Nick is joined by guest co-host Chris Plante (Post Games) for a chat with Kimmo Lahtinen (aka gimbll) about his dynamite new twin-stick shooter, Sektori. They discuss the joy of the genre, pursuing excellence in an oversaturated genre, and how personal limitations shape solo development.

Audio edited by Dylan Shumway

Discussed in this episode:

Sektori

https://www.gimblll.com/sektori/

Day Repeat Day

https://www.gimblll.com/dayrepeatday/

Barbearian

https://www.gimblll.com/barbearian/

Drift and Drive

https://www.gimblll.com/driftndrive/

Resogun

https://housemarque.com/games/resogun

Outland

https://housemarque.com/games/outland

Dead Nation

https://housemarque.com/games/dead-nation

Super Stardust Portable

https://housemarque.com/games/ssp

Geometry Wars

https://store.steampowered.com/app/8400/Geometry_Wars_Retro_Evolved/

Rez Infinite

https://www.rezinfinite.com/

Post Games podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/post-games/id1815131711

Besties podcast

https://www.themcelroy.family/podcasts/besties/

Limetown podcast

https://twoupproductions.com/limetown/podcast

Quest Tabletop Game

https://www.adventure.game/

https://secretlives.games

https://discord.gg/tslog

https://www.patreon.com/tslog

We're proud to present the final installment of our over-a-year-long Into the Depths series on Caves of Qud, as well as our last episode with our recently retired Eggplant branding. Caves of Qud is a massive open-world roguelike RPG that has been in development since 2007 and Early Access since 2015, and we give it an appropriately epic sendoff with nearly four hours of deep discussion.

Doug and Rob, joined by special guest host Star St. Germain, dive into the game's finale and overarching themes with narrative designer Caelyn Sandel and co-creators Jason Grinblat and Brian Bucklew. Be warned, major spoilers await: We discuss the aftermath of the Tomb of the Eaters, the Moon Stair, the [Redacted], Reclamation, We Are [Redacted], plus other juicy details about how this legendary game finally came to an end… and what's in store for it next.

Audio edited by Dylan Shumway.

Discussed in this episode:

Brian's must-follow bluesky
https://bsky.app/profile/unormal.bsky.social

Warm static – Official Caves of Qud wiki
https://wiki.cavesofqud.com/wiki/Warm_static

Independent Games Summit: What Even is 1.0?: Indefinite Early Access and Live Development
https://gdcvault.com/play/1035081/Independent-Games-Summit-What-Even

End-to-End Procedural Generation in Caves of Qud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV-DZqdKlnE

Tile-Based Map Generation using Wave Function Collapse in 'Caves of Qud'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdCgi9E90jw

Caves of Qud Discord
https://discord.com/invite/cavesofqud

Eris – Girsh Illustration
https://www.reddit.com/r/cavesofqud/comments/1n449aw/girsh_qas_and_qon/

A Mythopoetic Interface Reading of Caves of Qud (Roguelike Celebration 2025)
https://www.youtube.com/live/UQNfH9pKWd4?si=jFy9VTRZzLPJHn4W&t=1091

Sproggiwood
https://store.steampowered.com/app/311720/Sproggiwood/

Slav Epic Paintings by Alphonse Mucha
https://www.muchafoundation.org/en/gallery/themes/theme/slav-epic

https://secretlives.games/

https://bsky.app/profile/secretlivesofgames.bsky.social

https://www.youtube.com/eggplantshow

http://discord.gg/tslog

https://www.patreon.com/tslog

(full rebrand still in progress, lol)

We're joined by Frank Lantz (Q-UP) and Mare Sheppard + Raigan Burns of Metanet (N++) for the first episode of All Systems Brough, a year-long exploration of the work of Michael Brough. We share our thoughts on why Michael's oeuvre demands a deep dive, add some historical context, and share the plan for the year ahead. We also introduce a (final?) rebrand to the podcast!

Next episode: 868-HACK
(it's also recommended that you start playing Vesper.5 now to prepare for later)

(Tentative) Episode/play order:

1. 868-HACK

2. Vertex Dispenser

3. Zaga-33

4. Vesper.5

5. Corrypt

6. Kompendium (plus digital archiving of O)

7. BECOME A GREAT ARTIST IN JUST 10 SECONDS

8. Helix (plus SMESPORT)

9. Imbroglio

10. Cinco Paus

11. P1 Select (plus Quinzena maybe?) & Broughlike Game Jam Games

12. 868-BACK (caveat: still in development)
    
    

Audio edited by Dylan Shumway

Discussed in this episode:

Michael Brough's Website

https://www.smestorp.com/

Michael O'Blivion's Youtube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@michael_oblivion

Flock

https://annapurnainteractive.com/en/games/flock

Wilmot's Warehouse Boardgame

https://www.cmyk.games/products/wilmot

Q-UP

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3730790/QUP/

Donkeyspace (Frank's Substack)

https://franklantz.substack.com/

The Beauty of Games

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262552950/the-beauty-of-games/

