The Secret Lives of Games
The Secret Lives of Games
Recent Episodes
Nick is joined by guest co-host Chris Plante (Post Games) for a chat with Kimmo Lahtinen (aka gimbll) about his dynamite new twin-stick shooter, Sektori. They discuss the joy of the genre, pursuing excellence in an oversaturated genre, and how personal limitations shape solo development.
Audio edited by Dylan Shumway
Discussed in this episode:
Sektori
https://www.gimblll.com/sektori/
Day Repeat Day
https://www.gimblll.com/dayrepeatday/
Barbearian
https://www.gimblll.com/barbearian/
Drift and Drive
https://www.gimblll.com/driftndrive/
Resogun
https://housemarque.com/games/resogun
Outland
https://housemarque.com/games/outland
Dead Nation
https://housemarque.com/games/dead-nation
Super Stardust Portable
https://housemarque.com/games/ssp
Geometry Wars
https://store.steampowered.com/app/8400/Geometry_Wars_Retro_Evolved/
Rez Infinite
Post Games podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/post-games/id1815131711
Besties podcast
https://www.themcelroy.family/podcasts/besties/
Limetown podcast
https://twoupproductions.com/limetown/podcast
Quest Tabletop Game
We're proud to present the final installment of our over-a-year-long Into the Depths series on Caves of Qud, as well as our last episode with our recently retired Eggplant branding. Caves of Qud is a massive open-world roguelike RPG that has been in development since 2007 and Early Access since 2015, and we give it an appropriately epic sendoff with nearly four hours of deep discussion.
Doug and Rob, joined by special guest host Star St. Germain, dive into the game's finale and overarching themes with narrative designer Caelyn Sandel and co-creators Jason Grinblat and Brian Bucklew. Be warned, major spoilers await: We discuss the aftermath of the Tomb of the Eaters, the Moon Stair, the [Redacted], Reclamation, We Are [Redacted], plus other juicy details about how this legendary game finally came to an end… and what's in store for it next.
Audio edited by Dylan Shumway.
Discussed in this episode:
Brian's must-follow bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/unormal.bsky.social
Warm static – Official Caves of Qud wiki https://wiki.cavesofqud.com/wiki/Warm_static
Independent Games Summit: What Even is 1.0?: Indefinite Early Access and Live Development https://gdcvault.com/play/1035081/Independent-Games-Summit-What-Even
End-to-End Procedural Generation in Caves of Qud https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV-DZqdKlnE
Tile-Based Map Generation using Wave Function Collapse in 'Caves of Qud' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdCgi9E90jw
Caves of Qud Discord https://discord.com/invite/cavesofqud
Eris – Girsh Illustration https://www.reddit.com/r/cavesofqud/comments/1n449aw/girsh_qas_and_qon/
A Mythopoetic Interface Reading of Caves of Qud (Roguelike Celebration 2025) https://www.youtube.com/live/UQNfH9pKWd4?si=jFy9VTRZzLPJHn4W&t=1091
Sproggiwood https://store.steampowered.com/app/311720/Sproggiwood/
Slav Epic Paintings by Alphonse Mucha https://www.muchafoundation.org/en/gallery/themes/theme/slav-epic
https://bsky.app/profile/secretlivesofgames.bsky.social
https://www.youtube.com/eggplantshow
(full rebrand still in progress, lol)
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
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++
PRACTICE 2015: Mare Sheppard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBCDeMl4VwY
FTL
https://subsetgames.com/ftl.html
Sylvie's Games
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
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
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/
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