Game Dev Unchained

An amazing and unbelievable story to share this week as we sit with Joey Betz, Lead Engineer to talk about his early days as a flash game developer, working on 1 game a week for 5 weeks and coming up with the game that was "referenced" to create Angry Birds. To top it all off, he left all kinds of good advice on starting small :) Thanks for our Patrons for support: Paul Miller Jr., Jarvis Mcgee, H...

10 years have passed as our long time friend, Veara Suon, reminisce about how things were with us. We take a look at what our achievements are now compared to our aspirations back when we were students and discuss how it all lines up. Most importantly, we go over the tropes and trappings entering the industry and look forward to the next ten years of our career. Thanks for our Patrons for support:...

In this Roundtable News we talk about last month's biggest industry headliners that affects gamers and game developers. Our discussion includes: Nintendo Labo, Jesse Cliff, the Overwatch League, Fortnite reaching 40 million players, and Microsoft rumours buying Valve. Thanks for our Patrons for support: Paul Miller Jr., Jarvis Mcgee, Habib Khan, Jan Tverdik, Kelvin Reid, Garrett Gustafson Support...

Norman Wilson is the Founder & CEO of Squeaky Grease Productions. He is working on the studio's first game called "A Shadow's Trail." After spending years in a for-profit art school and racking up student loan debt, Norman gets thrown into the chaos of the job market and got stuck in limbo. In this episode, we discuss the realities of the game industry and how his perseverance led him to start his...

We have with us this week Gary D. Nissenbaum, Esq. of the Nissenbaum Law Group, a law firm that represents a wide range of business clients, from single person start-ups to multi-national corporations. One of the firm’s focuses involves intellectual property matters, including entertainment law, apps, websites and video games. All eight of the firm’s lawyers practice in those areas. The Nissenbaum...

Teddy Bergsman, is the CEO and founder of Quixel. In this episode he talks about what it's like dreaming up and developing the tools that revolutionized 3D art in games with Quixel Megascans and Quixel Suite. Hear what inspired him to make it, how he handled early resistance, and what's on the horizon moving forward. Quixel's first product, the Photoshop-based normal-creation toolset NDO, was an i...

Klaus Pederson is the CEO of Bedtime Digital Games. He's been with the team since the teams debut game Back to Bed was just a student project that was successfully kickstarted and successfully launched. Now after shipping Chronology and Figment Klaus reflects with us all the highs and lows of being an indie studio in Denmark. We also explore versatile business development with Klaus and how the gr...

We look back at a fun year of interviews with top talents and talk about our goals for the upcoming year. Thanks for our Patrons for support: Paul Miller Jr., Jarvis Mcgee, Habib Khan, Jan Tverdik, Kelvin Reid, Garrett Gustafson Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/gamedevunchained Check us out on our website www.gamedevunchained.com/ Join our community on Discord discord.gg/sJtGmpV

Michael Rud started his career as an artist and eventually made the transition from Lead Artist to Lead Designer at IO Interactive on Hitman. He now runs his own studio and Playwood Project with their first game Wartile in early access on Steam. In this episode, we go over everything from his personal career pivots to game design philosophy using table tops as prototyping tools. You don't want to...

Another month passes calls for another episode of Roundtable News. Our segment that welcomes an open discussion on the recent month's biggest news in the industry and how it affects game developers worldwide. Topics this week includes: Net Neutrality Repealed EA microtransactions EA Buys Respawn Star Citizen being sued twice 2017 VGA Walt Disney Ownage How to Enter into our Raffle: http://bit.ly/2...

They say a picture's worth a thousand words, and this man writes every one of them. Edwin McRae joins the podcast this week to go over writing memorable dialogue for game characters, how he got here from television and most importantly the tools for killing characters off in a diabolic plot twist. This is a can't miss podcast for anyone interested in writing for games. https://www.edmcrae.com/ htt...

Working in the game industry and being able to make games is a privilege. But being able to ship games with your best friend while hanging out at work is pure fun! This week we interview the Chris' who have worked at multiple companies together throughout their careers and are currently working as Producers to ship games side-by-side at Survios. We talk about the how they managed to stick together...

