The Ludology site is about providing an analytical discussion of the how's and why's of the world of board games. Rather than news and tgreviews, Ludology explores a variety of topics about games from a wider lens, as well as discuss game history, game design and game players.
Dice Tower Network Podcast: Ludology
Ludology Episodes
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Emma and Gil welcome game designer, developer, solo mode designer, and self-described "grump" Dávid Turczi to the show. We discuss the design of complex games with many interlocking systems, how to play with time in games, and the six (plus one) things Dávid looks for in a strategy board game.
SHOW NOTES
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Emma and Gil welcome game designer and publisher Omari Akil to the show to discuss the plight of the sports-themed board game. What kinds of unique challenges do we face when designing one of these games?
Omari's game Hoop Godz will be on Kickstarter soon.
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Geoff ponders a tricky question: how come we get iconic characters from video games, like Mario or Pac-Man, but none from board games?
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In the past few years, Ludology has recorded a live episode at Gen Con. We weren't going to let a global pandemic stop us this year!
Recorded as part of Gen Con Online 2020, Emma, Gil, and Scott streamed this recording live on Twitch. We had an excellent turnout in the chat, and everyone seemed to really enjoy this new twist on Ludology Live!
You can watch unedited video of this chat here.
It's possible we may return to this format in the future! Stay tuned…
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This is the 50th Biography of a Board Game episode! To celebrate, Scott takes us through the history of his first board game, Rayguns and Rocketships.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF A BOARD GAME
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Emma and Gil welcome game designer, educator, and birder Chidi Paige to discuss how games and play benefit education, how she designed her bird-themed game Birdwiser, and how competitive birdwatching has affected her as a person.
SHOW NOTES
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Geoff muses on the difference between explicitly calling out the way a game system works, versus letting players implicitly discover how the players discover how the system works. Is one clearly better than the other?
Tell us how you feel in the Ludology forums!
Here's more information about Geoff's game Versailles 1919.
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Emma and Gil invite award-winning game designer, teacher, and not-scholar Sharang Biswas to the show to discuss verbs in games. What actions do we actually perform when we play a game, what actions do they represent, and how does that impact the game experience?
You can find Sharang on Twitter or on the web. Here is his itch.io store.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains references to sex and sexuality.
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Scott takes us through the rise, fall, and rise again of the game Vinci, which designer Philippe Keyaerts and publisher Days of Wonder re-implemented as Small World.
Bibliography of a board game
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