#1 David ’Talin’ Joiner on building a video game company in 1987 and depression

Jump into an enriching episode of dropUp featuring David 'Talin' Joiner, a luminary in the video game industry. Through Talin's fascinating stories, we explore his dedication to skill mastery, the role passion plays in success, and his journey from computer shops to LA's DataSoft, where he helped breathe life into the revolutionary Amiga computer. Talin also touches on his personal struggle with depression and how he got out of it. A lover of Dungeons and Dragons, Talin's wide-ranging interests beyond tech shape his creative approach to game storytelling. He brings to light the vital role of accountability and good behavior frameworks in social environments and the powerful influence of culture in engineering. Join us to unravel the captivating narrative of 1980s game development and Talin's own building of a video game company, The Dreamers Guild.

 

Timestamp:
[00:04:27] School, depression, geek, loneliness, self-discovery.
[00:07:08] Air Force, learning programming from scratch.
[00:10:14] Freedom from religion, finding profound relief.
[00:14:39] Worked at State Art Systems, then DataSoft. Developed speech synthesizer for Amiga computer.
[00:19:09] Playful programmers create successful educational games, like "Discovery" and "The Fairytale Adventure."
[00:22:39] Fairy Tale: First large game.
[00:28:33] Inventing future, loyalty, mistakes, bankruptcy, whirlwind. [00:31:33] Hacker movement.
[00:36:02] Learning social skills and nonviolent communication. Intimacy workshop.
[00:39:26] Safe space, exercises, importance of structure. Breaking through anxieties.
[00:43:38] Pro-social institutions preventing dystopian nightmares. [00:46:46] Focus on one thing, commit, and observe.

 

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