Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games

Tom Francis (Gunpoint, Heat Signature) crashes in to discuss his upcoming small-scale strategy game Tactical Breach Wizards, how he finds and focuses on the cores of his games, and the narrative syst…

In the second installment of our miniseries, we discuss our different play styles, wand customization, building games around online communities, and our experiences with - and the implementation of -…

Martin Jonasson (holedown) joins us to extract the juiciness that powers his "delightful spectacle of bouncing," reveals the truth behind his rounded corners, and discusses the aesthetic and scope co…

In this first installment of our new miniseries focused on Noita (with guest co-host Bennett Foddy), we share our early stories and beginner tips, discuss the genealogy of the game, and contemplate h…

Tyriq Plummer (Catacomb Kids, UFO 50) joins us to discuss the guts and evolution of his long-term roguelike project, how he stays motivated, and making his minions matter. Plus a very special show an…

Andrea Roberts of Wonderbelly Games talks to us about her brand-new bouncy dungeon crawler Roundguard! We discuss physics as a system of uncertainty, combining Peggle with a roguelike formula, and us…

Mark Brown of Game Maker's Toolkit joins us to talk about the process behind his excellent series on game design. We discuss his recent video on randomness - diving deep on input/output randomness - …

Ryan Clark of Brace Yourself Games (Crypt of the Necrodancer, Cadence of Hyrule) sashays in to chat with us about how he hit on his rhythm roguelike formula, layering in depth to make his systems sin…

We get cozy with our own Zach Gage to talk about his just-released SpellTower+, the follow-up to the puzzle game that put him on the map. We discuss making word searches interesting, the design of le…

Jan Willem "JW" Nijman (Nuclear Throne, Minit) sits down with us to help us fix mini golf, before we dig into some of the design thinking behind Vlambeer's amazing catalog of action games, how he app…

Immersive puzzle designer Laura E. Hall joins for our big GOTY show, as we each share our Top 5 games of 2019. We also hear many of YOUR picks (thanks!), and stick around until the end to hear picks …

With the help of our friend Bennett Foddy (QWOP, Getting Over It) we consider Spelunky as the Game of the Decade - we discuss what influence it's had (or hasn't had) in and beyond its genre, its dist…

We're taking a much-needed week off, but please enjoy one of our favorite episodes from early on. We'll be back in two weeks with guest Terry Cavanagh to talk about his new roguelike deckbuilder (dic…

Frank Lantz (Drop7, Universal Paperclips) stops by to tell us about his new party game for smart speakers, Hey Robot. We discuss fun ways to engage with rigid AI - and the privacy issues inherent to …

Free of guests or a "plan," our crew of intrepid hosts dives into a bounty of stimulating listener questions! We discuss our personal roads into game design, the challenge of procedural generation in…

The gang’s all here to chat with our own Zach Gage (SpellTower, Tharsis) about his new Apple Arcade adventure game, Card of Darkness. We discuss distilling roguelikes, the role of randomness, and des…

Finji’s Adam Saltsman drops by for a deep dive on his new road trip survival game Overland. We discuss its surprisingly affecting narrative innovations, design epiphanies from its 6+ year development…

Riot Games’ Greg Borenstein joins us to chat about the design behind their red-hot autobattler Teamfight Tactics, as we discuss the benefits of embracing complexity, the rise of randomness, and what …

Our crew is stretched thin, but we soldier on with a wide-ranging, freeform 1-year anniversary episode! Nick and Andy chat about the recent glut of amazing game releases - and upcoming highlights (ro…