The "Four Fs" of success

[Update: If you want to listen to the talk in standalone podcast form, links for that can be found here.]

As of this writing, there's less than 48 hours to go on the Binding of Isaac: Four Souls Requiem Kickstarter, though it's already been a massive success. As I told Edmund in this surprise episode of Sup, Holmes?, I wasn't sure this expansion pack would top the original. Boy was I wrong. People love Isaac, and they love it more than ever.

I'm sure the amazing crossover "Warp Zone" cards, featuring Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Hollow Knight, QWOP, Salad Fingers, Friday Knight Funkin', Celeste, Among Us, and many others didn't hurt either. But ultimately, Isaac: Four Souls Requiem exploded with popularity �sitting a??t around $6 million right now, nearly three times as much as the Kickstarter for the first game �because Edmund makes incredible ga??mes, and his fans know it.

I figured that's what Ed and his wife Danielle would talk?? about in this impromptu interview. We were supposed to chat for 15 minutes about the new game and get the audio posted as a standalone video as soon as possible. About two hours ?later, we finally stopped talking. We even got to see his ten-month-old baby poop in her diapers live on camera. It was a moment, and a movement, that I won't soon forget.

If you know Ed, this shouldn't be a surprise to you. Formality isn't something he's made for. At one point, he even said he didn't want to talk about "the f*cking Kickstarter" at all. Avoiding "the profit motive" is important to him, though it was clear he was excited that ??the campaign was doing so well. Promoting his work is like a game he's playing with his audience, where ultimately, everyone can win.

Ed and I have done many interviews over the years, but this one felt different. As I said to his face, I've rarely been this excited about where a game developer's life and career are going. After watching (or just listening) to this vi??deo, I think you'll fee?l the same way.

[embed]//www.youtube.com/watch???v=OsXejAE2wzg[/embed]

The post Edmund McMillen on Four Souls Requiem, farts, fan??s, and fatherhood appeared first on Destructoid.

An interview with Tali Faulkner

Anyone here remember Sup, Holmes? It was a live stream interview show that ran here on Destructoid for about four years, back when Just??in.TV had just rebranded itself as "Twit?ch," and some "wacky YouTube guy" named Pewdiepie was just starting up. I've been doing this for a while, folks!

Well, the show is back (sort of) thanks to this interview with Tali Faulkner, the creator of the award-winning photography game Umurangi Generation. Building up to a release on Nintendo Switch, Tali agreed to talk to me for 15-20 minutes about the port's new features. About 90 minutes later, we finally wrapped up. Once a long-form game developer interviewer, alwa?ys a long-form game developer interviewer.

Things started off a little rocky, mostly due to noisy cats, but ??it wasn't long before Tali was telling me just about everything about himself and his process. He explained how his faith in the creative instinct that all people have would assure that his game ??would find an audience, how his frustration with neoliberal politics inspired much of its story, and how he's already started devising his next projects.

One of them is called Blood Goblet 64, and wow �it's really going to be something. The plan is to take the look and feel of N64 classics like Ocarina of Time and Castlevania 64 and use them to play around with... the horrors of nation-building? I'm still in sho??ck at the news. I'm also ready to pre-order it today.

Check out the full interview with Tali for more, and stay tuned for Destructoid's review of Umurangi Generation. 

[?embed]//www.youtube?.com/watch?v=P4tnmmm_1Ec[/embed]

The post Blood Goblet 64 is a new ga?me in the works from the creator of Umurangi Generation appeared first on Destructoid.

Get limited time Merv Burger right now in Little Tokyo

River City Girls was announced earlier this year, then few months later, it was out in the wild. That didn't leave WayForward much time to build hype, but their short-but-sweet marketing strategy seems to have worked. Since its release last week, the game has been the talk of the town, leading to top notch fan art, glowing reviews,?? and tons of praise ??on social media.

Getting the game made, on the other hand, took a lot longer, but not as long as I had guessed. In an interview on NF Magazine's YouTube channel, lead director Adam Tierney and co-director Bannon Rudis told me that the initial proposal for River City Girls was drafted around three years ago. After hearing about one of the few games in the Kunio-Kun series where you can play as both boys and girls, Adam got together with Bannon and character designer Rem on a pitch for Arc System's Works, holder of the River City/Double Dragon/Kunio-Kun license. Actual development of the game didn't start until about two years after that, meaning that the actual dev time was about 12 months. That's incredible, given ??how beautiful it turned out. ? 

