Episoder
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The year has come and gone in a Sonic hued blur, and as is now tradition, I reached out to prior Kritiqal Care guests to ask what their favorite gaming and/or gaming-adjacent memory was in 2022. The responses were truly incredible, spanning great games, communities, moments of personal growth, and surprising opportunities. This continues to be my favorite episode of the year, and I’m so glad to get to share it with you. Happy new year!
Featuring
Leo Bunyea | Aubrey Isaacman | Elaine Gómez | Kate Olguin | Kiki & Alicia of Transparency | Quinn K | Andrew of Indiepocalypse | Nicholas O'Brien | SKELETON | Taylor McCue | Hyacinth Nil | Nilson Carroll | Kat of Pixel A Day | Jeff Chiao | Jeremy Couillard | Karin Malady | Joel Jordon | Son La Pham | Adam Le Doux | Jason Bakker | Max Miller | Cosmo DKritiqal Care is produced by me, Nathalie, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Dave Hoffman (they/them) is the creator of Mixolumia (davemakes, 2020), an arcade puzzle game combining contextual soundtracks with diamond-based combos. They came on the show to dig into the spontaneous origins of the game, how it continued to evolve and incorporate player creations, and the difficulty of marketing puzzle games in a streamer attention economy. Later, they admit to having never seen Goncharov (Martin Scorsese, 1973).
You can follow Dave on Twitter @davemakes, on cohost @geometric, and purchase Mixolumia on itch, Steam, and Switch.
Dave’s Cool Thing to Share
Getting owned by GoncharovThings Discussed
- Mixolumia
- Executive Golf DX (davemakes, 2021)
- Rotohex (Skip Ltd., 2006)
- Pico-8
- Down With the Mixness (I refer to this twice as Chop Suey and I cannot explain why)
- Tetris Effect (Monstars/Resonair, 2018)
- Josie Brechner’s music
- SimCity 2000: Urban Renewal Kit (Maxis, 1994)
- Petal Crash (Friend & Fairy, 2020)
- Spirit Swap (Soft Not Weak, 2023)Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Manglende episoder?
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Cosmo D (he/him) is a game developer and musician whose work explores urban life, the creator economy, and giant pizza demanding buildings. Hot off the release of Betrayal At Club Low (2022), Cosmo D sat down with me to detail his dramatic pivot out of music into games, finding a medium that inspires you to keep growing, and chasing his space trucker sim white whale.
You can play Cosmo D’s games on Steam and itch, purchase the soundtracks on Bandcamp, and join his community on Discord.
Cosmo D’s Cool Thing to Share
The Great Pottery Throw Down (Love Productions, 2015-ongoing)Things Discussed
Off-Peak (Cosmo D, 2014)
The Norwood Suite (Cosmo D, 2017)
Tales From Off-Peak City Vol. 1 (Cosmo D, 2020)
Betrayal At Club Low
Gone Home (Fullbright, 2013)
Disco Elysium (ZA/UM, 2019)Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Max Miller (they/them) is a composer, writer, and game designer. As part of new studio Pitter-Patter, they released Commonplace (2022), an ordinary adventure game about working in an office. For this episode, Max spent some time talking about the game’s experimental development, how they structured the soundtrack as a companion work, and a desire to make games that push against consumption driven mechanics.
Spoiler advisory: we do not discuss many specific moments in Commonplace, but do talk a lot about the general structure and tone of the game. I’d recommend playing the game before listening, if only because everything will make much more sense.
Commonplace is available on PC and Mac for free via itch.
You can follow Max on Twitter @Funbil_ and keep up with Pitter-Patter @PitterPatterDev.
