The Spelunky Showlike

We're joined by dear friends of the show Laura E. Hall, Bennett Foddy, and Doseone for a Doug-masterminded, Eggplant-themed game of Just One. Stick around after the insanity for a reflection on the past four years of the show, how our lives have changed since, and what the show means to us (and you - thanks for the letters!). Show notes: Laura E. Hall 31 Days of Halloween newsletter Find Satoshi Bennett Foddy Doseone Demon Throttle Immortality Hyper Demon Just One Anthony Carboni

Sarah Northway (Northway Games) joins us to discuss her sprawling new narrative RPG I Was a Teenage Exocolonist. We discuss juggling a staggering script, deckbuilding as storytelling, and some of the wilder places that the game's time looping can go. Show notes: Northway Games Sarah Northway I Was a Teenage Exocolonist Museum of Other Realities Princess Maker (series) Groundhog Day Signs of the Sojourner Dragon Age (series) Jogging House

Co-founders Wyatt Bushnell and Mike Salyh - and special guest co-host Laura E. Hall - join us to discuss Coin Crew's awesome new co-op escape room game Escape Academy. We discuss pandemic pivoting to the digital space, designing for arcades vs. living rooms, and the perils of playtesting in both mediums. Show notes: Coin Crew Games Escape Academy Laura E. Hall Planning Your Escape The Traveler's Guide to Little Sodaburg Space Squad in Space Two Bit Circus Hot Wheels: King of the Road 999 (series) The Room (series) My Hero Academia Mark Rosewater

Ash Neleh, host of the ! Series of online reality games, joins Doug for a conversation about adapting reality TV competition games for online fan communities. We talk about the 18-year history of the ! Series, as well as some of the favorite twists he's designed. Show notes: ! Series Wiki ! Series Discord De Mol

Frog Detective creator Grace Bruxner joins us to discuss the inspirations and process behind her charming detective series, including the upcoming Frog Detective 3: Corruption at Cowboy County. We discuss sticking to scope (or not), making the most of adventure game tropes, and finding inspiration in the mundane. Show notes: Grace Bruxner Frog Detective ALIEN CASENO Games Talks 2020: Grace Bruxner Building Games Around Humor (GDC talk) L.A. Noire Frog Detective Twitter account Freaky Ep 7 - Dummy Round the Twist (full first season)

We're taking a small summer break, so please enjoy one of our favorite episodes from a few years ago. And check out the new mobile version of Dicey Dungeons, and the free DLC! Terry Cavanagh (Super Hexagon, VVVVVV) joins us to talk about his fantastic roguelike deckbuilder, Dicey Dungeons. We discuss the thread of generosity in his game design, the challenges of working across genres, and what might be next for Terry! Show notes: Terry's distractionware.com Dicey Dungeons VVVVVV Super Hexagon Tiny Heist Stephen Lavelle Dream Quest 7 Day Roguelike Naya’s Quest The Long Dark Super Hexagon playthrough at Fantastic Arcade Hearthstone Battlegrounds

Ben Esposito (Donut County, What Remains of Edith Finch) joins us to talk about his heavenly new card-powered, speedrunning FPS Neon White. We discuss making tight designs by keeping things loose, what a "career" of indie games feels like, and making games u wish 2 see on the Dreamcast. Show notes: Ben Esposito Neon White Donut County Arcane Kids Glitch City Super Meat Boy Killer7 Cowboy Bebop Trigun Hunter x Hunter GoldenEye 007 Lovely Planet Machine Girl Sonic Dreams Collection   Perfect Stride CRAP! No One Loves Me Room of 1000 Snakes Arcane Kids manifesto

Card Shark creators Arnaud De Bock of Nerial (Reigns) and Nicolai Troshinsky join us to discuss their innovative new adventure game about cheating. We discuss its filmic inspirations, the narrative progression of chaining tricks, and designing a game loop of teaching and testing. Show notes: Arnaud De Bock Nicolai Troshinky Nerial Reigns Pikuniku UFO On Tape Loop Raccord Barry Lyndon The Expert at the Card Table Gambling Sleight of Hand - Steve Forte The Magic Castle

Knotwords creators Jack Schlesinger and our own Zach Gage chat to us about their elegant new logic puzzle word game. We discuss "cracking" the game design they'd been chasing forever, and how they created the puzzle/word generator that makes it great. Show notes: Jack Schlesinger Zach Gage Knotwords Nikoli puzzles Alcazar Two Not Touch puzzles Good Sudoku SpellTower+ Bit Pilot Wordle Calvin & Hobbes This episode edited by Dylan Shumway, thanks Dylan!

