Ludology (Erica Hayes-Bouyouris, Sen-Foong Lim)

Daniel Solis (@danielsolis) joins Gil and Emma to talk about graphic design from a nuts-and-bolts perspective. What are the elements of graphic design that game designers should be aware of? 

During the show, Daniel mentions the website https://blambot.com for fonts, and https://game-icons.net and http://thenounproject.com for icons. We also bring up his Bird Bucks (https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/128925/Bird-Bucks) project that replaces generic paper money in games.

Scott covers the "beautiful game" of Subbuteo, the tabletop association football flicking game, as well as its predecessor Newfooty.

Bibliography of a Boardgame 

http://www.peter-upton.co.uk/
https://fistf.com/history-of-the-game/
http://www.gamingcorner.nl/subbuteo-timeline.htm

In this classic GameTek, Geoff takes a look at rules. Can you learn everything there is to know about a game just by reading the rules?

Duration: 07:00

Scott Rogers takes us to the inception of the legacy game, and the one that started it all: Rob Daviau's Risk Legacy. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF A BOARD GAME:

• https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-04-03-the-legacy-of-rob-daviau-the-man-who-helped-flip-boardgames-on-their-head
• https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024259/Legacy-Games-From-Risk-to
• https://www.polygon.com/tabletop-games/22740263/risk-legacy-sequel-shadow-forces-announcement-release-date-price
• https://boardgamedesignlab.com/designing-legacy-games-with-jamey-stegmaier/

In this classic GameTek, Geoff discusses games with 'Hidden But Trackable' information. Is it OK to write things down?

Duration: 06:19

Gil and Geoff are pleased to welcome Volko Ruhnke, designer of the COIN series, about Counter-Intelligence operations throughout history. How do you capture the dynamics of these complex conflicts in a game? What are the challenges with designing simulations and general? And what can he tell us about his time in the CIA?

Duration: 1:09:25

In this episode of our special series, guest host Steph Campbell discusses how to maintain the attention of younger players. They give several excellent tips and tricks to help your kiddos maintain focus at the game table. 

In this classic GameTek, Geoff discusses Kickstarter, and it's links with the concept of Patronage, in the past and future.

Duration: 06:47

Ryan and Geoff are thrilled to welcome Richard Garfield, designer of Magic: The Gathering, Robo Rally, Netrunner, King of Tokyo and more, along with bonus guest Mike Fitzgerald, whose latest designs include Diamonds and Baseball Highlights: 2045.

We discuss Richard's design philosophy, the origins of Magic, types of gamers, and much more.

Please also visit our geeklist to share your memories of Ludology for our 100th episode spectacular!

Duration: 01:31:23

It's another Listener Question episode! Mike and Geoff take on all comers. Can they survive?

Duration: 1:11:21

In this classic GameTek, Geoff discusses the importance of endings, and the difference between "the experiencing self" and "the remembering self."

One of Geoff's favorites!

Duration: 06:06

Gil and Geoff welcome Scott Rogers to discuss party games. What features make for a good party game? What are the dos and don'ts for designers?

To celebrate the 50th episode of Ludology, Ryan and Geoff talk about 50 games that were new to them in 2012:  The good, the bad, and the design features that stood out.

Duration: 1:10

This episode is sponsored by the game Influence, now on Kickstarter!

In this classic GameTek Geoff examines rules as a logical structure, and the way that relates to math concepts of axioms and completeness.

Duration: 06:28

In this classic GameTek, Geoff announces that he is going to publishing a game with Z-Man Games called - wait for it - The Ares Project.  This was originally broadcast in August of 2009 on Dice Tower episode 154.

Duration: 07:15

In this episode of Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, Sen and Erica welcome guest host Sarah Shipp as she takes on the contentious issue of Take That mechanicsms but frames it in terms of player investment to shed light on when the mechanism in question might rub people the wrong way and when it might be exactly what's needed to spice up a game.

In this classic GameTek, Geoff looks at intransitive dice - Dice where die A tends to beat die B, which tends to beat die C, which tends to beat die A.

This was a big topic of discussion on the Dice Tower form when it was first released, so please continue the conversation over on the Ludology forums!

Duration: 08:28

Today is Superbowl Sunday, and Team Ludology is tackling sports boardgames with guests Cody Jones and John Richard from Game On with Cody & John.  Are there game design challenges particular to sports games? What has worked and what doesn't? And what do we want to see more of?  All your questions will be answered in this action packed episode! (Well, not really, but some questions and a bit of action).

