Still Loading #356: Hurt Me Plenty: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 2003–2010 w/ Stuart Maine

·1 hr 39 min·5 clips

Author Stuart Maine reveals why the 2003-2010 era saw over 200 first-person shooters flood the market.

The episode is an interview format focused on Stuart Maine's book 'Hurt Me Plenty: The Ultimate Guide to First-Person Shooters 2003–2010.' Host Josh Koval begins by introducing the book's scope, which is the second in a series following 'I'm Too Young to Die.' Maine explains the book covers over 200 games from that era, a surge enabled by easier game development technology compared to the earlier period covered in his first book. The discussion traces Maine's personal history with games, starting with an Amstrad and Star Wars: Dark Forces. His career in game development, spanning over two decades including work on Nickelodeon titles like SpongeBob and iCarly, provided unique insight for the book, allowing him to contextualize games often labeled as failures. A key theme is uncovering obscure, experimental FPS games like 'Techno the Base,' made by a single developer who then vanished. The book also features interviews with notable figures like Ken Levine, Tim Willits, and Warren Spector. The conversation explores design shifts, such as the move from PC-led to console-led development and the rise of 'boomer shooters.' Maine reflects on canceled projects, including a co-op SAS game he worked on, and speculates on the future of the genre, predicting a continued split between massive live-service games and quirky indie experiments.

As heard by us

A book-led look at first-person shooters from 2003 to 2010, grounded in developer perspective and easygoing game-history talk.

Still Loading frames first-person shooters from 2003 to 2010 as a living piece of game history, not just a run of releases. Josh Koval speaks with Stuart Main, author of Hurt Me Plenty, about why that stretch matters and how the book uses behind-the-scenes perspective to revisit…

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Why you'd press play

You get a focused stroll through first-person shooters from 2003 to 2010, with the book Hurt Me Plenty as your map.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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