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Episode 28: Cerebral Puzzle Showcase and Thinky Direct
212 Plays5 days ago
In this episode, hosts Alan and Syrenne are joined by Joseph Mansfield for his threepeat appearance on the podcast to discuss the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase 2025 and the recently premiered Thinky Direct!
This episode has a video version that you can watch here: https://youtu.be/RVNMsXXeatk
A copy of each of our shortlist of recommended games, some of which did not get discussed in the episode:
Games Discussed:
Bonfire Peaks - Lost Memories Parts 2+3
Gentoo Rescue
Kiko's Apple Adventure
Spooky Express
Compress(space)
Shape Sender Deluxe
Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping
Map Map: A Game About Maps
Schrodinger's Cat Burglar
Pup Champs
He Who Watches
Blue Prince
Isles of Sea and Sky
868-BACK
Memory's Reach
The Button Effect
Other recommendations we ran out of time to discuss:
Stuffo the Puzzle Bot
Hiding Spot
SOLAS 128
Linelith
Is this Seat Taken
Headlong Hunt
The Court of Wanderers
Toki Tori 2+
LOK Digital
Echo Weaver
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Hosts
00:00:21
Speaker
Welcome to the Dracneck and Friends official podcast, where we peel back the curtain on puzzle games and the people who make them. I'm Seren, the producer at Dracneck and Friends, and I'm joined as always by Alan Hazelden, the head Dracneck at Dracneck and Friends.
Meet the Guest: Joe from thinkygames.com
00:00:34
Speaker
Hey there. Today, we're joined by frequent guest of the pod, Joe, who you may know from other episodes, as well thinkygames.com.
Cerebral Puzzle Showcase Discussion
00:00:44
Speaker
ah And if you're watching the three-world puzzle showcase streams, a lot of Joe plays puzzle games. How are you doing, Joe? Absolutely. I love how you've, you must have said this interest so many times, Saren, that you've just got it down to complete T. You never make any mistakes with it. It's perfect. perfect um I am doing good. Yeah. And like, in theory, ah assuming the schedule for everything during the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase stays the same. People have been watching me for like three hours now, and now it's the fourth hour. This is part of the long Joe block. Yeah, exactly. So you got me all day today, folks. Yeah. So we've got a bit of housekeeping at the top. This is this is new.
00:01:24
Speaker
ah If you are listening to this in your audio feed, ah you can more or less treat this as a normal episode. However, I would be remiss if I did not mention... that for the first time and possibly only time, there is a video component to this episode. ah You can go watch this. that We are broadcasting the video portion of this as part of Cerebral Puzzle Showcase. There's a series of live streams on the Steam Store page.
00:01:52
Speaker
If you do not catch this live, no worries. You'll be able to catch the video version, if all goes well, on Dreknek and Friends' YouTube channel. um So keep an eye open if you want to see Joe, Alan, and I as we chat. We have branded and matching t-shirts.
00:02:12
Speaker
this This is exciting. If you just want to see what we look like for the first time, this is a good opportunity to do so. So we figured that because Cerebral Puzzle Showcase is now happening right as we begin...
00:02:26
Speaker
Right as we air this, that this would be a great opportunity to talk about Cerebral Puzzle Showcase, the Thinky Direct that kicked things off, which it was organized by Thinkygames.com and Joe here, and then um kind of wrap by talking about some of the games we're excited about in the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase this year.
00:02:50
Speaker
ah Now, for people who may be listening but don't know what Cerebral Puzzle Showcase is, First of all, who are you? would love to know how you found this podcast. Please let me know. Second, if you're listening to this soon after the podcast comes out, it's live now. Go to CerebralPuzzleShowcase.com and find out for yourself. Exactly. CerebralPuzzleShowcase.com, all one word.
00:03:14
Speaker
You'll be able to click through. It's a Steam sale featuring discounts, demos, and live streams featuring many of the absolute best games in this space. If you've been listening to this podcast, chances are you are going to love, love, love what you see there.
00:03:32
Speaker
A lot of guests, in fact, almost every single guest we've ever had on this podcast has a game in Cerebral Puzzle Showcase. If you put a game on your wishlist, go ahead, check your wishlist. It's probably on sale.
00:03:46
Speaker
It's the best week for puzzle fans of the entire year. like Yeah, this is this is the event. This is
Origins and Motivation Behind Thinky Direct
00:03:52
Speaker
where... And you're contributing to that by making the Thinky Direct happen. Indeed. Makes it even better.
00:04:00
Speaker
so Yeah. So Joe, let's go back. What was the impetus behind having a Thinkie Direct in general? I think having a like doing a Thinkie Direct has been on the list of things to do Thinkie Games since we started.
00:04:15
Speaker
um Because you know if we've seen like Wholesome Direct and obviously like Nintendo do theirs. And so many studios and publishers do their own little showcases like that. And was it last year that you guys did the Dragnet Direct? or was it vi We've not done a Dragnet Direct for probably three years now, maybe two. Was it three years ago? That was 2021 and 2022. Okay, time flies. yeah Shows your post-COVID time dilation that you're like, last year, right? No, no, no, no, no. As soon as I said last year, I realized it wasn't last year, but yeah, okay, I didn't realize it was that long ago.
00:04:51
Speaker
um And it was cool to have that the beginning of the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase, and it just made a lot sense for Thinky Games to to try and do it. And that meant that, you know, we could focus on finding lots of cool games, getting them all involved, um and we have a bit more time and space for it than you folks do, so...
00:05:11
Speaker
um So yeah, it's been it's been fun. And we get to yeah showcase loads of cool trailers, all the trailers in the Thinky Director New. Some of the games are releasing demos, some of them are ah releasing, some of them are announcing release dates, etc.
00:05:26
Speaker
um so yeah, lots of cool things. If people missed it, they can catch up with that on the Thinky Games YouTube channel. That's where the video will be. Yes. um And I presume also thinkygames.com as a landing page.
