We're joined by Frank Lantz (Q-UP) and Mare Sheppard + Raigan Burns of Metanet (N++) for the first episode of All Systems Brough, a year-long exploration of the work of Michael Brough. We share our thoughts on why Michael's oeuvre demands a deep dive, add some historical context, and share the plan for the year ahead. We also introduce a (final?) rebrand to the podcast! Next episode: 868-HACK (it's also recommended that you start playing Vesper.5 now to prepare for later) (Tentative) Episode/play order: 868-HACK Vertex Dispenser Zaga-33 Vesper.5 Corrypt Kompendium (plus digital archiving of O) BECOME A GREAT ARTIST IN JUST 10 SECONDS Helix (plus SMESPORT) Imbroglio Cinco Paus P1 Select (plus Quinzena maybe?) & Broughlike Game Jam Games 868-BACK (caveat: still in development) Audio edited by Dylan Shumway Discussed in this episode: Michael Brough's Website https://www.smestorp.com/ Michael O'Blivion's Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@michael_oblivion Flock https://annapurnainteractive.com/en/games/flock Wilmot's Warehouse Boardgame https://www.cmyk.games/products/wilmot Q-UP https://store.steampowered.com/app/3730790/QUP/ Donkeyspace (Frank's Substack) https://franklantz.substack.com/ The Beauty of Games https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262552950/the-beauty-of-games/ Metanet Software https://www.metanetsoftware.com/about-us N++ https://nplusplus.org/ PRACTICE 2015: Mare Sheppard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBCDeMl4VwY FTL https://subsetgames.com/ftl.html Sylvie's Games https://sylvie.website/ A wild start, 41 points with no artifacts! (Cinco Paus LP ep 1) by vivafringe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-8xXBwAdG4 Droqen's website https://www.droqen.com/ Raigan's bluesky (will give away free copies of Cinco Paus on Christmas!) https://bsky.app/profile/raiganburns.bsky.social Q-UP OST https://kariomart.bandcamp.com/album/q-up-ost 868-HACK (Steam) https://store.steampowered.com/app/274700/868HACK/ Vesper.5 https://mightyvision.blogspot.com/2012/08/vesper5.html https://www.youtube.com/@thesecretlivesofgames https://discord.com/invite/tslog https://www.patreon.com/tslog
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149: Making A Meal Of It with Jenny Jiao Hsia and AP Thomson (Consume Me)
Rob, Sarah, and Doug chat with Jenny Jiao Hsia and AP Thomson about Consume Me, an award-winning autobiographical resource-management RPG about the pressure cooker of young adulthood. We discuss the game's ten-year development cycle, balancing dynamic difficulty in a game about overachievement, the complex dynamics of mining your own story, and more! Heads up: This episode includes discussion of disordered eating and religious upbringing. Audio edited by Dylan Shumway. Mentioned in this episode: Consume Me https://hexecutable.itch.io/consume-me https://store.steampowered.com/app/2359120/Consume_Me/ Prototyping Personal Experience – Jenny's talk at A MAZE 2017 https://youtu.be/iQ-PaGTr-iI?si=RIAWQMFZfMWCVCsN Papers Please by Lucas Pope https://papersplea.se/ Nina Freeman's games on itch.io https://starmaidgames.itch.io/ Triad by Anna Anthropy https://w.itch.io/triad Reigns by Nerial https://www.reignsgame.com/reigns Long Live the Queen by Hanako Games https://hanakogames.itch.io/long-live-the-queen Perfect Tides by Meredith Gran https://granulac.itch.io/perfect-tides Look Back (movie) https://www.amazon.com/Look-Back-Kiyotaka-Oshiyama/dp/B0DH5DMSRW Look Back (manga) https://www.viz.com/look-back Jenny's TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@q_dork AP's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bad_tetris/ https://eggplant.show/ https://discord.gg/eggplant https://www.patreon.com/eggplantshow https://www.youtube.com/eggplantshow
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148: Carving Out Some Time with Adam Robinson-Yu (Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival)
