Laura and Raygan are back to talk about a very Night in the Woods inspired narrative adventure game that focuses on the medical industry. Fall of Porcupine follows new intern Finley (a big-eyed pigeon, did I mention they’re all animals in this?) as he navigates professional and moral difficulties working at the only hospital in rural Porcupine. Great conversation about this unusual game. Finally, in What’s Making Us Happy This Week, Laura and Raygan both unpack from their travels.

Laura and Raygan are back to talk about a very Night in the Woods inspired narrative adventure game that focuses on the medical industry. Fall of Porcupine follows new intern Finley (a big-eyed pigeon, did I mention they’re all animals in this?) as he navigates professional and moral difficulties working at the only hospital in rural Porcupine. Great conversation about this unusual game. Finally, in What’s Making Us Happy This Week, Laura and Raygan both unpack from their travels.

371: Fall of Porcupine

Shane and Nate take on a bizarre mission full of pizza, dice, and pizza dice in Cosmo D’s Betrayal at Club Low. It’s a unique RPG set in the same surreal world as Cosmo D’s other games Off-Peak, The Norwood Suite, and Tales From Off-Peak City Vol. 1. but requires no knowledge of those games. It feels like a perfect homage to the short, punchy zine tabletop RPGs that inspired it. Club Low is available on PC, Mac, and Linux, via both Steam and Itch.io. Expect it to take around 3 hours to complete, with multiple endings possible.

Shane and Nate take on a bizarre mission full of pizza, dice, and pizza dice in Cosmo D’s <a href="https://cosmoddd.itch.io/betrayal-at-club-low" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Betrayal at Club Low</a>. It’s a unique RPG set in the same surreal world as Cosmo D’s other games Off-Peak, The Norwood Suite, and Tales From Off-Peak City Vol. 1. but requires no knowledge of those games. It feels like a perfect homage to the short, punchy zine tabletop RPGs that inspired it. Club Low is available on PC, Mac, and Linux, via both Steam and <a href="http://Itch.io" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Itch.io</a>. Expect it to take around 3 hours to complete, with multiple endings possible.

370: Betrayal at Club Low

If you saw the title of this episode and thought “What? Tears of the Kingdom? On The Short Game podcast?!” then dear listener so did I. No, we’re not making some tortured argument for how this is actually a short game (though it can be completed in under an hour.) No, Laura and Raygan were traveling this week and Shane and Nate just had a lot to say about everyone’s favorite unofficial Kerbal Space Program sequel. It was a great conversation, and we’ll be back to our usual deal soon!

If you saw the title of this episode and thought “What? Tears of the Kingdom? On The Short Game podcast?!” then dear listener so did I. No, we’re not making some tortured argument for how this is actually a short game (though <a href="https://www.speedrun.com/totk?h=Any-pre_v1.2.0&amp;x=w20mopzk-rn1g4gdn.14ooyy0q" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">it can be completed in under an hour</a>.) No, Laura and Raygan were traveling this week and Shane and Nate just had a lot to say about everyone’s favorite unofficial Kerbal Space Program sequel. It was a great conversation, and we’ll be back to our usual deal soon!

369: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

This week we check in on the last year or so of releases on Apple Arcade, and mostly what we find are a bunch of ports of good Short Game games and an excellent coloring book app for toddlers, plus a car with legs! We also take the opportunity to talk about the latest news in the weird world of Apple and gaming. Is the Apple Vision Pro going to be any good for games? Does the Game Porting Toolkit hold out any hope for running real game-ass games on Macs?

This week we check in on the last year or so of releases on Apple Arcade, and mostly what we find are a bunch of ports of good Short Game games and an excellent coloring book app for toddlers, plus a car with legs! We also take the opportunity to talk about the latest news in the weird world of Apple and gaming. Is the Apple Vision Pro going to be any good for games? Does the Game Porting Toolkit hold out any hope for running real game-ass games on Macs?

368: Apple Arcade Check-In (plus Apple Vision Pro And Game Porting Toolkit)

This week, for the first time, we’re covering a rom hack. A Plumber For All Seasons is a Super Mario World rom hack that is an almost total conversion of the game. 37 original levels, custom hand made graphics, an original soundtrack, and more make this feel like a true sequel to SMW rather than just a level pack. It’s a project that took rom hacker Eric Kaiser nearly a decade to complete, and it’s an incredible labor of love. Links for this episode: A Plumber for All Seasons  Thread on SMWCentral.net  SMWCentral beginners guide  Online Rom Patcher  Psychonauts 2 Documentary  The Bobiverse Books  The Lyttle Lytton Contest 

