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Ludus Novus 030 – Transcendentalism, Gentrification, and the Procedural...
What does Stardew Valley say about the world with the rules of its simulation, and how does it compare to another Transcendentalist game, Walden, a game? Transcript: Transcript for this episode If you...
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Ludus Novus 029 – The Goalless Path of Bernband
What do people actually mean when they say “walking simulator?” Bernband by Tom van den Boogaart doesn’t even seem to have a goal. But then why do you keep playing it? Bernband:...
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Ludus Novus 028: Candyland: Game as Critical Lens
What is a “game?” It only matters in context. When we examine things as games to learn from them, what does that mean? Any useful definition of game used as a critical lens must encompass Soccer, Candy...
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Ludus Novus 027: Imposition of Order Results in Escalation of Disorder
In this episode of the Ludus Novus podcast: Prey 2017. The lie of a power fantasy is that power over others is something you deserve. Prey is a consequence fantasy: to take agency, you must incur risk....
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Ludus Novus 026: Reflection
In this episode of the Ludus Novus podcast, I discuss the election and GamerGate and how we can make a difference with games. I start with an excerpt from Austin Walker’s recent, amazing piece “A Note...
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Always Down for that CO-OP Action
This post is long overdue. At the beginning of the year, The 1UP Show was cancelled, which killed the best traditional games journalism work on the net. Shortly thereafter, several of the people who...
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Ludus Novus 025: Idle, Incremental
In this episode of the Ludus Novus podcast, I discuss incremental games, also known as idle games or clickers. How did a formula that started as satirical jokes from people like Ian Bogost yield things...
View ArticleLudus Novus 024: Decision Point
This podcast is supported in part by my Patreon. You can help support it by pledging a monthly donation. In this episode of the Ludus Novus podcast, I discuss the decisions we make as game designers...
View ArticleLudus Novus 023: Searching
In this episode of the Ludus Novus podcast, I discuss the search for the perfect game and the creation of universes. When I search through my Steam library and I look for that game, that perfect game,...
View ArticleLudus Novus 022: Countdown – A Game For Two Players
In this episode of the Ludus Novus podcast, I present a new game, “Countdown,” in spoken word form. Trigger warning for self-injury. Countdown: A Game For Two Players … The rules are arbitrary in the...
View ArticleLudus Novus 021: Tin Medals
In this episode of the Ludus Novus podcast, I discuss achievements and how there are a lot more aspects to them than are immediately apparent. Games discussed: Alan Wake by Remedy Entertainment “Babies...
View ArticleLudus Novus 020: Acceptable Losses
In this episode of the Ludus Novus podcast, I discuss the basic minion summoning and equipment mechanics of Overlord, and how they both encourage tactical gameplay and maintain the characterization of...
View ArticleLudus Novus 019: False Narrativism: Awesome Zone
This podcast episode is about an unreleased game from 1990 that a guy showed me at GDC. It’s called Awesome Zone, and it was created by developer Theodore Alby for a company called KnowSoft over the...
View ArticleLudus Novus 018: Sequelitis
This podcast episode is about three games that should have been named Half-Life 3: Episode 1, Unreal Tournament 4, and Star Wars Dark Forces 3: Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast: Jedi Academy.
View ArticleLudus Novus 017: The Rules of the Game
In this podcast episode, I present and discuss my definition of the word “game.” In short, a game is an interactive simulation that provides metrics which allow a user to track progress toward a goal....
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Ludus Novus 016: False Narrativism: Oszustwo
This week’s episode is a special False Narrativism piece, discussing the obscure but visionary Polish game Oszustwo, or Incongruity. I can easily envision a world in which this game never existed, but...
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Ludus Novus 015: Curse of Ludus Novus
What do we look for in digital game sequels, and why is it different than in other forms of media? Why don’t we see more sequels that give us more of the same good stuff? References: Spider-Man and...
View ArticleLudus Novus 014: From Side to Side
The classic Super Mario Bros. Let’s take a look at its influence and its gameplay. References: Super Mario Bros. by Nintendo The Legend of Zelda by Nintendo Final Fantasy by Square Bubble Bobble by...
View ArticleLudus Novus 013: Over the Next Hill
In this podcast, I talk about exploration games. Exploration games, as I categorize them, are games with an open world that offer an array of paths at any one time. They’re awesome because they appeal...
View ArticleLudus Novus 012: Genre Fiction
In this podcast, I discuss digital games genres and how I think they’re silly. They’re arbitrary niches based on a few popular games, and using them to describe games limits the way we think about...
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