Laura, Rob, and Sarah chat with Adam Robinson-Yu about The Annual Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival, a communal and virtual festival experience hosted every ~October for the last six years. We discuss the logistics of running a seasonal multiplayer game, encouraging emergent interactions through limited tools, highlighting pumpkin artistry, expressing embodiment in digital space, building secrets over time, and more! NOTE: If you want to avoid spoilers of this year's additions to the game, skip the section from 1:12:40 to 1:22:00! Audio edited by Dylan Shumway Discussed in this episode: Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival https://adamgryu.itch.io/pumpkin-carver Laura E. Hall's 31 Days of Halloween newsletter https://buttondown.com/31daysofhalloween Adam's Itch https://adamgryu.itch.io/ Adam's Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/adamgryu.bsky.social https://eggplant.show/ https://discord.gg/eggplant https://www.patreon.com/eggplantshow https://www.youtube.com/eggplantshow
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147: Digging Deep with The Roottrees are Dead
Laura chats with Jeremy Johnston and Robin Ward about The Roottrees are Dead, their genealogy, murder-mystery, "static deduction" game. We discuss the development process of taking a jam prototype to full release, developing hints and systems that lead players to satisfying discoveries, and the taxonomy of games like The Roottrees are Dead and The Return of the Obra Dinn. Spoilers abound, so consider playing the game first before tuning in. Audio edited by Dylan Shumway Discussed in this episode: The Roottrees are Dead (Steam) https://store.steampowered.com/app/2754380/The_Roottrees_are_Dead/ The Roottrees are Dead (itch.io – Global Game Jam entry) https://jjohnstongames.itch.io/the-roottrees-are-dead Return of the Obra Dinn https://store.steampowered.com/app/653530/Return_of_the_Obra_Dinn/ Outer Wilds https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/ Her Story https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/Her_Story/ Family https://owlskip-games.itch.io/family Type Help https://william-rous.itch.io/type-help The Rise of the Golden Idol https://store.steampowered.com/app/2716400/The_Rise_of_the_Golden_Idol/ Blue Prince https://store.steampowered.com/app/1569580/Blue_Prince/ Severance https://tv.apple.com/us/show/severance/umc.cmc.1srk2goyh2q2zdxcx605w8vtx White Lotus https://www.max.com/shows/white-lotus/14f9834d-bc23-41a8-ab61-5c8abdbea505 Righteous Gemstones https://www.max.com/shows/righteous-gemstones/c3bd0a34-c4ce-4ca5-bd6c-820df7340671 Announcement: Eggplant Plays De Mol (2025 Season) https://eggplant.show/announcing-eggplant-plays-de-mol-2025-season The Genius (Korean Game Show) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Genius_(TV_series) Robin Ward's blog (links to socials included) https://eviltrout.com/ The Roottrees are Dead Discord server https://discord.com/invite/Z6Y5sE9Dgt https://eggplant.show/ https://discord.gg/eggplant https://www.patreon.com/eggplantshow
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EP: A Year of UFO 50 - Epilogue: Final developer interview
We're joined by (most of) the developers of UFO 50 - Derek Yu, Jon Perry, Eirik Suhrke, Tyriq Plummer, and Paul Hubans - to close out our series with a project-spanning discussion of their development process, how they're feeling a year out from launch, and so much more. Next week: Who knows?? Audio edited by Dylan Shumway Discussed in this episode: 868-HACK https://868-hack.neocities.org/ Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games Presents: A Year of UFO 50 Finale Eggstravaganza - LIVE! Recording https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTHuGIU3wRI Eggplant Merch! https://cottonbureau.com/people/eggplant-the-secret-lives-of-games-podcast A Year of Block Koala https://redcircle.com/shows/4e5322d3-2ea6-42dc-bfb3-18a427384a68 Roguelike Celebration 2025 (Including Fireside Chat with Jon Perry!) https://www.roguelike.club/event2025.html Time Barons https://www.time-barons.com/about.html Middleditch and Schwartz https://www.middleditchandschwartz.com/ SPONTANEANATION with Paul F. Tompkins https://www.earwolf.com/show_archive/spontaneanation-with-paul-f-tompkins-archive/ Scrubbin' Trubble (Tyriq's upcoming game) https://scrubbintrubble.com/ Madhouse (Paul's upcoming game) https://store.steampowered.com/app/3727130/MADHOUSE/ UFO 50 Physical Edition https://www.fangamer.com/products/ufo-50-game-nintendo-switch-deluxe-edition https://www.youtube.com/eggplantshow http://discord.gg/eggplant https://www.patreon.com/eggplantshow
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