Bannon seemed particularly relieved, and amazed, that things went as well as they did. It took him years of working day and night to create the art for River City Ransom: Underground, consisting of an estimated +100,000 individual frames of animation. By comparison, his time in the art trenches on River City Girls was a relative breeze. He did animation??s that he felt were "below" the required skill set of the lead animators, like the ocean waves crashing on the shore, and trusted his team to do the rest.  

That was just the tip of the iceberg of all the substantive chatter we had. A few other highlights include talk of a scrapped first-person "revive your friend slap mode," the origins of some of the cameos from Combatribes and other obscure Technos games, and word that many of the game's animation??s were first tested for viability in MUGEN.

That last bit really got my wheels turning. If River City Girls is a hit, could a River City 2D fighter be next in the cards? According to Adam, WayForward has an amazing relationship with Arc (I think at one point he even said that he?? feels like Arc is the Japanese brothe?r to WayForward) and that they are already talking about the possibilities of working together again. Both sides of the equation have plenty of ideas for what they could do next, so there's no telling where their partnership might go. 

One thing's for sure though, if you're in LA and you want a little piece of River City history in your pocket, and your belly, you should head over to Little Tokyo ASAP. The Okamoto Kitchen is serving up food from the game, including Merv Burgers and Fries, until 6pm, but just for today. Customers get free stickers, and the?? director??s of the game are planning on hanging out there too.?? Maybe?? you can ask them some of the questions I missed. 

The post WayForward is already i??n talk??s with ArcSys about more River City collaborations appeared first on Destructoid.

Whoa

It's the last episode of Sup Holmes everybody! We've still got plenty of reruns from the last few months of the show to post on YouTube, Libsyn a??nd iTunes, but when it comes to new live episodes of the show, this is the end of the road. For those of you who have ever taken the time out to check out Sup Holmes, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. The show has been a passion project from day one, for both our guests and for me (the host), and the fact that we've been able to share that passion with our viewers and listeners nearly every week for over four years has been nothing short of a blessing. 

Sup Holmes started back in 2012 after someone (maybe me?) proposed that Dtoid start selling a shirt that said "Sup, Holmes?" on it. This was before Twitch blew up to the size that it's grown to today, and Pewdiepie was still still a relative unknown, so no one knew if this "live streams about video games" thing was really going take off. Hamza 'CTZ' Aziz (former CEO and Community Manager of Destructoid) had a lot of fun with them though. The charity live stream we helped run for Super Meat Boy back in 2010 had raised over $2000, which seemed like a huge amount of money for something as obscure as a "video game live str??eam", which gave us some optimism about doing a stream for? game developers as well. 

More than anything though, Hamza thought we needed a show on Destructoid with the name "Sup, Holmes?" if we were ever going to have t-shirt that said "Sup, Holmes?" on it, so this show was born. Of course, we never actually ended up making the t-shirt, but we did end up talking to 200+ different game developers (including Mariel Cartwright, Jonathan Blow,  Erin Robinson, Edmund McMillen, Natalia Figueroa, Shawn Alexander Allen and so many more).

I'm going to miss doing this show a lot, and I hope to be able to help create something like it again in the future. In the meantime, I hope you scroll the 200 episodes of the show we managed to pull of on this run, and take a listen to one you've never heard before. Despite the fact that video games are gradually becoming the world's most dominant art form, the people who? make games remain relatively unknown and ??unheard outside of  flawed social media communications systems like Twitter or Facebook. 

My hope for this show was to show the humanity?? behind the games industry, to feel the psychology of the people who are willing to risk financial, professional, and emotional security all for the chance at creating a little electronic world for us to inhabit. I did my best. 

So for this, this final Sup Holmes, we've welcomed Hamza to show to talk about his current work on GoNNER (created by former Sup Holmes guest Ditto), our past work at Dtoid, and whatever else comes up. Please ask us question! We're g?oing to miss you.

The post The final Sup Holmes goes live at 2:30pm EST with Hamza ‘CTZ’ Aziz appeared first on Destructoid.

Only two more episodes of Sup Holmes left!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk ?show for people that make great video games. It airs live every Sunday afternoon on YouTube, and can be found in podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

We've got Robin Arnott (The Stanley Parable, Soundself, Antichamber) and Talha Kaya (Sleepytime, Soul Searching) on Sup Holmes today! It'?s the second to last episode! These guys have never talked to each other before! 

