They Create Worlds

https://feed.theycreateworlds.com/feed.xml

574.6K

Downloads

268

Episodes

The games we love reveal something true about who we are, and about the world that made them. They Create Worlds is a podcast about the people, technology, and forces that built the video game industry.

Through video game history, the show looks at how culture, business, and technology shaped what we play, tracing the choices and circumstances that led to the games so many people around the world enjoy.

Each episode digs into where games came from, who made them, and why they were made the way they were. Business decisions, technological shifts, and creative choices all shaped what ended up on screen, and the show covers all of it together, not just one piece in isolation.

Hosted by Alex Smith and Jeffrey Daum, They Create Worlds grew out of long conversations about the strange corners of the industry and the patterns that only show up when you look across companies, platforms, and decades. That conversational feel remains, built on careful research, clear structure and editing that makes even the deepest topics easy to listen to.

History turns out to be less settled than it looks. New documents surface, memories conflict, and the clean stories about why things happened the way they did rarely survive contact with the evidence. The show digs into all of that, following the creative and business forces that pushed and pulled on each other, and uncovering the human stories that lie beneath the games so many people around the world enjoy.

New episodes are released twice a month.

Episodes

Oct 15, 2026

Dragon Quest Part 2

Oct 15, 2026

1 hr 40 min

TCW Podcast Episode 268 - Dragon Quest Part 2

Yuji Horii continued developing adventure games after The Portopia Serial Murder Case, but his growing interest in Ultima and Wizardry led him to incorporate role-playing elements into his work. Karuizawa Yūkai Annai combined adventure-game investigation with Ultima style overworld exploration and a climactic fighting sequence that included leveling, showing Horii’s desire to bring RPG ideas into a different kind of game. As the Famicom became a phenomenon in Japan, Weekly Shōnen Jump editor Kazuhiko Torishima created Famicom Shinken, a regular feature covering games, tips, and tricks. Its material became so popular that the magazine placed it in special envelopes to prevent readers from copying the information without buying an issue. Enix, meanwhile, brought PC successes including Door Door and The Portopia Serial Murder Case to the Famicom. When dedicated game magazines began competing for that audience, Torishima reshaped Famicom Shinken around an inside look at the creation of a new game. He brought together Horii and Koichi Nakamura, who wanted to make an RPG, with Enix as publisher and Shōnen Jump as the source of exclusive development coverage. Torishima also recruited Akira Toriyama, then at the height of Dragon Ball’s success, to design the game’s characters. Horii and Nakamura combined Ultima’s overworld and exploration with Wizardry’s combat and detailed monsters, while Nakamura developed a menu system inspired by the recently released Apple Macintosh. Composer Koichi Sugiyama joined after responding to an Enix survey card for a Shogi game, bringing a new musical approach to Dragon Quest. The first game succeeded, but its sequels turned it into a cultural phenomenon: Dragon Quest II expanded the party to three characters and added broader storytelling, while word of mouth, a delay, and a cartridge shortage drove demand even higher. By Dragon Quest III, the series had become so popular that it sold one million copies on its first day, and store owners held a midweek resupply until the weekend at the urging of the National Police Agency, helping create the enduring myth that new Dragon Quest games could only be released on weekends.