Ryan and Geoff are thrilled to welcome Ben Brode, Senior Game Designer for Hearthstone, the online card game from Blizzard Entertainment.

Ben joins us to discuss the design considerations behind Hearthstone, how they took advantage of the digital medium while still feeling like a physical card game, and why you should deliver pizza to your favorite game studio.

Duration: 41:20

In this special guest episode, Sen and Erica welcome Sarah Shipp to talk about how designers can raise the stakes to strengthen a game's hook, taking it from bland to bold!

Geoff ruminates on the limitations of using AI to balance games. Why can't we use machine learning to fully balance a game experience, and finally make a game that everyone on BGG will find perfectly fair on the first play?

SHOW NOTES

1m17s: For more on this subject, check out our two GameTek episodes on AlphaGo : GameTek Classic 218.5 Alpha Zero, and GameTek Classic 222.5 Alpha Zero, Part 2.
2m00s: Geoff's game The Expanse.
5m29s: The fantastic trading game Sidereal Confluence (which will soon have a new edition!)
6m18s: League of Legends has grappled for a long time with how to balance their champions for players of all skill levels. Here's their latest approach on how they're trying to do it.

What is involved in localizing a game into a different language? Geoff talks with the team who worked to translate Agricola from German to English and finds out.

Ryan and Geoff tackle reviews and criticism. What are the different types? What drives people to write reviews? How do people use them? Do game reviews need to differ from film or book reviews? All these questions, and more, are discussed, dear listener, in this latest episode of Ludology.

Duration: 1:05

In this all-new content, Geoff interviews Curtis Hickman, Chief Creative Officer of The Void, a company pioneering an immersive extension of Virtual Reality called Hyperreality. Debuting a few weeks ago as the Ghostbusters Dimension experience at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in New York City, it got immediate rave reviews.

What's new about this technology, and how can it be extended in the future?

Duration: 16:09

Scott tells us about Icehouse, the real-time game that's celebrating its 30th birthday this year, and whose distinctive plastic pyramids launched an entire game system.

Continuing the previous GameTek Classic, Geoff returns to the subject of AI in first-person shooters. Last time, we learned that researchers had engineered an FPS AI that could beat the best humans. This time, Geoff dives into the different strategies the AI tried, how it shifted over time to prefer distinct strategies, and what we can learn from this.

In this GameTek from 2008 Geoff discusses voting in general, and the specific voting system in the United States. Do the rules in the United States lead towards a two-party system? Or is it possible for a third party to have a shot at the presidency?

(Note: This podcast is not endorsing any particular party or candidate. It is merely a discussion of the 'rules' of voting and how that may impact results)

Mike and Geoff are pleased to welcome guest J.R. Honeycutt, to discuss the role of the Developer in the game design and publication process.

Duration 59:25

Emma, Gil, and Scott discuss winning in games. What defines winning in a game, and what are the different ways games can handle it?

Also, Emma shares a Big Announcement with us.

SHOW NOTES

2m44s: Type 1 - One winner, everyone else loses: Catan, Terra Mystica, Terraforming Mars

3m47s: Type 1a - Conditional win: Dune, Red November, Mission Catastrophe, Glory to Rome

6m48s: Vast, COIN (Counter-Insurgency) games

6m56s: Type 2 - One loser, everyone else wins: Jenga, Cockroach Poker, Kackel Dackel (which Gil mispronounced, and which was published in the US as Doggie Doo), Don't Wake Daddy, Bimbado/Packesel/The Last Straw (the game mentioned about loading a donkey), Pie Face, Perfection. The balloon game Scott describes is likely Bumm Bumm Ballon, known in the US as Boom Boom Balloon.

8m40s: Gil is using the term "atom" here as defined in the book Characteristics of Games, defined as "satisfying chunks of play shorter than a full game."

9m09s: Type 3 - Co-op games: Pandemic, Lord of the Rings, the Forbidden games, Quirky Circuits

10m15s: CO2

12m05s: We discuss meaning in games, beyond simple "fun," in Ludology 201 - Are We Having Fun Yet?

