Back Seat Designers

The history of computer games. A list of one fucking game after another leading to perfection – King’s Quest V. We have pushed this view of history for a long time on this show. But apparently there’s another way to look at things. To put us straight, we phoned up Laine Nooney and asked herContinue reading S4E11 – A Fucked Up Stick Figure Looking Game That Doesn’t Make Any Sense

Background music in fiction is something we tend to take for granted. That’s not to do say it’s not appreciated. It very often is. But how often do you sit down in front of a game and consider what dramatic impact the music has because it sounds exactly like it does? We’re going to returnContinue reading S4E10 [TEN] – This Is Brown Note Territory

It’s sort of amazing how positive things will converge at random times. The entire guest roster for this season makes us all warm and fuzzy inside, but once in a while, a very special guest will say yes to partake in our shenanigans. Truthfully, we admire every single person we invite to join us here,Continue reading S4E9 [NINE] – I Was Left With a Whole Bunch of Digitized Nazis and a Thing to Explain

There are certain topics you should not trust a partly Danish conglomeration with. Global warming is one, but the one topic that really stirs up controversy is religion. We’ve never actively tried to shy away from controversy on the show, but when you suddenly find yourself soliciting guest appearances from some of the coolest peopleContinue reading S4E8 – I Was Surprised You Were 16

You remember Richard Cobbett, right? From our scintillating Christmas special of Open Crowd Source back in 2015? No? Then you might remember him from other things, such as the talk about comedy in games, or the interview with Rihanna Pratchett, or the panel about games journalism, from AdventureX 2016. Perhaps you even recognize him byContinue reading S4E7 – Have You Ever Been Al Lowe’d?

Look, let’s be honest. If you had told us a couple of months ago that we’d be interviewing John Romero on the show, we’d have told you to fuck off, you lying piece of shit. But this is our life now: we’re the dudes who spend a little over an hour teaching the man whoContinue reading S4E6 – I’ve Made a Lot of Mistakes, And You’re Not My First One

We’ve all done it, so there is no use hiding in shame anymore. We’ve all spent time on our own doing this dirty deed, knowing that if anyone could see us, they would be utterly shocked and appalled. I am, of course, talking about loudly and incompetently acting out the voices of characters when playing gamesContinue reading S4E5 – Father Karras Just Fell Down the Stairs

It’s a wonderful feeling when you meet someone and you instantly click on a personal level. Perhaps you share the same hobbies and interests; perhaps you have similar political affiliations and moral values … or perhaps you just have the same affinity for speaking your mind with no regards for societal norms. This week, weContinue reading S4E4 – Because of Polygonal Tits

The apocalypse is really bad this time. We’re pretty used to political narratives in books, films and songs. But what about narrative gaming? Plenty of people have certainly given it a go – with mixed results. We talk to someone who is currently trying her hand at it. Laney Berry, the creator of The St.Continue reading S4E3 – Am I in a Liberal Circle Jerk Right Now?

Hello! Did you miss us? If you have an issue, here is a tissue: Sorry about that. On the subject of awful humour, there is an old saying that embarrassing grandmothers like to post on social media, about how you only use 17 facial muscles to smile, while you use a whopping 43 to frown.Continue reading S4E2 – Which I Now Realise May Have Sounded Like a Holocaust Joke

You weren’t expecting that title were you? Good. Because this episode is about subverting expectations. Our very special guest this week is Steve Gaynor of the Fullbright Company, perhaps best known as the writer and designer of the award-winning Gone Home – one of the best adventure games of recent years. He’s also done levelContinue reading S4E1 – Big Motherfuckers with Flamethrowers

So, as we may have already said, the new season of Back Seat Designers starts tomorrow. I can tell you’re excited. To get you in the mood – and while teasing who our guest might be – we peel back the curtain and show you exactly the sort of crap we have to cut outContinue reading S4 Preview – Soundboard of Doom

Greetings, exhausted ones! As you may have learned from our shamelessly narcissistic social media profiles, we are gearing up for another season of Back Seat Designers goodness. In fact, we already recorded our inaugural episode, which features a spectacular guest appearance by [REDACTED]. But that is not what this post is about. You will haveContinue reading A special announcement, or “The Ice Cream Wizard Cometh”

So, yeah. We went to AdventureX. We had a good time. I think that about does it, doesn’t it? No, actually, it doesn’t. We had an absolute blast. We came back from it so inspired and fired up. Fred got off his ass and finished the talkie version of that game we worked on lastContinue reading AdventureX Special #2: Our post-orgasmic reflections

Next weekend, all three of us — Gareth, Frederik and myself — will be in London at Goldsmiths University, participating in this year’s AdventureX conference. That’s right, we’ll be alongside greats such as Charles Cecil, Dave Gilbert, Theodore Waern, Richard Cobbett, Rhianna Pratchett, and — lest we forget — Natalie “Resulka” Juhasz, one of theContinue reading AdventureX Special #1: Hopes, dreams and anticipation

For our third and final off-season special, we complete our trilogy of prodding well-known adventure game people to give their take on the state of the adventure game industry. This episode, we light some poultry butts on fire and address several elephants of varying colors in the room with Katie Hallahan, co-founder and PR director of PhoenixContinue reading Special III – Katie Hallahan, Phoenix Online Studios

Well, after our troubles last time, we didn’t learn our lesson. What we did learn is that Dave Gilbert listened to our special episode with Infamous Adventures’ co-founder Shawn Mills about the problems they had recently gone through. And he offered to have a chat about the state of the business from the Wadjet EyeContinue reading SPECIAL II – Dave Gilbert, Wadjet Eye

It’s the surprise special you didn’t know you wanted! Actually, you probably didn’t want it, but cut me some slack, will you? It’s been a while. It was, however, a surprise that I wanted when we decided to reconvene for a special off-season episode last month. We’re still working out what exactly season 4 of thisContinue reading SPECIAL – Shawn Mills, Infamous Quests

Why come up with an original idea when you can slap a new coat of paint on an old one? OK, perhaps that’s a bit cynical. It’s not as if this is a new thing. Even Oul Ken Williams knew that remakes were a way to make a quick buck. And Oul Ken Williams wasContinue reading S3E12 – Remakes and Reimagining

Gareth is off doing something more important today, so he has left me in charge of announcing this week’s episode. At least, that’s the reason he claimed. It’s quite fortuitous that I am able to comply, actually, having recently dodged a chance to check into Club 27. If you ever find yourself in Denmark, never allowContinue reading S3E11 – Adventure Elements in Other Games