Call and Response: WOFF! Dispatch June 2024
Added 2024-06-12 00:33:40 +0000 UTCHowdily doodily! The purpose of this post is to call for your questions and prompts for WOFF! Dispatch. Please respond by Tues June 18th, by leaving a comment on this post.
We're looking for two kinds of things:
Suggestions for our long-form discussion prompt.
Q&A about the shows, behind the scenes details, and miscellaneous (including off-the-wall and off-topic questions). Ask us about games or other media, life in general... You name it.
One caveat we've given in the past: If the question is too personal or gross, we may dance around it and not give a direct answer.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Comments
We were in Edinburgh, Scotland for the Taylor Swift show a few weeks back and we saw who I can only describe as Scottish Gary! He had identical facial features, haircut, and beard to one Gary Butterfield. Unfortunately, he wasn't wearing a kilt nor was there a Pocket or Jessica in sight. He was also ripping fat vape clouds at 9 AM on his way into his office job. I wasn't able to get a picture because can you imagine that conversation? "Hey man, sorry to bother you - can I get a picture of you? You remind me of a podcaster I know. What's a podcast? How much time do you have?" (Also, I'm so sorry Kole - we weren't able to find Scottish Kole nor Parisian Kole. I'll be more eagle-eyed on our next trip) What have been your favorite or most memorable doppelganger sightings?
Gautam Jayanthi
2024-06-17 18:41:16 +0000 UTCThough I make efforts to kill the hype inside of me, I still enjoy seeing all the new stuff during E3 season, as a treat. Have you guys been paying any attention to the summer game fest announcements? Anything you are tentatively excited to play?
Naveen Sivakumar
2024-06-17 16:10:35 +0000 UTCWhat is the scariest moment you've ever had in a game? For me it's tied between the spider trap in System Shock 2 or playing the Sierra adventure game Shivers at 13 years old in an empty house.
Zoombini
2024-06-17 13:49:06 +0000 UTCYou’re in a room where you can only escape by either beating Dark Souls on an N64 controller or Kingdom Hearts. Choose your fate.
Steven Riddle
2024-06-17 11:29:01 +0000 UTCApologies if this has been asked/covered in a previous Dispatch as I've only listened to a handful of those episodes but I'd like to express some appreciation for something you had brought up in the Tunic episode: accessibility options or more specifically options baked into the game that allow you to tweak the difficulty to your liking. I don't know if it's just because I'm getting older but my tolerance for difficulty spikes or even just frustrating gameplay mechanics (Tunic stamina system) has gotten very thin. Being able to adjust the game to my speed is often times the difference between me actually progressing forward or just giving up and uninstalling the game. CrossCode probably has the best system in terms of number of gameplay sliders but I also found even the more simplistic ones in Tunic that were brought up in the episode to be worthwhile for what the game is trying to achieve. Call it a skill issue but I only play single player games so that's all on me and honestly I don't find spending hours trying to get passed a single boss very fun, FromSoft games aside. A very recent example is Nine Sols. I bought it because it looked interesting and I love Hollow Knight but parrying and me are like oil and water. A few hours in, while somewhat fun, made me think this was a game made by the Git Gud crowd specifically for the Git Gud crowd. While the exploration and art style are really cool I just could not get a grasp on the combat and it doesn't help when even basic enemies can 3-4 shot you if you're not careful. This is on their "Standard" difficulty mind you. I was getting frustrated and finally switched to Story Mode (an irreversible option for some reason) and the devs gracefully give you 'attack damage' and 'damage received' sliders, which seem to be the only difference with Standard. I kept attack the same and just lowered the damage received by a bit and I am now several more hours and three bosses down into a game I was minutes away from submitting a refund request for.
JQ
2024-06-16 21:39:22 +0000 UTCJust realised that despite listening to the network for a decade I don't actually know why Duckfeed is called Duckfeed. So, why is Duckfeed called Duckfeed?
