Side Story: My New Games Podcast

Hey everyone, happy April Fools Day, I promise none of this is a joke.

For the last few years—ever since leaving Waypoint for game dev in 2021—I have heard it again and again: "I really miss hearing you talk about video games!"

It was extremely flattering, but at the time, I didn't miss talking about them. I was at a low in confidence as a critic, was too busy to keep up with all the new, interesting things that were coming out. And both the media and community landscapes had made me feel constantly on edge.

But last fall, in the wake of a layoff that knocked me on my ass, something happened. I was invited to join the IGF as a juror, and I got to play, think about, and discuss a bunch of incredibly cool games that I otherwise would've never made time to check out. And it reminded me just how much I liked doing this.

I weighed my options and made a decision. After years of treating Friends at the Table as my side project, I'd take this new energy and put it directly into the show that I call home, with the group of people who have helped me make some of the stuff I'm most proud of in my entire life. We'd start a new show to continue the process of slowly, carefully building our little network (go listen to Media Club Plus!), and it could be a way not only for me to talk about games, but for people who aren't interested in TTRPGs to get to know the rest of the thoughtful, funny crew on FatT.

And so, here we are: Welcome to Side Story!

It’s a show about the games we’ve been playing and the stories we want to tell about them. We’ll be releasing it every other week, generally offset with Media Club Plus.

The first episode features me, Janine Hawkins, and Jack de Quidt talking about Soulframe (the still-in-development Souls-inspired action RPG from Warframe developer Digital Extremes) and REPO (the excellent comedy-horror extraction game by semiwork). You can listen to it right now.

You can also go watch out episode one of our Outward Let’s Play! This first ep is available for free for everyone, but starting with the second one, it’ll be for $10 Patrons. It has been an absolute blast so far, and I think people are really going to enjoy it.

I could keep rambling about inspiration, goals, and ambitions, but I think I’ll let the work speak for itself. So, step one, go listen to Side Story! It should be on all the main podcatchers, and an RSS feed is available at sidestory.show.

I'll also say it outright: One of our hopes is that this drives a little more attention to the Friends at the Table Patreon so that we can also keep up with the rising cost of eggs, gas, and rent without dramatically reworking the other tiers! If you've wondered how you can help me out post-layoff, here's a great way to kick in.

So please, let folks know about this, give the podcast and LP a shot, and thanks always for your support and time!

-Austin