Quite often, talks about how to do a thing a lot of people fail at are scams at worst and inspiroglurge that make people feel temporarily good at best. I'm very skeptical about talks and blog posts
I think this
talk about efficiently/sustainably making small games might be outside of that? The distinction between ideas and formulas seems helpful.
The idea is more or less what is compelling about about the game, like gradually altering a game that is traditionally fixed, as in Balatro. The formula is how the idea is delivered. e.g. A poker deckbuilder with permanent modifiers. The formula could be bad, but that doesn't mean the idea won't work in another formula.