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
Professor Scott Rogers joins Gil and Emma once again! This time, we're discussing Scott's time as an Imagineer designing games and experiences for Disneyland, and his subsequent work designing VR attractions. It's a fascinating topic, with a surprising amount of overlap into any kind of game design!
Show notes:
05m45s: More info about Disney Play here.
08m06s: Scott is right, sportscaster Al Michaels was indeed traded for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
18m16s: Ludology 189 - Missing Selinker, wherein Mike Selinker shares a funny story testing Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom:
30m20s: The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman. Highly recommended to anyone who wants a better understanding of how people interact with objects.
40m53s: The history of how Tetris has chosen its pieces is really fascinating!
41m29s: Some more information about Legends of Frontierland: Gold Rush.
46m09s: We discussed dark rides and the challenge of choice in an immersive environment Ludology 214 - Escape from Reality with Strange Bird Immersive.
52m34s: Two-Bit Circus, the place in LA where you can experience the Terminator-themed dark ride that Scott worked on.
1h02m46s: Geoff interviewed Curtis Hickman, CCO of The Void, in GameTek 134.
1h05m51s: More info about Dreamscape.
1h06m37s: More info about Evermore.
1h10m58s: We discussed emergent vs. embedded narrative in Ludology 213 - Your Humble Narrator.
1h11m24s: Look, it was a long recording session, okay? :)
Geoff discusses Alpha Zero, a neural net that can play Go, Chess, and Shogi better than anyone in the world. It defeated the best AI in those respective games (each of whom had previously defeated the best humans in the world) with only a few hours of training. What does this spell for the future of AI, and the future of game design?
Emma and Gil welcome Geoff Engelstein and Isaac Shalev back to the show to discuss their new book Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design. This is a reference of board game mechanisms that any designer, new or experienced, can use to look up different tools they can use to solve problems in game design.
Games and other things mentioned in this episode:
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Scott uncovers the history of the classic game Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, which has been delighting kids (and kids-at-heart) since 1964. He discusses the influences that converged in making the game, why the combatants are robots, and how it's influenced everything from video games to real-life combat robotics.
Legendary Interactive Fiction writer Andrew Plotkin joins Gil and Emma to talk about text-based stories that players can participate in. We explore the form's history and unique strengths, and discuss what good writing can bring to a game's experience.
Interactive Fiction platforms mentioned in this episode:
Check out some of Andrew's IF work:
Other video games mentioned in this episode:
Board games and analog IF mentioned in this episode:
If you would like to explore the world of IF, a good place to start is the Interactive Fiction Database - it's like the BGG of IF!
Some good games to start with (this is hardly an authoritative list):
Enjoy exploring the IF rabbit hole!
In this GameTek Classic, Geoff describes the idea of "path dependence," and discusses how human game players allow their past to affect their present. Should players care about how they got to a certain point in their game?
Ludology returns for 2020, with our annual tradition of bringing on board game industry veteran Stephen Buonocore from Stronghold Games/Indie Game Studios to discuss the state of the industry.
2020 will be an interesting year for board games. What challenges await us? Is it smooth sailing? Doom and gloom? Somewhere in-between?
In this episode recorded at BGG.CON, Scott and Gil tell Emma all about Tabletop Network, a convention about the theory behind game design that happens right before BGG.CON. We gush about our favorite talks, and tell you what makes Tabletop Network so unique.
Scott gives us a history of the classic social deduction game Mafia, from its origins in a Russian high school classroom to its transformation beneath a full moon into Werewolf.
Escape rooms have been providing a new form of play for much of this decade. At the same time, immersive theater has been providing a new form of storytelling. What happens when the two get mixed?
In this episode, Emma and Gil are joined by Haley E.R. Cooper and J. Cameron Cooper of Strange Bird Immersive, who run the hybrid escape room/immersive theater piece The Man From Beyond, and the Immersology blog.
How can escape rooms use immersive theater to tell a story? And how can we learn from that to better tell stories in our games?
(Note: starting this episode, we are going to feature more detailed show notes of things we bring up in our conversation. That's especially important in this episode, as we refer to theater works that may not be well-known to others!)
Games mentioned in this episode (all digital):The Stanley Parable Myst Gone Home
Theater shows mentioned in this episode:Sleep No More Sweeney Todd (2017 off-Broadway semi-immersive) Selfie museums (e.g. Color Factory) Meow Wolf Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 Then She Fell The Nest
Also mentioned this episode: Improv for Gamers (book) Bartle Taxonomy of Gamer Types Ludology Episode 159 - Getting Out Scott Free (with Scott Nicholson)
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