Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
#roguelike games have an interesting history
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!
#roguelike games have an interesting history
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!


![The Princess in Slay the Princess is a reflection of YOU
The Princess in Slay the Princess is a reflection of you, the player.
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 Princess in Slay the Princess is a reflection of YOU](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/s-GXncMP_5g/mqdefault.jpg)
![The reflexivity of Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is a game about context, metacontext, and reflexivity.
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 reflexivity of Disco Elysium](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sgYKni6hCx4/mqdefault.jpg)



![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)

