Podcasts about Game design

This episode is part three of a five-part series. In it, I go through every single Mood Swings card, in collectible number order, and talk about how they were designed, including many of the changes they went through and some strategic tips on how to play them. Note: This is a bonus episode for this week.

This episode is part one of a two-part series where I talk about the designs of all the cards that have a mana value of 11 or higher.

This episode is part two of a two-part series where I talk about the designs of all the cards that have a mana value of 11 or higher.

In today's episode we talk about letting your players cook.  What does it mean to let your players cook?  Why should you let them cook?  What can letting your players cook do your game?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode.Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.comor Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGamingPlease leave us a review or a five star rating wherever you get your podcast.

Host Dirk Knemeyer, a veteran in user experience (UX) design, is joined by co-host David Heron, a long-time game industry professional known for his work across major console evolutions and mobile free-to-play titles. In this episode, they dive deep into the rapidly evolving landscape of AI in game development, sparked by listener questions from their Discord community. The discussion explores the technical hurdles of AI memory and "drift," the ethical debates surrounding AI-generated art versus code, and the historical parallels between current AI fears and past technological shifts like the Luddite movement. Whether you're a developer or a curious player, this conversation offers a blunt, expert look at how AI might either disrupt or democratize the craft of making games

In dieser Folge sprechen Wibke und Florian über The Caribou Trail, Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, Motorslice und Paralives.

In episode 142 of Game Design Unboxed, we talk with freelance game designer Rosco Schock about his first published game, Diplomacy: The Golden Blade, released by Renegade Game Studios. The conversation focuses on the challenge of translating the “feel” of a classic, beloved strategy game into a streamlined and more approachable card game experience. We […]

Trent Kusters chats with Gregory Louden, Creative Director behind Housemarque's latest dark sci-fi bullet-ballet, Saros. Together they discuss his early work in film with directors such as Alfonso Cuarón and Ridley Scott; transitioning into games and his path from VFX, to narrative, and ultimately direction; creating a spiritual successor to Returnal while developing a brand new IP; focusing on challenging but rewarding gameplay; and building a narrative around the roguelike gameplay.  This episode is supported by Xsolla iam8bit Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

In this episode we chat with Max Bickerton, Head coach of Grapple Collective. We talk about Injana Goodman's journey from a purple belt in 2023 to winning ADCC Trials in 2026, CLA, how Max thinks about mount and back in grappling, and more. Hope you enjoy! Download Sherpa, the free AI-powered journaling app for athletes. Join the convo with Josh on Discord here.Use the code "BJJHELP" for 50% off your first month on Jake's Outlier Database to study match footage, get links to resources, and more.Use code “BJJHELP” at submeta.io to try your first month for only $8!

In this episode, I talk about the history of one of Magic's greatest mechanics, landfall.

In this episode, I talk about the pros and cons of the depth of Magic's gameplay.

This episode is part two of a five-part series. In it, I go through every single Mood Swings card, in collectible number order, and talk about how they were designed, including many of the changes they went through and some strategic tips on how to play them. Note: This is a bonus episode for this week.

Your nice hosts have talked a lot over the years about exploitative game design, and this week we brought in an expert on gamification to lay out some of the dark patterns in games that take players' money and time via deceptive framing and UX.https://samliberty.comSam Liberty - MediumSam Liberty - LinkedInDark PatternsGame DesignWhy “Addictive” Gameplay Should Never Be The Goal - Lydia Symchych, ELB LearningHEXAD FrameworkAddiction by Design - Natasha Dow SchüllTiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything - BJ FoggHow to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be - Katy MilkmanHow dating apps weaponized loneliness against their users - Sam Liberty

