Pixel Pizza

Joining us on Pixel Pizza this week is my fellow CMU alum Lawrence Plofker! For the past five years Lawrence has been a game designer at Simcoach Games, developing educational experiences for players on the autism spectrum. We get into his experiences playtesting, teaching life skills through games, and the wider success of the team's game Tidekeeper. Ft music from Cloning People! LINKS: 🌐 La...

Joining us this week is multitalented game designer Osama Dorias! Osama's wealth of experiences extend from mobile games with Gameloft to AAA games like Diablo IV and Gotham Knights to his current independent venture with HeartLoop Games! His small team at HeartLoop is currently working on the roguelike fighting game Poly Fighter. We chat about how developers can bring their personal experienc...

Go out and touch some grass while you listen to this week's Pixel Pizza! We've got Connor Quinn, one of the devs behind the wholesome adventure Lil' Gator Game, joining us this week. Connor talks about growing up with ADD, his core pillars of what makes a good game, and the recently-released "In the Dark" expansion. Featuring music from Spring 🌸 LINKS: 🎮 Mega Wobble Games:...

We've made it to EPISODE 200 BABYYYY! (shhh never mind the encores) I loved what we did last time to celebrate: Hearing from former guests about where their professional and personal journeys have taken them since appearing on the show. So I decided to do it again! Who needs originality anyway? Join the party and listen to what nine super talented game industry folks have to share. Plus heavy meta...

On episode 199 of the Pixel Pizza Podcast (yes really!), our game industry guest is Nitrome's Mat Annal! In his prolific career so far, Mat's worked on dozens of games spanning flash, mobile, and console platforms. We discuss the missed opportunities that ultimately built up his career, collaborating with Yacht Club Games on Shovel Knight Dig, and how the team built their Switch 2 exclusiv...

Settle in for a brand new Pixel Pizza, where we're speaking to Argentinian developer Kenneth Azcurra! Kenneth is the Chief Technical Officer at indie studio GamKat, who just released their cozy puzzle game Piece by Piece (the one with the fox 🦊). Kenneth tells us about his time teaching as a university professor, building a popular Unity plugin, and lessons learned porting/optimizing Piece by...

This episode originally aired on May 17, 2024. It's GDC week, so most devs are out of town! But it makes for a good excuse to revisit an older episode that I've heard a bunch of people say they really enjoyed featuring environment artist Sophie Stübinger. Since this episode aired, Sophie's worked on the recent Double Fine game Keeper and is currently doing environment art over at Anchor Point Stud...

Gear up for an all-new Pixel Pizza with multidisciplinary artist Mark LaCroix! Mark runs the development & publishing studio Noble Robot. He talks about creating animations for the show Parks & Recreation, building an open-source engine for the PlayDate handheld, game design philosophies, and his involvement on previous guest JJ's Blippo+! Plus lots more AND music from Kaskatron! LINKS...

Enter the strange world of the Outer Zone with its Denmark-based studio head Malte Burup! Malte is behind the dystopian psychology simulation Mind Scanners and the grid-based soulslike Death Howl (recently released on consoles)! He tells us about creating haunting pixel art, leaning into the perception of your game, and paper prototypes. With music from KB! LINKS: ☁️ Outer Zone BlueSky: theouterzo...

Draw your sword and SLICE 'em up :P This week we welcome Danilo Barbosa, lead dev at Spanish studio Retro Reactor, to the show! Dan created the high-stakes samurai fighting games One Strike and Two Strikes, where as the titles suggest a single hit or two decides a match. He talks about his previous work on educational games, authentically capturing Japanese history and style, and the inclusion...

Throw some AA batteries into your listening device (it's totally there, I swear) and get ready for this week's show with homebrew Game Boy developer Max Oakland! Max recently released his open-world platformer, Wink & the Broken Robot, on real cartridges. He tells us about all the pieces that go into creating physical copies, his other creative passions like music and claymation, and t...

Get a crash course on all things gaming PR this week from industry vet Stephanie Tinsley Fitzwilliam of boutique agency Tinsley PR! Stephanie talks about her journey promoting games from the PS1 era to launching the Xbox 360 all the way to last year’s award-winning phenomenon Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. She dissects how media consumption has changed (for better or worse) in that time, and how we...

