Topic: Silver Spook Podcast

[SilverSpook]

EDIT 1/15/2018: Audio files of the podcasts for those who requested!

Episode 15 - Nathan Hamley creator of Guard Duty]Episode 15 - Nathan Hamley creator of Guard Duty[/url]

Episode 14 - Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games

Episode 13 - Francisco Gonzalez of Grundislav Games

Episode 12 - Japes Hirons creator of Neon Sword

Episode 11 - Jonas Waever lead designer of "The Nameless Mod" for Deus Ex 1

Episode 10 - Jamie Patton creator of Spinnortality

Episode 9 - Primordia Writer Mark Yohalem

Episode 7 - Technobabylon creator James Dearden

So here's a thing!  And the first episode (and probably 3 more) are featuring the veteran AGSer Fitz, whom I'm sure you all know.

Here's a snippet:

Watch the entirety of Episode 1: Dystopias East to West, Past to Future

In this episode, Silver Spook and Fitz discuss what the future holds, growing up in Soviet-era Poland and Americanized Hawaii, dystopias past and present, sci-fi, cyberpunk, neo-noir and synthwave!

Check out Fitz' stuff here: https://twitter.com/Colm_E_Fitz

Silver Spook Games site: http://silverspookgames.com

[SilverSpook]

Episode 2:

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Check out Fitz' stuff here: https://twitter.com/Colm_E_Fitz

Silver Spook Games site: http://silverspookgames.com

In this episode, Silver Spook and Fitz talk AI-poclypse, impossible Polish tongue-twisters, pidgins, censorship vs commodification, humans who photosynthesize, and more!

[SilverSpook]

Episode 3 - With Glenjamin, creator of AGS survival horror game, "Project Beach House"!

[SilverSpook]

Anyone else interested in being in a future Silver Spook Podcast, give me a ring!

[SilverSpook]

In this episode, Silver Spook and Fitz discuss the possibility that reality is a simulation run by super-intelligent AI, the bogusness of IQ tests, surviving in the concrete jungle vs literal jungle, and embodied vs discorporate consciousness.

[Stupot]

I just listened to the first one and liked it a lot. I especially enjoyed it when you talked about your respective backgrounds in Hawaii and Soviet-era Poland.

I will listen to some more soon. Have you thought of putting them up on iTunes or some other downloadable format. I want to be able to listen while I'm walking about with my phone in my pocket, and the YouTube app doesn't like that.

[SilverSpook]

Thanks for checking it out, Stupot!

Sure, I will look into uploading the podcasts somewhere else like iTunes if folks might be interested in that. If anyone else has a suggestion, let me know also.  Would Soundcloud work?  I already have an account there.

[SilverSpook]

In this episode, Silver Spook and Fitz discuss Ghost In The Shell, Bladerunner 2049, How not to make sci fi and comic book movies, and the really great ones of recent memory -- Deadpool, Logan, and District 9.

EDIT: Feel free to also post here about things you'd like to hear about. If you'd like to hear more about being a one-person indie-dev trying to get a game business started in 2017, or more about the individual lives of myself and guests, or more about sci-fi topics, writing, or music, or just more banter and BSing, feel free to ask!

[Chicky]

Regarding 2049, seems it's going to go the same way as the Johansson GitS film, A fun Sci-Fi in it's own regard but a pretty poor homage to the original, missing the core themes that made the source material so important.

I mean, in the second trailer alone there is a huge explosion, Gosling diving across the room to save Ford, a fast paced fist fight, flying car chase, a high speed car crash and one of those notorious 'I can shoot everyone in the room' jump cuts. Blade Runner was definitely NOT about action, it was a slow film soaked in dreary atmosphere, it was about exploring what it means to be human living on a planet that most have abandoned. I know it's a trailer, but considering Blade Runner had two 'action' scenes at most (if you can call them that) I don't think what we've seen in the trailer is a very good sign for this new instalment.

Besides, at which point did they say 'Hey, let's grade the whole film amber so it looks just like Deus Ex: HR!

(p.s. still gonna watch it day one!)

[C.L.I.C.K.]

(p.s. still gonna watch it day one!)

