Ludology

Gil and Geoff tackle ties in games. How important are tiebreakers? What are good and bad ways to design them? Duration: 1:18:18

In this classic GameTek, Geoff discusses the difference between a cheat and a spoilsport, and what that means for society. Duration: 05:49

Gil and Geoff are thrilled to welcome Chris Cobb from Riot Games, creator of the number one online game in the world, League of Legends. Until recently Chris was the technical lead for the Player Behavior team, which was tasked with designing in-game and out-of-game systems to encourage players to be nicer to each other, and deal with players who don't. Over the years, what did they learn about be...

Ludology welcomes Scott Rogers and his Biography of a Board Game segment! This episode he traces the history of Risk, from the early 20th century to today. Duration: 09:10

For their first show as a duo, Gil and Geoff revisit the question posed in the very first episode of Ludology - What is a game?  The answer may surprise you. Duration: 1:23:24

New Content! Geoff interviews Eric Janszen, the CEO of VirZoom . VirZoom makes a Virtual Reality exercise bike, that interfaces with all the major VR platforms, and uses games to keep people exercising. What lessons have they learned about gaming and engagement? Duration 25:39

Changes! We bid a fond farewell to Mike, and a big hello to Gil! Duration: 1:25:22

New content! Geoff interviews Rogelio Cardona-Rivera, a researcher at North Carolina State, about Procedural Narrative Generation - systems that can create and manipulate story structure in a game on the fly.  For more information, please check out http://rogel.io  and http://storygen.org Duration: 32:58

Mike and Geoff are pleased to welcome Justin Jacobson from Restoration Games, to talk about what they've learned from bringing older games back for a modern audience. Duration: 1:01:35

In this classic GameTek, Geoff looks at games that help improve teamwork. Duration: 05:41

Mike and Geoff are pleased to welcome guest J.R. Honeycutt, to discuss the role of the Developer in the game design and publication process. Duration 59:25

In this classic GameTek Geoff discusses some techniques for estimating things in your head. Duration 6:19

Mike and Geoff field a bevy of listener questions. Duration: 1:10:21

In this classic GameTek Geoff looks at how the language people use can give clues to their treachery. Duration: 6:32

Mike and Geoff are pleased to welcome designer Andrew Parks to discuss taking a second shot at a design, whether it's revisiting a mechanic or taking an entire system into a new direction. Duration: 1:15:42

In this classic GameTek Geoff looks at how choosing a color may affect how you play. Duration: 06:17

Mike and Geoff discuss multi-use cards - their history, and how they can be used by designers. Duration: 1:03:53

In this classic GameTek, Geoff discusses the use of pronouns when writing rules. Duration: 06:17

Mike and Geoff are pleased to welcome returning guest Stephen Buonocore of Stronghold Games to discuss the state of the gaming industry going into 2017. Duration: 1:19:43

In this classic GameTek Geoff pays tribute to game theorist John Nash. Duration: 06:35

How do different player counts affect the design process? How important is it that a game support a variety of player counts? Duration: 1:08:06

Mike and Geoff are pleased to welcome slot machine game design Jeremy Hornik. Jeremy has been designing slots for over 15 years, including Money Burst, Willy Wonka, Monopoly, and Baron von Bacon's Million Credit Bonus. What are the special considerations for slot machine design, and what do they learn from video and board games? Duration: 1:16:28  

In this classic GameTek, Geoff wraps up his discussion of entropy and statistical mechanics by exploring the way that disorder and energy flow through a game system. Duration: 6:19

Mike and Geoff dive into real time games. What design techniques work for this mechanism? What does it do to the player experience? Duration: 1:00:50

In this classic GameTek Geoff continues his exploration of thermodynamics by talking about Statistical Mechanics and what it tells us about the world. Duration: 7:05