SERIAL

The Designer's Philosophy

73 episodes · updated 2026-10-06

Behind almost every classic is a consistent design philosophy. Kizuki takes one designer at a time and reads their philosophy and dilemmas through interviews and talks in their own words.

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Episodes

Ep. 73
Inside Eric Zimmerman's Philosophy — You Can Make the Rules, Not How They Get Played
2026-10-06
"The game designer makes the rules, but doesn't directly create the player's experience." This piece reads Eric Zimmerman across interviews, talks and his own essays: his hunt for new forms of play, his response to the misread "magic circle," the dilemma of teaching rules while urging students to break them, and his influences.
Ep. 72
Inside Steve Meretzky's Philosophy — If It Isn't Fun, the Puzzle Hasn't Started
2026-10-04
"It needs to be fun" — Infocom designer Steve Meretzky treats puzzle fairness as a means to fun. This piece reads his philosophy, the commercial failure of The Space Bar, his stance when testers asked for an easier game, and his ties to Marc Blank and Douglas Adams, using published interviews and articles.
Ep. 71
Inside Brenda Romero's Philosophy — Build Until You Are Respected, Not Just Liked
2026-10-03
"Care more about being respected than liked" — Brenda Romero builds with whatever cost and time it takes. This piece reads her philosophy, a failed Kickstarter, the tension between ideals and shipping, and her influences from chefs and a sushi master, using only published articles and talk descriptions.
Ep. 70
Inside Jenova Chen's Philosophy — Decide the Feeling First, Then Subtract
2026-10-01
"Story is a tool, but not the goal of video games" — Jenova Chen decides the feeling first and strips the mechanics to serve it. From flOw's missed estimate to Journey's three-year production and Sky's consent-based socializing, this piece reads his philosophy, failures, dilemmas and influences from his own interviews and talks.
Ep. 69
Inside Tomáš Dvořák's Philosophy — A Simple Story, Atmosphere and Emotion Carry the Rest
2026-09-30
A study of Amanita Design composer Tomáš Dvořák (Floex), read across three primary interviews: Game Developer (2009), gamemusic.net (2010) and Igloo Magazine (2013). It traces his belief that atmosphere and emotion matter more than plot, his tension between abstraction and melody, his habit of waiting when an idea feels stale, and how he changed method on Samorost 3, grounded only in what he has said in public.
Ep. 68
Inside Josh Wardle's Philosophy — Three Minutes a Day, Then Let Go
2026-09-29
"People have an appetite for things that transparently don't want anything from you." Wordle's creator deliberately did what you are not meant to do for growth. From a failed 2013 prototype, to his unease with share buttons, to relief after the sale and his 2026 game Parseword, I read his own words side by side.
Ep. 67
Inside Tonda Ros's Philosophy — Put It Out There, and That's the Game
2026-09-28
"I'm just not a fan of handholding. Drop me in a world." Tonda Ros spent eight years making Blue Prince nearly alone, wanted to ship it complete, and says he will never confirm whether everything has been solved. Seven interviews from 2025–2026 reveal where that stubbornness comes from.
Ep. 66
Inside Alex Beachum's Philosophy — Would You Still Want to Know, in a World That Ends?
2026-09-26
No enemies, no upgrades: all you carry over is what you've learned. Lining up Outer Wilds creator Alex Beachum's statements from 2015 to 2023 shows a 22-minute loop added for technical reasons slowly becoming the vessel for his personal philosophy.
Ep. 65
Inside Rand Miller's Philosophy — If the Player Blames Themselves, the Puzzle Worked
2026-09-23
"If they blame us, then we haven't done a good job." Reading seven interviews (2007–2020) with Myst co-creator Rand Miller: world first and puzzles second, the "friction" he kept after removing death, and the "control of our own destiny" lost with Uru and regained with Kickstarter.
Ep. 64
La philosophie de Roberta Williams — Elle n'a jamais cherché à créer des énigmes difficiles
2026-09-21
« Je n'ai jamais cherché à imaginer des énigmes qui donnent le tournis. » C'est ce que dit elle-même l'inventrice de l'aventure graphique — alors que ses jeux sont devenus synonymes de morts injustes et imprévisibles. En mettant côte à côte ses propres déclarations, de 2006 à 2026, je lis cet écart.
Ep. 63
Inside Oskar van Deventer's Philosophy — Looking Nice Can Just Be an Accident
2026-09-17
"They require the overcoming of difficulty. And some of them happen to look nice as well." The Dutch engineer behind 800-plus mechanical puzzles refuses to call himself an artist. Including the design he abandoned as impossible to manufacture — and that reached shelves eight years later.