00:05:37
Speaker
Yeah, if you to thinkygames.com, there will also be link from there to all sorts of information about Thinky Direct. Yes. I'm just saying, if if if everyone's doing their job right, ah if you go to thinkygames.com on YouTube, or if you just search Thinky Games on YouTube, you'll find a plethora of um of incredible videos. um if we're all If we're getting the brand out there. Yes,
Featured Games and Diversity in Selection
00:05:58
Speaker
indeed.
00:05:58
Speaker
Thank you. Yeah, so this, to shatter the illusion, the Direct has not aired yet at time of recording, but it has aired at time of airing, so we can speak very openly about it.
00:06:10
Speaker
Although, we, like, Seren and I have not watched the trailers that are in it. so We've not seen the final cut. You do know the list of games, though. we we know We know the list of games, we know the list of announcements. ah We...
00:06:24
Speaker
It is the Thinky Games, Thinky Direct, dot, dot, dot, open parentheses in partnership with Cerebral Puzzle Showcase and Direct Naked Friends. Yes. oh So, we yes, we we have known the list of games.
00:06:38
Speaker
I will say, um seeing the list of games and seeing it develop, I'm like... just as a fan of these games, I was like, wow, that's a ah the list of bangers.
00:06:49
Speaker
Yeah, but at the same time, like I'm also seeing more and more games. I'm like, oh my gosh, like if only we could include like a million games. But I think, yeah, for a thing like Thinky Direct, it has to be like pretty focused. But you know like some of these events, like they do like two a year and then three a year. Oh, yeah. Okay, Alan.
00:07:09
Speaker
okay you want This is not us saying that we're going to have more than one Cerebral a year, but if you want to have some free-floating Thinky Directs, and then have Thinky Direct Prime anchored to Cerebral Puzzle Showcase.
00:07:24
Speaker
So what Wholesome did, right? They do the Wholesome snack. Yeah, exactly. I think the Wholesome snack is a bit lighter weight as well. It is. It still sounds like a lot more. But one thing I love about looking at the types of games that are involved in Thinky Direct there is such a variance. Like they're all, they're, they're all really good and anchored by this sort of mode of play that we all love, which is ah you're thinking through things, you're solving problems, usually rational problems.
00:07:57
Speaker
Usually you have a lot of information on screen or you've been picking it up through notes across the way. ah But within that, there's so many, like there's there's so much variance and,
00:08:10
Speaker
I love to pick your brain about like how important that was from a content selection perspective to like not have 10 Sokobans.
00:08:22
Speaker
but ah Very important. um And that's because we know that people joining the community like all sorts of games and some people, some like,
00:08:34
Speaker
we were talking about this today actually. So Rachel, who was also hosting the Thinkie Direct and is editor at Thinkie Games, she came to the Thinkie Games space like via like kind of mystery narrative games.
00:08:49
Speaker
And I came to the Thinkie Games space like via like Steven Sausage Roll and Cosmic Express, et cetera. So there's like all different ways that people come into the space, yet there is a thing that ties it all together.
00:09:02
Speaker
And one of my favorite pieces of feedback, I keep mentioning this in all sorts of things I've been doing recently, one my favorite pieces of feedback I get about Thinky Games is people saying, oh, I liked Into the Breach and I liked Return the Obra Dinn, et cetera, but I didn't realize it was like,
00:09:19
Speaker
but they they Basically, without having the word thinking, they didn't even realize they were the same kind of game. Yeah, I think we all see, we look at those games and go, yeah, no there's there's a connection there, which is that you, you know, it's about problem solving.
00:09:31
Speaker
about reasoning and solving puzzles. And so, yeah, it's been like, yeah, that's the thing we're trying to is say, like, all these games fit together. um And if you like any of them, there's a good chance you might like some of the others as well.
00:09:44
Speaker
And I guess that's also what you do with the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase as well. Yeah, and that's... um it's It's funny because that has been a goal from the beginning with Cerebral, um especially with organizing into categories for the featured games. ah Basically, hey, if you like one of the games in this selection, if you have played one, especially if you've played two, three, then you should really look at that whole category as like, oh, this is all going to be
00:10:16
Speaker
for you. Like if if if the game is in Cerebral and featured, that means that Drack Naked Friends is like really strongly vouching for it and like featuring it in this capacity next to these other games.
00:10:30
Speaker
we're We're super thrilled about that. And then also new this year, ah it's funny because the origin, the genesis of this came from a podcast recording, but it was as the conversation happened as soon as the ah recording stopped a few weeks, a few months ago now, we now have bundles in the Serial Puzzle Showcase. Now, what we've but we've had before is ah we've had a bundle of here's all the new games that have launched.
00:10:59
Speaker
ah Last year, we also had a cheaper subset of some of those games um as a separate bundle for people who didn't have. I think it was like $80 to buy all of the games. And then we ah we had a page where like games that are bundled with other games from the showcase, like well we'll feature them, right? Like, here's the Draknek bundle. Here's the da-da-da-da-da-da.
00:11:18
Speaker
This year, we organized a few different theme bundles of like, here's a detective games bundle. Here are five games hand selected by Dracnik and friends that maybe the developers wouldn't have reached out to one another. This is cool. but But like through 3Broll, we were like, you all should have a bundle for at least the duration of the showcase.
00:11:43
Speaker
And pretty much everyone seems super receptive to this idea of like, oh yes, I do want to be bundled with those. Did come with some fun bundle names? No. We haven't finalized the bundle names. I think the bundle names will be very boring.
00:11:55
Speaker
I think it's going to be like Cerebral Puzzle Showcase, Detectives Bundle. Okay. Cerebral Puzzle Showcase, Escape Room Bundle. At least it's very clear. yeah and she like Honestly, it should be very clear because it is like a – if you've played Lock Digital, there's a bundle that we are at least tentatively calling the not what you'd expect bundle, which is ah Lock Digital and a couple of other games like it that – like, oh, OK. This is a lot deeper than you'd expect at first glance. This is a lot more –
00:12:28
Speaker
Um, like we also have a, uh, short games bundle for people. I think this short games bundle got nixed because we couldn't hear back from enough developers. That's right. We were going to, we were going to do that. I apologize. Um,
00:12:42
Speaker
well this is But imagine if there was a short games bundle. Wouldn't that be nice? ho king s bubble That would have been great. Would be pretty cool. I mean, there's still lots of ah great short games in the showcase. Yeah, though there's a lot of great short games in in the showcase. ah You know, if if if you want to just read out a list of games that you should all buy together in one cart.
