In this episode we read Rimworld creator Tynan Sylvester's design textbook.

00:00 intro

OVERVIEW

01:34 situating the book in our collection

07:55 signposting cultural politics

10:30 book's structure & approach

PHILOSOPHY & PSYCHOLOGY

17:33 engines of experience

20:30 events and anticipation

23:09 emotion and human values

27:50 an interesting take on "flow"

INTERESTING AREAS/CHAPTERS

30:30 challenge & mastery

34:12 flexible meanings of "narrative"

40:34 decisions types & intensities

47:05 strategy design & balance

50:18 predicting your opponent ("yomi")

55:38 game theory & griefing

01:01:40 some other chapters/topics

PRODUCTION / PROCESSES

01:03:20 the market and the specificity of game appeal

01:02:45 processes and planning

01:07:40 knowledge, research, and evaluating ideas

01:09:00 the dependency stack

01:13:00 collaboration, sensitivity and the Rimworld controversy

01:31:05 what we're reading next time

The theme song was produced by show host Joe Baxter-Webb.

The Ludonarrative Dissonance jingle was "Carvings" by Blood of Geruda, licensed from Epidemic Sound.

RELATED TOPICS:

Misattribution of Arousal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misattribution_of_arousal

Game Theory & (ir)rationality: https://larspsyll.wordpress.com/2025/02/15/what-is-wrong-with-game-theory/

Swagless Games: https://www.polygon.com/code-vein-2-swagless-game/

Jeff Vogel GDC talk about serving a market gap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stxVBJem3Rs&t=1746s

Tynan Sylvester GDC talk on the idea reservoir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdqhHKjepiE&t=3113s

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In this episode we attempt to verbally describe a comic book. But not just any comic book. Scott McCloud's 1993 "Understanding Comics" is a comic about comics; not necessarily how to make them, but how they "work" for readers. Your librarians Tom and Joe jump about the book in no particular order, picking apart what they personally got from the book, and highlighting areas where we think there's something interesting in there for an indie dev.

TOPICS INCLUDE:

> how videogames are interactive cartoons

> semiotics and the psychology of images

> how "gaps" and "holes" in stories create engagement

> nonlinear narrative in different media

> starting projects with "ideas" vs starting with craft

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 intro

01:45 why this book

06:15 overview

11:35 indie games and cartoon aesthetics

14:02 two mediums with the same status issue

16:22 iconic representation and identification

18:55 history and definition of comics

23:02 the semiotics of comics

30:12 the three types of image

41:00 gamers love a ruined city

44:48 time is weird in comics

49:45 "closure" in media psychology

52:33 non-linear moments in comics

57:29 the meaning of lines and colours

59:20 showing & telling / multimodality

65:35 self-referentiality as a sign of a mature medium

68:50 McClouds 6 Steps of Creativity

73:20 finishing projects vs starting new ones

68:13 what's next?

OTHER REFERENCES:

Juniper Dev on Little White Guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=banRsciq1ww

Ian Bogost's 2023 essay on Gone Home: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/perpetual-adolescence-the-fullbright-companys-gone-home/

"Storyteller" Comicbook-Interface Puzzle Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1624540/Storyteller/

"Her Story" Narrative Puzzle Game https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/Her_Story/

"The Beginner's Guide" (example of a "reflexive"/self-referential game) https://store.steampowered.com/app/303210/The_Beginners_Guide/

wiki page of Pierre Bourdieu's "Distinction" (sociology of taste) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinction_(book)

The original game design "MDA Theory" paper: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://users.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdf

McCloud's 6 Steps of Creativity explained using SoundCloud Rappers: https://rudycraiglcgr.blogspot.com/2016/08/this-for-lcgn-class-we-had-to-read.html

Derek Yu on finishing games: https://makegames.tumblr.com/post/1136623767/finishing-a-game

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Other Sources Discussed

Failing to Fail: The Spiderweb Software Way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stxVBJem3Rs&t=2794s

Radical Candor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_Candor

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In this episode we discuss Jason Schreier's journalistic account of the creation of a bunch of different games, ranging from huge AAA games like DragonAge: Inquisition, to smaller indie ones like Shovel Knight and Stardew Valley.

Game Developers' Library is a regular podcast covering books which may be helpful to people who make games. Tom Hughes is a full-time game developer, and Joe Baxter-Webb is a game designer and game dev content creator.

The reading list of GDL is here on Bookshop.org https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-game-developers-library-podcast-reading-list?

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In this episode we cover this weighty game design textbook, discussing its stronger and weaker areas, how it can help new developers to understand design and player psychology, and why so many more technically-oriented folks bounce off the book. Host Joe Baxter-Webb is a game design educator and YouTuber. He has previously been the course lead in Game Design at Canterbury Christ Church University, and has helped develop for multiple commercial games companies including King (Candy Crush Soda Saga) Karta (Blackpink in Roblox, Spotify in Fortnite) and Adult Swim Games. Guest host Jeremy Johnson is an indie dev and also Assistant Professor of Video Game Development at St. Edward's University, Texas, USA, where he teaches from A Book of Lenses every semester.

Most books mentioned are available via my bookshop.org affiliate page. This allows you to purchase books online in a way which benefits small local retailers. https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/indiegameclinic

other things cited:

• Deck of Lenses, the free online version: https://deck.artofgamedesign.com/#/menu/0/?lang=en
• Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies, online version: https://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html
• Achievement Relocked: Loss Aversion and Game Design by Geoff Engelstein: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Achievement-Relocked-Aversion-Playful-Thinking/dp/026204353X
• Fermat and Pascal on Probability (on the games-based origins of probability math): chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.york.ac.uk/depts/maths/histstat/pascal.pdf
• George Fan: How I Got My Mom to Play Through Plants vs. Zombies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbzhHSexzpY
• Purple Cow by Seth Godin, Animated Book Summary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QkPaJ299Uk
• The Writer Will Do Something by Matthew Seiji: https://matthewseiji.itch.io/twwds
• the "Japanese inventor with 3500 patents" was Dr. Nakamatsu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnjSjJOEfSc

The reading list of GDL is here on Bookshop.org https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-game-developers-library-podcast-reading-list?

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I discuss Raph Koster's game design classic from 2004. Is this a book about craft, or about ethics?

The reading list of GDL is here on Bookshop.org https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-game-developers-library-podcast-reading-list?

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We discuss Spelunky by Derek Yu, which was published by Boss Fight Books in 2016. This episode is hosted by Joe Baxter-Webb (game design educator and host of Indie Game Clinic) and game developer Tom Hughes.

The reading list of GDL is here on Bookshop.org https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-game-developers-library-podcast-reading-list?

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