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Drew Messinger-Michaels

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$Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Who Could Want Gameplay? with Alexander Clair Tseu Martin (a.k.a. droqen) ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 184. The one and only droqen puzzle-platforms on over to discuss his latest game The End of Gameplay, and how it responds to the stubbornly present, all-too-alive gameplay in his game Starseed Pilgrim. This requires a provisional definition of gameplay. Whether the conversation’s other tributaries are required or not is a question for the listener.You can get The End of Gameplay on Steam and Itch.io.You can learn more about droqen’s work on his website, and you can check out his Bluesky for the latest on the impending deat...

2025-05-1200 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Who Could Want Gameplay? with Alexander Clair Tseu Martin (a.k.a. droqen)The one and only droqen puzzle-platforms on over to discuss his latest game The End of Gameplay, and how it responds to the stubbornly present, all-too-alive gameplay in his game Starseed Pilgrim. This requires a provisional definition of gameplay. Whether the conversation's other tributaries are required or not is a question for the listener. You can get The End of Gameplay on Steam and Itch.io. You can learn more about droqen's work on his website, and you can check out his Bluesky for the latest on the impending death of gameplay. ——— • Here's droqen's rant at Bonus Stage, on the subj...

2025-05-121h 38 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once The Utility of Contrarianism, with Barney Oram ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 183. Barney Oram gets into different patterns of sound design, in all sorts of different roles and at all sorts of different scales—plus his love of film in general and Billy Wilder in particular, the durable ethos that “if it sounds good, it is good,” and his extensive experience recording loud sounds that go bang.You can learn more about Barney’s work on his website.You can also follow Barney on LinkedIn.———• Drew hadn’t played much of Enotria at the time of the interview—but now that he has, he can recomm...

2025-01-2800 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once The Utility of Contrarianism, with Barney OramBarney Oram gets into different patterns of sound design, in all sorts of different roles and at all sorts of different scales—plus his love of film in general and Billy Wilder in particular, the durable ethos that "if it sounds good, it is good," and his extensive experience recording loud sounds that go bang. You can learn more about Barney's work on his website. You can also follow Barney on LinkedIn. ——— • Drew hadn't played much of Enotria at the time of the interview?but now that he has, he can recommend it enthusiastically to fellow genre sickos. A sunny souls...

2025-01-281h 08 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once This Nightmare Will Never End! Hell Yeag! with Lilith Walther ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 181. Lilith Walther aetherboosts her way on over to talk about Nightmare Kart, its previously life as Bloodborne KART, its demake predecessor Bloodborne PSX, and the relationship between retro aesthetics, open development practices, and a general attitude of… YOLO? Nightmare Kart will be out for free on May 31.You can see more of Lilith’s work, including Bloodborne PSX, on Itch.io.You can also follow Lilith (or rather, Bunlith?) on Twitter, and see her stream on Twitch.She’s also got a Patreon, a Ko-Fi, and a Discord.———• Here’s...

2024-04-1600 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once This Nightmare Will Never End! Hell Yeag! with Lilith WaltherLilith Walther aetherboosts her way on over to talk about Nightmare Kart, its previously life as Bloodborne KART, its demake predecessor Bloodborne PSX, and the relationship between retro aesthetics, open development practices, and a general attitude of... YOLO? Nightmare Kart will be out for free on May 31. You can see more of Lilith's work, including Bloodborne PSX, on Itch.io. You can also follow Lilith (or rather, Bunlith?) on Twitter, and see her stream on Twitch. She's also got a Patreon, a Ko-Fi, and a Discord. ——— • Here's the Noclip documentary about Bloodborne PSX. We'd also point highly recommen...

2024-04-161h 05 $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Palworld: A Ludic Reading and a Luddite ReadingWhile the show was taking a break, Drew started putting together some essays on the growing list of recent recent surprise hits—games that, for whatever reason, have been doing vastly better than their developers or publishers had expected. 2024 does, so far, seem to have a sort of serial monogamy to it, with the Sauron's Eye of game-liker attention focusing intensely on one thing before moving on to the next, abruptly and fickly, with equally frightening fervor. So at the risk of being eternally behind the viral content curve (as though we've ever feared that around here), we...

2024-03-0526 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Palworld: A Ludic Reading and a Luddite Reading ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 178. While the show was taking a break, Drew started putting together some essays on the growing list of recent recent surprise hits—games that, for whatever reason, have been doing vastly better than their developers or publishers had expected. 2024 does, so far, seem to have a sort of serial monogamy to it, with the Sauron’s Eye of game-liker attention focusing intensely on one thing before moving on to the next, abruptly and fickly, with equally frightening fervor. So at the risk of being eternally behind the viral content curve (as though we’v...

2024-03-0500 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Some of What We Played in 2023Lucio and Drew talk about some of the games they've enjoyed gaming at this year, from KarmaZoo, Pizza Tower, Wobbly Life, and The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, to Remnant II, Spider-Man 2, Street Fighter 6, Jedi: Survivor, Wo Long, and Tears of the Kingdom. Speaking of, spoilers for Remnant II from 40:53 to 44:21. ——— • We've talked before about playing games, including but not limited to Destiny 2, wrong. • Guilty Gear -STRIVE- does not, at time, of publishing, have a simplified input option for supers. • Here once again the Bartle taxonomy of player types. • The curling do...

2023-12-261h 01 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Some of What We Played in 2023 ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 177. Lucio and Drew talk about some of the games they’ve enjoyed gaming at this year, from KarmaZoo, Pizza Tower, Wobbly Life, and The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, to Remnant II, Spider-Man 2, Street Fighter 6, Jedi: Survivor, Wo Long, and Tears of the Kingdom. Speaking of, spoilers for Remnant II from 40:53 to 44:21.——— • We’ve talked before about playing games, including but not limited to Destiny 2, wrong. • Guilty Gear -STRIVE- does not, at time, of publishing, have a simplified input option for supers. • Here once again the Bartle taxon...

2023-12-2600 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once You Should Be Free, with Glen Henry and Chase BetheaGlen Henry and Chase Bethea drop achor awhile and talk about Sunken Stones, why pirates mean freedom, and why the Golden Age of Piracy was a lot more Caribbean than Pirates of the Caribbean would have you believe. Also, inevitably, One Piece. You can play the Sunken Stones demo on Itch.io, and wishlist the full game on Steam. You can find Chase's work on his own website, as well as on Spotify and Bandcamp. And you can find Glen's work on the Spritewrench website. ——— • Here's Glen's previous appearance on the show. • And here's our conversati...

2023-12-121h 03 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once You Should Be Free, with Glen Henry and Chase Bethea ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 176. Glen Henry and Chase Bethea drop achor awhile and talk about Sunken Stones, why pirates mean freedom, and why the Golden Age of Piracy was a lot more Caribbean than Pirates of the Caribbean would have you believe. Also, inevitably, One Piece. You can play the Sunken Stones demo on Itch.io, and wishlist the full game on Steam.You can find Chase’s work on his own website, as well as on Spotify and Bandcamp.And you can find Glen’s work on the Spritewrench website.———• Here’s Glen’s previ...