Ep. 62
Inside Cliff Johnson's Philosophy — Not One Piece That Doesn't Belong
2026-09-16
"A puzzle begins with a 'huh?' and ends with an 'aha!'" Cliff Johnson, who built The Fool's Errand in 1987, refused to plant a single red herring — and spent 25 years on the sequel. A reading of that vow, in his own words.
Ep. 61
Inside Brian Moriarty's Philosophy — A Game Author Who Says Games Aren't Art
2026-09-15
"Art seeks to lead you to an inevitable conclusion, not a smorgasbord of choices." Brian Moriarty, author of Loom and Trinity, wrote that in his 2011 GDC lecture and concluded that his own medium cannot be art. Reading three of his lectures and three interviews: his philosophy, his obsessions, the failures he admits, his dilemmas and his models.
Ep. 60
Inside Gunpei Yokoi's Philosophy — Let the Viewer Fill In the Rest
2026-09-14
"Whether a game is interesting or not doesn't depend on whether it's color or b&w." Gunpei Yokoi's design philosophy nearly fits in that one sentence. Reading three interviews from 1996 and 1997 with the engineer who shipped a monochrome Game Boy — and, in 1980, a mechanical puzzle called Ten Billion — this piece lines up his philosophy, his obsessions, the failure he admitted in public, his dilemmas, and his yardsticks.
Ep. 59
Inside Eiji Aonuma's Philosophy — Refusing to Let a Puzzle Have One Answer
2026-09-14
"There are many answers to a single problem, and all of them can potentially be correct." That is Eiji Aonuma in 2023, after more than 25 years leading The Legend of Zelda. Yet in 2015 the same man was telling his staff never to make the game easier. Reading across six of his own interviews for his philosophy, his obsessions, the failures he has admitted in public, his dilemmas and his influences.
Ep. 58
Inside Will Shortz's Philosophy — Hard Only As Far As Fair
2026-09-10
The ceiling on difficulty, for him, is fairness. Will Shortz, crossword editor of The New York Times, has published a puzzle almost every day for more than thirty years. Reading across ten of his own interviews, lectures and broadcasts for his philosophy, his obsessions, the failures he has admitted in public, his dilemmas and his influences.
Ep. 57
Inside Chris Crawford's Philosophy — Drawing Puzzles Outside the Line, Then Counting His Own Defeats
2026-09-09
"Puzzles are challenges with no purposeful opponents." The shortest definition of a puzzle was written by Chris Crawford, the man who almost single-handedly started the field of game design writing. That definition placed puzzles outside of games — and forty years later he wrote, in his own words, that he had failed. Reading across his journal, his laws, his memoirs, his design diary and his talks for his philosophy, obsessions, failures, dilemmas and influences.
Ep. 56
Inside Thomas Grip's Philosophy — Rewriting Puzzles from Obstacle to "I Did That"
2026-09-08
A horror developer wrote a seven-part series about puzzles on his own blog. He argued that focusing on fun makes design fail, that trial and error will doom games, and he named his own failed puzzles out loud. Reading across his blog and interviews for Thomas Grip's philosophy, obsessions, failures, dilemmas and influences.
Ep. 55
Inside Martin Gardner's Philosophy — Turning What He Didn't Know Into Care for the Reader
2026-09-07
A philosophy graduate with no mathematics degree wrote a puzzle column for 25 years and carried everything from pentominoes to the Game of Life out into the world. He kept saying he was "strictly a journalist." Reading across his interviews and autobiography for Martin Gardner's philosophy, obsessions, regrets, dilemmas and influences.
Ep. 54
Inside Mark Brown's Philosophy — He Saw Every Criticism Coming, and Shipped Anyway
2026-09-05
A critic who had spent a decade analysing other people's game design finally made a puzzle game of his own. When the complaints arrived, he said he had seen all of them coming. Reading six of his own devlogs for his philosophy, obsessions, failures, dilemmas and influences.
Ep. 53
Inside Dave Grossman's Philosophy — Let the Player Be the Clever One
2026-09-03
"Your job is not to make yourself feel clever, it's to make the player feel clever." Dave Grossman has said it for thirty years — and rather than leave it a slogan, he sat his mother-in-law down with his own game and published every place she got stuck. A reading of his philosophy, obsessions, failures, dilemmas and influences across seven sources.
Ep. 52
Inside Tom Francis's Philosophy — Name the complaint, then build it
2026-09-01
A critic who scored games for nine years went and made one. In his own words, his process is to play a game, name what he wishes were different, and build that. Across fourteen posts, talks and interviews, I read his philosophy, obsessions, failures, dilemmas and influences.
