Ludology

Sen and Gil chat with game designer Carol Mertz, senior game designer at Exploding Kittens. Carol has worked on many Exploding Kittens games, like Hand To Hand Wombat, Exploding Kittens: Recipe for Disaster, and Exploding Kittens: 2-Player Version. She's also known for her own designs, especially the wildly creative HELLCOUCH, the only couch co-op that uses an actual couch. SHOW NOTES 2m28s: We chatted with Sydney Engelstein of Indie Game Studios recently, on Ludology 274 - Indie 500.  17m28s: But Wait There's More, Bad Medicine 25m40s: We spoke with Mike Elliot in Ludology 256 - You're Big in Japan, and with Justin Gary in Ludology 207 - Card Advantage. 39m26s: Inhuman Conditions 45m08s: Pass the Buck: A Game of Corporate Responsibility Management 48m25s: The Pixel Pop festival. 57m02s: Hellcouch, and the customizable hardware board Arduino.

Scott rassles up the tangled history of the Western-themed social deduction game Bang!

Gil and Sen sit down with game designer and chronicler Aaron A. Reed to talk about his project 50 Years of Text Games, in which he covered one important game for each year between 1971 and 2020. The project will be made into a book. SHOW NOTES 2m21s: The Oregon Trail 3m13s: Gil mentions a bunch of games that Aaron wrote about: Adventure, Hunt the Wumpus, games made with Inform and Twine, 80 Days, Fallen London. 9m22s: Sen's childhood PET computer, Gil's childhood Panasonic computer 10m24s: The game Adventure, the company Infocom, and the rise of Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs). 14m16s: You can probably add board games like Gloomhaven to this list too! 17m28s: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game, with the infamous Babel Fish puzzle. Here is the text of the Infocom hint guide for that puzzle. Click "Next Answer" for the next step. Each step has spoilers, obviously! Also, Gil was wrong, it was "only" 30 steps. 18m33s: Myst 20m07s: Infocom's "feelies." Several fan sites have information on them; this is one. 20

Geoff tells us about MENACE; not Phantom or Dennis, but the Matchbox Educable Noughts and Crosses Engine, which Donald Michie designed in 1961 as a relatively simple AI that would allow anyone to see how a machine could be trained to get better at a task.

Erica and Gil chat with returning guest Banana Chan and our own Sen-Foong Lim about designing their game Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall. What's it like making a game about a specific demographic, and who is this game for? SHOW NOTES 0m54s: Banana was last on the show in Ludology 228 - The Roles We Play. 4m56s: More information about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. 18m31s: James Mendez Hodes discussed cultural consultation with us in Ludology 247 - Orc-kay Computer. 31m25s: Jason Morningstar joined us on Ludology 161 - What's the Story, Morning Glory? 40m33s: "PBTA" refers to a game with the Apocalypse World game system, aka "Powered by the Apocalypse." 46m08s: Calvin Wong Tze Loon 黃子倫 joined us in Ludology 252 - Crazy Rich Storytelling. 53m15s: The Paranoia RPG.

Scott takes us through the history of the classic word game Scrabble.

Gil and Sen chat with game designer, developer, and polyhedral dice addict Sydney Engelstein of Indie Game Studios about how to pitch your game to a publisher, the process of designing and developing Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition, coming up with new narrative for Aeon's End, and what kinds of theater would best be adapted into a board game. SHOW NOTES 8m28s: Obsession 19m07s: Race for the Galaxy 56m16s: Noises Off! 57m44s: Sen is making a reference to the game Thanos Rising: Avengers Infinity War. Then Sydney refers to the early Uwe Rosenberg game Mamma Mia. 58m46s: Gil is thinking that the game Sydney mentioned is Hamlet! 

Geoff chats with Mikael Le Bourhis of Asmodee Research and Game In Lab about the work they are doing studying the impact of tabletop gaming on society and life. You can find out more information from Game In Lab here.

Erica and Sen chat with localization expert, "gaming handyman," and occasional street busker Matthew Legault of Scorpion Masqué to discuss what it takes to move a game from one language to another.  SHOW NOTES 25m03s - Here's the bonus episode we did about the production and translation of Agricola. Scott Rogers also did a Biography of a Board Game about it. 30m36s - Guy LaFleur was a legendary ice hockey player who won 5 Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens. 49m57s - Strike, Team Team, Stop Thief, and Sen's game with longtime friend and collaborator Jay Cormier, Mind MGMT, based on the comic book.

In this classic Biography of a Board Game, Scott takes us through the sweet history of the kids' game Candyland.