2023-12-1200 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Devs, Uh, Find a Way, with Eric Peterson (a.k.a. Baja the Frog)Eric Peterson hops on over to talk about the joys of hobbyist game development, the things that need to change in professional game development (even when compared to other parts of tech), and the cultural importance of drawing little guys. You can play JOUNCER PX (as it's called now) on itch.io. You can find a bunch of Eric's work on his Linktree, and specifically on his Itch.io. You can also follow Eric on Twitter. ——— • Here's our conversation with Jerry Belich about, among other things, Alt.ctrl. • Drew has absolutely been referring Big Bad Beetleborg...

2023-11-141h 02 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Devs, Uh, Find a Way, with Eric Peterson (a.k.a. Baja the Frog) ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 174. Eric Peterson hops on over to talk about the joys of hobbyist game development, the things that need to change in professional game development (even when compared to other parts of tech), and the cultural importance of drawing little guys. You can play JOUNCER PX (as it’s called now) on itch.io.You can find a bunch of Eric’s work on his Linktree, and specifically on his Itch.io.You can also follow Eric on Twitter.———• Here’s our conversation with Jerry Belich about, among other things, Alt.ct...

2023-11-1400 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once That?s the Point of the Thing, with Jerry BelichJerry Belich talks about his wild work in the Alt.ctrl milieu, his boundary-redefining escape rooms (for lack of a better term), and his digital game work, from Recommendation Dog and Reel Steal on the Playdate, to High on Life and High on Knife. High on Knife is out now on Steam, Epic, Xbox, and Playstation. You can find Jerry's work on this pretty comprehensive page of his website. A Masterpiece in Disarray is available wherever you get books. You can also follow Jerry on Bluesky. ——— • Here are our past conversations with Megan Fox, Robin Baumgarten, Adriel Wallick...

2023-10-171h 47 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once That’s the Point of the Thing, with Jerry Belich ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 172. Jerry Belich talks about his wild work in the Alt.ctrl milieu, his boundary-redefining escape rooms (for lack of a better term), and his digital game work, from Recommendation Dog and Reel Steal on the Playdate, to High on Life and High on Knife. High on Knife is out now on Steam, Epic, Xbox, and Playstation.You can find Jerry’s work on this pretty comprehensive page of his website.A Masterpiece in Disarray is available wherever you get books.You can also follow Jerry on Bluesky.———• Here are o...

2023-10-1700 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Chance, Curation, Providence, with Matthew Brelsford ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 170. Matt Brelsford opens his hundred eyes and talks about the “loose collective” that is Tiny Mass Games, the spiritual dimension of game development, and (of course) Ophanim. You can find Tiny Mass Games on itch.io.You can also find Betty & Earl and Retro Wing Prime on Steam.———• Here are our interviews with Tijmen Tio from Sokpop, Arvi Teikari of Baba Is You fame, and Andrew from Indiepocalypse, as well as with Star St. Germain. • What the Internet calls Biblically Accurate Angels are indeed more properly called Ophanim. ...

2023-09-1900 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Chance, Curation, Providence, with Matthew BrelsfordMatt Brelsford opens his hundred eyes and talks about the "loose collective" that is Tiny Mass Games, the spiritual dimension of game development, and (of course) Ophanim. You can find Tiny Mass Games on itch.io. You can also find Betty & Earl and Retro Wing Prime on Steam. ——— • Here are our interviews with Tijmen Tio from Sokpop, Arvi Teikari of Baba Is You fame, and Andrew from Indiepocalypse, as well as with Star St. Germain. • What the Internet calls Biblically Accurate Angels are indeed more properly called Ophanim. • The "David Foster Wallace piece" Drew was referr...

2023-09-191h 09 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Baldur’s Gate 3, as Rolled by Two D&D Neophytes ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 169. Drew and L talk about their time so far with Baldur’s Gate 3, which works beautifully as a sprawling computer RPG, and as a unique intersection of free play and complex game rules—but how does it work as an introduction to Larian’s RPGs? How about to Dungeons & Dragons? This ends up being a conversation about expectations, about the actual moment-to-moment experience of playing games (especially strange and/or complicated ones), and about the push-and-pull of stepping outside our comfort zones, and then right back into them. • “We’ll do Beholders...

2023-09-0500 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Baldur?s Gate 3, as Rolled by Two D&D NeophytesDrew and L talk about their time so far with Baldur's Gate 3, which works beautifully as a sprawling computer RPG, and as a unique intersection of free play and complex game rules—but how does it work as an introduction to Larian's RPGs? How about to Dungeons & Dragons? This ends up being a conversation about expectations, about the actual moment-to-moment experience of playing games (especially strange and/or complicated ones), and about the push-and-pull of stepping outside our comfort zones, and then right back into them. • "We'll do Beholders another day" was Drew channeling "We'll do b...

2023-09-0546 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once A True History Turnip Exchange, with Jaku ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 167. Jaku is a security expert, a speedrunner, and a longtime builder of tools that expand how we interact with games online—from Crowd Control, which empowers streamers’ audiences to alter the state of the games being streamed, to Turnip Exchange, which vastly expanded the scope and functionality of the stalk market at the height of the Animal Crossing craze. Here Jaku tells the full story of Turnip Exchange for the first time. It’s the story of a small project becoming enormously popular ridiculously quickly, and all the commercial, social, and technical implic...

2023-08-0800 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once A True History Turnip Exchange, with JakuJaku is a security expert, a speedrunner, and a longtime builder of tools that expand how we interact with games online—from Crowd Control, which empowers streamers' audiences to alter the state of the games being streamed, to Turnip Exchange, which vastly expanded the scope and functionality of the stalk market at the height of the Animal Crossing craze. Here Jaku tells the full story of Turnip Exchange for the first time. It's the story of a small project becoming enormously popular ridiculously quickly, and all the commercial, social, and technical implications that follow. More broadly, it's a...

2023-08-081h 07 $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Drama, Not Trauma, with Jessica AntenorcruzJessica Antenorcruz has a unique, and also uniquely appropriate role on the upcoming drag queen fighting game Drag Her! She's in charge of the game's writing, from spoken lines to character concepts to plot?and she's also in charge on posing and motion, using her own physical performances to drive the game's hand-animated, rotoscoped realness. Here she talks about why that works so well for a fighting game, with the genre's focus on over-the-top personae (and just as importantly, over-the-top performances of gender). We also talk about Mortal Kombat and ClayFighter, as one ought.

2023-07-251h 03 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Drama, Not Trauma, with Jessica Antenorcruz ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 166. Jessica Antenorcruz has a unique, and also uniquely appropriate role on the upcoming drag queen fighting game Drag Her! She’s in charge of the game’s writing, from spoken lines to character concepts to plot—and she’s also in charge on posing and motion, using her own physical performances to drive the game’s hand-animated, rotoscoped realness. Here she talks about why that works so well for a fighting game, with the genre’s focus on over-the-top personae (and just as importantly, over-the-top performances of gender). We also talk about M...

