Seria Ludo: Recent Episodes
Joel Kallstrom and Tim Raveling
Seria Ludo is a podcast about games, game design, games criticism, and the politics that underlie all of it. New episodes every week, each focusing on a specific topic of games and game design.
In this episode, Tim and Joel talk about why certain games are so replayable, why that is, if and when it is important, and how designers can intentionally think about replayability in their own games. We frame this discussion in terms of intrinsic motivations (gameplay that is inherently pleasurable) and extrinsic motivations (e.g. working towards a goal, trying to find something out, pursuing a story, pursuing social goals like in an MMO). We also talk about games and designers can reduce friction in cases where that might prevent you from returning to a game. 00:00:00 - Introduction and definitions - Intrinsic vs Extrinsic motivations, and friction. Discovery and play as intrinsic motivation.
00:08:50 - The best games weave intrinsic and extrinsic motivations together -- Valheim is a good example of this.
00:18:20 - Counterexample: State of Decay 2 - failure of shared context in multiplayer makes for external counter-motivation -- players end up feeling like there's no point.
00:24:56 - What is a game's "Discovery Space", and why does it count toward intrinsic motivation?
00:49:50 - Juice -- satisfying UX design. A game that is inherently, tactilely satisfying to interact with.
00:58:00 - What are "Extrinsic motivations" and what are some examples?
01:29:30 - Friction: why do people feel like they don't want to come back? How can you design toward getting players back to your game.
01:42:48 - Making it personal: What games are we each most likely to go back to next?
Games mentioned
Truck Simulator, Disco Elysium, Ubisoft games, Valheim, Dead Cells, Mobile Games, One Hour One Life, No Man’s Sky, Dying Light, Minecraft, Elite Dangerous, Pentiment, Frostpunk, Workers and Resources, Going Home, Skyrim, Scum, Cyberpunk 2077, Sifu, Dwarf Fortress, Deathloop, Project Zomboid, Baldur’s Gate 3.
When most games, even some of our favorites, will occupy us for at most 40 or 50 hours, some manage to sink their hooks in for much (sometimes much) longer. Why is that? What is it about the designs of these games, the cadence, the core loops, that make us keep coming back again and again? What can game designers learn from the games have this kind of replayability, and how might we go about applying these lessons to our own games? Show Notes 00:00:00 Intro 00:04:10 - Joel #10: The Surge 2
00:09:50 - Tim #10: Truck Simulator
00:20:30 - Joel #9: Cyberpunk 2077
00:25:48 - Tim #9: X-COM 2
00:33:00 - Joel #8: Halo Infinite
00:37:27 - Tim #7: Baldur’s Gate 3 00:49:50 - Joel #6: Assassin’s Creed Origins / Odyssey / Valhalla 01:00:05 - Tim #6 / Joel #7: Call Of Duty / Warzone
01:05:44 - Joel #5: Fallout 4
01:18:28 - Tim #5: Microsoft Flight Simulator
01:23:00 - Joel #4: Jedi Survivor (with Sifu tangent)
01:35:00 - Tim #4: Civilization 5
01:42:07 - Tim #3: Valhelm 01:47.22 - Joel #2 / Tim #8: Red Dead Redemption 2 01:55:00 - Tim #2: Kerbal Space Program 02:01:06 - Tim + Joel #1: Hunt: Showdown 02:08:52 - Analysis and closing thoughts
In part two of our conversation with Nic Tringali, we go deeper into their development process. Design and prototyping, testing, setting victory conditions, and the delightful old-school addition to the game: the manual.
00:00:00 - Theme - how did the look come together? Concept of cathedrals stretching through time.
00:04:20 - Worldbuilding, problems with history
00:07:00 - Dramatic play, victory conditions. Surviving to tell a story, rather than survival as an inherently interesting goal.
00:17:40 - Development: transitioning from John Wick: Hex and Arcsmith, managing stress.
00:26:17 - Design and prototyping, planning features, play testing, development timeline
00:41:10 - The manual: The Banished Vault has an accompanying manual in the old style, the kind that used to ship with every game. What was the thinking behind this?
00:51:48 - Where to find Nic
Nic Tringali - The Banished Vault
Nic Tringali is a game designer for Bithell Games. Their recent release The Banished Vault (published by Bithell Games’ Lunar Division) is a gothic space-faring exploration and survival game, released on July 25th to very positive reviews. We talk with Nic about their early gaming inspirations, before getting into the gameplay mechanics of The Banished Vault.
00:00:00 - Introduction - Life post-launch, how did you get into games 00:04:00 - Influential early games - Morrowind, Stuntman 00:09:20 - Board games and their cross-pollenation with video games 00:14:57 - Complexity and planning in The Banished Vault: space mechanics 00:32:21 - Complexity budget: how did Nic decide which choices were interesting for the player, and where to put the complexity? 00:37:30 - What kind of player did they have in mind? 00:39:40 - The aesthetics of The Banished Vault: art and sound 00:47:01 - Where to find Nic
Josh Sawyer of Obsidian Entertainment has one of the more robust CVs in game design: Iceland Dale 1 and 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2 and most recently, the highly-praised historical role-playing game Pentiment.
