iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 29/09/2026

Ideaplatz is thrilled to announce that our first podcast, #EnduringPlay: A #GameDev Podcast, has been named a finalist in two categories at the @signalawards.bsky.social: Gaming & Actual Play and Solopreneur Podcast. Listener's choice voting is open and we'd love your vote! Links in thread.

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 05/05/2026

Thank you so much for the feedback! This is exactly why we wanted to put in the work on #EnduringPlay beyond that first season - with all of the focus on layoffs it has been easy to miss the seeds of greatness out there. Keep doing the good #gamedev work and may your players find you!

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 28/04/2026

Have you ever wished your production tools and process were more like the games you make? Lead gameplay engineer turned lead producer Cory Tsang is here to tell you that configuring JIRA can be like… engineering Sims objects. Listen to #EnduringPlay S2 E9: sites.libsyn.com/586820/s2-e9... #gamedev

sites.libsyn.com

Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast: S2 E9: Better Production Techniques, inspired by The Sims featuring Cory Tsang

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 28/04/2026

Ideaplatz founder Cheryl Platz @funnygodmother.bsky.social is honored to join the Entertainment Lions for Gaming jury for the 2026 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity (June 2026 in Cannes, France). Check out her juror bio here: www.canneslions.com/awards/jury/... #gamedev #videogames

canneslions.com

Cheryl Platz | Entertainment Lions for Gaming Jury

Cheryl Platz is a world-renowned designer, creative director, teacher, and author whose work on emerging technologies has reached over one billion customers

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 27/04/2026

There's still time to catch up on S2 E8 of #EnduringPlay before Tuesday's next drop - don't miss this fascinating deep exploration of cultural technical game design, culturalization, and so much more with @timstatis.blacksky.app . #gamedev #gamedesign #localization sites.libsyn.com/586820/s2-e8...

Enduring Play: A Game Dev Podcast Season 2 Episode 8, Hosted by Cheryl Platz. Timothy Staton-Davis: "The hard thing now for all creatives is that we have to be our own advocates, even more than what we've had to do in the past. Knowing what we do, knowing the value in what we bring, and making sure other people understand it, too. And it takes time to figure that out, and it also takes a skill to chip away at that and how to present that and how to explain it to other people, and we have to do it in a way that's also online these days as well. As creatives, it feels like it's almost a requirement now that we have to be attentive to that piece of the puzzle. That feels valuable to keep in mind: be an advocate for yourself as much as you can, and try to find other people to do that stuff with in that process, who you can talk to, you can practice with and excel in that way."

Enduring Play: A Game Dev Podcast Season 2 Episode 8, Hosted by Cheryl Platz. Timothy Staton-Davis: "I'm a programmer by trade. Eventually I started focusing more on game design as a whole, and the whole technical design of creating tools, creating prototypes, helping to enable the development process more easily. How do I support making things in the games - and be a designer who can build stuff as well as create ideas, which is highly valuable? And then as I began to focus more on storytelling. I started bridging the aspect of my culture, other people's cultures, and how to interpret and integrate different backgrounds and different experiences into the game experience as a whole. Finding ways to bring the lore, the characters into the actual gameplay moments. And make that kind of feel real, and connected to those characters and the world that it’s built on."

Enduring Play: A Game Dev Podcast Season 2 Episode 8, Hosted by Cheryl Platz. Timothy Staton-Davis: "At some point someone mentioned this feels like Get Out. Because I think Jordan Peele, as an example, has threaded that needle really well with his movies of presenting things that are very personal to certain groups of people that maybe everyone doesn't notice or realize, but doing it in a way that's entertaining, scary, but also makes you be in that character's experience. And so by putting yourself in that experience, which is a very unique thing in games especially: you have to choose actions to take, and think about why they take those actions. That process hopefully enables that kind of learning just by doing it. That's the part that's fun and also challenging at the same time."

Enduring Play: A Game Dev Podcast Season 2 Episode 8, Hosted by Cheryl Platz. Timothy Staton-Davis: "When you're trying to dig into detail on a world - this is fictional and non fictional worlds and backgrounds - you may not find all the information just on a normal search just checking one of the AI logs: "Search this for me. And pull this up?" You'll get some stuff. But it's just going to be very surface level. You're not going to capture a lot of that more detail of the people who are actually immersed in this world. It's going to be very caricatured. And so it does require another level of digging, or just like talking with the right people, or getting the right books or the right reference material to properly represent what you're building. And that takes time, and it takes some effort."

