The BEST episodes of Extra Credits season 2018

#1 - The New Player Experience - Hooks, Tutorials, Rewards

Season 2018 - Episode 31 - Aired 10/17/2018

A good new player experience consists of three pieces: the hook, the tutorial, and the reward. Spider-Man (2018) is an example that gets this right, by giving players an amazing experience right off the bat and not waiting until the second act.

#2 - Don't Just Hire Your Fans - Creating a Good Design Team

Season 2018 - Episode 22 - Aired 8/1/2018

Having 500+ hours logged on a particular game or franchise shouldn't be a job requirement to work on that particular game or franchise--in fact, by working with folks who aren't already "super-fans" of your game, you'll end up making better creative design decisions.

#3 - Steam: What Sells - What Steam's Player Numbers Tell Us About Game Genres

Season 2018 - Episode 23 - Aired 8/8/2018

We can learn a lot from Steam's player numbers about why certain games, like PUBG and Paladins, continue to be popular on Steam, as well as why niche driving simulators are doing better than adventure games.

#4 - Gestalt - The Parts and the Whole

Season 2018 - Episode 24 - Aired 8/15/2018

Gestalt design principles--how we understand groups of objects as a whole unit via symmetry, proximity, closure, and more--is a powerful tool in game design to quickly and effectively communicate visual information to the player.

#5 - How Games Challenge Us - Empathy and Intuition in Puzzle Design

Season 2018 - Episode 25 - Aired 8/22/2018

How can we use empathy, intuition, and other types of design vectors to create interesting gameplay besides the most popular mechanics--which are based in reflex and logic challenges?

#6 - Games You Might Not Have Tried #15 - September 2018 Edition

Season 2018 - Episode 26 - Aired 9/12/2018

Check out some new games to play this month! Here's the list of the games in this video, accompanied by a link to the PC versions on the Humble Store if available (if you do decide to make a purchase through any of the Humble links, you'll be informed that a small percentage will go back to supporting Extra Credits, i.e. paying our artists!). * Yoku's Island Express (NOTE: if you own a Switch, we recommend getting the Switch version instead, as the controls and portability are very delightful) https://www.humblebundle.com/store/yo... * Legendary Gary: https://store.steampowered.com/app/68... * 20XX: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/20... * Cultist Simulator: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/cu... * Wars Across the World: https://store.steampowered.com/app/34... * Prey - Mooncrash DLC: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/pr... * The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit: https://store.steampowered.com/app/84... * Omen Exitio: Plague: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/om... * Cardinal Cross: https://store.steampowered.com/app/81... * The Painscreek Killings: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/th... History of Virtual Reality, part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWIyz... brought to you thanks to Oculus Rift: http://bit.ly/2vJIFRZ

#7 - The Joy of Losing - Learning to Have Fun Playing Games

Season 2018 - Episode 27 - Aired 9/19/2018

The design of multiplayer games means that, in most cases, half the playerbase is losing games at any given time. However, that shouldn't mean that half the playerbase is miserable or is unable to have fun. You can still have fun learning how to be a better team leader and practicing mechanical skills--which is important for combatting toxicity in multiplayer games.

#8 - The Metaphor is Meaning - "Show, Don't Tell" in Game Design

Season 2018 - Episode 28 - Aired 9/26/2018

Every developer should be taking full advantage of the visual and interactive mechanics in games to deliver extra layers of meaning without having to do all game storytelling through text. And players can enhance the depth of their gaming experiences by paying attention to possible metaphors that exist!

#9 - World of Warcraft Epidemiology - The Corrupted Blood Plague (And Why It Matters)

Season 2018 - Episode 29 - Aired 10/3/2018

Let's look at how, in 2005, World of Warcraft accidentally provided a virtual simulation of a pandemic that academics have been studying in papers since.

#10 - Aspirational Play - Adding a Sense of Wonder to Game Design

Season 2018 - Episode 30 - Aired 10/10/2018

From internet drama stories of Crusader Kings 2 to the secret rooms in Enter the Gungeon, there is value in designing really cool gameplay and story experiences that not all of your players will necessarily get to experience (at least, not immediately). Stoke imagination and wonder by including exciting details that players can enjoy experiencing, even if only vicariously through shared transmedia knowledge.

