Explore every episode of the podcast Alternate Worlds Podcast

It is quite fortunate to get to record the Alternate Worlds podcast, and today especially did not disappoint — here we have Bing Gordon, the legendary CMO/CCO from the first decades at Electronic Arts (and legendary VC in Silicon Valley thereafter), Skaff Elias, who helped spearhead Magic: the Gathering through its initial design into eSports, and Mike Turian, current Sr. Executive Producer of Magic: the Gathering today.

A lot of wisdom dropped in this one. :)

Bing’s interests are in systems where Everybody Wins, or in designs & communities that figure out how to build value for all who engage with them.

He has a book coming out to that end in the next week or two (see: the link above), and he’s been curious to learn more about ecosystems like Magic: the Gathering’s, which have figured out how to provide “outsized good” to “outsized many.”

It’s hard not to appreciate the benefits Magic has added to many of our lives, and it was a joy to revisit the principles that helped TCGs & other great games find a long-term home in the world of entertainment.

My microphone breaks about halfway through this recording, but fortunately, the guests were so fun to listen to it wasn’t such a bad thing.

Alternate Worlds, Alternate Hosts.

A fine one to sit back and just take in the conversation.

A special session, is this one — enjoy!

I met David Bartholow at Cornell University before pro Magic: the Gathering was a thing, and we faced off & supported each other in tournaments for many years afterwards.

David was a member of Team Deadguy, one of the top early MtG teams consisting of Chris Pikula, David Price, David Bartholow, Tony Tsai, Worth Wollpert and over time, many others.

Deadguy was often positioned as “the good guys” in the early Magic scene, which fought cheating as the pro game got its footing.

Today, Dave is a math teacher at a Montessori school near Cleveland, and his adventuresome spirit remains intact.

By the time this podcast releases, he may or may not be newly married. :)

He’ll have to less know in response to the video’s release.

(Congrats, Dave!)

Jeremy Cranford was the Art Director on Magic: the Gathering during my time as an R&D lead, and in my opinion, totally rocked the house.

Mirrodin was incredibly stylish and like nothing we’d done before — which one could say about Kamigawa & Ravnica, too. Ravnica, in particular, feels like the first concrete art style & world that maps to what the game has used for the last twenty years.

Since Magic, Jeremy has been a steward for Hearthstone, WoW TCG, Storybook Brawl and is currently focused on Marvel Snap, a very well-made mobile card game by Second Dinner.

Jeremy’s got a really cool & adventurous vibe — he knows he’s only going to live once & does things he really wants to do without sweating it too much.

He’s an artist, a visionary, a surfer, and a badass.

And he wants to make great things.

Hard not to love that. :)

I met Teresa Johns at Serious Business, the first gaming startup either of us worked at, in 2009. Serious Business was an incredibly talented & well-curated team, and its members have gone on to become prominent VCs, CEOs, CTOs, COOs, technologists, artists, etc.

Six months after we joined the company, we were acquired by Zynga, which had a very different ethos and led to very different types of adventures. I termed Zynga a “work bootcamp” and Teresa termed it “so much fun.”

This dissonance makes me giggle.

Since then, Teresa has been at some of the most important companies in modern life and has seen the evolution from “early whimsical fun” to “late-stage whimsical fun.”

She has a truly unique & interesting perspective.

If you have Teresa on your side, whether you’re a business or a human, you are noticeably better for it.

As Mr. Rogers said, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

That’s Teresa, to a T.

Mark Schneider is a chess master who traveled the country to play in chess tournaments as a teen.

He went on to parent three boys, all of whom played with him in the first Magic: the Gathering Pro Tour.

The youngest, Jeremy, finished 20th in PT-Dallas Juniors.

The middle child, Justin, finished 1st in PT-Dallas Juniors, and Top 8 at PT-Chicago ‘98.

The oldest, Brian, is writing this to you now, and grew up to become one of the R&D leads for Magic: the Gathering.

My dad is well-known as a bit of a character & as someone who enjoyed attending events and kibitzing with players from around the globe.

He also invested in Magic & Pokemon for the fun of it, to support & play his own part in our evolution through TCGs, and has always had an entrepreneurial spirit.

Thanks dad!

Chris Galvin ran the first Midwest Regionals for Magic: the Gathering in 1996, and supported 1,300 players so well that when the time came, Wizards believed he’d be a good fit for their organized play department.

Over time, Chris helped to support building out important regional events (such as Pro Tour Qualifiers) & the Junior Super Series — the kinds that couldn’t be supported by a normal game store — which led to a mature ecosystem of event operators working to support Magic: the Gathering events as a gateway to becoming a sport.

Chris eventually graduated to oversee all of Organized Play (and later aspects of digital gaming at Wizards), and as you listen to him speak throughout this call, it isn’t difficult to see why — he’s warm, rational, thoughtful, and open-minded — and he loved games and has great empathy for those who play them.

Chris went to The University of Chicago, but if you hear me say, “Go Bears” at some point during the call, it’s because he could’ve gone to Stanford.

And anyway, it always applies.

“Go Bears!”

(Take that Greg Collins — who actually went to Stanford. Yeah!)

Chris is a great storyteller with great stories to tell.

Enjoy!

Wright Bagwell makes games. He also tinkers, mods, hacks, manifests, errs, shares, and designs.

I met Wright at Zynga, where he spearheaded the Farmville 2 design, which went incredibly well (like, incredibly, well).

Before that he led the Dead Space series, and before that he made Quake mods, which got him into the industry in the first place.

After that, he co-founded Outpost Games as its CEO, logged ample time at Google and Luda working on AI-native gaming, and most recently spearheaded design at Series Entertainment.

Design can be exploratory, about discovery of what works, and the creative streams can cross and bob and weave and time or a sense of time can come and go.

Wright lives at this vortex and leverages all he’s learned and all the toys and toolsets he can find to create new things to entertain and connect people.

Sometimes there’s a man…

Pany Haritatos has wanted to make games since he wanted to do anything, and because of this impulse he’s made a ton of games — big, successful, ones — for Kongregate, Zynga, Snap, Series Entertainment and who knows where else.

Given Pany’s bent, his games could be anywhere.

(And I mean anywhere.)

Pany’s learned an inordinate amount about how to run teams and build successful businesses, shifting from builder to operator to CEO — he’s one of the best I’ve worked with in the digital space. Incredibly sharp cat.

Really fun to catch up, to talk dad life & to consider what the future holds for each of us, and what we’ve learned from our adventures along the way.

Namaste.

Devin Low is a legendary game designer, both in the sense that he’s designed a ton of successful games, but also because he designed Legendary, the highly successful Marvel deck building game.

There is only one Devin Low in play at a time.

Devin joined us in Wizards of the Coast R&D after playing professional Magic: the Gathering for a few years, and proved to have a great sense for how to wed both flavor & mechanics — which led to meaningful design & development evolutions with Lorwyn & Shards of Alara (both blocks he played a leading role on).

Devin has since been a standout in both the analog and digital space, as design champion for Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, Legendary & Riftbound.

Something tells me Devin Low will always have game projects on the front-burner, which is something we should all feel good about.

Let the games stay good. :)

Tom Lapille logged nearly seven years at Wizards of the Coast working on Magic: the Gathering, then went on to lead game design at Skylanders and Pocket Gems.

Tom’s a master of the TCG-making craft, and he’s also continued growing his skills by making 0-to-1 happen in the digital sphere on his recent Episode: Reality Stars.

Nowadays he can enjoy being a design director while also aspiring to regain prominence as a competitive Riftbound player.

We don’t know where life will take us, but it helps when we open doors and say yes to things we may love.

Tom is a wizard & a sensei, through and through.

Andrew Wolf has been designing games for nearly 20 years, at Pokemon, USAOPOLY, Cryptozoic and Upper Deck.

Andrew also happened to make two top 8’s as a pro Magic: the Gathering player, and has a long history of playing games both competitively and socially.

One thing that made this uniquely fun is that The Wolfman was in town vacationing, so we met up in person and got to hang out for a bit.

My kids had board game design day at art camp, so if you ever want to play Robloxland the board game, let me know. :)

Jon “Swede” Selin is the CEO of Low Drag Labs, where he seeks to reinvent the MMORPG into something that better fits with where gaming is going.

Swede is been a gamer since as long as he can remember, and has been hands-on throughout his career. He started out at CCP and logged time on Eve Online & design directing World of Darkness, before shifting to Pocket Gems as VP of Game Design.

Swede is “the most competitive” type of player who always tries his hardest to win, but also knows how to kick back and have a hard time.

Also his kids are starting to beat him at games which takes a little of the edge off. :)

P.S. Jake Paul, if you’re reading — my money’s on Swede.

Brian Hacker was one of the most successful players in the early days of the Magic: the Gathering Pro Tour, and is well-known for his early writing which shined light on how important mana curves were to winning in limited play.

His writing was also the gateway that enabled Magic: the Gathering to try and enter the mainstream, via a fun expose on MTV.

Brian went on to design games at Upper Deck, and has been “a man of great intrigue” as long as I’ve known him.

He says he’s not a spy.

Which is exactly what a spy would say.

I was lucky enough to work with him for the World Championships in ‘98, and we partnered on a deck that brought him to the top 8 at Worlds, and 2nd place at the Grand Prix in Lisbon the week after.

(He was also lucky enough to beat Tiger Woods at golf many moons ago.)

Good times. :)

Skaff Elias was a major force in helping Wizards of the Coast & Magic: the Gathering start off on the right foot, and is remembered fondly by many.

Before his time at WotC, Skaff was a Math PhD student at Penn, and joined the cadre of grad students who helped play & develop Richard Garfield’s earliest game designs (many of whom later followed Richard out west).

From there, Skaff joined Wizards of the Coast and became the first brand manager, and helped push the company towards starting a pro circuit to help legitimize Magic: the Gathering as a sport.

At these pro tournaments, Skaff quickly became a legend for a) never sleeping and b) organizing a basketball game anywhere an event happened and c) making any conversation more interesting for having him in it.

I knew Skaff from my days as a Magic player, but had the good fortune to work with him on WotC’s NBA game, which was really fun to play and make. Kudos to Brian Hacker for that design. :)

I learned a ton in this call about things I didn’t know prior. Enjoy!

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Stephen Radney-MacFarland and the TTRPG journey.

This episode explores the evolution of tabletop role-playing games through the career of Stephen Radney-MacFarland, whose work spans organized play, game design, Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, and decades of Dungeons & Dragons history. Brian and Stephen discuss how RPG publishing has changed, what it was like inside Wizards during the early 2000s, why community matters more than technology, and how modern AI and digital tools may reshape tabletop gaming without replacing the human experience.

Notes from Brian:

Stephen Radney-MacFarland has been a lead game designer for over two decades now, with a career spanning D&D, D&D minis, Pathfinder, Star Wars RPG, and Delve.

SRM is known for being both direct and kind, which is a good fit for my bent, which is also direct and kind.

We got real and had fun from start to finish.

I learned a fair amount in this conversation about how “the other part of WotC R&D felt,” as D&D and Magic: the Gathering stayed separate for years before partnering together on some fun initiatives.

Topics Covered

* The state of virtual tabletops and remote RPG play

* Fantasy Grounds, Owlbear Rodeo, Zoom, and digital gaming

* Stephen’s path from Kinko’s to Wizards of the Coast

* Organized Play and the RPGA

* Living Greyhawk and convention gaming

* Working alongside Magic and D&D at Wizards

* Company culture, reorganizations, and layoffs

* Dragon Magazine and the golden age of RPG publications

* Kickstarter’s impact on tabletop publishing

* Substack, modern media, and content overload

* Geek culture from the 1980s to today

* Bullying, identity, and growing up as a gamer

* Why younger generations may be more confident creators

* AI’s role in tabletop design and creative work

* Building communities around games rather than products

Memorable Moments

* Stephen laughs about repeatedly telling companies not to build their own virtual tabletop because existing platforms had already solved the hardest problems—a prediction that proved remarkably accurate.

* He recounts how he nearly joined Wizards once, lost the job, then was hired shortly afterward to help run Organized Play during the launch of D&D Third Edition.

* Brian and Stephen swap stories about Wizards’ early culture, including office pranks, department rivalries, repeated reorganizations, and surviving wave after wave of layoffs.

* Stephen explains how he transformed the RPGA from an inward-looking organization into a marketing engine that encouraged players to explore new D&D books and adventures.

* The two reflect on how magazines like Dragon once felt like treasured monthly events, contrasting that experience with today’s endless algorithm-driven feeds and constant competition for attention.

* They discuss how being a “geek” shifted from something many people hid to something openly celebrated, and how younger generations have benefited from that cultural change.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Lan. D Ho, Legendary Raconteur

This episode is both a nostalgic reunion and a thoughtful reflection on how lifelong friendships are formed through shared passions. Brian and Lan revisit the earliest days of competitive Magic: The Gathering, recounting Pro Tours, IRC friendships, legendary deck designs, and the personalities that helped define the game’s formative years. What begins as a trip down memory lane gradually expands into conversations about education, parenting, social media, reading, AI, community, and why the relationships built through games often outlast the games themselves.

Note from Brian:

Lan D. Ho has been many things in this life.

Most pertinent to this video podcast — he’s a former Magic: the Gathering pro, who went on to film a Magic: the Gathering documentary (I Came To Game), then later created a duplicate sealed format meant to represent “what Magic: the Gathering could be as a boxed set.”

Lan is beloved by all in the Magic community, and his aspiration to become the world’s best dinner guest has led him to light up the room in many wonderful places.

He’s also incredibly well-read, well-viewed, well-listened and well-versed, as a lifelong student of everything that interests him.

This recording is longer than the rest, but if you start it at the beginning of your nightly three-course dinner, it’ll accompany your meal quite well.

May your listen be a magical one!

Topics Covered

* Meeting through early Internet Relay Chat (IRC) communities

* Pro Tour Chicago 1997 and the early professional Magic scene

* Famous deck designs and tournament stories

* Working with early Magic teams including CMU

* Living together while traveling the Pro Tour

* The culture of late-1990s competitive gaming

* Origins Game Fair memories

* Magic as a catalyst for lifelong friendships

* Education, college, and self-directed learning

* Parenting in the age of smartphones and social media

* Reading versus digital attention spans

* “Brain rot” culture and Gen Alpha

* AI, creativity, and modern media

* How Magic differs from chess

* Commander, personalization, and emotional attachment to games

* Why games can shape careers and identities

Memorable Moments

* Brian and Lan laugh about first meeting through IRC before finally meeting in person at Pro Tour Chicago, where Lan’s deck design helped several players post outstanding finishes.

* They reminisce about sleeping on apartment floors, traveling to tournaments with almost no money, and unknowingly standing at the beginning of careers that would eventually lead to Wizards of the Coast and beyond.

* Brian recalls writing Alternate Worlds and relying on Lan’s remarkable memory to correct countless historical details before publication.

* The discussion shifts to raising children today, with both expressing concern over constant digital stimulation while sharing optimism about encouraging reading and curiosity instead.

* They joke about “brain rot,” MrBeast, Fortnite, and modern Internet culture before turning the conversation toward serious questions about attention, education, and how children learn.

* Looking back nearly three decades later, they conclude that while Magic introduced them, their friendship endured because of shared values and curiosity rather than the game itself.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Zac Hill, from Games to Good

This episode moves far beyond game design into a thoughtful conversation about the future of society, technology, education, AI, politics, trust, media, and creativity. While both Brian and Zac share deep roots in Magic: The Gathering, the game becomes a lens through which they explore much larger questions about how people learn, build communities, tell stories, and create meaning in an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.

Note from Brian:

Zac Hill is an incredible writer, gamer, and thought leader spanning “what the future of humanity” should be & how to position ourselves best to inherit an optimistic future.

Zac and I met a few decades back, when I was at the throes of “purest capitalism,” so I couldn’t talk to other humans in a real way.

Fast forward today, where Zac and I run the gamut of our present world & how we want to position ourselves for the future ahead.

How do we build systems that make groups of people better than ever before?

Let’s find out.

Topics Covered

* Zac’s Office of American Possibilities and civic venture studio

* AI for public-interest and social-impact applications

* The future of education in an AI-driven world

* Why friction is essential for learning

* Motivation versus optimization in education

* Trust in institutions and public leadership

* National stories, identity, and belonging

* Billionaires, venture capital, and public perception

* Politics as storytelling versus policy

* The evolution of media business models

* Subscription versus advertising ecosystems

* Substack as a creative platform

* Writing about games as a way to explore larger societal ideas

* Building creator tools for collaborative game creation

* AI-assisted game design

* Immersive theater and participatory experiences

* The future relationship between AI and creativity

* Roblox, Minecraft, and AI as creative platforms

* Magic: The Gathering as a lifelong framework for thinking about systems and people

Memorable Moments

* Zac explains that America has long called itself “an experiment,” but experiments require debriefs—a philosophy that inspired one of his major civic projects reviewing 250 years of presidential history.

* Brian argues that learning resembles the famous opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey: every generation still has to “hit the monolith” through real struggle rather than simply downloading knowledge.

* The pair discuss why AI can accelerate access to information without eliminating the difficult experiences that actually produce wisdom.

* Brian shares the story of leaving Netflix after a health scare, discovering Substack almost by accident, and gradually evolving from memoir writing into podcasts and eventually an AI-powered platform for collaborative game creation.

* Zac compares AI’s future not to a single killer application but to platforms like Roblox or Minecraft, where creators build countless unexpected experiences atop shared creative infrastructure.

* The conversation closes by imagining games that are easier to create, more personal, and capable of producing meaningful shared experiences in real time.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Tronster Hartley, UX Lead at Firaxis Games

In this nostalgic and wide-ranging episode, Brian reconnects with lifelong friend and community builder Tronster Hartley to revisit the formative years that shaped both of their careers. What begins as a conversation about Baltimore's bulletin board systems (BBSs) quickly expands into stories about competitive laser tag, early internet culture, raves, game development, community organizing, and the creative spirit that carried an entire generation into the video game industry.

Note from Brian:

Tronster Hartley just sent me a zip file full of our college era correspondences with each other.

No, you may not see them.

Tronster has worked at Firaxis Games for the last 18 years, on the XCOM & Civilization franchises, but before then he was a high schooler I met in the early BBS days, who pre-dates Magic: the Gathering.

Apparently I “taught Tronster how to play Magic and gave him his first deck,” which caused him later duress as he got too involved with the game and ultimately retired early.

Tronster’s unique in that he’s often been the eye of strong communities — he was the orchestrator for our community in the BBS days (hint: it was large), worked as a youth pastor, spent a decade or so volunteering at GDC and also co-founded the Baltimore chapter of the IGDA, which is still going strong today.

Really special to have a Tronster in your midst.

Or on your video podcast series. :)

Topics Covered

* Growing up in Baltimore during the BBS era

* Life before the public internet

* Competitive Photon laser tag and gaming culture

* Early online communities and bulletin board systems

* Organizing 200+ person BBS meetups

* Accidentally crashing portions of the WWIV BBS network

* The transition from BBSs to Usenet and the early internet

* Teenage adventures, raves, and Baltimore nightlife

* Creative technologists who later entered the game industry

* Baltimore’s overlooked role in video game history

* Muse Software, Castle Wolfenstein, and MicroProse

* Community building as a lifelong skill

* Parenting, education, and making it “cool to be smart”

* Game design, Wizards of the Coast, and Brian’s career

* The changing cultures of Baltimore and the San Francisco Bay Area

* The enduring importance of friendships that span decades

Memorable Moments

* Brian and Tronster laugh about how they first met through Baltimore’s interconnected BBS and Photon communities, including aliases like “Alkaline” and “Psycho Squirrel.”

* Tronster recounts organizing enormous real-world meetups for people who had previously only known one another online—years before social media existed.

* The pair revisit stories involving legendary friend Kevin McCormick, whose technical brilliance ranged from reverse-engineering networking protocols to wiring computers into his car.

* Brian shares how attending raves led him to develop the idea that eventually became his college thesis on creativity.

* The conversation explores Baltimore’s surprising contributions to gaming history, including the origins of Castle Wolfenstein and the city’s long lineage of influential game studios.

* Both hosts reflect on how childhood communities quietly shaped careers that eventually reached Wizards of the Coast, Game Developers Conference, and the broader games industry.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Mike Jimenez, Startup CTO

In this episode, Brian reconnects with longtime friend and former colleague Mike Jimenez to explore the early days of social gaming, startup culture in Silicon Valley, leadership, entrepreneurship, and the evolution of technology over the last two decades. The conversation is equal parts nostalgia, career reflection, and examination of how creative people navigate changing industries.

Note from Brian:

Mike Jimenez has been in Silicon Valley for over 30 years.

He started out as a software engineer, built complex systems for CyberSource (later sold for $2B), and forever after went into working for, then founding (or leading), startups.

In 2009, I met Mike Jimenez at a company named Serious Business, which made early Facebook games (Friends for Sale, Rock Legends), then later sold to Zynga.

Mike went on to co-found Bionic Panda Games with his friend Charles, and had some success on the Android platform before shifting gears in other directions.

Since then, Mike has mostly served as a CTO across fashion, gaming, VR & crypto.

His most recent major foray with gaming was at Concept Art House (or Concept Labs), at the height of the NFT craze.

Topics Covered

* The founding and growth of Serious Business

* The viral success of Friends for Sale

* Early Facebook platform gaming and social mechanics

* Startup culture during Silicon Valley’s social gaming era

* Hiring, leadership, and team-building philosophies

* The rise of Zynga and consolidation within social games

* Startup acquisitions and founder decision-making

* Building Bionic Panda Games with Charles Hudson

* Early Android game development

* Product-market fit and rapid iteration

* Gaming as a lifelong passion

* Remote work and the evolution of tech culture

* Strategy versus execution in leadership

* The changing economics of building technology companies

Memorable Moments

* Mike describing how Friends for Sale transformed Facebook users into collectibles and generated surprising real-world relationships.

* The revelation that the company’s COO met his future spouse through the game.

* Brian and Mike drafting an imaginary “government cabinet” from former Serious Business employees and debating who would run various departments.

* Stories of impromptu Super Smash Bros. tournaments and Magic drafts during work hours.

* Mike explaining how he designed a fishing game by staring at a blank smartphone screen and asking what kind of experience truly belonged on a mobile device.

* Reflections on how Zynga’s strategy differed dramatically from the more experimental game studios of the era.

During the day, Jossie Haines is an executive coach who actively helps technical leaders improve their work lives & personal lives.

“Some time ago,” Jossie also happens to have worked on some extremely successful & large/complex games in her time — Cafe World, CityVille & ChefVille.

I met Jossie on CityVille, after we raided the Cafe World team for some of their best engineers, and it was great to catch up with her here.

She’s accumulated a strong following on LinkedIn, with the intention of helping engineers & women (not mutually exclusive) navigate their careers & life decisions.

And she’s an active gamer, too. :)

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Adam King & the Game Developer Experience from Console to Social Games

In this episode, Brian reconnects with longtime friend, engineer, and game industry veteran Adam King for a conversation that begins with a surprisingly detailed discussion of curling injuries and evolves into a fascinating exploration of game development, engineering culture, product design, live-service games, leadership, and the changing nature of technology careers. Equal parts funny, nostalgic, and insightful, the episode traces Adam's journey from a self-taught programmer in Canada to leadership roles across console games, social games, mobile games, and live-service products.

Notes from Brian:

Adam King is a Canadian.

That isn’t a definitely trait, per se, but we start and end the conversation with in-depth conversations pertaining to curling, so you should know what you’re in for.

More seriously, Adam began as a game engineer at Radical on a Dark Angel action title, shifted to EA to work on NBA Live in the 00’s, then made his way to Zynga and joined CityVille.

Adam was the kind of engineer you’d talk to about “what I’d love to be able to do in game” who just happened to make it happen when nobody was looking.

It was magic.

(He won awards for his awesomeness in the engineering sphere at both EA & Zynga.)

Later he joined me at Rumble Entertainment, and helped lead KingsRoad out from purgatory into a nice decade-long run, and graduated to become EP.

Today, Adam is a YouTuber who lives a very LEGO-forward lifestyle, continuing his life of adventure and curiosity.

Topics Covered

* Curling, sports injuries, and why Canadians willingly slide on ice

* Growing up in Canada and discovering programming

* Building baseball simulation games as a child

* Early influences from board games and strategy games

* Radical Entertainment and the Dark Angel video game

* Console game development in the PlayStation 2 and GameCube era

* NBA Live and large-scale sports game development

* Working with massive legacy codebases

* Animation systems and gameplay engineering

* Why great engineering tools empower designers

* The transition from Electronic Arts to Zynga

* CityVille and the social gaming boom

* Live-service games versus boxed-product development

* User data, player feedback, and iteration

* Leadership and team-building

* What makes engineers successful

* Curiosity as a professional superpower

* Product development through player observation and learning

Memorable Moments

* The episode opens with an unexpectedly serious analysis of curling mechanics, strategy, and how Adam injured his foot while sliding out of the hack.

* Brian develops a theory that curling was originally learned by observing penguins and asks Adam to evaluate the hypothesis.

* Adam recounts creating a baseball simulation game while still in middle school, foreshadowing his future career in game development.

* Stories about navigating the “dungeon crawler” experience of exploring NBA Live’s sprawling legacy codebase and discovering decades of accumulated engineering decisions.

* Reflections on moving from Canada to California, joining Zynga, and simultaneously navigating a major career change, relocation, and new parenthood.

* Brian and Adam revisit the high-pressure CityVille years, including Zynga’s IPO era and the unique culture that emerged inside one of gaming’s fastest-growing companies.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: James Laird & the Games Industry Career Path

In this thoughtful and wide-ranging conversation, Brian sits down with longtime game developer, product leader, technologist, storyteller, and LARP organizer James Laird to explore a career that has repeatedly crossed the boundaries between games, technology, theater, education, and community-building. What begins as a discussion about live-action roleplaying games quickly evolves into a deeper conversation about creativity, identity, game development, product management, entrepreneurship, and the future of human experiences in an AI-driven world.

Notes from Brian:

James Laird starts most meetings with a dad joke or a pun or a groan-worthy limerick.

This session I happened to distract him at the start, but at some point, if you listen in, you may be bludgeoned (to life) by a run of jokes that will make you cry out in great pain.

James is a man of many tastes, and has been making games for the last few decades across Cryptic Studios (Champions Online), Pocket Gems (Wild Beyond, Episode) and most recently at Series Entertainment (various Netflix titles).

We discuss LARPs, AI, the future of work, parenting in an era with distractions within distractions (within distractions) and his journey as a theater fellow & game making denizen.

If you have a dad joke or pun or groan-worthy limerick you think is better than what James supplied here, please record yourself saying that joke and send it directly to James on the social network of your choice.

Thanks James!

Topics Covered

* Live-action roleplaying games (LARPs) and immersive storytelling

* Building and running large-scale community experiences

* Theater, performance, and character creation

* The business realities of passion projects

* Game development and MMORPG design

* Champions Online and Cryptic Studios

* Canceled games and unseen creative work

* Facebook gaming during the social gaming boom

* Product management versus game design

* Educational games and medical simulations

* Stanford educational gaming projects

* Pocket Gems, mobile gaming, and startup culture

* AI, creativity, and the future of interactive media

* Community-building and player-driven experiences

* Creativity versus commercialization

* Why hobbies sometimes become careers

* The evolution of game development over the past two decades

Memorable Moments

* James describing LARPs as “three different games in a trench coat,” depending on whether players are focused on competition, performance, or collaborative storytelling.

* Stories from Wellspring, a large-scale West Coast LARP involving more than one hundred players and years of accumulated worldbuilding.

* A discussion of “Play to Lift,” the philosophy that some players intentionally sacrifice their own success in order to create memorable experiences for everyone else.

* James revealing that he unexpectedly became a voice actor for Champions Online when the project couldn’t afford additional voice talent.

* Reflections on working in Facebook gaming during one of the industry’s most competitive and chaotic eras.

* Brian’s observation that James continually resists labels, preferring to define himself through curiosity and exploration rather than any single job title.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Jeremy Jarvis, former Franchise Leader for Magic: the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons

In this episode, Brian reconnects with longtime collaborator and former Wizards of the Coast creative leader Jeremy Jarvis for a wide-ranging conversation about creativity, worldbuilding, leadership, Magic's most beloved settings, and the challenges of stewarding intellectual property. The discussion begins with Jeremy's philosophy that the first idea is rarely the best idea, then evolves into an exploration of how great creative work emerges through iteration, collaboration, and the willingness to challenge assumptions.

Notes from Brian:

Jeremy Jarvis was a creative & franchise leader for Magic: the Gathering first, and later for Dungeons & Dragons as well.

Jeremy is a world-building specialist who helped architect some of Magic: the Gathering’s most iconic worlds, and also has helped oversee franchise partnerships & promotions such as the D&D Movie & Magic: the Gathering marketing trailers.

When I knew Jeremy, he was evolving from being a watercolorist concept / Magic: the Gathering artist to becoming a full art director from Lorwyn, on, and it’s been a joy to see his career continue to blossom.

On my last day at Wizards of the Coast, Jeremy let me pick my favorite of his Magic: the Gathering art pieces as a goodbye gift, and I chose Beacon of Tomorrows, which I still have today.

I was thankful then, as I am now. :)

Thanks Jeremy!

Topics Covered

* Why the first creative idea is rarely the best one

* Growing from freelance artist to Magic creative director

* Art direction and worldbuilding at Wizards of the Coast

* Building Kaladesh, Amonkhet, Zendikar, and Return to Ravnica

* The evolution of Magic’s creative department

* Cross-functional collaboration between design, development, story, marketing, and art

* Lessons learned from Kamigawa and Ravnica

* Creating and developing the Planeswalker roster

* Transitioning from Magic to Dungeons & Dragons franchise leadership

* The role of IP in modern gaming

* Universes Beyond and the future of Magic’s brand identity

* Licensing, adaptation, and storytelling challenges

* Creativity, leadership, and organizational growth

* How creative teams balance innovation with consistency

Memorable Moments

* Jeremy explaining why deadlines often force teams toward weaker first ideas rather than stronger third or fourth iterations.

* Revealing that he was an accomplished musician and national-level trombone player before pursuing art professionally.

* Discussing how Kaladesh emerged from a challenge to create an artifact world that wasn’t another Mirrodin.

* Reflecting on Kamigawa’s naming conventions and how accessibility matters when building fantasy worlds.

* Explaining why Ravnica resonated so strongly with players through guild identity and factionalization.

* Sharing his pride in helping create the original five Planeswalkers and establishing recurring faces for the Magic brand.

* The playful debate over whether clowns belong in Magic and why some creative ideas are best left unexplored.

Henry Stern is a storied game designer who has delivered in many mediums — TCG, board gaming, web2 gaming & mobile gaming.

Early on, he left a career -- that he enjoyed -- as a rocket scientist, to go after his passion instead and never looked back.

Gaming is that passion.

I was lucky enough to work with Henry on Magic: the Gathering, which he helped steward on the game development side for over a decade, and then again at pre-IPO Zynga, where Henry materially muscled up Mafia Wars & Zynga’s chances of a successful IPO.

Today, Henry lives on the Monopoly Go side of the house at Scopely, continuing his legacy of making high impact on major game franchises.

Chase your passion, indeed. :)

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Jake Theis, former Magic: the Gathering Brand Manager

In this episode, Brian reconnects with former Wizards of the Coast colleague Jake Theis for a conversation that blends game industry history, product development, entrepreneurship, creativity, and the enduring influence of Magic: The Gathering. What starts with jokes about cheese, personality types, and old Wizards memories evolves into a thoughtful discussion about how games are built, how careers evolve, and how communities shape the people within them.

Notes from Brian:

Jake Theis is an INFJ, who, while I was at WotC, was a Brand Manager for Magic: the Gathering.

After that, he went off to work on Gencon, became Head of Marketing at Ravensburger, then functioned as VP of Games at Wizkids.

Jake has deep knowledge of the hobby gaming industry & working with great IPs (think Lorcana) & also has a fertile knowledge of the cultural influences that inform the products we design.

Jake is an excellent person to talk with to understand how to position, craft & market all things game & entertainment.

Very fun chat. :)

Topics Covered

* Working at Wizards of the Coast across brand, R&D, and creative teams

* Early Magic podcasting and digital initiatives

* The challenges of cross-functional collaboration

* Product strategy and long-term planning

* Building licensed board games

* Creating a Great British Baking Show board game

* Working at Ravensburger and Gen Con

* Game industry successes, failures, and lessons learned

* The value of market research and consumer insight

* The role of nostalgia in entertainment products

* Wrestling games, conventions, and pandemic timing

* Magic’s worldbuilding and creative development process

* Secret Lair and innovation in collectible games

* Magic’s influence on game designers and creative thinkers

* Trading card games beyond Magic

* Board game design and open-ended systems

* Slay the Spire, Civilization, and favorite modern games

* Leadership, collaboration, and organizational culture

Memorable Moments

* Jake recounting unexpectedly running into Brian in Las Vegas and discovering he was spending part of his evening working with a blackjack team between casino shifts.

* Stories from the earliest days of Magic podcasting, years before smartphones made podcasts mainstream.

* The creation of a Great British Baking Show board game and the challenge of translating a beloved television experience into tabletop form.

* The tale of launching a wrestling-themed party game designed for thirty players directly into the COVID pandemic—making large group gatherings temporarily impossible.

* Jake’s appreciation for Secret Lair as one of the smartest business innovations Magic has introduced since his departure from Wizards.

* Recollections of Magic’s “hole-filling” process, where employees throughout the company could submit card ideas and potentially see them appear in future sets.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Justin Gary, CEO of Stoneblade Entertainment

In this thoughtful and deeply reflective conversation, Brian sits down with longtime friend, former Magic World Champion, entrepreneur, author, and game designer Justin Gary to explore the intersections of games, learning, community, entrepreneurship, and personal fulfillment. What begins as a conversation about podcasting and shared history quickly expands into a discussion about health, life design, creativity, leadership, career reinvention, and the role games play in helping people grow.

Note from Brian

Justin Gary is the CEO of Stoneblade Entertainment, the author of Think Like a Game Designer, the designer of Ascension, SolForge (w/ Richard Garfield) & Solforge Fusion (w/ Richard Garfield) and also happened to be a Pro Tour Winner & US National Champion at Magic: the Gathering.

Today he travels around the world, helps people launch great projects, and continually refines who he is and how he operates -- to help others grow, bond, etc.

Justin & I met when we were asked to play in a Pro Tour team event together (ahem, coming up on 30 years ago now), and have been good friends ever since.

Topics Covered

* Podcasting and content creation as a long-term practice

* The role of community in shaping behavior and identity

* Health, fitness, and lifestyle transformation

* Parenting, modeling behavior, and social influence

* Applying game design principles to real life

* Learning through iteration and feedback loops

* Prototyping and product development

* Startup culture versus physical product development

* Leaving law school to pursue game design

* The transition from professional Magic player to game creator

* Building Ascension and Stone Blade Entertainment

* SoulForge, SoulForge Fusion, and digital innovation

* Community building and organizational culture

* Leadership through values and example

* AI, creativity, and the future of work

* Teaching and mentoring aspiring game designers

* Life design, purpose, and personal fulfillment

Memorable Moments

* Justin describing how joining a volunteer home-building project in Mexico completely changed his relationship with health and fitness by surrounding him with people whose habits he admired.

* The realization that “attitudes are caught, not taught,” leading to a discussion about parenting, leadership, and culture-building.

* Justin explaining how game design principles—clear goals, feedback loops, and iteration—can be applied to nearly every aspect of life.

* A candid retelling of leaving law school despite parental expectations, including his mother’s emotional reaction when he chose games over a legal career.

* Stories about players proposing marriage through games of Ascension and families bonding across generations through products he helped create.

* Reflections on reaching 100 podcast episodes and embracing incremental improvement rather than perfection.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Arthur Parsons, former Head of Design for the LEGO games franchise

In this episode, Brian sits down with Arthur Parsons, one of the key creative leaders behind many of the beloved LEGO video games. Arthur shares an entertaining and surprisingly accidental journey into game development—from dropping out of architecture studies, to testing games at Psygnosis, to spending more than two decades at Traveller’s Tales helping build one of the most successful family-friendly game franchises of all time.

Note from Brian:

Arthur Parsons didn’t invent your LEGO childhood, as Substack has creatively suggests, but he did have a hand in designing all of the highly-popular LEGO video games that came out over the last two decades, graduating to Head of Design for the franchise at Traveler’s Tales.

More recently, Arthur serves as Head of Production for 10:10 Games, who earlier released Funko Fusion, and appropriately loves to bring IPs to life.

Arthur crackles with creativity & wit, so I was looking forward to this call.

May you enjoy it, and may we not be sued for anything we said.

We behaved (we think).

Topics Covered

* Breaking into the games industry through QA and game testing

* Early days at Psygnosis and the PlayStation era

* Accidental career paths and unexpected opportunities

* Joining Traveller’s Tales and staying for more than twenty years

* Building the LEGO game franchise

* Why QA is one of the best training grounds for game designers

* Studio culture, trust, and long-term creative collaboration

* Using children as playtesters and design advisors

* Creating accessible games for families and first-time players

* Developing LEGO Batman, LEGO Harry Potter, and other major franchises

* Designing for delight, surprise, and emotional engagement

* Working with Disney, The Muppets, Batman, Harry Potter, and other iconic properties

* The evolution of game development from small barn-based teams to modern studios

Memorable Moments

* Arthur explains how he became a game developer after answering a newspaper ad for game testers while searching for a career after leaving university.

* A chance encounter at an E3 party led directly to his job at Traveller’s Tales and a twenty-year career.

* Stories from the early days of Traveller’s Tales, operating out of a converted barn with a famously improvised office setup.

* Arthur’s daughter became one of the studio’s most trusted playtesters, famously suggesting that a snowman should explode into the sky because “that would be cooler.” The team implemented the change.

* Reflections on hearing younger developers describe his games as part of their childhood and realizing just how much time has passed.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Nina Dobner, Denizen of Game Production & Business Development in Games

In this episode, Brian sits down with Nina Dobner for a candid conversation about a remarkable career spanning the early days of multimedia, the birth of online gaming, major entertainment licenses, and the evolution of the games industry. Nina shares stories from her journey from the UK to the Bay Area, working at major publishers, helping bring iconic franchises to games, and navigating the complex relationship between creativity, technology, and intellectual property.

Note from Brian:

Nina Dobner joined the games industry 25+ years back, working to translate & publish Riven (the sequel to Myst) in the UK, then migrated to Electronic Arts & San Francisco as an IP-related game producer in the early 2000’s.

While there, she worked on some of the biggest IPs and EA video game titles of the era — Star Wars (Battlefront), The Lord of the Rings, Batman & The Godfather.

As the 2010’s ramped up and gaming was changing course (to social platforms), Nina joined Zynga during its growth period & helped stand up the design culture across the studios with an eye to building external studios that could succeed, fast.

Today, Nina has gravitated to a business development/strategy focus at the intersection of IP & games.

Which just makes sense. :)

Nina is the most San Francisco person I know, which is a good thing.

Extra credit:

The steps to Nina’s place in San Francisco are somewhat famous — and for good reason. See below!

Topics Covered

* Breaking into the games industry through multimedia publishing and localization

* Bringing Riven to Europe and the early CD-ROM era

* Joining Electronic Arts during the rise of online gaming

* Moving from the UK to California and building a life in San Francisco

* Favorite games and gaming memories from the 1990s and 2000s

* Plants vs. Zombies, Command & Conquer, Oddworld, Guitar Hero, and more

* Working on major franchises including Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Batman, Indiana Jones, and Harry Potter

* Leadership lessons from large-scale game development

* Managing licensed properties and creative partnerships

* The future of intellectual property in gaming

* User-generated content, AI, and evolving platform ecosystems

* The differences between building original games and licensed products

* How great IP holders protect the core identity of their creations

Memorable Moments

* Nina reveals that her games career began because she and her boss wanted to play Riven and decided to become its European distributor.

* Stories from spending years working directly alongside the Lord of the Rings film production in New Zealand, including visits with the cast and crew.

* A discussion of how strong leadership and clearly defined “pillars” helped keep large projects focused and successful.

* Reflections on why some beloved franchises thrive across media while others struggle to find their footing in games.

* A fascinating look at how game companies and entertainment companies think differently about intellectual property, licensing, and creative control.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Jay Schneider, Professor of Game Design

In this deeply personal and wide-ranging conversation, Brian Schneider sits down with his brother, Jay Schneider, to explore the experiences, family influences, and defining moments that shaped their lives. The discussion spans entrepreneurship, resilience, childhood challenges, creativity, leadership, loss, and the pursuit of meaningful work. Rather than focusing on a single company or game, the episode becomes an exploration of how identity is formed through family, hardship, ambition, and personal growth.

Note from Brian:

Jay Schneider is the CEO of Fire Opal Media, a concierge design company populated with many talented former Wizards of the Coast designers.

Jay also has been a lecturer at The University of Washington with a focus on game design, and has taught a powerhouse graduate-level curriculum on games for the last 15 years.

Beforehand, he was the Lead Designer on Duels of the Planeswalker, and also designed one of the most iconic early Magic: the Gathering decks of all-time — Sligh.

Jay & I hit a ton of rare air on this call, with rarely discussed subcultures coming in and out of conversation quite easily.

Fun times!

Here’s a few links:

Witcher LARP

Prior (till COVID):

Reboot this year:

https://larpventure.com/whirls-of-pontar

Info on the 1 of the two initial branches of my LARP

SOLAR LARP:

SOLAR Disaster Video:

Hash House Harriers:https://www.hashhouseharriers.com/what-is-hashing/

https://www.kut.org/austin/2024-10-16/why-are-people-dropping-flour-in-weird-patterns-around-austin

13th Age Coins:

https://campaigncoins.com/collections/13th-age

Topics Covered

* Growing up in a family shaped by creativity and ambition

* The influence of parents on confidence and personal responsibility

* Entrepreneurship and building companies

* Leadership and reluctant leadership

* The importance of community and shared purpose

* Lessons from game development and product creation

* Early social gaming and startup culture

* Creative vision versus organizational constraints

* The power of experimentation and data-driven decision making

* Navigating adversity, loss, and major life transitions

* Family relationships and personal identity

* The role of persistence in long-term success

* Finding purpose through creation and contribution

Memorable Moments

* A candid discussion about projects that became regrets and how creative visions can be diluted by business pressures.

* Reflections on growing up after the death of a parent and the responsibility that created.

* Stories about refusing to accept limitations imposed by circumstance and learning to become self-reliant at a young age.

* The realization that bringing together communities around a shared mission can create results far beyond what any individual could accomplish alone.

* Discussion of how confidence develops—not as innate bravado, but through repeated experiences of overcoming challenges and making difficult choices.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Justin Cinicolo, early GM for Mafia Wars

In this wide-ranging conversation, Brian Schneider sits down with veteran game executive and creator Justin Cinicolo to explore a career that spans educational toys, social games, mobile gaming, leadership, entrepreneurship, and creative production. What begins as a discussion of past projects quickly becomes a deeply personal conversation about ambition, resilience, leadership, family influence, and the evolution of game development over the last two decades.

Note from Brian:

Justin Cinicolo started out making educational games at Leapfrog, then shifted very early to Zynga and helped launch Mafia Wars on Facebook.

This was very successful. :) Justin ended up being an early GM for the project, before shifting to spearheading the early mobile studio effort.

Suffice it to say, Justin has made a ton of games, across a variety of stripes.

After Zynga, Justin helped shepherd early prototypes & team development at Pocket Gems, supporting very successful launches for Episode Interactive (still a category leader today, 12 years later, in interactive fiction) and War Dragons (a unique combination of rail shooter & 4x).

Justin went on to join the C-team at Rally Health in its early days, and more recently returned to making games.

He’s been an avid MtG player for decades now, and has great production sense as well as game design chops.

(In other words, when he’s making games, he’s in the right place.)

Topics Covered

* Early career at LeapFrog and educational game design

* Building games, toys, and interactive learning products

* Joining Zynga during the early social gaming boom

* The rise of Mafia Wars and Facebook gaming

* Product leadership and scaling game teams

* Data-driven design versus creative intuition

* Lessons from Battlestone and failed game projects

* Mobile action RPG development before the genre matured

* The evolution of free-to-play monetization

* Community-building and GameInnovation.com

* The history of game design and preserving industry knowledge

* Leadership, empathy, and cross-disciplinary collaboration

* Startup culture and rapid growth

* Creativity, responsibility, and personal ambition

* Family influences and the impact of losing a parent early in life

Memorable Moments

* Justin naming Battlestone as the project he most wishes he could revisit, describing how corporate pressure to broaden its appeal ultimately diluted the original vision.

* Stories from Zynga’s early days, including unexpectedly correcting CEO Mark Pincus during a rooftop conversation about real-time strategy game history.

* Justin recounting how he chose Facebook over other social platforms when assigned ownership of a Mafia Wars variant, helping position himself at the center of a massive industry shift.

* The creation of GameInnovation.com, a community-driven effort to document video game history that attracted more than 100,000 contributors.

* A deeply personal story about losing his father at age thirteen and learning to become self-reliant after his mother moved away during his teenage years.

* Justin identifying a High School Musical educational music game as one of the projects his father would have appreciated most because of his lifelong passion for music and creativity.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Brian Tinsman, former MTG designer

In this nostalgic, insightful, and frequently funny conversation, Brian Schneider reconnects with longtime Wizards of the Coast colleague and legendary Magic designer Brian Tinsman. What begins with stories about jiu-jitsu challenges, office politics, and early Wizards culture evolves into a deep discussion about game design philosophy, entrepreneurship, creativity, leadership, and the pursuit of mastery.

Note from Brian:

Brian Tinsman was the lead designer on many Magic: the Gathering sets & blocks in the 00’s (Champions of Kamigawa, Time Spiral), with Rise of the Eldrazi being the most popular.

Brian was the first person I met at Wizards of the Coast who espoused top-down design, and leveraged it while designing Judgement to make some really unique & cool cards.

He since went on to join Zynga pre-IPO, continued on an entrepreneurial path, and most recently launched Wonders of the First.

He’s also a black belt in jiu-jitsu, spending 25 years on that journey to mastery. Wonders of the First is the game design manifestation of that spirit.

Topics Covered

* Early Wizards of the Coast culture and R&D history

* User testing and market research for games

* How Brian Tinsman entered Magic R&D

* Designing Judgment and early Magic expansions

* Pokémon, Duel Masters, and other Wizards projects

* The creation of Kamigawa and Time Spiral

* The evolution of top-down design in Magic

* Flavor versus mechanics in game design

* Political dynamics inside creative organizations

* Battlecruiser Magic and Rise of the Eldrazi

* Entrepreneurship and strategic career planning

* Self-improvement, mental training, and personal systems

* Leadership, management, and difficult personnel decisions

* The future of trading card games

* Building Wonders of the First

* Why Tinsman dislikes tutors and loves dramatic topdecks

* Designing games with intentional endings and pacing

Memorable Moments

* Brian Tinsman explaining that he essentially “started a cult of one” by using self-hypnosis and long-term planning systems to shape his own behavior and career trajectory.

* Stories from early Wizards where Tinsman was tasked with firing employees who had effectively disappeared while still collecting paychecks.

* The revelation that Tinsman may have coined and popularized the term “top-down design” within Magic R&D.

* Discussions of Kamigawa’s strengths and shortcomings, with Tinsman candidly reflecting on what he would redesign today.

* Brian Schneider’s playful insistence that Tinsman identify his defining intellectual and creative influences.

* The pair reminiscing about the chaotic and experimental years of Wizards game development when many foundational ideas were still being invented.

Alternate World Podcast: Cole Medeiros, from Gubs to Stardew Valley

In this thoughtful and often hilarious conversation, Brian sits down with game designer, entrepreneur, producer, and storyteller Cole Medeiros to explore a career that spans board games, social games, Kickstarter projects, mobile gaming, and eventually helping steward the remarkable success of Stardew Valley. The discussion centers on creativity, storytelling, game design philosophy, career growth, and the tension between making products for business versus making things you genuinely love.

