Podcast Episodes Archives - Page 20 of 40

S3 E66 Film Review: Secret Moon by Orencloud (Feb 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes February 22, 2023 Leave a reply

This week we review the winner of the 2022 Kitbash3D moving image challenge contest, based on their free Mission to Minerva asset pack. The film is called Secret Moon by Orencloud, and what a visually stunning and ethereal representation of Minerva this is, with a clear trajectory between this piece and Orencloud’s portfolio. We discuss some of the ways in which the film works and works less well for us, and note that at least one of us missed the ending!

YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes and Links

Secret Moon, by Orencloud, released 1 December 2022, film link –

Link to Orencloud’s webste and portfolio

Link to Kitbash3D’s showreel for the Mission to Minerva challenge contest outcomes –

and for their press release on the winners, check out the Kitbash3D website here

Download the Mission to Minerva asset pack here

S3 E65 Let’s Play Nomad X (Feb 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes February 16, 2023 Leave a reply

Ricky’s pick for the month is Let’s Play Nomad X by Kristian Andrews, uploaded to Vimeo on 11 Mar 2013. The film is a ‘slice of life’ comedy with intriguing mix of playing a 90s style space game, Nomad X, and reflecting on losing the love of your life – a perfect antidote for those Valentine’s week shenanigans!

YouTube Version of the Episode

Show Notes and Links

Let’s Play Nomad X by Kristian Andrews, released 11 March 2013 –

Link to Director’s Notes interview about the film here

One of the director’s favour films, Frontier Fundamentals, Ep 1, @JimPlaysGames –

Game mentioned in the discussion, Barbara-Ian, available on Steam here

S3 E64 Film Review: Half Life 3 (Honest Game Trailers) by Fandom Games (Feb 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes February 9, 2023 Leave a reply

This week’s episode reviews a film by Fandom Games called Half Life 3: Honest Game Trailers, released 31 March 2015. The film is a throwback style of satire and even if you’ve not been following Valve’s Half Life developments, you’ll enjoy this. For those less in the know, HL3 is a game that never made it beyond the hype, despite its avid fan base waiting patiently (or impatiently) to play it for 20 years! We reflect on Fandom Games origins in Jimmy Wale’s Wiki technology. We also discuss our approach to ‘healthy criticism’ on the podcast.

YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes and Links

The film –

The Fandom wiki site link here

Video Game Leak’s commentary on the expectation for HL3 –

Article by Eurogamer on the recent leak of Valve’s video game assets

S3 E63 Film Review: The Backrooms – Reunion (Feb 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes February 2, 2023 Leave a reply

Starting Feb 2023 off with a meme, Tracy selects a machinima that has been released as part of a massively co-created story involving numerous creators since it kicked off in mid 2019, The Backrooms. This short is called The Backrooms – Reunion by @kanepixels, released 8 Dec 2022. Is this really machinima, yep it certainly is – but we’re all blown away with the realism of the actors’ performance in this, and of course, the whole Backrooms Creepypasta phenomenon is just something else to behold too. We give you a bit of the background, just in case you’ve not come across it in your travels across the internet.

YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes & Links

The Backrooms – Reunion by Kane Pixels, released 8 December 2022

The Backrooms (Found Footage), released 7 Jan 2022

History of the Backrooms in videos

The Backrooms creepypasta thread discussion

The Backrooms game on Steam

The Backrooms game website

Weird Fiction and recent revival of the movement, referred to as New Weird, on TVTropes website

Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation novel, that Ricky made reference to

Freud’s The Uncanny essay, notes by the Freud Museum

S3 E62 Film Review: So I tried to Take a Holiday… (Jan 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes January 26, 2023 Leave a reply

This week, Damien selects a Star Wars short by @Bombastic , released 5 Nov 2022, made with LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga game. This is a totally zany edit of a let’s play improv performance, by a creator who clearly has every detail of the SW Canon nailed to his bucket and spade… if only you can keep up with the camera. But maybe we’re just a bunch of old fogies?

YouTube Version of this Episode