The MADEcast

This week we got to talk to Bonnie Bogovich, a sound designer and voice actress! We go into her journey from working in theater to working in games, and the things she's learned along the way!

This week Alex sits down with Rob Coffey, another CGW alum, to talk about their time there, his path through the industry, some great stories, and a bit of talk about the state of games today.

This week Alex sits with his former boss Jeff Green, a games journalism veteran. Tune in as they chat about his experiences in the games magazine industry, his introduction to Computer Gaming World, his column “Green Speak” and much more!

Today Alex sits down with Michael Martin, part of the core team behind Ur-Quan Masters, the open-sourced revival of the legendary game Star Control 2, to talk about the history of the port, the rules around open-source software, and his involvement in the project! 

On today's extra-long episode, Alex catches up with Keith Kaisershot, a longtime friend of the MADE and Bandai Pippin guru, to talk about his introduction to the MADE, quirky videogames and playing Doom with John Romero, his work in preserving the Pippin, its history, cracking it, and much much more!

This week Alex has a chat with Nedrick Mclaren, who is an animator, game developer and MADE volunteer. Tune in as they talk about indie game development, his transition from art to learning programming languages, his inspirations, and the good ol’ days of Newgrounds!

We let the boys loose again! Or maybe they let themselves loose... anyway, the Steam Deck has been announced! This episode discusses all the specs and pros and cons of it, as well as the rise of handheld consoles writ large. More interviews next week!

As always, this episode starts out with some current gaming news... but what would we have done before we had all this game information at our fingertips? Well, this week Alex is talking to Crispin Boyer and Mark Macdonald, legends from the now-defunct Electronics Gaming Monthly. This is a super fun interview which covers what it was like to be passionate about games back in the 'good ol days' of...

This week on the MADEcast we have the talented Cassady Toles, The MADE’s resident general counsel and law wizard, who sits down with Alex to talk about his volunteer role at the MADE, Gaming Law cases, his Warhammer 40K cosplay, and views on practicing law.

On this episode, the amazing, illustrious Tony Barnes is taking us back in time to the 1980's, a beautiful decade in which kids learned to program by being unsupervised on an Apple II, you could get a job at Atari just by walking through the front door, and your new business partner is the guy with the mohawk at the goth bar. The details behind all of that, plus even some new news about the Strike...

Brennan Anderson is back! And this episode is all about dynamic audio– how programming and composition intersect to create a unique, memorable experience for a player. Plus the importance of tempo, and the difference between horizontal and vertical mixing. If you've ever wanted to gain a greater appreciation for game music, this is the place!

This week's guest is Brennan Anderson, audio designer at Crystal Dynamics, and the boys had such a great time nerding out with him that we had to split this interview into two parts! In this first one, they talk about Brennan's twisty career path, burnout at indie vs AAA studios, and what exactly a technical sound designer is. Plus at the top, we get a rundown of E3 news. Tune in next week for mor...

This week Alex chats with the men, the myths, the legends... Wolf and Anders! These two MADE volunteers have been with The MADE long enough to have some pretty wild stories. Tune in as they talk some of their favorite memories of working at the MADE from hosting public events, GDC, as well as the infamous P.T. exhibit.

MADE in Progress is back, baby! On this episode, Leland sat down with Hanae El Mansouri, a game producer who just got her masters from UC Santa Cruz in Games and Playable Media. She tells Leland about her access to video games as a kid in Morocco, what it's like to go to school to study games, and especially about the development process for her capstone project: Vertical Slice, a video game about...

This week's guest is Elan Lee, who you might know from hit board games like Exploding Kittens, but he got his start in ARGs (Alternate Reality Games), which he used to create amazing viral marketing campaigns for games like Halo. Tune in to learn about Elan's consistent design philosophy about making players have extraordinary experiences... oh, and to hear the myriad of wacky hijinks he's gotten...

This week, Alex talked with Dan "Shoe" Hsu about his illustrious career in the world of games journalism (a term Dan actually has quite a few strong opinions about!). They chat about the pros and cons of working in traditional media, how to get in (and out) of the industry, and how to deal with leaks. And as the boys discuss, Pokémon Snap came out this week, which, y'know, I think there's a connec...

This week Alex sits down with Glen Dahlgren, game designer, author, teacher, and music composer. Glen shares with us his origins from creating adventure games to classics such as Wheel of Time and Unreal 2, and how that has fueled his passion for writing novels such as his acclaimed fantasy fiction novel “The Child of Chaos." Plus, he shares his advice for those dreaming of creating games themselv...

On this episode, Alex sits down with Jim Stormdancer (game devs have the best names, right?), to talk about the wild freedom that he's been able to have making indie games. Jim talks about his aim to make games that are "as surprising as possible," which even extends to the wacky ways he has advertised his games, which includes a soup-themed ARG and even sneaking his way into other games. Plus, Al...

This week, Alex and the gang have a chat with Steve Horowitz: musician, composer, educator, audio engineer and sound director at Nickelodeon Digital. Steve gives us insight on what it was like working with games in the early 90s and how it transitioned to our current time. He also gives valuable advice for any musician wanting to dive into the game audio world!

Have you ever wanted to get to know our hosts? Well, this episode's for you! The Boys are going rogue with an episode that's no guests and no rules. Each of them gets some space to introduce himself, including his favorite video game and future aspirations. Plus, ruminations on the futility of videogame-to-movie adaptations. 

MADE in Progress is back with a third installment! This time, Leland is talking to Daniel Pool, a librarian by day, and game designer, writer, and podcaster by night. However, as it turns out, there's a to learn about game design by being a librarian, and vise versa. Plus, The Boys mourn some of the decisions Sony has been making lately. You should follow Daniel on twitter , or check out their gam...

This Week Alex and the MADEcast gang have a chat with Khris Brown, the VO director and audio engineer at Double Fine studios. Khris shares some valuable insight into the role of an audio engineer in games as well as her experiences working with some of the finest talent in the industry!

This week Alex chats with the amazing illustrious Roberta Williams, video game designer, writer and co-founder of Sierra On-line. Roberta gives us a first hand account of what it was like designing the first ever adventure games, a legacy that is still carried on in our video games to this very day!

This week, Alex is talking to Christy Marx, a legendary writer who has 4 decades of experience writing for video games, comic books, and animated TV shows (she created Jem!). They touch on her transition from the world of Hollywood to the world of games, and her unique ability to straddle both worlds. Also, she lets Alex in on the secret backstory of a great game she worked on that unfortunately w...

On this episode of The MADEcast, Alex talks to Tami Borowick about her transition from studying communications and computer science at Mills, a women's college, to studying Scumm at Lucasfilm Games, a male-dominated workplace. They also chat about her impact on children through her time at Humongous Entertainment, where she educated a generation through lovable characters like Pajama Sam and Putt-...