Free Wi-Fi

This episode is 10% game development, 90% Pokémon, and 100% shame. It may seem like this episode is also 200% late, but we’re not talking about the usual turkey holiday, we’re talking about Thanksgiving II, the lesser known second one. We’re right on time for that. Hope everyone enjoys Thanksgiving II! Our theme music is by Jami Lynne, @cloversealife on twitter! The hosts can be found @foxyredspecs and @estebanthinks, and you can find the show @FreeWifiPodcast ~!

“Pet That Dog” was in an exhibition! Catherine Fox talks about prepping her game for the Dizzy Spell show in Denver, and Esteban ports the bicycle game to the Web. There’s some Halloween talk, and some pontificating on spoilers and trailers before getting back to the important stuff: talking about how good Promare is. Our theme music is by Jami Lynne, @cloversealife on twitter! The hosts can be found @foxyredspecs and @estebanthinks, and you can find the show @FreeWifiPodcast ~!

FLOOD WARNING!! TOO MANY GAMES CAME OUT IN SEPTEMBER!! Batten down the hatches, defend your time, and don’t have too much fun! Catherine and Esteban have no end of games to talk about. Sayonara Wild Hearts! Later Alligator! Control! Untitled Goose Game! Link’s Awakening! Today’s big questions: Are lo-fi graphics cool? What happens when Catherine has fifteen minutes to make music five years ago? Do any mattress companies want to give Esteban a free mattress? Our theme music is by Jami Lynne, @cloversealife on twitter! The hosts can be found @foxyredspecs and @estebanthinks, and you can find the show @FreeWifiPodcast ~!

Part 1: White Clouds-Horsebow Moon-As cold air begins to creep in from the north of Fargus, the podcast hosts know that the dog days of summer have ended, and welcome the riches of fall. Fire Emblem has been defeated, but the ghosts of the game still haunt Free Wi-Fi. Can these ghosts be harnessed… for bicycle races?? Our theme music is by Jami Lynne, @cloversealife on twitter! The hosts can be found @foxyredspecs and @estebanthinks, and you can find the show @FreeWifiPodcast ~!

Fire Emblem!! Fire Emblem!!!!!!! Let’s min/max some stats as Catherine and Esteban take on the role of professors in the new Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and reflect on their time as students. Our theme music is by Jami Lynne, @cloversealife on twitter! The hosts can be found @foxyredspecs and @estebanthinks, and you can find the show @FreeWifiPodcast ~!

Oh, have you wanted Esteban and Catherine to talk more about game development? The Monkey Paw… it curls… Free Wi-Fi has been goofing off for a while now, but not today! Today is ALL BUSINESS. Fox has created the framework for a dating sim using Ren’py, and Esteban did some mumbo jumbo with spreadsheets. Sounds pretty different! But, are their two games… converging??? Our theme music is by Jami Lynne, @cloversealife on twitter! The hosts can be found @foxyredspecs and @estebanthinks, and you can find the show @FreeWifiPodcast ~!

It’s an emotionally charged episode as Catherine and Esteban literally and figuratively battle through some final dungeons!! Will they make it to the end, or will they be defeated?? Things look grim, but hey, at least they are talking about JRPGs instead of just Pokémon! That’s improvement! Don’t give up, Fox & Fajardo!! And don’t give up on us, dear listeners – NEXT TIME: we’re making videogames Our theme music is by Jami Lynne, @cloversealife on twitter! The hosts can be found @foxyredspecs and @estebanthinks, and you can find the show @FreeWifiPodcast ~!

It wasn’t long after the Pokémon phenomenon first crashed on American shores that schools began banning all things Pokémon from playgrounds. As we stand in the midst of a Pokémon resurgence more than two decades later, the hosts of Free Wi-Fi would like to honor their childhood experience by banning Pokémon from this podcast for the rest of all time. We clearly talked about it too much last episode, and we will not do that again. There are games to make, and episodes to record where we talk about it! But first, Esteban gives his third (and final?) game studies book review. Fox talks about making an expanded sequel to her dog petting project. Our theme music is by Jami Lynne, @cloversealife on twitter! The hosts can be found @foxyredspecs and @estebanthinks, the show is @FreeWifiPodcast