This week, for the first time, we’re covering a rom hack. A Plumber For All Seasons is a Super Mario World rom hack that is an almost total conversion of the game. 37 original levels, custom hand made graphics, an original soundtrack, and more make this feel like a true sequel to SMW rather than just a level pack. It’s a project that took rom hacker Eric Kaiser nearly a decade to complete, and it’s an incredible labor of love. Links for this episode: <a href="https://www.eric-kaiser.net/project/a-plumber-for-all-seasons" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">A Plumber for All Seasons</a> <a href="https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section&amp;a=details&amp;id=28856" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Thread on SMWCentral.net</a> <a href="https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=beginners" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">SMWCentral beginners guide</a> <a href="https://www.marcrobledo.com/RomPatcher.js/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Online Rom Patcher</a> <a href="https://www.doublefine.com/dftv/psychodyssey" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Psychonauts 2 Documentary</a> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/192752-bobiverse" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">The Bobiverse Books</a> <a href="https://adamcadre.ac/lyttle/2023.html" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">The Lyttle Lytton Contest</a>

367: A Plumber For All Seasons (Super Mario World Rom Hack)

Editor’s note: If your episode has gaps/silence around the 16 minute mark, please delete and re-download the episode. Sorry for the inconvenience! Laura has been telling us all about Fallen London, the cult interactive fiction browser game from Failbetter Games, for nearly a decade. It’s a vast and varied game centered around the Fallen London setting: a cosmic-horror tinged world where Victorian London fell into the earth and its denizens have been forced to forcing its denizens to adapt to a new and disturbing world.  After producing two other games set in the world of Fallen London, Sunless Seas and Sunless Skies, Failbetter has turned its attention to romance. Mask of the Rose is nominally a “dating sim” set immediately after the fall, and working as a sort of prequel to all other Fallen London properties.  Does this game work as an introduction to this decade-long cross-media property? Does it work for long time devotees?

Editor’s note: If your episode has gaps/silence around the 16 minute mark, please delete and re-download the episode. Sorry for the inconvenience! Laura has been telling us all about Fallen London, the cult interactive fiction browser game from Failbetter Games, for nearly a decade. It’s a vast and varied game centered around the Fallen London setting: a cosmic-horror tinged world where Victorian London fell into the earth and its denizens have been forced to forcing its denizens to adapt to a new and disturbing world.  After producing two other games set in the world of Fallen London, Sunless Seas and Sunless Skies, Failbetter has turned its attention to romance. Mask of the Rose is nominally a “dating sim” set immediately after the fall, and working as a sort of prequel to all other Fallen London properties.  Does this game work as an introduction to this decade-long cross-media property? Does it work for long time devotees?

366: Mask of the Rose

Something a little different this week — in the words of Gregg from Night in the Woods, lets do crimes!  This week we have our first-ever draft: a Short Game Heist. Each of us assemble a five-person caper crew, filling our teams with characters from games covered on the show.  Who gets away with the goods? Who’s pinning it on a patsy? Whose plan relies heavily on suction cup hands? Fire up a sweet jazz soundtrack and head into the heist draft to find out…

Something a little different this week — in the words of Gregg from Night in the Woods, lets do crimes!  This week we have our first-ever draft: a Short Game Heist. Each of us assemble a five-person caper crew, filling our teams with characters from games covered on the show.  Who gets away with the goods? Who’s pinning it on a patsy? Whose plan relies heavily on suction cup hands? Fire up a sweet jazz soundtrack and head into the heist draft to find out…

365: Heist Draft!

The latest game from Snowman, developer of the Short Game favorite Alto’s Adventure/Odyssey games, has made a loosely related 3D wingsuit flying game for Netflix’s weird mobile game subscription collection.  Laya’s Horizon seems like it checks all the boxes for us, but somehow Shane loves the game while it leaves Raygan cold. We also discuss some of the other eclectic  games Netflix has added to their collection. A good conversation! Laya’s Horizon is available for iOS and Android, exclusively for Netflix subscribers.

The latest game from Snowman, developer of the Short Game favorite Alto’s Adventure/Odyssey games, has made a loosely related 3D wingsuit flying game for Netflix’s weird mobile game subscription collection.  Laya’s Horizon seems like it checks all the boxes for us, but somehow Shane loves the game while it leaves Raygan cold. We also discuss some of the other eclectic  games Netflix has added to their collection. A good conversation! <a href="https://layashorizon.com/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Laya’s Horizon</a> is available for iOS and Android, exclusively for Netflix subscribers.

364: Laya’s Horizon

This week the hosts played Lil Gator Game, an adorable open world adventure game about a lil kid (also a gator) playing who just wants his big sis to come play hero with him. We also have a surprisingly long digression on Bluey and children’s TV,  and recommend some great books in the “What’s Making Us Happy This Week” segment. Lil Gator Game is available on Steam and Nintendo Switch. It’ll only take about four hours away from your busy Tears of the Kingdom schedule.

