62: Creating Worlds, Game Design & Education w/ Seth Coster

What this episode covers

In this podcast, we are joined by Seth Coster, the CEO and game programmer at Butterscotch Shenanigans, who have seen incredibly success on their video and mobile games. Best known for titles Crashlands and Levelhead, Butterscotch Shenanigans was founded by three brothers with no explicit academic background in video game creation. Seth studied to become a Certified Financial Analyst, started a law graduate program, but soon realized he enjoyed the games he created in his free time much more. Brothers Sam, Seth, and Adam Coster also host their own podcast, Coffee with Butterscotch. The reason we invited Seth was because we see an inherent connection between video game design and education, as well as his own story connecting to a lot of our work at the Human Restoration Project. (And it was awesome to have a connection through Nick, who he went to college with.) I actually introduce the concept of learning by doing by showcasing a clip from Indie Game: The Movie, where developers of Super Meat Boy explain that teaching a player to run and jump through a pop up that shows them how to do it, is not nearly as effective as just presenting a large gap and having the player keep trying until they ultimately succeed (see the show notes!) Enjoy this array of topics from game design to grading to chaotic science experiments. GUESTS Seth Coster, the CEO and game programmer at Butterscotch Shenanigans, who have seen incredibly success on their video and mobile games Crashlands and Levelhead. Nick Covington, Creative Director of Human Restoration Project, advocate of equitable gradeless learning and realignment of assessment. RESOURCES * Indie Game: The Movie Super Meat Boy Clip [https://vimeo.com/170531400] * Coffee with Butterscotch (Podcast) [https://www.bscotch.net/podcast/] * GDC: Design by Chaos [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtDPNoVGZIw] * Butterscotch Shenanigans [https://www.bscotch.net/] * Medium (Chris McNutt): Game Design, Classroom Design, and the Faux Use of Gamification [https://medium.com/human-restoration-project/game-design-classroom-design-and-the-faux-use-of-gamification-75b51491de50] FURTHER LISTENING * S3: E2: It All Orbits Purpose feat. Kendall Cotton Bronk, John Cagle, Skylar Primm, and Elizabeth Martin [https://www.humanrestorationproject.org/things-fall-apart/orbitingpurpose] * S2 Highlight: Adopting Progressive Ed. w/ Alfie Kohn [https://www.humanrestorationproject.org/things-fall-apart/2018/5/5/s2-e4-adopting-progressive-ed-w-alfie-kohn]