Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games

Left to our own devices without a guest, we get a little goofy - thankfully our listener letters overfloweth, so we dive into a few of them. Thanks, listeners! Show Notes: Jupiter Sunrise Dinner with the Band GeoGuesser World Cup 2023 Knytt Seiklus Daniels: Why We Tell The Stories We Tell Pale Fire

Four of ours hosts went to the 2024 Game Developers Conference, and we lived to share anecdotes, interesting games we saw, and the highlights (and injuries) of our week! Also, Rob chases down a handful of other lovely devs to tell us the best/hardest things about making games right now. Show Notes: Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure Experimental Game Workshop Museum of Mechanics: Lockpicking Once Upon a Jester Misshapen Mediterranea Inferno Kill Lincoln The Crush House

We're joined by LocalThunk, solo creator of the hypnotic deckbuilder Balatro. We discuss flauting the fashion of a genre and going into development blind, the benefits of balacing by feel, and why Balatro shouldn't exist. Show Notes: Balatro LocalThunk Big two Luck Be a Landlord Slice & Dice Slay the Spire Risk of Rain 2

We're joined by renowned designer Eric Chahi (Another World, From Dust) to discuss his singularly surreal VR adventure Paper Beast. We discuss building a living ecosystem born from constraints, how the craft has changed over the decades, and the indecency of technology. Show Notes: Eric Chahi Paper Beast Another World From Dust Heart of Darkness Strandbeest TsuShiMaMiRe Paprika Pale Blue Dot

We're joined by Jon Ingold, co-founder of Inkle Studios (80 Days, Heaven's Vault) to discuss A Highland Song - a wild adventure through the Scottish Highlands. We chat about creating narrative-driven games without a critical path, allowing players to fail forward, and the origins of Inkle's beloved narrative scripting language, ink. Show Notes: Jon Ingold A Highland Song Inkle Studios ink The Forever Labyrinth Rick Dangerous TV Superstars Inform MUDs Uncharted 3's horse-riding section

We (belatedly) celebrate the 5th anniversary of our show with a sprawling, silly, reflective episode with a full house of hosts! Thanks for listening to us for all this time. <3 Show Notes: Bob Mould Heat: Pedal to the Metal Everest Pipkin's The Poppy Grower Learning Moonring with Zach A Link to the Past Redux Paper Beast Late Show 3-Legged Race: Video Game Speedrunner Edition Tharsis Blue Thunder Everyday Shooter PixelJunk Monsters Puzzled Pint Sleep No More Teeny Little Super Guy LearnedLeague

We welcome Rob Dubbin (he/they) as a permanent member of the host pool! We discuss his journey from Late Night into making games, applicable lessons learned in the writers' room, and the importance of making your own shot. Show Notes: Rob Dubbin NYU Game Center Babycastles Wonderville Game Studies Study Buddies I Am America (And So Can You!) Earl Grey ZZT by Anna Anthropy London Jerry: Freelance Mailman Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondants' Dinner Samurai Gunn Sportsfriends Scripto Scripto + Global Game Jam 2024

We're joined by Kevin Poupard, co-creative director of the beautiful, meditative climbing game Jusant. We discuss the pains and gains of physics, trying something new as a studio, and anthropomorphizing mountains. Plus special guest co-host Mark Brown of Game Maker's Toolkit! Thanks Mark! Show Notes: Jusant GMTK - How Jusant Makes Rock-Climbing More Immersive Mind Over Magnet Grow Home Shadow of the Colossus

We sit down with our newest co-host, writer/developer Rob Dubbin, to each count down our Top 5 games of 2023, alongside picks from previous show guests and our listeners. Happy New Year! Our GOTY picks (SPOILERS): Zach: Super Locomotive Kirby's Dream Land 2 The F Train Simulator Playing Wii-U with a kid Yamaha TENORI-ON Sarah: Betrayal at Club Low Puzzmo Crosswords The Emerald Flame Case of the Golden Idol Organized Labor Andy: System Shock (remake) Pikmin 1+2 (remakes) Horseless Carriage Betrayal at Club Low Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition Rob: Puzzmo Crosswords Overflow Lasers & Feelings Mr. Sun's Hatbox Rude Tales of Magic Laura: Dredge Return of the Obra Dinn-likes VIDEOVERSE Girls' High School Mystery Class The Exit 8 Doug: The Password Game Human Chess 5th Season of Survivor Maryland Slice & Dice Blood on the Clocktower Nick: Rez Infinite PSVR2 w/ eye tracking Hi-Fi RUSH So Clover! Tux and Fanny EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 6 Other picks from guests and listeners: Suika Game Baldur's Gate 3 Puyo Puyo Tetris Picross S9 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Disc golf Void Stranger El Paso, Elsewhere Basilisk 2000 Whist 22 Xenonauts 2 myhouse.wad Pikayune Dreams Magic Spellslingers Other things mentioned: Rob Dubbin Laura's 31 Days of Halloween newsletter Berghain Trainer Glitch City bathroom game

Daria Radu, Ben Wilson, and our very own Douglas Wilson join us to discuss their trick-taking card game Spoils, featured as an optional game within story-driven adventure game Saltsea Chronicles. We discuss the genesis of the game, drawing inspiration from worldbuilding, trick-taking as a mechanic, the programming of the AI systems, and more. Show Notes: Episode 69: Building a Better Bridge with Ben Wilson Spoils - A Development Retrospective Briscola Chiamata  Bridge Skat The Fox in the Forest

