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Some Patches Required

Aaron & Zak

101 episodes

1 day ago

This week, Zak and Aaron are delighted to present a conversation with Chris Knight, a 2D artist based in Austin, TX. Chris was kind enough to share some insights from his career, some funny (and not-so-funny) stories, and his frank opinion on what it takes to succeed in the games industry – especially in an incredibly crowded field. Please, enjoy. Check Out Chris' ArtStation! Take a Look at PolyCarp! Have a Gander at Good Knight Art! Listen to Beach Girl on Spotify Check out MosscatMarket ...

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All content for Some Patches Required is the property of Aaron & Zak and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

This week, Zak and Aaron are delighted to present a conversation with Chris Knight, a 2D artist based in Austin, TX. Chris was kind enough to share some insights from his career, some funny (and not-so-funny) stories, and his frank opinion on what it takes to succeed in the games industry – especially in an incredibly crowded field. Please, enjoy. Check Out Chris' ArtStation! Take a Look at PolyCarp! Have a Gander at Good Knight Art! Listen to Beach Girl on Spotify Check out MosscatMarket ...

Show more...

Episodes (20/101)

Some Patches Required

Chris Knight Interview: Crafting a Career in 2D Art

This week, Zak and Aaron are delighted to present a conversation with Chris Knight, a 2D artist based in Austin, TX. Chris was kind enough to share some insights from his career, some funny (and not-so-funny) stories, and his frank opinion on what it takes to succeed in the games industry – especially in an incredibly crowded field. Please, enjoy. Check Out Chris' ArtStation! Take a Look at PolyCarp! Have a Gander at Good Knight Art! Listen to Beach Girl on Spotify Check out MosscatMarket ...

1 week ago

1 hour 35 minutes

Some Patches Required

Game Pass: Higher Price, Lower Value

This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to talk about Xbox GamePass' recent price increase... again! That's right, the fabled "best value in gaming" just saw a 50% jump in cost, barely a year after the last jump. What's more, there's a compelling argument to be made that the subscription service is actually removing value for players rather than adding it to compensate for the increased asking price. Please, enjoy. Listen to Beach Girl on Spotify Check out MosscatMarket on Etsy Check out even mor...

3 weeks ago

1 hour

Some Patches Required

Silksong: The Power of Lean Game Development

This week, Zak and Aaron... actually have something positive to talk about for once! Namely, the predictably smashing release of Hollow Knight: Silksong, which, after nearly a decade in development, launched to platform-crashing numbers and fairly rapturous praise. On top of celebrating an indie success story, they discuss the game's refreshingly reasonable $20 price point and highlight the many benefits of keeping development costs and team sizes lean. In short, this is almost certainly the ...

1 month ago

44 minutes

Some Patches Required

Steam Censorship: Weaponizing Payment Processors

This week, Zak and Aaron kindly beg your attention to a very serious matter: the censorship of thousands of NSFW games across Steam and Itch.io at the behest of payment processors like Mastercard. Prompted by a grassroots organization with far-right connections called Collective Shout, this incident could have far-reaching implications for free speech, result in LGBTQ+ erasure, and mean that corporations become the arbiters of what does and does not constitute art in the future. Please,...

2 months ago

1 hour 5 minutes

Some Patches Required

Roblox: The World's Worst Dating Service

This week, Zak and Aaron dig into a topic that's as absurd as it is concerning: the CEO of Roblox wants to officially incorporate dating into the platform. Completely ignoring the fact that the game's core audience is mostly children, David Baszucki seems to believe that bringing horny adults into the fold will act as a balm to soothe the "loneliness epidemic" plaguing the modern world. What could possibly go wrong? Please, enjoy. Listen to Beach Girl on Spotify Check out MosscatMarket on Et...

3 months ago

59 minutes

Some Patches Required

Stop Killing Games: The Best Hope for a Better Industry?

This week, Zak and Aaron delve into the nitty-gritty of the Stop Killing Games movement — an initiative with the simple goal of persuading publishers to, well, stop killing games. From preservation to protecting consumer interests, Stop Killing Games aims to solve a lot of high-level problems, and your hosts have many thoughts to share. Oh, and feel free to jump ahead to Chapter 3 (or the 29-minute mark) if you don't want to hear two goobers explain what the initiative is in exhausting detail...

3 months ago

1 hour 6 minutes

Some Patches Required

Peak: The Rise of "FriendSlop" Games

This week, Zak and Aaron sit down, inexplicably inspired by a meme, to discuss the rise of so-called "FriendSlop" games. These are titles like Repo, Lethal Company, and the recently released Peak, all of which are currently laying waste to the Steam charts as we speak. Why are these games so successful at the moment? What differentiates them from others on the market? What could this be saying about the industry at large? Your intrepid hosts are ready with, if not answers to t...

4 months ago

57 minutes

Some Patches Required

Disney vs. Midjourney: The Future of AI in Entertainment

It finally happened! A set of entertainment juggernauts — Disney and Universal — are taking the fight to AI in a big way. This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to discuss the new lawsuit against image generator Midjourney, why it's happening, and what it could mean for the future. They also spend some quality time complaining about generative AI in general, because, well, there's a lot to complain about. Please, enjoy. Listen to Beach Girl on Spotify Check out MosscatMarket on Etsy Check out ev...

4 months ago

1 hour

Some Patches Required

Game Movies Galore: An Adaptation Avalanche

This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to discuss the absolute onslaught of video game movie adaptations coming down the pike at breakneck speed. From questions of quantity over quality to musings on which projects have the most potential, your intrepid hosts dig into what may be the next Hollywood craze - or an unsustainable bubble building towards an inevitable burst. Please, enjoy. Listen to Beach Girl on Spotify Check out MosscatMarket on Etsy Check out even more MosscatMarket on Insta...

