Before we step away for a quick summer break, Tash and Luke crash Matt's solo studio session to review the absolute madness of our first 14 episodes.

From Matt's "Pig at the Disco" addiction to Luke's legendary excuses for being late, we look at the numbers behind Games Prod Pod.

• Matt Ibbs: Games Leadership Coach / Host
• Natasha Nathani: Games Industry Veteran / Technical Producer
• Luke Timms: Games Industry Veteran / Product & Delivery Leader

Summer Break Special: Mid-Season Stat Attack!

☀️ We're Taking a Short Summer Break! Following our latest release (LinkedIn is Not a Dating Site), the trio is taking a few weeks off in August to recharge, mix cement, and lift heavy weights. We’ll be back in about a month with brand-new episodes, masterclasses, and hot topics!

📊 The Mid-Season Stats Breakdown:

• True or Flase: We’ve played 7 times, Matt is 100% undefeated, and "Pig at the Disco" has been uttered 4 separate times.
• Hall of Fame Excuses: Luke's lateness record includes mixing cement on his birthday, loft excavations, and confusing BST with US Eastern time.
• The Intro Leaderboard: Matt leads with 9 intros, Tash has 3, and Luke trails with 2.
• Top Short: Tash's "Easy Tash" clip takes the crown for our most-viewed YouTube Short!

🎮 Huge Announcement: A real indie game studio reached out to feature their upcoming game on the show! Matt is keeping it under wraps to surprise Tash and Luke in an upcoming True or Flase when we return.

💡 Key Takeaways:

• We’re Returning Soon: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts so you don't miss our return in September!
• Get in Touch: Got a production challenge or game you want featured? Email us at [email protected].

🎙️ Sound Bites:

• "You can't be left on your own, Matt. You can't be trusted."
• "Four times I have uttered the phrase 'Pig at the Disco'."
• "Who mixes cement in January?"
• "An indie dev reached out... and have I got a segment for you!"

⏰ Chapters:

• 00:00 Welcome & Summer Break Announcement
• 01:52 True or Flase Stats & "Pig at the Disco"
• 04:20 The Hall of Fame: Luke's Lateness Excuses
• 07:30 Who Talks the Most? (Monologue Records)
• 08:39 Intro/Outro Leaderboards & Top Performing Short
• 11:00 Big News: Real Indie Game Studio Feature Coming Soon!
• 12:20 Outro & See You in September!

Luke is absent this week, leaving Tash and Matt to get into a heavy-hitting but critical reality: misogyny and predatory behavior in professional spaces. From Tash's viral LinkedIn call-out post to her podium-placing triumph at the European Powerlifting Championships, we are drawing a hard line in the sand.

• Matt Ibbs: Games Leadership Coach / Host
• Natasha Nathani: Games Industry Veteran / Technical Producer

Episode 013: LinkedIn is Not a Dating Site

🏆 European Championships & Monk Mode. We kick things off with some massive news: Tash competed in Limerick, Ireland, finishing in the top three of her category with a colossal 340 kg total. We discuss the intense discipline of "monk mode" as she preps for British Nationals and the World Championships.

🤯 Hot Topic: Misogyny and Professional Boundaries. Tash shares the creepy message that sparked her viral LinkedIn post:

"a beautiful lady in my home city into games..." We dissect why treating professional networking sites like dating apps is not "harmless friendliness," but rather a toxic, predatory behavior that makes women hesitant to engage in professional networks.

🛡️ The Backlash & Allyship. We address the enablers in the comments who told Tash to "silently block" rather than "humiliate" the sender. Matt and Tash discuss why public accountability is necessary, why "it happens to men too" is a false equivalency, and how male allies can actively support safe, respectful spaces.

💡 Key Takeaways:

• Manners in the Workplace: Keep your romantic or physical evaluations out of professional spaces like LinkedIn.
• The Power of Shaming: Predatory behaviors thrive in silence. Reporting and calling them out publicly helps prevent them from continuing.
• Allies, Do Better: If you think creepy unsolicited messages are "harmless," you are part of the problem.

🎙️ Sound Bites:

• "I am a competitive powerlifter. I don't just pick things up and put them back down to annoy Matt in random places."
• "LinkedIn is a professional networking space... it is absolutely and categorically not a place to go chirpsin' on the birds."
• "For every one connection from a female professional, I got 10 to 15 males... sending similar messages: 'Oh, your eyes are lovely, your hair is beautiful.' You are part of the problem."
• "For the men watching this who think that message is harmless... don't be our audience, please."

