#VerticalSlice Podcast

Happy new year a month late! In which Hung Mai, the one-man developer of “Trianga’s Project: Battle Splash” returns with updates on the game (now v2.0), how he’s been dealing with the plague, gaming life in Hanoi, and, of course, when-ish we can play his anime-inspired, squirt-gun shooter.

In which Jellybean Games’ Peter Hayward single-handedly destroys my dreams of designing board games. I mean, he crushed them. Under his boot. They were walking along, minding their own business, he tapped them on the shoulder with a polite, “Hello,” then, when they turned around, he smacked them in the face, knocked them to the ground, and ground them under his boot (repeated for emphasis). Seriously, though, Hayward and I talked Jellybean Games’ games, board game ideation, design, marketing, theories of design, and what it’s like to move to America during a plague.

In which I Halloween it up with my pals Jaye, Ken, Lee, and Terry for this supersized episode! We chat spooky games we’ve played, including “Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice” and “Alien: Isolation,” and spooky games in general, like “Fatal Frame,” “Resident Evil 4,” and many others. We also chat our plague-restricted Halloween plans like handing candy out to kids, doing nothing at all (poor Lee!), and, well, playing games (like me with “The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope“). Special bonuses: I quiz the panel on their favorite Halloween treats and end the episode with one of my favorite vintage Halloween morsels.

The official, super-sized season six finale! In which I chat with good friend, writer, filmmaker, avid gamer, and mastermind behind The Black Box gaming blog, Ken Foley, about that project, his many, many E3 experiences (he’s attended all but two!), and his take on the Black experience in gaming from representation in the games themselves to the designers and decision-makers behind them.

In which I first briefly share my thoughts on recent #BLM-related events, then chat with Wormhole Labs‘ COO Phil Ranta, in his epic return to #VS, about everything from his days at Studio71, his days at Facebook, his infinite wisdom on everything from the Quibi launch to the PS5 launch, and finally to his role at Wormhole, their technology, and what it’ll mean for everything from immersive experiences to travel.

In which I SPOILERS! chat with SPOILERS! Jeff Heimbuch and Kori Celeste of SPOILERS! Bamfer Productions about everything from Heimbuch’s other venture HorrorBuzz to his and Celeste’s views on the evolving LA haunt landscape, including Knott’s Scary Farm, Bamfer Productions’ previous forays into the immersive space, and, of course, my favorite haunted house story in years, their very own “Light House“! Why all the spoiler warnings? Because we go into major spoiler territory not only on the first five episodes of “Light House,” but also for films “Crimson Peak,” “An American Ghost Story,” “Apostle,” and yes, even “Saving Private Ryan.” If you haven’t seen any of those and wish to, or if you haven’t listened to the first five chapters of “Light House,” then please listen to this at your own risk!

In which I chat music and games with DDRKirby(ISQ), creator of my absolute favorite OCRemix song “Welcome to My Kastle.” About half the episode, we discussed music, DDRKirby’s thoughts on its creation, chiptune, 9-bit, his process, and so much more! The second half we chatted his many, many indie games, including one of my faves “Rain,” which very much reminded me of another great game “Limbo.”

In which #VerticalSlice comes out of retirement with previous Slicers Jaye and Terry! Oh, sure, Terry and I waste plenty of time rehashing old atheist “community” wounds (atheism beat Disney to the “add + to everything” game), but eventually, we got into some current game-playing (spoiler: I’m still rockin’ “Breath of the Wild”), but then we get into some really, really deep, acid-induced “what makes a game a game?” stuff. Like win conditions and the like! Finally, since I completely forgot to say it on-air, thanks so much to Jaye and Terry for bringing us back in style!

In which I sign off, possibly for the last time, in this, the season 5 finale. Why possibly? Because things are in flux. Major flux. There could be an entire season 6. There could be a spotty, specials-only season 6. There could be nothing at all and this was a quiet death. I have no idea. But in absence of an idea, there’s this episode.

Also, since I never got around to it through the time since its announcement, I took this episode’s time to chat briefly on Google’s Stadia platform. I’m a-feared I didn’t have much to add that hasn’t already been said, but hey, this was my saying it!

In which I chatted with speedrunner extraordinaire Venmissa! Among other games, Venmissa famously runs one of my faves “Metroid Prime.” When I happened upon her running work, she was whipping past sections it took me weeks (or even longer) to figure out. In addition to her “Prime” runs, we chatted her entrance into speedrunning, as well as gaming in general, and I finally got to ask someone how one gets past the Guardian in “Metroid Prime 2: Echoes”!