12m30s: This War of Mine

12m43s: Type 4 - Semi-coop games: Hellapagos, We're Doomed

13m52s: Coup, Werewolf/Mafia

14m41s: The Resistance, Werewolf, Codenames

15m17s: Type 4a - "Variable Coopability" (thanks Emma!) - Dead of Winter, Who Goes There

15m42s: Geoff discussed this in GameTek Classic 129 - Semi Coop Tournaments.

17m06s: Type 5 - Individual wins/losses

18m38s: Fog of Love. You can hear more from Fog of Love designer Jacob Jaskov in Ludology 194 - Lifting the Fog.

19m52s: The Crossroads mechanism forces players to make choices related to the narrative of the game, and delivers consequences based on those choices. Note that Gil is using "Crossroads" casually here, as only Plaid Hat Games can officially release Crossroads games.

20m46s: Emma's storytelling game ...and then we died.

21m08s: Type 6 - Improvement/Personal Best: Scrabble, Bupkis

23m14s: The Board Game Stats app, Fantasy Realms

24m02s: Cribbage

24m42s: More info about the Donkey Kong high score competition. The board game Take it Easy.

29m00s: Bennett Foddy's GDC talk Making It Matter, where he discusses how eSports can emulate real sports. Also, Gil's communication tool for board games, Check-In Cards.

32m13s: Geoff and Mike discussed legacy games with Matt Leacock in Ludology 121 - Pandemonium.

33m16s: Type 7 - Personal Experience. The chess-themed TV drama The Queen's Gambit.

43m55s: King Me, Cole Wehrle's GDC talk on kingmaking. Also, Cole's game Root. Cole is a friend of the show and has been on a couple of times, most recently on Ludology 222 - Johnny Fairplay.

48m06s: T.I.M.E Stories

54m28s: Another shout-out for Characteristics of Games. Here's Gil's Game Design 101 talk.

57m56s: The board games Dungeonquest and Kingdom Death: Monster. The video games Super Meat Boy and Dark Souls.

59m37s: The video game Hades.

1h03m52s: Check out Errol Elumir's 13 Rules for Escape Room Puzzle Design.

1h05m44s: Scott's book Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design.

1h06m54s: Betrayal: Legacy

1h07m54s: The video game Among Us, and the board games Nemesis and Zombicide.

1h10m23s: You can hear more about player psychographic profiles in Ludology 165 - Fowerian Slip.

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.

Geoff and Ryan are joined by Steve Kendall of the Ragnar Brothers and designer of History of the World, Viking Fury, and more, to discuss Area Control or 'Dudes on a Map' games. What are the outstanding examples? What are the key ingredients of this genre? What are the strengths and weaknesses?

Duration: 01:17:12

Erica and Sen talk to Matt Gubser, modeler and comedian, about his work in the tabletop industry and the shift from traditional to digital modeling techniques.

In this special episode of Ludology, recorded live at GrandCon 2019, Gil and Geoff go back in time to recount their earliest game designs. Were they as embarrassing? Were they any good? What is Gil's infamous action mechanism, and was Geoff able to capture the essence of the Battle of Cannae for a school assignment? We also take some live listener questions at the end.

Gil and Geoff are delighted to welcome Jamey Stegmaier from Stonemaier games. We discuss life after Kickstarter, and Jamey's design philosophy.

Duration: 58:18

Gil and Geoff take a look at game balance. What is it, exactly?

Duration: 54:34

Gil and Geoff are pleased to welcome guest Naomi Clark, professor at the NYU Game Center, and designer most recently of the card game Consentacle. We discuss tackling adult themes in board games in a serious way, and what she learned during the development of Consentacle.

Duration: 1:15:54

Scott takes a look at the history of the Mystery Rummy series, by a designer y'all might know...

Duration: 6:24

Scott takes us through the rise, fall, and rise again of the game Vinci, which designer Philippe Keyaerts and publisher Days of Wonder re-implemented as Small World.

Bibliography of a board game

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 GameTek from February 2010, Geoff introduces the FIRST Robotics competition and the way the program is structured around games.

Duration: 8:54

For their first show as a duo, Gil and Geoff revisit the question posed in the very first episode of Ludology - What is a game? 

The answer may surprise you.

Duration: 1:23:24

Erica and Sen welcome the Podfather of Gaming, Stephen Buonocore. to the show for his annual update on what is currently impacting the tabletop gaming industry. Stephen talks about everything from post-lockdown fallout to AI use. Listen to see what he thinks about many of the pressing issues hobby gaming is facing. What are your thoughts? 