Kerr
2024-06-16 11:16:56 +0000 UTCHey guys! As fellow Tim & Eric heads, do you have any thoughts on their frequent collaborator/visuals editor DJ Douggpound? His youtube series Pound House is one of my favorite things this year, and we just saw him perform live a couple of weeks ago. I laughed so hard I cried. Stay cool this summer boys
Robert M Fenner
2024-06-15 15:40:23 +0000 UTCJust a comment. My daughter's name is Mallory and I tell people and my ex wife it's cause of Family Ties, but actually from the Gary Numan song Metal "My Mallory heart is sure to fail" and found out Mallory was a british battery brand.
Videogames dot Afghanistan
2024-06-14 20:11:45 +0000 UTCI’d love to hear a discussion about puzzles in games that are fully intended to be solved by a community instead of an individual. Some recent examples would be the super obscure end-game puzzles in Animal Well and Tunic. I feel conflicted about these, and I’ll admit I will sound a tad bitter. These puzzles almost always end up feeling like a super cool treasure hunt or escape room I didn’t know was happening until it was already over and I’m reading about how much fun everyone had solving it in a Kotaku article. Once I know that content is in the game I now have a choice: do I “solve” the puzzle? If so I feel like every option is subpar. I could use a guide, which basically removes every fun aspect of puzzle solving from the equation. I could try and solve it solo and completely blind, but these puzzles were never intended to be solved that way and would likely be a nightmare experience, if not straight up impossible. Another option is to just not solve them, which feels like I’m leaving content on the table. Anyway, curious to hear your thoughts. Thanks y’all!
TheBeardPhantom
2024-06-14 18:11:33 +0000 UTCCurious about how you guys decide which movies to tackle for Unfilmable. Also, any thoughts on expanding the coverage to look at things that might be outside the usual remit of the show, things like classic Universal monsters or silent films, or perhaps something like horror comedies or horror for kids, like Coraline. Horror is a very big genre and I wasn’t sure if there was interest in exploring some of these other facets of it.
Doug Lief
2024-06-14 15:14:25 +0000 UTCI decided to try "The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante" after hearing your episode. I'm just entering the "Peace Time" era, having taken the Clergy path. It seems this section of the game always sets you up with a significant other, a clandestine operation, and an angry supervisor. I ended up being a member of the Inquisition in my home state, restarting the formerly mothballed operation, being overseen by the head Inquisitor from the capital, with the clergy love interest. I have yet to finish the game as of writing, but I am happy I picked it up after hearing your takes on the game. I was also able to keep the family fully united in one home, get Gloria adopted, and Stephan stayed, abondoning his goal of getting the family nobled. Unrelated to the game, I noticed Spotify cuts off the end of some of your episodes. Both "The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante" and "Darkest Dungeon II" get cut off mid sentence, at least for me. Sorry if I should have placed this in a separate response.
John Crandle
2024-06-14 08:49:44 +0000 UTCIn general, what do you envision your listeners to be doing while listening to your episodes? I understand that the real answer would be a huge variety of different things. But what would the totemic image of a Duckfeed listener be doing? I'll tell you how I'm listening in the comments for this episode, and I encourage others to do the same. Possibly on the YouTube upload, to boost the algorithm.
SindrElf
2024-06-14 08:39:37 +0000 UTC(I mentioned this to Kole during a stream, but I thought it might be interesting to hear from you both on the record, and also everyone was doing Unfilmable suggestions last time so I figured why not?) Have y'all checked out that new Adam Sandler movie, SPACEMAN? It also features one of the non-Sheldon guys from The Big Bang Theory, plus Isabella Rossellini, Carey Mulligan, and Paul Dano as the giant spider. Oh, and also it is directed by the guy who did CHERNOBYL. I had never heard of it til I tripped over the trailer on Netflix, and I came away kinda fascinated with how it uses horror elements to accentuate the emotionality of a basically non-horror story. I'm also real curious about how it goes over with people who do not have, like, my exact level of arachnophobia (which I would call maybe a 7.5/10).
