Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games
Candid conversations with game creators that dive deep into the art, craft, and process of making games.
Episodes
May 8, 2024 • 91 mins
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:
Mark as Played
April 22, 2024 • 93 mins
Four of ours hosts went to the 2024 Game Developers Conference, and we lived to share anecdotes, interesting games we saw, and the highlights (and injuries) of our week! Also, Rob chases down a handful of other lovely devs to tell us the best/hardest things about making games right now.
Show Notes:
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure
Mark as Played
April 5, 2024 • 85 mins
We're joined by LocalThunk, solo creator of the hypnotic deckbuilder Balatro. We discuss flauting the fashion of a genre and going into development blind, the benefits of balacing by feel, and why Balatro shouldn't exist.
Show Notes:
Mark as Played
March 15, 2024 • 86 mins
We're joined by renowned designer Eric Chahi (Another World, From Dust) to discuss his singularly surreal VR adventure Paper Beast. We discuss building a living ecosystem born from constraints, how the craft has changed over the decades, and the indecency of technology.
Show Notes:
Mark as Played
February 24, 2024 • 95 mins
We're joined by Jon Ingold, co-founder of Inkle Studios (80 Days, Heaven's Vault) to discuss A Highland Song - a wild adventure through the Scottish Highlands. We chat about creating narrative-driven games without a critical path, allowing players to fail forward, and the origins of Inkle's beloved narrative scripting language, ink.
Show Notes:
Mark as Played
February 9, 2024 • 87 mins
We (belatedly) celebrate the 5th anniversary of our show with a sprawling, silly, reflective episode with a full house of hosts! Thanks for listening to us for all this time. <3
Show Notes:
Everest Pipkin's The Poppy Grower
Mark as Played
January 30, 2024 • 77 mins
We welcome Rob Dubbin (he/they) as a permanent member of the host pool! We discuss his journey from Late Night into making games, applicable lessons learned in the writers' room, and the importance of making your own shot.
Show Notes:
I Am America (And So Can You!)
Mark as Played
January 12, 2024 • 102 mins
We're joined by Kevin Poupard, co-creative director of the beautiful, meditative climbing game Jusant. We discuss the pains and gains of physics, trying something new as a studio, and anthropomorphizing mountains. Plus special guest co-host Mark Brown of Game Maker's Toolkit! Thanks Mark!
Show Notes:
Mark as Played
December 31, 2023 • 174 mins
We sit down with our newest co-host, writer/developer Rob Dubbin, to each count down our Top 5 games of 2023, alongside picks from previous show guests and our listeners. Happy New Year!
Our GOTY picks (SPOILERS):
Zach:
Super Locomotive
Kirby's Dream Land 2
The F Train Simulator
Playing Wii-U with a kid
Yamaha TENORI-ON
Sarah:
Betrayal at Club Low
Puzzmo Crosswords
The Emerald Flame
Case of the Golden Idol
Organized Labor
Andy:
S...
Mark as Played
December 23, 2023 • 89 mins
Daria Radu, Ben Wilson, and our very own Douglas Wilson join us to discuss their trick-taking card game Spoils, featured as an optional game within story-driven adventure game Saltsea Chronicles. We discuss the genesis of the game, drawing inspiration from worldbuilding, trick-taking as a mechanic, the programming of the AI systems, and more.
Show Notes:
Mark as Played
December 13, 2023 • 89 mins
The creators of Tux and Fanny - Albery Birney and Gabriel Koenig - stop by to discuss their existential and hilarious adventure game Tux and Fanny. We discuss collaboration as improv comedy, the benefit of working with people from outside of games, and creating a Saturday morning cartoon from another world.
Show Notes:
Mark as Played
November 26, 2023 • 83 mins
We're joined by creative director Hannah Nicklin and writer Harry Josephine Giles to discuss Die Gute Fabrik's beautiful new story-driven adventure, Saltsea Chronicles. We dig into the world-building and construction of the playable ensemble cast, the writer's room that pulled it off, and building out design process as design.
Show Notes:
Mark as Played
November 12, 2023 • 93 mins
We talk to our very own Zach Gage about his brand new games website, Puzzmo. We talk about player curiosity, newspaper games, Crosswords, and more.
Show Notes:
Episode 37: Designing Around Language with Zach Gage
How Hard Could It Be? (crossword puzzle by Rob Dubbin)
Mark as Played
October 28, 2023 • 74 mins
Ian MacLarty and Kalonica Quigley join us to discuss their open world physics simulation game, Mars First Logistics. We talk about the tech art behind the game's visual style, the procedurally generated landscape, the humor of the gameplay, and more.
Show Notes:
Mark as Played
October 7, 2023 • 63 mins
We're joined by Patrick Traynor, creator of Patrick's Parabox, a mind-bending recursive puzzle game about boxes within boxes. We discuss following your gut to what a game wants to be, being part of the puzzle design community, and our core philosophies behind puzzle design.
Show Notes:
Mark as Played
August 25, 2023 • 99 mins
We're taking a small summer break, so please enjoy one of our favorite episodes from 2020 with a new introduction from Doug!
The ENTIRE all-star Disc Room team - Kitty Calis, JW Nijman, Doseone, and Terri Vellmann - stop by for a rowdy disc-ussion on their new arcade sci-fi avoid-em-up. We chat about making the Margherita pizza of games, nailing the details to make a simple concept sing, and making the most of team collaborations.
...
Mark as Played
August 11, 2023 • 147 mins
We're honored to be joined by Gilles De Coster, host of our favorite Belgian reality TV game show - De Mol - to talk about the process, inspirations, and execution of the sublime game design behind its thrilling, subversive challenges. We spend the first hour giving all the context you'll need to follow along, before diving into the interview. This is a special one for us, check it out!
Show Notes:
De Mol (SPOILERS)
Mark as Played
July 28, 2023 • 65 mins
We're joined by Abhi to discuss Venba - Visai Games' short narrative cooking game about family, love, and loss. We discuss uniting narrative and gameplay, making a very personal game in a commercial industry, and creating a cooking experience with its own distinct flavor.
Show Notes:
Alpha Something - Venba soundtrack
Abhi's...
Mark as Played
July 14, 2023 • 89 mins
We're joined by Color Gray Games' Andrejs Kļaviņš to discuss their deeply rewarding detective game The Case of the Golden Idol. We discuss building on the game's cross-media inspirations, finding the 'aha!' moments in playtesting, and trusting yourself to trust your players.
Show Notes:
Mark as Played
June 30, 2023 • 88 mins
We're joined by actor Ashly Burch and Guerilla Games' Ben McCaw and Jochen Willemsen to deconstruct their deeply collaborative work on the Horizon game franchise - building the character of Aloy, the role of performance capture, and carving out nuance and evolution in a blockbuster series.
Show Notes:
Mark as Played
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