Episode 15: Welcome to Season 2

Happy 1st Anniversary of the pod! We chat about what you can expect to hear in Season 2 of I Don't Believe in Side Quests.

You can send in your local tea to: nosidequests@gmail.com
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sweetie_potat
Twitter: twitter.com/sweetie_potat
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nenyaadamas
Twitter: twitter.com/nenyaadamas
Instagram: instagram.com/nenyaadamas/?hl=en
Twitch: twitch.tv/nenyaadamas
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nenyaadamas

Transcript

Gabe (00:00.898)
What's up, fellow questers? Welcome back to another episode of I Don't Believe in Side Quests, where we love to remind you that every side quest is somebody else's main quest. I'm Gabe. And we're going to do some catch up on what's been happening this week for us. Let's just start with the elephant in the room. I'm a grunge lord today. I'm really sorry about that. Pretty sure I've worn this sweatshirt on the podcast, too, so I was kind of embarrassed about that, but I was like, I feel terrible. I'm in.

Lauren (00:10.729)
Lauren.

Lauren (00:20.693)
Hahaha

Gabe (00:30.718)
a lot of pain for my injection yesterday and I'm exhausted. And I was like, going up to this, I was like, so first episode of season two, right? I'm going to look great. I'm going to look nice. And then I was like, yes, I'm black on black on black. I got black socks, black pants, black underwear, black sweatshirt. I just went I just full sent it. So.

Lauren (00:59.649)
Well, it's funny because I always try to think, I'm like, did I wear this? If I didn't wear it in the previous episode, I'm good. You know, if I'm wearing the same sweater back to back, then we can have that conversation, but if it's outward of a week, then whatever.

Gabe (01:08.238)
That's true. That's true.

Gabe (01:14.21)
Ha ha ha.

Gabe (01:20.438)
That's fair, that's fair. It was more of like, I would tell myself I was gonna look really nice and then, that's clearly not what happened. It's not just, yeah. You know what? That's the way to look at it. Season three will be bigger, badder than ever. It's like, I don't know why this made me think of this, but you know the...

Lauren (01:22.401)
That's my perspective.

Lauren (01:27.137)
Hmm.

Lauren (01:30.997)
Maybe season three. Maybe season three will get there.

Lauren (01:41.985)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Gabe (01:50.034)
apples to apples and then like originally you had like

Gabe (01:55.446)
big black cock. And then the like next iteration was like bigger, blacker guy. And then the like, the ultimate was biggest black.

Lauren (01:58.004)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren (02:06.369)
Hearts Against Humanity or Apples to Apples?

Gabe (02:08.679)
Oh, maybe it's cards against humanity. It's probably cards against... Sorry, sorry, cards against humanity. You're right, you're right. Not apples, apples, sorry.

Lauren (02:10.709)
Hearts Against Humanity is the non-PC one.

Lauren (02:16.041)
Okay, perfect. Just checking.

Gabe (02:20.31)
But you know what I'm talking about. It was like the escalation. Is that what our seasons are gonna be?

Lauren (02:22.413)
Yeah.

Lauren (02:28.565)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I think so.

Gabe (02:31.198)
Yeah. Yeah, I hope so, I guess. Not having like the BBC part, but like.

Lauren (02:41.696)
You don't know, we don't know what guests we're gonna have on.

Gabe (02:43.958)
Not that I'm against BBC. You know what? I'm just gonna stop. This feels like the whole thing all over again. I just need to quit while I'm ahead.

Lauren (02:53.713)
I'm gonna nod everyone.

Gabe (02:57.544)
I hate myself.

Lauren (02:58.241)
So how did your injections go? Because we heard about them a couple weeks ago. Is it the same program that we were talking about two weeks ago?

Gabe (03:08.185)
Yeah, so they took a higher concentration of my platelets and they just put two ccs directly into my joint instead of like around the joint as well.

Gabe (03:22.53)
bless the assistant's heart. So he comes in with four ccs, right? And I'm like, okay, that's what they did last time. Like they always just have extra just in case whatever, you know what I mean? Like something happens. He brings in the four ccs and he's like, so you're gonna do two and two, right? And I'm like, no, he started the doctor, but I was like, no. And he's and he just kind of gave me a look and I was like,

Gabe (03:48.81)
you know how much fluid for CCS like he's obviously holding the syringe with the four CCS. Do you know how much fluid that is? He's like, yes. And I was like, the ankle doesn't hold that much. That's too you can't do that. You know, they kid and the doctor was like, Yeah, we we're not going to do that. That's not how it works. And then he went on this like whole spiel about different he talked for like 10 minutes. So I had to stare at the syringe waiting for the terrible part to happen as he goes on like a

Gabe (04:19.134)
rant about how many CCs you can put in different joints. But then the other thing too is like, because my thing is inflamed and stuff, I obviously have excess fluid already in there. So like even though it can handle two CCs, it's still like it hurts a lot because it like just I think I talked about this, it like displaces your joint, you know, like it makes it go like this, which isn't a great feeling. But I don't know.

Lauren (04:37.377)
Hmm.

Gabe (04:48.402)
It really hurt yesterday. It kind of hurt today. Oh, OK, I'll be honest, it really hurt today. That's why I went and laid down when I got home. I was like, all right, text me when you're ready. Just be in bed.

Lauren (04:57.792)
Yeah.

Lauren (05:03.193)
I'm sick or something, but I also spent several hours today just like lying on the couch scrolling on my phone just because I had no energy whatsoever and I was like, what's happening? What's going on?

Gabe (05:14.43)
I feel that. I think I'm getting sick. My face is really flushed. So I'm kind of, I was like, I'm not going to think about it. There's some pretty sick kids at school. I think it's going around because of the allergies and stuff.

Lauren (05:20.501)
Oh no.

Lauren (05:26.053)
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Gabe (05:31.062)
We kept getting pollen alerts. Yeah. What did you do? Besides today.

Lauren (05:41.037)
My best friend was in town, the one who I went to the bachelorette of a couple weeks ago, or last month, I guess. So she was in town, so she and her mom and I went shopping and we just sat down, just like hashed out what was going on at the wedding. Because the three of us haven't been together since before she got engaged, and so this is our time to say, alright.

Lauren (06:05.717)
We're going through the itinerary. We're going through like the decor plans. We're going through like, what is all happening? Who is doing what? What's happening with the vendors? What's happening with the location? So we really just like talked through and made the list of, cause right now we're one month out from the wedding. So we really just went through the whole, um, yeah, the whole concept and just said, okay, what do we still have to do? What?

Gabe (06:23.253)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Lauren (06:34.337)
can be agreed on now, what do we need to bully the groom into agreeing on. So it was just really nice and I haven't seen her family in a while. So yeah, it was good. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I was over at their house yesterday. So we were just sitting around the kitchen table, her and her mom and I, and yeah, my best friend is, she was always a tomboy growing up.

Gabe (06:46.274)
Well, you got to see the whole family too, not just her. Oh, that's nice.

Lauren (07:03.413)
And so she's never been like the girly girl. So we joke that I'm the parent's favorite daughter because she was always a lot more of like a son tomboy for them. So it was just fun to see them because I haven't seen them in a while.

Gabe (07:20.194)
Sometimes I feel like I'm the son my dad never had.

Lauren (07:23.321)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. There was this one time when my best friend and her dad were watching baseball on the couch and her mom and I were in the kitchen right next to them and her mom was like braiding my hair because she never let her mom braid her hair. And so, yeah. So we were just like all sitting around just having a little time. So it was really fun to see them. Mm-hmm. And it will...

Gabe (07:30.542)
Pfft.

Gabe (07:35.867)
Ha!

Gabe (07:38.956)
Yeah.

Gabe (07:41.698)
Mmm.

Gabe (07:45.986)
That's cute. That's wholesome. So do they feel kind of like second parents to you?