In this very serious episode we dive into the deep philosophical questions that plague our modern times. Are Pokémon real? Should we open these limited edition collectable Detective Pikachu cards? Are books good? Esteban’s book recommendations this week are “Situational Game Design” by Brian Upton, and “Fun, Taste and Games” by John Sharp and David Thomas. Fox recommends Stellaluna and the Rainbowfish Our theme song is by Clover & Sealife. The Jigglypuff sound effects are provided by Esteban’s Jigglypuff, which is real and lives in his house. Find Catherine Fox on Twitter @foxyredspecs and Esteban @estebanthinks, the show is @FreeWiFiPodcast

Fox and Fajardo call up a friend to help them with their greatest weakness… producing! Mike Effenberger is a producer extraordinaire, having worked on self-published indie titles like Ectoplasa for the Wii U, to mega-blockbusters like COD Black Ops 4. In addition to bequeathing a fountain of wisdom, Mike is also responsible for gifting Esteban the skeleton that has been haunting the last few episodes. You can find Mike Effenberger on Twitter @meffenber Our theme music is by Clover & Sealife! Find her on Twitter @cloversealife You can find Catherine Fox @foxyredspecs and Esteban Fajardo @estebanthinks. For additional episodes and more go to estebanfajardo.com~ NEXT TIME: Betrayal! Deception! A final stand… Hope??

It’s a special vacation episode! Catherine comes to LA! Recording, anime style! Free Wi-Fi theme song! Life after game launch! Game recommendation of the week: airports! Super thanks to Jami Lynne AKA clover & sealife AKA @cloversealife for the theme song! Check out her work!! Next Time: The gang stops mumbling! Follow Catherine Fox at @foxyredspecs Follow Esteban Fajardo at @estebanthinks

Esteban brought a skeleton to the recording. His name is Manny. He keeps quiet, so don’t worry about him too much. This week is all about cooking!! Videogames are just like cooking… right? Kinda? Catherine and Esteban completely fail to explain version control, but they sure try. There’s a new build of Esteban’s Investigation game to poke around with! Check it out here, with the password “free” This week’s music is some skeleton sounding stuff. I don’t know what it is. NEXT TIME: Our hosts fail yet again to explain something completely basic.

Catherine made a dog petting game!!! Play it heeeeere~* https://foxby.itch.io/pet-that-dog We talk about petting dogs, polishing dogs, monetizing dogs, kingdom dogs, and brain bugs. This is the first time Esteban’s using his new microphone, so we’re still working on improving the audio, but if you’ve got any tips reach out! He’s going to post a new build of the game soon, but until then here’s a quick gif of the UI test: Find us on Twitter @FreeWifiPodcast! Catherine Fox is at @foxyredspecs and Esteban Fajardo is at @estebanthinks !!! Next time: Fox and Esteban only talk about anime and never acknowledge the existence of videogames Intro and Outro music is Mushrooms by Komiku.

Hey you guys hear about that new thing all the kids are doing called “streaming”? Pretty wild! Fox and Esteban recount Hbomberguy’s DK64 Nightmare Stream, and then discuss developing core loops for their games.   More information about Hbomberguy’s stream can be found here, and you can find the charity Mermaids here! We also shout out our friend Patrick’s livestreams, you can subscribe to him here~ Core Loops:   Opening theme from Donkey Kong 64. Idk what song it is, tweet @foxyredspecs

Catherine and Esteban are back from their break, but they’re not quite ready to be done with the holidays. That’s because first we gotta talk about all the delightful interactive holiday cards people made! Afterwards, the topic drifts into exploring the different ways we start conceptualizing a game project. Can you tell Esteban wrote this? Luckily, the podcast is at least 50% Catherine, so it’s much more fun that this description! What are you doing? Listen to it already! Also, we have a twitter account! Follow us @FreeWiFiPodcast!   THIS WEEK’S DISCUSSION QUESTION: How many versions of Unity is too many?   Here are the holiday cards <3 (Links and images available at estebanfajardo.com)   Holiday Card 2018 – Esteban Fajardo Winter Woods – Catherine Fox Crimbus Card – Kevin Wong Birb Card 2019 – Jocelyn Kim (sorry, the passwords are secrets)   Esteban’s Design Document Template Part 1! Premise Elevator Pitch (I leave this blank, hanging over everything until the end lol) Mandate Project Goal (what is developing this supposed to accomplish?) Parameters (what are the restrictions on the development?) Experience Goal Primary emotions (can’t have everything on the emotional pallet, pick three) Player fantasy (role-playing and wish fulfillment) Player objectives (their long term goals, short term goals, immediate goals)   Next Time: Fox goes to the opera AGAIN! Esteban gets a new microphone! There, I sent that out, so now I HAVE to do it.

The weather outside is frightful, even in Los Angeles. Fox got a cold, and Esteban’s street vendor burrito got soggy from the rain. Under these harsh conditions, they press on to give a 100% accurate recap of the release of Smash Bros. Ultimate and The Game Awards, which have definitely happened when they recorded. Yep. Catherine has proposed a challenge: Make an interactive holiday card for your friends before the new year rolls around. The conditions are: It must take place in a single scene or setting, and it must have a bordered frame of some kind. If you want to join in and make one, please share it with us on twitter! Catherine Fox is at @foxyredspecs and Esteban Fajardo is at @estebanthinks !!!   Check out the Ludem Dare game “No, Not the Booty!” that Esteban collaborated on: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/no-not-the-booty   The Investigation game has an updated prototype with the journal feature added, check it out on itch.io with the password “free” https://estebanfajardo.itch.io/investigation-prototype-12-5-2018   Next Time: The results of the Winteractive Challenge! Will it be heartwarming… or horrifying??

Catherine makes a videogame bento box and Esteban makes a horrifying prediction about the new Smash Bros. game. The two talk about how to tackle the ennui that starts after the first month on a project, and gush about the latest game releases. BONUS! Stick around after the end, where Esteban delves into the secrets of controller rumble! Catherine Fox is at @foxyredspecs and Esteban Fajardo is at @estebanthinks !!! Next Time: Catherine and Esteban VS game jams!! and . . .  a special winter challenge??   You can see a screenshot of Catherine’s “Pretty Lunch” at http://estebanfajardo.com/2018/11/30/episode-3-the-herald-of-haptics/  

It’s our Halloween episode, with special spooky guest Jocelyn Kim!!! We learn the story behind the recently released cute-’em-up TWINKLE WITCH ~Save the Sweets!!~ and get some good Unity tips from Jocelyn. Catherine explains how she procrastinated on her project by making a Bloodborne anime OP, and things get contentious when Esteban shows his latest build – but don’t worry I think the two of them will stay friends… at least for now. Check out screenshots of the games at http://estebanfajardo.com/2018/11/16/episode-2-ghost-…y-question-marks/ Follow our guest, Jocelyn Kim at @jocelynkimchi !!! Catherine Fox is at @foxyredspecs and Esteban Fajardo is at @estebanthinks !!!   Next time: Catherine and Esteban definitely absolutely work diligently over two weeks without rushing to make progress at the last minute. They stick to a plan and nothing unexpected happens and it’s GREAT. SUPER GOOD. Esteban in particular has definitely already started work. Yep. YEP.   Intro and outro song from the Twinkle Witch soundtrack. Download and play Twinkle Witch ~Save the Sweets!!~ at https://jocelyn.itch.io/twinkle-witch Catherine recommends the GDC talk “Procedurally Generating History in Caves of Qud” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0sLa1y3BW4 And lastly, Catherine made a Bloodborne anime OP!!! It’s so cool! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40–i6otxXI

Catherine and Esteban avoid talking about games for as long as possible, and then share their first progress! Catherine made a locomotion system, and Esteban made a broken UI mockup. Wait, didn’t he say he was going to make something functional but ugly? Well, maybe next time Esteban will stick to the plan! Images available at: http://estebanfajardo.com/2018/11/09/episode-1-early-steps/   Follow Catherine Fox at @foxyredspecs Follow Esteban Fajardo at @estebanthinks   Next time: Will Catherine and Esteban’s friendship survive??? And: a surprise guest!!!   Intro and outro song is “Street Corner of Youth” (青春の街角) by Haneda Kentarou from the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross soundtrack.

Catherine and Esteban pitch their projects and talk about the false promises of Harvest Moon, and make a few false promises of their own. Will they be able to reach their dreams?? The journey starts here!!   Follow Catherine Fox at @foxyredspecs Follow Esteban Fajardo at @estebanthinks   Next time! Catherine makes a locomotion engine! Esteban does the opposite of his goals!   The intro and outro song is “Sea Breeze,” credited to the fake musician Sergei Mantis, from the Metal Gear Solid 3 soundtrack, riffing off the song “Agua De Beber” by Anotnio Carlos Jobin.