Podcast | Polygamer

Polygamer #71: Susan Arendt of Genii Online

Posted on October 11, 2017 by Ken Gagne

Susan Arendt is the editor-in-chief of Genii Online, a website that covers magic and deception for magicians and anyone interested in the art and craft of magic. While Genii has existed as a print magazine since 1936, Genii Online’s September 2017 launch marked the publication’s online debut. It also marked a shift for Susan: after many successful years helming gaming publications such as GamesRadar+, Joystiq, and The Escapist, Susan is bringing her digital media experience and expertise to the realm of magic.

In this podcast, Susan and I chat about how she landed this magical gig; what constitutes legitimate magic, and whether magicians get their powers from dealing with the devil; how Susan assembled the team behind Genii Online and what new skills she’s had to learn in this industry; and whether print is a sustainable business model for a niche publication. We also talk about Continue, her new co-hosted gaming podcast (and which I back on Patreon), as well as Take This, the mental health non-profit she co-founded. What’s the best way to help someone who’s experiencing an anxiety or PTSD attack? Susan offers her advice.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, acast, or TuneIn. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Polygamer #70: Kellian Adams Pletcher of Green Door Labs

Posted on September 13, 2017 by Ken Gagne

Kellian Adams Pletcher is the mastermind behind Green Door Labs, which builds location-based, transmedia games for museums and non-profits. Kids and adults alike use smartphones, pencil and paper, and other tools to learn the stories behind art, what life was like on the Oregon Trail, how to use a library, and more. Green Door Labs’ experiences leverage existing resources and platforms to make the design of fun, interactive experience accessible to any organization, no matter what the budget. From her international experience as an educator in China to working with one of the first mobile payment apps, Kellian brings a wealth of experience and passion to these pursuits.

In this interview, Kellian and I talk about the value of gamification to learning; the company’s roots in social location-based gaming platform SCVNGR, which became LevelUp; the replay value and portability of games designed for specific locations; the advantages of Green Door Labs’ own platform, Edventure Builder, to Inform and Twine; how Green Door Labs compares and contrasts to live experiences such as escape rooms or augmented reality games like Pok;#0233;mon GO; how to get adults to cosplay when they think dress-up is for kids; and Club Drosselmeyer, her interactive swing club with live actors and puzzles.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, acast, or TuneIn. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Polygamer #69: Tanya C. DePass of Fresh Out of Tokens

Posted on August 9, 2017 by Ken Gagne

Tanya DePass is the founder of I Need Diverse Games, a non-profit that advocates for diversity in gaming. In addition to offering speaking engagements, GDC scholarships, and diversity programming at events such as GaymerX, Tanya has also hosted Fresh Out of Tokens, a weekly interview-based podcast, in which she interviewed such gaming luminaries as Zoë Quinn, David Gaider, and Jim Sterling. After two years and 95 episodes, Fresh Out of Tokens, went off the air in July 2017.

In this episode of Polygamer, Tanya and I discuss what got us into diversity podcasting, how we found our guests, and what we’ve loved and hated most about producing our shows. How do we know if our show is “successful”? Has our show made gaming better? Have we learned anything about ourselves? What advice would we give to someone interested in starting their own diversity podcast? How will her upcoming guest appearances on the Spawn On Me podcast be different? All these topics and more are covered in this post-mortem.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, acast, or TuneIn. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Polygamer #68: Katie Hallahan of Phoenix Online Studios

Posted on July 12, 2017 by Ken Gagne

Katie Hallahan is the chief communications officer, co-founder, game designer, and public relations director for Phoenix Online Studios, a developer and publisher of point-and-click adventure games. The studio began in 2002 when Katie and her fellow directors set out to create an unofficial King’s Quest fan game, The Silver Lining, the fifth and final episode of which is releasing this year. Phoenix Online Studios has since partnered with legendary game designer Jane Jensen to release Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller and Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father 20th Anniversary Edition. In her spare time, Katie writes for 411mania.com, covering The Walking Dead.