In this episode recorded at BGG.CON, Scott and Gil tell Emma all about Tabletop Network, a convention about the theory behind game design that happens right before BGG.CON. We gush about our favorite talks, and tell you what makes Tabletop Network so unique.

In this classic GameTek, Geoff talks about Power Creep. Is it a big conspiracy? Or is there a less nefarious explanation?

Duration: 06:19

In this classic GameTek, Geoff talks about how games can teach us about economics.

Duration: 07:13

Emma and Gil welcome Adrienne Smith, designer of the card game Blitz Champz and wide receiver for the Boston Renegades women's gridiron football team. We discuss the intersection of mass market, kids, and sports game design, the state of women's football in modern America, and serial entrepreneurship.

This episode was recorded on November 16, 2020. A couple of weeks later, Vanderbilt brought their varsity women's soccer goalie, Sarah Fuller, onto their men's football team as a kicker.

Note: This will be the last Ludology episode of 2020! We are taking our annual winter break, during which time there will be no episodes of Ludology, Biography of a Board Game, or GameTek. We will return on January 10, 2021 with our annual "State of the Industry" episode with the Podfather, Stephen Buonocore.

SHOW NOTES

2m05s: Wondering how you can throw a spiral?

3m18s: Adrienne played for the New York Sharks. Here's the web page for the IFAF.

3m56s: More information about Jen Welter, the first female coach in the NFL.

5m14s: Gil wrote a Twitter thread about the history of women in football after the news about Sarah Fuller broke.

5m46s: Women's old-school football pants, versus MC Hammer's pants.

8m03s: The Women's Football Alliance, and the Women's National Football Conference

10m17s: More info about Ultimate, originally called Ultimate Frisbee.

10m42s: More info about Ultimate Hall of Famer Molly Goodwin.

14m00s: Adrienne is correct! The periodic table of the elements was first envisioned by Dmitri Mendeleev. Said he, "I saw in a dream a table where all elements fell into place as required. Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper, only in one place did a correction later seem necessary."

21m56s: You can hear more from our interview with graphic/game designer Daniel Solis on Ludology 204 - The Eyes Have It.

25m23s: Here's a closer look at Adrienne's "Passing TD" card.

27m26s: You can hear more from our interview with mass market toy/game designer Kim Vandenbrouke on Ludology 212 - Inventing Play.

29m47s: Here's a clip of the amazing Kyler Murray "Hail Mary" pass that somehow landed in D'Andre Hopkins' arms. This happened the day before we recorded. (I do not recommend Bills fans clicking on that link.)

34m28s: Adrienne is talking about New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, winner of 6 Super Bowls. 

42m46s: More info about Gotham Girls' Roller Derby, the NYC-based roller derby organization. (There are other fantastic roller derby organizations around the world, like the world #1-ranked Rose City Rollers in Portland, OR, and the world #2-ranked Victorian Roller Derby League in Melbourne, Australia, all run by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.)

44m17s: You can hear more about Omari Akhil's views on the intersection of sports and games in Ludology 233 - A Sporting Chance. 

55m26s: The legendary arcade game Galaga.

58m37s: It may not have been a tornado that hit NYC on November 15, but it seems to have come very close to one.

1h07m49s: More info about Title IX, passed in the US in 1972, which prohibits discrimination in education based on sex. The upshot of this is that for most sports, if a school wanted to field a men's team in a given sport, they had to field a women's team as well. 

1h09m03s: Pop Warner Football is a US organization for youth football, roughly equivalent to Little League baseball. It's named for legendary coach Pop Warner. Also, more information about Utah Girls Tackle Football.

1h10m51s: If you want to know more about minorities in the middle ages, a great place to start is People of Color in European Art History.

1h13m48s: Here's Adrienne's Instagram page.

In this classic GameTek episode, Geoff takes a look at the classic Rock, Paper, Scissors, and what it tells us about game theory.

In this episode of Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, guest host Sarah Shipp discusses some of the terms that designers often talk about (balance, elegance, and efficiency) but turns many of them on their ear to look at them slightly askew. Sarah posits that thinking about these elements in the opposite may help struggling designers recognize their role in creating a game that meets these lofty (and often vague) goals.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to keep a FLGS afloat in this age of online retailers and Amazon Prime? Sen and Erica welcome Caleb Wunderlich, Assistant Manager at Millennium Games in Rochester, NY - the biggest game store in the USA - to talk about building community, running events, and catering to customers' needs.

