Slime moulds Tom, Marsh and Graham coalesce to edge their squishy tendrils across the puzzling surfaces of Mushroom 11, Human Resource Machine, Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes, and vertical platformer Downwell.
Also discussed: the unquestionable Britishness of space; the best cartography in gaming; what better AI means for games; the benefits of Nuclear Throne’s new weekly challenge; whether online communities can will themselves towards pleasantness; and how to fix the problems with humanity and, by extension, Reddit image sharing.
Show notes
- UK tax breaks are offered to game creators who pass a benchmark of cultural Britishness. Tom’s game, set in space, passes with flying colours.
- Downwell is a vertical platforming about going down a well. Also you’re wearing guns for boots. It’s out now on PC.
- Both Tom and Graham have spent the week experimenting with the Steam Controller, which is due for general release soon but has already arrived for those who pre-ordered.
- Graham has also been using the Steam Link, which has the same release date. It’s a small computer for streaming games from your desktop PC to your television. When it works.
- Human Resource Machine, from the makers of World of Goo, mimics assembly language for a puzzle game about moving boxes around. Also it has a name that’s oddly easy to forget, even after talking about it for twenty minutes.
- Mushroom 11 is out after a long development. At its best it is reminiscent of the very best in PC puzzle platformers. At its worst it is very annoying, although a new patch may fix that.
- Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes is a cooperative game about decoding strange symbols and patterns. Like the Crystal Maze with a bomb.
- Nuclear Throne has had a daily challenge mode for a while and now has a weekly challenge, offering one generated level that’s identical for all and which you can play over and over for the duration of that week.
- Here’s the Overwatch Reddit post that Skoo sent in, in which a person asks that the game’s community make an effort to remain as lovely as they are now. A noble effort.
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Our intro music is by The Mandibles from their track Clambake. Many of the band members now tour as Count Bobo And The Bullion.
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