In this design episode, I talk to John Stavropoulos and Jim Sullivan of the Imagination Sweatshop (ISS) and NerdNYC about their new playstormed gamein-a-jiffy for JiffyCon Greenfield June 09, MonkeyDome. MonkeyDome was a vast collaboration including Jim, John, Emily Care Boss (of Black and Green Games), Jason Keeley, Epidiah Ravachol, and Terry Romero. It's a game where you see-saw between incredibly grim and really wacky moments in a post-apocalyptic nightmare, and it's available for free on the ISS website.

WARNING: The Independent Insurgency is an "explicit" podcast.

This episode is 56.2 MB big and 1:01:20 long.

00:59: I interviewed Eppy in the last episode about playstorming and MonkeyDome came up
01:17: What's the game about?
02:46: The game was designed in (almost less than) a week!
08:11: The difference between funny and zany.
10:22: Playable as an ongoing game?
12:06: The mechanics
19:52: What it means to learn a lesson
21:02: Endgame
25:14: The GameBlaster's Tools: The Fuel and the Fire
26:03: World creation and what the characters do in the game
29:02: Other games you came up with?
30:20: Jim mentions a game idea that's a lot like Jason Morningstar's Fiasco (which he talked about on Canon Puncture #66)
31:20: Who did you steal from?
32:07: John is always inspired by Eppy's game Dread
34:00: What had to be dropped that you liked?
34:44: The hardest thing to fix
35:24: Playtesting
36:43: Trial and Terror is the prior game-in-a-Jiffy for JiffyCon game
38:13: Division of labor and editing
43:06: The ISS used a site called A.nnotate which lets you upload a fully-laid-out document that others browse through and comment on
44:06: What the art (by Scott LeMien and John) is used for
47:11: Luke Crane loves John's flow chart
48:05: Why this form factor?
48:41: Marketing
50:21: Branding and credit
51:24: Defining success
53:46: Selling the game
56:58: The next JiffyCon may be paired with MaulCon

The closing song is Skins Don't Cry by The Hub City Stompers

Logo courtesy of Daniel Solis: http://danielsolis.com/