00:13:00
Speaker
ah But no, I'm honestly super, super happy. And then Alan, there's one other bundle of Metroid Brainiac. ah How many have you listed? i feel like you've listed three of the four, and I can't remember what these are. There's there's ah Escape Room, Not What You'd Expect, Detective Metroid Brainiya.
00:13:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's the four. And i'm yeah, anyone who's listening should go check those bundles out. ah Those are... like it's It's hard to play favorites, especially like when you're organizing a showcase like this, but also...
00:13:37
Speaker
like most of those games are so like but those those are mostly breakout games of like these are these are going to be the most successful that most plays yes absolutely like for example uh thinking games in your game finder has like what do you call it these sets the essentials yes yeah yes essentials indeed um I believe all of these are, or in Soren's personal opinion should be, Thinky Essentials. Yeah, fair enough. We'll take a look afterwards and go, ooh, that's missing from the Thinky Essentials. Yes.
00:14:09
Speaker
but um No, honestly, it's a phenomenal lineup. It's all part of that. If you've played one, you should play another. But going back to the Thinky Direct, what is, going put you on the spot.
00:14:22
Speaker
What is one trailer or announcement that is what is or was in the showcase that when you like got it locked in, you're like, um man, I didn't think we would get that. Or like that's really exciting, especially.
00:14:36
Speaker
mean, the one for me might be yours. It might be the Bonfire Peaks DLC. That was not a leading question. We did not know that would be the answer. I had no way of knowing that was going to be the answer. That's very funny. So...
00:14:50
Speaker
But I guess, like, because I had asked, like, a few months ago, a couple of months ago, like, is there any chance that the DLC might be coming out in time for the Super Bullshit? And we were hoping.
00:15:00
Speaker
And you were hoping, I think, that you knew at the time, right? No, we didn't know at the time. ah So for people who have not heard, and we'll get, I promise, once the dust has settled on this, we're going to get Corey in for probably an extra long podcast like, really dive deep into all of this.
00:15:17
Speaker
I'm very excited for that, but we wanted to make sure that the DLC was ready and done before we continue promoting that game because we know that people have been waiting a very long time for this. Bonfire Peaks, Lost Memories Part 2, and Surprise Part 3 are out now.
00:15:33
Speaker
Fully available. If you purchased Bonfire Peaks Lost Memories, you already own it. Just update your game and you can jump right in. ah If you have not played any of Bonfire Peaks, there is a full game plus Lost Memories bundle available on all platforms where the game is available to get the complete edition.
00:15:51
Speaker
um Parts 2 and Parts 3 are in enormous. They are... so big joe i cannot wait for you to dive in and play i'm sorry that you found out what the mechanics were by virtue of edit like getting the trailer early so it's funny because like we'd i think in a previous podcast we had talked about what the mechanics might be for bob by yes on popeye peaks dlc and it's funny seeing that Like, I don't think any the ones I said were there, but yeah that the same kind of approach that I was taking to try and come up with mechanics is definitely what has been, like, you've asked, ooh, what if we do this with this? And I don't think spoilers for part three in the trailer. So you're still... Oh, interesting. Okay.
00:16:34
Speaker
and still safe there. Yes. part Part three is the probably the single most interesting and bizarre mechanic ah in the entire collection. Again, these were these are very, very deep mechanics with a lot of um interesting edge cases.
00:16:53
Speaker
um Very, very... excited for people to get their hands on them. ah Again, a very deep thank you for your patience to everyone who's been waiting. um But we think they came out phenomenal.
00:17:08
Speaker
um Come on. Yes, you you got you got the scoop Bonfire Peaks DLC out now. um that's Yes, that's that's a very, very exciting one. Are you saying that you're not, you weren't jumping over the moon at the monsters announcement?
00:17:26
Speaker
i know its I know it's like sizzle reel. I am jumping over the moon at everything. Okay. I was going to mention as another thing, um the A6A back trailer.
00:17:41
Speaker
Yes. Getting that in. Because that hasn't had a Steam page yet or anything. And so we weren't entirely sure whether were going get the trailer Faze A6A back. And then when we did, I was like... yes, this game is going to be so good. And to know the Steam page is ready and people can like actually go and wishlist didn and see the trailer and all that stuff is very exciting. So was very happy about that as well.
00:18:01
Speaker
Yes, that's a that's a very exciting one as well.
Puzzle Game Industry Insights
00:18:05
Speaker
Alan, is there, from the perspective of someone who's read the table of contents but has not seen the trailers, is there a trailer that you're most interested in watching from the list? ah Yeah, I mean, definitely excited to see 868 back. Same.
00:18:20
Speaker
and Enter our reality a bit more. um ah Shape Center Deluxe is great one that we backed to Dragon Age Friends puzzle grant.
00:18:33
Speaker
Normalith is a very intriguing, mysterious game. Agreed. Yeah. I mean, it's a list of bangers, really. Yeah. The Isles of Cien and Sky trailers got fun as well. yeah, of course. Yep.
00:18:46
Speaker
um I have been actually very purposefully staying away. i believe it's been posted a little bit in circles that I'm in, but from um He Who Watches ah updates, because I have actually not sat down and taken a close look at that game in a couple of years.
00:19:04
Speaker
And so I'm actually very excited to see how that one's shaping up. Yeah. I mean, so I played the demo of that like a while ago and it's like a really cool game. Yeah. Just like, it's fun to mix that like dungeon crawler aesthetic with like portal-like games. Sorry, puzzles. um Yeah, it's cool.
00:19:22
Speaker
Very new game. Yeah, no. it's a it's It's very fun. Again, like like Alan said, list of bangers. I think that you did an incredible job curating. It's pretty stacked, that list.
