Video Game Feelings Area Code

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Jay Tholen is not very comfortable with success.
Jay Tholen is the creator of Dropsy, HypnoSpace Outlaw, and the upcoming Dreamsettler. 
Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings


Doom makes Jay feel relaxed.


Doom (2016) makes Jay feel out of control.

The Giant Bomb "SpeedTree" video.

Amy Green doesn't regret making That Dragon, Cancer. But she doesn't want it to define her life.
Amy Green is a writer and game designer behind That Dragon, Cancer and Area Man Lives.
Note: Toward the end of the interview we should have been using the term "unhoused," or "houseless." Apologies.
Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings


Phase 10: World Tour makes Amy feel empowered.


Papo and Yo showed Amy that deeply serious, emotional games are possible.

Is Papers Please too disempowering?


Fortnite entirely misses the point of what The Hunger Games was trying to say.

Gareth Damian Martin found their happy place.
Gareth Damian Martin is the sole developer behind the recently released Citizen Sleeper.
Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings


Destiny 2 had a weird amount of influence on Citizen Sleeper.


Watching Jack De Quidt play through and read along to Citizen Sleeper opened Gareth's eyes to just how much they were writing about themselves.


Subnautica Below Zero: You could just hang out there, really.


Rogue Legacy 2 overwhelmed Richard.

Kirk Hamilton is having fun with Destiny, until he's not.
Kirk Hamilton, one-third of the videogame podcast Triple Click, and the host and producer of the music podcast, Strong Songs. 
Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings


Elden Ring is full of little surprises.


Destiny 2: It's Complicated.

Xalavier Nelson is terrified that his dad won't like his game.
Xalavier Nelson Jr. is a game developer and head of Strange Scaffold, the studio responsible for games like Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator, An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs, and the upcoming El Paso, Elsewhere. 
Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings

If you want to reconnect with your Dad, play Elden Ring



The Magic Circle made Xalavier a different person


Evil Within 2 made Xalavier feel inquisitive

M. Joshua Cauller is always searching for that new highest level of tension.
Joshua crafts trailers for Devolver Digital. You can see his work at the Devolver YouTube channel.
Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings


Sifu makes Joshua feel plugged in, jacked in, hyped up, and frustrated.


The back of a Super Mario 3 box. It was all about the screen grabs.


Contra actually got the cover right.

Did I make a huge mistake buying Dying Light 2?


Kert Gartner was who Joshua wanted to be when he grew up


That Dragon, Cancer is not actually about cancer.

Talking about Inscription ruins the game.

I was really hard on Abzu back in the day. :-(


Control has a pretty badass moment called the Ash Tray Maze.