Idle Thumbs 86: Always Support the Danger Layer

[Jake]

Idle Thumbs 86:

Always Support the Danger Layer

Though the lens turns inward as Amnesia Fortnight consumes Chris' life and Sean leaves the country for adventures abroad, we discover that the real Secret of Monkey Island is to play it with some little kids from The Bahamas. Jake continues to exist.

Games Discussed: The Secret of Monkey Island, Double Fine Amnesia Fortnight, Far Cry 3, The Walking Dead

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[subbes]

Jake continues to exist.

(MAKES SKEPTICAL FACE.)

[Wubbles]

Wow, you guys went deep silly on that pre-intro.

[BigJKO]

What were the podcasts Chris was talking about in the later half of the podcast? Something that's essential if you're doing creative work.

[andrewdoull]

Thanks for responding to my reader mail, and for confirming that people need to stop making games. If this rate of game creation continues, we'll run out of players...

Link to brogue if anyone is interested.

[BigJKO]

The Monkey Island talk at the beginning made me happy and hopeful for the day I'll play Monkey Island with my son and see the same reactions.

[Noyb]

Thank you so much for the SOMI story. At times I wonder what it would be like to come at that game fresh. I shamelessly FAQ'd and UHS'd my way through that game as a kid, but loved every minute of my time in that world.

Regarding the sheer number of games being made, even the IGF doesn't catch everything worthwhile. Conversations about the kinds of games and developers that the IGF might implicitly filter with its $100 fee and possible biases led to the IGF Pirate Kart, a collection of freeware games by 100 developers who thought they were worth sharing, but wouldn't necessarily fit with the IGF culture.

Even further on that spectrum, I'm also working on an odd project right now called Zero Feedback, a blog that collects games that were posted by the developer on a development-focused forum, but received zero comments from anyone else on that forum. I'm up to ONE-HUNDRED AND FORTY games so far that meet that criteria, with my backlog showing no signs of slowing down.

We already have run out of players.

[Argobot]

Chris playing music while Sean told his story about how a child's innocence restored his faith in video games gave that part of the episode a very 'This American Life' feel. It also really made me want to find an eight year old to play a video game with.

[Henroid]

The MoMA discussion made me so pleased to hear. First of all, agree 100% about the list being fantastic.

I would argue that things like Doom shouldn't be included because they don't have to include it. The reason is because that sort of game is what people "know" of video games at face value. "Oh, shooting things." The MoMA list feels a lot like a statement of what video games are beyond the public perception. People don't need to be taught that shooting games are video games.

[Roswell47]

HAHAHA! Just listened to the intro to the Bookworm podcast. It's like the book version of the Idle Thumbs theme.

[Chris]

HAHAHA! Just listened to the intro to the Bookworm podcast. It's like the book version of the Idle Thumbs theme.

GROSS. UGH. UGHGHHGHGHGHG.

[gregbrown]

What were the podcasts Chris was talking about in the later half of the podcast? Something that's essential if you're doing creative work.

• BBC's World Book Club (podcast)
  
• Bookworm with Michael Silverblatt (podcast)
  
• Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste by Carl Wilson (book)
  

[Corelli]

I love that MOMA list.

I think that, whoever is curating that, they deserve some serious props for being knowledgeable enough to put together a list that interesting. I feel like the probability of a museum putting a list together that good, even a place like MOMA, is super low.

Edit: That's the awful intro music? I was expecting waaaay worse.

Edit2: I mean I really prepared myself for that, I thought it was going to be soul-gouging.

[Twig]

I was shocked and pleased to hear Dwarf Fortress is on the list. Man.

[Henroid]

I was shocked and pleased to hear Dwarf Fortress is on the list. Man.

In a positive or negative way?

[Twig]

Pleased!

[Henroid]

HAHAHA! Just listened to the intro to the Bookworm podcast. It's like the book version of the Idle Thumbs theme.

Does the song consist of them singing "Literature" in the same way that "Video Games" is sung for the Idle Thumbs theme?

[elmuerte]

On the subject of books for graphics programmers, I think "GPU Gems" is sort of a must read. I'm not a graphics programmer, but this book usually pops up on shelves of graphics programmers.

[mikemariano]

The Monkey Island box art pictured above is just so good to look at. Just so good.

As a youth, I found Zombie LeChuck's decomposed face so unpleasant to look at in the LucasArts catalog that I told myself I did not want to play the game.

[Henroid]

Pleased!

Same here. It's simultaneously so bare bones but has so much depth that it has earned itself a place of recognition.

The one thing on the MoMA list that I disagree with is The Passage. I mean, I get why it was chosen, but I don't think it should be there.

[George B]

omg Celine Dion is from Quebec, the home of french Canada, not Ontario!!

Cooking MoMa was a legit lol moment for me here at work btw <3

[osmosisch]

On the subject of books for graphics programmers, I think "GPU Gems" is sort of a must read. I'm not a graphics programmer, but this book usually pops up on shelves of graphics programmers.

That and Real-time Rendering.

[Hermie]

Things discussed on this episode: Adventure games, Monkey Island, game development, Far Cry 2, Far Cry 3, Games as art (exhibits) and the dichotomy of gameplay and narrative in games.

Thumbs will be Thumbs.

[Chris]

omg Celine Dion is from Quebec, the home of french Canada, not Ontario!!

Cooking MoMa was a legit lol moment for me here at work btw <3

Fuck I'm the worst.

[George B]

On behalf of Quebec, you are forgiven! Ask me about California. I thought there was a Tampa Bay in California for years.