⏰ Chapters:

• 00:00 Intro & Tasha's Powerlifting Triumph (European Championships in Limerick)
• 02:23 Monk Mode & the gateway to the World Championships
• 04:50 Matt and Tash's competitive streaks
• 06:25 Backstage sisterhood vs. Workplace realities
• 07:31 Hot Topic: Sexism, Misogyny & Tash's Viral LinkedIn Post
• 10:31 "It happens to men too" and the defensive backlash
• 13:41 Safe professional boundaries & the flood of creepy connection requests
• 17:06 "Just being friendly" – Analyzing the enablers in the comments
• 20:34 How to call it out & support female coworkers
• 22:50 Outro & Matt finally pronouncing Natasha Nathani's name right after 13 episodes!

Trailer for the upcoming Episode: LinkedIn is Not a Dating Site.

Manners - Professional or otherwise - cost nothing.

Don't harass people on LinkedIn.

Don't assume what you're saying is 'nice' or a 'compliment'.

Head to one of the myriad actual dating apps or sites out there instead.

Tash is away "bodybuilding" (powerlifting), leaving Matt and Luke to hold down the fort. We tackle the psychological barrier of throwaway prototyping, debate Story Points vs. Hours, and explore why asking "Why" is the ultimate project management cheat code.

• Matt Ibbs: Games Leadership Coach / Host
• Luke Timms: Games Industry Veteran / Product & Delivery Leader

Episode 012: Stick or Twist

When is it time to give up on an idea? In this episode, Matt and Luke explore the hard-learned discipline of failing fast. Luke shares behind-the-scenes stories of prototyping for the original Xbox Kinect, and we discuss why some of the most talented programmers are the ones who are happy to write code just to throw it away.

🤯 Hot Topic: Fail Fast, Fail Often. We break down the stigma of "failure" in development. Why do younger developers struggle to kill features they've spent weeks on? We explain why time spent does not equal product quality.

🎯 Production Masterclass: The Tim's Method. Luke introduces his Fibonacci-based sprint sequence, and we settle the age-old Agile debate: why you should never convert story points to hours (and what painting a wall has to do with it). Plus, we look at Simon Sinek's "Start with Why" and how to turn job interviews on their head by interviewing the employer.

💡 Key Takeaways:

• Throwaway Prototypes are Gold: Never over-engineer a proof of concept; build it crude, test it, and throw it away.
• Story Points != Hours: Points measure complexity and risk. Mapping them to hours destroys team trust.
• Problem Statements over Solutions: Don't tell a team how to paint the wall; tell them why the room is too dark.

🎙️ Sound Bites:

• "I am going to swim in Santander. I'll be wearing floaties, armbands, and a flashing GPS tracker."
• "Fail Fast, Fail Often. If you fall down the stairs the same way every day, you're just stupid."
• "We aren't open-heart surgeons. No one dies. We're just making games."
• "Stick my name on it—The Timms Method!"

The conversation explores the concept of the Fibonacci sequence and its application in agile methodology, emphasizing the idea of failing fast, failing often, and expanding. It also delves into the process of naming a new idea, with the working title being 'The Timms Method'.

Takeaways

• The application of the Fibonacci sequence in business and development
• The process of naming a new idea

Tash returns from a wild weekend in Glasgow to debate the fine line between "passion" and "insidious crunch" with Luke. Plus, Matt serves up a curveball in True or Flase, and the team fails miserably at recording an intro together.

• Matt Ibbs: Games Leadership Coach / Host
• Natasha Nathani: Games Industry Veteran / Technical Producer
• Luke Timms: Games Industry Veteran / Product & Delivery Leader

Episode 011: One and Done

The "Passion" Trap. Is staying late at your desk a sign of dedication, or is it just poor production planning? In this episode, Tash and Luke clash over the reality of overtime in 2026. Tash is on "Sober Powerlifter" energy and is taking absolutely no excuses for bad scheduling.

🤯 Hot Topic: The Death of Crunch? We discuss the legacy of the "EA Spouse" letter and why months of 80-hour weeks are finally being called out. From Cyberpunk 2077 to the 4-day work week, we debate how to protect team mental health while still shipping blockbusters.

🎲 True or Flase: Can you spot the fake game between a cozy-punk record store simulator (Wax Heads), an evolutionary crab roguelite (Everything is Crab), and a dry newspaper factory manager (Drayton Incorporated)?

💡 Key Takeaways:

• Passion is Not Currency: Do not let employers use your love of games to justify free overtime.
• The Contract Shift: If a contract takes three weeks to sign, the project start date has moved—you are not "three weeks behind."
• The 4-Day Work Week Works: You can do more high-quality work in 4 focused days than 5 fatigued ones.

🎙️ Sound Bites:

• "Sober Tash is just really vicious."
• "If you're passionate, you will work overtime... No, that's just an insipid way of saying crunch."
• "Drayton Incorporated sounds so dull, it has to be a real game."
• "Modesty is for amateurs."

The conversation delves into the definitions of over time and crunch, highlighting the healthy balance of extra hours and the detrimental effects of enforced long working hours. It then explores the thin line between healthy team collaboration and unhealthy crunch culture, emphasizing the refusal to work overtime and the importance of maintaining a work-life balance.

