The Genesis Temple Podcast - Season 1
I did not really plan to start doing a podcast, the podcast planned to start doing me, apparently, this is what happened with the Genesis Temple Podcast season 1. There have always been so many people in the industry I wanted to have a chat with that, after the first episode was over and done with, I had a pretty long list of names. I thought I would just follow my instinct in order to make something that could be intriguing for me, as well as for the listeners.
Well, after many technical woes and various troubles, Season one is over and done with, here are all the guests and our conversations.
As always, you can listen to the episodes of the Podcast before they’re released to the general public by joining my Patreon or, if you want to support the show and the project, just offer me a coffee.
Episode #1 - Mark Yohalem (Strangeland, Primordia)
For the first episode of the Genesis Temple’s podcast I got in touch with Mark Yohalem, of Studio Wormwood. I was impressed with Strangeland and the staggering amount of thought-provoking information provided in the developer’s commentary. We scheduled a chat, then just went from there, touching upon several topics like Loom, Sanitarium, puzzle design in the adventure game genre and narrative allegories. Naturally, we also spoke about people’s reactions to Strangeland (and some of its most criticized puzzles) and walking speed in adventure games.
Follow the links below to listen on your favorite platforms:
Click here to listen on Spotify.
Click here to listen on Spreaker.
Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts.
Episode #2 - Saverio Caporusso (Hyperparasite)
In this second episode I sit down with Saverio Caporusso of Troglobyte Games, to discuss how he first got into videogames at a young age, along with his role of game designer for Hyperparasite and future cybersamurai action romp Blind Fate: Edo No Yami. Along the way, we happen to also discuss marketing in indie gaming, how to better promote an indie game and what the publisher might be expecting from a studio, along with the current state of the Italian videogame industry. It is a crash course on how to survive while also keeping one’s indipendence intact.
Click here to listen on Spotify.
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Click here to listen on Google Podcasts.
Episode #3 - Daniele Giardini (Still There)
In this episode of the Genesis Temple’s podcast I sit down for an evening talk with Daniele Giardini (aka Demigiant). He grew up as a comic book artist and only subsequently got into game development, he’s the writer of adventure game Still There and also worked as an artist on visual novel/football sim Football Drama. We talked about writing in videogames, accessibility in game design, how writing a comic book can directly influence the development of games (plus I try to think of some memorable past examples), along with a whole bunch of nonsense because we’re two sweet Italian lunatics.
(Banner by Daniele Giardini)
Click here to listen on Spotify.
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Click here to listen on Google Podcasts.
Episode #4 - Clockwork Bird (Silicon Dreams)
In this fourth episode I welcome James Patton and Daniel Adams for an evening talk. They grew up with different experiences in videogaming, but found themselves sharing common goals in development. They recently released their first adventure/visual novel, Silicon Dreams, that I reviewed positively on GameCritics. I was, then, curious to speak with Danny and Jamie about upon the hardships of developing their game, their overall preferences in game design, their inspirations in writing. But, naturally, since this is a pretty freeform podcast we touched upon a whole lot of random topics ranging from Quantic Dream to Discworld and I also had the pleasure of answering a question from them!
Click here to listen on Spotify.
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Click here to listen on Google Podcasts.
Episode #5 - Jack Yarwood (Gaming history and journalism)
In the fifth episode of the Genesis Temple podcast, we change things up a bit. I sit with fellow gaming journalist Jack Yarwood to share our respective experiences in researching obscure stories of past gaming titles. He goes on over some interesting details that were omitted from his article on the Monkey Island series and how he decided to get into the overall researching history business. Indeed, our experience also revolves around busting myths that seem difficult to die off (also in Jack’s article on the GTA series), in order to get close to something that could at least resemble the truth and try our best to give to the public a product that is truthful and entertaining as well.
Click here to listen on Spotify.
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Click here to listen on Google Podcasts.
Episode #6 - Jay Tholen (Hypnospace Outlaw, Dropsy)
In this sixth episode of the never ending saga of “what could go wrong with my audio today”, I sit down with Jay Tholen to converse about various topics, ranging from Hypnospace Outlaw (did you read my article yet?) and how its overall sense of community was in someway inspired by the early days of the internet, to how can a prog rock-inspired game be designed. Along the way we also touch upon religion and its inspirations in Jay’s writing, briefly discuss the long mysterious origins of the Genesis Temple on geocities, and refer to then-recent Tencent’s incident with the Hypnospace Diva skin in PUBG. Jay was among the first indie devs I ever truly followed online, three years ago at this point. Honestly, it’s been a great pleasure to finally be able to chat with him.
Click here to listen on Spotify.
Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts.
Click here to listen on Google Podcasts.
Episode #7 - Francisco Gonzalez (Lamplight City, A Golden Wake, Rosewater)
For the seventh episode of the Genesis Temple podcast, together with fellow gaming journalist Jesse Gregoire (who will be a recurring co-host in the future), to have a chat with adventure game developer Francisco Gonzalez. He has developed one of the more interesting point’n’clicks of the last few years, Lamplight City, and he’s currently working on Rosewater. We chat about his design decisions, the early community of developers of adventure games (touching also upon my dear Pleurghburg) and we also comment on our most beloved/hated tropes of the genre. And yes, also a whole lot of cat hair and animal cruelty.
Click here to listen on Spotify.
Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts.
Click here to listen on Google Podcasts.
Episode #8 - Julia Minamata (The Crimson Diamond Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator)
For the eighth episode of the Genesis Temple podcast, together again with fellow gaming journalist Jesse Gregoire, I welcome indie developer Julia Minamata to discuss her progress with The Crimson Diamond (download the first chapter here), along with her ideas for the main character’s background. We also touch upon her work for the Playdate portable console, her experience with Twitch and, naturally, her ideas for designing a puzzle in adventure games and thoughts on the genre as a whole. We also make some callbacks to the previous episode with Francisco Gonzalez…
Click here to listen on Spotify.
Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts.
Click here to listen on Google Podcasts.
Episode #9 - Steve Ince (Broken Sword, So Blonde, The Bunker)
In the final episode of the first season, I have the pleasure of speaking to Steve Ince, a writer and game developer I’ve been following for quite a few years, ever since getting into the Broken Sword series and speaking with him on the Adventure Gamers forums. We naturally speak a bit about his career, especially on some more obscure titles like Gold and Glory: The Road to El Dorado. Topics of discussion will also be the current state of the adventure gaming genre, the problem with its “name” and the future of the industry. Steve has recently published “An Introduction to Game Writing: A Workbook For Interactive Stories”, a guide to writing for a new media.
Click here to listen on Spotify.
Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts.
Click here to listen on Google Podcasts.
