In this episode, we interview 3 members of Soft Not Weak, the team behind the newly released Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To! We chatted about the development of the game, the game's release, and the team! Thank you to Réjon Taylor-Foster, Alex Abou Karam and Morgan Lavelle for the time and to Jenny Windom for organizing this interview.

Check out Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To: https://spiritswapgame.com/

You can find the team on Bluesky:

• Alex: @dirtbagboyfriend.bsky.social
• Morgan: @justmorgantime.bsky.social
• Réjon: @maximumcrash.com
• Soft Not Weak: @softnotweak.bsky.social

Find timestamps for this episode below:

• 0:00 - Intro
• 3:00 - Icebreaker: "Favorite Gaming Trend of 2025?"
• 8:10 - Start of the interview
• 8:25 - What inspired the mix of puzzle & narrative
• 15:00 - How did you put your stamp on the genre?
• 23:20 - How do you balance new/existing players to Panel de Pon-esque games?
• 32:00 - How did the narrative come to be?
• 33:45 - Were there any fun challenges that you had to overcome?
• 41:45 - Work with meltycanon
• 44:00 - Structure of Soft Not Weak
• 52:40 - Launching a game on Kickstarter
• 1:01:15 - What's next for Spirit Swap and the team?
• 1:03:35 - Outro

Resources:

• Jacob's Final Impressions of Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To
• Luke's Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To Review on LukeWarmGames

Find us on BlueSky for show updates and more:

• Podcast: @crossplayconvos.bsky.social
• Jacob: @jacob.bsky.social
• Luke: @lukewarmlewis.bsky.social
• Joseph: @th3hoopman.bsky.social

Check out our other shows:

• Player Player Podcast
• Left Behind Game Club
• The LukeWarmGames Podcast
• Cutscenes: A Video Game Movie Podcast
• Video Game Trivia

In this episode, Jacob and Luke give their thoughts on Tape 1 of the newly released Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. Thanks to Don't Nod/Sandbox Strategies for sending codes for review.

Stick around after our spoiler filled chat as we also cover the recently released Afterlove EP! Thanks to Fellow Traveller for the code. We will be back in two weeks!

Find timestamps for this episode below:

• 0:00 - Intro
• 1:20 - Icebreaker: "What's Your Favourite Coming of Age Story?"
• 7:10 - Introduction to Lost Records: Bloom & Rage
• 8:00 - Spoiler-Free Section on Lost Records: Bloom & Rage - Tape 1
• 22:20 - Technical Performance
• 24:45 - Spoiler-Filled Thoughts
• 38:00 - Do We Want More?
• 41:00 - Afterlove EP Review
• 48:00 - Wrap-Up & Outro

Resources:

• Jacob's Written Review of Afterlove EP

Find us on BlueSky for show updates and more:

• Podcast: @crossplayconvos.bsky.social
• Jacob: @jacob.bsky.social
• Luke: @lukewarmlewis.bsky.social
• Joseph: @th3hoopman.bsky.social

Check out our other shows:

• Player Player Podcast
• Left Behind Game Club
• The LukeWarmGames Podcast
• Cutscenes: A Video Game Movie Podcast
• Video Game Trivia

In this episode, Jacob is joined by Adam Gumbert to talk about Citizen Sleeper 2, which will be released on January 31, 2025. Thanks to our friends at Fellow Traveller for sending codes for review.

Find Adam on Bluesky and Respawn Aim Fire!

Find timestamps for this episode below:

• 0:00 - Intro
• 2:40 - Icebreaker: "What's your experience with Citizen Sleeper and games like it?"
• 5:45 - A one-sentence pitch
• 7:10 - "Desperation is the name of the game"
• 12:15 - Stress
• 15:00 - Push
• 19:20 - Citizen Sleeper vs. Citizen Sleeper 2
• 21:00 - Characters
• 25:00 - Writing
• 29:45 - Music and Art
• 34:00 - Spoilers Begin Here
• 34:10 - Flint
• 38:55 - Control
• 42:00 - Yu-Jin
• 45:45 - Ankhita
• 52:10 - The Ending
• 57:25 - The Future of Citizen Sleeper and Outro

Resources:

• Jacob's Written Review on Citizen Sleeper 2
• Jacob & Luke's Game Club Discussion about Citizen Sleeper

Find us on BlueSky for show updates and more:

• Podcast: @crossplayconvos.bsky.social
• Jacob: @jacob.bsky.social
• Luke: @lukewarmlewis.bsky.social
• Joseph: @th3hoopman.bsky.social

Check out our other shows:

• Player Player Podcast
• Left Behind Game Club
• The LukeWarmGames Podcast
• Cutscenes: A Video Game Movie Podcast
• Video Game Trivia

This week, the lads are joined by special guest Claire Helmberger (The LukeWarmGames Podcast) to celebrate their favorite games of 2024 with the grand finale of their annual game of the year spectacular and the reveal of the Crossplay Conversations Top 10 Games of 2024! Special thanks to Katie Lesperance (Cutscenes: A Video Game Movie Podcast and Left Behind Game Club) for the awesome voiceover for our video! Follow Katie on Bluesky: @lesperak.bsky.social.

Episode Resources:

• Part 1 of the 2024 GOTY Series here: plnk.to/crossplayconvos
• Check out the full Top 10 Games of 2024 Reveal Video: https://youtu.be/7VfkNvrAn-k

Find timestamps for this episode below:

0:00 - Intro 2:09 - Best Indie 44:22 - Best Music 56:23 - Best Visuals: Technical 1:06:57 - Best Visuals: Art Direction 1:21:14 - Best Narrative 1:33:23 - Best Moment 2:00:05 - Our Top 10 Games of 2024 2:17:35 - Outro

Find us on BlueSky for show updates and more:

• Podcast: @crossplayconvos.bsky.social
• Jacob: @jacob.bsky.social
• Luke: @lukewarmlewis.bsky.social
• Joseph: @th3hoopman.bsky.social
• Claire: @clairebearrose.bsky.social

Check out our other shows:

• Player Player Podcast
• Left Behind Game Club
• The LukeWarmGames Podcast
• Cutscenes: A Video Game Movie Podcast

This week, the lads are joined by special guest Claire Helmberger (The LukeWarmGames Podcast) to celebrate their favorite games of 2024 with their annual game of the year spectacular! Look for the 2024 GOTY Finale and the reveal of the Crossplay Conversations Top 10 Games of 2024 on January 28th!

Find timestamps for this episode below:

• 0:00 - Intro
• 3:09 - Introducing the 2024 awards categories
• 3:50 - Best Gameplay Loop
• 25:29 - Most Underrated Game
• 45:43 - Business Boy’s 2024 Bit of Bad Business
• 1:07:26 - The Luke Lewis “Chill Out with a Coffee on a Rainy Weekend Afternoon” Game(TM)
• 1:18:49 - Hooper’s Puzzle Paradise Award
• 1:26:20 - Claire's Creatively Cozy Award
• 1:34:21 - Outro

Find us on BlueSky for show updates and more:

• Podcast: @crossplayconvos.bsky.social
• Jacob: @jacob.bsky.social
• Luke: @lukewarmlewis.bsky.social
• Joseph: @th3hoopman.bsky.social
• @clairebearrose.bsky.social

Find us on Twitter for show updates and more:

• Podcast: @crossplayconvos
• Joseph Hooper: @Th3HoopMan
• Jacob McCourt: @JacobMcCourt
• Luke Lewis: @lukewarmlewis
• Claire Helmberger:@ClaireHelmberg1

Check out our other shows:

• Player Player Podcast
• Left Behind Game Club
• The LukeWarmGames Podcast
• Cutscenes: A Video Game Movie Podcast
• Video Game Trivia

Once again, Jacob, Luke, Joseph, and special guest Claire Helmberger (The LukeWarmGames Podcast) sit down to discuss their favourite games of 2022. This was originally released in January 2023 in the LukeWarmGames podcast feed!

Timestamps:

• 2:20 Most Joyous Experience
• 12:10 Best Bang For Your Buck
• 27:40 Most Pleasant Surprise
• 47:10 Best Music
• 59:00 Best Video Game Ass Video Game
• 1:09:20 Best Cozy Game
• 1:20:10 Business Boy’s Bit of Bad Business
• 1:30:55 Most Disappointing Game
• 1:40:30 Best Non-2022 Game
• 1:51:10 Best Game That We Didn’t Play
• 1:55:35 Best Multiplayer
• 2:06:50 Best Visuals - Technical
• 2:11:30 Best Visuals - Art Direction
• 2:23:15 Best Performance/Favorite Protagonist
• 2:33:40 Best Supporting Character/NPC
• 2:43:00 Best Indie
• 3:07:10 Best Narrative
• 3:22:00 Best Moment
• 3:48:35 Top 10 Games of 2022

Find us on BlueSky for show updates and more:

• Podcast: @crossplayconvos.bsky.social
• Jacob: @jacob.bsky.social
• Luke: @lukewarmlewis.bsky.social
• Joseph: @th3hoopman.bsky.social

Find us on Twitter for show updates and more:

• Podcast: @crossplayconvos
• Joseph Hooper: @Th3HoopMan
• Jacob McCourt: @JacobMcCourt
• Luke Lewis: @lukewarmlewis

Check out our other shows:

• Player Player Podcast
• Left Behind Game Club
• The LukeWarmGames Podcast
• Cutscenes: A Video Game Movie Podcast
• Video Game Trivia

Jacob, Luke and Joseph along with special guest Claire Helmberger (The LukeWarmGames Podcast) sit down to discuss their favorite games of 2021. This was originally released in January 2022 in the LukeWarmGames podcast feed!

Timestamps:

• 3:50 Most Joyous Experience
• 17:40 Best Bang For Your Buck
• 23:00 Most Pleasant Surprise
• 43:50 Best Music
• 52:00 Best Big Dumb Fun
• 1:00:00 Best Multiplayer
• 1:05:30 Best Visuals - Technical
• 1:11:00 Best Visuals - Art Direction
• 1:17:20 Best Performance/Favorite Protagonist
• 1:25:30 Best Supporting Character/NPC
• 1:34:00 Best Narrative
• 1:49:30 Best Moment
• 2:05:00 Top 10 Games of 2021

Find us on BlueSky for show updates and more:

• Podcast: @crossplayconvos.bsky.social
• Jacob: @jacob.bsky.social
• Luke: @lukewarmlewis.bsky.social
• Joseph: @th3hoopman.bsky.social

Find us on Twitter for show updates and more:

• Podcast: @crossplayconvos
• Joseph Hooper: @Th3HoopMan
• Jacob McCourt: @JacobMcCourt
• Luke Lewis: @lukewarmlewis

Check out our other shows:

• Player Player Podcast
• Left Behind Game Club
• The LukeWarmGames Podcast
• Cutscenes: A Video Game Movie Podcast
• Video Game Trivia