00:19:36
Speaker
um And now that it's public that you're going to do one of these, get ready for unsolicited emails until the end of time. I mean, it' so it's already sorry started. Yeah. ah this This happened the first year that we did Cerebral was we organized it behind the scenes for like six to nine months before we announced it because we...
00:20:01
Speaker
It was our first time doing it, and we didn't know what the timeline was going to be at first. And so it was a lot of just reaching out game by game by game by game. If we did this, would you be interested?
00:20:13
Speaker
what if we did this, would you be interested? If we did this, would you be interested? And then we finally had a big list. We started making branding assets. We put it out. We're like, this is happening in a week. and And then hundreds of people, can I begin? Yeah.
00:20:28
Speaker
So i get I get messages from devs who want to be in Cerebral Puzzle Showcase. like they ask me We get messages thanking us for our hard work at thinkygames.com. I love it. are two separate entities, folks. Track Deck and Friends is responsible for Cerebral Puzzle Showcase. If you want to reach out, you can find the contact information at cerebralpuzzleshowcase.com.
00:20:53
Speaker
Thinky Games is a separate entity that we're very good friends with. Yes. But if you want, if you're, if you're reaching out to Cerebral Puzzle Showcase, uh, trying to reach Joe, uh, not going to him by default and vice versa. Yeah. I mean, yeah, having the Thinky Direct kick off three book public showcase doesn't doesn't help this. No, but we've accepted this. It's like we've got two discords. Nobody can figure out what the discords are.
00:21:21
Speaker
We accept it. It doesn't matter. No, it's honestly, again, just like to to reiterate, like, I'm just glad that so much of this space is everyone is just friends and mutually bonded on this mission as opposed to like can you imagine if cerebral puzzle showcase and thinking gamers like hated each other or if if if if one of us was like oh no you shouldn't you shouldn't do that like that's the evil company yes that's the company that's doing this for the wrong reasons that might be good for you know like um going viral all that stuff oh yeah yeah you just want to make this pro wrestling yeah
00:21:58
Speaker
Yeah, you could you could just be like, Dragon Dragon Friends is in it only for the profit. They sell games, don't you know? Exactly. And we're like, can't argue with that. We sell games.
00:22:11
Speaker
Yeah, we're the good ones. we We're non-commercial. ah Speaking of, Alan, do you want to take five seconds and just plug all of our announcements from the Thinky Direct?
00:22:23
Speaker
ah Yeah. So... Well, obviously, there's we've already discussed Bonfire Peaks part two and three. They're out now. um Spooky Express has a demo that's out now.
00:22:36
Speaker
Yay! It's a great demo. ah We've been working really, really hard on it. And i don't think this actually made it into the scissor reel, but Monsters Expedition has an Android release now.
00:22:49
Speaker
It's out now on
Game Releases and Highlights
00:22:50
Speaker
Android. Hey, nice. Thank you to everyone who's been emailing us for five years. um That's the perfect game to play on Android. ah Yeah, it's it turns out, and I get to explain this a lot to a lot of Americans, turns out that the ah rest of the world kind of uses Android.
00:23:11
Speaker
The United States, nah, no. and and you If you use Android, you just get weird looks, like why the hell are you using a weird phone? and then everywhere else in the world, turns out that's kind of the norm. It's great to have a country with brand loyalty.
00:23:26
Speaker
look Do I fundamentally understand why Apple has over an 80% market share in phones in the United States? No, but they do. but It is the way it is. Yeah. um I was going to ask, Lock Digital, did that release on both iOS and Android? It did, right? Yeah. and yeah. I remember playing on my phone. um Yeah. Was that a great version of that game?
00:23:48
Speaker
that work out well, doing on both at the same time? Yeah. Great. Oh, yeah. And where we can, we always want to release on on iOS and Android. But ah in case people have forgotten, because it has been five years, Omaz's Expedition was on Apple Arcade.
00:24:08
Speaker
So the iOS version of it was basically already done when we left Apple Arcade, but the Android dev version was not done. yeah Exactly. So ah when we left Apple Arcade, there was a high priority in making sure that people who had already invested a large amount of time into the game could continue to play on iOS.
00:24:31
Speaker
And then we said, great. And then we moved on to other things. And ah wouldn't you know it, we released Lock Digital and we for release and we were developing two DLCs for Bonfire Peaks at the same time. And we released Electrifying Incident and we started up a podcast and we've run some puzzle showcase. We've done the Dragon Knight New Voices puzzle grant.
00:24:52
Speaker
And now here you go. Here is a Monsters Expedition on Android. There's four of us. Please help.
00:25:00
Speaker
so It's a good version of that game. It runs well on mid to low end phones as well nice uh give it a shot well it's one of my favorites it's like it's genuinely in my like i like i never like picked like my favorite game ever but i have my like top tier and the monster expedition is up there and it's like out of wilds and i'm gonna say blueprints is up there now as well Top of the top tier, though.
00:25:24
Speaker
Top of the top tier. Top the top tier, of course. i've said I've said this before. i don't think I've said it on record. but So I've been working in the games industry for 18 years because
00:25:37
Speaker
I have transferable skills, but... There's no passion in transferring them. all like I specced too hard into hyper-specific knowledge, unfortunately. um And I've been in the development side of things for 12 years.
00:25:53
Speaker
And out of every game I've worked on, I think of Monsters as much ah Expedition as my favorite game. That's not saying like, oh, I had the best time working on it, but like of the end products.
00:26:06
Speaker
This is this is not here nor there. I just don't want like different development teams to be like, she had a great time working on this. I'm like, as as the as the end product, I think of Monsters Expedition, it's my favorite to play.
00:26:17
Speaker
And I've worked on some titles that you might know that are not thinking games. I worked on Outer Wilds. I worked on Cuphead. I worked on stra I worked on a lot of these games. So I personally just i personally personally just A lot of love for that game.
00:26:35
Speaker
So it's it's good it's good to get it back out, let more people play it. If you want to play it on Steam and you don't own it, ah we have a sale for you. It's called the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase.
00:26:46
Speaker
And ah you can pick it up at a big discount. Including in the Metroid Brainius Cerebral Puzzle Showcase bundle. Including in the Metroid Brainius Cerebral Puzzle Showcase bundle. yeah ah Because that is a heck of a Metroid Brainius, that game.
