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Soren Johnson

@sorenjohnson.bsky.social
306 followers 104 following 139 posts

Founder of MohawkGames. Designer of Civ 3, Civ 4, Dragon Age Legends, Offworld Trading Company, and Old World. Still a Mouth Breather.

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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This podcast, in which @shamsjorjani.bsky.social and @choomsky.bsky.social interview Johan Pilestedt on the infamous Magicka contract, is quite a listen - especially as someone who has tried to interpret multiple publisher contracts (albeit with a highly paid lawyer!) bit.ly/johan_pilest...
thebusinessofvideogamespodcast.podbean.com
Episode 64 - Off by 700% - Johan Pilestedt Pt. 3 | The Business of Video Games Podcast
It's Friday! And holy moly. Trust us when we say - this one is one for the books. Our dear friend Johan Pilestedt is finally back(!) to the interrogation room, to take us down the very depths of devel...
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Jordan Stillman @alittlejstillz.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
The deadline to apply to be a GDC 2027 Community Partner is this Friday, September 18! Are you searching for space for a community meetup? Do you have a activation idea? Looking for scholarships for you community? Tell me your ideas! Learn more and apply! >> gdconf.com/call-for-com... #GDC2027
On a navy blue background at the top reads GDC Festival of Gaming | March 1 - 5, 2027 | San Francisco, CA - Become a GDC Community Partner - Apply by September 18, 2026. There is a photo of the Gamescape booth and staff posing at GDC 2026 with brackets around the image.
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Designer Notes #97: My Perfect Console - Soren Johnson! www.designer-notes.com/my-perfect-c... Check out the show at myperfectconsole.com.
designer-notes.com
Designer Notes 97: My Perfect Console – Soren Johnson
Designer Notes is hosting a special guest episode from Simon Parkin’s excellent podcast My Perfect Console, in which he interviews Soren Johnson about his career and his favorite games. In each epi…
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My Perfect Console podcast @myperfectconsole.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Take a look at @sorenjohnson.bsky.social's 80’s heavy perfect console: 1. Pinball Construction Set — 1982 2. M.U.L.E. — 1983 3. The Seven Cities of Gold — 1984 4. Legacy of the Ancients — 1987 5. Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri — 1999 Listen to his wonderfully nerdy episode: bit.ly/4hNmEKB
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My Perfect Console podcast @myperfectconsole.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
When he was a student, @sorenjohnson.bsky.social built a video game based on the lives of 17th Century Oxford shopkeepers. He carried these instincts into his seminal work on Civ III and IV, two of the best-loved simulation games ever made. Listen to Soren’s story: bit.ly/4hNmEKB
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My Perfect Console podcast @myperfectconsole.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Joining us next week is one of the great strategy designers of the past quarter-century. @sorenjohnson.bsky.social was lead designer on Civilization IV before working on Spore, Offworld Trading Company, and Old World. Support us on Patreon to listen to the episode a day early: bit.ly/3HPvNSM
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Aftermath @aftermath.site · 23/07/2026
Old World is a modern strategy gaming masterpiece: aftermath.site/old-world-4x-r...
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GDC Festival of Gaming @officialgdc.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Call for submissions for GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 are now open! We're looking for submissions that span the entire game ecosystem from production to audio to business and marketing. Check out more info for each track and how summits are evolving! gdconf.com/call-for-submissions #GDC2027
Image with pink on top with text that reads GDC Festival of Gaming March 1-5, 2027, San Francisco, CA. 2027 Call for Submissions is now open! Proposals accepted through August 7, 2026. The bottom of the image is a smiling crowd applauding.
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Designer Notes #96: Owen Mahoney, first CFO, then CEO of Nexon! www.designer-notes.com/designer-not...
designer-notes.com
Designer Notes #96: Owen Mahoney
In this episode, Soren interviews Owen Mahoney, who served first as the CFO and then as the CEO of Nexon. They discuss what the transition to free-to-play meant for game design, how to make sure yo…
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Not quite as good as throwing bones into the Tiber but close enough for now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAhm...
youtube.com
LIVE: See Donald Trump’s name come off the Kennedy Center as it happens
YouTube video by MS NOW
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Designer Notes #95: Seth Sivak, Co-Founder and CEO of Proletariat, developer of World Zombination and Spellbreak! www.designer-notes.com/designer-not...
designer-notes.com
Designer Notes #95: Seth Sivak
In this episode, Soren interviews Seth Sivak, best known as the co-founder and CEO of Proletariat, makers of World Zombination and Spellbreak. They discuss how he invited hover doobers, the many ti…
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adamatomic @adamatomic.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
my last 20 games!! 98% positive on steam :O store.steampowered.com/app/4044300/...
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Designer Notes #94: Charles Cecil (@revolutionsoftware.bsky.social), co-founder of Revolution Software, lead designer of Beneath a Steel Sky and the Broken Sword series. Part 2! www.designer-notes.com/designer-not...
designer-notes.com
Designer Notes 94: Charles Cecil – Part 2
In this episode, Soren interviews veteran game developer Charles Cecil, co-founder of Revolution Software and best known for his work on Beneath a Steel Sky and the Broken Sword series. They discus…
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Frithjof Nikolai Wilborn @fnwilborn.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
This one has been long in the making, we've done a huge interview with @sorenjohnson.bsky.social of #civ4 and @mohawkgames.bsky.social fame, and two of his codevelopers @dalekent.bsky.social and @thesolver.bsky.social about tveir #4X game #oldworld ! spillhistorie.no/2026/04/22/b...
spillhistorie.no
Big interview with the people behind Old World! - Spillhistorie.no
We interview the development head behind the 4X indie game Old World, and two of his co-developers.
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Designer Notes #93: Charles Cecil (@revolutionsoftware.bsky.social), co-founder of Revolution Software, lead designer of Beneath a Steel Sky and the Broken Sword series. Part 1! www.designer-notes.com/designer-not...
designer-notes.com
Designer Notes #93: Charles Cecil – Part 1
