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An article I read recently talking about La-Mulana 2 and its development mentioned that in recent years, we’ve seen “an evolution in 2D gaming and game design.” Many people likely think that 2D game design stagnated by the late-1990s, when it was clear that 3D gaming was where everything was heading, but it’s true that 2D design is something that never really stopped. Moreover, in the wake of Mega Man 9 back in 2008, it seems like both indie and AAA designers have really started working on pushing the boundaries of what we envision 2D gaming to be.

This felt like the perfect topic for a podcast episode, so the ever-awesome Jeremy Stratton joined me to go into some more depth about it all. Jeremy talked about how the focus on 3D and now VR has caused other people to think of new and innovative things to do with other mediums. 2D games are also generally much cheaper to design, which has made them a haven for smaller development studios. But, even so, people are having to come up with new and unique ideas to remain ahead of the curve and get attention on platforms like Steam, and with the sheer volume of 2D games to compete with, it’s even more important to push things in new, fun directions.

Music this time around comes from the original Contra, in remixed form, of course!

As always, you can find the show on both iTunes and Google Play Music, but you can also grab the MP3 here.