The Short Game

This week we’re taking a vacation from our typical format to talk about playing games while traveling. The obvious topic is how the Nintendo Switch is chainging how we play, but we also discuss gaming travel memories from childhood, the pros and cons of portable platforms, and even some non-video-games for travel. Have fun on your trip to Ireland, Laura! 00:00:00 Gaming and Traveling 00:01:39 Things we ONLY do on Airplanes 00:05:11 Gaming while Traveling as Kids 00:11:40 Shane’s guessing game 00:16:23 Travel Games 00:32:05 The Switch 00:47:14 Games for Groups 00:48:56 Listner Responses 00:53:02 What’s making us happy Links for this episode: Pokémon Go Suikoden II ‎Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic on the App Store ‘Hoplite’ Review – Walk Softly And Carry A Tiny Spear – TouchArcade Game Boy Micro – Wikipedia Raygan’s recommended Nintendo Switch grip Panasonic ColorPilot TV CT-1110D 128: Board Game to Video Game Ports – The Short Game Puzzazz | The best way to solve puzzles in the digital world OverDrive (Rakuten OverDrive): eBooks, audiobooks and videos for libraries Flinthook The Endless (film) – Wikipedia You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes! Your hosts this week were: Laura Nash – @laurajnash Raygan Kelly – @raygank Shane Kelly – @8bitShane (00:00) - Gaming and Traveling (01:39) - Things we ONLY do on Airplanes (05:11) - Gaming while traveling as kids (11:40) - Shane's guessing game (16:23) - Travel Games (32:05) - The Switch (47:14) - Games for Groups (48:56) - Listner Responses (53:02) - What's making us happy this week

Yoku’s Island Express is a pinball-metroidvania. Yeah. And as a synthesis of those two seemingly incompatible ideas it actually succeeds incredibly well. We break down what makes this bizarre fusion more than just a novelty. Yoku is available on Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and Steam for $19.99. Expect it to take about 5-8 hours to complete, not including post-game content, secrets, etc… 00:00:00 Yoku’s Island Express 00:50:54 What’s Making You Happy This Week? Laura: Stardew Valley Raygan: Steven Universe Nate: Tapped 00:58:44 Outro You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes! Your hosts this week were: Laura Nash – @laurajnash Raygan Kelly – @raygank Nate Heininger – @natestl (00:00) - Yoku's Island Express (50:54) - What's Making You Happy This Week? (58:44) - Outro

Gary Butterfield of Duckfeed.tv joins us to discuss West of Loathing, the hilarious stick-figure open-world RPG by Asymmetric. West of Loathing originally released last summer on Steam, but it recently launched as a console exclusive on Nintendo Switch. This is an extremely funny game, but it also respects your time in ways that other RPGs and open world games could learn a lot from. Thanks to Gary for a great discussion. West of Loathing is available on Steam for Windows, MacOS, and Linux, and on the Nintendo Switch eShop, for $11. Expect it to take around 10 hours to complete. Spoiler break at [00:56:36]. What’s making us happy this week? Laura: Korean reality show The Genius Nate: The Saint Louis Pride Parade Raygan: Mario Tennis Aces Shane: Hive Gary: John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City Find Gary’s work at Duckfeed.tv. Gary’s newest podcast, Heartbeat City, is at Heartbeatcity.city. Past Short Game episodes with Gary: 26a: The Walking Dead 26b: The Walking Dead 47: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes! Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygank Shane Kelly – @8bitShane Nate Heininger – @natestl Laura Nash – @laurajnash Gary Butterfield – @garybuh (00:00) - West of Loathing (44:54) - What's making you happy this week? (56:36) - Spoiler Break

For our fifth year in a row, The Short Game is discussing this year’s Apple Design Award winning games. The ADA winners are often some of the best iOS games of the year, but they also shine a light on the state of iOS as a gaming platform, and give a hint as to what Apple is planning for games on their devices. Joining us again this year is friend of the show Mark Bramhill. Mark is a radio producer and podcaster, and host of the incredible Welcome to Macintosh podcast. His work has also appeared on shows such as 99% Invisible. You can follow Mark on Twitter at @mcbramhill. [00:03:48] WWDC impressions 2018 [00:27:15] Award Winning Games [00:28:52] Florence [00:33:45] Playdead’s INSIDE [00:39:52] Alto’s Odyssey [00:47:05] Frost [00:58:58] Oddmar [01:07:58] Non-game Winners [01:10:28] What’s making you happy this week? [01:17:51] Outro Past Apple Design Award episodes: 11: Apple Design Award Winners 2014 – The Short Game 49: Apple Design Award Winners 2015 – The Short Game 91: Apple Design Awards Winners 2016 – The Short Game 125: Apple Design Award Winners 2017 – The Short Game You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes! Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygank Shane Kelly – @8bitShane Laura Nash – @laurajnash Mark Bramhill – @mcbramhill (03:48) - WWDC impressions 2018 (27:15) - Award Winning Games (28:52) - Florence (33:45) - Playdead's INSIDE (39:52) - Alto's Odyssey (47:05) - Frost (58:58) - Oddmar (01:07:58) - Non-game Winners (01:10:28) - What's making you happy this week? (01:17:51) - Outro

