PODCAST · arts
Polytechnicast
by Rob Stenzinger
Art journal podcast by Rob Stenzinger, sharing thoughts on his various creative projects and adventures ranging from user experience design, creating comics, making video games, to interactive design.
Episodes
-
Polytechnicast - Making Solo Indie Games with guest Josh Anthony
Have you been curious about making your own video game or perhaps already jumped in? This episode of the Polytechnicast I'm joined by Josh Anthony, indie game developer who created Dice Gun Commando and Dice Tower. In our conversation we get to explore how Josh started making games, what it was...
-
Polytechnicast - Three Topics - Game Dev - Doctor Baer - and Problems With AI
Gettiing back to you from behind the microphone, I had a list of five things and manage to cover three. First is the massive game development focus that's truly been gong on longer but the last couple months hitting some big adventures. That covers telling the story of moving from Godot 3 to 4…
more -
Polytechnicast - Understanding An Artist and Indie Game Developer's Business
Album art for episode featuring a sketch of a conversion funnel for selling indie games Making Lexilotl, my latest game which is a crossword puzzle run where you get a clue and three tries to solve a puzzle and can keep going until your tries run out. I had planned on making ad supported right…
more -
Polytechnicast - Lexilotl is My New Game In Progress - Also Voiceover
It's been a busy few months and I'm glad to be back and share some updates, fun projects, and encouragement here on the Polytechnicast. Word Turtle Island is out in the world now 4 months along and I started making my next game already. It's a word puzzle crossword style game called Lexilotl....
-
Polytechnicast - Word Turtle Island 1.0 and Winning an Award at 2D Con
Word Turtle Island is now 1.0. Four years in the making and here it is. Officially released on Apple's App Store, Steam, Google Play, and Itch! I share what it's like now with it officially the full version, things I would and wouldn't recommend doing again looking back at the development path of...
-
Polytechnicast - Showing Up to Practice
An intertwined creative challenge: make a more ambitious game than I've made before, make it work as a business, and succeed in marketing it well. In this Polytechnicast I focus on the marketing part of that challenge and what I've learned these past few months publishing a video every single…
more -
Polytechnicast - Daily Short Video Creative Challenge Plus Word Turtle Island Progress
Not sure when exactly the marketing push should have started with Word Turtle Island but I do see it needs to be happening now. In this epsisode of the Polytechnicast I'm exploring the creative challenge I started to do daily video posts, while also doing more marketing, while also getting Word...
-
Polytechnicast - Researching Your Game Enough to Learn Enough
Two main topics this episode. First it's what I've been learning so far with making small videos while exploring topics like teaching interactive design, show and tell about Word Turtle Island, and even video blogging inspired by the old Art Soundoff creative challenge. Second it's about reaching…
more -
Polytechnicast - Experiments Progress aka Metaphorical Plate Spinning
Last episode of the Polytechnicast I shared some projects I'd begun and was about do dive into. These are the spinning plates driving this episode. Did any fall? Are there more plates spinning? Related Links and Resources Fourthwall - Rob Stenzinger's Workshops + Creative Designs + Merch Store…
more -
Polytechnicast - Teaching Interactive Design and Word Turtle Island Arcade Machine
Sharing some work in progress and what led me to this point - getting back into teaching interactive design and how I've begun making a physical arcade machine for my game Word Turtle Island. In a nutshell I have a few months of ambitious work and this is my planning and thinking about it all....
-
Polytechnicast - How to work within the gaming industry - a question via my blog
A question from someone who knows someone who met me at 2D Con. Every person's path is their own but it's also fun to learn how olther folks got to where they are. Related Links and Resources Word Turtle Island on Google Play Word Turtle Island on Steam Word Turtle Island on Itch (free demo...
-
Polytechnicast Special - Growing Your Creative Business with Jerzy Drozd
Earlier this summer I visited Columbus Ohio to visit my friends Anne and Jerzy Drozd. Part of the plan for our visit was to make some creative experiments together, one of them is this very recording with Jerzy. For the first time I can think of both he and I are launching products at the same...