In this episode, Soren interviews veteran game developer Charles Cecil, co-founder of Revolution Software and best known for his work on Beneath a Steel Sky and the Broken Sword series. They discus…
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adamatomic @adamatomic.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
holy moly, ok! we did it?? we made a collection??? it's the first 13 games, bundled up with unlockable dev notes, updated audio, some sneaky bug fixes, cloud saves, and Steam Deck support!! store.steampowered.com/app/4044300/...
store.steampowered.com
CorgiSpace on Steam
CorgiSpace is a collection of 8-bit games that have short legs on purpose. This anthology includes more than a dozen action, adventure, arcade, and puzzle games, and each can be thoroughly explored in...
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
One more thing: Loved being able to use the #GDC26 Podcast Booth for a live Designer Notes. Was a great experience being able to see and also talk with listeners before and after the show. Thanks for following me on this (lengthy) endeavor! (Should get to episode #100 soon...)
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
And that's a wrap - see you next year! #GDC26 #GDC27
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Saltsman: I get over the "blank page" problem when making a game by starting on the art tab instead of the code tab (in PICO-8). #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Saltsman: Follow your ideas where they lead to end up in a place you never would have found without that process. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Saltsman: Discovering the right formula for your idea is the process of having your darlings and killing them too. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Saltsman: Ideas are much more important to protect than any other part of your project. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Saltsman: Formulas are not the same as ideas. Ideas are what you want to say. Formulas are how you are hoping to achieve that. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Saltsman: Truly easy things tend to be not obvious - no one may have considered skipping the normal steps. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Saltsman: My manifesto for making games. How can we make it easy on ourselves. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Saltsman: What if we could make games for ourselves? #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Classic scope creep... #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: The Golden Secrets of Yotei's Event Deck. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: Shortcomings to the Event Deck in Yotei. It relies heavily on dialogue, which is expensive to make and can fatigue players who usually skip dialogue. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: The advantage of Yotei's robust and dynamic Event Deck is that we can focus on outputs instead of inputs. The player can make their own choices (the input) and the game can still lead them down a good path (the output). #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: We could sometimes fake things by using the same voices for multiple characters during fast scenes (like combat)... as long as we weren't switching genders. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: The math for each Event's combination of conversations times voices times lines depends on how important the Event is. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: Hard reality for Yotei's VO budget. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: We had to do the hard work of having multiple ways (including different VO passes) to communicate the same Event. This one has four different dialogue sequences. Three will not be used. All that is multiplied by different languages and six different actors who cover multiple NPCs. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: These different player actions would have led to the same story beats (main quest, weapon unlocks) from the Event Deck. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: Camping Events are very important because it's a frequent player action that happens everywhere. We can rely on them in case players ignore all the other Event triggers. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: Here are examples of rules that are checked to determine which Event is chosen when camping. The situation needs to match how the Event will be delivered to the player. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: In Yotei, if multiple Events are valid, then we always choose the first one, giving the system a natural linear order. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: Each Event has multiple ways that they can be added to the game, depending on the context of the current encounter. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: Yotei sometimes reorders the deck depending on what you already are pursuing. Better not to overwhelm the player with multiple goals that are too similar. Every goal you give the player has a cost. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: We have a Loneliness card in the Deck that skips over giving the player a new task, to slow down the pacing and let the player experience the world in quiet. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: We needed a variety of Dealers because not all players do the same interactions. (Some may never look at a bounty board.) #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: Various interactions (bounty board, camping, customer in sake house) are Dealers that draw from the Event Deck to give you a near-term goal, depending on your current situation. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: Yotei implemented a "dungeon master" to guide players through the game via a Event Deck of possible story beats, side quests, weapon unlocks, etc. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: In Yotei, we didn't want to overwhelm players with a map of nodes, making the "discovery" feel too mechanical. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Holley: Yotei would be more open-ended than Tsushima, so making sure players found the unlocks and upgrades and progression they needed would be a challenge. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Pardo: Developer are good playtesters at the beginning, but you won't know what game you have until you expand to larger groups of players in the actual world. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Pardo: Once we started our daily playtests, design docs became irrelevant/unnecessary. Our development was now led from the results of each playtest. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Pardo: Our first goal was to achieve a Minimum Lovable Game by building from the inside out. Start with the core to make sure it's actually fun. #GDC26
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Soren Johnson @sorenjohnson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Pardo: This is the original seed for Arkheron that the team voted for. #GDC26
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