Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
You can always make a game exciting with real stakes. But this can also be dangerous.
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Full lecture (with slides):
youtu.be/DUKpsWFUy1U
Designing Games for Spectators
Presented at Super MAGFest 2026 by Rym and Scott, hosts of the GeekNights podcast.
Most game design discussion focuses on the players. But some of the most popular games on Earth are watched by more people than will ever play them. From sports to live streams, spectators are a fascinating and important aspect of game design. Think about it. Is a game show really a fair competition? Does a game show need to be fun for the players? How different do games look when they’re designed primarily for players versus for spectators? Can you design for both?
#gamedesign #couchgaming #esports
You can always make a game exciting with real stakes. But this can also be dangerous.
--
Full lecture (with slides):
youtu.be/DUKpsWFUy1U
Designing Games for Spectators
Presented at Super MAGFest 2026 by Rym and Scott, hosts of the GeekNights podcast.
Most game design discussion focuses on the players. But some of the most popular games on Earth are watched by more people than will ever play them. From sports to live streams, spectators are a fascinating and important aspect of game design. Think about it. Is a game show really a fair competition? Does a game show need to be fun for the players? How different do games look when they’re designed primarily for players versus for spectators? Can you design for both?
#gamedesign #couchgaming #esports
![The Narrator in “Slay the Princess”
Slay the Princess has a uniquely unreliable narrator.
Presented at Super #magfest 2026 on Saturday, exploring #modernity and #metacontextualism in #videogames and #gamedesign.
Games can be viewed through the lens of the environment in which they were made. The same as film, literature, and art in general. We commonly see parallel artistic and philosophical movements with the same name and many shared ideas. E.g., Classicism, Modernism, Post-Modernism, and… what?
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 The Narrator in “Slay the Princess”](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tY6GqdACkOw/mqdefault.jpg)
![Game Mechanics are art
Roger Ebert was dead wrong about it. Games are art.
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 Game Mechanics are art](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tbPnBsuRu-g/mqdefault.jpg)








