Roundtable

  • Stephen's "Rule of Threes"
  • The Psychology of Animation
#304

In this episode, Stephen points out the number three! It’s everywhere! Also, what is it about animation that captures our minds and imaginations so effectively? Your hosts explore the topic and share some ideas.

2023.05.14
 
  • Endings
  • Lusory Attitude
#302

Your nice hosts explore the finality and the lusory this week with these two topics. In the process, Stephen struggles with a simple concept, Mark gets to 82% completion and Ellen figures out a way to blow up a transition.

2023.04.26
 
  • CSS
  • Skill Trees
#298

Dale learned a lot while editing this episode.

2023.04.13
 
  • Secrets & Easter Eggs
  • Player Trust
#296

In this episode, Mark makes up a reason to take a road trip, Ellen outwits everyone, and Stephen was also there.

2023.03.16
 
  • Visual Composition
  • Minigames
#294

This week, your nice hosts talk about last week and next week. Mark wants you to frame things, Stephen wants a definition, and Ellen wants you to start a fight with her on Discord.

2023.03.02
 
  • Save Data
  • Interdisciplinary Communication
#289

The clubhouse comes together this week to realize the danger and fear surrounding Save Data. Mark talks about the advantages of Json and xml, then immediately tells why he choose neither of them for his project.

2022.11.30
 
  • Branding & Iconography
  • The Ethics of Engagement
#284

It's spooky season! Stephen is SO over it, but he can't escape all the scary stuff happening in this week's episode.

2022.10.28
 
  • Pre-production
  • Idle Games
#282

Your nice hosts start off strong with an excellently performed intro, and it just gets better from there! 

2022.10.13
 
  • Keeping a Game Design Journal
  • Bringing Other Media into Games
#280

In this slightly-longer-than-normal episode, we start with a pandemic check-in. (Bivalent boosters are available! Go get 'em!) Ellen leads us on a journaling journey, sharing the embarrassing evidence of past attempts.

2022.09.30
 
  • Verisimilitude
  • Indie Game Credits
#278

Your nice hosts' pronunciation is on point this week as they say a really hard word a large number of times!

2022.09.14
 
  • Broken games
  • Support Systems
#276

In this episode the your nice hosts discuss broken games, solved games, and purposely broken games. Ellen realizes that even if it is broken, doesn't mean you need to fix it.

2022.09.01
 
  • GameMaker for Unity Devs
  • Inspiration from Behavioral Economics
#274

Your nice hosts accidentally stumble into the thesis of the show as this episode explores these two topics!

2022.08.17
 
  • Maintaining an Open-Source Project
  • Should we design for Killers?
#270

In this larger than normal episode, your nice hosts bring a lot to the top of the show with a bunch of exciting news. And there's still two topics to discuss after that!

2022.07.20
 
  • Curling
  • Off-Ramps
#268

How much of the culture around a game is rooted in its design?

2022.07.07