126 episodes

Edge Guard is a podcast about video games on the fringe: games at the unexplored edges of itch.io, student games, experimental releases, and more. Each week, two friends—one with a degree in game design, one studying games in an English grad program—play and discuss a different game from the edges of gaming, focusing on what their developers get right rather than what doesn’t quite work. From diamonds in the rough to the weirdest of the weird, Edge Guard finds games worth playing.

Edge Guard Blake Beckett and Jordan Pruett

    • Video Games

Edge Guard is a podcast about video games on the fringe: games at the unexplored edges of itch.io, student games, experimental releases, and more. Each week, two friends—one with a degree in game design, one studying games in an English grad program—play and discuss a different game from the edges of gaming, focusing on what their developers get right rather than what doesn’t quite work. From diamonds in the rough to the weirdest of the weird, Edge Guard finds games worth playing.

    125 - Karlson

    125 - Karlson

    This week, we play Karlson, a zany action-platformer-shooter by Dani Dev on Itch. The slow-motion shooting bits prompt comparisons to My Friend Pedro and John Wick, and we talk a bit about why the platforming sections feel so volatile. A question about optimal crouch key bindings prompts debate. 
     
    Find the game here: https://danidev.itch.io/karlson
    And follow the creator on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DaniDev

    • 46 min
    124 - Museum of the Saved Image

    124 - Museum of the Saved Image

    In this week’s episode, we play Museum of the Saved Image, an explorable museum of desktop clutter by itch.io user “flan.” The game takes us on a tour of all the saved images from the creator’s desktop over one period of time: Facebook conversations, memes, photos with friends, and pictures of lemons. We talk about characterization, senses of humor, and ARGs. Blake reminisces about funnyjunk.com.
     
    Find the game here: https://flan.itch.io/museum-of-the-saved-image
    And follow their itch.io account: https://flan.itch.io/

    • 40 min
    123 - They Came from a Communist Planet

    123 - They Came from a Communist Planet

    This week, we play the riot simulator “They Came From a Communist Planet,” by David Cribb and Elijah Cauley. The game’s unorthodox theme prompts a discussion about gamer politics, brutalism, revolution, and why the social dynamics of riots make such interesting material for a videogame. Also, we do some alien voices.
     
    You can find the game here: https://colestia.itch.io/they-came-from-a-communist-planet
    And follow the creators on Twitter: @colestia3, @small_signs

    • 36 min
    122 - Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard

    122 - Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard

    We play “Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard,” designed by Grace Bruxner and Thomas Bowker and the sequel to a game we played on an earlier episode of the podcast. We talk about the “Grace Bruxner” aesthetic, the game’s sense of humor, how we decorated our notebooks (spoiler: we are super cute), and extortion. 
     
    Find the game here: https://fisho.itch.io/frog-detective-2
    And follow the creators on Twitter: @frogdetective, @gracebruxner, @thomasbowker, @dangolding

    • 37 min
    121 - AI Dungeon 2

    121 - AI Dungeon 2

    We play something a little bit different this week: AI Dungeon 2, a text adventure game by Nick Walton that experiments with machine learning in order to create an infinite game-space. We talk about how this “game” is just a joy to play, even when it spits out nonsense. Our discussion turns to text genres, natural language processing, porn (naturally), and biased algorithms. We also read quotes from our favorite playthroughs: impersonating the president, getting stoned in the woods, exploiting the peasants, and encountering a very confused gunman. 
     
    Find the game here: https://www.aidungeon.io/
    And follow the creator on Twitter: @nickwalton00

    • 54 min
    120 - Dead Sector

    120 - Dead Sector

    This week we play Dead Sector, a student game that Blake describes as the “Dark Souls of Deadspace.” We talk about how it combines ideas from both games, as well as which ideas complement each other and which ones feel more dissonant. We admire the game’s art and animations. Diegetic interfaces are complemented. Blake says he “loves to hand ass.”
    Download the demo here: https://deadsector.itch.io/deadsector
    And follow the creators on Twitter: @TheDeadSector
     

    • 42 min

Customer Reviews

CarterJ99 ,

Combo.

Obscure games and great commentary. Good combo.

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