Lauren (07:53.809)
Um, kind of like aunt and uncle, I'd say. Yeah. But we're going to go down a couple of days before the wedding so we can help with setup and we'll be staying over at the location as well at the venue. So we'll just get a lot of good time and they haven't really met my husband. So, uh, they'll get to talk with him and my best friend's dad has gotten really, really into golf.

Gabe (07:56.747)
Yeah.

Gabe (08:08.878)
Mm-hmm. No, nice.

Lauren (08:21.873)
So, um, cause he's retired. So he's gotten really into golf and my husband's getting into golf. He has my brother-in-law is really into golf. So there's, they'll be able to just chitchat about that and whatever, and probably go off fish and do whatever. So.

Gabe (08:38.922)
I like how you're like, he's into golf because he's retired as your husband and his brother are into golf.

Lauren (08:46.597)
Well, he didn't golf, and then he retired, and now he golfs three days a week.

Gabe (08:52.334)
because he has the time now.

Lauren (08:54.065)
I know. I know.

Gabe (08:57.72)
That's just funny.

Lauren (08:59.141)
Yeah. So he's... and my dad is doing some golfing as well. So yes, all the men in my life are now just like all excited by golfing. And it's kind of happened. Three years ago this was not happening, but now everyone's golfing. Everyone's all in it. Oh, I know. And my sister's like gonna join the ladies club at the golf course they live on and anyway, yes.

Gabe (09:08.814)
I'm sorry.

Gabe (09:15.254)
golfers or a golf family now.

Gabe (09:22.286)
Oh my gosh.

Gabe (09:26.462)
Oh boy. Oh boy. Wait, so how did the murder mystery party go?

Lauren (09:32.501)
It was really fun. It was a really good time. Yeah, so it was a whole collection of Nancy Drew streamers and we were in our little characters. And again, it was kind of like a Bridgerton. There was a mystery kind of poison pen gossip girl style person that we were all trying to figure out who it was.

Gabe (09:57.16)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren (10:01.481)
And in some murder mystery games like that, there's like a predetermined, uh, murderer or criminal or whatever that we're trying to catch this one. It truly is just, you know, you assign everyone to characters and whatever. And then, um, partway through the game, the person administering the game, um, just kind of has a random selector for all of the

Gabe (10:11.638)
Yeah. Yep.

Lauren (10:31.845)
that you have. So if people drop out or whatever it's not going to totally mess up the whole game which is really nice because it can be a little bit more flexible you can just say oh well I think we don't need this character or we didn't have anyone that really fit this character so we can leave them out. So that was really nice. But yeah it was fun we all got to do little accents and

Gabe (10:47.502)
All right. All right.

Gabe (10:54.518)
Did you solve it? Did you figure it out?

Lauren (10:57.097)
I did not. I had no idea. The last one we did where there was a preset.

Gabe (10:59.745)
It's

Lauren (11:05.605)
a preset murderer, they laid out enough clues that most people did get it if they were paying attention. This one, a couple people got it, but it was based on vibes rather than actual any evidence or... right. Because again, because it's chosen part way through, there isn't like a lot of setup and there was less, um, I guess...

Gabe (11:08.014)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (11:13.474)
Okay. Mm-hmm.

Gabe (11:22.93)
like evidence and yeah.

Lauren (11:35.413)
information given to us about our characters. The characters were just less developed, which made it a little bit harder to like truly try to understand what we're all about. Yeah. But it was a really good time. It was really, really fun. My dear friend Tina Balducci runs those. She'll be running another one in October. So stay tuned for that.

Gabe (11:38.602)
Right. Right.

Gabe (11:46.846)
and body. Oh yeah, that too. Yeah.

Gabe (12:03.31)
Fun, fun.

Lauren (12:04.98)
Yeah.

Gabe (12:06.422)
All right, well, the kind of maybe not the oh, yeah, kind of like the goal of this episode is just to talk about kind of our thoughts for season two and going forward and stuff. Yeah, he did it.

Lauren (12:18.845)
Welcome to season two, everybody. We're here, we did it. It's been one whole year since we started podcasting, which is so wild.

Gabe (12:28.75)
Yeah, it seems crazy. It does. It seems crazy, especially because we took, you know, it's kind of such a long break, unintentionally. But yeah, honestly.

Lauren (12:39.585)
An intentional hiatus, yes. For about seven months.

Gabe (12:46.486)
Oh yeah, it was, wasn't it? Yeah, something like that. I was like.

Lauren (12:51.041)
Mm-hmm, it was a full half the year, yeah.

Gabe (12:54.542)
Are you even going to come back to podcasting? I was like, a sweetie abandoned me. Have I abandoned her? Like, what's what's what's going on? Are we ever? Are we ever going to be back together again? But we did come back, so. Spoiler alert, we.

Lauren (13:03.477)
Both questions, yes.

Lauren (13:16.289)
Spoilers, yes. We did.

Gabe (13:20.258)
came back together towards the end of the season, okay? It was just like, it was just like mid-roll ads that just took forever, all right, sorry. But to kind of recap, you know, season one and what we did for it, it definitely started out and throughout, it was more focused on Nancy Drews, because you know, the books and the games. No, wait, what am I trying to say? Because that's kind of what brought us together.

Lauren (13:29.025)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Gabe (13:50.102)
But what I was trying to say, sorry, is that like we covered the book aspect of Nancy Drew and like character herself and how she came to be. And we also talked about the games. And then obviously, we've been reviewing. The CW TV series, but it was kind of like are the roots of our friendship. You know, Nancy was how we met and what brought us together. It was kind of like the starting common ground for our friendship. Obviously, I think we have a lot more in common.

Lauren (14:05.056)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren (14:20.851)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (14:21.438)
That was like where it started. And then we also we delved into the games of 2022 and we saw what was coming up. Then we also reviewed how it went and we talked about what's coming off 23. Allegedly. I'm hoping it'll be better this year. I feel like we finally made it through the pandemic stuff and the sense of like all the backup and and

Lauren (14:36.737)
allegedly.

Lauren (14:46.194)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (14:49.316)
uh, moving dates and stuff.

Lauren (14:51.613)
I feel like people were just holding on and just kind of hoping that they wouldn't have to delay and then kind of were like, yeah, we actually will. And then I feel this year, if it's not coming out, they've already said, it's not going to happen. We're going to extend it out. So I think they were just able to be more realistic. Yeah.

Gabe (14:56.98)
Yeah.

Gabe (15:08.73)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they just kind of full committed. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Well, I think so far we're pretty much so good for all the games. I mean, not just the games I listed, but like when I was looking at the big, huge extensive lists, it seemed like so far we've been pretty good about things coming out. So.

Lauren (15:24.072)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren (15:29.639)
Yeah.

Gabe (15:30.97)
And a lot of the games we said that were going to come out in 2022 are obviously on the list for 2023. So we'll see if they actually come out. Fingers crossed. We started with having the tea parties and we kind of didn't have that. I'm hoping one day they'll come back. But, you know, I feel like we need input from the community.

Gabe (16:01.07)
for those to come back and not just our drama. You know what I mean? Exactly, they have to hear about us all the time anyways. So instead we kind of switched up towards the end of the season to having the female developer spotlight to kind of end out the season and not the season, but to round out that each episode and just really shine a light on the awesome females developers in the industry.

Lauren (16:05.697)
Mm-hmm. They're tired of hearing about us.

Gabe (16:31.494)
and like get that out there. We also started to dip our toes into more of the gaming interest to dynamics. So we talked about the e-sports, you know, we talked about just kind of women in general in gaming and like the stats with that. And like kind of the big thing is that it makes me so sad that women don't really consider themselves gamers. Like if they're not in the quote unquote, like hardcore stuff, it's just they don't really consider themselves gamers.

Gabe (17:01.098)
and I just want each and every one of you to know. If you play a game, even if it's just mobile games, okay? You're a freaking gamer and don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

Lauren (17:13.089)
So I think I also just wonder about, you know, the label of gamers, like...

Gabe (17:22.382)
Mm-hmm. I feel like it has a stereotype.

Lauren (17:26.481)
It has a stereotype, and so I guess I'm wondering how important it is that people consider themselves gamers. Or if it's just more important that people who...

Lauren (17:44.449)
Because the reason we want people to not feel weird about being called gamers is because then people react weirdly or try to call them out, and so it's more of the, hey, don't be rude to people even if you disagree how they're like, it's the gatekeeping, it's the saying

Lauren (18:10.401)
Oh, well don't label yourself as this and this when it doesn't matter if somebody feels that they're a gamer or that they aren't a gamer. What the problem is, is if somebody says they're a gamer and you think, no, they don't count, keep that to yourself. It literally does not affect you. It does not matter.

Gabe (18:26.274)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (18:32.314)
what I meant. I'm sorry, I was not trying to shame people who don't think they're gamers. I just mean I don't want people to feel like you can't be a gamer or that you have to be a certain way to be a gamer. That was more of what I meant. If you play games, whatever it is, you're a gamer. If you want to be. Yeah. Obviously you don't have to consider yourself that. That's fine. Just...

Lauren (18:48.861)
You can call yourself a gamer. Yeah.

Lauren (18:55.465)
Right, if that's an identity tag that you would like, use it. Like, you can call yourself a gamer. It doesn't matter. I don't care. If you only play the Kim Kardashian game, you're a gamer. If you play Bejeweled, and we know ladies love Bejeweled, you're a gamer. If you are a 60-year-old woman playing Farmville, you can call yourself a gamer if you feel like a gamer.

Gabe (18:58.478)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (19:02.414)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I don't feel like

Gabe (19:09.962)
Hahaha! What the fuck?

Lauren (19:23.717)
And no one should yell at you for that or make you feel weird about saying that.

Gabe (19:23.925)
Just live your best life, boo.

Gabe (19:30.394)
Exactly. Exactly. So. I don't know. Do you have any any thoughts about season one? Any feelings? Any any comments, questions, concerns? Just kidding. If you have concerns. Huh?

Lauren (19:43.957)
I mean, I... Yeah, concerns about the industry in general because I had to learn so much about, you know, stuff like kick or, you know, all of these gaming news, hot topics, pieces that I normally wouldn't really pay attention to. So I feel like I am more educated and or just more aware of things that are happening that don't...

Gabe (20:05.07)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (20:12.223)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren (20:12.317)
necessarily affect me in my day-to-day life of a Nancy Drew gamer. Like I don't have a lot of toxicity coming into my channel because when I'm streaming on Monday night at 11 p.m. streaming a Nancy Drew game, no one can find me. No one's there. No one's like strangers are not just walking in to be like a girl playing this game. It's like, yeah, obviously. Hello?

Gabe (20:15.041)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (20:40.412)
I'm sorry.

Lauren (20:42.549)
90% of us, yeah. But so, I don't know. So I don't run into that toxicity because I don't play a lot of those FPS. I don't play COD. I don't play any of those other games. So I'm lucky enough to be pretty insulated from a lot of that. And so doing research or learning from you firsthand about what sort of things that women really

Gabe (21:02.826)
Yeah, I've tainted you.

Lauren (21:11.413)
get into and I watch TikToks of women who play COD or whatever and they're, you know, going around and interacting with just men and they say hi and the men just go ballistic. It's like, what is happening? It's so wild. Especially because my husband games a lot. And he and his friends and I've gamed with them and whatever. Again, I'm not playing COD. I'm not doing a lot of those.

Gabe (21:24.854)
They go berserk. Oh my gosh.

Gabe (21:32.59)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (21:40.472)
okay.

Lauren (21:41.185)
playing with men who do a lot of gaming and yeah they'll like joke or tease each other or whatever but it's not toxic. Like that's so just the people that I play with so I know it can be done my dudes. I know it can happen but uh figure it out because I truly-

Gabe (21:43.662)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Gabe (22:03.053)
My bros.

Lauren (22:11.625)
I don't even know how to unpack what so many people out there are doing.

Gabe (22:18.414)
I thought you were going to say you were concerned about the massive break you took. I was like, well, yeah, that's kind of concerning, I suppose. But we've been pretty consistent since we came back. We've held it together. Even through the monstrosity of the Sherlock Holmes game. We've held it so. She's like, let's not talk about it. Let's not even think about it.

Lauren (22:31.413)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Lauren (22:39.479)
Hmm? Mm-hmm.

Gabe (22:49.526)
Well, one of the things we want to talk about with you guys kind of was what our goals are for season two and preface. They might not all happen. Maybe none of them will happen. And you know what? That's okay. But what we would maybe hope would happen is obviously we would like to continue with weekly uploads as best we can. However, you know, we both are busy.

Gabe (23:17.782)
We both got stuff. We both have a life. Unfortunately, like how crazy would it have? Dare you, sweetie? Honestly, how dare you? I'm just I'm just kidding. You're like shot through the heart. No, that's both of us. We both have. You know, whatever our own things. So obviously, depending on how things go, we could maybe switch back to every other week.

Lauren (23:31.741)
Oh, this is me.

Gabe (23:46.386)
or maybe we do for a little bit and then go back to weekly, who knows, but at least staying as consistent as possible, I think would be the overall generality of that goal. Yeah, I think our big things are consistency. We wanna start having some guests for this season and we wanna do more collaboration and community building. So whether it's inviting guests we know.

Lauren (23:57.301)
We will absolutely do our best.

Lauren (24:08.501)
Hmm?

Gabe (24:16.522)
Or maybe we try to reach out to some of the funeral developers or spotlighting or, you know, whatever it is, we want to try doing that. I say those are, those are two big things. If we accomplish both of those, I think we're rocking it. Rocking, socking, whatever. And then, you know, robot and exactly. And then I would say kind of our, maybe not sub goals, but like

Lauren (24:35.274)
row button.

Gabe (24:46.782)
Not less important goals. I don't know what to call them, but kind of just our extracurricular goals if they happen great, if they don't, it's okay. Is being more active and interactive on social media. That's like the mid goal. There's like the two high goals is probably our mid goal. Like if we can accomplish all that and then this. Yes, go ahead.

Lauren (25:07.349)
I feel like that's part of the community building, though.

Gabe (25:10.166)
That's true. No, you're probably right. Yeah, you're right. Awesome.

Gabe (25:16.458)
I don't know. You're right. That definitely is community building. I guess that's a two. Right.

Lauren (25:20.453)
Yeah, well, it's kind of the umbrella goals and then kind of pieces on the action items of like how we want to create community building is by being more active on social media, being more consistent. Again, inviting on guests that may be relevant to what we're talking about other Nancy Drew streamers people who work on.

Gabe (25:33.202)
Yeah.

Gabe (25:39.244)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren (25:47.093)
Video games are involved in the video game industry, so we can learn a bit more, again, firsthand from what's going on with that, other gamers.

Gabe (25:59.882)
Yes, yes. And then this is our if we accomplish everything else and still somehow have the time for it, potentially streaming on Twitch when we can maybe once a month, maybe, maybe once a year, okay, maybe we'll be those people, you know, who knows, because we do have a no side quest Twitch, if you want to go follow that. But what

Lauren (26:28.281)
Once a year, once a year we will get on and play Three Hours of the Forest, and then peace out, and then we'll be right back on August 12th or whatever.

Gabe (26:34.178)
Mm-hmm. And that's it, yeah.

Gabe (26:40.142)
can you laugh but like I know some people who kind of to do that kind of stream like that like they literally going as a retired streamer for just months and then come back and you're like, all right, cool. I are once a year stream. What's up? Yeah, so I don't know kind of what we would maybe do for those is, you know, play a game, maybe the forest maybe Nancy Drew game but play game together. Hi, chit chat with you guys. You know,

Lauren (26:54.597)
Hahaha

Gabe (27:09.846)
just see how it goes, see where the wind takes us. But yeah, that's probably true. Our biggest goal, community, building, and then like you said, the sub stuff that kind of leads to that.

Gabe (27:25.89)
So I have to scroll down. All right. But to get to the nitty gritty, I actually have no idea if this is the nitty gritty, but our ideas for season two. So the big one, okay, Nancy Drew comes out, fourth season, comes out May 31st, Wednesday, Wednesday, May 31st.

Gabe (27:49.654)
It's 7 p.m., but I don't remember what time zone. I don't think it was mine. Maybe it is. It starts at, I think, 7 p.m. CST, Central Time, so.

Lauren (27:56.577)
Does it come out on HBO Max?

Gabe (28:00.559)
No, it's a CW show, isn't it?

Lauren (28:03.297)
What are we watching on?

Gabe (28:04.947)
I watched it on TV.

Lauren (28:11.585)
I'm gonna have to figure out how I'm doing that.

Gabe (28:13.23)
Uh.

Gabe (28:16.71)
I think I could share my screen with you.

Lauren (28:20.341)
I wonder if there's a nice bar nearby that I could go by and be like, hi, can you turn on the Nancy Drew show for me, please? What else are you doing on a Wednesday night? Karaoke? Okay.

Gabe (28:21.346)
If you wanna.

Gabe (28:32.44)
Okay, buddy.

Lauren (28:33.586)
Okay.

Gabe (28:36.138)
Is HBO Max how you watch, Nancy Drew?

Lauren (28:36.49)
Anyway.

Lauren (28:39.221)
Yeah, it's the only reason I got HBO Max and HBO Max has a lot of great stuff, but it is going to turn into the max thing and get rid of the HBO piece. And then they're going to change all their pricing. So, but yes, they are on HBO Max. So. Right.

Gabe (28:58.41)
I'm trying to think how I watched them because that's not how you know what? Oh, actually, I think I did. Okay, so we use YouTube TV, like for our cable and stuff. And I think they had Oh, I think I recorded before season three, I think when they did like the marathon, I recorded all the episodes. And then I think I was able to just binge them. That's probably how I did it. So yeah.

Lauren (29:26.442)
Anyway.

Gabe (29:26.482)
Sorry. Yeah. So that's it's coming on May 31. And so we're going to be watching it, you know, live, live in real time. And then every episode, you know, maybe in the beginning, kind of during our catch up, we'll do a small recap of what happened in that episode, and maybe our thoughts and stuff on it. Obviously,

Lauren (29:28.885)
Long story short.

Lauren (29:49.801)
Segments, segments, segments.

Gabe (29:52.766)
Yes. Yeah, that was kind of why I was thinking. I don't know. Yeah. So, yeah, our next segment will be gaming news. So we're for sure going to be continuing following the interactive, keeping you guys up to date on what's going on with the new Nancy Drew game. Hashtag ND thirty four. A thread.

Lauren (30:11.369)
We are recording this on 4-25, 4-20, April 28th is the Nancy Drew birthday. So if any big announcements come out on that day, we'll get you next time.

Gabe (30:33.506)
Oh, yeah. Well, no, we can still get it in the next episode. They won't know because we didn't have any update for today. So

Gabe (30:43.311)
They won't know. They'll never know. They just know now because you told them.

Gabe (30:52.842)
No, go ahead. But, but, no, it's okay.

Lauren (30:54.905)
Okay. Now I was just thinking like...

Lauren (30:59.905)
because this is still going to come out afterwards.

Gabe (31:03.806)
right. But we can cover it in our next episode that we record next week, which is the Nancy Drew season three. We don't have to but we can. Sorry, regardless. Also, we have a thread kind of keeping track of everything and giving our thoughts on our Twitter. So go check out the no side quests Twitter if you want to keep up to date with that and follow that.

Lauren (31:14.123)
Okay, anyway.

Lauren (31:30.702)
with all the Her Interactive puzzles and tweets and keep track of some of the key things that people are solving from the puzzles.

Gabe (31:43.396)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. We're going to be continuing to have the female developer spotlight at the end of each episode. So please, please, please send in any recommendations you have to either email nosidequest.gmail.com or again to our Twitter, at nosidequest. Please, we want them.

Lauren (31:58.721)
because we're definitely hitting a lot of the bigger names right now, but we also want to spotlight some smaller names that maybe are not in the news as much or, um, that are making a splash, but not maybe at the top levels. So we'd love to know names of anyone who is making moves out there.

Gabe (32:09.567)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (32:25.342)
Mm hmm. And then we also would like to review some games by female developers. So also free free feel free. Holy cow to send us recommendations on these, you know, ones you enjoy ones you enjoy having watched or you know, whatever. Let us know. Okay, we want to know

Lauren (32:44.193)
Because it's very hard to, like, is there something on Steam that, is there a tag for like female developers or female-led? Because it's hard to find, like you can find lists of like, you know, games made by female developer teams or by a singular woman developer. You can find lists of that, but that stuff that covers 2010 to now.

Gabe (32:54.99)
I don't think so. I don't think so.

Lauren (33:13.137)
And if I just want to know, hey, what's coming out this year or came out last year or whatever, that's a more recent, you know, just quick hit, like what are some games made by women? I can't just go and find that on Steam or I can't just easily search that. So it's picking through and it's being lucky if you can.

Gabe (33:22.828)
Yeah.

Gabe (33:26.582)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (33:36.302)
Right, right.

Lauren (33:40.869)
either hear about it or otherwise find out about it. So if you guys have any recommendations or suggestions on where to be finding those, if anyone else is keeping a list, would love to know. Cause we wanna be playing those games and we wanna be learning about those games and highlighting those games and saying, hey, here are games by women that are coming out.

Gabe (34:03.479)
they're wrong.

Lauren (34:05.629)
Yeah. Yeah.

Gabe (34:10.466)
So kind of going with the Her Interactive, we're going to try to start staying more up-to-date and covering the gaming news and hot topics and just staying more current in general and talking about that with you guys.

Lauren (34:21.009)
in general.

Gabe (34:28.834)
Yeah, I don't know. You got any final thoughts, any excitement for the new seasons, things you're looking forward to besides that we get to see Nancy Drew season four.

Lauren (34:40.537)
Yeah, I'm excited to be kind of playing more games and talking about more games. I think that's going to be really fun. I know the Sherlock Holmes game that we just played was a bit of a rougher topic, but in general, it's fun to play it and then have a podcast that we can just sit around and

Lauren (35:06.197)
chitchat about how it went, how it was going, because that's kind of what we do on Twitch, right? When we're playing the game and we're talking through it and we can kind of recap our thoughts, but it's nice to be able to do this for games that are larger or just have time to think about how we feel about it instead of reacting in the moment. So I'm excited to do that. I'm very excited to keep.

Gabe (35:10.72)
Right.

Lauren (35:33.489)
researching and learning about the women in the industry. I'm very excited about that. I am excited for segments on Hot Topics, because again, this is making sure that I'm still keeping up to date on what's happening in the gaming news, because...

Gabe (35:51.054)
I feel like we should call this segment hot gaming news because it combines the hot from hot topics, but then like the focus of our gaming news. I think that's.

Gabe (36:02.198)
Maybe not. Maybe there's better. I guess we love that. Welcome to hot games in your area. Oh, that's awesome. I have to type that. That's that's a 10 out of 10.

Lauren (36:02.401)
aren't games in your area.

Lauren (36:15.977)
Ha ha!

Lauren (36:20.541)
It's the vibe you were, I just, I ripped off you. I knew where you were going with it.

Gabe (36:22.17)
It really was. It really, no. Hot games, hot games near you. Swipe, swipe right for the, is it swipe right for the ones you want? Like if you want to match with those games. I don't know.

Lauren (36:30.767)
Ha ha!

Lauren (36:39.013)
A, I don't know my left from my right, so I don't know, and B, I have not dated in... Okay, here's the thing. So I'm left-handed.

Gabe (36:42.64)
Didn't you learn the like?

Gabe (36:49.155)
Okay, wait, so then shouldn't you know what the left hand is? Because it's your dominant hand?

Lauren (36:50.345)
I'm left handed.

Lauren (36:54.505)
Yeah, one would think except in preschool, my teacher messed me up because she kept being like, your right hand is the one you write with. And that has just stuck in my little brain throughout my entire life. I get better, but sometimes you catch me off guard and I'm like, mm, mm, mm, don't know. I have like a callous on.

Gabe (37:00.019)
Okay.

Gabe (37:20.512)
I was s-

Lauren (37:21.957)
on my middle finger on my left hand from how I hold my pencils. And so sometimes if you just see me kind of like poking my finger where the callus is, I'm like, oh, left this way.

Gabe (37:33.642)
Just do this. Okay, and then look at your hands. Which one makes the owl?

Lauren (37:38.177)
Right, but it's a lot more subtle if I can just kind of stroke my callus and be like, mm, the writing hand.

Gabe (37:41.171)
No, no, you can't, but I'm just saying.

Gabe (37:45.57)
That's how I was taught. That's how I was learned. That's what I was gonna say. That's how I was taught to distinguish.

Lauren (37:51.265)
It's also more subtle, instead of just walking around, just being like, left. If I just have my little callus.

Gabe (37:58.702)
I kind of liked it. It looked no, but like act like you're like sizing up the thing. Okay, you know what I mean? You're like Right. You're making a yeah If you make it, you know act like you're doing something

Lauren (38:09.897)
Really casual guys, nobody, uh...

Gabe (38:14.926)
If you act like you're doing something else, okay, who's gonna know and who's gonna have the balls to really question you? Okay, you have to do it with absolute confidence and you just put your hands up and you start acting on whatever you're doing Okay, and they're gonna be like, okay. I don't want to look like a dumbass if I say something so exactly

Lauren (38:36.993)
That was a little finger camera action for listeners at home.

Gabe (38:45.366)
those of you too young to know. Yes, hot games in your area. I'm there was something I was gonna say to something you said, but I totally forgot what it was. And now I'm not gonna remember it.

Gabe (39:03.294)
Oh, I'm really excited for having guests because I know this was something we had talked about for season one, but it just didn't quite happen. And that's you know, that's OK. We're figuring our stuff out. I feel like we're kind of more in a groove now. I think it's a lot easier for us to talk now. Like, I feel like in the first couple of hours, especially for me, it was just very.

Lauren (39:20.566)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (39:26.798)
I don't know, awkward and like uncomfortable. Like you would hit the start recording and I'd feel so self-conscious. I feel like you remember those days. And now I'm just.

Lauren (39:36.553)
I always have to hit start record. I gotta launch us.

Gabe (39:39.586)
That's because I have... You do, you really do. It's like a mental thing for me, but it's also so I can just keep my notes up in front of me so then it looks like I'm looking at the camera. But it doesn't, I don't know, I don't feel self-conscious anymore. I'm just kind of like, yep, here we are.

Lauren (39:51.425)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Lauren (40:01.759)
Yeah.

Gabe (40:03.57)
I feel like we've we've also like talked a lot more and shared stuff where like I feel like I can just be very open with you and I mean, maybe you're gonna judge me I guess I don't know but I don't feel like you're gonna judge me I feel like I can talk about it. Although except for the wolf thing I really felt like you judged me with that so like. I really felt personally attacked like I dreamt of I'm just kidding.

Lauren (40:17.417)
Just judging you the whole time.

Lauren (40:24.865)
I'm so judgmental.

Lauren (40:33.937)
You know very well that was not judgmental. I was just trying to understand. I was just trying to get at the heart of the matter. Where you were coming from.

Gabe (40:44.158)
I don't even remember what we were talking about that sent us down that.

Lauren (40:52.265)
We are talking about Twilight Princess.

Gabe (40:52.595)
It was in the-

Lauren (40:56.788)
And...

Gabe (40:57.126)
Oh, it was starting the female developer spotlight, wasn't it? You're right.

Lauren (41:06.699)
Yeah, sure was. We were talking about Twilight Princess, and then you were talking about how the Avatar could come over with you. I don't know, and then you mentioned something about a wolf. Yeah.

Gabe (41:19.518)
Oh, the amiibo. Yeah, because in Twilight Princess, Link turns into the wolf sometimes. So you could bring the wolf into the Breath of the Wild as an amiibo.

Lauren (41:27.905)
And then I just.

Gabe (41:31.122)
You're like, are you a wolf, girl?

Lauren (41:31.341)
the flash of brilliance that you were a wolf girl. And I still don't think I was proven wrong.

Gabe (41:38.422)
I would just like to say, okay, if you turned into any other creature too, okay, I still would have thought that was as equally as exciting. It was more of the concept that you could bring a character from one game to this game. And then it was with you and you weren't alone. But yeah, whatever. You know, we don't have to go into it. It's fine. It doesn't it doesn't matter. It's fine.

Lauren (41:47.329)
Oh yeah.

Lauren (41:52.511)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (42:08.608)
Um...

Gabe (42:12.654)
I'm trying to think if there's any other thoughts I really have before we end it. What? What, why'd you make that face? Come for me, I'm just kidding. My gosh, ma'am. Well, I was thinking about when we were talking about playing games by female developers, obviously we can look at the games they bring up when we're looking at the spotlight, because they talk a lot about the games they worked on.

Lauren (42:19.201)
Mm-mm. I'm thinking.

Lauren (42:27.091)
Yam.

Gabe (42:41.898)
So that kind of gives us a starting point a little bit. Maybe.

Lauren (42:46.553)
Yeah, yeah. Playing games and then talking about the female developers who worked on them, yeah.

Gabe (42:54.274)
Oh, I remember what my thought was. I feel like what made... Okay, so just so you guys understand, the brilliant Sherlock Holmes idea, first of all, I'll accept the fault, it was mine, and it was that we would have a week to play this game and then...

Lauren (42:56.992)
Hey.

Gabe (43:19.126)
do a recording on it and I would all be fine because she streams and I stream and so you know like whatever you can just stream the game and that covers two birds with one stone. Okay both of us had awful long weeks and my thought was that I feel like what made it so much worse was that the game was so dark and had the like dark heavy stuff so like

Gabe (43:48.802)
fiat walk it obviously you don't come home but you know what I mean like you're you get off work and you're like oh and then the game you go and play makes you go oh gosh and so I felt like it just they made it that much worse so you know what maybe the next game we try to do we find a happy one

Gabe (44:09.79)
And don't try and do it in a week.

Lauren (44:12.289)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Gabe (44:15.918)
That was my thought. Anyways, not that brilliant of a thought.

Lauren (44:22.753)
Good note.

Gabe (44:25.002)
It's just, yeah, that dream haunted me. That dream, that game haunted my dreams.

Lauren (44:32.855)
Oh good.

Gabe (44:34.262)
Oh good, I tried anyways, you know what? I'm not stop. I'm gonna stop myself if I dig myself another hole. That's it. You know what? That's it. We're done. That's all you get for the season. That's all you get to know. Okay, tune in next week to know more. Let's just go into the female develop.

Lauren (44:50.95)
Okay.

Lauren (44:53.953)
So we've got, for our female developer spotlight, we're talking about Jade Raymond, who, speaking of people who are just top of the industry, top dog names, Jade Raymond is a Canadian video game creator, and she led the creation for the first Assassin's Creed game and was executive producer on the second Assassin's Creed game.

Lauren (45:24.309)
So that probably just really just launched her in. She graduated from college in computer science, so she knew that that's the direction she wanted to go in. She's in her late 40s, so that was still happening pretty recently. She first worked as a programmer for Sony, where she was helping in the creation of Sony Online's first research and development group.

Gabe (45:25.112)
Oh yeah.

Lauren (45:53.667)
and

Lauren (45:57.209)
One thing about Jade is that she was involved in a lot of creations. Like there's a lot of studios that she created. So everywhere she went she was a creator. She was doing new IP. She was creating new departments. She was creating new teams. It truly is incredible how much, anytime any company had her,

Lauren (46:26.645)
They were like, amazing, here. Here a bunch of resources go off and make something incredible and she would do it. Yeah, it's incredible all the things that she has done so far. So she was in that creation.

Gabe (46:34.319)
She was a boss girl. Sorry.

Gabe (46:45.094)
I wish... sorry, I was gonna say I wish I had that. I don't know if motivation is the right word.

Gabe (46:56.726)
Willpower is not the right word. I don't know. I wish I had the gumption to do that because I've tried to be more confident where I work now and kind of lead things and change things and all of that But I get so nervous to like rock the boat or like upset anyone and she was good

Lauren (47:02.997)
Mm.

Lauren (47:17.089)
Hmm. Well, and that might be the environment that you're working in as well, because there's some environments like probably in, you know, the early 2000s with the Sony online's research and development group or, you know, people are placed into these as kind of think tanky kind of bigger stuff out, make something cool, we'll give you resources and we want you to be in this.

Lauren (47:46.401)
creative mindset and generate ideas. So, I mean, if that's your job, then go do ideas. And she clearly has a lot of really good ideas. I'm just saying environment is really, and especially working environment, coworkers, leadership.

Gabe (47:55.731)
Exactly.

Gabe (48:05.066)
Is that your human resources talking? It's true though, it's true.

Lauren (48:07.865)
Yeah, it absolutely is because the environment totally affects how you feel, the kind of work that you produce, the quality of work, and absolutely affects your confidence in what you're doing, how you feel about making recommendations on changes. It can affect you wanting to make changes. Or if you're just like, you know what?

Gabe (48:18.894)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren (48:37.621)
there's no point in trying to make this better. I'm just gonna like ride it out or just I'm just hanging on for your dear life. Like there's so much that having any sort of constricting environment or leadership can totally just derail you or just keep you, yeah, not wanting to rock the boat. And I'm not saying that's the environment you're in, but I'm just saying, yeah, that absolutely affects you.

Gabe (49:02.414)
Götürmeyelim.

Gabe (49:07.914)
Yes, yes. Sorry, continue in a minute.

Lauren (49:12.609)
So she worked for Sony, she went over to Electronic Arts the first time, where she was a producer for The Sims Online. So again, she's in a lot of... She's a video game creator, not developer. So she's involved in a lot of the creation, idea, leadership, and kind of overall strategy production of these games.

Lauren (49:42.305)
So she was a producer for The Sims Online. Then in 2004, she started working for Ubisoft, and she's again Canadian, so this was in Montreal. And that's where she led the creation of the Assassin's Creed games, and then was executive producer on the second one.

Gabe (49:58.634)
I didn't know Ubisoft was a Canadian company.

Lauren (50:03.593)
Well, Ubisoft Montreal, yeah.

Lauren (50:09.381)
And then she, um... So after she was executive producer on Assassin's Creed 2, and she was otherwise involved with 3 and 4, uh, she was the executive producer of just new IP in general at Ubisoft Montreal, which created games like Watch Dogs and then Mighty Quest for Epic Loot. And then in 2010, so, you know, six years after she started working for Ubisoft,

Lauren (50:36.341)
They sent her off to Toronto so that she could build out a new studio for them over there, and so she was managing director of their Toronto studio. Five years after that, in 2015, she went back to Electronic Arts and then formed a studio for them, Motive Studios. And then she was also put in charge of another studio down in California, so she kind of, you know, had her Canadian stuff, and then she had a studio in California. And then, um...

Lauren (51:04.861)
In 2018, she left all those studios, and a few months later, it was announced that she was joining Google as a vice president. And Google announced that she was heading up their Google Studios Stadia Games and Entertainment so she could create content for their streaming service.

Lauren (51:25.189)
Also, in 2015, she was on the board of directors of Women in Film and Television International, which is a global network dedicated to advancing professional development and achievement for women working in all areas of film, video, and screen-based media. So I thought that was really cool. I know on their board of directors right now, they typically have, you know, a handful of people from, handful of women from each region. Right now, I think there are two

Lauren (51:54.401)
Canadian develop or directors. So I don't know if she was part of those, a small group of Canadian, or if she was down with the US. Probably the Canadian one though. Let's see, oh, in 2018 when she was joining Google, she was joining the board of directors for the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences as well. So she's just joining boards all over the place

Lauren (52:24.526)
video game and media leadership.

Lauren (52:29.153)
I had a couple quotes from her from an article in Games Industry Biz that was in 2018, so around this time. And she was saying, in the traditional action adventure game, there was the developer thinking, what story do we want to tell? What is the maze or the puzzle we want to create in each level? And as a player, your job is to enjoy the story. But as a rat in the maze, find your way to the cheese.

Lauren (52:58.785)
she said, focusing on the genre that Assassin's Creed helped push forward. So it was...

Lauren (53:06.625)
It's an interesting mentality of them creating this whole maze and then just kind of nudging or otherwise rewarding their little rats that were going around searching for little nuggets of cheese to try to make it to the end of the maze game. So I just thought that was fun. And then when she was moving over into Google, she was talking about, she was talking a lot about games.

Lauren (53:35.357)
and how games have become more social, how they were moving away from more of that typical, almost kind of like a movie, where people were more passively receiving, or were just watching the game and then putting in their things. But she was talking about how she thinks the big question is now, and the exciting question for me is how does that experience become social? How do players not only get to create their own story,

Gabe (53:38.603)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren (54:04.745)
But how do you have those stories be social and how do you share them in the meaningful way? So that was kind of what her focus started turning towards as she was seeing a lot of the popular games. And again, this was 2018. So this was even pre-COVID, which is really when social games and interacting with your friends really became a top priority for a lot of game companies.

Lauren (54:37.929)
So she received a bunch of awards in 2018. There's the Develop Vanguard Award, where they recognized her for her trailblazing endeavors across her 20-year career. She received a Pioneer Award from the Fun and Serious Game Festival, which is adorable, recognizing her contributions to the industry as a producer of games that are considered a turning point in the industry. She was one of the few video games executives named in variety.

Lauren (55:07.049)
in their 2018 and 2019 list of 500 most influential business leaders shaping the global entertainment industry, which I thought was incredible. Yes.

Gabe (55:17.97)
I'm sorry, I want to circle back for a second to what you said about... Why do you s-

Gabe (55:25.79)
that you said it became a top priority for developers to have a more social. Do you mean like, when you say social, you mean like multiplayer?

Lauren (55:37.401)
Mm-hmm, and ways to play with your friends, like among us.

Gabe (55:44.662)
Was Among Us really because of COVID though?

Lauren (55:48.221)
It became really, really popular because of COVID. And then I feel like there are so many new games coming out. I mean, even just talking through all the games that you were calling out, they were coming out in 2023. So many of them were like, you and your four friends go off and do these things. And

Gabe (55:50.342)
Oh, because of COVID, right.

Gabe (56:10.218)
I guess I just feel like...

Gabe (56:15.55)
It was already kind of a big thing, especially like, you know, when World of Warcraft really took off, I mean, it took it's been popular for a long time. But I feel like that really pushed socializing and games and like are like Call of Duty and all that. Like, I guess I maybe maybe this is just because. OK, I'm not trying to say I play more games than you, but I play a wider variety of games than you.

Lauren (56:23.201)
Mm.

Lauren (56:25.697)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren (56:33.671)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren (56:44.673)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (56:46.45)
I guess I feel like I was already seeing a ton of multiplayer games, but maybe that's also because I actively search for those. I don't know. I guess I didn't feel like I saw a change. That doesn't mean there's not a change. I just-

Lauren (56:57.737)
Yeah.

Lauren (57:05.281)
Would you say they became more widespread or that the audience changed?

Gabe (57:09.73)
See, that's what I think. I think they became more popular. It's not that I think more were necessarily being created. But all of a sudden, like you were saying, it was that everyone was being home and the way to interact really with your friends was through that. I think so I think they just became more popular, more well known. And I feel like now that's become kind of a gaming norm. Maybe is the way to say that.

Lauren (57:33.873)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree with that because pre-COVID, I don't think I had...

Lauren (57:45.085)
I mean, I don't like playing games with randos. So like pub G where you're not like interacting with the other people, but there are other people that's okay. But getting into a group or joining a server with random people is never something that I was feeling comfortable with just because, um, I'm not comfortable with like skill levels or.

Gabe (57:50.071)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren (58:14.301)
You know, like, I'll play with my husband and his friends because they know my skill levels and they can, if they're okay with playing with me at my level, then great, cool. But I think there have been a lot more games where you don't have to have like a lot of, like Among Us or any of those other games that have become really popular that aren't first-person shooters, that you can pounce around and play with people at all skill levels.

Gabe (58:20.14)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (58:44.418)
Yeah, well, I was gonna say, because you mentioned the FPS. I mean, before 2018, there was more than just FPS. I mean, there was tons of multiplayer survival games. Those I think started to become more popular. Um, a big one, I feel like became our power is party games. So among us is like a party game or like couch games. You know, we started, we suddenly started getting a lot more of like, you've got the overcooked, right? But then you have like the, the like, uh, in

Lauren (58:52.553)
Right.

Lauren (59:04.921)
Mmm... Mm-hmm... Mm-hmm...

Gabe (59:14.398)
like inspired by that, right? Played Up was the new one that came out in the past couple years. I don't remember when, but it's like Overcooked. I feel like we started getting a lot more of those because they became popular. It's like you had quite a few party games, but like those got more. I just feel like there's still quite a few co-ops, but I think because co-ops became more popular.

Lauren (59:25.424)
Yeah.

Gabe (59:43.826)
I think games started really, like, like perfecting having a co-op because if you think about it, right, like Dark Souls has co-op, a lot of them have co-op in the sense that your friends can, I think, just help you fight a boss. I'm not an expert on this. Maybe they can do a little more than that. But like, I always kind of felt like Dark Souls wasn't necessarily the true sense of co-op.

Lauren (59:53.441)
Hmm.

Gabe (01:00:12.158)
as like some games are.

Gabe (01:00:16.638)
So yeah, I think I don't know what I was going with that. I don't know. Yes.

Lauren (01:00:22.273)
No, I agree. I think specifically party games. I think that's probably a very good distinction.

Gabe (01:00:27.036)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Gabe (01:00:32.758)
Yes. But then I think I agree with what you said in the sunset. I think because those became more popular, I think, I think studios just became more aware of it that it was because it was coming more normalized and wanted. I think that's something they think about now when they make games.

Lauren (01:00:46.497)
Hmm.

Lauren (01:00:49.877)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren (01:00:56.789)
Yeah.

Gabe (01:00:56.83)
Anyways, I'm sorry we circled back to that. You just said that and I had to like think about it, process it and digest it. And then I was like, wait a second.

Lauren (01:01:08.201)
Yeah. No, thanks.

Gabe (01:01:09.11)
Ha ha!

Lauren (01:01:12.394)
Um, so she was...

Lauren (01:01:18.725)
She joined Google in 2018. And then in February of 2021, she left Google. And... Well, Google was announcing that they were winding down Stadia Games, that she was heading up. And so she left and founded a new studio, Haven Studios.

Lauren (01:01:46.889)
which was an independent development studio. So that was the first time that she was off doing independent studio things, which I'm sure was really exciting for her. And Sony interactive entertainment was investing in the studio. And then a year later, they announced that they were buying it. And that was the first Sony purchase or its first foray into the Canadian games development scene.

Lauren (01:02:13.729)
So Sony definitely was just like all about her.

Lauren (01:02:20.736)
Yes.

Gabe (01:02:21.942)
Oh, sorry, I had. Okay, sorry. We kept you kept talking about the the Sadia games, right? That's what Google tried to do. And I remember when that before before it first came out. I don't remember what a site I was a part of. But stuff I had done with my stream, Google gave me, sent me an email asked me if I want to be a part of like the beta for and all of that. I didn't do it. But like, I remember when it came out and everyone was like,

Gabe (01:02:50.186)
I feel like a lot of people were saying it was going to be really big. Like they thought it potentially could be really big. So when you said, so I, uh, when you, what did you say?

Lauren (01:02:59.925)
What happened with it?

Gabe (01:03:02.858)
Well, that's what I was reading about, because you said, where is it? She departed because they said they were winding down. And I was like, wait a minute. Like it is stated a study of games, not a thing anymore. And then I was like, I guess I haven't heard about it for a while. So I Google it and I made this face because it says it was shut down on January 18th, 2023. So I was like, try not to laugh.

Gabe (01:03:32.818)
Oh, okay. So while studies approach to streaming games for consumers is built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn't gained the traction with users that we expected. So we've made the difficult decision to begin winding down our study streaming service. Then I'm like, okay, oh, here, do you lose your games?

Gabe (01:03:53.634)
You won't be able to retrieve your save. Oh, this is in reference to Destiny 2, but you won't be able to retrieve your save after it shuts down. Oh, that's awful.

Lauren (01:04:05.281)
Sorry, was this like a Steam competitor?

Gabe (01:04:08.881)
Um...

Lauren (01:04:10.689)
more.

Gabe (01:04:15.586)
So...

Gabe (01:04:18.666)
what it was, okay, if I remember right, what it was trying to solve is that, you know, right. So, okay, right. So like Epic Steam and all of that, you download the game, right? And you're, you know, you have to have a certain amount of hard drive and all of that to do it. And so the point of Stadia was that you don't actually have to download it, you just like you stream the game. So you're not taking up all of this.

Gabe (01:04:48.234)
space on your computer and you're supposed to be able to like seamlessly kind of stream the game to your computer to play it let me

Lauren (01:04:59.521)
Okay, so you're basically buying access to the game.

Gabe (01:05:01.052)
Um.

Gabe (01:05:03.982)
But I think it was more of a console thing. I don't really remember. Maybe it was a PC thing. Okay, what is? I think it was a console thing. Ah.

Gabe (01:05:18.698)
I just want to learn more about it.

Gabe (01:05:22.55)
gaming wirelessly on your favorite devices and services. Oh, switch your study controller to Bluetooth mode to keep gaming wirelessly on your favorite device and services after study issues done.

Gabe (01:05:35.346)
Okay, here is what is and how does it work. So Stadia was capable of streaming video games to players from the company's numerous data centers at up to 4K resolution and 60 frames per second, with support for high dynamic range. It offered the option to purchase games from a store along with a selection of free to play games. So there was like, I think there was also a whole subscription thing where that could also give you like the Xbox pass. I think they have that thing, that kind of concept.

Lauren (01:05:58.657)
Hmm.

Gabe (01:06:02.55)
But I think the purpose was to have access to more games and to not.

Gabe (01:06:09.122)
worry about download, how long it would take you to download and all of that. Like it was just a cloud gaming service was what it was.

Gabe (01:06:19.442)
So I guess I don't know if maybe you could play it as PC. I really don't remember. No, I think it was a controller thing because they had like their own.

Gabe (01:06:32.478)
I guess maybe it was to compete with like Xbox and PlayStation?

Lauren (01:06:40.157)
Which is interesting because when Sony was investing in Haven Studios, she was there to create new original IP for PlayStation.

Gabe (01:06:50.814)
Oh boy. Oh boy.

Lauren (01:06:56.389)
And then Sony was just like, fabulous, we shall buy.

Gabe (01:06:56.702)
Oh no, it does say PC.

Gabe (01:07:02.518)
don't have to be downloaded to a console or PC. So I guess it was just to compete with everybody.

Gabe (01:07:09.854)
Yeah, anyways, sorry. I just had to look that up when you said that because I was like, you know, I really haven't heard about that in a long time.

Lauren (01:07:19.297)
So that's Jade Raymond.

Lauren (01:07:23.125)
That's what I got. Her studio was bought by Sony and I don't know what she's up to today. I mean, she's still in charge of Haven Studios, but it's now just owned. So she's still running Haven. And it's just owned by Sony. I know she was on the McLean's Power List of 2023.

Lauren (01:07:53.377)
saying Jade Raymond set out to do her own thing is the headline. And her work on a secret Sony multiplayer title has become a huge talent draw, according to that article of just everyone wants to go and work on whatever secret Sony thing she's working on. So she's definitely the kind of person like originally she was doing secret stuff for Google, and now she's doing secret stuff for Sony. So anytime anyone wants to like

Gabe (01:07:58.482)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Lauren (01:08:22.949)
um again start a new project or say hey we have this thing that we would we want ideas or again think tanky situation they're like let's call Jade up let's see what she's got because she's got a lot of good ideas and she works with a lot of smart people and she's gonna run that studio do a really good job

Gabe (01:08:49.198)
That's awesome. I think I found this one the most interesting. Not that the others weren't interesting, but I think I found this one the most interesting of everyone we've learned about so far. But maybe that's because I wish I...

Gabe (01:09:09.635)
had the balls, had the kahones to do what she does. I feel like that's what I wanted to do when I was younger, like that kind of stuff. That's what I wanted to do.

Lauren (01:09:19.785)
Well, because again, she's not a developer. So like she's not, I mean, she knows probably how to do a lot of computer things, but she is more on the idea leadership concept side. So it's helpful if you know kind of the how as long as, as well as the why and the what, but I wouldn't say it's necessary.

Gabe (01:09:28.002)
Thank you.

Gabe (01:09:32.957)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (01:09:43.986)
No, well, that's why I did engineering in business was because I wasn't sure if I wanted to always be an engineer, what I wanted to do. But I've, I wanted to be a project manager and work more specifically with engineers. So I did the engineering to also like to know to understand but else because I like to work with my hands. But just so I could talk to them from

Lauren (01:09:58.955)
Hmm.

Lauren (01:10:06.716)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (01:10:10.562)
the perspective of like, I actually understood what they're saying and I'm not just like, I don't know.

Gabe (01:10:21.374)
Because I think I've said this before, but my dad just always talks how he gets annoyed talking with some of the business people sometimes because they just don't understand IT or the higher ups. And so it's hard to talk to them in a way that they understand or they'll think they understood. And then they really didn't. So then they'll relay information or say stuff and it's not right.

Lauren (01:10:32.762)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (01:10:49.234)
like it's inaccurate because they didn't understand.

Lauren (01:10:52.253)
Well, and that's also a problem on the, I'm not saying it's your dad's problem, but I'm saying there's also a problem on the tech side of being able to say, Hey, this is why this is important or otherwise convey that information back up to the business. So to get them on the same language field of, you know, maybe the business leaders don't need to know like the nitty gritties, but they need to understand like what's

Gabe (01:10:57.862)
No, yeah.

Gabe (01:11:16.45)
Bye.

Lauren (01:11:18.473)
the issue and like what's important and what needs to be changed and what is the need so that they can go and try to like grease wheels elsewhere and get things so that they have the resources or the skill sets or the people or whatever that's needed to fix it.

Gabe (01:11:28.855)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (01:11:36.138)
Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

Gabe (01:11:41.386)
Well, I'm really excited. I'm really excited for season two. As much as I loved the last season, I'm kind of glad to be shutting that chapter and starting a new one. I'm hoping this will reinvigorate us and really get our creative juices flowing and feeling good and we've got this. Not that we didn't have it before, but I don't know. I feel like there's just something about.

Lauren (01:12:02.774)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (01:12:09.774)
closing one door and opening another one, you know, I always feel like it just kind of gives me a boost. I'm like, okay, I am ready to go and conquer this. So I'm really excited. I'm excited to see what we pull out of our hats, what we pull from under our sleeves. What, what do we have up our sleeves? I don't know. You know, I'm definitely also going to be dreaming of hot games in your area.

Gabe (01:12:40.163)
I'm just gonna like show up on my phone in my dreams. I can be like swiping on games. Hot games near you.

Lauren (01:12:49.045)
Mm-hmm.

Gabe (01:12:51.378)
Yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm super excited. And honestly, I am really grateful that when I asked you if you'd ever want to do a podcast, you said, yes, I'm really grateful we embarked on this journey together through its ups, through its downs, through its

Gabe (01:13:10.594)
all around. So thank you. I just want you to know, Lauren, I really appreciate you. Thank you for doing this with me.

Lauren (01:13:18.337)
Well, I appreciate you too, because I've also, I know we've talked about this, but I had also, you know, thought, you know, I love to talk, obviously. So doing a podcast was always something that was appealing to me. But I think it, yeah, I think it does just make sense that we're doing it together. Because I think it's a good fit of.

Gabe (01:13:41.985)
Yeah.

Gabe (01:13:47.266)
personalities.

Lauren (01:13:47.789)
knowledge and thoughts and opinions and dialogue.

Gabe (01:13:53.63)
Yeah, because there's, you know, quite a bit we agree on, but then there's quite a bit where we bring different perspectives. So like we have common ground, but then we're also bringing new stuff to the table and both, you know, learning new stuff and and growing together. You know, I think that's huge. It's also a lot to take on as like one person. I, I, I can't even imagine.

Lauren (01:14:10.537)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Lauren (01:14:19.121)
Oh, yeah.

Gabe (01:14:23.194)
Even if you're always having guests with you, like if it's you and you're always having a different guest, it's just a lot.

Lauren (01:14:30.097)
Now at that point you just hire an assistant or an editor or something else. You have additional help and then you do some of the other businessy leadership type of things.

Gabe (01:14:37.346)
Yeah.

Gabe (01:14:44.362)
Yes, yes. Yeah. All right. Well, if you guys have a developer game or sidequests, you'd like us to talk about or any local anonymized gossip, you simply must tell somebody. Let us know on Twitter at no sidequests. I was going to say.com. Oh my gosh. Or email us. Or you can email us at no sidequests.gmail.com.

Lauren (01:15:06.599)
edu baby.

Gabe (01:15:14.334)
And if you'd like to see our lovely faces during the podcast, we post each episode with video to our I don't believe in side quest YouTube channel. You can find me, Gabe at Nenyaadamas on Twitter, Twitch, YouTube and Instagram and you can find Lauren at sweetie_potat on Twitter, Twitch and YouTube. Tomorrow's Wednesday, Wednesday is when she does

Gabe (01:15:40.49)
Here's a plug for a shameless plug. This is when she does her date night streams with her husband. So if you want to see some, are you on Resident Evil or are you doing Halo or is a different game now?

Lauren (01:15:52.993)
So we're still playing Halo. So some Wednesdays, he and I each play Halo on each of our Twitch accounts when we just play together. We're playing through Halo Infinite right now, which is really fun because we just get to pounce through and explore and we haven't played it before. And so we're having a good time with that. But then sometimes we'll go over on his channel, Idaho Famous Potat, and we'll play scary games there where...

Lauren (01:16:21.537)
he'll be playing the scary game and I'll just be, you know, rampaging around. I'll just be existing and having my little drinks and my little snacks. It's like, it's like I'm the passenger seat of the car where I'm just like responsible for vibes. Passenger princess, I'm responsible for vibes. I'm keeping track of like chat, everything like that. So I don't have to be like locked into the game. And so I can just kind of be there for moral support. But then I...

Gabe (01:16:33.482)
Yeah, you're the passenger princess.

Gabe (01:16:38.871)
Okay.

Gabe (01:16:50.258)
You're living your best life.

Lauren (01:16:52.145)
I get to watch the scary game getting played and I don't have to play it. So it's great. All in all, 10 out of 10. Good setup.

Gabe (01:16:58.782)
10 out of 10. It is, it is. I've been there for a few of them when I can and I quite enjoy myself. I think it's good vibes, good vibes. Alright, thank you all again. Questers will be seeing you in the next episode. Bye!

Lauren (01:17:04.417)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren (01:17:07.627)
Mm-hmm.

Lauren (01:17:14.197)
Bye!