-
Polytechnicast - Word Turtle Island - Available Friday June 21
A new ask me anything form. Some example topics to ask me about like why I made a game for 2.5 years without publishing a whole lot about it publicly. And most important - it's official that Word Turtle Island is going to be available publicly as an early access game on Steam and Google Play June...
-
Polytechnicast - Word Turtle Island Coming Soon to Early Access
Wort and Portia from Word Turtle Island About 2.5 years. That's how long I've been working on Word Turtle Island to get it ready to publish as an early access game. It's about the right time to be getting the word out and to get myself into practice with showing up social. Practicing being more...
-
Polytechnicast - A Place to Practice Spelling
This is Spell, the magical cat who hosts a save place to practice spelling words. In the middle of working on my next big game Word Turtle Island, where you use words as weapons to battle creatures taking away the books of power, the idea for Spell's Spelling came to me. In this episode of the...
-
Polytechnicast - Minimum Viable and Minimum Lovable Product Strategy Question
In the overlapping circles of feasible, viable, desirable, what is the emphasis and culture practiced? I received a question via my Mastodon account about minimum lovable product vs minimum viable product. @[email protected]: "So @robstenzinger I was just reading about “minimum Lovable…
more -
Polytechnicast - Video Game Delay Thoughts About Word Turtle Island
W-O-R-D up. Reflecting on game development and how it feels affirming in a way that other video game projects meet delays. I thought I'd have Word Turtle Island ready for first or even early access by now yet I also feel good about how it's coming along. Related Links and Resources Why are so…
more -
Polytechnicast - Being Your Own Bad Boss and Products in Progress
Prototype cards for my creative warm up cards game Doodle Creatures Have Needs. An update about Word Turtle Island and a few other projects I tried to finish this month. Related Links and Resources More posts and extras like coaching sessions at my Buy Me a Coffee page (coaching sessions are all...
-
Polytechnicast - One Big Project and a New Self Discovery
In this episode I ask why I've posted so few things in 2022. It's a bit about what I'm currently working on and it's also something I've been trying to figure out for years. Related Links and Resources More posts and extras like coaching sessions at my Buy Me a Coffee page Interactive Storyteller...
-
Polytechnicast - Building on the UX and Systems Work that Came Before
Whether the work that you take on is building on skillful work in the past or not, things got to the way they are for some reason. Now you're here. In this journal I share reasons to find others past work as useful research and signals to help instead of joining a narrative that it has little to…
more -
Polytechnicast - Memory of organizations - repeating other people's stories
Have you been part of an organization that seems to repeat projects that don't learn much from one another? It's a thing I've wondered: why do companies forget? This episode of the Polytechnicast I journal about group memory and wonder if it would be helpful to remember what different teams have...
-
Polytechnicast - Making your own art journal prompts #artsoundoff
Any path that brings you to journaling about your art, here I share some context around planning what you'd want to get out of your journaling plus choosing and creating prompts that are a good fit for what you want. Related Links and Resources Art Soundoff Customizing Your Next Creative…
more -
Polytechnicast - Improving Communication Skills as a Product Engineer
Something I'm grateful for is to be on a learning adventure together with folks I've worked with. At times I get questions from folks who listen to the show and folks I've been on teams with in the past. I'm going to include all this in a category of listener questions and make a few...
-
Polytechnicast - Emotional Effort of Design
The emotional work of discovering, including, representing, and collaborating in design is what I explore in this think aloud journal. This recording didn't start as a Polytechnicast or even an exploration about UX Mindset but that's where I found myself going. Since the beginning of 2021 I've…
more -
Polytechnicast - UX Mindset - Creative Roadblocks Then a Book Outline #artsoundoff
Here I explore some of the reasonable and unreasonable goals I had for this month of journaling and developing the UX Mindset series. Practicing this kind of thing helps you meet your own creative process quirks and explore ways to change and work around those quirks. I recorded so many more…
more -
Polytechnicast - UX Mindset - Active Learning is Certain-enough Instead of Overconfident #artsoundoff
Actively learning is a lot like using applied research. It's a very useful place to work from, you can be confident enough to proceed making things yet not too confident to prevent learning as you go. We setup teams and organizations to sink or swim based on too much certainty. We're certain…
more -
Polytechnicast - UX Mindset - Misunderstanding and Misuse of UX's Power #artsoundoff
Where does UX go wrong? Whether a system is broken at the surface or takes deeper understanding to see how it's not serving the health of its audience along with it's other constituencies: UX can be used to help fix or to make things worse. How can that be? Organizations have a lot to do to just...