Ep. 51
Inside Daniel Benmergui's Philosophy — Making Soft Material Have a Right Answer
2026-08-31
It took him fifteen years to finish one puzzle game. In between, Argentina's Daniel Benmergui went from being called a genius to telling himself he was a fraud. Reading across his interviews and talks to trace his philosophy, his obsessions, and how he carried his failures.
Ep. 50
Inside droqen's Philosophy — The Man Who Said "Kill Gameplay," Then Rewrote His Own Slogan
2026-08-29
droqen calls himself "the one who wants to kill gameplay." In the summer of 2025 he rewrote that slogan himself. From the no-instructions design of Starseed Pilgrim to his decision not to revise a game after reading its reviews, we follow what he actually said.
Ep. 49
Inside Tim Schafer's Philosophy — Make Being Stuck the Fun Part
2026-08-23
A study of Tim Schafer, built only from his own interviews and the design document he published himself. He calls the point of an adventure game "happy confusion" and says you have to make the stuckedness entertaining. The same man graded his own Grim Fandango puzzles as "mean, even" ten years later, and twenty years later shipped an invincibility toggle. Laying two decades of his statements side by side to find what he is actually protecting.
Ep. 48
Inside Keita Takahashi's Philosophy — The Mechanic of Adding No Mechanics
2026-08-22
A study of Keita Takahashi, the creator of Katamari Damacy, built only from his own words. In late 2025 he said himself that his new game to a T "didn't sell well," and moved his family back to Japan. Yet back in 2009 he was already saying he felt unsuited to the games industry. This is a reading of why he kept making things anyway, assembled by laying twenty years of his statements side by side.
Ep. 47
Inside Toru Iwatani's Philosophy — Build a Maze, Then Hide That It Is One
2026-08-21
A study of Toru Iwatani, the designer who planned Pac-Man (1980), built only from his own lectures and interviews. He made a maze game and then drew the maze walls as thin outlines so players would not notice it was a maze. He says to think by subtraction, he gave the same account of difficulty pacing in 1986 and in 2015, and in 2011 he scolded the industry for a flood of very simple games. A man who built the outer limit of simplicity criticising simplicity: this is an attempt to line that apparent contradiction up and read it.
Ep. 46
Inside Simon Flesser's Philosophy — Move the Difficulty Out of the Controls and Into the Puzzle
2026-08-20
A study of Simon Flesser of Simogo — the studio behind DEVICE 6 and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes — built only from his own interviews and the studio's own words. He says he wanted anyone who had never held a controller to be able to play, and in the same breath calls his puzzles very difficult. This is a reading of where he moved the difficulty to, laid out by putting his 2013 statements next to his 2024 ones.
Ep. 45
Inside Emily Short's Philosophy — Make the Solving Itself Part of the Story
2026-08-19
A study of Emily Short — author of Galatea and Counterfeit Monkey, and co-author of the Inform 7 documentation — built only from her own blog and interviews: the claim she has held for twenty years (solving the puzzle is part of the story, not a gate in front of it), the obsession that led her to define exactly three shapes of fair puzzle and cut everything else, how she took Linden Lab's cancellation of Versu, and the dilemma she named the four-body problem: what the player wants, what the characters want, what the author wants, and what the work itself demands.
Ep. 44
La philosophie de Nicky Case — ne pas remettre la réponse, faire aimer la question
2026-08-16
Une étude de Nicky Case, l'auteur de « Parable of the Polygons » et de « The Evolution of Trust », fondée uniquement sur son propre blog et ses conférences. On y lit une conviction qui n'a pas varié en dix ans — « ne pas remettre la réponse, faire aimer la question » —, une exigence qui transforme l'explication en puzzle, l'échec du prototype de « We Become What We Behold », « compris mais rien ressenti », le dilemme de rester intègre tout en vivant de la générosité d'inconnus, et enfin les influences que l'auteur reconnaît lui-même : Bret Victor, Vi Hart et Ian Bogost.
Ep. 43
Inside Derek Yu's Philosophy — Finishing as a Skill, Not a Talent
2026-08-15
A study of Derek Yu, maker of Spelunky and UFO 50, built only from his own essays and interviews: the claim he has not moved from in over a decade (the ability to finish grows with the number of things you finish), his obsession with naming the shapes of failure (death loops, the morass in the middle, five developer archetypes), how he holds criticism at arm's length, the contradiction of a man who preached small-and-fast then spent eight years, and the influences he actually credits — Maddy Thorson and cactus.
Ep. 42
Inside Andrew Plotkin's Philosophy — Folding a Solved Puzzle Into a Single Move
2026-08-12
A study of Andrew Plotkin (Zarf), the parser interactive-fiction author, built only from his own talks and interviews: the claim he has not moved from since 2003 (puzzles are an underpinning of story, not an interruption of it), his obsession with play that zooms out — a solved puzzle folded into a single move in a larger puzzle — his own accounts of failure at Hadean Lands and at outreach, the dilemma of accessibility against hardcore design, and the influences he actually credits, from a teletype in his father's office to Powers of Ten, Hofstadter and Cliff Johnson.
Ep. 41
Inside Raph Koster's Philosophy — The Moment a Game Is Solved, It Becomes a Puzzle
2026-08-10
A study of Raph Koster—author of A Theory of Fun for Game Design and designer of Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies—built only from what he has published himself. We read the claim that has barely moved in twenty years (fun is progress on prediction), his obsession with the game/puzzle boundary and the moment a solved game falls to the puzzle side, his first-person accounts of failure at SWG, Metaplace and UO, the dilemma of whether depth is ever rewarded, and the influences he actually credits, from modernist literature to the MUD-Dev list.
Ep. 40
Inside William Chyr's Philosophy — making infinity a place you don't get lost in
2026-08-07
A study of William Chyr, who spent seven years building Manifold Garden, assembled only from what he has said in public. The balloon installation artist driven into games by a latex allergy. His two constraints: everything visible is reachable, and no invisible colliders. His insistence that the leap must come from the player's agency, not the designer's instruction. The coinage he threw out — "exampuzzles". The 2015 slump and the switch from sprint to marathon. The dilemma between authorship and keeping a studio alive. And the influences he names himself: Escher, Tadao Ando, Frank Lloyd Wright, Portal, Starseed Pilgrim. Six primary sources, closing with Kizuki's own reading.
Ep. 39
Inside Ernő Rubik's Philosophy — insisting it was found, not invented
2026-08-06
A study of Ernő Rubik built only from what he has said in public. The 1974 wooden prototypes that all fell apart. The month-plus it took him to solve his own object. The vocabulary he keeps returning to — "the cube was not created as a puzzle; I discovered the potential of a puzzle." His view that rules are to be exhausted rather than broken. The slogan about unsolvable problems that he retracts in the same breath. His distance from his creation's fame. And the influences he does name: his father's glider designs, and Mother Nature. Seven primary sources spanning 2010 to 2024, closing with Kizuki's own reading.
Ep. 38
Inside Ken Wong's Philosophy — a whole world inside one frame
2026-08-04
A study of Ken Wong — lead designer of Monument Valley and creator of Florence — built only from what he has said in public. Starting production on the assumption that "70, 80, 90 percent" of the work will be thrown away. The "little worlds" rule that no puzzle information leaves the screen. Illusions built like magic tricks. His admission that the team lacked the vocabulary to discuss music, and the anxiety during Florence about wasting someone else's money. The line he drew for himself on representation. And his 2019 restatement that his most famous game is not a puzzle game at all. Ends with Kizuki's own reading.
Ep. 37
Inside Scott Kim's Philosophy — making the right answer belong to the solver
2026-08-03
A study of Scott Kim — ambigram artist and designer of Bejeweled 2's puzzle mode — built only from what he has written and said in public. The asymmetry hidden in his two-line definition. His design rules: build a good toy first, and never let the controls be the difficulty. The defeats he keeps describing in mathematics education, and his turn from stick to carrot. The dilemma he names himself: how to put the thrill of competition back into a solitary act. Closing with Kizuki's own reading.
Ep. 36
Inside Andrew Shouldice's Philosophy — designing the time before you understand
2026-08-02
A study of TUNIC's Andrew Shouldice built only from what he has said in public. The three phases of a secret from his GDC 2023 talk — ignorance, knowledge, understanding — and his statement that the middle one interests him most. The policy that framing communication as a mystery makes "the revelation all the sweeter." The reviewer who beat the final boss in No Fail Mode, and the exception he added afterwards. Why refusing to filter players by difficulty was a definitional matter rather than a kindness. Ends with Kizuki's own reading.
Ep. 35
Inside Terry Cavanagh's Philosophy — he starts by assuming it won't sell
2026-08-01
A study of Terry Cavanagh — who has sold exactly three games — built only from what he has said in public. The 2017 line: he always starts off assuming it will be a freeware game. The habit of tuning difficulty to his own reflexes. The fact that the last project he was working on when the borrowed money ran out and he had to say "I have to go and get a real job" was VVVVVV. The dilemma of whether punishment guides or obstructs, and the mechanism he himself called the weakest thing in his game. Closes with Kizuki's reading.
