We're joined by designer extraordinaire Matthew Moore as we discuss the delights and dilemmas of designing a game for an existing book, movie, comic, or other piece of intellectual property. Plus, we try our hands at some creating some bad adaptations of our own!

We're trying something different this month, as we each share one game that we think is valuable for every designer to play and learn from. Call it a reading list. Except you play things instead of reading them. Playing list sounds real weird, though.

What is Donkey Space, how can designing with it in mind help you create richer competitive games, and will we work out how to coherently explain it before the end of the episode? You'll have to listen to find out!

We delve into the ways that social dynamics can help or hinder your game and how you can use your mechanics to enable and incentivize good social experiences.

We're joined by Magic's own Gavin Verhey as we discuss analyzing your game's mechanics and building content to make the best use of your entire design space.

The gang discusses randomization in games, what makes it compelling, and how you can utilize it in ways that don't feel arbitrary to your players.

The gang is joined by special guest Katie Chironis to discuss player-driven narrative in games. Branching, opt-in, emergent, procedural... we've got 'em all! Plus, is the entire canon of video game narratives inherently misguided?

The gang digs into how to make a good tutorial, the problem with rulebooks, and how learning can be the most fun part of your game.

The gang discusses the ways in which designers can enable players to grow their abilities over the course of a game. Also, Ryan proposes a universe in which Wildstar dethrones World of Warcraft, and we all love Downwell.