The Game Design Round Table

In this episode, Dirk and Harrison have a chat with Mike Bithell, designer of games such as Thomas Was Alone, Volume, EarthShape, and Subsurface Circular. They discuss Mike’s path to success and how he’s been able to make such a variety of games. --------------------- Mike Bithell – @mikebithell, mikebithellgames.com Harrison Pink – @GilesPink, harrisonpink.com, harrisonpink@gmail.com Dirk Knemeyer – @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, dirk@artana.com --------------------- Episode Outline 0:17 Background on Mike 1:23 How did Mike get into games? 3:43 To what does Mike attribute his success? 5:55 Was it really all luck? How about the marketing side? – How Mike ended up on Steam 7:49 For the game, Thomas is Alone, how did narration get added to the game? 11:54 What about games more recent than Thomas is Alone and their great reviews? 15:24 What makes a game, an Bithell company game? 18:46 What’s next? 21:11 Did lack of marketing actually help? 22:59 How do you balance making customers happy against sales volume? 25:01 Design process 27:47 Advice for aspiring indie game designers

Description David and Dirk answer listener questions surrounding game design, board production, 3d printing and play testing. --------------------- David Heron - @DavidVHeron Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, artana.com, dirk@artana.com --------------------- Episode Outline 0:13 Listener Questions 0:33 What are the most common mistakes new designers make with blind playtesting? 6:55 What is the current state in board game printing? 8:44 How does it work with games with lots of mini's? 10:56 Will 3D printing change how mini's are handled? 11:46 When you start designing a game, how much research do you do in the genre? 15:00 What are the pros and cons of physical cards vs digital? 21:21 Any advice on identifying broken strategies before taking a game to external testers? 27:03 On a desert island, what games do David and Dirk pick?

In this episode, Dirk is joined by John Schulter, Sarah Graybill and Randy Hoyt to discuss their work on their new game, Spy Club from Foxtrot Games. They describe how their collaboration works and how Foxtrot Games and Black Straw Games fit into this relationship. --------------------- John Schulter & Sarah Graybill - @BlackStrawGames, blackstrawgames.com Randy Hoyt - @Randyhoyt, @foxtrotgames, foxtrotgames.com Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, artana.com, dirk@artana.com --------------------- Episode Outline 0:11 Welcome John, Sarah and Randy - Background 0:35 Discuss the new game, Spy Club, and how they all started on the team 1:18 It is based on another game by Jason D. Kingsley 2:18 These games have a long and intensive development process 3:05 How did it get from Jason to Foxtrot Games 3:53 How did playtesting turn into participation in the dev process? 6:34 Spy Club - what type of game is it? 7:58 John and Sarah have experience in designing games for children 9:54 Is Foxtrot Games making a directed effort into family friendly games? 11:12 Is this collaboration going into more projects? 13:32 This shows how relationships can pay off 14:53 Sarah and Black Straw Games 16:44 How does the collaboration work between the two companies? 19:35 How would people who are interested in working together do so? 22:44 Foxtrot, is the pace of releases increasing? 26:49 Spy Club the campaign aspect 34:07 What are some challenges of collaboration?

Description In this episode, Elizabeth LaPensée joins Kathryn and Dirk and they discuss indigenous self-determination in game development and how a destructive pattern of colonialism is being addressed. --------------------- Elizabeth LaPensée - elizabethlapensee@gmail.com, elizabethlapensee.com Kathryn Hymes - @chicalashaw, thornygames.com Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, artana.com, dirk@artana.com --------------------- Episode Outline 0:11 Welcome Elizabeth - Background 1:35 Elizabeth's voice and perspective as a game designer 3:07 Themes of culture; How does this impact Elizabeth's making of games 7:46 In the game Invaders, can a player win? Or is it inevitable that they will die? 9:09 How do Grandmother-mechanics fit into a game like Invaders with indigenous game mechanics? 11:42 Is there a larger message that is being told with these games? 12:36 Why might the holocaust in WWII Europe be see differently than the holocaust that was perpetuated on the native American peoples? 17:45 While there a lot of patterns of colonialism in games today, are there any positive themes to be found? 19:15 Serious Games - What is this about? 22:59 Game development as a form of self determination 27:52 Will games of assassination be seen in the future as smoking on planes is seen today?

In this episode, Niki Crisci calls in from Germany and chats with David and Dirk about his recently release game, Will Glow the Wisp. They discuss his inspiration for the game and how he's found the time to work on it. --------------------- Niki Crisci - @KeyboardSamuray , parttimeindie.com, store.steampowered.com/app/640890/Will_Glow_the_Wisp/ David Heron - @DavidVHeron Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, artana.com, dirk@artana.com --------------------- Episode Outline 0:16 Welcome Niki- Background 0:50 Overview of Niki's new game, Will Glow the Wisp 2:59 Niki's day-job 3:26 Nike's art background and his relationship to making games 6:57 When did Niki get started on Will Glow the Wisp? 14:13 What is the indie game scene like in Germany? 15:58 How has Niki dealt with a smaller supporting community during development? 19:09 Working alone vs working with a team 22:24 What is the hope for this or future games for Niki? 24:02 Advice for beginners

In this episode, Tomer Perry, political theorists, avid board and table gamer from Harvard University joins David and Dirk. They discuss how games are used to teach ethics and political theory. --------------------- Tomer Perry - @Perrytom6, ethics.harvard.edu, politicalgamer.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, artana.com, dirk@artana.com --------------------- Episode Outline 0:14 Welcome Tomer - Background 2:45 What impact, is what you're doing, having for people who are teaching? 3:53 Are great opportunity to also explore questions of ethics 7:44 Book: The Art of Losing 10:37 What can be learned from traditional game design? 12:13 What is the innovation that is breaking new ground? 15:31 Are there other fields besides IR that could benefit? 16:52 Tabletop games are easier to reproduce 19:37 Where does this all go moving forward?

