Game Wisdom

Talking Tactical Design with Alder’s Blood Part 1 Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com We spoke with Michal of Shockwork Games about the development of Alder’s Blood and designing an original tactical strategy game. We started off with discussing how the project came to be, as well as the original concept of the game. We talked about our thoughts on tactical strategy design and some of the major names […] The post Talking Tactical Design with Alder’s Blood Part 1 appeared first on Game Wisdom.

Talking RPG Design with Jeff Vogel Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this cast I finally sat down with the “old man of the game industry” himself: Jeff Vogel, for a cast on RPG design, life, and some of the weirdest tangents yet. We started off with talking about Jeff’s history in the game industry and the work done at Spiderweb Software. After that, things got […] The post Talking RPG Design with Jeff Vogel appeared first on Game Wisdom.

The Five Year Development Behind Nowhere Prophet Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this cast, I spoke with game designer Martin Nerurkar of Sharkbomb Studios to talk about the development of Nowhere Prophet. We spoke about his background and what it was like to spend five years designing such a mechanically unique roguelike. You can find my thoughts on the game here And pick it up on Steam […] The post The Five Year Development Behind Nowhere Prophet appeared first on Game Wisdom.

The Design of the Dream Machine Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this cast, I sat down with Anders Gustafsson from Cockroach Inc. who made the stop motion adventure game The Dream Machine. We spoke about adventure game design and what it was like to design a literally handmade adventure. Note: spoilers began around the hour mark for the cast. We started introductions and how Anders […] The post The Design of the Dream Machine appeared first on Game Wisdom.

The Design of a RPG Platformer With Viola Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this cast, I sat down with Jelle Van Doorne who is designing the game Viola to discuss about combining platforming and RPG design, along with a bunch of other topics. We talked about indie development, before focusing on Viola itself. The challenges of combining two separate gameplay loops, and how Jelle wanted to make […] The post The Design of a RPG Platformer With Viola appeared first on Game Wisdom.

The Psychology of Games With Jamie Madigan Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this cast, I sat down with returning guest and owner of Psychology of Games Jamie Madigan for another discussion about psychology and game design. After trading war stories about our books, we spoke about different topics in game design. One of our main ones was discussing the frustration factor in games, and what is […] The post The Psychology of Games With Jamie Madigan appeared first on Game Wisdom.

A Post Mortem Game Design Discussion on Void Bastards Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com   For this cast, I spoke with Dean of Blue Manchu after the release of Void Bastards to discuss how the design of the game went. We spoke about some of my complaints, and what Blue Manchu had in store for the game. Here is a link to our first cast on Void Bastards with […] The post A Post Mortem Game Design Discussion on Void Bastards appeared first on Game Wisdom.

The Long Road of Game Development with One Man Indie Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this cast, I spoke with the owner of One Man Indie about what it’s like to be pursuing indie development and running their first game jam. The post The Long Road of Game Development with One Man Indie appeared first on Game Wisdom.

What Loot Box Regulation Could Mean for the Game Industry Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com In this cast, I spoke with returning guest and Game Economist Ramin Shokrizade about the recent proposed bill to regulate loot boxes and what it could mean for game developers. The plans for the loot box bill would basically destroy the free to play market as it stands, and Ramin and I went over the […] The post What Loot Box Regulation Could Mean for the Game Industry appeared first on Game Wisdom.

An Interview With George Fan on Plants vs Zombies Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this cast, I finally had a chance to sit down with the creator of Plants vs. Zombies George Fan to discuss game design. We were going to originally talk about both PvZ and Octogeddon, but we spent the majority of our time just talking basic game design while breaking down the design of PvZ. […] The post An Interview With George Fan on Plants vs Zombies appeared first on Game Wisdom.

Catching up Fission Superstar X Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this week, we spoke once again with Turbo Pelvis 3000 catching up about the game Fission Superstar X as it is almost out now. This cast was done earlier in the year, but we discussed what was going on with the game and was a continuation from our previous talk. Here is the last […] The post Catching up Fission Superstar X appeared first on Game Wisdom.

The Design of a Pacifist Rogue-Like: Miasma Caves Interview Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this week’s cast, I spoke with Adam who is the lead designer over at Windy Games on his studios first major title Miasma Caves — a pacifist rogue-like. We did this cast about a month before the game came onto early access, so we couldn’t get too far into the specifics. Adam talked about […] The post The Design of a Pacifist Rogue-Like: Miasma Caves Interview appeared first on Game Wisdom.

The Cross Platform Work of Imperium Omni Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this cast, I spoke with author and designer Matt Thomas about translating his fantasy novel series “Imperium Omni” into a videogame and going to kickstarter to fund the first part. Despite having some problems with his voice, Matt was happy to talk about his time in the game industry, and his interest in RPG design. […] The post The Cross Platform Work of Imperium Omni appeared first on Game Wisdom.

Discussing the Medium of Videogames Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this week’s cast, I was joined by fan of the site and YouTube channel Muhammad to talk about our thoughts on videogames as a medium. We hit a lot of different topics for this cast, as we talked about what attracted us to games, why they’re different compared to other mediums, and many more […] The post Discussing the Medium of Videogames appeared first on Game Wisdom.

The Tricky Balance of Action and RPG Design Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this week’s cast, I was joined by Arvind Yadjav of Pyrodactyl games for a discussion about RPG and action game design, and the challenge of balancing them. After introductions and talking about Arvind’s background, we began the lengthy topic of talking about the two genres. Of course, there was plenty of mentions of Souls-likes […] The post The Tricky Balance of Action and RPG Design appeared first on Game Wisdom.

Rogue-Like Design Ramblings With Gerty Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this week’s cast, I sat down with two members of the studio Spawn Point OSK who just released the early access title Gerty to talk about rogue-like design. We started off with talking about Gerty. This cast was recorded a few months ago, and we talked about the creation and development of the game. […] The post Rogue-Like Design Ramblings With Gerty appeared first on Game Wisdom.

The Challenge of Game Design in a 3rd World Country Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this cast, I spoke with Glen of the studio Sprite Wrench to talk about his first game Grimm and Tonic, and what it’s like to be a game designer in a third world country. We talked about Glen’s background with learning game design and what the game dev scene is like in Jamaica. For […] The post The Challenge of Game Design in a 3rd World Country appeared first on Game Wisdom.

The Growth of Game-Wisdom Radio Interview Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this special cast, I was interviewed by my local radio station about Game-Wisdom and my upcoming book. We spent the hour talking about Game-Wisdom and how I got started and my thoughts on the game industry. For the final part, we talked more about the book and my plans for my next one. You […] The post The Growth of Game-Wisdom Radio Interview appeared first on Game Wisdom.

Making an Action Rogue-Lite with Turbo Pelvis 3000 Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this week, I spoke with the head of Turbo Pelvis 3000  about developing action-based rogue-lites and his upcoming game Fission Superstar X. We started with introductions before discussing his previous game and where he was inspired to make rogue-like or rogue-lite titles. From there, we discussed more about Fission Superstar X and his plans, […] The post Making an Action Rogue-Lite with Turbo Pelvis 3000 appeared first on Game Wisdom.

From Long Wars to Terra Invicta with Pavonis Interactive Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com For this week’s cast, I sat down with the lead designer of Pavonis Interactive John Lumpkin to discuss how wanting to make XCOM better lead to the Long War mod, his company: Pavonis Interactive, and the future with Terra Invicta. We started off with talking about how the long war came together and a discussion […] The post From Long Wars to Terra Invicta with Pavonis Interactive appeared first on Game Wisdom.