Apr 18, 2021

Emma and Gil sit down with Carla Kopp of Weird Giraffe Games and
Galactic Raptor Games to discuss designing solo modes for games,
the merits of “bots” in solo games, and how these bots tend to be
named “Steve.”

SHOW NOTES

2m00s: Carla’s first published game Super Hack
Override.

4m53s: We spoke with Morten Monrad Pedersen on
Ludology
154 – Leave Me Alone! about using Automa to make solo versions
of games.

7m02s: Sarah Reed is a game
designer, disability advocate, and all-around excellent
person. 

11m00s: The Cat Lady
implementation for
iOS and
Android.

18m20s: Just a quick reminder that we’re talking
about the digital implementation of the game Cat Lady, as opposed
to Carla’s tabletop AIs. AI difficulty levels are more common in
apps than they are in tabletop games. 

19m45s: The Splendor
digital implementation is sadly no longer available.

20m34s: Gil mentions the solo mode that comes in the
tabletop version of It’s
a Wonderful World. Emma mentions the solo mode from the
Galaxy
Trucker app.

21m13s: Calico

21m47s: Gil forgets to mention that Friedemann Friese
included an “achievement sheet” in Copycat.

23m49s: Race for
the Galaxy. We chatted with Theresa Duringer, CEO of Temple
Gates, who developed the app, in Ludology
177 – AI AI, Captain! 

24m26s: We’re talking about the COIN
(Counterinsurgencies) series of games, which have asymmetry built
into them. Usually, each faction has a bot that allows many or all
factions to be present in the game, even at a low player count. We
talked to Volko Ruhnke, who began the series, in Ludology
178 – COIN Operated.

24m56s: The virtual gaming platform Tabletop Simulator.

26m54s: The three-body
problem.

27m19s: Power
Grid: The Robots

28m33s: Dune:
Imperium, Smartphone
Inc.

29m21s: Gil’s second published game Battle
Merchants.

31m24s: The
Networks

33m10s: The underrated but absolutely amazing

Fantasy Realms. 

34m49s: Seven
Wonders and Alhambra.
We discussed desicion scales in games with Matt Wolfe in Ludology
157 – Come Scale Away.

35m36s:
Abandon All Artichokes

36m51s: Skull,
Space
Dealer

37m33s: Weird Giraffe’s upcoming games: Sara Perry’s
Gift of
Tulips, and Fertessa Alysse’s Wicked & Wise.

40m12s: Tokaido

48m02s: Carla’s company with Dan Letzring, Galactic Raptor. Dan
also runs Letiman
Games.

51m45s: Bunny
Kingdom, Root. We
interviewed Root’s designer, Cole Wehrle, most recently on Ludology
222 – Johnny Fairplay.

53m07s: Charterstone,
Feudum

55m48s: The free cardmaking program nanDECK.

56m59s: The often-linked conditions of Narcolepsy and
Cataplexy.

1h05m58s: “Tony” here is designer, podcast host, and
excellent person Tony
Miller.

1h09m09s: Carla’s website,
Discord, and
Twitter.