Game Dev Advice: The Game Developer's Podcast

Johner Riehl, Vice President and PR Lebowski at Wonacott Communications joins me on this episode. Johner has been in the industry for over 23 years and shares about the Public Relations side of videogames. Hear about his PR experience doing launches for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Pokemon, Pikmin, working with Nintendo, Microsoft, and Midway, plus writing books and runnin...

Game industry veteran Richard Lico joins me on this episode to discuss his career. Hear how he got started in the industry going from SCAD’s 3D Computer Art program to now being the Studio Animation Director at Polyarc 20 years later. Richard talks about working on Triple-A games like Halo, Destiny, and more recently, the indie VR hit, Moss. Learn about working at Bungie, advice to fellow animator...

Richard Khoo, Co-Founder and Game Director of indie studio Khookey joins me on this episode. He shares how he went from a Modder to Designer to Co-Founder working at places like Blizzard, Riot Games, Wargaming, and Pocket Gems. We talk about being recruited by Blizzard in 2004, advice for getting into the industry, furthering your career after you’re in, favorite projects, a few funny stories, gro...

GDA24 Timestamps: [01:11] Introductions [01:20] COVID-19 [02:50] What Are Your Current Roles in the Game Industry? [04:30] Pursuing VR [06:25] Immersive Meditation Experience Through VR [07:40] Babaroga [09:18] How Did You Get Started? [11:30] Video Game QA in the 90s [14:34] What Would You Have Liked to Have Known When You Started? [16:20] Imposter Syndrome as a Newbie Engineer [18:20] What Advic...

Edwin McRae talks about his role as a narrative designer and the various projects he’s working on. Hear how housesitting in New Zealand allows him to move around and work remotely with clients in the U.S., Poland, Denmark, Germany, and locally. Learn how he was a writer for the #1 soap opera in New Zealand and how he made the jump into game development. Hear what he’d wished he’d know when startin...

Bestselling author Blake J. Harris talks about the Console Wars documentary premiering at SXSW after 7 long years in the making, along with it being adapted into an upcoming TV series. Hear how all the key people from that era of the SEGA vs Nintendo battle is part of the documentary to capture what it was really like. Learn my perspective from working for the TurbGrafx-16 and going head-to-head w...

Lead Game Designer David Turkiewicz talks about his current role at Phosphor Games, starting in QA, immigrating from Poland as a kid, and how the NES changed his life. Learn how his love for gaming, comics and animation steered him to The American Academy of Art in Chicago. Hear about his lack of confidence held him back from a UI job and decided to start in QA instead.  Learn the advice he’d give...

Game Director Chip Sineni talks about the project he’s working on that dates back 20 years and how he got into the industry back in 1994 starting in QA. Learn about odd arrangement of the Beavis and Butt-Head console games each done by different developers. Hear his thoughts about the industry now with tools like Unity3D and Unreal Engine letting developers explore game ideas without publishers, a...

NBA Jam writer Reyan Ali talks about being born in the U.S., moving to Pakistan when he was young, and how the NES and Sega Mega Drive II video games influenced him. How the release of NBA Jam got him interested in the NBA, along with getting into Mortal Kombat and working on website in Pakistan. Learn how he wrote a FAQ for the team’s arcade classic The Grid without having actually having played...

28-year video game and toy industry veteran Chris Nicolella talks about moving from the U.S. to living in Bangkok as an expat that included some initial challenges. How he started in the video game industry working at NEC’s TurboGrafx-16, then transitioning to NuFX, which was later acquired by Electronic Arts turning into EA Chicago. Hear the challenges of game industry crunching and what it was l...

25-year industry entrepreneur and designer Doc Mack of Galloping Ghost Productions talks about his game production company and working on his arcade fighting game, “Dark Presence”. How the company has mushroomed into creating the biggest arcade in the world (731 games and counting!), a reproductions company, gym and martial arts studio, automotive repair shop, and a pinball arcade. Learn about his...

+15-year industry veteran John (JJ) Williams of NetherRealm Studios talks about his current role as Advanced Designer at NetherRealm Studios and the challenges we had working on a Disney IP. Learn how he decided to get out of a career as a headhunter with a business degree and into game development. Hear about going back to school for an art degree and getting his first job as a freelance animator...

