Today we talk about that stuff that goes in your ears when you play a video game. No, not the wet fingers of an annoyingly immature roommate or little brother (though, in this case I’m pretending both the immature roommate and the little brother are named Wily, so getting a “wet Willy” at least makes some kind of sense). No, we are talking about video game music!

Join us as we talk about the music we’re listening to and the game music we love. Last, but not least, join us in a video game music listening party of sorts as we listen to four tracks created by the Flyover Indies community, which can be listened to as part of the full Flyover Dailies 2021 album, available here: https://flyoverindies.bandcamp.com/album/flyover-dailies-2021

The sounds we mentioned are:

• Chicory: A Colorful Tale, by Lena Raine (also known for Celeste, Minecraft, and Build Wars 2)
• Hadestown, both the concept album and the original cast recording
• Paradise Killer, soundtrack
• Horizon Forbidden West

The Flyover Indies songs and song-makers we mentioned are:

• A Walk in the Moss (Day 1), Nash High
• A Drive Through the Autumn Hills in 1985, Frazier Krohn
• Moon Boots, Gage Bradley
• Leitmotif (Day 2), Casey Young (Element Cy)

The mentioners of the aforementioned mentionables are:

• Charlotte Trible (@ctrble)  - co-founder of Flyover Indies and game developer
• Gage Bradley (@DrumGadget_433) - member of Flyover Indies, musician, and game developer
• Nash High (@nash_high) - member of Flyover Indies, musician, and game developer
• Caleb J Ross (@calebjross.com / https://calebjross.com) - member of Flyover Indies and game developer

If you have any comments to make on this or any Flyover Indies Podcast episode, feel free to Tweet us @Flyoverindies or email us at contact@flyoverindies.party. We might just read your tweets or emails in a future episode.

Play some of our games here: https://itch.io/games/tag-flyover-indies

Credits

Intro and outro music by Nash (https://www.nashhigh.com)

Subscribe to the Flyover Indies Podcast:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Google Podcasts
• More places to subscribe

Video games are input/output systems, but unlike other forms of software, video games aren’t coded for efficiency. Rather, they want players to interact in a variety of ways to create a variety of outputs to maintain a feedback loop that aims to entertain rather than aims to solve a single, rote need. So, inputs, both the physical mechanisms and the button actions, are an incredibly important aspect of video games. Join us as we spend some time discussing video game controls.

The games we mentioned are:

• Typing of the Dead
• Bucking Bruno
• Mario Teaches Typing
• Overcooked 2
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons

The game-making lessons we learned are:

• Button combos don’t have to be complicated if the designers leverage “domains of knowledge” (also mentioned: Caleb’s video, “Button Combinations Should Be Complicated! Why Aren't They? (Video Game Controls)”
• “input recycling”... “input pairing”...? Almost every virtual action in the game shares a physical input with another virtual action (Overcooked 2)
• Introducing more complex controls over time (Animal Crossing New Horizons)

The mentioners of the aforementioned mentionables are:

• Charlotte Trible (@ctrble)  - co-founder of Flyover Indies and game developer
• Gage Bradley (@DrumGadget_433) - member of Flyover Indies, musician, and game developer
• Caleb J Ross (@calebjross.com / https://calebjross.com) - member of Flyover Indies and game developer

If you have any comments to make on this or any Flyover Indies Podcast episode, feel free to Tweet us @Flyoverindies or email us at contact@flyoverindies.party. We might just read your tweets or emails in a future episode.

Play some of our games here: https://itch.io/games/tag-flyover-indies

Credits

Intro and outro music by Nash (https://www.nashhigh.com)

Subscribe to the Flyover Indies Podcast:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/520Gv2fhNb5riQS0wlT0fR
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/flyover-indies-podcast-game-making-in-kansas-city/id1597656689
• Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/flyover-indies-podcast-game-making-in-kansas-city
• Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy83MmY0ODAxOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw

More places to subscribe: https://anchor.fm/flyover-indies

In this magical episode of the Flyover Indies Podcast, we discuss brainstorming. Brainstorming is an incredibly valuable tool for generating ideas, bonding teams, and creating motivation. Specifically with game development, brainstorming is a wonderful way to generate lots of verbs and mechanics for a game…which we do LIVE at the end of this episode. So, stay tuned through to the end to learn lots of cool ways to solve puzzles with lasers and cats.

Rules for brainstorming: https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/7-simple-rules-of-brainstorming

Haakon Faste and Eric Paulos are the creators of the grid-style brainstorming technique that Caleb mentioned. Good luck finding examples online though. I (Caleb) couldn’t find any.

The games we mentioned are:

• Unpacking
• Shin Megami Tensi 5
• Mass Effect 2

The game-making lessons we mentioned are:

• Lack of exposition + personal artifacts = introspective environmental storytelling. Gamifying the mundane. Anywhere decisions can be made (ex: where to place physical items in a room) a game can be born. (Unpacking). Shout out to Ian Bogost’s “How to do Things with Video Games.”
• All characterization is with dialog, conversations with demons. Fiction writing rule: Dialog, not exposition, makes for the best characters. Show don't tell. This game is a reminder that mechanics alone don't need to bear the weight of a game alone; the "what a crazy character that is" appeal can support and, maybe even, still the show. (Shin Megami Tensei 5)
• Obligation is inherently less motivating than discovery. Obligation lacks personal investment. (Mass Effect 2)

The mentioners of the aforementioned mentionables are:

• Charlotte Trible (@ctrble)  - co-founder of Flyover Indies and game developer
• Gage Bradley (@DrumGadget_433) - member of Flyover Indies, musician, and game developer
• Caleb J Ross (@calebjross.com / https://calebjross.com) - member of Flyover Indies and game developer

If you have any comments to make on this or any Flyover Indies Podcast episode, feel free to Tweet us @Flyoverindies or email us at contact@flyoverindies.party. We might just read your tweets or emails in a future episode.

Play some of our games here: https://itch.io/games/tag-flyover-indies

Credits

Intro and outro music by Nash (https://www.nashhigh.com)