The Download
Pema
Pema
·Yoto Daily | The Download

Series One, Episode One: Creativity and Tech

These shownotes also include games mentioned in the episode, and resources for learning to create games alongside your kids. 

Katie Salen TekinbaƟ

Katie Salen TekinbaƟ is a Professor of Informatics at the University of California Irvine! Informatics is the study of computational systems. She is also the co-founder of Connected Camps, "where kids build, code, play, and learn" in safe digital environments.

Dr Katie on how she teaches kids to approach game invention:

"[She asks] what’s the most fun thing you can think of doing? And they often come up with really silly ideas about being able to tie yourself to a giant rubber band and shoot yourself across a space or trying to jungle like a thousand balls while walking on a tightrope."

Holly Gramazio

Holly is a writer, curator and game designer. She makes all sorts of imaginative and special games, including two mentioned in The Download, Where’s Madeleine and How to be a Blackbird. More of her excellent games can be found on Holly's website. Holly is also the author of a brilliant and funny novel (for adults!) called The Husbands. It’s a comedy about a woman whose attic starts creating an infinite supply of husbands.

Holly on what inspires her to make a new game:

"[When creating a game] I personally often start with a moment or an emotion. A little feeling that I want people to have or an experience that I want them to have, and then the rest of the game kind of forms around that."

Eric Barone

Also known as ConcernedApe, Eric is an icon of indie game development, and creator of Stardew Valley, a country-life RPG, and my personal favourite game ever. Eric continuously updates Stardew Valley, most recently in 2024, eight years after its initial release. He’s also working on a new game, the Haunted Chocolatier
 spooky and sweet.

Eric on the joy of creating your own worlds:

"the best part of making Stardew Valley was towards the end when the game kind of was all coming together. And then I could just kind of add fun little things, kind of play the game myself and be like, this would be really cool if there was a cave here and you could go in the cave. And then I could just add it, you know, like, and then the next day there'd be a cave and whatever my idea was, I could put it in right away."

Games mentioned

Stardew Valley (pictured), Dungeons and Dragons, Minecraft, Monopoly, Chess, Where’s Madeleine, How to be a Blackbird, Fortnite.

Game creation platforms

1