Nick Laing talks about his new role as Senior Publishing Producer at Amazon Games and working before at Turn 10 Studios on the Forza series. Hear how his path diverted from following in his family’s footsteps to going to a specialized comic book artist school. Learn how in the late 90s iconic comic book companies went bankrupt or struggled to stay in business (it’s hard to believe now). Learn how...

Dwayne Mason of NXA Studios talks about his current role in the company and his career and entrepreneurial aspirations going back to his teens. Hear about the computer revolution while studying to be a graphic designer. How PC Paint and Corel Draw changed his trajectory and focus toward the future. Learn about a chance encounter working as a valet being a big break. Hear how motion capture data wa...

Chris Johnson from the Player One Podcast talks about producing games at Adult Swim for 11 years, and how he got hired. Hear what it was like working on Flash games, the transition to mobile and console, plus working with some well-known indie studios. How moderating the Adult Swim message board in 2002 lead to getting an offer. How in high school he was inspired to create a videogame fanzine, whi...

Tom Eastman and Ben Perez discuss their seven years of running indie developer Trinket Studios, challenges they’ve overcome, lessons learned, advice for getting into the industry, favorite projects, new technologies, loot boxes, guerrilla marketing, YouTubers, funny stories, and thoughts on game production. (See gamedevadvice.com for in-depth show notes and other details.) Learn more about your ad...

The industry’s dirty little secret is in the spotlight again (just Google “intense crunch”) and surprise, everyone’s shocked. Why? It’s been going on since games were on floppy discs. Everyone’s preaching unions. But they’re not going to be your savior, at least any time soon. So instead of waiting for the union tooth fairy, hear my advice for researching and applying to companies that take cultur...

Tim Kitzrow is a video game & pinball legend, having worked on dozens of games, including the arcade BOOMSHAKALAKA!! classic, NBA Jam. Hear how he got started in voice-over work, studied with famous comedians at The Second City, and took on EA with Mutant League Football. Learn about his work in the upcoming Rage 2 along with a special Dota Jam Announcer pack. How NBA Jam is cursed, Shaq would tak...

James Brady started in 2015 and has already worked on games like Red Dead Redemption 2, PUBG, and other blockbusters. The risky decision to leave his job and pursue game dev, then later leave Rockstar. How his Silent Hill fan art went viral. The difference between U.S. & European studios. Why freelancing is safer than being an employee. What it was like experiencing PUBG’s success. Sound design’s...

Hear how CTO Dave Grace was hired as an audio engineer. What it was like working on Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX. How he formed his own company. Worked at Square Enix on Final Fantasy XV. Advice for getting in the industry plus what careers are always in demand. Learn the importance of reputation. Worked on Sly Cooper, Spyro 3, and other games. Challenges around unionization. Tax breaks for studios in...

Hear how 3D artist Humberto (Tito) Gamboa was hired. How schools often teach outdated tech. Working at a small game studio. Thoughts on online communities & industry events. Why you need to learn beyond school. The value of Twitter, Discord, ArtStation & 80 Level. Tips for applying to game studios. Ideas on learning different art tools. Discussion on unionization. Strategies on being prepared for...

-Hear from developer & CEO Patrick Curry who talks about his company, FarBridge. -Learn about his early career in web dev and transitioning to game dev. -Learn about the early days of mobile phone game dev. -Hear ideas on how to improve as a designer. -Learn about working on games like Stranglehold & Guilty Party. -Hear how a previous company was acquired by Unity. -Hear a funny story about going...

-Part 2 of 2 w/Mike Antonicelli who shares how to expand your skills as a freelancer -Learn how he works remotely from locations like Brazil and Chile -Hear freelancer work methodologies that can also be applied as a remote employee -Learn how to get an advantage when applying for jobs that most people don’t do -Hear what other developers look for when hiring freelance talent -Learn perspectives o...

-Hear how he learned about the game industry as a career -How studying computer animation lead to an internship -Learn the type of work he did as an unpaid intern -Hear the risks he took moving to LA to be an intern, again -How he was mentored by industry legends -Learn about his bizarre 1st freelancing job -How persistence paid off and working with Disney Interactive -How it's critical to keep yo...

-Learn how he transitioned into the game industry -James Bond and Stephen King books that were made into games -Learn about the Austin game dev roots -Working with Richard Garriott and the evolution of Ultima -Listen to advice on working in game development -Learn when the graphics explosion started in games -How GWAR! played a Microsoft Doom haunted house party -Hear about writing James Bond -Dis...