Arcade Castle: Episode 05 - Portal - The Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game

Arcade Castle: A Gaming Podcast

"The game has been in production for a long time, because we've been working really hard to make sure that it is something that Portal fans will enjoy. But it's not Portal. You're not playing the video game in a board game, because why would you want to do that? It's a separate experience, but it's still very much Portal." - Sara Miguel (Cryptozoic Games)

Ah...well...I guess we don't need this episode of the podcast then...

Grape Cake

Ingredients

1 9 inch pan

Butter and flour for preparing cake pan

2 eggs

2/3 Cup of sugar

4 Tablespoons (2 oz) unsalted butter, melted

1/4 Cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/3 Cup milk

1/2 Teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

3/4 Teaspoon of baking powder

Pinch of Salt

Grated zest of 1 lemon

Grated zest of 1 orange

10 ounces of fresh, purple grapes

Confectioner's sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Generously butter and flour the pan, tapping out any excess. Set aside.

3. Beat eggs and sugar until thick and lemon-colored, about 3 minutes. Add the butter, oil, milk, and vanilla extract. Mix until blended.

4. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt into large bowl. Add lemon and orange zest to bowl. After dry goods are throughly mixed, add to wet ingredients. Mix until thoroughly blended. Let mixture rest for 10 minutes.

5. Stir about 3/4 of the grapes into the batter. Spoon prepared batter into cake pan.

6. Place pan into center of oven. Bake for 15 minutes, then sprinkle the top with remaining grapes. Bake until golden brown and cake is firm (about 40 minutes, with a total baking time of around 55 minutes).

7. Let cake cool. Dust with confectioner's sugar. Serve at room temperature.

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Episode Outline:

00:00-15:00 - Arcade Castle discusses the Portal video game series.

15:00-35:00 - Arcade Castle Turns it's attention to the Portal board game. They look at the components, rules, and gameplay.

35:00-50:00 - Examining the strategy behind Portal (the board game) they determine how well it succeeds at capturing the video game in a board game format. They discuss improvements and modifications to the board game (from components to rules) that would make the board game more closely align with the video game.

50:00-65:00 - In today's breakdown discussion, Arcade Castle talks about what developers should put more emphasis upon when creating a video game licensed board game: theme, or, mechanics.