We focus on various aspects of the production of Pentiment: avoiding burnout, drawing from meticulously-researched historical material, dealing with religion (both as a nexus of temporal power and a daily spiritual presence in peoples lives), as well as covering gameplay and narrative aspects.
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:00 - Life post-Pentiment, comparison with the aftermath of Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire
00:04:20 - Managing production stress and preventing burnout, for individuals and for teams
00:06:50 - Balancing personal vision, and the requirements of publishers. For their next project, team morale will be the number one priority.
00:08:30 - Allowing team members to play to their strengths.
00:11:30 - Dealing with history and religion as opposed to fantasy worlds. Engaging with "microhistory" as opposed to top-down, ruler-first historiography; examining the daily lives of the people of an era.
00:16:56 - The difference between taking inspiration from history and literature, as opposed to games that draw primarily on other games.
00:21:26 - Religion in Pentiment: "I consider myself an atheist but, like, who cares." The personal nature of characters’ engagements with God, the Devil, spirituality, and the church as a political entity.
00:31:41 - The politics of power in Pentiment
00:43:02 - Gameplay and narrative consequences in Pentiment - major (plot-altering) and minor (aesthetic, dramatic, personal)
00:50:50 - Contrasting this kind of design in Pentiment with consequences in the final act of Deadfire
00:51:50 - Dramatic immersion in Pentiment: keeping the dramatic intimacy through rituals and role-playing mini-games.
Tim and Joel return after a hiatus for the first episode of 2023. We talk about the future direction of the podcast - which, now that Tim’s own game development projects are picking up steam - will involve a more design-focussed approach to looking at games.
With this in mind, we go into the differences between three games: The Wolf Among Us (2013), Disco Elysium (2019) and Pentiment (2022). All these games have strong narratives and great writing, but the latter two incorporate these elements into gameplay in a way that Wolf doesn’t.
Tim goes into his adventures in solo game development, making a working orbital model in C++.
00:00 Intro to new season
01:50 Games purely as entertainment vs Games criticism bearing the weight of other media
00:04:48 What have we been playing?
00:06:00 Steam Deck for traveling and multiplayer
00:10:40 The Wolf Among Us
00:18:14 Disco Elysium on Steam Deck
00:21:09 Which games have affected you?
00:26:39 Venue
00:30:00 Pentiment / Disco Elysium
01:14:03 Godot game dev: C++ and orbital mechanics
01:24:53 GPT-4 and the benefits of AI for the lone dev
01:35:25 Kerbal Space Program and the challenge of making complex problems fun for the user
01:42:27 Narrative elements express themselves out of the mechanics that are happening
01:48:22 Socials
Part two of our conversation goes deeper into the mechanics, narrative and design of Hardspace: Shipbreaker, from its genesis as the winner of an internal company game jam, to early access on Steam, to its full release last year.
Elliot talks about wanting to explore the idea of “dangerous labor”, to immerse the player in a blue collar experience, to “honor the work” - the skill, the camaraderie, the consequences and the tensions between workers and bosses.
Elliot Hudson is the game director for Hardspace: Shipbreaker, and was a senior designer for Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. In part one of our two-part conversation, he talks about his beginnings in gaming, from sketching Mario Bros 2 levels out on paper, to making flash games while studying film, to switching to studying game design full time, and finally getting a job at Blackbird - first as a programmer and later as a designer.
He talks about the his journey with Blackbird from working on the canceled project Hardware, to Deserts of Kharak, Blackbird’s entry into the much beloved Homeworld Series, and finally to the conceptually and narratively unique Hardspace: Shipbreaker - one of our favorite games of 2022.
There’s no one quite like Rami Ismail: game developer, pilot, industry ambassador, consultant. Any one of these could be a full career and somehow Rami does them all. Formerly one half of hit indie studio Vlambeer, he has used his success to advocate for change in the industry for the last decade, traveling the world with a focus on advancing game development in countries where the gaming industry doesn’t have the same foothold.
In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk about his experiences with these communities and the specific challenges they face - cultural, economic, linguistic - and the wealth of story and experience that goes unheeded as a result. We also talk about game engines, changes in the industry, and (inevitably) the problems of late-stage capitalism.
“Imagine you’re writing a book and occasionally, when someone turns the page, all the letters fall off the page.”
Tim and Joel interview Stephen Danton, who developed the excellent Unto the End with his wife Sara.
Stephen talks about his career, and the range of experience he brought to bear in the making of his first big game. We cover various aspects of video game development.
- Unto the End
- Dark Souls
- Guacamelee
- Stray
- Dead Cells
- Mark of the Ninja
- Another World
- Flashback
- Below
- Rainworld
- Highfleet
- Thief
- God of War
- Miasmata
- Death Stranding
- Somerville
Tim and Joel look again at Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic, a game whose complexity allows for a more nuanced set of mechanics which make it a more “honest” city-building experience, as opposed to the sanitized colonialist and capitalist assumptions of many recent offerings in the genre.
- Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic
- Sim City 2000
- Cities: Skylines
- Anno 1800
- Factorio
Tim and Joel look at the delightful Unto the End, an action-adventure game made by the small team at 2 Ton Studios. It is a masterclass in minimalist game design - art, sound, narrative and gameplay mechanics.
