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:

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 Pal

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 Stud

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.

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 Je

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

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 Fla

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 Bett