This week we're discussing Patrick's article talking to Call of Duty Developers after a mass shooting , managing a Motorsport franchise (it's hard!) and the new tricks they taught an old Meat Dog in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. Then we receive some good news and unveil a new Rob power in the Question Bucket. Discussed: COD Game Devs reactions in the wake of a mass shooting 1:04, Motorsport Manager 49:13, Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak 1:19:42, Neon White 36:50, The Question Bucket 1:58:46 Hoste...
Jul 01, 2022•2 hr 12 min
We open this week's episode by discussing the overturning of Roe v Wade, and where we're finding places to take action and find respite in the face of the ever mounting attack on basic human rights. Afterwards we dive into some of the games we've been playing recently, from Cado's speedrunning uhhh.... optimization in Neon White , to Ren's brush with a hot new genre called "a deckbuilding roguelike" in Gordian Quest . Stick around after for a quick dip into the question bucket! Discussed: Roe v ...
Jun 28, 2022•1 hr 57 min
Not-E3 continues this week with the Steam Next Fest! Patrick and Cado checked out a bunch of different demos on stream, so they go over what they played and what their impressions are. Then, special Dragon's Dogma Correspondent Austin Walker joins to talk about the announcement of Dragon's Dogma II, and go over a bit of the ten-year road to this new game. After the break, Ren checks in with Dread Delusion, a Morrowind and King's Field-inspired open world RPG with a striking visual style, and Rob...
Jun 17, 2022•1 hr 43 min
Gamer's Christmas is upon us, in a new but not wholly unfamiliar form. Rob, Ren, Patrick, and Cado all gather round the traditional gamer's yule monitor to discuss the announcements of this year's not-quite-E3-but-basically-E3 season. But first, Patrick has a tale to tell, a story of wheeling, dealing, and high stakes email ignoring as he finds himself in the middle of a veritable Deals whirlwind that might have knocked a Sonos speaker off of a truck. After the break we have a special section fr...
Jun 14, 2022•1 hr 57 min
CW: Discussion of Suicide at approximately 1:31:42 It's been a banner year not just for narrative games, but for games with themes surrounding labor, surviving under late capitalism, and the self, from Norco , to Citizen Sleeper , to Hardspace Shipbreaker . It should come as no surprise that today we're talking about the Apple TV+ show Severance , which slots neatly and expertly into these same themes. Come for Patrick’s Sonos-buying update, stay for our Spoiler-Lite impressions, and then get re...
Jun 10, 2022•2 hr 21 min
This week, Patrick has a very Dad weekend, Ren tries out sucking blood in V Rising , and we have an extended discussion around free to play monetization around Diablo Immortal. Then after the break, Patrick, Ren, and Cado go full spoiler mode to talk about Citizen Sleeper, a table top RPG inspired narrative game that got it's hooks in all of us with it's unique and fascinating systemic depiction of surviving with a disabled body under capitalism, and the ways community can be built in places you...
Jun 07, 2022•2 hr 6 min
We've got a particularly Waypoint episode for y'all today, from scamming the rich out of their money for the greater good in Card Shark , to talking about recent grad student unionizations, to talking about learning on the job in Hardspace Shipbreaker . Of course, it wouldn't be a podcast these days without a bit of an update from Rob on his home appliances, luckily y'all have sent in plenty emails to help him on this journey. Discussed: Card Shark 2:17, School Debt and Unionizing Grad Students ...
Jun 03, 2022•1 hr 38 min
Rob's been having some bad luck with home appliances recently, and as unfortunate as that is at least it makes for some good Content(tm). Before we get to that though, Rob, Patrick, Ren, and Cado discuss the current wave of unionization efforts across the US, including the ones beginning to crop up in the video game industry. Then, Patrick and Ren have been checking out the thematically resonant Hardspace Shipbreaker , a game about dismantling ships for scrap under contract for a corporation, an...
May 27, 2022•2 hr 13 min
This week we're bringing you our thoughts on Halo , the Paramount + TV show based on the immensely popular Halo video game franchise. Join as Patrick, Rob, Ren, and Cado discuss the ways this show landed in very different ways for each of them, why it probably shouldn't have been about Master Chief, and how more interesting characters are pushed to the side because of that choice. Then we answer listener questions like "does Cortana still have a dump truck in this" and "what would you do on a da...