We give particular attention to the combat mechanics - which are some of the best we've encountered in any game - scrappy and tactical, consistently challenging. We look at why the challenges here are so much more compelling to us than the popular Dark Souls series - which has been much lauded for its combat mechanics.
Games mentioned:
- Unto the End
- Dark Souls
- Sekiro
- Chivalry 2
- Assassin’s Creed
- Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order
- Lonely Mountains: Downhill
- Nidhogg
Having played some “deck-builder” games, Tim and Joel break down the mechanics and aesthetics of card games. We look primarily at Inscryption and Fights in Tight Spaces, and go on to discuss UI and combat strategy mechanics.
Games mentioned:
- Inscryption
- Fights in tight places
- Banner Saga
- Into the Breach
- Nantucket
- Battle Brothers
Tim and Joel take apart Hardspace: Shipbreaker, space-junking game with an anti-capitalist spirit. We examine the ways in which narrative is subtly threaded through gameplay.
Games mentioned:
- Hardspace: Shipbreaker
- Norco
- Dead Space
Tim gives his first impressions of the trailblazing Steam Deck - which brings PC computing power to the handheld gaming experience. Having sampled several games on the platform, he has settled on Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic (aka Soviet Concrete Simulator). What differentiates it from other city-builders?
- Microsoft Flight Simulator
- Witcher 3
- Battletech
- Rimworld
- Cleopatra
- Pharaoh
- Cities Skylines
- Tropico 5
- Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic
- Hardspace: Shipbreaker
- Dyson sphere Program
- Satisfactory
- Factorio
In part two of our look at Norco we expand on some of the first episode’s observations, discussing specific plot points.
Mentioned:
Musée des Beaux Arts (poem) - WH Auden
Norco is a real achievement in video game storytelling - beautifully written and scored. It is a game we will both remember for a long time.
In this episode we talk (spoiler-free) about the game and its relationship to the cyberpunk genre. Next week we go into greater depth, with spoilers.
Games mentioned:
- Norco
- Monkey Island
- Kentucky Route Zero
- Deus Ex
- Disco Elysium
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Cloudpunk
- Shadowrun
- Beneath/Beyond a Steel Sky
Following last week’s music episode, this week we talk with our guests Phil Tucker and Damian Gibson about our more personal experiences with music in video games, from childlike glee to more complicated adult emotions.
We discuss some of the earlier music-producing technologies, composition techniques, and memorable examples from the best of the medium.
Games mentioned:
- Donkey Kong Country
- Digger
- Mario
- Red Dead Redemption
- Halo
- Doom
- Lemmings
- Zelda
- Spy vs Spy
- Goldeneye
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
- Hellcats over the Pacific
- Homeworld
- Curse of Monkey Island
- Norco
- FTL
- Beatles Rock Band
- The Long Dark
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Nantucket
- Deathloop
- GTA 5
- American Truck Simulator
A very special episode this week: friends of the show Phil Tucker and Damian Gibson - Joel’s former radio-show co-hosts - join us to talk about music in games. Damian is the host of the podcasts WrestleWolf and Agents of Narrative. Phil - who made the music for the pod - was a touring musician for 10 years, and now works as a composer.
In the first of two podcasts, we talk about the function of music in games, and indulge in some reminiscing.
Games mentioned:
- Hypnospace outlaw
- Mario
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- FTL
- Crypt of the Necrodancer
- Night in the Woods
- Yakuza
- The Artful Escape
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- EVE Online
Tim’s been reading Alexis Kennedy, which springboards this week’s titular discussion. Many games are enjoyable at the time of playing - which games are we glad to have played once we’ve put them down? And why?
Games mentioned:
- Fallen London
- Sunken Sea
- Cultist Simulator
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Assassin’s Creed
- Far Cry
- Sagebrush
- Paratopic
- What Remains of Edith Finch
- Norco
- Curse of Monkey Island
- Pillars of Eternity
- Baldur’s Gate
- Disco Elysium
- Kentucky Route Zero
- Beyond Good and Evil
- Splinter Cell
- Sea of Thieves
- Kerbal Space Program
- Microsoft Flight Simulator
We wanted to wait until we finished Norco before we talked about it, but it made such an impression that we have to talk about it here. But the bulk of the episode concerns the recent title Weird West, the extent to which it did and didn’t live up to our (admittedly unrealistic) expectations, and what its success might mean for the immersive sim.
Games Mentioned:
- Norco
- Microsoft Flight Simulator
- Weird West
- Dishonored
- Prey
- Hitman
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Cyperpunk 2077
- Wasteland 3
- Desperados 3
Inspired by Tim’s adventures in Microsoft Flight Simulator, we talk about gameplay mechanisms which make simulations compelling: the dramatic loop of player agency, planning, mission choice, the minutiae of the mechanical gameplay, and the way these elements cohere. We juxtapose this with games like far Cry 5 - whose gameplay, while satisfying in isolation, doesn’t build to anything, and doesn’t feel tied to it’s particular gameplay universe.
- Microsoft Flight Simulator
- Truck Simulator
- Train Simulator
- Elite dangerous
- Space Engineers
- Valheim
- Far Cry 5
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Highfleet
After multiple delays - most notably due to the Colorado fires which burned down half of Tim's town - we return to talk video games again.
