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Video Game Feelings — Leisure
Video Game Feelings

“This podcast is tender without being twee, the kind of soft and open that isn’t an aesthetic, just a genuine question. It’s a special vibe that gives me games discourse nostalgia…” – Sarah Elmaleh, Video Game Voice Actor and Director

“It reminds me of my most cherished conversations with other game makers.” – Hayden Scott-Baron, Senior game designer at ustwo Games

Video Game Feelings is an interview podcast about the way video games make us feel, and the reasons we play them. Each week, host Richard Clark speaks to a video game insider to delve into their hearts and minds and discover the various ways video games make us feel. You’ll love this series of conversations with video game developers, journalists, and personalities where we explore why open-world games can feel so lonely, why hype can ruin a video game experience, or what video games can teach us about grief.
Video game Feelings is an Area Code Production. Find out more at AreaCodeAudio.com.
Theme song by Bruce Holtman.

Latest Episodes:

HEALING (with Beacon Pines Creative Director, Matt Meyer) Mar 03, 2023

Matt Meyer just wants those who play his game to feel something.

The music and sound clips you hear in this episode are from the game, Beacon Pines. Matt Meyer is the creative director.

BRAVERY (with Pentiment's Josh Sawyer) Feb 17, 2023

Josh Sawyer felt less pressure working on Pentiment than any game he's worked on in the last decade. Easily.

Josh Sawyer is the design director at Obsidian. He worked on Pillars of Eternity I & II, Fallout: New Vegas, and Icewind Dale I & II.

The Year in Feelings Dec 23, 2022

To round out the year, we invited three friends to gather and discuss the games that made them feel most deeply. (plus, I share my top ten games of the year)

Featuring special guests:

Allegra Frank, frequent guest on one of my fav podcasts, ICYMI, editor at The Daily Beast, formerly at Vox, Polygon and Slate.
Sarah Elmaleh, co-host on Eggplant, a podcast about videogames (not sex!),voice of high-profile video game villains (spheres, not cubes!), voice actor, director and advocate.
M Joshua Cauller, trailer-maker for Devolver and creator/maintainer of the highly personal game discussion community, Reading Gamebow.

FOCUS (with Spawn On Me's Kahlief Adams) Dec 09, 2022

Kahlief Adams is moving past angst.

Kahlief Adams is the host and Founder of Spawn on Me and The Spawnies.

On this episode we processed:

How God of War: Ragnarok made Kahlief happy he didn't have children
How to address the non-inclusionary layers in the video game industry
How to have empathy for complaining
Getting old
Why Final Fantasy feels exclusionary.

Video Game Feelings is an Area Code Audio production. Hosted and produced by Richard Clark. Mixed and Edited by Nettie Smith. Additional help from Ashley Whitehurst and Matthew Linder.

DISCOVERY (with Just the Zoo of Us' Ellen Weatherford) Dec 02, 2022

Ellen Weatherford loves the feeling of finding a bird she's seen before doing something weird.

Ellen Weatherford is the host of Just the Zoo of Us and Spellbound and Gagged.

Video Game Feelings is an Area Code Audio production. Hosted and produced by Richard Clark. Mixed and Edited by Nettie Smith. Additional help from Ashley Whitehurst and Matthew Linder.

HARD (with Salt and Sacrifice's James Silva) Nov 18, 2022

James Silva makes his games difficult, because creation is difficult.

James Silva is the developer behind Salt and Sacrifice, Salt and Sanctuary, Charlie Murder, The Dishwasher, and I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!!1.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings
XBox Live Indie Games was maybe more special to the developer than to the gamer
Fallout 76 is an alone in a crowd kind of situation
Contra Box Art does a little bit of the up-resing for you

Video Game Feelings is an Area Code Audio production. Hosted and produced by Richard Clark. Mixed and Edited by Nettie Smith. Additional help from Ashley Whitehurst and Matthew Linder.

GUT PUNCH (with Spec Ops: The Line and Wolverine's Walt Williams) Nov 11, 2022

Walt Williams doesn't want his video game to hate him. He just wants to be entertained.

Walt Williams is a video game writer who has worked on Star Wars Battlefront, Bioshock, Civilization, Borderlands, Mafia, The Darkness, and Spec Ops: The Line. His book, Significant Zero, explores the hardships and insanity of AAA game development.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings
The Mass Effect 3 ending debacle made Walt question his narrative approach in Spec Ops: The Line.
Kirby All Star Allies is blowing Walt's daughter's mind.
The Quarry is scratching a very specific horror movie itch Walt hasn't scratched since childhood.
Start at Yakuza Zero if you want to punch people in the face to make them better people.
The Last of Us: Part One's ending resonated quite a bit with Walt
Depending on who you ask, Walt was kind of a monster in The Walking Dead Season One.

