Post Archive

Stardew Valley, Bloodborne, osu!, and Thimbleweed Park | Ep.61

This week we revisit some old gaming flings, and take on some new ones! Deanna revisits Stardew Valley and Bloodborne, Pat talks about Thimbleweed Park, and Derek compares Player Unknown Battlegrounds to another game that’s already been through its run and talks about osu!. As a welcome improvement, Tiffany mixes our audio live.

The episode where we recapped our Game of the Year episodes is here.

Thank you to Sydney, Colin, Damian, Wasabi, and Dave for your questions!

If you do wanna do us a huge favor, rate us on iTunes, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. We have YouTube, and a Discord server, and we stream at least once a week on Twitch. Thank you all so much for listening!

Fire Emblem and Persona 5 | Ep.60

This week, we tackle Persona 5 and Fire Emblem.

Deanna, despite writing this description, doesn’t actually know what happened. She wasn’t there.

Thank you to everyone who sent in questions!

Yakuza 0, Persona 5, and Working in Topics | Ep.58

This week, we discuss the substories in Yakuza 0, granny shorts, Persona 5, and the recent decision surrounding Atlus’ streaming ban on Persona 5 after a certain point. Oddly enough, Sega made the same decision with Puyo Puyo Tetris.

Slight spoilers for Yakuza 0’s substories (around 12 minutes) and Persona 5 in this one!

Thank you to Sydney and Colin for our questions this week.

Question Time, But For An Hour | Ep.57

This week, we throw something together for you. Enjoy us talking in-depth about Anime Boston, some residual PAX East things, and the questions we got this week. Kick back, relax, and listen to some words.

Night in the Woods: In-Depth | Ep.56

We all played one game and we can all talk about it! Aside from Greg, who was a last-minute addition to this week’s podcast.

Weekly Update #3 – Teasers

We’ve been busy this week working on things behind the scenes once again. The weekly installment of our podcast will be out at 2PM today, and on YouTube at 11AM tomorrow.

For now, I’ll leave you with a teaser of our upcoming podcast, Encryptid. Featuring Deanna and Kennedy, Encryptid is a show about conspiracy theories and things like Bigfoot. The audio comes out normally, as a podcast would, and the video is the prize of the whole ordeal. It’s like a scavenger hunt and a short TV show rolled into one.

We are also bringing you the first episode of our D&D series as soon as we can. Greg’s working on the story and getting a good backlog of episodes. As one can imagine, it’s difficult to get eight people together for an extended period of time since we’re all pretty busy.

Episode six of The Coda Conflict is out, and things really start to pick up plot-wise. A new cover image for The Coda Conflict is in the works, from our very own Kennedy. Hopefully that’ll come around with the next episode. Not this Sunday, but the one after.

As always, you can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Follow us on all of those channels to get updates as soon as they happen.

We’ll leave you, though, with the cover image for this podcast:

Shadowrun: The Coda Conflict – Episode 6

Join our runners as they dabble in biotech, drag, and get a speedy escort to the Godless Republic after meeting with a familiar face.

From now on, we will be highlighting our tabletop videos on the site, but they come out on YouTube first. You probably know it already, but subscribe if you want new episodes as soon as we release them.

YIIK Interview with ACKK Studios

I’ve made it no secret that after playing their demos at PAX East 2016 and 2017, I’m looking incredibly forward to ACKK Studio’s highly anticipated RPG YIIK. On March 24, Andrew and Brian Allanson let me ask them a few questions about YIIK, its upcoming release, and inspiration.

YIIK is a turn-based RPG set in the year 1999 in the town of Frankton. A video is uploaded online of a girl, Sammy Pak, being taken from an elevator by something “otherwordly.” You play as Alex, a recent college grad who met Sammy, as he and his friends search for her. To quote the website, “This is a story about what happens when you look for someone who can’t be found… and the strange things you invite into your life when you go to forbidden places.”