2023-07-2500 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Somewhere People Want to Be, with Harris Foster ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 165. Harris Foster is the former Community Manager at Finji and the current Director of Communications at Good Trouble. Here he talks about where those roles overlap, how they differ, and what a purpose-built, welcoming community looks like in practice, online and off. You can follow Good Trouble on Discord, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky.And you can follow Harris on Twitter and Bluesky.———• Drew did edit the first part of this episode in the air, but then finished it up on a train from Dublin to Belfast (for those intereste...

2023-07-1100 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Somewhere People Want to Be, with Harris FosterHarris Foster is the former Community Manager at Finji and the current Director of Communications at Good Trouble. Here he talks about where those roles overlap, how they differ, and what a purpose-built, welcoming community looks like in practice, online and off. You can follow Good Trouble on Discord, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky. And you can follow Harris on Twitter and Bluesky. ——— • Drew did edit the first part of this episode in the air, but then finished it up on a train from Dublin to Belfast (for those interested in the host's mild globe-trotting; it does add flavo...

2023-07-1158 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Monsters and ‘Merica, LLMs and Luddites, with Ichiro Lambe ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 164. Ichiro Lambe has been making games since the days of MUDs and Palm Pilots, and here he talks to Drew about what’s new—from the possibilities of so-called AI (as exciting as they are fraught) to his strategic deck-builder of ramshackle autobattles, Million Monster Militia. You can wishlist Million Monster Militia, along with Monster Loves You Too! and AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!, on Steam.You can find Ichiro on Twitter, and see his work on his website and Dejobaan’s.———• It’s real, real hard to find reliable numbers on power consumption in LL...

2023-06-2700 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Monsters and ?Merica, LLMs and Luddites, with Ichiro LambeIchiro Lambe has been making games since the days of MUDs and Palm Pilots, and here he talks to Drew about what's new—from the possibilities of so-called AI (as exciting as they are fraught) to his strategic deck-builder of ramshackle autobattles, Million Monster Militia. You can wishlist Million Monster Militia, along with Monster Loves You Too! and AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!, on Steam. You can find Ichiro on Twitter, and see his work on his website and Dejobaan's. ——— • It's real, real hard to find reliable numbers on power consumption in LLMs other other "AI." Most existing research focuses on BLOOM, simp...

2023-06-271h 00 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once There’s Heart in the Art and the Boat Is Afloat, with Tanya X. Short ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 161. Tanya X. Short descends to our dunj to talk about her ten years as the Captain of Kitfox Games. We talk about about long-term studio survival, what so-called AI really is, and making systems-driven games with heart—as well as the necessity of a tea-witch in all functional partnerships.You can find the whole Kitfox Games catalog on their website.The deadline to apply for the Pixelles Prototype Fund is May 25.You can also follow Tanya, Kitfox, and Pixelles on Twitter. ——— • Here are our conversations of varyingly...

2023-05-1600 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once There?s Heart in the Art and the Boat Is Afloat, with Tanya X. ShortTanya X. Short descends to our dunj to talk about her ten years as the Captain of Kitfox Games. We talk about about long-term studio survival, what so-called AI really is, and making systems-driven games with heart—as well as the necessity of a tea-witch in all functional partnerships. You can find the whole Kitfox Games catalog on their website. The deadline to apply for the Pixelles Prototype Fund is May 25. You can also follow Tanya, Kitfox, and Pixelles on Twitter. ——— • Here are our conversations of varyingly recent vintage with Santiago Zapata, Star St. Germain, Esther Alt...

2023-05-1656 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once More Sleepier Goblins, Fewer Shorter Meetings, with Anya Combs ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 157. Anya Combs joins our crowd (of guests) to talk about her work at Backerkit (and previously at Kickstarter and Nickelodeon), her saxophoning for the Funkrust Brass Band (among a fair many other bands), her love of tabletop, and her blood-feud with meeting culture. Backerkit’s new crowdfunding section is live, as so often is the music of Funkrust.You can also find Anya’s socials on her Linktree. ——— • Drew was referring to a premium (as in paywalled, and also as in excellent) episode of the 5-4 podcast, with that bi...

2023-03-2100 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once More Sleepier Goblins, Fewer Shorter Meetings, with Anya CombsAnya Combs joins our crowd (of guests) to talk about her work at Backerkit (and previously at Kickstarter and Nickelodeon), her saxophoning for the Funkrust Brass Band (among a fair many other bands), her love of tabletop, and her blood-feud with meeting culture. Backerkit's new crowdfunding section is live, as so often is the music of Funkrust. You can also find Anya's socials on her Linktree. ——— • Drew was referring to a premium (as in paywalled, and also as in excellent) episode of the 5-4 podcast, with that bit about having more culpability as one asce...

2023-03-211h 26 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Adventures & Ampersands, with Irwin Chen, Nathan Dummitt, & Ed Chung ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 156. A fair few of the kids who played Dungeons & Dragons in the 1980s are now parents with kids old enough to play Dungeons & Dragons. At the same time, and beyond that: Tabletop Role Playing Games, which were once firmly esoteric and counter-cultural pursuits (not to mention the target of frothy moral panic) are increasingly a visible, present part of pop culture. Which means that the time is right for TTRPGs that parents can play with their kids—including very young kids, and including parents who didn’t play D&D back in the...

2023-03-0700 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Adventures & Ampersands, with Irwin Chen, Nathan Dummitt, & Ed ChungA fair few of the kids who played Dungeons & Dragons in the 1980s are now parents with kids old enough to play Dungeons & Dragons. At the same time, and beyond that: Tabletop Role Playing Games, which were once firmly esoteric and counter-cultural pursuits (not to mention the target of frothy moral panic) are increasingly a visible, present part of pop culture. Which means that the time is right for TTRPGs that parents can play with their kids?including very young kids, and including parents who didn't play D&D back in the day & day. Irwin Chen, Nathan...

2023-03-071h 02 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once On Tropes and Triads, with Garry Schyman ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 153. Garry Schyman isekais his way back to the show to forspeak about his work on FORSPOKEN—which is out today—as well as his other recent scores for Torn and Metamorphosis. (If you want to hear about his work on the BioShock trilogy and the Middle-earth duology, we’d direct you to Garry’s previous appearance). Here we talk about the utility of tropes, the evocative power of tonality, and the unique pleasures of emotionally engaging blockbuster spectacles. FORSPOKEN is out now for PC via Steam, Epic, and Xbox.com, and for Playstat...

2023-01-2400 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once On Tropes and Triads, with Garry SchymanGarry Schyman isekais his way back to the show to forspeak about his work on FORSPOKEN—which is out today—as well as his other recent scores for Torn and Metamorphosis. (If you want to hear about his work on the BioShock trilogy and the Middle-earth duology, we'd direct you to Garry's previous appearance). Here we talk about the utility of tropes, the evocative power of tonality, and the unique pleasures of emotionally engaging blockbuster spectacles. FORSPOKEN is out now for PC via Steam, Epic, and Xbox.com, and for Playstation 5. You can learn more about Garry's rath...