Send us Fan MailWelcome to you heard it here last where we talk about news, you've already heard.https://www.enworld.org/threads/d-d-beyond-executives-explain-why-subscribers-cant-share-drops-content.719058/Recently D&D Beyond has started providing Drops for their online subscriber-based system for releasing Dungeons and Dragons Material. The problem is, the new Drops, which include maps, characters, and premade encounters are not shareable. So even though D&D Beyond members have paid for Master Tier Access which runs around 55 bucks a year and is designed to allow you to share material…you can't.D&D Beyond says they are doing this to ensure that creators get paid, but isn't that the companies job? And if you tell people they are paying for a service like the Master Tier that allows sharing and then turn around and don't allow sharing that seems a little shady to me…but it is Hasbro so it tracks.I think the real question I have here for the gang is this. In the digital age where everything is sold online and no one owns books anymore…how are creators going to get paid.Christina, let's start with you.Kick to ChristinaMike, put your business and tech hat on. What are the options?Kick to MikeNext up we have another Elric TTRPG on the horizon.https://www.enworld.org/threads/theres-another-official-elric-rpg-in-the-works-this-one-from-free-league.719041/It's cool to see Elric get some love lately. I mean the Witcher straight up stole most of it's esthetic and even some of its story from the Elric saga so it's not like he's been out of the public consciousness…but I like seeing companies turn back to a foundational fantasy character like that. The fact that he's a very complex character is just all the more appealing to me.But just like my last article, Elric isn't what I want to talk about.What I want to ask you is Free League becoming the new Asmodee?Let's start with you MikeKick to MikeChristina, I know you are a fan of Free League, is it good or bad that they are grabbing up all the IPs right now?Kick to ChristinaAnd there you have it, all the news you've already heard.

Designers don't like it when players criticise their board game, and the response often is that the game was intentionally designed that way. Players complain that a strategy feels unfair, a mechanism is frustrating, or a game simply isn't very clear. Designers reply that that just misses the point. Similar disagreements exist in films, novels, and art, yet board games seem to have them more often, and they are often more personal. Part of the reason may be that board games are not passive experiences. Players are not simply watching events unfold, but instead are interpreting rules and shaping the experience themselves every time the game hits the table.Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2026/05/26/intentional-experience-designer-intent-and-player-experience-topic-discussion/Useful LinksDune review: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2020/02/08/dune-saturday-review/BGG article The Design Process by Gerry Paquette: https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/550/blogpost/2529/the-design-processWhat is Player Experience?: https://bg-px.com/what-is-player-experience/UX in board game design by Jason Kogan: https://uxdesign.cc/ux-in-board-game-design-97bfcdb1d581Perception vs Reality in Game Design by Joseph Z Chen: https://fantastic-factories.medium.com/perception-vs-reality-in-game-design-67181c0e6b0eMusicIntro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)Music: "Inspirational Flight", "Documentary Soundtrack" and "Success" by AShamaluevMusic.Website: https://www.ashamaluevmusic.comSupportIf you want to support this podcast financially, please check out the links below:Ko-Fi: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/TabletopGamesBlog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/tabletopgamesblog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tabletopgamesblog.com/support/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠(Photo by Daman IAm on Unsplash)

History of game passwords for the 8-bit NES video game system console from the 1980’s. Pros and Cons for password systems. Design considerations for a password system. How passwords are generated in Mega Man 2. Method for generating passwords in Metroid. How powerups, boss status, game time, and starting position is converted from bits and … Continue reading Game Passwords – Knox Game Design, May 2026 →

In this episode, I talk about putting together the larger story arc of the Phyrexian War storyline from Throne of Eldraine through March of the Machine.

What is "the rule"? Why does Magic have it? (It didn't always.)

This episode is part one of a five-part series. In it, I go through every single Mood Swings card, in collectible number order, and talk about how they were designed, including many of the changes they went through and some strategic tips on how to play them. Note: This is a bonus episode for this week.

In today's episode we continue our series of Let's Make A One Shot.  The game we make a one shot for comes from the prompt Breaking Bard.  We describe all the details you would need to consider to pull this one shot off.  Enjoy this episode as we make a one shot using the tools we talk about.Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.comor Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGamingPlease leave us a review or a five star rating wherever you get your podcast.

