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ETAO Podcast, Episode 106. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/etao-podcast-106-russell-quinn.mp3 Russell Quinn has had a unique career as a technologist enabling stories, building the underlying systems for the ahead-of-its time McSweeney’s app, as well as for the equally-ahead-of-theirs, novel-adjacent multimedia projects The Silent History and The Pickle Index. He’s brought remarkably inventive and playful stories to the world, though not as a storyteller, exactly. That is, until his solo current project Linda & Joan, which tells an intensely personal story about family, loss, and what people can do for each other when things get truly bad. (Given the subject matter, as I say in the intro, this episode does definitely come with a CONTENT WARNING for illness, death, and trauma). Here Russell talks about the desire to make something that is recognizably and definitively a game while still being as thoughtful as ever about form—and about the healing that can come with making art out of awful experiences. You can wishlist Linda & Joan on Steam and Itch, get the “Four Months Earlier” prologue on Steam, Itch, and Apple, and check out the Zine Club and The Candle on the project’s website. You can get “Nice Day for a Walk,” the song from “Four Months Earlier,” on Bandcamp You can also follow Russell (and the project itself) on Twitter. ——— • The Silent History and The Pickle Index are wonderful as well. • Here’s that Miranda July piece that Russell worked on. ——— “All The People Say (Season 4)” by Drew Messinger-Michaels. “Nice Day for a Walk” by Jeremy Warmsley, from Linda & Joan Prologue: “Four Months Earlier.” We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, Podyssey, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 105. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/etao-podcast-105-chevy-ray.mp3 Chevy Ray has been making games for a long time now—though most of them are currently tough to play; RIP Flash—but is probably best known for Ikenfell, a tactical RPG about going to magic school, working through difficult relationships, and petting a great many cats. Here Chevy talks about what it means to keep an RPG character-focused, the difference between nuance and subtlety, his love of “setpiece games,” and the significant hidden benefits of pursuing accessibility. You can get Ikenfell on Steam Humble, GOG, PlayStation, Xbox (where it’s included in GamePass), and Switch. You can get the soundtrack on Bandcamp. ——— • Here’s THE MEATPUNK MANIFESTO. • That game Chevy was talking about was Genital Jousting. • Chevy’s episode of Eggplant is just wonderful. • Cherry Thompson is definitely a person you should know. • As is Ikenfell’s lead sensitivity consultant, Joanna Blackheart. • Those interested in accessibility in games can also check out Can I Play That? and these game accessibility guidelines. • And here’s that Bryce Johnson talk. • If you do want to play the Linda & Joan prologue, “Four Months Earlier,” before listening to the next episode, you can do so here. ——— “All The People Say (Season 4)” by Drew Messinger-Michaels. “Stuck Together 2” and “Paint the Future – Ima’s Theme – Battle 3 (Instrumental)” from the Ikenfell OST by aivi & surasshu. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, Podyssey, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 103. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/etao-podcast-103-chris-king.mp3 Chris King of Batterystaple Games shares a chunk of his time to discuss 30XX, the reimagined, souped-up sequel to the Mega Man X-esque roguelike-alike 20XX. We get pretty far into the weeds as far as the differences between the two games, the double-edged beam-sword of encouraging player-created content from day one, the advantages and disadvantages of working with an engine built from scratch, and why roguelike design patterns are likely here to stay. You can get 30XX on Steam. You can get the soundtrack on Steam and Bandcamp. You can also follow Chris on Twitter. ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “30XX (Main Theme)” and “Atomichron (Clockzone)” from the 30XX OST by Cityfires. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, Podyssey, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 102. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/etao-podcast-102-bryant-young.mp3 Our America puts you in the shoes of a Black father driving his son to school—and if that doesn’t sound potentially harrowing to you, then you might be exactly the project’s intended audience. It’s a work that means to illuminate, instruct, challenge, and speak simple, difficult truths. In this interview, Bryant Young talks about why he started developing Our America, who hopes will hear its message, and what he hopes they’ll walk away with. CONTENT WARNING for racism, police violence, and murder. Here’s where you can download the Our America, alpha/demo, and support the project. You can also follow Bryant on Twitter. ——— • This piece covers the viscous absurdity of American police training really well, as do the YouTube stylings of That Dang Dad. • And I seriously cannot recommend Are Prisons Obsolete? highly enough. ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Never Settle” (with lyrics and vocals by Marcus Abundis) and “Rooting” by Camilo Velez. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, Podyssey, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 101. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/etao-podcast-101-chel-wong.mp3 You might know Chel Wong from her rightly-celebrated, highly modular soundtrack to Kine, and some more people are about to know her from Watch This Space. But you definitely already know her if you’re even tangentially involved in the Boston-area indie scene (or for that matter, the New England Smash scene). She’s in some ways as accomplished at fostering community as she as at crafting intricate, reactive soundscapes. Here we talk about Chel’s music-making process, how her approach to networking has changes, and the specific difficulties of being an extrovert in these long, hug-deprived COVID months. Also, we goof around a fair bit. You can find Watch This Space on Steam. You can get Chel’s music, gamic and otherwise, on Bandcamp. You can also follow Chel on Twitter. ——— • Here’s the episode wherein we talk to Philip Buchanan, previously of 39 Days to Mars and lately of Watch This Space. • Only Cans is a hoot, as is Chel’s chill-ass Shize jingle. ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Helpful Hydra” and “WATCH THIS MENU” from the Watch This Space Original Soundtrack by Chel Wong. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, Podyssey, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 100. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/etao-podcast-100-clipshow.mp3 For our hundredth episode, we’re trying something a little different and editing together some of our favorite moments from the past year of the ‘cast. If you’ve been looking to catch up but haven’t had the time to dive into entire longform interviews, then this should provide a good place to start—and even if you’ve already heard these clips and the episodes they come from, this format should highlight some themes that our interviews have shared in common. This episode features clips from: 98. The Work of War, with Zach Barth 74. Delicious to the (Mad) Max, with David Galindo 85. Access and Challenge, with Greg Haynes 76. That Real Genuine Connection, with Emma Kinema 93. Utopia by Necessity, with Nils Deneken 86. Talking about Way More than Coding, with Moo Yu 82. When It’s Right to Fight, with Shawn Alexander Allen 75. Emotional Survival, with Paula Rogers and Vincent Perea 79. Arvi Is Talk, with Arvi Teikari 92. All Things Liminal and Bespoke, with Damon Reece ——— • The header image is from Necrobarista. • For those unfamiliar with the weapons triangle. • The “XAC” that Greg refers to is the Xbox Adaptive Controller. • The Patrick, Duncan, and Robin that Paula refers to are her fellow Chance Agency team members, Patrick Ewing, Duncan Fyfe, and Robin Sloan. ——— “All The People Say (Season 4)” by Drew Messinger-Michaels. “Killing Time” from the Möbius Front ’83 OST by Matthew Seiji Burns. “A la Idavay!” from the Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! soundtrack by Jonathan Greer. “Cherry” by Don Redman, performed by Harry James and His Orchestra. “Union Maid” and “Talking Union” from Talking Union by The Almanac Singers. “Title Theme” from the Mutazione Original Soundtrack by Alessandro Coronas. “Theme from Knights and Bikes” from the Knights and Bikes soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton. “Use Words, Not Fists” from the Treachery in Beatdown City Episode 1 EP by Inverse Phase. “Stay Human” (feat. Vincent Perea) from the Neo Cab soundtrack by Obfusc. “Baba Is You” from the Baba Is You OST by Arvi Teikari. “Optimism” from the Necrobarista Original Soundtrack by Kevin Penkin. “Tea Time” by George Schwartz, performed by Ray Linn and His Orchestra. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, Podyssey, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 99. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/etao-podcast-99-2020.mp3 2020, everybody. It was a weird year for lots of things, we think it’s fair to say—including but by no means limited to games. So in this episode, we take a moment to recap the games we played this year, the games currently glistening atop (or languishing deep within) our to-read piles, and the games of the future we’re anticipating. From the blockbusters to the altgames, and from the newest newnesses to the remasters and remakes, we compare our notes, clarify our disagreements, and celebrate the games and gameoids we found so very worth celebrating through this stupid, stupid year. ——— • Can you believe that we’ve never actually had Drew, Lucio, and Michelle on the show at the same time? Drew was incredulous, but the data bears it out. So this is an occasion, and a silly, slap-happy dynamic besides. • Here’s Drew’s piece on Death Stranding and Breath of the Wild. • Mark Brown’s video on accessibility in games in 2020 talks a fair bit about The Last of Us Part II’s next-levelness in that department. • Here’s Drew’s piece on Demon’s Souls and the irresolvable weirdness of remakes, and here’s his piece on moon (among other things). • Mixolumia blew up Drew’s timeline, but didn’t win any Game Awards or whatever. Check it out. ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Apple Blossoms” by Vernon Geyer. “Truly Madly Deeply” by Savage Garden, performed by some hard lads in a PUMA commercial, roughly as the recording appears in Hard Lads. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, Podyssey, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 97. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/etao-podcast-97-console-gen-9.mp3 The PlayStation 5 is out, as is the Xbox Series X and Series S Series! That’s exciting, at least for those of us who can get our hands on them. Drew’s been PS5ing, and he and Lucio both built new PCs this year, so now seemed like a fairly ideal time to take stock of the state of consoles, and of gaming machines more generally—what they mean to us now, what they meant to us growing up, and what they mean (or don’t) to the next generation (of people, not consoles). • We only touched briefly on the overall idea of console generations, and of which machines and works belong to each, so here’s an overview and a timeline. • Here’s that Movies with Mikey about Nintendo’s Gen 3 escapades. ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Teenage Machine Age” by Marguerite Johnson and Clarence Micheal, performed by The Travelers with the Bumps Blackwell Orchestra. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, Podyssey, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 96. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/etao-podcast-96-nick-guerin.mp3 After a decade working on the Assassin’s Creed games, Nick Guérin joined Thunder Lotus Games as the Creative Director on Spiritfarer, a farming and management sim about death, kindness, labor, wants, needs, and all manner of other things that Assassin’s Creed (venerable though it is) rarely finds the space to explore. (What a moment it is, going indie). Here we talk about the thrills and pitfalls of inventing an afterlife—or a liminal space between life and death, as in Necrobarista—the importance of getting little human details right, and the enormous difference between a game that merely contains death and one that’s thoughtful about the process of dying. And yes, we do also talk about the whole Gustav thing. A content warning is in order for a (largely death-positive) conversation about death and dying. And a TRIGGER WARNING for a discussion of sexual assault from to 00:44:24 to 00:46:50. You can get Spiritfarer on Steam, GOG, Epic, Itch, Switch, PS4, and Xbox (with also includes PC access via the Microsoft Store, and GamePass, and all that). You can hear the Spiritfarer OST on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple, Deezer, and YouTube. And you can get the Spiritfarer Digital Artbook on Itch. You can also follow Thunder Lotus on Twitter. ——— • Here once again is that Yoko Taro “Philosophies of Violence” video. • For more on fostering a sense of closeness and community in games, check out our talk with Nils Deneken, and for more on death positivity (in and out of games), check out our talk with Gabby DaRienzo. • Here’s Gustave Doré’s etching of Charon from his illustrations of The Divine Comedy. This is the image that Nick mentions as one of the three main original points of inspiration for Spiritfarer, the other two being Studio Ghibli films like My Neighbor Totoro, and farm sims like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley. • Here I thought I’d found an honest-to-God example of a pataphor in the wild, but that remains a tricky thing to do definitively. ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Dust Bunnies” and “Oxbury” from the Spiritfarer Original Soundtrack by Max LL. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, Podyssey, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 95. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/etao-podcast-95-brian-handy.mp3 Brian Handy stops by to discuss Wild Honesty, his game of, well, wild honesty. Just how do you design an experience of radical openness and ever-expanding intimacy? How do you then adapt that networked play, with all its extra layers of isolation and all the kinds of human connection it lack by default? (Brian would argue that it means intentionally not drawing in the player into the game’s fiction—which takes an usual quantity and quality of design discipline). Here we talk about all of that, as well as about design, linguistics, artificial intelligence, the kinds of conversations people of faith might be more used to having, and believe it or not, even an interesting angle on the ageless games-as-art debate. You can get Wild Honesty on Steam and Itch. You can also follow Brian on Twitter. ——— • Here’s that lovely Spry Fox talk, Game Design Patterns for Building Friendships. • TableTopics, for the record, is one of the tabletop conversation games that I’d encountered before and kind of bounced off of. (This is not a review of TableTopics, however). • Here’s the conversation that got me thinking about Keynes recently. • Sure, I’ll link to John Berger’s Ways of Seeing again. What am I gonna do, not link to it again? • And here’s Disco Bear! ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Be Honest with Me” by Gene Autry and Fred Rose, performed by Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights, Gordon Mac Rae with the Don Juans, and Fred Lowry. “Bossa Antigua” by Kevin MacLeod, as heard in Wild Honesty. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, Podyssey, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 94. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/etao-podcast-94-oskar-stalberg.mp3 Oskar Stålberg builds little town dioramas, as he puts it—or more exactly, he builds the procedural generation tools that allow him, and his algorithms, and you the player to build little town dioramas together. You could call this an extension of his work on the “megamap” in The Division, and certainly of his smaller projects such as Brick Block, and of the elegant map generation in his first commercial indie game Bad North. But in some ways, Townscaper is the purest and most focused expression of his sensibility, his skill, and his aesthetical and technical preoccupations. Here Oskar talks about the allure of procedural generation, the oft-unsung joys of toys (as distinct from games or tools), and the vital emotional difference between encountering randomness and embracing wonk. You can get Townscaper on Steam. You can also follow Oskar on Twitter. ——— • I sort of conflate European and Scandinavian names (and by extension, cultures) in the intro—but in the interview, Oskar talks a bit about those very distinctions (and overlaps), so I’ll call this a case of me sounding dumb but you being informed nonetheless. (On-brand, in other words). • “Don’t be a sucker” is a reference to this. • Here’s Oskar getting deeper into the technical side of the wonky quad grid in Townscaper. • And here he is talking about the procedural generation in Bad North, and specifically about that game’s use of wave function collapse. • Martin Kvale’s work really is wonderful. • The best summary of that research on intrinsic and extrinsic rewards is probably this episode of Game Maker’s Toolkit. • The study that I mentioned, and that Mark Brown uses as a source in that video, isthis one. ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Copenhagen” by Walter Melrose and Charlie Davis, performed by Artie Shaw and his Orchestra. “Mush Mouth” by Buddy Johnson, performed by Buddy Johnson and his Orchestra. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, Podyssey, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 93. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/etao-podcast-93-nils-deneken.mp3 Nils Deneken has been working on Mutazione in one way or another since 2008. (You might have heard 2009, but in this interview, we set that particular misconception straight!) Through more than a decade of reinvention and revision, the game has retained its core of ensemble-cast intimacy and gorgeous mutated nature (rendered in desaturated vectors and a sense of figure that it at once weighty and abstract). In this conversation, Nils talks about the emotional and thematic center of Mutazione—from decentering the player-character, to celebrating our complicated relationship to the natural world, to depicting a utopian community where people can, like, you know, talk stuff out. You can play Mutazione on PS4, Steam, GOG, Game Jolt, Itch, and Apple Arcade. You can hear the soundtrack on most places where music gets sold and/or streamed. You can also follow Die Gute Dabrik on Twitter. ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Title Theme,” “Day One Evening Suite,” and “The Trip” from the Mutazione Original Soundtrack by Alessandro Coronas. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, Podyssey, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 92. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/etao-podcast-92-damon-reece.mp3 Damon Reece is the lead writer on Necrobarista, a visual novel about death and coffee (and therefore the rest of life) rendered in a bespoke-unto-madness 3D anime style and set very definitively in Melbourne, Australia. It’s in most ways a visual novel, but there are key ways in which it couldn’t be written or built like an ordinary one of those—or indeed like a movie, or quite like anything else. In this conversation, Damon tells me how this wonderful game was made, why Route 59 probably wouldn’t make a game like this again, why Metroid Prime rules, and all sorts of stuff that Australian players don’t need explained to them even though I most definitely did—like the fact that Necrobarista isn not set in the future, and what the hell Goon of Fortune is. You can play Necrobarista on Steam and Apple Arcade. You can get the soundtrack on Steam and Bandcamp. You can also follow Damon (and Route 59) on Twitter. ——— • Early on, I attribute to Damon a thought that actually came from one of his Route 59 colleagues, namely that a story about death is a bit similar to a story about teenagers, in terms of emotional register. • Here’s the profoundly Australian interview I mentioned. • If you do want to hear more about indigenous Australian (or “Australian”) representation in games, do check out our talk with Phoebe Watson about Chaos Tavern. • Starbucks has made a bit more headway in Colombia, but the fight has not been lost as yet. ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Optimism,” “Confluence,” and “Nostalgia Trip” from the Necrobarista Original Soundtrack by Kevin Penkin, with additional production by Jeremy Lim. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 91. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/etao-podcast-91-co-op.mp3 Drew and Lucio check in on the state of co-op games, especially online ones, in this strange isolated times. How has co-op changed over the past few decades, both in character and in quantity? Why are we so drawn to cooperative games, and why (for us) does team competition just not scratch that same itch? And when you get right down to it, what the hell is up with the guys who grab you and throw you off in Fall Guys? It’s a conversation about cooperation in games, and the broader, deeper value of cooperation in general. Plus, we talk about Goemon’s Great Adventure, because of course we do! ——— • I didn’t have my footage handy, so the image above is from this longplay of Goemon’s Great Adventure. We salute you, longplayers! • You indeed go all the way back to our first and second episodes (interviews with Jake Kazdal and Davey Wreden, respectively) and our third (Lucio’s debut) though the magic of the archvie. • And here’s Drew’s conversation with Kenny Lee, of Cellar Door Games. • The Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition has online co-op, but not couch co-op. Apologies if that wasn’t clear. • A few times in this episode, we mention the streams that we’ve been doing lately. Like Lucio says, they’ve been on ay odd hours, but they’re good stuff—and you can watch them, if you’re so inclined, on YouTube and Twitch. • Here’s that video about Call of Duty. • Unravel, not unravelled. • Streets of Fire is the movie I was thinking of. D’oh. ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Burning My Soul (Flaming Edo Castle)” from the Goemon’s Great Adventure OST, by Shigeru Araki, Yasumasa Kitagawa, Hirotaka Kurita, Yusuke Kato and Nobuyuki Akena, produced by the GOEMON Sound Team. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 90. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/etao-podcast-90-warren-arnold.mp3 Warren Arnold has been with Jackbox Games since they were Jellyvision, having worked first on the Facebook iteration of You Don’t Know Jack, and later on every Jackbox Party Pack, including the forthcoming seventh one. Here he talks about the peculiarities of Jackbox Games’ design process, the finer points of comedy writing in big, collaborative projects, and the ethical mandates of moderation—with special attention to his work on Push the Button, Patently Stupid, and Quiplash 3. You can play The Jacbkbox Party Packs on Steam, Epic, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Xfinity, and the Mac App Store, with links to all those storefronts on the Jackbox Games website. The Jackbox Games folks also stream on Twitch and YouTube. You can also follow Warren (and Jackbox) on Twitter. ——— • The header image is from the glorious absurd Quiplash 3 trailer. • Here’s “People Are Alike All Over,” the Twilight Zone episode that inspired Push the Button. • Here’s a blog post on the new moderation features in Party Pack 7. • Here’s the current state of the profoundly bizarre U.S. Army Esports Team situation, with its bannings and unbannings. • And here’s that stream that showed an early version of Quiplash 3 specifically, and a more recent stream showing a slightly less early version! ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. Some music from the Quiplash 3 Original Soundtrack, by Andy Poland. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 89. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/etao-podcast-89-ilan-eshkeri.mp3 Ilan Eshkeri has had a storied career in film and television—from Layer Cake, 47 Ronin, and Ninja Assassin, to Black Sea, Still Alice, Austenland, and the Shaun the Sheep Movie—and has recently been working in video games as well. He’s now taken the playful reactive soundtracking tricks he honed on The Sims 4 and applied them to the samurai-epic hypercinema of Ghost of Tsushima. This score, a collaboration with Shigeru Umebayashi (who Ilan worked with on Hannibal Rising as well) showcases Ilan’s penchant for research, and for letting individual instrumentalists leave their stamp on the pieces they play. Here he talks about his process, his goals on this particular work, and the discoveries he made along the way. You can play Ghost of Tsushima on PS4. The original score is out now on Milan Records. You can hear more of Ilan’s work on his website. You can also follow Ilan on Twitter. ——— • Here (once again) is that GDC talk about Bloodborne. • If you’ve never seen Junko Ueda perform, you should probably go ahead and fix that. • I’m pretty sure it was Raymond Chandler who said that “there is no art without resistance to the medium.” ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Heart of the Jito” and “Lord Shimura” from the Original Score to Ghost of Tsushima by Ilan Eshkeri and Shigeru Umebayashi. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 88. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/etao-podcast-88-laura-michet-brendon-chung-1.mp3 Brendon Chung is the main creative force behind Atom Zombie Smasher, Gravity Bone, Thirty Flights of Loving, Flotilla, Flotilla 2, Quadrilateral Cowboy, and the upcoming Skin Deep. Laura Michet is an accomplished writer, and a perhaps equally accomplished editor, having lent her talents to Industries of Titan, Frog Fractions 2, and Where The Water Tastes Like Wine—not to mention her really excellent noncommercial work, which includes one of the greatest Twine games ever made, Swan Hill. Now they’re making games together, beginning with Planetfriend. Here Brendon and Laura discuss their work, the actual process of working during (and through) our current hellish historical moment, and the infinite solace to be found in movies. You can find Brendon’s work on the Blendo Games website, and wishlist Skin Deep on Steam. You can find Laura’s work, and her write-ups thereof, on her website. Planetfriend is available on Itch. Industries of Titan is available on Epic. You can also follow Brendon and Laura on Twitter. ——— • Here’s Scavengers. It’s good. • And the movies Brendan and Laura mentioned were The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Summer Wars, Artemis Fowl, Heist, Da 5 Bloods, and Why Don’t You Play in Hell? ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Forbidden Planet” by David Rose and His Orchestra. “Leap Frog” by Joe Garland, performed by Les Brown and His Band of Renown. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 87. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/etao-podcast-87-almost-a-game.mp3 Bobby Fowler and Brenda Noiseux outrun the Hunter to join us again and talk about Space Chase, their co-op tabletop map-’em-up and the delightful follow-up to their assiduously PvP card game Wicked Apples. This is, to put it mildly, a strange time to be making indie tabletop games—not only because tabletop games are irresolvably social (much to the fear-then-joy of introverts such as myself) but also because the way these things usually get sold is by players and developers playing together. That’s intimate, and wonderful, and keenly missing from our lives right now (but hopefully, hopefully not for too much longer). You can get Space Chase and Wicked Apples on the Almost A Game website. You can also follow Almost A Game on Twitter. ——— • For some more of Bobby and Brenda, do consider the episode on Wicked Apples (which was something of a Halloween special, even!) • PAX East was indeed February 27 to March 1 this year. • The Jason Rohrer game I was thinking of was Diamond Trust of London. • Pipe Mania! • Here’s that message from Toby Fox. • At time of posting, PAX Unplugged is still on. ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Space Command” by Cousin Herb Henson, performed by Dallas Frazier with Cousin Herb Henson’s Orchestra. “The Chase” by Tadd Dameron, performed by The Tadd Dameron Sextet featuring Fats Navarro. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 86. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/etao-podcast-86-moo-yu.mp3 Moo Yu stops by to talk about his work on Knights and Bikes, Subsurface Circular, LittleBigPlanet, and several of the Ratchet & Clank games—plus his advocacy, activism, and mentorship via POC in Play. Beyond that, he gets into a deep, generous discussion about the strange position of the code itself in how we understand games. Obviously the code is necessary and important, but it’s not necessarily what we talk about when we talk about games, exactly. So how do we talk about the work a programmer does on a game, without necessarily going all the way down some highly technical, domain-specific or other? That seems important. You can get Knights and Bikes on Steam, GOG, PS4, and Switch. You can learn more about POC in Play on their website. You can also follow Moo (and Foam Sword) on Twitter. ——— • Here’s Moo’s talk at GduX.me. • The video I was thinking of was not the big player-facing PlayStation 5 hardware reveal, but that vastly more developer-facing Unreal Engine 5 demo. • In the spirit of keeping the notes quasi–game-related, here’s Polygon’s roundup of ways to support the current protests. ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Theme from Knights and Bikes” by Daniel Pemberton. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.

ETAO Podcast, Episode 85. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/etao-podcast-85-greg-haynes.mp3 Greg Haynes is the Lead Games User Researcher at AbleGamers, an organization dedicated, simply but profoundly, to making sure that everyone can play video games, regardless of disability. That’s a huge mandate, serving a dauntingly large and diverse group of players. So in this interview, Greg talks us through AbleGamers’ philosophy and approach, from research via Player Panels, to workshops and consultancy matching with developers, to their rightly-celebrated work on what is now known as the Xbox Adaptive Controller (controller formerly known as the Adroit Switchblade), to what might be next. You can find out more about AbleGamers on their website. You can also follow Greg (and AbleGamers) on Twitter. ——— • Here’s Greg’s piece for the AbleGamers site, with its timely addendum. • Here’s that stunning Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality on itch.io. • Here’s some context on AbleGames’ work with Crystal Dynamics on Marvel’s Avengers, and specifically Cherry Thompson’s work on the game. • Here’s the Game Maker’s Toolkit “2019 in Accessibility” video. • And here’s that Noclip podcast about Sekiro. • The golden strawberries in Celeste do count, but they count exactly the same as regular-ass strawberries—so there’s absolutely nothing in the entire game, including the best ending, that requires a player to mess around with the golden strawberries at all. • And Brolylegs is impressive as hell. Street Fighter is the game he plays at a tournament level, and he recently beat Dark Souls—with his face, he hastens to point out—on his Twitch channel. • Here’s the other interview with Greg that I mentioned. ——— “All The People Say (Season 3)” by Holly Hyperion. “Hobson Street Blues” by Bob Zurke, arranged by Fud Livingston, performed by Bob Zurke and His Delta River Band. “Cherry” by Don Redman, performed by Harry James and His Orchestra. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCasts, Overcast, and RadioPublic. You can also subscribe using good old-fashioned RSS. Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project. Left-click to play. Right-click to download.