Podcast | Polygamer

Polygamer #76: Gaming Patreon at PAX East 2018

Posted on April 11, 2018 by Ken Gagne

In four short years, Patreon has enabled thousands of gamers to take their journalism, podcasts, and channels to the next level. It’s proven a popular alternative to the whims of Google’s “adpocalypse”—though Patreon’s had a few bumps of its own along the way. On the PAX East 2018 panel "Gaming Patreon: Building Community for Fun and Profit", I chatted with three Patreon creators to learn about their crowdfunding strategies, setting effective goals and rewards, building a community, and how artists and patrons can steel themselves against potential changes to Patreon’s model.

Panelists include:

Ken Gagne (Digital Content Developer, Gamebits)
Tanya C. DePass (Founder & Director, I Need Diverse Games)
Lon Seidman (Content Creator, Lon.TV)
Ian Danskin (Founder and Editor, Innuendo Studios)

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: 1:02:35 — 29.5MB) | Embed

Polygamer #75: Matt Baume of Queens of Adventure

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Ken Gagne

Queens of Adventure is a comedy-adventure podcast in which four drag queens slay their way through pencil-and-paper role-playing games. Adapted from the live stage show Dungeons & Drag Queens, Queens of Adventure has as its dungeon master Matt Baume, host of the podcast Sewers of Paris, director of documentary Playing with Pride, and returning guest of Polygamer.

On this episode, Matt provides an introductory lesson to drag and how it’s similar to D&D; how he’ll adapt an over-the-top live show of one-off adventures to an audio-only ongoing campaign; how designer James Morris is creating a role-playing campaign for drag queens that’s different from off-the-shelf modules, including using the language of polari; and the exciting stretch goals for the podcast’s Kickstarter campaign.

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: 55:49 — 26.4MB) | Embed

Polygamer #74: Joseph Bein of Out of Sight Games

Posted on January 17, 2018 by Ken Gagne

Joseph Bein is the president & creative lead of Out of Sight Games, developer of the audio game A Hero’s Call. The studio’s first game, A Hero’s Call was designed to be accessible by visually impaired gamers, including half of Out of Sight Games, who built their own game engine to ensure the game’s accessibility.

In this interview, Bein talks about what kinds of games tend to be more accessible to blind gamers; what developers can do to improve their games’ accessibility; whether or not the development tools themselves are accessible; talks he’s attended at the Game Accessibility Conference and GDC; why a future version of A Hero’s Call will have a visual component; and why he turned to Kickstarter for the game’s final push.

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: 44:10 — 21.1MB) | Embed

Polygamer #73: Wally S on nonbinary characters

Posted on December 13, 2017 by Ken Gagne

Wally S is a game developer, author, artist, and cosplayer who has written such Twine games as The Leggy Blond and Your Merman Boyfriend. Wally recently made their GaymerX East speaking debut with the presentation “The Great Chasm of Nonbinary Content and How We Can Fill It“, examining not only how far LGBT representation has come in video game narratives, but how much further there is still to go for nonbinary characters, whether gender is even necessary in games, and how our existing stereotypes and tropes can be useful for creating non-traditional characters.

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: 55:07 — 26.1MB) | Embed

Polygamer #72: Nicole Hunter of Black Gamers Revolution

Posted on November 8, 2017 by Ken Gagne

Nicole Hunter is a freelance writer and a moderator for Black Gamers Revolution. This community Black gamers extends to Twitter, Tumblr, Twitch, and Discord, providing a safe space for Black gamers to share their experiences free of harassment or the wed to educate others. The group regularly plays in online games such as Overwatch, League of Legends, and Destiny 2.

In this episode, I chat with Nicole about how she got her start as a freelance writer, how she decides what to publish where, and her thoughts on Golf Story, an indie RPG for the Nintendo Switch. We then talk about Black Gamers Revolution: the need for such a space, who it serves, and how it’s policed. Plenty of safe spaces exist for cisgender and heterosexual demographics, but what about intersectionality? How does one make a safe space for everyone, and what rules are necessary? What are identity politics, and do we need them? Also, is Assassin’s Creed Origins problematic, or does it handle representation and diversity without whitewashing?

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: 47:38 — 22.7MB) | Embed

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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Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:11:26 — 33.6MB) | Embed