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 22/04/2026

Ideaplatz founder and creative director Cheryl Platz has been named a Hungama Game Changer for 2026 in recognition of her groundbreaking work in the #videogame industry pushing the craft of #gamedev forward for all. Read more at the official press release: mediabrief.com/hungama-digi...

mediabrief.com

Hungama Digital Media Unveils Game Changers 2026 Winners

Hungama Digital Media announces the 50 winners of Hungama Game Changers 2026, celebrating women across music, video, and gaming industries.

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 14/04/2026

ok, looks like we mostly got it fixed? there are a couple episodes throwing errors but they manually verified our account so most episodes should be coming into the system soon. Next episode drops in a few hours! \

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 07/04/2026

Enduring Play Season 2 Ep 6 is out now with Amy White, Director of People at Fusebox Games - whose work has helped build a #gamedev culture with one voluntary departure in three years. That's no accident. How can proactive people strategy help your studio thrive? sites.libsyn.com/586820/s2-e6...

sites.libsyn.com

Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast: S2 E6: Proactive People Programs for Thriving Game Studios with Amy White

Most game studios start out chasing a game, not a plan to stick around for the long haul - and that's where things start to fall down. Right at the moment when success knocks at the door and you start...

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 23/03/2026

As we wrap up Week 3 of Season 2 of #EnduringPlay with @stevebromley.bsky.social : does your #gamedev team equate UX with making the game "too easy"? Start by aligning on what your intentional friction is so that you can easily identify what's NOT and how to fix it. sites.libsyn.com/586820/s2-e3...

Enduring Play, a game dev podcast hosted by Cheryl Platz, Season 2 Episode 3 featuring Steve Bromley: "It speaks to one of the fears that teams might have when they're doing play testing or considering playtesting or research where it's going to make the game too easy. Which is why I think it's really important when teams are considering “what does success look like for our test?” to start by understanding their creative vision doing work internally. To talk about: “what do we want this game to be? How do we want players to feel when they're playing it? How will we then recognize if it's achieving that or not?” For some games, we want this to be someone's first platformer, and so help them be able to go through core platform mechanics like teach them how to jump or teach them how to move left or right."

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 16/03/2026

Have you played And Roger yet? With aging gamer audiences, the range of stories we're telling - and the control schemes we're using to tell them - are expanding. S2E2 of the #EnduringPlay podcast with @afnarratives.blacksky.app explores generational #gamedev: from 5 year olds to 50 year olds.

Enduring Play a game dev podcast Season 2 Episode 2 hosted by Cheryl Platz, featuring Adanna Nedd: "I feel like we’re only just beginning to show the ways stories can be told in games. And Roger was a really good one I’ve played. I’m not going to spoil what happens in it, but seeing the UI change in everything as it’s telling it’s very short, but very original story – I think it’s really cool, especially with the simplicity of it. Because I think one of the interesting things is that Pokemon just turned 30, and we’re hitting a point where a lot of the gamers that were kids are adults. They’re gaming, and they’re having their own kids, and now you’re seeing a lot of older people getting into games. Are we going to see a genre where you have, “senior-likes”, where it’s like, games for seniors?" Available at enduringplay.com or all major platforms

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 10/03/2026

Ideaplatz founder Cheryl Platz is speaking at #GDC2026 today - don’t miss her GDC debut at the Spreadsheets Microtalk at 4:30 in West Hall 2005, then follow her to the GDC Bookstore for a signing of The Game Development Strategy Guide and meetup at 5:45 PM until supplies run out.

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 03/03/2026

In Enduring Play's S1 closer, meet Yesenia Cisneros - a prodigious video game producer who loves solving problems for the people around her. Learn what it's like to build sustainable #gamedev teams with people at the center - and why you shouldn't hard code strings. sites.libsyn.com/586820/s1-e1...

sites.libsyn.com

Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast: S1 E10: People, Process, and Players: Human-Centered Video Game Production

How do you navigate the incredibly high stakes of video game development (even AAA video game development) without losing the fun, and your humanity along the way? Senior Producer Yesenia Cisneros hel...

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 03/03/2026

In Episode 9 of Season 1 of Enduring Play, Tamara Knoss, a self-styled UX/UI Unicorn with vast experience across a wide number of art & #uxdesign disciplines gives an interview applicable to almost everyone in #gamedev - and with some bonus handheld gaming insights. sites.libsyn.com/586820/s1-e9...

sites.libsyn.com

Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast: S1 E9: Doing More with Less for Video Game Art and UI with Tamara Knoss

Tamara Knoss has played many roles in the video game industry: character animator, lead artist, UI artist, and now Senior Technical UI Designer - or, as she describes it, "UI/UX unicorn" thanks to the...

