Starlight Car

It’s another ride in the parlour as Elvie talks with David Evans about the audio only video game The Vale: Shadow of the Crown. David tells us all about developing a game for blind and low-sighted gamers, and navigating blind representation in not-so-stereotypical fashion, and what making a game for such an under-considered space in gaming means for the people who play it.

This episode also contains clips from the game so you can listen and experience it for yourself, which also means that it’s presented in, and has been edited to utilize, full stereo sound. So give this one a listen with a nice pair of speakers or just a cool pair of headphones if you want the full experience.

The Vale: Shadow of the Crown is available on Steam, itchio, the Epic Games Store, and Xbox. You can follow Falling Squirrel on Twitter at @FallingSquirrel, and sign up for their newsletter for more updates on what the studio will be up through their website.

You can follow us on Twitter at @VGChooChoo. Elvie can be followed at @lvmaeparian

Elvie (@lvmaeparian) shared a Starlight Car ride with Dani (@danulmao), Kevin (@killkingjoy), and Alexis (@theswordwizard), several key members behind the development of dating sim, ValiDate: Struggling Singles in Your Area.

ValiDate hopes to fill a gap in dating sims and romance games when it comes to depicting actual, authentic experiences in the dating world as a person of color and with other fellow people of color. The team talks about the hurdles in producing an independent game without previous finance backing, on top of navigating around the hostilities against the creation of a game that goes against the norm.

You can follow us on Twitter at @VGChooChoo. Elvie can be followed at @lvmaeparian and further developments on ValiDate can be followed at @ValiDateGame.

The theme for Starlight Car is a "Super Chill Remix" of Aquamarine by Magic Circuit, which is available off their self titled album Magic Circuit. You can find their music at https://magic-circuit.bandcamp.com or follow them on twitter @magic_circuit.

The Starlight Car is back in service, and Elvie (@lvmaeparian) has a conversation with Joerg Reisig (@_Chorge), head of Anomaly Games and lead developer of The Fermi Paradox, a game that seeks to build connections across galaxies as opposed to straining and competing against them. Joerg goes into his experience in the triple AAA games industry that motivated his leap into working in games independently. With its more open-ended perspective on humanity, he hopes The Fermi Paradox offers something different in contrast to other similar 4X games. 

The Fermi Paradox is currently in Early Access, but is already downloadable and playable through Steam and GOG. The game's soundtrack, by MONA MUR, can be downloaded on itchio, Bandcamp, Amazon Music, and can be streamed on Spotify and Tidal.

You can follow us on Twitter at @VGChooChoo. Elvie can be followed at @lvmaeparian and further developments on The Fermi Paradox can be followed at @FermiGame. The Fermi Paradox also has a Discord server, where you can follow up on updates with the game and converse with the team, as well.

The theme for Starlight Car is a "Super Chill Remix" of Aquamarine by Magic Circuit, which is available off their self titled album Magic Circuit. You can find their music at https://magic-circuit.bandcamp.com or follow them on twitter @magic_circuit.

The Starlight Express will always roll around and the Starlight Car will always open its doors to anyone who needs a ride. Conductors Walker & Solon host an exclusive interview with Silverstring Media‘s Claris Cyarron (@Cyarron) and Lucas Johnson (@lucasjwjohnson), who are about to put the finishing touches on Glitchhikers: The Spaces Between, the sequel to the acclaimed arthouse game Glitchhikers: The First Drive (2014), now seven years in the making. Together, we go back through all seven years of this production process to talk about how making games is different now than it was during the last decade as well as how a team like Silverstring stays on the cutting edge of expression and art. After the interview we also get the honor of playing the newest single from Glitchhikers: The Spaces Between’s soundtrack that has never been heard before. Strange Passenger by Devin Vibert can be found at https://devinvibert.bandcamp.com/

May this discussion be a small monument to what we can accomplish when we allow ourselves time and faith.

