Design Dorks: Recent Episodes
The Design Dorks
A Youtube collaboration between Designing For and The Duke of Dorks, Pyrrhickong and Duke get together to discuss various elements of video game design! Be it targeted topics like ranking the designs of every Smash Brothers character or debating the best written video game characters, plus a monthly update on games they've been playing, news, future releases, and a mailbag! Tune in for ridiculous discussions such as "Why is a plant the best designed Mario character?", "Is Joy Mech Fight actually the best fighting game?", and "Is Kirby the ultimate secret to happiness?" We laugh, we cry, we have a great time discussing video games, and we hope you all enjoy listening!
The June/July 2024 episode of the Gaiden series! This is the show where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! Pyrr has sworn off jumping in video games, Duke finally finished Pikmin 4 earning thoughts that surely won't be contentious, and everyone should be excited for AGE OF MYTHOLOGY LETS GOOOOOO!!!!!!
The May/June 2024 episode of the Gaiden series! This is the show where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! Pyrr was sick last time so logically now it's Duke's turn to be on death's door, but we still have a TON of Not E3 announcements to go over. Maybe a few games to!
The April/Most of May 2024 episode of the Gaiden series! This is the show where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! This episode marks Duke breaking his new Early Access rule, Pyrr's exploiting his lost voice to marvelous effect, and overall? Just a good time, I liked this episode!
The March 2024 episode of the Gaiden series! Being uploaded at the end of April because Duke forgot to put it on Spotify! This is the show where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! This episode marks a turning point for both of our channels as we've started exploring streaming games a bit more. Let's talk about that!
Unfortunately our live chat is too nice to point out that "Hey, now Duke is the one who is way louder than Pyrr!" It'll hopefully be fixed by the next one but for now I apologize for the sporadic quality. Anyway, it was Pyrr's birthday, he played 30 games, we mainly just talk about that.
The January 2024 episode of the Gaiden series! This is the show where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! This episode marks... just... a lot of tangents. Mainly about Yakuza, but things go places with this one!
The December 2023 episode of the Gaiden series! A special episode where we take a moment to look back and gush about all the great video game characters of 2023, 15 of them to be precise! Apologies, there were a few uploading hiccups with this one due to a winter storm, so there are 2 or 3 moments where the podcast skips 10 or so seconds. Also it's late because Duke is now in college and he completely forgot he was supposed to upload this.
The November 2023 episode of the Gaiden series! This is the show where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! This episode marks Duke's continued crippling addictions, Pyrr's 3D Platforming shenanigans, and a shared Bonus Stage!
The October 2023 episode of the Gaiden series! This is the show where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! This episode marks the karmic retribution of Pyrr's Mario Party saga, Duke's inability to play any game for more than 3 hours, and the glorious arrival of our lord and savior Ramon!
The September 2023 episode of the Gaiden series! This is the show where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! This episode marks some fascinating showcases of visual novels, an exploration of New vs. Old in terms of the Monster Hunter franchise, and the absolutely unholy luck of Pyrr in Mario Party!
The August 2023 episode of the Gaiden series! This is the show where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! This episode marks EVEN MORE Mario from Pyrr, continued Baldur's Gate 3 gushing from Duke, and not much else cause HOO BOY are we tired!
The July 2023 episode of the Gaiden series! This is the show where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! This episode marks a plethora of Mario experiences, gushing about everything involving EVO, and, at long last, Duke's most anticipated game, Baldur's Gate 3, is here to consume all of his free time for the foreseeable future!
The June2023 episode of the Gaiden series, live format is here to stay! This is the show where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! This episode marks the first second half of Summer Games Fest, XCOM gushing, the joys of Mario Wonder and Duke's utter indifference towards Super Mario RPG. Sorry.
A NEW FORMAT ARRIVES! The May 2023 episode of the Gaiden series, the first of which we recorded live on Youtube. There will be a slight dip in quality due to it being one long recording rather than an edited down one, but that also comes with the added benefits of being a fully organic conversation with occasional input from the audience. This is the show where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! This episode marks the first half of Summer Games Fest, a massive Tears of the Kingdom discussion, and the long awaited gushing about Street Fighter 6!
The April 2023 episode of the Gaiden series, where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! This episode marks the first time your cohosts have met in person, and we tell many a tale of the games we played and a certain Mario movie that we went to go see!
The March 2023 episode of the Gaiden series, where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! This is a special episode, as we didn't play many games this week, so we instead went through our top ONE HUNDRED games of all time! Not quite sure how we managed to fit that into a 3 hour time period, but hey, I'm not complaining!
The February 2023 episode of the Gaiden series, where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! Highlights include Duke's absurd difficulties with Banjo Kazooie, the finale of God of War Ragnarok, and a surprising amount of required censors!
The January 2023 episode of the Gaiden series, where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! Highlights include the bonus round of God of War vs. Xenoblade, an SNES Puzzle gauntlet, Hi Fi Rush existing and being awesome, and some fake drama, why not!
The November 2022 episode of the Gaiden series, except PSYCH its also a regular episode! We do talk about the news and go over some questions from our listeners, but the main focus today is a big ole classic list! We take 15 of our favorite characters from gaming last year, line em all up, and alternate cutting them out of the running until only one is left standing? Who will come out on top? Will Pyrr's undying passion for Live A Live win the day? What about our shared love of King Dedede? Could there possibly be any survivors in the God of War vs. Xenoblade massacre? Let's find out!
The November 2022 episode of the Gaiden series, where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! Highlights include a rapid fire first impression of the Gen 9 Pokemon, gushing over some junk food games both us fell back on, and at long last the finale discussion about Live A Live!
