Pixel Pizza

Once again we are lucky enough to have three guests on the show! Three co-founders of Moonlight Kids are with us (pictured right to left)-- artist Justin Baldwin, programmer Ankit Trivedi, and game designer Chris Sumsky-- and they each share their perspectives on making the gorgeous adventure game The Wild at Heart. We discuss balancing tone in a game about childhood, lessons learned from dev...

This week we have a record-breaking THREE guests! Coming to us all the way from Italy are some of the developers behind the oddly relaxing indie hit, Placid Plastic Duck Simulator. Game designer Valerio Bernardino, composer Francesco Clemente, and programmer Mattheo Chironi break down how this "game about nothing" came to be, the small details they are proudest of, and the importance of...

Listen up, punks! This week it's our 50th episode and we've got the kingpin of retro FPS games himself, Trey Powell, on the scene. Hot off the presses are some facts about his highly-anticipated noir shooter, Fallen Aces. And don't touch that dial or you'll miss some swingin' music from the chiptune maestro Computrhead. If you don't listen, you'll be sleepin' in the...

Just when you thought you were safe...in comes the most cursed episode of Pixel Pizza yet 😱 That's right, joining us is the creator & director of Cursed to Golf, Liam Edwards! But seriously- this was one of the most fun chats on this show yet. Liam discusses how realizing the things he wasn't good at brought him to game development, the importance of being a nice person in the industry, and p...

Happy one-year anniversary to Pixel Pizza! Can't believe it's been a full year since our journey into podcasting. I was a little too sick for a full-on celebration this week, but enjoy this chill little chat with the director of Obvious Gravity Games, Jordan Marx! We dive deep into the studio's debut game, Otto and the Ancient Worlds. Some topics discussed include how to modernize classic game des...

🎊 2023 is here and we ain't stoppin' the pizza train! 🎊 Joining us from Spain is Sergio Fernández, Community Manager and Script Writer for the indie team Aeternum Game Studios. They recently launched their killer hand-drawn Metroidvania, Aeterna Noctis, as well as the roguelike follow-up, Summum Aeterna. So we have a lot of good material to chat about! Sergio discusses building out a community,...

Send off 2022 with one last slice of Pixel Pizza! The guest this week is Leo Dasso, an indie game developer and consultant working on the gorgeous paranormal twin-stick adventure game Hauntii. The incomparable RiZi brings us a set of beats to round things out! LINKS: 🐦Leo’s Twitter: @RealZigZagLeo 🌕Moonloop Games: moonloop.games 👻Hauntii: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2060790/Hauntii/ 💿Ri...

Happy Holidays, pizza lovers! Take a seat by the fireplace, sip on some hot cocoa, and listen to our penultimate episode of 2022. This week we have brothers Paulo & Pavel Lara on to talk about their upcoming Day of the Dead-inspired adventure game, Kulebra & The Souls of Limbo! The three of us talk about Kulebra's many iterations before its current look, re-attempting a Kickstarter, design...

Hot off the heels of releasing his latest game, River City Girls 2, director Bannon Rudis of WayForward sits down for a chat on Pixel Pizza! He tells us about his start in the film industry and transitioning over to games, how he records his own fighting moves as reference for his games, and designing a more nonlinear structure for RCG2 compared to the original. BitVortex sets the vibe for us with...

Join us this week for a chat with the up-and-coming Indian development team I Miss My Friends Studio! Writer/Art Director Rhea Gupte and Artist/Programmer Prateek Saxena formed their two-person studio during the pandemic. Their first game, Fishbowl, is based on their experiences during lockdown. We discuss how they've approached their first-ever game, the online resources they've used to figure ou...

Joining us as our latest game industry guest is writer Merritt K. Merritt is the Managing Editor at Fanbyte, an Artist-in-Residence at NYU, and writer/editor of the book "Videogames for Humans" as well as the upcoming "LAN Party"! With all that background plus her own history as a podcaster and game developer, we've got a lot to talk about. So pull up a chair, grab a snack,...

It might have just been Turkey Day here in the USA, but hope you've saved room for pizza! My awesome grad school colleague Joey Yeo joins in today to chat about how early 2000's internet culture introduced her to game design, learning to work on larger teams, and how to make things more efficient for your coworkers. Our chiptune artist of the week this time is Castle Turing! Not to date the episod...