2023-01-241h 04 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once What We Heard and What We Learned in 2022 ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 152. Before we dive into this year’s interviews, we thought we’d take stock of last year’s, as has become tradition here on the ‘cast—connect a few dots, and provide a sort of a digest for anyone who’s missed some (or all!) of our 2022 episodes, and for first-time listeners. So join us once again as Drew plays some clips from the shows we’ve done this year, some lovely bits of music from the games we’ve talked about, and some scratchy old 78s besides. ———• “All The People Say (Season 5)”...

2023-01-1000 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once What We Heard and What We Learned in 2022Before we dive into this year's interviews, we thought we'd take stock of last year's, as has become tradition here on the 'cast?connect a few dots, and provide a sort of a digest for anyone who's missed some (or all!) of our 2022 episodes, and for first-time listeners. So join us once again as Drew plays some clips from the shows we've done this year, some lovely bits of music from the games we've talked about, and some scratchy old 78s besides. ——— • "All The People Say (Season 5)" by Carpe Demon. • Some music from the Neko Ghost, Jump...

2023-01-1000 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once What We Played (and What We Didn?t) in 2022: ETAO Quarterly, Vol. 4Another year, and another 'cast in which to review said year. For (somehow!) the first time ever, Drew, Lucio, Franny, and L are all together to talk about what they've played, what they haven't, and what they're planning on playing?that last category covering both stuff that's currently in their to-read piles, and stuff that'll be out next year and beyond. (Soon, Tears of the Kingdom). SPOILERS for the ending of the first rebooted God of War from 25:22 to 26:28. Some structure-level SPOILERS for Pentiment from 50:33 to 52:18. ——— • The header image is from Pentiment. (Drew really likes Pentimen...

2022-12-271h 15 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once What We Played (and What We Didn’t) in 2022: ETAO Quarterly, Vol. 4 ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 151. Another year, and another ‘cast in which to review said year. For (somehow!) the first time ever, Drew, Lucio, Franny, and L are all together to talk about what they’ve played, what they haven’t, and what they’re planning on playing—that last category covering both stuff that’s currently in their to-read piles, and stuff that’ll be out next year and beyond. (Soon, Tears of the Kingdom). SPOILERS for the ending of the first rebooted God of War from 25:22 to 26:28.Some structure-level SPOILERS for Pentiment from 50:33 to 52:18. ———•...

2022-12-2700 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once This Episode Has Gone to the Shadow RealmDrew here, with an update. At the time I recorded this episode, I was not aware of A.M. Darke's accusations against Zack Johnson. Among the numerous reasons this sucks (though by no means the most important one) is that it's embarrassing. Research is something I'm generally pretty good at, so missing a serious matter mentioned on the first page of Google results about the person I was interviewing, and on his studio's Wikipedia page, is beyond dumb. The thing is, I don't usually start out by Googling the guest, in this fallen age of SEO-optimized hyperspam...

2022-12-1300 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once This Episode Has Gone to the Shadow Realm ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 150. Drew here, with an update. At the time I recorded this episode, I was not aware of A.M. Darke’s accusations against Zack Johnson. Among the numerous reasons this sucks (though by no means the most important one) is that it’s embarrassing. Research is something I’m generally pretty good at, so missing a serious matter mentioned on the first page of Google results about the person I was interviewing, and on his studio’s Wikipedia page, is beyond dumb. The thing is, I don’t usually start out by Googling t...

2022-12-1300 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once The Past and Present of Sword & Fairy, with Johnny LiuJohnny Liu schools us on the history of Chinese RPGs in general, and the long-running, massively impactful 仙劍奇俠傳 series in particular. It's been called Sword & Fairy in the West (when it isn't being called Chinese Paladin), but that title doesn't fully capture what these games have to offer?and that simple fact serves as a great jumping-off point to talk about translation, cultural specificity, cultural exchange, and a whole games canon that has remained largely invisible outside of the Sinosphere, even after the immense success of Genshin Impact. Path of Wuxia is currently in Early Access on Steam. Marvel Puz...

2022-11-0100 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once The Past and Present of Sword & Fairy, with Johnny Liu ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 147. Johnny Liu schools us on the history of Chinese RPGs in general, and the long-running, massively impactful 仙劍奇俠傳 series in particular. It’s been called Sword & Fairy in the West (when it isn’t being called Chinese Paladin), but that title doesn’t fully capture what these games have to offer—and that simple fact serves as a great jumping-off point to talk about translation, cultural specificity, cultural exchange, and a whole games canon that has remained largely invisible outside of the Sinosphere, even after the immense success of Genshin Impact. Path of Wuxia is currently...

2022-11-0100 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once The ETAO Quarterly, Vol. 3Drew, Lucio, and L check in on what they've been playing these past few months. Splatoon 3 naturally comes up, as does Drew's continuing project to catch up on Final Fantasy XIV. Meanwhile, L has been messing around with her new Steam Deck, so prepare to hear about Rune Factory, about Capybara Spa, and (whisper it) about exploring older games via emulation. (The Steam Deck is excellent for that, even unto Valve themselves occasionally forgetting to pretend otherwise). Ah, but the main event just might be the Drew and Lucio losing their minds (all over again) at the...

2022-10-181h 21 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once The ETAO Quarterly, Vol. 3 ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 146. Drew, Lucio, and L check in on what they’ve been playing these past few months. Splatoon 3 naturally comes up, as does Drew’s continuing project to catch up on Final Fantasy XIV. Meanwhile, L has been messing around with her new Steam Deck, so prepare to hear about Rune Factory, about Capybara Spa, and (whisper it) about exploring older games via emulation. (The Steam Deck is excellent for that, even unto Valve themselves occasionally forgetting to pretend otherwise). Ah, but the main event just might be the Drew and Lucio losing thei...

2022-10-1800 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Root and Branch, with Aidan MoherAidan Moher is probably best known for his long-running, Hugo-winning blog A Dribble of Ink and its spiritual successor Astrolabe, or else for his short-form fiction, which prods at the boundaries of various sci-fi and fantasy subgenres. Today, he releases his first non-fiction book, FIGHT, MAGIC, ITEMS: The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West?and he stops by to attune to our aetheryte and have a chat. You can get FIGHT, MAGIC, ITEMS, both physically and digitally, all the places listed here. You can also follow Aidan on...

2022-10-041h 16 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Root and Branch, with Aidan Moher ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 145. Aidan Moher is probably best known for his long-running, Hugo-winning blog A Dribble of Ink and its spiritual successor Astrolabe, or else for his short-form fiction, which prods at the boundaries of various sci-fi and fantasy subgenres. Today, he releases his first non-fiction book, FIGHT, MAGIC, ITEMS: The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West—and he stops by to attune to our aetheryte and have a chat. You can get FIGHT, MAGIC, ITEMS, both physically and digitally, all the places listed here.Yo...

