Game Maker's Notebook

Adam Orth chats with Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov. Together they discuss his early life with computing and how he first created Tetris; his ideas behind real-time versus turn-based puzzle design; ideas he scrapped from early development; distributing Tetris outside of the Soviet Union; his work on titles outside of Tetris and the pressure his first creation put on his subsequent work; and what he hopes for the future of Tetris.

This episode is supported by Xsolla

Episode Host: Adam Orth

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

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Trent Kusters chats with Freehold Games' Brian Bucklew and Jason Grinbalt about their a science fantasy roguelike, Caves of Qud. Together they discuss the 17 year development journey to 1.0; developing the engine and systems that drive their game; their thoughts around modular design; balancing bespoke and procedural content; and the personal and professional challenges and lessons they experienced over the extended development period.

This episode is supported by Xsolla

Episode Host: Trent Kusters

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

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Austin Wintory chats with Audio Director Aldo Sampaio, with whom he recently collaborated together with on the newly released Eternal Strands. They discuss Aldo's journey in game development including his work on the Assassin's Creed franchise; what he learned from working in AAA game development; how they came together at Yellow Brick Games to create the sound and music for the studios debut title.

This episode is supported by Xsolla

Episode Host: Austin Wintory

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

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Greg Rice chats with James Carbutt and Will Todd from Coal Supper. Together they discuss growing up in Yorkshire in Northern England, how they first got together and began developing games; what they learned from their early projects; the British influences behind Thank Goodness You're Here; and the intricacies of writing humor for video games.

This episode is supported by Xsolla

Episode Host: Greg Rice

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

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Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Anne, Douglas, and Nate Austin from Worldwalker Games, developers of Wildermyth. Together they discuss how they started creating games together; the inspirations behind the story and gameplay of Wildermyth; how to create iconic and memorable characters in procedural experiences; the differences between writing for procedural generation compared to a traditional campaign; and how to handle early access as a narrative focused game.

This episode is supported by Xsolla

Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea

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

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Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Remy Siu and Pinki Li from Sunset Visitor to talk about their D.I.C.E. Award nominated game, 1000xRESIST. Together they discuss how they met and transitioned from live performance to creating video games; the real life inspirations behind the narrative design; how desperation can lead to great choices; and how theater influenced their approach to game design and storytelling.

This episode is supported by Xsolla

Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea

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

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Alexa Ray Corriea chats with writers Ashley Poprik and Chris Holzworth. Together they discuss how they each started their careers and the titles they've worked on; the pressure of writing on a massively popular and long running franchise like Call of Duty; giving every developer the chance to be a storyteller; the differences between writing for single player and multiplayer; and the difficulty in referencing conspiracy theories with contemporary audiences.

This episode is supported by Xsolla

Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea

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

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Austin Wintory chats with David Garcia, Audio Director at Ninja Theory. Together they discuss his life growing up in Spain and studying music; his life as a composer and his musical work on games such as Rime; how he joined the sound team at Ninja Theory; and how they created the haunting audio behind the Hellblade series.

This episode is supported by Xsolla

Episode Host: Austin Wintory

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

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Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

This episode is supported by Xsolla

Adam Orth chats with Rebecca Ford, Creative Director at Digital Extremes. Together they discuss how she got started in games and when she first joined Digital Extremes; her work with the Warframe community; her transition into the Creative Director role and thoughts on leadership; lessons you can learn by acknowledging failure; and the long history of Warframe and how they've kept it going all these years.

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This episode is supported by Xsolla

Jun Shen Chia chats with Brian Kwek, founder and owner of boutique indie publisher Ysbryd Games. Together they discuss their catalog of games such as VA-11 HALL-A and World of Horror, as well as the upcoming Love Eternal; the challenges and strategies they employ to reach potential customers; the importance of attending trade shows; how they work together with developers to help complete projects; and Brian's thoughts on the state of game dev in Southeast Asia.

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Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation