episode

Everyone plays games, but games aren't always designed with everyone in mind. In this episode, we're joined by Dee Del Rosario as we discuss how to build games that include and appeal to as many people as possible. We cover why representational inclusivity is so important, tools for making your games more accessible, how to support marginalized creators, and the importance of putting in the effort to do your research and remaining critical of your own work.

Plus, we recommend tons of great groups, conferences, and talks for you to investigate and get involved with to learn even more!

Remember: be critical of your own work, keep and open mind, and always be willing to listen.

Show Links

GDC Talks

• Kiki Olofsson and Kristin Adolfsson on how King analyzes the diversity in their games
• Meg Jayanth (writer of 80 Days) on how to make your games more diverse
• Ben Esposito on what he learned from his work on Kachina, a game that "used Hopi folklore"
• Andy Hull (lead programmer on Spelunky) discusses lessons learned from working on wooden toys

Designing for accessibility

• ColorOracle.org helps simulate color blindness
• Max Deryagin on what game subtitling got wrong in 2017

We talk a lot about how to make your games better, but how do you make yourself better? Emma Larkins joins us to discuss honing your analytical skills, the importance of daily practice, valuable game design resources, and how to not take feedback personally.

Join in the fun by posting your own design practice to #gamedesigndaily on Twitter, Instragram, or your hashtaggable social media service of choice!

Show Links

• Find Emma on Instagram, Medium, Twitter, and Twitch!
• Ira Glass on the importance of taste and 'The Gap'
• Extra Credits video series
• Game Maker's Toolkit video series by Mark Brown
• Free talks on the GDC Vault
• Mark Rosewater's articles on the design of Magic: The Gathering
• Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton on Amazon
• Challenges for Game Designers by Brenda Romero on Amazon
• The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell on Amazon

Questions? Comments? Want to share your own tips for design self-improvement? Contact us on Twitter or email mailbox@pgipodcast.com. And if you liked the show, please review us on Apple Podcasts!

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Header image from Game Dev Story by Kairosoft

We're back with the next episode of our increasingly numerically fraught Reading List subseries! This time Ryan, Rob, and Jon are joined by special guest Vivian Wong to discuss some of our favorite 'unpolished gems' -- games that might not be remembered as best in class (or remembered at all), but that still have great ideas that are worth taking a second look at.

Games covered this time include Candy Box, Dream Quest, High School Dreams: Best Friends Forever, and Chulip.

Apologies for the inconsistent audio quality this episode. We had some technical issues while recording, and Jon had to patch the episode together from multiple backups like some terrible audio Frankenstein. (Happy Halloween, everybody!)

Show Links

• Candy Box and Candy Box 2
• Dream Quest on Steam
• High School Dreams: Best Friends Forever on Green Man Gaming
• A shockingly detailed Let's Play of High School Dreams by Dyslexiactic
• Chulip's PS3 port on the Playstation Store

Questions? Comments? Have your own picks for unpolished gems? Contact us on Twitter or email mailbox@pgipodcast.com. And if you liked the show, please review us on Apple Podcasts!

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Header image from Chulip by Natsume

We embark on an epic quest as Riot Games' own Brian 'FeralPony' Feeney joins us to share the secrets of designing characters for hero-based games. Do you like MOBAs? Hero shooters? Class-based RPGs? Rad games in general? Then you should listen to this episode!

With Brian's help, we dig into concepting and playtesting new characters, making sure each one stands out in your roster, how to set yourself to effectively balance them after they launch, and much, much more.

Grab your magic sword, pull up a chair, and prepare thyself, for this is our most heroic episode yet!

Show Links

• Data Wing on Android and iOS
• CardQuest on Steam
• DreamQuest on Steam and iOS
• Greg 'Ghostcrawler' Street's GDC 2017 talk Balancing League of Legends for Every Player

Questions? Comments? Calls to adventure? Contact us on Twitter or email mailbox@pgipodcast.com. And if you liked the show, please review us on Apple Podcasts!

Subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | Android | RSS

Header image from League of Legends by Riot Games

Let's get this party started! We're joined by friend of the show Matthew Moore (Do Better Games) to discuss what goes into making a great party game — and what the heck a party game even is, anyway. Topics include the importance of quickly teachable gameplay, simultaneous play, and support for large groups of players, along with the variance kinds of creative expression possible in party games.

Show Links

• The incredibly sleek tabletop games of Oink Games
• Robert Yang's The Tearoom (NSFW)

Questions? Comments? Want to invite us to your party (yes please)? Contact us on Twitter or email mailbox@pgipodcast.com. And if you liked the show, please review us on iTunes!

Subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | Android | RSS

Header image from Drawful by Jackbox Games