Shows / Furidashi Game Design Academy
Furidashi Game Design Academy
A podcast on gaming and video game design from both practical and academic perspectives.
Episodes
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
146. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008) | Year of Metal Gear | S6E14
In our last episode before the wrap-up, we look at how Kojima tried (the first time) to bring Metal Gear to a conclusion and give the characters the send off…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
145. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010) | Year of Metal Gear | S6E12
While Lauryn is deep behind enemy lines (i.e. quite sick), Nicholas is busy organizing things back home in Mother Base, while trying not to bore all the new…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
144. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (2025) | Year of Metal Gear | S6E11
In comparing Death Stranding with its sequel, we come to a dichotomy of two gameplay experiences: a lonely one that matches what the games say about their…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
143. Death Stranding | Year of Metal Gear | S6E10
Now that our boy Kojima has been taken out of Konami and Metal Gear, we have to wonder whether you can take the Metal Gear out of the boy. In this episode, we…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
142. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015) | Year of Metal Gear | S6E09
Here we are at the end... or, at least, an end. One of many ends, as it turns out. We explore what it means for a whole series of games to end up being about…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
141. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (2014) | Year of Metal Gear | S6E08
[Content Warning] In this episode we discuss sexual assault and all the ways in which Kojima handles it VERY BADLY. We do try to pry out the good as well, but…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
140. Video Games and Digital Preservation | S6E07
In this episode we not only learn that Nicholas has a day job but also that it is immediately relevant to questions surrounding video games and digital…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
139. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004) | Year of Metal Gear | S6E06
In this episode, we go back in time to the height of the Cold War, to discover the origin of the Snake/Boss dichotomy in Metal Gear Solid's third installment…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
138. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001) | Year of Metal Gear | S6E05
In this episode Nicholas tries to be fair to a game he very much did not enjoy, and Lauryn makes sure they cover something important, how the series is now…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
137. Metal Gear Solid (1998) | Year of Metal Gear | S6E04
This month, we finally discuss a game people have actually played: Metal Gear Solid. We also take a look back at Kojima's notion of creativity as a…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
136. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990) | Year of Metal Gear | S6E03
In this episode we discuss Kojima's response to Konami's attempt to make a Metal Gear sequel without him and how, in so doing, established the baseline for…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
135. Metal Gear (1987) | Year of Metal Gear | S6E02
Lauryn and Nicholas take you back to the Cold War, to the '80s, when hair was big and everyone was worried about nuclear winter. We begin with the very first…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
134. Hideo Kojima, Memelord | Year of Metal Gear | S6E01
In this, the first episode of season 6, our YEAR OF METAL GEAR, we dive into the Kojima lore, why you shouldn't always take it at face value, and what it means…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
133. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) | S5E11
For our final episode of Season 5, before THE YEAR OF METAL GEAR, we look at the seminal Studio Ghibli film, Kiki's Delivery Service. We discuss what it means…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
132. Halo: Combat Evolved | S5E10
In which we argue that Halo represents a genuinely novel approach to shooter design at a time when the video games industry was becoming but had not yet turned…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
131. Ghost in the Shell (1995) | S5E9
In celebration of Pride month, we take a somewhat unusual look at Oshii Mamoru's Ghost in the Shell as an allegory of trans becoming. We look at how trans…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
130. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | S5E8
In this episode, we think about games as a complete composition of many artforms and how Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 withholds the kinds of information that…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
129. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners | S5E7
Following up on our discussion of Cyberpunk 2077, we consider the Netflix series and what it means to be bodies in spaces, how we lie to ourselves and each…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
128. Cyberpunk 2077 Redux | S5E6
After several years we return to Cyberpunk 2077 to discover that it's a very different game! In this episode, we focus on how the game's environments blend the…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
127. Look Back (2024) | S5E5
In this month's free episode, we take a look at the visual and narrative aesthetics of 2024's Look Back, based on the manga of the same name by Fujimoto…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
126. Narrative Violence in Slay the Princess | S5E4
This month we tackle the topic everyone loves to hate: violence in video games. But with a twist. We discuss how Slay the Princess uses a form of narrative…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
125. Tokyo Godfathers | S5E3
In this episode we make a deep dive into Kon Satoshi's 2003 Christmas romp (?), Tokyo Godfathers. We focus especially on the dramatic tension between what…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
124. Dragon Age: The Veilguard | S5E2
In this episode, Lauryn and Nicholas go all in on Bioware's Dragon Age: The Veilguard. We talk about core combat not from the perspective of mechanics but in…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
123. Delicious in Dungeon Crawl | S5E1
Welcome to Season 5, where we'll be focusing on game and media aesthetics! We wanted to started things off with a game/anime crossover in the form of Delicious…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
Where We're Headed in Season 5
Just a brief check-in during our hiatus month to give you a taste of what we'll be talking about in the coming year.
