Horace Goes Podcasting: For Gamers with Pong Memories – Details, episodes & analysis

Get to know your hosts of Horace Goes Podcasting more. Kieron and Jonny discuss the highlights of their gaming lives so far and the releases they are looking forward to. Is XWing vs TIE Fighter in the best list or worst game? Whose best memory was completing XCOM2? How often will Manic Miner get mentioned in this episode? What are the surprises we make for each other at the end? We would love to hear your answers to our questions. Check out our Facebook page and comment there.

These games got talked about in this episode:

Aliens: Colonial Marines

Assassins Creed Black Flag

Battlefield

Battletoads

Bushido Blade

Call of Duty

Civilisation

CounterSpy

Crusader Kings 3

Football Manager

Game Dev Tycoon

It Takes Two

Karateka

Knight Lore

Laser Squad

Manic Miner

Out of the Park

Silent Service

Star Trek Bridge Commander

Star Wars Outlaws

Starfield

Total War

XCom

Xwing vs TieFighter

Also, here’s a link to the Foundation Series of books on Amazon.

Horace Goes Podcasting hits Alpha, full of gray blocks instead of buildings and low rent audio instead of a full soundtrack. Listen to what Kieron and Jonny have in store for Horace Goes Podcasting: For Gamers with Pong Memories. What's it all about? If you know who Horace was or what Pong was, then this podcast is for you! If you been gaming since the Seventies or Eighties, then we want your input and stories.

In this episode, the tables are turned (but not flipped), as Kieron interviews John on his life in games, as well as looking ahead to ideas about games in the future, and what changes might put John off a game.

What new innovation would be too much for you? What was your golden era in gaming? We would love to hear your answers in comments or on our Facebook page.

Check us out on Instagram.

We discussed these games in this episode:

• Asteroids
• Paradroids
• Uridium
• The Hobbit
• Assassins Creed Black Flag
• Alien Isolation
• Hungry Horace
• Lords of Midnight
• Laser Squad
• Doom
• Quake
• Civilisation
• Counter Strike
• Super Smash Bros
• Halo
• Star Wars: Battlefront
• Starfield
• Skyrim
• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
• Kerbal Space Program
• Thrill of the Fight
• Defender
• Galaxians
• Theatre Europe
• Call of Duty

In this episode, get to know one of your hosts better. Jon asks Kieron questions about his gaming life and some thoughts for the future. We discuss arcade games we played, games ahead of their time, desert islands, surprises in games and what might happen to games and the games industry in the coming decades.

What game do you think was ahead of its time? What did you play in the arcades? Where do you think gaming will go in the next 30 years? Comment with your thoughts below or on our socials on Facebook or Insta.

Games and content mentioned in this episode:

• Civilisation
• Assassin Creed Black Flag
• Elite
• Doom
• Wolfenstein
• Quake
• Combat Mission
• Guns Up!
• Counter Strike
• Magic the Gathering Arena
• Star Trek Adversaries
• Hearthstone
• Battlefront 2
• Sega Rally
• Defender
• TV series – Connections (James Burke)
• Youtubers:

• CovertGoBlue
• lionheartx10

Keep in touch with the series by following the podcast on Spotify.

Music credits: Kevin MacLeod

Terry Greer is a games design lecturer at Falmouth University and has 30 years of experience in the games industry. He worked at Microprose, Jagex and Blitz, on projects like XCOM and Runescape. In this episode, Terry tells us about the art of designing games, the high pressure environment of pitching games ideas for a studio and how students are learning to design their own game projects.

In the episode, Terry recommends the following:

FTL making of GDC talk Designing without a Pitch

Fallout London Team

Team FOLON's progress videos on their Youtube channel

Liz England - The Door Problem

Jennifer Scheurle - GDC lecture on hidden mechanics

Doctor Bounce student games project

Links to Terry's projects:

Terry's website - https://www.terrygreer.com/

Terry's novel - Jangada Trilogy

Some games we talked about:

Fallout London

Elder Scrolls 4: Skyrim

Ant Attack (Spectrum)

The Hobbit (Spectrum)

FTL

Elder Scrolls Online

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2

Left 4 Dead

Follow us on Spotify and find us on social media. We are on Facebook and Instagram. Join us there to discuss the episode.

Nick Thompson is a games industry veteran, with over 35 years in the business. He has worked on top-tier titles, such as the original XCOM series, Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix series, Runescape, Carmageddon and Dirt Rally 2. His experience ranges from coding games in the Assembler language to booking studios and voice actors as a producer. He has seen it all in games. Now retired, he discusses games' roles in his life, balancing Last of Us with babysitting his grandchildren. Nick has worked with industry greats like Geoff Crammond, the Gollop Brothers and Patrick Buckland. Hear real life stories of the industry, as well as Nick's thoughts for the future of games for the later-life segment.

Some titles mentioned in the episode:

Psytron

Last of Us Part 1 and Part 2

Avatar

Barbarian

Super Smash Bros

Stunt Car Racer

Pong

Seventh Guest

Alan Wake 2

Still Waits the Deep

Hogwarts Legacy

Grand Theft Auto

Grid

Grid Legends.

Follow us on Spotify and find us on social media. We are on Facebook and Instagram. Join us there to discuss the episode.

We're looking into the future in this episode. Kieron and John discuss various topics about gaming in later life, as well as more on our plans for the series. Those plans involve our listeners! If you want to be on the podcast, get in touch via our Facebook page or Instagram.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Streaming old games as part of the podcast.
• How the ecosystem around discussing games has changed since our early days, where it was centred around magazine reviews, like Crash.
• What's the potential for games-based communities keeping folks connected with others in retirement.
• Will your grandchildren have fun playing video games with you? Is there an overlap of interest? Is it a shared hobby?
• The idea of recreating childhood memories in VR to share with your children and grandchildren.
• Can you go back and play the games from your youth? Will they still be fun? Could we replay them for the podcast to find out for you?

We also announce who will be our first interviewee!

Check out the episode, follow us on your podcast platform and find us on social media on the links above. We would love to hear your thoughts on all these topics and anything else about gaming in later life.