A 5-year-old location-based game just 5x'd its downloads. There were no new creatives. No new geos. No marketing push. Just one regional event that changed how the game actually works in Taiwan.We break down Pikmin Bloom by Niantic — the quiet survivor of the post-Pokemon-Go location-based wave that everyone forgot about, but which has been quietly making $30-50M/month for years and just spiked dramatically in early 2026. The conversation covers the Pikmin IP history, the game's walking-based resource-conversion mechanics, why 58% of revenue comes from Japan, the brutal scale comparison to Pokemon Go ($85M in 5 years vs $75M in 30 days), and the most interesting product story of the episode: Niantic's regional experiment in Taiwan where they moved mushroom locations weekly from November to February, driving a 5x download spike that's still scaling.The takeaway isn't about Pikmin specifically. It's about what product-driven UA looks like when creative-led UA stops moving the needle.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 Cold open — Pikmin Bloom is scaling, why?03:16 Pikmin history lesson — Nintendo IP, RTS origins06:16 The actual game: walking, flowers, Pikmin work for you13:01 The 5x download spike and Taiwan's surprise dominance14:53 The brutal comparison — Pikmin Bloom vs Pokemon Go17:01 The Japan IP rule: everything Nintendo touches is sacred24:12 The Niantic Taiwan experiment that changed everything━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Send us Fan MailOn this episode Mike, Christina and I talk about Romance. What it is, what it means to roleplaying games, and why you should try and incorporate elements of romance into your roleplaying.

In episode 141 of Game Design Unboxed, we talk with librarian and game designer, Lewis Graye, whose game design journey began after relocating to Syracuse, becoming part of the local tabletop scene, and participating in a game design contest at a wedding. They share the story of Lewis' first published design, Inkwell, and its unexpected […]

How did I make Mood Swings into a simple, fast-paced trading card game? This episode talks about my 28 years of iteration and, for those of you interested in how a person designs a game from scratch, walks through how I created the game.

This episode is another in my series to talk about every Magic set release. Today, I discuss the third set in the original Theros block, Journey into Nyx.

Rewarded UA used to be a test bed. In 2026, it's a third of your UA spend. Mistplay just made it easier to scale. We sit down with the full Mistplay leadership team — Tricia (CEO), Aaron (CCO), and Mark "Bear" Bearman (GM, B2B) — to unpack the launch of the Mistplay Audience Network. The conversation covers the state of rewarded UA in 2026, validating rewarded as a core channel, why the category is consolidating, what the MyAppFree acquisition actually unlocks for advertisers, and how the audience network expands Mistplay reach to MyAppFree and Connected Rewards inventory with a single check-box.If you've been treating rewarded UA as a tactical add-on rather than a core part of your stack, this episode is the wake-up call.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 Cold open — what the audience network means for UA01:33 Welcome + guest intros (Tricia, Aaron, Bear)02:55 The state of rewarded UA in 202606:23 Survey data: rewarded UA at 20-30% of budgets07:29 The scale-vs-performance tension and the "patient path"13:17 What the audience network actually is, in plain English17:51 Brand budgets and the value-exchange opportunity23:00 The "tick a box" advertiser experience explained30:31 Where rewarded UA goes next — discovery + retention

Erika Gangsei has run the interpretive media team at SFMOMA for nearly two decades, and for 15 of those years she's been quietly building one of the most coherent game-based programming initiatives inside any major cultural institution in the country.In this conversation, we get into the origins of Play SFMOMA, which launched in 2011, before games as an art form had any real institutional legitimacy, and what it actually took to sustain a program built on deliberate experimentation rather than proven outcomes. Erika talks about the decision to treat game designers the way SFMOMA treats sound artists and filmmakers: as essential creative collaborators, not afterthoughts. She makes a sharp distinction between gamification (which museums were chasing then, and still are) and authentic game-based programming — and explains why that difference matters for visitors.We also talk about the institutional immune system. Erika uses the phrase literally: museums have white blood cells that attack unfamiliar things, and Play SFMOMA has spent 15 years slowly inoculating SFMOMA to interactivity. That means running an AR game jam knowing none of the prototypes would go into production, because the goal was to socialize the idea internally, not ship a product.Other topics: why interpretive departments may actually be a better entry point for games than curatorial, the case for analog and paper-based work in a screen-fatigued world, what it means when a founder-driven program finally becomes an entity unto itself, and the LARPocracy research project—an EU Horizon-funded study using Nordic LARP as a model for deliberative democracy.This one is essential listening if you're inside an institution trying to build something with games and doing it without a clear mandate from above.(00:00) - Meet Erika and Play (01:08) - Broadway Trip Catch Up (03:19) - Origin Story to SFMOMA (08:14) - Why Play SFMOMA Started (13:38) - Where Games Belong (29:01) - Analog Play and Fatigue (34:48) - Scaling Up and Larpocracy For more insights, signup for my newsletter.Jamin Warren founded Gameplayarts, an advisory that helps museums and cultural organizations engage with the world of gaming. He provides them with the research, strategy, and execution they need to reach gamers for the first–or millionth–time. Gameplayarts' past and present clients organizations like MoMA, the Getty Research Institute, Tribeca Enterprises, and PBS.

