A compilation of lessons created by Sientir and Red Coat on the concept of game design implementation approached from a developers standpoint.

Vernacademia (Podcast Season 2)

The First podcast of Season 2. Here we do a brief recap of the things we went over in Season 1 

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes

00:06 Changes for this Season
00:27 Recap Start
00:44 The Composite Experience
01:11 Narvisaud
02:17 Mechanical Layers
03:07 Game Balance
05:09 Terminology
05:36 Game Object
05:41 Player Object
05:53 Non-Player Object
06:11 Objectives
06:26 Obstacles
06:35 Tense Obstacles
06:51 Relaxed Obstacles
07:08 Traps
07:23 Agency
07:39 Agents
08:01 Foes
08:23 Assets
08:42 Resource
08:50 Currency
09:11 Consumables
09:21 Tools
09:36 Collectibles
09:55 Collectible Parts
10:12 Wrap Up
10:58 Sign Off

Vernacular Podcast Season 2

Vernacademia 01 -- Introduction

An examination of the dissonance that can occur when the Mechanical and Narvisaudal Identity of a game are at odds with each other

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:08 Introduction
00:24 What are Mechanics
00:33 Developer Intention
00:51 Dissonanace Overview
01:27 Non-Harmonious Alignment Overview
01:45 Mechanical Dissonance in Pokemon
04:44 How could we solve this?
05:31 Narvisaudal Dissonance
05:57 Cut-Scene Guns
07:38 Accepted Narvisaudal Dissonance
09:04 Non-Harmonious Alignment
10:11 Sonic R and Non-Harmonious Alignment
12:23 Cast Summary

Vernacademia 02 -- Dissonances

Red Talks about and Defines his concept of Run and Gun games

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:04 Introduction
00:20 What is a Run and Game
00:35 Reflexive versus Contemplative
01:02 What are Run and Gun Games like
02:30 Enemies as the focus
02:51 Guns n' projectiles
03:35 Pacing in Run and Guns 
04:27 Difference between Shmup and Run and Gun
05:49 Shadow the Hedgehog - Run and Gunner?
06:35 The Flowering of Skill
09:30 Design Philosophy of Tough Love
11:05 Mechanical Media Res
11:20 Where to start the learning curve

Vernacademia 03 -- Run and Gun Games

Here we explore the concept of transitions in games and why they are important to the overall experience



Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:04 Introduction 
00:20 What are Transitions
00:58 Why are they important?
02:08 Why use them in games?
02:46 Data Management
03:18 Ways to Manage Memory
03:53 Transitions to Manage Pacing
04:51 Increasing Impact of Events
05:22 Methods of doing Transitions
05:41 Cut Transitions
06:08 Masked Transitions
06:50 Super Metroid vs Metroid Prime
07:46 Other styles of Cut and Masked Transitions
08:47 What to keep in mind
08:53 Establish Transition Rules
09:42 What do your Transitions say?
09:57 Dark Souls 2 and Transitions
10:50 Ocarina of Time and Cut Abstraction
11:19 Ocarina of Time Beta Quest
11:50 Zonal Transitions
12:12 Sonic the Hedgehog Zonal Transitions
13:13 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Zonal Transitions
14:03 Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Zonal Transitions
14:45 Overview and Wrap up
15:17 Next Cast and Sign Off

Vernacademia 04 -- Transitions

Here we explore how Music is used in games and what it does to the overall experience

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:05 Introduction
01:19 What roles can music play?
01:43 Mood and Ambiance Management
02:02 Hyrule Field in the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
02:54 The Courtyard in Super Mario 64
04:11 Sound Choice in the Souls Series
04:31 Guild Wars 1 and Musical Contrast
04:54 Emotional control through Music
05:23 Musical Alerts
06:20 Musical Alerts in Legend of Zelda
06:43 Sonic and the Drowning Alert
06:58 Creating Emotional Continuity Through Anthems
07:56 Songs Influence Player perception of characters
08:15 Captain Falcon and F-Zero GX
08:39 Musical Selection and Pokemon
09:22 Fighting Games and Anthems
10:13 How to use music?
10:53 Dynamic in game music
11:55 Minamalist Dynamic Music
12:26 Reactive Compositions
12:39 Randomized Compositions
13:29 Transitioning between Musical Elements
14:23 Transitions and Fire Emblem
15:43 Silence as a musical choice
16:14 An example of Audio Mixing
17:14 Megaman X3 and Sound Management
18:29 Benefits of Effective Music Usage
19:37 Song types to pay particular attention to
20:39 Make sure to communicate with your composer
21:31 Wrap Up and Next Cast
21:54 Sign Off