Metanet Software

https://www.metanetsoftware.com/about-us

N++

https://nplusplus.org/

PRACTICE 2015: Mare Sheppard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBCDeMl4VwY

FTL

https://subsetgames.com/ftl.html

Sylvie's Games

https://sylvie.website/

A wild start, 41 points with no artifacts! (Cinco Paus LP ep 1) by vivafringe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-8xXBwAdG4

Droqen's website

https://www.droqen.com/

Raigan's bluesky (will give away free copies of Cinco Paus on Christmas!)

https://bsky.app/profile/raiganburns.bsky.social

Q-UP OST

https://kariomart.bandcamp.com/album/q-up-ost

868-HACK (Steam)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/274700/868HACK/

Vesper.5

https://mightyvision.blogspot.com/2012/08/vesper5.html

https://www.youtube.com/@thesecretlivesofgames

https://discord.com/invite/tslog

https://www.patreon.com/tslog

Rob, Sarah, and Doug chat with Jenny Jiao Hsia and AP Thomson about Consume Me, an award-winning autobiographical resource-management RPG about the pressure cooker of young adulthood. We discuss the game's ten-year development cycle, balancing dynamic difficulty in a game about overachievement, the complex dynamics of mining your own story, and more!

Heads up: This episode includes discussion of disordered eating and religious upbringing.

Audio edited by Dylan Shumway.

Mentioned in this episode:

Consume Me
https://hexecutable.itch.io/consume-me
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2359120/Consume_Me/

Prototyping Personal Experience – Jenny's talk at A MAZE 2017
https://youtu.be/iQ-PaGTr-iI?si=RIAWQMFZfMWCVCsN

Papers Please by Lucas Pope
https://papersplea.se/

Nina Freeman's games on itch.io
https://starmaidgames.itch.io/

Triad by Anna Anthropy
https://w.itch.io/triad

Reigns by Nerial
https://www.reignsgame.com/reigns

Long Live the Queen by Hanako Games
https://hanakogames.itch.io/long-live-the-queen

Perfect Tides by Meredith Gran
https://granulac.itch.io/perfect-tides

Look Back (movie)
https://www.amazon.com/Look-Back-Kiyotaka-Oshiyama/dp/B0DH5DMSRW

Look Back (manga)
https://www.viz.com/look-back

Jenny's TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@q_dork

AP's Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/bad_tetris/

https://eggplant.show/

https://discord.gg/eggplant

https://www.patreon.com/eggplantshow

https://www.youtube.com/eggplantshow

Laura, Rob, and Sarah chat with Adam Robinson-Yu about The Annual Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival, a communal and virtual festival experience hosted every ~October for the last six years. We discuss the logistics of running a seasonal multiplayer game, encouraging emergent interactions through limited tools, highlighting pumpkin artistry, expressing embodiment in digital space, building secrets over time, and more!

NOTE: If you want to avoid spoilers of this year's additions to the game, skip the section from 1:12:40 to 1:22:00!

Audio edited by Dylan Shumway

Discussed in this episode:

Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival
https://adamgryu.itch.io/pumpkin-carver

Laura E. Hall's 31 Days of Halloween newsletter
https://buttondown.com/31daysofhalloween

Adam's Itch
https://adamgryu.itch.io/

Adam's Bluesky
https://bsky.app/profile/adamgryu.bsky.social

https://eggplant.show/

https://discord.gg/eggplant

https://www.patreon.com/eggplantshow

https://www.youtube.com/eggplantshow

Laura chats with Jeremy Johnston and Robin Ward about The Roottrees are Dead, their genealogy, murder-mystery, "static deduction" game. We discuss the development process of taking a jam prototype to full release, developing hints and systems that lead players to satisfying discoveries, and the taxonomy of games like The Roottrees are Dead and The Return of the Obra Dinn.

Spoilers abound, so consider playing the game first before tuning in.

Audio edited by Dylan Shumway

Discussed in this episode:

The Roottrees are Dead (Steam) https://store.steampowered.com/app/2754380/The_Roottrees_are_Dead/

The Roottrees are Dead (itch.io – Global Game Jam entry) https://jjohnstongames.itch.io/the-roottrees-are-dead

Return of the Obra Dinn https://store.steampowered.com/app/653530/Return_of_the_Obra_Dinn/

Outer Wilds https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/

Her Story https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/Her_Story/

Family https://owlskip-games.itch.io/family

Type Help https://william-rous.itch.io/type-help

The Rise of the Golden Idol https://store.steampowered.com/app/2716400/The_Rise_of_the_Golden_Idol/

Blue Prince https://store.steampowered.com/app/1569580/Blue_Prince/

Severance https://tv.apple.com/us/show/severance/umc.cmc.1srk2goyh2q2zdxcx605w8vtx

