Shownotes

This week we talk about the entrants for this year’s Spring Thing interactive fiction festival. Spring Thing is an offshoot of IFComp that focuses on new works (they must debut as a part of the festival) that are freely available, and generally shorter and more experimental than IFComp entries. We collectively played all but one of this year’s entrants and talk about them in detail.

We recorded this on the evening that the voting closed for the Spring Thing Audience Choice ribbon. The winners have since been announced, and Toby’s Nose won both the Audience Choice and the Alumni Choice awards!

We also discuss the results of this year’s XYZZY awards, and some other interactive fiction. This is only the beginning of our coverage of the interactive fiction competition/festival scene, so stay tuned!

Links for this episode

• Spring Thing Festival of Interactive Fiction
• IFComp 2014
• The XYZZY Awards
• The Short Game – 31: Interactive Fiction
• The Short Game – 36: 80 Days
• GDC video: Leading Players Astray: 80 Days & Unexpected Stories
• Hadean Lands
• Hadean Lands walkthrough from Key & Compass
• The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo
• With Those We Love Alive – By Porpentine
• Creatures Such as We
• Crystal Warrior Ke$ha
• Toby’s Nose by Chandler Groover
  • Winner of both the Audience Choice and the Alumni Choice ribbons for 2015
• Sunrise by Lucky Sun Scribes
• A Trial by B Minus Seven
• Ruiness by Porpentine
  • Porpentine’s website
• Mere Anarchy by Bruno Dias
• The Short Game – 28: A Dark Room
• Aspel by Emily Short
  • Writing for Seltani: an Aspel Post-mortem | Emily Short’s Interactive Storytelling
• Aaron Reed
• Ryan North’s To Be or Not To Be

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

Na Na, nanananana na na na Katamari Damacy!

This week we’re rolling it all up and talking about this cult hit from 2004. One of the best pick-up-and-play games of that generation, Katamari Damacy still stands out as a truly unique and wonderful game. We discuss a bit about the game’s history, gush about the great soundtrack, and swap Katamari memories.

Katamari Damacy is available for PS2 (disk) and PS3 (PSN download.) As an arcade-inspired game, it can be completed in just a few hours but leaves much room for replay value and score attacks.

• Katamari Damacy – Wikipedia
• Katamari Damacy for PS2 on Amazon – Around $15
• Katamari Damacy® – PSN download for PS3 – $9.99

Links for this episode

• MIT Mystery Hunt
  • MIT Mystery Hunt Katamari puzzles
• TIME magazine’s 2004 blurb about the game.
• Bandai Namco pulls games from iOS, including Katamari and Pac-Man
• Travelers-Snowball (Live-action Katamari) – YouTube
• Roll up any webpage! Katamari Hack bookmarklet

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

This week we’re discussing The Unfinished Swan, an experimental first person exploration game on Sony platforms from Giant Sparrow. This is a really unique game with some incredible visuals and mechanics. Most famously, it begins in a completely white void where your only way to navigate is to paint the walls and surroundings with a black paint gun, creating/discovering striking 3D monochrome visuals. The game is full of stunningly original ideas; the first 15 minutes alone are worth the price of admission.

The Unfinished Swan is available on PS3, PS4 and PS Vita, typically at $14.99 though it is frequently part of bundles or sales. Expect it to take about 3-5 hours to complete.

UPDATE: The Unfinished Swan will be a part of the Playstation Plus free games for May 2015. If you’re a PS+ member, make sure to check out this great game!

Links for this episode:

• The Unfinished Swan – Wikipedia
• Giant Sparrow
• What Remains of Edith Finch
• What Remains of Edith Finch Trailer – YouTube
• The Unfinished Swan – Original Tech Demo

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 week we’re releasing two – that’s right two episodes. This first one is a continuation of our Life is Strange book club. We eschew our regular format to return to the world of teen drama, time powers, botched diner breakfast orders, and wandering around in junk yards looking for garbage.

Watch this space in just a few days for this week’s regular episode, focusing on The Unfinished Swan

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

Wait, isn’t this a video games podcast? Well, kinda. This week, we’re talking about pinball!

We start with a discussion of playing real, actual, physical pinball in 2015. It’s getting hard to find pinball games at arcades, movie theaters, and drug stores, yet somehow it’s never been easier to find pinball tables to play, if you know where to look. We also discuss some notable pinball video games and simulations, from the very realistic to hybrid games like pinball-RPG Rollers of the Realm.

Links for this episode:

• Carcassonne
• Pinball History at Wikipedia

• Special When Lit – A Pinball Documentary
• Special When Lit on YouTube
• PinballMap.com
• Pinside.com
• Pinfinder Pinball Finder on the App Store
• Pacific Pinball Museum
• Pinheads: The Story of the Pacific Pinball Museum – YouTube
• The Internet Pinball Machine Database
• How to Play Pinball – YouTube Playlist
• PAX East 2013:How To Play Pinball – YouTube
• Video Pinball from Atari
• Nintendo Pinball
• Tristan by LittleWing
• Tristan Pinball – YouTube
• Hardcore Gaming 101 – Crush Pinball Series

• Pinball Arcade
• Zen Pinball 2
• Rollers of the Realm for the Playstation®4, Playstation®Vita, and Steam for PC`

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

A goat that solves puzzles to escape a magical tower with the help of his little mouse friend. Sure why not. This week we play Escape Goat 2 by MagicalBeanTime and published by Doublefine.

This game has expertly-crafted puzzles perfect for long time puzzle platform players, but has a smooth difficulty curve and low skill barrier that should make it a great game for players at any level. We discuss our thoughts on the puzzle design, and try to fill in the details of the minimalistic goat-themed story.