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 03/03/2026

Let's get caught up on Season 1 of Enduring Play as we wait for Season 2. The last 3 episodes were some of our most popular! In Ep 8, @joemag.games walks us through the art of systems design #gamedev via case studies from his time on games like Hearthstone and TFT. sites.libsyn.com/586820/s1-e8...

sites.libsyn.com

Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast: S1 E8: The Methodical Magic of Systems Design with Joe "joemag" Magdalena

In today's episode, we demystify another specialty within the game design discipline: systems design. Joe Magdalena is better known as "joemag" (lowercase j) to many of his followers, or "joemag3d" to...

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 03/03/2026

Ideaplatz is firing back up this Spring - Season 2 of Enduring Play starts tomorrow March 3, Cheryl will be recording a podcast with USC on March 4, and Cheryl is speaking and signing at GDC 2026! If you're on Instagram more than Bluesky, you can now follow us there: www.instagram.com/ideaplatz/

instagram.com

Instagram

Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 25/10/2025

In S1 Episode 7 of #EnduringPlay, a #GameDev podcast, we get to discuss the thorny topic of AI in video games with @caeriehouchins.bsky.social, Chief Technology Officer for @wickedfoxgames.com. Caerie’s take on the role AI is playing and firm stance on where it stops is an important conversation.

Caerie Houchins on Episode 7 of Enduring Play, a Game Dev podcast hosted by Cheryl Platz: “The artists are generally the ones making these AI images using their own prompts to make comps. We asked them to make something, but we’re like, “It doesn’t really matter, we’re going to throw this away.” So we’re not taking the jobs away from anybody here. And that’s super important to me. I really don’t want a lot of these new techniques to have a negative impact on the creatives that actually are the geniuses behind these games in the gaming industry.” Available on Apple, Spotify or Enduringplay.com

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 19/10/2025

Have you read The Game Development Strategy Guide yet? If so, we’d love a review - and if you post a selfie with your book and tag @ideaplatz with the hashtag #enduringplay author Cheryl Platz will mail you a signed bookplate sticker! Available at most online booksellers: amzn.to/3JgyrCh

amzn.to

The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive

Amazon.com: The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive: 9781959029717: Platz, Cheryl, Schell, Jesse: Books

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 04/10/2025

As a user experience designer, I couldn't help but think about guest takeaways and the asides were often necessary to make sure as many people as possible could enjoy the same episodes! It also helps break up longer conversation threads that some of my test listeners found hard to process.

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 25/09/2025

In Episode 5 of #EnduringPlay, a #GameDev podcast, @brightwhitney.bsky.social levels up our understanding and appreciation of #narrative design and narrative direction - and how they differ from writing - drawing from award-winning experience on #videoGames like Holovista & TTRPG Bluebeard's Bride.

Whitney Beltrán on Season 1 Episode 5 of the Enduring Play Game Dev podcast hosted by Cheryl Platz: "Game narrative is not game writing, right? To be super clear, narrative is delivered through every element of a game. For instance, when I was narrative director on a big AAA Dungeons & Dragons game a few years ago, I had not just meetings with the narrative team, but the audio team, the combat team, the cinematics team, the engineers. Really anything where anything got communicated to the players." Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or more at enduringplay.com

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 23/09/2025

In Episode 4 of #EnduringPlay, a #GameDev podcast, @gamedeventura.bsky.social from @ichigoichiegames.bsky.social gets candid about the ups & downs of running indie studios; from the dark moments to the satisfaction of sustainable hours for quality games. Listen at enduringplay.com + other platforms!

David Ventura on Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast hosted by Cheryl Platz, Season 1 Episode 4: "And yeah, we're not the biggest, most money returning studio in the world, but everybody can go home. There is no overtime really worked here. And then people leave at like 4:00, 4:30, 5:00 and they can be with their families or they can go do the things that they want to do outside of work hours. And I think we still produce pretty good content without having those situations. So it's entirely possible." Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, enduringplay.com, and other platforms

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 22/09/2025

In Episode 4 of #EnduringPlay: A #GameDev Podcast, @gamedeventura.bsky.social of @ichigoichiegames.bsky.social shares his insights on being an open-minded creative director in games adapting based on player feedback Listen now at enduringplay.com: www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-pla...

