Tana Tanoi, technical designer at Dinosaur Polo Club, joins Dirk to discuss designing Mini Motorways and Mini Metro, as well as what goes into designing games that simulate the real world. Topics include the power of simulation, the difficulties in making a realistic yet entertaining city builder, differences in scale between mobile and desktop games, and knowing when a prototype has hit the mark.

Episode Outline

1:00 Introduction to Tana and Dinosaur Polo Club

2:10 Introduction to the city builder genre

5:00 Tana’s history as a game design hobbyist  

7:40 Macro vs. Micro Focus, and Complex “People Issue”   

15:00 Talking to Experts vs. Winging It

17:30 What gets lost in smaller mobile games?  

19:30 Process of making Mini Motorways

27:50 Pros and Cons of Solo vs. Group Work

34:10 Other Interests in design besides city builders  

40:30 How do you know when you’ve hit the mark? 

45:10 Was there anything players didn’t like and how did you solve it?

52:36 Advice for Listeners