Max’s Good Thing to Share
Appreciating small, not-yet-nostalgic memories (also Tim Roger’s review of boku no natsuyasumi)Things Discussed
- Commonplace
- Commonplace Original Soundtrack (Max Miller, 2022)
- Yume Nikki (Kikiyama, 2004)Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Wayward Strand (Ghost Pattern, 2022) is an upcoming adventure game which follows Casey - a teenager and aspiring journalist - as she explores a hospital airship floating above the Australian country-side. Two of its developers, Goldie Bartlett (she/her) and Jason Bakker (he/him), joined me on this episode to dive into the game's origins, how the continuous in-game clock allows for new forms of storytelling, and how collaborating with indigenous and mental health advocacy groups helped the team write richer, more honest characters.
Wayward Strand releases September 15th, 2022 on Steam, Playstation 4/5, Xbox One/Series, and Nintendo Switch.
You can follow Goldie, Jason, and Ghost Pattern on Twitter @GhostTownGoldie, @jason_bakker, and @ghostpattern (respectively).
Goldie and Jason's Inspiring Things to Share
- Goldie: her gratitude towards the Ghost Pattern team for all their work
- Jason: the curiosity and joy of his 2-year-old daughterThings Discussed
- Wayward Strand
- Sleep No More (Punchdrunk, 2011)
- Little Party (Turnfollow, 2015)
- Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik, 2019)
- Bunurong Land Council
- Dementia Alliance International
- "Growing up and growing old in Wayward Strand" by Stephanie HarkinKritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Adam Le Doux (he/him) is a game and software developer best known for creating the tiny game engine, Bitsy. Just shy of Bitsy’s six-year birthday, Adam came on the show to talk about Bitsy’s unassuming origins and surprising evolution as part of the tiny games scene. Later, we discuss how Bitsy’s form sets in in opposition to conventional, capital driven games and software, the importance of the engine’s community, and how to preserve these games against the forces of tech oligarchies.
You can find Adam’s games and tools on itch, and follow him on Twitter @adamledoux.
Adam’s Cool Things to Share
Everest Pipkin’s “Tiny Tools Directory”
Nathalie Lawhead’s “Tiny Tool Roundups”
Bread + Puppet’s “Why Cheap Art” manifestoThings Discussed
Bitsy (Adam Le Doux)
Twine (Chris Klimas)
Pico-8 (Lexaloffle Games)
Creature Passing (Froach Club, 2016)
Claire Morwood’s “Bitsy tutorial”
Seleb’s “Bitsy Hacks” repo
Borksy (ayolland)
pixsy (synth ruiner)
flicksy (mark wonnacott)
Museum of ZZT
bitsybox (Adam Le Doux) -
Spiders (they/them) are an alt game dev specializing in queer, grimy, anti-tech industry experiments. In this episode, we chat about their upcoming anthology game, The Museum of Radically Obsolete Futures, the tension between wanting to make shit that’s cool vs shit that sells, and how vital communities like The Queer Games Bundle are to the weird game scene.
You can find spiders behind you, play their games on itch, and follow them on Twitter @spiderszzz.
Spiders' Cool Thing to Share
Playing Disco Elysium (2019, ZA/UM) as a weekly social book clubThings Discussed
The Museum of Radically Obsolete Futures
Flight Simulator 20XX Infinity (spiders, 2020)
Space Funeral 3D (spiders and krisekrise, 2021)
Occult Spreadsheet Synthesizer (spiders, 2021)
Cursed List of Jungle Tilesets as Narrated by Werner Herzog (spiders and krisekrise, 2021)
Nathalie Lawhead’s CSS itch profiles
The Queer Games Bundle 2022 (available until July 6th 2022! Buy it!!)
The Indiepocalypse Pledge Drive (happening through July 2022! Support it!!)Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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In collaboration with utopian collective Trust, designer Son La Pham (he/him) and developer Francis Tseng (he/they) created Half Earth Socialism (2022), a browser game companion to Troy Vettese and Drew Pendergrass’s book of the same name. As part of the game’s launch, Son La and Francis joined me on the show to discuss how the collaboration began, the challenge of building a global planning simulator as a browser game, and the importance of going beyond raw calculations to allow players to become emotionally invested.
You can play Half Earth Socialism for free and purchase the book from Verso.
You can learn more about Son La Pham and Francis Tseng on their personal sites.