YOU'D BE SILLY NOT TO WATCH THIS EPISODE!

The post Watch two strang??ers who make games meet for the first time appeared first on Destructoid.

Only 3 more episodes of Sup Holmes left!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people th????at make great video games. It airs live every Sunday afternoon on YouTube, and can be found in podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

Today on Sup Holmes we're happy to welcome Tom Eastman of Trinket Studio to program. Tom and his small team are currently hard at work on Battle Chef Brigade, the world's one and only hunting and cooking, beat 'em up? puzzle game.?? 

We'll be talking to Tom about all the pros and cons of making an impossibly attractive videogame with about as many people as you could fit on a couch, the studio's heroes like Studio Ghibli and Takeshi Kaga, sexy ogres, i??mprovisation as a game design ele??ment, and a lot more. 

This is the 3rd to last episode of the show, so if you ever wanted to have your name immortalized on the live broadcast, now is your 3rd to last chance! Ask us a question or two on the live broadcas??t and we'll do our best to answer it. Show starts live at 2:30pm EST. 

The post How to cook a better monster with Battle Chef Brigade’s Tom Eastman appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great video games. It airs live every Sunda?y aftern??oon on YouTube, and can be found in podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

Today on Sup Holmes we're happy to welcome Midboss, the creators of 2064: ROM (the upcoming enhanced version of Read Only Memories) to the program. We'll be talking to them about their work at GaymerX, the Gaming in Color documentary, how they managed to wrangle a WWE Super Star, a 80's sitcom icon, and some of the most well respected voice actors in the industry for their next game, and a lot more.

Join us today at 2:30pm for the live talk as it happens, and feel f?ree t?o submit questions below or in the Youtube chat. 

The post I still can’t believe I’m in a game with Willis from Diff’rent Strokes appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great video games. It airs live every Sunday afternoon on YouTube, and can be found in podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes. Header art by Del.]}

Today on Sup Holmes we're happy to welcome James and Joar, creators of the Slugcat survival action-horror platformer to the program! Feel free to jump into the Yo??uTube chat and ask us some questions. We hope to see y??ou there! 

The post Rain down from a great height with Rain World’s James and Joar! appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great video games. It airs live every Sunday afternoon on YouTube, and can be found in podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

One of the things that I love a??bout doing Sup Holmes is getting to meet people who helped pioneered indie game development 20-plus years ago one week, the??n getting to know their metaphorical "children" the next.

Such was the case with these two episodes. First we we got to know Alex Austin, programmer on IGF-winning, physics-based platformer Gish and creator of the gun-jamming, crime-loving, psychological tactics shooter Sub Rosa. Then weeks later, we got to meet the mysterious Punches "Hunter" Bears, a man using many ?of the game design philosophies pioneered by Austin over ten years ago to bring Danny Devito, a chainsaw wielding bear, and a floppy burrito-loving man to life. What a treat!&n??bsp;

Thanks to Alex and Hunter for hanging out with us, and be sure to tune in today at 2:30pm EST when welcome James and Joar, creators of Rain World, yet another violent, physics-based adventure game with random elements. It's going ??to be ?great!

The post Phys??ics, Danny Devito, ??and secret tricks of game dev with Hunter and Alex appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday! Ask some questions!

Today on Sup Holmes, we're happy to welcome former Ubisoft, Insomniac Games, and EA developer Randy Greenback to the program! Randy's currently hard at work at creating the next Friday the 13th game. We'll be talking about that, his time ?in the AAA world and a lot more, so be sure to join in starting at 2:30pm EST ?and give us a stab!

The post On making a better murder simulator with Friday the 13th’s Randy Greenback appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday! Ask some questions!

_{[Sup Hol?mes is a weekly talk show for p??eople that make great video games. It airs live every Sunday afternoon on YouTube, and can be found in podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

Today on Sup Holmes we're happy to welcome Rebecca Heineman to the show, creator of Bard's Tale 3 and ma??ny other classics. Join us for the live show as it happens at 2:30pm EDT.