And that, kids, is why they keep making them.

[Chicky]

I like to think of it as supporting the genre. If a film of this calibre does well in the box office, we will likely see more original work coming out of that genre, which is a good thing. I've had enough of super hero stories!

[SilverSpook]

I am also going to camp out at the theater in trenchcoat and mirrorshades and my wife will be in full Raccoon-like Pris make up.

Then, shortly after seeing it, break into full nerdrage on social media about how inauthentic and Hollywoodized it was.

If it at least brings *the original* Blade Runner high up on kids nowadays(tm) radar and primes younger audiences for games like Neofeud, then I am not going to complain too much about gratuitous explosions reflecting off Ryan Gosling's 8-pack abs.

[SilverSpook]

In this episode, sci-fi author and Neofeud voice actor Brandon Hovey joins Silver Spook to discuss insider-tips on bringing a game to Steam, how to promote your indie game, book, or other artwork, and more!

Check out Brandon Hovey's stuff: http://brandonchovey.net

[SilverSpook]

This week I kinda did a livestream / podcast hybrid. The topic?  The scourge of asset flipping that harms gaming and *actual* game developers, Unity, Unreal, and various game engines, robotic mommies, and why it's not all fun and sun living in Hawaii.

&t=252s

[SilverSpook]

Anyone interested in being on the Silver Spook podcast let me know!   I will probably be doing a solo-video-essay type thing this coming week in between handling Neofeud's Steam release, but would love to chat with some indie developers.

[SilverSpook]

Episode #7 - Technobabylon Creator James Dearden!

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In this episode, Silver Spook tries not to flip out talking to James Dearden, the man behind Technobabylon, an amazing cyberpunk adventure game. James gives exciting news on Technobabylon 2 and his other projects, his take on Blade Runner 2049, cyberpunk generally, a future where flying cars exist only in Dubai, the dystopian / utopian potentialities of the internet, how he handled ethnicity, gender, orientation, etc. in Technobabylon, the State of Indie Games / Adventure Games, getting Technobabylon on VHS and Panasonic microwave.  Plus, Silver Spook and James express mutual love of Deus Ex, and why a game that is on par with the original cyberpunk FPS/RPG masterpiece will at last be made -- most likely by an indie studio.

Here's an audio file of the podcast if you just want the mp3.

[Tycho Magnetic Anomaly]

is your pod casting done with twitch? I cant seem to find a link to where you are streaming from.

[SilverSpook]

The podcasts are uploaded to Youtube. Here's a link to my Youtube channel.

[SilverSpook]

In this episode, Silver Spook discusses the problem in the game industry of the norm of "crunch time" -- extreme, often unpaid overwork -- that causes physical and mental health problems, exploits workers financially, even causes divorces and children with absent parents, while executives continue to make millions or billions. What it is, why it happens, and some potential pathways to changing this damaging and exploitative practice.

[SilverSpook]

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In this episode, Silver Spook speaks with Mark Yohalem, writer of Primordia, a legendary sci-fi point-and-click adventure game and a big inspiration behind Neofeud.

Mark and yours truly discuss the State of Adventure Games which somewhat resembles that of Schrodinger's Cat (never quite alive or dead!), Primordia and the making thereof, Mark's exciting new 'mythological, mid-apocalypse RPG' in development with Wormwood Studios,  some insider game-dev shop-talk, Unity vs Adventure Game Studio pros and cons, Mark's and my favorite cyberpunk, the difference between depressing and melancholy, the psychological selling-points of post-apocalypses, why appellate lawyers may be cannibal shishkebabs in said apocalypse, and much more!

Wormwood Studios (Mark's indie game company): http://www.wormwoodstudios.com/

Follow Mark on Twitter: http://www.wormwoodstudios.com/

[SilverSpook]

Silver Spook Podcast #10 - Spinnortality: a game where you, "Run a global megacorporation. Manipulate culture, destroy governments and become immortal."

In this episode, Silver Spook speaks with Jamie Patton, creator of Spinnortality, a groundbreaking cyberpunk strategy game in mid-Kickstarter.

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Spinnortality website: https://spinnortality.com/

Spinnortality kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...

