Everybody's Talking At Once

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. … Continue reading "Levels Are Good, Actually, with Aaron Nemoyten"

ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 142. Last time Anisa Sanusi was on the show, she talked about the Limit Break mentorship program, and her thoughtful, wide-ranging UI/UX work on Planet Coaster and Elite Dangerous. Now she’s back to talk about her work on Rollerdrome, how it dovetails with her own newfound love of skating, and how she … Continue reading "Drome Sweet Drome, with Anisa Sanusi"

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 … Continue reading "Things Worth Thirsting For, with Chandana Ekanayake"

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 … Continue reading "The ETAO Quarterly, Vol. 2"

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 … Continue reading "Last Call, with Zach Barth"

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 … Continue reading "At the Academy with Mike Salyh and Wyatt Bushnell"

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 … Continue reading "Neural Spike, with Heather Flowers and Aura Belle"

ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 136. Damien Crawford makes games that revel in experimentation, and in taking an idea arguably too far. Faer latest game Purgatory Dungeoneer isn’t not that, but it’s definitely something else, too: It’s a reflection on trauma, and on being a hero well past when you’re young and heedless. It’s a strategic RPG, … Continue reading "Unwieldy Delights, with Damien Crawford"

ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 135. When David Galindo came by to reveal ChefSquad, he mentioned that his studio was working on its biggest game yet. We now know that the game in question is Cook Serve Forever, and game that isn’t a continuation of the Cook, Serve, Delicious! trilogy—but it also isn’t not a continuation of … Continue reading "After the End of Everything, with David Galindo"

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 … Continue reading "New New Content, with William Pugh"

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, … Continue reading "Organic Growth, with Marina Kittaka and Melos Han-Tani"

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 … Continue reading "The ETAO Quarterly, Vol. 1"

ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 131. Glen Henry is something of a leading voice in the Jamaican game development scene, partly by accident (by virtue of simply being a “persistent” voice in the space) and partly on purpose (by virtue of his own podcast Build It and They Will Play, where he talks to other creative folks … Continue reading "Playing with Genre and Building a Scene, with Glen Henry"

ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 130. Spenser Starke stops by to talk about his “silent role-playing game” Alice Is Missing, the importance of players’ emotional safety, tabletop systems as “subgenre generators,” and the undersung virtue of finely crafted vibes. You can get the digital version of Alice Is Missing on Roll20 and DriveThruRPG.You can get the physical … Continue reading "What Do You Want the Players to Feel? (with Spenser Starke)"

ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 129. Osama Dorias’ career stretches back to the pre-iPhone days of mobile gaming, and on through a great many shifts in the industry—including shift he’s been an instrumental part of, like improving Muslim repression in games and the teams that make them. (It’s often two steps forward, one step back, as he … Continue reading "Making Things Better, with Osama Dorias"

ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 128. Dean Razavi is an indie-developer-turned-indie-producer, currently working at Akupara Games. Here is talks about that studio’s newest release, Kardboard Kings, as well the “indies for indies” ethos that drives his work. Along the way, we talk about the importance of collaboration even on solo projects, the challenge of building and rebuilding … Continue reading "An Indie for Indies, with Dean Razavi"

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 … Continue reading "Reality-Adjacency, with Star St. Germain"

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 … Continue reading "Being Real with Victor Burgos"

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 … Continue reading "What We Played (and What We Didn’t) in 2021"

ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 124. Whether you’re a longtime listener or just tuning in—either way, thanks for that!—here’s a roundup of our conversations from 2021. These are of course just samples, especially insightful or funny or surprising moments from their respective episodes. If you want the full context, and a whole lot more good conversation, then … Continue reading "What We Heard and What We Learned in 2021"