Claim OwnershipThe AIAS Game Maker's Notebook
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© 2024 Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
Description
A series of in-depth conversations between video game makers on the business and craft of interactive entertainment, exploring the core tenants of D.I.C.E. (Design. Innovate. Communicate. Entertain.)
267 Episodes
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This episode is supported by Xsolla Adam Orth chats with CEO & Co-Owner of IO Interactive, Hakan Abrak. Together they discuss Hakan's journey in games; the history and future of the Hitman series; their unique approach to live service in single player games; how they're preparing for a post-pandemic development environment; and their upcoming projects in the 007 universe and their own original IP. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with Creative Leader and Author Fawzi Mesmar. Together they discuss his career in games from mobile to AAA; the lessons he's learned along the way and how he applies them in his current leadership role; and the ideas he explores in his upcoming book, Demystifying Creativity On Originality in Game Development including his concept of creative sobriety and the importance of looking inward to create something truly original. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with Marco Minoli, Director of Publishing at Slitherine. Together they discuss the world of licensing in video games; the benefits and opportunities that can be found; how deals are structured; how to collaborate with license holders; and then explore Slitherine's catalogue of games from consumer facing war games to war simulations used by defense departments in governments around the world. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with Balatro creator LocalThunk. Together they discuss the early titles he created with his friends; the inspirations that led to Balatro; his ideas around design and balance; how real life experiences influenced the Joker designs; and the steps he's taking to ensure Balatro is never conflated with gambling. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with President of The Behemoth, John Baez. Together they discuss The Behemoth's 20+ year journey as an indie studio; their breakout hit during the early days of Xbox Live Arcade in Castle Crashers; how that success propelled them forward as a studio; the importance of trade shows for developing the relationship with their community; and the steps they've taken to stay truly independent as a company. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Austin Wintory chats with composer Kenny Young. Together they discuss his career featuring several collaborations with Media Molecule on the Little Big Planet and Tearaway franchises all the way to his latest project, Team Asobi's galactic trek across PlayStation history, Astro Bot. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Chris Charla chats with industry veteran Jen MacLean. Together they discuss her journey in the games industry; what she's learned at each studio she's been a part of; the importance of the first hour in games; and what she thinks developers have to focus on to capture the attention of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Abby Howard and Tony Howard-Arias from Black Tabby Games, developers of Slay the Princess. Together they discuss their backgrounds in graphic novels before moving into games; how they approached writing for a game with many possible narrative choices; the technical hurdles they had to overcome; and the different ways that Slay the Princess handles the idea of intimacy. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with Maria Cornelius, the Chief Product Officer for HELLDIVERS™ 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios. Together they discuss her life outside of games at Spotify and how she found herself at Paradox Interactive and then to Arrowhead; the profound impact mentoring programs have had on her career; the development of HELLDIVERS™ 2; the lessons they've learned from running one of the biggest live service titles of the year; and how they're working with the community to continue fighting the galactic war into the future. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Final Fantasy VII actor Briana White. Together they discuss the casting process and how she originally auditioned for both Tifa and Aerith; respecting the original Japanese performance by Maaya Sakamoto; how localization transforms the creative process; how she dealt with insecurity and imposter syndrome ahead of her performance; and what her next dream role would be. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Adam Orth chats with Dom Matthews, Studio Head of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II developer Ninja Theory. Together they discuss the history of Ninja Theory as a studio and the unique DNA found in their games; their mission of crafting life changing art with game changing tech; avoiding making games for "everyone" and finding their audience; becoming a part of Xbox Game Studios and feeling empowered; and the importance of having a studio culture of trust. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with Derek Yu, Jon Perry, and Eirik Suhrke. Together they discuss how they collaborated along with other legendary indie developers to brainstorm the 50 games found in the retro-inspired collection, UFO 50; how important it was to have a core vision for each game, the creative decisions they made to fit within the limitations of the era; when they knew a game was finished; and how the long development time allowed them to start a game only to revisit it years later with fresh eyes and new skills. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Adam Orth chats with Tim Willits, Chief Creative Officer at Saber Interactive. Together they discuss Tim's long tenure at id Software and his work on the Quake series; why after 23 years he decided to leave and join Saber; the development of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2; the importance of "finding the fun" early; the creation of the swarm technology behind the Tyranids; and how the success of Space Marine 2 has been transformative for the entire company. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with Eric Monacelli, an executive producer at Marvel Games. Together they discuss his career working on the marketing and community side of some of gaming's biggest franchises including Bioshock, The Last of Us, and Call of Duty; the process of how development studios come to work with Marvel and what a successful collaboration looks like; the steps they take to maintain authenticity; and what it's like working with fan communities of established IP with high expectations. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Austin Wintory chats with composer Jon Everist. Together this discuss how he transitioned from a career path in economics to composing music; his work with Harebrained Schemes across their library of games and his most recent contributions on Star Wars Outlaws; and how the concept of constraint can lead to creative freedom. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Austin Wintory chats with award winning composer Mikolai Stroinski. Together they discuss his extensive work on the Witcher franchise for CD PROJEKT RED; his work on various projects both in and outside of games; the various influences that helped him score games across different genres; how his work on TV and film inform his compositions for games; and the tricks that composers and audio designers use to help guide players through their adventures. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Xbox's Jun Shen Chia chats with Kris Antoni, Founder of Toge Productions. Together they discuss the history of Toge including the release and reception of their hit indie game, Coffee Talk; what's next for the studio; the burgeoning development scene in Southeast Asia; and how Toge is working with studios in the region to help them reach audiences worldwide. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Alison Lührs, Narrative Director on Bungie's Destiny 2. Together they discuss her approach to writing for fantasy in the Dungeons & Dragons universe and now sci-fi for Destiny 2; the unique aspects of writing for live service games; how to start projects effectively; and how theater and improv have informed the way she writes. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with indie gaming business guru, Dan Adelman. Together they discuss his time at Xbox and Nintendo helping to start their digital content marketplaces; transitioning to working independently with game developers to help them launch and market their games; how he decides which developers and projects to work with; and his perspective on how the markets have shifted for indie games over his 20 years in the industry. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode is supported by Xsolla Austin Wintory chats with longtime Valve composer and music designer, Mike Morasky. Together they discuss how he started his career outside of music in the visual effects industry working on film series such as The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings; how he found himself pursuing music and then joining Valve; and his work across several of Valve's most memorable titles from Portal to Counter-Strike 2. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
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the legend❤️🫡
I think Hades has surpassed the Witcher 3 as the most overrated game of all time.
I fucking loved their discussion on finish rate, game length, replayability and value. I honestly couldn't agree more with Josef. I am so sick of people associating value with game length, and replay ability with artificial mechanics meant to make games replayable rather than the game simply being so good that it naturally makes you want to revisit it. I honestly can't stand that shit. the supposed replayable games go on for so long that I almost never replay those. A way out on the other hand, a supposedly not replayable game I played 3 times. the last of us 1, at least 10. plus games like DOOM Eternal and Crysis 1 with gameplay loops so satisfying that I don't see myself ever stopping replaying them. I've played DOOM Eternal 13 times and it's only been a year and other than difficulty levels, it has no "replayability". I still can't stop playing it.
I love David Cages games. I don't get why he gets a bad rep. I think all 3 I've played are excellent tho I understand the criticisms of beyond two souls lack of choices.
Do you guys talk about Medieval Times?
I absolutely LOVED the pathless. unlike other zen like games it's also super fun and exciting to play because of the traversal and puzzles. I almost ranked it above ghost of tsushima this year. I liked it that much
this such a great interview, its too bad there is a constant bumping/shuffling noise throughout. its really killing it for me...
I haven't commented but this series is awesome.
amazing guests, can't wait for more! notifications on !
Kinda funny games shoutout peaked my interest. Thank you for a great informative podcast.