Behind Massive Screens - a Game Development Podcast

The Fika Sessions are back, this time with Gameplay Programmer Natalia Belova, to discuss programming and how features come alive in a video game.

How does the process look to get a feature into a game? How does a programmer work together with the design team? What does it take to make a character pet a dog? Natalia answers all of these questions and more, as we dig deeper into the world of gameplay programming.

Tools & Links:

Learn 3D Engines:

Unity Learn - https://learn.unity.com/

Learn How to Use Unreal Engine - https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/learn

2D Engines:

Cocos 2D - https://www.cocos.com/en/

In this episode of the Fika Sessions, we meet Communications & Event Manager Emilia Drakeus, to discuss the inner world of corporate communications.

What does it take to communicate to both employees and the outside world on a studio level? How do you become a communicator? What is the best way to get information out to the studio? Emilia also gives us practical tips on how to start writing.

And if you don't like cream, how do you eat a traditional Swedish semla?

Tools & Links:

Books

Dana Gioia & R.S. Gwynn, "The Art of the Short Story" - https://www.amazon.com/Art-Short-Story-Dana-Gioia/dp/0321363639

Online tools

Grammarly - https://www.grammarly.com/

In this episode of the Fika Sessions, Luca Buonamici, Lead Lighting Artist at Massive Entertainment, gives us an insight into how you work with light and lighting in video games.

Compared to the 2D planes of a movie screen, how do you light up a scene that can be viewed from 360 degrees? During the show, Luca shares his knowledge about how light affects mood, guide players and how it makes "the beautiful more beautiful".

Also, what are those wafer-thin cookies on the table?

Tools & Links:

John Alton - Painting with Light. https://www.amazon.se/Painting-Light-John-Alton/dp/0520275845/

Blain Brown - Cinematography Theory Practice. https://www.amazon.se/Cinematography-Theory-Practice-Blain-Brown/dp/1138940925/

In this episode of the Fika Sessions, Andrada Greciuc, Lead Game Designer at Massive Entertainment, joins host Petter Mårtensson to answer the question "What is Game Design in Video Games?".

While the phrase "game design" might seem a bit abstract, and the job of “game designer” being one of those easily romanticized, Andrada makes her role easy to understand as she gives us the details of her craft from concept to release. Together, she and Petter tackle topics like design documents, collaboration between teams, systems design and of course, how to develop fun game features.

Andrada also brought some classic Swedish Fika, but with a bit of a twist! Are those name tags…?

Resources:

Celia Hodent – The Gamer’s Brain

https://www.amazon.com/Gamers-Brain-Neuroscience-Impact-Design/dp/1498775500

Benedict Carey – How we Learn

https://www.amazon.com/How-We-Learn-Surprising-Happens/dp/0812984293

Raph Koster – Theory of Fun

https://www.amazon.com/Theory-Game-Design-Raph-Koster/dp/1449363210

In this episode of the Fika Sessions, Petter Mårtensson sits down with Alex Riviere, Audio Director at Massive Entertainment, to discuss audio direction for video games and his unique journey into the gaming industry.

How do you create a sound? And how can a sound affect how we play and feel about a game? These are some of the many topics that Alex walks us through as he talks about his role as an Audio Director. It's a role that includes everything from defining strategies and visions for games, to implementing individual sounds, and travelling the world to capture the sounds of a specific bird.

Alex also brought some fika that is highly inspired by his home country!

Tools & Links:

Books

Aaron Marks “The Complete Guide to Game Audio” - https://www.amazon.com/Aaron-Marks-Complete-Guide-Audio/dp/1138795380

Articles:

Florian Titus Ardelean “The Bible of Getting a Job in Game Audio” (a compilation of articles) - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sAd8xOdngsdLJqKfcOnyL8xRhPi3Uitys6fEXU9O2X0/mobilebasic

Blogs:

Audiokinetik Blog - https://blog.audiokinetic.com/

Massive Blog – Alex’s Top 5 Audio Portfolio Tips - https://www.massive.se/blog/recruitment/my-top-5-portfolio-tips-audio/

In this episode of the Fika Sessions, Petter Mårtensson sits down with Océane Näsström, Character Artist at Massive Entertainment, to discuss the ins and outs of Character Art and 3D modelling.

A Character Artist transforms 2D concept art into fully fledged 3D characters and bring them to life in the game. They master a wide range of artistic and technical skills, and seamlessly move between different software to create their art. Océane gives us an insight into how it all works, how Character Artists interact with other teams and her journey from being “the art kid” to working on AAA titles in the games industry.

She also brought her own baked fika. What are those delicious things?

Learn more about the Fika Sessions on our website - https://www.massive.se/the-fika-sessions/

Tools and links:

Education:

Game Assembly - https://www.thegameassembly.com/

Art sites:

Polycount - https://polycount.com/

Artstation - https://www.artstation.com/

3D modelling:

Maya - https://www.autodesk.com/products/maya/overview

Blender - https://www.blender.org/

Sculpting:

Zbrush - https://pixologic.com/

Engines:

Unity - https://unity.com/

Unreal - https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/

Cloth:

Marvelous Designer - https://www.marvelousdesigner.com/

Texturing:

Substance Painter - https://www.substance3d.com/products/substance-painter/

Substance Designer - https://www.substance3d.com/products/substance-designer/

Cruffin recipe:

https://grabandgorecipes.com/easter-kulich-cruffin/

In this episode of The Fika Sessions, host Petter Mårtensson sits down with Ólafur Waage, senior programmer at Massive Entertainment, to discuss programming and how to get started with it.

In the games industry, there are not only game developers – there is also a support structure to make sure that the games end up in your hands. Ólafur will not only give you an opportunity to learn about programming and his journey to the industry, but also give you insights into what this aspect of the games industry looks like.

Also, what does that tasty, oblong fika bread taste like?

Learn more: https://www.massive.se/the-fika-sessions/

Follow Ólafur on Twitter: https://twitter.com/olafurw

Tools and links:

Code{}School, season 1: https://www.massive.se/blog/games-technology/codeschool/

Beyond FPS playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSamxtiCIyM&list=PLcKpytGyWm9o6SHKuag4Rj-J_0yQxJ4PV

Tom Scott’s The Basics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CINVwWHlzTY&list=PL5ZXG50fTM7oZBZmFhJygA2419Hsg6v8H

Richard Feynman’s Computer Heuristics Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKWGGDXe5MA

Pluralsight: https://www.pluralsight.com/

Include C++ Community: https://www.includecpp.org/

In this episode of the Fika Sessions, we meet Michael How, Lead Level Designer at Massive Entertainment, to find out more about how levels for video games are made. How do you start putting a level together? How do you make them fun and meaningful? And how do you work with the other game development teams to bring it to life? And perhaps most importantly - what pastry did Michael bring for the fika?

In this inaugural episode of the Fika Sessions, host Petter Mårtensson sits down with Anna Megill, Lead Writer at Massive Entertainment, to find out more about how writing stories and narratives for video games works.

What makes writing for games different from other forms of writing? How does a game writer work together with the other development teams? What kind of material is a writer on a video game expected to write? What tools are used and what do you need to think about if you want to apply for the job in Narrative?

Also, what does the tasty fika taste like?

Tools and links:

Twine

https://twinery.org/

Scrivener

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview

Final Draft

https://www.finaldraft.com/

Ren’Py

https://www.renpy.org/

Anna Megill on Twitter

https://twitter.com/cynixy

Lussekatter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffron_bun

https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lussekatt