Vernacademia 05 -- Music

Sientir speaks a bit on his experience with ID's earlier first person shooter games and other tangentially related things

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:03 Introduction
00:52 What did Sientir like about FPS games?
01:37 How do you compare current FPS to old school FPS?
02:33 What pushes him away from current FPS games?
03:39 How did FPS impact Sientir's design sensibilities?
04:22 Impact of Player Speed
04:57 Old school color compared to new school
05:57 Worlds designed for fun rather than to imitate reality
06:38 Opinions on Doom 2016
07:04 Graphical Stylization vs. Realism
08:16 GI-Joe style
08:39 ID and Arcade play
09:51 Weapon Limitations and unreality
10:41 Demon Souls to Dark Souls and Encomberance
11:27 Weapon Selection and the weapon dial
12:04 Environment Exploration, Speed to world size
13:55 Interesting Traversal in games
15:05 Alternative Movement, Ocarina of Time
15:42 Quake and Environment Design
16:02 Hexen and Environment Design
16:32 Dark Souls 2 and area resonance and implementation
18:59 The dying creepy forest aesthetic
19:40 The Aesthetic feelings that stuck with Sientir
21:33 Projectile Design that allows the player to interact with it
22:44 Encapsulating Thoughts
24:31 Sign Off

Vernacademia 06 -- Early ID FPSes

The first part of our exploration of Complexity. Here we dig into the concept of Barrier of Entry and how it interacts with Level of Depth

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames


Cliff Notes:

00:06 Introduction
00:28 What is Complexity
01:24 The Four Types of Complexity
02:12 Comprehension Complexity
02:56 Situational Complexity
03:41 Three parts of Situational Complexity
04:04 Strategic Complexity
04:24 Strategic Complexity in Pokemon
05:49 Executional Complexity
06:31 What does Complexity do for Games?
06:59 Barrier of Entry
07:32 Barrier of Entry in Chess
08:10 Depth as Positive Complexity
09:19 Managing Complexity
09:58 Barriers of entry as Doors
10:19 How to identify your Barriers of Entry
11:05 Keep new players in mind
11:54 Depth in Depth
12:08 Depth as rooms in a building
13:27 Barrier of Entry ratio to Level of Depth
14:02 Mark Rosewater and Lenticular Design
14:36 Wrap Up
14:54 Sign Off

The Vernacademia Video Essays

Vernacademia 07 -- Complexity

The Second part of our exploration of Complexity. Here we explore the for different types of Complexity

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:05 Introduction
00:23 The 4 Complexity Manifestations
01:25 Identifying Negative and Positive Engagement
02:41 Comprehension Complexity
03:31 Negative Comprehension Complexity
04:37 Games that Focus on Comprehension Complexity
04:57 Phoenix Wright, Professor Layton, and Ghost Trick
05:24 Engagement from Discovering What Something Is
05:32 Situational Complexity
06:52 What is Situational Complexity
07:10 Situational Complexity and The Word Search
07:48 The Situation Assessment Triangle
08:46 How Memory Grouping Interacts with Situational Complexity
10:21 Strategic Complexity
10:54 Startegic Complexity and the Learning Curve
11:59 Make sure Strategy involves Meaningful Choice
12:59 Positive Strategic Engagement
13:26 The Importance of Readability for Strategy
14:00 Readability and E-sports
14:26 Executional Complexity
14:55 All objects have Executional Complexity
15:17 Executional Complexity and the Learning Curve
15:51 Executional Complexity as a barrier to play
16:25 Conventional Sports Games and Training
16:56 Training and Video Games
17:20 Positive Executional Complexity
18:17 How do we apply these concepts to Game Design
19:18 Ghost Trick and Focusing on specific elements of Complexity
20:18 Multi-faceted Complexity manipulation
20:59 The Counter System Example
21:20 Examining a Forced Stealth Sequence for Complexity
22:24 Complexity as a function of Learning and Wrap up
23:55 Next Cast
24:23 Sign Off

Vernacademia 08 -- Complexity Part 2

Another game impressions/interview piece. This time Sientir talks about Guild Wars 1 and 2 and his impression of their approach to designing the two games.

