Ludology

In this re-air of a Biography of a Board Game from September 2017, Scott slices open the history of the game Operation. Note: Even though Scott has stepped away from the show, we will still be publishing classic Biography of a Board Game episodes for the time being.

During our winter break, our co-host Scott Rogers pounced on a new job opportunity that he couldn't pass up. Sadly, this means he has to step down as Ludology co-host. In this episode, we'll chat with Scott about his time at Ludology, and ask him what awaits in the future. Because Scott's job commitments have already begun, we couldn't find a time when we could all meet. So Erica, Gil, and Sen all recorded their questions in one recording session, and Scott recorded his answers in another recording session.

Erica, Gil, Scott, and Sen wrap up 2021 with a roundtable discussion on the hats we wear as game industry professionals. What are all the skills we bring to bear to make games, and how do we feel about them? This is the final Ludology episode of 2021. We're taking our annual winter break. We will be back on January 23, 2022 with the next episode of Ludology. In the meantime, there will be no Ludology, GameTek, or Biography of a Board Game episodes.  From all of us at Ludology, have the happiest of holidays, and here's to a productive 2022! SHOW NOTES 5m12s - Alien: Fate of the Nostromo 12m27s - “Spin” is Spin Master, where Erica works as an on-staff game designer. 25m54s - Route 66 28m14s - Gil should have said “at the start of the pandemic,” as we’re still in the pandemic! If you'd like to join his remote playtesting group (which he will hopefully be attending again soon), click here. 33m51s - Unity, a platform mainly used to develop video games. 38m57s - The Affinity suite. 51m38s - Here's more info about Amber Seger, Weird Stories' awesome graphic designer. 54m40s - Scott’s flat cap, Gil’s HUGE hat

In this re-air of a Biography of a Board Game from July 2017, Scott takes us through the history of former Ludology co-host Mike Fitzgerald's Mystery Rummy series of games.

Gil and Sen welcome game designer, manufacturer, publisher, game cafe owner, and convention runner Kenechukwu Ogbuagu ("KC") of NIBCARD Games to the show. From his home city of Abuja, KC has built up the board gaming scene in Nigeria almost singlehandedly, recently winning the prestigious Diana Jones award for his efforts.  SHOW NOTES 12m46s: Hobby World, Spyfall, Viceroy, Cosmodrome 14m58s: KC mentions the classic board game Ludo, which was based on the Indian game Pachisi. The American games Parcheesi, Sorry, Aggravation, Headache, and Trouble were based on Ludo or Pachisi; British people may know it as Uckers, while Canadians may know it as Tock. 22m07s: NGOs are Non-Governmental Organizations. In the US, most of them tend to be non-profits.  25m58s: See the Smart People Play Chess TV trope  34m08s: Bastard Café in Denmark, one of NIBCARD Cafe’s supporters  44m20s: Designer Eric Lang will be at AB Con, the convention that KC organizes in Nigeria. 45m36s: InstantSync 46m08s: Legendary designer Reiner Knizia 46m52s: Village War 54m12s: Kuli kuli, Okpa, Akara

Geoff discusses one of the most feared characteristics of early RPGs: the loss of a level. Why is this mechanism so hated and feared among players?

Erica and Sen chat with Shing Yin Khor, game designer, installation artist, illustrator, award-winning cartoonist, and Bunyan-ologist. Shing Yin is the designer of the game A Mending, in which players literally sew their actions into cloth, and co-designer (with Jeeyon Shim) of the game Field Guide to Memory. Shing Yin calls both games "keepsake games," as they both leave artifacts of play that tell the story of the game experience. SHOW NOTES 4m15s: Gasha/gacha machine  7m05s: We chatted with Jeeyon on Ludology 244 - Games Brought to Life. 10m04s: The Oraclebird 12m17s: Gnomes, a Dutch book written by Wil Huygen and illustrated by Rien Poortvliet. 16m21s: In games, diegesis refers to anything that fits within the narrative world. If a video game wants characters to move right on the screen, they can do it diegetically by showing objects being blown to the right, or non-diegetically by flashing an arrow on the screen pointing to the right. Examples of board games that use diegesis well are Inhuman Conditions and Ca$h 'n Guns. 17m05s: Space Gnome Space 19m05s: Paul Bunyan 25m17s: We discussed audience agency with Haley E.R. Cooper and Cameron Cooper of Strange Bird Immersive in Ludology 214 - Escape from Reality. Shing Yin mentions Sleep No More as an example of immersive theater. 26m49s: Geoff and Gil wrestled with the definition of "game" in Ludology 151 - High Definition. 30m34s: The RPGs For the Queen and The Quiet Year 34m55s: We chatted with the tireless Banana Chan in Ludology 228 - The Roles We Play. The game they made with Sen is Exquisite Crime. 39m39s: A helpful visual: 41m37s: Car Wars

Scott Rogers takes us to the inception of the legacy game, and the one that started it all: Rob Daviau's Risk Legacy.  BIBLIOGRAPHY OF A BOARD GAME: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-04-03-the-legacy-of-rob-daviau-the-man-who-helped-flip-boardgames-on-their-head https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024259/Legacy-Games-From-Risk-to https://www.polygon.com/tabletop-games/22740263/risk-legacy-sequel-shadow-forces-announcement-release-date-price https://boardgamedesignlab.com/designing-legacy-games-with-jamey-stegmaier/

Erica and Gil are delighted to welcome designer Amabel Holland of Hollandspiele, known for making games with challenging themes using an unconventional publishing model.  SHOW NOTES 0m58s: Supply Lines of the American Revolution, Table Battles, Irish Gauge, This Guilty Land, Nicea, The Vote. 7m08s: Amabel is talking about her forthcoming game Eyelet. 15m02s: This is Geoff's game Versailles 1919, co-designed with Mark Herman. 17m28s: Benedict Arnold 18m34s: The Shackleton Expedition 21m16s: The Vote 28m22s: Nicea 31m38s: Irish Gauge, Northern Pacific, Iberian Gauge 32m29s: Winsome, Rio Grande 34m23s: Chicago Express 34m55s: Meltwater, An Infamous Traffic 36m11s: RIBBIT: The Jump, Move, and Block Game, Table Battles 38m51s: New Mill 43m45s: Westphalia 48m18s: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae 49m52s: Cheapass Games 53m46s: Tobacco misinformation campaign 54m37s: Gil was thinking of Brandolini's Law, aka the BS Asymmetry Principle. 57m55s: Horse & Musket 59m03s: Deinocheirus, Pterodactyl, Therizinosaurus

Geoff explains a mathematical algorithm that can help potential roommates figure out how to split the rent, if an even split would be unfair and the roommates do not value the rooms the same way. This mechanism is just dying to be used in a game!