Feb 24, 2014
Soren joins Jon and Dirk to discuss transparency: what a game does
and does not reveal to players. The discussion ranges from
unpredictability in deckbuilders like ‘Dominion’ and ‘Ascension’,
to fog of war in ‘Civilization’, ‘At the Gates’ and ‘War Stories’,
to the need to memorize past actions in games like ‘El Grande’.
They wrap up with a lengthy discussion about the transparency
problems Dirk and Soren have with the baseball sim ‘Out of the
Park’ and why Jon still loves it all the
same.---------------------------Contact InformationJon Shafer -
@JonShaferDesign, www.JonShaferOnDesign.com,
Jon.Shafer@ConiferGames.comDirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer,
www.artana.com, Dirk@Knemeyer.comSoren Johnson - @SorenJohnson,
www.Designer-Notes.com,
www.MohawkGames.com---------------------------Episode
Outline0:00:24 - What IS Transparency?0:13:50 - Deckbuilders0:18:02
- Fog of War0:26:12 - Dirk’s Games0:31:15 - Replayability0:38:18 -
Memory0:45:35 - The Designer’s Preference0:50:04 - Out of the Park
Baseball1:12:00 - Designing Our Baseball Sim