Follow Jamie: https://twitter.com/james_d_patton

[SilverSpook]

Silver Spook talks with Jonas Waever, the Chief Creative Officer of The Nameless Mod, the most epic and well-known Deus Ex total conversion mod of all time. Two veteran Deus Ex modders discuss why Deus Ex 1 still shows up in lists of "top 10 games ever", the historical context of the title, and what an indie cyberpunk FPS-RPG hybrid on par with Deus Ex 1 might look like. (Full disclosure: Silver Spook is currently working on an un-announced Deus Ex 1-like game.)

Other topics include a retrospective on The Nameless Mod by it's director, Terminus Machina (Silver Spook's Deus Ex total conversion), the nature of conspiracy in Deus Ex and how things have changed, takes on Blade Runner/BR 2049, Neuromancer versus Snow Crash, why single player narrative games aren't dead, and games industry shop-talk from two commercial indie game developers.

Check out Jonas' game company, Logic Artists: www.logicartists.com

Silver Spook Games: https://twitter.com/SilvrSpookGames

The Nameless Mod: http://thenamelessmod.com/

Terminus Machina (Silver Spook's mod): http://www.moddb.com/mods/terminus-machina

[SilverSpook]

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In this episode, Silver Spook speaks with Japes Hirons of Peahead Games, on his upcoming Cyberpunk RPG "Neon Sword", a game in which you can use commerce or violence as your weapon of choice, purchase and manage businesses with legal fronts and black-market ends, clean up the gritty cyber-noir city up or make it worse.

Japes and Christian (Silver Spook) also discuss:

-The difficulties and struggles of homeless populations and social decay in cities, which both developers dealt with first hand
-Game dev while Married With Children
-What it is like working with Keystone Games (Peahead Games' publisher)
-Working with Jane Whittaker, CTO of Keystone Games and game/film industry legend who worked on everything from Alien Vs. Predator to 007 for Nintendo 64 to actual James Bond films at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
-Jane getting Keanu Reeves to come on the next Silver Spook Podcast, dressed up as Neo, so Japes can ask Keanu if he is his father.
-What life is like in Hull, North England, and what it means to 'get your push-iron nicked in the ten-foot.'

keystone-games.com/our-games/neon-sword/

Keystone Games: http://www.keystone-games.com/

Support Silver Spook Podcasts and Games on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofeud

[SilverSpook]

A little behind on the podcasting recently, but the holidays have been hectic (as per usual!) but I hope to be getting one of these up within the next bit.

[SilverSpook]

In this episode, Silver Spook talks to Francisco Gonzalez, game designer behind titles such as "Shardlight" and "A Golden Wake" published by Wadjet Eye Games. Topics include:

-Francisco's most recent project, "Lamplight City", an exciting detective game that allows you to "fail forward" set in a steampunk-ish 19th century city.
-Indie Game Developing in 2018.
-The finer points of Shardlight and A Golden Wake
-The evolution of Cyberpunk and Steampunk from literary movement to subculture to fashion / marketing accessory
-Silver Spook hosting a new hit TV show, "America's Got Gamedevs"

Lamplight City is coming in 2018, and if you're into detective games and/or adventure games, be sure to add it to your Steam Wishlist! http://store.steampowered.com/app/673850/Neofeud/

Grundislav Games Twitter: https://twitter.com/GrundislavGames

[SilverSpook]

In this episode, Christian "Silver Spook" Miller talks to Dave Gilbert, head of Wadjet Eye Games, adventure game publisher of the Blackwell Series, Technobabylon, Primordia, Gemini Rue, Resonance, Shardlight, and their newest upcoming game, "Unavowed". Topics include:

-Unavowed, the next Wadjet Eye game featuring a new dark urban fantasy world, original story, and five party members.
-The entire Wadjet Eye Games catalog, and the strengths of each developer.
-The evolution of the indie game industry over the 12 years of WEG's existence.
-The finer points of voice acting, writing, game design, game art
-Running an indie game company while being a husband and parent, balancing / interweaving of personal life and game dev.
-Dave being a merciless self-critic of his own games as Christian plays Angel's Advocate.
-Top-secret literary references in the Blackwell Series, revealed!
-What it's like to be the ultimate grandmaster of adventure games. (Dave declines the award)

