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#27: Board Game Design. With Martin Wallace |
May 16, 2013 |
| Dirk (the solo host for this week) sits down with acclaimed game designer Martin Wallace of Tree Frog Games. Martin’s star-studded resume includes Railroad Tycoon, A Few Acres of Snow, Waterloo, and the Discworld licensed games. |
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#26: Puzzle Strike, Becoming a Designer, & More |
May 7, 2013 |
| A lengthy episode where Jon and Dirk cover a variety of topics. First, they discuss the superb ‘Puzzle Strike’, basically “‘Dominion’ done right.” The conversation shifts to ‘Magic’ and the pluses and minuses of an immense learning curve. Our hosts then provide updates on their ongoing projects, and wrap up the episode with a realistic (some might say sobering) look at what it’s like becoming - and being - a game designer. |
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#25: Information & Obfuscation |
April 30, 2013 |
| David Heron, Jon and Dirk noodle over the role of information and obfuscation in game design. Why does ‘Persona 4’ work when the BioWare games do not? And when can hiding info be GOOD for a game? |
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#24: Games and the Law. With Dave Fitzgerald |
April 23, 2013 |
| Trademark specialist and actual lawyer-type Dave Fitzgerald joins the show to discuss legal issues relating to games development. Topics covered include the difference between patents, trademarks and copyrights, what you need to set up a company and common mistakes made by developers. |
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#23: Magic, Drafting & Updates |
April 18, 2013 |
| Dirk shares his first ‘Magic’ drafting experience, and why the game and format now has its hooks into him. He and Jon then step back and evaluate the drafting mechanic and ponder whether the reason why it works is BECAUSE of a steep learning curve. They then go on to discuss the recent re-release of ‘Age of Empires 2’ and ‘War of the Roses’ before providing brief updates as to what’s new with ‘At the Gates’ and ‘Tomorrow’. |
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#22: Bioshock Infinite & Plaid Hat Games. With Colby Dauch |
April 12, 2013 |
| The team is joined by Colby Dauch, president of Plaid Hat Games, the developer behind Summoner Wars and the upcoming Bioshock Infinite board game. These games are discussed, as well as the story behind Plaid Hat’s founding, Colby’s approach to business and design, and whether or not the digital/tabletop convergence is real. |
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#21: Free to Play. With David Heron |
April 4, 2013 |
| New occasional co-host David Heron rejoins the show to analyze the impact of Free to Play (F2P) from a business and design perspective. The group discusses the philosophical implications of F2P, along with real life examples that include Banner Saga: Factions, World of Tanks and League of Legends. |
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#20: ‘Tomorrow’, Abnercon Games & Updates |
March 28, 2013 |
| Jon and Dirk are guest-free this week and provide an update on what they’ve been working on and playing. On the Kickstarter front, ‘At the Gates’ has wrapped up and ‘War Stories’ will soon be doing the same. A recent playtest of ‘Tomorrow’ and Jon’s thoughts on a recent version of the game. They also discuss some of the games played at ‘Abnercon’, including ‘The World Cup Game’, ‘Railroad Tycoon’ and ‘Mare Nostrum’. |
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#19: Diplomacy & Allan Calhamer. With Jim Burgess |
March 21, 2013 |
| With the sad passing of Allan Calhamer, Dirk and Jon felt it appropriate to honor his memory and the legacy left behind by his finest work: Diplomacy. They are joined by Jim Burgess, a distinguished member of the Diplomacy community. The crew discusses what’s made it a gaming favorite for fifty years, a few ideas for improvements and what the future holds for the title. |
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#18: Spelunky. With Derek Yu |
March 15, 2013 |
| This week Jon and Dirk are joined by Derek Yu, designer of Spelunky. He shares his design approach, the importance of challenge and permadeath. Derek also describes what it’s like to be a designer/artist hybrid, as opposed to the designer/programmers that this show has tended to focus on more in the past. He also touches on his unique development cycle where he oscillates between PC freeware and professional, for-purchase titles.