00:27:01
Speaker
Yeah, it's the kind of game that I think probably lot of people would not expect it to be. But like the, yeah, you learn you learn techniques later on the game and then go back to like an earlier puzzle and go, wait, I can now solve this like this and get to this other island over there that couldn't before. Yeah, perfect Metrobrane.
00:27:18
Speaker
Watch out for the birch trees, they'll get you. You mentioned blueprints. I know this is not the topic, but I have to take an aside, Joe. I believe when last we spoke, you had not played blueprints.
00:27:30
Speaker
I'm now 30 something days into it. um Yeah, so. Yeah, I've, so I know where you're at publicly on the channel. I also know where that you record ahead. Have you reached room 46? I have reached room 46, yes. indeed Okay. um Are you going to try and continue to fly until you've seen everything?
00:27:49
Speaker
I... Oh, that is interesting. I'm going to keep playing it until I run out of mysteries that I know I can follow. Uh-oh. Okay. Which could be a long time, I know. i was going to say,
00:28:01
Speaker
ah z The amount of content after Room 46 is kind of absurd. Yeah, I know. I know. Like ah every single time I play it, because like you you play it in days, right? Yes.
00:28:12
Speaker
And so usually a day for me, as so as long as it goes well, is about two to three hours. yeah Because I also pay a lot of attention to everything as well and talk about it because I'm doing playthroughs.
00:28:23
Speaker
Yeah. And every single day, something there's some like massive thing that happens. I'm like, wait, does this exist? I've got to ask you one question.
00:28:36
Speaker
it spoilery? It is not spoilery if you do not have context. Okay. Just yes or no. That's dangerous. That's dangerous. How you gotten good RNG on the boiler room?
00:28:51
Speaker
to um sounds like no like it depends like yes um certain things i've done i've i've connected it to certain rooms and done done certain things with them okay yeah that's a yes okay like like yeah okay if if if that's led you down a route then that would that that's led me down the route for sure yes okay okay yes okay the answer yes Moving on. We will, at some point, I promise on this podcast feed, we will get a full spoiler conversation about blueprints.
00:29:25
Speaker
And I'm very much looking forward to that. With that said, ah now that we have talked about Circle Puzzle Showcase and the Thinky Direct... I would love if we can start talking about specific games and give some recommendations to people who may be on the store page and may be overwhelmed at the sheer volume of incredible games and would love a starting point.
00:29:49
Speaker
So I'm going to start with Alan, who has done the least talking on this podcast so far. Prior to recording,
00:30:02
Speaker
Alan, Joe, and myself wrote down some games that we would be super happy to talk through. And I'm going to throw to you and ask you to talk to me about Memories Reach.
00:30:16
Speaker
Sure. So there's a demo for that as part of Cerebral Puzzle Showcase. Annoyingly, it's going to be a new demo, and I've only played the old demo. So I don't know what's in this exciting new demo, but they were saying that it's like a lot of new content.
00:30:33
Speaker
um So that's intriguing. It is a first-person puzzle exploration game where you're walking around this alien world and interacting with buttons that are manipulating the environment.
00:30:47
Speaker
And it's on one level, like kind of like not that exciting mechanics if you spell them out and go like, yes, you can press a button to summon a lift.
00:31:01
Speaker
But it's like really, really well executed and like kind of comes together to be more than some of its parts. It's got gorgeous graphics. And yeah, i like I played the demo like probably, ah maybe I played it for Cerebral Puzzle Showcase last year and I was like really intrigued. I thought it was like really well executed, really interested to see where they go. so yeah, excited to see what the new demo is like.
00:31:28
Speaker
I'm realizing I played it at GDC two years ago.
00:31:33
Speaker
So yeah, I was looking through the screenshots like, wait, played this game. Viewers of the video version can go back and find the exact moment that Joe recognized at the game because his whole face changed. It was very funny.
00:31:45
Speaker
So Joe, I would love to hear you talk about Gentoo Rescue. Oh, interesting. Yes. So I played the demo today as of recording. oh And yeah, it's by sliding puzzle game. So you're on a grid and you've got penguins and you're trying to get the penguins to...
00:32:04
Speaker
the goal spaces on the on the ice and they slide along the ice and they can like fall in the water unless they hit a wall, which gives them stop. um That's kind of the basic mechanics, but then you get other animals introduced that have different goals as well.
00:32:18
Speaker
Like the walrus wants to go into the water rather than get to a specific space. And so, yeah, I was playing the demo today. And to be clear, Gentee Rescue is out. It's out at the time of... It's coming out on the day we're recording.
00:32:32
Speaker
It released a couple of hours ago. so like, it's been announced for about a week when this podcast launches. Yeah, exactly. So, it's just out. And, yeah, had a great time. And it does some things where it's, like, heavily inspired by Babri's U. So, it has some, like, meta shenanigans going on where there's, like, levels within levels.
00:32:50
Speaker
Yeah. and i was like noticing stuff in the kind of like overworld levels even though they're all levels basically where i was like what there must be a special thing there because it's like a there's like a random little island there must be a reason to go to that island and then did a puzzle where i learned a mechanic that i didn't like that isn't necessarily like immediately obvious but you get put into a puzzle where you have to learn a new thing then you come back out that puzzle and you're like i wonder if i can use this new thing to get to the island but i still couldn't figure it out so there's loads of like little mysteries and I guess it maybe has like a bit of a metrogrania element in that sense. Yeah, surprisingly. like I feel like isolating puzzles, ah like there's a lot of them. There sure are.
00:33:31
Speaker
And a lot of them are, they're fine. And when I played the demo for this game, I was really pleasantly surprised. like, oh no, this is way better than fine. This is really good. Yeah, this real good. And like the puzzles are, I'd say it's a tricky puzzle game, right? Like it's... Right, it wants to get to the meat quickly. Yeah, exactly. It does. And so like third puzzle in, I'm already like, oh gosh, like, so to do this, I've got to get the thing there and move the walrus to this. Yeah, it's good.
