In this, the first episode of season 6, our YEAR OF METAL GEAR, we dive into the Kojima lore, why you shouldn't always take it at face value, and what it means to think of one's creative output as a kind of genetic legacy. ALSO: a mysterious message from an enigmatic stranger... Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

For our final episode of Season 5, before THE YEAR OF METAL GEAR, we look at the seminal Studio Ghibli film, Kiki's Delivery Service. We discuss what it means to come of age in a context where you are a literal outsider and how the film indirectly meditates on what it means to doubt your creative powers, lose them, and ultimately get them back. Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

In which we argue that Halo represents a genuinely novel approach to shooter design at a time when the video games industry was becoming but had not yet turned into what we know it to be today. Join us as we delve into the complex narrative and gameplay relationship between Master Chief and Cortana and ask... is Halo a tragedy? Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

In celebration of Pride month, we take a somewhat unusual look at Oshii Mamoru's Ghost in the Shell as an allegory of trans becoming. We look at how trans individuals have read the film against their own experiences and how this highlights a queerness in Kusanagi's character that Oshii likely never intended yet is still palpably there. 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

In this episode, we think about games as a complete composition of many artforms and how Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 withholds the kinds of information that normally aid gameplay in order to get the player to treat the game as much as a work of art to be appreciated as be immersed in. 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

Following up on our discussion of Cyberpunk 2077, we consider the Netflix series and what it means to be bodies in spaces, how we lie to ourselves and each other, and how the anime aspires to say something profound but ultimately get too caught up in its own romantic tropes to truly grapple with what it's trying to show. 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

After several years we return to Cyberpunk 2077 to discover that it's a very different game! In this episode, we focus on how the game's environments blend the broad visual and aural aesthetics of the game with a really tight sense of encounter design and worldbuilding that inscribes little incidental narratives onto the streets of a fully realized city. 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

In this month's free episode, we take a look at the visual and narrative aesthetics of 2024's Look Back, based on the manga of the same name by Fujimoto Tatsuki. We consider how mirroring, doubling, and reflection work not only as visual metaphors but as way of thinking about the overall narrative structure in this gut-wrenching coming-of-age story. 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

This month we tackle the topic everyone loves to hate: violence in video games. But with a twist. We discuss how Slay the Princess uses a form of narrative violence, breaking the conventions of how story gets mapped onto gameplay, to show how love, hurt, loss, and existential dread can all be thought of as facets of a greater whole in the human experience. 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

In this episode we make a deep dive into Kon Satoshi's 2003 Christmas romp (?), Tokyo Godfathers. We focus especially on the dramatic tension between what characters imagine themselves to be and the reality of who they are--and how, sometimes, reality has a weird habit of slipping into fantasy. 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

In this episode, Lauryn and Nicholas go all in on Bioware's Dragon Age: The Veilguard. We talk about core combat not from the perspective of mechanics but in both thematic and narrative terms. Mostly, though, we discuss the companion system, and why many of the frustrations with DA:TV stem from how the game isn't really about you as the super special hero but rather how you fit into a whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts. 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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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