MrReciprocity
2024-06-14 06:31:35 +0000 UTCJust finished the AD for the month, and if you're looking for actually good movies to cover, Hundreds of Beavers is absolutely the best video game movie ever made that isn't based on a video game. While watching it, I laughed so much I was in pain by the time credits rolled.
Béa(u)
2024-06-13 21:47:14 +0000 UTCWhat's your favourite sea creature?
Tom Healey
2024-06-13 16:56:52 +0000 UTCBaby Hitler has travelled forth in time to kill you. You have 10 minutes to prepare before he enters your room and initiates battle. What do you do?
Francisco
2024-06-13 15:15:27 +0000 UTCLong time lister first time dispatch question requester! Love the show came for the bonfireside chat stayed for the ORB. I'm a big fighting game player and it's always fun to hear you either acknowledge Gary's history with the genre or take a jab at the absurdity of the minutia of it, aside from optimizing the fun out of an experience what property do you think would elicit the response: "alright yeah I'll give it a shot" either for the absurdity or genuine interest
Nicholas Jackson
2024-06-13 03:36:56 +0000 UTCWhen you guys were young did you read Frog and Toad? Have any favorite stories? Mine are Cookies and A Swim. I relate to Toad.
Gabriel Tindall
2024-06-13 03:26:12 +0000 UTCImagine you had a big fancy model train set up in your garage. Now imagine you took away everything except for what the train needed to function. Basically stripping back the presentation and only seeing the “wireframe”
Stoned Skeleton
2024-06-13 00:31:37 +0000 UTCWhat will it take to get Gary to play Alan Wake 2?
Stoned Skeleton
2024-06-13 00:27:08 +0000 UTCHi there, fellas. I am sure the two of you, like many of us, have at one time or another recorded and published a podcast episode - or finished a creative project of some sort - and felt wholly unsatisfied with the end result. Do you have any advice on how to "deal" or "cope" with those feelings? Have your thoughts around self-criticism changed over the years, due to the length of time you've been putting your work out or due to the transition from hobby to full-time job? Thank you for your time, and for your continued dedication to what you do!
Rick Firestone
2024-06-12 23:12:12 +0000 UTCTheater of the mind, or intentionally prompting an experience or narrative but leaving important details to the imagination, can be not only a resource-saving choice but an aesthetic one. It's important to my tabletop games because players often imagine scenarios more vividly than I could depict them with drawings, models, or a wall of text, players often feel more invested in their creations than mine, and it saves everybody time. It can also be a choice to not directly show something in media largely defined by its visual component. In movies, we might only see the shadow silhouette of a werewolf transformation, fear an unseen creature based on sound effects, or learn how crazy some bro's night was from how people react to him, hung over, the next day. The same holds in digital games. In Planescape: Torment, we come to understand that our player character's death loop involves Dustmen repeatedly carting The Nameless One through the streets off camera. In Return of Obra Dinn, we learn about a host of personalities and series of dramatic events without ever actually meeting anyone or seeing an animated model or cutscene. What are some ways that interactive mechanics can take advantage of theater of the mind? When does it work and when does it not? This feels like a space in which games without AAA budgets can shine.
Joseph
2024-06-12 18:29:12 +0000 UTCI can see that you guys put a lot of energy into being good critical thinkers and you do a great job of acknowledging your personal biases towards the media you review on your shows. I deeply appreciate the proactive transparency as well as the effort you put into clarifying when a critical view on something does not necessarily mean it’s objectively bad, but rather something that simply does not appeal to your tastes. That being said, what are some of the most challenging parts of the process when constructing an opinion around media/games? -mood/mental health -bias towards an initial disinterest -nostalgia/historical context -something that panders to your interests but actually isn’t good -popular opinions/discourse/hype How do you recognize if you aren’t being entirely emotionally and/or intellectually honest with yourself in the moment and what are some ways that you get ahead of it?
Coty Davis
2024-06-12 17:19:07 +0000 UTCBlue Velvet reminded me of some of the stories my dad used to tell me about his childhood, since he grew up in the sixties. They always seemed so idyllic and like something from Leave it to Beaver, but occasionally he would mention something horrific. Once he told me of when he and his friends were playing in the street, one of them was hit by a car, dragged underneath and ground into road before the driver noticed. Anywho, the Godzilla soundtrack from the 1998 Roland Emmerich movie was the first CD I ever owned, which I love more than it deserves, largely due to nostalgia. What were your first albums and were they just as cringey?
Eric
2024-06-12 16:35:20 +0000 UTCHave y'all had the chance to watch Scavengers Reign yet, especially now that it's on Netflix? With the caveat of course that recommendations are poison, I feel like this disarmingly mellow bio-horror animated masterpiece is pretty up both your alleys. Also, just wanted to mention that my wife and I picked up Gideon The Ninth based on y'all's recommendations on QUAKSTAK. We haven't started it yet, but hopefully soon.
Andrew (andyk250) Koch
2024-06-12 16:05:38 +0000 UTCThey actually explain that in one of the Ductionary episodes.
Andrew (andyk250) Koch
2024-06-12 15:51:57 +0000 UTCHow's Jeremy doing? Can we expect an x men 97 DOFC episode?
Randall
2024-06-12 14:28:10 +0000 UTCLife questions: Gary mentioned at one point learning some Esperanto for a comic book, but never mentioned which one, was that Saga by any chance? For both G and K: I've been going to King's Island with my daughter this summer, and it got me thinking: if you could design a theme park, what IP's would you theme your park after? What makes a good theme park? Thanks to both of you! I really appreciate all the work and care you put in to what you do ❤
Max Taylor
2024-06-12 13:40:22 +0000 UTCAssuming Cryptids are not real, which cryptid would you like to put into the world as your little buddy. Assuming the opposite, which cryptid are you most worried about living in your backyards (third assumption, y’all got backyards)
Jordan and Maya M.
2024-06-12 10:50:51 +0000 UTCI have recently started listening to the old Duckfeed Live episodes as I have never gone through them before. Kole mentioned that he doesn't know what he did to avoid being alone with this thoughts before he discovered podcasts. I thought about it and find myself in a similar situation. I first discovered podcasts when THAC (the people who made Marble Hornets) announced their behind the scenes production podcast "BNWYDSE" (that has a correct pronunciation, have fun). Do either of you remember what shows first introduced you to the wonderful world of podcasts that would eventually become your job? Secondary question: do you remember what pushed you to say "I could do this" and act on it?
Malachi McRee
2024-06-12 05:25:25 +0000 UTCLess a question a more of a suggestion: You guys mentioned possibly covering shows for Adaptation Decay by watching the first two episodes. I wanted to suggest crowdsourcing top episodes instead so you can get the meat of the content more accurately. For example, if you watch the first two episodes of the Netflix RE series you'll only get confusing buildup for the end of the season, but if you watch episodes seven and eight, you'll get treated to some grade A Lance Reddick ridiculousness. Just a thought!
Holland Hume
2024-06-12 05:03:42 +0000 UTCIf IO Interactive announced a new Hitman game in the style of the World of Assassination trilogy and appointed you with brainstorming the game's five or six locations, where would Agent 47 be headed for his next mission? What are your dream Hitman levels?
