PODCAST

Everybody"s Talking At Once

All Episodes

The Futures of Stories, with Russell Quinn

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2021/04/06

ETAO Podcast, Episode 106. Russell Quinn has had a unique career as a technologist enabling stories, building the underlying systems for the ahead-of-its time McSweeney’s app, as well as for the equally-ahead-of-theirs, novel-adjacent multimedia projects The Silent History and The Pickle Index. He’s brought remarkably inventive and playful stories to the world, though not as … Continue reading "The Futures of Stories, with Russell Quinn"

en-US

A Nuanced Critique of Subtlety, with Chevy Ray

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2021/03/23

ETAO Podcast, Episode 105. Chevy Ray has been making games for a long time now—though most of them are currently tough to play; RIP Flash—but is probably best known for Ikenfell, a tactical RPG about going to magic school, working through difficult relationships, and petting a great many cats. Here Chevy talks about what it … Continue reading "A Nuanced Critique of Subtlety, with Chevy Ray"

en-US

Designing for Empathy, with Anisa Sanusi

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2021/03/09

ETAO Podcast, Episode 104. Anisa Sanusi is an accomplished UI/UX designer, probably best known for her work on Elite Dangerous and Planet Coaster—two utterly different games that bring with them utterly different challenges in terms of usability, accessibility, tone, and scope. She’s also the founder of the Limit Break mentorship program, an organization dedicated to … Continue reading "Designing for Empathy, with Anisa Sanusi"

en-US

Co-Op Hath Four Furies, with Kenny Lee

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2018/04/18

ETAO Podcast, Episode 35. Kenny Lee is the less-frequently-interviewed half of the two-brother team that founded Cellar Door Games, the studio behind (most famously) Rogue Legacy and (most recently) Full Metal Furies. He’s also a fan of Ganbare Goemon and Mischief Makers and therefore a megaconnoisseur and the greatest game scholar of our age—so people … Continue reading "Co-Op Hath Four Furies, with Kenny Lee"

en-US

You Can Feel Great All The Time Solving Problems,...

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2018/03/21

ETAO Podcast, Episode 34. Zach Barth is back to talk about Opus Magnum and SHENZHEN I/O, the latest in each of Zachtronics’ semi-distinct trademark genres: games where you make things that makes things, and games where you actually code or script, respectively. We talk about how these two parallel tracks came to be, where their … Continue reading "You Can Feel Great All The Time Solving Problems, with Zach Barth"

en-US

Thumbprints and Thunder, with Joel Corelitz

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2018/02/15

ETAO Podcast, Episode 33. Joel Corelitz drops in to discuss his work on GOROGOA, TumbleSeed, The Unfinished Swan, and Eastward, along with the broader design philosophies behind those games. Even more broadly than that, we talk about the layers of audience engagement in music, in games, and especially in music in games—not to mention the … Continue reading "Thumbprints and Thunder, with Joel Corelitz"

en-US

On Orcs and Orchestras, with Garry Schyman

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2017/10/10

ETAO Podcast, Episode 32. Garry Schyman scored all three Bioshocks, all three Destroy All Humans games, Resistance: Retribution, Front Mission Evolved, and that oddly engrossing God of War clone based on Dante’s Inferno— and that’s just scratching the surface of his video game music, to say nothing of his enormous body of work for film … Continue reading "On Orcs and Orchestras, with Garry Schyman"

en-US

Pyre, Purgatories, Prison Dramas, and Talking Dogs,...

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2017/07/24

ETAO Podcast, Episode 31. Greg Kasavin stops by to discuss Supergiant’s latest, the party-based purgatory-escape-’em-up Pyre. We also find some time to discuss Bastion and Transistor, not to mention the limits of “naked allegory,” the largely untapped potential of diegetic Game Over states—and more generally, of game designs that allow for and accommodate failure—and the … Continue reading "Pyre, Purgatories, Prison Dramas, and Talking Dogs, with Greg Kasavin"

en-US

Persona 5 and the Punk of Pope Joan, with Adam Osborn

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2017/06/09

ETAO Podcast, Episode 30. Medievalist, archnerd, and outspoken Persona-enjoyer Adam Osborn returns to discuss Persona 5—as well as visual novels, waifus, and Pope Joan, though not always at the same time and not necessarily in that order. Thrill as we trip over each other trying to remark on everything remarkable about this mad JRPG opus. … Continue reading "Persona 5 and the Punk of Pope Joan, with Adam Osborn"

en-US

A Seminar (Just Bearly) on Persona 3 and 4, with Adam...

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2017/03/28

ETAO Podcast, Episode 29. Drew’s good buddy Adam Osborn, PhD-pursuer and self-described archnerd, stops by the discuss the Persona games in anticipation of Persona 5 finally coming out next week (but no, really for real this time). Starting at the 01:08:24 mark, I should mention, this one does get a TRIGGER WARNING for suicide ideation, … Continue reading "A Seminar (Just Bearly) on Persona 3 and 4, with Adam Osborn"

en-US

Criticizing Videogame Critique, Part 2, with Richard...