This week we talk about and design for the "Popcorn" game in our Discord community. Fast paced, exciting, and pretty eccentric are apt descriptions for the cooperative hopper of cards. Design a card based off of the last card, and the next person designs one off of yours. We go over some highlights from the game, then design a pair of cards ourselves! Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: https://discord.gg/t88Vpwh Show Notes and Images: https://beaconofcreation.com

Send us Fan MailWelcome to You Heard it Here Last where we talk about news you've already heard.We are starting this episode off with one of Mike's favorite settings; Fallout. (You thought I was going to say Star Wars)https://ttrpgfans.com/fallout-rpg-new-vegas-setting-guide/Fallout is getting a new setting guide. Modiphius is launching the “New Vegas Setting Guide” and is hoping to cash in on the Amazon TV series. What's interesting about it is that it looks like we are getting more than just descriptions. The book looks to be chock full of NPCs, Locations, Character Options, and even Equipment.This could be a solid addition to the Fallout game and looks to drop in August…I bet you they will have copies at GenCon.Mike, we start with you, thoughts?Kick to MikeChristina, what about you, are you tempted by this setting guide?Kick to ChristinaNext up we've got a fun one…well at least I think it's fun.https://www.rascal.news/magic-the-gathering-arena-developers-unionize-alleging-forced-ai-use-and-return-to-office-mandates/Workers developing Magic: The Gathering Arena are forming a union called United Wizards of the Coast. They announced their formation under Communications Workers of America on Monday, April 27 and notified Wizards of the Coast and parent company Hasbro of their intent in a public letter.The new union asks to be recognized in their letter, which is strange because WOTC is based out of Renton Washington and the State of Washington requires them to recognize the new union. It also requires them to engage in collective bargaining. Finally, it allows the union to automatically draw funds from employees of the company even if the employees don't want to be a member of the union…The public letter demands protections from layoffs, the ability to keep working from home and not having to come into the office, protections from generative AI use, just to name a few.I'm pretty sure Norma Rae would be rolling over in her fictional grave right now, but I thought this would be a very interesting topic for our segment, mostly because I am betting we have some disagreement on this one.Mike, let's start with you. Thoughts?Kick to MikeChristina, I am expecting fire and brimstone…am I getting flamed here.Kick to ChristinaAnd there you have it, all the news that you've already heard.

Brendan talks about how games end, and recommends five games with compelling endings. Join us, won't you?Skull King (2013)Arkham Horror: The Card Game (2016)Monikers (2015)Escape! The Curse of the Temple (2012)A Study in Emerald (2013)Honorable MentionsRes Arcana (2019)The Adventurers: The Pyramid of Horus (2011)QE (2019)What games do you think have good endings? Share your thoughts over on boardgamegeek in guild #3269.

