Game Maker's Notebook

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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