Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!
Timhttps://giantsquidstudios.com/Nathanhttps://twitter.com/MommysBestGameshttp://mommysbestgames.com/website_store/index.htmlAre there any negatives to having an easy mode that takes the player through the entire game? Should the "best ending" be locked somehow in easy mode?Why are we drawn to art that updisturbs, depresses, or scares? (And yes, "catharsis" is a weak answer!)How Super Mario 35 (and maybe battle royales in general) solved the worst unsolvable problem of multiplayerJohn asks: "Licensing issues and content guidelines have led to a homogenized aesthetic on YouTube that leads to all produced-in-bulk videos for children having the same sound effects and music."What's different (better or worse) about playing games with kids? Do you play games with your kids?What sports would be more interesting with low/0 gravity? Or with higher gravity?Tim's vegan commune cooking disaster storiesShoot 1-Up.Controlling all your spaceships at the same time.The big thing about Galaga.The forever scrolling timeline of new content that you're fed all the time.The funniest Boris Vallejo painting.Being bummed to find out that Boris Vallejo was looking at people and painting them rather than just imagining them.Name-dropping Tom of Finland.Staring at pink blobs all the time.Making sure you're not wearing your good socks because they're about to be blown off.Looping the game twice with no deaths and no bombs.Jamestown.Being forced to do something unpleasant to feel a sense of satisfaction when you are given what you want.Not supporting an easy mode as well as you should have because you assumed those people could just play co-op.Bringing in a playtester who has never used a mouse before.Not valuing your own fake accomplishments as much because other people accomplished the same fake accomplishments more easily.Save the Date, by Chris Cornell.Having to wake up to play Super Hard mode.The necessity of hand-tuning all the enemy AI in shoot em up difficulty levels.Psychoanalyzing the entire human race at once.People turning to media to experience strong emotions.Whether it's easier to elicit good or bad emotions in the viewer.The safety of seeing a horrible thing that will definitely never happen to you.Being unusually upset by the Boston Marathon bombing because you recently ran a marathon.Knowing that an album is going to fuck you up because it is too proximate, and choosing not to listen.A scary movie taking months to purge from your brain.The relief of when the demons show up.People lining up at a party to play That Dragon Cancer.How movies basically never hurt children.Wanting to know what's in the box but also knowing that what's in the box will ruin your life for months.How you lose half the time in multiplayer games.Super Mario 35.The various ways video games can make you feel like you're winning harder.Taking turns feeling good at video games.We Didn't Playtest This At AllEverybody choosing a number and everybody who chose 5 being the winner.Trying to win at Scrabble based on style points.Coming up with as many secondary win conditions as possible so that everybody can win even if they lost.Choosing a safeword to indicate that it's time to switch topics.Making all your own opulently animated scenes.Playing games as a way to develop social relationships.Empowering your son to express himself even though he's making a shitty Pokemon deck.Finding non-combat activities to do with the Pokemon that are not very good at combat.Buying SNES Classic to play games with your son and then realizing that there are more worthwhile games to play than those that merely entertain.Games which give you value that you can take out into the world.Wanting to show your kid the good stuff so that they can have a better life than you did.Learning music theory by listening to Justin Bieber.Worrying that you'll pollute your kid's natural interests with your taste in video games.A very nice video game world for other people to explore.Staring at people and saying "papaya" until they're like "why do you keep saying papaya"Skateboarding in low gravity.Full contact basketball with trampolines.Immersion Blender Night.Immersion blended salad.Immersion blended vegan lasagna.Learning the hard way that flambe does not burn off that much of the alcohol.A gargantuan stock pot of chocolatey oatmeal that is far too salty for human consumption.Improvising around your cooking mistakes.Promising to talk about Paddington 2 next episode.Going to the Giant Squid web page and checking out Tim's bio.Barf-sealed copies of Pig Eat Ball.