Edge Guard

76 - Grace Bruxner Presents: The Haunted Island, A Frog Detective Game

This week, we play as amphibious investigators in “Grace Bruxner Presents: The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game” (it’s a mouthful). We talk about how this game borrows from the classic adventure game formula, as well as how it manages to be so consistently funny. It’s just all around a lovely game. If you are a person who loves joy, you should play it.

 

Find the game here: https://fisho.itch.io/haunted-island

And follow the creator on Twitter: @gracebruxner

75 - Kaiju Super Datetech

This week, we play about Kaiju Super Datetech, a game about building a giant robot to go on a date with Godzilla. We talk about tactics for building the best Kaiju-love-machines, as well as how the platformer format makes the shape of your robot inevitably comical and childish. Blake tells us about Lego magazine.

 

Download the game here: https://powerhoof.itch.io/kaiju-super-datetech

And follow the creators on Twitter: @powerhoof

74 - Brendan Keogh's Putting Challenge

This week, we head to the front nine for some good old fashioned golfing in “Brendan Keogh’s Putting Challenge”, a game by, you guessed it, Brendan Keogh. We talk about our real life experiences with golf, as well as our somewhat skewed perceptions about golf always serving some sort of business networking purpose, and how these contrast with the game’s lonely, somewhat meditative take on the sport. We also go deep on how this game pushes up against the technical limits of Pico-8, and how our nearly-limitless modern consoles have shaped the course of game design.

Be sure to play the game on itch: https://brkeogh.itch.io/brendan-keoghs-putting-challenge
And follow Brendan on twitter @BRKeogh

73 - Make It Juicy

This week, we check out a new kind of object of discussion for the podcast: “Make it Juicy,” a game/presentation designed by Lonebot that demonstrates how to make a game more “juicy” without fundamentally altering its mechanics. After a brief discussion of what exactly game juice is, we speculate about whether juice is simply “better” or if it can actually alter a game’s theme in concrete ways. And Jordan talks about alien refuse, for some reason.

 

Play the game in-browser here: https://lonebot.itch.io/make-it-juicy

And follow the creators on Twitter: @Mati_Ernst, @Itamar_Ernst, @Patacorow, @_JasonLord_

72 - Friendgun

In this week’s game, Friendgun, bullets are also buddies, so we have to make some tough decisions in order to shoot the evil spirits that have overtaken our childhood village. We chat about the surprising amount of character and charm contained in this game about shooting your friends from a gun, and are just generally impressed with its ability to make your choices feel meaningful in such a short amount of time. We both saved the village but… at what cost??

 

Download the game here: https://hydezeke.itch.io/friendgun

And follow the creator on Twitter: @hydezeke

71 - Beach Date

In this episode, we talk about Beach Date, a short game about a romantic evening on the beach by Nina Freeman and Jake Jefferies. The game prompts us to have a discussion about the inherent fun of playing with the physics simulations in games, as well as to talk a bit about how this game departs from the intense goal-based format of most videogame romance.

 

Download the game here: https://starmaidgames.itch.io/beach-date

And follow the creators on Twitter: @hentaiphd, @manofdingus

70 - Don't Trip

In this episode, we play “Don’t Trip,” a mobile “walking simulator” (but not in the way you think). We talk a little bit about the affordances and limitations of mobile gaming controls, and speculate about what makes the strange world of mobile gaming tick. Also, Blake gives us a taste of his best “trailer voice.”

 

You can find the game here: http://www.noodlecake.com/games/dont-trip/

And follow the creators on Twitter: @noodlecakegames

69 - Throw Away Game: GOTY Edition

What happens to a first-person shooter if you take away the bullets? We play a game that answers just this question: Throw Away Game GOTY Edition, a GMTK 2018 Game Jam game designed by Seth Johnson and Jason Ty Hall. We talk about the intrinsic fun of goofy physics simulations, as well as why failing is almost as fun as succeeding in this game. Also, Blake becomes a human slide whistle.

 

Download the game here: https://chefseth.itch.io/throwawaygame

And follow the creators on Twitter: @Chef__Seth, @Jason_Ty_Hall

68 - Shady Knight

This week, the boys explore the juicy and brutal Shady Knight by Alexey Sigh (@cptnsigh on twitter). The game’s hectic but satisfying first-person sword combat prompts a discussion of camera perspective, melee combat, and spatial awareness in action games. This discussion causes a few realizations, including the revelation that DOOM 2016 has perhaps more in common with a melee action game than other first person shooters, and that Skyrim’s combat is, indeed, pretty boring.

Be sure to play the game for yourself on itch:
https://cptnsigh.itch.io/shady-knight
And also make sure to follow Alexey on twitter to see updates on the full version of this game

67 - One Hour One Life (Revisited)

This week, we revisit Jason Rohrer’s multiplayer civilization-building game and Edgy Award Winner One Hour, One Life. We wanted to revisit the game some months after launch and see how far its players had managed to progress during that time. Unfortunately, we discover that not much has changed, and we speculate as to which of the structural limitations of the game might be responsible. But the game still creates great emergent stories, and we share a few from our latest playthroughs. In one, Blake destroys a village food supply by overcooking an omelette.

 

Download the game on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/595690/One_Hour_One_Life/

Or buy it straight from the website: http://onehouronelife.com/

And follow Jason Rohrer on Twitter: @jasonrohrer