The Independent Insurgency

July 2008
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Tue, 15 July 2008

Episode 014: Ben Lehman on XXXXtreme Street Luge

In this episode I talk with Ben Lehman of These Are Our Games (aka
TAO games). We touch on his game about the lives of microcelebrity
extreme athletes, XXXXtreme Street Luge, while conducting a wider-
ranging discussion about microcelebrity of another kind, playtesting,
ashcanning, and "what's wrong with the indie game design community,
and what's always been wrong with the indie game design community."
Warning, this one gets a mite prickly.

This episode is 56.5 MB big and 1:01:43 long.

01:43: Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy
02:12: Joshua AC Newman
02:52: The $3 (negotiable) price point
03:21: The free pdf of the game
03:47: Carl Rigney gave away copies at Endgame for Free RPG Day
04:45: Rachel found In a Wicked Age... at Greenfield Games while at JiffyCon on Free RPG Day
05:23: Tell us about the game
06:16: "Look vaguely like Vin Diesel!"
06:23: Pull quote by Elizabeth Shoemaker, who's coming out with It's Complicated quite soon
06:34: New quote, attributed to Joshua and Ralph Mazza
07:11: Ashcans aren't playtested
07:53: Dogs in the Vineyard is a game about Vincent Baker's issues and adolescence
08:27: Polaris about is Ben dealing with issues around activism and burnout
09:14: Bliss Stage is about sex and relationships
10:22: The kill puppies for satan reference in XXXXSL
14:21: The question that XXXXSL is investigating
15:28: Story Games
15:51: Ben's problems with Jason Morningstar's and Clinton R. Nixon's problems with fame
17:43: Ben is working with Anna Kreider on Thou Art But a Warrior (about which more in Episode 12
20:13: Luke Crane
22:41: "Playtesting is somewhat overrated"
24:49: What Ben doesn't like about Playstorming
27:08: Tony Dowler and Ben's snags in making a new race for How to Host a Dungeon
29:18: Primetime Adventures's series creation reminds me of playstorming
30:23: XXXXSL's lineage: The Pool > Inspectres > Universalis > PTA
33:03: Paul Czege of The Ashcan Front
33:34: A game written for Game Chef 2008 is going to be released as an ashcan this year
34:39: What Ben doesn't like about ashcans
36:49: Ben has been playing a lot of Shooting the Moon by Emily Care Boss, Don't Rest Your Head by Fred Hicks, and carry. a game about war. by Nathan Paoletta
38:04: Ben chickens out
40:51: Ashcans and the Sacred Cow Defense League
42:47: The Cockzilla cover for Misspent Youth and its SCDL
47:25: Taking turns in the bullshit phase of XXXXSL
50:36: Defining success for XXXXSL
52:04: The origin of XXXXSL
55:05: Summarizing Ben's prescription for a healthy hobby
57:29: XXXXSL's "amazingly good illustration of Vin Diesel" by Shreyas Sampat
58:40: A reading of the game's ad for 1001 Nights by Meguey Baker

Closing song is Sissyfit by the Hub City Stompers
Logo courtesy of Daniel Solis: http://danielsolis.com/

Direct download: independent-insurgency-014.mp3
Category: podcasts -- posted at: 1:12 AM

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