Video Game Feelings

Matt Meyer just wants those who play his game to feel something.

The music and sound clips you hear in this episode are from the game, Beacon Pines. Matt Meyer is the creative director.

Josh Sawyer felt less pressure working on Pentiment than any game he's worked on in the last decade. Easily.

Josh Sawyer is the design director at Obsidian. He worked on Pillars of Eternity I & II, Fallout: New Vegas, and Icewind Dale I & II.

To round out the year, we invited three friends to gather and discuss the games that made them feel most deeply. (plus, I share my top ten games of the year)

Featuring special guests:

Allegra Frank, frequent guest on one of my fav podcasts, ICYMI, editor at The Daily Beast, formerly at Vox, Polygon and Slate.

Sarah Elmaleh, co-host on Eggplant, a podcast about videogames (not sex!),voice of high-profile video game villains (spheres, not cubes!), voice actor, director and advocate. 

M Joshua Cauller, trailer-maker for Devolver and creator/maintainer of the highly personal game discussion community, Reading Gamebow.

Kahlief Adams is moving past angst.

Kahlief Adams is the host and Founder of Spawn on Me and The Spawnies.

On this episode we processed:

How God of War: Ragnarok made Kahlief happy he didn't have children

How to address the non-inclusionary layers in the video game industry

How to have empathy for complaining

Getting old

Why Final Fantasy feels exclusionary.

Video Game Feelings is an Area Code Audio production. Hosted and produced by Richard Clark. Mixed and Edited by Nettie Smith. Additional help from Ashley Whitehurst and Matthew Linder.

Ellen Weatherford loves the feeling of finding a bird she's seen before doing something weird.

Ellen Weatherford is the host of Just the Zoo of Us and Spellbound and Gagged.

Video Game Feelings is an Area Code Audio production. Hosted and produced by Richard Clark. Mixed and Edited by Nettie Smith. Additional help from Ashley Whitehurst and Matthew Linder.

James Silva makes his games difficult, because creation is difficult.

James Silva is the developer behind Salt and Sacrifice, Salt and Sanctuary, Charlie Murder, The Dishwasher, and I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!!1.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings

XBox Live Indie Games was maybe more special to the developer than to the gamer

Fallout 76 is an alone in a crowd kind of situation

Contra Box Art does a little bit of the up-resing for you

Video Game Feelings is an Area Code Audio production. Hosted and produced by Richard Clark. Mixed and Edited by Nettie Smith. Additional help from Ashley Whitehurst and Matthew Linder.

Walt Williams doesn't want his video game to hate him. He just wants to be entertained.

Walt Williams is a video game writer who has worked on Star Wars Battlefront, Bioshock, Civilization, Borderlands, Mafia, The Darkness, and Spec Ops: The Line. His book, Significant Zero, explores the hardships and insanity of AAA game development.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings

The Mass Effect 3 ending debacle made Walt question his narrative approach in Spec Ops: The Line.

Kirby All Star Allies is blowing Walt's daughter's mind.

The Quarry is scratching a very specific horror movie itch Walt hasn't scratched since childhood.

Start at Yakuza Zero if you want to punch people in the face to make them better people.

The Last of Us: Part One's ending resonated quite a bit with Walt

Depending on who you ask, Walt was kind of a monster in The Walking Dead Season One.

Video Game Feelings is an Area Code Audio production. Hosted and produced by Richard Clark. Associate produced by Nettie Smith. Additional help from Ashley Whitehurst and Matthew Linder.

Yons is playing Borderlands with his son, and living out the example his big brother gave him.

Yons is a musician, music teacher, and producer. You can check him out on his website, or listen to his music on Spotify.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings

Borderlands 2 is how Yons bonds with his son.

Red Dead Redemption 2 may have been a little too cinematic?

Yons has never played the "original-intent" version of Skyrim.

Sonic 2 was Yons' safe place with his brother.

Spotify does have a whole Nerdcore Mix, and idk, it's kinda embarassing mostly.

I think the guy I was thinking of performing at Penny Arcade Expo was MC Frontalot.

Video Game Feelings is an Area Code Audio production. Hosted and produced by Richard Clark. Associate produced by Nettie Smith. Additional help from Ashley Whitehurst and Matthew Linder.

Video Game Feelings host, Richard Clark, is feeling sick. So there won't be an actual episode of VGF this week.

But here are three games that made him feel better:

Dreamlight Valley

Persona 5: Royal

Marvel Snap

Maddy Myers is grieving the loss of her real-life friend while running silly video game errands and stabbing dudes.

Maddy Myers is the deputy editor at Polygon and the co-host of Triple Click and The Mutant Ages.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings

Assassin's Creed Origins is a video game about grief.

Maddy's not trying to call out The Last of Us, but let's be honest, video games writing is bad.

Maddy Myers' on Depresh Mode

Turns out the reason I don't play video games sometimes is called anhedonia, the inability to feel pleasure. It's a common symptom of depression.

The Rehearsal is a very video gamey show in a certain way

Maddy thinks maybe Immortality might be offensive, but she doesn't know what it means.

Some games that make you feel ashamed: Spec Ops: The Line (interview with Walt Williams coming soon!), Hotline Miami, Bioshock, Papers Please

Video Game Feelings is an Area Code Audio production. Hosted and produced by Richard Clark. Associate produced by Nettie Smith. Additional help from Ashley Whitehurst and Matthew Linder.