Category: Podcast

We’re all game devs this week as we discuss Kairosoft’s Game Dev Story. This early iPhone game was recently updated for newer devices, and the it’s as strange and inexplicably fun as it was in 2010.

Game Dev Story is available for iOS and Android for $4.99. It features no in-app purchase of any kind. Expect it to take around five hours to complete a career.

Links for this episode:

• Game Dev Story – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Game Dev Story on the App Store
• ‘Game Dev Story’ Review – Create Your Own Game Company (Review) | TouchArcade
• ‘Game Dev Story 2’ Coming To iOS, But Not ‘Soon’ | TouchArcade
• Ron Gilbert (of Monkey Island etc…) on Game Dev Story | WIRED
• Dungeon Raid on the App Store
• Gamasutra – Five Minutes Of… Sword & Poker
• Rolando (video game) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• RocketCat Games – Hook Champ
• Mikey Hooks on the App Store
• Theme Park (video game) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• SimIsle: Missions in the Rainforest – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame
See our list of upcoming games, and make suggestions..

Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes!

Your hosts this week were:

• Laura Nash – @laurajnash
• Nate Heininger – @natestl
• Raygan Kelly – @raygank

Assault Android Cactus is a fast paced arcade inspired twin-stick shooter that pits a cast of heavily armed androids against wave after wave of killer robots. We missed this overlooked this gem on Steam, but now that it’s out on PS4 we put it through its paces, both in single player and couch co-op.

Expect the campaign mode to take three to five hours to complete. The Infinity Dive, Daily Dive, and Boss Rush modes add significant replayability. It’s available on Steam and PS4 (and coming soon to Playstation Vita and Wii U) for $14.99.

• Assault Android Cactus
• Assault Android Cactus on Steam
• Assault Android Cactus on PS4, PS Vita: 8 Ways to Play – PlayStation.Blog
• Broforce has performance issues on PS4 • Eurogamer.net

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame
See our list of upcoming games, and make suggestions..

Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes!

Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygank
• Shane Kelly – @8bitShane
• Nate Heininger – @natestl

This is a weird one! Jazzpunk is comedy adventure game with a Dadaist bent developed by indie duo Necrophone Games and published by Adult Swim. It was released in February 2014 on Steam for PC, Mac, and Linux, and it’s coming soon to the PS4.

• Live action Jazzpunk trailer from Adult Swim

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame
See our list of upcoming games, and make suggestions..

Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes!

Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygank
• Shane Kelly – @8bitShane
• Nate Heininger – @natestl
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash

Until Dawn is a 2015 horror-movie-styled adventure game for the Playstation 4 from relatively unknown developer Supermassive Games. It’s unusual for being a “Triple-A” adventure game, exclusive to the PS4 and with a duration of only around 8 hours. Guide a group of teens through a dangerous array of horror movie tropes!

Horror movie fans will find a lot to love here but reactions to the game have been mixed. Does a $60 8 hour adventure game have a place in the modern gaming landscape?

This is a story-centric game; our spoiler break is at about 35 minutes.

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame
See our list of upcoming games, and make suggestions..

Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes!

Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygank
• Nate Heininger – @natestl
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash
• Shane Kelly – @8bitShane

Superhot is a first person shooter where time only moves when you do. That’s the elevator pitch that launched the original version of Superhot from a 2013 7 Day FPS game jam contender to an internet darling and Kickstarter success. Three(ish) years later, the full game is out on Steam and Xbox One. Does its clever but simple premise stand up as a larger game?

You have to check out this game. It’s the most innovative shooter I’ve played in years. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT.

Superhot is available on Steam and the Humble Store for $24.99. Expect it to take about 2-4 hours to complete the game’s story mode.

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame
See our list of upcoming games, and make suggestions..

Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes!

Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygank
• Shane Kelly – @8bitShane
• Nate Heininger – @natestl

Firewatch is a narrative first-person mystery game set in a the Wyoming wilderness. It blends the storytelling of “walking simulators” like Gone Home with the narrative dialogue of Telltale adventure gamesgames (and indeed it is written by Sean Vanaman, the writer of Telltale’s Walking Dead.)

It’s very, very good.

Before the spoiler break (at 29 minutes) we discuss the game’s stunning visuals courtesy of designer Olly Moss, environment artist Jane Ng, and the rest of the small but impressive team.

