This week, we play The Library of Babble, a “downloadable library” by Demi. Named after the famous Borges short story, it’s a game about a collectively-written landscape of text, stories, and musings. We talk about how this game manages to frame the conversation that its players will have without ever directly limiting what they can write, and we share some of the notes that we encountered when we played. The Borges allusion prompts a digression about algorithmically generated images, randomness, and really big numbers.

You can buy the game here: https://idlemurmurs.itch.io/babble

And follow the creator on Twitter: @idlemurmurs

In this week’s episode, we play Bird of Passage, a game by SpaceBackyard, the designers of Like Roots in the Soil, which longtime listeners will recognize as the game we featured in our 8th episode. We talk about earthquakes, spirits, Japanese folklore, and the relationship between narrative and puzzles in game design. A question about cab etiquette prompts an extended discussion of K-mart Muzak, for some reason. 

Find the game here: https://spacebackyard.itch.io/bird-of-passage

And follow the creators on Twitter: @SpaceBackyard

This week, we talk about a new Ludum Dare game: Outside the Box, by IcyLavah. It’s a puzzle game about moving a box around obstacles and outside a bigger box. We talk about the elegant design of this simple game, from its intuitive tutorial to its subtle screen transitions. Jordan tells everybody what a mise en abyme is. Blake discovers a secret speedrun strat. 

Find the game here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/outside-the-box

And follow the creator on Twitter: @icylavah

This week, we play Tetromino Slide, a rage-inducing (that’s a compliment, don’t worry) browser game by Stephen Lavelle that combines Tetris with the puzzle game Threes. We talk about how the game radically upends everything you think you know about Tetris, and also we curse a lot. We go on a long digression about the place of Tetris in game history, and Blake explains the Tetris block-selection algorithm.

You can play the game here: https://www.increpare.com/game/tetromino-slide-tetromino-rutsch.html

This week, we look at Need 4e+9 Speed (aka, Need Four Billion Speed), a game about driving through the sky and glitching out. It’s an intentionally ambiguous game, and we quickly realize that we had different interpretations of a core mechanic. The game prompts a conversation about ambiguity in games, floating point numbers, game physics, and the difficulty of maintaining the magic of game secrets in the age of the Internet.

Download the game here: https://kalonica.itch.io/need-4e9-speed

And follow the creators on Twitter: @Kalonica_ and @jason_bakker

This week, we do something a little bit different: instead of surveying one game, we look at a cluster of games from the Javascript 13K game development competition. All these designers completed the impressive technical challenge of designing a game that is under 13kb when zipped. There are racing games, top-down melee games, twists on classic games like Asteroid and Tic-Tac-Toe, and a clicker game that we both fell in love with. We talk a bit about the relationship between technical limitations and creativity.

You can find the entries for this year’s competition here: https://js13kgames.com/entries

And you can follow the competition on Twitter: @js13kGames

This week, your intrepid hosts go where no game has gone before - into the wild world of internet sincerity. The game of the hour is Kind Words (by PopCannibal), a relaxing and welcoming space for players to express their woes to others, ask for help, and dish out some of their own advice. This prompts Jordan and Blake to discuss the shortage of safe places on the internet for expressing sincerity, as well as the positive impact of such spaces existing, and in this case, flourishing.

And follow the creators on twitter: @popcannibal

In this week’s episode, we explore the world of An Afternoon Rippling, a narrative game designed by Marcie LaCerte. We talk about cars as status symbols, aimless twenty-somethings, Guy Fieri, creativity, 90s cartoon animation, and how much we love the kooky characters of this desert valley (especially Igor—gotta love Igor).

Download the game here: https://marslizard.itch.io/anafternoonrippling

Follow the creator on Twitter: @marslizarb

The title of this week’s game is quite a mouthful: “caged bird don’t fly caught in a wire sing like a good canary come when called”... by Tyler Swietanski. It’s a short but entrancing exploration game that resists description. We agree that the game does a great job of creating a distinct impression without text or an easily definable narrative, and call out the many little touches that have been added to the game to really hammer home that impression. Blake gives some obligatory praise to the music. 

Find the game here: https://justadog.itch.io/caged-bird-dont-fly-caught-in-a-wire-sing-like-a-good-canary-come-when-called

And follow the creator on Twitter: @justadog_ski

This week, we play Devon Wiersma’s narrative game “Who Killed My Uncle?”, a game about exploring through your uncle’s old letters from WW2. We talk about this game’s unique narrative strategies and how it manages to pack an “emotional punch” into the act of censoring a letter. Then we speculate about historical accuracy, remember the time we saw a captured U-Boat in a museum, and go on a tangent about Telling Lies, because hey, we are nothing if not predictable. 

Find the game here: https://devonwiersma.itch.io/who-killed-my-uncle

And follow the creator on Twitter: @Devon_Wiersma