Gil and Erica sit with game developer and new music fan Brenna Noonan to talk about her experiences developing games with her development company Quillsilver Studios, her experiences working on the smash hit Everdell, and the intersection of music and games. SHOW NOTES 2m59s: Everdell, Roll Player: Adventures, Dog Park 6m14s: Erica and Scott chatted with the Laukats about making games as a family in Ludology 251 - All In the Family. 10m17s: Gil and Geoff discussed ludonarrative dissonance in games in Ludology 190 - Diabolus in Ludica. 11m22s: The sequence in question from the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. 12m33s: Sorry, spoiler alert! Hitchcock's Psycho had a legendary twist. 18m32s: Brenna mentions the productivity apps Toggl and ClickUp. 35m35s: A good sample Colvini brainburner is Carolus Magnus. Also Samurai, Sharang's episode Ludology 230 - Design Re-Verb, High Society 36m47s: The New Complexity school of music, Brian Ferneyhough, Conlon Nancarrow and his wild player piano

Geoff runs us through the Hypergeometric and Binomial functions in a spreadsheet application like Microsoft Excel. Don't be intimidated by their names; they're actually pretty easy to use, and invaluable for game designers. You can find Geoff's GameTek newsletter on this subject here.

Erica, Gil, and Sen have a roundtable discussion about their experiences with contracts. What are things designers should look for when negotiating their contracts? Note that none of us are lawyers, and at no point in this episode do we give out actual legal advice. If you need legal advice, please consult an actual lawyer! SHOW NOTES 25m46s: Here's the Meeple Syrup episode on localization, with Mike Raftopolous. 38m18s: "Spin" is SpinMaster, the game publishing company that Erica works for. 43m01s: If you're not familiar with the story of the rock band Van Halen and brown M&Ms, here it is.

In this classic Biography of a Board Game, Scott takes us through the history of the classic deduction game Scotland Yard.

Gil sits down for a one-on-one with game designer, teacher, and lecturer Marc LeBlanc to discuss some of his game design ideas, especially his 8 Kinds of Fun and the Mechanics/Dynamics/Aesthetics (MDA) framework.  NOTE: Towards the end of the episode, Gil's mic cable started to get unhappy. Apologies for the static! SHOW NOTES 0m50s: Looking Glass Studios, Ultima Underworld II, Thief, System Shock, Defense of the Oasis, Heroes Welcome 4m30s: Marc's 8 types of fun: Sensation, Fantasy, Narrative, Challenge, Fellowship, Discovery, Expression, and Submission. 9m31s: Wildermyth 11m28s: Nicole Lazzaro's 4 Keys to Fun, Self-Determination Theory, Quantric Foundry's Gamer Motivation Model, Jason VendenBerghe's Engines of Play 12m46s: Tim Fowers was on Ludology 165 - Fowerian Slip. Gil also mentions philosipher Roger Caillois and his book Man, Play, and Games. 23m52s: Reiner Knizia's classic auction game Ra. 31m34s: Spy Party 33m39s: Geoff discussed the Incan Gold experiment in GameTek 213.5. 36m46s: Gil's talk at

In this GameTek Classic, Geoff tells us about the strategies behind "Jeopardy" James Holzhauer's amazing run on the TV game show Jeopardy, in which he won 32 consecutive games between April and June 2019, earning $2,464,216. What does James do differently than everyone else?

Sen and Erica sit down with Matthew Dunstan and Dave Neale to discuss how they work as a team, working on a wide variety of games, working on a narrow group of games, and what it's like making a game based entirely in sound! In this episode, Matthew mentions Postmark Games, his PNP project with Rory Muldoon. At 37m31s, Sen mentions Piaget's Characteristics of Play. At 44m15s, Matt mentions Ludology 265 - Hold Onto Your Hats!

In this classic Biography of a Board Game from 2017, Scott tells us the origins of the massively popular card game Uno.

Gil and Sen are delighted to welcome Geoff Engelstein back to the show to discuss the making of his hit roll-and-write game Super-Skill Pinball. What calls did he make when designing the game, and how much did it change from his original vision? SHOW NOTES 3m29s: Take It Easy 5m38s: Limes 6m12s: Matt Wolfe joined us for Ludology 157 - Come Scale Away. Welcome To... 9m09s: Versailles 1919 25m58s: Yes, Games Magazine is thankfully still with us. Merchant of Venus 28m00s: Ares Project, the 1980 arcade game Crazy Climber 35m00s: MIND MGMT

Geoff tells us about the curious effect of endowment, and describes how both the game show Deal or No Deal and the video game Portal use it to enormous effect.