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Hosted by Unknown Host · 🇺🇸 US · EN · 33 episodes
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A game development log where I share the hardest game design problems, and share thoughts on the games I'm playing. My name is John Rudolph Drexler and you can find my games at catacombian.com
Unknown Host hosts Notes on Play, a arts show with 33 episodes published.
I had a big combat system that I didn't feel good about. I finally ripped it out, and it left a vacuum that inspired my best idea yet. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfgcoyz9HFY
Gen Con was an awesome experience. I got third place in a Cat in the Box tournament. Tabletop gaming is the opposite of doom scrolling.
I'm building something that doesn't have an obvious precedent, and it's been very tedious to figure out the right shape.
You can have one action in 3 different form factors, and you've got 3 essentially different games. It's worth iterating a lot to find the one that unlocks the biggest design space.
I want to be generous, not chintzy with the coolest parts of my game. But that does not mean I should be generous with all the parts of my game. Brian Moriarty's talk linked here.
I learned a lot by calling some people up on the phone. Most notably: physics matters.
Canticle came to life, and to my exact specifications. But my exact specifications were wrong. Fixing it led to an explosion of great ideas.
Mark Brown made a great video about finding great ideas. And it made me wonder: where did my best ideas come from, and how do I set myself up to have more?
Brian Bornmeuller's talk at NYU Game Center helped me finally articulate a question I've been wrestling with: what is Catacombian Games, exactly? In this episode I map out the five layers of the board game industry — des
A framework for deciding what needs to change next in a game prototype that I developed with my friend Walter Somerville. I used this recently to make some huge improvements to Canticle.
Games feel immersive and grounded when they are familiar and legible -- even from a distance.
How do you give the emperor a sense of epiphany? How do you give the board a feeling of organic ideas-based growth? I picked the experience first, and designed around that.
This is a game that takes place in the past and the present. And I've never been so excited to work on something. Many more updates to follow on future episodes.
2025 was a creative explosion for me. Now it's time to focus up, and pick which prototype I will try to take to the finish line.
I tried (and failed) to make a basketball board game. I came up with some ideas that I loved, but ultimately decided to set it aside.
Try to lose. It's a faster and more effective way to learn.
Sometimes players show you exactly what they want to do. You can either fight them, or learn from them.
Games don't need written narrative to be great games. The best stories in games are the ones that organically emerge from the gameplay itself.
Most games simulate some real world scenario. So how do you decide which parts of the real world to represent in game mechanisms? This is where the real artistry of game design comes to light.
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Notes on Play is hosted by Unknown Host. The show is categorised under Arts (games) and has published 33 episodes.
Notes on Play has published 33 episodes.
Notes on Play regularly covers Arts, Design, Leisure, Games. It sits in the Arts category, with a games focus.
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