-
Polytechnicast - UX Mindset - Mental Model You're Working Toward #artsoundoff
It's useful to have even a rough concept of what you're working toward, things you know are important or likely to encounter, or at least are worth checking to see if they'd be helpful. For example, a mental model like a creative progression going from rough concept to refined to complete. You…
more -
Polytechnicast - UX Mindset - Groups of People Interconnected #artsoundoff
Any product we make connects a variety of groups of people. UX Constituencies are groups of people I find relate to most any project/product/system/endeavor: your audience, your team, your organization, the world, and you. Here I explore why considering each of those groups helps you make more...
-
Polytechnicast - UX Mindset - Listening to be present, lead, consult, coach, or journal #artsoundoff
Listening is the most powerful thing you can do to understand. Here I share a few ways of listening that work individually or combined to meet the needs of you and your team in the moment. And the UX Mindset series continues! Related Links and Resources Introduction to the UX Mindset Series UX...
-
Polytechnicast - UX Mindset Tool - Lists to Include Others and More #artsoundoff
Being open to including others is a big start to making something more meaningful. List making is one of the best tools you can use no matter if you identify as a ux designer or not. This episode continues the UX Mindset series! Related Links and Resources Introduction to the UX Mindset Series UX...
-
Polytechnicast - UX Mindset for Artists
Audiences learn about your work, then what's it like for them to learn more, to support your work. If you offer a variety of products how do they find the one they need in this moment? UX Mindset for artists has two distinct and useful concerns: Making your work findable, purchasable, useful, and...
-
Polytechnicast - UX Mindset for Designers
Advocate for design in order to advocate for and include learning about our audiences. We designers practice many useful skills to help us and those we work with to make inclusive decisions that shape products and systems. Something that can get overlooked along the way: helping others see the...
-
Polytechnicast - UX Mindset for Software Engineering
As someone who's worked both as a software engineer and ux designer I want to share the value adding human centered design tools for making engineering decisions. This episode continues the UX Mindset series! Related Links and Resources Introduction to the UX Mindset Series UX Mindset for…
more -
Polytechnicast - UX Mindset for Business
Continuing the UX Mindset series, I share why I think it's so useful for anyone running, planning, or leading a business to see user experience design and human centered design tools as so worthwhile to include in decision making. Related Links and Resources Introduction to the UX Mindset Series...
-
Polytechnicast - UX Mindset
Something I've been considerering for a number of years: how can I help spreat the tools of ux design far and wide. Human centered design + understanding systems and situations where the things we make connect with the audiences we serve are useful mechanisms for so many. Here I talk about how I...
-
Polytechnicast - Creative Challenge Worksheet
Since I'm taking part in a creative challenge called Art Soundoff (http://artsoundoff.com), I decided to use the workbook from my Customizing Your Next Creative Challenge workshop. Customizing Your Next Creative Challenge is available on Gumroad and Skillshare. Related Links and Resources...
-
Polytechnicast - 4 Weeks Instead of 4 Days to Refine the Game Guitar Fretter
Guitar Fretter is 10 years old and I still have more ideas to add and refine. Some of those ideas I'm putting into a new game, some I'm putting into the classic version of Guitar Fretter. Recently I thought I'd make a quick art update and I expected to be ready to publish in about 4 days. Did...
-
Polytechnicast - Minimum Viable Product as Jargon for Learning
In this Polytechnicast I consider how I've found MVP useful. Also how MVP and any highly celebrated business and design concept will go through a cycle where the name for the concept draws more and more negative takes. And I share the news that I'm launching a Patreon of news and special episodes...