The post A special Mother’s Day chat with one of the mothers of modern video games appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people?? that make great vi??deo games. It airs live every Sunday afternoon on YouTube, and can be found in podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

Today on Sup Holmes we're happy to welcome Hunter of Punches Bears to the program. Hunter is hard at work at a variety of bear-based physics action games, featuring everything from a Dogboy inspired hallway beat 'em up to a wild Thunderdome-style bear-on-a-bungie-chord chainsaw tornado blowout. We'll be talking to Hunter about what inspired him to take bears to the next level, how it feels to have already?? built up a huge audience (and as a result, huge expectations) using mostly just animated gifs on Twitter, and a lot more. 

Join us at 2:30pm EST for the live sh??ow as it happens!

The post In search of Danny Devito’s naked bear rodeo appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{??[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great video games. It airs live every Sunday at ??4:00pm EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

Normally I wait for each episode of Sup Holmes to be available on Libsyn and iTunes before I post the rerun here on Dtoid, but since so much of our recent chat with Jonathan Blow could be construed as "news", I figured it would be better not to wait??.

The show started off with me trying not to sound creepy as I talked to Jonathan about how The Witness truly felt like an extension of his brain, or at least, the way I've come to think and feel about his brain. That wasn't Jonathan's intention in the end, but as it turns out, I was more on point than I initially believed. There was a time when The Witness was going to contain content that was meant to directly reflect events from his life. Over the years that the game was in development, that content no longer felt right for the game as was cut, leaving most of the linear media left in The Witness (mostly ??audio and video logs) to come?? from outside sources.

This led us on all sorts of tangents, like discussions of a few modern games that Jonathan considers to be "genius" like 1001 Spikes and Steven's Sausage Roll, a new game he's been working on that's already has over 40 hours of gameplay, his idea for a new Earth Defense Force,&?nbsp;the new progr?amming language he's designing, and a lot more. 

Thanks again to Jonathan for spending the time with us and answering so many viewer questions. Make sure you tune in this Sunday at 2:30pm EST when we welcome Heidi Mandelin, Tony Kuchar, and Dan Moore from Fangamer to the show to talk about Legends of Localization, the Bloodstained Kickstarter, the Mother 3 handbook, and?? many of their othe?r projects. It should be a hoot!

The post Jon Blow on The Witness, ??plans for new games, and Earth Defense Force appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[Sup?? Holmes is a weekly talk show ??for people that make great video games. It airs live every Sunday at 4:00pm EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

[Update: Show's over everyone! Thanks so much to Danielle for hanging out with us! Over the course of the show, we managed to completely solve huge real world problems like habitual stalking and the lack diverse role models in game and anime culture. That was nice surprised. The rerun should be up soon, but in the meantime, here's a video of Painwheel, Danielle's character from Skullgirls, tearing up the compatition. It's hard to believe that the wa??rm and pleasant woman I just spent the afternoon with is able to inhabit the role of this gu??ttural, tortured monster. Acting it pretty cool!]

Today on Sup Holmes we're happy to welcome actress Danielle McRae to the program. If you've ever dreamed of getting paid to stand in front of a microphone and pretend to be a video game character, this episode is for you. Between her work in anime, fan films, and AAA games, Danielle has made herself a part of just about every kind of game. Metal Gear, Dead Island, Earth Defense Force, and World of Warcraft are all on her resume, which is better than most of u?s can say about ourselves. 

We'll be talking to Danielle about how she broke into the industry, what it's been like to work on such a wide variety of franchis?es, what she's working on now, and a lot more. The ?show starts at 2:30pm EST. It would be great to see you there!

The post League of Legends, Skullgirls and World of Warcraft actress’s tips for success appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[??Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great video games. It airs live every Sunday at 4:00pm EST on&nbs??p;YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

We've had some great game dev duos on Sup Holmes in the past, including Rami and J.W. from Vlambeer, Dennis and Jonatan from Dennaton, Jo and George from White Whale Games, Sarah and Colin from Northway Games, and many more. Seeing how the relationship between two developers bleeds into their style ?of game design never stops being interesting to me. Good thing there doesn't seem to be any shortage of game development teams out there that fit the bill. 

Above with have Joni and Sean, creators of Anodyne (coming soon to Xbox One and PS4) and the upcoming Even the Ocean. Their particular interpersonal dynamics played a huge part in how their games have turned out, with their latest being the most interesting mesh of their individual personalities yet. The same goes for the creators of the sloppy make-out simulator, Smooth Operator, who's episode of Sup Ho??lmes can be found... below. 

