Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast

We kick off season 3 by going back to school with Christopher "Mav" Maverick, PhD, who has been exploring storytelling and pop culture in all of its forms for decades. Mav combines a career of experience in digital user interfaces with a career of academic scholarship in the humanities to help a new generation of students channel passions forged in video gaming into more durable digital storytelling instincts that can be applied not just to games, but to industries across the world - and now that insight can help you at any stage of your career. As an Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Pittsburgh's Digital Narrative and Interactive Design program, Mav is deeply connected to the current shift in younger player motivations, so this is also a deep dive into what's changing for player audiences and how it is impacting the games of today and tomorrow. There's something for everyone in this playful episode that brings together two friends who have known each other for 3 years or 30 years; they can't quite commit to which. Whether you grew up in a pandemic or lived through the gaming renaissance of the 90's, there's something actionable here for you. Topics include the relationship between user experience design and game design, creative problem solving, collaboration for gaming, generational gaming trends, racing games, changes in gaming post-pandemic, gaming for children, artificial intelligence, and more.

The Signal Award-winning Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast is a biweekly indie podcast (released on Tuesdays) from Cheryl Platz's design education company Ideaplatz LLC that explores the shifting state of the video game industry, with a lens on game development and video game education in addition to the games themselves. Season 3 returns to expand our horizons even further with academics, community leaders, innovators, and founders pushing the boundaries of what it means to make thriving games. Enduring Play is inspired by and based on the content from Cheryl Platz's book The Game Development Strategy Guide, which is an excellent way for listeners to level up their game career at any stage of the game.

Check out the show notes for more context, a transcript, links, and the current discount code for The Game Development Strategy Guide: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play-season-3/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-3-episode-1-christopher-maverick-show-notes/

To support the Enduring Play podcast, leave a review, give us a follow, or visit our Dashery merch shop at https://ideaplatz.dashery.com/ . Feedback and inquiries can be directed to info at ideaplatz dot com.

This double bonus episode cross-references insights from all 22 veterans from Seasons 1 and 2 against the most recent developments in 2026 to tell the story of how the games industry got here, and how the games industry might learn from the diamonds in the rough to find our way back to thriving.

Industry analysts underpredicted this year's crop of video game layoffs, despite consumer spending in the US hitting the second highest ever level in 2025. What's the solution? Well, it's a little bit of everything we've been talking about for the past two seasons on Enduring Play. In this retrospective, host, creator, and game dev Cheryl Platz weaves together insights from 22 varied industry veterans to tell a story about how we got here, where we're going, and what you, as a game developer who's affected, can do about it. And as a bonus, get a peek at the start of Season 3, coming soon in a new biweekly format with an exciting lineup of guests across development, publishing, finance, community, and academia.

Featuring insights from all 22 Season 1 and Season 2 veterans from a variety of disciplines across the industry: Celia Hodent, PhD (UX Strategist), Carlos Figueiredo (Director, Trust and Safety), Amy Kalson (Executive Design Producer), David Ventura (Creative Director), Whitney Beltrán (Independent Narrative Designer), Eric Kabisch (Former VP of Design), Caerie Houchins (Chief Technology Officer), Joe "joemag" Magdalena (Senior Game Designer), Tamara Knoss (Senior Techical UI Artist), Yesenia Cisneros (Senior Producer), Joanie Kraut (CEO), Adanna Nedd (Independent Researcher), Steve Bromley (User Experience Researcher), Cristina Amaya (Events Manager), Tim Cullings (Executive Director), Amy White (Director of People), Jo Cronk (Technical Design Instructor), Timothy Staton-Davis (Technical Cultural Game Designer), Cory Tsang (Lead Producer), Desirée Rincón (Head of Brand Strategy), Lindsay Barnett (CEO), James Deighan (CEO) and a preview of a Season 3 interview with Christopher "Mav" Maverick, PhD (Assistant Teaching Professor).

Topics include: games as a service platforms, user experience as a transformative force in games, the renewal of classic gaming aesthetics, reclaiming the "gamer" tag, the enduring power of prosocial play, the real state of the industry in 2026, supporting each other in crisis, creating immersive worlds using authentic representation, slowing down to speed up in production, the motivators of play, and reflections on finding a thriving path forward.

Enduring Play is inspired by The Game Development Strategy Guide by Cheryl Platz, available directly from Rosenfeld Media or at your favorite online bookseller. Learn more about design consultancy Ideaplatz at http://ideaplatz.com or grab podcast merch at http://ideaplatz.dashery.com.

