Ludology

This week, Erica and Sen welcome writer, designer, and relucatant movie star Calvin Wong Tze Loon 黃子倫 to talk about his piece in "What Board Games Me To Me: Tales from the Tabletop," an anthology of short essays written by people from across the board game industry that was recently published by Aconyte Books. Join us as we find out more about the book and what Calvin finds so humanizing about...

Erica and Sen speak with Ami Baio of Pink Tiger Games about her line of social communication games, how she makes them, and how she's able to find success outside of traditional markets for board games.

In the 7th installment of this series, Steph covers their strategies for helping children cope with spells, tracking information and more, offering practical solutions so you, too, can game with your kiddos!

Sen and Erica ask each other questions collected from our Patreon supporters about the differences between designing a board game and an RPG, what working for a mass market game company is like, how we balance games, what we did to break into the industry, and more!

In her segment, Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, Sarah Shipp talks about psychologist Steven Reiss' 16 Motivators or Human Needs in terms of game design and how considering these can help make a more engaging game.

Will Meadows from the Tantrum House channel joins Erica and Sen to talk about his recent experience at the board gaming convention to end all board gaming conventions - Spiel in Essen, Germany. Having been four times, Will is a veteran Spiel-goer and he talks about all of the sights he saw and games he played while there this year. Since Will had to go eat dinner, Erica and Sen finish he Ludologic...

In this episode of our special series, guest host Steph Campbell discusses how to maintain the attention of younger players. They give several excellent tips and tricks to help your kiddos maintain focus at the game table. 

Sen and Erica welcome Heather O'Neill (CEO of 9th Level Games, Managing Director of UnPub, and game designer) to Ludology to chat about juggling all of her roles and the state of the tabletop industry, where many people have to combine several roles into the equivalent of a full time job. 

In this episode of Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, guest host Sarah Shipp discusses some of the terms that designers often talk about (balance, elegance, and efficiency) but turns many of them on their ear to look at them slightly askew. Sarah posits that thinking about these elements in the opposite may help struggling designers recognize their role in creating a game that meets these lofty (and ofte...

Sen and Erica welcome Brian Lenz from Delano Games (www.delanogames.com) to discuss the intricacies of manufacturing board games in North America this week on Ludology.

Special guest host, Steph Campbell, discusses how they introduced their son to TTRPGs at the ripe old age of 2. 

Erica and Sen welcome Travis Severance, owner of Millennium Games - the largest game store in the United States - to the podcast. Travis brings years of retail experience to the table and lends insight into what sells games. From puzzles to pickleball and everything in between, Travis sheds light on how games and hobbies are merchandised to customers and we discuss if there's anything about game o...

Guest host, Sarah Shipp, talks about the concept of resonance when designing games, SUCCESS (from "Made to Stick" by Chip & Dan Heath), and Sarah's own equation for resonance: Familiary + Unexpectedness  - Chaff Also, see Sarah's GDC talk on Creating Resonance with Thematic Design available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61YNkTv3xgM

Erica and Sen welcome Pam Walls, a designer who specializes in party games, to the Ludology Podcast. Pam provides excellent insight into what it takes to make large and diverse groups of people want to play a game together. Pam's latest creation, Blob Party, was a Gen Con 2023 release for Wiz Kid Games. 

In the fourth installment of TTRPG Kids, Steph talks about how to pick a setting that is engaging for the children that you're gaming with.

Sen and Erica welcome designer and Dice Tower member Roy Cannaday to the show to tell us about his experience at Gen Con 2023 that was made extra special because it was also the official launch of his first game, Last Light.

Guest host, Sarah Shipp, discusses Artistotle's Classical Unities and explores how unity of action, time, and place can be used to design a more cohesive game.

Erica and Sen discuss their comings and goings over the past few months. Sen attended Origins in June and Erica went to SDCC in July. So before they both head to Gen Con in August, they figured they should touch base and see what each other were up to!

In this episode, Steph talks about their use of safety tools and how they modified some for use with their son.

Erica and Sen welcome designer, author and game studies professor, Gordon Calleja to the show to discuss his book "Unboxed: Board Game Experience and Design" from the MIT Press (ISBN 978-0-262-54395-8). Gordon gives a chapter-by-chapter rundown of the book that will be the focus of our first Ludology Book Club event - stay tuned for further information!

Segment host Sarah Shipp returns to talk about the concept of immersion in tabletop games. Amongst others, Sarah references Gordon Calleja theories on immersion in her discussion - Gordon will be next week's guest on the main Ludology podcast.

Erica and Sen welcome Danielle Reynolds and Nick Bentley to the show to talk about how HerStory from Underdog Games was designed.

Join Steph Campbell of TTRP Kids as they delve into the difficult topic of kids wanting to do "bad" things when playing TTRPGs. How can parents and educators deal with this in a constructive way. Is the child actually being "bad" or are they just inquisitive? How can we determine this and what learning can occur from "bad" behavior? (Sound Effects from Pixabay)  

Erica and Sen talk to Nicholas Yu, the designer responsible in part for games like Adventure Tactics and the recent release D&D Onslaught. Nick brings a wealth of knowledge about playing and designing tactical war games in the tabletop space. We discuss LOS, competitive wargaming, and more in this episode.

This segment features guest host Sarah Shipp of Shippboard Games. For the next year, Sarah will be taking a look at aspects of game design that go beyond the basics of rolling dice or drawing cards. In this introductory monthly mini-sode, Sarah posits that the question of theme first or mechanics first is a false dichotomy.