Erica and Sen speak with Ami Baio of Pink Tiger Games about her line of social communication games, how she makes them, and how she's able to find success outside of traditional markets for board games.

Guest host Steph Campbell talks about how to include educational elements to TTRPG sessions for children in the classroom and at the dining room table in this installment of their TTRPG Kids series.

Guest host, Sarah Shipp, discusses Artistotle's Classical Unities and explores how unity of action, time, and place can be used to design a more cohesive game.

Geoff muses on the combination of two of his favorite topics: loss aversion and the lottery. Why do more people buy lottery tickets when the odds of winning are lower? How does that affect the payout? And what is the effect of a lottery win on a person's life?

Geoff and Ryan field several listener questions this episode, weighing in on quite a diverse range of topics. To add to the difficulty, Ryan responds to all questions with the flu.

Length: 1:01

In this classic GameTek, Geoff discusses brain imaging studies on shogi players.

For images relating to this story, check out Geoff's blog entry on BoardgameGeek.

Duration: 06:58

Mike and Geoff open up the mailbag and answer difficult and interesting listener questions!

Duration: 1:09:26

Gil and Geoff are pleased to welcome guest Isaac Shalev to discuss the idea of Design Patterns for tabletop games. What are Design Patterns, and how are they helpful? What are some examples?

Duration: 1:08:34

In this classic GameTek, Geoff talks about streakiness in dice rolling in The Settlers of Catan. How often should it occur? And what effect does a 'Dice Deck' have on the game?

Sen and Gil have a talk with game reviewer and critic Daniel Thurot of the marvelous game review site Space-Biff! about his distinctive style of writing, the difference between review and criticism, and theming in games.

SHOW NOTES

4m48s: The Settlers of Zarahemla
5m26s: Roger Ebert was a movie critic; Gil remains a big fan of his writing. Also: Tom Chick (whom Dan interviewed on his own podcast), Tom Francis
14m55s: Fort
29m35s: The recent film Men
31m56s: Sen and Jay's game MIND MGMT
34m37s: Sen may be referring to The Long View Podcast 
35m40s: Mike Barnes, There Will Be Games
44m06s: Frontierland is indeed a part of Disneyland (California), as well as the Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld (Florida)
49m12s: Dan's review of Heading Forward. We had publisher Amabel Holland on Ludology 262 - This Guilty Podcast.
50m27s: Pope Alexander VI, Antipopes
52m37s: Charlie Theel, Matt Thrower, Thinker Themer
53m04s: That's about 1.2x1.2x0.9 meters.

In this classic GameTek Geoff looks at research linking temperature to social interactions. When should you give your opponents a cup of coffee instead of a soda?

We have also started a new file naming scheme with this episode that hopefully will meet everyone's needs.

Ludology welcomes Scott Rogers and his Biography of a Board Game segment! This episode he traces the history of Risk, from the early 20th century to today.

Duration: 09:10

Geoff welcomes digital archaeoludologist Cameron Browne, principal investigator of the Digital Ludeme Project, to find out how we can use artificial intelligence and machine learning to try to derive the rules to ancient games like Senet by breaking games down into what Browne calles "ludemes."

Find out more about the Digital Ludeme Project on Twitter (@archaeoludology) or the web: http://ludeme.eu/

You can play some games that Browne has constructed from ludemes here: https://ludii.games/

In this classic GameTek, Geoff looks at classic story-telling techniques to see how they might apply to game design.

Duration: 05:52

This episode Ryan and Geoff are very pleased to welcome Michael Lee, founder and co-owner of Panda Games, manufacturer of games like Pandemic and Eclipse, to discuss the nuts and bolts of actually getting a physical game into the world.

Duration: 1:10:50

Are the kids out of school yet? If so, here's a bonus GameTek that is sure to keep their math skills freshly honed during the break. Geoff discusses how to estimate the 'Expectation Value' and how you can use that to help your gaming.

In this classic GameTek, Geoff takes a look at what factors make a game 'mean'.

