Ludology

Sen and Erica welcome Morten Monrad Pedersen, founder of the Automa Factory, to the podcast to discuss designing solo modes for tabletop games. Morten has been involved with the solo modes for games such as Scythe, Viticulture, and Gaia Project. 

Steph Campbell of TTRPG Kids gives parents and teachers some simple, practical tips on how to adapt tabletop role playing games for use with children in the home and classroom. In this episode, Steph talks about how to work with some of the more common aspects of TTRPGs (e.g. randomization, stats, bonuses, etc.) with children as they develop skills in literacy and numeracy.

It's a celebration! To mark the 300th episode of Ludology, Erica and Sen invite some of the past hosts (including co-founders Geoff Engelstein and Ryan Sturm, Scott Rogers, and Emma Larkins) to share some of their most impactful memories about the games they loved to play, create, and share with those around them. Please keep an eye out for the giveaways mentioned in this episode by following us o...

Sen and Erica sit down with Matt Paquette, graphic designer behind many of the games on your shelves, to discuss how he lays out all of the information needed to play a game in a logically flowing and concise visual hierarchy, specifically talking about how good card frame design can improve end user experience.

Erica and Sen talk with Carlos Flores and Eric Zimmerman about the recently released Green Games Guide, a document chock full of sustainable goodness for those in the tabletop industry hoping to lessen their products' impact on the environment. Find out more about how you can be a part of the movement to improve gaming's sustainability as a consumer, a designer, or a publisher.

Erica and Sen talk with Carlos Flores and Eric Zimmerman about the recently released Green Games Guide, a document chock full of sustainable goodness for those in the tabletop industry hoping to lessen their products' impact on the environment. Find out more about how you can be a part of the movement to improve gaming's sustainability as a consumer, a designer, or a publisher.

Erica and Sen talk to Pauline-Fate Kong and Marie Wong (Hot Banana Games) about their Ion Award-winning game, Steam Up. They dive into the mechanisms behind this game about Dim Sum and the Chinese customs that informed them. Apologies in advance for audio quality; our guests were recording on the same device so it negatively impacted on their relative volume at times.

This episode, Erica and Sen take a walk down memory lane with the Podfather of Gaming, Stephen Buonocore, as they reminisce about his time as the founder of Stronghold Games, his current role as a retiree / podcaster, and his future aspirations as a tabletop game designer! Stephen discusses many of the changes he witnessed first hand and talks about his excitement for what the future holds.

Erica and Sen bring Daryl Andrews onto the show to discuss his role as Head of Talent at Maestro Media, pitching games to publishers in general, and the importance of relationships in the industry. 

Erica and Sen welcome Eric Lang, a self-identified Born-Again Mass Market Guy, to Ludology in order to review what the tabletop industry went through in 2022 and where he thinks it's headed in 2023. Eric brings a wealth of information to the discussion, having a quarter century of experience in the business of making games.

Erica and Sen welcome Tim Devine of Dice Up Games, designer of Color My Quest: A Colour & Cut Roleplaying Game, to Ludology to discuss designing RPGs for families as well as safety and calibration tools for children who roleplay.

Erica and Sen welcome artist Kwanchai Moriya to the show to discuss his process, his advice for new artists trying to break into the tabletop industry, his take AI Image Generators, and his New Year's Resolution for 2023.

Erica and Sen talk to Michelle Rundbacken and Yacine Merzouk, the fine purveyors of the Society of Curiosities, about their bespoke puzzle experiences that bridge the gap between the physical and the digital as well as their up-coming B&B escape experience!

Where are some of the places that game design skills come in handy? Erica and Sen talk to Nick Metzler, who has designed games for traditional publishers like Spin Master, murder mysteries in a castle for over a hundred wedding guests, and challenges on reality TV shows like Survivor!

Erica and Sen discuss how "Boop!", a new cat-themed 2-player game, became rethemed from an abstract game with the game's designer, Scott Brady. Scott tells us how the theme was integral in shaping the final product.

Sen and Erica talk with Pat Marino, designer behind Cup Head: Fast Rolling Dice Game and other titles from The Op, about translating videogames over to the hobby gaming and mass market gaming spaces.

Erica and Sen meet up with Jason Perez (Shelf Stories, cultural consultant on Puerto Rico 1897) to talk about cultural consultation, define some of the most prominent terms, and talk about how we can design better games while considering cultural impact.   Timestamp Note Link 00:00:50 Shelf Stories https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnaZ7055IWOdm8XCJfFRDcw   00:01:20 Puerto Rico 1897 https://boardga...

Sen and Erica chat with Roberta Taylor about her games, diving deeper into Creature Comforts and the upcoming Maple Valley, specifically. They discuss cozy games and Roberta's philosophy towards design. Roberta's BGG Page: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/12374/roberta-taylor

Geoff discusses what he calls the "Sweet Spot" in games, and how it can help your design.

Sen and Erica chat with Brian Neff, the freelance developer who currently handles the Unmatched System for Restoration Games, about the process he uses for playtesting and balancing a game with an ever-expanding roster that boasts just under 40 playable characters to date. They chat about how both quantitative and qualitative data drive the development process and how the game's loyal community ha...

In this classic Biography of a Board Game, Scott takes a look at how the horror game Betrayal at House on the Hill came to be.

Erica and Sen talk with Spenser Starke about his game, Alice is Missing, and it's jump to the big screen. They discuss how to design cinematic narrative structure into tabletop games, calibration tools, and more! Timestamp Note Link 00:01:05 Alice Is Missing https://www.huntersentertainment.com/alice-is-missing 00:01:17 Kids on Broom https://renegadegamestudios.com/kids-on-brooms/ 00:01:20 Icarus...

Geoff takes us through the history of the color blue, namely how difficult it is to make as a dye, and considers if we should value it above all other player colors.

Erica, Gil, and Sen discuss some of the tools and processes they use at the various phases of designing a game from their varying perspectives of an in-house designer, a publisher, and freelance designer/developer.  SHOW NOTES: 00:08:31 DDS is an acronym for Detailed Design Specification 00:11:38 LucidChart browser-based flowcharting and more www.lucidchart.com 00:18:43 Canva free online graphic d...

In this classic Biography of a Board Game, Scott takes us through the history of the game Cluedo, better known to Americans as Clue.