Hey, Good Game

Episode 26: Jeff Petriello, a game producer at the New York Times and a game design educator at NYU Game Center, shares his unique journey from producing movies to producing games played by millions of people. Go behind the scenes at the New York Times, learn what it's like to shepherd hits like Wordle, and create games from scratch like Strands. Working closely with the New Games Squad and the Ga...

Right before the New York Times announced they acquired Wordle in the low-mid seven figures, Aaron attempted to buy Wordle, and wordle.com. Listen to Aaron's story on why he started building games, and how that led to his attempt to purchase the popular daily word game that took the world by storm. How close did he get? Listen and find out! -- (00:00) - Introduction to the Hey, Good Game Podcast (...

Episode 24: In this episode, explores the journey of Mark and Jeff Rogers, creators of Canuckle and Canoku games, inspired by Wordle. It delves into their background, game development process, hiatus, renewal with added features, community engagement strategies, collaborations with other game creators and notable organizations, partnerships for sponsorships and merchandise, future plans, and poten...

Episode 23: In this episode, we dive deep into the creative process behind the game WordPeaks with its creator, Devin Spikowski. Discover the inspirations, design decisions, and the unique journey from concept to a game enjoyed by thousands. Check out Devin's Games and Resources: https://vegeta897.github.io/word-peaks/ https://twitter.com/vegeta897 https://github.com/vegeta897 https://cohost.org/v...

Episode 22: This conversation features a deep and insightful discussion with Frank Lantz, the director of the New York University Game Center and an award-winning game designer. Throughout the interview, Lantz explores the intricate relationship between games, culture, and education, highlighting how games can serve as a potent medium for both artistic expression and intellectual challenge. Check...

Episode 21: David Turner created Semantle.com, a unique word-guessing game focusing on semantic relationships. Turner shares insights on his journey from ideation to acquisition, his creative process, and upcoming projects like a graphical adventure game. We also chat about game design challenges, user testing, creativity in game development, and effective marketing strategies. Check out David's g...

Episode 20: Grant Warman, the creator of Polygonle and Quadragonal word games, discussing the game mechanics, user feedback, collaboration with other games, and plans for future projects. Check out Grant's games and links: https://polygonle.com/ https://quadragonle.com/ https://www.reddit.com/r/polygonle/ https://discord.gg/ https://www.facebook.com/people/Polygonle https://twitter.com/PolygonleGa...

Episode 19: James Robinson runs the ever-popular game, Wafflegame.net. In his first-ever podcast, he shares the history of Waffle, where it is headed, and how it has reached 500,000 daily players. James discusses the game's design, user feedback, and the human-centric approach to game creation. Themes include his accidental success, and the future plans for Waffle Studio. Check out James's games a...

Episode 18: Today's episode join me and lets explore the fascinating journey of Minesweeper through an interview with Damien Moore, the visionary behind MinesweeperGame.com. Delve into the origins of Minesweeper, the celebrities who played this game, its evolution, strategic gameplay, online community, and the intricate mathematics that define this beloved game. Check out Damien's games and links:...

Hey, Good Game podcast hosts Nate Kadlac and Aaron Kardell attend the GDC conference in San Francisco for the first time. They share their experiences at the event, interactions with different booths, and their plans for potential future participation. Check out Hey GG's games and links: https://www.hey.gg/ https://lilsnack.co/ https://poki.com/ https://www.coolmathgames.com/ -- (00:00) - Welcome...

Episode 16: Today's episode features an interview with Jeff Chen, the creator of the new game Squeezy, discussing his journey in creating the game, his experience in puzzle making and writing, including the challenges and successes. Jeff also shares his writing experience and the upcoming puzzle book collaboration with Stuart Gibbs. He emphasizes the importance of persistence, listening to feedbac...

Episode 15: In today's episode features an interview with Jeff Widderich, the president of Syndicated Puzzles, who discusses his background, experience on Dragon's Den, game creation, the challenges faced in the puzzle industry, and the future of game design. Widderich shares insights on the importance of spatial thinking, the necessity for new and innovative puzzles, the competitive nature of puz...