After the spoiler break we discuss the story. This game is full of twists and turns, so make sure you’ve played the game before listening past the break.

Links for this episode

• Campo Santo
• 01: Gone Home – The Short Game
• Panic – Shockingly Good Software.
• Panic – The True Story of Audion
• Audion (software) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Firewatch pick up animation evolution (with tweets) · Storify
• Push Play | Cheap Talk (The teens boom box song)
• Firewatch – How to Find a Turtle Pet | USgamer
• Olly Moss on Twitter: “The complete Richard Sturgeon. https://t.co/3fGJOcFQyS”
• Steam Community :: Guide :: Friends of the Shoshone Book Club & Lending Library
• Anyone found the secret ending? : Firewatch

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame
See our list of upcoming games, and make suggestions..

Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes!

Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygank
• Nate Heininger – @natestl
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash

Oxenfree is the first game from Night School Studio, a team with roots at Telltale and Disney. Dialogue takes center stage here, as a bunch of teenagers set off to spend the night on an island that is home to an old military outpost, in a story with equal measures of supernatural horror and teen adventure nostalgia.

Before the spoiler break we discuss the game’s excellent dialogue and painterly art style. After the spoiler break (about 30 minutes in) we discuss the the strange events of the game and the story’s climax.

• OXENFREE (@nightschoolers) | Twitter
• Night School Studio
• Oxenfree Soundtrack | scntfc

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame
See our list of upcoming games, and make suggestions..

Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes!

Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygank
• Nate Heininger – @natestl
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash

In Tharsis, you command the crew of the badly damaged Mars mission Iktomi, scrambling to keep the ship’s systems active and the crew alive. In form it’s closer to a solo board game than a typical video game, with on-screen dice and lots of information and resources. Reviews have been divided, with some loving the game’s take on board game mechanics and others being turned away by the game’s punishing difficulty. We discuss the game, who it’s for, and strategy tips on getting your crew safely to Mars.

Tharsis costs $14.99 for Mac and PC on Steam, and is also available for PS4.

• THARSIS
• Choice Provisions
• Woah Dave! It’s a VIDEO GAME!
• Space Dave! Teaser – YouTube
• Bit.Trip – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• TUTORIAL — THARSIS
• LEVEL-5 – Crimson Shroud
• OXENFREE: LAUNCH TRAILER – YouTube

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame
See our list of upcoming games, and make suggestions..

Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes!

Your hosts this week were:

• Nate Heininger – @natestl
• Raygan Kelly – @raygank
• Shane Kelly – @8bitShane

Birds. Nature’s weirdest dudes. This week, we date birds, we defend birds in court, we shoot birds, and we… I guess birds eat bread right?

We’re talking rounding up four games that for whatever reason we didn’t feel like doing a full episode on, which all conveniently follow a theme.

• Hatoful Boyfriend
• Aviary Attorney
• Duck Game
• I am Bread

We also talk about our favorite birds from all of video games. Turns out there are a LOT of birds in video games.

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame
See our list of upcoming games, and make suggestions..

Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes!

Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygank
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash
• Shane Kelly – @8bitShane

Journey by thatgamecompany and designer Jenova Chen is the game most often suggested to us by listeners, and for good reason. This 2 to 3 hour wordless game experience changed the critical landscape when it launched on the PS3 in 2012, and it continues to be a touchstone for gamers of all sorts. Some of our hosts are returning to this game and others are completely new to it.

Journey is available for download on PS4 and PS3 and is available on disc for PS3 as part of the Journey Collection.

Links for this episode:

• Braid
• Monument Valley: an iOS and Android game by ustwo
• Brothers – a Tale of Two Sons – Out Now for PS4 and Xbox One
• Flow (video game) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Gone Home: A Story Exploration Video Game
• Journey Game Creator Jenova Chen “Theories Behind Journey” – Full Keynote Speech – YouTube
• The Incomparable | Journey: Then We Touched, Then We Sang (Episode 108)
• Sigur Rós – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Hatoful Boyfriend – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Aviary Attorney
• Duck Game on Steam

You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame
See our list of upcoming games, and make suggestions..

Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes!

Your hosts this week were:

• Raygan Kelly – @raygank
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash
• Nate Heininger – @natestl
• Shane Kelly – @8bitShane