Austin Wintory chats with Bence Pajor, the Audio Director behind Embark Studios' smash hit extraction shooter, Arc Raiders. Together they discuss his early career in music and how he transitioned to audio design; his work at DICE on the Battlefield series; the moral implications when designing realistic audio experiences for combat simulations; balancing music to not break player immersion; and creating modern synth music with retro aesthetics.

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Episode Host: Austin Wintory

Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

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Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Jenny Jiao Hsia, co-director of Consume Me. Together they discuss where Jenny first got the idea to tell a semi-autobiographical story through video games; learning to not micromanage and lean on your team; how personal finances restrict or enable creativity; the dangers of social media and need for external validation; and the importance of having interests outside of games to help with creative and personal fulfillment.

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Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea

Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

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Adam Orth chats with Virgil Watkins, the design director behind Embark Studios' smash hit extraction shooter, Arc Raiders. Together they discuss his early passion in modding and how it led to him joining Embark Studios as a Technical Designer on the initial PVE version of Arc Raiders; how internal testing shaped the system design and core experience of the PvPvE version; the ways they're seeking to improve the game post-launch; and how they balance handcrafted experiences with randomness in the deadly Arc encounters.

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Accelbyte

Episode Host: Adam Orth

Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

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Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Actor Ben Starr. Together they discuss his role in the multi-D.I.C.E. Award winning game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33; balancing authenticity and restraint in the public sphere; voice acting in a game filled with intimacy in Date Everything!; and his observations on the difficulties many developers face today.

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Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea

Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

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Adam Orth chats with Battlefield 6 Creative Director, Thomas Andersson. Together they discuss his path in games from level design to direction; what it takes to lead a team the size it takes to create a Battlefield title; the pillars and core features that drove the mission in the newest entry; how the kinetic movement and destruction work together to create unique and epic moments; and the technical and design challenges present when emphasizing player freedom.

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Accelbyte

Episode Host: Adam Orth

Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

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Karrie Shao chats with writer and narrative designer Cara Ellison. Together they discuss her path from television to games; the global development scene and the difficulties facing developers today; her desire to bring local culture to the global stage; and her work with Fireproof Games on the D.I.C.E. Award winning VR title, Ghost Town.

Episode Host: Karrie Shao

Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

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Adam Orth chats with Eyes Out co-founders Cory Davis (Spec Ops: the Line) and Robin Finck (Nine Inch Nails) about their studio's debut game, SLEEP AWAKE. Together they discuss their distinct paths from traditional games and music and how they found themselves collaborating together; the unique audio-first approach they took with SLEEP AWAKE; the psychedelic dreamlike horror themes present throughout the experience; and the contrasts and parallels they discovered with creating music and games.

This episode is sponsored by:

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Episode Host: Adam Orth

Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

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Grammy Award winning composer Austin Wintory chats with Rev. Dr. Bradley D. Meyer, Audio Director at Sucker Punch Productions. Together they discuss his path to gaming and joining Sucker Punch; his thoughts on audio design including on his latest work in Ghost of Yōtei; the complex marriage of audio and music in large projects; and how they balanced the score of Ghost of Yōtei between Japanese Folk and Spaghetti Westerns influences.

**Editor's Note: (01:01:48) Amon Tobin is the composer of the first inFAMOUS title.

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Episode Host: Austin Wintory

Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

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Guest host Tim Schafer (Double Fine Productions) chats with Jon Gibson (iam8bit) Meggan Scavio (AIAS), and Sibel Sunar (fortyseven communications) about their joint effort to celebrate the world of game art, the Game Maker's Sketchbook. Together they discuss the history and goals of the showcase; the charities it supports in the AIAS Foundation and Day of the Devs; and how to participate and help celebrate the art that goes into creating the games we love.

Episode Host: Tim Schafer

Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

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Corey May chats with Abiotic Factor developers Geoff "Zag" Keene and Henry Feltham from Deep Field Games. Together they discuss the challenges and benefits of working in small teams; the importance of relationships and communication; narrative design as a production tool; balancing seriousness and comedy; and what they didn't like about the survival genre that they hoped to remedy with Abiotic Factor.

This episode is supported by Xsolla

Episode Host: Corey May

Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

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