Ludology

In this episode of Pros and Cons Sen meets with Kristen Mott, who talks about how she recently broke into the industry, how she designs with her children as playtesters, and how she's explored non-traditional markets for publication. Recorded at Origins Game Fair in Columbus, OH in June 2023. 

Sen chats with Jordan Goddard about the growth of his family endeavor - Indy Toy Lab, a toy and game design studio with hobby roots that's aiming it's sights at the mass market. This podcast was recorded at Origins Game Fair in June of 2023 in Columbus, OH.

In this second installment of talking to industry pros at gaming conventions, Sen chats with Tuesday Badell and Ben Begeal at Origins in Columbus, June 2023. We talk about design-centric conventions in general and the specific philosophy behind UnPub.

In the Pros and Cons series, Sen interviews industry professionals live at game conventions around the world.  In this first installment, Sen interviews Andy Kim - designer of The Spill from Smirk & Laughter Games - at Toronto's BreakoutCon in March 2023. Andy talks about The Spill, spas, and upcoming designs.

Steph brings their monthly dose of TTRPG advice to the table, this time extolling the benefits of playing roleplaying games with young children in the home or classroom. 

This week, Erica and Sen welcome writer, designer, and relucatant movie star Calvin Wong Tze Loon 黃子倫 to talk about his piece in "What Board Games Me To Me: Tales from the Tabletop," an anthology of short essays written by people from across the board game industry that was recently published by Aconyte Books. Join us as we find out more about the book and what Calvin finds so humanizing about games in their many forms. 

Erica and Sen speak with Ami Baio of Pink Tiger Games about her line of social communication games, how she makes them, and how she's able to find success outside of traditional markets for board games.

In the 7th installment of this series, Steph covers their strategies for helping children cope with spells, tracking information and more, offering practical solutions so you, too, can game with your kiddos!

Sen and Erica ask each other questions collected from our Patreon supporters about the differences between designing a board game and an RPG, what working for a mass market game company is like, how we balance games, what we did to break into the industry, and more!

In her segment, Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, Sarah Shipp talks about psychologist Steven Reiss' 16 Motivators or Human Needs in terms of game design and how considering these can help make a more engaging game.