#VerticalSlice Podcast

In which I chat with the cool cats from Expletive Studios about their cardy, fighty, capture-the-flag-y game “Eidetus.” And in case you’re wondering, “Gee, Anton, deck building and combat sound like the two things you’re by far the worst at in all of video gaming,” well, you’d be right. And despite Expletive’s graciousness in providing me a free gameplay session of an early build of “Eidetus,” I still ate ass. I even managed to eat ass without the benefit of having been shot at! More on that in the episode.

In which I chat with Household Games’ Jason Canam, creator of “Way of the Passive Fist.” As I told Canam, “Way” is probably the only fighting game I can play because, unlike the fighters of the ’90s, there aren’t 16 buttons with hundreds of combos. I can just stand there and parry! But we didn’t just talk “Way,” we also chatted Canam’s experience coming up in the gaming industry, what it was like to start his own studio, our philosophies on game design, including some trash-talk on “Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” (because that never gets old), and Canadian politics!

In which I chat with Kevin Casper, a contributor, and, as he put it, “ally” (we chatted about that) to AbleGamers, specifically writer of the piece “Sekiro and the ‘Git Gud’ Debate.” And I’ll be honest. We tore into each other in our own debate. I was like, “You’re full of crap, sir!” And he was like, “I declare, sir, that it is you who are full of crap!” Then we made up and got hot cocoa. Okay, maybe that’s not 100% honest. (Ain’t I a stinker?)

In which I chat with StudioFOW‘s Executive Project Manager, Mr. Kristoff about their upcoming game “Subverse.” I see an epic fuck-ton of indie game announcements and/or trailers and when I first heard of “Subverse,” I admit (and admitted in the episode) that I was skeptical. A lot of times what I find is that indie developers’ dreams are bigger than their resources and so what might start out as a cool, ambitious idea often ends up in cool, ambitious pea soup. So when I read of “Subverse” as being a huge, 3D, RPG, epic, awesome, sexy scifi RPG (yes, I said that twice), I clicked on the trailer with a hefty amount of snark-face. What I found was a game that, even in its early stages, looks fucking awesome and fun as hell. And if StudioFOW’s Kickstarter success is any indication, the game sure will be.

In which I preview/review “Grimshade,” a new turn-based RPG from TALEROCK, Asterion Games, and PR Hound. I’ll give no game or review spoilers here, but will say that this episode is not only a review of the game, but also a bit of a chat on accessibility basics, and the evil, dark forces that indie developers face in the indie-development scene. Thanks so much to PR Hound for letting me play this game!

In which I say my official good bye to Nintendo of America’s soon-to-be former CEO, the never boring Reggie Fils-Aime. And in which I give a few pertinent updates about the show. And finally, in which I share some feelings on the current tensions expressed as “politics in games.” Rest assured, however, I don’t delve into any one or other specific controversy; rather I discuss the phenomenon as a whole.

In which I review Casual Bit Games‘ and Hound Picked Games‘ Battle Princess Madelyn! For those who don’t know much about the game, here’s some info from the Kickstarter page. I don’t wanna spoil any of my review, so I’ll tell you interesting factoids about monkeys! Kidding. Seriously, I don’t wanna spoil, so I’ll point you to the Steam page, one of many places to grab the game. And with that, I’ll just say hey, if you like the review, share! If you don’t, share! If you’re indifferent, share! If you’re pissed that I teased about monkey factoids, share!

In which I chat with AbleGamers‘ founder Mark Barlet (whose name is NOT pronounced with a hard-T, by the way; rather a no-T-at-all). I have to say this was quite a refreshing experience as both Barlet and I are gimps, so we swapped dealing-with-normies stories. In fact, Barlet shared my all-time favorite Twitter story! More than that, we chatted gaming histories, life-as-a-gimp histories, and even chatted a tiny bit about the AbleGamers charity! And Barlet was so magnanimous that he even forgave my completely forgetting to mention AbleGamers in my entire intro! Good man!

In which I, in my very, VERY nasal voice, dive head first into a stupidly long, pre-holidays rant about how we should offer good will (to those with whom we disagree). As I say in the intro to the episode, this is only my opinion, so feel free to completely disagree with it. Also, I cite few facts because A. I don’t know them B. they’re not right in front of me C. I’m lazy. And, most importantly, while I do name people and places, none of it is shit-calling or call-outs. And with that, in case this is the last release of ’18, happy holidays!

In which I chat with the one and only Two Bit Circus CEO Brent Bushnell. And I have to say, it’s a true tragedy that in our entire conversation, not only did it never occur to me to talk to him about his family’s gaming legacy, but wouldn’t ya know it, I didn’t even realize he was THAT Bushnell! … Ha! Kidding! Just kidding. We got to that. And a lot more. I totally had you there, didn’t I? For one second. Anyway, Bushnell and I chatted Two Bit Circus, his food philosophy, his passion for what he’s calling STEAM (no, not that Steam), growing up a Bushnell, being a serial entrepreneur, and so much more!