The Sweater + Sock Combo w/ Alanna Okun and Chase Allhart | X-Strike Summer #2

This week AJ chats with Alanna Okun and Chase Allhart about their experiences with game design (and game design adjacent) education! They also confront the age old question: what even is a video game, anyway?

Into the Game Jam Links
itch page: https://itch.io/jam/itgj-summer-2024
Find the forum thread on the TWG Discord: Navigate to the "Games Forums" category, select the games-events forum, find "Into The Game Jam (Summer 2024)" forum thread and say hello!

Alanna's Links
Website: https://alannaokun.xyz
Buttonmash newsletter: https://buttonmash.substack.com/
Games made with bitsy: https://itch.io/games/made-with-bitsy

Chase's Links
Video Game Podtimism: https://podtimism.com

Discussed: TWG's Into the Game Jam (Summer 2024), Chase's Gamer Cred, Alanna's journey to game design, Alanna's Majora's Mask piece, what is a game, Journey, idea games, Bitsy, telling stories through mechanics, the search for tighter experiences (again), Outersloth, 1000xRESIST, Unicorn Overlord, Animal Well, sweet and salty games, Elden Ring, an embarrassment of riches, Persona 3 in its various forms, Skald: Against the Black Priory, Slice & Dice, Loop Hero.
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Find us everywhere: https://intothecast.online
Buy some merch if you'd like: https://shop.intothecast.online
Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intothecast
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Follow on Threads: https://threads.net/@intothecast
Follow on Tumblr: https://intothecast.tumblr.com
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Follow Stephen Hilger: https://stephenhilgerart.com/
Follow Brendon Bigley: https://threads.net/@brendonbigley
Produced by AJ Fillari: https://bsky.app/profile/ajfillari.bsky.social
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Season 6 Cover Art by Scout Wilkinson: https://scoutwilkinson.myportfolio.com/
Theme song by Will LaPorte: https://instagram.com/ghostdownphoto
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Timecodes:

• (00:00) - Intro
• (01:02) - TWG's Into the Game Jam! Links in the show notes!!
• (02:18) - Gamer Credentials
• (02:39) - Chase's journey
• (05:14) - Alanna's journey
• (13:04) - What is a video game?
• (33:46) - The search for tighter experiences
• (44:30) - 1000xRESIST | An infomercial for the game by sunset visitor
• (51:55) - Unicorn Overlord | A masterful segue
• (54:41) - Animal Well | The "five M&Ms" of gaming
• (01:01:32) - Elden Ring | The quest to git gud again
• (01:03:43) - Persona 3 | A safe space
• (01:12:02) - Skald: Against the Black Priory | Chase what is this game!!!!
• (01:16:02) - Slice & Dice | Granola-likes
• (01:20:13) - Loop Hero | oreH pooL
• (01:23:19) - Where to find Alanna and Chase online (check the show notes!)
• (01:27:09) - Wrapping up