Roguelike Radio Episode 23: Interview with David Ploog
Feb 13, 2012
David Ploog, former lead designer of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup and a mathematician-turned-game-designer, leads a fascinating discussion about game design philosophy. Alongside fellow experts Keith Burgun and Jeff Lait, they dive into the significance of design documents and the culture of removal in game development. Topics include the challenges of team communication, balancing innovation with tradition, and the delicate interplay between storytelling and replayability. Discover the dynamics of creating unique experiences in roguelikes as they share their insights.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
How David Joined Crawl
- David Ploog discovered Crawl after playing NetHack and immediately preferred Crawl's solutions to NetHack's flaws.
- He joined the Stone Soup team as a non-coder by contributing maps, documentation, and ideas early on.
Define Your Game's Philosophy
- David wrote Crawl's design/philosophy document to distill what made Crawl work and to guide future design choices.
- He sees a clear benefit when roguelikes declare their design intent so projects and contributors align.
Prune Features Regularly
- Avoid endless feature bloat by actively removing or replacing old, redundant content.
- Prune species, spells, items and levels when they no longer fit the game's design or balance.