GGJ Podcast

In Episode 1 of our 2nd Season, Susan Gold reconnects with Westwood Studios co-founder Louis “Lou” Castle to explore the curiosity, relationships, and creative risks behind his career. From learning to code to bringing games like Command & Conquer and Blade Runner to life, Lou reflects on building a studio people loved, navigating change, and finding joy in making things again.

1. Curiosity creates opportunity. Lou learned to code to bring his artwork to life, and he and Brett Sperry started Westwood without waiting until they felt fully ready.
2. