The second special episode originally created in partnership with AMC Games for the in-flight entertainment of Airplane Mode, a very literal flight simulator. We chat about ritual in games, rethinking our relationship to time, and bringing it to bear on our own work and play.

Show notes:

Lifeline...

Shadow of the Colossus

Tharsis

Star Trek: Discovery

The Castles of Burgundy

Lost Cities

Desert Bus

Pippin Barr's Durations

Marina Abramović's The Artist is Present

Zach's Transit Meditation

San Andreas Deer Cam

Dishonored

Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Discovery Tour

Grand Theft Auto Pacifist

The Traveling Swordsman Problem

Nick's Thanksgiving Blade Triptych

Casey Reas' Processing

How to do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

Delayed Response: The Art of Waiting From the Ancient to the Instant World

The Great British Bake Off

Apex Legends

VESPER.5

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

Brandon Sanderson

Aconite founders Star St. Germain and Nadya Lev and lead designer Scott Jon Siegel join us to discuss their beautiful, mixed reality mind bender HoloVista. We chat about embracing hidden object game design, telling personal stories through a lens of social media, and subverting the selfie museum.

Show notes:

HoloVista

Star St. Germain

Nadya Lev

Scott Jon Sigel

Aconite

Coilhouse

The Fallen Cosmos

SFZero

Journey to the End of the Night

Ian Bogost

Jane McGonigal

Gardens of Time

How Return of the Obra Dinn Works

Mariode

Blake Kathryn

Nour: Play With Your Food

Andrew Morgan

Andi Hegedus

MTV Cribs

Meow Wolf

teamLab

Museum of Ice Cream

Strix

Cory O'Brien

LiveJournal

Sara Carr

Mesmer & Braid: The Alternate Reality Game

Steve Peters

Nick Tierce

Jakub Wasilewski of Beetlewing joins us to talk about his new grand-yet-bite-sized space strategy game, Slipways. We discuss game feel as inspiration, breaking your game for fun and profit, and limiting your universe to expand your audience.

Show notes:

Jakub Wasilewski

Beetlewing

Slipways

PICO-8

Indie Fund

Celeste

hearthstone

Pocket-Run Pool

Twilight Imperium

Teomachia (Jakub's board game)

Master of Orion

Magic: The Gathering

SpellTower

Slay the Spire

Tom Francis

Evan Anthony and Jeremy Abel of Feral Cat Den join us to discuss their inspired cosmic adventure game, Genesis Noir. We discuss the aesthetics of interaction, processing your game launch, and shooting for the stars with your ending.

Show notes:

Feral Cat Den

Evan Anthony

Jeremy Abel

Genesis Noir

Vectorpark

Hohokum

GNOG

Cosmicomics

Reaktor

Florence

Skillbard

Oikospiel

Inside

Busby Berkeley

Rez

Marcin Zeglinski

Interstellar

L.A. Noire

Wabi-sabi

Kintsukuroi

Die Gute Fabrik's Studio Lead Hannah Nicklin joins us to discuss her writing and narrative design work on their sublime mutant soap opera, Mutazione. We discuss working with time and an ensemble cast to create a story with "multiple middles," embracing the scars of a lengthy development cycle, and the best bikes in video games.

Show notes:

Hannah Nicklin

Die Gute Fabrik

Mutazione

Into the Depths: The Music of Mutazione - Part 1

Divised theater

Grey's Anatomy

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Narrative Design Sliding Doors

Multiple Middles & Mutazione

Kentucky Route Zero

Critical Response

Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

N+1 a bike/game zine

Sokpop's Digital Bird Playground

We sit down with Creative Producer Ben Wilson to discuss the thrilling cooperative trick-taking game The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, and how the game builds on and subverts precedents like Spades and Bridge.

Show notes:

Ben Wilson

Wizard Jam

Spelunky Dare Challenge Bot

Trick-taking games

The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine

The Crew - A Card Game for Everyone

Skat

Hearts

Spades

Bridge

Zach's Grit

Bourre

Hanabi

The Perfect Game of Hanabi

Ha Ha Ha! game

Codenames

#remoteplay: Playing in a Pandemic, Part 2

In the final installment of our Kentucky Route Zero miniseries, we sit down with two of its creators - Jake Elliott and Ben Babbitt - to discuss the origins of their collaboration, drawing from influences beyond games, and the process of working on such a long-term project.

Show notes:

Kentucky Route Zero

Jake Elliott

Ben Babbitt

Stephanie Boluk

Patrick LeMieux

Sarah Elmaleh

A House in California

KRZ Kickstarter

Pillars and Tongues

Dog and Bone are Friends

Jon Cates

Critcal Artware

Demoscene

Ableton

.microsound

Magic Matrix Mixer Mountain

Sidequest

The Museum of Jurassic Technology

Jorge Luis Borges

Balloon Diaspora

Gloam Collective's Min-Taylor Bai-Woo and Damian Sommer join us to chat about their thrilling new turn-based fighter Bravery Network Online. We discuss the design of its Pokémon-inspired battles, the clever ways in which they replaced randomness, and making friends in the post-post-apocalypse.

Show notes:

Gloam Collective

Min-Taylor Bai-Woo

Damian Sommer

Bravery Network Online

Guillaume Singelin

OKAYKELLYK

Emily Carroll

Pokémon Showdown!

droqen

Good BNO example match w/ commentary

BNO first tournment playlist

Daigo Umehara

Star Wars: Destiny

Magic: The Gathering - Commander

Final Fantasy Tactics

Splatoon

Yomi

Umurangi Generation

PATH

In the fifth installment of our Kentucky Route Zero miniseries, we broadcast our thoughts on the Un Pueblo De Nada interlude, before prowling our way through Act V and our closing thoughts on the game.

Show notes:

Kentucky Route Zero

Stephanie Boluk

Patrick LeMieux

Sarah Elmaleh

Alice Munro - Dear Life

Clara Rockmore - The Art of the Theramin

Clara Rockmore - The Swan

Brian Rotman: Signifying Nothing - The Semiotics of Zero

Bob Moog

WEVP-TV transmedia videos

Sandin Analog Image Processor

Our Town

Jenny Odell - How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

How to unlock the bonus interlude

Noah Caldwell-Gervais - Notes From Along Kentucky Route Zero

Robert Frost - The Death of a Hired Man

Orthographic projection

Projective Geometry

Haruki Murakami - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Can't Tell Me Nothing with Zach Galifianakis HQ

Walt Whitman - Song of Myself, Verse 52

Nabokov and spirals

Jon Cates

Metal Gear Solid 3, I Love You With All My Heart

Jordan Youngblood "Is Metal Gear's Rectum a Digital Grave?: Queer Trauma and Failure in the Metal Gear Solid Series." Panel on Queer Failure. Queerness and Games Conference. University of Berkeley. 24-26 October 2013

Echodog Games' Dyala Kattan-Wright joins us to discuss their wildly unique and wonderful narrative card game Signs of the Sojourner. We chat about the process of developing the game's innovative dialogue system, its surprising effects on player experience, and why sometimes you just can't go home again.

Show notes:

Eggplant Patreon

Dyala Kattan-Wright

Echodog Games

Signs of the Sojourner

Slay the Spire

Ascension: A Case Study in Deckbuilding Games

Friday

Consentacle

Fog of Love

Hanabi

Hearthstone

Dream Quest

80 Days

Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Signs of the Sojourner Original Soundtrack