All Episodes
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 in total
19: The best game idea I've ever had
This is a game that takes place in the past and the present. And I've never been so excited to work on something. Many more updates to follow on future episodes.
18: Every prototype I made in 2025
2025 was a creative explosion for me. Now it's time to focus up, and pick which prototype I will try to take to the finish line.
17: Why my basketball board game failed
I tried (and failed) to make a basketball board game. I came up with some ideas that I loved, but ultimately decided to set it aside.
16: How to learn a game
Try to lose. It's a faster and more effective way to learn.
15: Paying attention to "desire paths"
Sometimes players show you exactly what they want to do. You can either fight them, or learn from them.
14: Games are not stories
Games don't need written narrative to be great games. The best stories in games are the ones that organically emerge from the gameplay itself.
13: Less is more in simulation games
Most games simulate some real world scenario. So how do you decide which parts of the real world to represent in game mechanisms? This is where the real artistry of ga...
12: Problem-centered design
Between each iteration of my game, I'll have dozens of ideas. But which do I actually implement? I find it extremely helpful to break my ideas down into problem statem...
11: Distribution is harder than making things
I've got a great game with great reviews. So how the heck do I get it onto shelves? Here's everything I've tried.
10: A board game with hundreds of players
Play the new prototype with us by joining our discord! I built a game that feels like a board game, but is secretly a social game that requires collaboration, deceptio...
9: Managing the player's cognitive load
How do you communicate complex rules to players? It's worth thinking about what kind of complexity you're communicating, how you communicate it, and when you communica...
8: AI is horrible at game design
LLMs excel at churning out sugar free vanilla paste. That's great when you're writing code. And it's awful when you're doing creative work.
7: Escape the mind palace
A game is only a game if it is playable. It is so hard for me to resist the temptation to retreat to the "mind palace" where my game devolves from a playable, testable...
6: Letting players decide the victory condition
My white whale (one of them, at least) is to let players decide how they want to win, and even decide whether it's a cooperative or competitive game. I haven't cracked...
5: Suspension of disbelief is a skill
There are two voices in your head. You don't know which is correct, but you do know that one is more useful.
4: High energy, low ego
Everything I learned at my first game conference. Buy Colossi now.
3: The prototyping machine
You can play "Hot Takes" in The Social Game right now!
2: Kill your darlings
When you love something, but it's confusing as heck.
1: What happens when you can't test a game
Links: The Social Game, my work podcast where we talked about this, and Videos of the event.
0: Intro
Test test.
