Half-Glass Gaming [Episode 18] : I Have the Spirit of a Canadian

I Have the Spirit of a Canadian

This week, Josh updates listeners on his noises-outside-his-window situation and Julian tells the world about his comedy team Sparkle Picnic (as well as his butt), which leads us to the strange little world of improv comedy, public access TV, and flagrant misuse of the word “ironic.”

After the break, we dive into indie gaming. We’ve got the goods on retro indie games, including one of the strangest games all four podcast members have played, Girlfriend Construction Set. We explore the roots of indie games, from college campuses in the 1960s and 1970s to the weird beginnings of id Software. At this point, “indie” starts getting harder to define. Is Doom actually an indie game? How about No Man’s Sky?

Also, religious games, Kickstarter, PS4 dev kits, Color a Dinosaur (again), the drug-induced origin of shareware, Half-Life mods, and Josh’s obsession with a Revolutionary War FPS that uses “Yankee Doodle” as its entire soundtrack. If it sounds like an episode stuffed to the brim with indie gaming goodness, that’s because it absolutely is.

For more on Girlfriend Construction Set, Mandi has a nice little article here, and Julian shares his first GCS experience here.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
30 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Jimmy Mamatas
Jimmy Mamatas
8 years ago

I had a similar experience to what Mandi describes in that most of my early favourite games were simply the games installed on school computers. I don’t know that they were indie games, though. I have particularly fond memories of a game called Elite.

Josh Wirtanen
Admin
Josh Wirtanen
8 years ago
Reply to  Jimmy Mamatas

Are you referring to the 1984 space trading game Elite?

Jelly Genesis
Jelly Genesis
8 years ago

Is there a chance you could start putting a discussed games list at the bottom of a post like Idle Thumbs does? Sometimes I want to try games you talked about but I can’t remember the titles.

Josh Wirtanen
Admin
Josh Wirtanen
8 years ago
Reply to  Jelly Genesis

Hey, that’s actually a really great idea!

JulianWhatThe
8 years ago
Reply to  Josh Wirtanen

Funny thing, I was just thinking that moments before Jelly was, so totally my idea… Ah who am I kidding, that is a great idea Jelly, thanks for the feed back.

Josh Wirtanen
Admin
Josh Wirtanen
8 years ago
Reply to  Jelly Genesis

I’ve started the process of listing out the games we mention in every episode. We’re going to put that info on the Half-Glass Gaming official site, though, because we don’t want to push the Retrovolve comments section down any further. We love hearing from you guys way too much!

Here’s the first episode:

http://www.halfglassgaming.com/2015/07/episode-1-were-all-pregnant-with-ghosts/

Jelly Genesis
Jelly Genesis
8 years ago
Reply to  Josh Wirtanen

Thank you! This will make it easier for me to add cool games to my backlog.

mako33
mako33
8 years ago

I’m glad Undertale came up, I wanted to buy it and apprecaite hearing about its gameplay. It’s cheap so I’ll probably go ahead and buy it.

Mandi Odoerfer
8 years ago
Reply to  mako33

You should absolutely play it. It might be my favorite game of this year, and it’s been a great year for gaming.

mako33
mako33
8 years ago
Reply to  Mandi Odoerfer

5 hours into this game, holy shit. More than worth it. Is there a way to avoid killing the fish knight lady? People keep mentioning her after I beat her and I feel terrible about it.

Mandi Odoerfer
8 years ago
Reply to  mako33

You never, ever have to kill anybody. There’s always a way to get through a fight without hurting somebody.

I don’t know how to mark spoilers on Disqus, but if you’re in a fight like that one and you can’t come up with a way out of it, just try to endure it as long as you can. Use Mercy or experiment with other commands, and just wait. Usually, a solution will present itself.

Elizabeth Thompson
Elizabeth Thompson
8 years ago
Reply to  mako33

Yeah. I’m playing through Undertale right now, and I have yet to attack a single thing. Of course, I only just went on a date with the skeleton, so I’m not that far into it 😛

-The Reverend

mako33
mako33
8 years ago
Reply to  Mandi Odoerfer

5 hours into this game, holy shit. More than worth it. Is there a way to avoid killing the fish knight lady? People keep mentioning her after I beat her and I feel terrible about it.

Jdcomix
Jdcomix
8 years ago

lol, I was just asking you guys about RPG Maker! I never got good at it but you have to use it on PC if you want to make real games.

Anno 2205
Anno 2205
8 years ago

I tried my hand at making indie games, but I realised can’t do art. Instead, I play games that let me build things or make mods for the games I like.

Josh Wirtanen
Admin
Josh Wirtanen
8 years ago
Reply to  Anno 2205

I was modding stuff back in the days of Star Wars: Battlefront 2, but it was really hard, and my vehicles never worked properly. I played around in RPG Maker and Source a bit too, but I never managed to finish anything. Making games really isn’t my wheelhouse so much as writing and talking about them — and over-analyzing them to an almost obnoxious degree, haha.

Tyrant Fluffy Pants
Tyrant Fluffy Pants
8 years ago

I mostly play indie games cause their cheap and I’m broke, lol. Some of them are awesome though. I don’t know if Killing Floor is indie but I like that and Space Station 13 and some other stuff.

Mandi Odoerfer
8 years ago

I’d definitely say Killing Floor is an indie game. Incidentally, the team that made it also started out making mods.

JulianWhatThe
8 years ago

Check out Ether 1. It can be classified as a “walking simulator”, which is a bit of a demeaning term, but to be fair you do primarily walk so.. You be the judge. But I digress. It is an interesting game that deals with dementia and memories and has some interesting, simple yet deviously complicated-at-times puzzles. It should be cheap. It is a slower game though, so be forewarned if that turns you off. Depending on your system of choice, State of Decay is a great option, it isn’t “indie-indie” but it is cheap and it is fun. I think that is only on Xbox 360/One though. Let me know if you have any suggestions, I usually turn to Mandi so I could always use another source.

discipleofpizza
discipleofpizza
8 years ago

I don’t get why everyone likes indie games so much there
are some good ones but they all look the same and some are just bad

Josh Wirtanen
Admin
Josh Wirtanen
8 years ago

They all look the same?

This is the Witness:
http://the-witness.net/news/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/shot_2013.10.14__time_11_09_n04.png

This is Braid:
http://images8.alphacoders.com/441/441455.jpg

Both are indie games. Both were created by THE SAME GUY!

On the other hand, all 3 of my AAA purchases of November are sci-fi FPS games, and I DIDN’T pick up Halo 5. There was an era (like 5ish years ago) when the general perception was that all AAA games were military FPS games with mostly brownish color palettes.

I think “saminess” is a matter of perspective. And so is quality. I’ve seen garbage indie games, and I’ve seen indie masterpieces. I’ve seen garbage AAA games and AAA masterpieces.

The reason people are drawn to indie games, I think, is because the indie scene tends to focus on emotional experiences over big set pieces and explosions. I love me some explosions, but I also like to find games that resonate with me emotionally in some way. Like Journey. Or The Binding of Isaac. Or a little adventure game you’ve probably never heard of called The Dream Machine.

I wouldn’t try to say indie is objectively “better” than AAA, or AAA is objectively “better” than indie, but I think they can both exist side-by-side and I’m glad they do. When I feel like blowing stuff up, video games are there for me. When I feel like being self-reflective, video games are there for me.

I just like video games.

mako33
mako33
8 years ago
Reply to  Josh Wirtanen

Thanks for this. Which FPS games did you buy?

Josh Wirtanen
Admin
Josh Wirtanen
8 years ago
Reply to  mako33

Black Ops 3, Fallout 4 (which I know you can play in 3rd person, but I play it in first), and Star Wars Battlefront (which can also be played in 3rd person). And I admit that I was being a bit reductive in calling all 3 sci fi FPS games (though that’s technically true).

Elizabeth Thompson
Elizabeth Thompson
8 years ago
Reply to  Josh Wirtanen

The thing about Fallout though, at least in the case of Fallout 3 and New Vegas (and thus, I’d be surprised if not Fallout 4) is that it feels like it’s *supposed* to be an FPS, at least gameplay wise.

I mean, I freaking *love* Skyrim, as Josh knows and I have mentioned. I am not even a tiny bit exaggerating when I say I’ve played over 2100 hours of Skyrim at this point, and I’ve had the game for about a year. So open world RPG type games are apparently my bag. But I’ve played about 3 hours of Fallout 3, and I can’t play New Vegas for more than about an hour. And as near as I can tell, the reason is entirely because the Fallout series feels like an FPS in a way that Skyrim does not. Likewise, while I have been really enjoying TES 3: Morrowind, I can’t stand playing Oblivion. Because the 3rd person controls in Oblivion are way to freaking floaty, and it’s really obvious that it’s designed to be played from a first person perspective.

All that to say, I genuinely see no argument in saying that Fallout is an FPS. It absolutely *feels* like one, in a way that even other open world Bethesda games do not.

– The Reverend

Josh Wirtanen
Admin
Josh Wirtanen
8 years ago

Fallout 4 and Skyrim use the same game engine (the Creation Engine). Weirdly enough, Fallout 3, New Vegas, Oblivion, and Morrowind all use the Gamebryo engine.

I don’t remember the point I was making with this.

mako33
mako33
8 years ago
Reply to  Josh Wirtanen

Thanks for this. Which FPS games did you buy?

discipleofpizza
discipleofpizza
8 years ago
Reply to  Josh Wirtanen

You’re right and sorry for getting butthurt. I know they aren’t all the same
but so many game sites act like all indie games are so original and they aren’t. You
guys didn’t say that though. I like some indie games too but not the bad games that get
good reviews just cause there indie.

Elizabeth Thompson
Elizabeth Thompson
8 years ago

Sure. It’s always annoying when people keep saying something is “OMG BEST EVAR” and it’s obviously not. Especially when you can objectively point out why some particular statement about them is not actually true.

Also? It’s pretty cool of you to respond and clarify. That sort of thing doesn’t often happen on internet discussions, so, you know. Props to you!

– The Reverend

Josh Wirtanen
Admin
Josh Wirtanen
8 years ago

Yup! No one’s mad at you, man! I just wanted to make sure I clarified things a little. Thanks for the comments!

Thief921
Thief921
8 years ago

This may be the best podcast you’ve done yet, imo. The episodes with more general topics are always favourites. That bit with the Shareware guy was so fucking good.

30
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x