As for tomorrow's episode, we're lucky to be joined Danielle McRae, voice actress from Skullgirls, League of Legends, and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. We may even be able?? to announce a game that we're both going to be in! Or not! I honestly don't know! You'll haed to watch it live to find out. 

The post Pairing up and getting dow??n with t?he devs of Anodyne and Smooth Operator appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly?? talk show for people that make great video games. It airs live every Sunday at 4:00pm EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

[Update: Show's over everybody! The rerun should be up soon. In the meantime, here's a great Downwell speedrun.] 

Today at 10am EST, we're airing a special early morning Sup Holmes with Ojiro "Moppin" Fumoto, creator of Downwell. We'll be talking to Ojiro about his influences, gaming culture in Japan, how he devised Downwell's signature gunboots, what it's like working with Devo??lver, and whatever els??e he wants to talk about. 

We'll update with the direct link to the broadcast when it's ready. In the meantime, you can cue up the show by opening up the Sup Holmes Youtube page. Thanks, Internet! 

The post Downwell developer di??gs deep, devises demure deliberation diamonds appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[S??up?? Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great video games. It airs live every Sunday at 4:00pm EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

[Update: Thanks so much to Alex for being on the show! Rerun should be up soon. In the meantime, here's some popular young men playing Sub Rosa and going bananas. 

Today on Sup Holmes we're happy to welcome Alex Austin of Cryptic Sea to the program. Alex is one of the old pros of indie development with a long list of games under his belt, such as the award winning games Gish and the award pre-winning Sub Rosa to name a few. We'll be talking to Alex about all that, the pros and cons of doing your own art, what it takes to make a hit in today's modern marketplace, and a lo??t? more. Tune in live at 2:30pm for the whole she-bang. 

The post Gish, Sub Rosa, and when not to skate with?? Alex Austin appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[Sup Holmes i??s a weekly talk show for people that make great video? games. It airs live every Sunday at 4:00pm EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

[Update: Show's over folks! Other than a brutal sunspot attack in the last ten minutes of the broadcast, the whole thing went really well. The rerun should be up soon, but in the meantime, here's a trailer for a spooky new Relic Hunters Zero update. The game is totally free, with no atte??mpts at monetization of any kind. Mark's only motivation in making it and releasing it to the public was lov??e. Happy Valentine's Day indeed!] 

Today on Sup Holmes we're happy to welcome Mark Venturelli of Rogue Snail to the program. Mark is probably best know for his work on Chroma Squad, the Power Rangers-meets-Sim City Super Sentai tactical RPG sensation, but that's far from the only title he's worked on. We'll be talking to him about why Chroma Squad became such a hit, what it was like to be on the receiving en??d of le?gal action from Saban, and a lot more. 

Join us at 2:30pm EST for the who cyborg ninja Vs. kaiji ikimashou extravaganza. 

The post Enjoy Valentine’s Day the Sentai way with Chroma Squad’s Mark Venturelli appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great v??ideo games. It airs live every Sunday at 4:00??pm EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

It used to be that making a game in Game Maker was a badge of dishonor for ??some game developers. Thankfully, the potential for a developer to suffer that stigma seems to be getting smaller every day, thanks in part to developers like Zack Bell and Greg Lobanov who have pushed what the the engine can do in surpr??ising and exciting new directions. 

Wandersong, Greg's upcoming game, integrates singing mechanics in a way that few games have ever attempted. Like John Cleese once said, engaging in play can free us to experience potential epiphany in ways that that few other activities can. In other words, singing to a cloud just may take you to heaven, but only if you give it a try. And who's that bald man selling candy? He looks like I feel. 

As for Zack, he's in an interesting place in his career, having gained a name for himself by helping other aspiring Game Maker developers get more out of the tool, while never reaching a point where he was truly satisfied with his own work. From the sounds of it, that may change with the release of Fara and the Eye of Darkness. The top-down action exploration game seems to actually impress this otherwise un-self-impressed young man. I can't wait to play it at GDC in a few months. 

Thanks again to Greg and Zack for hanging out with us, and be sure to tune in this Sunday for the live show with Mark Venturelli of Rogue Snail Games (Chroma Squad, Relic Hunters Zero). 

The post Mastering game mak??ing with two masters of Game M?aker appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great videogames. It airs live every Sunda?y at 4pm EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

[Update: Show's over everybody! Thanks so much to Nayan for joining the program! The rerun should be up soon. In the meantime, here's a clip from the upcoming Playism release Lieat, a game about a dragon girl who?? eats lies and thinks about underwear.] 

