My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin

Soren Johnson is an American programmer and game designer whose work has helped shape the modern strategy genre. After earning a master’s degree in Computer Science from Stanford University, he joined Firaxis Games, where he worked as both a programmer and designer on Civilization III before going on to lead the design of Civilization IV, one of the most celebrated strategy games yet made.

Over the years he has contributed to a wide range of projects, including Spore, Dragon Age Legends, and Offworld Trading Company, bringing a distinctive blend of historical insight, systemic thinking, and player-driven design. Today he is the founder and design director of Mohawk Games, where he recently led the development of the acclaimed historical strategy game Old World. Alongside his development work, he continues to explore the craft of game design through his long-running blog and podcast, both of which are titled “Designer Notes”.

Soren Johnson – website & podcast
Soren Johnson – Designer Notes blog
Designer Notes podcast – episode archive
Designer Notes – Apple Podcasts
Designer Notes – Spotify

Mohawk Games & Old World
Mohawk Games – official site
Old World – official page
Old World – Steam
Old World – GOG
Old World – Epic Games Store
Old World: Empires of the Indus DLC – Mohawk Games

Soren's Perfect Console
Pinball Construction Set (1983) – Wikipedia
M.U.L.E. (1983) – Wikipedia
Seven Cities of Gold (1984) – Wikipedia
Legacy of the Ancients (1987) – Wikipedia
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (1999) – Wikipedia

Other games and references mentioned
Civilization IV – Wikipedia
Civilization III – Wikipedia
Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004 remake) – Wikipedia
Civilization Revolution – Wikipedia
Offworld Trading Company – Steam
Spore (2008) – Wikipedia
Balatro – Steam
Vampire Survivors – Steam
Schedule I – Steam
Lethal Company – Steam
Bennett Foddy – personal site
Danielle Bunten Berry – Wikipedia (designer of M.U.L.E.)
Trip Hawkins – Wikipedia (founder of Electronic Arts)
Jake Solomon – Wikipedia
Game Developers Conference (GDC) – official site

Simon's book
Trial of the Space Invaders – pre-order (Bookshop.org UK)
Trial of the Space Invaders – pre-order (Amazon UK)

Support the show
My Perfect Console – episode archive
Support My Perfect Console on Patreon
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole

Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a Jamaican game developer and studio founder. Based in Kingston, he is the founder of Spritewrench Studios, a narrative-focused micro studio he built after realising, in his final year at university, that he did not need to leave Jamaica or join a hundred-person team to make games of his own.

Inspired by that possibility, he began creating small projects, taking part in game jams, and steadily turning Spritewrench from a name into a company. His work is shaped by a commitment to cultural representation that reaches beyond cliché, and by a wider effort to grow the local scene through the Jamaica Game Developer Society, where he has worked to connect creators and open up pathways into the industry. Now, with Duppy Detective Tashia, a point-and-click mystery rooted in Caribbean folklore, he is bringing that vision to a wider audience.

Glen Henry & Spritewrench Studios
Spritewrench Studios – official website
Spritewrench – itch.io (all games)
Glen Henry – Instagram (@spritewrench)

Duppy Detective Tashia
Duppy Detective Tashia – Steam
Duppy Detective Tashia – itch.io

Jamaica Game Developer Society
Jamaica Game Developer Society – official site
JGDS – YouTube channel (Crash Course series)

Glen's Perfect Console
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – Wikipedia
Viewtiful Joe (GameCube, 2003) – Wikipedia
Spelunky Classic – free download (Derek Yu's site)
Spelunky Classic – Wikipedia
Hades – official site
Hades – Steam
Hollow Knight: Silksong – official site

Also mentioned
Bastion – Supergiant Games
Transistor – Supergiant Games
Indie Game: The Movie – official site
Black Voices in Gaming – community Discord
Rami Ismail – game developer and advocate
Chase Bethea – composer (Duppy Detective Tashia)
Bubblexity – BChaotic (Jamaican student dev team, Steam)
TIGSource – indie game development forums
Global Game Jam

Next week's guest
Soren Johnson – designer of Civilization IV
Old World – Mohawk Games (Steam)

Simon's book
Trial of the Space Invaders – pre-order (Bookshop.org UK)
Trial of the Space Invaders – pre-order (Amazon UK)

Support the show
My Perfect Console – episode archive
Support My Perfect Console on Patreon
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole

Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amelia Tait is a British journalist and author whose work has made her one of the sharpest observers of modern life online and off. As a freelance writer, she has built a reputation for following the strange, revealing currents of contemporary culture — writing about the internet, and remarkable people for publications including The New Yorker, The Guardian, Wired, and the New York Times.