May 24, 2022•1 hr 30 min
Rob has invited Leyla and Soren Johnson, CEO and Design Director at Mohawk Games respectively , onto Waypoint Radio this week to chat about their time in game dev- from Soren's time at Firaxis as lead designer on Civilization IV and Leyla's time in the State Department to transitioning into running their own studio and creating games alongside a dedicated fanbase in early access. They also chat about their 4X game Old World and it's new expansion Heroes of the Aegean, and trying their best to de...
May 20, 2022•1 hr 32 min
Join Rob, Ren, and Patrick as they answer listener questions submitted to Patrick's new "question bucket google form." Have you ever wondered if Patrick's ever had hypothermia? If Rob would rather spend a life at sea or a life underground? How about if Ren likes power tools or hand tools better? Get all this and more, and follow us on twitch.tv/waypoint to get notified when we go live next! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 17, 2022•2 hr 7 min
It's Friday the 13th so we're kicking things of spooky style. The Waypoint Radio crew discuss the new Alan Wake 2 details, Bethesda's double delay situation, and Rob's new induction stove (which comes with its own set of built in curses). After the break, Patrick drops a cursed plan for... coverage of the next Avatar movie? In slightly (but only slightly) less cursed news, Rob and Ren have been checking out Warhammer 40K - Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters, a new Tactics game with heavy Gear Tactics vib...
May 13, 2022•2 hr 9 min
We've got a special double interview pod today! First up: Patrick chats with Panic's Cabel Sasser and Arisa Sudangnoi about the development of the Playdate, the boutique handheld with a crank. They go over how the project started, what working on one thing for nearly a decade is like, and personal crank stories. Then, Rob and Patrick sit down with filmmaker Neill Blomkamp to talk about his involvement with Gunzilla Games and their new Battle Royale game Off the Grid. They touch on the transition...
May 10, 2022•1 hr 14 min
Much how Rob Zacny Predicted, it's becoming clearer that it will be a Banner Year for Narrative Games, and profound everyman Patrick Klepek is here dipping his toes into the game Renata and Cado definitely didn't bring to the table because they were both too busy doing other things: Citizen Sleeper . Rob's also taken a break from commiting insurance fraud to play that hot new game that everyone's talking about, Guardians of the Galaxy. Then we dive back into the question bucket, where some quest...
May 06, 2022•1 hr 58 min
Rob, Patrick, Ren, Cado and special guest Gita Jackson gather around their pod mics on this cold dark night to discuss The Thing, the classic film that inspired 2002's The Thing video game, Patrick's choice for our next Waypoint 101! We talk body horror, cinematic tension, box office flops, intimacy and the lack thereof between men, and the best dog actor of all time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 03, 2022•1 hr 54 min
There comes a time when even the most laid-back people will find something that irks them to no end, and Patrick has found that thing this week. Are your monitors level? Are they the right distance apart? Are they perfectly aligned? Probably not, but hopefully it won't be too distracting. Thankfully the news that Sega is pulling old Sonic games in order to re-release them distracted Patrick long enough for us to launch into a conversation about emulation and "stealing." After the break, Ren repo...
Apr 29, 2022•2 hr 20 min
Rob chats with Greg Foertsch , ex-Firaxis art director and founder of Bit Reactor , about his time on Gettysburg! , XCOM , and other seminal strategy games after getting an internship at Microprose right out of art school. Greg reminisces on his time at Firaxis, learning to turn a computer on, and how making games has changed drastically since Gettysburg! was developed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 25, 2022•1 hr 18 min
We've got a chock full episode for y'all this week, from Rob wondering about one of his recent purchases (Steam Deck) to Rob updating us on an old one (Speaker Update!) We're all still plucking away at Elden Ring, but Rob in particular has a new perspective on his build choice. After the break, we talk about the recent allegations of a union related firing at Nintendo of America, and how even if unionization isn't happening yet, the way contractors are treated may mean it's around the corner. Ro...
Apr 22, 2022•1 hr 58 min
Ren has invited Yuts, writer and lead developer on NORCO, onto the pod today to talk about the origins of NORCO as a side-scroller, different literary styles, what we mean when we say "the american south" today, hope, and other equally fascinating and bummer topics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 19, 2022•48 min
Lore Reasons is back for a very special mini-sode! The Kingdom Hearts 20th anniversary event dropped some new announcements so we had to get Austin, Natalie, Patrick, and Cado back on mic to live react to the announcements! The crew then does a bit of lore sleuthing to see how much they remember about Kingdom Hearts, what the deal with those hoodies is, and which person with an X in their name is which. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 15, 2022•41 min
Rob Zacny, some would say, is a man of taste. And as any man of taste would be, he's incredibly discerning, especially when it comes to his Audio Equipment. Join Ren and Patrick as their whisked away on a tale of audio shops, conspiracies (!?), and audio speaker maintenance. After the break, Ren checked out Gundam Evolution, a new character based team FPS that has surprisingly good Mech-feel. Then she says some objectively wrong things about DOTA 2 that really made this producer question her jud...
