Advertise on podcast: Alternate Worlds Podcast

I’ve recorded over a hundred podcasts at this point, and recently was asked to start thinking about “the Principles” one should take away from Alternate Worlds, about making great games, about building great cultures, so I began building tools to that end this weekend. It’s pretty wild what one can do in this day and age. Which ties into the subject matter here — what’s good for kids, what’s not good for kids, and how do we think about the right environmental setup — from a digital perspective — to help the group find a “compounding setup” where everyone benefits. Technology use is wide-spanning in our school — some families forbid it outside of school, some are weekends only, some have daily caps, and others let their kids run free. The impact of this on the student body is wild to witness — and it’ll only get wilder with the advent of AI. Tomorrow night, we’ll discuss how we think about navigating the future as a parenting cohort, and I want to compile stories from other amazing parents & professionals anticipating the conversation. How do we get all kids to the end of their schooling, reaching their fullest potential? What role should AI & technology play in this? To what extent? And how should the cohort think about access, social media, cyber bullying, callousness, and all the other challenges of our age? I’ll follow up with further thoughts after the session. But I thought many might appreciate the video. Hope it has value for you. -b Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Simon Armstrong is a gamer, game maker, gamesman, and so on and so forth. Early on, Simon knew he enjoyed coding & making games, so he explored that path & became an early Flash developer at Zynga. Since then, he worked at Warner Bros on Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, and logged a stint at Captain.tv helping to get Stream Pirates ready for launch. Today, Simon is part of a 2-man shop making Sol Mates, which will launch on Steam in 2026. Indie dev is a strange beast, may Simon navigate the terrain well and emerge victorious. :) Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

It is quite fortunate to get to record the Alternate Worlds podcast, and today especially did not disappoint — here we have Bing Gordon, the legendary CMO/CCO from the first decades at Electronic Arts (and legendary VC in Silicon Valley thereafter), Skaff Elias, who helped spearhead Magic: the Gathering through its initial design into eSports, and Mike Turian, current Sr. Executive Producer of Magic: the Gathering today. A lot of wisdom dropped in this one. :) Bing’s interests are in systems where Everybody Wins, or in designs & communities that figure out how to build value for all who engage with them. He has a book coming out to that end in the next week or two (see: the link above), and he’s been curious to learn more about ecosystems like Magic: the Gathering’s, which have figured out how to provide “outsized good” to “outsized many.” It’s hard not to appreciate the benefits Magic has added to many of our lives, and it was a joy to revisit the principles that helped TCGs & other great games find a long-term home in the world of entertainment. My microphone breaks about halfway through this recording, but fortunately, the guests were so fun to listen to it wasn’t such a bad thing. Alternate Worlds, Alternate Hosts. A fine one to sit back and just take in the conversation. A special session, is this one — enjoy! Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

I met David Bartholow at Cornell University before pro Magic: the Gathering was a thing, and we faced off & supported each other in tournaments for many years afterwards. David was a member of Team Deadguy, one of the top early MtG teams consisting of Chris Pikula, David Price, David Bartholow, Tony Tsai, Worth Wollpert and over time, many others. Deadguy was often positioned as “the good guys” in the early Magic scene, which fought cheating as the pro game got its footing. Today, Dave is a math teacher at a Montessori school near Cleveland, and his adventuresome spirit remains intact. By the time this podcast releases, he may or may not be newly married. :) He’ll have to less know in response to the video’s release. (Congrats, Dave!) Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Jeremy Cranford was the Art Director on Magic: the Gathering during my time as an R&D lead, and in my opinion, totally rocked the house. Mirrodin was incredibly stylish and like nothing we’d done before — which one could say about Kamigawa & Ravnica, too. Ravnica, in particular, feels like the first concrete art style & world that maps to what the game has used for the last twenty years. Since Magic, Jeremy has been a steward for Hearthstone, WoW TCG, Storybook Brawl and is currently focused on Marvel Snap, a very well-made mobile card game by Second Dinner. Jeremy’s got a really cool & adventurous vibe — he knows he’s only going to live once & does things he really wants to do without sweating it too much. He’s an artist, a visionary, a surfer, and a badass. And he wants to make great things. Hard not to love that. :) Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