Takeaways

• Differentiating between over time and crunch
• Refusal to work overtime

Tash, Luke, and Matt are celebrating double digits!

In our tenth episode, we tackle the multi-generational reality of modern game studios, the critical danger of technical debt, and play a highly competitive round of Simulator-themed "True or False."

• Matt Ibbs: Games Leadership Coach / Host
• Natasha Nathani: Games Industry Veteran / Technical Producer
• Luke Timms: Games Industry Veteran / Product & Delivery Leader

Episode 010: Gen X, Y, Z

Happy 10th Episode to the Prodders! The Trio is back to celebrate a milestone by looking at the changing face of the talent pipeline.

🤯 Hot Topic: Game Developers: The Next Generation. We discuss how the industry is morphing for newcomers. With Gen X eye-ing retirement, Millennials holding up the middle, and Gen Z entering with AI tools, we look at the growing "Mentorship Gap." Plus, we celebrate the incredible rise of diversity (42% of young devs identifying as LGBTQ+) and game-changing accessibility standards.

🎯 Production Masterclass: The Technical Debt Trap. What is tech debt really? "Shit we didn't want to do that we left until the shit hit the fan." Tash and Luke explain how hot-fixes build compound interest, why the "Iron Triangle" is a trap, and how to use hard data to force leadership to let you run "hardening sprints."

🎲 True or False: Matt serves up three of the weirdest simulator games on Steam. Can the team spot the fake between milking cows, running desert toll booths, and playing gatekeeper to Heaven?

💡 Key Takeaways:

• Craft vs. Automation: Modern tools make game development easier, but we must protect the "why" and "how" of foundational craft.
• Tech Debt is a Business Problem: If you don't pay the interest on your technical shortcuts, your game will eventually crumble under its own weight.
• A More Welcoming Industry: The next generation is bringing radical empathy, accessibility, and diversity to the forefront of game dev.

🎙️ Sound Bites:

• "I am Gen X firmly and officially. We're both old, Luke. Tash is the millennial."
• "You can polish a turd, but it’s still a turd."

⏰ Chapters:

• 00:00 Introduction: 10 Episodes Old!
• 04:28 Hot Topic: Game Developers: The Next Generation
• 09:37 Tash on Millennial Fatigue & Technology Gaps
• 14:23 Automated Tools vs. Foundational Craft
• 18:51 Diverse Pipelines & Inclusivity Standards
• 27:42 SpecialEffect & Game Accessibility
• 30:43 Production Masterclass: Technical Debt
• 35:25 Compound Interest, Hardening Sprints, and data
• 44:30 True or False: Simulators (Cow Milking & Heaven Interns)
• 50:36 I Dub Thee: Gen X, Y, Z
• 51:53 Outro & Luke’s Technical clicking

Luke starts talking coherently about generations in the games industry and then starts to ramble but heroically brings it back just in time for the clip to end.

Episode 009: Where's Our Wally?

Tash and Matt hold down the fort while Luke battles Ikea furniture and smart plugs. We explore the high-stakes world of relocation in the games industry and why "Time Under Tension" isn't just for powerlifters—it's a survival strategy for producers.

• Matt Ibbs: Games Leadership Coach / Host
• Natasha Nathani: Games Industry Veteran / Technical Producer
• Luke Timms: Games Industry Veteran / Product & Delivery Leader

🤯 Hot Topic: Searching for a job is a full-time job, but are you doing it effectively? Matt and Tash discuss the "Urgent vs. Important" trap and why taking a "rest day" from LinkedIn might be the most productive thing you do all week. Tash draws parallels between her European Championship powerlifting prep and high-pressure game production. We talk about why rest is a discipline, why sleep is a productivity tool, and why we need to stop treating game development like open-heart surgery.

🎲 True or Flase: Matt pitches a "Cozy Serial Killer" game that Tash and Luke desperately want to be real. Can they spot the real game hidden in the nonsense?

💡 Key Takeaways:

• Recoil Power: Like a heavy squat, production requires "Time Under Tension"—but you only get the recoil if you've allowed for the recovery.
• The "Ikea" Test: If you can survive building furniture with a toddler, you can manage a AAA dev cycle.

⏰ Chapters:

• 00:00 Intro / Waffles: The Missing Luke & Tasty Goodness
• 01:32 Tash’s Life Update
• 03:26 Masterclass: Powerlifting & Time Under Tension
• 06:51 Redundancy & The Burnout Matrix
• 09:44 Luke Arrives: The Ikea Furniture Saga
• 12:52 True or False: Nasty Rabbits vs. Real Strategy
• 18:23 I Dub Thee: Where's Our Wally?
• 21:03 Outro: Dead Muscles & Christmas Weight