The Party Is Full: Inside the Games Industry

Raphael Stange is the CEO of Nitrado, one of the world’s leading providers of multiplayer server infrastructure for game studios and players. A lifelong gamer, Raphael’s perspective is shaped by thousands of hours spent in online worlds like EVE Online, giving him a player first understanding of what makes multiplayer games thrive. At Nitrado, he works closely with developers to help them launch,...

Steve McLeod is the founder of Feature Upvote, a feedback management platform used by game studios around the world to make sense of overwhelming volumes of player input. With more than two decades of software development experience, Steve has built his career around creating simple, reliable tools that help teams understand what their players actually need. His focus on usability, scalability, an...

Hal Sandbach is a veteran Game Designer, Director, and Design Leader whose career spans almost three decades across studios including Psygnosis, Codemasters, Warthog, Evolution Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, and d3t. Since beginning his journey in 1997, he has shaped game systems and experiences across genres from FPS to AAA racing, developing a philosophy rooted in clear vision, psy...

Stephen Reid is a veteran community and marketing leader with over 20 years of experience building some of gaming’s most iconic online communities. From BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic to Meta’s Facebook Gaming, Stephen has shaped how studios connect with players, turning customers into fans and fans into superfans. His career spans leadership roles at 2K, HTC Vive, Inworld AI, and 1047 Game...

Tom Storr is the Co Founder of The Experimentation Group, a consultancy that helps mobile game studios grow through structured experimentation. With over a decade of experience in product leadership, analytics, and free to play design, he works with teams to uncover what truly drives engagement, retention, and monetisation. At TXG, Tom partners with studios to embed a culture of testing and iterat...

Bader AlQahtani is a Technical Combat Designer at Brain Jar Games, specializing in responsive melee systems and AI-driven enemy design for action-adventure titles. With a background in Unreal Engine and a portfolio spanning studios such as Studio Pixanoh, Studio Blanc, and KaloPlay, Bader brings a refined understanding of how to make combat feel impactful, expressive, and deeply satisfying. His ap...

Ellise Collins is a Game Designer at Lucid Games with a multidisciplinary background spanning design, animation, and technical art. Over the past eight years, she has worked on titles such as Destruction AllStars (2021), Nightingale (2023), and an unannounced project at Lucid, where her focus includes designing systems, content, and player experiences for large-scale live service games. Her path i...

Bob Watson is a QA Manager and Lead QA with 25 years of experience driving test strategy, planning, and execution across projects ranging from indie releases to AAA franchises. Currently leading QA at a stealth-mode startup and formerly Studio QA Manager at Romero Games, he has built and scaled QA teams, introduced automation-driven triage systems, formalized playtest processes, and created career...

James Older is a Creative Director and Co-founder at Landmark Games with over a decade designing and shipping mobile titles. He leads product vision from concept to live release, mentors multidisciplinary design teams, and blends UX, economy, and monetisation to deliver player-first experiences. His toolkit spans Unity, metagame systems, level design, gameplay balancing, KPI-driven iteration, and...

Doug Pennant is a Senior Producer at Infinity Ward and the author of The Pocket Mentor for Game Production. With over 13 years of experience across PC, console, and VR development, Doug has managed projects from pre-production through release while fostering transparent, interconnected studio cultures. He’s passionate about mentorship and accessibility, having given a GDC talk on designing for col...

Benjamin Carcich is the Principal and Co-founder of Valarin Inc. and the host of the Building Better Games podcast and newsletter. With a background in production leadership at Riot Games and years of experience coaching and consulting, he helps producers and development teams build better processes, cultures, and outcomes. Through Valarin, Benjamin provides training in agility, leadership, facili...

Greg Reisdorf is a veteran game designer and creative director with over 23 years in the industry, best known for his 13 years leading multiplayer design on Call of Duty, where he directed more than 100 maps, weapons, and modes, and helped drive over $10 billion in revenue. His innovations in multiplayer design, including advanced movement systems, weapon variants, and combat pacing, have shaped o...

Kenny Chan is a game product manager, producer, and designer with over 17 years of experience across AAA, mobile, and indie games. Starting his career in QA, he went on to hold leadership roles at Ubisoft, Wargaming, gumi Asia, and Nitro Games, where he led projects such as Wayfinder’s mobile adaptation and a new Netflix mobile title based on one of the platform’s biggest IPs. With expertise in pr...

Joe Burridge helps game studios build world-class teams. He leads talent at Play Ventures, supporting portfolio companies with hiring, org design, and scaling strategies. Previously, he recruited for Epic Games and EA, hiring across global tech and studio teams for titles like Fortnite, Rocket League, Battlefield, Frostbite, and more. Joe also hosts The Talent Game Podcast, where he shares practic...

Paolo Abela is a multiplayer specialist with over 12 years in game development. At Unity, he works on core multiplayer tools like Netcode for GameObjects, templates, and Unity Game Services. He helps thousands of developers build and scale online games. As founder of Fatum Games, Paolo leads the development of Ariokan, a live online card game where players create official cards in real time. Throu...

Alexander Brazie is a veteran game designer with 20+ years in AAA games, known for his work on World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Ori & the Will of the Wisps, No Rest for the Wicked, and multiple unannounced projects. He’s the Co-Founder of Game Design Skills, an online platform dedicated to leveling up designers through hands-on guides, courses, bootcamps, and a thriving Discord community...

AJ ‘Dr Doom’ Shewki is the CEO and co-founder of LIV, the platform where the next generation of players create and connect in VR. A ramen-obsessed, powerlifting gamer with a love for death metal, AJ has built his career around live gaming, esports, and immersive tech. At LIV, he’s on a mission to make streaming and sharing in VR as effortless as it is on a smartphone. Under his leadership, LIV has...

Sierra “Cc” Clark and Aspen Clark are the sister co-founders of Walk in the Park Studios, an indie game studio on a mission to craft bright, inviting, and deeply meaningful gaming experiences. Before launching their own venture, both honed their skills in the AAA industry, working on large-scale projects that gave them a sharp eye for technical design, narrative, and what truly keeps players engag...

Aspen Clark is a mission and level designer with credits on Fallout 76, Starfield, and Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic. She blends narrative, systems, and spatial storytelling to craft emotionally resonant gameplay. Aspen now leads Walk in the Park Studios, where she’s building a heartfelt co-op platformer about returning home, designed to be as meaningful as it is memorable. Chapters...

Not every good game survives. Not every fun feature matters. So what actually makes a game work? In this episode, I sit down with Aaron Morley, Lead Product Manager at Sumo Digital, to explore how product thinking shapes the games we play — and why success in this industry is about more than just fun. We dive into: • The real difference between product and production roles • Why some features fail...

In this episode, I sit down with Nathan Silvers, one of the original creators behind Call of Duty, to unpack the wild early days of FPS game development... from LAN parties and Quake mods to working with Spielberg on Medal of Honor, to the creative genius that birthed Modern Warfare. We talk about: • The startup origins of Call of Duty • How level design and scripting evolved in AAA development •...

In this first episode of The Party is Full, Gengis sits down with Roo, Product Manager at Trailmix Games, to explore his unconventional journey from a science background to the world of game development. Roo shares what product managers really do in games — from A/B testing and user experience to game economies, merge game design, and LiveOps strategy. The conversation is packed with insights and...