Game Maker's Notebook

Adam Orth chats with narrative designer Meghna Jayanth . Together they discuss Meghna's childhood moving around the world and how those experiences shaped her views; the unique aspects of writing for games; the habits, development woes, and finances of live service games; and how Thirsty Suitors takes players through an authentic and emotional journey. Watch this episode on our YouTube channel. If...

Austin Wintory chats with the composing team collectively known as Ninja Tracks , Kaveh Cohen and Michael Nielsen . Together they discussed how they first met and what drove them to create a composing partnership; how they've worked together across various video games, TV shows, and films; and why they decided to add music publishing to their repertoire. If you enjoyed this episode, please conside...

Trent Kusters  chats with  Alex Ritchie  and  Joel Mason  of  Black Salt Games , developers of the indie hit,  Dredge . Together they discuss their game development journeys; the original ideas around  Dredge and what the early prototypes looked like in terms of art and design; balancing difficulty and consequence in the various zones; and how they introduced an aura of spookiness throughout the g...

Austin Wintory  chats with legendary composer  Grant Kirkhope . Together they discuss his long career composing some of the most iconic music in gaming with titles and series such as  GoldenEye 007 ,  Banjo-Kazooie ,  Donkey Kong ,  World of Warcraft , and  Mario + Rabbids . Watch this episode on our  Youtube  channel. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a  rating and review ....

Austin Wintory  chats with award-winning Composer  Cris Velasco . Together they discuss his long and illustrious career working on some of the biggest franchises in gaming including  Mass Effect ,  God of War ,  Darksiders , and  Borderlands ; and his love of painting and fine art and the ways his two passions inform each other. Watch this episode on our  Youtube  channel. If you enjoyed this epis...

Shuhei Yoshida  chats with  FINAL FANTASY XVI Producer Naoki Yoshida . Together they discuss his career and what led to him helping relaunch  FINAL FANTASY XIV and eventually producing the newest entry in the series; the key decisions they made with  FINAL FANTASY XVI  with their approach to story and gameplay; how they navigated the pandemic and how it impacted development; and his thoughts on wh...

Trent Kusters chats with Sabotage Studio President and Creative Director, Thierry Boulanger . Together they discuss his journey into games including the early influences that led him towards development; founding Sabotage Studio and the design pillars they follow; key lessons they learned creating The Messenger that they implemented in Sea of Stars ; and playing within the limits of retro games wh...

Austin Wintory chats with Jakob Schmid , Co-Founder, Audio Director, and Music Director of Geometric Interactive . Together they discuss Geometric's debut title Cocoon including the way the audio works together with the gameplay to help players solve the games many puzzles; how his background in programming led to the generative systems that create the Cocoon's music; and his long relationship wit...

Ted Price  chats with his colleague and Senior Creative Director at  Insomniac Games ,  Bryan Intihar . Together they discuss  Marvel's Spider-Man 2  including the important pillars that guided development; motivating teams to go beyond what they believe they're capable of; letting experts be experts; identifying the next generation of leaders; the importance of story and characters; and what he h...

Trent Kusters  chats with  Enrique Cabeza  and  David Erosa  from  The Game Kitchen . Together they discuss their hit series  Blasphemous  including how they designed the game around the art direction; their studio history and transitioning from work for hire projects to their own original IP; having a successful first original game and deciding to scrap it all and start from scratch for the seque...

Trent Kusters  chats with  Ben Gabbard  &  David Adams  of  Remnant  series developer  Gunfire Games . Together they discuss their careers including their early work at Vigil Games on the  Darksiders  series; founding  Gunfire Games  and their early projects with  Oculus ; their early ideas for the  Remnant  series including key pillars; learning to be strategic given development restraints; and h...

Adam Orth  chats with CEO of  Super Evil Megacorp ,  Kristian Segerstrale . Together they discuss Kristian's career and how he found himself on the cusp of several emerging platforms; his journey to becoming the CEO of Super Evil Megacorp and what they're doing to transform the studio; his ideas around best practices and methodologies for remote-first game development; and his efforts around clima...

