podcast

CGD Podcast Episode 23 – “On Games At the Games”, A Conversation with Frank Lantz

May 2, 2016 / Interview, Podcast / 18 Comments

This week I had a great conversation with NYU Game Center director Frank Lantz about randomness and general game design philosophy. We meant to get to three other topics – execution, reading and improvisation, but not all-that-surprisingly, we never got there in the 70+ minutes of this episode. Mentioned in this episode: Frank’s “Against Design” …

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CGD Podcast Episode 21: The “Classics” Problem

March 24, 2016 / Podcast / 17 Comments

What does it mean when something is a “classic”? I think there’s actually a huge problem here that needs to be explored. New work is created using new cultural and scientific understandings, and it’s universally better in almost every case. We need to understand and appreciate this fact, and stop glorifying things just because they’re …

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CGD Podcast Episode 20: Options in Games

March 7, 2016 / Podcast / 10 Comments

In this episode – our 20th! –  I talk about the idea of “optional game rules” and why they are to be avoided. I also go into detail on some experiences designing abilities for Auro. Enjoy!   http://media.blubrry.com/clockworkgamedesign/keithburgun.net/cgdpodcast/episode20.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

CGD Podcast Episode 18: Single/Multi-player and 50% Win Rates

February 15, 2016 / Podcast / 28 Comments

Today I talked about how and why games work best with a 50% winrate (even single player games). That’s because learning in games is extremely hard due to their inherently complex and ambiguous nature. Getting a loss when you had a 10% chance to win doesn’t necessarily tell you much about your choices in that …

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CGD Podcast Episode 15: “Tharsis” Article and Redefining Elegance

January 21, 2016 / Game Design, Podcast / 15 Comments

In this episode, I first discuss a new article on Gamasutra that discusses Zach Gage’s new highly random (and proud of it!) game, Tharsis. For more on my positions on randomness, I would check out this article or this video. In the second half, I talk about a new, more specific definition for “elegance” as …

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CGD Podcast Episode 14: Failed “Fighting Card Game” Prototypes

January 12, 2016 / Podcast / 2 Comments

In this episode, I discuss some of my many spectacular game design failures! I tried about 30 times at least to create a simple yet deep 2 player “fighting card game”. Something I didn’t even get into in the podcast was the fact that the “fighting” theme is probably part of the issue. I know …

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