- Shows
- Designer Notes
Once per month (Ideally!)
April 19, 2025 In this episode, Soren interviews veteran game designer Caroline Marchal, best known for her work on Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls, and As Dusk Falls. They discuss whether narrative games should show all paths to players, should we care if characters walk up stairs correctly, and how Heavy Rain was built for non-gamers but enjoyed the most by gamers. This episode was recorded on September 6, 2024.
Games discussed: Tetris, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tomb Raider, Metal Gear Solid, Phantasmagoria, Grim Fandango, Ryzom, Omikron, Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain, Detroit Become Human, As Dusk Fall, Beyond Two Souls
November 4, 2024 In this episode, Soren interviews Anton Strenger, best known for his work on Civilization 5, Civilization 6, and Beyond Earth. They discuss how he ended up paying Carnegie Mellon so that he could work at Firaxis, why there aren’t many Great People after 1900, and whether Civilization has secretly become a live-service game. This episode was recorded on October 22, 2023.
Games discussed: ESPN Extreme Games, Quest for Glory 4, Pokemon series, Suikoden II, Alpha Centauri, Civilization series, Old World, History of the World
September 29, 2024 In this episode, Soren interviews independent game developer Zach Barth, best known for his puzzle games, including SpaceChem, Infinifactory, Shenzhen I/O, and Opus Magnum. They discuss why he made a game about assembly language, how he guaranteed that Fortune’s Foundation is winnable, and whether he knows how to make fun games. This episode was recorded on September 11, 2023.
Games discussed: Infinifactory, TIS-100, Counter-Strike, Ricochet, Zortex, Alien Swarm, Shenzhen I/O, Zachtronics Solitaire Collection, Opus Magnum, Exapunks, MOLEK-SYNTEZ, Last Call BBS, Eliza, Mobius Front ‘83, Picross
August 31, 2024 In this episode, Soren interviews independent game developer Zach Barth, best known for his puzzle games, including SpaceChem, Infinifactory, Shenzhen I/O, and Opus Magnum. They discuss why he never originally wanted to make money on his games, why puzzle games are terrible, and whether he has ever played Minecraft. This episode was recorded on September 11, 2023.
Games discussed: Duke Nukem, Star Wars: Empire at War, Civilization III, SpaceChem, Infiniminer, Minecraft, The Codex of Alchemical Engineering, Motherload, Civilization IV, Last Call BBS, MOLEK-SYNTEZ, Ironclad Tactics, Opus Magnum, Mobius Front ‘83, Infinifactory
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