Animal Well - Now Playing ft. CalamityNolan and Gabe Liberti

A bite-sized terrific game, and also a very large very deep game, and also a game of the year contender all in one. Join us and see what Animal Well’s all about.

Up next is episode 3/4 in the Majora’s Mask series!

• Check out Gabe’s game here: https://www.1000boxes.game/
• Watch Nolan’s streams here: https://www.twitch.tv/calamitynolan
• And check out Nolan’s game company here: http://upatnight.games/
• Support us and help us pay for games and stuff at: https://www.patreon.com/wideflank
• Join the Wide Flank discord!!! https://discord.gg/ACbDjNhMpJ

Timestamps:

• 00:00 - Intro
• 00:25 - Start of podcast
• 00:51 - Steam description of Animal Well
• 01:25 - Setting our priors
• 02:53 - Animal Well’s development and release
• 08:12 - Solo development, the gaming industry right now, indie games, and triple-i games
• 13:32 - Animal Well aesthetics and the flower blossoming
• 17:21 - Visuals and file size
• 22:42 - Solo-dev is risky and crazy
• 24:07 - Music and sound design
• 29:27 - Spoiler warnings
• 30:11 - Cat king of dog world
• 32:35 - Items (toys)
• 37:43 - Try stuff, dig deeper, find secrets
• 40:41 - Metroidvania? Metroidbrainia? Iceberg?
• 47:08 - Order of items (representing the non-linearity)
• 51:47 - Map
• 55:56 - DEEPER down the well (deeper spoilers too)
• 57:12 - First layer ending
• 57:58 - Beyond the first layer
• 59:30 - Collaborative gaming and online communities
• 01:05:22 - Running out of steam and the “Castlevania Problem” (Illusory Wall Ahead)
• 01:07:39 - Secrets you like and secrets you don’t like
• 01:13:06 - Nolan’s favorite part of layer 2
• 01:16:41 - Lack of lore to get deeper into the game
• 01:24:33 - Game of the year?
• 01:29:33 - Play more games and find more gems (they’re out there)
• 01:30:44 - Outro and where to find Nolan and Gabe

Show Notes:

• BIGMODE games: https://bigmode.com/




• videogamedunkey: https://www.youtube.com/@videogamedunkey




• How Animal Well taps into PS5 hardware to elevate 2D pixel-art platforming - https://web.archive.org/web/20240226070308/https://blog.playstation.com/2022/07/20/how-animal-well-taps-into-ps5-hardware-to-elevate-2d-pixel-art-platforming/




• https://haseverythinginanimalwellbeenfoundyet.com/




• All of the Secret Bunnies in Animal Well (furyforged) - https://youtu.be/HGa6XRKzLI4?si=cvTYDPSmyFpBGV8C




• The Ultimate Secret Ending of Animal Well (furyforged) - https://youtu.be/i4YnLI6UpTA?si=44f-Viq3KvDrTGdm




• Our Tunic episode (since Tunic gets referenced multiple times): https://youtu.be/s-MaK4ejqwA?si=mM_CLTPonIdyAfKr




• Download the audio version of the podcast here (only for the first to succeed): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bLqPj-8fFuOs9oeVFGmhXUbQyiyaawTR/view?usp=sharing