58,942 I don't think I've heard of that. Yeah. 974 00:47:58,942 --> 00:48:00,143 Or something along those lines. 975 00:48:00,143 --> 00:48:03,013 It's not as pretty close, and I'm sure there's a lot of people 976 00:48:03,013 --> 00:48:05,349 listening that love this, and I think that's great. 977 00:48:05,349 --> 00:48:07,584 I'm not dissing it. I'm just saying it wasn't quite my thing. 978 00:48:07,584 --> 00:48:11,455 But you know, but I'm not really into card games that much. 979 00:48:11,455 --> 00:48:13,657 I did Magic The Gathering at one time. 980 00:48:13,657 --> 00:48:15,959 And you know, some of those. 981 00:48:15,959 --> 00:48:19,630 The Pikachu one, you know. 982 00:48:19,796 --> 00:48:20,197 Yeah. 983 00:48:20,197 --> 00:48:25,502 And and again, if it's something you have to like 984 00:48:25,502 --> 00:48:29,473 what you're doing, and I am not saying these are bad, I think they're well done. 985 00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:34,177 But like, even Pokemon Pikachu, you know, that kind of a thing. 986 00:48:34,177 --> 00:48:36,747 I was more in the augmented reality stuff with that, 987 00:48:36,747 --> 00:48:39,349 where you could actually buy a watch and it would tell you where the monster is 988 00:48:39,349 --> 00:48:41,451 when you were walking around so that you could catch it. 989 00:48:41,451 --> 00:48:44,121 Now, to me, that was cool the game, 990 00:48:44,121 --> 00:48:47,057 but that part of it was really, really cool, you know? 991 00:48:47,057 --> 00:48:50,160 So all right, well that's it for this week. 992 00:48:50,160 --> 00:48:50,861 Until next week. 993 00:48:50,861 --> 00:48:55,999 This is User Friendly 2.0. Keeping you safe on the cutting edge. User Friendly 2.0. 994 00:48:55,999 --> 00:49:02,572 Copyright 2013 to 2025 by User Friendly Media Group incorporated. 995 00:49:02,639 --> 00:49:04,241 All rights reserved. 996 00:49:04,241 --> 00:49:07,678 Content is the opinion of the show's participants 997 00:49:07,678 --> 00:49:11,481 and not necessarily this station or platform. 998 00:49:11,682 --> 00:49:14,251 Requests for material use. 999 00:49:14,251 --> 00:49:15,319 Interviews. 1000 00:49:15,319 --> 00:49:19,723 CcpA Privacy Notice for California residents. 1001 00:49:19,957 --> 00:49:24,895 Good information for UK and EU residents 1002 00:49:24,895 --> 00:49:29,866 and any other feedback may be submitted at UserFriendly.Show. 1003 00:49:30,934 --> 00:49:32,602 We welcome your input. 1004 00:49:32,602 --> 00:49:33,804 Thank you for listening.