David Ventura in Episode 5 of Enduring Play, A Game Dev Podcast: "You can't just shut your eyes and put your head in the sand and say ‘No, I'm not going to make the narrative system skippable,’ or ‘I'm not going to make the game have save points because that's not the way it was in 95.’ Even if you're making a retro inspired title, you need to stay in tune with what the consumer wants today and be able to follow those best practices to make an even better title that's more accessible for everyone." Hosted by Cheryl Platz. On Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Enduringplay.com

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 22/09/2025

The slides, reference materials, and link to video from Ideaplatz founder Cheryl Platz's recent #DesignMattersTokyo 2025 keynote "Future Sight In Design" can now be found on the Game Development Strategy Guide website! #uxDesign #gameDev www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/author-chery...

Cheryl Platz, author of "Design Beyond Devices" and "The Game Development Strategy Guide," stands in front of a slide "Gates Foundation: Results and Impact" with a chart shown onstage during her keynote "Future Sight in Design" at Design Matters Tokyo 2025.

A slide from the Future Sight in Design talk, with Ideaplatz branding, with a photo of Nostradamus that reads "Why does it seem like some designers can predict the future? The Apples of the world - how can they release products time and time again and get it right? And if you can see the future, how can you convince others you're right?"

A slide from Cheryl Platz's Future Sight in Design keynote, which shows a picture of a Gates Foundation "Teams Meetings are here!" internal poster and the text "I convinced the Gates Foundation to upgrade their global teleconferencing systems and service design... which launched fully just 2 weeks before the COVID-19 closures."

The cover slide for Cheryl Platz's "Future Sight in Design" keynote talk at Design Matters Tokyo 2025.

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 12/09/2025

In Episode 3 of #EnduringPlay: A #GameDev Podcast, Executive Design Producer Amy Kalson talks about the curiosity-driven philosophy she uses with development partners to get to better outcomes in #videogame development. Listen now on your favorite platform or enduringplay.com.

Amy Kalson on Season 1 Episode 3 of Enduring Play: “Try to not come in with solutions without context. Instead of saying, I've played your latest build and it sucks and here's what you need to do to fix it,' it's much more effective if you come in and say, 'Okay, so I'm playing the build and I'm seeing the following things.
What are your thoughts around this? What is your plan for fixing this issue? I'm happy to give you some of the solutions that I thought of, but I'd love to hear more about what it is that you are planning to do.”

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 11/09/2025

The Game Development Strategy Guide has been celebrated by early reviewers and has been selected by Kirkus Reviews for a rare indie spotlight in the October 15 print magazine. Just a few more days to pre-order before September 16. Press release: www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/the-game-dev...

gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com

The Game Development Strategy Guide celebrated by early reviewers; selected by Kirkus Reviews for an indie spotlight - The Game Development Strategy Guide

New book by Cheryl Platz honored for its groundbreaking approach to demystifying and documenting modern video game development with new tools and insights in a fun and accessible way Bellevue, WA : Th...

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 26/08/2025

Want to book a stop on Cheryl’s Game Development Strategy Guide book tour for your venue, conference, school, or other event (physical or virtual)? It never hurts to inquire. Use this Google Form to share details & we’ll be in touch. Limited availability - inquire soon. forms.gle/46F1LqYf9HLs...

forms.gle

Enduring Play and Game Development Strategy Guide Contact Request

Looking to get in touch with Enduring Play podcast host and Game Development Strategy Guide author Cheryl Platz? Use this form to get started.

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 26/08/2025

Cheryl Platz launches her book tour for The Game Development Strategy Guide TOMORROW, August 27, at Seattle’s McCaw Hall at @seattleindies.bsky.social SLICE - learn about the concepts from Ch 1 in her NEW micro talk “Modern Motivators of Play”! Press release: www.einpresswire.com/article/8431...

Cheryl Platz is a smiling blond professional woman pictured next to the slogan “I am speaking at SLICE” and near the information “August 27, Seattle WA, McCaw Hall, Seattle Indies, SeattleSlice.org”

A preview of the talk Modern Motivators of Play, which shows 6 Classic Motivators (Fun, Mastery, Competition, Comfort, Immersion, Meditation) and 3 Modern Motivators (Self-Expression, Companionship, Education)

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 26/08/2025

Episode 2 of the Enduring Play #gameDev podcast is LIVE with Carlos Figueiredo, Director of Player Trust and Safety for Mojang Studios/Minecraft. Join us to learn more about prosocial gaming, the Thriving in Games Group, Community Sift, and more! www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-pla...

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 19/08/2025

"Enduring Play: A #GameDev Podcast" has been released by Ideaplatz today! Check out the official press release for details on guests, first episode, and contact information. Press kit available on the Enduring Play website. Releasing Tuesdays through October. www.einpresswire.com/article/8410...

einpresswire.com

New Game Development Podcast: 'Enduring Play' Explores Thriving Games and Studios With Industry Veterans

Level up your game development career at any stage of the game with 10 candid interviews that explore the best and the worst of modern video game development.

