Wardcast

Johnnemann Nordhagen, founder of Dim Bulb Games and creator of Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, joins the show. Having recently displayed his game at the Smithsonian American Art Museum Arcade, we discuss the honor of being showcased as a piece of American art and the uniqueness of Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, including its vignette storytelling style. We also talk about Jonnemann’s popular postmortem for the game, leading to a greater discussion about the importance of creating postmortems to help your peers, setting up proper expectations about the success of your game, and Johnnemann choosing to move from San Francisco to Santa Fe due to the Bay Area’s rising cost of living and loss of character over the decades. Lastly, we converse about the importance of independent and experimental games in pushing the medium forward. Games include Where the Water Tastes Like Wine. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

This week, the gang is joined by local comics creator Brian Clevinger — of 8-Bit Theater and Atomic Robo fame! He joins us to talk Epic’s backpay, making ghosts, and the NEXT No Man’s Sky. Ludum Dare 42 is also upon us, so we discuss our plans for the upcoming game jam as well as our favorite past themes. We also chat about what independent game devs and independent comics creators can learn from one another, the state of games Kickstarter versus comics Kickstarter, and the Atomic Robo tabletop RPG. Games include Part Time UFO, Titanfall 2, Vampyr, No Man’s Sky, God of War, Just Cause 3, and Where the Water Tastes Like Wine. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

Joining Dylan is Anya Combs, senior outreach for games at Kickstarter, as we live commentate the World Cup finals. Anya dispels Kickstarter myths and shares how to build a community when running a Kickstarter, even when you’re unfunded. We also share con experiences, food spots in the Bay Area, Anya’s sax side hustle, and more. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

Riding our segues into oblivion, we switch between talking about BTUs, people hogging DDR machines, advanced gungeoneering, and light gun games of all shapes and sizes. Ancient food mascots are coming back in force, and we find out what games everyone feels the strongest about so far this year. Games include The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, Yo! Noid II: Enter the Void, Trials Fusion, Enter the Gungeon, Spider Ponds, Butterfly Soup, Splatoon 2, Tetris, Mario Bros., Battletoads, Killer Instinct, NFL Blitz 2000, Time Crisis III, Frogger, Galak-Z: Variant S, Caves of Qud, and Overwhelm. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

This week, Dylan is joined by Phil Tibitoski, CEO of Young Horses, developers of Octodad: Dadliest Catch. Phil joins us a week before giving a talk at the game dev program at his alma mater, DePaul University, about his experiences in helping build Young Horses. We talk about the proper advice to give to aspiring developers for their post-graduation life and providing context for how Young Horses achieved success. For those wishing to go into independent development, we discuss creating proper expectations, indie dev’s pros and cons, transitioning from a student project to a business, and learning from others, such as Microsoft and Rochester Institute of Technology’s analysis of Gamasutra postmortems. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

This week, it’s all about stolen APCs, flixel-likes and flixel lites, making music with Beepbox, using our P-balls, and also: video games! We exchange gripes we have with some of our favorite game franchises — from Monster Hunter to Fallout — and go in deep into some new games we’ve been trying out. But the biggest topic of discussion is of course the firing of ArenaNet employees Jessica Price and Peter Fries, a controversy that merges sexism, toxic fandom, harassment, and workers’ rights all into one. We discuss how this affects the relationship between players and developers and how it shows how the games industry still has a long way to go to combat harassment. Games include Monster Hunter Stories, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Overwatch, Mario Tennis Aces, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, and Batman: The Enemy Within. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

This week, we’re joined by Amanda Hudgins, creator of the 1000 Button Project and managing editor at Unwinnable. Dylan and Amanda discuss game dev in the South — the stigma that comes with it as well as only being associated with the nearest AAA publisher, even if it’s in another state. Amanda also chats about the indie dev scene in Lexington, Kentucky, supported by RunJumpDev; game tastes influencing criticism; the TED Talk Simulator; and balancing game dev with full-time editorial work. Oh, and we discuss Amanda’s love of food trucks. Lastly, we speak on the continuing effects of GamerGate and harassment in game development and games journalism, Amanda’s thoughts on the matter, and how no one seems to be doing anything about it. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

