Side-Quest 198. Touching the Grass

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Talk This! It’s Dangerous to Podcast Alone. This week, we’re talking about nature in games. Wow…which is the window and which is the TV screen?

As always, you can listen to our podcast basically anywhere. Check it out on Apple PodcastsYouTubeSpotify, or Pandora (or head over to our episodes page for even more options). Or just listen below!

The Topic

Iconic trailer shot from Breath of the Wild, showing off the vast green landscape

What goes into designing nature in games? What are the challenges of making nature work, and how does it fall short of the real natural world? How do different games approach the player’s relationship with nature in the game? Will we ever escape the cosmic pull of Breath of the Wild?

The Actual Discussion

A screenshot of Tchia showing the character sailing towards an island on her raft

We talk about games and climate anxiety, and we talk about the uneasiness of natural worlds in games. We also discuss Breath of the Wild, of course, and how this has impacted game design around nature. Finally, we talk about gaps in the video game natural market, and what games and interacting with nature in interesting ways.

Enjoy the episode! Tell us what you think in the comments or on social media. Make sure to check out last week’s episode and look forward to next week’s where we’re talking about Prototype and Mouthwashing.

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