Claim OwnershipThe AIAS Game Maker's Notebook
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© 2025 Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
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A series of in-depth conversations between video game makers on the business and craft of interactive entertainment.
231 Episodes
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Adam Orth chats with Brandon Adler and Kyle Koenig about their latest work at Obsidian Entertainment, The Outer Worlds 2. Together they discuss the lessons they learned from the first game and what they sought to improve; how they implemented comedic and narrative elements into every aspect of gameplay; what ideas ended up on the cutting room floor; and what's next for themselves and the franchise. This episode is sponsored by: Xsolla Episode Host: Adam Orth Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
This episode contains spoilers for the game 'Ghost of Yōtei' Alexa Ray Corriea chats with actor and producer, Erika Ishii who stars as Atsu in Ghost of Yōtei. Together they discuss Erika's journey in acting and how they found themselves working in video games; working with Sucker Punch and their process working with performers; the advantages of bringing in the cast early in development; and the importance of acknowledging the team effort required to bring a game character to life. This episode is supported by Xsolla Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Oli Chance and Morgan Rushton from localization studio Shloc Ltd. Together they discuss how they got into the business of game localization; their long history working on massive IP like the Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Death Stranding series; how they tackle challenges like translating cultural differences; and working with actors and directors to localize performances. Watch this episode on our YouTube channel. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. This episode is supported by Xsolla Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Trent Kusters chats with Dotemu CEO, Cyrille Imbert. Together they discuss Dotemu's work in licensed IP including how they pitch to license holders; the short-term financial and long-term relationship damage caused by releasing subpar products; how they inadvertently revived the beat 'em up genre with titles like Streets of Rage 4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge; and why and how they created their first original IP in Absolum. This episode is supported by Xsolla Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Trent Kusters chats with creator of the cult classic Katamari Damacy and the recently released to a T, Keita Takahashi. Together they discuss how he went from sculpting to his first job at Bandai Namco; the origins and development of Katamari Damacy and his subsequent works; his philosophy on creating games with experiences not available in the real world; and how he hopes his newest game will help people open their minds to new perspectives. This episode is supported by Xsolla iam8bit Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Josh Sawyer, Studio Design Director at Obsidian Entertainment. Together they discuss his thoughts on developing RPGs; what he learned from working at legendary studio Black Isle Studios; how to successfully adapt Dungeons & Dragons to video games; writing for games with dialogue stacks; parsing and implementing feedback while keeping true to your creative vision; and balancing RNG to improve player experiences. This episode is supported by Xsolla iam8bit Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Adam Orth chats with Jeff Gardiner from Something Wicked Games. Together they discuss his long history in the world of RPG development including titles in the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series; the trials and tribulations associated with starting your own studio; the perilous state of the games industry from funding to consolidation; and the lessons he learned in leading teams from some of the brightest minds in gaming. This episode is sponsored by: Xsolla Episode Host: Adam Orth Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Lis Moberly, Creative lead at 20th Century Games. Together they discuss how the path towards game development has changed over the years and the difficulties young people face with job placement; working with and helping junior writers join and stay in the games industry; the importance of institutionalized knowledge; and the value of collaborating with writers from mediums outside of games. This episode is supported by Xsolla Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Trent Kusters chats with Dave Oshry of New Blood Interactive. Together they discuss how he went from games journalism to publishing; navigating the ins and outs of publishing on PC and how they landed their first deal; how nostalgia meets modern in the boomer shooter genre; their approach to the publisher/developer revenue split; how they uplift individual creators; and why their slogan of "We hate money" has led to prolonged success. This episode is sponsored by: Xsolla Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Adam Orth chats with Focus Entertainment's Chief Content Officer, Yves Le Yaouanq. Together they discuss his journey and the lessons he's learned working for some of the biggest game developers and publishers in the industry; his work on the research and development side of games; the need for publishers to focus on quality of content and gameplay; and his advice to developers on pitching their projects to publishers. This episode is sponsored by: Xsolla Episode Host: Adam Orth Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Trent Kusters chats with Sean Gorman (Lead Designer) and Mark Ranson (Art Director) from Void Interactive, creators of the tactical first-person shooter, Ready or Not. Together they discuss how the studio balances realism, tension, and storytelling without glorifying violence; their "fear every door" design philosophy; lessons learned