Stay ConnectedWelcome to Ludology, an analytical discussion of the how’s and why’s of the world of board games. Rather than news and reviews, Ludology explores a variety of topics about games from a wider lens, and discusses game history, game design and game players.
Ludology is part of The Dice Tower Network, the premier board game media network.
Copyright: © Geoff Engelstein, Sen-Foong Lim, and Erica Bouyouris
Gil sits down for a one-on-one with game designer, teacher, and lecturer Marc LeBlanc to discuss some of his game design ideas, especially his 8 Kinds of Fun and the Mechanics/Dynamics/Aesthetics (MDA) framework.
NOTE: Towards the end of the episode, Gil's mic cable started to get unhappy. Apologies for the static!
SHOW NOTES
0m50s: Looking Glass Studios, Ultima Underworld II, Thief, System Shock, Defense of the Oasis, Heroes Welcome
4m30s: Marc's 8 types of fun: Sensation, Fantasy, Narrative, Challenge, Fellowship, Discovery, Expression, and Submission.
9m31s: Wildermyth
11m28s: Nicole Lazzaro's 4 Keys to Fun, Self-Determination Theory, Quantric Foundry's Gamer Motivation Model, Jason VendenBerghe's Engines of Play
12m46s: Tim Fowers was on Ludology 165 - Fowerian Slip. Gil also mentions philosipher Roger Caillois and his book Man, Play, and Games.
23m52s: Reiner Knizia's classic auction game Ra.
31m34s: Spy Party
33m39s: Geoff discussed the Incan Gold experiment in GameTek 213.5.
36m46s: Gil's talk at Tabletop Network has been lost to tech gremlins. Fortunately, he gave the same talk online during the pandemic.
38m01s: Any mention of Caylus would make Ludology co-founder Ryan Sturm happy.
39m34s: Sharang Biswas was on Ludology 230 - Design Re-Verb. Geoff discussed his most recent game, Super Skill Pinball, on Ludology 268 - Pinball Wizard.
47m21s: 7 Wonders
51m08s: Slay the Spire
54m38s: Alan Moon's Oasis vs. Reiner Knizia's Through the Desert
56m05s: Return to Dark Tower, the Through the Ages digital adaptation, Pokemon Unite, Titan, Zach Gage's really bad chess.
1h00m02s: The Lynx web browser.
In this GameTek Classic, Geoff tells us about the strategies behind "Jeopardy" James Holzhauer's amazing run on the TV game show Jeopardy, in which he won 32 consecutive games between April and June 2019, earning $2,464,216. What does James do differently than everyone else?
Sen and Erica sit down with Matthew Dunstan and Dave Neale to discuss how they work as a team, working on a wide variety of games, working on a narrow group of games, and what it's like making a game based entirely in sound!
In this episode, Matthew mentions Postmark Games, his PNP project with Rory Muldoon.
At 37m31s, Sen mentions Piaget's Characteristics of Play.
At 44m15s, Matt mentions Ludology 265 - Hold Onto Your Hats!
In this classic Biography of a Board Game from 2017, Scott tells us the origins of the massively popular card game Uno.
Gil and Sen are delighted to welcome Geoff Engelstein back to the show to discuss the making of his hit roll-and-write game Super-Skill Pinball. What calls did he make when designing the game, and how much did it change from his original vision?
SHOW NOTES
3m29s: Take It Easy 5m38s: Limes 6m12s: Matt Wolfe joined us for Ludology 157 - Come Scale Away. Welcome To... 9m09s: Versailles 1919 25m58s: Yes, Games Magazine is thankfully still with us. Merchant of Venus 28m00s: Ares Project, the 1980 arcade game Crazy Climber 35m00s: MIND MGMT
Geoff tells us about the curious effect of endowment, and describes how both the game show Deal or No Deal and the video game Portal use it to enormous effect.
It's an annual Ludology tradition to invite The Podfather of Gaming, Stephen Buonocore, to the show at the start of each year to discuss trends in the industry. As always, Stephen flashes his business acumen and deep insight into what he thinks the industry is in store for in 2022.
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
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