S1E21 - Lauryn Ash (Part 1 of 2) - Theater, Level Design, Foreshadowing, And Finally... COFFEE!

S1E21 - Lauryn Ash (Part 1 of 2) - Theater, Level Design, Foreshadowing, And Finally... COFFEE!

In this episode, I spoke with Lauryn Ash, a San Francisco-based game designer, writer, explorer of cities, texture enthusiast, and player who jumps on things that probably weren’t meant to be jumped on. With 13 years development experience, she’s worked on indie titles like Dungeon Defenders 2 and Star Child and AAA titles such as Marvel’s Avengers and State of Decay 3. We talked about level design as it relates to theater, foreshadowing, and about coffee for fifteen whole minutes! Yes, finally, an episode of Make Games, Drink Coffee about coffee! 00:00 Intro 01:01 How Theater Can Teach Us About Game Design 05:57 How Level Design Is Like Performing "In The Round" 09:26 The Importance of Negative Space and Novelty In Level Design 16:22 Foreshadowing! 21:02 "Ad" Break 21:26 In Which We Talk About Coffee For 15 Whole (Bean) Minutes 35:35 Outro We'll be talking about the publicly-available Matrix screenplay in our next episode, so if you want to get a head start, it's here: https://imsdb.com/scripts/Matrix,-The.html [https://imsdb.com/scripts/Matrix,-The.html] Lauryn's Portfolio Site: https://laurynash.com/ [https://laurynash.com/] You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com [http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com]  Questions? Comments? makegamesdrinkcoffee@gmail.com [makegamesdrinkcoffee@gmail.com]

S1E20 - Conventions, E-readers, and Evil Factorio (With Lindsay Barnett and James Deighan)

In this episode, I spoke with Lindsay Barnett, founder/CEO of Playground Productions, and James Deighan, founder/CEO of Mega Cat Studios. This is part 2 of a two-part series; In part 1, we spoke about reviving the Backyard Sports franchise. In this episode, we'll go on some tangents, covering conventions (and recruiting), how E-readers affect education, and James and Lindsay's dream projects! 00:00 Intro 01:01 MAGFEST and the Importance of Staying Involved 08:47 Studying Screens In Education And Being Seen Reading 17:18 What's Your Dream IP / Project? 19:43 Tangent: Hopecore, Rick and Morty 22:34 Sports Teaches Life 25:53 Anyway, What's Your Dream IP / Project? 30:35 What Does Fitness Teach About Game Development? 34:43 Outro Playground Productions: https://playground-productions.com/ [https://playground-productions.com/] https://www.instagram.com/playground.productions/ [https://www.instagram.com/playground.productions/] https://www.linkedin.com/company/playground-productionsllc/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/playground-productionsllc/] https://www.youtube.com/@backyardsports [https://www.youtube.com/@backyardsports] Mega Cat Studios: https://megacatstudios.com [https://megacatstudios.com] https://www.facebook.com/megacatstudios/ [https://www.facebook.com/megacatstudios/] https://www.instagram.com/megacatstudios/ [https://www.instagram.com/megacatstudios/] https://www.youtube.com/megacatstudios [https://www.youtube.com/megacatstudios] You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com [http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com]  Questions? Comments? makegamesdrinkcoffee@gmail.com [makegamesdrinkcoffee@gmail.com]

S1E19 - Reviving Backyard Sports (With Lindsay Barnett and James Deighan)

In this episode, I spoke with Lindsay Barnett, founder/CEO of Playground Productions, and James Deighan, founder/CEO of Mega Cat Studios, about the return of the Backyard Sports franchise of games. We discussed running a "Blue Collar" studio with 90% employee retention, reviving a dead IP, and how to design accessible games for all ages. This is part 1 of a two-part interview, so be sure to tune in next time to hear more from Lindsay and James! 00:00 Introduction 01:59 How To Approach Accessible All-Ages Game Design 09:41 Learning From What Worked In The Past 13:10 Running A "Blue-Collar" Studio With 90% Employee Retention 19:02 Picking Projects With Your Heart 24:12 Hiring A P.I. For A Dead I.P. Playground Productions: https://playground-productions.com/ [https://playground-productions.com/] https://www.instagram.com/playground.productions/ [https://www.instagram.com/playground.productions/] https://www.linkedin.com/company/playground-productionsllc/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/playground-productionsllc/] https://www.youtube.com/@backyardsports [https://www.youtube.com/@backyardsports] Mega Cat Studios: https://megacatstudios.com [https://megacatstudios.com] https://www.facebook.com/megacatstudios/ [https://www.facebook.com/megacatstudios/] https://www.instagram.com/megacatstudios/ [https://www.instagram.com/megacatstudios/] https://www.youtube.com/megacatstudios [https://www.youtube.com/megacatstudios] You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com [http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com]  Questions? Comments? makegamesdrinkcoffee@gmail.com [makegamesdrinkcoffee@gmail.com]

S1E18 - GDC Vibe Check (I Asked Nine Game Developers How They Feel, What They Say Will Shock You!)

