99 Coins - An Indie Gaming Podcast

99 Coins - Episode 08 - Anyone can make a game!

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 11:40:00 -0400

To subscribe via iTunes visit here
To subscribe via RSS visit here
For direct .mp3 download visit here

We’re joined by George Buckenham this episode, to walk us through his article “How to make your first videogame”.

From Flash to Stencyl (by way of Microsoft 3D Movie Maker) George is convinced that anyone can set out to make a game, and so inspirational were his words that Ben set out to build one.

Also dicussed this episode - EA’s indie bundle, Day Z and more.

Guests:
George Buckenham - @v21

99 Coins Team:
Ben Milsom – Host - @benmilsom
Max Engel – Host - @8bitkid
Cara Ellison - Producer/Reporter - @carachan1
Mark Shaw – Producer/Editor - @marky

Games & Links:
Proteus
HyperCard
Day Z

Oh No! 99 Coins!

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 11:38:00 -0400

So inspirational were George Buckenham’s words in Episode 8 “Anyone can make a game!” that Ben set out to build his own.

Play Ben’s epic 3D character action RPG “Oh No! 99 Coins!” below.

(please note: the game is in beta, so some features may not work as intended).

99 Coins - Episode 07 - Molyjam, GDC, Tim Rogers, why indie?

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 05:35:00 -0400

To subscribe via iTunes visit here
To subscribe via RSS visit here
For direct .mp3 download visit here

This episode of 99 Coins we’re joined by Giant Bomb’s Patrick Klepek, Strongman Games’ Erlend Grefsrud and freelance writer Cara Ellison (who we’re very glad to have joining the podcast team)

The beginning of the year sees the Games Developer Conference, Indie Games Festival and PAX East take place. It’s a busy time for the games industry and indie games continue to steal the spotlight. Cara was brave enough to take the Travel Mic over to San Francisco for GDC, and this week we’ll hear her interview with Tim Rogers as he talks about his move from writing about games to making them.

Patrick tells us about the accidental beginnings of the MolyJam, a game jam based on the tweets of the Peter Molyneux parody twitter account @molydeux, and Erlend weighs in on the hows and whys of developing games.

We would love to hear your thoughts on Patrick’s closing question - how do you feel about the term ‘indie’. Does it lower expectations, is it disingenuous and too broad a term? Is there another term we should be using?

Let us know via @99 Coins or email 99Coins@bbc.com and we’ll read through your responses in the next episode.

Guests:
Patrick Klepek - Senior News Editor, Giant Bomb - @patrickklepek
Erlend Grefsrud - Co-Founder, Strongman Games - @slaktus

99 Coins Team:
Ben Milsom – Host - @benmilsom
Max Engel – Host - @8bitkid
Cara Ellison - Producer/Reporter - @carachan1
Mark Shaw – Producer/Editor - @marky

Games & Links:
Ziggurat
Dear Esther
Fez

Hookshot Inc

99 Coins - Episode 6 - A Snapshot of The Wild Rumpus Feb 2012

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:53:00 -0500

To subscribe via iTunes visit here
To subscribe via RSS visit here
For direct .mp3 download visit here

Did you miss Feb 2012’s Wild Rumpus? Luckily for you the UK half of 99 Coins was on hand! Join them for a guided tour of the party and some hands on time with the wild games available.

99 Coins Team:
Ben Milsom – Host -
Max Engel – Host -
Mark Shaw – Producer/Editor -

Games & Links:
The Wild Rumpus
Johann Sebastian Joust
Pole Riders
Hokra
Monkey See Monkey Mime

99 Coins - Episode 5 - Live Events

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:21:00 -0500

To subscribe via iTunes visit here
To subscribe via RSS visit here
For direct .mp3 download visit here

Following the exciting announcement that BBC Worldwide will be sponsoring The Wild Rumpus, 99 Coins invited IndieCade Festival Director Sam Roberts and Wild Rumpus co-founder Marie Foulston into the studio to talk about their live indie gaming events.

Guests:
Marie Foulston - Co-Founder of The Wild Rumpus -
Sam Roberts - Festival Director, IndieCade -

99 Coins Team:
Ben Milsom – Host -
Max Engel – Host -
Mark Shaw – Producer/Editor -

Games & Links:
The Wild Rumpus
IndieCade
Johann Sebastian Joust
Pole Riders
Beacons of Hope

IGF Awards 2012 - UK finalists

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:37:00 -0500

The Independent Games Festival, which takes place at the same time as GDC in March, has just announced its finalists.