00:34:03
Speaker
Yeah, had a great time with it. I'm kind of curious to see... like how because i think it's a pretty big game as well like how deep it goes and what people say about the deeper levels of it as well um okay i'll pass something over to saran now let's hear about map map of course because i love maps and for there to be a game that's about maps and it's called map map that's the short name yeah it's called map map a game about maps So it sounds like it's perfect for me. i don't know too much about it though. so Oh, did you not listen to the podcast episode about it?
00:34:39
Speaker
ah Did I miss that? I might have missed that one. I'll catch up. Oh, yes. as As a reminder, these episodes are not ephemeral if you go back. if you If you hear us talk about a game, I mentioned that we had it the developer on as a guest. You can go back, listen to the ah interview either before, during, or after playing the demo or the game.
00:34:59
Speaker
um Yes, yes. Map Map, a game about maps, ah which was Draconect New Voices puzzle grant recipient for 2024 into 2025, is a cartography game where you are... It is ah colorful.
00:35:17
Speaker
It's this beautiful 3D behind-the-back third-person game, and you're moving around this island, and you are building out a map, and if that sounds...
00:35:29
Speaker
straightforward but cartography as puzzle mechanic is something that this game does really really well and once you consider cartography as puzzle mechanic suddenly it's like oh i see the kinds of space that this game can play in at least i do and then like a second after you think that the game is like yep Yep, we got there too. It's it's really, really clever.
00:35:56
Speaker
It's a whole lot of fun. I believe there's a new demo available as part of Cerebral Puzzle Showcase. I strongly encourage anyone who's curious about either the vibes of the game and you're you're not sure if cartography as puzzle mechanic is...
00:36:13
Speaker
kind of up your alley, or you heard this discussion or the podcast recording we did about it, if that piqued your interest, strongly recommend go play the day ah the demo, add it to your wishlist.
00:36:25
Speaker
That will really help this game, and this developer, just a phenomenal kind of game from a new breakout voice in the industry. Yeah, it's one of those, like, like everybody, i've got like little game ideas in the back of my head. And one of them is like, well, great to make a game where you're not just like looking at maps, but you're like, you're building the map as you go. And then map map is doing it. And that's amazing.
00:36:47
Speaker
and there's And there's like dungeon, like there's like dungeon crawlers, like um Entry and Odyssey, like there there's games that have done cartography as game mechanic, yeah but not really cartography as puzzle system. Yeah, yeah. And Cartography as Puzzle System is such a ripe space for design, it turns out.
00:37:07
Speaker
I would not be surprised if this game was very successful. I would just like how Obra Dinn comes out and then so slowly you start to see more detective games. I would not be surprised if you start to see Cartography ah games like this pop up a little bit more over time.
00:37:25
Speaker
But yeah, super strong recommendation. And Alan, speaking of the Draknek New Voices Puzzle Grant, and previous podcast guests, why don't you talk about Shape Center Deluxe?
00:37:39
Speaker
Yeah. So I think they are also planning to have a new demo for 3Ball. And I'm not sure if that's going to be broadly similar to the build that I played, but I think so. um Yeah, it's so okay.
00:37:52
Speaker
hopefully perfectlyly It's a physics-y puzzle game where yeah you've got this gun that shoots the blocks out and you're trying to bounce them around the level and get them to a destination.
00:38:04
Speaker
And you can construct the environment such that they bounce off or go through portals or or whatever in order to get from A to B. And that's been done a lot. it's It's done very well here. It's like very decently puzzly. And then it's also got this like kind of slightly threatening, slightly overly friendly AI companion who's like chatting to you like, yeah, yeah, like I'm Cindy, I'm your friend. Like you're not, you're not my friend. should specify not made with AI, but AI in the context of the narrative.
00:38:40
Speaker
um Yeah, like ah really really loved it. like That's why we we chose it for the new Voices grants. Really excited to see them get their demo out there. Excited to check out the development of the game. Yeah, it's really promising.
00:38:54
Speaker
And excited for more people to get to see it through the Thinky Direct. Yeah, was going to say, the trailer was in the King's. Right, yes. New trailer. Yeah, indeed. Yes. That game is very good at surfacing information to you ah that many other games like it are not.
00:39:12
Speaker
they they They will have you trial and error your way through things a little bit more. And this game is very very is much better about surfacing ah surfacing what's going to happen once you commit to a move.
00:39:27
Speaker
Interesting. So similar to those hack shots like last year or the year before, like the way that that was also exploring physics puzzles, but like telling you a bit more about what was going happen.
00:39:38
Speaker
Yeah. That's the best way to make those kinds of games like more yeah possibly. they are not like they They are not exactly comparable games for a number of reasons, but in in in the vein of information sharing across like physics-y puzzle games, absolutely.
00:39:53
Speaker
Awesome. Another trailer in Thinky Direct with the button effect. Have played that game at all? ah No, I've not played it. So it's it's as much a mystery to me as it is to everybody else. um But it's definitely the kind of game where it looks fascinating. It looks like a weird abstract space, kind of like a museum or whatever.
00:40:16
Speaker
um With buttons everywhere. and so I'm assuming it's going to... I don't know. I'm assuming it's going to be kind of cryptic and kind of require a bit of exploration and thinking outside the box, all that kind stuff. But other than that, I don't know anything about it, but it looks very cool.
00:40:32
Speaker
And the trailer we've got in the Thinky Direct hyped me up massively. Like, they know to do you just need to... slow pan through a weird abstract space with some like dramatic uh like film score music over top and you you heard it here first joe the sucker for the slow pan pan yeah if you put that in your trailers i'm in
00:40:56
Speaker
ah So yeah, I can't really say much more about it, but it looks very interesting. I'm going to keep going around in the circle, I guess. Why not? Saren, let's hear about ah Compressed Space. I saw this come up the other day because there's a new trailer for it, right?
00:41:11
Speaker
Yeah, ah they just put their store page live. um Compressed Space is another Direct Connect New Voices puzzle grant game. um This is the third one we've talked about now. ah You might be noticing a trend.