In this episode, I spoke with nine game developers at GDC Festival of Gaming (previously known as the Game Developers Conference). I asked each of them the same four questions: What are you scared about right now in the game industry? What are you angry about right now in the game industry? What are you hopeful about right now in the game industry? And, what are you excited about right now in the game industry? This is the GDC Vibe Check. Guests: Michael Fitch, Lyn Dang, Dan Gerstein, Nat Loh, Jessica Flor, Erika Mariko Olsen, Thomas Fossgard, Jonathan Jennings, Tiffany Otto 00:00 Intro 01:06 Guest Introductions 02:57 What are you scared about in the industry right now? 10:34 What are you angry about in the industry right now? 16:30 Travel Tips and Non-Ad Ad Break 18:17 What are you hopeful about in the industry right now? 24:06 What are you excited about in the industry right now? 30:08 Random Hot Takes 33:55 Outro Links: Michael Fitch's personal web site: http://betterrealities.com/ [http://betterrealities.com/] Lyn Dang's personal web site: https://lynloves.games/ [https://lynloves.games/] Dan Gerstein's company web site: https://pistolshrimpgames.com/ [https://pistolshrimpgames.com/] Nat Loh's personal web site: https://www.natlohdesign.com/ [https://www.natlohdesign.com/] Jessica Flor's developer collective web site: https://www.hexwavegames.com/ [https://www.hexwavegames.com/] Erika Mariko Olsen's consulting web site: https://pixel-strategy.com/ [https://pixel-strategy.com/] Thomas Fossgard's game announcement: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7229132539276201985/ [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7229132539276201985/] Jonathan Jennings' personal portfolio: https://www.behance.net/Jonathanj [https://www.behance.net/Jonathanj] Tiffany Otto is mysterious and important and doesn't have a web site! You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com [http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com]  Questions? Comments? makegamesdrinkcoffee@gmail.com [makegamesdrinkcoffee@gmail.com] Make Games, Drink Coffee is produced, edited, and just generally all-around made by me, Aaron Nemoyten. Please email the Make Games Drink Coffee email address, I'm tired of only getting podcast SEO spam at that address!

S1E17 - Des Gayle (Part 2 of 2) - Streaming Games, Transmedia IP, and Bandersnatches

This week, Aaron chats with Des Gayle in the second of a two-part interview. Des is a Senior Partner Relations Manager at Unity (day job), Studio head at Altered Gene (his company), and does "production stuff" for a couple of indies. He describes himself as having "Produced one game that won a BAFTA (Life Is Strange) and plenty more that didn't." In this episode, we discussed Netflix's games strategy and how other big tech companies have tried to get into gaming, as well as so-called "transmedia IPs," like Quantum Break, and adaptations like the Last of Us and Fallout. 00:00 Introduction 00:56 How to Run Games For A Streaming Service 11:28 Game And Movie Adaptations and Crossovers: Knowing Your Audience 16:52 What Has And Hasn't Worked In "Transmedia IP" 19:16 Building Your Own "Transmedia IP" 23:11 Outro Links: "There's a Last Time for Everything" Kickstarter campaign. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alteredgene/taltfe?ref=9odmgb [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alteredgene/taltfe?ref=9odmgb] Des Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kid_desimo/ [https://www.instagram.com/kid_desimo/] Des Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/kiddesimo.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/kiddesimo.bsky.social] Des Twitter https://x.com/Kid_Desimo [https://x.com/Kid_Desimo] "Kidd Copter" Playdate game https://play.date/games/kidd-copter/ [https://play.date/games/kidd-copter/] Altered Gene website https://www.alteredgene.co.uk/ [https://www.alteredgene.co.uk/] You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com [http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com]  Questions? Comments? makegamesdrinkcoffee@gmail.com [makegamesdrinkcoffee@gmail.com] Make Games, Drink Coffee is produced, edited, and just generally all-around made by me, Aaron Nemoyten. Please email the Make Games Drink Coffee email address, I'm tired of only getting podcast SEO spam at that address!