Today we're excited to sit down with Richard Mann, the CEO and founder of Nerdle, a math game similar to Wordle. Richard discusses the development of Nerdle, the challenges of creating math games that are fun for kids, the game's advertising model, the launch of a new game called 2D Nerdle, and the importance of user feedback. We also dive into how Nerdle is run as a family operation, and why many...

We're back with Joseph, Nate, and Aaron! They discuss the past 12 episodes of the podcasts, what stood out from our conversations, how game creators earn a living from their games, and the differences between creators. The conversation ends with reflections on the progress of their business, Hey Good Game, and its growth strategy in buying and building games. Check out Hey GG's games and links: ht...

Lil Snack is a new daily game platform created by Eric Berman and Travis Chen. They talk about their approach to creating a new game every day with the desire to be an app recommended by friends in text messages. They credit AI for their ability to be nimble, noting that the technology helps with the middle part of their creative process such as research and creating the specific puzzle format. Th...

Our recent chat with the creators of ChessWorld pushes the edges on what you might know about correspondence-style Chess as a game. Tryfon (aka Kingscrusher) and his brother Nick share how maintaining ChessWorld allows them to pursue a passion for playing chess while also earning a living.  They talk about how Tryfon’s enjoyment of chess guided the development of the platform, his approach to runn...

Join us as we delve into Jim Bumgardner's fascinating odyssey within the realms of coding and brainteasers. We explore his profound insights on the convergence of computers, music, and puzzle creation, alongside his clever utilization of Foursquare's capabilities which paved the way for his brainchild—the acclaimed puzzle hub—KrazyDad. Our chat also touches upon his confidence in AI's revolutionar...

The Wiki Game is a fun, web-based game that connects two random Wikipedia article links. Alex shares his journey of how he started out, using concepts like six degrees of separation to create a game involving Wikipedia articles, and how it has steadily grown over the years to around 60,000 - 80,000 unique users a month. Despite challenges like hacking incidents and handling various user complaints...

In this episode, hosts Aaron Kardell and Joseph Rueter of the 'Hey, Good Game' podcast sit down with game developer Sven Neumann. They discuss the creation and development of Sven's SudokuPad, used by Cracking the Cryptic, his early interest in technology and gaming, as well as his vision for the platform's future. Neumann also discusses the considerations of building a social platform for Sudoku,...

You’d be surprised how a well-established corporate worker like Abe Train started creating games for a living! From big-name companies like Tesla, General Motors and Hello Fresh, to creating his own brand and entering a niche that he loves, Abe has a great story to share behind his success. This is how a corporate worker traded his stable life to venture out into the industry of game development a...

Unlock the secrets of Scrabble with Woogles creators César Del Solar and Jesse Day, who join us to discuss the power of two-letter words and parallel plays that can transform your word game skills. As we chat with these Scrabble aficionados, we uncover not only their journeys into the world of competitive Scrabble but also how their diverse backgrounds and love for the game led to the inception of...

Robert Fuhrer explores his years-long journey in the toy and game industry in this interview. He reminisces about the many experiences that shaped his career from early exposure to the toy industry, his first creation, his various partnerships and ventures and how he ended up being the owner of the popular puzzle game, KenKen. His journey reflects the crucial importance of relationships in busines...

Step into the shadowy corridors of game development with our esteemed guest, Nilanth Yogadasan, the creative genius behind the eerie yet addictive games, CineNerdle and CineNerdle 2. His games reach over 30,000 daily players, and over 15 million games played. Our conversation takes a deep dive into Nilanth's inspiration, drawing heavily from his passion for horror cinema, and how it fuels the enig...

Are you ready to step into the intriguing world of game development, entrepreneurship, and the pursuit of excellence? Let me welcome you to a captivating conversation with Toby Mao, the driving force behind 18XX Games and a Rubik's Cube record holder. His diverse journey weaves through the set of Pursuit of Happiness with Will Smith, creating 18XX games, to leading roles at Airbnb and Netflix, and...

Get ready to unlock the mysteries of game development and indie hacking as we entertain an inspiring chat with Holger Sindbæk, the enterprising mind behind Online-Solitaire.com and WorldOfCardGames.com. Gain a new perspective from Holger's inspiring journey from designer to developer, and how he transformed his passion project into a significant income source. We promise you'll be intrigued by Hol...