Chris Charla  chats with Director of Development for  Double Fine Productions ,  Kevin Johnson . Together they discuss his intriguing journey within and outside of the games industry; teaching students the game production process from beginning to end; getting a life changing break at Double Fine; managing multiple projects and teams; and the impact of filming a  documentary  while developing a ga...

Ted Price  chats with  Sam Lake , the Creative Director behind  Remedy's  recent release,  Alan Wake II . Together they discuss crafting the world of the Alan Wake; what they learned from their past releases like  Max Payne  and  Control ; the nuances of writing for video games; the benefits and challenges of using live action film in games; and a brief detour into the world of Scandinavian horror...

Chris Charla  chats with  Naughty Dog's  Head of Culture and Communications,  Arne Meyer . Together they discuss his early life playing games and getting his first break in PR working on the launch of the original  Xbox ; how his own personal work in fanzines led to his idea for grassroot ambassadorships inside the gaming community; his start at  Naughty Dog  around the launch of  Uncharted 2: Amo...

Ted Price   chats with   Hilmar Veigar Pétursson , CEO of  CCP Games  the makers of  Eve Online . Together they reflect on 20 years of  Eve Online ; they discuss the social and economic forces that have developed inside Eve's virtual universe; the crucial partnership between CCP Games and the players; how seemingly small decisions can have galactic ripples throughout the Eve universe; and exciting...

Adam Orth  chats with  Ken Levine , the legendary creator behind the  Bioshock  series and the upcoming  Judas . Together they discuss Ken's journey into game writing; using art as a healthy outlet for processing uncomfortable subjects; dealing with the pressure of following up the first  Bioshock  game due to its massive success and popularity; how to tackle complex narratives and concepts aimed...

Ted Price chats with Todd Howard about Bethesda's much anticipated spacefaring RPG,  Starfield . Together they discuss the early ideas that led to Starfield and what the first year of development looked like; how they go about designing multiple complex game systems; how their extensive experience in open world RPGs helped them prioritize goals and milestones; building lore for an expansive origin...

Adam Orth  chats with SVP of Production at  Enhance ,  Mark MacDonald . Together they discuss Enhance's recently released game  Humanity , including the origin of the surreal puzzle-action experience; how Mark and  Tetsuya Miziguchi  met experimental artist  Yugo Nakamura , the game's designer; abstract narratives and how COVID influence their own story during development; and why they decided to...

Strange Scaffold's   Xalavier Nelson Jr.  chats with  Adam Hines  &  Sean Krankel  from  Night School Studio . Together they discuss releasing their latest game,  Oxenfree II: Lost Signals ; how new tools are improving the development process; trying to stay unpredictable as a studio; identifying core principles during development; and writing authentic worlds and characters while working with the...

Adam Orth  chats with  Jaeho Hwang  and  Nolan King  from  MINTROCKET Games , the studio behind the hit sushi restaurant/deep sea exploration RPG,  Dave the Diver . Together they discuss where the idea behind such a unique mishmash began inlcuding various influences inside and outside of games; forming the development team and pitching the game to the publisher; balancing all the gameplay systems...

Austin Wintory  chats with actor  Ben Starr , who played the lead role of Clive Rosfield in the latest entry to the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy XVI . Together they discuss how he started acting and his early love of video games; his thought process behind when getting into character and bringing the writing to life; the psychological toll of performance art; and the difficult but freeing p...

Adam Orth  chats with  Max "Larry" Fink , one of the 3 developers behind the smash hit online shooter,  BattleBit Remastered . Together they discuss the history of BattleBit Remastered's development; how the team uses community feedback; being in the eye of the storm with the massive attention their game has garnered; and the unique design choices that help BattleBit Remastered stand out. The Game...

Austin Wintory  chats with actor  Laura Bailey  about her iconic work in games and animation. Together they discuss her early career and catching her first big break; her work in animation that led to a prolific career in video games; her process for getting into character; being a part of the highly popular  Critical Role ; and working together alongside the all-star cast of the recently released...

We're back with one of our past episodes with Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Creative Director, Marcus Smith!  Ted Price chats with his long-time colleague at Insomniac Games , Marcus Smith. Together they discuss their history at Insomniac Games; his experiences on the Resistance series and Sunset Overdrive; his thoughts on being a creative director; how to build consensus and foster collaboration on...