Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Extract the #gamemechanics from the #games as an exercise in #gamedesign
Full lecture:
youtu.be/26HyHFTtPpM
From "Every Game is the Same Game " presented at Zenkaikon 2025 by Rym DeCoster, producer of the GeekNights podcast.
#gamedesign #gamedev #gametheory #zenkaikon
How often do you describe a new game as "X game crossed with Y game?" This is Dominion crossed with Chess. This is Quake crossed with Dance Dance Revolution. This is a Civilization-style game but with puzzle elements. If games are collections of mechanics, and genres are also essentially collections of mechanics, then we can dig deep into how games are described to find the deepest and most core patterns of game. In the end it's all just entertainment software!
Extract the #gamemechanics from the #games as an exercise in #gamedesign
Full lecture:
youtu.be/26HyHFTtPpM
From "Every Game is the Same Game " presented at Zenkaikon 2025 by Rym DeCoster, producer of the GeekNights podcast.
#gamedesign #gamedev #gametheory #zenkaikon
How often do you describe a new game as "X game crossed with Y game?" This is Dominion crossed with Chess. This is Quake crossed with Dance Dance Revolution. This is a Civilization-style game but with puzzle elements. If games are collections of mechanics, and genres are also essentially collections of mechanics, then we can dig deep into how games are described to find the deepest and most core patterns of game. In the end it's all just entertainment software!





![Deltarune and Asteroid City are the same
If you played #deltarune or #undertale, they are about the same thing as #asteroidcity
Presented at Super #magfest 2026 on Saturday, exploring #modernity and metacontextualism in videogames and game design.
What’s after Post-Modernism? Perhaps “Metacontextualism.” This is a movement of art and design, unique in and catalyzed by the existence of videogames. Remember that videogames are a literally new form of art. They were invented in the lifespan of people who are attending MAGFest today.
Panelists: Rym DeCoster [Producer of GeekNights, frontrowcrew.com] Emily Compton [Art Director, 3D Artist]
Full lecture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12xey7NqSFg Deltarune and Asteroid City are the same](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/W4HVwLtTbXw/mqdefault.jpg)

![Disco Elysium and Night in the Woods explore a world that could be better
Could #discoelysium and #nightinthewoods show us a better world, in the metacontext of their worlds?
Presented at Super #magfest 2026 on Saturday, exploring #modernity and metacontextualism in videogames and game design.
What’s after Post-Modernism? Perhaps “Metacontextualism.” This is a movement of art and design, unique in and catalyzed by the existence of videogames. Remember that videogames are a literally new form of art. They were invented in the lifespan of people who are attending MAGFest today.
Panelists: Rym DeCoster [Producer of GeekNights, frontrowcrew.com] Emily Compton [Art Director, 3D Artist]
Full lecture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12xey7NqSFg Disco Elysium and Night in the Woods explore a world that could be better](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WmUoWpxQ5ug/mqdefault.jpg)