Back when I was just a tyke, kids around the playground would often talk about what they wanted to be when they grew up. Fireman, doctor, and astronaut were common ambitions, though if you looked hard enough, you might find a kid in the corner who wanted nothing more than the be a Japanese video game developer someday. If you knew that kid, or better yet, if you were that kid, then this episode of Sup H??olmes is for you.&nbsp?;

At Playism, Nayan Ramachandran has helped in the development of Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya's Kero Blaster and Nigoro's La-Mulana 2, pushed to help build Playism's storefront to maybe someday become ?the eastern equivalent ??;of Steam, met some of the biggest names in the Japanese game industry, and a lot more. 

We'll be talking about all of that on special Super Bowl Sunday morning Sup Holmes at 10am EST, so if?? you're the type who prefers Travis Touchdown over actual touchdowns, make sure to give us a holler. 

_{[Banner art by Mekabrain]}

The post Get big in Japan with Playism’s Nayan Ramachandran appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for ?people that make great videogames. It airs live every Sunday at 4pm EST o??n YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

[Update: Show's over! Thanks to Joni and Sean for being on the show, and for letting me yell at them about how The Witness reminds me of The Fountainhead for so long. The rerun should be up soon, but in the meantime, here's a trailer for Even the Ocean!]

Today on Sup Holmes we're happy to welcome Joni Kittaka and Sean Hogan to the program. Sean and Joni are probably most well known for creating Anodyne, a 16-bit style Zelda-like that's much more than it appears to be at first glance. Their next project, Even the Ocean, is also reminiscent of something from the Genesis days, but this time their taking on the 2D action platformer genre. While the game may look straight forward at first, the two devs are planning multiple ways to change up classic platformer design elements ??while infusing them with themes related to the game's story, like alignment-effected jum??ping mechanics seen above. 

We'll be talking to Joni and Sean about that, where they think it takes for an indie 2D platformer to ?succeed in 2016, and a lot more. Join us at 2:30pm EST for live talk and ques?tions!

The post Dine in style with Even the? Oc?ean and Anodyne creators Joni and Sean appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great videogames.? It airs live every Sunday at 4pm EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

Recently on Sup Holmes, we had back to back episodes with the developers of the Bit.Trip Runner and Electronic Super Joy, two of the best Rhythm Platformers ever made. Strangely enough, both games star a character who is made entirely of black pixels, with the exception of the whites in their eyes. It feels like a crossover between Bit.Trip and ESJ was meant to be, though right now their developers are hard at work on entirel??y different projects. 

We talked with Choice Provisions about many of those projects, including Tharsis, the survival horror, resource management game of dice and cannibalism. The more we talked about it, the clearer it became that the game was a metaphor for the terror and excitement that comes from runni?ng a game studio.

Similarly enough, Electronic Super Joy creator Micheal Todd's latest project also works as a metaphor for his "team", which consists of one person bouncing ideas of hundreds of people through the internet and face-to-face interactions. While Tharsis is about the white knuckle tension of exploratory team leadership, Queen Under The Mountain?? is a wild mish-mash of boundary-breaking, crowd sourced creativity. Both are about embracing the unknown?, coming at that space from entirely different angles, managing to generate fun from interlocking variables in their own ways.

As always, I was grateful t??????????????????????????o them all for bei??ng willing to take a chance on the unknown with me on our live streamed chat show podcast, and am excited to see what they all do next. 

The post The masters of Rhythm Platfo??rmer design on the art of controlled?? chaos appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great videogames. It airs live every Sund?ay at 4pm EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

[Update: Show's over folks! Thanks so much to Greg for hanging out with us! The rerun should be up soon. In the meantime, here's a Kickstarter trailer for Wandersong. It's really good.]

Due to circumstances beyond out control, we haven'?t broadcast a new episode of Sup Holmes for two weeks! We're very sorry. To make up for it, we've got not one put two shows for you today, though one is only available in podcast form. 

Earlier this week, I spoke with former game? developer Merritt Kopas on her podcast Woodland Secrets about Splatoon, The Force Awakens, Fatherhood, Road Rules, Murder, She Wrote, The Backstroke of the West, and a whole bunch of other stuff, so if you're looking for some new chatter to fill your ?head with, we've got you covered. 