This year a huge amount of talent from the British Isles has made the list of fantastic, quirky and pioneering games, and we thought we would list them all in one place.

The below links will take you through to each game’s IGF entrant page, where you’ll find short descriptions and videos.

Excellence In Visual Art
Lume – State of Play Games
Wonderputt – Damp Gnat

Technical Excellence (honourable mention)
Frozen Synapse – Mode 7 Games

Excellence in Design
English Country Tune – Stephen Lavelle
Gunpoint
Frozen Synapse – Mode 7 Games

Excellence in Audio
Dear Esther - thechineseroom
Pug Luvs Beats – Lucky Frame

(honourable mention)
Proteus – Ed Key & David Kanaga

Nuovo Award
[Designed ‘to honor abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development’.]

GIRP – Bennett Foddy
Proteus – Ed Key & David Kanaga
At a Distance – Terry Cavanagh

(honourable mention)
Four Letter Word – Terry Cavanagh

Seumus McNally Grand Prize
Dear Esther - thechineseroom
Frozen Synapse – Mode 7 Games

(honourable mention)
Proteus – Ed Key & David Kanaga

99 Coins - Episode 4 - Favourite Indie Games of 2011

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:22:19 -0500

To subscribe via iTunes visit http://itun.es/iL35Vk
To subscribe via RSS visit http://99coins.libsyn.com/rss
For direct .mp3 download visit here

With just a few days left in the year 99 Coins are joined by Honeyslug’s Ricky Haggett and indie developer Peter Silk to discuss their favourite indie titles of 2011.

You can find links to all the games discussed in this episode below. Check them out yourselves and let us know what you think on Twitter or at 99coins@bbc.com

99 Coins Team:
Ben Milsom – Host - @benmilsom 
Max Engel – Host - @8bitkid 
Mark Shaw – Producer/Editor - @marky

Guests:
Ricky Haggett - Honeyslug & @KommanderKlobb
Peter Silk - Surprised Man & @surplusgamer

Games and Links (alphabetical order):

Atom Zombie Smasher

Desktop Dungeons

Flotilla

Forever Drive

Frozen Synapse

Hokra

Jetpack Joyride

Johann Sebastian Joust

Mage Gauntlet

Minecraft

Mos Speedrun

Pole Riders

Proteus

SpaceChem

SpellTower

Stealth B******

Swords and Sworcery EP

The Dream Machine

The Wager

Tri Tri Triobelisk

Where is My Heart?

The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the opinions of the BBC.
This podcast is made by BBC Worldwide, the BBC’s commercial arm. BBC Worldwide profits help to fund new BBC Programmes.

99 Coins - Episode 3 - #indieVisibility Awards

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:58:00 -0500

To subscribe via iTunes visit http://itun.es/iL35Vk
To subscribe via RSS visit http://99coins.libsyn.com/rss
For direct .mp3 download visit here

The first #indieVisibility Awards took place on Saturday 10^th December in a busy pub in London. Indie developers from across the UK gathered to celebrate a year of successes, with just a little hint of British sarcasm.

We interviewed as many of the winners as we could, and asked them about their games and their awards (the prestigious golden teabag!). You can learn more about the winners and the games at the links provided below.

Have you got a game recommendation, comments or questions? Get in touch with us on Twitter at @99Coins or email at 99Coins@BBC.com.

Interviewees:

Dan Marshall - Size Five Games - @danthat
Bidds – Curve Studios - @onebitbeyond
Mike Bithell – Thomas Was Alone - @mikebithell
Dick Hogg – Frobisher Says - @dick_hogg
Perrin – Kairo - @PerrinAshcroft
Paul Taylor – Mode 7 Games - @Mode7Games
Ian Hardingham – Mode 7 Games - @IanHardingham
Ed Key – Proteus - @edclef

99 Coins Team:

Ben Milsom – Host - @benmilsom
Max Engel – Host - @8bitkid
Mark Shaw – Producer/Editor - @marky

Games and Links:

For a full list of all the awards you can visit Size Five Games’ site here.

The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the opinions of the BBC.

This podcast is made by BBC Worldwide, the BBC’s commercial arm. BBC Worldwide profits help to fund new BBC Programmes.

Some photos from MineCon. 99 Coins got to catch up with some of...

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:35:00 -0500

Human traffic

Important Octodad swag

Some photos from MineCon. 99 Coins got to catch up with some of the developers at the Indie Games Showcase to talk about their games and Minecraft.

Listen to the episode here.

99 Coins - Episode 2 - MineCon 2011

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:13:00 -0500

To subscribe via iTunes visit http://itun.es/iL35Vk
To subscribe via RSS visit http://99coins.libsyn.com/rss
For direct .mp3 download visit here

For the second 99 Coins we’ve been on the road at MineCon, the Minecraft convention in Vegas. Catch up with the creators of Retro City Rampage, Octodad and Frozen Synapse who discuss their own games, the benefits of an active, supporting community and why Minecraft marks an important milestone for indies everywhere.

Have you got a game recommendation, comments or questions? Get in touch with us on Twitter at @99Coins or email at 99Coins@BBC.com.

Guests:

Brian Provinciano –Founder of Vblank Entertainment - @BriProv

Philip Tibitoski – Programmer & Community Manager - Young Horses Inc - @ptibz

Patrick Owens – Owner of Super Earth Server - Vetyver

Paul Taylor – Joint Managing Director, Mode 7 Games - @mode7games

99 Coins Team:

Ben Milsom – Host - @benmilsom

Max Engel – Host - @8bitkid

Mark Shaw – Producer/Editor - @marky

Games and Links:

Retro City Rampage

@RetroCR

http://www.facebook.com/RetroCityRampage

Octodad

@octodadgame

www.Facebook.com/octodadgame

Super Earth Minecraft Multiplayer Server

Website and Minecraft Server address: www.Super-earth.net

Frozen Synapse

@mode7games

This podcast is made by BBC Worldwide. BBC Worldwide is a commercial company that is owned by the BBC. The profits BBC Worldwide make go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes.

MINECON 2011 A little video of Notch officially launching...

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:31:00 -0500

MINECON 2011

A little video of Notch officially launching Minecraft.

MineCon has been a wonderful celebration of the game and a great opportunity to meet and interview a range of indie developers and community leaders.

Keep an eye out for some of the interviews and more MineCon musings in episode 2 of 99 Coins - out before the end of the month.

Last night we went along to Soho to play Slingshot’s...

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 07:02:00 -0500

Tails attached!

The host explains the rules

An evil hound is given our smell

Peter Silk (@surplusgamer) on the scent

the winners (not us)

Last night we went along to Soho to play Slingshot’s Hounded. A live-action chase game in which teams of players race to sniff their way to victory. Fortunately we were joined by indie games designer Peter Silk (@SurplusGamer) which all but guaranteed us victory.

As foxes our objective was to follow the scent trail of unlabeled pads sprayed with various scents and tied to lampposts. The titular Hounds were our enemies, armed with dogs their job was to track us down and steal our tails. Once a fox loses a tail he too becomes a Hound, and can help his teammates by ‘killing’ rival foxes.

Being in Soho, the rowdy crowds, impatient traffic and other non-Hounded smells made keeping track of scents a thrilling challenge. Being chased by actual dogs is terrifying, and in turn getting to chase other proper grownups around London once you’d become a Hound was amazing.

Did our impromptu pub interview turn out OK? Did we win? Look out for more on Hounded in the next episode of 99 Coins where all will be revealed.

Recently unearthed #WildRumpus footage of a J. S. Joust match,...

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:39:00 -0500

Recently unearthed #WildRumpus footage of a J. S. Joust match, with our very own @benmilsom winning spectacularly!

99 Coins - Episode 1 - Introductions

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 07:44:00 -0500

To subscribe via iTunes visit http://itun.es/iL35Vk
To subscribe via RSS visit http://99coins.libsyn.com/rss
For direct .mp3 download visit here

For the first ever episode of 99 Coins we are joined by Honeyslug’s Ricky Haggett and Size Five Games’ Dan Marshall to discuss what we mean by indie games, why we’re so excited about them and why you should be too.

We also cover phsyics-based classic Armadillo Run and plenty of GameCity antics including Phil Fish’s Fez-womb and a run down on two non-video-videogames - Johann Sebastian Joust and Cat On Yer Head!

Have you got a game recommendation, comments of questions? Then get in touch with us on Twitter at @99Coins or email at 99Coins@BBC.com.

Guests:
Ricky Haggett - Co-Founder of Honeyslug and @KommanderKlobb
Dan Marshall - Size Five Games and @danthat

99 Coins Team:
Ben Milsom – Host - @benmilsom
Max Engel – Host - @8bitkid
Mark Shaw – Producer/Editor - @marky

Games and Links:
Armadillo Run
Fez
Johann Sebastian Joust
Cat On Yer Head
GameCity
The Wild Rumpus