Glow-ments #3: Tales from the Slack-Chat
Like many teams - long distanced and in and out of lockdowns - Glowmade rely heavily on chat platforms to retain the team feel, and share everything from the very important to the extremely incidental.
Glowmade’s resident blog writer, always keen to sing the praises of the team (a bit like a poor man’s Axl Rose), will be plucking the very finest of these topics, as they materialise in the team chat, and sharing them with you!
Put on a Brave Face
(Jonny)
This edition of Glow-ments is slightly different to the previous posts - partially as the subject was prompted - and quite honestly… has been a tough write due to the subject matter. You see, our Jonny - Glowmade’s co-founder and studio head - suffered quite the unfortunate accident.
Without going into too much detail (trust us, you don’t wanna hear it), one fine day in April Jonny was happily riding his road bike and expertly navigating the streets of Guildford… and then he wasn’t. His beautiful face - and teeth - broke his fall.
Thankfully, Jonny is on the mend and back at work. Ever the optimist with an eye for life’s siver lining, he’s taken his accident and subsequent treatment in his stride, and very supportive of the teams suggestion for games that would take his mind off his… face… being shared with you all. So here we are - attempting to poke fun at something utterly horrific.
So, without further ado GAMES-TO-TAKE-JONNY’S-MIND-OFF-HIS-FACE! GO!
from Senior Sound Designer, Jaime:
I've been playing TASOMACHI: Behind the Twilight, which is a really nice laid back puzzle/platformer deal. It is very "chill vibes”, if it were a '00s 3D platformer.
Katamari Damacy is great too! The basic premise is "roll about, make ball biggerer" but the presentation and everything about it just lifts it so very high. The soundtrack is incredible.
“roll about, make ball biggerer”
ON THE COMPLETELY OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM I actually play Shmups to help me laser focus. There's some bigger hitters on steam like the Capcom Arcade Collection, Cave, Psikyo and others but I recommend Cosmo Dreamer cute and ramps up nicely. You get into the flow pretty quickly.
from QA Master, James:
I played through Lair of the Clockwork God a few weeks back, it’s very referential homage to the classic adventure games of yore and also modern indie platformers - kind of an example of both of those genres and a commentary on those genres as well.
“I loved the part where you had to *redacted* to fix *redacted*. Very original”
The platforming is laid back enough to not be a barrier for anyone who dislikes that kinda thing, and the adventure game element is good if you have fondness for that era!
Anything by Inkle is a really good shout for a chill. You’ll enjoy a well written, enjoyable time by a developer who seem pretty decent all round as well.
They recently put out a game - Overboard - that's like a reverse murder mystery where you play as a woman on a cruise ship who has just killed her husband (he deserved it, don't worry) and have to try and get away with it.
Their older games are well worth a look too: 80 Days, a game where you play as Phileas Foggs butler and help him win his ill judged wager by getting around the world in 80 day is a thousand times better than that pitch makes it sound and was one of my favourite games of 2014!
(If you like the old school adventure games and haven't played the ones I’ve recommended - YOU SHOULD! Wadjet Eye Games have been quietly making/publishing really good ones for a few years now. The Unavowed got rave reviews from a few places and then seemed to sink without a trace but it is really, really good!)
from Lead Programmer, Adam:
I'm playing lots of Legends of Runeterra at the moment for my "I'm too tired to play anything" gameplay time. It’s basically Riot's version of Magic the Gathering.
Oh… and Animal Crossing.
You know, now that it’s done… it wasn’t so bad! We managed to get through the whole blog without a single reference to 2.30 and didn’t poke all that much fun at all. With any luck we have provided our dear J-hops with many potential hours of laid back gaming, often coupled with ethereal and uplifting soundtracks.
Jonny, we salute you and your incredible, perpetual sunny disposition. We’re blinking chuffed that we have you to captain the Good Ship Glowmade, and that - despite the obstacles - you made it back to your place at the helm so swiftly! Please don’t work to hard, yeah? Think of your poor face, man!