Designer Notes

In this episode, Soren interviews noted game investor Mitch Lasky, best known for his work as a venture capitalist at Benchmark, as the CEO of JAMDAT, and as an executive at Activision and Electronic Arts. They discuss how the industry’s business models have always affected design, why he was wrong about the Halloween pack ruining League of Legends, and why the litigation leaks are better than GDC. This episode was recorded on October 23, 2023.

Games discussed: League of Legends, Hearthstone, StarCraft, Civilization 6, World of Warcraft, Pentiment, Offworld Trading Company, Flow, Sky, Journey, Grand Theft Auto V, Stormgate

Designer Notes 83: Mitch Lasky - Part 2

Welcome to Designer Notes, a podcast about why we make games, hosted by Soren Johnson of Mohawk Games. In our first episode, Soren sits down with Rob Pardo, formerly the Chief Creative Officer at Blizzard Entertainment, to discuss his game design career, or at least as much as could fit into this first of two parts! Rob is best known for his design work on StarCraft 1 & 2, Warcraft 3, and World of Warcraft.

Games Discussed: Dungeons & Dragons, the Ultima series, StarCraft, StarCraft: Brood War, Diablo 1 & 2, Warcraft 3

Designer Notes 1: Rob Pardo - Part 1

Soren is not done with Rob yet! In the second half of the interview, they discuss the MMO that shocked everyone (including Blizzard), how to hire game designers, why they didn't make DOTA2, removing the auction house from Diablo 3, and what might come next from Rob.

Games Discussed: Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft, StarCraft 2, MOBAs, Diablo 3, Hearthstone

Designer Notes 2: Rob Pardo - Part 2

In this episode, Soren interviews Frank Lantz, currently Director of the NYU Game Center. Frantz was also the co-founder of Area/Code where he led the design of Drop7. We discuss how to make sure your game gets written up in Boing Boing, why most people who like ARGs have never played one, and how to take advantage of your friend's trip to the hospital in Parking Wars.

Games Discussed: The Manhole, Dungeon Master, Mortal Kombat, Wipeout, Gearheads, Diner Dash, PacManhattan, Shark Runners, Parking Wars, Drop7

Designer Notes 3: Frank Lantz

In this episode, Soren interviews Henrik Fahraeus, who is a Game Director at Paradox Interactive, where he has worked on the Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, and Hearts of Iron series. Also sitting in on the interview is Jon Shafer, lead designer of Civilization 5 and currently at work on his independent strategy game At the Gates. They discuss whether the Civ and EU games live in alternate dimension, whether provinces are better than hexes, and why it's bad to have too many sons.

Games Discussed: Lords of Midnight, Seven Cities of Gold, Europa Universalis series, Hearts of Iron series, Crusader Kings series, Civilization series

Designer Notes 4: Henrik Fahraeus

In this episode, Soren interviews Daniel Cook, who is the Chief Creative Officer at Spry Fox. He is best known for his design work on games such as Triple Town, Realm of the Mad God, and Steambirds as well as for his writing on game design at lostgarden.com. They discuss the joy of making tile sets, why Lost Garden was originally an anonymous blog, whether Triple Town should be free-to-play, and why we wish we had been neighbors.

Games Discussed: The Faery Tale Adventure, Tyrian, The Circle, 1 vs. 100, Steambirds, Triple Town, Realm of the Mad God, Road Not Taken

Designer Notes 5: Daniel Cook

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