The Two Vague Podcast

This week Ben recounts his first-day experiences at PAX West this year. Along with a pair of wonderful interview segments, this episode features a video game-centric soliloquy about team soccer, raising a child playing with blocks from twisted reality, a classically animated point-and-click adventure, a gaggle of clowns, and film noir-ish adventures in a floating 30s-era New York City.  *** 00:00:...

Zine maker and brand new friend of the pod Sully (aka Kaiju Cabal on the socials) joins the program this week for a wrap-up of Ben’s PAX West 2026 attendance shenanigans! It’s rather serendipitous that Sully keeps a list of words, loves to pick things apart, is genuinely curious, and has tons of questions about stuff. After an introduction to Sully focusing on their late-age autism diagnosis and t...

How’s it going, eh? Prepare yourself mentally and physically for Andrew and Ben to drop a lot of movie quotes this episode. You have been warned! After a little improvisational bit where they channel their inner Bob and Doug McKenzie, Andrew fills us in about his latest creative efforts and the recent suspension of his feud with Christopher Nolan, which he commemorated using a delivery of bark mul...

Faith joins Ben this week to discuss the premise of the latest book she has been writing, which involves a pandemic-era social media scrolling phenomenon. The two Gen Xers talk about her origins in an assortment of social need-based therapy disciplines, her career development and research activities, and how she is working with Microcosm Publishing to help amplify neurodiverse voices and perspecti...

Christian from Imaginary Game Studios joins Ben for a conversation involving a very important aspect of video game promoting, advertising, and audience connections. To start it all off with a proverbial BANG, Ben talks about a couple of games that he has been playing recently, Monday Syndrome and RACCOIN, and Christian professes his undying love for Japanese coin-pusher machines. Next, the fellows...

Erik from Imaginary Game Studios joins Ben this week for, to Norah's chagrin, a math-free conversation about curved paths. After discussing a little game design philosophy as it relates to the games Ben has been playing (Stellar Wander DX and the Pragmata Sketchbook Demo), chatting about Erik’s first viewing of the 1983 movie Brainstorm, and dispensing with the miscellaneous “what have we been up...

Jamie Stormbreaker from One More Game joins Ben this week to discuss game design philosophy and the amazingly zany and fun game SWAPMEAT—a third-person shooter featuring a unique part-switching mechanic. Jamie and his team are very excited to share their full “out of early access” version of the cooperative-focused roguelite with the world on June 17th, so there is a LOT of juicy conversational ME...

Norah is visiting Tucson this week, so she has stopped by the studio to procure some Mango affection (via bribery) and make an appearance on the podcast! They were planning on doing a different word initially, but they are keeping it in the same wheelhouse to make a distinction between the two words—often used as synonyms. After a quick introduction where Ben talks about the game review code he re...

Cheyenne joins Ben this week to talk about the myriad changes they both have been going through since his last appearance on the show. After a little bit of work-centric catch-up, they switch it up by front-loading the program with the video game chat a little earlier than usual. Cheyenne has been playing Fields of Mistria, Ben has been playing HAMSTERMIND, and they both have thoughts they are eag...

We have double the guests for you this week for a show so special that it inspired a new and spicy 2VP T-shirt design—available on Andrew’s TeePublic storefront! In the first segment, Ben sits down with a visiting “aunt of the pod,” Norah, to discuss her first impressions from playing the demo of Black Jacket on the Steam Deck. The second segment features Jakub, the associate producer of this wond...

Mango the pod-cat, joins Ben this week to meow about his favorite word, his upcoming appearance in Andrew’s latest zine, and other assorted nonsense. Ben’s grasp of the feline language is a little rusty, but he does his best to keep up. After Mango gets bored of chatting, he provides a little ASMR-inspired purring to close out the show. *** 00:00:20 - Mee Meow Meow Meowcast introduction, meow-meow...

Autistic stand-up comedienne Holly Huff joins Ben this week to talk about her comedy club experiences, her future plans for utilizing her writing talents, and her thoughts on Batman movies. After an exchange of pleasantries and a discussion about Holly’s background and ambitions, they dig into the definition specifics and Ben’s favorite Google feature! Next, they take a brief detour through the su...

Karen Morrison, program director of virtual events at the International Game Developers Association Foundation and narrative designer at Soda Den, joins Ben this week to talk about her adventures in Argentina and all of the wonderful things she and her peers do at IGDA and the IGDA-F to help passionate folks gain entry into the video games industry. After a quick Argentinian-flavored travelogue co...