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:04 Introduction
01:07 A brief history
03:08 The Modes of Play
04:28 The iteration process
05:44 Guild Wars 1 Crafting
08:14 Guild Wars 2 Crafting
11:57 Material Acquisition in both Games
12:40 Experimenting with Questing
16:48 The Point of Quests
18:32 Contextualization, Hearts and Presence
19:34 Goblin Slayer and Reputation
20:50 Level Cap and Skill Acquisition
21:19 Guild Wars 1 Progression
23:25 Guild Wars 2 Progression
24:46 Guild Wars 1 and Early Level Cap
26:47 Guild Wars 2 and Later Level Cap
28:00 Guild Wars 2 Combat and Build System
28:51 Comparing Guild Wars 2 to Middle Earth Shadow of War
32:24 Guild Wars 1, Balance, and Bad Builds
37:16 Guild Wars 2, and Lowered Build Variance
39:56 Guild Wars 1 and Barrier of Entry vs. Depth
40:25 Guild Wars 2 and Opportunity Cost
42:33 The Removal of the Healer Class
43:35 Play Variance or Lack there of
46:05 Big Take Aways
46:39 Managing Scope
47:55 You Need to Define a Game's Design Identity
48:41 Overall Guild Wars 2 is not a bad game
49:14 Wrap Up, Next Podcast, and Sign Off

Vernacademia 09 -- Guild Wars 1 vs 2

In this one we explore various elements of crafting systems creation and how they can be used to produce positive engagement

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames


Cliff Notes:

00:04 Introduction
00:11 What is a Crafting System
00:15 Conversion Systems
00:48 Conversion System Parameters
01:24 Trade Systems
02:13 Grab Bags
02:58 The Crafting System in Detail
04:11 Customization and Modification Systems
05:05 What are Crafting Systems for
05:28 Increasing Player Immersion
06:07 Increasing Player Freedom
06:21 Crafting Materials to increase differentiation
07:06 Crafting Material examples
07:09 Guild Wars 1 (Weapons)
07:37 Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (cooking)
08:09 Adding polish to the reward structure
08:19 Increasing Game Depth
08:34 Altelier Series and Crafting Depth
09:24 Cooking Mama
10:00 Meshing a Crafting system into your game
10:20 Mechanical Identity Reminder
11:21 Questions to define Crafting's Role
12:24 Ask why your player is Crafting in you game
13:57 Recap of purpose and discovery questions
14:13 How to make it interesting to engage with
14:30 Player Skill Based Crafting
16:09 Character Skill Based Crafting
18:25 Points to Remember when creating crafting systems
19:00 Meaningful Choice in Crafting
20:18 Breath of the Wild and Meaningful Choice
21:51 Next Cast
22:04 Sign Off

Vernacademia 10 -- Crafting Systems

In this cast we explore Randomness as a concept and how it can be applied to video games

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:04 Introduction
00:13 What is Randomness
01:03 Suspension of Disbelief
01:57 Predictability and Disbelief
02:32 Deterministic Unpredictability is Hard
03:04 Randomness and Suspension of Disbelief
03:47 Randomness and Gameplay Variance
04:00 Card Games and Randomness
04:34 Predictability and AI
05:08 Randomness and Risky Play
05:24 Random results and Pokemon
06:09 How can Randomness can be implemented
06:29 Progressive and Insular Randomness
07:15 Humans and Pattern Seeking
08:22 Pattern Seeking and Player Perception
09:29 Result Relevance and Pattern Seeking
10:20 Pokemon and Result Relevance
11:40 Audio Cues and Impact Perception
12:34 "Owed" Luck or Unluck
13:21 Contextual Randomness and Disbelief
14:29 Implementing Insular Randomness
14:40 Implementing Progressive Randomness
14:48 Bag of Results or Deck of Cards
15:11 Results History
15:28 Adjusting Chance
16:20 Progressive RNG to Match Player Expectation
17:04 Sample Size and Standard Distribution
19:09 Pokemon and Binary Result Logic
19:45 Miss Chance and Binary Result Logic
20:50 Card Games and Gradated Result Logic 
21:40 Result Gradation
22:11 Gradated Results and Fire Emblem
22:47 Randomness and Skill
24:13 Skill, Randomness and Exciting Play
25:54 Next Cast and Sign Off