As for today, we're going live with Sup Holmes right here at 2:30pm EST with Greg Lobanov, the creator of the music driven exploration platformer Wandersong. We'll be talking to Greg about why he passed on a pixel-art aesthetic in favor of paper cut-out look, what inspired him to take the risk on developing a game that uses singing as a core mechanic, and a lot more. We'd love to field your questions live in the chat, so please jump-in into our Youtube channel and show us what you've got.

The post One more Sup Holmes with feeling, starring Wandersong’s Greg Lobanov appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{??[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great videogames. It airs live every Sunday at ??4pm EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

[Update: Thanks for watching everyone! Rerun should be up soon. In the meantime, here's popular Youtube man Markiplier playing INK by Zack Bell games. He is unhappy.]

It's time for the first Sup Holmes of 2016, and what better way to kick off another 12 months of being alive than with Zack Bell, creator of the critically acclaimed, color-splatter platformer INK and upcoming top-down action adventure title Fara & the Eye of Darkness. It's got really good warthogs, among other things. 

We'll be talking to Zack about the ins and outs of game development, managing inspiration versus realistic expectations regarding what he's able to make, his thoughts on the idea that marketing can sometimes backfire on a game, and a lot more. Tune in at 2:30pm EST for the whole bon?anza.

The post Sup Holmes rings i??n the new year with Fara and INK creator Z??ack Bell appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great videogames. It airs live every Sunday at 4pm? EST on&nb?sp;YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

Did you know that the protoype for the snoop-to-win exploration adventure Gone Home was built in the same engine Amnesia, one of the games credited for bring the Survival Horror genre back from the brink of obscurity? That's just on?e of the many paralle??ls that popped up between the design sensibilities of Thomas Grip of Frictional Games and Steve Gaynor of Fullbright during their respective Sup Holmes episodes. 

It wasn't surprising to hear that Thomas was heavily inspired by other Horror titles in creating Penumbra, Amnesia, and Soma, but I didn't expect to hear from Steve that the opening area of the original Resident Evil was one of the inspirations for Gone Home. From the sounds of it, Fullbright's upcoming title Tacoma may vent??ure even further into intentionally taught territory. We also got a little hint of what Thomas's next t??itle at Frictional may be, but he wasn't ready to spill the beans quite yet. 

Regardless of beans, it's undeniable that these two developers have done something that many didn't think was possible. If games were pop music, then physical conflict would play the role of the lead singer. These managed to create highly engaging, successful radio hits using only drums, bass and keyboards.That's no small feat. We were lucky to have them on the show, and greatly look? forward to what they may do next. 

The post The art?? of pacifist game design with Fullbright and Friction??al appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great videogames. It airs live every Sunday at 4pm?? EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

The Bit.Trip series has gone on to become one of the higher profile indie success stories in recent years, but there was a time when Bit.Trip co-creator Alex Neuse was on a very different path, toiling away at LucasArts on a project that would never come to life. Maybe it's not a coincidence that  this former employee of George Lucas would go on to make so many games about space. Nearly every game that Alex that Alex's independent game studio Choice Provisions (formerly Gaijin Games) days would be related to space in one form or another. The previously mentioned Bit.Trip series, the recently released Laserlife, the upcoming astronaut cannibal adventure Tharsis, and the light-hearted romp Space Dave! are just a few exa?mples of the cosmic-themed adventures that Alex and Choice Provisions have created in the in??tervening years. 

Today on Sup Holmes we'll be talking to Choice Provisions co-founders Mike Roush and Alex Neuse about where they've been, where they are going, how it's felt to grow from their humble WiiWare exclusive days into a publisher who works on nearly every platform, simultaneously generating original games while promoting games from other developers like DriveDriveDrive!, Shutshimi, and a lot more.

Join us live at 2:30pm f?or the whole d?ing dong. 

The post Stars, wars, and lasers w??ith Alex and Mike of Totally Choice appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great?? videogames. It airs live every Sunday at 4pm EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

[Update: Show's over folks! Thanks so much to Cassie and Michael for hanging out! Rerun should be up soon. In the meantime, here's a trailer for Queen Under The Mountain.]

Today on Sup Holmes we welcome two returning guests back to the program. Michael Todd and Cassie Chui both worked on the modern platformer classic Electronic Super Joy, and they both appeared on this show in the past, and now they're back together both on Sup Holmes, and on the development of an all new game called The Queen Under The Mountain. We'll be talking to them about why they stop??ped working on other projects to reunite fo??r this new title, what they've learned about development and publsihing since we last spoke, and a lot more. 

