Total Pebble Knockdown

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Nothing gets Nathan in the holiday spirit like Die Hard. On this episode, we become John McClane and create a quest to stop an assault on a wizard’s tower. Is it part of a campaign or a one shot? How does our party get there? How do they stop the fantasy terrorists? Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? All that and more on this festive episode. When Frank Capra...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Sometimes you need an expert to teach you the basics. So, we looked at Will Wright’s Masterclass on writing game mechanics to see if his 5 tips are worth taking into consideration. Then, we try to parse numbers 3 and 4 to make it make sense. The Masterclass article - Will Wright’s 5 Tips for Writing Game Mechanics So, what is the difference between linear...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: There are many gaming mysteries, from glitchy pokemon to unattainable chests to questions about who kicked off a nuclear war. However, we have avoided discussing these things on the show. And now we explain the reason why. We were once told we were bad at reviewing games. This is particularly weird since we do not review games. So, let’s discuss what we a...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: The Game Awards announced nominees for 2023. Now, we here at TPK care so deeply for award shows that we almost forgot it was even happening. However, eagle-eyed viewers asked us about it, so we are going to look through some of the categories and see if we even know what these games are. What will win? You can vote for yourself here - The Game Awards | St...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Big things are happening at The Escapist. Or I should say, big things used to happen at The Escapist before the staff left. We are talking about what happened with Nick Calandro and all the staff that followed him out the door. We also discuss what the future holds for Escapist ex-pats, most notably Yahtzee Croshaw from Zero Punctuation. The Second Wind i...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Midnight Acres promises a unique combination of farming sim and tower defense game that seemed like a good idea when Nathan originally picked it up. Oh, how innocent we were… Perhaps there are genres that were never meant to go together and we are going to talk about it on this episode. The act of playing tabletop games can be represented in video games,...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: So, you’re adventure party is outnumbered and outgunned. Now they have to choose to fight or surrender. Can you explain the statistically small odds of them succeeding? Can you save them from near-certain death? We look at a Reddit question to offer some unsolicited advise. The Reddit post for those who wish to see the discourse - Potential TPK for level...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Steam Next Fest hit us with tons of game demos and trials to play, but not many piqued our interest. However, we have four titles to discuss today, as well as our overall impressions of the offerings we saw. Have you ever gotten the urge to tattoo Van Gogh’s Starry Night on your forehead, but were too afraid to do it because all your co-workers are Klimpt...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Have you ever tried a game that you thought you’d hate, only to heartily enjoy it? Well, Dadam asked this question of us a couple months back and Nathan had a couple games that fit that bill. Which ones? Are they the ones you’re thinking about right now? Probably not, but watch to find out. Redfall hit a low of 3 concurrent players in October. Before the...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Palia is an interesting MMO that takes place in a world similar to Stardew Valley. Can a cozy game work as a multi-player online experience? Does it make sense to apply the trapping of such an online experience to a cozy game? Well, do we have stuff to say about that. If you want to check out Palia yourself, it is free to sign up at - Palia – Welcome Home...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Epic has laid off nearly 900 members of it’s staff, 16% of it’s entire workforce. We’re going to talk about that and also do a little math on how much Tim Sweeney makes. Fun times. Epic Games is reportedly laying off around 900 employees | Eurogamer.net There’s an island full of kings and tyrants. Will you free them? Nathan ran across an interesting missi...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: What is happening with Embracer Group? First they buy up a bunch of game companies, then they lose 40% of their stock value, now they are selling off or shuttering the same game studios they bought. Let’s go over a timeline of unfortunate events and a cautionary tale of what large corporate investments could entail. Embracer Group Stock Drops 40% After $2...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: We got a request to react to a video about creating a World of Warcraft expansion using AI, so that’s what we’re doing. Echoes of Azeroth is not actually an expansion to WoW, but how close to a real one does it get? I Made a World of Warcraft Expansion with AI - YouTube Nathan has been playing a little indie game by the name Starfield. The latest in Bethe...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: What if I told you there was a multi-player horror game that you could pick up for the low low price of a million dollars? Great deal, right!? Developer Bloody Bear tried the strangest marketing strategy for their game Spooky Men and now we have to talk about it. New Steam Game Costs $1 Million (gamerant.com) Well, it took months, but after all the procra...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: It’s time to talk about Baldur’s Gate 3. Alex has been playing Larian’s new CRPG and has some thoughts on what the game does right in addressing central problems that have plagued the genre. So, we will be discussing pacing, combat and inventory management. Recently, a Polygon article suggested that we should accept save-scumming as the best way to play R...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Dadam inquired into games that we should have liked but really did not. We discuss some of the games that work for us IN THEORY but do not IN PRACTICE. Get ready to hear about some Souls-likes, Metroidvanias and Cozy Games. Alex is very excited to discuss the first support spec for World of Warcraft and how it has affected the game. So much so that he bro...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: There has been more UnEarthed Arcana from Wizards of the Coast looking at updates to the One D&D character classes. We picked three we liked and get to discuss them on this episode as Wizards will be looking for feedback later in August. The UnEarthed Arcana for One D&D - Unearthed Arcana Playtest - Unearthed Arcana - Sources - D&D Beyond (dnd...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Nathan used ChatGPT and now his soul is trapped in limbo. But before that happened, he asked the AI to come up with the best adventure hook and… it gave him something. Let’s see how GPT did and give some useful notes on “The Lost Relic of Ages Past”. Patrick H. Willem’s breakdown of AI filmmaking - A.I. Filmmaking Is Not The Future. It's a Grift. - YouTub...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Nathan went back to play the Mass Effect Trilogy thanks to the recent Legendary Edition release. However, now facing the ending of ME3, he has gotten a sudden reluctance to finish the last leg of his journey. Why is that happening? What prevents us from finishing a game even when we really like it? You wander into town and your party goes directly to the...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Photorealism is coming to games near you with the advancements in engine technology. But, perhaps it’s a good time to ask if realistic graphics are what we really want in our gaming experience. We talk about where we are going and what genres will benefit the most of photorealism. Also, which ones would be foolish to adopt it? Virtual Bamboo Grove | UE5 [...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Imagine coming back from your epic adventure to find that you were a legend that existed 1,000 years ago. Now what do you do? Are your parents still there? Does anyone recognize you? What was the last quest you went on? We explore another adventure hook as Nathan leads Alex down a time trippy rabbit hole. What if you took Stardew Valley and smashed it tog...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: We now move away from limes you can plug into a computer and try looking at tabletop hacks that might be useful. How good are they? Can we come up with some better alternatives? Which ones have Alex already done? What if your party wanders into a town and no one is there? No people, no monsters, no animals. Just a recently abandoned town. Alex ponders thi...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Life hacks are everywhere these days. But have you ever heard of gaming hacks? Well, Nathan ran across a video from 5 Minute Crafts claiming to give us “13 Gaming Hacks You Should Know” and has tasked Alex with rating them from “Must Have” to “Kill it with Fire”. 13 GAMING HACKS YOU SHOULD KNOW - YouTube Sometimes we have adventure hooks that needed more...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: The Xbox Showcase was surprisingly good and made some big announcements. What Nathan really wanted to discuss, though, was the amount of new IPs presented from established developers. So, let’s talk about those, including the one that made him VERY excited. [4K] Xbox Games Showcase + Starfield Direct - YouTube Space is very vast and so goes the games base...

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Cyan recently released their new VR game, Firmament, and it was met with less than stellar reviews compared to their previous efforts. It has now come out that they used AI-assistance to develop the game. How far did that assistance go? Did voice actors get credit for their work? What role should AI even play in art moving forward? Also, did you see this...