The Game Developers' Library

Tynan Sylvester - Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences

In this episode we read Rimworld creator Tynan Sylvester's design textbook. 00:00 intro OVERVIEW 01:34 situating the book in our collection 07:55 signposting cultural politics 10:30 book's structure & approach PHILOSOPHY & PSYCHOLOGY  17:33 engines of experience 20:30 events and anticipation 23:09 emotion and human values 27:50 an interesting take on "flow" INTERESTING AREAS/CHAPTERS 30:30 challenge & mastery 34:12 flexible meanings of "narrative" 40:34 decisions types & intensities  47:05 strategy design & balance 50:18 predicting your opponent ("yomi") 55:38 game theory & griefing 01:01:40 some other chapters/topics PRODUCTION / PROCESSES 01:03:20 the market and the specificity of game appeal 01:02:45 processes and planning 01:07:40 knowledge, research, and evaluating ideas 01:09:00 the dependency stack 01:13:00 collaboration, sensitivity and the Rimworld controversy 01:31:05 what we're reading next time The theme song was produced by show host Joe Baxter-Webb. The Ludonarrative Dissonance jingle was "Carvings" by Blood of Geruda, licensed from Epidemic Sound.  RELATED TOPICS: Misattribution of Arousal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misattribution_of_arousal Game Theory & (ir)rationality: https://larspsyll.wordpress.com/2025/02/15/what-is-wrong-with-game-theory/ Swagless Games: https://www.polygon.com/code-vein-2-swagless-game/ Jeff Vogel GDC talk about serving a market gap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stxVBJem3Rs&t=1746s Tynan Sylvester GDC talk on the idea reservoir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdqhHKjepiE&t=3113s ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Scott McCloud - Understanding Comics, The Invisible Art

In this episode we attempt to verbally describe a comic book. But not just any comic book. Scott McCloud's 1993 "Understanding Comics" is a comic about comics; not necessarily how to make them, but how they "work" for readers. Your librarians Tom and Joe jump about the book in no particular order, picking apart what they personally got from the book, and highlighting areas where we think there's something interesting in there for an indie dev.  TOPICS INCLUDE: > how videogames are interactive cartoons > semiotics and the psychology of images > how "gaps" and "holes" in stories create engagement > nonlinear narrative in different media > starting projects with "ideas" vs starting with craft TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 intro  01:45 why this book 06:15 overview 11:35 indie games and cartoon aesthetics 14:02 two mediums with the same status issue 16:22 iconic representation and identification 18:55 history and definition of comics 23:02 the semiotics of comics 30:12 the three types of image 41:00 gamers love a ruined city 44:48 time is weird in comics 49:45 "closure" in media psychology 52:33 non-linear moments in comics 57:29 the meaning of lines and colours 59:20 showing & telling / multimodality 65:35 self-referentiality as a sign of a mature medium 68:50 McClouds 6 Steps of Creativity 73:20 finishing projects vs starting new ones 68:13 what's next? OTHER REFERENCES: Juniper Dev on Little White Guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=banRsciq1ww Ian Bogost's 2023 essay on Gone Home: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/perpetual-adolescence-the-fullbright-companys-gone-home/ "Storyteller" Comicbook-Interface Puzzle Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1624540/Storyteller/ "Her Story" Narrative Puzzle Game https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/Her_Story/ "The Beginner's Guide" (example of a "reflexive"/self-referential game) https://store.steampowered.com/app/303210/The_Beginners_Guide/ wiki page of Pierre Bourdieu's "Distinction" (sociology of taste) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinction_(book) The original game design "MDA Theory" paper: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://users.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdf McCloud's 6 Steps of Creativity explained using SoundCloud Rappers: https://rudycraiglcgr.blogspot.com/2016/08/this-for-lcgn-class-we-had-to-read.html Derek Yu on finishing games: https://makegames.tumblr.com/post/1136623767/finishing-a-game ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Kim Nordström - UP DOWN UP: Why some game companies succeed, while others fail

Other Sources Discussed Failing to Fail: The Spiderweb Software Way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stxVBJem3Rs&t=2794s Radical Candor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_Candor ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Jason Schreier - Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made

In this episode we discuss Jason Schreier's journalistic account of the creation of a bunch of different games, ranging from huge AAA games like DragonAge: Inquisition, to smaller indie ones like Shovel Knight and Stardew Valley. Game Developers' Library is a regular podcast covering books which may be helpful to people who make games. Tom Hughes is a full-time game developer, and Joe Baxter-Webb is a game designer and game dev content creator. The reading list of GDL is here on Bookshop.org https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-game-developers-library-podcast-reading-list? ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Jesse Schell - The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

In this episode we cover this weighty game design textbook, discussing its stronger and weaker areas, how it can help new developers to understand design and player psychology, and why so many more technically-oriented folks bounce off the book. Host Joe Baxter-Webb is a game design educator and YouTuber. He has previously been the course lead in Game Design at Canterbury Christ Church University, and has helped develop for multiple commercial games companies including King (Candy Crush Soda Saga) Karta (Blackpink in Roblox, Spotify in Fortnite) and Adult Swim Games. Guest host Jeremy Johnson is an indie dev and also Assistant Professor of Video Game Development at St. Edward's University, Texas, USA, where he teaches from A Book of Lenses every semester.  Most books mentioned are available via my bookshop.org affiliate page. This allows you to purchase books online in a way which benefits small local retailers. https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/indiegameclinic other things cited: * Deck of Lenses, the free online version: https://deck.artofgamedesign.com/#/menu/0/?lang=en * Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies, online version: https://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html * Achievement Relocked: Loss Aversion and Game Design by Geoff Engelstein: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Achievement-Relocked-Aversion-Playful-Thinking/dp/026204353X * Fermat and Pascal on Probability (on the games-based origins of probability math): chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.york.ac.uk/depts/maths/histstat/pascal.pdf * George Fan: How I Got My Mom to Play Through Plants vs. Zombies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbzhHSexzpY * Purple Cow by Seth Godin, Animated Book Summary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QkPaJ299Uk * The Writer Will Do Something by Matthew Seiji: https://matthewseiji.itch.io/twwds * the "Japanese inventor with 3500 patents" was Dr. Nakamatsu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnjSjJOEfSc The reading list of GDL is here on Bookshop.org https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-game-developers-library-podcast-reading-list? ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.