Ryan leads the gang through a discussion of healthy work-life practices for game designers. How can you change your work habits to optimize your productivity, focus your creative energies where they're most important, and avoid the dreaded burnout? All will be revealed!

Questions? Comments? Want to share your own work-life balance tips ? Contact us on Twitter or email mailbox@pgipodcast.com. And if you liked the show, please review us on Apple Podcasts or share this episode with a friend!

Subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | Android | Stitcher | RSS

Header image from Resident Evil 7 by Capcom

The gang digs into Mysterium's clairvoyancy token mechanic. What does it add to the game? Does it have to be so dang complex? How did it become part of the design in the first place? And could all of this be the work of malicious spirits influencing the designers from beyond the grave?

Questions? Comments? Ghostly premonitions? Contact us on Twitter or email mailbox@pgipodcast.com. And if you liked the show, please review us on Apple Podcasts or share this episode with a friend!

Subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | Android | Stitcher | RSS

Header image from Mysterium by Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko

The gang discusses Matt Leacock's 2013 cooperative board game Forbidden Desert. Although the game is considered by many to be a modern classic, we're digging into its Meteorologist class, and how one of its abilities is just... not fun?

Questions? Comments? Ideas for how you'd improve the Meteorologist? Contact us on Twitter or email mailbox@pgipodcast.com. And if you liked the show, please review us on Apple Podcasts or share this episode with a friend!

Subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | Android | Stitcher | RSS

Header image from Forbidden Desert by Matt Leacock

The gang talks about Supergiant Games' new early-access roguelike Hades and its excellent Boon system, which allows players to temporarily increase the game's difficulty for the chance to earn bonuses that will last for the rest of their run.

Questions? Comments? Got your own favorite difficulty-wagering mechanics? Contact us on Twitter or email mailbox@pgipodcast.com. And if you liked the show, please review us on Apple Podcasts or share this episode with a friend!

Subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | Android | Stitcher | RSS

Header image from Hades by Supergiant Games

In our second Quickplay episode, the gang discusses Final Fantasy Tactics Advance's unique judge system, which imposes various restrictive laws on players during battle to force them to diversify their tactics. While this mechanic is a common one in tactics games, FF Tactics Advance takes it one step further by personifying the laws as living NPCs -- judges that the player can attack, distract, and, most importantly... blame for their mistakes.

Questions? Comments? Thoughts about the new format? Contact us on Twitter or email mailbox@pgipodcast.com. And if you liked the show, please review us on Apple Podcasts or share this episode with a friend!

Subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | Android | Stitcher | RSS

Header image from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance by Square