Electron Dance Highlights
Side by Side: Nuclear Reaction
Side by Side is a video series on local multiplayer games. This is the fourth series, episode 8 of 11.
It's a one-button game! Well, technically it's a one-button-per-player game. Joel Goodwin of Electron Dance and Gregg Burnell of Tap-Repeatedly try to achieve victory in nuclear war by any means necessary in the ridiculously amusing Nuclear Reaction from Sven Ahlgrimm.
If you enjoy the series, please like our videos and subscribe to our channel.
Watch the video here or direct on YouTube.
Black Hole Heart
I went into the mobile title Holedown (grapefrukt, 2018) blind, having only heard a constant stream of praise and excitement for it from game dev Twitter. I’m not usually one for the herd so I kept my distance from it until last week, needing something new to fondle during my commute.
Holedown turned out to be the latest spin on Breakout (Atari, 1976) or what is more commonly referred to as a “brick-breaker” these days as I guess Breakout is totes old and some variations like Peggle (PopCap, 2007) maintain only a tenuous link to Breakout. The last Breakout game I really loved was Shatter (Sidhe Interactive, 2009) although I should admit I got a little buzz, more recently, out of Peggle.
Holedown, though, had me by the throat and wouldn’t let go.
Well, for three days, at least.
Side by Side: Hacktag
Side by Side is a video series on local multiplayer games. This is the fourth series, episode 7 of 11.
In the local multiplayer space, co-op does not get as much love as competitive games and we struggled to get co-op on this season's roster. We hoped to include a few other co-op titles like Catastronauts and Deru, but they didn't have builds available ready for filming so enjoy the only co-op episode of the season: the co-op stealth/hacking game Hacktag from Piece of Cake Studios.
Joel Goodwin of Electron Dance and Gregg Burnell of Tap-Repeatedly hack their way through offices and try, desperately, not to get caught while they do it. A tense game which can transform into panic at any moment.
If you enjoy the series, please like our videos and subscribe to our channel.
Watch the video here or direct on YouTube.
Graveyard
This is the fourteenth part of The Ouroboros Sequence, a series on puzzle games.
Riddle me this. Aside from being logic puzzle games, what links the following titles?
- Stephen’s Sausage Roll (Increpare Games, 2016)
- Full Bore (Whole Hog Games, 2013)
- Operator Overload (Benn Powell, 2017)
- Archaica: The Path of Light (Two Mammoths, 2017)
- Tricone Lab (Partickhill Games, 2017)
- WitchWay (Gleeson, Rochefort, Takalainen & Antony, 2017)
- Corrypt (Michael Brough, 2012)
- Recursed (Portponky, 2016)
- Hexcells Plus (Matthew Brown, 2014)
Correct! They are all games I intended to finish but, instead, I never click on their desktop shortcuts, rendering part of my desktop a puzzle graveyard. But are they really dead?
Side by Side: Totemori
Side by Side is a video series on local multiplayer games. This is the fourth series, episode 6 of 11.
We're back in the fast action territory this week with Totemori from Mate Cziner! Joel Goodwin of Electron Dance and Gregg Burnell of Tap-Repeatedly build towers only to get them knocked down - or stolen. Chaos reigns, rocks fall from the sky and points are scored. Take a look!
If you enjoy the series, please like our videos and subscribe to our channel.
Watch the video here or direct on YouTube.
Discussion: Next, Please
From this month's newsletter (sign up if you want to read it):
First collect blue di-hydrogen crystals and craft them into jelly. Next, gather a ton of ferrite dust and set down your portable refiner which will turn them into pure ferrite after a short wait. Now don’t forget to fuel up your refiner with carbon - oh, you don’t have enough? Right, so off you go and kill some trees. Ohhhh, your mining laser is out of juice? You’ll need to collect carbon for that too… er, by punching trees.
Dear subscribers, if you feel like chatting about anything at all from the newsletter, please speak your mind in the comments here.
Evergarden Evergrinding
I’m going to talk about a puzzle game today but, no, SHOCKER, this isn’t an episode of The Ouroboros Sequence. I want to talk about a specific design choice for recent release Evergarden (Flippfly, 2018) and muse on whether it’s inspired, bullshit or mostly harmless.
As you might know if you’ve watched my recent E/TX stream, Evergarden is a discoverable systems game which means I'm going to have to spoil some of it. Press on if you’re an Evergarden fan or you don’t mind the smell of fresh spoilers in the morning.
Side by Side: Cuckoo Curling
Side by Side is a video series on local multiplayer games. This is the fourth series, episode 5 of 11.
Curling + Connect 4 = the brilliantly offbeat Cuckoo Curling from Grenadine. Watch Joel Goodwin of Electron Dance and Gregg Burnell of Tap-Repeatedly struggle with their stones as they wage war across the polished floor. A turn-based game, thus a much slower affair than our other competitive games this series but no less delightful.
If you enjoy the series, please like our videos and subscribe to our channel.
Watch the video here or direct on YouTube.
Transmission: qrth-phyl, Evergarden
One hour. Four games.
Stream this week - Thursday 23 August, and will begin at 9:30PM UK, 10:30PM Central Europe, 4:30PM EST. My Twitch channel can be found at twitch.tv/electrondance.
I will discuss the following titles:
Previous Transmissions are available on the dedicated E/TX YouTube channel.
Update 26 August! Here's the archived stream:
The Glory of the Infinite Sea
This is the first part of the Subnautica Season. This essay contains spoilers for the early hours of Subnautica and describes the limitations of the game’s environment.
John Lilly
The guy who says he can talk to dolphins
Said he was in an aquarium
And there was this big whale
Swimming around and around in his tank
And the whale kept asking him questions
Telepathically
And one of the questions the whale kept asking was
"Do all oceans have walls?"
“John Lilly”, Laurie Anderson
In the beginning, there was the escape pod.
And lo, it was good. It was so good, I wanted to live inside the pod forever. However, my rations consisted of two weetabix. For dessert, a slice of starvation.
There was no choice but to leave the womb so I popped open the overhead hatch - and beheld the great glory of the infinite sea.
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Recent Comments
"I suppose that's a highly subjective statement on my part! I'd also consider games like LIMBO/INSIDE, The Swapper, 6180 the moon, NaissanceE, and most space-based..." – Transmission: qrth-phyl, Evergarden
"This whole series is an explanation for why I disliked Snakebird. The last episode will lay it all out." – Graveyard
"What? No! I just responded to your point, and then I told you the story I promised to tell you, and then I talked about..." – Graveyard
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