Her reporting is often drawn to the places where technology and absurdity collide, finding the human story inside subjects other people might dismiss as niche or ephemeral. Now she has turned that same wit and curiosity to fiction with her debut children’s book, Lily Tripp: Diary of an Accidental Time Traveller, a funny, fast-moving adventure about a girl bouncing through history while trying to survive friendship drama and the general embarrassment of being thirteen.

LINKS

Amelia Tait – website & writing
Amelia Tait – official website
The Waiting Room – Amelia's Substack newsletter

Lily Tripp: Diary of an Accidental Time Traveller
Lily Tripp – Waterstones (Waterstones Children's Book of the Month, June 2026)
Lily Tripp – Amazon UK

Amelia's Perfect Console
Theme Hospital (1997) – Wikipedia
The Simpsons: Road Rage (2001) – Wikipedia
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – Wikipedia
The Sims Bustin' Out (Game Boy Advance, 2003) – Wikipedia
Stardew Valley – official site
Stardew Valley – Steam

Other games mentioned
Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo
The Simpsons: Hit & Run – Wikipedia

Amelia's journalism – selected pieces
Are Disney Adults the Happiest Debtors on Earth? – The New Yorker
Amelia Tait – articles on The Guardian

Next week's guest
Duppy Detective Tashia – Glen Henry / Spritewrench Studios – Steam
Spritewrench Studios – itch.io

Support the show
My Perfect Console – episode archive
Support My Perfect Console on Patreon
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole

Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Trickey is a British comedian whose work blends sharp writing, physical comedy, and, in his new show, one of the more extraordinary Edinburgh Fringe stories in recent memory. By day he works as an accountant; by night he has been building a reputation as one of the most promising young voices on the live circuit, with appearances across the UK, a Chortle Student Comedy Award nomination, and a Best New Show nomination at the Leicester Comedy Festival.

Last year, his sold-out Edinburgh debut, Don’t Count on Me, marked him out as a rising talent, earning strong reviews and an enviable word-of-mouth reputation. Since then, he has appeared on the BBC’s Funny Parts and returned to the Fringe with a new show shaped in part by the strange and unexpectedly dramatic events of last summer.

LINKS:

James Trickey – follow & tickets
James Trickey – Instagram (@jamestrickey_)
James Trickey: Split – Edinburgh Fringe 2026 tickets (Pleasance Courtyard, 9:25pm, 5–30 August)
James Trickey: Split – Avalon press release

James's Perfect Console
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – Wikipedia
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered – Steam
Halo 3 – Wikipedia
Undertale – official site
Undertale – Steam
God of War (2018) – PlayStation
God of War (2018) – Wikipedia
The Last of Us Part II – PlayStation
The Last of Us Part II – Wikipedia

Bristol comedians to watch
Abi Clarke – comedian and content creator
Alex Kitson – Chortle profile
Jessie Nixon – Chortle profile
Ted Milligan – British Comedy Guide
Pravanya Pillay – PBJ Management

Also mentioned
Alfie Brown – comedian
Glenn Moore – at the Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh Fringe
Pokémon Crystal – Wikipedia
Super Mario Advance (Game Boy Advance) – Wikipedia
League of Legends – official site

Support the show
My Perfect Console – episode archive
Support My Perfect Console on Patreon
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole

Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pierce Brown is an American novelist whose work has made him one of the defining voices in modern science fiction. After a restless childhood that saw his family move repeatedly and left him passing through more than ten schools, he began writing in earnest just after high school. After years of rejection, he found his breakthrough with Red Rising, the first instalment in an epic saga that fused classical tragedy, Roman myth, and space opera into an international bestseller.

Since then, the series has grown into a global phenomenon, winning a devoted readership for its high-stakes politics and fierce emotional intensity. Alongside his work as a novelist, he has embraced gaming culture—contributing to the Red Rising board game and speaking openly about his love of everything from StarCraft II to Mass Effect and Cyberpunk. Now, as the series is being reissued in special tenth-anniversary editions, a new generation of readers is discovering the world that made his name.

LINKS

Pierce Brown – website & books
Pierce Brown – official website
Red Rising – the complete saga
Red Rising: Sons of Ares – prequel comic series
Pierce Brown – Instagram (@piercebrownofficial)

Red Rising board game
Red Rising – Stonemaier Games (designed by Jamey Stegmaier)

Pierce's Perfect Console
Command & Conquer (1995) – Wikipedia
Command & Conquer: Red Alert – Wikipedia
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun – Wikipedia
Shogun: Total War (2000) – Wikipedia
Total War series – official site
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn – Wikipedia
Black & White (2001) – Wikipedia
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind – Wikipedia

Books and other references mentioned
Plato's Republic – Wikipedia
Antigone by Sophocles – Wikipedia
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas – Wikipedia
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card – Wikipedia
The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
Gattaca (1997 film) – Wikipedia
Gustave Doré – illustrator, Wikipedia

Support the show
My Perfect Console – episode archive
Support My Perfect Console on Patreon
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole

Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.