Tune in to the live show at 2:30 pm and jump in the YouTube chat to ask us q??uestions! 

The post It’s a Sup Holmes for queens with Cassie Chui and Michael Todd appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make gr??eat videogames. It airs live every Sunday at 4pm EST on&?nbsp;YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

[Update: Shows over everybody! We talked about how Resident Evil was a big influence on Gome Home, the extremely emotional reactions that game has received, how Fullbright's upcoming release Tacoma has pushed the studio past their comfort zones, a special tease for a future announcem??ent, and a lot more.

Thanks again to Steve for being on the show, and be sure to tune in to Destructoid for more on that future announcement. It may be coming sooner than you think. In the meantime, here's the teaser for Tacoma.]

Today on Sup Holmes we're happy to welcome Fullbright's Steve Gaynor to the program. We'll be talking to Steve about his prior work on F.E,A,R, and Bioshock, his current work on Gone Home and Tacoma, and whatev??er else comes up. Feel free to jump in the chat whe?n the show starts at 2:30pm and ask us questions!

The post Steve Gaynor has finally gone Holmes appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great vi?deogames. It airs live every ??Sunday at 4pm EST on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

[Update: Show's over everyone! A lot happened, including the dual declaration that Brain Dead/Dead Alive is Peter Jackson's second best film ever. That was just one of many surprising treats you won't want to miss. The rerun should be up soon, so you won't have to wait long. In the meantime, here is popular Youtube personality Markiplier playing Soma. He's got pink hair, which is nice.]

Horror! It can be more fun than conventional logic would dictate, which may be why AAA publishers like Capcom and Konami don't seem to have the same confidence in the genre as they once did. While both the Resident Evil and Silent Hill franchises may have fallen from grace in the eyes of many of today's horror fans, smaller publishers like Frictional Games have done well to fill the void left in their wake with highly successful titles like Soma and Amnesia: The Dark Decent (c??urrently on sale for $4.99 until December 1st). 

We'll be talking with Thomas Grip, co-founder of Frictional Games, about the studio's rise to success, his influences, working with The Chinese Room on a sequel to the original Amnesia, his thoughts the state of horror games in the industry today, and a lot more. Join us here at 2;30pm EST for the live show as it transpires. There?? may even be a spooky surprise or two (but probably not).&??nbsp;

The post It’s a Sup Holmes for pigs with Soma co-creator Thomas Grip appeared first on Destructoid.

Sup Holmes every Sunday at 2:30pm EST!

_{[Sup Holmes is a weekly talk show for people that make great videogame??s. It airs live every Sunday at 4pm ES??T on YouTube, and can be found in Podcast form on Libsyn and iTunes.]}

With Thanksgiving almost upon us, many of us here in the U.S. of A. are gearing up to navigate through social/emotional minefields that have been years in the making. Many of us are really tempted to call uncle Gary out on his bullshit tomorrow, but we know Gary has really low self esteem s??o confrontation will only make thi??ngs worse. Even more of us have totally given up on Mom, because no matter what we do, she'll never love us as much as she loves Larry. If it were up to her, it wouldn't be called "Thanksgiving". It would be called "Thankslarryyouaremyfavoriteboy". God damn it Larry, you've never even had to work for it. 

Video games are one potentially healthy way of dealing with those complicated feelings for Larry and the rest of your Thanksgiving party. If you've got a big family, Runbow may be a the perfect choice. With 9 player co-op and/or competitive play, only the largest of get-togethers will end up with anyone left out. Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime doesn't allow for quite as many people to jump ?in? at once, but it works great as a spectator sport, sort of like watching two serious in-laws try to pass wet egg between their mouths without using their hands. Oh the humanity!

If you want to know more about these games, or just want to get to know the people who made them, we've got Sup Holmes reruns with the developers of both Runbow and Lovers right here. These handsome Toronto men are a true pleasure to engage with. Thanks to Alex, Matt, and Jaime for being on the show with us, and be sure to tune in this Sunday when we welcome Thomas Grip (Soma, Amnesia) to the program. We've also got a special mid-week Sup Holmes planned for next week with one of the developers of Just Cause 3.

To quote a great personal friend of mine, "What a country!"&??nbsp;

The post Rally ’round the family with Runbow and Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime appeared first on Destructoid.