00:41:24
Speaker
But no, this game is really, really, really cool. ah This game has so much possibility space in the game design that ah very, very curious and very interested to see where this goes over time.
00:41:38
Speaker
So essentially, this is a game where you are able to very like... It's game where your goal is to reach a destination and like just as a level, like get over here, get over there.
00:41:53
Speaker
But the, the, what the, the gameplay mechanic is that you are changing the layout of everything in real time. You are like on the X or Y axis.
00:42:05
Speaker
you are um shit yes you are either expanding things or you're compressing them or ah you're you're pulling and you're pushing and sometimes you can pull and push in very interesting and very unique ways.
00:42:18
Speaker
It's a relatively beefy demo. There's a demo that's out now. theres you know The Serifu Puzzle Showcase demo. It's ah really great. Also, ah if you saw the announcement from the Drakonek New Voices Puzzle Grant and you saw some screenshots of it, ah it looks a lot prettier.
00:42:36
Speaker
um now than it did. It's really impressive to me. like Like when we chose that game for the grant, it's like, oh yeah, this this is really cool gameplay. i mean, it doesn't look like like that exciting, but like, who cares? It's got the great gameplay. Yeah, it looks like an in-development video game.
00:42:53
Speaker
And now it looks so much better. Like, yeah like ah really blown away by like how much it looks like a real game that non-puzzle nerds would be interested in. Yes, this really... ah Like, i I shared this with Melanie, the podcast editor.
00:43:11
Speaker
And she was so excited. She was like, oh my gosh, this game was like made for me. and i'm And I'm like, yes, no, I really, really want this game to be able to get its props.
00:43:23
Speaker
um Please go to the Steam page, wishlist the game, and grab the demo um it that is compressed space is one word, but space is in ah parentheses. So it's not- It's a little bit difficult to Google, but I'm sure people will find it. It's not the easiest to search. um i you know i would love it if at some point they added a space between compress and space so that at least it was a little easier.
00:43:50
Speaker
But- yeah you mean compress space space. Yes, compress space space. um Compress left parentheses space yeah right parentheses. Yes. In the future, we're going to try and have this developer on the podcast as well.
00:44:05
Speaker
ah we But we are super, like i personally was just super, super proud of this developer and how how this game is going. Can I ask a quick question about that? um So when you chose this game to be part of New Voices, did you know was the plan to make it like as fancy looking as it looks like?
00:44:28
Speaker
I don't think so. Without getting too much into the process, they mentioned it was something they were interested in. Okay, I see. Okay. yeah certainly Certainly there was no like mock-ups or anything. Yes.
00:44:39
Speaker
we had We had the build as it was, and we were really impressed by the build. And ah we were really impressed by the developer. We were really impressed by the timeline. Everything outside of the visuals was just really, really good and really, really solid. So that was a very easy game to get behind. Nice.
00:44:59
Speaker
But... Yes, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely excited for that game to continue in progress. And then once that game is out, almost more excited to see what comes next from that ah for this developer, because I think I think we can expect big things.
00:45:17
Speaker
All right. We should do one more lap around and choose one game from each of our own lists. o So, Alan, last game from your list. ah Well, we can do some popcorn, like rapid fire one sentence, but like for a full discussion.
00:45:33
Speaker
I mean, let's just do another new voices, Grunty. Heck yeah. Kiko's Apple Adventure. Out now. Out now. um Just delightful.
00:45:44
Speaker
um You are a cute bear. You are pushing apples onto wrath so that you can take them home to be made into a really big apple pie. um And i mean I guess similar to Gento Rescue, like there's some sliding block aspects there with like the way the wrath work.
00:46:05
Speaker
And like normally that's a mechanic that like I'm like actively like, oh, this is probably going to be bad, but I'm going to try it. um But no, like it it really works.
00:46:16
Speaker
The design is so good. The design is so clever. Yeah. And I like don't actually know where it goes later. I've seen that like the first few worlds and they're all like, yeah, these are solid mechanics.
00:46:27
Speaker
But um i don't I don't know what the and what what it's building towards. And that's really exciting to me. Alan, I bet we could i bet we could find out. right you You think? I don't know.
00:46:41
Speaker
um But yes, now i'm i'm I'm deeply excited for that game as well. For people who really enjoyed...
00:46:52
Speaker
ah The feeling of smuggling things on rafts in A Monster's Expedition. say fair Very similar feeling in the puzzle design of this game. Cool. Yeah, it looks cool from the trailer. I've not played any of it, but looks very cool. um you I mean, you should, you, Joe, should just wait until your channel.
00:47:10
Speaker
Yes, of course. Oh my gosh, this is goodnna this this will be a great playthrough for you. Yeah, it's interesting. I have this like um ah these opposite goals in life. One is to encourage more and more people to enter the space, and that means more and more people making these games.
00:47:26
Speaker
The other is I need everybody to slow down making these games because I cannot keep up with them all. ah I got bad news about Draknex output. ah just nice alone we're fueling your channel yeah exactly that's the problem i could just make my channel a direct neck so here's here here's a question for you before we jump into ah your last game from your list uh which which video series should i look out for first the spooky express demo or bonfire peaks lost memories part two and three ah
00:47:58
Speaker
I think most likely is I'll get to the Bonfire Peaks DLC first. Wow, okay. I'll probably save Spooky Express. was going to say, yeah, you don't want to spoil yourself. I might play it for the Thinky Games stream.
00:48:10
Speaker
It's a good demo. Yeah, I'm sure it is. Yes, it's a it's a really... Very polished, very surprising amount of content and more content if you're on our mailing list. Arian was playing it, our database editor, and i think Corey, um Corey Hart was playing it, um our news editor.
00:48:31
Speaker
Yeah. All folks on the Thinky Games team. We've already added content to it since the build we sent to you as a preview. Oh, nice. There are different mechanics in it from that. Interesting. Okay, cool. Yeah, they were talking about some of the differences with like Cosmic Express search and such. Oh, yeah. yeah it's It takes only a few seconds to get to the first level that would be able to be played with the Cosmic Express mechanics. Yeah, yeah.
