The Short Game

Our second episode covering IFComp 2019. This week we had a lively discussion of 13 games: 00:03:03: Skies Above By Arthur DiBianca 00:10:00: Limerick Heist By Pace Smith 00:17:32: The Legendary Hero Has Failed. by Tom Martin 00:22:04: Lucerne by Dimitri Kaviani 00:24:30: The good people by Pseudavid 00:31:30: Night Guard / Morning Star by Astrid Dalmady 00:36:13: The Surprise by Candy Meldromon 00:39:27: Girth Loinhammer and the Quest for the Unsee Elixir by Damon L. Wakes 00:46:21: Dull Grey by Provodnik Games 00:56:31: Rip Retold by Hipolito 01:00:01: For the Cats by Lei 01:05:43: Dungeon Detective 2: Devils and Details by Wongalot 01:13:56: Flygskam Simulator by Katie Benson Thanks to all the authors and organizers of the comp! If there are games you have enjoyed in this year’s comp, be sure to let us know on Twitter, via our website, or on our Patreon supporter Discord! The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts! You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygankShane Kelly – @8bitShaneNate Heininger – @natestl (00:00) - Intro (03:03) - Skies Above By Arthur DiBianca (10:00) - Limerick Heist By Pace Smith (17:32) - The Legendary Hero Has Failed. by Tom Martin (22:04) - Lucerne by Dimitri Kaviani (24:30) - The good people by Pseudavid (31:30) - Night Guard / Morning Star by Astrid Dalmady (36:13) - The Surprise by Candy Meldromon (39:27) - Girth Loinhammer and the Quest for the Unsee Elixir by Damon L. Wakes (46:21) - Dull Grey by Provodnik Games (56:31) - Rip Retold by Hipolito (01:00:01) - For the Cats by Lei (01:05:43) - Dungeon Detective 2: Devils and Details by Wongalot (01:13:56) - Flygskam Simulator by Katie Benson (01:17:53) - Outro

Our 200th episode is a special milestone, and we’re spending it returning to the topic of our very first episode. Gone Home came out in August 2013 (our show started in April 2014) and its influence is still being felt today! We start by patting our selves on the back for keeping the podcast going for over five and a half years, then discuss the game, focusing on its legacy and influence across the industry. Gone Home is available on pretty much every platform you can name these days including computers, phones, and tons of consoles. Expect it to take you about 2 hours to complete. A special thank you to my co-hosts for sticking with me and the show for these many years. -RK The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts! You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygankShane Kelly – @8bitShaneNate Heininger – @natestlLaura Nash – @laurajnash (00:00) - Episode 200! (23:14) - Legacy: Why Revisit Gone Home? (28:25) - Level Design Is Narrative Design (36:02) - Soft Spoiler Break (39:23) - Story Stuff (57:52) - Laura’s First Time Impressions (01:03:49) - More Story Stuff (01:18:53) - We Talk About Apples For 2 Minutes (01:20:27) - Wrap Up (01:23:41) - What’s Making Us Happy This Week? (01:23:45) - Nate - Happy Anniversary, Molly! (01:24:31) - Raygan - Crawling! (01:25:54) - Laura - Balcony String Lights (01:27:25) - Shane - Bulgarian Sheep’s Cheese (01:29:28) - Outro

This is the 25th year of the competition (!!!) and there are a record breaking 82 entries! We’re kicking off our coverage of IFComp 2019 with discussion of the first 8 games we’ve played. Due to travel and other conflicts it’s just Raygan and Laura for this episode, but Shane and Nate will be back next week for our special 200th episode. After that we’ll be continuing our IFComp coverage with two more episodes. Be sure to let us know what games you’ve enjoyed in the comp so far! 00:01:10: What Is IFComp? 00:07:03: About Our IFComp Coverage 00:10:20: Zozzled by Steph Cherrywell 00:25:47: Turandot by Victor Gijsbers 00:34:54: Eye Contact by Thomas McMullan 00:38:12: Flight of the CodeMonkeys by Mark C Marino 00:44:33: Sugarlawn by Mike Spivey 00:52:37: Pas De Deux by Linus Åkesson 01:01:08: Let’s Play: Ancient Greek Punishment: The Text Adventure by Pippin Barr 01:06:09: Out by Viktor Sobol 01:09:23: What’s Making Us Happy This Week? 01:15:34: Outro The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts! You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygankLaura Nash – @laurajnash (01:10) - What Is IFComp? (07:03) - About Our IFComp Coverage (10:20) - Zozzled by Steph Cherrywell (25:47) - Turandot by Victor Gijsbers (34:54) - Eye Contact by Thomas McMullan (38:12) - Flight of the CodeMonkeys by Mark C Marino (44:33) - Sugarlawn by Mike Spivey (52:37) - Pas De Deux by Linus Åkesson (01:01:08) - Let's Play: Ancient Greek Punishment: The Text Adventure by Pippin Barr (01:06:09) - Out by Viktor Sobol (01:09:23) - What’s Making Us Happy This Week? (01:10:22) - Laura - Starting A New Job At GameClub (01:11:16) - Raygan - Wayward Son By Rainbow Rowell (01:15:34) - Outro