Video Game Feelings is an Area Code Audio production. Hosted and produced by Richard Clark. Associate produced by Nettie Smith. Additional help from Ashley Whitehurst and Matthew Linder.

SAFE (with rapper and hip-hop producer, Yons) Nov 04, 2022

Yons is playing Borderlands with his son, and living out the example his big brother gave him.

Yons is a musician, music teacher, and producer. You can check him out on his website, or listen to his music on Spotify.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings
Borderlands 2 is how Yons bonds with his son.
Red Dead Redemption 2 may have been a little too cinematic?
Yons has never played the "original-intent" version of Skyrim.
Sonic 2 was Yons' safe place with his brother.
Spotify does have a whole Nerdcore Mix, and idk, it's kinda embarassing mostly.
I think the guy I was thinking of performing at Penny Arcade Expo was MC Frontalot.

Video Game Feelings is an Area Code Audio production. Hosted and produced by Richard Clark. Associate produced by Nettie Smith. Additional help from Ashley Whitehurst and Matthew Linder.

INDISPOSED (with Richard Clark and his favorite "Sick Games") Oct 28, 2022

Video Game Feelings host, Richard Clark, is feeling sick. So there won't be an actual episode of VGF this week.

But here are three games that made him feel better:

Dreamlight Valley
Persona 5: Royal
Marvel Snap

GRIEF (with Polygon And Triple Click's Maddy Myers) Oct 21, 2022

Maddy Myers is grieving the loss of her real-life friend while running silly video game errands and stabbing dudes.

Maddy Myers is the deputy editor at Polygon and the co-host of Triple Click and The Mutant Ages.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings
Assassin's Creed Origins is a video game about grief.
Maddy's not trying to call out The Last of Us, but let's be honest, video games writing is bad.
Maddy Myers' on Depresh Mode
Turns out the reason I don't play video games sometimes is called anhedonia, the inability to feel pleasure. It's a common symptom of depression.
The Rehearsal is a very video gamey show in a certain way
Maddy thinks maybe Immortality might be offensive, but she doesn't know what it means.
Some games that make you feel ashamed: Spec Ops: The Line (interview with Walt Williams coming soon!), Hotline Miami, Bioshock, Papers Please

Video Game Feelings is an Area Code Audio production. Hosted and produced by Richard Clark. Associate produced by Nettie Smith. Additional help from Ashley Whitehurst and Matthew Linder.

LOST (with Buffering the Vampire Slayer's Jenny Owen Youngs) Oct 14, 2022

Jenny Owen Youngs is coping with life transitions by getting lost in a whole variety of worlds.

Jenny Owen Youngs' most recent EP is It's Dangerous to Go Alone. She hosts the podcasts Buffering the Vampire Slayer and Veronica Mars Investigations.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings
"That Josh Whedon stuff that went down"
Tropes Vs. Women in Video Games
Pac-Man is maybe the clearest metaphor for modern life as we know it
Jenny is deep in The Witcher 3
When Jenny's brain won't shut up, Skyrim makes everything chill out
"Our princess is in another castle!"
That Super Mario Bros. movie where Mario is from Brooklyn
Xalavier Nelson's episode from last season
Dragonborn (ft. John Mark Nelson)
Link is quite androgenous
Fallout 4 is darker and gunnier than Jenny would prefer

Video Game Feelings is an Area Code Audio production. Hosted and produced by Richard Clark. Associate produced by Nettie Smith. Additional help from Ashley Whitehurst and Matthew Linder.

Coming October 14th: Season 2 of Video Game Feelings Oct 07, 2022

Lost in Skyrim. Grief in Assassin's Creed. Bonding with your little brother in Sonic 2. Crying while playing Yakuza.

These are just some of the video game feelings we'll explore in the next season of Video Game Feelings!

BONUS: Board Game Feelings with "Games & Feelings" host, Eric Silver Jul 14, 2022

Eric Silver welcomes you to the human experience.

Eric Silver is the host of Games & Feelings and Join the Party, and the head of creative at Multitude, a podcast collective.

Some feelings we explored:

Our Feelings
That feeling when you hit a dead end in Betrayal on the House of the Hill
That feeling when you're participating in a superhero story via Sentinels of the Multiverse
That feeling when you're collectively experiencing powerlessness playing Ghost Stories.

STRANGENESS (with Hypnospace Outlaw's Jay Tholen) Jun 02, 2022

Please take a moment to fill out our listener survey!

Jay Tholen is not very comfortable with success.

