Ludology – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In this episode of Pros and Cons, Sen talks to Steph, Gordon, and Liam at Origins 2023 as they were getting ready for their biggest Kickstarter to date: Mistwind designed by Daryl Andrews and Adrian Adamescu which is currently making a splash!

In this interview, Sen talks to Jessica Geyer, President of the Indie Game Developers Network (https://www.igdnonline.com/) at Origins 2023 to find out what the IGDN can do for indie game devs and how that differs from the Tabletop Game Designers Association (TTGDN) would like to offer members.

To start off their second year with Ludology, Steph Campbell of TTRPGKids sets the stage for the next 12 episodes that will deal with using TTRPGs for educational purposes. They start the discussion off by talking about the various ways that TTRPGs can help students connect more with learning materials versus more traditional routes.

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 music. (We should also mention the more recent phenomenon of Black MIDI music, like this MIDI version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody with 2.06 million notes.)
41m06s: Coherence, recommended by Banana Chan in Ludology 228 - The Roles We Play.
44m04s: Brenna's 3 composers she'd have over for dinner: Kaija Saariaho, Giacinto Scelsi, and Frederic Rzewski
45m13s: Gil was close! It was Charles Ives, at a performance of his music. The exact quote: "You goddamn sissy... when you hear strong masculine music like this, get up and use your ears like a man!"

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.