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2016/11/22

ETAO Podcast, Episode 28. Last week, Richard Terrell outlined his framework for taxonomizing and evaluating game criticism, and we spent some time using that framework to disagree vociferously about whether Arin Hanson is any damn good at talking about Zelda. This week we get into the weeds about the Zeldas themselves, and here’s the crux … Continue reading "Criticizing Videogame Critique, Part 2, with Richard Terrell"

en-US

Criticizing Videogame Critique, Part 1, with Richard...

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2016/11/15

ETAO Podcast, Episode 27. Richard Terrell returns to talk about Design Oriented, his attempt to categorize, catalog, and (here’s where things get interesting) rate game critique. What’s being measured there, and how is he measuring it, and to what end? Last time, we talked about what games are, what art is, and why he considers … Continue reading "Criticizing Videogame Critique, Part 1, with Richard Terrell"

en-US

The Dark Souls of Increasingly Unhelpful Analogies

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2016/11/08

ETAO Podcast, Episode 26. Following on our bummer of a conversation about the most joyful show on television, this week we have an exuberant and hopeful conversation about a series of games focused on violence, failure, and ends of days. Go figure. Yes, it’s time to discuss Dark Souls, and the fandoms attendant thereto. This … Continue reading "The Dark Souls of Increasingly Unhelpful Analogies"

en-US

Gem Fusions and Fandom Fissions in the Universe of...

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2016/11/01

ETAO Podcast, Episode 25. Lucio and I are both fans of Steven Universe, but we’re not exactly members of the Steven Universe fandom—or fandoms, plural, each with its own social norms, its own orthodoxies about what the series means, and its own articles of faith about where the story is headed. The people most conspicuously … Continue reading "Gem Fusions and Fandom Fissions in the Universe of Steven Universe"

en-US

Virtual Realities and Pretend Robots, with Dan...

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2016/10/25

ETAO Podcast, Episode 24. Dan Teasdale returns to discuss No Goblin’s sophomore effort, 100ft Robot Golf, a game about (wait for it) hundred-foot-high robots playing golf. This being a No Goblin game, of course, there’s more to it than that. It’s a deeply personal and proudly goofy admixture of influences that maybe shouldn’t even be … Continue reading "Virtual Realities and Pretend Robots, with Dan Teasdale (and Cassie)"

en-US

Node-Crawling and Puzzle-Fighting, with Chris McQuinn

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2016/10/20

ETAO Podcast, Episode 23. Chris McQuinn stops by to discuss DrinkBox Studios’ latest, the touch-based first-person dungeon-crawling amputate-’em-up Severed. You’re a warrior named Sasha, seeking out your lost family in an ever-threatening and arrestingly otherworldly environment. Monstrosities stand in your way (of course) and monster parts get sliced off (as the title suggests) and things … Continue reading "Node-Crawling and Puzzle-Fighting, with Chris McQuinn"

en-US

Squaring The Magic Circle, with Jordan Thomas, Kain...

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2015/08/03

ETAO Podcast, Episode 22. The whole Question Games team stops by to discuss (and to discuss the discussion surrounding) their debut project, The Magic Circle. Their debut project as a team, that is. It’s not the kind of game that anybody would or could make without some experience in the world of making games, and … Continue reading "Squaring The Magic Circle, with Jordan Thomas, Kain Shin, and Stephen Alexander"

en-US

A Pseudo-Instruction That Has No Effect, with Zach Barth

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2015/07/14

ETAO Podcast, Episode 21. Zach Barth sits down to complete our interview triptych. Having already covered the art of the anti-puzzle and the question of whether it’s even possible to spoil Infinifactory, we focus this time on the softer launch that Steam Early Access provides, the conversation alchemy of developers discussing development with developers on … Continue reading "A Pseudo-Instruction That Has No Effect, with Zach Barth"

en-US

Toys in Games, Games as Toys, and Action Henk as...

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2015/05/11

ETAO Podcast, Episode 20. Action Henk is out (of Steam Early Access) today, and to celebrate, here’s my conversation with Roel Ezendam of RageSquid Games. Action Henk is a game about momentum, perfectionism, and making things that actually are as amazing as we remember things being in our childhoods—not just recapturing former glory, but surpassing … Continue reading "Toys in Games, Games as Toys, and Action Henk as Both, with Roel Ezendam"

en-US

On the Semi-Unspoilability of Infinifactory, with...

Everybody"s Talking At Once ·

2015/05/04

ETAO Podcast, Episode 19. Zach Barth returns for a spoiler-centric look at a game where spoilers arguably don’t even matter, his absolutely delightful engineer-’em-up Infinifactory. Mechanically, the game is in one sense unspoilable. Sure, seeing a solution to a given puzzle takes an open-ended head-scratcher and turns it into a set of IKEA furniture, but … Continue reading "On the Semi-Unspoilability of Infinifactory, with Zach Barth"

en-US

118 results