In our second-longest ever, Mark explains the difference between an API and an SDK (and why it's important to know), Martha got her phone mugged and lost all her mobile game saves, and Stephen leads a discussion about designing for difficulty in your games (but mainly as an excuse to talk about fighting games again).

All this, plus your nice hosts celebrate 30 episodes, and Mark doesn't edit out something Martha asks him to, but only because Martha was the one who edited this episode.

Discuss this week’s episode on Reddit using this thread in r/gamedev!

[0:02:31] Runtimes, SDKs, and APIs

Popular runtimes:

Java Virtual Machine

AIR Runtime

Dalvik runtime

Android Runtime (ART)

Common Language Runtime (.NET)

“A Primer For Unity Developers: What The Heck Is Mono?” - Logan Booker, Lifehacker AU

“What is the Difference Between an API and an SDK?” -  Kristopher Sandoval

Starling 2.0

Citrus Engine

Generic Animation Framework

[0:23:34] Mobile Games

Slayin review - Destructiod

“Square Enix Tells the Story of Hitman GO” - Touch Arcade

“QuizUp is trying to reinvent itself by turning into a social network” - Josh Lowensohn, The Verge

“Alphabear Review – Why Do Bears Like Spelling Bees?” - Indie Game Magazine

“How to Monetize an Infinite Runner” - Game Analytics

“Virtual Buttons Are Holding Mobile Games Back” - Muir Freeland

Miyamoto Plays Super Mario Run, Eats Cake - YouTube

“Civilization Revolution 2 is a Good Mobile Game, But is It a Good Civ Game?” -  Alex Newhouse, Gamespot

Turns out, Hercules is both Greek and Roman.

“Smash Hit Is The Most Addictive Android And iOS Game Of The Year So Far” - Mihir Patkar

"I've been texting with an astronaut" - Laura Hudson, Boing Boing

Spaceteam review - Eurogamer

[0:54:27] Difficulty

“Street Fighter V Fans Are Not Sure What To Make Of Seemingly Simplistic Newcomer Ed” - Ian Walker, Kotaku

Yomi - Urban dictionary

“Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s first DLC pack sounds really neat” - Samit Sarkar, Polygon

“Hard Mode: Good Difficulty Versus Bad Difficulty” - Paul Suddaby

“Difficulty is Difficult: Designing for Hard Modes in Games” - Daniel Boutros

“Where Did the Challenge Go? The Problem with Skyrim” - LevelSkip

“The Civilization series has a difficulty problem, and Civ 6 solves it without even trying” - Jordan Forward

“Dark Souls isn't hard game, but rather creates illusion of difficulty with gimmicky controls and unbalanced gameplay” - Vectornaut, r/ChangeMyView

“Yoshi’s Woolly World is tougher than it looks, but only if you want it to be” - Matt Gerardi, A.V. Club

“Tim Schafer recalls when Steven Spielberg asked for a hint in Day of the Tentacle” - Owen Good, Polygon

“Tim Schafer's take on 'good puzzle theory' and being stuck as entertainment” - Micheal McWhertor, Polygon