Pixel Pizza

Get ready to get cryptic with a look into the works of narrative designer Jonas Tarestad! He's collaborated with award-winning Swedish game studio Simogo on games including Year Walk, Device 6, and last year's Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. We discuss engaging players outside of the game, the thin line between the player and the character, and pizza on a farm. Music from Luke Carlin! LINKS: ☁...

This week we sit down with Brazilian 2D animator & 3D artist Juli Ivy! In her 10+ year career in the industry, Juli has worked on lavishly animated games including Skullgirls, Indivisible, and Dawn of the Monsters. We get into graphic design, accessibility in games, and giant robots 🤖 Music from chiptune artist Domesticatrix! ☁️ Juli's BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/fyscuit.cafe 🌐 Jul...

Wake up and listen up 🗣️ for this week's show with singer/songwriter/game developer Devin Santi. He's been deep in development on his debut game, the surreal 3D platformer Mr. Sleepy Man. Devin tells us about the illusion of game feel, processing your emotions through art, and the balance between comedy and horror. With chiptune music from Post_voron! LINKS: 🐦 Devin's Twitter: @Devin_Santi 📺 Dev...

This episode originally aired on February 10, 2023. I can't believe it's been two years since this great chat with Fallen Aces co-creator Trey Powell! In the time since then the game has been released into Early Access on Steam and garnered over 5,000 positive reviews! If you've been enjoying the game and want to know more about Trey, now's the perfect time. Music from Computrhead!...

This week we welcome Canadian power couple Annie Macmillan and Lukas Steinman to the show! They run the studio Max Inferno, best known for their cozy puzzle game A Little to the Left. We discuss the process of translating everyday puzzles into game levels, expanding a game jam project into a full release, and using your website to tell a story. Music from John "Joy" Tay! LINKS: 🔥 Max In...

Whether you're sober or...not so much, treat yourself to a pizza and a chat with COO/Executive Producer at Squanch Games, Matty Studivan! Matty has produced for projects like Dance Central and God of War: Ragnarok, but most recently has been part of the team at Squanch Games developing sci-fi/comedy games like Trover Saves the Universe and High On Life. We talk about the importance of understa...

Change of plans this week! Doing something I've wanted to try for some time, ranking my top 50 favorite games of all time. Strap in because this is a long one. (My voice can hardly handle it by the end 🤣) Whether it's RPGs, shooters, platformers, or roguelikes, you'll find it on this list. Hope you enjoy and see you next week with another interview! Chiptune artist of the week is Sushi-Nator 🍣 L...

Joining us this week on the show is filmmaker and game director Adam Butcher! You might know him best from his viral YouTube horror videos like Crow 64 and Internet Story, but Adam has been making a strong foray into game development with his team at Triangle Wave. Their first major project, Stretchmancer, is a zany and inventive puzzle game inspired by 90's Saturday morning cartoons. Tune in...

This week on Pixel Pizza, we step into the mind of Creative Director at Sunset Visitor, Remy Siu! Remy and his team recently released the acclaimed sci-fi narrative adventure game 1000xResist. We dive deep into Remy's background in live performance production, what the average day of a creative director looks like, and the voice direction process. Music from 380bitworks~ Pizzeria of the Week:...

After a tumultuous start to the new year, we are BACK cooking more Pixel Pizza! 🔥 To start off this season, we are joined by two level designers from Strange Scaffold-- Kevin Ribeiro and Jim Brown. Together they've worked on the critically acclaimed, high-octane shooters El Paso, Elsewhere and I Am Your Beast. Kevin & Jim tell us about using verbs as a guide for level design, creating a J...

For our final show of 2024, we've got a super prolific guest in the sound design world! Akash Thakkar has brought his talents to hit games like Hyper Light Drifter, Destiny, and The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye. On top of that, he hosts the Sound Business podcast, gives industry talks at conferences around the world, and creates YouTube tutorials on sound design skills. We cover his work across...

Joining us this week is our first-ever guest in the localization field, Mai Namba! Mai's got decades of experience in translating and localizing some of the most renowned Japanese RPGs including Persona 2-5, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and Metaphor: ReFantazio. Most recently they've brought their talents to NIS America. Our wide-ranging conversation covers the evolution of game localization with new te...

This week we welcome animation director Chris Burns of Exit 73 Studios to the show! Chris's career started with animated TV shows at networks like Adult Swim and Comedy Central, and his own game-inspired pilots eventually led him to pursuing game dev proper. His studio's first project, the dungeon crawler #BLUD, is a love letter to 90's animation and top-down action games like The Legend of Zelda....