Unavowed is coming in 2018, do consider adding it to your Steam Wishlist! http://store.steampowered.com/app/336140/Unavowed/

Dave Gilbert's / WEG Twitter: https://twitter.com/WadjetEyeGames

Support Silver Spook Podcasts and Games on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofeud

Check out the rest of the podcasts:

[LameNick]

Hi SilverSpook, I love your podcasts very much, just wanted to ask if its possible to upload also just the audiofile somewhere else than on youtube next time you release an episode. (Just in case its not any trouble, if it is please ignore me.)

[Stupot]

Hi SilverSpook, I love your podcasts very much, just wanted to ask if its possible to upload also just the audiofile somewhere else than on youtube next time you release an episode. (Just in case its not any trouble, if it is please ignore me.)

Same. I almost exclusively listen to podcasts when I’m walking about or traveling to work, and YouTube on iPhone is a terrible combination for that. I’d be listening religiously if the audio was on iTunes or Spotify, but currently I’m behind by almost s many episodes as there have been recorded :-)

[SilverSpook]

LameNick and Stupot: I will look into converting all of the podcasts to an audiofile that you can just download.

[m0ds]

spook, you might want to consider tunecore for podcasts, osts and other audio things onto itunes, spotify, google play etc. $50 a year (for an album to reach all of them, not sure about singles). And I enjoyed the podcast with dave g very much, well done!

[SilverSpook]

In this episode, Christian "Silver Spook" Miller talks to Nathan Hamley, of Sick Chicken Studios and lead designer of "Guard Duty: A point-and-click adventure through space and time", due out Q3 2018. Topics include:

-Guard Duty, a great looking adventure game which bears similarity to Discworld and Cyberpunk adventures like Blade Runner, but fuses them in an innovative, intriguing way.
-Cyberpunk! Deus Ex, Ghost In The Shell, Metal Gear Solid, William Gibson, the evolution of the genre, attempts at co-option, etc.
-Finer ports of art design and visual storytelling
-Duct taping your bumper on and go-fund-me to pay for a 20x10 shipping container to indiedev in (#livinthedream!)
-Silver Spook tries to coax Keanu Reeves (again) into being on the Silver Spook Podcast. Subscribe to get the scoop on how that pans out!

Guard Duty is coming in Q3 2018, look out for it on Steam and GOG!

Sick Chicken Studios: sickchicken.com

Sick Chicken Twitter: https://twitter.com/sickchickstudio

Support Silver Spook Podcasts and Games on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofeud


IN ADDITION! By popular request, I am now adding audio file versions of the podcast to the original post of this thread. You can also get those audio files right here:

EDIT 1/15/2018: Audio files of the podcasts for those who requested!

Episode 15 - Nathan Hamley creator of Guard Duty

Episode 14 - Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games

Episode 13 - Francisco Gonzalez of Grundislav Games

Episode 12 - Japes Hirons creator of Neon Sword

Episode 11 - Jonas Waever lead designer of "The Nameless Mod" for Deus Ex 1

Episode 10 - Jamie Patton creator of Spinnortality

Episode 9 - Primordia Writer Mark Yohalem

Episode 7 - Technobabylon creator James Dearden

[Chicky]

Hey, thanks for the chat Chris! Was fun rambling about cyberpunk and gamedev

[SilverSpook]

[SilverSpook]

In this episode, Christian "Silver Spook" Miller talks to Sophia Park, leader and co-founder of Aether Interactive. Localhost is their most well-known title to date; a great cyberpunk gem and 4th-best selling game on Itch.io in 2017. In Localhost, you play a network administrator whose job it is to erase some corrupted hard drives containing artificial intelligences. To accomplish this, you need to talk to the AIs and convince them to unlock the drives and allow themselves to be deleted.