A Chinese-developed Farmville replacement just shipped 4,000 AI-generated creatives in 30 days. And it's only making $30K/day. What's actually going on?We dig into Cozy Florist by Rift Sky Games — the Western counterpart to "My Garden Tale," which is already doing $10M/month in China. The game is a remarkably polished Farmville without the annoying resource puzzle, with stacked cores including flower-merging mechanics, Solitaire-association customer orders, gacha-style flower rarities, social raids, and TikTok Live integration baked into the metagame.But the puzzle is the creative volume. 4,000 ads in 30 days is Forex-scale UA output. The game is testing primarily in Philippines despite being released globally in December. And the revenue isn't moving in proportion. The hosts spend half the episode trying to figure out what's happening — and the conclusion they land on is uncomfortable for Western UA: this is what "second generation" Chinese UA looks like, and the West isn't ready.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 What's going on02:55 Cozy Florist walkthrough — Chinese fonts, sad-story onboarding05:21 Stacked cores — flower merging, Solitaire customers, gacha13:00 TikTok Live integration baked into the metagame16:44 Revenue reality — 90% China, 2% US, $30K/day21:31 4,000 AI creatives in 30 days — Forex-scale output25:21 Why this game isn't soft-launching like a Western game27:55 The "second generation UA" gap Chinese studios are openingGet our MERCH NOW: 25gamers.com/shop--------------------------------------PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.- Scale fast- Keep your shares- Drawdown only as needed- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors---------------------------------------For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.Our sponsor FastSpring:Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 yearsThey power top mobile publishers around the worldLaunch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let's not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultant⁠https://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultant⁠https://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultant⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me---------------------------------------If you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej LancaricDo you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai

In 1998, I came up with the idea of a more accessible trading card game. That game is called Mood Swings and goes on sale starting June 1 on MagicSecretLair.com. This podcast talks about my 28-year journey to get it made.

In this episode, I talk about all about my adventures at MagicCon: Las Vegas 2026.

We talk of the old and the new in this episode, where we sort of revisit a long ago discussed topic and bring in a new topic for our (and your) perusal.Lydia, Mark and Dale (not Stephen) finishing Video Game Mayhem...... and Wizard's Tower in record time!Trapped Puzzle RoomsMPS Community EducationLydia's family sewing machine!0:09:39Exhibiting Your Game0:39:39Design InvestigationsReading backwards: Reading against the grainKatherine FirthResearch Degree Insiders

In today's episode we talk about how too much detail goes wrong.  Why is too much detail difficult when telling stories?  How much detail is enough?  How can you avoid putting too much detail into your game?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode.Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.comor Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGamingPlease leave us a review or a five star rating wherever you get your podcast.

Send us Fan MailI thought it was pretty simple. A distracted force with a brutal and possibly insane leader is holding an old mill. They have a machinegun nest and the guards frequently wander around the site.Our players have a wooded and elevated overwatch position only a few hundred yards away. They also clearly have surprise on their side. The Sniper can get into position and wait until sunrise. As soon as he can see the enemy machine-gunner he can take him out. Then then the players can use their machinegun and half of the soldiers to lay down a base fire. Meanwhile a small group can hit the back door to the Mill when they hear the shots and toss in a few grenades. Game over.Simple tactics.I forgot two things though.My players don't really know small unit tactics.And roleplaying games aren't real life.Today we are going to talk tactics. Why they can be so difficult in gaming and how to help your players out when they have no idea what they should be doing.Christina, what kind of personal background do you have with tactics?Kick to ChristinaMike, what about you?Kick to Mike.

In episode 140 of Game Design Unboxed, we talk with Andrew Stiles, game designer and co-host of the podcast Tabletop Submarine, about how discovering GDU early in his design journey helped him better understand the tabletop space, and how a life reset during COVID (and a challenge to get a game signed in 6-months by […]

Great game design doesn't just come from talent or vision. It can fall apart when good ideas get stuck, overlooked, or brought in too late. So today, we're going to explore how studios can adapt lessons from large teams to improve design input, make better informed decisions, and turn collaboration into better gameplay. Episode Shownotes Link: https://rengenmarketing.com/452

This is another in my quest to do an episode on every Magic set release. This one is about the design of Born of the Gods, the second set in the Theros block.

Who is Goat Guy? Why is he important? There's only one way to find out.

In today's episode we talk about starting and incomplete game.  Why start an incomplete game?  What do you need to have to get a game started?  How can you juggle all of the issues with an incomplete game?  Won't my players just take everything off the rails?  We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode.Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.comor Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGamingPlease leave us a review or a five star rating wherever you get your podcast.