On tap for this week's show is a talk with Washington-based developer Alice Bottino! Alice's gamedev career has taken her to studios like Xbox and Harebrained Schemes, and to the indie space with her current project, the ethereal rhythm game Hyperbeat. We chat about making games out of spite, the similarities between game development and skateboarding, and the importance of a strong aesthetic vibe...

Joining us this week is talented game composer Star Victoria Power, aka Slide20XX ⭐️ They've recently done work on games like Calico and Bloodstained: Dominique's Curse, and were even featured as part of Bandcamp's best soundtrack releases of 2022. Having worked towards making music for games since the age of 13, Star offers a lot of meaningful insight into how to balance pursuing your passions w...

This week on the show we've got the two Brazilian devs that make up Helena Creative Studio-- Gabriel Felipe (Gabs) and Gabriel Vinicius de Souza (GV). Together they've been hard at work on their first game, the upcoming experimental RPG Moth Kubit. It's already made a big impression at the Tokyo Game Show and Latin American Games Showcase, and even been featured in a Nintendo Direct presentation!...

Game director Stoyan Stoyanov unmasks his journey and process on this week's Pixel Pizza! We get deep into his problem-solving strategies, talk about his quest design on Cyberpunk 2077, and reflect on the rapidly changing state of the games industry. Music from Siberia Zero! LINKS: 🌐 Stoyan's Website: https://stoyanovdesign.com/ 💿 Siberia Zero: https://siberiazero.bandcamp.com/

This week we welcome indie developer David Peters to the show! David recently started his career in games with the shoot-em-up Cycle Chaser H-5 and the surreal platformer Somnabuster. Both games are defined by their striking hand drawn art style and arcade like gameplay, both of which we dive deep into on today's show! Featuring music from chiptune artist Mala Society 🎧 LINKS: 🗣️ David's Socials:...

Honored this week to speak with 7x academy award nominated sound designer/composer Kenneth C.M. Young! Kenny's recent work on Astro Bot got rave reviews this year, and his previous time at MediaMolecule included LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway. Kenny dives into his upbringing with Scottish & Applachian music, his unique path into becoming a game composer, and making audio feel like its own charac...

Today on the program we're chatting with South African sound designer Ulysses at Sea! You might've heard his work in games like Desktop Dungeons: Rewind and Tales of Kenzera: Zau. Ulysses and I talk about creating an ecosystem of sounds, building creature voices, and the unexpected ways sounds can resonate with players. Music from Bartizan Chill~ LINKS: 📺 Ulysses's YouTube: https://www.youtube.co...

No pizza this week, just lasagna! Xania Lasagna, that is-- our guest known for her work throughout the PlayDate scene. Xania not only makes games for the indie handheld platform, but also publishes Uncrank'd Magazine and produces the YouTube news show Uncrank'd TV. She tells us about finding the best games on the platform both big and small, her character-first game design process, and mor...

This week on the show we've got Canadian solo indie dev Devon Wiersma! Devon's best known for the graffiti sandbox Bombing!! games, which were inspired by their own experiences as a street artist. They're also currently working on the procedurally generated mech action game Centauri Dark, so there's a lot to talk about with their varied catalog of work! Tune in for that and chiptun...

On this week's Pixel Pizza we talk with indie game journalist & community manager Jupiter Hadley! As a co-founder of news site Big Boss Battle she covers the most innovative releases and game jams. Plus, as a CM for Toya Play Studio, she works on licensed Roblox experiences for popular IP like Miraculous Ladybug. Jupiter gives us some info on her upcoming book about indie games, talks intr...

We've got two incredible guests for you this week! Coming to us from Furniture & Mattress Games are co-founders David Hellman (art director) & Nico Recabarren (game designer). David's best known for his work on the landmark indie game Braid, and Nico made a splash designing acclaimed puzzle game Ethereal. We go over both of their past experiences as well as their time working on th...

Shoutout to all the Rhapsodogs this week, because we're talking with Nico Papalia, creator of the hit indie RPG Athenian Rhapsody! Nico shares his stories about playtesting for comedy, staying physically active while making games, expanding his IP, and making his own pizza. This week's music comes to us from _beto! LINKS: 🎮 Athenian Rhapsody: https://linktr.ee/athenianrhapsody 💿 _beto: h...