Ep. 34
La philosophie de Petri Purho — la créativité ne se note pas, alors on la confie au monde
2026-07-30
Une étude de Petri Purho, qui a remporté le grand prix de l'IGF avec Crayon Physics Deluxe puis a lui-même critiqué son œuvre l'année suivante lors d'une conférence à la GDC, fondée uniquement sur ses propos rendus publics. Une phrase inchangée depuis douze ans : « pas un jeu où l'on trouve la bonne solution, mais un jeu où l'on trouve une solution créative ». L'habitude auto-punitive d'un prototype par mois. La défaite de n'avoir pas su détecter la créativité, l'affaire des clones, jusqu'à l'affirmation, à propos de Noita, que « la simulation peut nuire au plaisir de jeu ». L'article se conclut par la lecture qu'en fait Kizuki.
Ep. 33
Inside Kaji Maki's Philosophy — placing puzzles as entertainment, never education
2026-07-28
A study of Kaji Maki (1951–2021), the man who named sudoku, built only from what he said publicly: the philosophy that sealed off brain training — his single biggest commercial opening — in favour of plain entertainment; his obsession with handmade puzzles and the solving process; the forgotten cover price on issue one and the trademark he travelled to Britain for and lost. It covers the dilemmas of reach versus revenue and a small company facing global demand, and closes with Kizuki's reading.
Ep. 32
Inside Asher Vollmer's Philosophy — loading years of depth into a single swipe
2026-07-26
A study of Asher Vollmer, creator of Threes!, built only from his own words: the longevity design that stretches 'simple to learn, impossible to master' across years, his obsession with keeping placeholder art pretty, the cloning episode where he blamed himself for not going free and then recovered his pride, and the efficiency-versus-rest dilemma. It closes with Kizuki's reading.
Ep. 31
Inside Jakub Dvorský's Philosophy — Dropping Words, Building a World You Can Touch
2026-07-24
A study of Amanita Design founder Jakub Dvorský, read across primary interviews in Adventure Classic Gaming (2009), MCV/DEVELOP (2011), bounthavy (2020) and TouchArcade (2024). It traces the origin of his wordless design, his obsession with atmosphere and hand-drawn worlds, his aim to build 'an interactive toy' you keep playing rather than a puzzle you defeat, his dilemmas of kindness versus difficulty and commerce versus authorship, and the Czech animation and science-fiction he himself names as influences — grounded only in what he has said in public.
Ep. 30
Inside Frank Lantz's Philosophy — giving weight to the abstract
2026-07-23
A study of Frank Lantz, founding chair of the NYU Game Center and maker of Universal Paperclips and Drop7, drawn from his own essay The Truth in Game Design (2010), a long Thought Economics interview (2024), PC Games Insider (2017), and his own notes on his work. Grounded only in his public statements, it reads his philosophy of games as an art of systems and as psychology experiments we run on ourselves, his obsession with embodying abstract ideas, the failure of Bite Me answered by "solving it all too well" in Leviathan, the dilemma of comfort versus truth, and the influences he acknowledges himself — Bostrom, Stapledon, Wittgenstein and von Neumann.
Ep. 29
La philosophie de Michael Brough — réduire le plateau, ne garder que le choix
2026-07-21
Une étude de Michael Brough — auteur de 868-HACK, d'Imbroglio et de Cinco Paus, et concepteur dont le nom est devenu l'étiquette d'un genre, le « Broughlike » — construite à partir de quatre de ses propres entretiens. On y lit le paradoxe selon lequel réduire le plateau libère la conception, son obsession à épurer un mécanisme unique jusqu'à son cœur, l'échec de roguelikes inachevés par excès d'ambition, les dilemmes entre commerce et posture d'auteur ainsi que son malaise face à la violence, et enfin ses influences venues des mathématiques et de Rogue.
Ep. 28
Inside Jason Rohrer's Philosophy — playing life and death through constraint
2026-07-20
A study of Jason Rohrer, who with the five-minute Passage told a whole life and death through rules, drawn from three interviews: Critical Inquiry (2011), Handmade Pixels (2017) and Gamasutra (2011). Grounded only in his public statements, it reads his philosophy of speaking through interaction rather than narrative, his obsession with turning constraint into an expressive tool, the failure of trying to eliminate tedium and his change of heart toward "punishment," the dilemma of highbrow versus accessible, and the influences he acknowledges himself — Rod Humble, Raph Koster and Scott McCloud.
Ep. 27
Inside Hiroyuki Imabayashi's Philosophy — The Cargo That Blocks Its Own Removal
2026-07-19
A study of Hiroyuki Imabayashi, creator of Sokoban (1982), drawn from three primary sources: his own greeting on the official site, a 1983 LOGiN magazine interview (in translation), and a long 2020 conversation with collector Carlos Montiers Aguilera. His consistent claim that 'the fun of the stage is the whole point,' his fixation on cargo that obstructs its own tidying, the failure and criticism around 'breakable walls' and how he answered it, the puzzle-versus-gimmick dilemma he named himself, and the Hudson action game that sparked the idea — all grounded only in his public statements.