The hot summer doldrums roll on as we ponder games both video and tabletop. This week, we’re joined by local character artist and SCAD alum Val Hawes, here to educate us on roguelikes and more. We gather around the smoldering embers of the once mighty E3 fire to see if there were any announcements we missed, and speak our piece on seasonal game sales, aggressive fandom wikis, and multiple gaming lawsuits. On the game dev front, Will is fast at work on releasing his new game Wobolob; Val talks about her contributions to Team Dogpit’s Red Star Azimuth; Alex’s game, Woodsy, reaches new heights after being showcased on a Markiplier video; and Dylan is busy with Peak housekeeping. Games include Mario Tennis Aces, Overwhelm, Fugl, Wizard of Legend, Tangledeep, Kingdom Death: Monster, Agony, Totally Accurate Battlegrounds, Fallout 3, Hitman, Dusk, Wobolob Classic, and Wobolob. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

Joining Dylan this week is Andrew “Dicey” Shouldice, creator of tiny fox adventure Tunic! Together, we talk hats: with Andrew working on many different aspects of Tunic’s development — from modeling to animation to level and game design — we discuss what it’s like to wear so many hats, how to decide which hats are best worn by other people, and how to transition from one hat to another without losing your groove. We also discuss building a relationship with Finji, some Puyo Puyo Tetris strats, country-exclusive holidays, and a rabble-rousing discussion of Canadian time zones. Games include Dark Souls III, Puyo Puyo Tetris, and Celeste. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018 has come and gone, so Dylan brings along Nick Nundahl, Joe Wetmore, and Kenny Kim to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of this year’s show. We’re excited about: Postmodern Warfare Unleashing the force with Jedi: Fallen Order Buying all our Xbox games on PC Air Force None Big Rod Todd’s Fallout 76 Cornelius Boots’ master flute work The last game standing of February 22, 2019 Games include Pokémon Quest, Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido, and Mario Tennis Aces. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

Welcome to Wardcast! Your new home for Price is Right strats and joots outfitting. This week, we’re joined by Harris Foster, community manager at Finji. Harris talks about his roles at the indie studio, including communicating current and future projects with their fans, helping run their booth at shows, and operating their Discord server. We’re also a day out from the E3 press conferences, so we discuss what Harris will be up to while he’s at the show as well as what we’re excited to see: Nintendo’s slate that’s sure to please, Sony’s pared down but nonetheless exciting lineup, and whatever Microsoft could possibly have up their sleeves to make up lost ground this console generation. The colorful new Rage 2 trailer in the wake of the Walmart Canada leak has us curious, we imagine what a modern Fable could look like, and we round out the show with all the AR, VR, and MR projects going on, from Nintendo Labo to Beat Saber. Games include Rocket League, Fable II Pub Games, Nintendo Labo, Beat Saber, and Overwatc

We’re cracking open old shooters with one hand and pouring one out for Boss Key with the other. Alex hits us with his belated PAX East impressions, Will played not just one but several games this week, we have a short chat about Speed Racer, and we round out the show with our E3 predictions. Games include Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, Fortnite: Battle Royale, Unreal Gold, Overland, Beasts of Balance, Heads Will Roll, Dusk, Battery Jam, Florence, Everything, Welcome to Basingstoke, Them’s Fightin’ Herds, Diablo III, World of Warcraft, Burnout Paradise Remastered, Enter the Gungeon, Rocket League, and Don’t Step on the Flowers. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

This week, Dylan is joined by Kristina Ness, concept artist at Valve. Kristina talks about her experiences as an artist at an incredible range of companies, from Runic to Riot to NASA. Having studied sequential art at SCAD, Kristina explains how practices taught in comics and sequential can be used towards any visual storytelling medium. We also chat about what happens when your new job becomes part of the Half-Life 3 rumor mill, how to start making games using your current skill set, how to engineer your own luck to find opportunities in the industry, and more. Games include Frostpunk. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

Spoiler alert: we welcome Alex Damrath back into the fold, who was away to find his place in the world, and the Brothers IRL stop by to talk about all the games they hate. We share our sad horse stories and our feelings on a Power Rangers union. Alex’s MAG needs to be fed thoughts and prayers to stay satiated, and we discuss all the game projects we’re hard at work on: from Joe’s game Time Christ to Alex’s games Woodsy and Playground. We also have some links for you to peruse: the hot and fresh RVA Game Jams Discord, where you can discuss game dev, and the Instant Friends Discord, where you can talk smack about teens playing Fortnite. Lastly, we end on an hour of spoiler-filled Infinity War talk, so come take a listen if you’ve already seen the latest superhero romp. Games include Minit, Pyre, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Sea of Thieves, Fortnite, Shadow of the Colossus, Monster Hunter: World, Horizon: Zero Dawn, The Last of Us: Remastered, Polytopia, Tiny Tower, Chroma Squad, Eldritch, Phantasy Star