00:48:55
Speaker
Cool. Yeah. I guess I'll get to my next game. what it so pick something from my own list. um I'm going to pick the Court of Wanderers. um So this is a game that came out early last year.
00:49:09
Speaker
and have' been Wait, did we have ever spotlight it on the Thinky Puzzle Games Discord, Alan? don't think we did yet, did we? I don't think we did. I've been trying to get us to spotlight it because I think that's like a ah ah game that people have overlooked and it's really good.
00:49:24
Speaker
It's a little bit like there's not there's not much music. There's a little bit of music um and the the art is very kind of abstract. But um puzzle design, amazing. um And a bunch of really cool moments of like, oh my God, I can do that with these mechanics. And that's what I'm there for. So very cool game, The Court of Wanderers.
00:49:45
Speaker
and I want to shout out, like I know that that developer was like wanting to like make a more polished, more visually appealing version of the game. and like yeah There were some mock-ups that looked really nice, oh yeah but I'm really glad that like when they realized that that was like out of scope, they rolled that back and they were like, okay, no, I guess I'll just release this um yeah like less pretty version that's still mechanically really interesting rather than going,
00:50:14
Speaker
oh Well, I guess I can't afford to make the game that I was hoping to. I guess this will just get put on a shelf and never be seen. what i wouldn't have been able to play it if that had happened. Agreed. Yeah. It's all right.
00:50:26
Speaker
Yeah. And then I will shout out a game that I worked on, which is Schrodinger's Cat Burglar, um is getting a demo on Steam. ah This game...
00:50:39
Speaker
ah Joe has also been in this game's orbit for probably what feels like forever. Yeah. um Do you remember a pre-Schrodinger's Cat Burglar era of your life?
00:50:50
Speaker
It has been a while. and i I think I've played like three different versions of it in the past. Yeah. um As someone who tries not to play early versions, I'm surprised that you've played so many. um Yes, this is a...
00:51:03
Speaker
um This is a game where you are a cat in a lab that can split into a second cat and you control both to solve puzzles.
00:51:16
Speaker
ah It's very cute. It's very charming and funny. And it's also got some really good... One, really good vibes, and two, really good puzzles. So um I'm very glad that this game is coming along.
00:51:29
Speaker
ah The developer's been working really hard on it for a very long time, and I would love it if people could go check that out at the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase. Try that demo, give them some feedback. um That is- It's super cool game.
00:51:41
Speaker
Yes. Schrodinger's Cat Burglar. It's like Stray, but more puzzly. It is like Stray, but more puzzly. Yeah. ah Yeah, like that's another game that like I feel like they've been working on it for a long time, but they've really figured out what the game is yeah um in a way that I'm delighted to see. i'm I'm so happy. That was a lot of the discussions I had with them was like really trying to find this find the core of the game and really focus on that core. And I really think that the core of what they found is really good.
00:52:17
Speaker
ah One of the things that they did quite recently, i think in the last year, is just this, like, it feels like it shouldn't be that important, but it's like change the way the camera works and how it follows the cat around. I think that's like completely elevated how the game feels.
00:52:30
Speaker
like Yes. sometimes ah Sometimes a seemingly basic change like that, which is not actually basic from a game development perspective, but like seemingly just like change one aspect can actually have like real knock-on effects for everything else.
00:52:44
Speaker
Yeah. um Before we go, um i just want to shout out, um very selfishly, a couple of other games from developers that have been on this podcast.
00:52:56
Speaker
ah Specifically, i want to shout out Pup Champs, which recently launched, and ah Duck Detective 2, which um which is Not the official name, but ah the sequel to DuckDuckDuckDot. Ghost of Glamping. Ghost of Glamping.
00:53:12
Speaker
I knew Glamping was there. I forgot the word ghost. So ah both of both of which are out now. ah Ghost of Glamping is launching into Cerebral Puzzle Showcase. um Please go support those developers. We're super excited. You can find Ghost of Glamping additionally in the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase Detectives bundle.
00:53:31
Speaker
um you'll find some other games in that detective bundle that, uh, have been on this podcast, such as, um, golden idol. So, um, lot of, lot, lot of, lot of shared, uh, love within the Dracneck and friends official podcast extended universe, uh, in through puzzle showcase. So please, um,
00:53:55
Speaker
use this archive of now 28 episodes, 29 episodes. Uh, I forget which one this is going to be publicly. Um, I believe this will be 20, not getting out there.
00:54:09
Speaker
Yes. Um, And then please use this as a great resource to go help and find ah your next favorite puzzle game. Please use third a puzzle showcase, even if you're listening to this after the fact, which one, ah thank you. And two A little bit of question mark. This one is a little more little shorter so shelf life than usual.
00:54:34
Speaker
ah You can still go to CerebralPuzzleShowcase.com even after the event ends and get a list of the games that were in it. You can go to the store the Steam page even when the sale is not running ah to be able to use it as a great curated way to add wish lists.
Supporting Developers and Closing Remarks
00:54:48
Speaker
ah build out your Steam wishlist. um And remember, even if a game is not out yet, mean especially if it's not out, or if you can't afford the game on sale, but it looks interesting, do not forget to wishlist it.
00:55:01
Speaker
Please ah support the games. show that Give that sign of support to the developers and games that you are interested in. And yeah.
00:55:14
Speaker
I think that will do it for this episode. I want to thank Joe for coming in and recording on video for the first time. um mean, I've done it plenty before. but Yes.
00:55:26
Speaker
I don't want to... Yeah, we we we have a one-hour slot as dictated by the ah stream. If you're watching this live on ah the Serial Puzzle Showcase Steam page, ah please stick around for more ah engaging puzzle content.
00:55:43
Speaker
But for now, thank you for listening to the Drackenheck and Friends official podcast. Our music is by Priscilla Snow, who you can find at ghoulnoise.bandcamp.com. Our podcast artwork is by Adam DeGrandis.
00:55:54
Speaker
Our podcast is edited by Melanie Zawadniak. Please rate and review us on your podcast service of choice, and be sure to tune in next episode for more interesting conversations. Thanks.
00:56:05
Speaker
Thanks. Bye.
00:56:12
Speaker
you