Duration: 06:18

Guest host, Sarah Shipp, talks about the concept of resonance when designing games, SUCCESS (from "Made to Stick" by Chip & Dan Heath), and Sarah's own equation for resonance: Familiary + Unexpectedness  - Chaff

Also, see Sarah's GDC talk on Creating Resonance with Thematic Design available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61YNkTv3xgM

This episode, Erica and Sen welcome David Mullich to the show. David is a game designer and educator who was involved with outlining the requirements for the Game Design Merit Badge for the Boy Scouts of America. We talk about all of the things a Scout must accomplish to earn this badge as well as David's long and storied career in making games.

Geoff harnesses all his mathematical techniques to answer a burning question: are Pop-O-Matic dice truly random?

Today, we are continuing our series of exploring the design decisions behind our own games! Emma and Scott sit down with Gil to talk about his game High Rise; about how it started life as an auction game, and the twisty route it took to publication.

SHOW NOTES

1m23s - Gil discussed the Wag auction in his Networks design diary on BGG.

2m45s - Gil's game Battle Merchants.

3m31s - A "MacGuffin" is an object in a film that the characters all want, but the actual nature of the object is irrelevant (like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction). All that matters from the perspective of the film is that the characters want it. Looney Labs has since published an actual game with this term, Get the MacGuffin.

4m03s - Gil's game The Networks.

6m24s - Games with auctions as an element in the game: Princes of Florence, Goa

6m54s - Knizia games that are built entirely around their auctions: Ra, Modern Art, Medici, High Society

8m18s - The digital board game Sumer (Gil credited Josh Raab with the game design, but neglected to mention co-designers Geoffrey Suthers, Misha Favorov, and Sig Gunnarsson).

8m51s - The legendary video game M.U.L.E. - not a commercial success, but since regarded as seminal and influential. For a while, "M.U.L.E. as a board game" was a game designer's grail, but that's since been handled by board games Wealth of Nations, Planet Steam, and of course, M.U.L.E. The Board Game.

14m41s - Gil is talking about Roger Caillois, and his book Man, Play, and Games. Play is usually associated with having no real-world implications, but Caillois knew to draw in gambling as a counter-example.

19m04s - High Rise's look would not have nearly been so amazing without the graphic design of Heiko Günther and the illustrations of Kwanchai Moriya.

20m36s - Rocco is also designer of the game Ninja Dice.

23m04s - You can follow the High Rise Kickstarter here; it goes live on October 6.

24m54s - Bryn Smith runs Doomsday Robots, a board game publishing company.

27m02s - Expancity, Manhattan. The Manhattan kaiju "expansion" Gil was thinking of turned out to be a variant designed by Brian Bankler and Eric Moore.

27m56s - The amazing Daniel Newman, who is quite an excellent game designer himself (he made Dead Man's Cabal), and who is designing the High Rise plastic buildings.

28m11s - Not to mention, Elastoplast is a brand of bandages.

28m59s - The High Rise design diary.

30m28s - Gil's online playtest group, Remote Playtesting.

32m24s - Two rondel games, both by Mac Gerdts: Navegador, and Imperial.

33m57s - Time track games similar to High Rise: Tokaido, Glen More, Francis Drake, and Kraftwagen.

34m28s - Ryan Courtney, designer of Pipeline

36m29s - Eric Lang's tweet about turn angst. You can hear more directly from Eric in Ludology 175 - Auld Lang Design.

38m33s - Food Chain Magnate.

45m33s - Geoff and Gil discussed ludonarrative dissonance in Ludology 190 - Diabolus in Ludica. A positive example of ludonarrative dissonance: Unspeakable Words.

46m55s - Cloudspire.

50m28s - Emma is referring to Ludology 209 - The 6 Zones of Play.

51m51s - Bohnanza

51m58s - Here's an example of Magic Card flicking. It's even worse when the cards are sleeved.

55m36s - Uno, The Mystery Rummy series of games.

59m33s - The Sears Tower in Chicago is now called the Willis Tower.

1h02m57s - The preview page for the High Rise Kickstarter campaign.

Ryan and Geoff continue brainstorming on Trading in the Mediterranean, trying to zero in on how different types of governments and social factors can be incorporated into the design.

Duration: 28:00

Erica and Sen welcome special guest (and new mom!), Sarah Shipp, back to her role on the Ludology Network as the host of Thinking Beyond Mechanisms. In this episode, Sarah talks about the concept of perception and how game designers need to hone their skills in this area, particularly when it comes to playtesting.