In this interview, Katie and I discuss the many legal trials and tribulations involved in publishing The Silver Lining, and how the release of The Odd Gentlemen’s new episodic King’s Quest game affected the studio; how Phoenix Online Studios came to work with Jane Jensen; the transition from Torque to Unity game engines, and what this means for multi-platform releases; the studio’s experiments with publishing games by other developers, such as Quest for Infamy by Infamous Quests; and how to get into the games industry as a narrative designer. Finally, Katie and I talk about The Walking Dead universe of comics, games, and shows, whether we’re reaching peak zombie, and what the endgame is for a show based on a comic with no end.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, acast, or TuneIn. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:01:34 — 29.0MB) | Embed

Polygamer goes monthly

Posted on July 1, 2017 by Ken Gagne

Three years ago, I hosted the PAX East panel “Sex, Sexy & Sexism: Fixing Gender Inequality in Gaming“. The event was standing room only, which helped me realize that the conversation couldn’t begin and end there: I had to continue the discussion in a way that featured more voices and reached a larger audience. Thus was born the Polygamer podcast.

A month later, GamerGate occurred, underscoring the need to highlight diverse voices in gaming. And two years later, the United States elected the opposite of a feminist, making this podcast more important than ever.

Polygamer has since addressed such critical issues as toxic masculinity, games for social justice, mental health, and theology. But we’ve had a lot of fun, too, by featuring talented artists and creators whose love for gaming culture know no bounds, with whom I’ve discussed cosplay, voice acting, music, interactive fiction, fighting games, and Pokémon GO. I look forward to continuing to host this show and broadening the range of topics and voices it features.

While I had an embarrassment of topics to choose from when the show launched, I now find myself wanting to carefully select unique subjects and angles that the show has not addressed, which requires more research and networking beyond the previous guests. Also, each episode of Polygamer already takes a good deal of preparation: identifying guests, researching their past work and appearances, hosting the show, then editing it is more time-consuming than a gaming podcasts two regular co-hosts getting together to talk about what they played that week.

For these reasons, starting in July 2017 on the show’s three-year anniversary, Polygamer is switching from a twice-monthly publication schedule to monthly. While such an infrequent schedule is unusual and not competitive with the many weekly gaming shows that exist, I feel it’s the right choice for Polygamer. Such a substantial show takes time to both produce and consume, and its content is evergreen, proving as relevant the day it airs as it will be a year later. I’m confident that this transition will allow me to maintain the show’s quality and relevance.

As always, all past and future episodes of the show will continue to be available both on this website and in the Internet Archive.

Thank you for listening! Stay tuned as we continue to explore the boundaries of gaming.

Polygamer #67: Freelance writer Sarah LeBoeuf

Posted on June 28, 2017 by Ken Gagne

Sarah LeBoeuf is a freelance writer, editor, and all-around nerd. Her video game reviews, features, and event coverage have appeared on such storied publications as Nerdist, Mashable, Ars Technica, Escapist, Digital Trends, GamesRadar+, and more. Sarah also serves on the board of Take This, a non-profit that addresses mental health issues in the video game industry and community.

In this podcast, Sarah has just returned home from the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), which she covered for Nerdist, her first gig for that outlet. I asked how she used Twitter to land the job and what the experience was like writing for Nerdist. More important: What was E3 like? It was the Nintendo Switch’s first appearance at E3, and hot on the heels of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (which we both geek out over) is coming Super Mario Odyssey and Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, proving that the house the plumber built still has plenty of innovation to come. Finally, on more serious notes, I ask Sarah about the gender breakdown of protagonists in games seen at E3 2017, and how the AFK Rooms sponsored by Take This provided a safe haven from an otherwise overwhelming convention experience.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, acast, or TuneIn. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:03:05 — 29.7MB) | Embed