This week the hosts played <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1586800/Lil_Gator_Game/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Lil Gator Game</a>, an adorable open world adventure game about a lil kid (also a gator) playing who just wants his big sis to come play hero with him. We also have a surprisingly long digression on Bluey and children’s TV,  and recommend some great books in the “What’s Making Us Happy This Week” segment. Lil Gator Game is available on Steam and Nintendo Switch. It’ll only take about four hours away from your busy Tears of the Kingdom schedule.

363: Lil Gator Game

LudoNarraCon is a digital convention celebrating narrative games, hosted by indie label Fellow Traveller. It includes an online panel series, a narrative focused Steam sale, and most importantly for this episode, a bunch of new demos for upcoming narrative indies. Laura and Raygan took this week to discuss some of the demos we played as a part of the event, and talk about what upcoming indies we have our eye on for the show.  This is a sort of new format for us, so let us know what you liked and didn’t! And if you liked it, let us know if there are other events you’d like us to give a similar treatment.

LudoNarraCon is a digital convention celebrating narrative games, hosted by indie label <a href="http://fellowtraveller.games/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Fellow </a><a href="http://fellowtraveller.games/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Traveller</a>. It includes an online panel series, a narrative focused Steam sale, and most importantly for this episode, a bunch of new demos for upcoming narrative indies. Laura and Raygan took this week to discuss some of the demos we played as a part of the event, and talk about what upcoming indies we have our eye on for the show.  This is a sort of new format for us, so let us know what you liked and didn’t! And if you liked it, let us know if there are other events you’d like us to give a similar treatment.

362: LudoNarraCon 2023

A podcast about video games that respect your time

I love this podcast. I just think that a podcast about video games is plenty of fun for me.

Yasss Queen

10/10 would Nate ❤️ Nate out of 10 ❤️

I love Nate!

The Short Game

Eric Farraro, developer and designer of the mobile roguelike deck builder Meteorfall, joins us to offer some perspective on Slay the Spire, a deep roguelike deck builder that’s recently come to Nintendo Switch. We discuss...

189: Slay the Spire

Kentucky Route Zero, both the game and this episode, have been a long time coming. With the 5th act of the long in-development magical realist adventure game finally coming on January 28th, we decided it...

212: Kentucky Route Zero Acts I & II

Simogo is a legendary developer on iOS. We’ve covered their work in the past, especially the stunning Year Walk. Sayonara Wild Hearts is a big departure from their previous games. Get a load of this...

197: Sayonara Wild Hearts

After years in development and what seems like decades on the Short Game upcoming games spreadsheet, solo developer Ben Esposito has finally released Donut County. We loved playing as as a hole in the ground...

161: Donut County

In Wandersong you play as a bard, and interact with almost everything through a fun and expressive singing mechanic. You’ll do a LOT of singing. Turns out there is no problem that can’t be solved...

162: Wandersong

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....

156: Yoku’s Island Express

Gary Butterfield

We are joined by Gary Butterfield of the Duckfeed.tv network of podcasts to discuss the new collaboration between Brace Yourself Games and Nintendo, Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda....

We are joined by Gary Butterfield of the <a href="http://Duckfeed.tv" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Duckfeed.tv</a> network of podcasts to discuss the new collaboration between Brace Yourself Games and Nintendo, Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda....

188: Cadence of Hyrule (with guest host Gary Butterfield)

GRIS is a beautifully animated and colorful game about a girl on a journey through grief. The artwork is absolutely top tier, while the gameplay is presented without challenge or danger making the game extremely...

170: GRIS

The Tetris Effect is the latest music/puzzle/synesthesia experience from legendary game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi. Shane spends most of this episode mercilessly clowning on me for my Tetris skills while we discuss the benefits playing Tetris...

167: The Tetris Effect

You demanded it, so this week we’re talking about Animal Crossing. Because Raygan doesn’t know anything about Animal Crossing, Shane brought in two subject matter experts: Returning guest Mark Bramhill is a podcaster and radio...

222: Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Suddenly this horrible goose is all anyone is talking about. Untitled Goose Game, developed by House House and published by Panic, is a game about being a horrible goose and causing trouble for everyone you...

198: Untitled Goose Game

The developer of Short Game favorite 80 Days returns with an ambitious new game, and we are joined by a new guest! Laura Garofalo is a Roman cultural historian and Latinist with experience on archeological...

180: Heaven’s Vault

Kentucky Route Zero’s fourth act is its longest, most complex structurally, and might be its saddest yet. We continue our discussion of the game as well as the interlude Here &amp; There Along The Echo....

219: Kentucky Route Zero Act IV

This week we’re breaking from our usual format to discuss the 2010s, and the arc that indie games (and gaming generally) have taken through the decade. The Short Game is supported directly by our listeners...