Good Things to Share
Son La: the sports park with the green roof (you know the one) where baby lambs mow the lawn.
Francis: being in Berlin and appreciating how walkable/bikable the city is.Things Discussed
Half Earth Socialism (game), Half Earth Socialism (book), and Half Earth Socialism (political theory)
Trust
Reigns (Nerial, 2016)
Into the Breach (Subset Games, 2018)Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Fantasia Malware - comprised of Jira Trello (she/her), Chloê Langford (she/her), and Gabriel Helfenstein (he/him) - are an experimental game label specializing in mega-maximalist un-game performance art. They crowded into KRITIQAL’s digital podcast booth to discuss grotesque beauty, games as instruments, and creating art that can’t be wiki-fied. Later, they recommend birds.
You can learn more about Fantasia Malware and subscribe to their mailing list on their website. Jira also hosts the podcast, New Genesis Online.
Fantasia Malware’s cool things to share
Jira: “somewhere between the 8th and 9th floor” by aya
Chloê: the Merlin bird identification app and Australian birds (especially these ones)
Gabriel: Super Bogus World (hubol, 2011)Things Discussed
The Orchid Collector (Fantasia Malware, 2020)
The Life of Saint Fiona Bianco Xena (Fantasia Malware, 2021)
Okthryssia and Saturnia's Bureaucratic Adventures (Outlands, 2022)
AAA Software
What I thought was a Yahoo Answers question about Minecraft but was actually a Steam forums thread about Her Story.Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Studio Oleomingus is an art practice and game studio based Chala, India, whose work explores magical realism, post-colonial landscapes, and redacted authorship. Studio founder Dhruv Jani (he/him) joined me to talk through his unique history with modern videogames, his skepticism at the necessity of systemic interaction, and how employing fictitious external authors connects Oleomingus’ work to a larger history of post-independence Indian storytellers.
You can learn more about Studio Oleomingus on their website, play their games for free on Steam or itch, and follow them on Twitter @studiooleomingu.
Dhruv’s Cool Thing to Share
Nainsukh (Amit Dutta, 2010) - a film about the artist of the same name, which recreates several of his miniature paintings with live actorsThings Discussed
The Indifferent Wonder of an Edible Place (Studio Oleomingus, 2020)
a Museum of Dubious Splendors. (Studio Oleomingus, 2018)
Dear Esther (The Chinese Room, 2008)
”No shit, video games are political. They’re conservative.” by Josh Tucker
”Anarcute, Tonight We Riot, and the Optics of Revolution”Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Joel Jordon (they/them) is the solo game developer of Time Bandit (2022), a real-time anti-capitalist work sim about how our subjective experience of time is shaped by our relationship to labor and historical forces. With Time Bandit’s first part releasing soon, Joel took some time to join me in talking through the game’s themes, how effective games can be as political instruments, and the hazy ethics of games-as-work.
You can wishlist Time Bandit on Steam and play the free prologue on itch. Joel is on Twitter @pumbertop.
Joel’s Encouraging Thing to Share
Recognizing that everything is constantly moving and evolving; that change will come even when it feels impossibleThings Discussed
Time Bandit
Joel’s blog, “The Game Manifesto”
VESPER.5 (Michael Brough, 2012)
Animal Crossing (2001-present, Nintendo)Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Karin Malady (any/all pronouns) is a writer, poet, and occultist interested in the relationship between art and audience. Recently, they’ve contributed writing to apocalyptic photography game, Dear Future (Dear Future Production Committee, 2021), and videogame flesh realm DEEP HEEL DOT COM. In this especially free wheeling episode, we talk about growing up on the internet, metafiction, being Tony Hawk, and provoking readers.
You can find Karin on Twitter @SweetNAwful, and explore their many creative endeavors on their personal site.