 

 

Lifecast: Tell us about ACKK Studios! How did it all begin? What inspired you guys to create games

Allanson: We started making games as kids, and used that name back then. Me and my brother Andrew started programming in quick basic and used to make Zelda fan games exclusively.We were originally inspired by Zelda II Adventure of Link to make games, and Pokemon Red and Blue!

 

What were your earliest games like? Did you archive them somehow?

We made our fan games based on descriptions of Zelda 1 and Zelda 3 from the official Ocarina of Time strategy guide because we didn’t own those games and desperately wanted to play them. So, we made them ourselves. We really enjoyed making games that we couldn’t obtain and imagining what they would be like. They were primitive at first but after a few years they were pretty decent clones with original stories and levels with ripped sprites. We have some archived. They were made in quick basic, c++, and the games factory.

 

What inspired you guys to create YIIK? Were there any other developers or games you took inspiration from?

We wanted to make something that felt like watching the trailer from a lost N64 or PS1 RPG that never came out. Something along the lines of Mother 64. It eventually evolved, and moved a bit away from that. Wild Arms, Earthbound, and Shadow Hearts were our biggest influences for YIIK.


How long have you been working on YIIK now?

Just under 3 years.

 

According to your site, YIIK is your second major project. The first was Two Brothers, which has “mostly negative” feedback on Steam and a 57 on Metacritic. Was that discouraging in the decision to make YIIK? Have its criticisms played a role in the creation of YIIK?

The reaction to Two Brothers was complicated. It had a lot of glitches due to the engine it was developed in, so we learned right away to move onto better software. We also learned to take our time. We probably wouldn’t have continued making indie games if it wasn’t for this video here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQtxD7alDL4


What engine is YIIK running on?

YIIK is running in Unity.

 

Why did you choose to set YIIK in the 90’s?

Seemed like a fun idea at the time, mostly.


YIIK has a very unique aesthetic and soundtrack! Has it always been like that, or were there different plans for it in the beginning?

We wanted to make a “Lost N64 game” so we started developing a low poly quality. We ended up going for more high fidelity than the N64 could’ve done, but that’s where it started. The music was more traditional JRPG at first, but as the world developed the music naturally evolved with it.


Do you guys have any favorite characters in YIIK?

Rory Mancer, because he’s a really fun character to write. I’m really interested in people who are avid conspiracy theorists, and choose to live their lives in alternative ways against mainstream culture.


YIIK is currently set to come out “Early 2017.” Don’t suppose I can ask if there’s a specific date or month in mind?

Before July.


Once YIIK is done, what’s next for ACKK?

A retirement home maybe.

 

Finally, a question that’s caused a lot of debate here at The Lifecast, and I’m sure elsewhere: The title is pronounced Why-2-Kay, right? Or is it Yeek?

Why-2-Kay, as in y2k (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2000_problem)

 

 

YIIK A Post-Modern RPG will be available on Steam, PS4, Vita, and Wii U before July! Check out ACKK Studio’s Twitter or Facebook for frequent updates.

PAX Games, School Trips, Whimsy, and Pet Care | Ep.55

“I’m gay for friendship!” “A fucking wasteland of mediocrity and disappointment.”

 

Please note that we don’t really start talking about video games until fifteen minutes in. These timestamps are here to help! It’s also a long podcast this week.

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PAX East Highlights – Dipped in Neon and Bleeding Synth

There was a trend in the things displayed at PAX East this year, and it’s one I’m happy is making its way into the mainstream. That’s right, folks, we’re getting cyberpunk, and it’s not stopping anytime soon. Welcome to the world of neon lighting, driving synth-based music, and themes of grappling with the big bads in charge of corporations. Buckle up.

Weekly Update #2 – Cryptids & Wrap-ups

This week, things have slowed down. We recorded our podcast on Tuesday as usual, and that will be up tomorrow at 2PM and on YouTube on Friday at 11AM. As for anything else we have in store…

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