This season's format will be less focussed on specific aspects of gaming and be more general. We found that playing several iterations of the same kind of game takes something vital away from the ludic experience.
In this episode we talk about some of the games (past and future) that have captured our attention, and touch on the tension between graphical fidelity and ludic diversity as methods for immersing the player.
Games mentioned:
• Highfleet
• Hitman
• Halo
• Dishonored
• Deathloop
• Red Dead 2
• Death Stranding
• Weird West
• Wasteland 3
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Project Zomboid
• FTL
• Hunt Showdown
Following our look at the Civilization games in the previous episode, Tim and Joel look at the Paradox strategy games and The Sims. In contrast to the Civilization games, Paradox has shown signs of greater engagement with some of the more troubling historical issues that games about colony-building have generally failed to adequately address. And despite its superficially bourgeoise aesthetic, the Sims has provided its audience with a genuine diversity of ludic expressions.
Games mentioned:
- The Paradox strategy games: Stellaris, Euopa Universalis, Victoria
- Scavengers
- The Sims
Tim and Joel look at the Civilization games. We examine the way that, in every iteration, their systems have failed go beyond a view of the world rooted in capitalist realism.
Games mentioned:
- Civilization series
- Red Dead Redemption
Tim and Joel look at different ways of experiencing games, how input and interface can shape an aesthetic experience. We look at simple tweaks like removing the mini-map in Red Dead Redemption 2, and examine a team of developers using old-style telephones as voice-activated input devices.
Games mentioned:
- The Last of Us 2
- Crusader Kings 3
- Dwarf Fortress
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Valheim
- Disco Elysium
- Dead Space
- Metro Series
- Far Cry 2
- Hunt: Showdown
- The Walking Dead
- The Witcher
- Radio commander
- Suzerain
Tim and Joel catch up on some of the games they've sampled over the last few weeks. We go over some preliminary thoughts on UI and UX, and talk about the stunning graphical improvements of PCVR.
Games played:
- The Ascent
- ShadowRun
- CyberPunk 2077
- Deus Ex
- Elite Dangerous
- Half Life 1
- Return to Castle Wolfenstein
- Doom 3
- Lunar Lander
- Lunar Flight
- Kerbal Space Program
- Crusader Kings 3
- Lone Echo
- Truck Simulator
- Battle Brothers
- Microsoft Flight Simulator
- Suzerain
- Banished
Tim and Joel continue last week's conversation about systemic games. We look at the medieval sandbox game Crusader Kings 3, and Tim goes into his playthrough of Nantucket. We also look at games that come close to being systemic, employing complex systems, but end up relying on authored narratives.
Games mentioned:
- Crusader Kings 3
- Civilization 6
- Nantucket
- Disco Elysium
- Total War
- Sim City
- Hardspace Shipbreaker
- Battle Brothers
- Per Aspera
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- The Witcher 3
- Zelda
Tim and Joel return from a hiatus with a look at the emergent narrative dynamics of narrative strategy games, beginning with a look at Overhype Studios' Battle Brothers.
Games mentioned:
- Rimworld
- Crusader Kings 3
- Dwarf Fortress
- Battle Brothers
Tim and Joel finalize their thoughts - for now - about the survival genre.
We are shifting to a new format! In future we will take hiatuses to prepare for genre/thematic groupings. The first hiatus begins now - we will return in a few weeks to talk about colony builder and narrative strategy games.
Games mentioned:
- Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China
- Hollow Knight
- Mark of the Ninja
- Prince of Persia
- Nidhogg
- Hunt Showdown
- Hood: Outlaws and Legends
- Truck Simulator
- Population One
- Halo
- Space Engineers
- Valheim
- Deep Rock Galactic
- The Long Dark
- Dayz
- Scum
- Ark
- The Last of Us
- Spec Ops: The Line
- Red Dead Redemption 2
Last week, Tim and Joel asked: What are we Surviving for? This week we look at a different kind of survival game, Space Engineers. The focus here is less on the immediate human elements of survival and more on resource gathering, building and eventually interplanetary travel. We then look at gameplay dynamics that are fundamental to enjoying a survival game: desperation, tension and release.
Games Mentioned:
- Space Engineers
- Valheim
- The Long Dark
- MineCraft
- DayZ
- Scum
Run, fight, craft, build, eat, survive. Cooperate or kill. But why? Joel and Tim begin to look at games that answer this question satisfactorily, and ones that don't.
Games mentioned:
- Dwarf fortress
- Valheim
- DayZ
- Rust
- Fallout
- Deus Ex
- The Forest
- Ark: Survival Evolved
- Subnautica
- Eco
- Neo Scavenger
- The Long Dark
Tim and Joel introduce some of the fundamentals of the survival genre: environmental pressure, crafting, building, multiplayer. We explore some of the different survival experiences these games are attempting to convey, and the way various games succeed or fail in delivering those experiences.
Games mentioned:
- Roblox
- The Source
- Tropico 6
- Valheim
- Minecraft
- Hunt: Showdown
- Escape from Tarkov
- DayZ
- Assassin's Creed Odyssey
- The Long Dark
- Far Cry
- Ark
- Red Dead redemption 2
- Green Hell
- Scum
- Space Engineers
Tim and Joel cover a selection of news items. We begin by looking at some of the corporate moves being made, from streaming and subscription models to acquisitions of smaller companies. This turns into a wider discussion about art and capitalism. Finally we look at the changing demographics of gaming, in light of the news that adult women are now the industry's largest demographic.