Suddenly this horrible goose is all anyone is talking about. Untitled Goose Game, developed by House House and published by Panic, is a game about being a horrible goose and causing trouble for everyone you meet for no reason other than f**k you I’m a goose. We have brought friend of the show and bird correspondent Mark Bramhill back on the show to discuss this great game and terrible, terrible bird. The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts! You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygankNate Heininger – @natestlLaura Nash – @laurajnashMark Bramhill – @mcbramhill (04:49) - House House (06:14) - Panic (07:55) - Goose Hype (12:02) - Introduce The Goose (16:28) - Accessible Goose Gameplay (28:37) - Goose Controls (31:19) - Personal Goose Trauma (37:59) - Inherent Goose Limitations (40:47) - Goose Havoc (46:07) - Dynamic Goose Soundtrack (54:35) - Goose Wrap Up (56:44) - What’s Making Us Happy This Week? (56:57) - Mark - Apple Arcade (01:01:11) - Laura - The Storm - A Lost Rewatch Podcast (01:04:57) - Raygan - MiSTeR (01:07:43) - Nate - Celeste Chapter 9 etc. (01:11:56) - Outro

Simogo is a legendary developer on iOS. We’ve covered their work in the past, especially the stunning Year Walk. Sayonara Wild Hearts is a big departure from their previous games. Get a load of this marketing copy: Sayonara Wild Hearts is a dreamy arcade game about riding motorcycles, skateboarding, dance battling, shooting lasers, wielding swords, and breaking hearts at 200 mph.As the heart of a young woman breaks, the balance of the universe is disturbed. A diamond butterfly appears in her dreams and leads her through a highway in the sky, where she finds her other self: the masked biker called The Fool.Journey through a custom-written pop soundtrack, chase scores, and set out to find the harmony of the universe, hidden away in the hearts of Little Death and her star-crossed allies: Dancing Devils, Howling Moons, Stereo Lovers and Hermit 64.Let’s Pop! We try to sound competent as music critics on this episode, and it kinda works out! Sayonara Wild Hearts is available on PS4 and Nintendo Switch for $12.99, and as a part of an Apple Arcade subscription. Expect it to take around 2 hours to complete. The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts! You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Your hosts this week were: Laura Nash – @laurajnashRaygan Kelly – @raygankShane Kelly – @8bitShane (01:49) - Simogo (08:19) - A Pop Album Video Game (11:54) - Arcade Influence (14:41) - Things This Game Isn’t (17:03) - Let’s Pretend To Be Music Critics (21:23) - All Caps Large Text (25:05) - Albums Have Tracks (31:40) - Zodiac Riddles (34:25) - Visual Design And Color (40:47) - Best Songs (44:50) - Oh, And Narrator (46:10) - Influences (55:48) - What’s Making Us Happy This Week (56:05) - Shane - Playing Untitled Goose Game With A Kid (58:37) - Raygan - City Connection Lives! (01:04:38) - Laura - Steven Universe, Carole and Tuesday, And Other Wholesome Entertainment (01:07:23) - Outro And Admin

Marketed as a “pinbrawler” or top-down, pinball-inspired, hack-and-slash dungeon crawler, Creature in the Well seems designed to appeal to Raygan’s specific tastes. It’s tough as nails, and occasionally frustrating, but this is a truly unique game that manages to follow through on its strange promise of injecting pinball (or break-out) mechanics into the tried and true action RPG formula. Creature in the Well is available for Nintendo Switch as well as Xbox One and Windows for $14.99. It’s also available as part of a Game Pass subscription on Xbox and PC. Expect it to take around 5 hours to complete. The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts! You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygankShane Kelly – @8bitShaneNate Heininger – @natestl (00:00) - Creature In The Well (04:47) - Core Mechanics (06:24) - Story And Characters (10:21) - Art (14:10) - Room To Room Progression (17:00) - Raygan’s Mechanics Corner (27:34) - Controls (32:45) - Tools/Weapons (44:58) - Walk All The Way Back (54:51) - Length (56:37) - Wrap Up (58:27) - What’s Making Us Happy This Week (58:44) - Nate - Magic Sword (01:00:02) - Raygan - Steven Universe The Movie (01:02:21) - Raygan - Control (01:03:22) - Shane - Lei Low Tiki Bar (01:06:56) - Outro