It's a blast from the past on this week's Pixel Pizza as I catch up with my former game development teacher Sam Eng! Sam is a founding member of the NYC developer workspace GUMBO, and the creator of last year's surreal hit Skate Story 🛹 He gives insight on capturing the danger and physics of skateboarding, promoting on social media, the benefits of avoiding reviews, and a whole lot mo...

This week we welcome concept artist, UI artist, and 3D modeler Silvia Lara Blanco to the show! Silvia currently works at Undercoders, the Spanish development studio behind the upcoming high-octane train runner game Denshattack! She tells us about her passion for accessibility in UI, the way Denshattack's exaggerated sense of scale comes to life, and how she's been passing on her gamedev kn...

Hey and welcome back to the show! On the mic with us this week is Creative Director at Thunder Lotus, Nicolas Guérin. An industry veteran of 20 years, Nick worked on AAA titles like the Assassin's Creed franchise before working on the beloved indie game Spiritfarer. We discuss the themes of his upcoming project At Fate's End, the artistry of Rayman Origins, and how games can help us proces...

After a holiday hiatus, Pixel Pizza is hatching into the new year with Austo, lead developer at New Future Kids ✨ He's currently working on the cozy digital pet sim Bobo Bay! We discuss building upon the influences of Sonic Adventure 2's beloved Chao Garden mode, building a community on Patreon, water physics, and more. With music from Falling Starheart! LINKS: 🎮 Bobo Bay: https://store....

Suit up for an all-new Pixel Pizza! Joining us from Chicago is the President of Trinket Studios, Tom Eastman. You may know their work from the Kickstarter success Battle Chef Brigade and the recently released sci-fi deckbuilder Battle Suit Aces 🚀 Tom shares stories about his time working on games for Disney, how he formed a three-person studio, and the unique challenges of developing and marketin...

Sitting down with us this week is the incredibly talented animator Aniket Natekar! Aniket most recently was Animation Director on one of this year's breakout hit games, Dispatch. Aniket discusses his beginnings in animated film, entering the game industry at Hangar 13, and the process behind some of Dispatch's most hard-hitting scenes. Featuring chiptune music from Aubery aka Elysian Tunes...

We're back after a holiday break with a jam-packed new episode! This week we are joined by Dmitry Minsky of the Lithuanian game studio Button Mash. The demo of their upcoming typing battle royale game, Final Sentence, has been making waves on Steam for its unique premise and addictive gameplay loop. Dmitry goes into the many failed projects it took before finding success, the importance of kee...

Joining us this week is developer of the beloved Runner series, Mike Roush of Choice Provisions! We revisit Mike's career through his days at Santa Cruz Games, then making his own games at the beginning of digital distribution for consoles and mobile, all the way to his more recent work with Riot Games on Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story. Plus, we go deep into our shared love and memo...

Put on your nicest pair of headphones and get ready for a masterful audio experience with music designer Seth Wright! Seth's brought his talents to acclaimed titles like Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Marvel's Iron Man VR, and Batman: Arkham Shadow. Most recently he's gone freelance and founded Wright Music Interactive. We discuss the making of those projects and a bunch more on this w...

We are back with a brand new game industry interview, and it's a blast! WayForward Producer Austin Ivansmith joins us to talk about his directorial process on games like DuckTales Remastered and The Mummy Demastered, as well as the live TV-like interactive experience Silent Hill: Ascension. We also discuss unconventional ways to communicate your vision to your teammates, typos in emails, and w...

No new guest this week, sorry! 😞 Rather than another encore episode, though, I decided to use this week to yap about all the games I've played this year so far. From a software perspective it's been an incredible year for gaming and I've had so many unforgettable experiences going through many of these titles. Regardless of if you want recommendations for stuff to check out or just ne...

Get crafty with us this week as we chat with Art Director & UI Artist Sofie Wikström! Sofie worked for years on the LittleBigPlanet franchise, as well as other popular titles like SteamWorld Build and the recently released Islanders: New Shores. She tells us about overcoming burnout, breaking down the art style of a franchise when developing sequels, and the importance of making environments l...

This week we have a fantastic conversation with Co-Lead at 7th Beat Games, Kyle Labriola! Kyle has worked on the popular rhythm games A Dance of Fire and Ice and Rhythm Doctor, and he's also done animation work on some of the Jackbox games. We discuss how Kyle "fell into" the industry, his initial reluctance to call himself a game developer, how Rhythm Doctor has evolved in its 10+ y...