Games mentioned:
- Paratopic
- Adios
- Outriders
- Firewatch
- Animal Crossing
- Breath of the Wild
- Pikuniku
- Tonight We Riot
After the recent narrative deep dive, Tim and Joel catch up on what we've been playing. Large doses of Valheim, the dumb fun of Outriders, and some other survival games in preparation for our upcoming look at the genre. Tim goes into the community-based civilizational survival game Eco, and the Mars planet builder Per Aspera.
Games mentioned:
- Valheim
- Outriders
- The Surge 2
- Gears of War
- The Technomancer
- Greedfall
- Hunt: Showdown
- Call of Duty: Warzone
- Genesis Noir
- Per Aspera
- Offworld Trading Company
- Scum
- Dayz
- Deep Rock Galactic
- Eco
- Frostpunk
- Unravel 2
- Pikuniku
In Part One, Tim and Joel looked at how procedural generation can aid or detract from video game narrative. This week, we look at artificial intelligence - a nascent field with immense possibilities. We look at the fundamental difference between AI and traditional systems, and explore the fascinating, dreamlike storytelling experience of AI Dungeon.
Games mentioned:
- Microsoft Flight Simulator.
- No Man's Sky
- Minecraft
- AI Dungeon
- The Sims
- ELIZA
Tim and Joel begin with a discussion of games we recently played. We highlight the problems of returning to grand narrative games like Mafia 3, and the possibilities of player-defined narratives, before looking at procedural generation and its role in game narrative construction, looking at Minecraft and our recent favorite, Valheim.
Games mentioned:
- Mafia 3
- Valheim
- Breath of the Wild
- Signs of the Sojourner
- The Witcher 3
- Slay the Spire
- FTL
- Darkest Dungeon
- Minecraft
- Seedship
- Rogue
The systems a game employs to create a narrative or experience are an expression of the way the developers see the world. After looking in depth at Dwarf Fortress last week, Tim and Joel note the different systems in Stardew Valley and Farming Simulator, both ostensibly games about farming. We then move on to discuss The Sims and Crusader Kings 3, and how they use their systems to illustrate different aspects of human experience.
- Sim City/The Sims
- Banished
- Frostpunk
- Stardew Valley
- Farming Simulator
- Train Simulator
- Europa Universalis
- Victoria
- Hearts of Iron
- Crusader Kings 2
- Crusader Kings 3.
- Civilization
- This War of Mine
- Hardspace Shipbreaker
Tim and Joel look at the way systemic games allow players to create stories. After a brief digression into the mechanics of character creation, we look once again at Dwarf Fortress, and its unique ability to generate story through its systems.
Games mentioned:
- The Witcher 3
- Mass Effect
- ADOM: Ancient Domains of Mystery
- Disco Elysium
- Dwarf Fortress
- Rimworld
Following from last week's episode, Tim and Joel begin by looking at Kentucky Route Zero, which does interesting things with narrative interactivity - positioning the player as stage director rather than performer. We talk about the ways games suggest ways of playing through creative constraint, with reference to the stress system in Crusader Kings 3. Finally we talk about narrative reconstruction, wherein the focus of the player's experience is to put the game's story together, in Outer Wilds and The Flower Collectors.
Games mentioned:
- Kentucky Route Zero
- Disco Elysium
- Crusader Kings 3
- Civilization
- Outer Wilds
- The Flower Collectors
Tim and Joel examine the difference between passively experiencing and actively performing or participating in narrative, and the different degrees to which games make that participation meaningful. We begin by looking at branching narrative, with reference to The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, a game that takes narrative divergence in bold directions. We briefly examine the dynamics of what makes us choose various character actions in games, take a brief look at romance in games, and look once again at Disco Elysium -- one of the best expressions of these principles so far.
Games mentioned:
- The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
- Dishonored
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Mass Effect Trilogy
- Fallout 1
- Firewatch
- Baldur's Gate 2
- Disco Elysium
- Fallout 2
Tim and Joel begin by discussing Kentucky Route Zero, a "postmodern capitalist horror story", before looking deeper at the relationship between game mechanics and narrative. We examine cinematic storytelling, environmental storytelling, and environment as art. Finally we look at dialogue and dialectic in games.
Games mentioned:
- Middle Earth Shadow of War
- Kentucky Route Zero
- Disco Elysium
- Inside
- Hardspace Shipbreaker
- 2020 Game
- Super Meat Boy
- Dragon's Lair
- Bioshock
- Firewatch
- Hitman
- What Remains of Edith Finch
- Mario
- Donkey Kong
- Ultrawings VR
- Half Life
- Deus Ex
- Hunt: Showdown
- Vampyr
- Witcher 3
- Monkey Island
- Morrowind
- Fallout
- The Outer Worlds
- Arkham Asylum
Tim and Joel begin with a discussion of ludonarrative dissonance -- when the act of playing a game is in conflict with the story or theme it is trying to portray. We look at specific examples of dissonance like the achievement system in Red Dead Redemption 2 and the crafting system in The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners. We also look at simple narrative imbalance in Death Stranding. And finally, we look at games that foreground story but don't do enough with gameplay, such as the token interactivity of some of David Cage's creations, or the various Telltale game series.
