Probably Designed

What’s This Podcast
About?

A podcast about designing for randomness, and designers who use, abuse, or manage chance and variance in their work. The podcast explores systems and design that are built around chance. I'm Harry Dean Hudson, a lifelong math, games, and systems nerd. Professionally, I've mostly worked in software and music technology, including: running engineering for the creators teams at Soundcloud, heading product delivery at Ableton, and almost 10 years leading technology and doing A&R at Sub Pop records. I have a masters degree in Communication and Digital Media from the University of Washington, where I focused on games as communications media and the interaction of digital media and intellectual property. While the podcast isn't exclusively about games, game design spends a lot of time in this space. I hope to talk to game designers about a few topics specifically: Card games, dice games, and board games. What feels good?When, why, and how digital games use the metaphors of cards and diceWhen do you cheat a random check? Or, "the DM is fudging die rolls again..."When real randomness conflicts with player expectationsBalancing variance in deck buildersVariance vs. player control Beyond games, conversations with other kinds of designers: composers and instrument designers who use random elements, speed and no-hit runners (who design routes to minimize variance), various engineers, process designers (who have to manage the random behavior of humans), etc.

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Playful Work 2025