War Stories: Creating the Medal of Honor Games (w/ Chris Cross)

Retro Handhelds Podcast

You can find Part 1 here: https://youtube.com/live/9fJkcUsZWQc

That episode was part of our live show, so use timestamps, but it has some excellent tidbits sprinkled throughout, including work on his games Jurassic Park game Trespasser, Darksiders, and more on MOH 1.

Chris's website: https://coffeewithcross.com/

Chris's Brain Arcade podcast (available on all platforms):

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4NIy0wwuBojbr2lsvwdavg

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-arcade/id1805214243

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Brain-Arcade

Eltectracast: https://electracast.com/podcast/brain-arcade/

Chris is also featured on the documentary series "Game Changers", which is available on HBO Max & Discovery:

https://press.wbd.com/na/media-release/discovery-channel/limited-series-game-changers-exploring-rich-history-nostalgic-gaming-premieres

Chris's game dev credits: https://www.mobygames.com/person/11691/christopher-cross/credits/

Panel: @CoffeewithCross @retrotechdad @StubbsStuff
Timestamps:
[00:00] Intro: Welcome Chris Cross

[02:12] Brain Arcade: Focuses on the psychology of game design

[08:43] Chris's Early Career: QA tester at Blizzard (Warcraft, Diablo)

[09:53] Fighting Champ: A story about his Street Fighter 2 days

[14:33] Staying Fit: Advice for staying in shape after 40

[26:11] Transition to Game Design: Moving to Activision and then DreamWorks Interactive

[27:57] Becoming Lead Designer: How he landed the lead designer role for Medal of Honor

[31:59] Medal of Honor Concept: The initial idea was "GoldenEye in World War II"

[32:17] Technical Challenges: Creating a first-person shooter on the original PlayStation

[37:35] Medal of Honor Frontline: The Game He Wanted from the Start

[38:59] Game Weapons: Details about the M1 Garand and other weapons

[43:33] Realism vs. Realistic: Explaining this concept in game design

[45:45] Character Design: Behind-the-scenes details on character design and animation

[57:47] Music and Rhythm: The use of music and rhythm in Medal of Honor Frontline

[01:04:16] "Rule of Sevens": Applying this concept to game design

[01:06:19] Recalls Stephen Spielberg's reaction to the first Medal of Honor game

[01:11:35] His desire to work on different game genres besides FPS

[01:22:09] A story about a missing comma breaking a game build

[01:30:09] Space Marine: Discusses working on this classic WH40K title

[01:33:52] Working on Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse

[01:37:17] Working on Metro: Last Light

[01:38:50] Chris reveals a Frontline glitch where looking down stops enemy animations

[01:47:01] Discusses using AI as a tool in his current work

[01:47:52] Reiterates the goal of the Brain Arcade podcast

[01:49:32] The Importance of understanding the player's perspective

[01:53:34] Anecdotes and funny concepts for games

[01:55:04] There are no N words in the Medal of Honor games

[01:57:02] Thank you Chris , check out his podcast!

[01:52:32] Discussion on potential titles for this episode

[01:57:37] Thanks for watching!

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