Gil and Geoff broadcast live from Gencon with super-special guest Ryan Sturm!

Duration: 51:31

Scott and Gil welcome Nikki Valens, designer of Mansions of Madness: Second Edition, Eldritch Horror, Legacy of Dragonholt, Quirky Circuits, and the upcoming Artisans of Splendent Vale. We talk about making programming games like Quirky Circuits, app-driven games like Mansions of Madness, and campaign games like Legacy of Dragonholt.

SHOW NOTES

1m27s: Brown College

3m22s: Robo Rally

3m50s: Colt Express

5m53s: Magic Maze

8m18s: The Mind

12m26s: Ra, Medici

35m49s: Betrayal Legacy

42m00s: "FFG" refers to Fantasy Flight Games, where Nikki worked for several years.

43m07s: XCOM: The Board Game

52m24s: Here's a compilation video of cats riding Roombas...

Ryan and Geoff talk about Gamification, the application of gaming techniques to real world tasks. Why do it? What are some good and bad examples?

Duration: 1:21:30

This episode we are pleased to be joined by Mike Elliott. Mike is the designer of Quarriors and Thunderstone, and also worked for many years with Wizards of the Coast doing design work on Magic and other CCGs. We discuss the specific design issues that arise for deck-building games and collectible card games.

In this classic GameTek Geoff takes a look at the math behind the popular game Werewolf.

Duration: 06:35

In this classic GameTek Geoff looks at how choosing a color may affect how you play.

Duration: 06:17

Erica and Scott welcome Ryan and Malorie Laukat, the couple behind Red Raven Games. Ryan is known as the designer and illustrator for games like Eight Minute Empire, Above and Below, Near and Far, Islebound, Empires of the Void, Artifacts Inc., Megaland, and the forthcoming Now or Never. They are also the subject of an upcoming documentary, Crafting Arzium. 

Ryan is often seen as the sole force behind Red Raven Games, but Malorie and the whole Laukat family do a lot of work behind the scenes. We talk about the challenges and opportunities of making games as a family, how to maintain a work/life balance, and how to get your kids to playtest your latest game.

SHOW NOTES

27m32s: Tales of the Arabian Nights
38m59s: We discussed the different markets you can sell your game in on Ludology 246 - Cornering the Market.
51m14s: You can hear the Laukats' original music in their Sleeping Gods Kickstarter trailer.
1h07m24s: Here's the Red Raven website, their Twitter, their Facebook, and their Instagram.

We continue our annual tradition of bringing board game industry veteran Stephen Buonocore, now retired from Stronghold Games/Indie Game Studios and focusing on media and podcasting. We explore the bizarre, catastrophic year of 2020, and consider what's in store for us in 2021.

Note that this episode was recorded on Monday, November 30, 2020; we occasionally say "this year" to mean 2020 instead of 2021.

SHOW NOTES

6m24s: "Travis" is Travis Worthington, CEO of Indie Game Studios.

9m00s: Back the Comeback is a movement to keep comic and game stores alive during the pandemic.

13m26s: Gravitation Games (who did not release their first game on Kickstarter), Chris Solis' Solis Game Studio, and NewMill Industries.

18m58s: More info about the idea of flight-to-quality.

22m04s: You can hear more from Luke Crane and Anya Combs on Ludology 223 - Kick Out the Jams.

27m41s: You can play Codenames online here.

29m13s: Tim Hutchings' 1000 Year Old Vampire, Travis Hill's zine games, Jeeyon Shim's games about nature and survival.

32m47s: Our socially-distanced Gen Con 2020 live show, Gil's blog post about online conventions. 

33m46s: Gil's thoughts here were really driven by Jeff Tidball's blog post here.

40m13s: Castle Tricon

42m01s: Board Games Insider

43m06s: Some board game Twitch streamers: The Brothers Murph, Ruel Gaviola, Board Game Blitz

46m17s: Our Family Plays Games, Before You Play

1h04m59s: Stephen's Facebook, website, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Back in Ludology 185, Geoff brought up a thought experiment. What if someone rethemed Incan Gold to a firefighting game? Would people play any differently? 

Dr. Stephen Blessing (@cognitive_gamer) of the University of Tampa took up the challenge, and with the help of research assistant Elena Sakosky, designed and ran the experiment that Geoff proposed.

