154: Apple Design Award Winners 2018 (with guest host Mark Bramhill)

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For our fifth year in a row, The Short Game is discussing this year’s Apple Design Award winning games. The ADA winners are often some of the best iOS games of the year, but they also shine a light on the state of iOS as a gaming platform, and give a hint as to what Apple is planning for games on their devices.

Joining us again this year is friend of the show Mark Bramhill. Mark is a radio producer and podcaster, and host of the incredible Welcome to Macintosh podcast. His work has also appeared on shows such as 99% Invisible. You can follow Mark on Twitter at @mcbramhill.

[00:03:48] WWDC impressions 2018
[00:27:15] Award Winning Games
[00:28:52] Florence
[00:33:45] Playdead’s INSIDE
[00:39:52] Alto’s Odyssey
[00:47:05] Frost
[00:58:58] Oddmar
[01:07:58] Non-game Winners
[01:10:28] What’s making you happy this week?
[01:17:51] Outro

Past Apple Design Award episodes:

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153: Quarantine Circular

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Mike Bithell’s follow-up to Subsurface Circular is another single sitting dialogue driven text adventure game, but this time it’s on a boat! Also there’s an alien.

We discuss the second “Bithell Short”, a spiritual sequel to the previously covered Subsurface Circular. If you liked Subsurface Circular or interactive fiction this is definitely worth a look.

Quarantine Circular is available on Steam for Windows and macOS for $5.99. Expect it to take around three hours to complete.

[00:00:00] Quarantine Circular
[00:46:58] What’s making you happy this week?
[00:54:20] Spoiler Break

What’s making us happy this week:

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152: Far: Lone Sails

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In Far: Lone Sails you’ll pilot a massive rattletrap machine across a beautiful, desolate world. This “atmospheric vehicle adventure game” feels a bit like it was grown in a lab to appeal to The Short Game. It has a presentation that begs comparisons to past favorites like Inside, but the vehicle system feels fresh and keep the game engaging and mechanically interesting throughout.

Far: Lone Sails is available on Steam, GOG, and the Humble Store for Windows and MacOS, with PS4 and Xbox One versions in development. Expect it to take about three hours to complete.

[00:00:00] Far: Lone Sails
[00:45:02] What’s making you happy this week?

[00:53:16] Spoiler Break

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151: Golf Story

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In a world where absolutely everyone cares about golf…

Golf Story is an indie developed golf RPG in the Mario Golf tradition, developed by Sidebar Games. It was an early indie exclusive on the Nintendo Switch. In this episode we discuss our history with golf and golf games, the bizarre and hilarious world of Golf Story, and get into the weeds with golf game history and mechanics.

Expect Golf Story to take about 15 hours to complete. (A bit on the long side for our show, but this is still a game that respects your time.) It’s available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch eShop for $14.99.

[00:03:15] The Short Game on Golf
[00:11:40] Golf Video Games
[00:19:36] Golf Story
[01:04:07] What’s Making Us Happy This Week

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150: Moss and PSVR Check-In

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It’s been 18 months since the release of the PSVR and against all odds there are still great short games coming out! Shane brings us his impressions of the second wave of PSVR games, starting with Moss, a VR game about guiding a sword-wielding mouse through a dangerous storybook world.

Games mentioned in this episode:

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149: Most Video Games Are Too Long – with special guest Patrick Klepek

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We’re joined by special guest Patrick Kelpek of Waypoint to discuss his recent article Most Video Games Are Too Long, in which he compares the experience of playing God of War with Minit. We discuss about value of editing and restraint in video game design, and the economic and business factors that drive game length. We also get his suggestions for great short games to play. Thanks to Patrick for coming on the show.

  • You can find Patrick on Twitter at @patrickklepek
  • Visit Waypoint on the web at waypoint.vice.com
  • Check out the excellent Waypoint Radio podcast on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.

Gorogoa Designer’s GDC Talk

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148: Minit

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In Minit, you are cursed to die (and be reborn) every 60 seconds. This makes solving puzzles and Zelda-like action challenges a bit more interesting. The game was developed by a four person team consisting of Jan Willem Nijman (co-founder of Vlambeer), Kitty Calis (who most recently worked on Horizon Zero Dawn), Jukio Kallio (composer), and Dominik Johann (art director of Crows Crows Crows) and published by Devolver Digital.

We loved this breezy action-adventure-puzzle game for its clever minimalism, exciting pace, and manageable length. Expect the game to take about 3 hours to complete, with room for re-plays and a new game plus mode. Minit is available for $9.99 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC/Mac/Linux. See the official site for links to purchase.

[00:42:50] The all new “What’s making you happy this week?” segment (name pending!):

[00:52:52] Spoiler Break

After the spoiler break we discuss specific puzzles, places we got stuck, and the ending of the game.

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147: Into the Breach

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Into the Breach is the second game by FTL developer Subset Games. FTL was the focus of the fifth episode of this podcast, way back in May of 2014,and has been a major obsession for all of us (but especially Nate) ever since. This time, Subset has taken on the tactical strategy genre, but their take is one of the most streamlined and cleverly designed games in the history of the genre.

We are joined this week by guest host Sandy Bledsoe, managing partner of Houston gaming tavern Coral Sword, who has spent the time since the game’s release streaming Into the Breach on Coral Sword’s Twitch channel. We discuss the game’s unique mechanics, and try to avoid constant comparisons to FTL. Stick around after the spoiler break at [01:03:17] for in depth strategy talk.

Into the Breach is available for Windows via Steam, Humble, and GOG for $14.99. As a (somewhat) roguelike-inspired game, each battle is short and each run takes around 30-45 minutes, but the game is meant to be re-played for advancement and progression. For Mac users, the DRM free versions of the game (via Humble or GOG) run just fine via WINE. Use tools like WineBottler to install.

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146: iOS Sequels – Alto’s Odyssey, Framed 2, and Monument Valley 2

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This episode we’re checking in on the sequels to three landmark iOS games we’ve covered the past: Alto’s Odyssey (followup to Alto’s Adventure), Framed 2, and Monument Valley 2. Laura and Raygan discuss the games and what makes a compelling sequel. Also, Laura is leaving leaving on a five week honeymoon to Europe. Congratulations, Laura, and have a great trip!

Check out all three games on the iOS App Store:

Here are our episodes on the original games discussed:

Other games mentioned:

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145: Florence

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The first game from Mountains, a new “craft games” studio headed by Ken Wong (lead designer of Monument Valley), Florence is best described as an interactive graphic novel set to music. It’s a beautifully illustrated and scored story about a young woman’s first first love. The soundtrack by Kevin Penkin (soundtrack composer of Made in Abyss) is especially good, and the entire package is extrordinarily polished.

This is a story driven experience, so our spoiler break is a bit early at [00:20:29].

Florence is available on iOS and (soon) Android, and costs $2.99. Expect it to take about an hour to play.

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