Ep. 26
Inside Marc ten Bosch's Philosophy — Discovered, Not Invented
2026-07-18
A study of Marc ten Bosch, author of Miegakure and 4D Toys, drawn from his own blog, his 2011 Indiecade talk, an NYU Game Center interview, and a Gamasutra IGF interview: his consistent 'discovered, not invented' philosophy, his discipline of narrowing to a single button, his use of mathematics as a design tool, the failures he has voiced, the dilemma of correctness versus beauty, and his acknowledged debt to Flatland — grounded only in public statements.
Ep. 25
Inside Jon Ingold's Philosophy — Keeping the Story Alive by Letting You Keep Failing
2026-07-17
A study of inkle's Jon Ingold through his interviews and his own essays. We read the philosophy behind 'the job of a designer is to replicate the feeling of the experience', his insistence on embedding deduction in dialogue rather than a UI, and his obsession with letting the player 'fail forward' — neither losing nor winning, but squeaking through.
Ep. 24
La philosophie d'Alexey Pajitnov — Un jeu qui crée l'ordre, sans jamais le laisser finir
2026-07-15
Une étude d'Alexey Pajitnov, créateur de Tetris, menée à travers ses propres entretiens : sa philosophie selon laquelle le jeu est un produit psychologique, son obsession pour la courbe d'apprentissage et le hasard, son échec ouvertement admis à réussir le multijoueur après une décennie, les dilemmes entre intensité et absence de fin, et l'influence du pentomino. Lu comme un concepteur qui a gardé le noyau et laissé filer la surface.
Ep. 23
Inside Jason Roberts's Philosophy — Turning the Space Outside the Frame into a Playground
2026-07-13
A study of Jason Roberts — who made Gorogoa, drawing and coding almost all of it alone — drawn strictly from his own GDC talk and interviews: a philosophy of the 'frame' born from an abandoned comic, the obsession of a visual acrostic that gives everything two faces, the failure of a man who thought he couldn't finish anything, the commerce-versus-authorship dilemma that meaning must be real, and influences from Escher to a puzzle book (Maze) he never solved. It closes with one paragraph reading him as a designer who believes in the outside of the frame.
Ep. 22
Inside Kim Swift's Philosophy — Manipulating the Player Into Feeling Clever
2026-07-12
"After people play our game, I want them to feel clever." That is how Kim Swift describes designing Portal. She is a designer who bet not on hard puzzle walls but on invisible guidance — steering the player's eye and feelings without them noticing. Her philosophy, obsessions, failures (a boss fight that died three times), dilemmas and influences, read through her own interviews and a GDC postmortem.
Ep. 21
Inside Ron Gilbert's Philosophy — Never Waste the Player's Time
2026-07-11
"What makes most games tough to play is that the puzzles are arbitrary and unconnected." Ron Gilbert wrote that in 1989 while designing Monkey Island. This is a study of the man widely regarded as the finest thinker on adventure-game puzzle design — his philosophy, his obsessions (the Puzzle Dependency Chart), his failures (Maniac Mansion), his dilemmas and his influences — read through his own essays, blog and interviews.
Ep. 20
La philosophie de Kyle Gabler — des os minimaux, une peau maximale
2026-07-10
Une lecture de Kyle Gabler, l'auteur de « World of Goo » et « Human Resource Machine », en s'appuyant uniquement sur ses propres textes. En alignant le texte légendaire écrit il y a vingt ans, « Comment prototyper un jeu en moins de 7 jours », et ses rares entretiens, se dégage une attitude constante : « la complexité n'est pas nécessaire au plaisir », « d'abord fabriquer un jouet ». On examine ici cette double nature d'un homme qui retranche, tout en étant aussi celui qui surcharge de retours excessifs (juice).
Ep. 19
Inside Fumito Ueda's Philosophy — Subtracting Toward Emotional Space
2026-07-09
A reading of Fumito Ueda, creator of ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian, drawn from four of his own interviews. What did the man behind "design by subtraction" actually remove, and what was he trying to keep? His philosophy, obsessions, failures, dilemmas, and influences, grounded only in his own words.
Ep. 18
Inside Bennett Foddy's Philosophy — Designing Failure to Fight Meaninglessness
2026-07-08
A study of Bennett Foddy (QWOP, Getting Over It) drawn strictly from his own interviews and blog: a philosophy that starts from the paradox that "games don't matter," the obsession of cataloguing frustration by "flavor," his admission that he couldn't beat his own game, the dilemma between encouragement and taunt, and influences from Sexy Hiking to the unfair old games of his childhood. It closes with one paragraph reading him as a designer who fights the absence of meaning.
