Shownotes

This week we’re talking about The Beginner’s Guide, the new game from Davey Wreden. Wreden’s first game, The Stanley Parable, was the topic of the second episode of The Short Game way back in the distant past (last year.) We loved it, to say the least. This game is a very different beast, and it covers some pseudo-autobiographical territory. Wreaden narrates as he presents a collection of short games by a (fictional) friend, Coda, and explains what each one means to him. But Wreden and Coda have a more complex relationship than is initially on display. The collection delves into deep psychological and ethical waters during its short run-time.

The Beginner’s Guide is available for $9.99 on Steam and the Humble Store for Mac and PC. Expect it to take just an hour and a half to complete.

Links for this episode:

• The Beginner’s Guide on Steam
• Buy The Beginner’s Guide from the Humble Store.
• The Stanley Parable |
• The Beginner’s Guide is a game that doesn’t want to be written about / Offworld
• The Beginner’s Guide review • Eurogamer.net
• The Beginner’s Guide (Davey Wreden) and Intimacy Inside Games | Emily Short’s Interactive Storytelling
• Game of the Year | Galactic-Cafe
• Davey Wreden & William Pugh: Life After The Stanley Parable | Rock, Paper, Shotgun
• The Short Game | 54: The Magic Circle
• Super Mario 3D Land – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Downwell
• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
• Until Dawn – 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:

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

IFComp, the interactive fiction competition, is the longest running and most important event in the interactive fiction scene. Each year dozens of interactive fiction authors submit new work of all kinds, from hardcore parser puzzle games to experimental Twine games, and this year a record 55 games were submitted! With a timely assist from Emily Short we selected a few of this year’s most intriguing entires and bring you some brief impressions. With so many games to try, this is likely just the beginning of our IFComp coverage!

IFComp 2015 Games Covered in This Episode
– 5 Minutes to Burn Something! by Alex Butterfield
– Arcane Intern (Unpaid) by Astrid Dalmady
– Brain Guzzlers from Beyond! by Steph Cherrywell
– Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory by Katherine Morayati
– Map by Ade
– Midnight. Swordfight. by Chandler Groover
– Sub Rosa by Joey Jones & Melvin Rangasamy

Click here for a ballot and download links for all of the 2015 IFComp entries

Planning on playing along or voting in this year’s IFComp? Let us know your impressions! Use our Contact form or contact us on Twitter at @_shortgame!

Links for this episode:

• The Short Game | 45: Spring Thing 2015 – Interactive Fiction Festival
• The Short Game | 31: Interactive Fiction
• The Short Game | 59: Porpentine: Eczema Angel Orifice
• The Interactive Fiction Competition
• The Interactive Fiction Competition – Rules
• Slouching Towards Bedlam
• Floatpoint
• Lost Pig
• Leather Goddesses of Phobos – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• IFComp News – “Emily is Away” is withdrawn
• emily is away – official site
• inkle – 80 Days
• inkle – New adventures in 80 DAYS!
• New Release: Discernment (Emily Short’s subscriber story for Fallen London)
• UNDERTALE
• Read Only Memories: A New Cyberpunk Adventure • MidBoss

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
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash

It’s Contra meets that-one-level-in-Braid with Super Time Force Ultra! S.T.F.U. was developed by Capy Games (of Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP fame.) It’s a fast paced shooter who’s unique time-out mechanic lets you approach the frenetic bullet-hell madness a bit more like a puzzle game.

Initially launched in 2014 on Xbox 360, Super Time Force Ultra (a newly expanded version) is also available through Steam (Windows only) and on PS4 and Playstation Vita, where it launched in September 2015 as a part of the Playstation Plus program.

Depending on skill and play-style, expect the game to take 4 to 6 hours to complete.

Links for this episode:

• SUPER TIME FORCE
• How long is Super Time Force Ultra? – HLTB
• Super Time Force Ultra on Steam
• Super Time Force Ultra on PS4 | PlayStation®Store US
• The Lost Vikings – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Download The Lost Vikings from Battle.net
• CAPY Games
• Critter Crunch
• SUPERBROTHERS: SWORD & SWORCERY EP
• Destiny: The Taken King | Official Site
• Infinity Blade – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Infinity Blade: Awakening – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Infinity Blade: Redemption – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Shooty Skies
• Legend of Grimrock
• Alpaca Evolution on the App Store

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

Laserlife is a game almost too high-concept to exist. A existential-music-biography game in which you play as a laser-based life form investigating the corpse of a human astronaut it finds drifting through deep space. Also there’s techno music. It’s pretty neat!

Laserlife released yesterday (timely!) on PS4 and Steam for PC and Mac for $15 and is coming to Xbox One in late October. It is designed to be completed in a single sitting, two to three hours.

Links for this episode:

• Choice Provisions
• Laserlife Zapping to PS4 on September 22nd – PlayStation.Blog
• Four year after concept trailer, Laserlife is back thanks to a partnership with Intel | Polygon
• The Short Game | 38: Alto’s Adventure and Endless Runners
• TRACER
• Chris Osborn (@tracervision) | Twitter
• Rez – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Elite Beat Agents – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Woah Dave! It’s a VIDEO GAME!
• Tharsis interview at PAX Prime 2015 – 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 (solo) host this week was:
– Raygan Kelly – @raygank

Porpentine Charity Heartscape is one of the most fascinating figures in interactive fiction. This week we discuss her collected Twine works, released as a nicely packaged collection entitled Eczema Angel Orifice, released in June of 2015. Porpentine’s work is in turns hilarious, insightful, heartbreaking, sexy, unsettling, and beautiful. We discuss some of her more well known works and touch briefly on some of the deep cuts included in the collection.

