Episodios
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Welcome to Season 5, where we'll be focusing on game and media aesthetics! We wanted to started things off with a game/anime crossover in the form of Delicious in Dungeon. In this episode, we discuss how media narratives can reflect game narratives and aesthetics, as well as how to envision a narrative structure that enhances characterization.
Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod
Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social
Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social
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Just a brief check-in during our hiatus month to give you a taste of what we'll be talking about in the coming year.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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In this fourth season of Furidashi, Nicholas is making a game! So, the first thing we need to figure out is... well... where to even begin. We discuss the good and bad of game engines, licensing agreements, how to leverage your existing skills, and where to draw inspiration from. In the past, we've focused more on top down, theoretical considerations in game design, but this go around we're going to get into the simple, nuts and bolts of making a game.
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
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In this episode, we extend our discussion of Baldur’s Gate 3 into thinking about how video games translate various aspects of their tabletop counterparts. More than just mechanics, we look at how video games try to simulate the more subjective and social aspects of pen and paper roleplay, something that, historically, video games have struggled with. But Baldur’s Gate 3 seems to mark a very real departure in how video games depict dynamic social interactions, so we thought it was high time to revise our previous critiques, wherein we assumed the social aspect of tabletop play can only get lost in translation.
Unlock the full episode (and more!) for $5 a month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod
Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash
Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality
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In this episode, we sit down to tackle Larian’s colossal new game, Baldur’s Gate 3. We really only scratch the surface here, but we try to focus on the many ways in which the game addresses the question of freedom, both in gameplay terms as well as thematically, and we dig into how, unlike most RPG video games, Baldur’s Gate 3 actually lets you roleplay in the classic tabletop sense.
Substack post on freedom and player choice in BG3: https://open.substack.com/pub/gamedesigndiscourse/p/player-choice-in-baldurs-gate-3?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod
Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash
Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality
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In this episode we examine the three epochs or eras of Final Fantasy. We trace its early, now legendary, days as a tactical, turn-based RPG, the shift to more cinematic gameplay, and the subsequent turn away from the game’s roots toward a more high-paced, third person action gameplay. The point of all this is to show that there is a clear throughline from where we were to where we are now, even if it seems like Final Fantasy is now so different.
Unlock the full episode (and more!) for $5 a month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod
Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash
Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality
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In this episode, we delve into Final Fantasy 16 and the recent trend in Final Fantasy games towards more action oriented gameplay. But rather than make all the same tired comparisons others have already made to Devil May Cry or Game of Thrones, we focus on the clear evolution Final Fantasy games have undergone, and how this seemingly recent development has, in fact, been a long time coming.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod
Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash
Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality
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Greetings! In this episode, we make Lauryn explain herself and her gamedev journey. We talk about what it was like to make the transition from writing to level design and eventually back to narrative systems as well as what it means to take on a leadership role in the games industry.
Unlock the full episode (and more!) for $5 a month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod
Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash
Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality
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In this episode, we ask an admittedly clickbaity question that, nevertheless, raises some points: is Diablo 4 an RPG? We cover a bit of the history of roleplaying games, the awkward transition from tabletop to video games, and how character progression maps onto–or, in some cases, fails to map onto the player’s evolving gameplay experience. All of that to explain why maybe we need to rethink RPG as a game genre.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod
Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash
Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality
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In this episode we continue our discussion of AI, focusing on its potential within the games industry, as well as its pitfalls. We consider the labor issues involved and how, despite all the hype, the reality of the many things that fall under the AI umbrella is an incredibly murky one, touching on issues of copyright as well as the basic question of who AI is for and who is it being done to.
Unlock the full episode (and more!) for $5 a month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod
Lauryn: https://twitter.com/thelaurynash
Nicholas: https://twitter.com/academicality
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