Come on over and hear from Komi Games CEO, Julian Spillane! His studio has done a wide variety of stuff, including developing Mighty Fight Federation and Use Your Words, porting games like Fossil Hunters and Halycon6 to console, and providing support on Psychonauts 2 and King of Fighters XV. With all that background, Julian shares a treasure trove of knowledge about navigating the industry! Plus s...

Today we dive into the heart of one of Hollywood's most prolific animators, Seth Kearsley! He's worked with every animation studio under the sun--Disney, Sony Pictures, Fox, Warner Bros, Dreamworks, Illumination, the list goes on--but you probably know him best for developing the Kingdom Hearts pilot animatic that's recently made the rounds online. We chat about his development as an artist, how h...

Get ready for a tootin' good time with the creator of viral hit Trombone Champ, Dan Vecchitto! We chat about making games in Brooklyn, "yes and"-ing your game ideas, and even get a bit real about the emotional weight of games. But make no mistake, this is still very much an episode about the world's premiere virtual trombone simulator(?). For you to fully understand the Trombone Champ experience,...

Choose your pizza and get ready to fight on this week's episode! Matt DeLucas is in the (Zoom) house talking about making his own fighting games, Battle High and MerFight. And it's not only those-- he's been working with the studio Fighting Chance on their drag queen-inspired fighter, Drag Her! Plenty of cool game design nuggets on this episode. Plus, MisfitChris gives us some throwback trance off...

It's a double order of pizza this week when PS1/Dreamcast-inspired musician Pizza Hotline (aka Harvey Jones) joins the show! He's just released the new album Level Select. It's been a smash hit not only on all the streaming platforms, but also on PS1 and Dreamcast discs?! We get into that, plus how to create a sonic mood board, promoting your work, and performing in VR Chat! This week's musical in...

Welcome back, Pixel Pizza community! This week we are joined by Kay-Lynne Fehr, Community Manager at Noodlecake Studios. Noodlecake is both a developer and a publisher-- you might've heard of their in-house games like Golf Blitz and their collaborations like Soundfall. Kay-Lynne tells us about her role in helping to launch both types of games and managing their player bases post-launch. If you've...

The year is 2022...and Pixel Pizza is chatting with one of the UK's most prolific gaming content creators, Daniel Ibbertson - better known as DJ Slope! You may know him from his popular YouTube series "The Complete History" and "Kickscammers", or from his live podcast called the Slopescast. We delve into all three of those, plus his work as an actual DJ, how he transitioned into being a full-time...

Prepare to vibe out with some chill beats from this week's guest, Joe Burke (better known as Obfusc)! His ambient tracks have been featured in hit indie games like Monument Valley, Neocab, and Harlow. Joe talks about his process of gathering field recordings, how he collaborates with devs to understand their vision for the sound of the game, and how he transitioned from having his tracks featured...

Join us this week on the Pixel Pizza Podcast for a special chat with PR pioneer Matt Atwood! Matt's been around the block, starting as a voice actor for Working Designs in the 90's to mastering the world of gaming PR at companies like Sega, Capcom, 2K, and EA. We chat about how the process has changed in that time, as well as more practical tips like how to communicate the essence of what makes a...

Time to make the impossible possible! This week on the show we've got art director and industry veteran Vincent Perea. You may have seen his work at studios like Disney Interactive and Jam City, or on indie hits like Neocab and The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom. He gives some insightful thoughts on the different ways that art direction can work together with game design, plus much more! Takin...

Prepare for trouble...the good kind! Joining in this week is Arman Nobari, the founder of Good Trouble Games. He discusses how his background in UX and portrait art and a battle with cancer and a brain tumor (CW if that subject is sensitive to you) led him to create his own game, Harlow! Also very excited to have music from an artist I've long been a fan of, Mega Flare! LINKS: 🎮 Good Trouble Game...

Knock knock! New pizza at the door. This time it's with a couple of awesome peeps from Black Cube Games: Narrative Designer Ehsan Tahmoures, and Gameplay/Tools Programmer Hosein Akbari! We chat about their recent release, The Tale of Bistun. It's an adaptation of a Persian myth and it's been getting rave reviews from around the world. Hear all about it and then go check it out on Xbox or PC! Music...

Following up on last week's show, we are joined by Sweet Baby CEO Kim Belair! Kim's background writing for games ranges from AAA hits like Assassin's Creed: Valhalla to innovative indies like Lost Your Marbles on the Playdate. She discusses founding the studio and her missions to make the industry more accessible for newcomers and give opportunities to developers from underrepresented backgrounds....