Karin’s Cool People to Shoutout
Tildelta - dark electronic musician with a new album out soon
Persephone Erin Hudson - horror fiction who reminds us “the real canibals were the friends we made along the way”
Frog K - flash fiction and insight into “the spiritual rot at the heart of America”
blake planty - “best writing about catboys on the internet”Things Discussed
Dear Future (and its ending)
Tony Hawk’s Pro Shopper (Karin Malady, 2019)
”This Video Will Make You Angry” by CGP Grey
Sea-Witch (Never Angeline Nørth, 2020)
”NO FEAST FORT THE UNDERFED” by Karin MaladyKritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Somehow, we’re at the end of 2021. It has been a strange, unpleasant, unpredictable year, but you know as much already. I won’t belabor the point as if we haven’t all been living with the same uncertainty, but I do want to say thank you for listening/reading/being part of KRITIQAL. The community that has grown around the site, the contributors I’ve been able to commission, and the friend’s I’ve made along the way have been so hugely important to me not spiraling off into the void. It is perhaps the smallest bit of hope to cling to, but I cling to it either way.
Please enjoy this compilation of the moments that meant something to this year’s guests. They are varied and surprising, and I am so glad to be able to share them with you. Happy holidays!
Featuring
Taylor McCue | Colin (melessthanthree) | Nem (Sandy Pug Games) | Nilson Carroll | Kat (Pixel A Day) | Nathan Blades | Kevin Wong | Shane Yach | Jeff Chiao | Yaffle (lowpolis) | Jeremy Couillard
Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Breogán Hackett (she/they) is an indie dev, community organizer, and creator of low-res horror anthology, The Haunted PS1. She set aside some time from Halloween spooks to talk about how The Haunted PS1 got started, moving beyond the Playstation, and forcing players to get lost. A likely contender for most games mentioned in an episode, and all good ones at that (a hearty recommendation for Bleakshore if you’ve yet to play it).
You can find Breogán’s many, many games on itch and follow them on Twitter @BreoganHackett. You can learn more about The Haunted PS1 on Twitter @HauntedPs1.
Breogán’s Cool Thing to Share
A student video essay about BleakshoreThings Discussed
Haunted PS1 Demo Disc 2021 (various developers, 2021)
Perennial (Breogán Hackett, 2018)
Bleakshore (Breogán Hackett, 2020)
CUCCCHI (Julian Palacios, 2021)
Promesa (Julian Palacios, 2020)
Valheim (Iron Gate AB, 2021)
Noita (Nolla Games, 2020)
An Outcry (Quinn K., upcoming)
Mummy Sandbox (Z. Bill, 2021)
Chasing Static (Headware Games, 2021)
Ectostasis (ENIGMA GAMES, upcoming)
Sub Mechanoid (Breogán Hackett, upcoming)
Everust (Breogán Hackett, 2017)
Super Metroid (Nintendo, 1994)Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Xalavier Nelson Jr. (he/him) is a prolific videogame writer, producer, and internet poster, working on everything from An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs (Strange Scaffold, 2021) to Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator (Strange Scaffold, upcoming). He took some time away from creating every videogame to walk through how he moved from games criticism to development, the challenge and necessity of figuring out what you enjoy creating, and the existential dark comedy of a drunk puppy.
You can follow Nelson on Twitter @WritNelson, and find a sample of his games on itch.
Xalavier’s Good Thing to Share
The vast troves of art and media available to everyone right now (up to my ears in creative juices)Things Discussed
An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs
Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator
Can Androids Survive (aPriori Digital, 2021)
Skatebird (Glass Bottom Games, 2021)
El Paso, Elsewhere (Strange Scaffold, upcoming)Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Heather Flowers (they/she) is the non-existent creator of EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER, a post-apocalyptic visual-novel beat-em-up about gay disasters meat mechs fighting facists. They didn’t join me on this episode to recap MEATPUNK’s origins as a spontaneous collection of sounds, adapting the series into tabletop form, and rejecting apocalyptic cynicism. I cannot stress this enough: Heather Flowers does not exist and therefore could not have been on this episode.
If Heather Flowers did exist, you could follow her @HTHRFLWRS and play her games on itch.
