Glass House Games

"It almost feels like a mockery of people that use these things which feels mean." - Sam  

Jerica, Sam, and Alex CG reflect on Mosaic, a grey game in which you play through five days in the life of an indistinguishable office worker...

"You're going to get cancelled off the back of this!" - Sam

Jordan, Shay, Sam, and UKIE’s CEO Jo Twist and Insight and Innovation Manager Luke Hebblethwaite talk about the UK Games Industry Census, a collaboration between the University of Sheffield (led by Dr Mark Taylor), the University of Leeds, and UKIE, with support from the Arts & Humanities Research Council...

“Because you didn’t need to eat the smell of summer, you needed to smell the smell of summer...” - Alex P  

Shay, Alex P and Kit reflect on Wattam from the weird and wonderful mind of Katamari Damacy creator, Keita Takahashi. Wattam is a quirky and colourful game that lets you control 100 playable characters each based on everyday items such as telephones, toys and toilets. Join us as we discuss the absurdity of eating golden poops and commandeering sentient facial features...

"There are deaths throughout the series." 

"And in real life, I guess." - Alex P

Jordan, Alex P, and special guest The English Simmer talk about the game Will Wright used to call “Doll House” and other people at Maxis called “The Toilet Game”. 2020 is the 20th anniversary of The Sims, and Jordan and special guest Mollie (a.k.a. The English Simmer)  have been there since the beginning...

"Video games, everybody!" – CG  

Alex CG, Jerica, Alex P, and Sam reflect on Ancestors: the Humankind Odyssey, the new "science-based" survival game from Assassin's Creed and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time director Patrice Désilets. Set millions of years in the past at the outset of human evolution, the game tries to give a somewhat realistic portrayal of what our predecessors had to go through to get us to the present day...

“That's... why I have a daughter now!” – Alex P

Jordan, Sam, Maggie and Alex P talk about how to introduce a non-player to video games. In an ideal world you would choose someone’s first video game based on their existing interests, and take the time to help them through it… but in Jordan’s world, we’re creating a general starter pack to hand over to anyone who doesn’t play video games but wants to give them a try...

"I felt like I was irradiated - you heard it here first!" - Alex CG  

Alex CG, Alex  P, and Sam reflect on Disco Elysium, the groundbreaking RPG / adventure game which swept the 2019 Game Awards and has many saying that a new bar has been set for games writing. We talk about the legacy of CRPGs, politics in games, portrayals of mental health, and the inspirations the game has drawn from literature, art, and history...

“But it did not meet its target...” – Jordan.
“... But it did not meat its target!” – Sam.

Jordan, Sam, and Alex P talk about vegetarianism and how games can make us reflect on our real-world diets. Should vegetarians think twice about killing virtual creatures? Could a game explicitly designed to criticise the meat industry convince anyone to convert to a vegetarian diet? And… do people eat Pokémon?

Links:

https://www.bbc.co...

“The best thing is listening to Pikachu’s cry when it’s big...” – Shay  

Alex P, Sam, Shay, & Jerica reflect on Pokémon Sword and Shield, the eighth mainline entry from Game Freak in a series that’s nearly 25 years old. We talk about British (but really just English) representation, game design, and Alex P’s greatest gaming accomplishment and/or shame.  

This episode contains spoilers.  

Links:  

https://www.polygon.com/2019/11/14/20.....