Jay Tholen is the creator of Dropsy, HypnoSpace Outlaw, and the upcoming Dreamsettler.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings
Doom makes Jay feel relaxed.
Doom (2016) makes Jay feel out of control.
The Giant Bomb "SpeedTree" video.

EMPATHY (with That Dragon Cancer's Amy Green) May 26, 2022

Amy Green doesn't regret making That Dragon, Cancer. But she doesn't want it to define her life.

Amy Green is a writer and game designer behind That Dragon, Cancer and Area Man Lives.

Note: Toward the end of the interview we should have been using the term "unhoused," or "houseless." Apologies.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings
Phase 10: World Tour makes Amy feel empowered.
Papo and Yo showed Amy that deeply serious, emotional games are possible.
Is Papers Please too disempowering?
Fortnite entirely misses the point of what The Hunger Games was trying to say.

PRECARITY (with Citizen Sleeper's Gareth Damian Martin) May 19, 2022

Gareth Damian Martin found their happy place.

Gareth Damian Martin is the sole developer behind the recently released Citizen Sleeper.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings
Destiny 2 had a weird amount of influence on Citizen Sleeper.
Watching Jack De Quidt play through and read along to Citizen Sleeper opened Gareth's eyes to just how much they were writing about themselves.
Subnautica Below Zero: You could just hang out there, really.
Rogue Legacy 2 overwhelmed Richard.

FUN (with Triple Click's Kirk Hamilton) May 12, 2022

Kirk Hamilton is having fun with Destiny, until he's not.

Kirk Hamilton, one-third of the videogame podcast Triple Click, and the host and producer of the music podcast, Strong Songs.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings
Elden Ring is full of little surprises.
Destiny 2: It's Complicated.

TERROR (with Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator's Xalavier Nelson) May 05, 2022

Xalavier Nelson is terrified that his dad won't like his game.

Xalavier Nelson Jr. is a game developer and head of Strange Scaffold, the studio responsible for games like Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator, An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs, and the upcoming El Paso, Elsewhere.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings
If you want to reconnect with your Dad, play Elden Ring
The Magic Circle made Xalavier a different person
Evil Within 2 made Xalavier feel inquisitive

HYPE (with Devolver Digital's M. Joshua Cauller) Apr 28, 2022

M. Joshua Cauller is always searching for that new highest level of tension.

Joshua crafts trailers for Devolver Digital. You can see his work at the Devolver YouTube channel.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings
Sifu makes Joshua feel plugged in, jacked in, hyped up, and frustrated.
The back of a Super Mario 3 box. It was all about the screen grabs.
Contra actually got the cover right.
Did I make a huge mistake buying Dying Light 2?
Kert Gartner was who Joshua wanted to be when he grew up
That Dragon, Cancer is not actually about cancer.
Talking about Inscription ruins the game.
I was really hard on Abzu back in the day. :-(
Control has a pretty badass moment called the Ash Tray Maze.

NOSTALGIA (with Slate.com's Allegra Frank) Apr 21, 2022

Allegra Frank really misses her sister.

Allegra is a former editor for Polygon, a writer, a podcaster, and senior editor at Slate, where she covers music, culture, and the internet. She also has a lot of fun over at Aw, Would You Look at the Time.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings
Unwinnable and Kill Screen, which Allegra read more than Polygon back in the day, no offense.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land reminds Allegra of time with her sister
Breathe of the Wild: a SIZZLING hot take
Elden Ring doesn't give a shit about you
Spelltower never gets old
Peggle 2 is like, "You're doing great, honey"
Animal Crossing has a quicker payoff than Stardew Valley
That one couple on Love is Blind needs to figure out their whole Rock Band situation
Elite Beat Agents will give you a boost if you need it

ANGER (with Fortnite and Halo: Infinite's Sarah Elmaleh) Apr 14, 2022

Sarah Elmaleh is giving voice to her frustration.

She's a voice director and actor whose work has been featured in a number of videogames, including in Fortnite (as Cube Queen) and Halo: Infinite (as the Despondant Pyre). She's currently working on voice direction and consulting for The Wreck.

Here's some stuff we talked about:

Our Feelings
Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games is a podcast you simply must listen to, especially now that Sarah's on it
Super Mario World as a place for creativity
Horizon: Forbidden West, and the line between heroism and incompetence
Applying the 5 Domains of Play
Monkey Island was silly and fun enough to stand out
Uncharted was designed by the nicest man in the games industry
Super Hexagon will tell you how you're feeling, whether you like it or not

Introducing: Video Game Feelings Mar 30, 2022

First episode coming April 14th!

Introducing a new kind of video game podcast, focused on honest, vulnerable conversations about video games and the ways they make us feel.

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