Jay Tholen of Hypnospace Outlaw joins us to talk about what it's like as a small indie to be published in the industry and what it was like launching Dropsy The Clown.

For a very special episode we're joined by some of the narrative design team on Bloodlines II, Cara Ellison & Brian Mitsoda to talk about the game's tabletop inspirations, how Ellison got involved, the art of narrative design, improving representation & diversity in narrative. We also discuss how the game's humor has revamped, a look back at Troika's legacy and what it was like to be inside the company, and Bloodlines lore.

In an experiment, we've also included an auto-generated transcript.

Warning: there are spoilers about BonBon around the 11 minute mark, skip ahead to the 25 minute mark to avoid it

Nick Bell of Aetheric games joins us to talk about BonBon, Legend Of Snek, and growing up in Scotland as an indie developer.

topics:

reactions to the game, finding themes after making the game, povery, thatcherism, REBIND's article on BonBon

spoiler discussion about BonBon (CW: family stuff, generational trauma)

subtext in horror games

short games potential for story telling, parallel w short stories

Interactivity: The Interactive Experience

The Stanley parable, the beginner's guide and their shortcomings

Being a developer in Edinburgh, Scottish games scenes

Running a games program in college

diversity issues in academia and industry, gatekeeping

college sucks ass

bridging the gap between industry and newcomers

Indie Developer Toni Hughes comes on the show to discuss their newest project, Agony of a Dying MMO and the surreal subgenre of digital ruin games.

Konstantinos Dimopoulos joins us to discuss virtual architecture, their book Virtual Cities, and impossible architecture. We dive deep into intergenerational interpretations of liminal virtual spaces, how VR & AR portray architecture, and the reception of virtual environments by non-gaming audiences.

Jordan Black (@Bad_Durandal) joins us to talk about their site, JustAddMonsters, building games media projects, video essays, and connecting to audiences in niche areas.

Spencer Yan joins us to talk about his upcoming release, indie games, subtext, camera work in video games and more! He's responsible for our lovely show art.

We sit down with James Interactive to talk about The Legend of Bum-bo, the upsides of the indie development community, game stores, the importance of itch.io, James' career, the importance of having interests beyond video games, parallels with the maker community, and art house games!

We sit down with Russell Lees, creative director / writer on Inscape's The Dark Eye to talk about his career with Ubisoft, anecdotes about working with William S. Burroughs, and how Inscape and the game came to be in the first place.

Don't miss this one, folks!

Johnnemann Nordhagen joins us to talk about Where The Water Tastes Like Wine and its intersection with Folk culture, the Great Depression, Kentucky Route Zero, Labor in games, Indiepocalypse, the commercial realities of narrative games, A historical look at Gone Home, and the changing media landscape.