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
122. Novelty and Innovation | S4E11
In this episode, we consider how to make your game stand out from the others, the importance of a clear hook or appeal to the player, as well as how to…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
121. Playtesting | S4E10
In this episode we delve into the subject of playtesting: how to choose the right playtesters for your game as well as learning how to go after the criticism…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
120. Friction in Video Games | S4E9
This month we tackle the concept of friction in game design, how it's not necessarily the same thing as challenge or difficulty, and why it's important for…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
119. The Human Toll of Gamedev | S4E8
This month we stop talking around the fact that the games industry is imploding and tackle it head on. We address the collective psychic damage we all seem to…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
118. The Mechanics of Pleasure | S4E7
In this episode, we discuss the sensuous side of gamedev, the upsides and downsides of "friction," and how to better understand what your player wants to be…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
117. Working in Teams, Working Alone | S4E6
In this episode we deconstruct the concept of auteur theory and show how even when a game's production has a strong creative direction, often that means…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
116. From Inspiration to Game Design | S4E5
In this episode Lauryn and Nicholas tackle how game designers translate their own interests and influences into tangible elements in their own games. Working…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
115. Subjectivity in Narration | S4E4
In this episode we talk about the uses of first and second person narration in games, not only in terms of basic storytelling but also how they work their way…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
114. Themes and Pillars | S4E3
In this episode we focus on where ideas come from, how they develop out of our experiences and interests, and how they ultimately coalesce into specific…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
113. Encounter Design Blues | S4E2
In this episode, Lauryn and Nicholas pick up where they left off in discussing how Baldur's Gate 3 structures its skill check encounters. We look at how…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
112. The Game Design Nexus | S4E1
In this fourth season of Furidashi, Nicholas is making a game! So, the first thing we need to figure out is... well... where to even begin. We discuss the good…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
111. Translating Tabletop
In this episode, we extend our discussion of Baldur’s Gate 3 into thinking about how video games translate various aspects of their tabletop counterparts. More…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
110. Baldur’s Gate 3
In this episode, we sit down to tackle Larian’s colossal new game, Baldur’s Gate 3. We really only scratch the surface here, but we try to focus on the many…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
109. The Three Eras of Final Fantasy
In this episode we examine the three epochs or eras of Final Fantasy. We trace its early, now legendary, days as a tactical, turn-based RPG, the shift to more…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
108. Final Fantasy: Action Man
In this episode, we delve into Final Fantasy 16 and the recent trend in Final Fantasy games towards more action oriented gameplay. But rather than make all the…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
107. Lauryn’s Gamedev Journey
Greetings! In this episode, we make Lauryn explain herself and her gamedev journey. We talk about what it was like to make the transition from writing to level…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
106. Is Diablo 4 an RPG?
In this episode, we ask an admittedly clickbaity question that, nevertheless, raises some points: is Diablo 4 an RPG? We cover a bit of the history of…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
105. Dumb AI !@#$
In this episode we continue our discussion of AI, focusing on its potential within the games industry, as well as its pitfalls. We consider the labor issues…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
104. Eliza
In this episode, we take a look at a visual novel from 2019, the incredibly prescient Eliza. We spend some time laying out the unique mechanics of a visual…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
103. Contiguity in Worldbuilding
In this episode, we talk about the concept of contiguity in worldbuilding and in game design more generally. We focus on longstanding franchises like…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
102. Kingdom Hearts 2
In this episode, we discuss Kingdom Hearts 2 from 2005. We contextualize it in terms of the transformation of AAA games taking place in the 2000s, how the game…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
101. Character Progression
In this episode, we discuss character progression, how it differs from player and subjective progression, and how character can manifest not just as an arc…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
100. The Last of Us
In this, our one hundredth episode, we finally tackle 2013’s The Last of Us. While we acknowledge that the story is, well, just okay, we also dissect the…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
99. Augmentation and Simulation
In this Patreon episode we jump off last week's Wordle episode to think about what it means for a game to work its way into the daily rhythms of our lives, as…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
98. Wordle With Friends!
In this episode, we discuss the popular browser game, Wordle, which was a worldwide phenomenon and yet somehow escaped notice when it came time to list the…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
97. Games and Mystery Plot Structure
In this clip from our Patreon episode we discuss many of the elements that make up mystery plots, how they work on a gameplay and not just a narrative level…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
96. Pentiment
In this episode Lauryn and Nicholas discuss the 2022 game Pentiment from Obsidian Entertainment. We look at how the game functions as a form of productive…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
95. Immortality - Year End Special Pt. 2
Lauryn and Nicholas dive into their not game of the year, because that concept is silly, but rather the game they both feel really pushed for the possibilities…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
94. Let’s Play! - The Cave of Time
Our gift to our Patreon subscribers this holiday season: a chill playthrough of the first book in the Choose Your Own Adventure series! Join Lauryn and…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
93. Same As It Ever Was - Year End Special Pt. 1
Lauryn and Nicholas discuss gamedev industry trends from the past year and try to explain why endless series of sequels and remakes may not necessarily be a…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
UNLOCKED! 41. Furidashi Behind the Scenes
Last year Lauryn and Nicholas went through a year in Furidashi and as part of that recorded a behind the scenes for their Patreon subscribers. We're unlocking…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
92. Ludonarrative Harmony?
Nicholas tries to help Lauryn exorcise all those academic demons that still haunt her brain, as they look back on her thesis project re: ludonarrative harmony…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
91. VR Failing
Lauryn and Nicholas dive into why virtual reality gaming seems to keep tripping over itself, how the body does and does not function as a "controller," and why…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
90. Subjective Progression
Lauryn and Nicholas take a page out of their current book project--quite literally--and discuss how you as a player develop through gameplay both in response…
- Furidashi Game Design Academy
89. Accessing Super Smash Bros.
Riffing on Sakurai Masahiro's recent video on the origins of Super Smash Bros., Lauryn and Nicholas discuss fighting games, accessibility, and how to innovate…