I met Teresa Johns at Serious Business, the first gaming startup either of us worked at, in 2009. Serious Business was an incredibly talented & well-curated team, and its members have gone on to become prominent VCs, CEOs, CTOs, COOs, technologists, artists, etc. Six months after we joined the company, we were acquired by Zynga, which had a very different ethos and led to very different types of adventures. I termed Zynga a “work bootcamp” and Teresa termed it “so much fun.” This dissonance makes me giggle. Since then, Teresa has been at some of the most important companies in modern life and has seen the evolution from “early whimsical fun” to “late-stage whimsical fun.” She has a truly unique & interesting perspective. If you have Teresa on your side, whether you’re a business or a human, you are noticeably better for it. As Mr. Rogers said, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” That’s Teresa, to a T. Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Mark Schneider is a chess master who traveled the country to play in chess tournaments as a teen. He went on to parent three boys, all of whom played with him in the first Magic: the Gathering Pro Tour. The youngest, Jeremy, finished 20th in PT-Dallas Juniors. The middle child, Justin, finished 1st in PT-Dallas Juniors, and Top 8 at PT-Chicago ‘98. The oldest, Brian, is writing this to you now, and grew up to become one of the R&D leads for Magic: the Gathering. My dad is well-known as a bit of a character & as someone who enjoyed attending events and kibitzing with players from around the globe. He also invested in Magic & Pokemon for the fun of it, to support & play his own part in our evolution through TCGs, and has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Thanks dad! Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Chris Galvin ran the first Midwest Regionals for Magic: the Gathering in 1996, and supported 1,300 players so well that when the time came, Wizards believed he’d be a good fit for their organized play department. Over time, Chris helped to support building out important regional events (such as Pro Tour Qualifiers) & the Junior Super Series — the kinds that couldn’t be supported by a normal game store — which led to a mature ecosystem of event operators working to support Magic: the Gathering events as a gateway to becoming a sport. Chris eventually graduated to oversee all of Organized Play (and later aspects of digital gaming at Wizards), and as you listen to him speak throughout this call, it isn’t difficult to see why — he’s warm, rational, thoughtful, and open-minded — and he loved games and has great empathy for those who play them. Chris went to The University of Chicago, but if you hear me say, “Go Bears” at some point during the call, it’s because he could’ve gone to Stanford. And anyway, it always applies. “Go Bears!” (Take that Greg Collins — who actually went to Stanford. Yeah!) Chris is a great storyteller with great stories to tell. Enjoy! Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Wright Bagwell makes games. He also tinkers, mods, hacks, manifests, errs, shares, and designs. I met Wright at Zynga, where he spearheaded the Farmville 2 design, which went incredibly well (like, incredibly, well). Before that he led the Dead Space series, and before that he made Quake mods, which got him into the industry in the first place. After that, he co-founded Outpost Games as its CEO, logged ample time at Google and Luda working on AI-native gaming, and most recently spearheaded design at Series Entertainment. Design can be exploratory, about discovery of what works, and the creative streams can cross and bob and weave and time or a sense of time can come and go. Wright lives at this vortex and leverages all he’s learned and all the toys and toolsets he can find to create new things to entertain and connect people. Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Sometimes there’s a man… Pany Haritatos has wanted to make games since he wanted to do anything, and because of this impulse he’s made a ton of games — big, successful, ones — for Kongregate, Zynga, Snap, Series Entertainment and who knows where else. Given Pany’s bent, his games could be anywhere. (And I mean anywhere.) Pany’s learned an inordinate amount about how to run teams and build successful businesses, shifting from builder to operator to CEO — he’s one of the best I’ve worked with in the digital space. Incredibly sharp cat. Really fun to catch up, to talk dad life & to consider what the future holds for each of us, and what we’ve learned from our adventures along the way. Namaste. Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Devin Low is a legendary game designer, both in the sense that he’s designed a ton of successful games, but also because he designed Legendary, the highly successful Marvel deck building game. There is only one Devin Low in play at a time. Devin joined us in Wizards of the Coast R&D after playing professional Magic: the Gathering for a few years, and proved to have a great sense for how to wed both flavor & mechanics — which led to meaningful design & development evolutions with Lorwyn & Shards of Alara (both blocks he played a leading role on). Devin has since been a standout in both the analog and digital space, as design champion for Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, Legendary & Riftbound. Something tells me Devin Low will always have game projects on the front-burner, which is something we should all feel good about. Let the games stay good. :) Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Tom Lapille logged nearly seven years at Wizards of the Coast working on Magic: the Gathering, then went on to lead game design at Skylanders and Pocket Gems. Tom’s a master of the TCG-making craft, and he’s also continued growing his skills by making 0-to-1 happen in the digital sphere on his recent Episode: Reality Stars. Nowadays he can enjoy being a design director while also aspiring to regain prominence as a competitive Riftbound player. We don’t know where life will take us, but it helps when we open doors and say yes to things we may love. Tom is a wizard & a sensei, through and through. Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Andrew Wolf has been designing games for nearly 20 years, at Pokemon, USAOPOLY, Cryptozoic and Upper Deck. Andrew also happened to make two top 8’s as a pro Magic: the Gathering player, and has a long history of playing games both competitively and socially. One thing that made this uniquely fun is that The Wolfman was in town vacationing, so we met up in person and got to hang out for a bit. My kids had board game design day at art camp, so if you ever want to play Robloxland the board game, let me know. :) Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Jon “Swede” Selin is the CEO of Low Drag Labs, where he seeks to reinvent the MMORPG into something that better fits with where gaming is going. Swede is been a gamer since as long as he can remember, and has been hands-on throughout his career. He started out at CCP and logged time on Eve Online & design directing World of Darkness, before shifting to Pocket Gems as VP of Game Design. Swede is “the most competitive” type of player who always tries his hardest to win, but also knows how to kick back and have a hard time. Also his kids are starting to beat him at games which takes a little of the edge off. :) P.S. Jake Paul, if you’re reading — my money’s on Swede. Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe

Brian Hacker was one of the most successful players in the early days of the Magic: the Gathering Pro Tour, and is well-known for his early writing which shined light on how important mana curves were to winning in limited play. His writing was also the gateway that enabled Magic: the Gathering to try and enter the mainstream, via a fun expose on MTV. Brian went on to design games at Upper Deck, and has been “a man of great intrigue” as long as I’ve known him. He says he’s not a spy. Which is exactly what a spy would say. I was lucky enough to work with him for the World Championships in ‘98, and we partnered on a deck that brought him to the top 8 at Worlds, and 2nd place at the Grand Prix in Lisbon the week after. (He was also lucky enough to beat Tiger Woods at golf many moons ago.) Good times. :) Get full access to Alternate Worlds at bschneidmtg.substack.com/subscribe