fidelity — Experience Points Podcast

Episode 152 Richard Durham on Learning through Engaging Gameplay

In this episode of Experience Points, Dave Eng speaks with Richard Durham, a prolific game designer, creative director, and educator at Wondertree Studios. Richard shares insights from designing over 30 games across mediums—from street festivals and museum activations to tabletop and secret events—driven by curiosity and a focus on player experience. He explains his “quick, dirty, backwards” design approach, using laddering questions to uncover core values and align game goals with meaningful outcomes. They explore intentional incoherence, balancing fidelity and abstraction, and how purposeful design choices spark discussion and deeper engagement. Richard emphasizes debriefing as essential for transforming gameplay into lasting learning.

Richard Durham, Gameplay, Incoherence, PerspectiveDave EngNovember 30, 2025richard durham, gameplay, fidelity, values, debriefing, incoherence, perspectiveComment

Episode 62 What is a Simulation?

On today’s episode we’ll answer the question: “What is a Simulation?” Simulations and games are mediums that players, designers, academics, and professionals often talk about. Some simulations are games like The Sims and Sim City. Whereas other simulations are more serious. Simulations find their way into our daily lives in several ways. But, we can also use them for teaching, training, learning, and development.

simulationsDave EngJune 26, 2022simulations, fidelity, abstraction, teaching, learningComment

Episode 39 Abstraction in Games

On today’s episode we’ll cover abstraction in games. Abstraction is not something that we often think about deeply when we play games. Most of us play games for fun. That’s what most games are for. But abstraction is the heart of what makes games… games.