Game Design Podcast Turnpike
A list of game design (and game design adjacent) podcasts
I love listening to podcasts about game design, but I have found them very difficult to find! Over time, slowly compiled a list of my favorites. I want to share it for folks who are in my shoes from 3 years ago. If you find this useful, consider sharing it with your game design / development communities so we can keep the knowledge flowing!
Note: Episode recommendations are greatly influenced by my own tastes (card games, board games, roguelikes) - if those aren't your jam I encourage you to poke around the feed to find something you like!
Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games
Description: Interview podcast, originally about roguelikes and now about all video games. One of my favorites - all (6?) hosts ask consistently insightful questions.
Episode Recommendations: ## Eavesdropping for Inspiration with Grace Bruxner (Frog Detective), Spelunky 2 with Derek Yu and Eirik Suhrke (for context, originally the show was going to continue until Spelunky 2 came out, so this was a rather special episode)
Decision Space
Description: A deep dive board game podcast focusing on the decisions we make in games (what they call the eponymous Decision Space). An excellent way for video game designers to familiarize themselves with board game mechanics, as the hosts explain the rules clearly and concisely. The podcast is punctuated with "What We Talk About" episodes where the hosts break their usual "game per episode" format to talk more about a game design concept. The hosts have excellent rapport and are fun to listen to.
Episode Recommendations: The Isle of Cats - Are These Ghost Cats?!, Replayability and Why It Doesn’t Matter (What We Talk About), Games Are Agency As Art - A New Way To Talk about Games With C. Thi Nguyen
Game Studies Study Buddies
Description: Book group style podcast with two academics working in game studies. Each episode is them working through a book in or adjacent to the field of Game Studies. While it's not exactly about game design there is a lot of crossover in ideas. Personally, I find it very difficult to work through academic texts so this podcast is a real boon. The hosts have great rapport, too.
Episode Recommendations: Schüll – Addiction By Design - A must-listen for game designers in my opinion, we should all take a hard look at how our industry borders and overlaps with gambling games. Buckles – Interactive Fiction , White – Tabletop RPG Design in Theory and Practice at the Forge
Think Like Game Designer
Description: An solid interview podcast about game design. Host consistently asks sharp questions.
Episode Recommendations: Reiner Knizia — Systems for Publishing 700+ Games, Crafting Profound Gameplay from Simple Rules, Innovations in Scoring and Auction Systems, and The Joy of Tabletop Gaming, From Pizza Delivery to Hearthstone's Helm: Crafting Digital Card Games, the Essence of Decision-Making, Building Trust in the Gaming Industry, Innovating with Marvel Snap
The Game Design Roundtable
Description: A considerate long-form interview podcast with tabletop and videogame designers by industry veterans from both fields. Gives good concrete advice.
Episode recommendation(s): Slay the Spire (video game), Root (board game)
Game Dev Field Guide
Description: A well-researched "lecture" style podcast. Dense with useful insight of game design concepts, genre conventions and design tropes. Great for beginner game designers and still useful for more experienced designers.
Episode Recommendations: Dissection of "horde modes" and rarity systems in games, Genre study: Metroidvanias
Designer Notes
Description: Very long-form interview podcast (sometimes spanning multiple episodes) focusing on developers' history with games. Pretty slow upload cadence but it has an extensive backlog!
Episode Recommendations: Justin Ma (who is an eloquent guest in every podcast he appears in, always with considerate things to say), Liz England (very interesting reflections on the making of Scribblenauts!)
Nice Games Club
Description: A game dev variety show, each episode the 3 hosts bring their own topics to discuss. Due to the format, they can be a bit hit-or-miss but there are lots of good nuggets of insight which the hosts find together. The hosts also have great rapport and are fun to listen to. They also have a very well organized website where you can search for topics which interest you.
Episode Recommendations: A discussion on "bad" game design, Game Jam Episode ft. Osama Dorias
Tone Control
Description: At it's best, a charming interview podcast with folks from all over the industry. Not currently airing so it's just the archives. No mention of Steve Gaynor (the host) is complete without noting that he ran a toxic workplace at Fullbright. A good reminder that indie studios are not immune to toxic management, in fact in some ways they're more susceptible to it!
Episode Recommendations: Leighton Gray (Dream Daddy), Nina Freeman (Cibele, How Do You Do It?)
Everybody's Talking at Once
Description: Not strictly about game design, as the intro goes "a podcast where we talk about everything, by talking about games." Still, some good game adjacent discussion! A charming host who does a massive amount of research for each episode which results in some delightfully deep cuts.
Episode Recommendations: There’s Heart in the Art and the Boat Is Afloat, with Tanya X. Short, # Chance, Curation, Providence, with Matthew Brelsford
Do you have podcast suggestion for me to put on the list? Email me at ezraszanton@yahoo.com (self promotion welcome!) I also love coming on podcasts to talk about my own games - consider inviting me? :D