David and Dirk catch up and talk about David's new work. They discuss some of the different ways he's found this new studio operates organizationally and how he thinks it may be a growing trend across the industry. --------------------- David Heron - @DavidVHeron Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, artana.com, dirk@artana.com --------------------- Episode Outline 0:38 What is David doing now in terms of job roles and companies? It's not quite what he expected 3:29 What is David's new project? 5:14 David discusses that this is the first time he's run a project from the very beginning. 7:32 Lean Engineering 9:13 How decisions are distributed across a team 12:14 How are the new ideas of developing a game applied in his new environment? 14:42 Where is the design happening? 18:02 What does the team look like? 20:50 What is the impressive part of the way this team is assembled and the game is being developed? 27:07 Is this new way of team design unique to the new company or is it something that is happening across the industry?

David, Dirk, and Kathryn dive into the digital mailbag and take a shot at some listener questions. Topics include Kickstarter Cancellations, design organization and ways to pitch a game. --------------------- Kathryn Hymes - @chicalashaw, thornygames.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, artana.com, dirk@artana.com --------------------- Episode Outline 0:20 Everyone thinks it has been a good week. 0:26 Some listener comments 0:36 Listener Michael Hopkins - Kickstarter Cancellations 3:18 Q: Glen Slagel - Do you go back through old notes? 7:17 Q: Tristen Angeles & Ryan Sumo - How do you organize your design? 15:02 Q: Aaron Wilson & Trevor Willis - Pitching a game by video vs. at a convention? 18:15 Q: Tristen & Ryan - How do you organize play tests? 22:53 Art Quality of prototypes - How does high vs. low fidelity impact testing? 26:06 Events for designers 27:00 Q: Derek Tocaz - Score keeping mechanisms - what do you like? 34:23 Kathryn got some cool games while in Japan

In this episode, Mo Turkington from Unruly Designs joins Dirk and Kathryn to discuss LARPs and specifically chamber LARPs focused on women in WWII. The conversation also touches on the roles LARPs can have in understanding social privilege. --------------------- Mo Turkington - unrulydesigns.com, moyra@unrulydesigns.com Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, artana.com, dirk@artana.com Kathryn Hymes - @chicalashaw, thornygames.com --------------------- Episode Outline 0:14 Mo introduced and background 0:49 What is a LARP? 2:02 How does the idea of a LARP fit into Nightingales? 4:18 What attracts Mo to the subject of historical LARP? 8:53 As a designer how do you approach the historical details? 11:43 What are the concrete goals a LARP player has? 17:20 Are LARP games meant to be replayed? 19:51 Differences between LARP and tabletop games 20:40 Onboarding and Offboarding mechanics 25:54 Privilege Lines 29:51 Debreifs 35:12 The changing narratives of LARP, RPG and tabletop games 40:17 What's the right way to play a LARP for the uninitiated? 44:00 Wrap up and contact information

Dirk, Kathryn, and Rob get together for the much anticipated game design axioms episode. Listen as they share their their top design principles.---------------------Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, dirk@artana.com Kathryn Hymes - @chicalashaw, thornygames.com Rob Daviau - @robdaviau---------------------Episode Outline 0:06 Greetings 0:22 Rob has a sultry voice 0:41 Kathryn and Rob are on the show together for the first time 0:57 Game design axioms 1:23 Axiom - Rob - Never make a person lose a turn 5:26 How Rob's experience at Hasbro contributed 6:45 Axiom - Kathryn - Design for the Human Animal 8:20 Heuristics - Group info and decisions in 3's 8:58 What are humans great at? 10:47 Insight - The Friction Is The Game 11:57 Flout Axioms with purpose 12:19 Kathryn background for her axiom 13:01 Axiom - Dirk - Know who you are designing for 16:29 User testing is core to knowing your audience 17:59 Tips for getting the right play testers 20:37 Axiom - Rob - Experience is more important than the rules 24:17 Rule design - people will do what they will do 25:19 Axiom - Kathryn - Rules relate to emotion 28:11 How to draw an emotional map 29:22 Axiom - Dirk - If you want them to like it, make sure they succeed. 34:12 Design Nuggets from the internet 34:37 Nugget - Design to guide for the right use 35:27 Nugget - Your politics or someone else’s 35:52 Nugget - Be specific 36:21 Nugget - Tell me why to play your game 36:48 Nugget - Prioritize projects that are exciting to you 37:38 Nugget - People value what you make them work for