Ep. 17
La philosophie de Zach Gage — reconstruire les jeux que l'on connaît déjà
2026-07-07
Une étude de Zach Gage (SpellTower, Really Bad Chess, Good Sudoku, Puzzmo), fondée exclusivement sur ses propres entretiens : sa philosophie de conception qui consiste à reconstruire des classiques que tout le monde connaît ; les « trois regards » hérités du graphisme et les prototypes que l'on manipule à la main ; son habitude de se jeter dans des genres qu'il n'aime pas ; son éthique de refus de l'engagement infini et sa gestion du hasard ; et jusqu'à ses sources d'influence — le journal de sa mère, Spelunky, et Sid Meier comme repoussoir. Pour finir, un seul paragraphe d'opinion personnelle le présente comme un « artiste conceptuel sorti de la galerie ».
Ep. 16
Inside Greg Lobanov's Philosophy — Making Creation, Not Combat, the Main Verb
2026-07-06
A study of Greg Lobanov (Wandersong, Chicory). Building his games around creation — singing, drawing — as the main verb, he makes puzzles and story work without combat. His philosophy, obsessions, failures, dilemmas, and influences, read strictly from four of his own interviews.
Ep. 15
Inside Alexander Bruce's Philosophy — Doubt conventions down to their reasons
2026-07-05
A study of Alexander Bruce, author of Antichamber, based only on his interviews and GDC talks: a philosophy of doubting conventions down to their reasons, an obsession with removing death and menus, candid failures and pivots, the dilemma of when to stop iterating, and his acknowledged influences.
Ep. 14
La philosophie d'Éric Chahi — transformer le manque en espace laissé libre
2026-07-04
Une étude d'Éric Chahi, créateur d'« Another World », à partir de sa rétrospective GDC de 2011 et de plusieurs entretiens. On y lit sa méthode consistant à transformer les contraintes en improvisation, sa conception fondée sur le pari de la mémoire du joueur, une mise en scène de la suggestion et de la ponctuation, les échecs et les dilemmes qu'il a lui-même racontés, ainsi que ses sources d'influence — le tout appuyé uniquement sur ses déclarations publiques.
Ep. 13
La philosophie de Zach Barth — laisser derrière soi des problèmes honnêtes, pas des solutions
2026-07-03
Une étude sur Zach Barth (Zachtronics), créateur de SpaceChem et d'Opus Magnum, construite à partir de son propre post-mortem et de ses entretiens. On y aborde son attachement aux solutions ouvertes, aux histogrammes et aux GIF partageables ; les échecs qu'il a lui-même disséqués dans SpaceChem ; le dilemme entre accessibilité et exigence d'authenticité ; et son mot de la fin sur le refus d'être « enfermé dans la même chose » — une lecture fondée uniquement sur ses déclarations publiques.
Ep. 12
La philosophie de Daniel Mullins — l'homme qui retourne le cadre
2026-07-02
Une étude de Daniel Mullins, connu pour Inscryption, à partir de ses propres interviews et de sa conférence post-mortem au GDC. Sa philosophie qui consiste à « capter le joueur en dehors des règles », son obsession à retourner les attentes, l'échec qu'il reconnaît lui-même dans le réglage de la difficulté, et le dilemme d'une « trahison » devenue signature stylistique, décryptés en s'appuyant uniquement sur ses déclarations publiques.
Ep. 11
Inside Daniel Cook's Philosophy — Fewest Rules, Return to the Human
2026-07-01
A study of Daniel Cook (Danc)—maker of Triple Town and Cozy Grove, and author of the design blog Lost Garden for over twenty years—drawn from four of his own signed essays. We read his early idea of dissecting play into 'skill atoms', his obsession with the 'evergreen puzzle' that yields the most play from the fewest rules, his publicly told failures (a collapsed MMO, being cloned), the paradox of a 'puzzle-hater' who keeps building puzzle-like systems, and his arc from trust in systems toward a wariness about filtering out our humanity.
Ep. 10
La philosophie de Sam Barlow — Jeter le contenant, mettre en scène l'histoire dans l'esprit du joueur
2026-06-30
Une étude de Sam Barlow, créateur de Her Story, tirée de ses interviews et conférences GDC. Sa philosophie « jeter le contenant », son obsession pour la véritable performance et la structure consultable, le plus grand échec de sa carrière — un projet annulé après trois ans — et la façon dont il l'a sublimé, son dilemme d'abandon de contrôle, et ses influences reconnues, lus strictement à partir de ce qu'il a dit publiquement.
