156: Filling Buckets with Tonda Ros (Blue Prince)

We chat with Tonda Ros (Dogubomb) one year after the release of his genre-blending room-drafting puzzlebox sensation, Blue Prince. Our discussion covers Tonda's year as the game's representative in the world; his inspirations across digital, analog, and tabletop works; cultivating player appreciation for virtual spaces; managing player hunches through playtesting; balancing lore with puzzle mechanics; comparing game development with filmmaking; and so! much! more! Kind of like the game itself, we just keep going.
Audio edited by Dylan Shumway
Discussed in this episode:
Blue Prince blueprincegame.com
Mythic Spoiler mythicspoiler.com
My Perfect Console – Tonda Ros myperfectconsole.com/episode/129
realMyst cyan.com/realmyst
Digital version of MAZE: Solve the World's Most Challenging Puzzle by Christopher Manson reddit.com/r/Python/comments/1l9urle/website_v…
"It Seems I Have Found Myself In Another Mysterious House" by Rob Dubbin roblemsolving.com/games/2025/04/25/mysterious-…
The Castles of Mad King Ludwig boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155426/castles-of-…
Dominion riograndegames.com/games/dominion
Ascension boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/69789/ascension-de…
Blue Prince Soundtrack by Trigg and Gusset triggandgusset.bandcamp.com/album/blue-prince-…
Jewels in the Attic boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/16608/jewels-in-th…
Tales of the Crystals boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/9755/tales-of-the-…
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937) imdb.com/title/tt0029120
The Graduate (1967) imdb.com/title/tt0061722
MIO: Memories in Orbit store.steampowered.com/app/1672810/MIO_Memorie…
secretlives.games
discord.gg/tslog
patreon.com/tslog