Kritiqal Care KRITIQAL

Sylvie (she/her) is a prolific creator of challenging platformers, action RPGs, and games about cats. She sat down with me to discuss her design philosophy based in constraints, games as conversations, and her esoteric entry into the year of bump combat. Later, she 1CCs an arcade cult classic.

You can learn more about Sylvie’s games and writing on her website, and follow her on cohost @sylvie.

Sylvie’s Cool Things to Share- The Tower of Druaga (Namco, 1984) and her 1CC playthrough

Things Discussed- Sylvie’s game spreadsheet- love ♥ game- Sylvie Lime (Sylvie, 2023)- Her Little Sylvietower (Sylvie, 2022)- Sylvie RPG: 7 Elf Apocalypse (Sylvie, 2024)- Sylvie Miniature (Sylvie, 2024)- The Ys franchise (Nihon Falcom, 1987-2023)- Angeline Era (Analgesic Productions, upcoming)- Sylvie’s essay “Ways of Speaking”

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.

Meredith Gran (she/her) is a comics artist and game designer, best known for her webcomic, Octopus Pie and the adventure game Perfect Tides. She sat down with me to talk about her experience coming to games from a comics background, how Perfect Tides’ mechanics where influenced by teenage naivety, and why the 00s are such a rich period for coming of age stories. Finally, we wrap up with a teaser for the upcoming sequel, Perfect Tides: Station to Station.

You can learn more about Meredith’s games and comics on her website.

Meredith’s Cool Things to Share- Having a VHS collection with Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff, 2001)

Things Discussed- Perfect tides (Three Bees, 2022)- Octopus Pie (Meredith Gran, 2007-2017)- King's Quest (Sierra, 1984)- I Like Movies (Chandler Levack, 2022)- PEN15 (Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle, and Sam Zvibleman, 2019-2021)- Perfect Tides: Station to Station (Meredith Gran, upcoming)

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.

For the first Kritiqal Care bonus episode, returning guests Colin (he/they) of melessthanthree and Kevin Wong (they/them) join me to discuss their recently released action RPG, Death of a Wish. A more aggressive sequel to Lucah: Born of a Dream, Death of a Wish follows ex-antagonist Christian as he embarks on a revenge mission against the christofascist Sanctum. We discuss where the idea for a sequel came from, its themes emerging from contemporary anxieties and apathy, balancing thematic resonance with difficulty, and planning a coordinated marketing push for an effective team of two.

Death of a Wish is available now on itch, Steam, and Switch.

Things Discussed- Death of a Wish (melessthanthree, 2024)- Lucah: Born of a Dream (melessthanthree, 2018)- Dear Future (Dear Future Production Committee, 2021)- How to Blow Up a Pipeline (Daniel Goldhaber, 2022)

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.

Cecile Richard (they/them) is a graphic designer, writer, and game developer known for their playful Bitsy projects and hypertext fiction. They joined me to discuss cyclical stories, the risk/reward of collaborating with close friends, and how cool underground tunnels are. We also take a moment to proselytize about editors, and I learn about a new, extremely fake sounding sport.

You can play Cecile’s games on itch, and follow them on cohost @haraiva.

Cecile’s Cool Things to Share- Australian sports season starting up soon (go Geelong Cats!)- Subterraneans Podcast

Things Discussed- Indiepocalypse (listen to our episode with Andrew)- Domino Club (check out our episode with Emma, Nat, and Rose)- Bitsy (enjoy our episode with Adam Le Doux)- Novena (Cecile Richard, 2018)- Endless Scroll (Cecile Richard, 2019)- Topography (Cecile Richard, 2020)- Hope (Cecile Richard and Cable Ties, 2020)- Gutless (Domino Club, 2022)- Cycle (Domino Club, 2022)- The Devil’s Imago (Domino Club, 2023

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.

David Su (he/him) is a musician, audio programmer, and game designer who explores interactive music and performance art. He took some time off from his ballooning schedule to discuss how he got interested in making games from an audio background, the challenges and rewards of centering your game around sound, and the playful earnestness of a cloned sheep’s lament. Later, we wander into a video store.

You can play Davids games on itch, and follow him on Twitter @usdivad.

David’s Cool Things to Share- Visiting local video stores and buying DVDs

Things Discussed- Brass Lion Entertainment- Runaway Reveree (David Su, 2016)- Yi and the Thousand Moons (David Su, 2017)- Seasons (David Su and Dominique Star, 2018)- The Ballad of the Metamorphosis of M. Dolly (David Su, 2019)- One Hand Clapping (Bad Dream Games, 2021)- Tasting Room Jam Halloween 2019

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a review or rating, sharing it with a loved one, and supporting KRITIQAL on Ko-Fi.

It’s New Year’s Eve, which means 2023 has come and gone, bringing in closing our annual end of the year show. As is tradition, I reached out to past guests of the show to ask what their most impactful gaming memory was from the last 12 months. As this year has been particularly brutal to folks in and around games, I opened the prompt up to not exclusively focus on good memories, hoping instead to simply reflect on the year as a whole, positive and negative. The responses were as insightful, touching, and playful as ever, running the gamut from industry events, personal milestones, and games that captured people’s imaginations. I hope you enjoy this look back at 2023, and that you have a great 2024. Happy new year!

FeaturingElaine Gómez | Kate Olguin | Quinn K | Andrew of Indiepocalypse | Nicholas O'Brien | SKELETON DEEP HELL DOT COM | Taylor McCue | Nilson Carroll | Kat of Pixel A Day | Nathan Blades | Kevin Wong | Jeff Chiao | Lily Valeen | Canvas (bighandinsky)

Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.