Edge Guard

86 - beat tape (2019)

This week, we check out a “beat tape” compilation of JRPG combat systems by a developer named, uh, well, “JRPG Combat Systems.” The game’s intentionally-inscrutable tone prompts us to go an extended tangent about From Software games and obtuseness as a style of game design. It’s a relevant digression, I swear! It’s not just because we’ve both been playing Sekiro nonstop for two weeks!

 

You can find the game here: https://jrpgcombatsystems.itch.io/

And follow the creators on Twitter: @jrpgcomsys

85 - The City Haze

In this episode, we check out The City Haze, a game about musing on city life by Kristian Torgard. The game prompts discussion about how people relate to the cities they live in, and an extended digression about cities in videogames. We also get a great demonstration of co-host telepathy when Jordan totally guesses something Blake wrote just based on a hunch.

 

Follow the creator on Twitter: @AergiaGame

You can download the game here: https://aergia.itch.io/the-city-haze

84 - I Locked Myself In My Room For Three Weeks And Just Looked At Anime Smut Online

We play the descriptively-titled short game “I Locked Myself in My Room For Three Weeks and Just Looked at Anime Smut Online.” It’s an ambiguous game that prompts a surprisingly substantial conversation about self-deprecating thoughts, objectification, and feeling powerless. Also, we learn what “absolute territory” means in anime. It’s, uh, really something. Look it up (with safesearch on)!

 

Follow the creator on Twitter: @jenn_raye

And download the game here: https://jenniferraye.itch.io/i-locked-myself-in-my-room-for-three-weeks-and-just-looked-at-anime-smut-online

83 - Handulum

This week, we get a lesson in counterintuitive physics in Handulum, a flash game about using pendulum motion to traverse a level. We talk about pendulums, Newton balls, 3rd-grade physics lessons, game camera programming, and more—good shit! In an extended aside, we conclude, curmudgeonly, that gamer kids these days have it too good.

 

Play the game here: https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/715081

And follow the creator on Twitter: @wombatstuff

82 - Lofi Ping Pong

In this episode, we feel the rhythm of Lofi Ping Pong, a ping pong-themed rhythm game by Calvares. It’s a hard game—like, really hard—and we begin by talking a bit about what makes it quite so difficult. This prompts a discussion of all the tiny design and technological challenges that rhythm games face in simulating a perfect beat, from the mathematics of timing to anticipating the latency of monitors.

 

Find the game here: https://calvares.itch.io/lofi-ping-pong

And follow the creator on Twitter: @seravlac

81 - How to be a Tree

Have you ever wanted to know how to be a tree? Well, if so, good news, because this week we play a game that teaches you 16 different ways to do just that. In this unusual take on the platformer, you take control of a fractal tree and control its shape by altering the angles of the individual branches. We start by struggling to even define and describe the core mechanic of this game, before talking about each separate branch (haha) of the narrative, each one more surreal than the last.

 

Find the game here: https://zaphos.itch.io/how-to-be-a-tree

Follow the creator on Twitter: @aZaphos

80 - The Norwood Suite

This week, we check out another game from Cosmo D, whose game Off Peak we awarded an Edgie to last year: The Norwood Suite, a musical exploration game about the titular Hotel Norwood and its many strange inhabitants. We talk about how this game’s surreal level design makes you feel lost even as the charm of the characters somehow makes you feel at home. Jordan encounters a puzzle that puts his tone deafness to the test. Blake explains why the connection between the game’s music and its dialogue is incredibly rad.

 

You can buy the game here: https://cosmoddd.itch.io/the-norwood-suite

And follow the creator on Twitter: @cosmoddd

79 - becalm

Things get super c h i l l in this episode about Becalm, a short and relaxing game about sailing through a colorful seascape. It’s a visually incredible game, which we talk about at length, before concluding that this is one of the few games that actually deserves the description “meditative.” Then, without any evidence whatsoever, we speculate about the evolutionary origins of why certain colors and noises are calming.

 

Download the game here: https://colorfiction.itch.io/becalm

And follow the creator on Twitter: @colorfiction

78 - Initen

This week, we play Initen, a game about using sound to rejuvenate a desolate landscape that was designed by a team of students at Supinfogame Rubika. We talk about the game’s visual style and visual influences, and in that respect we’re both impressed by what a team of students were able to produce. The game’s sound puzzles prompt us to chuckle at Jordan’s tone deafness, and also rant about a CERTAIN sound puzzle in a different puzzle game.

 

You can download the game here: https://initen.itch.io/initen

77 - Black Room

This week, we explore “Black Room,” a dreamlike exploration game by Cassie McQuater about trying to use an old trick you learned from your mother to help you fall asleep. We talk about the way this game uses the browser itself as a game mechanic, as well as the history of gender representation in videogames. Blake claims that he doesn’t know what the meaning of “pop-up” is anymore.

 

Find the game here: https://cass.itch.io/blackroom

And follow the creator on Twitter: @cassiemcquater