211: A Decade of Indie Games

Our 200th episode is a special milestone, and we’re spending it returning to the topic of our very first episode. Gone Home came out in August 2013 (our show started in April 2014) and its...

200: Gone Home

In this special Valentines episode of The Short Game we’re discussing Monster Prom, the monster dating party game from Beautiful Glitch. It’s a mad dash to date the hottest monsters and get a date to prom while screwing over your friends.

172: Monster Prom

This week we’re returning to something we used to do semi-frequently: we’re highlighting some of our favorite video game music tracks! We haven’t done one of these in quite a while (years!) so let us...

217 – Game Music Picks

Game Is Good! This week we're discussing the award winning puzzle game Baba Is You, from Finnish developer Hempuli Oy. In this mind- (and rule-bending) puzzle game, each Sokoban-style level is governed by a unique set of simply stated rules (Baba Is You, Block Is Push, Flag Is Win etc) each of which is represented by a set of physical rule-objects that can be pushed around and manipulated within the game.

176: Baba Is You

A Dark Room is one of the most celebrated mobile games of all time, and one of the most memorable games we've covered on The Short Game. It's just been ported to Nintendo Switch in a new and enhanced version. We're re-releasing our 2014 episode on A Dark Room, also enhanced with an all new intro! A Dark Room is a game with many surprising twists and turns, so we have a fairly early spoiler break at 00:24:00. A Dark Room began as a web game, and you can still find that version online, but it really came to life on mobile. You can find A Dark Room on iOS, Android, and now Nintendo Switch.  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 

A Dark Room is one of the most celebrated mobile games of all time, and one of the most memorable games we've covered on The Short Game. It's just been ported to Nintendo Switch in a new and enhanced version. We're re-releasing our 2014 episode on A Dark Room, also enhanced with an all new intro! A Dark Room is a game with many surprising twists and turns, so we have a fairly early spoiler break at 00:24:00. A Dark Room began as a <a href="http://adarkroom.doublespeakgames.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web game</a>, and you can still find that version online, but it really came to life on mobile. You can find A Dark Room on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/a-dark-room/id736683061?mt=8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">iOS</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yourcompany.adarkroom&amp;hl=en_US" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Android</a>, and now <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/a-dark-room-switch/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nintendo Switch</a>. You can follow our show on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/_shortgame" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@_shortgame</a> Like the show? Support us by <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-short-game/id860304229" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">writing a review on iTunes!</a> Your hosts this week were: <ul> <li>Raygan Kelly - <a href="http://twitter.com/raygank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@raygank</a></li> <li>Shane Kelly - <a href="http://twitter.com/8bitshane" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@8bitShane</a></li> <li>Nate Heininger - <a href="http://twitter.com/natestl" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@natestl</a></li> <li>Laura Nash - <a href="https://twitter.com/laurajnash" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@laurajnash</a></li> </ul>

Short Game Classic – 28: A Dark Room (Now on Switch!)

It's good to have Frendts. This time the Short Game is playing The Gardens Between, a time-reversing adventure puzzle game from developer The Voxel Agents. Expect The Gardens Between to take 2 - 4 hours to complete, depending on "puzzle solving confidence". It's available on Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC/Mac/Linux, for $19.99. What's making us happy this week?  Laura: @DancerOnFilm on Twitter Nate: Yoga With Adriene Raygan: The Denver Public Library Shane: Umbrella Academy on Netflix   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:  Nate Heininger - @natestl Laura Nash - @laurajnash Raygan Kelly - @raygank Shane Kelly - @8bitShane  

It's good to have Frendts. This time the Short Game is playing <a href="http://thegardensbetween.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Gardens Between</a>, a time-reversing adventure puzzle game from developer The Voxel Agents. Expect The Gardens Between to take 2 - 4 hours to complete, depending on "puzzle solving confidence". It's available on Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC/Mac/Linux, for $19.99. What's making us happy this week? <ul> <li>Laura: <a href="https://twitter.com/DancerOnFilm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@DancerOnFilm on Twitter</a></li> <li>Nate: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Yoga With Adriene</a></li> <li>Raygan: The Denver Public Library</li> <li>Shane: <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80186863" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Umbrella Academy on Netflix</a></li> </ul> You can follow our show on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/_shortgame" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@_shortgame</a> Like the show? Support us by <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-short-game/id860304229" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">writing a review on iTunes!</a> Your hosts this week were: <ul> <li>Nate Heininger - <a href="http://twitter.com/natestl" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@natestl</a></li> <li>Laura Nash - <a href="https://twitter.com/laurajnash" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@laurajnash</a></li> <li>Raygan Kelly - <a href="http://twitter.com/raygank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@raygank</a></li> <li>Shane Kelly - <a href="http://twitter.com/8bitshane" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@8bitShane</a></li> </ul>

173: The Gardens Between

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