Consider following us on twitter @VGChooChoo, Solon @ChorbySP, and Walker @PunkParfait.

The Starlight Express is back around the station already! Inspector Elvie takes a break inside the Starlight Car with Eric Robles and Dan Milano, the showrunners behind the show Glitch Techs, an animated series about a group of people who try to keep the peace in our reality as video game characters break out of their worlds and cause havoc. They dive deep into the shows many influences, and have an enlightening conversation on games culture and ways that Glitch Techs can pave the way for positive changes in our future. You can watch both seasons of Glitch Techs on Netflix right now.

The theme for Starlight Car is a “Super Chill Remix” of Aquamarine by Magic Circuit, which is available off their newest self-titled album… Magic Circuit. You can follow them at @magic_circuit (https://twitter.com/magic_circuit) on twitter for more details.

The Starlight Express rolls back into the station after a long ride away. Don't worry, the Starlight Car is still open and Scott B is still manning the bar. Scott is joined in the parlor by John Michonski to talk to Food4Dogs about getting into Youtube much later than everyone else, embracing imperfection in your own work, and, of course, the Playstation Vita. You can find her channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/smillasmum and on Twitter @Food4Dogs.

The theme for Starlight Car is a "Super Chill Remix" of Aquamarine by Magic Circuit, which is available off their newest self-titled album... Magic Circuit. You can follow them at @magic_circuit on twitter for more details.

On this episode, Scott B returns to the parlor to talk to Dr. Sophie Pilbeam about media literacy and politics within Dark Souls lore community, Dark Souls' similarities to Neon Genesis Evangelion in it's utilization of aesthetics, the ways in which Bloodborne and Sekiro broach topics of colonialism and nationalism, and the economics of King's Field. You can check out Sophie's podcasts at https://www.youtube.com/sinclairlore.

The theme for Starlight Car is a "Super Chill Remix" of Aquamarine by Magic Circuit, which is available off their newest self-titled album... Magic Circuit. You can follow them at @magic_circuit on twitter for more details.

On this episode of Starlight Car, John welcomes Reyan Ali, the author of Boss Fight Books’ NBA Jam book. Reyan discusses his history with the classic arcade title, the challenges of writing a book, and how cool it is getting a phone call from DJ Jazzy Jeff. NBA Jam: The Book is available now from Boss Fight Books (https://bossfightbooks.com/products/nba-jam-by-reyan-ali) both digitally and physically, however physical copies are being shipped Nov. 14th. Reyan’s Twitter is here. (https://twitter.com/nbajambook)

The theme for Starlight Car is a "Super Chill Remix" of Aquamarine by Magic Circuit, which is available off their newest self-titled album... Magic Circuit. You can follow them at @magic_circuit on twitter for more details.

Let's cross. In this episode, Scott B is joined in the parlor by fellow VGCC contributor Solon as they interview Max Kreiger about his new game, CROSSNIQ+. We dive deep into the technical details that makes the game work, meditiative gaming experiences (puzzle or otherwise), the finer points of Tetris and its many variants, and the origins of Y2K aesthetics as an artform and now they're employed in CROSSNIQ+.

The theme for Starlight Car is a "Super Chill Remix" of Aquamarine by Magic Circuit, which is available off their newest self titled album... Magic Circuit. You can follow them at @magic_circuit on twitter for more details.

Welcome to the Starlight Car, a relaxing parlor where we get to talk to folks in and around the games industry. Riding with Scott today is Alec Robbins of Good Bit to talk about his 2018 game Heartbreak High. We break down the game from its initial conception as a web series, the narrative interplay between knowing and assuming facts about characters in visual novels, whether the game is successful in raising the emotional stakes in the back half, and a discussion of the hidden and cut content in Heartbreak High.

The theme for Starlight Car is a "Super Chill Remix" of Aquamarine by Magic Circuit, which is available off their newest self titled album... Magic Circuit. You can follow them at @magic_circuit on twitter for more details.