Pixel Pizza

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...

Take a trip out of the airwaves and Into the Unwell with Mathias Johansson and Andreas Göransson of the Swedish game studio She Was Such a Good Horse! Mathias is the studio's Co-Founder and Andreas is its Creative Community Manager, and they're currently hard at work on the cartoon-inspired roguelike brawler/platformer Into the Unwell. We discuss recreating the classic rubber-hose animatio...

You made it to Friday! 🙌 Rest your weary head with an all-new Pixel Pizza featuring two of the founding members of the Zurich-based Lululu Entertainment. Aaron Abt & Tim Bürge join the show to discuss their multiplayer boomerang action game Bamerang and the super unique recently released puzzle game, Henry Halfhead! Featuring music from The Divingons! LINKS: 🗣️ Lululu Socials: @LululuEntertai...

Tune in to an all-new episode of the Pixel Pizza Podcast featuring music video director, commercial producer, and game developer Jennifer Jupiter Stratford! JJ's new FMV game Blippo+ is out on PlayDate and coming soon to Nintendo Switch. We get into recapturing the public access era of TV in a loving and authentic way, building confidence as an artist, and also her work with Sabrina Carpenter!...

Drop on in for an extremely fun episode this week featuring the director of the acclaimed indie adventure game OneShot, NightMargin! She tells us about pivoting from biology studies to game development, the process of creating OneShot, and her current work on the upcoming Margin of the Strange! Then we swap stories about our strangest dreams and keeping things too long in the freezer. Featuring mu...

Dive into a new Pixel Pizza featuring accomplished game designer James Beech! James has contributed design work to AAA games like Crysis 3, Darksiders 3, and Metroid Prime...4! He's also been making his own independent games: the philosophical exploration-focused titles Ultraworld and Carceri. We discuss gameplay flow in Metroidvanias, telling a story within an individual game level, and go to...

This week we had a blast chatting with Galen Drew, Art Director at Aggro Crab! Galen's worked on a number of VR and AR projects for major studios, the award-winning soulslike Another Crab's Treasure, and recently released one of the summer's biggest hit games: Peak. Galen tells us about the joy of the process over the product, the challenges of going into a leadership role as a creativ...

This episode originally aired on December 22nd, 2023. Excited to revisit one of our most popular episodes, a talk from nearly 2 years ago with indie developer InsertDisc5 aka Adrienne Bazir! In the time since this episode went up, Adrienne has released a new visual novel called This Game Will End in 205 Clicks. She's also announced her next major project, Truth Scrapper! Learn more about her b...

Rain or shine, we are here with another Pixel Pizza! This week's guest is Doinksoft Creative Director, Britt Brady. Britt and his team have put out some incredible pixelated action games including Gato Roboto, Gunbrella, and Demon Throttle. Britt discusses his process on character controls, team communication, and his side projects for the Game Boy Color. Plus new music from Minus World! LINKS...

On this week's show it was a blast talking with the Nebula Award-nominated and BAFTA longlisted narrative designer/writer, Karrie Shao! You might know her best from the recent roguelike hit Pacific Drive, but she's also worked on the lore for League of Legends and done marketing for games like BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. We get into all of the unique opportunities she's had in her caree...

On this week's show we're talking with Systems Designer Jan Stec Russo! His work has spanned across multiple studios, including Toys For Bob, Schell Games, Phoenix Labs, and his current role at Magic Soup. Jan talks about nailing down Crash's signature spin move in Crash 4 & Crash Team Rumble, mentoring young designers, and how he processed getting laid off and was able to move on. With music...

This week on the show we've got the designer of two of the most iconic and artistic games to hit mobile: Monument Valley and Florence! Ken Wong tells us about how fan art led us to his work on Alice: Madness Returns, designing games with social media UI in mind, and taking (and giving) inspiration from a variety of sources. Plus, music from Bloomfield Machine! LINKS: 📸 Ken's Instagram: @K...

Get some valuable insight on leadership, solo game development, and persistence with this week's guest: Renee Gittins! Renee served as Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association and General Manager at Phoenix Labs (developers of Dauntless) among many other studios before starting her own studio, Stumbling Cat. Alongside game development, she also makes comedic TikTok v...

This pizza IS fit for consumption 🍴 Take a seat and join us for a delicious chat with Consume Me developers Jenny Jiao Hsia & AP Thomson! Jenny and AP share a bit about bringing the game's minigames into a cohesive whole, taking on hobbies outside of game development, and the teenage experience. With music from The Red Noob! LINKS: 🎮 Consume Me: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2359120...

Take a seat by the campfire and join us for a deep conversation with Vidu of Team Empreintes, developers of the asymmetrical conversation game Fireside Feelings. Vidu tells us about how he pivoted from working on film to games, making an experience focused on listening, and sending pop-up cards to publishers! With music from Hoznok~ LINKS: 📸 Team Empreintes Instagram: @team_empreintes ☁️ Team Emp...