Mahdi Bahrami joins us to discuss his beautiful, mind-bending new puzzle game Tandis. We discuss teaching complex geometry concepts without any numbers, poetry as playtesting, and drawing a line through Mahdi's math-inspired oeuvre. Show notes: Mahdi Bahrami Tandis Engare Farsh ArsTechnica Tandis review Waldorf Education Mercator Projection

Tender Claws' Samantha Gorman and Danny Cannizzazo join us - alongside guest co-host Star St. Germain - to discuss their singular immersive theater experience The Under, creating an enriching social space in VR, and gameplay as an act of rebellion. Show notes: Tender Claws The Under Virtual Virtual Reality Star St. Germain Tumball Piehole The Severance Theory: Welcome to Respite Royal Shakespeare Company's Dream Talk 'n Play The Invention of Morel Uncle Roy All Around You Janet Cardiff Mary Sweeney Walkabout Mini Golf

Surprise! In the spirit of SMW's bonus worlds, we're back with a Special episode to cap off our deep-dive miniseries, as previous Into the Depths guests Stephanie Boluk and Patrick LeMieux take us on a tour of some of the coolest SMW ephemera yet! Show notes: Stephanie Boluk Patrick LeMieux Tons of links this week, so please check out this great syllabus that Patrick put together for us!

In the fifth - and final! - installment of our Super Mario World deep-dive miniseries, streamer/speedrunner Grand POOBear joins us to discuss the uncanny valley of SMW Remade From Memory, and the masterful Super 'Sonic Saves the World' World romhack by the mysterious 'Maddy, allegedly'. Show Notes: GrandPOOBear The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe DougDoug SMW Remade From Memory Super 'Sonic Saves the World' World Grand Poo World 2 Invictus SMW romhack Luminescent SMW romhack Celeste.smc Spelunky 2 randomizer Celeste: Farewell

In the fourth installment of our Super Mario World deep-dive miniseries, Davey Wreden (The Stanley Parable) joins us to discuss the infamous Star and Special worlds, and walk us through the ever-evolving, often hilarious culture of Kaizo Mario. Show notes: Davey Wreden The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe The Beginner's Guide Ivy Road Elden Ring VICE article The Japanese names for the Special courses Asshole Mario Stage 1 Asshole Mario Stage 10 Asshole Mario 2 Stage 9 Claustrophobia Kaizo hack Icing (game) The Complete History of Kaizo Mario Homework for next episode: SMW Remade From Memory Sonic Saves the World played by Grand POOBear

In the third installment of our Super Mario World deep-dive miniseries, David Hellman (Braid) joins us to discuss the aesthetics of SMW, touch on its recent widescreen mod, and suffer through the game's worst world and level (while savoring the interesting bits). Show notes: David Hellman Braid: Anniversay Edition Satoru Iwata tribute The eyes on question mark blocks Mario shades of red SMW widescreen mod SMW jazz fusion album Homework for next episode: Star World Special World  Watch some Kaizo/Asshole Mario World

Our friend Jake Kazdal (17-Bit) joins us for a (spoiler-free!) roundtable discussion of Elden Ring, in which we compare our experiences in FromSoftware's latest monsterpiece, consider the inseparable nature of its community, and deliberate its bolder design decisions. Show notes:  Jake Kazdal 17-BIt Elden Ring Souls (series) Resident Evil 7 Nick's home invasion thread Clint Hocking on the virtues of exploration Lord of the Rings (films) Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Discovery Tour There's no such thing as an Elden Ring cheese Halo Infinite Bill Mudron on player summoning

In the second installment of our Super Mario World deep-dive miniseries, Mare Sheppard and Raigan Burns of Metanet Software (N++) join us to talk about the inertia that makes Mario feel like Mario, the beautiful strangeness of the cape, and just how deep SMW's control quirks go. Show notes: Metanet Software N++ The Story of Super Mario World Elasto Mania Bernard Suits MineRalph Gish Tumbledown Drive Jiggly Zone Making History with Summoning Salt Kaizo Kindergarden The Decade-Long Quest for Shadow of the Colossus' Last Secret Retronauts on SMW Reverse Design: SMW Burned Mario and Luigi SMW Widescreen 11 Years of N

In the first installment of our Super Mario World deep-dive miniseries, Derek Yu (Spelunky) and Maddy Thorson (Celeste) join us to talk about our personal histories with the game, its iconic world map and multi-layered secrets, and all sorts of Mario ephemera in-between. Show notes: Super Mario World Derek Yu Maddy Thorson Ep. 75: Finding our Intersection Tastes Kaizo Mario SMW as an "athletic game" Atheltic Theme The Wizard (1989) Mario death sprite How to get 50+ lives in SMW LOVE

We celebrate Sarah Elmaleh as a permanent new member of the cast! Yay Sarah! We also announce the next Into the Depths series, dive into some wildly different topics du jour, and answer your questions!  Show notes: Sarah Elmaleh Super Mario World "King Me": A Defense of King-Making in Board Game Design Shut Up & Sit Down Root review Line Goes Up - The Problem with NFTs Wordle The Saturday Paper - Wordle Wordles of the World Lingo UK Wordle as poetry generator The Wreck The Red Lantern The Beatles: Get Back Pokemon Red Blinfolded Sekiro run OODA loop Games Done Quick Hanabi

Frank and James Lantz of Everybody House Games join us to discuss their tactical word-slinging free-for-all, Babble Royale. We discuss the built-in texture of language, reconsidering elegance, and why not: we phone a few friends for some live rounds of Hey Robot. Show notes: Frank Lantz James Lantz Everybody House Games Hey Robot Babble Royale Babble Royale beginner's guide Babble Royale advanced guide Chris Hecker Scrabble Wordle Typeshift Nethack A Wizard of Earthsea Wordnik Starcraft: Brood War Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Wavelength