Talking Simulator
26 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsJordan Erica Webber talks about video games with interesting people who play them. Each episode is a short one-on-one conversation about a specific game or a relevant topic.
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Episodes
Mental illness as a plot twist with Katherine Cross
October 18, 2021 23:00 - 38 minutes - 26.6 MBAfter playing yet another indie game that used something that looked a lot like mental illness for its plot twist, Jordan wrote an article for Waypoint criticising the trope, which quoted a similarly critical review of the game Draugen by writer Katherine Cross. For this first episode of Season 3 of Talking Simulator, Jordan and Katherine pick apart the problems they have with the use of certain kinds of life experiences for surprise reveals in video games, and in doing so also discuss conte...
Majora's Mask with Shay Thompson
March 02, 2021 00:00 - 24 minutes - 17.2 MBAs the 35th anniversary of the Zelda franchise prompts rankings and discussion of which game was best, Breath of the Wild seems to top everyone’s lists. But not Shay Thompson’s. In this final episode of series 2 of Talking Simulator, she tells Jordan what she loves about a very different kind of Zelda game: the creepy time-looping Majora’s Mask. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Using play for everyday activism with mattie brice
February 16, 2021 00:00 - 39 minutes - 27.4 MBmattie brice is an activist, critic, designer, and currently Visiting Assistant Arts Professor at New York University’s Game Center. In this episode, she and Jordan discuss the effectiveness of so-called educational games and games for change, and mattie shares her ideas for how we can use play for everyday activism, touching on topics from diversity and inclusion to psychological experiments to BDSM. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
The future of narrative design with Leigh Alexander
February 02, 2021 00:00 - 27 minutes - 18.8 MBWriter and narrative designer Leigh Alexander, known for her work on games like Neo Cab and Reigns: Her Majesty, talks through some of her thoughts on the current state of narrative design in games and its potential for the future. How can narrative designers meet a younger audience where they already are? Is it possible to harness the undeniable power of social media in more constructive ways? And what can we learn from looking back to the games and other future-looking media of the past? ...
Storytelling with Kim Belair
January 19, 2021 00:00 - 37 minutes - 26 MBKim Belair is a writer and narrative designer who has worked on a wide range of games, from big franchises like the recent Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and the upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League to smaller, more unique titles like Neo Cab and Goodbye Volcano High. She talks Jordan through what it was like to work on Valhalla, the latest entry to a series with more than a decade of history, and how she contributed to what makes it different (no spoilers!). Then, the conversation ex...
I Am Dead with Catherine Johnson
January 05, 2021 00:00 - 25 minutes - 17.7 MBI Am Dead is a charming puzzle adventure game from the creators of Hohokum and Wilmot’s Warehouse, in which you play as a ghost finding other ghosts by exploring an island, unlocking the memories of its colourful characters, and using supernatural powers to peer through objects and find mementos linked to the dead. Catherine Johnson is an experienced writer of books, radio, television and more, but this is her first game. She tells Jordan what it was like to jump into this new medium, and h...
African game development with Sithe Ncube
December 22, 2020 00:00 - 35 minutes - 24.6 MBThe African continent has historically been underrepresented in the global game development scene, but game developers living there want to change that. Sithe Ncube, who is Zambian and currently studying Computer Science in South Africa, spends much of her spare time working with various initiatives supporting Black game developers, African game developers, and specifically African women making games. Among other work, Sithe is a strategic advisor for Humble Bundle’s new $1 million a year B...
The Sims 4 with Danielle (EbonixSims)
December 08, 2020 00:00 - 37 minutes - 25.5 MBThe Sims is one of the most popular series of games in the world, in part because it caters to many players who are underrepresented elsewhere. But players like Danielle have long been dissatisfied with the way this series represents Black people, with fewer options for skin tones and hair styles than their white equivalents and often lower quality for those options that do exist. Danielle, otherwise known as EbonixSims, tells Jordan how she started making custom content for The Sims 4 to f...