How do you take once-beloved family games - source code lost to the ages - and revive them for new generations? And what about today's video game market might make the timing better than ever for an accessible, co-op, family friendly sports game? Playground Productions CEO Lindsay Barnett, a former educator, went on a quest for educational games during the pandemic that took her all the way to acquiring the rights to the Backyard Sports franchise, headed by Backyard Baseball - and then she teamed up with Mega Cat Studios CEO James Deighan to start bringing the suite of the 6 original Backyard Sports games to life. We explore retro gaming and the art of reverse engineering to restore original games developed by Humongous Entertainment, the modern community response to these classic games, and how the folks at Playground and Mega Cat are now applying what they've learned from their community to build a modern Backyard Baseball release that is designed to withstand the test of time, thriving season after season with accessible controls and pricing and downloadable content. This conversation gives us a chance to explore Motivators of Play like immersion, education, comfort, and of course companionship and competition - and captures a unique moment in time between the demo of Backyard Baseball and its release in July 2026. Don't miss this exciting conclusion to Season 2 of Enduring Play and its exploration of themes like community, self-expression, and education. We are better together - as a baseball team, as a game development team, and as an industry. Game on.

Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.

This is the final episode of Enduring Play Season 2 - catch up on the episodes you missed and follow the podcast on your favorite platform so you don't miss a minute of Season 3 when it launches late this year!

#gamedev #videogames #backyardsports #backyardbaseball #playgroundproductions #megacatgames #retrogames #classicgames #pixelart #humongousentertainment #education #edutainment #accessibility #pablosanchez #sportsgames #baseball

Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! For show notes including bonus material, head to: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-11-lindsay-barnett-and-james-deighan-for-backyard-sports-show-notes/

Millions of players enjoy playing games like Call of Duty that simulate military life, but how does experience as a veteran translate to video game development? Program manager, community manager, and military veteran Desirée Rincón has a leadership style forged in the field: she understands innately that batons can't get dropped, that communication must be explicit, and that misses can have real-world consequences. The resilience she developed in the field has served her not just in her prior role as Program Manager for Xbox 3rd Party Operations but in her role as Head of Gaming Partnerships and Brand for Gold Star Gamers, a 501(c)3 nonprofit connecting kids in need to therapeutic gaming experiences, her role as Head of Creative (Art and Design) for the Always Supporting Games Community, and in her own life transcending multiple disabilities to continue to engage with her love of the game. Oh, and you might have already met her service dog, Sydney. You know, the one with the lightsaber? This is a unique episode that covers everything from children processing grief in games to the staggering stress of managing games manufacturing to first-person gaming stories from Iraq and navigating life as an unemployed game developer while helping thousands of others get hired.

Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.

#gamedev #videogames #xbox #veteran #military #goldstargamers #consoles #consolegaming #producer #accessibility #dogs #asgc #amirsatvatsgamecommunity

Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together!

To learn more about Desirée and the reference materials cited in this episode, check out the show notes at https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-10-desiree-rincon-show-notes/

Have you ever wished your production tools and process were more like the games you make? Lead gameplay engineer turned lead producer Cory Tsang is here to tell you that configuring JIRA can be like… engineering Sims objects. And he should know, because as one of the original Object Engineers on the Sims franchise from the Sims 1 era, he's built everything from toilets to magic cauldrons. But halfway through his career, Cory's adaptability and drive for growth took him to Zenimax Online Studios where he had the opportunity to spend a decade honing a new craft as a Senior Producer, making JIRA sing for teams of up to 100+ artists on a thriving massively multiplayer online role playing game. Whether you're a Sims fan, a manager in video games struggling to hit the right pace, or an individual contributor who feels like JIRA is another world, this episode is for you.

Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.

#gamedev #videogames #thesims #maxis #elderscrolls #elderscrollsonline #eso #gameart #jira #gameproduction #projectmanagement #productmanagement #producer #engineer #zenimax

Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together!

To learn more about Cory's work or to follow up on the books and reference material cited in this episode, check out the show notes at https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-9-cory-tsang-show-notes/

In a world littered with vibe-coded experiences, how will games differentiate themselves? How can stories remain resonant? Melanated Game Kitchen Creative Director and adjunct USC faculty Timothy Staton-Davis is a self-styled cultural technical game designer charting a path forward: a unique blend of game design, engineering, and cultural research and insight that weaves authenticity into each interaction in the games he serves as a contributor or consultant. Games like Spider-Man rely on this kind of deep insight to provide their players with games that live up to the motivators of play like Immersion, Education, and Self-Expression that we identified in the Game Development Strategy Guide, and Tim has extensive experience on world-class AAA games like Marvel's Avengers and God of War: Ragnarok that now inform his foray into independent gaming. In this episode, we explore broadly applicable topics like localization and culturalization that are critical to global success, complex topics like the nuanced ethical application of artificial intelligence in games (if it exists), an exploration of more gaming communities like Black in Gaming, a definition of cultural technical game design and Tim's new USC educational experience, and much more.

#gamedesign #culturalization #localization #selfexpression #videogames #gameeducation #usc #indiegames #blackingaming #technicaldesign #culturaldesign #consulting

Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.

Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together!

