Kritiqal Care

Dave Hoffman (they/them) is the creator of Mixolumia (davemakes, 2020), an arcade puzzle game combining contextual soundtracks with diamond-based combos. They came on the show to dig into the spontaneous origins of the game, how it continued to evolve and incorporate player creations, and the difficulty of marketing puzzle games in a streamer attention economy. Later, they admit to having never seen Goncharov (Martin Scorsese, 1973).

You can follow Dave on Twitter @davemakes, on cohost @geometric, and purchase Mixolumia on itch, Steam, and Switch.

Dave’s Cool Thing to Share

Things Discussed

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.

Cosmo D (he/him) is a game developer and musician whose work explores urban life, the creator economy, and giant pizza demanding buildings. Hot off the release of Betrayal At Club Low (2022), Cosmo D sat down with me to detail his dramatic pivot out of music into games, finding a medium that inspires you to keep growing, and chasing his space trucker sim white whale.

You can play Cosmo D’s games on Steam and itch, purchase the soundtracks on Bandcamp, and join his community on Discord.

Cosmo D’s Cool Thing to Share

Things Discussed

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.

Max Miller (they/them) is a composer, writer, and game designer. As part of new studio Pitter-Patter, they released Commonplace (2022), an ordinary adventure game about working in an office. For this episode, Max spent some time talking about the game’s experimental development, how they structured the soundtrack as a companion work, and a desire to make games that push against consumption driven mechanics.

Spoiler advisory: we do not discuss many specific moments in Commonplace, but do talk a lot about the general structure and tone of the game. I’d recommend playing the game before listening, if only because everything will make much more sense.

Commonplace is available on PC and Mac for free via itch.

You can follow Max on Twitter @Funbil_ and keep up with Pitter-Patter @PitterPatterDev.

Max’s Good Thing to Share

Things Discussed

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.

Wayward Strand (Ghost Pattern, 2022) is an upcoming adventure game which follows Casey - a teenager and aspiring journalist - as she explores a hospital airship floating above the Australian country-side. Two of its developers, Goldie Bartlett (she/her) and Jason Bakker (he/him), joined me on this episode to dive into the game's origins, how the continuous in-game clock allows for new forms of storytelling, and how collaborating with indigenous and mental health advocacy groups helped the team write richer, more honest characters.

Wayward Strand releases September 15th, 2022 on Steam, Playstation 4/5, Xbox One/Series, and Nintendo Switch.

You can follow Goldie, Jason, and Ghost Pattern on Twitter @GhostTownGoldie, @jason_bakker, and @ghostpattern (respectively).

Goldie and Jason's Inspiring Things to Share

Things Discussed

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.

Adam Le Doux (he/him) is a game and software developer best known for creating the tiny game engine, Bitsy. Just shy of Bitsy’s six-year birthday, Adam came on the show to talk about Bitsy’s unassuming origins and surprising evolution as part of the tiny games scene. Later, we discuss how Bitsy’s form sets in in opposition to conventional, capital driven games and software, the importance of the engine’s community, and how to preserve these games against the forces of tech oligarchies.

You can find Adam’s games and tools on itch, and follow him on Twitter @adamledoux.

Adam’s Cool Things to Share

Things Discussed

Spiders (they/them) are an alt game dev specializing in queer, grimy, anti-tech industry experiments. In this episode, we chat about their upcoming anthology game, The Museum of Radically Obsolete Futures, the tension between wanting to make shit that’s cool vs shit that sells, and how vital communities like The Queer Games Bundle are to the weird game scene.

You can find spiders behind you, play their games on itch, and follow them on Twitter @spiderszzz.

Spiders' Cool Thing to Share

Things Discussed

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.

In collaboration with utopian collective Trust, designer Son La Pham (he/him) and developer Francis Tseng (he/they) created Half Earth Socialism (2022), a browser game companion to Troy Vettese and Drew Pendergrass’s book of the same name. As part of the game’s launch, Son La and Francis joined me on the show to discuss how the collaboration began, the challenge of building a global planning simulator as a browser game, and the importance of going beyond raw calculations to allow players to become emotionally invested.

You can play Half Earth Socialism for free and purchase the book from Verso.

You can learn more about Son La Pham and Francis Tseng on their personal sites.

Good Things to Share

Things Discussed

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.

Fantasia Malware - comprised of Jira Trello (she/her), Chloê Langford (she/her), and Gabriel Helfenstein (he/him) - are an experimental game label specializing in mega-maximalist un-game performance art. They crowded into KRITIQAL’s digital podcast booth to discuss grotesque beauty, games as instruments, and creating art that can’t be wiki-fied. Later, they recommend birds.

You can learn more about Fantasia Malware and subscribe to their mailing list on their website. Jira also hosts the podcast, New Genesis Online.

Fantasia Malware’s cool things to share

Things Discussed

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.

Studio Oleomingus is an art practice and game studio based Chala, India, whose work explores magical realism, post-colonial landscapes, and redacted authorship. Studio founder Dhruv Jani (he/him) joined me to talk through his unique history with modern videogames, his skepticism at the necessity of systemic interaction, and how employing fictitious external authors connects Oleomingus’ work to a larger history of post-independence Indian storytellers.

You can learn more about Studio Oleomingus on their website, play their games for free on Steam or itch, and follow them on Twitter @studiooleomingu.

Dhruv’s Cool Thing to Share

Things Discussed

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.

Joel Jordon (they/them) is the solo game developer of Time Bandit (2022), a real-time anti-capitalist work sim about how our subjective experience of time is shaped by our relationship to labor and historical forces. With Time Bandit’s first part releasing soon, Joel took some time to join me in talking through the game’s themes, how effective games can be as political instruments, and the hazy ethics of games-as-work.

You can wishlist Time Bandit on Steam and play the free prologue on itch. Joel is on Twitter @pumbertop.

Joel’s Encouraging Thing to Share

Things Discussed

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.