Vernacademia 11 -- Randomness

In this cast Red Coat talks about Racing games that eschew reality in service of fun and spectacle

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:04 Introduction
00:19 What is a Fantastical Racing Game
00:44 Modern Racers and Reality
01:07 Kart Racers 
02:33 Kart Racers as Party Games
02:50 Examples outside of Kart Games
03:09 Burnout (the series)
04:47 Split Second
05:52 Motorstorm
08:04 The Boost Gauge
08:53 Episode 1 Pod Racer
10:23 Hydrothunder
11:09 F-zero GX and AX
11:32 Back to Hydrothunder and water racers
13:25 Vehicular Combat
14:02 Combat in Kart Racers
14:23 Non Kart Style Combat and Extreme G
15:05 Combat in F-Zero
15:47 Evolving Vehicular Combat 
16:50 The Core Weakness of Racing Games
17:23 Kart Racers and Rubberbanding
18:30 Why Rubberbanding and Comeback Mechanics?
18:49 A More Interactive Combat Paradigm
20:52 The Secondary Skill Set
21:39 SSX Tricky and Additional Skills
22:26 Horse Racers and Resource Management
23:37 Watching the Indy 500 and Formula 1
24:27 Racing Prep and Stock Car Racing
25:44 My Opinion on Stock Car Racing
26:28 What I like about Fantastical Racers
27:34 Distance/Nitronic Rush
28:02 Cruis'n USA and San Francisco Rush
28:43 Digital Survival Racing
29:08 Want More Creative Racing Games
29:42 Hydrothunder Plug
30:09 Dragon Racer? Other Horizons?
30:51 Underwater Racer?
31:12 Nobody Knows the Sub Mariner
31:40 Sign Off

Vernacademia 12 -- Fantastical Racers

In this cast we talk about the idea of creating emotional investment in game concepts and how to do so well and poorly.

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:04 Introduction
00:17 Spoilers
00:33 Through the Lens of Loss 
00:53 Emotion and Thematic Dissonance
01:27 Prince Rurik and Dissonant Emotional Investment
02:58 Star Fox and Dissonant Emotional Investment
04:23 Escort Quests and Mechanical Dissonance
05:00 Dad of Boy and Good Escort Quests
06:26 Producing Congruent Emotional Response
06:44 Pre-Searing Ascalon's Congruent Emotional Response
07:55 Final Fantasy 7 and Effective Loss
09:14 Tales of Symphonia, Kratos and Zelos
10:23 Tales of Symphonia, First and Second Act Characters
11:15 Fire Emblem Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn
12:13 Recap and Investment Cash In
13:00 Narvisaud Build Up to Mechanical Cash In
14:06 Give the player a Functional Reason to care
14:35 But Don't forget the Narvisaud Identity
14:56 Wrap Up and Sign Off

Vernacademia 13 -- Investment

For this cast I take a moment to interview Sientir about his experiences modding Starcraft

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:04 Introduction
00:14 Some Background
01:31 How does Modding Effect the Design Process
03:06 Simplified Design from an Established Base
03:36 Lessons Learned from Modding
03:47 Rote and Emergent Role Interplay
05:19 Building Emergent Counterplay
06:03 Magic's Color System and Emergent Counterplay
06:45 The Carrier Mod Example
07:27 Exploring the Removal of Air Units
08:41 Age of Exploration Mod
09:32 The Value of Idea Exploration
11:39 Developed Design Intuition?
12:20 StarCraft and StarCraft 2 Modding Differences
13:20 The Research Backbone
14:17 End State Variance
16:07 Limitations in Starcraft and Starcraft 2 Modding
18:13 Player or Modder?
20:11 Lesson Carry Over
20:30 The Value of Modding
24:14 Next Cast
24:57 Sign Off

Vernacademia 14 -- Modding Starcraft

For this cast we begin the task of exploring competitive environments. Particularly Defining what the Environments are and the kinds of Engagement they engender

