Furidashi Game Design Academy

What started out as an easy recording about our mutual love of Final Fantasy XIV turned into an extensive meditation on narrative wrapped systems and the importance of having clear narrative through lines between expansions of long-running games. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: https://twitter.c...

Lauryn and Nicholas go in depth with some of their favorite levels, past and present, to explore how level design can be used as a tool to show you the underlying systems in a game that normally stay hidden. Unlock the full episode for $5 a month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: https://twitte...

We invite Lauryn on as a special guest to talk about the fundamentals of level design, in particular, the "why" underlying a particular map or zone. Also starring: hapless level designer and hapless level designer's boss. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: https://twitter.com/uahsenaa

Lauryn and Nicholas discuss how the distinction between game and platform is not a hard and fast one with particular reference to Skyrim, Minecraft, and... Lego? Unlock the full episode for $5 a month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: https://twitter.com/uahsenaa

In light of the recent Epic vs. Apple case, Lauryn and Nicholas talk about the right and wrong ways to ask the question, "what is a game?" Link to WarioWare/Nintendo episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/14-franchise-philosophy/id1533677626?i=1000511200293 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas...

Lauryn explains the "three C's" of game design. For more on this topic and to unlock our other Patreon episodes, go to https://www.patreon.com/furidashi   Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: https://twitter.com/uahsenaa  

Lauryn and Nicholas talk about the concept of "video game logic" as it appears in Sakurazaka Hiroshi's All You Need is Kill and the 2014 film Edge of Tomorrow. Also on the docket: how the design of a game requires you as the player to "plug into it." Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: https://twitt...

Nicholas coming back from hiatus with a solo pod on Iris and the Giant and how it uses procedurally generated levels as an allegory for personal suffering. Also starring the most trivial Returnal spoilers imaginable. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: https://twitter.com/uahsenaa

Lauryn and Nicholas take a look at being a game master/DM and what lessons it holds for how to understand a game designer's relationship between what they do and the kinds of players they're trying to cultivate. Also on the docket: not killing your players' characters. Follow us on Twitter: The Pod: http://www.twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: http://www.twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: http://ww...

Lauren explains why the theory of characterization underlying Call of Duty is the same as the Twilight novels, and Nicholas explains why it's hard to remain critical when you're emotionally attached to thing you criticize. Follow us on Twitter: The Pod: http://www.twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: http://www.twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: http://www.twitter.com/uahsenaa

Nicholas takes an uneasy walk through his own feels to discuss Oink Games' Takeshi and Hiroshi. Also on the docket: how games can improve players, so players can improve gamedevs, and hapless level designer becomes more than human. Follow us on Twitter: The Pod: http://www.twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: http://www.twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: http://www.twitter.com/uahsenaa

Lauryn and Nicholas take a deep dive into Persona 5 Strikers and discuss what happens as games branch out from their original designs and the problems that crop up once they cross platforms. Also starring: egg tarts and hapless level designer gets a promotion! Follow us on Twitter: The Pod: http://www.twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: http://www.twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: http://www.twitter...

Lauryn and Nicholas follow-up on Assassin's Creed and talk about why the Mario franchise succeeds in making wildly different kinds of games fall under one umbrella where other game franchises do not. Also starring: Sam & Max and the Nintendo Seal of Approval! Follow us on Twitter: The Pod: http://www.twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: http://www.twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: http://www.twitter....

Lauryn and Nicholas follow up their gamification episode with a deep dive into how games evolved into doing loot grinds and the games that give some hope that we're moving away from that. Also starring: Halloween in Animal Crossing and why Nicholas wants to conquer the world. Follow us on Twitter! The Pod: http://www.twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: http://www.twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: ht...

Lauryn and Nicholas discuss gamification, why people think it works but in the long run ends up either being dissatisfying or luring players into tedious grinds. Also starring: Habitica and teaching a ten-year-old to multiply fractions. Follow us on Twitter! The Pod: http://www.twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: http://www.twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: http://www.twitter.com/uahsenaa

Lauryn and Nicholas talk about the question of accessibility in games and how our physical nature (and the variance therein) contributes to our preconceptions about what game controls should or should not be. Also starring: Joust and epigenetics! Follow us on Twitter! The Pod: http://www.twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: http://www.twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: http://www.twitter.com/uahsenaa

Lauryn and Nicholas talk about how life maps onto role playing games and how, perversely, role playing games map onto life. Also starring: Japanese web dramas and Fortnite? Follow us on Twitter! The Pod: http://www.twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: http://www.twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: http://www.twitter.com/uahsenaa

Lauryn questions whether a series can maintain its identity if, over time, the games themselves change so much. Even if it's a great game, why keep calling it Assassin's Creed? Follow us on Twitter! The Pod: http://www.twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: http://www.twitter.com/thelaurynash Nicholas: http://www.twitter.com/uahsenaa

Lauryn and Nicholas continue their conversation about character choice in RPGs and why total freedom of character choice can often feel unsatisfying.

Lauryn and Nicholas look at the early history of RPGs and role-playing game design to talk about why the distinction between "Western" and "Japanese" RPGs is more fluid than you may think. Also starring: the "golden age" of 80s PC RPG and adventure games.

In this special Christmas episode, Lauryn and Nicholas talk Cyberpunk 2077 and the importance or oddness of the holiday season when it comes to video game releases. Also on the docket: Christmas in Japan and why it may or may not be better than Christmas everywhere else.

No solo rant this week--Lauryn joins Nicholas to talk about the person the games industry made her and how that conflicts with the person the games industry should need her to be. Also on the docket: Ghost of Tsushima and finding the human element.

This week Lauryn and Nicholas hand in the first draft of their MA thesis on Super Giant's Hades. Is the game anti-immersion? Or does it, by maintaining the pretense of anti-immersion, present an even more immersive experience? What even is immersion? Find out this week! Also starring: Bertolt Brecht and alienation effects!

Relax to some chill beats, while Nicholas regales you with how Jane Austen's Persuasion is just like Silent Hill 2 and why Baldur's Gate 3 seems to be two kinds of game fighting against each other. Also on the docket: smooth voiced narrators and talking brains.

Lauryn and Nicholas have a long think about what makes the 3rd person camera not quite work in Baldur's Gate 3, why it does work in Hades, and third person perspective mix roleplaying and tactical gameplay elements. Also starring: hapless level designer's cool best friend and many many sighs.