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 06/08/2025

Ideaplatz founder Cheryl Platz is speaking at Seattle Indies SLICE on Aug 27: See the debut of her #gamedev microtalk "Modern Motivators of Play" and learn how player behavior and motivation has changed in the last decade! Use this link for 25% off tickets: www.eventbrite.com/e/1409496093...

A promotional image for the Seattle Loves Indie Creators Expo, SLICE. A cartoon robot is seen in front of the Space Needle holding a pizza pie chart and gesturing at holograms. The text reads "A new games industry event for Indie and AA game studios in the heart of downtown Seattle. Location: Seattle Center: McCaw Hall - 305 Harrison St. Time 9:00 - 6:00 pm, after party to follow. August 27 9AM - 6PM McCaw Hall seattleslice.org

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 26/07/2025

Check out the second trailer for Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast - which highlights the discussions about the role of artificial intelligence in the video game industry that continue throughout Season 1. Episode 1 launches August 19. #gamedev #videogames www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGfw...

youtube.com

Season 1 Teaser Trailer: Exploring Artificial Intelligence in Video Games

YouTube video by Ideaplatz

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 15/07/2025

Level up your #gameDev career at any stage! Now available for pre-order - The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive by Ideaplatz founder Cheryl Platz. Launching Sept 16, get a 15% discount on preorders direct from the publisher. rosenfeldmedia.com/books/game-d...

Promotional image for "The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive" by Cheryl Platz. Save 15% when you order from Rosenfeld. Shows the book - a purple and yellow cover with a black and white pixelated checker pattern - against a purple background with a large mouse cursor near the book's title.

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 15/07/2025

There might be a policy of server data reclamation in there, but the lack of transparency makes it difficult. How can systems be engineered so that games that aren’t changing aren’t a resource drain unless there’s a potential transaction? Maybe a classic catalog with slower load times but cheaper?

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 15/07/2025

The worst consequence of successfully releasing video games that thrive is breaking the modern systems that now assume games change. Wheels of Aurelia was released over a decade ago but its design doesn’t require updates. If games like The Sims can re-release as is 25 years later, why force this?

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 15/07/2025

We're celebrating the launch of our new YouTube channel by sharing some hard to find archive talks from Cheryl's past. First up: Cheryl's celebrated "Blank Page to World Stage" mainstage talk from Interaction 18 about the creation of the Echo Look and #uxDesign ideation: youtu.be/2c-PblExdTQ?...

youtu.be

Cheryl Platz- Interaction 18: From Blank Page to World Stage

YouTube video by Ideaplatz

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Ideaplatz @ideaplatz.com · 15/07/2025

Ideaplatz has moved from our old social media home that shall not be named to BlueSky! Looking forward to contributing to the #UXDesign and #GameDev communities here, particularly inspired by Cheryl Platz's books The Game Development Strategy Guide and the 2020 bestseller Design Beyond Devices.

Ideaplatz founder Cheryl Platz wears a green and black dress while standing on the large Amuse 2018 stage in Budapest, in front of a movie screen stretched on metal posts. She gestures to her slides labeled "Deconstructing Voice UI Bias" with subheaders "Gender", "Ethnicity", and "Accent".

Ideaplatz founder Cheryl Platz delivers her keynote "Opti-Pessimism: Design, AI, and Our Uncertain Future" to an audience of 1500 in Medellin, Colombia for Interaction Latin America 2019. She wears a purple dress and stands at the size of a gigantic screen made of three movie screens, two of which project her face and the center containing her slides, which read "Rule 1: Consider the human context. Surround yourself with customer context, and ask good questions of those around you."

A live screenshot from a Mural participants completed during an Ideaplatz workshop at a conference. The title reads "Expand the Matrix" and there are a series of colorful boxes that represent interruption matrices as described in Cheryl's book Design Beyond Devices.

Ideaplatz founder Cheryl Platz stands in front of her own storyboard sketches from the production of the Echo Look as she speaks to a packed house at UX Days Tokyo in 2019. The slide reads "Storyboards help us visualize the context of use, and help us identify existing pain points." The slide shows three hand drawn slides done with sharpies and Copic markers showing a generic human engaging in wardrobe selection using an Echo Look and a phone. Cheryl wears a black dress and holds a slide remote while stepping out from behind a podium with some audience members visible in the foreground.

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