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Ugly Talk

A branch of the Drunk and Ugly podcast, Ugly Talk discusses concepts from film, TV, videogames, and other forms of media and how to apply them to traditional games. Join us as we discuss things, because we know things.
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Now displaying: 2017
Dec 23, 2017

The Cry of Mann was an interactive webseries that ran from October 23rd until November 2nd of 2017, performed by the members of the sketch comedy group Wham City. 

The series followed the trials and tribulations of the Mann family who have been waiting for their patriarch, Tank Mann, to return home, hopefully in time for the annual celebration of TROOL Day.  Each family member has their own individual struggles and the family business seems to be unraveling without Tank at the helm. 

The main crux of this series was that the whole set was lined with telephones and viewers were prompted repeatedly throughout each episode to call in and talk to the characters.  This was first thought to be a novelty or a way to scrape more lore from the world but as the series continued it became apparent that interaction with the characters would alter the course of the story.

This particular style of fiction is so novel and unprecedented that we were not entirely sure how to define or describe it.  It seemed like something of a black box stageplay and an ARG all in one.  To help, we called in our friend the Review Cultist of Al Dente Rigamortis to help sort it out.

 

Media Referenced this Episode:

Nov 22, 2017

This month we readdress last years topic on cultural storytelling. This time we are looking at American Culture as can be seen through the lens of American Horror cinema. This does a bit to get into, so give it a listen. We talk about ghosts, film, horror franchises, Travis gets burpy, and the hidden political subtext of Saw. It gets weird. Check it out.

Media Referenced in this Episode:

Nov 1, 2017

Gobblin’ is an original RPG setting and system where players control goblins settling and exploring a post-apocalyptic Earth. The creatures who crave violence, stupidity and chaos have just found the perfect means to obtain it.  Travis talks to Greg to better understand this game about everyone's favorite miserable minions.

Remember to check out Gobblin on Kickstarter!

Sep 20, 2017

This panel was recorded at Gen Con 2017.  The panelists were Travis, Matt, and Greg Bennett of Technical Difficulties.

Horror beyond time and space! The unknowable horror of the universe! But is it really all the same? This panel is an exploration of the evolution of Lovecraft's works in the modern era. And how what we experience today might changed due to the influenced by other mediums.

Aug 30, 2017

This is a panel from Gen Con 2017. Travis talks about Ludonarrative Dissonance (Fludonarrative discobiscuits if you're hungry).

If you've been in the video game blog-o-sphere at some point, you have heard of LND (I'm not typing out the entire word you can't make me). But is it necessarily the pejorative term as its become in video game circles. Listen to this panel from Gen Con that gives the answer: NO. Most of all if anything LND is a feature most Tabletop GMs and Players are intimately familiar with, but haven't realized there was a term for. As such, listen in, learn a thing (maybe), and speak up if you have questions. Welcome to Herding Cats: Ludonarrative Dissonance and Players. (Dammit you tricked me into writing the full things again...)

Do you want to take part in a playtest of Gobblin': The Goblin RPG? Send an email to thedrunkandtheugly@gmail.com

Jul 31, 2017

The Story of Your Life is a short story by Ted Chiang following a woman whose understanding of an alien language has vastly altered her perception of reality.  This story was later adapted into the multimillion dollar Sci-Fi motion picture Arrival.  Experiencing both of these media, the throughline can be easily found, but the two stories are vastly different in their construction to aid in conveying their core message in a written format and a visual medium.  In translating writing concepts between media, we have picked apart specific ways the story has been adapted to make it work better, and we will pass these teachings onto you.

Media Referenced in this Episode

  • Lessons from the Screenplay (inspiration for the episode)
  • "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang
  • Arrival film based on SoYL by Ted Chiang
  • Daikatana by John Romero
  • "Wild Cards" series by George RR Martin
  • Persona / SMT series published by Atlus
  • Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei (Digital Devil Story: Goddess Reincarnation) by Aya Nishitani 
  • Persona 3 by Atlus
  • Digital Devil Saga by Atlus
  • Paradise Lost by John Milton
Jun 21, 2017

Hello internet!  We return to you this summer to talk about the return of a revered but short series from the 1990s.  Twin Peaks was a TV series by David Lynch and Mark Frost about the murder of the Homecoming Queen Laura Palmer in the sleepy town of Twin Peaks, Washington.  We share the experiences and explore the town through Dale Cooper, a federal agent called in to investigate the murder.

The M.I.C.E. quotient is a writing foundation credited to Orson Scott Card, known most notably for his science fiction series Ender's Game.  The basic idea as listed in the acronym is that every story seed falls into the categories of milieu, idea, character, or event.  You will have many of these story ideas overlapping and building upon one another in the course of your story, but the important thing is that you resolve them in the reverse of the order you introduce them.

The structure of the early episodes and the subsequent failure of Twin Peaks can be heavily traced to MICE (among other things), and in this episode, we will discuss MICE through Twin Peaks, and how you can apply it to your own writing.

Media Discussed in this Episode:

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Read more at http://drunktalk.libsyn.com/#iWrtGmB2yx3K3uXF.99

May 29, 2017

Stasis is a 2015 science fiction horror game developed and published by The Brotherhood, a South African studio comprised of the brothers Nicolas and Christopher Bischoff.  In the year of its release, it was awarded Adventure Game of the Year by AdventureGamers.com

The plot of the game draws heavily from Event Horizon and Dead Space.  It follows John Maracheck, a family man and school teacher who wakes up from cryostasis on an unknown and apparently abandoned vessel known as "The Groomlake.  Injured, unarmed, and alone, he must search out and rescue his family and escape the dying vessel, all the while learning the horrifying secrets it holds.

Through the course of this episode, we discuss the story and design decisions of Stasis along with James and Kevin Colmar.  We discuss what we think could have been improved, as well as design lessons to take away in our own writing.

Apr 1, 2017

Hello Internet!  Apologies for the wait, but the March Madness applies to more than college basketball.  In this episode we hit on a topic that we have wanted to cover for probably over a year now:  Tales from the Wood.  For the entire time since we played this game we have been really thinking on how we can make it better or at least better adhere to the themes that it seems to be aiming for while also making it a more cohesive system in general.

 

In this episode, we discuss the design and writing choices of this game, what mistakes we feel it made, and ways we would try to correct it.

Mar 2, 2017

Hello internet!  In this episode we continue our discussion from the previous episode on ways to break down media, where we now focus on the supreme way: Deconstruction and Reconstruction.  

In a deconstruction, a medium is taken apart, usually by playing the subject matter completely straight and considering how the signature elements would work in the real world.  In a reconstruction, the criticisms pointed out by deconstructing are accepted and modified in such a way that they feel faithful to the core work, but don't require the same caveats they once did.

In the course of this episode, we will analyze several deconstructed and reconstructed works, find the connecting threads between the relevant media, and find a way to use it in your own writing.

Media Discussed in this Episode:

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Jan 31, 2017

Hello Internet, and welcome back to Ugly Talk.  In our first episode of 2017, we're discussing patterns in media remixing and creation by examining and comparing some very different video games.  Namely, we are comparing Punch Club, an early 2016 mobile fight manager simulator with a number of very goofy themes, to the more recently released Final Fantasy XV, a AAA multi-hour JRPG that wears its previous influences on its sleeve.  In our discussion, we break down the ideas of parody, bricolage, pastiche, homage, and plagiarism and how to consider taking elements from other media to remix into your own games.

Media Discussed in this Episode:

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