Kenzie Shores (she/her) is a game developer and artist best known for the pornographic visual novel, Hardcoded. Nearing the game’s full release, Kenzie joined me to chat about Hardcoded’s origins, the challenge of monetizing porn, and why it really sucks to work on the same game for seven years.
Read MoreWelcome back, espers! Axe and Nathalie awake up from their slumber to once again find themselves trapped in the twisted hands of Zero Escape. This time they’ll be forced to navigate the crudely rendered halls of Virtue’s Last Reward (Spike Chunsoft, 2012), the second game in the trilogy and a notably larger one than 999. Will they manage to solve the infuriating infirmary puzzle? Is Zero III a v-tuber? Will Clover ever stop winking??? The podcast doors will open in 3…2…1…
Read MoreHappy holidays from Zero Context! Bridging the gap between 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward, Axe and Nathalie reconvene for a very special episode, live reacting to the VLR promotional OVA. Zero Context will return in the new year. Don’t forget to leave cookies for Santa.
Read MoreDave Hoffman (they/them) is the creator of Mixolumia, an arcade puzzle game combining contextual soundtracks with diamond-based combos. They came on the show to dig into the spontaneous origins of the game, how it continued to evolve and incorporate player creations, and the difficulty of marketing puzzle games in a streamer attention economy.
Read MoreWe emerge from the gaming mines into the Nevada desert. It’s over. We’ve finished 999. As we depart in our Zero Escape promotional SUV, we reflect on our experience playing and replaying the game, now able to see it in totality. Did the mystery payoff? Is Zero morally justified? Did Nathalie get any predictions right? Next time we meet the snow will have fallen, our hair will have grown, and we will have have shed our tattered socks. But know this, listener: I will never forget you.
Read MoreThe end of our 999 playthrough draws near as we stumble into the last (for real this time) bad ending. We finally get some answers about who’s been knifing everyone, discuss how the game begins to assert itself as an independent actor, and lament Clover’s continued degradation. Also, where’s Santa??
Read MoreCosmo D (he/him) is a game developer and musician whose work explores urban life, the creator economy, and giant pizza demanding buildings. Hot off the release of Betrayal At Club Low (2022), Cosmo D sat down with me to detail his dramatic pivot out of music into games, finding a medium that inspires you to keep growing, and chasing his space trucker sim white whale.
Read MoreThe last Bad End is here and it sure lives up to it! Axe and Nathalie continue their playthrough of 999 , working through the ax ending and all its disappointing conclusions. Elsewhere, they discuss the different mechanics of mystery vs puzzle box media, continued disappointment at who Lotus could have been, and Nathalie makes a lot of predictions that are all true (even the ones that contradict each other).
Read MoreMax Miller (they/them) is a composer, writer, and game designer. As part of new studio Pitter-Patter, they released Commonplace (2022), an ordinary adventure game about working in an office. For this episode, Max spent some time talking about the game’s experimental development, how they approached writing the soundtrack, and a desire to make games that push against consumption driven mechanics.
Read MoreWe’ve made it to route 2 of our 999 playthrough, not far enough to escape the Nonary Games but able to glimpse the sub just out of reach. This time, Axe and Nathalie went through doors 4-3-2, leading everyone to a terrible end but a terrific route to get there. We dig in to what it means for this to be a failure route, lament frustrating character tropes, and get owned by bad puzzles.
Read MoreWayward Strand (Ghost Pattern, 2022) is an upcoming adventure game which follows Casey - a teenager and aspiring journalist - as she explores a hospital airship floating above the Australian country-side. Two of its developers, Goldie Bartlett (she/her) and Jason Bakker (he/him), joined me on this episode to dive into the game's origins, how the continuous in-game clock allows for new forms of storytelling, and how collaborating with indigenous and mental health advocacy groups helped the team tell richer, more honest characters.
Read MoreWelcome to episode 1 of Zero Context, where we kick off our Zero Escape playthrough with the trilogy’s first game, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. We dive headfirst into the game’s lore-heavy exposition, speculate on how 999 fits within the death game media landscape, and, like all good podcasts, issue some corrections from episode 0.
Read MoreWelcome to Zero Context, a show where Nathalie (she/her) and Axe (they/them) play through the Zero Escape series. Join us as Nathalie learns what a visual novel is, Axe reveals the depths of their cursed fandom knowledge, and we try to figure out how exactly you podcast branching narratives. Enjoy this table setting before all hell breaks loose.
Read MoreAdam Le Doux (he/him) is a game and software developer best known for creating the tiny game engine, Bitsy. Just shy of Bitsy’s six-year birthday, Adam came on the show to talk about Bitsy’s unassuming origins and surprising evolution as part of the tiny games scene. Later, we discuss how Bitsy’s form sets in in opposition to conventional, capital driven games and software, the importance of the engine’s community, and how to preserve these games against the forces of tech oligarchies.
Read MoreSpiders (they/them) are an alt game dev specializing in queer, grimy, anti-tech industry experiments. In this episode, we chat about their upcoming anthology game, The Museum of Radically Obsolete Futures, the tension between wanting to make shit that’s cool vs shit that sells, and how vital communities like The Queer Games Bundle are to the weird game scene.
Read MoreIn collaboration with utopian collective Trust, designer Son La Pham (he/him) and developer Francis Tseng (he/they) created Half Earth Socialism (2022), a browser game companion to Troy Vettese and Drew Pendergrass’s book of the same name. As part of the game’s launch, Son La and Francis joined me on the show to discuss how the collaboration began, the challenge of building a global planning simulator as a browser game, and the importance of going beyond raw calculations to allow players to become emotionally invested.
Read MoreFantasia Malware are an experimental game label specializing in mega-maximalist un-game performance art. They crowded into KRITIQAL’s digital podcast booth to discuss grotesque beauty, games as instruments, and creating art that can’t be wiki-fied. Later, they recommend birds.
Read MoreStudio Oleomingus is an art practice and game studio based Chala, India, whose work explores magical realism, post-colonial landscapes, and redacted authorship. Studio founder Dhruv Jani (he/him) joined me to talk through his unique history with modern videogames, his skepticism at the necessity of systemic interaction, and how employing fictitious external authors connections Oleomingus’ work to a larger history of post-independence Indian storytellers.
Read MoreJoel Jordon (they/them) is the solo game developer of Time Bandit (2022), a real-time anti-capitalist work sim about how our subjective experience of time is shaped by our relationship to labor and historical forces. With Time Bandit’s first part releasing soon, Joel took some time to join me in talking through the game’s themes, how effective games can be as political instruments, and the hazy ethics of games-as-work.
Read MoreKarin Malady (any/all pronouns) is a writer, poet, and occultist interested in the relationship between art and audience. Recently, they’ve contributed writing to apocalyptic photography game, Dear Future (Dear Future Production Committee, 2021), and videogame flesh realm DEEP HEEL DOT COM. In this especially free wheeling episode, we talk about growing up on the internet, metafiction, being Tony Hawk, and provoking readers.
Read More