Furidashi Game Design Academy

122. Novelty and Innovation | S4E11

In this episode, we consider how to make your game stand out from the others, the importance of a clear hook or appeal to the player, as well as how to translate the sense of innovation you might find more easily in solo projects back into larger, collaborative efforts.

Download the Sympathetic Memories demo for free on our Itch.io site: https://furidashipod.itch.io/sympathetic-memories

Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi

Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod

Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash

Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality

121. Playtesting | S4E10

In this episode we delve into the subject of playtesting: how to choose the right playtesters for your game as well as learning how to go after the criticism you need, not necessarily what you want to hear. We talk about the qualitative differences between testing for smaller indie and mass market games, as well as how you develop a community of people around your design who, hopefully, become as invested in it as you are.

Download the Sympathetic Memories demo for free on our Itch.io site: https://furidashipod.itch.io/sympathetic-memories

Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi

Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod

Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash

Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality

120. Friction in Video Games | S4E9

This month we tackle the concept of friction in game design, how it's not necessarily the same thing as challenge or difficulty, and why it's important for making even the tiny little things you do in a game an engaging experience.

Download the Sympathetic Memories demo for free on our Itch.io site: https://furidashipod.itch.io/sympathetic-memories

Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi

Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod

Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash

Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality

119. The Human Toll of Gamedev | S4E8

This month we stop talking around the fact that the games industry is imploding and tackle it head on. We address the collective psychic damage we all seem to be suffering as a result, as well as how not to despair in dark times. In the end, we need to protect the creative parts of ourselves from those who only want to profit from our talents at any cost.

Download the Sympathetic Memories demo for free on our Itch.io site: https://furidashipod.itch.io/sympathetic-memories

Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi

Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod

Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash

Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality

118. The Mechanics of Pleasure | S4E7

In this episode, we discuss the sensuous side of gamedev, the upsides and downsides of "friction," and how to better understand what your player wants to be doing, so as to craft a better suited gameplay experience for them.

Download the Sympathetic Memories demo for free on our Itch.io site: https://furidashipod.itch.io/sympathetic-memories

Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi

Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod

Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash

Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality

117. Working in Teams, Working Alone | S4E6

In this episode we deconstruct the concept of auteur theory and show how even when a game's production has a strong creative direction, often that means getting people to buy into that vision and contributing to it rather than having their work dictated to them. We talk about the documentary Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds and how it reveals the ways in which solodev and team development are not as different as you might think.

Download the Sympathetic Memories demo for free on our Itch.io site: https://furidashipod.itch.io/sympathetic-memories

Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi

Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod

Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash

Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality

116. From Inspiration to Game Design | S4E5

In this episode Lauryn and Nicholas tackle how game designers translate their own interests and influences into tangible elements in their own games. Working from Nicholas' ongoing work on Sympathetic Memories, we first examine the way historical and literary influences work their way in. Then, we round out the episode by exploring how solo work of this kind can inform the way inspiration works in larger, more collaborative games.

Download the Sympathetic Memories demo for free on our Itch.io site: https://furidashipod.itch.io/sympathetic-memories

Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi

Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod

Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash

Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality

115. Subjectivity in Narration | S4E4

In this episode we talk about the uses of first and second person narration in games, not only in terms of basic storytelling but also how they work their way into systems like objectives and quest logs. We explore the philosophical underpinnings of first person perspective and try to show how games can actually meaningfully collapse what we typically think of as subjective and objective modes of understanding.

Download the Le Concours des Filles (soon to be Sympathetic Memories) demo for free on our Itch.io site: https://furidashipod.itch.io/le-concours-des-filles

Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi

Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod

Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash

Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality

114. Themes and Pillars | S4E3

In this episode we focus on where ideas come from, how they develop out of our experiences and interests, and how they ultimately coalesce into specific pillars and themes for a game. We also discuss what it means for these pillars to be in tension with one another, and how that can play out both in terms of a game's narrative as well as its mechanics.

Download the Le Concours des Filles (soon to be Sympathetic Memories) demo for free on our Itch.io site: https://furidashipod.itch.io/le-concours-des-filles

Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi

Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod

Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash

Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality

113. Encounter Design Blues | S4E2

In this episode, Lauryn and Nicholas pick up where they left off in discussing how Baldur's Gate 3 structures its skill check encounters. We look at how encounter design in video games generally seems to privilege a system of challenges and achievements where the player's subjective experience is either an afterthought or simply a second order effect. We consider what it might look like to center player subjectivity instead and create a narrative experience where both success and failure are equally valid forms of gameplay and where neither victory nor loss ever stand in the way of progression.

Get Nicholas's demo for free on Itch: https://furidashipod.itch.io/le-concours-des-filles

Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi

Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod

Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash

Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality