Game Maker's Notebook

Trent Kusters  chats with  AP Thomson , creator of the surreal strategy-puzzle game,  Titanium Court . Together they discuss his path into games and meeting his long time collaborator  Jenny Jiao Hsia ; working together on the award winning  Consume Me ; the development of  Titanium Court  including creating modular systems for faster development; creating the narrative and his advice on becoming...

Adam Orth  chats with  Igor Gritsy  and  Yura Zhoanovich  of  Sad Cat Studios  about their 2.5D cinematic action-platformer,  Replaced . Together they discuss developing the story as an exploration between technology and it's relationship with the human condition; designing combat that fits a cinematic platformer; environment as a character; creating a soundtrack that is bleak yet hopeful; and the...

Trent Kusters  chats with  Jake Birkett  of  Grey Alien Games . Together they discuss how he worked together with  Night Signal Entertainment  on their card-slashing "horror" collaboration,  Forbidden Solitaire ; the importance of managing scope with small teams; how to properly understand Steam user engagement; and his GDC talk  How to Survive in Gamedev for Eleven Years Without a Hit through the...

Alexa Ray Corriea  chats with  Chandana Ekanayake  of  Outerloop Games . Together they discuss developing his newest game  Dosa Divas , including the origin of the narrative and using food as a storytelling device; weaving together story with combat; the importance of the introductory hour of gameplay; his views on risk and team size; and his thoughts on working in indie development.  This episode...

Alexa Ray Corriea  chats with  Jason WIshnov , CEO of  Iridium Studios , about their newest title,  People of Note . Together they discuss where the initial design concepts originated from; the difficulty of finding a publisher before landing with  Annapurna ; friction between narrative and game design; writing from personal experience and balancing that with whimsy; and how they integrated music...

Trent Kusters chats with  Gregory Louden , Creative Director behind  Housemarque's  latest dark sci-fi bullet-ballet,  Saros . Together they discuss his early work in film with directors such as Alfonso Cuarón and Ridley Scott; transitioning into games and his path from VFX, to narrative, and ultimately direction; creating a spiritual successor to  Returnal while developing a brand new IP; focusin...

Trent Kusters  chats with  Edmund McMillen  and  Tyler Glaiel , creators of the hit cat-army tactical roguelite,  Mewgenics . Together they discuss their history creating games during the boom of the flash and Xbox Live era including titles such as  Aether ,  The Binding of Isaac , and  The End is Nigh ; writing from personal experiences; lessons learned from self-publishing; and the development o...

Adam Orth  chats with  Mateusz Michalak  (CEO & Co-Founder) &  Mateusz Lechowski  (Narrative Director) from  Fumi Games  about their studio debut title,  Mouse: P.I. For Hire . Together they discuss the origins of the studio being based around animation with no game dev experience; the inspirations and development of  Mouse: P.I. For Hire ; developing the rubber-hose animation and it's importance...

Adam Orth  chats with musician and game developer  Johnny Galvatron . Together they discuss his newly released coming of age story told through music,  Mixtape   including the origins of the idea; how they selected the music first and built the story around the soundtrack; building a "horizontal slice" rather than a "vertical slice"; how they selected each track and their significance to the narra...

We're on a release break for new episodes, so here's one our past great chats from Oct, 9 2023! Adam Orth  chats with  Ken Levine , the legendary creator behind the  Bioshock  series and the upcoming  Judas . Together they discuss Ken's journey into game writing; using art as a healthy outlet for processing uncomfortable subjects; dealing with the pressure of following up the first  Bioshock game...

We're on a release break for new episodes, so here's one our past great chats from May 16, 2022!  Corey May speaks with the Oliver Lewin and Graham Parkes , two of the developers behind Before Your Eyes . Together they discuss how they created the blinking mechanic in game jams; the process of "learning by doing and learning by failing"; the technical and narrative challenges that arose from the g...

We're on a quick release break for new episodes, so here's one our past conversations from Mar 27, 2023 with Tarn Adams and Zach Adams , brothers who together created Dwarf Fortress!  Trent chats with the brothers about their 20 year journey in creating the aforementioned title including the early inspirations that led them to learn programming; the games they developed before Dwarf Fortress ; cru...

Austin Wintory chats with Bence Pajor , the Audio Director behind Embark Studios' smash hit extraction shooter, Arc Raiders . Together they discuss his early career in music and how he transitioned to audio design; his work at DICE on the Battlefield series; the moral implications when designing realistic audio experiences for combat simulations; balancing music to not break player immersion; and...

Alexa Ray Corriea  chats with  Jenny Jiao Hsia , co-director of  Consume Me . Together they discuss where Jenny first got the idea to tell a semi-autobiographical story through video games; learning to not micromanage and lean on your team; how personal finances restrict or enable creativity; the dangers of social media and need for external validation; and the importance of having interests outsi...

Adam Orth  chats with  Virgil Watkins , the design director behind  Embark Studios'  smash hit extraction shooter,  Arc Raiders . Together they discuss his early passion in modding and how it led to him joining  Embark Studios  as a Technical Designer on the initial PVE version of  Arc Raiders ; how internal testing shaped the system design and core experience of the PvPvE version; the ways they'r...

Alexa Ray Corriea  chats with Actor  Ben Starr . Together they discuss his role in the multi-D.I.C.E. Award winning game  Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 ; balancing authenticity and restraint in the public sphere; voice acting in a game filled with intimacy in  Date Everything! ; and his observations on the difficulties many developers face today. This episode is supported by   Xsolla iam8bit Episode...

Adam Orth  chats with  Battlefield 6  Creative Director,  Thomas Andersson . Together they discuss his path in games from level design to direction; what it takes to lead a team the size it takes to create a Battlefield title; the pillars and core features that drove the mission in the newest entry; how the kinetic movement and destruction work together to create unique and epic moments; and the t...

Karrie Shao  chats with writer and narrative designer  Cara Ellison . Together they discuss her path from television to games; the global development scene and the difficulties facing developers today; her desire to bring local culture to the global stage; and her work with  Fireproof Games  on the  D.I.C.E. Award  winning VR title,  Ghost Town .  Episode Host: Karrie Shao Producers: Claudio Tapia...

Adam Orth chats with  Eyes Out  co-founders  Cory Davis  (Spec Ops: the Line) and  Robin Finck  (Nine Inch Nails) about their studio's debut game,  SLEEP AWAKE . Together they discuss their distinct paths from traditional games and music and how they found themselves collaborating together; the unique audio-first approach they took with  SLEEP AWAKE ; the psychedelic dreamlike horror themes presen...

Grammy Award winning composer Austin Wintory chats with Rev. Dr. Bradley D. Meyer , Audio Director at Sucker Punch Productions . Together they discuss his path to gaming and joining Sucker Punch ; his thoughts on audio design including on his latest work in Ghost of Yōtei ; the complex marriage of audio and music in large projects; and how they balanced the score of Ghost of Yōtei between Japanese...

Guest host  Tim Schafer  ( Double Fine Productions ) chats with  Jon Gibson  ( iam8bit )  Meggan Scavio  ( AIAS ), and  Sibel Sunar  ( fortyseven communications ) about their joint effort to celebrate the world of game art, the  Game Maker's Sketchbook . Together they discuss the history and goals of the showcase; the charities it supports in the  AIAS Foundation  and  Day of the Devs ; and how to...

Corey May  chats with  Abiotic Factor  developers  Geoff "Zag" Keene  and  Henry Feltham  from  Deep Field Games . Together they discuss the challenges and benefits of working in small teams; the importance of relationships and communication; narrative design as a production tool; balancing seriousness and comedy; and what they didn't like about the survival genre that they hoped to remedy with  A...

Trent Kusters  chats with  Ubisoft Mainz  Creative Director,  Manuel Reinher . Together they discuss his extensive work in the  Anno   series and his path from the art team to direction; the creative and technical challenges of working in the historical strategy game genre; their approach to depicting the Roman Empire in the latest series release,  Anno 117: Pax Romana ; how a seemingly simple tra...

Alexa Ray Corriea  chats with  Adhoc Studio's   Nick Herman  about their debut title,  Dispatch . Together they discuss the difficulties of funding narrative based titles and how that led to their collaboration with  Critical Role ; how they approached the superhero genre from outside the fandom; balancing player choice with narrative intentions; what they learned from player testing; and why they...

Trent Kusters  chats with  Lee Petty , Creative Director on  Double Fine's  newest adventure,  Keeper . Together they discuss where the idea to anthropomorphize a light house; why they avoided dialogue and how it pushed them creatively; how silence and emptiness shape emotional tone; the importance of restraint; and what he's learned about leadership throughout his journey at  Double Fine . This e...