169 episodes
Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games
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- Leisure
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4.8 • 129 Ratings
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Candid conversations with game creators that dive deep into the art, craft, and process of making games.
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Challenging Orthodoxy with sylvie
Doug and Zach talk to prolific game maker sylvie (love game), together with guest co-host Raigan Burns (Metanet Software). We talk about sylvie's design process, freeware games, subverting traditional orthodoxies around gamefeel, sylvie's influences, and more.
Show Notes:
sylvie's website
Catalog of sylvie's games
sylvie's blog posts
sylvie's post on playtesting
Bennett Foddy on JIGGLY ZONE
Eggplant Episode 11 with Raigan
Melos Han-Tani on Living in the Relational Playworld
John Thyer's How To Make Good Small Games
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Minding Your Manors with Botany Manor
We're joined by Laure De Mey and Kitt Byrne of Balloon Studios to chat about their Victorian first-person puzzler Botany Manor. We discuss building a space that feels the right amount of "real," letting history guide your setting, weaving a subtly affecting narrative, and...priest holes.
Show Notes:
Laura De Mey
Kitt Byrne
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
Return of the Obra Dinn
Pettson O Findus in the Garden
Sapphire Tower
Monkey Island
Over the Garden Wall
Little Women
MacDowell Colony
Nicholas Owen / Priest Holes
RickRack Cactus
Cragside Manor
Greenway House
Wild garlic -
Into the Depths: Slice & Dice - Part 2
In this 2nd installment of our latest deep-dive miniseries, the crew continue to discuss “yahtzee roguelike” Slice & Dice, a host favorite that has made our GOTY list for two years running.
We're joined once again by series guest co-host Darius Kazemi, as well as very special guest Michael Brough (!), whose own roguelike Cinco Paus is one of the cited inspirations behind Slice & Dice. This episode, we discuss the game's curses and blessings system, as well as its links to some of Michael's games, including 868 HACK.
Join our Discord and send in your questions for the Slice & Dice designer tann.
Show Notes:
Slice & Dice on Steam, itch, iOS, and Google Play
Michael Brough's blog posts on streak scoring (2013, 2017)
868-HACK
Cinco Paus
Michael Brough's blog post on the "powerup" (curse) system in 868-HACK
Slice and Dice | 98%+ Winrate Unfair Hero Tier List video
Hoplite
Classic Unfair run with Doug, Rob, and Andy -
Sticking to Your Systems with Animal Well
We're joined by Animal Well's sole developer Billy Basso and his business partner Dan Adelman to discuss their genre-defying/defining, steeped-in-secrets hit. Plus special guest co-host Adam Conover (Adam Ruins Everything), as we dig deep into the game's slow-burn development, the iteration of its manifold gameplay (and other) layers, and the delicate balance of stoking the fires of your fanbase.
Show Notes:
Animal Well
Billy Basso
Dan Adelman
Adam Conover
Scary kangaroo video
Axiom Verge
The Decade-Long Quest for Shadow of the Colossus' Last Secret
Fez
The Witness
Spelunky
Why do God of War's characters keep spoiling puzzles?
All of the Secret Bunnies in Animal Well (HUGE SPOILERS)
The Ultimate Secret Ending of Animal Well (EVEN BIGGER SPOILERS)
haseverythinginanimalwellbeenfoundyet.com
ARG Guardrails blog post
VVVVVV
Riven
Super Win the Game -
Into the Depths: Slice & Dice - Part 1
In the first installment of our Slice & Dice deep-dive miniseries, the crew head Into the Depths with the “yahtzee roguelike” that's shown up on our GOTY list for two years running. We're joined by interactive artist/developer Darius Kazemi to help introduce the game and share beginner tips from our (significant) playtime, and get into its unique combination of maximalist design and systems-driven humor.
Next episode, we’ll get into some of our favorite game modes: Classic Unfair, Cursed, and Cursed-Hyper. Don’t forget to join our Discord and send in your questions for the game's designer tann, to be answered over email later in the series.
Show Notes:
Slice & Dice on Steam, itch, iOS, and Google Play
Eggplant’s 2022 GOTY Episode (S&D Rob’s #2)
Eggplant’s 2023 GOTY Episode (S&D Doug’s #2)
Darius Kazemi’s Spelunky level-gen browser tool
Slice & Dice development history essay, by tann
Allison Parrish’s talk on designing to explore possibility spaces
Slice & Dice beginner tips powerpoint
Sid Meier’s 2010 GDC keynote
Tharsis on Steam
The stream where Rob and Doug “puppeteered” Andy to a Classic Unfair victory in Slice & Dice v2.0 -
Getting Goofy with Listener Letters
Left to our own devices without a guest, we get a little goofy - thankfully our listener letters overfloweth, so we dive into a few of them. Thanks, listeners!
Show Notes:
Jupiter Sunrise
Dinner with the Band
GeoGuesser World Cup 2023
Knytt
Seiklus
Daniels: Why We Tell The Stories We Tell
Pale Fire
Customer Reviews
The best video game design podcast on the internet
The title says it all. Simply the best video game design podcast on the internet. And maybe the best kept secret, because this is what I’ve been searching for for years and I only just found out about it. Perfection.
A new favorite!
Eggplant has quickly become a favorite in my feed! I love the engaging conversations and insightful content. I truly learn something every time I listen. Highly recommend tuning in!
Pronoun Garbage
I love Spelunky. Once I saw there was a podcast about I had to try it out. I listend to the first 40 episodes and jumped around on the Into The Depths epidsodes. I loved it.
Then they brought up their white cis male privilege.
They have pronouns in their names now.
I listened to it because it was about video games. Now its about white supremacy and genders.
Thats a shame. Unsubscribed