Wardcast

This week, we’re joined by Nick Nundahl and Joe Wetmore of Instant Replay Live, where we reprise our talk on cartoons and TV, leading us to talk about Marvel’s Defenders and expectations.

Speaking of expectations, No Man’s Sky has hit us with a new update, so we discuss the changes that have been made to the game one year later. We also talk about the Unsung Story story, Kickstarter, and crowdfunding in general — including Nick’s friend Jack’s GoFundMe to bring tabletop RPGs to people with visual impairment.

But the fun doesn’t stop there! There’s even more to discuss, including Skyrim mods, Dream Daddy and Game Grumps, gay Magic cards, Joe’s tabletop system, solar eclipses, SNES Classic preorders, and more!

Games include Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition; Bloodborne; Hyper Light Drifter; The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; Grand Theft Auto V; Snipperclips: Cut it Out, Together!; and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at [email protected]!

This episode, Dylan is joined by special guest Callum Underwood, formerly Senior Developer Relations at Oculus and currently starting his new role at indie un-publisher Raw Fury.

Callum talks about the difficult choice of leaving Oculus and Facebook to join Raw Fury, how and when to speak to a publisher, and a conversation about game pricing sparked by a recent article by SteamSpy’s Sergey Galyonkin.

We also discuss showing your game at conventions to receive player feedback and the thrill of going to GDC.

Games include PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at [email protected]!

It’s eSports week here at the Wardcast. Wendy and Dylan just returned from exhibiting at Super Smash Con, and Alex has been keeping tabs on the lead up to the Overwatch World Cup and a For Honor tournament won by someone using an exploit. Also, I guess The International happened?

And we return to discussing Nick Robinson’s sexual harassment and removal from Polygon.

Games include King of the Hat, Super Clash Bros., Splatoon 2, Overwatch, Flippy Knife, Balloon Fight, Super Mario Bros., and Jackbox Party Pack 3.

Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at [email protected]!

We doubled up on Alexes this week. Joining Dylan and Alex Damrath is former Wardcaster Alex Rice, making his triumphant return to the show, just in time to tell us that he’s leaving to go work for eBay, but not before he raided NYC’s Nintendo World for their precious Switches.

We discuss getting our hands on a NES Classic, the disastrous Pokémon Go Fest, Geralt in a bathtub, cancelled SNES Classic preorders, and our prep for Super Smash Con next weekend.

Additionally, we talk about a member of the games press who is being investigated for sexual harassment and how sexual harassment and the mistreatment of women and other minority groups plagues the tech and gaming industries.

Games include The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Final Fantasy, Mega Man 2, Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream, Prey, Splatoon 2, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at [email protected]!

Dylan “Two-Mics” Ilvento and Will Blanton collect together with game jammer and dungeon master extraordinaire David Byers to talk about his ongoing D&D campaign and what football will look like in the future.

A cornucopia of throwback console news happened this week, with Walmart letting SNES pre-orders out into the wild, more information about the Ataribox coming out, and a N64 Classic trademark being filed.

We also discuss Pac-Man Jr.: Act Zero, Cookie Clicker patch notes, the return of Skullomania, and traveling to distant stars.

Games include Downwell; The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; Cave Story+; Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition; Jackbox Party Pack 3; Dark Souls; Rocksmith 2014; Rain World; Mario Kart 8 Deluxe; Splatoon 2; and Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together!

Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at [email protected]!

Jay Tholen, designer and developer on Dropsy, joins Dylan to talk about his experiences in indie game development.

He speaks to us about Dropsy’s evolution from a boss in an action platformer to a choose-your-own adventure on the Something Awful forums to eventually becoming the adventure game it is today, with the Kickstarter successes and failures he had along the way.

We also talk about working with indie publisher Devolver Digital, how to demo your games to game outlets as an indie, his aspirations for his new game — Hypnospace Outlaw, and what themes and ideas he tries to communicate with his games.

Games include Dropsy the Clown and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at [email protected]!

Dylan is joined by Justin Mitchell and Alex Damrath to talk Switch ownership, egg cup debates, and a multitude of minutes of the food, superhero, and tech variety.

Justin walks Dylan through all the Final Fantasies, we make a quick mention of Doomfist, but most importantly, we talk about Dunkey’s dunking on game critics and its effect on the discussion of game reviews and criticism.

Games include Prey, Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, and Overwatch.

Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at [email protected]!

Welcomed back into the fold is our friend Dan Cotting, here to talk about game celebrity freak outs, VR projects, and the triumphant return of the Super Nintendo.

We’re strapping Game Boy Cameras to telescopes; we’re baking magnetic tapes in the oven; things are getting real crazy on this week’s episode of the Wardcast.

Games include The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Accounting, Dark Souls, Rocksmith 2014, Superhot VR, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Rocket League, NeiR: Automata, Dear Esther, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at [email protected]!

Special guest Mike Odum of Root 76 drops by to talk about a litany of topics with Dylan, Sam, and Will.

We discuss the Arcane Kids’ breadth of work, Summer Games Done Quick and the world of speedrunning, the SNES Classic announcement and the state of emulation, designing a PS Vita 2, and the mystery surrounding the new Braindeer Games Twitter account.

But a big topic for this week revolves around the postmortems about the lackluster releases of Tumbleseed and Scanner Sombre, spurring the op-eds “Your Indie Game Will Flop and You Will Lose Money” by Cliff Harris and “Lol we’re all poor” by Robert Yang.

Games include Life is Strange, Fire Emblem Heroes, Puyo Puyo Tetris, Super Bomberman R, Jackbox Party Pack 3, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Akinator the Genie.

Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at [email protected]!

This week, Dylan is rejoined by Will Blanton, Wendy Rivera, and our fourth member: the 19th century nautical map that adorns our apartment wall. From Fez to Sunken Rock, we talk about all the summer game sales going on — including 90% off Will’s game Redshift Blueshift.

RVA Game Jams has a new website and a Patreon up, we give our protips on bathroom etiquette, share pinball opinions, discuss illicit music downloading, and critique GameMaker Studio 2’s ridiculous pricing structure.

Games include Stardew Valley and Disney Crossy Road.

Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at [email protected]!