2022-10-0400 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Democracy at Work, with Jessica RizzoJessica Rizzo stops by to talk about the labor of making games—and specifically, the vitally important, structurally maligned discipline of Quality Assurance—in the context of her work with ABetterABK, Game Workers Unite, and CODE-CWA. Building on our previous conversation with Emma Kinema here on the show, we discuss where game development fits into broader conversations about making work (and everything else) more democratic. The Weekly Standup Podcast is on Twitter, and the show itself is on Twitch and YouTube. For Jessica's activist work and sundry social media mabobs, check out her Linktree. You can also foll...

2022-09-201h 08 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Democracy at Work, with Jessica Gonzalez ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 144. Jessica Gonzalez stops by to talk about the labor of making games—and specifically, the vitally important, structurally maligned discipline of Quality Assurance—in the context of her work with ABetterABK, Game Workers Unite, and CODE-CWA. Building on our previous conversation with Emma Kinema here on the show, we discuss where game development fits into broader conversations about making work (and everything else) more democratic. The Weekly Standup Podcast is on Twitter, and the show itself is on Twitch and YouTube.For Jessica’s activist work and sundry social media mabobs, check...

2022-09-2000 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Levels Are Good, Actually, with Aaron NemoytenAaron Nemoyten stops by to talk about his work on Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes and Heroes of Dragon Age, which gives us a chance to talk about live ops and monetization—two topics that are core to how players experience games, but that only semi-seldomly get talked about as game design. We then dive into his newer, smaller, more experimental games. Also Brazil, MDK, and naturally, DOOM. You can see a while bunch of Aaron's work on his website. You can also follow Aaron on Twitter. ——— • City Wave (probably more properly called City Pop...

2022-09-061h 57 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Levels Are Good, Actually, with Aaron Nemoyten ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 143. Aaron Nemoyten stops by to talk about his work on Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes and Heroes of Dragon Age, which gives us a chance to talk about live ops and monetization—two topics that are core to how players experience games, but that only semi-seldomly get talked about as game design. We then dive into his newer, smaller, more experimental games. Also Brazil, MDK, and naturally, DOOM. You can see a while bunch of Aaron’s work on his website.You can also follow Aaron on Twitter. ——...

2022-09-0600 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Things Worth Thirsting For, with Chandana EkanayakeChandana Ekanayake has more than two decades' experience in the game industry, stretching from work on The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard and Enter the Matrix to his projects at Outerloop Games, the studio he co-founded. Here he talks about the studio's anti-colonialist sci-fi falconry adventure Falcon Age, as well as their upcoming game Thirsty Suitors, an RPG about romance, family, cooking, skating, mutual understanding, and lots else besides. MINOR SPOILERS for THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS, of all things, at 1:12:55. You can wishlist Thirsty Suitors on Steam. You can get Falcon Age on Steam, Epic, Oculus, Playstation...

2022-08-0900 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Things Worth Thirsting For, with Chandana Ekanayake ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 141. Chandana Ekanayake has more than two decades’ experience in the game industry, stretching from work on The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard and Enter the Matrix to his projects at Outerloop Games, the studio he co-founded. Here he talks about the studio’s anti-colonialist sci-fi falconry adventure Falcon Age, as well as their upcoming game Thirsty Suitors, an RPG about romance, family, cooking, skating, mutual understanding, and lots else besides. MINOR SPOILERS for THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS, of all things, at 1:12:55. You can wishlist Thirsty Suitors on Steam.You can get Falc...

2022-08-0900 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once The ETAO Quarterly, Vol. 2 ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 140. Franny, Lucio, and Drew check in on what they’ve been playing, including but by no means limited to Elden Ring. We talk Neon White, Tunic, Horizon: Forbidden West, and Stray, as well as some of the games we’re looking forward to later this year, from God of War Ragnarök and Splatoon 3 to Venba and We Are OFK. Also: What have Lucio’s kids been playing? What are the kids into these days, we ask, sounding as old as we’ve ever sounded, and embracing it. (The kids are into mods, hea...

2022-07-2600 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once The ETAO Quarterly, Vol. 2Franny, Lucio, and Drew check in on what they've been playing, including but by no means limited to Elden Ring. We talk Neon White, Tunic, Horizon: Forbidden West, and Stray, as well as some of the games we're looking forward to later this year, from God of War Ragnarök and Splatoon 3 to Venba and We Are OFK. Also: What have Lucio's kids been playing? What are the kids into these days, we ask, sounding as old as we've ever sounded, and embracing it. (The kids are into mods, hearteningly!) ——— • The game Drew and Lucio couldn't t...

2022-07-261h 25 $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Last Call, with Zach BarthZach Barth is back to talk about Last Call BBS, which is the last Zachtronics game, and also a collection of eight smaller—though not all especially small!—Zachtronics games, unified by the fictional hardware spec for which they were built and the fictional software pirate who distributed them. It's a celebration of pursuing weird ideas, messing with old computers, and various kinds of inevitable endings. Here Zach talks about why the studio is closing up shop, why they're choosing to end things on this particular note, and what might be next. You can get Last Call BBS...

2022-07-121h 34 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Last Call, with Zach Barth ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 139. Zach Barth is back to talk about Last Call BBS, which is the last Zachtronics game, and also a collection of eight smaller—though not all especially small!—Zachtronics games, unified by the fictional hardware spec for which they were built and the fictional software pirate who distributed them. It’s a celebration of pursuing weird ideas, messing with old computers, and various kinds of inevitable endings. Here Zach talks about why the studio is closing up shop, why they’re choosing to end things on this particular note, and what might be next. Yo...

2022-07-1200 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once At the Academy with Mike Salyh and Wyatt BushnellWyatt Bushnell and Mike Salyh both have a background in physically extant escape rooms—not to mention arcade games, and other "out-of-home entertainment" experiences. (Gallery nerds would call them site-specific). As the co-founders of Coin Crew Games, they're now bringing that experience to a videogame for PC and consoles, in the form of Escape Academy. Here they talk about making the switch to at-home digital games, the importance of social play, and the tricky balance between exploring novel ideas on the one hand, and on the other, having your idea make instant, gut-level sense to players (including di...

2022-06-2858 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once At the Academy with Mike Salyh and Wyatt Bushnell ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 138. Wyatt Bushnell and Mike Salyh both have a background in physically extant escape rooms—not to mention arcade games, and other “out-of-home entertainment” experiences. (Gallery nerds would call them site-specific). As the co-founders of Coin Crew Games, they’re now bringing that experience to a videogame for PC and consoles, in the form of Escape Academy. Here they talk about making the switch to at-home digital games, the importance of social play, and the tricky balance between exploring novel ideas on the one hand, and on the other, having your idea make instant...

2022-06-2800 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Neural Spike, with Heather Flowers and Aura Belle ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 137. Heather Flowers has expanded the world of EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER into a TTRPG, in collaboration with Aura Belle. Here both of the authors talk about the rough-and-ready nature of the Powered by the Apocalypse system on which MEATPUNKS is based, and the thoroughly American nightmare that is Meatworld—plus, how to invite true improvisation for GMs and players alike, and “how to depict harm without causing it.” Brief spoilers about a major villain in the MEATPUNKS sourcebook from 0:28:45 to 0:29:28. You can get the free quickstart edition of EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER right...

