John Rudolph Drexler

My first Gen Con was like the opposite of doom scrolling catacombian.com/blog/gen-con...

This week @aaronfrancis.com is joined by @johnrudolphdrexler.com & @coulb.com of Thunk to talk about why you should think like a PM, what they want to see from Solo, trash cans in New York, "footy", and a whole lot more.

I've spent so much time in the software world, it took me a while to wrap my head around how much physics matters in board game distribution. Here's what I learned. catacombian.com/blog/how-boa...

I moved my game design content to a separate account. I'll be forever grateful for a follow ❤️❤️❤️

My effective tax rate is like 40%. The richest Americans and biggest corporations pay 0-10%. If that doesn’t piss you off, you might be a bootlicker.

Had an idea that might be brilliant and might be stupid. Stay tuned to find out whether we are brilliant or stupid. podcast.thunk.dev/episodes/91-...

In the era of AI development, how do you create a moat around your product? @johnrudolphdrexler.com thinks there's no moat, @coulb.com thinks taste is the moat, but @ianlandsman.com says no, it's actually their schtick that's the moat for their new app Tidy.

getting cyberbullied by your own mom <<<<

This week @ianlandsman.com is joined by @johnrudolphdrexler.com & @coulb.com of Thunk to talk about their new app Tidy, what constitutes a moat in the age of AI, why phone spam is the absolute worst, and so much more.

If I was king of NYC for a day: 1. Introduce a $10k/yr car tax 2. Every two lane road gets a dedicated bus lane 3. 10x the number of bus routes

Real conversation a Wall Street guy just relayed to me. Partner: Claude is so good at analysis, we should get rid of our analysts Quant: no, I’ll show you how easily hallucinations happen Partner: pshh I have an easy workaround. *types “Claude, don’t hallucinate this time.”*

Willy Wonka is a prescient parable about the main 4 types of overconsumption. Mike Teevee: screen time Augustus Gloop: gluttony Veruca Salt: greed Violet Beauregard: likes gum too much (??)

Running and agency or being a freelancer is risky in 2026. But you can eliminate a lot of that risk by keeping your operations tidy. Tidy is launching soon. Join the mailing list to get early access or to support us as we approach launch day. tidyup.agency

This is awesome. And our new landing page is already looking way sharper. tidyup.agency

As we start marketing Tidy, @justinjackson.ca swings by to drop like 100 gems on us from building @transistor.fm. He explains how marketing actually works in the age of LLMs. There is so much genius in this one. Get ready to take notes. podcast.thunk.dev/episodes/89-...

🤫 we quietly launched our client management app. Invoices, agreements, scheduling, time sheets, and a whole lot more. More features and a full marketing blitz coming soon. But here’s the skinny: podcast.thunk.dev/episodes/87-...

I'm making a game that takes place in the past and the present. I'm giddy. notesonplay.transistor.fm/episodes/19-...

New brand, new site. You should hire us. But don't take our word for it: the new site is chock full of testimonials from our amazing clients. thunk.dev

There's a big vibe shift happening in the agency world. Here's our hypothesis of where we fit into the future. podcast.thunk.dev/episodes/85-...

The cool thing about being at 80% is that you only have 80% to go. The cool thing about being at 90% is knowing you only have 80% to go. The cool thing about being at 99% is that you only have 80% to go.

I prototyped a LOT of new games last year, and haven't talked about most of them. Now it's time to pick one to finish. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRGR...

Aaron Swartz downloads academic articles from JSTOR. Arguably, he broke no laws. He faces 35 years in prison. Nvidia uses a pirated database of books to train LLMs. They spawn a new generation of billion dollar companies built on plagiarism. They're hit with a meager civil suit.

Wonderful essay. "The important details you haven’t noticed are invisible to you, and the details you have noticed seem completely obvious and you see right through them... If you wish to not get stuck, seek to perceive what you have not yet perceived." johnsalvatier.org/blog/2017/re...

Writing code is so easy, even Claude can do it. But an extremely low percentage of products actually find market fit. People who are good at executing, and reaching / understanding / listening to humans still have an unfair advantage.

Fascism indicator. At a game convention in suburban Pennsylvania. Lots of Star Wars cosplay. But literally all of them are cosplaying as the Empire. Zero Resistance cosplayers.

I always thought this was funny. So many great details. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEyF...

Producing code is easier than ever. But being responsible for a real software product is still very hard.

Why my basketball board game didn't work. Full episode here: notesonplay.transistor.fm/episodes/17-...

My theme for 2026 is "do a good job." podcast.thunk.dev/episodes/83-...

recession indicator: all the spam I receive is for fake job postings

Desire paths are fascinating. When players try to play my game over and over in a way I didn't intend, I can either fight them, or accommodate them. I recently pivoted to the latter and the results were awesome. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxvB...

We established pay bands at Thunk. Also, we discuss what makes a for a terrible AI-driven pull request. podcast.thunk.dev/episodes/81-...

Most games simulate some real life scenario. So how do you decide which parts of the real world to represent in game mechanisms? This is where the real artistry of game design comes into play. notesonplay.transistor.fm/episodes/13-...

Our pal @calebporzio.bsky.social stopped by to do a retrospective on what went well, and what we'll do differently next time at Wire:live. Lots of lulz podcast.thunk.dev/episodes/79-...

After each play test of my games, I have dozens of half baked notes on what to fix next. But which changes do I actually make before the next test? As always, the answer is to break it down into problem statements. notesonplay.transistor.fm/episodes/12-...

Honored to have @mattstauffer.com on the podcast! @tighten.com has been a model for us in so many ways, so we grilled Matt with questions about how to build a great team, hiring senior devs, and strategy / differentiation. podcast.thunk.dev/episodes/78-...

Project-based estimates/pricing are a bet that someone necessarily loses. Either we overestimate and the client overpays, or we underestimate and get hosed. Total misalignment of incentives. Trust is difficult to build. That's why we have always and will always bill hourly.

I ate at this sushi restaurant weekly. Incredible service. Outstanding reviews. Packed every night. They decided to retire, and shut the business down at its peak. So contrary to the conventional American wisdom of selling / milking profits with declining quality. Kind of beautiful.

The wildest part is that even if Sliwa or Cuomo had dropped out, he still would have won. The people have spoken loud and clear.

So funny to watch non-NYers crashing out on twitter about the mayor of a city they never visit, whose policies will in no way affect them, who got over 1M votes from the people he actually represents.

Back to our regularly scheduled program

The further you get from the southern border, the more brazen white people get about putting random foods in a tortilla and calling it a taco.

Livewire v4 beta has been tagged! Go forth ⚡️ github.com/livewire/liv... Docs can be found here livewire.laravel.com/docs/4.x/upg...

We’re live! … wire:live 😏

👑

Distribution is harder than making things. I printed 1500 games, then sold 600 via kickstarter, conventions, connections, friends, and family. So how they heck do I sell the other 900? notesonplay.transistor.fm/episodes/11-...

"AI types fast. So if you think work is typing, it seems really productive." - (paraphrasing) @coulb.com