Ludology 225 - A Study in Emma-rald

Today, we put Emma in the spotlight to find out what went into designing her newest game, Abandon All Artichokes, how many cards she actually designed for it, and how the game was almost derailed by an Infinite Potato Problem.

SHOW NOTES

5m44s: Magic: The Gathering and the marvelous deckbuilding video game Slay the Spire. Also check out Ludology 198 - Inspired, featuring Slay the Spire's co-designer Anthony Giovannetti.

6m00s: Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, two video games where the player starts in a remote area with very little in the way of equipment, and ends up building a small town.

7m22s: If you want to check out more deck-wreckers, try Xenon Profiteer (one of Gil's personal favorite games), or Fine Sand.

8m39s: Don't let the bean theme throw you off. Bohnanza is one of the best trading games you'll find.

9m15s: Bonnie Pang did the wonderful art for Artichokes.

9m43s: Sushi Go, by Phil Walker-Harding and also published by Gamewright, is an excellent light drafting game. It was good enough to spawn a family of light, charming drafting games. 

Phil has mentioned in passing that Sushi Go took many, many tries to get right. Another example of how hard it is to make a good, light game!

11m16s: Emma mentions some other Gamewright titles that fit a similar mold: Go Nuts for Donuts and Qwixx.

15m22s: Emma casually references Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey here.

26m29s: Seth Jaffee's article on balancing game elements and "finding the unit" is still immensely valuable to game designers everywhere.

31m59s: Cardboard Edison's publisher directory is an invaluable resource to game designers looking for a publisher for their prototypes.

48m44s: The incredibly adorable Abandon All Artichokes trailer  and its accompanying how-to-play video. 

49m18s: We'll post a link to the design diary in the Ludology forums as soon as it goes online!

55m16s: Emma's first episode.

56m43s: Dominion, the game that popularized deckbuilding as an in-game mechanism.