ECZEMA ANGEL ORIFICE is available from the author’s website or through itch.io. It contains 25 stories, each of which may take between an hour and 5 minutes to experience.

Links for this episode:

• The Short Game | 31: Interactive Fiction
• NYTimes – Twine, the Video-Game Technology for All
• Interview with Porpentine, author of howling dogs | Emily Short’s Interactive Storytelling
• Eczema Angel Orifice (Porpentine) | Emily Short’s Interactive Storytelling
• IF Comp 2012: howling dogs (Porpentine) | Emily Short’s Interactive Storytelling
• Steam Greenlight :: Eczema Angel Orifice
• PORPENTINE
• ECZEMA ANGEL ORIFICE
• CRY$TAL WARRIOR KE$HA
• Meet Me in the Moon Room: Stories: Ray Vukcevich
• Gamasutra – IGF winner Hofmeier pays it forward for Porpentine’s Howling Dogs
• Escape Velocity (video game) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Race The Sun on the App Store
• Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• SUPER TIME FORCE

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

Have you played Thomas Was Alone dev Mike Bithell’s newest? Volume looks great and brings the classic sneak-em-up gameplay, but how does its writing compare to Bithell’s vaunted debut effort?

We also catch up with Laura about her visit to Bit Bash Chicago, and with Raygan and Shane about Until Dawn and OlliOlli 2.

Links for this episode:

• VOLUME
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
• MONACO | WHAT’S YOURS IS MINE
• Volume v1.1 – The Checkpoints Update
• Thomas Was Alone
• charlieissocoollike – YouTube
• The Marvellous Miss Take
• Until Dawn – Supermassive Games
• Race The Sun on the App Store
• OlliOlli2
• Bit Bash
• Elbow Room
• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
• Spaceteam: Cooperative Party Game for Phones and Tablets
• Downwell
• Thumper | A Rhythm Violence Game
• Sportsfriends

See Laura’s photos from BitBash Chicago!

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
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash

This week we discuss 2012 indie darling Limbo, which recently arrived on PS4. Limbo is a puzzle platformer with a darkly cartoonish black and white art style and a focus on repeated, brutal, and utterly delightful deaths. Limbo has won numerous awards and been ported to basically everything with a processor and screen, including previous and current generation consoles, Steam, and iOS. Expect it to take 3 to 4 hours to complete.

• Limbo
• Inside, the next game from Playdead
• Fallen London – Coming to iOS in 2015!
• Sunless Sea
• 80 Days
• Pac-Man 256
• Hatoful Boyfriend
• Food Court
• Long Live The Queen

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
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash

Rather than focus on a single game this week we round up some of the new and exciting short games we’ve been playing this summer. It’s been a really interesting summer for short games with lots of new stuff out now or on the horizon!

Links for this episode:

• N++
• N++ Soundtrack
• Lode Runner
• Lode Runner – NES Gameplay (YouTube)
• Submerged — Uppercut Games
• Curses ‘N Chaos
• Curses N Chaos prequel comic
• Paul Robertson – Tumblr
• Paul Robertson – Super Dino Boys | Adult Swim (YouTube)
• Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture PS4 Review: Storytelling Brilliance (USGamer)
• VOLUME
• RoboRally – BoardGameGeek
• Star Realms – BoardGameGeek

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

We welcome Shane back to the podcast by discussing the Spider series from Tiger Style games. Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor (2009) was one of the iOS App Store’s earliest break-out hits and it still stands out as a great example of environmental storytelling and innovative touch-native design. The sequel, Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon returns to the form of the original while expanding on it with new game mechanics and larger, more detailed levels.

Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor is available on the iOS app store for $1.99. A separate HD version is available for iPad.
Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon is a multi-platform release, currently out on iOS and Android ($5) and Steam for Mac, PC, and Linux ($12). It’s also coming soon to Playstation 4 and PS Vita.

It’s difficult to give an estimated time to complete this game as different people will approach it with different goals. An observant player can probably explore all of Blackbird Estate in around 5 hours.

Links for this episode:

• VHS-C (Misremembered as MicroVHS)
• Does Not Commute
• Waking Mars
• Dark Sky – a weather app for iOS

WE HEAR AND OBEY. Update your Spider #ShroudedMoon. We changed it so YOU DON'T HAVE TO SOLVE PUZZLES TO PROGRESS. http://t.co/Z0ZGlD5lMv

— TIGER STYLE (@tigerstylegames) August 13, 2015

• Puyo Pop
• Batman: Arkham Knight
• Ziggurat
• The Trace
• FarCry 4
• Alterconf

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
• Laura Nash – @laurajnash

The Magic Circle is something really unique. In this thoughtful, darkly comic first person puzzle game, you play as the hero of an unfinished video game. The developers have failed you, and it’s your task to break the game and use the powers of the “gods” against them in freeform sandbox puzzles. It’s full of surprises at every turn and packed with commentary on the video game industry, gamers, and what it means to create art.

This game has gotten a criminally small amount of coverage in the press, but it may be our favorite game of 2015 so far. Don’t miss it! The Magic Circle is available on Steam for Mac and PC for $19.99. A free demo is also available. Expect it to take 3 to 4 hours to complete.

We have the Spoiler Break™ at about 30 minutes in. This game is full of surprises you won’t want to spoil for yourself, so if you haven’t played it do yourself a favor and stop at the spoiler break and give this game a try.

Links for this episode:

• The Magic Circle official website – very meta!
• The Magic Circle on Steam
• Failbetter Suggests: The Magic Circle
• Bob Mackey’s review at USGamer.net
• Hack ‘n’ Slash
• The Unfinished Swan – The Short Game episode 43
• Dungeon Keeper

Played on Mac OS X using review copies courtesy of the developer.

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