Send us Fan MailWelcome to You heard it hear last where we talk about news, you've already heard.https://www.enworld.org/threads/dice-pioneer-louis-zocchi-passes-away.718828/Lou ZahKey, the father of dice passed away at 91 recently. If you've ever played a table top roleplaying game then odds are you've rolled some of Lou's dice. He and his company Gamescience were the first in the United States to manufacture polyhedral dice. He is also the inventor of the 100-sided "Zocchihedron."In addition to dice, Zocchi worked on many games and magazines, including a number of wargames including Star Fleet Battles and The Battle of Britain. He was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming's Hall of Fame in 1987 and was presented with the E. Gary Gygax Lifetime Achievement Award at Gary Con in 2022.I am not only a fan of dice, but I loved The Battle of Britain game and likely still have the original box floating around the house somewhere.Thanks for all the dice and the hours of great gaming Lou.Christina, I know you are a massive dice nerd. This news had to strike a chord.Kick to ChristinaWhat about you Mike. I have a feeling you were into the Battle of Britain as well.Kick to MikeNext up we have another Backerkit release that is tapping into the zeitgeist and personally I find it very Meta.https://www.enworld.org/threads/rpg-crowdfunding-news-%E2%80%93-dungeon-crawler-carl-rpg-historica-arcanum-lairs-legends-3-and-more.718847/Renegade Game Studios is crowdfunding a Dungeon Crawler Carl TTRPG and Card Game. Dungeon Crawler Carl is a LitRPG book series by author Matt Dinniman that has become very popular. It involves Carl a regular guy and his ex-girlfriends cat that get sucked into a world spanning dungeon created by aliens. It's a book that uses gaming tropes and plays out like a roleplaying game. So we have a company making a roleplaying game about a book that is based on a world that is a roleplaying game…Yep, that tracks.I have read the first book and it's fun. Nothing earth-shattering or amazing, but it does what it set out to do. I have even used the idea from the book in my first Shadowdark adventure, because I couldn't figure out how to make Shadowdark work for roleplaying.Christina, Any experience with Dungeon Crawler Carl or thoughts on the Meta of the moment?Kick to ChristinaMike, what about you?Kick to MikeAnd there you have it, all the news you've already heard.

Liebe Freunde, wir freuen uns heute ganz besonders, denn zum einen ist mal wieder der wunderbare Björn „Speckobst“ Balg bei uns zu Gast. Der Mann kennt sich prima mit Spielen aus Japan aus und um ein solches soll es heute gehen. Capcoms erste neue Spielemarke seit 2012 ist dann ebenfalls ein Grund zum anerkennenden Nicken. Zugegeben: Nicht jeder Spieler mag Bock auf die Geschichte eines Astronauten haben, der ein Androidenkind unter seine Fittiche nimmt. Aber die Entwickler haben hier den Third-Person-Shooter ganz neu gedacht und ziehen ihr Game-Design konsequent durch. Und das ist es wert, gespielt zu werden – oder zumindest ein ausführliches Gespräch! Timecodes: 00:00:00 - Einleitung 00:06:41 - Prämisse 00:19:34 - Stimmung und Szenario 00:31:47 - Gameplay, Leveldesign und Pacing 01:12:37 - Fazit Jetzt Abonnent werden: https://www.gamespodcast.de Ihr wollt mehr Björn? Dann hört seinen Podcast unter https://inkribbonradio.de/ oder schaut auf seinem YouTube-Kanal vorbei: https://www.youtube.com/@speckobstler In dieser Folge zu hören: Sebastian Stange & Björn Balg

In this episode, I sit down with Creative Lead Lauren Bond to talk about the worldbuilding of Secrets of Strixhaven.

In this episode, I talk about the role games can play in a person's identity and how that affects our approach to designing Magic.

For eight years, I was in charge of overseeing final-day video production for the Pro Tour. In this podcast, I talk all about it.

In this podcast, I sit down with Reggie Valk, set design lead for Secrets of Strixhaven, to talk about the set's design.

New podcast format time! 10 of our listeners' biggest gripes with games get litigated in a Room 101-style format (except legally distinct), from tailing missions in open world games to mandatory stealth sections in non-stealth games.Joining us once again is designer Jamie Smith!The very last entry was provided by SAFC_Jack91, which Samuel forgot to write down in the original episode plan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this podcast, I talk about the design of Secrets of Strixhaven.

This podcast talks about the history of Charms in Magic.