Umurangi Generation is the shitty future we occupy, the compromises and pain and small moments of joy all combusting at once. There are no good choices left, they’ve all been stolen from us. What do you do when the world’s on fire but you’re hungry and the landlord’s demanding rent? At what point does the dark comedy of capitalism finally break? Umurangi knows we’ve passed the point of no return but have to keep living like we still have time. It acknowledges our anger but refuses to give up on the people left behind.
Read MoreThe point of this exhibition is pain. The pain of shifting focus as an observer. The pain of how, after so many decades of feminist analysis, I can read fifty articles about how modern art and film are just like Silent Hill 2 - full of conjecture about art that looks similar by important cisgender men - and not see any of the works by artists I know are direct aesthetic parallels. Here are a few of them.
Read MoreJeff Chiao (they/them) is an indie game producer, designer, and rhythm game enthusiast currently working on upcoming rhythm action title, UNBEATABLE (D-Cell Games). They took some time away from production to discuss UNBEATABLE’s long pre-production, the importance of embedding composers within the dev process, and the thriving indie rhythm game scene.
Read MoreFreya Campbell (she/they) is an interactive fiction writer, designer, and game engine combiner. Her games focus on small interactions in fantastical settings, emphasizing pacing and being incredibly queer. They joined me on this week’s episode to discuss writing interactive fiction, putting engines inside each other, and using engine constraints to inform pacing.
Read MoreWhat's so powerful about Lofi Ping Pong is how it understands its subject. It is a sad and challenging game wrapped in soft textures; less ping pong sim than twitchy rhythm game. Unlike its inspiration, here we can’t be wholly insulated. Our ironic detachment breaks every time we miss a beat, thrust back into consciousness and the glow of our monitor.
Read MoreElliot Herriman (she/her) is an interactive fiction author and developer who makes games about being queer and engines to help you not have to code. She spent some time chatting about falling into game dev, the struggle to get your work in front of people as an author, and the importance of accessible tools. We discuss many unspeakable games so make sure there aren’t any cops around before you pop this one on.
Read MoreShane Yach (he/they) is a game designer and musician whose work combines crunchy, low-poly visuals with surreal internet horror. We spend some time breaking down what makes the PS1 great for horror, how found footage could be adapted for games, and why falling asleep in Proteus is the highest compliment. In closing, Shane reminds us that games don’t die on release and we should allow ourselves to take creativity breaks.
Read MoreKevin Wong (he/they) is a game designer, producer, and scholar who has worked on projects as varied as Chambara, Lucah: Born of a Dream, and Manifold Garden. On this episode he recounts his experience as a student game designer and how anti-hierarchal art movements and Twitch Plays Pokemon inspired the apocalyptic photography game, Dear Future.
Read MoreSUPERLUNARY triumphs in the moments between pain and reconciliation, characters reaching out to one another as the only thing keeping them from falling inwards. It is not a sad game, not exactly, but its stability comes at a premium. Every pocket of intimacy exists inside a ship built for war, and even with the torpedos removed that fact is hard to ignore.
Read MoreDear Future is an asynchronous massively-multiplayer photography game about exploring an abandoned city. I have been trying to write about it for several weeks and have found myself incapable of doing with any organization or distance. What follow, instead, are orchestrated recollections and half-formed conclusions of my time with the game. A half-step towards the understanding I'm searching for.
Read MoreNathan Blades (he/they) is a tabletop designer, streamer, and voice actor with a particular love of queer cyberpunk. He sat down with me to chronicle his introduction to TTRPGs, the rewards and frustrations of running an actual play show, and finding the line between passion projects and accidentally making yourself a second job. Afterwards, Nathan reminds us that no amount of Twitter arguing can substitute just sitting down and making the damn thing.
Read MoreKat (she/her) makes video essays on games and pop culture as Pixel a Day. Her work seeks to diversify games criticism by invoking her knowledge of art and psychology, interrogating unexplored aspects of games and games culture. In this episode we discuss what drew her to video essays as a form, the importance of looking outside of games, and the challenge of getting noticed as a smaller channel.
Read MoreIs this nirvana? What intimacy can 4K matchmaking systems create more meaningful than sharing a GameBoy in the backseat of a car? Capitalism won’t allow that experience to be enough. It can’t monetize a memory, a yellowed cartridge, the worm lights illuminating unlit and unconnected screens.
Read MoreNilson Carroll (he/him) is an archivist, MFA student, and ROM hacker working to preserve obscure and queer internet culture. His thesis project, Video Games Have Been Queer, chronicles his history with games and the queer culture within and around them which is often ignored. We talk about his early experiences with ROM hacking, the importance of preserving digital culture, and the earnest, wondrous possibility of glitches.
Read MoreDeath Crown’s simplicity is its draw and its curse, illuminating both fatiguing elements of the strategy genre but also how that reduction has created a game in search of itself.
Read MoreLena NW (she/her) is a multimedia artist, rapper, and game designer whose work touches on the messy, fraught, and darkly humorous effects of fringe internet culture. Her MFA project, Nightmare Temptation Academy (2020), crystalizes her experience growing up on the internet and becoming desensitized to shock content, while also exploring digital alienation and collage creativity.
Read MoreCassandra Lugo (they/them) creates compact procedural games under the name prophet goddess. Their work explores the unique abilities of generative content, the lack of win conditions, and glitchy digital aesthetics. We discuss the origins of their interest in procedural generation, the frequent pitfalls with how it is utilized, and the sorts of games prophet goddess wants to see more of.
Read MoreEven the Ocean sits unfortunately between an early indie hit and a decade defining classic. It is the studio’s most technically accomplished game to date but lacks the emotional heft of its siblings; a delight in itself that falls shy of the incredibly high bar Analgesic have set for themselves. But as a transitional piece it is one of the best modern examples we have of thematic development across games, made more interesting through Anodyne 2's parallels.
Read MoreNem (they/them) runs the leftist tabletop studio and occasional publisher, Sandy Pug Games, creating games exploring anti-capitalism, alternative forms of interaction, and what it would be like if DMC’s Dante was in Dungeon World. Recently, they have helped facilitate the Our Shores Kickstarter, allowing members of the South-East Asian TTRPG scene (RPGSEA) access to funds and exposure they had previously been denied.
Read MoreColin (he/they) of melessthanthree makes crunchy action games about catholic guilt and queer acceptance. He joined me to talk about early adventures goofing off in coding class, bucking publisher marketability, and Lucah: Born of a Dream’s intriguing and often confounding narrative structure.
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