The Secret Lives of Games

Jakub Wasilewski of Beetlewing joins us to talk about his new grand-yet-bite-sized space strategy game, Slipways. We discuss game feel as inspiration, breaking your game for fun and profit, and limiting your universe to expand your audience. Show notes: Jakub Wasilewski Beetlewing Slipways PICO-8 Indie Fund Celeste hearthstone Pocket-Run Pool Twilight Imperium Teomachia (Jakub's board game) Master of Orion Magic: The Gathering SpellTower Slay the Spire Tom Francis

Evan Anthony and Jeremy Abel of Feral Cat Den join us to discuss their inspired cosmic adventure game, Genesis Noir. We discuss the aesthetics of interaction, processing your game launch, and shooting for the stars with your ending. Show notes: Feral Cat Den Evan Anthony Jeremy Abel Genesis Noir Vectorpark Hohokum GNOG Cosmicomics Reaktor Florence Skillbard Oikospiel Inside Busby Berkeley Rez Marcin Zeglinski Interstellar L.A. Noire Wabi-sabi Kintsukuroi

Die Gute Fabrik's Studio Lead Hannah Nicklin joins us to discuss her writing and narrative design work on their sublime mutant soap opera, Mutazione. We discuss working with time and an ensemble cast to create a story with "multiple middles," embracing the scars of a lengthy development cycle, and the best bikes in video games. Show notes: Hannah Nicklin Die Gute Fabrik Mutazione Into the Depths: The Music of Mutazione - Part 1 Divised theater Grey's Anatomy Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Narrative Design Sliding Doors Multiple Middles & Mutazione Kentucky Route Zero Critical Response Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft N+1 a bike/game zine Sokpop's Digital Bird Playground

We sit down with Creative Producer Ben Wilson to discuss the thrilling cooperative trick-taking game The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, and how the game builds on and subverts precedents like Spades and Bridge. Show notes: Ben Wilson Wizard Jam Spelunky Dare Challenge Bot Trick-taking games The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine The Crew - A Card Game for Everyone Skat Hearts Spades Bridge Zach's Grit Bourre Hanabi The Perfect Game of Hanabi Ha Ha Ha! game Codenames #remoteplay: Playing in a Pandemic, Part 2

In the final installment of our Kentucky Route Zero miniseries, we sit down with two of its creators - Jake Elliott and Ben Babbitt - to discuss the origins of their collaboration, drawing from influences beyond games, and the process of working on such a long-term project. Show notes: Kentucky Route Zero Jake Elliott Ben Babbitt Stephanie Boluk Patrick LeMieux Sarah Elmaleh A House in California KRZ Kickstarter Pillars and Tongues Dog and Bone are Friends Jon Cates Critcal Artware Demoscene Ableton .microsound Magic Matrix Mixer Mountain Sidequest The Museum of Jurassic Technology Jorge Luis Borges Balloon Diaspora

Gloam Collective's Min-Taylor Bai-Woo and Damian Sommer join us to chat about their thrilling new turn-based fighter Bravery Network Online. We discuss the design of its Pokémon-inspired battles, the clever ways in which they replaced randomness, and making friends in the post-post-apocalypse. Show notes: Gloam Collective Min-Taylor Bai-Woo Damian Sommer Bravery Network Online Guillaume Singelin OKAYKELLYK Emily Carroll Pokémon Showdown! droqen Good BNO example match w/ commentary BNO first tournment playlist Daigo Umehara Star Wars: Destiny Magic: The Gathering - Commander Final Fantasy Tactics Splatoon Yomi Umurangi Generation PATH

In the fifth installment of our Kentucky Route Zero miniseries, we broadcast our thoughts on the Un Pueblo De Nada interlude, before prowling our way through Act V and our closing thoughts on the game. Show notes: Kentucky Route Zero Stephanie Boluk Patrick LeMieux Sarah Elmaleh Alice Munro - Dear Life Clara Rockmore - The Art of the Theramin Clara Rockmore - The Swan Brian Rotman: Signifying Nothing - The Semiotics of Zero Bob Moog WEVP-TV transmedia videos Sandin Analog Image Processor Our Town Jenny Odell - How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy How to unlock the bonus interlude Noah Caldwell-Gervais - Notes From Along Kentucky Route Zero Robert Frost - The Death of a Hired Man Orthographic projection Projective Geometry Haruki Murakami - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Can't Tell Me Nothing with Zach Galifianakis HQ Walt Whitman - Song of Myself, Verse 52 Nabokov and spirals Jon Cates Metal Gear Solid 3, I Love You With All My Heart Jordan Youngblood "Is Metal Gear's Rectum a Digital Grave?: Queer Trauma and Failure in the Metal Gear Solid Series." Panel on Queer Failure. Queerness and Games Conference. University of Berkeley. 24-26 October 2013

Echodog Games' Dyala Kattan-Wright joins us to discuss their wildly unique and wonderful narrative card game Signs of the Sojourner. We chat about the process of developing the game's innovative dialogue system, its surprising effects on player experience, and why sometimes you just can't go home again. Show notes: Eggplant Patreon Dyala Kattan-Wright Echodog Games Signs of the Sojourner Slay the Spire Ascension: A Case Study in Deckbuilding Games Friday Consentacle Fog of Love Hanabi Hearthstone Dream Quest 80 Days Arkham Horror: The Card Game Signs of the Sojourner Original Soundtrack

In the fourth installment of our Kentucky Route Zero miniseries, we dial in our thoughts on the Here and There Along the Echo interlude, before bringing our insight to bear on the brittle facts of Act IV. With guest co-hosts Stephanie Boluk, Patrick LeMieux, and Sarah Elmaleh! Show notes: Kentucky Route Zero Stephanie Boluk Patrick LeMieux Sarah Elmaleh Limits and Demonstrations Little Berlin installation Sarah's Part 3 Twitter thread Karl Marx, Capital Vol. III Karl Marx, The Fragment on Machines Museum of Jurassic Technology Lee Tusman Richard Lemarchand, Attention Not Immersion Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (Will Oldham), I See a Darkness Kelly Reichardt, Old Joy Martin Deny, Exotica Audiogames.net Kenji Eno, Real Sound: Kaze No Regret Sound of Metal Nomadland Gabriel A. Radvansky et al., Walking Through Doorways Causes Forgetting Andre Bazin, Ontology of the Photographic Image Sigmund Freud, The Uncanny

A special episode originally created in partnership with AMC Games for the in-flight entertainment of Airplane Mode, a very literal flight simulator. We chat with its creator Hosni Auji about the challenges and benefits of simulating the mundane, our strangely poignant experiences with the game, and our personal flight etiquette. Show notes: Airplane Mode Hosni Auji AMC Games F.E.E.D. Zero Age NYU Game Center Incubator Gone Home The Twilight Zone - Nightmare at 20,000 Feet BLAH airlines Captain Bennet Foddy