-
Polytechnicast - Being There When a Team is Starting Their Design Journey - Additional Thoughts About the Article
I wrote this article called Being There When a Team is Starting Their First Design Journey, my first Medium article. So many organizations in the recent 10+ years have asked: what if we explore if we should build something for our audience instead of just can we build something. They may not have...
-
Polytechnicast - Something Ate My Goal Notes
Today I annotated 11 double sided physical pages of goals and what happened next is I left them at a bagel place. Related Links and Resources Online store for Rob Stenzinger: workshops ebooks for ux design, creative coding, creative challenges, goals, and storytelling For Skillshare subscribers…
more -
Polytechnicast - Rapid Visual Storytelling for Designers
As a guest instructor I recently taught a class about making use of visual storytelling to serve the product design process in a variety of ways - especially through sketching the stories and visuals as quick doodles. Related Links and Resources Guitar Fretter - a game that makes an arcade memory...
-
Polytechnicast - Outlets to Decompress
As part of the Art Soundoff creative challenge, I explore this journal prompt "Outlets". I consider how guitar, drawing, and playing games appeal to me in some contexts as a way to wind down or decompress. Related Links and Resources Guitar Fretter - a game that makes an arcade memory match out…
more -
Polytechnicast - Three Things About My Art
As part of the Art Soundoff creative challenge, I explore this journal prompt "3 things about your art". Fantasy art, comics storytelling is something I found later than sooner, and sketching are all building blocks for my work. Related Links and Resources [Guitar Fretter - a game that makes an...
-
Polytechnicast - UX Mentoring Revisited and Guest Teaching Design
Sharing your time to listen, learn, and help connect others to the community you've been part of is a worthwhile endeavor. In this episode of the Polytechnicast I reflect on some recent volunteering I'm doing to support those studying systemic minded human centered design. Related Links and...
-
Polytechnicast - Perfectionism in Making Video Games, Comics, and UX
Considering how I related to perfectionism in my creative projects making video games about 15 years ago. This influenced things I explored in UX design and in making comics and carry with me to this day. Related Links and Resources Guitar Fretter - a game that makes an arcade memory match out of...
-
Polytechnicast - UX Portfolios as a Design Problem (Practicing UX for All)
What's sharable, useable, and useful to put in your portfolio? Your UX portfolio is an interesting challenge. Doing the work that leads to a credible conceptual foundation for a product or service doesn't always come with sharable artifacts to curate as a gallery in a portfolio. In any case,...
-
Polytechnicast - 3 Ideas About Getting Useful Data from Conversations (Practicing UX for All)
Thinking about some things I've found helpful for building a useful shared understanding through conversations with your audience, your organization, and your team. Related Links and Resources Mental Models - Rosenfeld Media Drawing User Journey Maps to Design User Experiences, Gather Ideas, and...
-
Polytechnicast - UX vs Creative Voice (Practicing UX for All)
Thinking about creativity, the label of being a creative, and the relationship between service and expression as a designer. Related Links and Resources LIA Cast 294 - UX, Obviously — Lean Into Art Drawing User Journey Maps to Design User Experiences, Gather Ideas, and Collaborate - on SALE…
more -
Polytechnicast - How is Art Soundoff 2019 Going So Far
Even though there's a few more days to go in this year's Art Soundoff creative challenge, I'm looking at my experience of this year's challenge asking what went well and what could be better. Related Links and Resources Drawing User Journey Maps to Design User Experiences, Gather Ideas, and...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Polytechnicast have?
Polytechnicast currently has 100 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Polytechnicast about?
Art journal podcast by Rob Stenzinger, sharing thoughts on his various creative projects and adventures ranging from user experience design, creating comics, making video games, to interactive design.
How often does Polytechnicast release new episodes?
Polytechnicast has 100 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Polytechnicast?
You can listen to Polytechnicast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Polytechnicast?
Polytechnicast is created and hosted by Rob Stenzinger.
URL copied to clipboard!