This week, Dylan is joined by Mike Rose, founder of indie publisher No More Robots, returning home after running back-to-back booths at both PAX East and EGX Rezzed. Mike discusses the unique marketing and release plan decisions he makes based on the needs of each game, from releasing Descenders on Early Access to creating gamified Discord servers for each of his titles. And with No More Robots’ Game 1 nearing its Xbox One launch and Game 2 coming up on its release this summer, we take some time to talk about Mike’s plans for Game 3: Hypnospace Outlaw! We also chat about incorrectly using SteamSpy’s data, establishing relations with publishers and platform holders, and properly reading the strengths and weaknesses of your game project. Games include Descenders and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

This episode, Dylan is joined by Mike Bithell, creator of such games as Thomas Was Alone, Volume, and Subsurface Circular. They discuss narrative design within Mike’s games, the need to be prolific, and the difficulty in finding time to play your colleagues’ works. Also on the docket: how to give advice to aspiring indies while also being aware of survivorship bias, getting pitched on blockchain at GDC, the Game Dev Business Handbook, the current state of the British games industry, and more! Games include Thomas Was Alone and Far Cry 5. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

Dylan, Ruthie Edwards, and Momin Khan conspire together about how to take out Will and steal his game jam powers. We check in with Salty Bet to see how the free-wheeling, copyright-infringing fighting game world is doing while also doing a post-Ludum Dare 41 run down. LD 41’s theme was “Two Incompatible Genres,” and Ruthie and Momin talk about their games Calculator Sweat! VR and Zap Herder. We take a turn towards Kongregate, discussing news of Kartridge’s revenue share plans for developers, with some Newgrounds talk added into the mix for good measure. In other news: SteamSpy is sorta back, and Valve is acquiring Campo Santo?! Games include Florence, Zap Herder, Burnout Paradise Remastered, Woodsy, I am Tree, Pix Eliz Great Curse of the Cards, Outlaw Mayor Panic!, Samurai Shaver, and God of War. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

This week, Dylan is joined by Alex Berry, animator on The Swords of Ditto. Coming from TV animation, Alex discusses adapting his skills to working in games as well as working remotely with the team at onebitbeyond. With Devolver taking on the role of publisher for the game, we talk about what it’s like working with them and how The Swords of Ditto stands out from the rest of Devolver’s catalog. We also make a quick detour to discuss cartoon influences of ages past as well as a short chat about organized labor in games. Games include Minit and The Swords of Ditto. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!

Blessed with the news that You Don’t Know Jack will be returning for Jackbox Party Pack 5, Dylan, Will, and Ruthie Edwards convene to discuss this new golden age. Will keeps trying to bring the podcast down with Gundam talk, but we reign him in with a walk down memory lane with games of the Sim variety. Ruthie talks about her trip to Japan, Dylan talks about all the games he’s played the past couple weeks, and we all talk about Billy Mitchell’s fall from grace, the shuttering of SteamSpy, and more! Games include Persona 5, Project Highrise, Sanrio World Smash Ball!, Jubeat, Densha de Go!, Super Mario Odyssey, Kirby Star Allies, Nano Golf, Dragon Quest: Monsters, SolarStriker, Lego Island 2: The Brickster’s Revenge, Minit, What the Golf?, Hypnospace Outlaw, Desert Child, Plunge, The Adventure Pals, Celeste, Warhammer: Doomwheel, Ape Out, Pikuniku, Overwatch, Burnout Paradise Remastered, Night in the Woods, and Thomas Was Alone. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email

Mason, Dylan, Felix Kramer, and Mike Futter ascend the stage at the Bumblebee Theatre to talk about all the hidden gems at PAX East 2018. Follow along with the panel slides here. From the panel description: PAX East is filled with a plethora of things to do, see, and play. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed, but don’t worry! We’re here to help point you in the direction of everything cool, new, and unexpected. Using our collective knowledge of game development and game criticism, we’ll share and discuss some of the biggest surprises on the show floor that you won’t want to miss. Games include Descenders, Death Trash, Frostpunk, Log Jammers, Children of Morta, With Friends Like These, Fight Knight, Qinoto, Omensight, Intergalactic Space Princess, Joggernauts, Church in the Darkness, Mask of Semblance, Mask of Semblance: The Trading Card Game, and King of the Hat. Got a question for the show? Join us on Discord at ward-games.com/discord or email us at contact@ward-games.com!