To learn more about Timothy's work or to follow up on the books and reference material cited in this episode, check out the show notes at https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-8-timothy-staton-davis-show-notes/

From software engineer to technical designer to game design professor - Jo Cronk has turned a successful career bridging the gap between engineers and creatives at companies like Crystal Dynamics and Snowblind Studios into a thriving career as an Assistant Professor of Technical Design at one of the top-rated game development schools in the world, DigiPen Institute of Technology. Jo brings extensive technical prowess and a mastery of game design techniques to both their course material and their approach to teaching. In this episode, we explore what technical design really means, the complexities of ideation and pre-production in the game development process, specific advice for navigating prototyping, the intricacies of video game engines, modern video game development curriculums, and much more. There are also some unexpected insights about human behavior, like how younger students show up in class and how that maps to disruptive behavior we see in games. Whether you're considering a video game education or looking to better understand your younger audiences and engineering colleagues, there's something in this episode for you.

Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.

#gamedev #videogames #technicaldesign #engineering #digipen #education #professor #tombraider #college #prototyping #production #gamedesign #indiedev

Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together!

To learn more about DigiPen or to follow up on the research and other information cited in this episode, head to the show notes at https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-7-jo-cronk-show-notes/

Most game studios start out chasing a game, not a plan to stick around for the long haul - and that's where things start to fall down. Right at the moment when success knocks at the door and you start to scale, things fall apart. Why aren't people working together well? Why did we reboot the game design 18 times? Why is everyone leaving? This week's guest, Amy White, is a lifelong gamer and Director of People at Fusebox Games here to help dispel the stereotypes about human resources and help us understand what proactive people policies look like. While HR is always going to need to protect the business, what if they could also help you define a thriving culture? What if you could consciously partner with your employees to co-create an environment that makes them excited to come to work? And what about navigating the incredibly fraught world of recruiting in a world of AI-informed candidates and layoff-amplified applicant pools? This conversation between experienced senior leaders in gaming provides unique insights for managers, individual contributors, and entrepreneurs trying to navigate the question: how do I design not just for my game, but for the people making our games? And if you think this conversation doesn't apply to video gaming, please think again. It's exactly that mindset that's gotten us into this industry doldrum. With so many projects spanning years, you can't afford not to have a people plan in place to help support career growth, provide cultural clarity, and proactively reduce the risk of interpersonal and legal challenges. Treating your studio like it's a temporary project and not a long-term workplace is the road to eventual reductions in force.

Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.

#gamedev #videogames #management #leadership #recruiting #peoplemanagement #peoplepartner #humanresources #seniorleadership #entrepreneurship #indiegames

Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together!

To take Amy up on her offer of LinkedIn networking or to follow up on the research and other information cited in this episode, head to the show notes at https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-6-amy-white-show-notes/

Seattle's indie gaming scene boasts the largest thriving indie game community in North America - Seattle Indies - headed currently by Executive Director Tim Cullings. Tim's background started in traditional information technology, but a deep growth mindset helped him learn from Portal co-creator Kim Swift at his first game industry gig, transforming opportunity into a lifelong journey. From his initial days doing IT for gaming, Tim went on cover a variety of roles from production to social media and eventually found himself working on the launch team for the Oculus platform at Meta. As he explored the Seattle scene, Tim realized how unique the energy was in this region, and became a fierce advocate for local game developers - creating events and programs that help them supplement great ideas with the great execution required to thrive. Today's episode should provide inspiration for folks looking to learn more about how game development communities themselves evolve, will provide more insight about the nuances within the indie developer community, will highlight a few games like Slay the Spire that got their start in the Seattle Indies community, and will also provide a peek at some of the ways gaming and education collide in the Seattle indie scene. Seattle Indies welcomes everyone regardless of region at SLICE and SIX, their annual events around PAX, and in their Discord - so no matter where you're based, join us to learn how this community and others like it can continue to grow and thrive.

Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.

#gamedev #videogames #indies #indiegames #conventions #conferences #communitymanagement #seattle

Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together!

This episode has BONUS CONTENT at the show notes page, including a photo from Tim's time at Airtight games and several other stories from his gaming past: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-5-tim-cullings-show-notes/

What's a third space, where did they go, and what role can gaming events play in helping players pursue the growing motivator of play of companionship? Why are events the first to get cut when budgets get tight in a world where a return to onsite work would imply tangible events are more valuable than ever? Today's guest is veteran video game event manager and strategist Christina Amaya, who has managed events for new product launches like Riot's 2XKO and Google Stadia, eSports events for Team Liquid, developer events for Unity, and conferences like DreamHack. She's also a prolific community organizer who founded Latinx in Gaming and has contributed meaningfully to the International Game Developers Association. She is one of the many helpers behind the scenes, connecting folks experiencing layoffs over and over again, building community when we need it most. Today's candid conversation covers topics like the role events play in successful video game launches, first hand stories from a community organizer's perspective, lived experience growing up as a gamer and getting into the industry and shared real life stories about the coping strategies we've developed to get through our own video game layoff stories and much more.

#gamedev #videogames #eventmanagement #esports #conventions #communitymanagement

Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games. This episode pairs particularly well with Chapter 1 (player motivation), chapter 2 (The Living Business of Games), Chapter 6 (The Why of Multiplayer), and Chapter 9 (From emergence to prosocial gaming).

Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together!

Show notes: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-4-cristina-amaya-show-notes/