In this GameTek, Dr. Blessing and Sakosky join Geoff to discuss their findings. Did players take more risks if they felt, thematically, that lives were on the line?

If you'd like to hear more of Dr. Blessing's work, listen to his podcast, Cognitive Gamer: http://cognitivegamer.com/

Original research from the GameTek Laboratories! Geoff looks at the Cube Tower from Wallenstein/Shogun and experiments to see if there is any pattern to when the cubes fall out. Take your Shogun game to the next level!

Sen talks with the always awesome Omari Akil at Origins 2023. They talk about making games, making music, and making authenticity the goal for the next year. 

Sen interviews Matt Faulisi, marketing manager at Skybound Tabletop, at Origins 2023. The Pros and Cons series continues in 2024 and we'll be slowly releasing those over the 2024/2025 season, first to Patreon subscribers and later in the schedule.

Thanks for listening!

Gil and Geoff are pleased to welcome guests Patrick Leader (Vast) and Cole Wehrle (Root, An Infamous Traffic) to discuss asymmetry in games, and the particular challenges it presents to the designer.

Duration: 1:07:19

Geoff discusses an unusual and somewhat tragic condition in sports called "The Yips." Is it mental, or does it have a physiological basis?

Geoff discusses the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning, and its impact in board games and beyond.

In this episode, Geoff discusses the games Clue/Cluedo, Mastermind, and Zendo. He also discusses dark matter, WIMPs, and Einstein's theory of relativity.

Mike and Geoff are thrilled to welcome guest Mark Herman to the program. Mark is the designer of a slew of games, including the first Card Driven Game (CDG) We The People. His latest design is Churchill.

However the focus of our conversation is on Mark's work designing and executing simulations for the military and businesses, to test out their assumptions and strategies. He details these in his book Wargaming For Leaders.

Duration 1:16:59

Sen and Erica welcome Professor Camilla Zamboni to discuss "Roll for Learning", a book she co-edited that contains 51 microRPGs that are intended for use in K-12+ classrooms in fields as diverse as STEM, SEL, and the Humanities. 

You can download the pdf of the book for free here:
https://playstorypress.org/books/roll-for-learning/

Erica and Sen meet up with Jason Perez (Shelf Stories, cultural consultant on Puerto Rico 1897) to talk about cultural consultation, define some of the most prominent terms, and talk about how we can design better games while considering cultural impact.

In this classic GameTek, Geoff dives into the details of Alpha Go, Google's Go-playing AI.

Duration: 06:41

In this episode of TTRPGKids, Steph Campbell differentiates between an RPG that could be used in an educational setting and an one that is classroom-ready! Steph provides a list of all the things you need to move from A to B in about an hour!

Ryan and Geoff are joined by special guest Eric Summerer for a deep dive into Pick Up and Deliver games. What are some of the best examples of this genre? What makes them appealing? When do they work, and when do they fail? Will Eric make it through the Lightning Round?

All these questions and more, will be answered!

Duration: 1:08

Mike and Geoff select their top 10 entries from the Ludology contest, and reveal the winner!

Duration: 1:04:57

Changes! We bid a fond farewell to Mike, and a big hello to Gil!

Duration: 1:25:22

Sen speaks with Nick Yu while their families are on vacation together in the Berkshires - so a very smol con, indeed. They discuss an IP they are working on with the creator called Tankhead by Emerson Tung (www.emersontung.com/tankhead). The two discuss their journey in designing a series of games for potential self-publication along with a plan to document their progress in a short form monthly podcast series.

This week, special guest host Steph Campbell discusses the importance of why learning should be fun and how TTRPGs can bring fun to what can be a very complex situation.

A little window into dinner time at the Engelstein household: Young Brian asks the question "Can a board game make the players cry?" and he ends up on a podcast.

So can they? Mike, Geoff, and Brian explore what makes people sad, and whether board games can do that - and how that affects their status as 'art'.

Duration: 56:13

Erica and Sen welcome artist Kwanchai Moriya to the show to discuss his process, his advice for new artists trying to break into the tabletop industry, his take AI Image Generators, and his New Year's Resolution for 2023.

In this classic GameTek, Geoff examines games about evolution. Which work, and which don't, and do any of them accurately capture the key concepts of evolutionary science?