Leisure

Designer Notes

by Idle Thumbs

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Where it charts

Today’s combined position on our country charts.

Canada · Leisure

#137

Pulse 10

Ranking history

History builds daily. We started tracking this show on the Leisure chart recently, so the trend line appears after a second day of data.

About the show

Why do we make games? Every designer has a different and very personal answer to that question. Soren Johnson, founder of Mohawk Games, sits down with noted designers to find out by examining their careers as a whole.

Latest episodes

Designer Notes 98: Xalavier Nelson - Part 1

October 7, 2026 · 1 hr 57 min

In this episode, Soren interviews Xalavier Nelson, founder of Strange Scaffold and best known for his work on El Paso Elsewhere, Clickolding, and An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs. They discuss why he drew review screenshots…
Designer Notes 97: My Perfect Console - Soren Johnson

September 2, 2026 · 1 hr 37 min

Designer Notes is hosting a special guest episode from Simon Parkin’s excellent podcast My Perfect Console, in which he interviews Soren Johnson about his career and his favorite games. In each episode, Simon asks the guest to choose five…
Designer Notes 96: Owen Mahoney

July 6, 2026 · 1 hr 29 min

In this episode, Soren interviews Owen Mahoney, who served first as the CFO and then as the CEO of Nexon. They discuss what the transition to free-to-play meant for game design, how to make sure your company has the right type of…
Designer Notes 95: Seth Sivak

June 6, 2026 · 2 hr 59 min

In this episode, Soren interviews Seth Sivak, best known as the co-founder and CEO of Proletariat, makers of World Zombination and Spellbreak. They discuss how he invited hover doobers, the many times Proletariat almost went out of…
Designer Notes 94: Charles Cecil - Part 2

May 4, 2026 · 3 hr 34 min

In this episode, Soren interviews veteran game developer Charles Cecil, co-founder of Revolution Software and best known for his work on Beneath a Steel Sky and the Broken Sword series. They discuss why he made a game about the Knights…
Designer Notes 93: Charles Cecil - Part 1

April 20, 2026 · 1 hr 57 min

In this episode, Soren interviews veteran game developer Charles Cecil, co-founder of Revolution Software and best known for his work on Beneath a Steel Sky and the Broken Sword series. They discuss various dodgy tax avoidance schemes…
Designer Notes 92: Paul Kilduff-Taylor

December 26, 2025 · 3 hr 9 min

In this episode, Soren interviews Paul Kilduff-Taylor, best known for his work on Frozen Cortex and the Frozen Synapse series. They discuss whether a sword-fighting game should be controlled with a mouse, why Frozen Synapse uses…
Designer Notes 91: Tomislav Uzelac

November 18, 2025 · 2 hr 28 min

In this episode, Soren interviews Tomislav Uzelac, best known for his work on the Unity of Command series. They discuss how he taped his first games from a radio station, building the MP3 encoder for Winamp, and whether there is a solution…