Hot on the heels of last week’s episode on Telling Lies, we’re covering another FMV game. This week it’s Erica, a surprise release from British developer Flavourworks and published as a PS4 exclusive by Sony Entertainment. It was both announced and released in a surprise presentation at Gamescom this year. Erica uses beautifully shot full motion video and Telltale-style interactions to tell a story of a young woman haunted (and hunted) by her father’s murderer. It’s not as successful or innovative as Telling Lies but it makes for an interesting contrast, and a good discussion of what makes an FMV game work. Erica is available only on PSN for PS4. It costs $10, and you can expect it to take about 2-3 hours for a play through. Multiple play throughs are encouraged to see the complete story. The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts! You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygankShane Kelly – @8bitShane (00:00) - Erica (36:55) - Spoiler Break

Telling Lies is Sam Barlow’s long awaited follow up to Her Story. Similarly to that game you’re acting as an investigator, searching through a database of video evidence, experiencing a story through out of sequence full motion video, but Telling Lies takes the format to a new level of polish, with high production values and a large cast of talented actors. Rater than focusing on a single character, Telling Lies focuses on conversations, with most videos being intercepted recordings of video calls, with each side of the call being represented as a separate clip. It’s an approach that makes piecing together the thread of the conversation In this episode we start with a spoiler free discussion of the game in comparison to Her Story, then have an early spoiler break around 32:00, after which we discuss specifics of the story and characters. For our interview with Sam Barlow about Her Story, see Episode 51 of The Short Game. Telling Lies is available on iOS, macOS, and Windows. The mobile version (which we recommend, especially on iPad) is $6.99, while the Steam version is $19.99 with a discount for owners of Her Story. Expect it to take about 5 hours to complete. The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts! You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygankShane Kelly – @8bitShaneLaura Nash – @laurajnash (01:24) - Her Story (05:57) - Interface And Framing (10:51) - Don’t Forget About The Short Game Patron Discord! (12:49) - The Most Binge-able Interactive Fiction (15:28) - Scrubbing And Metadata (17:48) - Acting And Directing (21:50) - Content Warnings (23:23) - Less Soap Opera, More Prime Time (24:42) - Our First Search Terms (30:18) - Outro (32:52) - Spoiler Break (33:02) - David (36:48) - Emma (49:51) - Max (59:28) - Karen (01:07:22) - Ending (01:21:34) - Most Interesting Search Terms

A few months ago we finally covered Anodyne, an indie developers Sean Han Tani and Marina Kittaka. Now it’s sequel is here, and it’s a massive step forward. Anodyne 2: Return to Dust is a sequel in the Final Fantasy tradition, where no characters, story, or world is shared between the games, and they can be played in any order. This new game pushes the themes and gameplay of the first game forward in a major way. Now the game combines cinematic 3D exploration in the PS1 or Saturn mold with easy to enjoy 2D dungeons that build on the gameplay of Anodyne 1. Anodyne 2 is available on Mac, PC and Linux on both Steam and itch.io, and costs $19.99 with a discount for Anodyne 1 owners. Expect it to take about 10 hours to complete. The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts! You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygankLaura Nash – @laurajnashNate Heininger – @natestlShane Kelly – @8bitShane (01:15) - Anodyne 1 (06:32) - Almost Forgot To Plug The Patreon! (07:48) - Aesthetic And Nostalgia (09:16) - Big And Small (13:39) - Story (16:33) - The World Of New Theland (21:06) - Balancing Absurdity With Poetry (28:28) - The “Dungeons” (41:41) - Oh Yeah You Can Turn Into A Car (47:42) - Wrap up (50:00) - What’s Making Us Happy This Week? (50:07) - Laura - Chicory (On Kickstarter) And GLOW Season 3 (52:03) - Nate - Camping (52:58) - Raygan - Parenting, And Modding A Fight Stick (54:58) - Shane - No Man’s Sky PSVR (01:07:27) - Outro (01:11:46) - Spoiler Break

This week we’re re-releasing our episode on Katamari Damacy, which originally aired in May of 2015. Katamari still holds a very dear place in our hearts, and fortunately it’s now available on Nintendo Switch and Windows thanks to the new Katamari Damacy REROLL re-release. The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners on Patreon! Supporters at any level get access to our Discord, where we discuss games, plan episodes, and talk about what we are playing in real time. You can also support us by writing a review on Apple Podcasts! You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygankShane Kelly – @8bitShaneNate Heininger – @natestlLaura Nash – @laurajnash