Mike Bithell’s follow-up to Subsurface Circular is another single sitting dialogue driven text adventure game, but this time it’s on a boat! Also there’s an alien. We discuss the second “Bithell Short”, a spiritual sequel to the previously covered Subsurface Circular. If you liked Subsurface Circular or interactive fiction this is definitely worth a look. Quarantine Circular is available on Steam for Windows and macOS for $5.99. Expect it to take around three hours to complete. [00:00:00] Quarantine Circular [00:46:58] What’s making you happy this week? [00:54:20] Spoiler Break What’s making us happy this week: Laura: Zero Sum for iOS Nate: Boats Raygan: Lizzo Shane: The Giff – Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes! Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygank Shane Kelly – @8bitShane Nate Heininger – @natestl Laura Nash – @laurajnash (00:00) - Quarantine Circular (46:58) - What's making you happy this week? (54:20) - Spoiler Break

In Far: Lone Sails you’ll pilot a massive rattletrap machine across a beautiful, desolate world. This “atmospheric vehicle adventure game” feels a bit like it was grown in a lab to appeal to The Short Game. It has a presentation that begs comparisons to past favorites like Inside, but the vehicle system feels fresh and keep the game engaging and mechanically interesting throughout. Far: Lone Sails is available on Steam, GOG, and the Humble Store for Windows and MacOS, with PS4 and Xbox One versions in development. Expect it to take about three hours to complete. [00:00:00] Far: Lone Sails [00:45:02] What’s making you happy this week? Laura: Superstore Raygan: Yakuza Kiwami Nate: Pocket Operator: Rhythm [00:53:16] Spoiler Break You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes! Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygank Nate Heininger – @natestl Laura Nash – @laurajnash (00:00) - Far: Lone Sails (45:02) - What's making you happy this week? (53:16) - Spoiler Break

In a world where absolutely everyone cares about golf… Golf Story is an indie developed golf RPG in the Mario Golf tradition, developed by Sidebar Games. It was an early indie exclusive on the Nintendo Switch. In this episode we discuss our history with golf and golf games, the bizarre and hilarious world of Golf Story, and get into the weeds with golf game history and mechanics. Expect Golf Story to take about 15 hours to complete. (A bit on the long side for our show, but this is still a game that respects your time.) It’s available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch eShop for $14.99. [00:03:15] The Short Game on Golf [00:11:40] Golf Video Games [00:19:36] Golf Story [01:04:07] What’s Making Us Happy This Week You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes! Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygank Nate Heininger – @natestl Laura Nash – @laurajnash (03:15) - The Short Game on Golf (11:40) - Golf Video Games - History (19:36) - Golf Story (01:04:07) - What's Making You Happy

It’s been 18 months since the release of the PSVR and against all odds there are still great short games coming out! Shane brings us his impressions of the second wave of PSVR games, starting with Moss, a VR game about guiding a sword-wielding mouse through a dangerous storybook world. Games mentioned in this episode: Moss SUPERHOT VR Farpoint Rec Room CoolPaintr VR Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality Accounting+ Battlezone Gold Edition RESIDENT EVIL 7 You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes! Your hosts this week were: Shane Kelly – @8bitShane Laura Nash – @laurajnash

We’re joined by special guest Patrick Kelpek of Waypoint to discuss his recent article Most Video Games Are Too Long, in which he compares the experience of playing God of War with Minit. We discuss about value of editing and restraint in video game design, and the economic and business factors that drive game length. We also get his suggestions for great short games to play. Thanks to Patrick for coming on the show. You can find Patrick on Twitter at @patrickklepek Visit Waypoint on the web at waypoint.vice.com Check out the excellent Waypoint Radio podcast on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. Gorogoa Designer’s GDC Talk You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes! Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygank Laura Nash – @laurajnash (00:00) - Most Video Games Are Too Long (28:06) - Short Game Recommendations (30:34) - What's Making You Happy This Week?

In Minit, you are cursed to die (and be reborn) every 60 seconds. This makes solving puzzles and Zelda-like action challenges a bit more interesting. The game was developed by a four person team consisting of Jan Willem Nijman (co-founder of Vlambeer), Kitty Calis (who most recently worked on Horizon Zero Dawn), Jukio Kallio (composer), and Dominik Johann (art director of Crows Crows Crows) and published by Devolver Digital. We loved this breezy action-adventure-puzzle game for its clever minimalism, exciting pace, and manageable length. Expect the game to take about 3 hours to complete, with room for re-plays and a new game plus mode. Minit is available for $9.99 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC/Mac/Linux. See the official site for links to purchase. Soundtrack available on Bandcamp Minit is an amazing game for speedrunning – Polygon Devolver Digital Store – Minit Plush with Steam Game Key @MinitMary, the hint ghost, on Twitter [00:42:50] The all new “What’s making you happy this week?” segment (name pending!): Raygan: Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology for 3DS Shane: Converting Call of Cthulhu – Tatters of the King to the Fate RPG system Nate: Sushi Burritos from BLK Mkt in St. Louis [00:52:52] Spoiler Break After the spoiler break we discuss specific puzzles, places we got stuck, and the ending of the game. You can follow our show on Twitter at @_shortgame Like the show? Support us by writing a review on iTunes! Your hosts this week were: Raygan Kelly – @raygank Shane Kelly – @8bitShane Nate Heininger – @natestl (00:00) - Minit (42:50) - What's making you happy this week? (52:52) - Spoiler Break