Note from Brian:

Cole Medeiros designed and self-published the game Gubs, joined Zynga to design games, worked on three of the biggest — CityVille, Mafia Wars and FrontierVille - then went on to continue his creative journey at Storm8 & Jam City.

He’s launched a successful kickstarter, acted in a two-person play, written a book that’s publishable now — but he’s not quite ready to do so, and most recently designed the Stardew Valley board game.

Today, he runs operations & business development for Stardew Valley, that is, when he’s not helping his kids become better humans.

Topics Covered

* Why storytelling sits at the heart of great games

* Early influences from board games, roleplaying games, and Magic

* Historical and educational games

* The creation and evolution of Gubs

* Self-publishing and pitching games to retailers

* Kickstarter lessons and independent publishing

* Life and lessons at Zynga

* Mafia Wars, CityVille, and social gaming’s boom years

* Product management versus game design

* The emotional realities of working in commercial game development

* Storm8 and Jam City’s differing approaches to game creation

* Building the Stardew Valley board game

* Iteration and balancing games after launch

* Independent creators versus corporate development

* Star Trek as a design inspiration

* Solo gaming, simulation systems, and emergent storytelling

* Career growth through helping people rather than just building products

* The relationship between creativity, business, and personal fulfillment

Memorable Moments

* Cole explaining that what he loves most about games is not winning, but the stories players tell afterward.

* The origin story of Gubs, which began as hand-drawn cards created when he was a child and evolved into a commercially successful game.

* Brian’s affectionate observation that Cole is “not a linear being” because of his unusually diverse mix of talents and interests.

* Stories about literally walking homemade card decks into local game stores and asking owners to stock them.

* Cole describing the realization that he was often functioning more as a “mechanic” than an artist while working on social games.

* The discussion of how Eric Barone’s approach to Stardew Valley often starts with a simple question: “Let’s make something we would enjoy playing.”

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Michael J. Flores, the Scribe of MTG

In this wide-ranging and energetic conversation, Brian sits down with longtime Magic writer, strategist, marketer, entrepreneur, and provocateur Michael J. Flores. What begins as a discussion of Flores' early content creation evolves into a deep exploration of competitive Magic, game design philosophy, content creation, marketing, intellectual property, customer value, and the future of Magic itself.

Note from Brian:

Michael J. Flores has written more words about Magic: the Gathering than anyone else.

He’s also a former pro player, a renowned deck builder, a well-traveled raconteur, a proud parent, and a fan of Cleveland sports teams.

(On that last point, “no one can be perfect.”)

In his professional life, Mike wears the CMO hat & has many career successes, but in this call, he’s all Magic.

Topics Covered

* The origins of “Five with Flores”

* Early YouTube and content creation before social media matured

* Writing Magic strategy articles as a career

* Comics, creativity, and alternate career paths

* The history of Magic writing and publishing

* Top Level Podcast and content production

* Competitive Magic in the 1990s and early Pro Tour era

* Brian’s reputation as a player during the Pro Tour years

* David Price, Worth Wollpert, Chris Pikula, Randy Buehler, and other Magic personalities

* Universes Beyond and licensed IP in Magic

* Power creep and Modern Horizons

* Ragavan and modern card design philosophy

* Customer acquisition versus customer retention

* Hasbro’s business strategy and intellectual property portfolio

* Lego, Star Wars, and licensed product economics

* The long-term health of Magic as a game

* Commander versus traditional competitive Magic audiences

* Marketing, customer lifetime value, and fandom economics

Memorable Moments

* Flores describing how he nearly became a full-time comic creator before Magic writing took over his life.

* Stories from the earliest days of Magic video content, including receiving copyright complaints from YouTube before gameplay videos were commonplace.

* Flores’ recollection that many top players viewed Brian as having “perfect strategy and perfect execution” during the late 1990s competitive era.

* The pair joking about alternative Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle identities and artistic inspirations.

* Flores’ passionate explanation of why he believes customer lifetime value matters more than raw player counts.

* The recurring tension between short-term revenue optimization and long-term stewardship of beloved games.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: William Jockusch, Magic: the Gathering’s First Game Developer

In this episode, Brian reconnects with former Wizards of the Coast colleague William Jockusch, one of Magic's earliest developers and a key voice behind the game's formative years. The conversation spans William's journey from mathematics professor to Magic developer, the creation of iconic sets such as Alliances, Mirage, Tempest, Urza's Saga, and Odyssey, and the challenges of balancing creativity, power level, and team dynamics in one of gaming's most influential design environments.

Note from Brian:

William Jockusch was a PhD in mathematics, then a professor, then quickly realized that making Magic: the Gathering might be “a bit more fun” than teaching was, so he lobbied Wizards of the Coast to be one of it’s earliest game makers.

William joined in 1995, and logged nearly a decade making Magic sets and games like the Harry Potter TCG.

Since then, he’s gone on to play poker professionally & to develop software, and has applied his war-gaming background to try and figure out solutions for these complicated times.

William had few edits or “let me explain further” items from this discussion, which he wrote up below:

Topics Covered

* Transitioning from academia to game development

* The earliest years of Magic R&D

* Alliances, Mirage, Tempest, Urza’s Saga, and Odyssey development

* The origins of Magic’s developer role

* Balancing power level versus innovation

* Famous Magic cards, mechanics, and design misses

* Force of Will, Time Spiral, Psychatog, and Skullclamp discussions

* Team dynamics inside Wizards R&D

* How creative organizations make decisions

* The evolution of organized game design processes

* Hearthstone and the opportunities Wizards missed in digital gaming

* Real-time strategy versus traditional card game design

* Board games, strategy games, and competitive play

* The Harry Potter Trading Card Game

* Software development and AI-assisted programming

* Parenting, life phases, and personal reinvention

Memorable Moments

* William describing how he effectively accepted a Wizards job offer before the company formally extended it.

* Stories from the wild, unstructured early days of Magic R&D.

* The admission that Time Spiral was his own biggest design mistake despite serving as Magic’s balance advocate.

* A candid reflection on how team politics contributed to the excesses of Urza’s Saga.

* Brian’s recollection of William leading calmly during the 2001 Nisqually earthquake while the Harry Potter team sheltered in place.

* The pair discussing games through the lens of mathematics, psychology, and human behavior.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Brian David-Marshall is All About Games for Gamers

In this episode, Brian sits down with longtime Magic community builder, storyteller, tournament organizer, writer, and game creator Brian David-Marshall for a conversation that spans more than three decades of gaming history. The discussion explores the origins of Magic's early tournament scene, the creation of Neutral Ground, the power of finding your community, and Brian's newest venture: building an original trading card game from the ground up.

Note from Brian (Schneider):

Brian David-Marshall started out in comics — both creating them and creating events to support them — then quickly learned to love Magic: the Gathering (as people began coming to the comic store asking for it), and became a major force in the New York Magic scene for both running tournaments and for organized play — at the first major gaming hub for Magic: the Gathering, Neutral Ground.

Brian’s done so much in the games industry, the comics industry, and for Magic: the Gathering (hard not to mention running the well-loved Commander & Cocktails events) — it’s hard not to just say, “BDM, take a bow!”

So I’ll say it — “BDM, take a bow!”

BDM’s next effort is Cataclysm Arcade, which incorporates all of Brian’s experiences with card games, storytelling & organized play, and distills his learnings into one, well-loved design, meant to bring players together at the card table from Day 0.

To learn more about Cataclysm Arcade:

* Cool Article: https://www.polygon.com/cataclysm-arcade-preview-brian-david-marshall/

* Discord: https://discord.com/invite/cataclysmarcade

* Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/cataclysmarcade.bsky.social

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cataclysmarcade

Topics Covered

* Launching a new original trading card game

* Designing games that are playable directly from booster packs

* The influence of Commander and social gaming

* Building communities through games

* The founding and growth of Neutral Ground

* Early Magic tournament history

* The explosion of organized play in the mid-1990s

* Comic books, publishing, and storytelling

* How hobby stores create life-changing communities

* Confidence, belonging, and personal growth

* The importance of finding “your people”

* New York’s influence on gaming culture

* Physical media, nostalgia, and retro world-building

* Why original intellectual property still matters in gaming

* Friendship, mentorship, and collaborative creation

Memorable Moments

* Brian explaining how his game can be played directly from a single booster pack.

* Stories about giving away countless Pokémon cards so new players could actually play.

* The tale of a giant customer physically shaking him while demanding Magic cards, ultimately leading him to discover the game himself.

* Organizing one of the first large Magic tournaments and being stunned when hundreds of players showed up.

* Recalling the moment he first walked into a comic book store and realized there were other people who loved the same things he did.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Randy Buehler, former VP of Digital Gaming & Director of Magic R&D

In this episode, Brian reconnects with longtime friend, teammate, mentor, and former boss Randy Buehler to explore one of the most influential careers in Magic history. What begins as a conversation about the Alternate Worlds project quickly evolves into a deep discussion about leadership, team building, professional Magic, game design, and the surprising ways a trading card game shaped an entire generation of innovators.

Note from Brian:

Randy Buehler was a Pro Tour Champion at Chicago as the Captain of Team CMU, and went on to have a Hall of Fame playing career.

He was hired by Wizards of the Coast at the end of his playing days, and he became the first lead developer (or “lead of final design”), a function created to try and make the game play as well as possible & also ensure the game’s production went as smoothly as possible.

Randy’s hiring was fortuitous on a few fronts —

* Randy was more mature than most other players, a natural leader who helped build the processes that allows teams to better make Magic

* Many of the heavyweights who’ve walked WotC’s walls come from Randy’s prior team at CMU (Aaron Forsythe, Mike Turian, Erik Lauer, me, Nate Heiss, Paul Sottosanti, etc.)