2022-06-1400 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once New New Content, with William PughWilliam Pugh's studio Crows Crows Crows has just released The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. It's a remake. It's also a lot more than that. But like The Stanley Parable itself, what exactly it is can be slippery to explain, and slipperier still to talk around. Here William goes into that, as well as into Crows Crows Crows' other work, from their superlative newsletter, to The Temple of No, to Accounting+, to Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist. SPOILERS FOR THE STANLEY PARABLE: ULTRA DELUXE BEGIN AT 0:21:55. You can get...

2022-05-0300 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once New New Content, with William Pugh ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 134. William Pugh’s studio Crows Crows Crows has just released The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. It’s a remake. It’s also a lot more than that. But like The Stanley Parable itself, what exactly it is can be slippery to explain, and slipperier still to talk around. Here William goes into that, as well as into Crows Crows Crows’ other work, from their superlative newsletter, to The Temple of No, to Accounting+, to Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist. SPOILERS FOR THE STANLEY PARABLE: ULTRA DELUXE B...

2022-05-0300 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Organic Growth, with Marina Kittaka and Melos Han-Tani ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 133. Marina Kittaka and Melos Han-Tani return to talk about their narrative-rich platformer-but-also-more-than-that, Sephonie. It’s quite a different game from Anodyne 2, and as such, this is a fairly different conversation than the one they had with Drew about Anodyne 2. It’s equal parts a conversation about oscillating between hope and not-hope, and about the arcana of platformer design—from the flattening predominance of “mairoism” in platformers, to the mind-expanding exercise of reading Anor Londo and Sen’s Fortress in Dark Souls as platformer levels, to the unique and sometimes revelatory pleasures of playing games with bad con...

2022-04-1900 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once The ETAO Quarterly, Vol. 1Rather than try to cram all of what we've been playing into a single year-end round-up, this year we've decided to check in every three months or so. This time around, Drew, Lucio, and L talk mostly about Pokémon Legends: Arceus (with the two main Ni No Kuni games on the side), Graveyard Keeper, Death's Door, Dungeon Encounters, and Guilty Gear Strive—plus a bit about Yonder, Pupperazzi, Wytchwood, Littlewood, and Garden Story, and Nobody Saves the World. Elden Ring is not a major topic here, but it does sort of haunt all of the other top...

2022-04-051h 22 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once The ETAO Quarterly, Vol. 1 ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 132. Rather than try to cram all of what we’ve been playing into a single year-end round-up, this year we’ve decided to check in every three months or so. This time around, Drew, Lucio, and L talk mostly about Pokémon Legends: Arceus (with the two main Ni No Kuni games on the side), Graveyard Keeper, Death’s Door, Dungeon Encounters, and Guilty Gear Strive—plus a bit about Yonder, Pupperazzi, Wytchwood, Littlewood, and Garden Story, and Nobody Saves the World. Elden Ring is not a major topic here, but it does sort...

2022-04-0500 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Reality-Adjacency, with Star St. Germain ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 127. Star St. Germain has worked in an uncommonly wide variety of media, from music to comics to gallery art—all within a consistent and unified practice, which she talks us through here, and which she also brings to ArcaniteCo’s debut game HoloVista. In talking about that project, we also talk about the existential perils of social media saturation, the unique possibilities of generative image-making, the real technologies and possibilities behind the Web3 hype, and the many things we mean when we say mixed reality. You can get HoloVista for iPhone and iPad...

2022-01-2500 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Being Real with Victor Burgos ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 126. Victor Burgos stops by to talk about his studio’s debut game, Neko Ghost, Jump! We get into the difficulty of figuring out who your game is for, the challenge of controlling scope and scale when working with a small, part-time team, and the perils of trying to live and work in the frankly-sometimes-pretty-hellish social space the internet has become. You can get Neko Ghost, Jump! now on in Early Access on Steam and Epic.You can also follow Victor (and Burgos Games, and the game itself) on Twitter. ———• Her...

2022-01-1100 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once What We Played (and What We Didn?t) in 2021It's the Year in Review 'cast! Drew, Lucio, and Franny (along with her alter-ego Michelle) have gathered 'round to reflect on the games we played this year, the games we didn't quite get to, and the games we're definitely going to play once they're available to be played. 2021 has truly been the sequel no one asked for, from the protracted coronavirus crisis, to the Cambrian explosion of crypto-scams, to all the usual stuff (like neoliberalism being both unwilling and unable to do much about climate catastrophe, rising authoritarianism, or even the stuff it's supposed to be great...

2021-12-2800 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once What We Played (and What We Didn’t) in 2021 ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 125. It’s the Year in Review ‘cast! Drew, Lucio, and Franny (along with her alter-ego Michelle) have gathered ’round to reflect on the games we played this year, the games we didn’t quite get to, and the games we’re definitely going to play once they’re available to be played. 2021 has truly been the sequel no one asked for, from the protracted coronavirus crisis, to the Cambrian explosion of crypto-scams, to all the usual stuff (like neoliberalism being both unwilling and unable to do much about climate catastrophe, rising authoritarianism, or even the...

2021-12-2800 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once This Sense of Freedom, with Charles Bardin ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 115. A Musical Story takes place in the mind of a musician, and it also takes place in an era when rock as a wide-open experimental space, and the album was the thing, and every album was in some sense a concept album. The game is likewise an experiment in telling a story—here a wordless, internal, emotionally raw one. It’s a work about how music relates to memory, and what both music and memory mean, individually and in combination. In this interview, Charles Bardin talks about A Musical Story both as a ga...

2021-08-1000 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once This Sense of Freedom, with Charles BardinA Musical Story takes place in the mind of a musician, and it also takes place in an era when rock as a wide-open experimental space, and the album was the thing, and every album was in some sense a concept album. The game is likewise an experiment in telling a story—here a wordless, internal, emotionally raw one. It's a work about how music relates to memory, and what both music and memory mean, individually and in combination. In this interview, Charles Bardin talks about A Musical Story both as a game and as a larger ar...

2021-08-101h 14 $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Make Art, Do Crimes, with D-Cell GamesUNBEATABLE is a rhythm game, and an adventure game, and it's serious about being fully both. More than that, it's a game about the emotional truths of music, and of being in a band, and a piece of art about the connection between making art and doing crimes. In this episode, to get at some of those truths, Andrew Tsai, RJ Lake, Rachel Lake, Jeffrey Chiao, TJ Maddux, and Mireille Arseneault from D-Cell games all stop by to talk about UNBEATABLE (as well as [white label], the side story/demo/OVA that goes along with it).

2021-07-2700 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Hope Too Is Rad, with Lauren MeeRatchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a big heartfelt spectacle of a game—you've likely seen some of its dream-vibrant, mirror-polished visuals, and a bit of its cartoony gunplay—and as the game's Lead Writer, Lauren Mee had a huge amount to do with the heartfelt part of that equation. Rift Apart is a game about blowing stuff up and about difficult friendships. It's wacky and warm, at once a relentless sugar rush and a contemplation on who else we could have been, and who we might yet be. That's quite a balance to strike, and in this conv...