The creators of Tux and Fanny - Albery Birney and Gabriel Koenig - stop by to discuss their existential and hilarious adventure game Tux and Fanny. We discuss collaboration as improv comedy, the benefit of working with people from outside of games, and creating a Saturday morning cartoon from another world. Show Notes: Tux and Fanny (game) Tux and Fanny (film) Albert Birney Gabriel Koenig Dr. Mario or: House I Learned to Love Video Games Again and Accidentally Made One Pixilart Stalker Birth - Eggplant Episode Turn Towards Instead of Away Russian Winnie-the-Pooh McPixel Animal Crossing: New Horizons Katamari Damacy by L. E. Hall Humanity Stray Super Mario Bros. 35 The Books - The Lemon of Pink (bonus from post-show discussion)

We're joined by creative director Hannah Nicklin and writer Harry Josephine Giles to discuss Die Gute Fabrik's beautiful new story-driven adventure, Saltsea Chronicles. We dig into the world-building and construction of the playable ensemble cast, the writer's room that pulled it off, and building out design process as design. Show Notes: Saltsea Chronicles Die Gute Fabrik Hannah Nicklin Harry Josephine Giles Ink Deep Dive: Designing a narrative for multiple middles and multiple heroes in Saltsea Chronicles Saltsea Chronicles and Writing the Future Pool Panic Building a Better Bridge with Ben Wilson A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit notgoingbacktonormal.com 'Endemic' SARS-CoV-2 and the death of public health Rebecca Solnit: When the Hero is the Problem

We talk to our very own Zach Gage about his brand new games website, Puzzmo. We talk about player curiosity, newspaper games, Crosswords, and more. Show Notes: Episode 37: Designing Around Language with Zach Gage Puzzmo manifesto AVCX How Hard Could It Be? (crossword puzzle by Rob Dubbin)

Ian MacLarty and Kalonica Quigley join us to discuss their open world physics simulation game, Mars First Logistics. We talk about the tech art behind the game's visual style, the procedurally generated landscape, the humor of the gameplay, and more. Show Notes: Mars First Logistics Catacombs of Solaris Apartment Red Desert Render Out of Bounds: Exploring the Limits of Videogames Ian's tech art posts Jumpgrid Bennett Foddy blog post about zk map

We're joined by Patrick Traynor, creator of Patrick's Parabox, a mind-bending recursive puzzle game about boxes within boxes. We discuss following your gut to what a game wants to be, being part of the puzzle design community, and our core philosophies behind puzzle design. Show Notes: Patrick's Parabox Patrick Traynor Linelith I Wanna Be the Guy Fangames Sokosoko Sokoban Stephen's Sausage Roll Singles - Rebecca Sugar Patrick's Parabox OST Osmos Puzzle Level Idea Strategies The Witness Tyler Glaiel - Make and release lots of small games before making a big one Jonathan Blow - Truth in Game Design                    

We're taking a small summer break, so please enjoy one of our favorite episodes from 2020 with a new introduction from Doug! The ENTIRE all-star Disc Room team - Kitty Calis, JW Nijman, Doseone, and Terri Vellmann - stop by for a rowdy disc-ussion on their new arcade sci-fi avoid-em-up. We chat about making the Margherita pizza of games, nailing the details to make a simple concept sing, and making the most of team collaborations. Show notes: Disc Room Launch trailer Kitty Calis JW Nijman Doseone Terri Vellmann Pizza Margherita Disc Room Game Jam VVVVVV Chris Ware Monolith Bit Pilot

We're honored to be joined by Gilles De Coster, host of our favorite Belgian reality TV game show - De Mol - to talk about the process, inspirations, and execution of the sublime game design behind its thrilling, subversive challenges. We spend the first hour giving all the context you'll need to follow along, before diving into the interview. This is a special one for us, check it out! Show Notes: De Mol (SPOILERS) The Mole (inferior American version) Wie is de Mol? (Dutch version) The Amazing Race Every Game in This City Bestemming X

We're joined by Abhi to discuss Venba - Visai Games' short narrative cooking game about family, love, and loss. We discuss uniting narrative and gameplay, making a very personal game in a commercial industry, and creating a cooking experience with its own distinct flavor. Show Notes: Abhi Venba Papers, Please Assemble with Care Idli Exit/Corners Wholesome Games Laundry Bear Games Alpha Something - Venba soundtrack Keel Haul Abhi's picks: Favorite cooking videos: Layered Biriyani Kerala Style Fried Chicken Chicken Ghee roast Great Tamil movies to get started with: Merku Thodarchi Malai Kaaka Muttai Kaithi A playlist of songs that inspired Venba's soundtrack

We're joined by Color Gray Games' Andrejs Kļaviņš to discuss their deeply rewarding detective game The Case of the Golden Idol. We discuss building on the game's cross-media inspirations, finding the 'aha!' moments in playtesting, and trusting yourself to trust your players. Show Notes: The Case of the Golden Idol Color Gray Games Andrejs Kļaviņš Resonance Return of the Obra Dinn gamedeveloper.com interview GMTK - What Makes a Good Detective Game? Understanding Comics William Hogarth Her Story Outer Wilds Dark Souls Foucault's Pendulum PostCurious episode Godot Engine Mark Brown episode SpiderHeck Hercule Poirot Poker Face show Under a Killing Moon

We're joined by actor Ashly Burch and Guerilla Games' Ben McCaw and Jochen Willemsen to deconstruct their deeply collaborative work on the Horizon game franchise - building the character of Aloy, the role of performance capture, and carving out nuance and evolution in a blockbuster series. Show Notes: Horizon Forbidden West Horizon series Ashly Burch Ben McCaw Jochen Willemson Hey Ash Whatcha Playin'? Tenzin (Uncharted 2) Gildun (Horizon character) Seyka (Horizon character)