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:04 Introduction
00:27 Identifying Competitive and Party Environs
01:15 Smash Bros as Both Competitive and Party Environs
02:30 What Comes from Understanding Competitive Environs
03:22 Defining Victory Conditions
04:10 Best Performance Victory Conditions
04:33 First to Goal and High Score Games
05:02 Olympics as High Score and Races as First to Goal
06:24 First Goal Type Games
06:51 Highest Score Type Games
07:14 Last Player Standing Environments
07:33 Player Interaction Scale
08:17 Psychologically Focused Interaction
08:56 Functionally Focused Interaction
10:08 Psyche and Function Together
10:40 Best Performance and Player Interaction
11:20 Last Player Standing Games
12:12 Competitive Games And Tests of Skill
12:36 Skills Tested In Competitive Games
13:05 Physical Skills
13:42 Cognitive Skills
14:41 Chess and Cognitive Tests
14:59 Fighting Games and Cognitive Tests
15:19 Logistic Skills
15:40 Prioritization
15:50 Allocation
15:59 Optimization
16:08 Magic the Gathering and Logistics
17:40 Star Craft 2 and Logistics
19:19 Long and Short Term Logistics
19:49 Intuition Skills
21:03 Physical Intuition
21:40 Intuition vs. Habit
22:40 Adaptation Skills
23:31 Card Games and Adaptation
23:54 Smash Bros. and Adaptation
24:27 How We Can Use All This
25:04 Influencing Product Construction
25:50 Influencing Marketing
26:17 Influencing The Base Skills Needed
27:14 Easing the Parsing of Player Feedback
27:56 Next Cast and Sign Off

Vernacademia 15 -- Competitive Environments Types

For this cast we begin the task of exploring competitive environments. Particularly Defining what the Environments are and the kinds of Engagement they engender

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:04 Introduction
00:20 Tweaking Competitive Environments
00:37 Desired Environment Shape vs Reality
00:55 Internal Play Testing
01:41 External Play Testing
02:01 Magic Un-sets and Unintended Play
03:07 Identifying What Can Change
03:46 Predicting Tweak Affects
05:12 Modulating Vision With Tact
06:06 Listening to your Audience
06:40 Do You Know Your Play Environment
07:15 Enabling Player Feedback
08:04 Player Complaints and Profiles
08:56 Completeness of Player Environment Lens
09:19 Player Skill and Complaints
10:02 Metrics and Context
10:20 Congruency of Vision
10:43 Outliers and Broad Complaints
11:14 Handling the Community
11:40 Encouraging Positive Community Interaction
12:27 Guilty Gear Xrd
12:42 Establish the Environment Style
13:13 Clayfighter and Aggressive Environments
13:43 Sportsmanship and Tournaments
14:25 Incentivise Sporstmanship and Exemplify it
14:42 Tournaments and Commentators
15:35 New Player Acquisition
16:19 Provide Ways to Prepare Before Engaging 
16:43 Encourage Good Etiquette
17:02 Learn and Teach The Jargon
17:33 The Value of Older Players
18:06 Mixed Player Environments and Smash Bros
19:12 4 Player Interaction Motivations
20:30 Clashing Interaction Motivations
20:50 Questions For the Meshed Environment
21:07 Managing Player Archetype Interactions
22:16 Local Play and Communication
22:36 Gating and Player Interaction
22:49 Gating in Splatoon
23:30 Single Player Modes
23:56 How Much Playstyle Interaction Do You Want
24:28 Indirect Playstyle Changes      
24:41 Dark Souls and Indirect Functional Effects
24:56 Guild Wars 1 and Unintended Player Conflict
25:35 Dark Souls and PVP Playstyles
25:56 Smash Brothers and PVP Playstyles
26:19 House Rule Viability
26:41 Dark Souls and Player Imposed House Rules
27:20 Smash Brothers and Crew Battles
27:56 Smash Brothers and Variable Rulesets
28:20 Maintain an Understanding of the Full Community
28:53 For Fun and For Glory In Smash 4
29:53 Clarity of Intention and Audience Awareness
30:44 Next Cast and Sign Off