2021-07-141h 22 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Hope Too Is Rad, with Lauren Mee ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 113. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a big heartfelt spectacle of a game—you’ve likely seen some of its dream-vibrant, mirror-polished visuals, and a bit of its cartoony gunplay—and as the game’s Lead Writer, Lauren Mee had a huge amount to do with the heartfelt part of that equation. Rift Apart is a game about blowing stuff up and about difficult friendships. It’s wacky and warm, at once a relentless sugar rush and a contemplation on who else we could have been, and who we might yet be. That’s quite a ba...

2021-07-1400 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once On Replays, Remasters, and Remakes ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 111. Amid the E3 madness, this crush of new games and games yet to be, we thought we’d take a moment and think a bit about games that are, in one way or another, not new. Let’s talk about games that we replay, and especially the ones that we keep revisiting at different points in life. Why do we replay games? What kinds of play aren’t quite replaying, but are closely related? Certainly there are lots of games wherein you’re expected to never stop playing, or to come back frequent...

2021-06-1500 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once On Replays, Remasters, and RemakesAmid the E3 madness, this crush of new games and games yet to be, we thought we'd take a moment and think a bit about games that are, in one way or another, not new. Let's talk about games that we replay, and especially the ones that we keep revisiting at different points in life. Why do we replay games? What kinds of play aren't quite replaying, but are closely related? Certainly there are lots of games wherein you're expected to never stop playing, or to come back frequently, but that's a bit different—or is it? Wh...

2021-06-1500 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once As Joyously and Explicitly as You Can, into the Fleshy Breach, with Xalavier Nelson Jr. ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 110. Xalavier Nelson Jr. is an absurdly prolific artist and an inveterate collaborator, having left his creative stamp on Hypnospace Outlaw, We Are The Caretakers, Can Androids Pray, Mr. Bucket Told Me To, and so, so much else, from tabletop RPG systems to comics to games journalism. Currently he’s working on SkateBIRD and Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator, plus something else that he’ll be announcing this week. [EDIT: Oh hey, El Paso Elsewhere!] Just this past week, he unleashed (sorry-not-sorry) a ridiculous, beautiful adventure game called An Airport for Aliens Currently Run...

2021-06-0100 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Making Space to Make Games, with Yadu Rajiv ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 109. Yadu Rajiv does a whole lot of different things, all of them to do with games and the people and technologies that make them possible. By day, he’s a Lead Game Designer at BYJU’S, working on educational games that toe the line between physical and digital, and the rest of the time he acts as an ambassador and an organizer for India’s fast-growing indie scene. Here he talks about what it means to wear those different hats, the unique pressures of running a community in times of isolation, and the od...

2021-05-1800 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Making Space to Make Games, with Yadu RajivYadu Rajiv does a whole lot of different things, all of them to do with games and the people and technologies that make them possible. By day, he's a Lead Game Designer at BYJU'S, working on educational games that toe the line between physical and digital, and the rest of the time he acts as an ambassador and an organizer for India's fast-growing indie scene. Here he talks about what it means to wear those different hats, the unique pressures of running a community in times of isolation, and the odd, undeniable role of bootlegs and piracy...

2021-05-181h 22 $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once An Accidental Genre, with Santiago Zapata (a.k.a. Slashie)Santago Zapata stops by to talk about the history of roguelikes, his own expansive body of small works for the 7-Day Roguelike Challenge, and his larger works, from Castlevania Roguelike, to Ananias, to his current project NovaMundi: The Spear of Chaquén. Is it a roguelike, this new game? The purists would say (and have said) no, but it's certainly philosophically adjacent to roguelikes—with its focus on learning from failed runs, its emphasis on exploring procedurally-generated environments, and its infinity of emergent micronarratives. It's also a game steeped in Muisca culture, and as such a gre...

2021-05-041h 18 $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once The Futures of Stories, with Russell QuinnRussell Quinn has had a unique career as a technologist enabling stories, building the underlying systems for the ahead-of-its time McSweeney's app, as well as for the equally-ahead-of-theirs, novel-adjacent multimedia projects The Silent History and The Pickle Index. He's brought remarkably inventive and playful stories to the world, though not as a storyteller, exactly. That is, until his current solo project Linda & Joan, which tells an intensely personal story about family, loss, and what people can do for each other when things get truly bad. (Given the subject matter, as I say in the intro, this episode...

2021-04-061h 15 $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once A Nuanced Critique of Subtlety, with Chevy RayChevy Ray has been making games for a long time now—though most of them are currently tough to play; RIP Flash—but is probably best known for Ikenfell, a tactical RPG about going to magic school, working through difficult relationships, and petting a great many cats. Here Chevy talks about what it means to keep an RPG character-focused, the difference between nuance and subtlety, his love of "setpiece games," and the significant hidden benefits of pursuing accessibility. You can get Ikenfell on Steam Humble, GOG, PlayStation, Xbox (where it's included in GamePass), and Switch. You...

2021-03-231h 08 $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Designing for Empathy, with Anisa SanusiAnisa Sanusi is an accomplished UI/UX designer, probably best known for her work on Elite Dangerous and Planet Coaster—two utterly different games that bring with them utterly different challenges in terms of usability, accessibility, tone, and scope. She's also the founder of the Limit Break mentorship program, an organization dedicated to providing guidance, access, and support to underrepresented genders (and in this new year, BIPOC and LGBT+ folx) in the UK games industry. Here Anisa talks about the difficulty of doing as much good as she can with Limit Break without allowing the scope of it...

2021-03-091h 34 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Rogue Chunks, with Chris KingETAO Podcast, Episode 103. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/etao-podcast-103-chris-king.mp3 Chris King of Batterystaple Games shares a chunk of his time to discuss 30XX, the reimagined, souped-up sequel to the Mega Man X-esque roguelike-alike 20XX. We get pretty far into the weeds as far as the differences between the two games, the double-edged beam-sword of encouraging player-created content from day one, the advantages and disadvantages of working with an engine built from scratch, and why roguelike design patterns are likely here to stay. You can get 30...

2021-02-2300 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Rogue Chunks, with Chris KingChris King of Batterystaple Games shares a chunk of his time to discuss 30XX, the reimagined, souped-up sequel to the Mega Man X-esque roguelike-alike 20XX. We get pretty far into the weeds as far as the differences between the two games, the double-edged beam-sword of encouraging player-created content from day one, the advantages and disadvantages of working with an engine built from scratch, and why roguelike design patterns are likely here to stay. You can get 30XX on Steam. You can get the soundtrack on Steam and Bandcamp. You can also follow Chris on Twitter. ——— "All Th...

2021-02-2300 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Experiencing America, with Bryant YoungOur America puts you in the shoes of a Black father driving his son to school—and if that doesn't sound potentially harrowing to you, then you might be exactly the project's intended audience. It's a work that means to illuminate, instruct, challenge, and speak simple, difficult truths. In this interview, Bryant Young talks about why he started developing Our America, who hopes will hear its message, and what he hopes they'll walk away with. CONTENT WARNING for racism, police violence, and murder. Here's where you can download the Our America, alpha/demo, an...