Ep. 9
Inside Maddy Thorson's Philosophy — Keep It Hard, Make It Kind
2026-06-27
A study of Maddy Thorson (TowerFall, Celeste) built from her own blog, interviews, and GDC talk: a philosophy of keeping difficulty while making it kind, an obsession with fudging things "a little" in the player's favor, and the dilemma of authorial intent versus letting go.
Ep. 8
La philosophie de Patrick Traynor — concevoir comme découverte, non comme invention
2026-06-24
Une réflexion sur Patrick Traynor, créateur solitaire de « Patrick's Parabox », à partir de ses propres interviews et de sa conférence GDC 2024. Il appelle la récursion « une vérité dans un coin de l'univers » et se positionne comme découvreur plutôt qu'inventeur. L'article examine sa philosophie de design, son attachement à l'« accessibilité », ses échecs et ses surmontements sur la courbe de difficulté et les règles, ainsi que l'éthique du découvreur.
Ep. 7
La philosophie de Stephen Lavelle — faire de l'inexplicable une œuvre
2026-06-20
Nah I don't feel like it — telle est la courte réponse que Stephen Lavelle (increpare) a donnée à un joueur lui demandant d'expliquer la conception de son œuvre. Ce développeur londonien, auteur du moteur de puzzles gratuit PuzzleScript et du jeu Stephen's Sausage Roll — salué comme le sokoban le plus difficile de tous les temps — a publié plus de 500 jeux, dont la grande majorité gratuitement.
Ep. 6
La philosophie d'Alan Hazelden — D'abord créer en abondance, puis donner un nom au « fait de penser »
2026-06-17
« La façon la plus efficace de créer un grand jeu, c'est de d'abord créer un grand nombre de jeux qui ne le sont pas » — Alan Hazelden (Draknek), concepteur de puzzles basé à Londres, ne cesse de créer des puzzles « thinky » qui enseignent les mécaniques uniquement par la disposition des niveaux, sans texte. Sa philosophie, ses convictions, ses échecs, ses dilemmes et ses sources d'influence lus à travers ses propres déclarations.
Ep. 5
La philosophie de Jeppe Carlsen — le puzzle se bâtit sur la « confiance »
2026-06-13
Une étude de Jeppe Carlsen, lead game designer de Limbo et Inside et créateur de COCOON, à travers trois interviews vérifiées. Sa philosophie cohérente de « confiance » et de « jouabilité », son geste qui compense la complexité par la simplicité, la douleur de couper du contenu avec parcimonie, et ses influences — Nintendo et Playdead — retracées uniquement à partir de citations vérifiées à la source.
Ep. 4
Dans la philosophie de Tetsuya Mizuguchi — concevoir des sensations, pas des genres
2026-06-10
Une étude de Tetsuya Mizuguchi — créateur de Rez, Lumines et Tetris Effect — à travers quatre de ses propres interviews. Sa philosophie constante de concevoir la sensation plutôt que le genre et de chercher à « faire pleurer les gens », son dilemme sur ce qu'il faut ajouter à un classique, et des influences allant de Kandinsky à une seule nuit dans un festival de musique, retracées uniquement à travers des déclarations vérifiées à la source.
Ep. 3
La philosophie de Arvi Teikari — Pour surprendre, il laisse jouer les règles elles-mêmes
2026-06-03
« Ma principale motivation est simplement le désir de m'exprimer. » — Le développeur solo finlandais Arvi Teikari (Hempuli) a étonné le monde avec Baba Is You, un jeu qui dispose ses règles en blocs de mots sur le plateau et laisse les joueurs les réécrire. Nous lisons sa philosophie, ses obsessions, ses échecs, ses dilemmes et ses influences à travers ses propres paroles.
Ep. 2
Dans la philosophie de Lucas Pope — S'il n'y a pas de problème, ça ne m'intéresse pas
2026-05-31
« S'il n'y a pas de problème, alors ça ne m'intéresse pas tant que ça. Mais s'il y a une contrainte ou une limitation, alors là, soudain, ça m'intéresse. » Lucas Pope se décrit, avec constance, comme un ingénieur. Il inverse des métiers banals, les dépouille jusqu'à l'os et mise sur l'imagination du joueur. Une étude de sa philosophie, de ses obsessions, de ses échecs, de ses dilemmes et de ses influences, lue à travers ses propres interviews et conférences.
Ep. 1
Jonathan Blow — l'instrument qui révèle la vérité, et le sens qu'il refuse d'abandonner
2026-05-30
Il affirme que les jeux sont des instruments qui révèlent la vérité, et pourtant il soutient que le sens de sa propre œuvre est fixé jusqu'au moindre mot. Lecture de la philosophie, de l'obsession, du dilemme, du coût et des influences de Jonathan Blow, à travers ses propres interviews et conférences.