Net Neutrality Repeal vs. Gaming. What it means, what may happen to your games and what you can do to help. (*Our individual opinions) http://act.freepress.net/letter/internet_fcc_nprm_nn_2017/ Thanks for our Patrons for support: Muti Banda, and Paul Miller Jr., Jarvis Mcgee, Jan Tverdik, Kelvin Reid, Garrett Gustafson Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/gamedevunchained Check us out on our web...

Maria Vasilchikova is a HR Manager that has worked at Obsidian Entertainment and now Pound Sand Games. She shares her knowledge on what recruiters are looking for and the Do's and Don'ts when it comes to applying for jobs. Our conversation ranges from never burning bridges and how Social Profiles plays a role in a applicant's hiring process. Thanks for our Patrons for support: Muti Banda, and Paul...

Alvin Nelson walks us through his career from QA to Producer to Being a product manager at a major publisher. By being on both sides of development and financing Alvin gives us his perspective of what it takes to be a good producer and to avoid the pitfalls of game development. Thanks for our Patrons for support: Muti Banda, and Paul Miller Jr., Jarvis Mcgee, Jan Tverdik, Kelvin Reid, Garrett Gust...

Taking a look into the future of consoles as Brandon and Larry break down their thoughts and expectations of the life expectancy of the next generation of Sony and Microsoft console hardware!

This week's Roundtable News includes discussion on the sexual allegations against Naughty Dog, Visceral Games closure affecting over 100 employees, the Death of Single Player Games, Day Z backlash on being in early access since 2013, and XBOX ONE X upcoming release. Thanks for our Patrons for support: Muti Banda, and Paul Miller Jr., Jarvis Mcgee, Jan Tverdik, Kelvin Reid, Garrett Gustafson Suppor...

Phil Tibitoski from Young Horses co found Young Horses and co created Octodad: Dadliest Catch. What started out as a fun student project in 2011 became a hit game in 2014. In this episode, Phil walks us through the beginnings of the wild ride him and his team underwent and the stories and tribulations of creating a Indie studio. Also, we dive into what it means to make a follow up and how lessons...

This is an exciting episode that is relevant to everyone that is interested in Indie Development. The biggest risk to any game is over-scoping and not having enough time. SomaSim founders, Matt and Robert, walk us through their process of making their first game within a year and using the lessons learned into making their followup dream game, Project Highrise. Priceless knowledge is shared from q...

This is our first episode of Glassdoor Confessions where we look at Glassdoor reviews for Kojima Productions (Konami Subsidiary) and try to find out what really went on? Collin Fogel joins us on this panel as we speculate and relate to the praises and complaints of this now defunct company. Kojima Productions lives on as a independent studio and has since been cut off from the Konami family. https...

Going Deep is a new segment that we are adding to the podcast that will focus on a breakout game that challenges the current trends in the industry. We look at all aspects of why Player's Unknown Battle Grounds is such a phenomenal success in terms of game design, sales, and spectator ship. Mike Birkhead returns to lead the charge in this full breakdown analysis about what makes this game so speci...

Roundtable News is when we gather game industry professionals and review gaming and game development biggest topics of the month. Opinions are completely our own and do not represent companies we work for. Please don't get us fired! Thanks for our Patrons for support: Muti Banda, and Paul Miller Jr., Jarvis Mcgee, Jan Tverdik, Robert Detrick, Kelvin Reid, Garrett Gustafson Support us on Patreon: w...

Imran Sheikh is a concept artist that has an expansive career both in games and in the television/movie industry. In this episode, he takes us back to the beginning of his journey when Pandemic Studios was at its height of success to its eventual closure. Going over what went right and what went wrong. Also talks about his general philosophy in life and all else. https://www.artstation.com/imransh...

Scott Knapp is a Lighting Artist that has worked in both the movies and game industry. We discuss about the emergence of Lighting defining next gen quality and the difference of working in both industries as a lighter. Guest Awareness: If you are suffering from depression please reach out to friends and family. If you are looking for an organization for assistance please refer to AFSP (American Fo...

The Fullbright team hit a homerun with their first indie title "Gone Home" and are back at it again with their new game "Tacoma." The only thing that's harder than proving yourself the first time, is proving yourself again with your second title. Thankfully, we have co founder, Steve Gaynor, stopping by to discuss the challenges of managing as both a creative and business man. Also, he give us som...