Andrew joins Ben this week to celebrate their penchants for approaching things from a different angle. Lack of perpendicularity aside, they discuss the abundant number of neurodiversity irons Andrew has in the proverbial fire, along with strategies to navigate creative blocks and coping skills for mental burnout. Before doing a deep dive into Andrew's ADHD Coping Skills deck and how they navigate...

Norah joins Ben this week to close out the last 4 games in our 2025 pile of review codes. These games revolve around a diverse assortment of actions: smithing, plundering, angling, and foraging. There’s sure to be a game to pique your interest here, so get cozy, sit back, and relax. *** Blades of Fire by MercurySteam SL - published by 505 Games 00:00:20 - Cozy game disclaimer, amazing details, and...

We have a combo episode for you this week centered around the amazing game StarVaders. In the introduction segment, Ben describes his game experiences to Norah and answers her questions. Spoiler alert: by the end of the conversation she is sold, so now she just needs to get a Steam Deck. In the second segment, Ben showers the StarVaders game designer Eddie with praise before getting into a fascina...

Ben has lots to say about his last day at PAX this year, from meeting an actual Larian Studios cosplaying brand ambassador on the streets of Seattle to another first-time purchase. He even conducted an interview that was so much fun, he forgot to press the record button! Ben also had a chance to talk with an assorted variety of folks: developers, PR specialists, CEOs, Twitch streamers, and a ghost...

If your question right now is, “Hey Ben, what did you see and do at PAX West on day 3?” then this show is for you! The short answer—he saw two of his favorite games of the entire four-day show and played a handful of others. Starting off the episode with the favorites, Ben describes his experiences playing the outrageously goofy meat-centric 3rd-person shooter SWAPMEAT and the skiing-themed rhythm...

Ben’s schedule on the second day of PAX West was packed with game demos, time loops, interviews, and… time loops. Ben talks about playing a large assortment of demos, including Fractured Blooms, Project ATOM, ATMOSFAR, Bakudo, OPUS: Prism Peak, Anthem#9, Unyielder, and Aether and Iron. Other conversations he had on Day 2 of the show were with Hank: Drowning on Dry Land game director Jakub Lisinski...

Ben went to the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle this year and has a ton of stuff to share, so much so, in fact, that we had to split the episode up into four parts! In this episode, Ben talks about escaping his first room or whatever (Tomb Raider themed, of course), chatting with artist extraordinaire Dan Paladin, trying out the latest demo of friend of the pod Christian’s Rogue Climber, experiencing...

Norah’s back to assist Ben with reducing his game review backlog before he heads out to Seattle for PAX West 2025. The games discussed this week are Antro by Gatera Studio, The Precinct by Fallen Tree Games, and Revenge of the Savage Planet by Raccoon Logic.    ***   Antro trailer - https://youtu.be/wjgHmfYvA6g?si=DgqE4EDU6643M7eo   00:00:20 - Running with rhythm, the promotional materials descrip...

In an episode inspired by a game review code we received, Andrew returns alongside Ben, who’s been buying a single movie multiple times for SOME reason. Ben has given up on “Sucky Assassin's Creed” for now, but he sees promise in an “FRPG” game he’s been playing recently. Andrew has been doing something incredibly constructive with his pent-up frustration from the consistent misrepresentation of a...

Ben STILL has too many review codes, so Aunt Norah is back to help him get through the backlog. Norah watches the trailer, Ben plays the game, and they discuss their impressions. This episode contains three conversations themed around the games Ben has been playing for review purposes. Topics and games covered this week include the following: the impact of vector graphics featuring Stratogun, the...

Christian from Imaginary Game Studios joins Ben this week to talk about a word that is very dear to him. In addition to being a component in the name of Christian’s game development company, imagination is something that both of the hosts love to use in their day-to-day lives and in all of their creative endeavors because it brings them so much joy. As one would expect from the topic of imaginatio...

Ben has TOO MANY game codes, so Aunt Norah is here to help! This back to back episodes… episode contains two conversations themed around the games Ben has been playing for review purposes. In the top half, they talk about the representations of the mental ailments in the games Next of Kin and RATSHAKER™. In the latter half, they talk about the handling of the animal protagonist in Spirit of the No...