from AAA development; and how they decide what to cut or keep to focus their vision. This episode is sponsored by: Xsolla Accelbyte Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Log in to your account at www.escapefromtarkov.com and redeem the code NIKITAONGMNPODCAST to receive a special gift from Battlestate Games. Trent Kusters chats with Nikita Buyanov, the COO, Founder, and Game Director at Battlestate Games, creators of Escape From Tarkov. Together they discuss his journey in games to the founding of Battlestate Games; the inspirations behind Escape From Tarkov that led to the creation of the extraction shooter genre; keeping their own artistic vision intact while listening to community feedback; balancing the game's meta and when they decide to intervene or not; and the early lessons that came out of their explosive debut. This episode is sponsored by: Xsolla Accelbyte Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Trent Kusters chats with Brendon Chung, Tynan Wales, and Suzanne Will about their immersive first-person shooter, Skin Deep. Together they discuss the inspiration for Skin Deep and how it evolved from it's original design; their desire to create an accessible entry point for the immersive sim genre; their ideas around level design and player guidance; what they left on the cutting room floor and how they decided what to remove; and how they successfully increased scope and team size during the development process. This episode is sponsored by Xsolla Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Alexa Ray Corriea chats with actor Alex Jordan who most recently starred in the sci-fi survival game, The Alters. Together they discuss his journey as an actor and his work in video games; the unique opportunity The Alters provided due to it's premise revolving around clones; how he worked with the development team to find a distinct voice for each character; and how he approached a script where he's essentially talking to himself. This episode is supported by Xsolla Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Austin Wintory chats with Brian Trifon and Brian Lee White from the award winning music composition and sound design team, Finishing Move Inc. Together they discuss their history in music and what led them to games; why they began collaborating on game scores and the advantages that brings; how they tackled a massive franchise with set audience expectations; and the genres and techniques they leveraged to give Doom: The Dark Ages a distinct sound. This episode is sponsored by Xsolla Episode Host: Austin Wintory Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Alexa Ray Corriea chats with actor Ray Chase about his first project as a game developer, Date Everything. Together they discuss his memorable work as the voice behind many of our favorite characters and why he decided to try his hand at development; where the idea to date household objects came from; how they managed to write dialogue for 100+ dateable characters; and how they assembled the immense voice cast. This episode is supported by Xsolla Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Trent Kusters chats Klaus Lyngeled and Olov Redmalm from Moonhood, who recently released the handcrafted cozy horror game, The Midnight Walk. Together they discuss their early careers and how they found themselves working together and eventually co-founding their own studio; their previous work on titles such as Fe and Lost and Random and how that informed their latest game; creating the real-life puppets and the scanning technology they developed to implement them inside the game; and blending horror with levity to create a thrilling yet relaxing experience. This episode is sponsored by Xsolla Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Trent Kusters chats with Stéphane Varrault from Guerrilla Games and Xu Xiaojun from Studio Gobo about their collaborative work on LEGO® Horizon Adventures. Together they discuss how their two studios worked together on bringing Aloy's adventures to the LEGO® universe; what it takes to appeal to a younger audience; how they designed the game to focus on problem solving; adapting complex game mechanics for younger players; playtesting with children and applying player telemetry to improve the game; and how they translated the characters, world, and art to the LEGO® aesthetic. This episode is sponsored by Xsolla Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Adam Orth chats with Juhana Myllys, creator of physics based platformer Bionic Bay. Together they discuss how he identifies great ideas and where he finds inspiration; the early designs and concept art that led to the development of Bionic Bay; designing the core gameplay such as the swap mechanic and platforming; and creating a visual language that is both mechanical and organic. Episode Host: Adam Orth Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
Austin Wintory chats with Lorien Testard, the composer for Sandfall Interactive's debut hit RPG, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Together they discuss his background in music theory and how he connected with Sandfall; working with singer Alice Duport-Percier to create the vocal pieces; creating a soundtrack with diverse sounds that keeps a unified vision; creating art for art's sake; and what kinds of projects he hopes to work on next. This episode is sponsored by Xsolla Episode Host: Austin Wintory Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Support the show and get all of our episodes early/ad-free: https://bit.ly/4kU34Lt Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation
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This episode gives great insight into how game writing has evolved and the challenges new developers face today. I enjoyed the discussion on mentorship and creative collaboration. While exploring game design topics, I also tried Toca Boca World Mod APK, https://thetocabocamodapk.com/which offers a fun example of creative storytelling for all ages.
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.