The Short Game

If you saw the title of this episode and thought “What? Tears of the Kingdom? On The Short Game podcast?!” then dear listener so did I. No, we’re not making some tortured argument for how this is actually a short game (though it can be completed in under an hour.) No, Laura and Raygan were traveling this week and Shane and Nate just had a lot to say about everyone’s favorite unofficial Kerbal Space Program sequel. It was a great conversation, and we’ll be back to our usual deal soon! (00:00) - Tears of the Kingdom (59:19) - Outro

This week we check in on the last year or so of releases on Apple Arcade, and mostly what we find are a bunch of ports of good Short Game games and an excellent coloring book app for toddlers, plus a car with legs! We also take the opportunity to talk about the latest news in the weird world of Apple and gaming. Is the Apple Vision Pro going to be any good for games? Does the Game Porting Toolkit hold out any hope for running real game-ass games on Macs? (00:00) - Introduction (02:48) - Apple Arcade Releases (31:53) - Apple Vision Pro (34:59) - Game Porting Toolkit (48:51) - Apple Design Awards 2023 (01:04:02) - Outro

This week, for the first time, we’re covering a rom hack. A Plumber For All Seasons is a Super Mario World rom hack that is an almost total conversion of the game. 37 original levels, custom hand made graphics, an original soundtrack, and more make this feel like a true sequel to SMW rather than just a level pack. It’s a project that took rom hacker Eric Kaiser nearly a decade to complete, and it’s an incredible labor of love. Links for this episode: A Plumber for All Seasons  Thread on SMWCentral.net  SMWCentral beginners guide  Online Rom Patcher  Psychonauts 2 Documentary  The Bobiverse Books  The Lyttle Lytton Contest  (00:00) - A Plumber for All Seasons (02:57) - What is a Rom Hack anyway? (06:12) - A True Labor Of Love (11:52) - Seasons! (28:30) - If You're A Cop You Have To Tell Me (33:41) - How Do I Run This (40:52) - 1990 Looks Better Than Ever (46:59) - Some Other SMW Rom Hacks (49:26) - Wrap-up (54:02) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (54:07) - Laura - Psychonauts 2 Documentary (01:02:30) - Raygan - The Bobiverse Novels (01:06:48) - Shane - Lyttle Lytton Contest (01:09:29) - Outro

Editor’s note: If your episode has gaps/silence around the 16 minute mark, please delete and re-download the episode. Sorry for the inconvenience! Laura has been telling us all about Fallen London, the cult interactive fiction browser game from Failbetter Games, for nearly a decade. It’s a vast and varied game centered around the Fallen London setting: a cosmic-horror tinged world where Victorian London fell into the earth and its denizens have been forced to adapt to a new and disturbing world.  After producing two other games set in the world of Fallen London, Sunless Seas and Sunless Skies, Failbetter has turned its attention to romance. Mask of the Rose is nominally a “dating sim” set immediately after the fall, and working as a sort of prequel to all other Fallen London properties.  Does this game work as an introduction to this decade-long cross-media property? Does it work for long time devotees? (00:00) - Mask of the Rose (44:24) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (44:28) - Raygan - Return of Bear (47:15) - Laura - Normal Gossip (50:27) - Outro

Something a little different this week — in the words of Gregg from Night in the Woods, lets do crimes!  This week we have our first-ever draft: a Short Game Heist. Each of us assemble a five-person caper crew, filling our teams with characters from games covered on the show.  Who gets away with the goods? Who’s pinning it on a patsy? Whose plan relies heavily on suction cup hands? Fire up a sweet jazz soundtrack and head into the heist draft to find out… (00:00) - Introduction (04:57) - The Draft (41:46) - Our Squads (47:25) - Discards (50:24) - Best Detective/Who Hooks Up? (53:39) - Outro

The latest game from Snowman, developer of the Short Game favorite Alto’s Adventure/Odyssey games, has made a loosely related 3D wingsuit flying game for Netflix’s weird mobile game subscription collection.  Laya’s Horizon seems like it checks all the boxes for us, but somehow Shane loves the game while it leaves Raygan cold. We also discuss some of the other eclectic  games Netflix has added to their collection. A good conversation! Laya’s Horizon is available for iOS and Android, exclusively for Netflix subscribers. (00:00) - Laya's Horizon (41:29) - Netflix Games Thoughts (48:17) - Outro

This week the hosts played Lil Gator Game, an adorable open world adventure game about a lil kid (also a gator) playing who just wants his big sis to come play hero with him. We also have a surprisingly long digression on Bluey and children’s TV,  and recommend some great books in the “What’s Making Us Happy This Week” segment. Lil Gator Game is available on Steam and Nintendo Switch. It’ll only take about four hours away from your busy Tears of the Kingdom schedule. (00:00) - Lil Gator Game (15:28) - A Surprisingly Long Digression About Kids Shows (19:08) - More Lil Gator Game (35:03) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (35:12) - Nate - Nobody Saves The World (41:57) - Raygan - Children of Time & Children of Ruin (46:03) - Shane - The Ministry for the Future (51:45) - Outro

LudoNarraCon is a digital convention celebrating narrative games, hosted by indie label Fellow Traveller. It includes an online panel series, a narrative focused Steam sale, and most importantly for this episode, a bunch of new demos for upcoming narrative indies. Laura and Raygan took this week to discuss some of the demos we played as a part of the event, and talk about what upcoming indies we have our eye on for the show.  This is a sort of new format for us, so let us know what you liked and didn’t! And if you liked it, let us know if there are other events you’d like us to give a similar treatment. (00:00) - LudoNarraCon 2023 (07:31) - Slay the Princess (14:33) - Dead Pets Unleashed (21:47) - Sucker for Love: Date to Die For (29:57) - Loco Motive (33:49) - Wrestling With Emotions: New Kid on the Block (40:25) - Astronaut: The Best (47:44) - Other Demos (01:01:26) - Outro

Turnfollow, developers of Short Game favorite Wide Ocean Big Jacket, have returned with an extremely unexpected game. Before The Green Moon is a 3D farming sim with a clearly early-3D inspired aesthetic, whose story is a far cry from other farming sims. You play as a young farmer living at the base of a space elevator. It’s a game about building community at the fringes of space capitalism and climate disaster, but also about preparing to leave that community, as you save up for a ticket to the moon. (00:00) - Before The Green Moon (34:50) - What's Making Us Happy This Week? (35:09) - Shane - NeoBenshi (36:53) - Raygan - Old ThinkPad (39:10) - Laura - Screen Drafts (49:02) - Spoiler Break

The Short Game began in April of 2014, so this month marks our 9th anniversary! To celebrate, we’re doing the impossible (and probably inadvisable): We are going to produce a totally inarguable and completely 100% perfect list of the best nine short games of all time. Or at least we’re going to try! Kind of! Here’s a link to our complete list and personal lists on our Patreon page! The top nine: Night in the Woods Kentucky Route Zero Celeste Katamari Damacy Return of the Obra Dinn 80 Days The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe What Remains of Edith Finch Pyre (00:00) - Introduction (06:25) - The Rules (07:50) - Ranking! (41:56) - Promo Swap: Overtired (43:22) - More Ranking! (01:22:31) - The Top 9 Games! (01:25:48) - Patron Lists! (01:28:19) - Outro