#11 - Game Therapy - How Can Games Improve Mental Health?

Season 2018 - Episode 21 - Aired 7/25/2018

Games can help us heal, emotionally as well as physically. We need to do more research on their positive impacts and how we can maximize the emotional value of commercial games, not just on the harmful effects of gaming disorders.

#12 - Achieving Vicarity - Creating Livable Fiction

Season 2018 - Episode 32 - Aired 10/24/2018

Guest writer Evan Hill (a level designer from Naughty Dog) talks about creating surprises--expectation gaps--in your game, and why adhering to a "lifelike" experience isn't the same as preserving the player's sense of immersion.

#13 - Games You Might Not Have Tried #16 - Spooky Scary Game Recommendations

Season 2018 - Episode 33 - Aired 10/30/2018

Happy Halloween! Today a whole bunch of the Extra Credits folks are here with some spooky scary skele-games for you to try!

#14 - Building Streaming Into Your Game - Designing Games for Observers

Season 2018 - Episode 34 - Aired 11/7/2018

Adding streaming-friendly features to your game *can* increase its marketability, but they have to be as well-thought out as the rest of the gameplay mechanics that cater directly to players.

#15 - Tutorials That Don't Talk Down To You - Context Sensitive Design

Season 2018 - Episode 35 - Aired 11/14/2018

Context sensitive game design is often the key difference between a good tutorial, and a condescending, painfully obvious and frustrating tutorial.

#16 - The GDPR - What It Means For You! (Developers AND Players!)

Season 2018 - Episode 36 - Aired 11/21/2018

The GDPR stands for the “General Data Protection Regulation.” It’s a European regulation that became effective in May 2018, designed to overhaul the way we think about data and data privacy--even internationally--especially when it comes to the privacy of your game-playing data.

#17 - Games You Might Not Have Tried #17 - New Games to Learn From!

Season 2018 - Episode 37 - Aired 11/28/2018

#18 - Episode 400! - Taking a Day

Season 2018 - Episode 38 - Aired 12/5/2018

Happy 400th episode Extra Credits! Consider taking some time today to play a game you love. YOU matter, so, take care of yourself!

#19 - Because Games Matter - MJ's Story: How Games Brought a Family Together

Season 2018 - Episode 39 - Aired 12/12/2018

Growing up, MJ fought non-stop with their brother--until they discovered Pokemon Stadium together. It would not only change their own life, but that of their entire family, for years to come.

#20 - Because Games Matter - A Teachable Moment: Kingdom Hearts in the Classroom

Season 2018 - Episode 40 - Aired 12/19/2018

High school English teacher Patrick wondered how he could connect better with his students--for one in particular who kept to herself, she just needed someone to let her know that it was OK to talk about video games in the classroom.

#21 - The Digital Museum - Assassin’s Creed Origins Discovery Tour

Season 2018 - Episode 11 - Aired 5/9/2018

The Assassin's Creed Origins team recently added a non-violent exploration mode to their game coupled with an educational voiceover narrating facts about ancient Egypt. How could we improve on this museum-like experience

#22 - Games Should Not Cost $60 Anymore - Inflation, Microtransactions, and Publishing

Season 2018 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/24/2018

You would think that paying $60 for a game would be enough, but so many games these days ask for money with DLC, microtransactions, and yes, lootboxes. There's a reason for that.

#23 - Why Do Games Cost So Much To Make? - AAA Game Budgets

Season 2018 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/31/2018

Let's talk numbers: marketing, office space, dev tool licenses, voice actors, and more that goes into the average AAA game budget. Why do some games never turn a profit while others seem to magically make it work on the cheapest budget possible?

#24 - The Loot Box Question - Designing Ethical Lootboxes: I

Season 2018 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/14/2018

Why does the games industry seem to prefer lootboxes over other types of microtransactions nowadays? Why are they so easily manipulated to abuse players' agency? How can we make them better?

#25 - The Legality of Loot Boxes - Designing Ethical Lootboxes: II

Season 2018 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/28/2018

Legislating regulation around in-game purchases seems like a good idea, but let's proceed cautiously: the phrasing of such potential rulings could create situations that unfairly affect gamers themselves, not just publishers.