We then look at the peculiar case of Cyberpunk 2077, and analyze some of its failures. Whereas CD Projekt Red's previous game The Witcher 3 was a high point in video game storytelling, Cyberpunk attempted to do far more with narrative, but to much lesser effect. We discuss the litany of ways in which it failed to deliver on its promise, despite its excellent writing and compelling aesthetic.
Games Discussed:
- Far Cry 2
- Watch Dogs Legion
- Tomb Raider
- Outer Wilds
- Papers Please
- Wolfenstein The New Colossus
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners
- Night in the Woods
- Fahrenheit
- Heavy Rain
- The Last of Us 2
- Death Stranding
- Disco Elysium
- Kentucky Route Zero
- Tacoma
- GTA 4
- GTA 5
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Witcher 3
- Shadowrun Returns
- Deus Ex
This is the first look at aspects of narrative for Season Two, building on our examination of narrative in episodes 4-7 of Season One. Joel and Tim begin with a brief discussion of the inherent tensions between seriousness and play, with reference to The Last of Us 2 and Death Stranding. We talk about playing pretend, and the ways in which a game experience is co-authored by the player - we are actor as well as audience. Whereas early games tended to use story as merely premise, we look at two modern examples of games that that tell stories in ways only video games can: What Remains of Edith Finch and Disco Elysium.
Games Mentioned:
- The Last of Us 2
- Death Stranding
- Arkham City
- Fe
- European Truck Simulator 2
- What Remains of Edith Finch
- Disco Elysium
- Baldur's Gate
- Beat Saber
- GTA
- Mafia 3
- Firewatch
- Cyberpunk 2077
In this first episode, Joel and Tim discuss the games they played over the break, on Xbox, PC and the newly released Oculus Quest 2. They talk about the revelations of VR, and the initial strangeness of adjusting from regular gaming, and potential the directions for the medium in gaming and beyond. Tim breaks down the procedural generation technology in Microsoft Flight Simulator, and discusses what it might mean for the future of gaming.
Games mentioned:
VR:
- Vader Immortal
- Population One
- The Walking Dead
- Myst
Regular:
- The Surge 2
- UFC 3
- Myst (Original)
- Microsoft Flight Simulator
- Disco Elysium
In this short intro, Tim and Joel give a preview of what's coming over the course of Seria Ludo, Season 2.
In this episode, Tim and Joel conclude their list of most impactful games played in 2020. Again, these aren't all games made this year, but they are all games that impacted us deeply over the course of the last twelve months.
Awards List, Part 2:
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution got “best immersive sim” from Joel.
- Objects in Space got “most intense space game” from Tim.
- Mark of the Ninja got “best stealth game” from Joel.
- Where the Water Tastes Like Wine got “most unique gameplay experience” from Tim
- Call of Duty: Warzone got “most splodey” from both Tim and Joel; or at least, the version of it wherein we run exploding crossbows and rocket launchers in Plunder mode does.
- Katana Zero and Ghostrunner got “best pick up and play” from Joel.
- Return of the Obra Dinn got “most intricate / best document UI” from Tim.
- Both Elite: Dangerous and Hardspace: Shipbreaker got special mentions this year as games we spent an enormous amount of time in and enjoyed greatly (and have discussed a great deal in our space game and UI episodes).
- To no one’s surprise at all, our Game of the Year for 2020 is Hunt: Showdown. Not only is it a great game from a purely critical standpoint, but in an age of quarantine and lockdown, it is the one game that has been great for both our friendship and our sanity through round after round (and squad wipe after squad wipe).
In this episode, Joel and Tim talk about the games that left the biggest impact on them over the course of 2020 (even though many of these games were made in earlier years). The list is continued in part 2.
Award List, Part 1:
- Technomancer gets "best combat system" and "best bang-for-the-buck game world experience" from Joel.
- Pikuniku gets "best-hearted" and "most hilariously partnership-testing" from Tim.
- Inside gets "most pure gaming experience" from Joel and "most unsettlingly emotional" from Tim.
- Assassin's Creed Syndicate gets "best non-committal timesuck" (with some serious caveats that this is more addictive than it is good) from Joel.
- Red Dead Redemption 2 gets "most immersive" from Tim.
- Dying Light gets "best open world movement" from Joel.
- American Truck Simulator and European Truck Simulator 2 get "most therapeutic" from Tim.
- Farcry 5 gets "most annoying / most spineless" from both Tim and Joel. Sagebrush also gets a mention here, as a great indie title that actually engages with cult mentality, unlike the lukewarm mess that is Farcry 5's sad excuse for a setting.
In this episode, Tim and Joel discuss how UI that limits the information and actions of the player can be dramatically useful, as seen in the tense radio interactions of Radio Commander, the manual navigation system in Miasmata, and the text-message-like interface of Lifeline. We also talk about how, beyond the pragmatic information/action axis of UI, a good interface can also provide players with a sense of ritual.
Games Discussed
- Miasmata
- Radio Commander
- Lifeline
- Duskers
- Technomancer
- One Hour, One Life
- Silent Hunter
- Crusader Kings 3
- Star Traders
- Civilization 6
- Black and White
In this episode, we talk about UI's ability to embody the player into the character they are playing. We talk about what that means for classic adventure games, action games, and immersive sims, and talk a bit about the potential for both embodiment in VR, and in the real world.
Games discussed:
- Technomancer
- Hunt: Showdown
- Hardspace: Shipbreaker
- Elite Dangerous
- American and European Truck Simulator 2
- Dead by Daylight
- Void Bastards
- Objects in Space
In this episode, Tim and Joel begin a conversation on UI in games. We talk about the purpose of UI generally, in games specifically, and start breaking down the ways UI can make or break a player's immersion in a character. Games discussed: Dead Space, Hardspace: Shipbreaker, Miasmata, Farcry 2, Observer, Aragami, Fable 3, Elite: Dangerous, Call of Duty, Hunt Showdown.
In this episode, Joel and Tim focus in on the problem of designing space games as if you were designing amusement park rides -- by bolting a lot of experiences together based on player expectations, rather than allowing an idea to grow organically. We use Elite: Dangerous as an example to talk about why so many game designers fall into the trap of trying to emulate existing universes rather than creating their own, and end up creating a somewhat bland and forgettable world as a result.
In this special episode, Tim and Joel discuss next week's historic election. We discuss where we are now, the choices that lie before us, and why -- even though Biden is a centrist at best -- we're going to vote for Biden in order to stay the tide of Trump's corrosive actions, and then keep on pushing until we can finally see some actual progressives in the highest offices of the United States.
In this episode, Joel and Tim continue our discussion on space games. We deep dive into dramatic play and immersion, and discuss how the marketing points of many space games (things like universe scale, roles you can fill, etc.) are in direct conflict with the actual immersive experience of playing the game.
We compare Elite: Dangerous and its host of imitators with games like Silent Hunter, Eurotruck Simulator, and Objects in Space, and discuss how those games successfully convince the player that they are inhabiting the space they are in. And, we talk about how the next generation of space games might be able to learn something from that.
In this episode, Joel and Tim begin discussing space games -- the kind of game where you are in command of a spaceship ranging the void, the open world that was invented by Elite in 1984 and that has been iterated upon ever since.
In part 1, we discuss the ways UI has in some sense been pared down from / reduced from the initial titles in the series (Descent: Freespace, Wing Commander Privateer, the original Elite), to make for a more focused, but also more limited, slate of modern open world space games -- Elite: Dangerous, EVE Online, Rebel Galaxy Outlaws, No Man's Sky, and X3/4.
We also begin discussing a few of the entries that break the mold directly, like Objects in Space and FTL, as well as the edge cases of Kerbal Space Program and Space Engineers.
We also talk about our history with the space games of the nineties, including X-Wing and TIE Fighter, Wing Commander, and Star Fox.
In this episode, Tim and Joel continue our conversation on low-fi art styles, and dig more into the specific reasons (good and bad) that developers might choose a low-fi art style.
In this episode, Tim and Joel discuss low-fi art: pixel art, limited color depth, low-polygon modeling, and sprite billboarding. We talk nostalgia, economy, and other reasons developers use to choose these tools. And we compare the difference between toxic or pandering nostalgia and the kind of nostalgia that is used to lampoon (Broforce) or examine (Undertale) the past.
We also discuss how low-fi art can simply be an aesthetic that supports the narrative or setting in question, such as how the low-poly low-res style of Objects in Space matches the "modempunk" aesthetic, and how the colorful pixellated style of Katana Zero matches the VHS cyberpunk aesthetic of that game.
In this episode, Joel and Tim talk about cooperative multiplayer games -- shooters like Halo, puzzlers like Portal 2, creative collaborative games like Minecraft, and the co-op aspects of team games like Hunt: Showdown. We talk about what's fun about these games, and some of the places we hope they'll go in the future.
In this episode, Tim and Joel discuss massively multiplayer games. We've both been a bit disappointed with the games we've tried in this vein, and we talk about why that is, what appeals to people about these kinds of games, and where we hope the genre will go in the future.
In this episode, Joel and Tim discuss environmental multiplayer -- the form of multiplayer that happens when a game isn't directly about interactions with other players, but where other players are still present in the experience.
We talk shared world states with Dark Souls' messaging system, and Elite: Dangerous and No Man's Sky's discovery system. We talk shared road paradigms in The Trail, Journey, and the TruckerMP mod for American Truck Simulator and Eurotruck Simulator 2.
Finally, we talk neighbor mechanics and emergent market systems in Animal Crossing, and how Sim City's bourgeois utopic multiplayer mechanics resulted in an unintended bourgeois hell.
In this episode, Joel and Tim discuss competitive multiplayer games, including e-sports titles like Smite and Starcraft, more open sandbox matches like show favorite Hunt: Showdown, and asymmetrical matches like Dead by Daylight. We also discuss some of the technical elements of building a competitive multiplayer game, including addressing the mind-bending problem of ping.