Apr 12, 2022•1 hr 43 min
We kick off this weekend with a lengthy discussion of remote vs in office work. COVID has changed how many companies deal with remote work, but some companies are trying to return to the world before. Riot Games is one of those companies, and as Patrick has reported, has taken some poor measures with regards to their employees safety. After the break, Ren, Patrick, and Cado have all been checking out NORCO, the sci-fi? magical realist? point and click adventure that is causing waves and garnerin...
Apr 08, 2022•1 hr 54 min
As we return to a more regularly scheduled podcasting, the Waypoint Radio crew emerges to find that the return of the immersive sim may be upon us. Rob's been digging into Weird West, a third person isometric view CRPG styled immersive sim, and has found that a few of those gold ingots he dug up might be pyrite. Ren's been checking out Abermore, a first person Thief inspired immersive sim, that had a troubled development, but still has interesting ideas despite it's unpolished nature. After the ...
Apr 05, 2022•1 hr 45 min
In what was certainly not supposed to be an episode of Waypoints, Rob, Patrick, Ren, and Cado all gather up to discuss the first episode of Halo , the Paramount Plus live action TV series based on the FPS juggernaut. Along the way, we learn that Ren has all of the Halo lore crammed into her skull alongside the assertion that "4 and 5 had good campaigns, actually." The crew discusses the production on the show, how it reads differently depending on your previous knowledge of Halo, and talk about ...
Apr 01, 2022•1 hr 42 min
Content warning for discussion of alcohol from 2:38 - 9:58 We are all in NEW YAWK CITY???? Getting set up for a STREAM! To raise money for TRANS LIFELINE!!! On this pod though we talk about Norco , little dip of Elden Ring , and a day early discussion of Gran Turismo 7 's credit problem. Discussed: Norco 33:56, Elden Ring 44:05, Gran Turismo 7 47:26 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 25, 2022•1 hr 29 min
Content Warnings for detailed discussions of sleep disorders and injuries from hyper-flexibility 0:00 - 29:35 We're currently setting up for our livestream (March 26th!) and yet we still found time to record one last remote podcast. Ren, Patrick, and Cado (or Ricardo? who could say) gather round their mics today to gawk at the opening hours of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin and the bizarre choices that seem to have been made from coming in way too hot. After the break Patrick takes u...
Mar 22, 2022•2 hr 20 min
Pizza. Keyboards. Tunic? Mechs. This podcast has it all and well, it was a hell of an edit. So we're running into stream time, so enjoy this very light teaser for the most Friday Energy pod we've recorded in a while. Discussed: Keebchat 34:06, Tunic 48:43, Phantom Brigade 1:04:18, Outro and announcements 1:49:46 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 18, 2022•1 hr 55 min
On this special episode of Waypoint Radio, Patrick interviews the ... director? creative visionary? Well, he might not know what to credit himself as but his name is Andrew Shouldice and he was solo dev on the isometric action adventure game Tunic, until he wisened up and got some help! They chat about moving from solo development to team based development, how Tunic' s cute fox protagonist came to be, and how finding hidden secrets in video games as a kid influenced the design of Tunic 's world...
Mar 15, 2022•49 min
Gita Jackson is back on the pod to join Patrick, Ren, and Cado on their long adventure into the depths of everything Elden Ring. We talk about Elden Ring's immense reach compared to other FromSoft titles, moments of dubious boss balancing in the late game, and that ever present cycle of difficulty and accessibility discourse that we return to with each new iteration of the Souls formula, and the ways we all approach difficulty differently in isolation and within community. Discussed: Elden Ring ...
Mar 11, 2022•1 hr 38 min
Patrick, Renata, and Cado all saw a movie this weekend, but first they have to talk about what Cado spend 23 hours doing over the weekend. That's right, it's Raid Time in Destiny and Cado went full gremlin mode. After that, we get into Matt Reeves' The Batman , discussing how surprisingly funny it is, it's issues with character motivations, and how much it really loves cops. Discussed: Destiny 2 Raid 3:06, Raid Encounter 1 Spoilers 7:36 - 14:02, The Batman 36:43, Outro 1:58:39 Hosted on Acast. S...
Mar 08, 2022•2 hr