Young game designers with Elizabeth Orji-Smith
November 24, 2020 00:00 - 38 minutes - 26.7 MBIn 2019, Elizabeth Orji-Smith was one of the winners of that year’s BAFTA Young Game Designers competition for their game concept Creatively Bankrupt, an action RPG that uses heists to explore topics like unionisation in creative industries. In this episode, they tell Jordan where they got the idea for the game, what they’re up to now, and what they want from the future. The 2021 BAFTA Young Game Designers competition is open for entries until March 2021. Sadly, a few days before this episo...
Fictional games with Brittney Morris
November 10, 2020 00:00 - 33 minutes - 23.3 MBBrittney Morris is a writer of novels and video games. Her debut novel Slay (2019) is about a fictional online multiplayer game of the same name, designed by a teenager called Kiera as a secret safe space for her and other Black players. In the novel, Kiera faces a crisis when the rest of the world finds out about her game, but this conversation doesn’t spoil what happens next. Instead, Brittney tells Jordan how she designed her fictional game, and what it was like to go on to write for rea...
Before I Forget with Chella Ramanan
October 27, 2020 00:00 - 35 minutes - 24.2 MBFor this first episode of series 2, Jordan invites her good friend Chella Ramanan to talk about her new game Before I Forget, which tells the story of a woman with dementia. They discuss the main characters—Indian cosmologist Sunita and her pianist husband Dylan—and how Chella wrote mental illness into the game, which may well teach you something you didn’t know about what having dementia is really like. This episode contains discussion of some key moments from the game, which some listener...
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (cultural events) with Marie Foulston
April 10, 2020 13:00 - 26 minutes - 18.4 MBIn the final episode of this five-part mini-series all about Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Marie explains how she came to host one of the Now Play This at Home events in Animal Crossing, and describes some of the other cultural events she’s seen take place in this game and others in the series. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Bunny Day) with Pip Warr
April 09, 2020 13:00 - 26 minutes - 17.9 MBIn episode four of this five-part mini-series all about Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Jordan and Pip discuss the run up to Bunny Day and its much-maligned proliferation of eggs. Since this episode was recorded, Nintendo has reduced the rate at which eggs appear, but people are still annoyed, especially in the Northern Hemisphere where the event coincides with cherry blossom season. The big question, of course, is: would we be this frustrated with the fortnight of changes to the game if we w...
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (multiplayer) with V Buckenham
April 08, 2020 13:00 - 22 minutes - 15.7 MBIn the third episode of this five-part mini series all about Animal Crossing: New Horizons, V tells Jordan what delights and frustrates them about the online multiplayer aspects of the game, and the online community around it. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (learning) with Chella Ramanan
April 07, 2020 13:00 - 23 minutes - 16.4 MBIn the second episode of this five-part mini series all about Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Jordan and Chella discuss how well the game introduces his systems to players. With millions playing New Horizons and sharing their progress on social media, what is it like for those players who are taking things more slowly and learning as they go? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (min-maxing) with Kat Brewster
April 06, 2020 13:00 - 31 minutes - 21.3 MBWhile preparing for Series 2 in the midst of a pandemic, we’ve made this bonus mini-series about a game that has arrived at an opportune moment for millions of isolated and anxious people worldwide: Animal Crossing: New Horizons. In this first episode, Jordan and Kat discuss the notion of min-maxing and the discomfort that comes when the process of optimisation involves the consumption of natural resources. And, since Kat is a researcher of archives, they pose the question: why do we collec...
Telling Lies with Lizi Attwood
September 09, 2019 23:00 - 37 minutes - 26 MBMiraculously, this episode about the investigative full-motion video game Telling Lies has absolutely no spoilers. Instead, the game’s sole programmer Lizi Attwood explains how she developed the virtual desktop with which the player interacts, what it was like to work on a game that – by its FMV nature – basically had no content for a large part of development, and how the changing reflection of the player character seen in the background of the screen at all times actually works. Jordan al...
Parenthood with Keza MacDonald
August 26, 2019 23:00 - 35 minutes - 24.6 MBThe Guardian’s video games editor Keza MacDonald is about to have a baby, at which point she will have – as she puts it – “a bunch of kids”. She joined Jordan to talk about life as a parent who plays and works in video games, and about how parents are represented in the games themselves. Why don’t kids’ games feature parental characters? Why did we suddenly get an influx of dads? And where are all the mums? For more chat from the perspective of parents who play games, make sure to check out...