In this episode, Joel and Tim discuss competitive multiplayer games, including e-sports titles like Smite and Starcraft, more open sandbox matches like show favorite Hunt: Showdown, and asymmetrical matches like Dead by Daylight. We also discuss some of the technical elements of building a competitive multiplayer game, including addressing the mind-bending problem of ping.
In this episode, Tim and Joel discuss the recent Elite Squad trailer from Ubisoft, how the game's narrative partakes in the growing fascist movement in the United States, and how it all ties into the recent lethal shootings by a fascist-influenced teenager in Kenosha, WI. We also discuss how all of that connects to Ubisoft's toxic leadership culture and recent failure to innovate.
Links:
- A recording of the now-deleted Elite Squad trailer
- Ubisoft Removes Video Seen as Insensitive to Black Lives Matter, by Jason Schreier
In this episode, Joel and Tim discuss multiplayer games. We deep dive into the history of video game multiplayer, and outline some of the main forms in which multiplayer is used across gaming, including co-op games, competitive matches, and environmentally multiplayer or massively multiplayer games.
In this episode, Joel and Tim discuss recent news. We talk COVID cases in the UK and US, the Trump administration's ongoing attempt to obscure COVID data, our unhappiness with the Biden/Harris ticket and the old guard of the DNC generally, and our strong belief that we should vote for them anyway. We also discuss Trump's attacks on the USPS both to limit democratic participation now, and to provide a narrative for ignoring election results when Biden wins in November.
In this episode, Joel and Tim discuss some of the ways politics interact with games, and some of the ways different games have portrayed morality, through systems and narrative.
Topics Discussed:
- Morality in narrative branching choices (KOTOR, Jedi Academy)
- Gradient / reputation systems (Fallout, RDR)
- Frostpunk's assumption that survival requires -- and is worth -- moral compromise
- Restorative Justice (wherein we miss the opportunity to say, "He repented but it was something of a Tolkien gesture") and RDR2
- Unapologetic storytelling by Bethesda in Wolfenstein 1 and 2 vs cowardly corporate hedging by Ubisoft in Farcry 5 and the Division 2
- Does a game have a moral responsibility to tell the truth? If so, is that more or less than any other art form?
- "Liberal" impulse to censore vs conservative impulse to erase
See also:
- Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nahesi Coates
- Wolfenstein 2: Confrontational Black Panthers and very reasonable Nazis, by Rob Zacny at Vice
In this episode, Tim and Joel discuss emergent systems storytelling in games like Dwarf Fortress and Rimworld, as well as Sea of Thieves and reasons why that game world sometimes feels so empty. We discuss frame stories in games like Outer Wilds, Gone Home, and Return of the Obra Dinn, and how these stories are uniquely suited to being told in the medium of a game. We finish by discussing story itself as a gameplay mechanic in Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, and what might be possible (and not possible) down the road there.
Mentioned: the interview with Obra Dinn designer Lucas Pope on the Designer Notes podcast.
In this episode, Joel and Tim continue to discuss the mechanics of storytelling in games. We look at some of the specifics of why mechanics are important with an in-depth look at FTL vs. Some Distant Memory and Long Journey Home (25:15). We look at the way the deep and engaging gameplay of Return of the Obra Dinn makes the story that much more engaging (40:00). We discuss how Far Cry 5 has good gameplay undermined by an actively bad story and setting (46:00). And we begin discussing the "anthology" style of storytelling and the narrative branching mechanic in the Witcher 2 and 3 (54:00). We close with a plug of Riot Ribs and Trump's federal assault on Portland.
Update: the organizers behind Riot Ribs have requested that donations instead be forwarded to Don't Shoot PDX -- if you're local go here, otherwise check out this list of where they recommend sending donations.
In this episode, Joel and Tim discuss some of the mechanics of how games tell narrative. We dip into the importance of immersive detail in games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Witcher 3, and Firewatch, the pulled-back scale of strategy games like Frostpunk and Xcom, and touch on some of the emergent storytelling that happens in games like One Hour One Life and Xcom. We also touch on ways indie games can match the expansiveness of detail often found in AAA titles.
Tim and Joel discuss the games they've been playing recently, and start digging into the topics of narrative in games, and some of the games that have done it best.
Tim and Joel discuss world and gaming news, including the Covid response in the US and UK, the Oglala Sioux protests in the Black Hills at Mount Rushmore following the Trump rally there, reports of toxic culture at Ubisoft, and some of the issues surrounding streaming and games culture.
Tim and Joel discuss the future of the Battle Royale format and other game modes that might be possible with the technology behind BR. We deep dive into Hunt: Showdown and talk about what makes it so interesting. We also talk about the future of the genre, and a bit about the state of the world outside gaming.
Games discussed:
- Hunt: Showdown
Joel and Tim dive in with a discussion of Battle Royales -- some of the specifics of the genre, which games do it best, and some of the things we'd like to see done better.
Games discussed:
- Call of Duty: Warzone
- Apex Legends
- Fortnite
- PUBG
- Hunt: Showdown (more on this one in Episode 2)
Hello, internet! Seria Ludo is a new podcast focused on deep dives into specific topics of games, game design, and the politics surrounding the medium. We'll be posting new episodes every Thursday. Give this one a listen to hear a little bit about what the name means, our plans for the future, and to learn about Joel and Tim's history with gaming. Welcome, and thanks for tuning in!