There are a few small spoilers, so beware, should you have any interest in exploring the game’s nuances for yourself! |
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#17: Kickstarter & Fate Core. With Fred Hicks |
March 7, 2013 |
| With the At the Gates funding campaign coming to a close, Jon and Dirk are joined by the timely Fred Hicks of Evil Hat to talk about launching and running a Kickstarter drive. They delve into the demands and challenges of Kickstarter, and Fred shares the success story and design behind his latest project, Fate Core. |
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#16: War Stories. With Michael Tan |
February 28, 2013 |
| Jon and Dirk are joined by Michael Tan, lead designer of War Stories, a new tabletop wargaming franchise that just launched on Kickstarter. Michael and Dirk talk about the experience of remotely designing a game together, and share many of the exciting and innovative features that help it stand out from other wargames. |
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#15: Tactics, Company of Heroes & XCOM |
February 21, 2013 |
| In this week’s episode Jon and Dirk discuss two of their favorite tactical combat games: Relic’s Company of Heroes, and Firaxis’ XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Our hosts discuss what these games did well, poorly and what changes they would make to them. |
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#14: 4X Games & Civilization. With Soren Johnson |
February 14, 2013 |
| This week Jon and Dirk are joined by Soren Johnson, best known as the designer of Civilization IV. The gang discusses the 4X genre with a particular focus on the Civilization series. They dig into what makes this category of games special, what problems they have yet to solve and what opportunities exist with multiplayer and on mobile platforms. |
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#13: Jon’s New Game - At the Gates |
February 6, 2013 |
| Lucky #13! In this week’s episode, our hosts discuss Jon’s new game: ‘At the Gates,’ a 4X strategy game where you play as a barbarian tribe during the fall of Rome. They discuss the background for the game’s development, as well as the design thinking that went into many of its features. ‘At the Gates’ will be available on Kickstarter from February 6th until March 8th, so please check it out! |
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#12: CCGs & Dominion. With David Heron |
January 30, 2013 |
| Jon and Dirk are joined by designer David Heron to discuss his work on the Legend of the Five Rings CCG (Collectible Card Game). Along the way, they examine the business side of building a CCG. The discussion then shifts to deckbuilding and drafting games, with a particular focus on Dominion and 7 Wonders and the design flaws that prevent Dirk and David from enjoying them. At the end of the episode Jon teases a big announcement that will be made next week. |
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#11: Storytelling & The Walking Dead. With Telltale |
January 23, 2013 |
| A “high-energy” episode this week as Jon and Dirk are joined by Telltale Games designers (and Idle Thumbs hosts) Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin. The guests share their experiences developing story-based games, with a particular focus on The Walking Dead. Many of the design challenges they face contrast heavily with what Jon and Dirk are used to with more abstract, non-story titles. And yet, the crew also discovers that many of the nuts and bolts that go into game development are the same regardless of what type of project you’re working on.
Oh, and a spoiler warning for those of you who haven’t yet finished Season 1 of The Walking Dead. Jake and Sean discuss important plot points a couple times, so listener beware! |
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#10: Battle of the Bulge, Updates, and More |
January 15, 2013 |
| An intimate show this week where Jon and Dirk cover a variety of topics ranging from the new Battle of the Bulge iOS game to Jon’s recent article contrasting turn-based and real-time games. Dirk also provides an update on the progress of his current game, ‘Tomorrow’, and our hosts even spend a few minute discussing another project on Kickstarter that they’re not exactly enamored with. |
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#9: Journey of a Part-Time Indie. With Jesse Howard |
January 8, 2013 |
| This week Jon and Dirk are joined by Jesse Howard, an academic turned part-time tabletop designer - at age 40. They delve into Jesse’s ongoing journey to develop ‘Ploy’, a promising and innovative abstract card game. The design of Ploy is a very interesting case, as Jesse began with mechanics and only later added theming, which is the opposite approach of our hosts. Along the way, the group explores what they believe to be THE key to game development success. |
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#8: End-of-Year Spectacular 2012 |
January 2, 2013 |
| In the final episode of 2012, Jon and Dirk hand out the first annual TGDRT Game Design Awards. Our hosts highlight some favorites from past episodes but also share their thoughts on a few newcomers - their Games of the Year might come as a bit of a surprise!
Happy New Year everyone, and thanks for being a part of the TGDRT community! |
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#7: Experience & Replayability. With Scott Lewis |
December 27, 2012 |
| This week Jon and Dirk are joined by Firaxis designer and programmer Scott Lewis. He comes on the show to jump into a discussion about “experience” games, which target the player’s first experience, and replayable games, which are designed to hold up over the long haul. Along the way there’s plenty of talk about roguelikes and Spelunky in particular, one of Scott and Jon’s favorites. Unfortunately, the quality of Scott’s audio is a bit suspect, so we apologize for that. |
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#6: Running a Game Company. With Uwe Eickert |
December 18, 2012 |
| This week Dirk and Jon are joined by Uwe Eickert, founder of Academy Games and designer of several acclaimed board games. They discuss a few of Uwe’s projects including Conflict of Heroes and 1775. Also covered is how and why he got into the business, the challenges of running a tabletop games company and more! |
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#5: Digital vs. Tabletop Game Design |
December 12, 2012 |
| An intimate show this week in which our co-hosts “go commando,” as Dirk puts it. We compare and contrast tabletop and digital game design, and dig into the process Dirk went through when creating Tomorrow. The crew dives deep into the “nuts and bolts” of development in this episode - so if you enjoy that sort of peek behind the industry’s curtain then you’re really in for a treat! |
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#4: Storytelling & Crusader Kings 2. With Paradox. |
December 3, 2012 |
| Henrik Fahraeus and Chris King from the Paradox Interactive design crew join Jon and Dirk to talk about storytelling in games. |
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#3: Trends in Digital & Tabletop Game Design |
November 27, 2012 |
| Bill Abner from Conquistador Games joins Jon and Dirk to talk about trends in digital and tabletop games, as well as his experiences transitioning from gaming media into game development. |
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#2: Memory, Innovation and Being an Indie. With Rob Daviau. |
November 20, 2012 |
| Risk: Legacy designer and newly-minted indie game design company owner Rob Daviau joins Dirk and Jon to talk about a wide-range of topics including memory and persistence in games, innovation, and starting your own game company. Spelunky, Stone Age, Lords of Waterdeep, Civilization and other games are discussed. |
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#1: Hello World! |
November 11, 2012 |
| The Game Design Round Table launches with hosts Dirk Knemeyer and Jon Shafer talking about their background in gaming and design. |
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