Esports with Frankie Ward
August 12, 2019 23:00 - 35 minutes - 24.6 MBThe umbrella of “games” contains many categories, and one that Jordan knows very little about is esports. Luckily, esports host Frankie Ward – who you may know as the woman who appeared in a shark costume when she presented the PC Gaming Show at E3 2019 – took the time to explain why she loves esports so much, and to answer questions like: Why have publishers failed to create brand new esports? How do these digital sports compare to the more traditional physical ones? And how does the ind...
Elsinore with Katie Chironis
July 29, 2019 23:00 - 28 minutes - 19.5 MBIn this episode: another time loop game. In Elsinore, you play as Ophelia trying to change the events of the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet, which have been condensed down to a four-day loop. Every time Ophelia dies or fails to avert disaster, the loop resets. Since all Ophelia keeps between loops is any knowledge gained, the game is all about choosing what to say to whom and when. Jordan invited Elsinore’s writer and team lead Katie Chironis on to ask more about the process of building this ...
Outer Wilds with Maggie Tan
July 15, 2019 23:00 - 24 minutes - 16.8 MBOuter Wilds is an open-world mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop, which has proven so popular that people are already calling it a potential Game of the Year for 2019. But it’s not flawless. Or, at least: not every player has enjoyed every minute of the game. Jordan invited her friend and colleague Maggie Tan onto the podcast to talk about how very physical frustrations can affect the enjoyment of a game that’s all about the acquisition of knowledge. This episode co...
Feral Vector with Chella Ramanan
July 01, 2019 23:00 - 27 minutes - 18.8 MBCompare and contrast the previous episode on E3 with this one on Feral Vector, an annual festival of games and play that takes place in an old church up a hill in a Yorkshire town called Hebden Bridge. Chella Ramanan, a games writer and one of the founders of POC in Play, explains why this left-field festival is so important to her and to the UK games scene. Chella also wrote about Feral Vector for gameindustry.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
E3 2019 with Laura Dale
June 17, 2019 23:00 - 37 minutes - 25.8 MBLaura Dale has been following E3 for 15 years, first personally and then professionally. She tells us how it has changed in that time, whether it still has anything to offer, and what E3 2019 says about the current state of video games. Very few actual games are discussed. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Heaven's Vault with Philippa Warr
June 03, 2019 23:00 - 36 minutes - 24.8 MBHeaven’s Vault is an “archeological science fiction adventure game” from Inkle. In the game, you – as archeologist Aliya – sail the Nebula from moon to moon, exploring ruins and meeting people and, most importantly, translating an ancient language called… Ancient. Philippa Warr wrote a glowing review of Heaven’s Vault for PC Gamer, so Jordan invited her on the podcast to explain more about why she loved it so much. While this episode is almost entirely about the translation puzzles, no actu...
Astrologaster with Katharine Neil
May 20, 2019 23:00 - 39 minutes - 27.1 MBAstrologaster (2019) is “a story-driven astrological comedy game set in Shakespeare’s London”, a genre that must surely soon be as popular as the battle royale. It was developed by a whole team of people for independent developer Nyamyam, and designed and directed by Jennifer Schneidereit. But Jordan wanted to talk to its narrative designer and writer Katharine Neil, to find out how she managed to squeeze history, astrology, and comedy into a game. Content warning: this episode contains men...
Award-worthiness with Kat Brewster
May 03, 2019 13:35 - 37 minutes - 25.8 MBAfter attending the 2019 BAFTA Games Awards, Jordan wanted to talk about how video games are tackled by this venerable British institution. Kat Brewster, a PhD student who a) is not British, and b) has not played any of the winning games, was the perfect guest. This episode contains minor spoilers for the beginning of God of War, the beginning of Life is Strange 2, and the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey DLC Bloodline. In a previous version of this episode we misattributed the creation of Queers ...