Dear designers and future designers,
My name is Mike, and I am one of the hosts of a game design podcast called Who, What, Why. Our podcast interviews game designers about the games that they have designed. Each episode focuses on one game (or one group of games). We strive to help designers tell gamers and other designers about the processes that went into these games.
A little history of the podcast: in 2009 the podcast was titled the Ninja vs. Pirates Podcast (our libsyn feed is still hosted there). Myself and my friend (Mitch) needed a new angle for our podcast. We had previously recorded 25 episodes where we discussed game design and analyzed some games using the MDA theory and 13 aesthetics of game design. Mitch suggested interviewing game designers. We sent out some emails expecting a lot of rejections, but to our surprise, many game designers were willing to talk. The Ninja vs. Pirates Podcast ran until 2012 when Mitch could no longer remain as co-host due to his wife expecting a baby. The podcast lay dormant for a couple of years when in May of 2014, I decided to revive the show. After adding a new co-host (Alex) into the fold, we changed our name and embarked on an interviewing spree. The format has largely remained the same.
My goal with this thread is to use this as a place to post when new episodes are released. I think some of our discussions would be of interest to current and future game designers. I enjoy learning about the backstory of a game's design. We strive to have all different designers on the show regardless of theme or play style.
If anyone is interested to learn more about the show, please visit our website (Who, What, Why?). I can be reached via email at whowhatwhycast (at) gmail (dot) com and found on social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) @whowhatwhycast.
Finally, our audio can be found on iTunes and Stitcher.
Who, What, Why? iTunes page: iTunes
Who, What, Why? Stitcher page: Stitcher
Show feed: RSS feed
Thanks for taking the time to read this post. Currently, we are recording for Season 10 (sometimes we take random podcasting breaks--recently, I traveled to California for work and got married right after I returned home), and our next episode will be released on May 16th.
Our most recent episode (posted March 26th) was about a game that has yet to be published: Hocus Poker by Josh Bruegel and Grant Rodiek.
Now that it's 2015, there are a number of podcasts with the (much appreciated) format of designer interviews and it takes so much to stand out! Is there a spin to your interviews (like still discussing the MDA approach?)
I'm glad someone remembers Ninja vs. Pirates!
We've kept the format largely the same. We generally focus on discussing the game in-depth. I try to vary the types of games that we discuss, and we don't aim for only new games. We'll discuss games that are older, not yet printed, still in development (sometimes). I haven't thought about returning to the MDA approach yet, but that could be something to help breathe some more life into the podcast. The interviews have been fun, but I agree that the field has crowded since I left the airwaves.
I am toying with the idea of finding designers who wish to discuss games whose designers are unable to join us (i.e. discussing Acquire with someone who loves that game). I'm always looking for new angles and new ways to toy with the podcast.