2021-02-091h 12 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Experiencing America, with Bryant YoungETAO Podcast, Episode 102. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/etao-podcast-102-bryant-young.mp3 Our America puts you in the shoes of a Black father driving his son to school—and if that doesn’t sound potentially harrowing to you, then you might be exactly the project’s intended audience. It’s a work that means to illuminate, instruct, challenge, and speak simple, difficult truths. In this interview, Bryant Young talks about why he started developing Our America, who hopes will hear its message, and what he hopes they’ll walk away with. CONTENT...

2021-02-0900 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Communities and Modularities, with Chel WongETAO Podcast, Episode 101. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/etao-podcast-101-chel-wong.mp3 You might know Chel Wong from her rightly-celebrated, highly modular soundtrack to Kine, and some more people are about to know her from Watch This Space. But you definitely already know her if you’re even tangentially involved in the Boston-area indie scene (or for that matter, the New England Smash scene). She’s in some ways as accomplished at fostering community as she as at crafting intricate, reactive soundscapes. Here we talk about Chel’s music-making process, how he...

2021-01-2600 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Communities and Modularities, with Chel WongYou might know Chel Wong from her rightly-celebrated, highly modular soundtrack to Kine, and some more people are about to know her from Watch This Space. But you definitely already know her if you're even tangentially involved in the Boston-area indie scene (or for that matter, the New England Smash scene). She's in some ways as accomplished at fostering community as she as at crafting intricate, reactive soundscapes. Here we talk about Chel's music-making process, how her approach to networking has changes, and the specific difficulties of being an extrovert in these long, hug-deprived COVID months. Also...

2021-01-2650 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once What We Heard and What We Learned in 2020ETAO Podcast, Episode 100. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/etao-podcast-100-clipshow.mp3 For our hundredth episode, we’re trying something a little different and editing together some of our favorite moments from the past year of the ‘cast. If you’ve been looking to catch up but haven’t had the time to dive into entire longform interviews, then this should provide a good place to start—and even if you’ve already heard these clips and the episodes they come from, this format should highlight some themes that our interviews have shared in co...

2021-01-0500 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once What We Heard and What We Learned in 2020For our hundredth episode, we're trying something a little different and editing together some of our favorite moments from the past year of the 'cast. If you've been looking to catch up but haven't had the time to dive into entire longform interviews, then this should provide a good place to start?and even if you've already heard these clips and the episodes they come from, this format should highlight some themes that our interviews have shared in common. This episode features clips from: 98. The Work of War, with Zach Barth 74. Delicious to the (Mad...

2021-01-051h 01 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once What We Played (and What We Didn’t) in 2020ETAO Podcast, Episode 99. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/etao-podcast-99-2020.mp3 2020, everybody. It was a weird year for lots of things, we think it’s fair to say—including but by no means limited to games. So in this episode, we take a moment to recap the games we played this year, the games currently glistening atop (or languishing deep within) our to-read piles, and the games of the future we’re anticipating. From the blockbusters to the altgames, and from the newest newnesses to the remasters and remakes, we com...

2020-12-2200 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once What We Played (and What We Didn't) in 20202020, everybody. It was a weird year for lots of things, we think it's fair to say—including but by no means limited to games. So in this episode, we take a moment to recap the games we played this year, the games currently glistening atop (or languishing deep within) our to-read piles, and the games of the future we're anticipating. From the blockbusters to the altgames, and from the newest newnesses to the remasters and remakes, we compare our notes, clarify our disagreements, and celebrate the games and gameoids we found so very worth celebrating through this st...

2020-12-221h 41 $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once The Latest GenerationETAO Podcast, Episode 97. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/etao-podcast-97-console-gen-9.mp3 The PlayStation 5 is out, as is the Xbox Series X and Series S Series! That’s exciting, at least for those of us who can get our hands on them. Drew’s been PS5ing, and he and Lucio both built new PCs this year, so now seemed like a fairly ideal time to take stock of the state of consoles, and of gaming machines more generally—what they mean to us now, what they meant to us growing up, and wh...

2020-11-2400 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once Refusing to Compete, Choosing to CooperateDrew and Lucio check in on the state of co-op games, especially online ones, in this strange isolated times. How has co-op changed over the past few decades, both in character and in quantity? Why are we so drawn to cooperative games, and why (for us) does team competition just not scratch that same itch? And when you get right down to it, what the hell is up with the guys who grab you and throw you off in Fall Guys? It's a conversation about cooperation in games, and the broader, deeper value of cooperation in general...

2020-09-0100 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once Refusing to Compete, Choosing to CooperateETAO Podcast, Episode 91. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/etao-podcast-91-co-op.mp3 Drew and Lucio check in on the state of co-op games, especially online ones, in this strange isolated times. How has co-op changed over the past few decades, both in character and in quantity? Why are we so drawn to cooperative games, and why (for us) does team competition just not scratch that same itch? And when you get right down to it, what the hell is up with the guys who grab you and throw you off in Fall...

2020-09-0100 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once How to Play Games WrongETAO Podcast, Episode 53. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/etao-podcast-53.mp3 In lieu of a guest this week, we humbly present a conversation that Drew and Lucio recorded just before GDC, all about what it means to play a game wrong—from misunderstanding mechanics, to knowingly ignoring objectives and incentives, to adding one’s own layer of rules for tournament play or speedruning. Playing wrong can be a joyful, exciting, healthy-as-hell thing. It can reveal thematic and mechanical corners of a game that might otherwise remain hidden. It can even, mayb...

2019-04-0200 min $Everybody\'s Talking at Once$

Everybody's Talking at Once A Seminar (Just Bearly) on Persona 3 and 4, with Adam OsbornETAO Podcast, Episode 29. http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/etao.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/etao-podcast-29.mp3 Drew’s good buddy Adam Osborn, PhD-pursuer and self-described archnerd, stops by the discuss the Persona games in anticipation of Persona 5 finally coming out next week (but no, really for real this time). Starting at the 01:08:24 mark, I should mention, this one does get a TRIGGER WARNING for suicide ideation, because there’s no way to do Persona 3’s imagery justice without going there. And once it comes up, it does keep right on coming up. Less i...

2017-03-2800 min $Everybody\'s Talking At Once$

Everybody's Talking At Once A Seminar (Just Bearly) on Persona 3 and 4, with Adam OsbornDrew's good buddy Adam Osborn, PhD-pursuer and self-described archnerd, stops by the discuss the Persona games in anticipation of Persona 5 finally coming out next week (but no, really for real this time). Starting at the 01:08:24 mark, I should mention, this one does get a TRIGGER WARNING for suicide ideation, because there's no way to do Persona 3's imagery justice without going there. And once it comes up, it does keep right on coming up. Less importantly (but still not unimportantly, I know, nerds), heavy SPOILERS for Persona 3 and beyond begin at 00:47:00. From Revelations...

2017-03-282h 41