#106 - Frank Lantz

Y Combinator

Frank Lantz is a game designer and Director of the NYU Game Center. He cofounded Area/Code Games and most recently released a game called Universal Paperclips in which you’re an AI that makes paperclips.
Frank’s on Twitter @flantz and his site is franklantz.net.
The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.
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Topics

00:27 - "Games are the aesthetic form of thinking and doing"
6:57 - VR skepticism
9:42 - Universal Paperclips
14:27 - Explaining games to non-gamers
20:12 - Competitive gaming
22:57 - Building life lessons into games
31:42 - Teaching game design
36:17 - Inspiration, hard work, and taste
39:17 - Darker sides of gaming culture
43:07 - The indie game market
45:27 - Unexpected trends in gaming
49:17 - Benedict Fritz asks - Frank you seem much more interested in chess, go, poker, and other games with a long history than most game designers. Where do you think this comes from?
52:12 - Esports
55:37 - Inventing sports
57:27 - Pokemon Go
1:00:32 - Difficulty in predicting successes in entertainment
1:03:17 - Frank's game recommendations
1:05:47 - @fakebalenciaga asks - Why Tonto?