Escape Goat 2 is available on Steam and PS4 for $20. Best experienced in short dips of a few levels at a time, expect Escape Goat 2 to take around 5 hours to complete (but potentially much more to clear 100%.)

Links for this episode:

• Escape Goat 2
• Escape Goat 2 at Indie MegaBooth
• Escape Goat 2 on Steam
• Escape Goat 2 on the Playstation Store
• Escape Goat 2 Launch Trailer
• Soundtrack on BandCamp

Escape Goat (the original)

Other puzzle platforms

• Thomas Was Alone (The Short Game episode 6)
• Braid
• FEZ
• Teslagrad
• The Swapper (The Short Game episode 35)

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

Following up on our previous Shortisode on Game Music, this week we discuss… more game music!

Nate wasn’t able to join us last time, so we hear his picks and those of some listeners and friends. This was fun to edit.

Note: An earlier version of this episode was published which included an editing error that left large gaps missing after the 16 minute mark. This release corrects the error. We’re releasing it as a separate episode post to ensure folks who already downloaded the first version get the good copy. Sorry for the duplication!

Picks

Nate’s Picks:
– Duck Tales – The Moon
– Sonic the Hedgehog – Green Hill Zone Theme
– Katamari Damacy – Katamari on the Rocks
– Civilization IV – Baba Yetu

Molly’s Picks:
– Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker – Dragon Roost Island
– Banjo-Kazooie: Click Clock Wood (Spring)
– Final Fantasy X: Besaid Island

Justin’s Picks:
– The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – Tal Tal Heights
– Final Fantasy VI – Shadows Theme
– Metroid Prime – Space Pirates Battle

Listener Michael’s Picks:
– Timeline (PC) Title Theme
– The Longest Journey Soundtrack

Other links:
Bastion – Spike in a Rail
Bear Hive

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

Grim Fandango is arguably the last mass-market adventure game, and is indisputably a great classic of the genre. Tim Schaffer’s last LucasArts adventure is a stunning amalgam of film noir storytelling, Mexican day of the dead and Art Deco imagery, and Aztec mythology into a sublime (if slightly dated) storytelling experience.

Playing this nearly 20 year old game can be a bit daunting, even with the great remaster. We discuss how to get the most out of this great while avoiding the frustration that comes along with its slightly antique game design.

Grim Fandango Remastered is available on PC, Mac, and Linux, and on the PS4 and PS Vita consoles. It’s a steal at only $15! Expect it to take between 7 and 12 hours to complete, depending on your reliance on hints or walkthroughs.

Walkthroughs

Eurogamer walkthrough
Grim Fandango Hints from UHS – Desktop site
Grim Fandango Hints from UHS – Mobile site (less ugly)

Links for this episode

• 1998 in video gaming
• ResidualVM
• Digital archaeology: How Double Fine, Disney, LucasFilm and Sony resurrected Grim Fandango
• InvisiClues
• Our Interactive Fiction Episode
• The Digital Game Museum
• Tim Schafer Plays Grim Fandango – Part 1

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

This week begins our sort-of-book-club on the ongoing episodic adventure game Life is Strange. Told in what can only be described as the “Telltale” style, this series of 5 episodes follows Max Caufield, an 18 year old art school student who witnesses a murder and discovers she has the ability to rewind time. It’s a high school mystery!

Only the first episode is currently out (as of early March 2015) so we’re not treating this as a review, just talking about the game and what we think of it so far. We’ll be following the rest of the episodes as they are released, maybe with full episodes, or maybe just as follow-up. Let us know what you prefer!

So far we really liked it!

Life is Strange is available for basically every major platform including Windows (through Steam), PS3/PS4, and Xbox 360/One. It is priced at $5 per episode or $20 for the complete game. A demo is available. Expect each episode to take between two and four hours to complete.

links

• The Walking Dead by Telltale Games
• Storify: 80 Days at GDC (with images, tweets)
• The Wolf Among Us by Telltale Games
• Why did we talk about these…
  • The Boxcar Children
  • Nancy Drew
  • Encyclopedia Brown
  • Nate the Great

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

This week our podcast literally can not stop running/falling/snowboarding as we discuss the Endless Runner genre. This sometimes celebrated, sometimes maligned mobile focused offshoot of the platform genre is (believe it or not) full of awesome games amongst all the shovelware.

We talk in depth about the beautiful new endless snowboarder Alto’s Adventure, as well as run down the short history of the genre while calling out notable, quality examples.

Raygan would like to re-iterate that his high score in Alto’s Adventure is 130,881. Thank you.

Links:

• Alto’s Adventure – out now on the App Store
• CANABALT (on the web)
• CANABALT for iOS
• The Secret of Bryce Manor, by Tiger Style
• Crash Bandicoot
• Moon Patrol
• The Most Officialest SkiFree Home Page
• Aladdin 1993 Level 7 Rug Ride
• Battletoads Level 3-Wind Tunnel
• Pitfall!
• Tiny Wings
• Jetpack Joyride
• Sonic Dash™
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the App Store
• Sonic CD on the App Store
• Temple Run
• Temple Run Arcade
• Don’t Run With A Plasma Sword
• Flappy Bird
• Race The Sun: An Infinite Speed Experience
• Bit.Trip.Runner
• RUNNER2: FUTURE LEGEND OF RHYTHM ALIEN
• Banana Kong
• Boson X
• Off The Leash
• Crossy Road: Endless Arcade Hopper Game
• Time Surfer
• Ski Safari

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