5 months ago

1 hour 5 minutes

Some Patches Required

Expedition 33: Success Can't "Save" Single-Player

This week, Zak and Aaron take a moment to celebrate the runaway critical and commercial success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33... and then dig into why it won't matter at all to big publishers and the money-making machine behind them. Tragically, the narrative that breakout hits in the singleplayer space can somehow make them appealing to investors again is misguided, and Clair Obscur is just the most recent example. This is why we can't have nice things. Please, enjoy. Listen to Beach Girl...

5 months ago

59 minutes

Some Patches Required

Marathon: Can Bungie Fulfill Sony's Live Service Ambitions?

This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to discuss Bungie's newest project, Marathon! The dig into everything from the upcoming extraction shooter's aesthetic to its narrative to its choice of genre in service of answering one question — will this finally be the game to make good on Sony's lofty live service ambitions? Please, enjoy. Listen to Beach Girl on Spotify Check out MosscatMarket on Etsy Check out even more MosscatMarket on Instagram

6 months ago

1 hour 9 minutes

Some Patches Required

Nintendo Switch 2 Prices: Changing the Industry $80 at a Time

This week, Zak and Aaron dive into a new controversy that may have long-lasting implications for the industry at large — Nintendo's decision to price some first-party AAA games at $80. The duo discusses why this price increase is not only unnecessary and bad for consumers, but also how it stands to open the floodgates for greed among big publishers looking to make the all-powerful line go up for shareholders. They also spend some time dissecting why the argument that games need to i...

6 months ago

1 hour 15 minutes

Some Patches Required

United Videogame Workers: Is This the Moment Devs Have Been Waiting For?

This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to discuss the newly formed United Videogame Workers Union — a brand-new collective attempting to bring the power of collective bargaining to every corner of the industry, regardless of company or position. They spend some time outlining the circumstances that brought us to this crossroads, and then dissect some of the potential positives of the movement as well as the challenges it may face moving forward. There are still a lot of questions left to answer, b...

7 months ago

1 hour 1 minute

Some Patches Required

Kevin Messenhimer Interview: A Developer's Journey to Founding Fiveamp

This week, Zak and Aaron sit down for a delightful conversation with Kevin Messenhimer, one of the co-founders of the indie game studio Fiveamp. The trio covers a broad range of topics as they follow Kevin's journey from a member of Intel's hardware team to his time at Gearbox Software and eventually to the recent release of NIMRODS on Steam Early Access. It's chock-full of insights into the development process, humorous anecdotes, and entertaining asides that the whole family is sure t...

7 months ago

1 hour 21 minutes

Some Patches Required

Marvel Rivals Layoffs: Why Headlines Matter

This week, Zak and Aaron revisit the world of Marvel Rivals, albeit tangentially and under less than pleasant circumstances. In the wake of some unexpected and unfortunate layoffs at NetEase's Seattle-based studio, the duo noticed some hyperbolic headlines circulating online that not only felt slightly misleading, but also contrasted with the titles for similar articles about the much more severe job cuts recently suffered at the hand of Warner Bros. So, they set out to have a (hopefully) nua...

8 months ago

57 minutes

Some Patches Required

SPR Reviews Bobby Kotick's Podcast Appearance

This week on Some Patches Required, Zak and Aaron sit down to do something they've never done before: review an episode of another podcast. Then again, they've never encountered one that prominently features ex-Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick sharing anecdotes from his career, drumming up wild accusations against the CWA Union, and loudly eating celery into a microphone before today. Suffice it to say, they have some opinions to share. Please, enjoy. Listen to Beach Girl on Spotify Chec...

8 months ago

1 hour 9 minutes

Some Patches Required

Marvel Rivals: Quality, Quantity, and Post-Launch Content Cadence

This week, Zak and Aaron return to the world of gaming topics not as friends, but as rivals... Marvel Rivals™! Inaccurate and misleading introductory statements aside, your intrepid hosts sit down to discuss the latest chart-topping game in the highly saturated hero shooter genre, Marvel©'s Marvel Rivals™, a Marvel© product, presented by Marvel©. More specifically, they dig into some of the issues inherent to the game's aggressive content release cadence and whether or not its current pace is...

9 months ago

58 minutes

Some Patches Required

Meta's AI Bots: How to Ruin Society With Artificial Intelligence

As 2025 begins in earnest, we have some phenomenal news for you! Everybody's favorite dewy salamander, Mark Zuckerberg, is going FINALLY going to rebuild trust in our most hallowed institutions, enrich your social life, and help stave off those pesky feelings of loneliness, isolation, and general ennui. How will he accomplish this, you ask? By flooding all of Meta's social media platforms with AI bots, of course!This week, Zak and Aaron take a break from discussing the games industry to chat ...

9 months ago

57 minutes

Some Patches Required

Handheld Gaming: Xbox and Sony's Next Big Bet

Xbox and PlayStation, two brands locked in what may be an eternal conflict for market superiority, seem to have found yet another field on which to clash: the rapidly growing world of handheld gaming. This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to discuss the landscape for handhelds at the end of 2024, what new entries from Sony and Microsoft may look like, and what each is likely to do to achieve success. They also dig into the key differences between handheld consoles and handheld gaming PCs, as...

10 months ago

46 minutes

Some Patches Required

Sony Looks to Acquire Kadokawa: What Could it Mean for From Software?

Well, would you look at that? It's consolidation time again in the games industry! Who knew 15 minutes could pass so fast?Jokes aside, this is a big one: Sony is looking to acquire Kadokawa Corporation, which is best known as the owner of From Software, the industry titan behind generation-defining hits like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring.This week, Zak and Aaron sit down to discuss why this particular buyout could be a game-changing deal, from expanding Sony's media empire even furth...

11 months ago

49 minutes