Wardcast

It’s Father’s Day; E3 just happened. Let’s talk about some games. We’re excited about: Norman Fetus’ Death Stranding; Pushing rocks in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; Arguing on a boat in Sea of Thieves; Snapping necks in Steep; Smashing piñatas in We Happy Few; And watching the potential train wreck that is Watch Dogs 2 Games include Overwatch, Keepy Up, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Heads U...

Another week of guests from the RVA Game Jams community brings aboard Sam Loeschen — developer on mobile and PC game Silent Earth — and Ruthie Edwards — artist, animator, and indie game developer. The group chats about their ongoing projects, Amazon’s Lumberyard engine and Amazon’s plans for the gameosphere, and favorite games. We also contend with the state of arcades as well as Terminator Presto...

Dan rejoins the pack to talk about his time so far at Team One, specifically his experiences with all things VR: Tilt Brush, VR on Unity, VR user experience design, and more. On top of all that, E3 is upon us, and the EA Press Conference is happening as we speak. We talk about what we are looking forward to during the expo. We also talk about Halo PC mods, Pittsburgh bridges, and billable hours. G...

This week, Dylan is joined by Momin Khan and Mike Odum of Root 76, who are hard at work on development on their couch competitive game Clash Cup Turbo. They talk about their development process for Clash Cup, from the game’s art development to its gameplay influences. The guys also talk about special summer games, special Slack channels, and Mike Kasprzak’s blog post about forgoing August’s Ludum...

Please, hold your applause, the Semi-Real Ward Podcast is about to begin. The masterful Dan Cotting will not be joining us this week, so we must make do with Mason, Alex, and Dylan. From Mason and Alex’s beautifully decorated Pittsburgh apartment to Dylan’s slowly emptying Richmond one, the trio talks more Overwatch, more Witcher 3, and narrative depth versus gameplay depth. Games include Overwatc...

The Real Ward Podcast is back! Minus Mason and Dan. Alex returns from his trip down under, so he joins Dylan to talk about traveling abroad, Australian coffee shops, and cultural cuisine. Before Alex leaves the state again, he got his hands on Overwatch’s retail release. Meanwhile, Dylan talks about his experience with Son of Nor as well as the Witcher 3. Alex brings up the ever-looming Electronic...

The Ward Podcast is going coast to coast. Our West Coast correspondent, Dan Cotting, is deep in the heart of the City of Angels, where the celebrities are plenty and the bandwidth is scarce. In other news: Dylan’s getting a new apartment (it’s nice), Alex is lost in Australia, and Mason is stuck in his room. But, despite their varied housing situations, the guys take the time to talk about their p...

We did it! The school year’s over — Dan, Alex, and Mason finished their first year at the Brandcenter, and Dylan has gotten that sweet, sweet bachelor’s degree. We talk about Alex’s trip down to Durham, North Carolina, for the Game UX Summit, letting us glean information about the current state of user experience in the industry. There’s more Overwatch beta to be had, and, with the announcement of...

With the release of Captain America: Civil War, we once more go down the rabbit hole of superhero discussion. We also discuss the practice of method acting and Dylan’s unpopular opinions about True Detective season 2. We also talk about our plans for summer, from what games we’re looking to play to any movies, books, or shows we’re looking forward to. Games include Overwatch, Dark Souls III, Trans...

Hot off the heels on their return from PAX East, Mason and Dylan bring tales of their experiences in the bowels of the Boston Convention Center, including all of the hot hobby-grade, MOBA-esque first-person shooters. The gang’s also dealing with a fair bit of burnout as we reach the end of the semester, but we soldier on. Dan talks about his experience with wet plate collodion photography and othe...

We changed recording locations this week, but we forgot to bring some equipment. Namely, power cords and Mason Brown, so this recording will be a little different. We talk about a litany of topics, from nesting birds to VR experiments to tabletop gaming. Come and hear; it’s in your ear. It’s the Ward Podcast! Games include EVE: Gunjack, Miitomo, Ratchet and Clank, Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition,...

In this week’s episode of the Ward Podcast, we lose Dan, but gain special guest Chris Daughtry. Despite the added star power, we find ourselves lost without Dan’s paternal guidance. There’s a lot of movie talk this week. We reminisce about Cinema Café and we discuss both superhero and non-superhero movies, including movies with the least satisfying ending. Dylan and Mason give a Stardew Valley upd...

Join us as we determine which northeastern cities, and their associated sports teams, suck and don’t suck. Rocket League addiction still remains a threat in the community, with Alex becoming its latest victim. Dan also suffers from a Hand of Fate dependence, and Mason and Dylan try to kick the Stardew Valley habit. It’s a difficult time, and it doesn’t help that Mason had to go stag to the Flower...

This week, we’re joined by Will Blanton, co-founder of RVA Game Jams and of game developer HYPYRYL. He comes to talk with us about game development tools, the development process, and what it’s like to have your game on Steam versus itch.io. Dan also finds in Will a companion to share in his love of Zelda II, and Alex and Dan talk about stumbling upon Barcade during their trip to New York. Lastly,...

Dan, Mason, and Alex are gone for Spring Break, so Dylan and Wendy come together to celebrate International Women’s Day, fact check everything, sing copyrighted songs, and clarify DDR’s difficulty names by using a beer analogy. ​Since Wendy is a student of history, we talk about history-based games such as Oregon Trail II, Mind Maze, and Sea Wolf. We also discuss the news of Bear Simulator’s John...

Another week, another ‘cast. We found out who put up all those puzzles in The Witness, and we teach each other about puberty. It seems like everyone’s either met or beat up a musician as we discuss our personal predilections towards difficulty in games. Games include The Witness, Tales from the Borderlands, Borderlands 2, Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 3, XCOM 2, Rocket League, Gang Beasts, Jackb...

It’s been ten days since we’ve spoken to you good folks. Ten days! Watch out, we’ve all played Firewatch, and we’re a-gonna spoil it for you. We also briefly chatter about Deadpool and the proliferation of British and Australian actors seeping into our great American film and television. We discover Alex is a (virtual) mass murderer, and we hear tale of Tom Clancy’s Kid Icarus. Games include Firew...

Brandcenter people are taking over the podcast! James Gross, copywriter, is on the scene, and he’s here to listen to a bunch of nerds talk about video games. We talk about profanity and iTunes mislabeling us as a clean lyrics podcast (we are not). We discuss more about Morning, our game from Global Game Jam 2016, and what we thought about the whole development process. Everyone gets an earful abou...

We’re sorry to have missed you last week. The entire East Coast decided to take time off for the blizzard. But we’re back! And we got new audio equipment to help fill the void in your heart. We talk about our work so far on our Global Game Jam game, and we discuss how game mechanics hold up over time as we catch up on our collective playthrough of Tales from the Borderlands. Games include War of t...

Dan, we need to talk to you about something. Do you… do you play games? It’s just that, we talked about a lot of games this week — a lot of games — and you didn’t seem to have played any of them. We basically covered Telltale’s back catalog plus a fair portion of indie titles over the last few years, and none of them rang a bell for you. Is… is everything alright? If you don’t play games, it’s oka...

It’s an action packed week, filled with complaining about Internet providers, helping Dan through reliving his Grepolis addiction, and figuring out whether or not we actually like Let’s Play videos. Some people still haven’t beaten Undertale (Dylan), so we hold off on talking about the ending. Fortunately, there are other things to discuss: from the Activision Blizzard acquisition of MLG to the pr...

Sirens shriek in the night as the guys talk about public utilities, arcades in breweries, and movies and music tastes. We also talk about how we each role-play in Fallout 4 and how the game has lost favor with Alex. And one more thing: we try to think of our favorite gaming moments of 2015 and instead just show how bad our memories are. Games include Rise of the Tomb Raider, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark...

Dan, Alex, Mason, and Dylan come together to talk more Star Wars, including the holiday-appropriate Star Wars Christmas Special. With the month of December almost at an end, we’ve completed a trifecta of talking about holiday traditions, holiday gaming, and now holiday movies. We also discuss Abraham Lincoln, inventor of Lincoln Logs, and Dylan Ilvento, inventor of TV reruns. Whatever happened to...

This week, Wendy Rivera joins Dylan in a special cast straight from their apartment studio/studio apartment. This is a warning to all listeners: this podcast is extremely spoilerific. We talk Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the beginning of Undertale, and the ending of Fallout 4. Tune out if you would prefer not to have these things spoiled for you. Wendy also brings a bacon-infused beverage to tast...

Dan Cotting is back, folks! He’s here to talk with us about Ludum Dare 34, Unity engine lessons, and how Nintendo keeps ruining Mario Kart’s battle mode. Dylan expresses his terror of the visage of upset Luigi, we share our favorite Barry Burton quotes, and we reflect on the changing opinions of games and other products in the long tail of their release. Mason asks the group about their favorite g...