#29 - Matthew Dunstan - Relationships: A Collabstraction Prequel

Prolific designer Matthew Dunstan joins the show in a unique opportunity to link to the last episode as well as Intertextual Cardboard Experience’s famous Collabstraction Trilogy. There are many unique topics discussed here, and, to me, the ethos of most everything we talked about boiled down to the idea of community and the relationships Matthew has with others in the gaming space. Unsurprisingly, this episode is a real treat.

Last episode, I was fortunate enough to chat with Rory Muldoon, Matthew’s partner at Postmark Games. If you haven’t, check out that episode. Additionally, keep refreshing your browser until 52 Realms: Adventures is available on the Postmark site (some time in January). Matthew on Bluesky

Intro and Matthew’s Version (0:00) Matthew talks about a special person in his life that fostered an early love for gaming. The story of the “Cambridge Cabal” or Cambridge design groups had been discussed a few times on the show. Hearing a little bit more from another perspective, keeps adding to that fun. Some of the Collabstraction staples make it into here, and Matthew discusses some of the decision making behind whether a game will be a solo design or co-design.

A Little Voyage to Postmark (23:55) This section introduces the aforementioned episode with Rory. In this portion, I do correctly say that I’m going to bring up portions of the conversation with Rory where he asked (or just mentioned) that I ask or bring up certain things to Matthew. In later parts, I think I accidentally kind of clump that verbiage into saying that Rory asked me to ask you this. Anyway, in this introductory part, I tell Matthew to bring back his designer live streams (a request from Rory [and me and others!]).

Continued Adventures (33:17) This portion dives into some design decisions made for 52 Realms: Adventures, the idea of community, and how the design relationship between Rory and Matthew works so well. Matthew also reflects on some other possibilities for games designed specifically for print and play.

Wrap-up Questions (1:00:36) A couple of texts on Matthew’s mind and what to look out for from him next!

----------------------------------------------------------

***Postcard image courtesy of Schmidsi via Pixabay

***Other images from Postmark's site

----------------------------------------------------------

IF YOU FILLED OUT THE "SOLOWEEN SURVEY," THANK YOU! Each person, including the winner (of course), will receive an email response in the next ten days.

Contact, follow, and support information:

If you like this show, liking it on whatever platform you listen to and writing a review would mean so much! Furthermore, it's as independent as it gets, so any financial support would help with the subscriptions that make this project go smoothly. That can be done here: Buy Me a Coffee

[e-mail]

Bluesky

Instagram

TikTok