Noah Wardrip-Fruin on How Pac-Man Eats

In this special episode of the Gamers with Glasses Show, we discuss Noah Wardrip-Fruin’s excellent book, How Pac-Man Eats! Noah joins us, along with Patrick Jagoda (author of Experimental Games), to talk about why “models” and “logics” are more useful terms than gameplay or mechanics; how we can make games about more than just beating the bad guys; why Animal Crossing: New Directions is a lot of fun, but not as interesting as Stardew Valley in terms of its design; the work Noah and Patrick are doing at their game development studios/labs; the value of cooperative play; what kinds of game design principles we would like to see become more common in the games industry; and much more. It’s a great conversation for anyone interested in game development, game studies, or game design in general!

Interested in more conversation about game design and game studies, check out our conversations with Jesper Juul, Shane Denson, and Patrick Jagoda.