Without Randy, I likely would never have taken this game-making & entertainment path, so it was a nice opportunity to reminisce and also express gratitude.

Making games is an above average way to spend a life.

Thanks Randy!

Topics Covered

* The origins and goals of the Alternate Worlds project

* Gratitude, friendship, and reconnecting with the early Magic community

* Building and leading Team CMU

* The evolution of Magic R&D and the Lead Developer role

* Design versus development in collectible games

* Leadership styles and organizational culture

* Recruiting top professional players into Wizards of the Coast

* Pro Tour history and the early competitive Magic scene

* Breaking formats and discovering powerful decks

* The famous Memory Jar emergency ban

* Sixth Edition rules and Randy’s published guidebook

* How Magic trained players for careers in technology, finance, gaming, and entrepreneurship

* Community building, mentorship, and creating opportunities for others

* The similarities between Magic teams, startups, and modern AI communities

Memorable Moments

* Randy describing his Myers-Briggs profile as essentially “cult leader” and explaining why organizing groups has always come naturally to him.

* Stories about dragging a reluctant Eric Lauer to PTQs and helping launch one of the greatest deck-building careers in Magic history.

* Discussion of Team CMU’s collaborative culture and how it differed from more exclusive testing groups.

* Randy recounting how he helped create and refine the infamous Memory Jar deck that led to Magic’s only true emergency ban.

* Brian reflecting on how the social fabric of Magic helped him understand the kind of leader he wanted to become.

Mike Turian is the Senior Executive Producer for Magic: the Gathering, which is one of the biggest game franchises in the world.

Magic has blossomed under Turian’s wing, and the world is better for it.

Mike and I met over 30 years ago, logged time on the same pro Magic: the Gathering team (CMU), and later worked in R&D making the game — and it’s always a joy to catch up with him.

He’s a Magic HOFer & a pro tour winner who has done pretty much everything one can do in the game.

And he’s very happy to keep on keeping on, in that same vein.

Alternate Worlds Podcast: Matt Place is a TCG Legend

In this episode, Brian reconnects with longtime friend, former Magic rival, and Wizards of the Coast colleague Matt Place. What begins as a nostalgic reunion quickly turns into a wide-ranging conversation about the early days of competitive Magic, game design, Wizards R&D, and the enduring challenge of creating great games. The discussion blends personal history, professional lessons, and reflections on how both games and technology have evolved over the past three decades.

Note from Brian:

Matt Place and I have played more Magic: the Gathering against each other than we will ever play against other humans.

And for the rest of our days, that stat will likely remain.

Matt was a Pro Tour champion at Mainz, joined us at Wizards of the Coast in 2001, “bet it all on black” with Path of Exile, and went on to work on the WoW TCG, Hearthstone & Eternal.

Topics here run the gamut, but we do get into some of the quirks of the early Magic R&D department, calling out the group’s many wins in game design & the games business over the last few decades.

WotC R&D was a lucky place to be.

Matt’s current effort is Once Upon a Galaxy, which is meant to optimize for what a TCG can be on mobile & has been getting very strong reviews so far.

Topics Covered

* The early competitive Magic tournament scene

* Meeting through Magic in the mid-1990s

* Famous players and personalities from Magic’s early years

* The growth of Magic from hobby to global phenomenon

* Wizards of the Coast R&D culture in the early 2000s

* Game balance, power creep, and design philosophy

* Why creatures became central to modern Magic

* Lessons from sets such as Ravnica, Champions of Kamigawa, and Future Sight

* The role of intuition versus data in game design

* Limited formats and the evolution of drafting

* Marvel Snap and mobile-first game design

* Building games for phones versus desktop platforms

* Modern game development and player expectations

Memorable Moments

* Brian and Matt realizing they have played more Magic with each other than almost anyone else in their lives.

* Stories from 1990s tournaments where players traveled cross-country chasing prizes and glory.

* Matt recalling Brian’s brother challenging him to a $100 sealed-deck ante match shortly after they met.

* Reflections on meeting legendary Magic personalities when the professional scene was still forming.

* Detailed discussion of what Wizards understood—and misunderstood—about game design during their R&D years.

* Matt’s observation that today’s designers possess decades of accumulated knowledge that simply didn’t exist when they were building Magic’s foundations.

Alternate Worlds Podcast #9: Mike Elliott & the tabletop gaming hall of fame.

In this episode, Brian sits down with legendary game designer Mike Elliott for a deep dive into the early history of Magic: The Gathering, trading card game design, and the hidden mechanics behind some of the industry's most influential games. The conversation traces Mike's path from competitive bridge player and Magic enthusiast to one of the architects of modern collectible card games, covering his work on Magic, Duel Masters, Battle Spirits, and countless other projects.

Note from Brian

Mike Elliott is in tabletop gaming Hall of Fame, for his work on Magic: the Gathering, Pokemon, Duelmasters and Battle Spirits.

He and I worked together for many years & reminisce about many topics Magic-related that aren’t commonly discussed outside closed doors.

He did a lot of heavy lifting on many of my favorite blocks — Mirage, Tempest, Urza’s Saga - and created many of Magic: the Gathering’s most popular mechanics.

Also he can draw blood just by throwing a Magic card. :)

Topics Covered

* Mike’s journey from tournament bridge to professional game design

* Early Magic: The Gathering tournaments and competitive play

* Being recruited to Wizards of the Coast

* The origins of Slivers, Cycling, Shadow, and other iconic mechanics

* Mirage, Tempest, Weatherlight, Urza’s Saga, Mercadian Masques, and other early Magic sets

* Designing Duel Masters and Battle Spirits

* Card collation and pack distribution systems

* The introduction of collector numbers and rarity symbols

* Foil card production and printing technology

* Trading card game economics and collecting

* Set leadership and game development processes

* The challenges of balancing powerful cards and mechanics

* How game design teams operated in Magic’s early years

Memorable Moments

* Mike recounting how Wizards employees approached him at a tournament after hearing him passionately critique Magic’s design.

* The revelation that his homemade fan-created card set contained early versions of mechanics that later became major Magic features.

* Stories about helping create the modern card collation system that reduced predictability in booster packs.

* Mike explaining how rarity symbols almost didn’t happen because of legal concerns around gambling.

* His admission that he helped create numerous cards that were eventually banned, including the infamous Tolarian Academy.

* Brian jokingly confronting Mike about leading Mercadian Masques, one of the most divisive Magic blocks ever released.

Alternate Worlds Podcast #8: Josh Kermond, EP & GM in the gaming industry

In this episode, Brian reconnects with longtime game industry colleague Josh Kermond for a candid conversation spanning game development, parenting, community building, creativity, AI, Magic: The Gathering, and the changing realities of the games business. What begins as a lighthearted discussion about raising children and choosing family TV shows evolves into a thoughtful reflection on twenty years in games and what creators owe to their communities.

Note from Brian:

Josh Kermond got his start making RTS games, then shifted to Zynga and was Game Producer on CityVille & FrontierVille, before shifting to become an EP on DomiNations.

Josh was the GM of the flagship product at Captain.tv, Stream Raiders, and knows a ton about rallying teams to create & deliver great games.

He’s currently on the board for Baltimore’s IGDA, and is also a natural community builder, which I personally love. :)

Topics Covered

* Parenting, family life, and raising multiple children

* Demon Slayer, The Simpsons, and family entertainment choices

* Early careers in the game industry

* Big Huge Games and the Baltimore game development scene

* Zynga’s explosive growth and the development of CityVille

* Leadership turnover and startup culture

* Social games versus traditional games

* Magic: The Gathering and early collectible card game experiences

* AI-assisted game creation and content generation

* Community building and local engagement

* The challenges facing today’s game industry

* Creativity, storytelling, and independent projects

* Why people create things and share them with the world

Memorable Moments

* Josh’s observation that “the only insane number of children is one more than you already have.”

* A detailed retrospective on CityVille’s constantly changing leadership structure and the realities of hypergrowth game development.

* Josh explaining how social games expanded his understanding of what a “gamer” looks like.

* The story of receiving an entire box of Fallen Empires boosters and nearly quitting Magic as a result.

* Brian and Josh debating whether AI can meaningfully accelerate creative work without sacrificing quality.

* Josh’s thoughtful argument that people should invest more energy in improving their local communities than obsessing over distant problems they cannot influence.

Alternate Worlds Podcast #7: Albert Birckhead of The Tranquil Domain

In this episode, Brian sits down with Magic historian, content creator, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Albert Birckheadfor a wide-ranging conversation about Magic history, storytelling, competition, community, and the surprising parallels between games and martial arts. What begins as a discussion of old-school Magic culture evolves into an exploration of memory, identity, personal goals, content creation, and what motivates people to keep pursuing difficult things.

Note from Brian:

Albert Birckhead (aka Mason Trace) is a Magic: the Gathering historian, who has grown a nice following on his YouTube channel, The Tranquil Domain.

Albert’s topics run the gamut of what made the 90’s an especially fertile ground for gamers to grow and develop — and he has talked with almost everyone to piece those narratives together.

It’s impressive stuff.

In addition, Albert is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and will play the first ever head-to-head “Mag-itsu” match for the “Magic the Gathering” belt against Magic Hall of Famer Raphael Levy.

Should be very entertaining, to say the least. :)

Topics Covered

* The many accents and subcultures of Baltimore

* Early Magic history and the legacy of Tongo Nation

* How different participants remember the same events differently

* Building a Magic history YouTube channel

* What content resonates with Magic audiences

* Famous Magic personalities and legendary decks

* Competitive Magic strategy and deckbuilding philosophy

* Spike, Timmy, and Johnny player archetypes

* Brazilian jiu-jitsu and MMA competition

* The upcoming Magic-versus-jiu-jitsu challenge with Raphaël Lévy

* Goal setting, achievement, and changing priorities over time

* Preserving gaming history and community memory

Memorable Moments

* Albert’s description of discovering that Magic history often changes depending on who tells the story.