The October 2022 episode of the Gaiden series, where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! Highlights include Pyrr's dive into the Xenoblade franchise, Duke continuing to stan for Age of Empires, and a panic induced, pathetic attempt at improv.
The September 2022 episode of the Gaiden series, where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! Highlights include controversial Donkey Kong opinions, Duke's neverending TFT addiction, and a single burger that will destroy god!
The August 2022 episode of the Gaiden series, where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! This time featuring severe sleep deprivation! Highlights include a deluge of new fighting game characters, the ongoing evolution of DKC3 opinions, and continual gushing over Live-A-Live. Seriously, play it, it's a fantastic game!
The July 2022 episode of the Gaiden series, where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! At least, we would, but we're both dead tired from our respective jobs, so this episode wasn't quite as in-depth as the others, but we still had some good discussions! Highlights include harkening No More Heroes to golf, Pyrr GUSHING about Live A Live, and Duke finding inner peace by discovering his Cuphead doppelganger!
The June 2022 episode of the Gaiden series, where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! With this being the E3-but-not-technically-E3 episode, it's mostly the news this time around and BOY was there a ton to talk about. Some presentations were great, others I could barely remember, but they all had one thing in common... no Banjo. Ah well, maybe next year.
To wrap up the year we decided to look back on all the video game experiences we had! Some were good, some were bad, some made us cry or question our life choices! Highlights include the amazingly written Disco Elysium, our co-op adventures in Donkey Kong Country 2, and the sheer perfection that is Deltarune Chapter 2.
A bonus side episode of the Smash Brothers Tier List series, where we took a break from ranking characters so we could take a look at all the various bosses the series have had! Some are good, some are bad, some have no business being here whatsoever, but one thing is absolutely certain: It's crazy how much investment we all have in a simple glove.
The VERY LONG finale of this series, where we rank the designs of every single Smash Brothers character in the game, based on how well they embody their character and how well they function as a fighting game character! This episode we turn our attention to our audience, letting them give their feedback on our placements and see if they can change our minds on our rankings. Will they save Megaman from the depths of the bottom tier? Will Kirby fall to fans wishing for more from him? And what on earth are we supposed to do with Luigi?! Let's find out!
The third of a multi-part series, where we rank the designs of every single Smash Brothers character in the game, based on how well they embody their character and how well they function as a fighting game character. This episode features Smash Brothers 64, adding classic designs like the beginner friendly Kirby, the hyper aggressive Captain Falcon, and the hilariously underrated joke that is Jigglypuff!
The first of a multi-part series, where we rank the designs of every single Smash Brothers character in the game, based on how well they embody their character and how well they function as a fighting game character. This episode features Smash Wii U and 3DS, adding delightful designs like Pac-Man, Bowser Jr., and... wow is Megaman's really that bad?!
The second of a multi-part series, where we rank the designs of every single Smash Brothers character in the game, based on how well they embody their character and how well they function as a fighting game character. This episode features Smash Brothers Brawl, which saw the legendary inclusion of Snake, the not-so legendary design of Sonic, and the apple of Duke's eye that is King Dedede!
The fourth of a multi-part series, where we rank the designs of every single Smash Brothers character in the game, based on how well they embody their character and how well they function as a fighting game character. This episode features Smash Brothers Melee, adding bizarre fan-favorites like Ice Climbers and Mr. Game & Watch, as well as introducing the wider world to Fire Emblem through Marth and Roy!
The fifth of a multi-part series, where we rank the designs of every single Smash Brothers character in the game, based on how well they embody their character and how well they function as a fighting game character. This episode features Smash Brothers Ultimate, a cornucopia of wonderful character designs like Terry Bogard, Sephiroth, and King K. Rool!
The first episode of the series, discussing the inclusion of Joker in Smash Brothers, what we felt worked with his design, what we felt didn't, and what changes we would choose to make to him!
Released roughly midway through Smash Ultimate's DLC lifecycle, we discussed various potential newcomers and how they might appear in the game. The movesets and gimmicks they might have, how their playstyles might be themed, and I don't wanna brag or anything but we got REALLY close to how Steve would end up appearing in the game!
Where the last episode we discussed potential Smash characters that excited us from a design perspective, this episode we discussed characters that were the furthest thing from "potential". Ones that would never be added to the game in a million years, but had various aspects of their design that would make them very fun to play in Smash Brothers.
The May 2022 episode of the Gaiden series, where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! Highlights include the beautiful chaos of Joy Mech Fight duels, a ridiculous amount of (Surprisingly good!) old Batman games, and best of all, the debut of the awesomely talented Yog of the Youtube channel "Crash N' Smash" to create our OST! Thank you Yog!
The March 2022 episode of the Gaiden series, where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and answer questions from our listeners! Highlights include Duke's ongoing feud with Xenoblade Chronicles 2, shining a spotlight on the absurdly amazing support Age of Empires receives, and Pyrr giving one of THE BEST performances as he tells the tale of a frustrating video game!
The March 2022 episode of the Gaiden series, where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, future plans that we have, and now (Thanks to Duke not forgetting this time) some thoughts from the listeners! Highlights include gushing about Kirby and the Forgotten Land, more gushing about Kirby and the Forgotten Land, followed by even MORE gushing about Kirby and the Forgotten Land! It's a really good game!
The February 2022 episode of the Gaiden series, where we discuss the games we played, the news stories we saw, and future plans that we have! Highlights include gushing about our DKC3 Co-op adventures, delighting over the perfect writing of Disco Elysium, and making a singing bet that one of us surely won't regret making!