Show Notes
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
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from The Game Developers' Library
Buy Books But Not From Bezos: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/indiegameclinic IGC Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/indiegameclinic
In this episode, Tom and Joe read and respond to Rise of the Videogame Zinesters: How Freaks, Normals, Amateurs, Artists, Dreamers, Drop-outs, Queers, Housewives Are Taking Back an Art Form.
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.
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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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.