What Heather Flowers Good Thing Would Be, If They Existed
Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)Things Discussed
EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER (Heather Flowers, 2018)
EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER: BOUND BY ASH (Heather Flowers, 2020)
GENDERWRECKED (ryan rose aceae, 2017)
Extreme Meatpunks Forever: The Roleplaying Game (Sinister Board Games, upcoming)Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Naphtali Faulkner (he/him), AKA Veselekov, is the creator of IGF Grand Prize winning photography game, Umurangi Generation (ORIGAME DIGITAL, 2020). In this extra long episode, Naphtali elaborates on origins of Umurangi, confronting liberal apathy, and the hunger people have for explicitly leftist art. Many detours into Disco Elysium (ZA/UM, 2019) are made along the way.
You can play Umurangi Generation on Steam and Switch, and follow Naphtali @Veselekov.
Napthali’s Fun Things to Share
Disco Elysium (I promise I’m gonna play it soon)
The Hunt: Showdown (Crytek, 2018), with reservationsThings Discussed
Umurangi Generation - See also: “The world you wished for”
Disco Elysium
”Fallout: New Vegas Is Genius, And Here's Why” by hbomberguy
If Found… (DREAMFEEL, 2020)
Being trapped in a horror movie with Joe Biden and Alex JonesKritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Jeremy Couillard (he/him) is an artist and professor, whose games JEF (2020) and Fuzz Dungeon (2021) explore the weird, uncomfortable, and inexplicable aspects of life through humor and alien surrealism. In this episode, Jeremy details how he started creating games out of a frustration with animation, the importance of loitering in digital spaces, and finding community in alt games.
You can play Jeremy’s games on itch and Steam, and follow them @jeremycouillard.
Jeremy’s Inspiring Thing to Share
Alt games curators and communities (shout out to Indiepocalypse and Dirigitive)Things Discussed
JEF
Fuzz Dungeon
Alien Afterlife (Jeremy Couillard, 2017)
Updating to Remain the Same: Habitual New Media (Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, 2016)
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (Julian Jayne, 2000)Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Rayzones (they/them) and Yaffle (she/they) make up indie studio lowpolis, creators of cute games with surreal insides. In this episode we explore the inspiration for lowpolis’ latest game, co-open (2021), discus the complex politics surrounding “wholesome games,” and appreciate the most fundamental videogame act: crawling through vents. Closing out the show, I once again confess my shame of having not played some very good games.
You can follow lowpolis @lowpolis, @rayzones, and @Yafffle. Their games are available on itch.
lowpolis’ Good Things to Share
Yaffle: waking up and going to bed with the sun
Rayzones: replaying Heaven Will Be Mine (Worst Girl Games, 2017) and Beautycopter (Graceless Games, 2020)Things Discussed
co-open
x_purrsonline_x (lowpolis, 2019)
Crayon Physics Deluxe (Kloonigames, 2009)
A Game By Its Cover
Wholesome Games
Pijj’s Cove OST (Uio Loi, 2021)Kritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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Ryan Rose Aceae (he/they) is a visual novelist whose games explore the messy, sometimes monstrous dynamics of queer identity through surreal characters and earnest writing. In this episode he recounts his nontraditional route into making queer games, collaborating with Heather Flowers on GENDERWRECKED (2017), and the necessity of complex and challenging queer art. Finally, Ryan ends the show with a surprise package from a friend.
You can play Ryan’s games on itch and follow them @gendervamp.
Ryan’s Nice Thing to Share
A surprise package of plant identification books from a friend (let me know what your favorite plant is, genuinely)Things Discussed
GENDERWRECKED
Gay Monster Kiss Club (Ryan Rose Aceae, upcoming)
Extreme Meat Punks Forever (Heather Flowers, 2018)
I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter (Isabel Fall, 2020)
Interview with Isabel FallKritiqal Care is produced by me, Nate Kiernan, with music by Desired. It's available on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you get podcasts. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a loved one and supporting Kritiqal on Ko-Fi.
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