Topics include:
-Localhost and Aether Interactive's upcoming project, "Subserial Network"
-Techno-mysticism
-Whether an iPhone, the Philip K. Dick robot, or Alexa is conscious.
-Is the technological Singularity and subsequent superintelligent machines out salvation, doom, or something weirder?
-A psychoanalysis of why Elon Musk is launching Teslas into space as a form of mid-life crisis, and what that could mean for all sentient beings.
-What is love, what would the love of synthetic consciousnesses be like.
-What is to be done about billionaires, AI created by billionaires, and possibly billionaire AI?
-What is to be done about the impending electron revolt and socialist Valentine's Day.

Aether Interactive: http://aether.in.net/

Sophia's Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiapark_

Sophia's Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/web/accounts/147494

[SilverSpook]

In this episode, Christian "Silver Spook" Miller talks to Joshua Neurnberger, creator of Gemini Rue, a stellar, award winning adventure game, including PC Gamer "Game of The Year" 2012 in the adventure category. Discover a world where life is cheap, identities are bought & sold, & a quest for redemption can change the fate of a whole galaxy.
 
Topics include:

-What it was like making Gemini Rue over the course of 3 years as a solo project.
-Influences behind Gemini Rue.
-The art design choices in Gemini Rue (limited purple / green color palette, use of visible brush strokes over pixelation)
-The storytelling techniques in Gemini Rue such as the use of dual narrative and adding key twist reveals during a gun fight to heighten tension.
-The benefits and drawbacks of procedural generation vs fully scripted, directed experiences.
-A wide range of sci-fi and cyberpunk media including Blade Runner, Cowboy Bebop, Inception, Neuromancer / Snowcrash, System Shock, and more.
-Dave Gilbert's army of testers.
-If there is any chance of a Gemini Rue sequel (listen to find out!)

Josh's website: http://www.thejburger.com/

Support Silver Spook Podcasts and Games on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofeud

Check out the rest of the podcasts:

Get Neofeud on Itch.io! https://silverspook.itch.io/neofeud

Get Neofeud on Steam! http://steamcommunity.com/app/673850

Check out the website: http://silverspookgames.com

Silver Spook Games Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/silverspookgames/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SilvrSpookGames

Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/web/accounts/259792

Silver Spook Games' next project "Dysmaton": https://silverspook.itch.io/forgotten-city

[SilverSpook]

In this episode, Christian "Silver Spook" Miller talks to The Space Quest Historian, a well-known promoter and friend of the original Space Quest creators in the adventure game world.  He does regular and very entertaining Youtube Let's Plays, Twitch Streams, seasonal podcasts and is a co-host of The Back Seat Designers (who interviewed John Romero and I am very jealous).

SPOILER ALERT: Skip from 30:00 to 45:00 to avoid spoilers if you haven't played Neofeud!
 
Topics include:

-A "history" of the Space Quest Historian.
-How the point-and-click and adventure game scene has evolved over the course of the past several decades.
-Space Quest Historian's take on Neofeud.
-Silver Spook elaborates on the meaning(s) of the ending of Neofeud, and how that plays into Neofeud 2, currently in production.
-Whether Let's Players and Twitch streamers hurt or help game sales.
-Amayirot Akago's amazing voice acting (also a friend of SQH)
-Whether to call this the "Space Spook Podcast", or perhaps the "Silver Quest Podcast: a Cyberquestorian Adventure-Punk Idle Game."
-Whether Proto-J will be making a guest appearance on the Back Seat Designers at some point in the season to whack them dwanky mu'flakkas.

Space Quest Historian Site: spacequesthistorian.com

SQH Twitter: https://twitter.com/SQHistorian

Support Silver Spook Podcasts and Games on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofeud

Check out the rest of the podcasts:

Get Neofeud on Itch.io! https://silverspook.itch.io/neofeud

Get Neofeud on Steam! http://steamcommunity.com/app/673850

Check out the website: http://silverspookgames.com

Silver Spook Games Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/silverspookgames/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SilvrSpookGames

Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/web/accounts/259792

Silver Spook Games' next project "Dysmaton": https://silverspook.itch.io/forgotten-city

[SilverSpook]

No podcast this week, but instead, I streamed the AGS Awards 2017!

[SilverSpook]

My interview with William Gibson, edit-in-progress! Cyberpunk as co-optable movement vs subversive tendency, misfit matchmaking, Neofeud, Ray Bradbury in sleeveless jean jackets and more, from the master himself.