Vernacademia 16 -- Competitive Environment Management

In This cast Red Coat speaks at length about Soul Calibur and its design

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:04 Introduction
00:12 Soul Calibur as a Tekken Evolution
00:38 What is Soul Calibur
01:01 A 3D fighter with depth of field
01:32 Match flow in Soul Calibur
03:27 What is a Hit Confirm
04:11 Comboed out (or the One Touch)
05:11 How Does Soul Calibur Manage Combos
05:27 The Juggle State
06:11 Aerial Directional Influence
07:23 Damage Ratio and Proration
08:38 Counter hits and Combos
10:00 Arenas and their Influence
11:33 Comeback Mechanics
12:18 Street Fighter 4 and 5 Comebacks
12:57 Supers in Soul Calibur and Soul Edge
13:30 How does it control
13:55 Soul Calibur Frame Data 
14:55 Soul Calibur Input Method
16:07 Movement within the 2D view
17:03 Symphonia Movement compared to Soul Calibur
17:29 Radial Movement
18:02 Visible Defensive Options
18:28 Soul Calibur Defensive Options
18:46 Guard Impact
20:11 Guilty Gear and Visible Defensive Options
22:26 Offensive Pacing In Soul Calibur
23:19 2D pacing vs 3D pacing
24:33 Zones in 2D games
25:47 Zones in 3D games
26:27 Soul Calibur 2
26:52 Soul Calibur 3
29:24 Soul Calibur 4
34:27 Soul Calibur 5
36:14 Damage Conversion
36:49 Ex Moves
40:10 Soul Calibur 2 And Character Balance
40:47 Soul Calibur 6 Impressions
41:46 Soul Charge
43:19 Lessons to learn from Soul Calibur
44:29 Pressure Construction in Anime Fighters
45:11 Stuffed Actions
45:40 Pressure Construction in Soul Calibur
46:35 Healthy Rhythm
47:44 Inspiration and Respect for the Martial Arts
49:23 Influence of Soul Calibur on Red Coat's Design Philosophy
50:09 Combat as a Conversation
51:26 Final Statements
51:42 Next Cast and Sign Off

Vernacademia 17 - Soul Calibur

In This cast We discuss and define the concept of Gimmicks in games

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:09 Introduction
00:23 Gimmick and Gimmicky in Colloquial Speak
01:40 Defining the Gimmick
02:17 Mechanical Gimmicks
03:32 Star Fox Adventure and Refining space Gimmicks 
04:26 Guild Wars and Framing space Gimmicks
05:21 Narvisaud Gimmicks
05:43 Narrative Gimmicks
06:34 Skyward Sword and Narrative Gimmicks
07:18 Visual Gimmicks
08:42 Dark Souls and Visual Gimmicks
09:26 Audio Gimmicks
11:32 Accidental Narvisaud Gimmicks
12:31 Accidental Mechanical Gimmicks
13:04 Dev Time Tables and Emergent Gimmicks
13:39 Mechanical Overestimation
14:10 Intentional Mechanical Gimmicks
14:42 Intentional Narvisaud Gimmicks
15:11 Gimmicks in rarity and abundance
16:11 Tactful use of Gimmicks
16:45 Sign Off

Vernacademia 18 -- Gimmicks

In this cast we discuss the concept of building a game that players can come back to and still derive enjoyment from

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/vernaculargames
Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/VernacularGames
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames


Cliff Notes:

00:04 Introduction
00:27 Mechanical Replayability
00:35 Inhibitors of Mechanical Replayability
00:55 Frustrating Difficulty
01:24 Annoying Mechanics
01:53 Slogs
03:15 One Trick Pony
04:10 Shallow Variance
04:52 Mechanical Depth
05:56 Wow vs. Depth
06:19 Variety
06:42 Examples of Variety
06:53 Pokemon Starters
07:09 Dark Souls Characters and Navigation
07:23 Mario 64 and Player Freedom
08:09 Randomization
08:17 Legend of Zelda Beta Quest 
08:40 Item Randomizer Mods
09:00 Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past Randomizer
09:33 Meaningful Choice
09:46 Optimal Engagement Access
09:54 Growth of Ability Access Throughout The Game
10:47 Full Ability Access through Knowledge
11:14 Kirby and Replayability through Knowledge
11:46 New Game Plus
12:16 Nioh and New Game Plus
12:47 Player Choice Effecting Gameplay
13:29 X-com and Choice Effected Play
13:50 Varied Content Engagement
14:02 Sonic, 1, 2, 3, and Knuckles (also Mania)
14:46 Missable Content
15:06 Metroid and Missable Content
16:36 Achievements and Replyability
17:03 Rewarding Play at high and low levels
17:31 Soul Calibur 2
18:18 Narvisaud Replayability
18:46 Narrative Replayability
19:29 Tales of Symphonia and Narrative Replayability
21:02 Think About Books and Movies You Like Re-experiencing
21:28 Reactive Narratives
21:57 Perspective Variance
22:23 Procedural Narrative Creation
22:46 Re-experiencable Environments
23:35 Uniqueness of Location
24:19 Nintendo and Unique Locations
24:51 Contrasting Visual Design
25:21 Juxtaposition
25:37 Lost Izalith Gro
26:08 Shiverburn Galaxy
26:20 Studiopolis Zone
27:00 Mario 64's Basement and Unifying Thematic Ideas
27:29 Combining Normally Dissonant Concepts and Ideas
27:57 Intentionally Shifting Aesthetic Leaning
28:44 Immersion
29:39 Metroid Prime and Implied Reality Through Context
30:32 Audio Cues and Immersion
31:19 Weather and Color for Immersion
31:44 Nioh and Visual Immersion
32:04 Props for implied Denizens
32:34 Resident Evil and Prop Iimplications 
33:19 Immersion's Repurcussions
33:46 Readability
34:54 Guild Wars 1 and Readability
36:34 Death of the Author
36:52 Wrap Up
37:36 Sign Off

Vernacademia

Vernacademia 19 -- Replayability

In this cast we discuss the concept of Fast Travel and Its effect on game design

You can find the rest of the playlist at:
https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac/sets/vernacademia-podcast-season-2

Our Website: https://www.vernaculargames.com/
Our Minds: https://www.minds.com/vernaculargames/
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernacularGames/
Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/VernacularGames?lang=en
Our Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/redcoatvernac
Our Audius: https://audius.co/vernaculargames

Cliff Notes:

00:05 Introduction
01:10 Fast Travel as a Functional Tool
01:49 The Lord Vessel in Dark Souls
02:12 Fast Travel Map and Shadow of War/Morder
03:19 Fast Travel Frequency
04:25 Airships in RPGs
05:01 Fly in Pokemon
05:45 Advantages of Not Having Fast Travel
06:06 A Strong Environment Design is Needed
06:34 Dark Souls and Discoverable World Design
07:15 Super Metroid and "Getting There"
07:51 Fast Travel is an Escape
08:46 Resident Evil 2 and Lack of Fast Travel
09:46 Ocarina of Time and Hubs (Lost Woods)
10:50 Designing Hub Areas with Interest
11:27 Dark Souls and Interconnected Hubs
13:18 Dark Souls and Dark Root Garden's Design
14:19 Ocarina of Time and Limited Fast Travel
15:07 Dark Souls and Limited Fast Travel
15:30 Travel as a Form of Engagement
16:14 Super Hero Open World Games and Engaging Travel
16:29 Hulk Ultimate Destruction
17:30 Navigation Skills
17:41 Ocarina of Time and Navigation Skills
18:19 Dark Souls and Navigation Skills
19:08 The Advantage of Re-Encountering Areas
20:17 The Opportunity to Notice
21:01 Super Hero Games and Events of Engagement
22:01 Yakuza and Dense World Design
23:09 Maijima Everywhere
24:06 Guidance Systems and Maps
24:49 Doom and Maps
25:38 Land Mark Design
26:20 Mechanical Differences Between Areas
26:44 Dark Souls and Mechanical Difference 
28:13 Dark Souls 3 and Going Backwards
28:42 The Difference in Engagement
29:13 Questions to Ask About Your World Design
30:40 Consider Why You Want Fast Travel
30:59 Breath of The Wild and Traversal 
32:42 The Original Legend of Zelda and Exploration
33:34 Fast Travel as a Crutch
33:52 Wrap Up
34:29 Sign Off

Vernacademia 20 -- Fast Travel

An indie game development group with a focus on making unique content that pushes the medium forward creatively and makes opportunities for others to create content within said medium.

Vernacademia (Podcast Season 2)

Vernacular Games