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“The Triumvirate has always been rumored to track intersombral travel — shipping, especially — but I never expected THAT.”
In which the Proprietor, bleary from travel and a bit out of sorts, welcomes two new guests, who seem nonetheless somehow familiar.
John Harness and Takuma Okada discuss their experiences creating and curating the Emotional Mecha Jam on itch, and ruminate on the role of game design in communicating personal experiences.
Time and place, memory, mortality, melancholy, identity, sexuality, and Giant Robots are all on the menu tonight. It’s a frank conversation, and in moments an adult one.
(Marked explicit for language and adult sexuality)
HONORED GUESTS
Takuma Okada (@takuma_okada_)
John Harness (@cartweel)
SHOW NOTES
Jason mentioned Dungeons & Dragons, GUMSHOE, Invisible Sun, and Bluebeard’s Bride as shining examples of game systems which incentivize very distinct stories as a result of their design.
The Emotional Mecha Jam closed with 177 unique entries, exploring 177 unique emotions and stories about “GIANT ROBOTS AND THE SAD PILOTS THAT DRIVE THEM”. Please do visit, take a look, support some art, play some games, feel things.
Specific jam games mentioned in this episode include:
- What Will I Do When You’re Gone and We Made Them Look Like Us, by Takuma Okada
- All my Exes are in Mech Suits, by Anna Anthropy
- As Above by Adira Slattery
- Lovers in Freefall by Brandon O’Brien
- BECOME ONE by Jamila R. Nedjadi
- link by Riley rethal
- LINKED by Ari_I
- Acceptable Losses by R25th
- Memory/Drift by Ponder Games
- We Pass Under Legends by Ben Roswell
- Death Sentence by Many-Eyed Monster
- Alone in the Station Remnants by Caro Acersion
- Ghost Squadron by Jay @ UFO Press
- Life in the Machine by KiennaS
- Plot Armor by DC
- Breakup on Re-Entry by Riverhouse Games
- Name! That! Mech! by Norapinephrine
- Get in the F*cking Robot (A Mecha Britcom) by Ettin
You can download John’s game Welcome to Paradise, Baby! (and other projects) on his itch page, or follow him on Twitter at @cartweel. You didn’t add an ‘h’, did you? Try again.
Takuma’s No Road Home empire extends across itch.io and SoundCloud — and you should absolutely check out her Patreon for regular musings and projects.
You can also hear John’s episode OR Takuma’s episode of Taylor Labresh’s Game Closet podcast, or hear more from Takuma on Women Loving Wednesdays and RPG Design Friends.
Takuma mentioned Waypoint’s BattleTech coverage as an inspiration — check out this review also — and John rhapsodized about Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.
As regards itch.io, here’s that Tabletop Gaming Forum that was created in part by the influence of DC (whom you must also follow immediately).
Oh! And RAINN and Trans Lifeline, who benefited from Emotional Mecha Jam’s charity bundle, both do amazing work.
SPONSORS
This episode was sponsored by Gamers Giving (@gamersgivingco), a Denver-based 501(c)3 charity by gamers, for gamers. Gamers Giving organizes events and fundraisers which benefit members of the gaming community who have experienced tragedy.
Sign up for their quarterly newsletter to keep up with their good work.
AUDIO DESIGN
Casey Ross (@caseyrawz)
https://www.rawzstudios.com
Sound Effects ©2018 BBC
Monte Cook Games (@montecookgames)
http://MonteCookGames.com
Invisible Sun
http://InvisibleSunRPG.com
Invisible Sun is the intellectual property of Monte Cook Games, with whom Zeros.Bar and the Secret Cellar have no affiliation.