Back Seat Designers

It’s a special! So special we only talk about adventure games for about 10 minutes at the end. So, things have got a bit chaotic in the BSD household. Various big life events (for the Danes rather than the Limey) have resulted in us having to take a little bit of a break. But weContinue reading Special: Life… uh… finds a way

It has been roughly a year since we said goodbye for the last time on season 4 and got blown to pieces took a hiatus, and it feels rather fitting to end this latest season as the summer sun threatens to tan our pallid hides. Once again, we have spoken to a lot of interestingContinue reading Season V, Episode 12: Season Finale Round Table

“Diversity” has become one of those words so overused in such inappropriate ways that it’s almost lost all meaning. But it does mean something. What is it? And how does it apply to narrative gaming? We invited Jess Haskins along to find out. There is so much nonsense talked about diversity, and we were determinedContinue reading Season V, Episode 11: Bechdel Designers

Staying motivated in the games industry must sometimes be hard. Especially if you were an adventure game developer in the late 90s and being told that your beautifully hand-painted 2D game had to change into an ugly, polygonal mess before any publishers would so much as deign a glance in its direction. Charles Cecil livedContinue reading Season V, Episode 10: I Am Delighted to Say I Had Absolutely Nothing to Do With “Custer’s Revenge”

We’ve all been there. We’re playing a game from a bygone era — perhaps one we remember fondly — and thinking to ourselves, “Wouldn’t it be great if someone updated this for the modern era?” And then, having thought this, perhaps even out loud, we immediately stop and think: “No, wait. This game is soContinue reading Season V, Episode 9: I Can See What I Was Trying to Do, But I Wish I Hadn’t Done It

Interfaces are vastly important. They are what allows you, the player, to interact with the game world, and just as an intuitive interface can enhance the story of a game, a non intuitive one can conversely bring the whole thing down. With the interface playing such a pivotal role in narrative-driven games, it’s not strangeContinue reading Season V, Episode 8: It’s sort of a vocabulary dick-waving contest

First off, we must apologize to all the fans of Alexander Mejia, the Colombian soccer star who was in the squad for the FIFA World Cup in 2014. We have an entirely different Alexander Mejia on the show. One who is working on some truly trailblazing shit. Alexander’s company, Human Interact, is working on aContinue reading Season V, Episode 7: Not the Footballer

We’re nothing if not self-referential on this show. And this show harkens back to the very first episode we ever did, all the way back in August 2014, where Fred and I talked about the impending revival of Sierra as “Sierra Games.” When we did the original episode, we were quite hopeful that this mightContinue reading Season V, Episode 6: Sierra 404

Worldbuilding in any work of fiction is not something to be trifled with. It takes a lot of effort to construct a believable world that you can immerse yourself in, but it takes almost zero effort to yank you out of that illusion. Consider a science fiction work in which an entire planet is coveredContinue reading Season V, Episode 5: I Think You Like It

We’re only four episodes into this season, but already we can sense a pattern emerging. Much of the conversation we’ve had so far has evolved around “the rise of the auteur,” so to speak: Games that are, essentially, developed by a single person. With the prevalence of digital distribution and ready-made tools at everyone’s disposal,Continue reading Season V, Episode 4 – Juggling (Frozen) Doves

Fresh off the mass murder of the BSD hosts at the end of Season 4, we welcome back Francisco Gonzalez (a.k.a. Grundislav Games) to talk about streaming, adventure games and Virginia Capers. Doing shows with people we have met “eye arr ell” is always a treat. We managed to spend some quality time with “San”Continue reading Season V, Episode 3 – Poking the Well-dressed Bear

If you’re familiar with our little show, you may recall that one time we interviewed Shawn Mills for a special episode about the impending demise of his company Infamous Quests. Even by our standards, it was a particularly salty, expletive-laden romp, containing everything from jabs aimed at overly nostalgic gamers and thieving cunts (the soundboardContinue reading Season V, Episode 2 – Four Men and a Little Lady

Fortune smiles upon us this season premiere, and indeed, vicariously, onto you. For we have with us in our midst, yet again, a self-made man with a plan — Mr. Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games. Dave has been with us once before, back in August 2016, where he gave his perspective on how theContinue reading Season V, Episode 1 – A Licence to Print Money

So. A fortnight ago we released the final episode of Season 4, in which Jean-Baptiste de Clerfayt and “San” Francisco Gonzales talked at length about adventure game communities before the brutal and horrible murder of the regular hosts. That wasn’t our first attempt to record that episode. On the evening of 8 May, we arrangedContinue reading S4 “Memorial Episode”

Sometimes, you only really consider something when it’s held in front of your face. For instance, I first met my co-hosts, Troels and Gareth, on teh interwebz around 2002. While I am not completely certain as to when curt resentment turned into friendships, I do now count the two gentlemen as two of my best friends. Shut up.Continue reading S4E17 – “Handjobs In a Parking Lot” Is One Of Bono’s Finest Songs

I am sometimes asked what games I play by people who don’t play games. I try to explain what an adventure game is by mumbling words like “story-driven” and “object puzzles,” and often the faux-interested response is, “Like, role playing games?” That’s around the time I suckerpunch them in the face repeatedly until their teethContinue reading S4E16 – We Are Not Done Yet, And I Will Not Tell You Anything

One of the wonderful perks of getting noticed more and more for our juvenile microphone antics is that we sometimes get approached by actual game designers, who will ask us if we’re interested in featuring their game on the podcast. (That was essentially how last week’s episode came together, too.) But way back before we evenContinue reading S4E15 – A Strange, Erotic Journey from Milan to Minsk: A Phat Paradigm Post-Mortem

We’re back from our mid-season break. Today, we’re interviewing Marcus, Matthias, and Tristan of Backwoods Entertainment, creators of the upcoming mystery adventure game Unforeseen Incidents. It’s a mystery game in several ways. First of all, the story in itself is a mystery, as in it’s one of those stories you’re thrust into that gradually unfoldsContinue reading S4E14 – What Is the Safe Word?

Startling news and revelations! One of the Back Seat Designers quits on the air! And, for some reason, we didn’t stop recording, kept going, edited, and released the episode anyway! Well, of course it’s just a joke, because we really are quite terrible at pretending on this show. The joke about me selling t-shirts wasContinue reading S4E13 – I Quit

They say, “Never meet your heroes.” Luckily, they are sometimes wrong. With apologies to my two lovely co-hosts, I’d like to start this blog post with a personal anecdote. Through the magic of simply switching on a microphone and yammering into the void, I have been fortunate enough to actually talk to people I usedContinue reading S4E12 – Pandora’s Big Box