* A discussion about how YouTube algorithms influence which historical stories gain attention.

* Albert explaining that he rarely plays the established best deck and instead prefers building decks designed to beat the metagame.

* The breakdown of his upcoming hybrid Magic-and-jiu-jitsu competition against Raphaël Lévy.

* Stories from his MMA career, including achieving his goal of becoming a professional fighter.

* A thoughtful exchange about Kai Budde’s legacy and how communities honor important figures.

Ben Seck is a Hall of Fame-eligible Magic player who has also gone on to have a fabulous career in game-making.

Fun tidbit: TBS has played with every set of Magic: the Gathering, and has played on every continent where the game is played.

Only Antarctica remains.

(Get on that Wotc!)

Despite the fact that Ben and I have been near each other’s lives for years (in the 90’s, 00’s), we didn’t really get to know each other until we both showed up at Zynga, in its very early days.

Today, Ben calls London home, and is a successful gaming executive who indexes heavily on the creative side (which is the best side).

Alternate Worlds Podcast #5: Brandon Bozzi, MTG Creative Team

In this conversation, Brian reconnects with longtime friend and former Wizards colleague Brandon Bozzi for a wide-ranging discussion that blends Magic history, game design, parenting, creativity, career evolution, and a healthy dose of Wizards-era absurdity. What begins as a look back at Brandon's time on Magic's creative team expands into a reflection on why so many game creators eventually find themselves chasing experiences that bring people together in the real world.

Note from Brian:

Brandon Bozzi was the Creative Coordinator on the Magic: the Gathering team, and was responsible for making sure the story, art and flavor all connected for the player.

Here we discuss decisions he made that he remembers fondly, and not so fondly — but most memories are good ones.

After shifting his gears towards new products and Tiny Adventures (an early Facebook game themed around D&D) during his time at Wizards of the Coast, he did stints at Big Fish Games, Wargaming & most recently Rec Room, as a design director & creative powerhouse.

For the longest time as a creative, Brandon sought to work on the next hot platform.

Today, he’s developing analog-only experiences, that harken back to life before the internet.

Learn more about his journey below!

Topics Covered

* Early Wizards of the Coast and Magic R&D culture

* Brandon’s path from retail support to Magic creative

* Ravnica and the evolution of creative/design collaboration

* Lessons learned from Kamigawa

* How Magic helped shape careers and communities

* Parenting, creativity, and giving children room to explore

* Facebook games, mobile games, and the rise of new platforms

* Why Wizards struggled with digital initiatives at times

* Gleemax, Tiny Adventures, and experimental projects

* Rec Room and creator-driven gaming platforms

* Immersive live experiences and interactive theater

* The tension between technology and human connection

* Following curiosity throughout a career

* Memorable Wizards stories, bets, trips, and workplace antics

Memorable Moments

* Brandon describing how being surrounded by professional Magic players eventually transformed him into a much stronger gamer.

* The discussion about parents who over-optimize childhood and unintentionally limit exploration.

* Reflections on Ravnica as the set where Magic’s creative and design teams truly clicked.

* Brandon’s candid assessment that Kamigawa may have leaned too heavily into complexity and flavor at the expense of accessibility.

* Stories about Nutball, credit card games, oil wrestling, and other legendary Wizards-of-the-Coast shenanigans.

* The reveal that Brandon’s current passion involves creating immersive real-world experiences where participants intentionally put their phones away.

Alternate Worlds Podcast #4: Alex Shvartsman, former MTG pro that now writes popular sci-fi & fantasy books

In this episode, Brian sits down with longtime Magic player, entrepreneur, author, editor, translator, and game designer Alex Shvartsman to explore a life spent pursuing curiosity. What begins as a conversation about Magic's earliest days evolves into a broader discussion about entrepreneurship, creative work, parenting, writing, game design, and the value of choosing unconventional paths.

Note from Brian:

Great call today with Alex Shvartsman, who is a candidate for “most interesting person in the world.”

Alex and I met 30 years ago in Philly or NJ or New York (most likely), and have been friends ever since.

He ended up having 5-7 great years as a pro player, traveled the world to play in and win major events (in an innovative fashion — he’s played in events on six continents!), began learning how the game business trade worked while on his travels, opened the longstanding & successful shop King’s Games (located in Brooklyn), then went on to write & edit dozens of sci fi & fantasy titles with many of the top writers in the field (Adrian Tchaikovsky, Ken Liu, George Martin, and so many others).

Along the way, Alex began translating books to & from the Russian & Ukrainian market for many top authors, and has also worked on many successful games such as Ascension and the upcoming title, Reclusion (made with fellow former Magic pros Alan Comer and Brian Weissman).

When Alex creates, he is happy. So he pretty much always creates. :)

If you want to check out is current gaming effort, visit https://www.reclusionthegame.com.

If you want to check out Alex’s speculative fiction, visit https://alexshvartsman.com.

Thanks Alex!

Topics Covered

* Discovering Magic in the mid-1990s

* The first Homelands prerelease and early Magic culture

* Neutral Ground and the New York Magic scene

* Building one of Magic’s first distributed testing teams

* Traveling the world through Magic competition

* Japanese card markets and early trading-card entrepreneurship

* Founding King’s Games in Brooklyn

* Balancing business success with creative fulfillment

* Science fiction writing and publishing

* Editing anthologies and working with legendary authors

* Parenting through games, learning, and curiosity

* Designing games versus writing books

* Why fun is the most important metric in game design

* The value of pursuing unusual opportunities instead of following the crowd

Memorable Moments

* Alex explaining how a college newspaper assignment to cover the Homelands prerelease changed his life.

* Stories of flying to Japan every few weeks to buy and sell Magic and Pokémon cards.

* Becoming the first non-Japanese player to win a Japanese Grand Prix.

* The origin story of King’s Games and competing alongside Neutral Ground.

* Alex’s reflection that writing books remains his true creative north star despite success in many other fields.

* The discussion about helping children discover their own passions rather than inheriting their parents’ hobbies.

Alternate Worlds Podcast #3: Paul Barclay, former Rules Manager for Magic: the Gathering

Former Magic Rules Manager Paul Barclay joins Brian for a candid look inside Wizards R&D, revealing how iconic mechanics, creative teams, and leadership decisions shaped the future of Magic—and what those lessons mean for builders today.

Note from Brian:

Paul Barclay was Director of Production at Wizards of the Coast, and started off in R&D as the Rules Manager for Magic: the Gathering.

If a game designer wanted to do something really fun, and we didn’t know if we could technically pull that fun thing off, Paul’s job was to figure out how to make that work.

We dive deeply into our memories of the sets we worked on (starting in Invasion Block, shifting through Time Spiral block) and discuss many other things along the way.

Enjoy!

Topics Covered

* The culture of early Magic R&D

* Building and balancing Magic expansions

* Odyssey, Onslaught, Mirrodin, and Fifth Dawn retrospectives

* The origins of Morph and other iconic mechanics

* Magic Online and Wizards’ digital transformation

* Bill Rose’s leadership philosophy

* Managing creative geniuses and strong personalities

* Rules design versus game design

* Why many Wizards side projects failed

* Information architecture, AI, and the future of product development

* Lessons from building games at scale

* The relationship between fun, balance, and player experience

Memorable Moments

* Brian and Paul debating which Magic card they would change if given the chance.

* Paul’s description of R&D as “30 creatives and a two-person engineering department.”

* Stories about Bill Rose quietly steering Magic through pivotal moments.

* The behind-the-scenes creation of Morph and convincing Mark Rosewater it could actually work.

* Reflections on how Magic became too large for any single person to fully understand.

Alternate Worlds is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Alternate Worlds #2: Gaming Entrepreneur Bradley Ross

Bradley Ross joins Brian to discuss creator communities, AI, Twitch, Substack, startup lessons, and why the future belongs to people who build things together.Today’s chat is with Bradley Ross, a two-time founder, who has built companies closely related to the sphere and headspace Substack lives in today (Cointent, Captain.tv).

Note from Brian:

Another lifetime ago, Brad and I were on the leadership team at CityVille, the flagship game (once the biggest in the world) that allowed Zynga to successfully IPO 15 years back, and more recently formed part of the executive team at Captain.tv, which built a platform of games that streamers could play directly with their audiences.

Brad’s an avid Magic player and is an incredibly thoughtful & creative gaming executive and startup junkie.

Enjoy!

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Topics Covered

* Early Zynga culture and learning games from elite players

* Why Substack still lacks a gaming category

* The evolution of creator businesses

* Micropayments, subscriptions, and Cointent

* Community versus content in an AI-driven world

* Twitch, YouTube, and the future of creator ecosystems

* Building Stream Raiders and Captain.tv

* AI’s impact on startups, large companies, and creative work

* Game entrepreneurship and audience participation

* Books, creativity, and sustaining long-term projects

Memorable Moments

* A debate over whether gaming should be considered a core part of culture.

* Brad’s story of trying to beat Ben Seck in endless Magic drafts at Zynga.

* The tale of a bestselling book whose only word is “Doug.”

* A deep discussion on why community may become more valuable than content in an AI-saturated future.

* The origin story of Stream Raiders and turning Twitch viewers into heroes within a game.

Nate Heiss has been designing card games and video games for the last 25 years. If you’ve played Magic: the Gathering, Dominion, the Plants vs. Zombies card game, or hundreds of other titles, feel free to complain to Nate with anything you don’t like about them. :)

Nate’s a wonderful human being, and it was fun to do a first test run with him to understand how we want to do podcasts like these moving forward.

P.S. I shuffle a fancy deck of cards when I talk to people, which a) is not attractive and b) still worth it.

I still love to shuffle cards, and it helps me focus on the person, not the Internet.

Thanks Nate!