&t=5s

[Hobo]

When I saw a thread update, I was hoping for a full interview already. Stop teasing people, you monster, and release the damn thing
A neat clip though, pumps the anticipation through the roof.

[SilverSpook]

William Gibson on the Silver Spook Podcast!

An illuminating deep-dive into "cyberpunk" and the atemporal torch-passing of subversive sci-fi mindfuckery from British New Wave to CP to Black Mirror and Ned Beauman.

Topics include:
-cyberpunk as co-optable movement vs subversive tendency
-misfit matchmaking on the WGB
-Ray Bradbury in sleeveless jean jackets
-the evolution of the semiotics and culture of cyberpunk
-techno-shintoism and Buddhist robotic dog burials
-the inside-scoop on Johnny Mnemonic
-and more, from the master himself!

(Also, my cyberpunk adventure Neofeud is on sale for just 5 more days! https://store.steampowered.com/app/673850/Neofeud/ )

@Hobo: Sorry about that! I told some folks I was gonna get it up Wednesday but I ran into some tough video editing issues (I had 3 cameras and usually just do audio so there were lot of kinks to work out.)

But here it is!

[SilverSpook]

In this episode, Christian "Silver Spook" Miller talks to Jordi de Paco of Deconstructeam, the developer of "The Red Strings Club" - "a cyberpunk narrative experience about fate and happiness featuring the extensive use of pottery, bartending and impersonating people on the phone to take down a corporate conspiracy." Published under Devolver Digital, and named one of the "Best Games of 2018 So Far" by Gamespot!
 
I have played and loved this game, and highly recommend it to any cyberpunk, adventure, or visual novel fans.

Red Strings Club on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/589780/The_Red_Strings_Club/

Deconstructeam Site: http://www.deconstructeam.com/en

Support Silver Spook Podcasts and Games on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofeud

Check out the rest of the podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

Get Neofeud on Itch.io! https://silverspook.itch.io/neofeud

Get Neofeud on Steam! http://steamcommunity.com/app/673850

Check out the website: http://silverspookgames.com

Silver Spook Games Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/silverspookg...

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SilvrSpookGames

Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/web/accounts/...

Silver Spook Games' next project "Neofeud 2": https://silverspook.itch.io/forgotten...

[SilverSpook]

In this podcast I'll be attempting to discuss some serious topics, including the suicides and deaths of some of my friends in the game and game development community. Many of my friends and colleagues in nerd, geek, and adjacent culture have been succumbing to depression, self-harm, contemplating suicide, or taking things out on others. This really breaks my heart, and this video is me trying to confront this tragic reality, deal with it myself, and perhaps help some of these guys out there who are in a bad place by sharing my story.

I'll be opening up about my experiences with bullying, isolation, and depression throughout school, being a virgin for 20+ years, feelings of inadequacy, hopelessness, lack purpose or direction. A lot of the things which a lot of younger men are dealing with now, and how I ultimately came to a better place, doing what I love (making video games I am passionate about, and are creatively fulfilling), with a woman whom I adore, raising two amazing kids, and have never been happier.

Remember, there is hope!

How to block websites from your computer: https://www.wikihow.com/Block-a-Website-on-Your-Computer

Support Silver Spook Podcasts and Games on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/neofeud

Check out the rest of the podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

Get Silver Spook's cyberpunk adventure game, Neofeud, on Steam! http://steamcommunity.com/app/673850

Get Neofeud on Itch.io! https://silverspook.itch.io/neofeud

Check out the website: http://silverspookgames.com

Silver Spook Games Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/silverspookg...

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SilvrSpookGames

Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/web/accounts/...

Silver Spook Games' next project Neofeud 2 (formerly "Dysmaton"): https://silverspook.itch.io/neofeud2

[SilverSpook]

Had a great time talking with the legendary @TechnocratGames about Technobabylon 2, #pointandclick #adventuregames, Deus Ex, #cyberpunk and more! Podcast coming soon. Go get Technobabylon, and check out this podcast with James Dearden in the meantime!