ToeJam & Earl creator Greg Johnson gets funky with us, as we deconstruct his latest entry in the series - Back in the Groove - and discuss his approach to playfulness and accessibility in roguelikes, the lack of cultural diversity in games, and much more.

Things we talked about:

New Spelunky WR run

Dwarf Fortress remaster

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove

HumaNature Studios

Doki Doki Universe

Brogue

A Few Provocative Thoughts by Greg Johnson

ToeJam & Earl launch party

Tanya X. Short of Kitfox Games drops by to discuss her co-edited essay collections Procedural Storytelling / Generation in Game Design, as well as her own approach and challenges to procedural narrative in Moon Hunters, and the upcoming Boyfriend Dungeon.

Things we talked about:

Kitfox Games

Procedural Generation in Game Design

Procedural Storytelling in Game Design

Dwarf Fortress

Spelunky Udjet Eye run

Moon Hunters

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Age of Conan

Boyfriend Dungeon

The Shrouded Isle

ESC

Jay Ma of Subset Games joins us to discuss the design of her excellent sci-fi strategy game Into the Breach, from its Spelunky-inspired high/low-level design, to how they cracked its time-driven gameplay, to why throwing away 80% of their work...worked.

Things we talked about:

FTL

Into the Breach

Input / Output Randomness

'Into the Breach' Didn't Click Until I Played it Like an EMT

Into the Breach - Fantastic Arcade 2017 Developer Commentary

Stephen's Sausage Roll

Return of the Obra Dinn

Raigan Burns of Metanet Software (N, N+, N++) stops by for a spirited debate on the term "roguelike," as we discuss the tenets of the genre, why (and if) they're important, and how Spelunky fits into it all.

Things we talked about:

N++

GMTK: Roguelikes, Persistency, and Progression

Wandering Towards Interactive Narrative

Notes on the Synthesis of Form

DoomRL

probability 0

Downwell

The creator of Magic: the Gathering, Netrunner, King of Tokyo, and so much of the modern gaming culture we love joins us to talk about finding cohesion in the beautiful randomness of his latest design: the world's first Unique Deck Game, Keyforge.

Things we mentioned in the interview:

Keyforge!

The Art of Warcast: A Keyforge Special

Richard Garfield - Game Boy Geek interview

Richard Garfield on Luck vs. Skill

Characteristics of Games

Rest of the show:

Blindfolded Final Fantasy IX menu

Everspace

Noita

Mutant Year Zero

How I Built This podcast

Dev Game Club podcast

Reply All podcast

In 2019, We Need to Learn How to Break a Perpetually Tied Game

We sit down to talk about our favorite games that we played in 2018 - from videogames, to board games, to escape rooms, to Malaysian schoolyard games. Join us for the most diverse GOTY list you'll hear! We'll see you - and Spelunky 2 - in 2019!

... Our GOTY picks (SPOILERS)

Zach:

Dr. Meep

Mega Man 11

Noita

Pokémon Go

Hollow Knight

Andy:

Wind the Film

Into the Breach

Azul

Cinco Paus

Magic: the Gathering Arena

Doug:

Holedown

Arkham Horror: The Card Game - The Path to Carcosa

Classroom Murder Unsolved: Part 2

The Best Thing

Children's Malaysian folk game

Nick:

Celeste

The Mind

Florence

Here Comes the Dog

Bacon/Supertype/See/Saw

We chat to our own Zach Gage about his 2016 spacefaring strategy game Tharsis, from its roguelike and tabletop influences, to promoting player narrative, to the psychology of randomness. Plus first impressions of Twinfold and Below!

Some things we mentioned: The Systems Design of TharsisLet's Get Physical: Lessons From the Real WorldHow to win Tharsis

Twinfold Below

Roguelike expert and advocate Kawa (@KawaiiDragoness) stops by to talk Death in Roguelikes, and the power and potential of the post-death "morgue" experience. We also dig into our relationship to dying in Spelunky, and recount our best deaths!

Links from the interview with Kawa: Nethack fanfic dramatic reading Original fic A Trip to the Morgue Roguelike Radio Twitter: @kawaiidragoness Discord - Kawa#7680

Our best Spelunky deaths: NickAndy @toythatkills@aaronkearsley @aaronkearsley2d_tea @tictacfoe

Spelunky creator Derek Yu joins us for a wide-ranging discussion on his design philosophies for approaching a sequel, embracing chaos in design, and so much more. This is a special one, so brew some tea, grab a pug, and get comfortable!

We dive deep into the core design of Spelunky - what exactly fuels its procedural perfection, and why is its world still so compelling? And what design touches do our listeners love, and which would they send to Hell? Plus some new Spelunky 2 tidbits!