LUDOTHEMATICS: Harmony and Dissonance in Game Design

🏥 support IGC on Patreon:   / indiegameclinic   ⏰ KEY MOMENTS: 00:00 intro PART 1: Ludonarrative Dissonance in AAA Games 00:39 defining dissonance 02:13 Bioshock and Uncharted 06:05 do we all experience it? 09:58 GTAV example 11:25 Skyrim Cabbage Collection as Positive Dissonance 13:23 The Ludonarrative Death Double-Standard 14:25 more Good Dissonance PART 2: How I Learnt to Stop Worrying (About Ludonarrative Dissonance) and Love Ludothematics 15:11 Introducing Ludothematics 17:04 Game Genre vs Game Theme 19:27 Game Theme as Heuristic-Mnemonic 22:19 Deckbuilding as an Example of Explanatory Metaphor 23:29 Character Design as Thematic Communication of Mechanical Info 26:07 Using Themes to De-Scope Mechanics & Systems 29:35 The "Fireball Wizard" Problem 32:10 Sonic The Hedgehog and Thematic Consistency 34:42 What About Your Game? 38:09 Outro 📧 business enquiries (e.g. sponsorships, design help, coaching etc.) https://indiegameclinic.com/ . If you want me to critique your unfinished game on a stream, please submit your game for the "Indies Under the Knife" stream via this form: https://forms.gle/YYmsBxc635VEHYUp6 . Indies Under the Knife is a patreon-supported service to help rookie game developers make better games. I do not play published games sent via email unless the stream is sponsored by the game's publisher, or unless it's a game I personally really like the look of. Most emails of this nature will be deleted.