Mike Suskie
2024-06-12 04:37:56 +0000 UTCI'll field this one off air: Yes! Me and Jeremy are planning to record Friday. We both had health stuff this spring (his significantly more impactful) and life stuff, so it's been hard to get together, but we both loved it and we're both jazzed as hell. -GB
Duckfeed.tv
2024-06-12 03:56:53 +0000 UTCAnother podcast I listen to had Tim Cain on to talk about his thoughts on the Fallout show. He also talked about his time working on The Outer Worlds and his particular type of colorblindness which is nearly greyscale. While developing The Outer Worlds he had the UI team make everything in grey scale then change just certain values so that anyone with any type of colorblindness could play the game. What games have standout or interesting accessibility options? The Forza games have everything from automatic shifting and assistive braking to adjusting the overall speed at which everything in the world occurs to help with reaction time. What options do you usually set for yourselves? I always turn off tapping and QTEs whenever possible and the few times games have given me the option to turn off Tinnitus sounds it has been very welcome.
Warren Michalski
2024-06-12 03:20:55 +0000 UTCHi guys, a few times in dispatches you have mentioned books that you're reading, and I'd love to hear more! Gary - How'd you like Blood Meridian? It's a favorite for me in its excoriation of the myth of American Manifest Destiny, not to mention McCarthy's style of writing. I have some friends who think McCarthy celebrates hyper-masculinity, but I've always felt his books like Blood Meridian and Suttree deeply deconstructed the horror and destruction that comes with such men. Kole - I relistened to a 2023 dispatch where you said you went through a Hungarian literature phase. What other Eastern European books or Hungarian literature do you recommend? I'm trying to get more into that geography of books, starting with Satantango earlier this spring. I have no issues calling it a top 5 book I've ever read. I love those kinds of books where the content revolves around the absolute full experience of ostensibly mundane occurrences.
Dylan Kilby
2024-06-12 01:39:21 +0000 UTCEarlier this year a really tremendous game came out. The world map was inspired by Link to the Past, and the combat is Robotron/Binding of Isaac style twin stick shooter. It plays like a dream and there's even no dialog. Nearly a perfect game. The only problem is that it's called Minishoot' Adventures - yes, with the dangling apostrophe - which is the dumbest goddamn name I've ever heard. It's the Joey Jo-Jo Junior Shabadoo of video game names, eclipsing both Pathfinder Kingmaker and Shadowrun Dragonfall for the crown. What are some of the best games you've played with the worst names?
Michelle
2024-06-12 01:34:01 +0000 UTCI have learned a lot of gamer lingo from the show (i.e. Ads, verbset, AOE). Not to mention fucking “Verisimilitude”. What do you guys mean whenever you describe viewing something as “the wireframe”?
Gary DiFiore-Ridolph
2024-06-12 01:09:08 +0000 UTCWhat is the greatest gift you have given and what is the greatest gift you have received?
Soulful Bison
2024-06-12 01:08:17 +0000 UTCNowadays every state, group and dotcom have their own metal gear. What does duckfeed.tv 's metal gear look like?
JC
2024-06-12 00:57:57 +0000 UTCThis is a stretch, but hear me out: Have y'all considered Taskmaster for Adaptation Decay? My partner and I are binging it now, and while it's not videogames, I'm really impressed at the depth of game design work that Alex Horne puts into each task, and I think it would be a fun examination. Many tasks are complex enough that they're essentially silly escape rooms, and alternate paths to victory are both encouraged and often accounted for in fun ways. If it helps sell the idea, season 7 episode 10 asks contestants to recreate a classic videogame in real life, so there's your adaption. Thanks for all the shows!
Jules Everson
2024-06-12 00:47:40 +0000 UTCI just housed an unreasonably large egg foo young patty. What’s your favorite use of eggs?
Jack Corrigan
2024-06-12 00:41:54 +0000 UTCI'm curious to hear your thoughts on what your personal 'price points' for games are. I have three of them -- I won't buy a game above $60, I'll always wait for a sale to drop a game below $30 in most cases, and if it's $5 or under it's a auto buy. Do you wait for price points on games and if so what criteria do you use?
Greg Polander
2024-06-12 00:39:45 +0000 UTCFinished watching X-Men '97, and I think it may be the best on-screen thing Marvel has ever done. Any plans to cover it on Days of Future Cast?
Jason!
2024-06-12 00:37:12 +0000 UTC
