Jon, Dirk and David finally get around to the elephant in the room: randomness. What is it? How can it make games better or worse? How does it relate to the type of audience you’re aiming for? What bad things can happen when you try to remove it? And heck, is there actually anything good about complete, utter, brutal unfair randomness?Contact InformationJon Shafer - @JonShaferDesign, www.JonShaferOnDesign.com, [email protected] Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, [email protected] Heron - @DavidVHeronEpisode Outline0:00:23 - What is randomness?0:03:55 - What makes randomness good?0:08:45 - Randomness and casual VS hardcore0:15:56 - Problems trying to mitigate randomness0:23:10 - Probability0:38:15 - Fairness0:50:40 - Input randomness

Jon and Dirk are joined by David Dunham, the creator of the classic PC and new iOS game ‘King of Dragon Pass’. The panel discusses the game’s unique focus on player-driven narrative, reviving an old-school title on new platforms, and the challenges of indie development. And Jon gets excited, simply because he finally found another game that takes barbarians seriously!Contact InformationJon Shafer - @JonShaferDesign, www.JonShaferOnDesign.comDirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.comDavid Dunham - @KingDragonPass, www.A-Sharp.comEpisode Outline0:00:54 - King of Dragon Pass0:02:47 - The origins of KoDP0:07:00 - KoDP’s story0:16:24 - The development of KoDP0:25:32 - Sales and target audience0:28:50 - Why go indie?0:37:38 - A Sharp: David’s company0:39:13 - David’s design process0:49:07 - David’s interests0:54:20 - Advice for aspiring designers

Jon and Dirk cover a wide variety of topics this week, notably: the problems with automation and user interface in Paradox titles like Hearts of Iron 3 and Europa Universalis 4, the psychological appeal and the (possibly too-important) role of money in poker, and the challenges of meshing tech and design in At the Gates’ AI.Jon Shafer@JonShaferDesign (Twitter)www.JonShaferOnDesign.comDirk Knemeyer @DKnemeyer (Twitter)www.artana.comEpisode Outline0:01:15 - Europa Universalis 4 and Hearts of Iron 30:07:30 - The problem with automation0:14:29 - UI in Paradox games0:27:50 - Poker0:42:05 - The problems with poker0:52:22 - Poker and money0:58:41 - At the Gates - Map Objects1:05:45 - At the Gates - AI1:13:36 - Dirk’s brief project update

Jon, Dirk and David delve into the topic of multiplayer design: How is it different from single player design? What are the strengths and weaknesses different types of multiplayer? What separates e-sports from traditional multiplayer games? And what approach can be taken towards cheating?Jon Shafer - @JonShaferDesign, www.JonShaferOnDesign.comDirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.comDavid Heron - @DavidVHeron0:01:27 - Why talk about multiplayer?0:03:43 - Multiplayer design vs single player design0:09:08 - Different multiplayer modes0:21:10 - Asynchronous multiplayer0:27:42 - Multiplayer-only games0:40:53 - E-Sports0:43:32 - Cheating0:54:43 - The value of multiplayer

Jon and Dirk sit down with Chris Park of Arcen Games to discuss his latest game, Skyward Collapse, the development and business challenges of developing indie strategy games, and the important role AI can play in asymmetric games.

Jon and Dirk discuss several games at length this week, namely: Monaco, the new Walking Dead chapter, Super Crate Box for the Ouya and Civ 5: Brave New World. Topics covered include how penalties can improve a game, the importance of polish, and why diplomacy in 4X games always seems to be bad.

Jon, Dirk and David discuss the role of failure in games and how it ties in with how people learn how to play. What does punishment add, and where can it go wrong? How do you effectively teach players strategy games? What do PLAYERS get out of failure? And how the heck do you learn a tabletop game without tooltips?

Dirk sits down with game designer Vic Davis of Cryptic Comet games to talk about life as an indie designer, Vic’s dark game design decisions, and his new game 'Occult Chronicles'.

Jon and Dirk cover a variety of games they’ve played lately, including the new ‘Walking Dead’ expansion, ‘Ascension’ and ‘1775’. The discussion gets serious when ‘Hotline Miami’ comes up, and the crew debates the role of ethics in game design. They wrap up on a lighter note, describing the challenge of integrating mechanics and UI in a tabletop game, and how to instill life into fictional characters.

Soren Johnson returns to the show to discuss progression systems with Jon and Dirk, with a special focus on technology trees. What are the advantages and disadvantages of abstraction? How do Diablo 2 and 3 and Civilization 4 and 5 differ? What is At the Gates doing with Romanization Perks? And hell, what makes for a good progression system anyways? All of these questions - and more - are answered within!