White Lotus https://www.max.com/shows/white-lotus/14f9834d-bc23-41a8-ab61-5c8abdbea505

Righteous Gemstones https://www.max.com/shows/righteous-gemstones/c3bd0a34-c4ce-4ca5-bd6c-820df7340671

Announcement: Eggplant Plays De Mol (2025 Season) https://eggplant.show/announcing-eggplant-plays-de-mol-2025-season

The Genius (Korean Game Show) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Genius_(TV_series)

Robin Ward's blog (links to socials included) https://eviltrout.com/

The Roottrees are Dead Discord server https://discord.com/invite/Z6Y5sE9Dgt

https://eggplant.show/
https://discord.gg/eggplant
https://www.patreon.com/eggplantshow

We're joined by (most of) the developers of UFO 50 - Derek Yu, Jon Perry, Eirik Suhrke, Tyriq Plummer, and Paul Hubans - to close out our series with a project-spanning discussion of their development process, how they're feeling a year out from launch, and so much more.

Next week: Who knows??

Audio edited by Dylan Shumway

Discussed in this episode:

868-HACK

https://868-hack.neocities.org/

Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games Presents: A Year of UFO 50 Finale Eggstravaganza - LIVE! Recording

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTHuGIU3wRI

Eggplant Merch!

https://cottonbureau.com/people/eggplant-the-secret-lives-of-games-podcast

A Year of Block Koala

https://redcircle.com/shows/4e5322d3-2ea6-42dc-bfb3-18a427384a68

Roguelike Celebration 2025 (Including Fireside Chat with Jon Perry!)

https://www.roguelike.club/event2025.html

Time Barons

https://www.time-barons.com/about.html

Middleditch and Schwartz

https://www.middleditchandschwartz.com/

SPONTANEANATION with Paul F. Tompkins

https://www.earwolf.com/show_archive/spontaneanation-with-paul-f-tompkins-archive/

Scrubbin' Trubble (Tyriq's upcoming game)

https://scrubbintrubble.com/

Madhouse (Paul's upcoming game)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3727130/MADHOUSE/

UFO 50 Physical Edition

https://www.fangamer.com/products/ufo-50-game-nintendo-switch-deluxe-edition

https://www.youtube.com/eggplantshow

http://discord.gg/eggplant

https://www.patreon.com/eggplantshow

Full audio from our epic live series finale, packed with previous series guests, tarot readings, mad libs, touching listener letters, and so much more. Come laugh and cry with us, say goodbye to UFO 50, and hear what's next for Eggplant!

Next week: Final interview with the UFO 50 recovery team!

Audio edited by Dylan Shumway

Discussed in this episode:

Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games Presents: A Year of UFO 50 Finale Eggstravaganza - LIVE! Twitch VOD

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2569097617

Eggplant Merch!

https://cottonbureau.com/people/eggplant-the-secret-lives-of-games-podcast

Zatoichi's YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@Zatoichi1962-m6v

Eggplant Party House Thread (for Gainsworthy's Party House of the Day challenge!)

https://discord.com/channels/690388280767807518/1286353349817663519

The Beauty of Games by Frank Lantz

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262552950/the-beauty-of-games/

A Life Well Wasted

https://alifewellwasted.com/

Beyond a Boundary by C. L. R. James

https://www.dukeupress.edu/beyond-a-boundary

Jacques' Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/jacquesnessmonster/

Sean's Portfolio

http://seanfeeley.com/

Sean's Twitch

https://www.twitch.tv/thebigfeel

Sounds from The Abyss mixes

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEdRlER1F5rGvaoE-XbV6jz6OymxQw4jx

Tim Follin - Chronos A Tapestry of Time theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2WgfEj_zjc&list=RDP2WgfEj_zjc&start_radio=1

Tim Follin - Ghouls and Ghosts Level 3

https://youtu.be/BTUD0XuXT8k?si=JpzOvQwBqS98v3EH

Martin Galway - Parallax Theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8LEA23R-Nc&list=RDA8LEA23R-Nc&start_radio=1

Stephane Picq - Gorbi (kgb)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z48ncQu5bh4&list=RDZ48ncQu5bh4&start_radio=1

Wladcy Ciemonski (lords of the darkness) theme by Leszek Holda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1MlvwuZc74&list=RDv1MlvwuZc74&start_radio=1

Starship Rendezvous - Mysticism (Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata)

https://youtu.be/YAILyCJ63iQ?si=XAaP2aah_91U29Zj&t=575

Kaimei-In (Stage 4) [Tiger Road (Arcade)] - Harumi Fujita, Tamayo Kawamoto

https://youtu.be/gGEG3DOnJlA?si=Kbii_9lz72OnOR0P&t=638

The Cartoncast

https://fancybat.com/cartoncast

https://www.youtube.com/eggplantshow
http://discord.gg/eggplant
https://www.patreon.com/eggplantshow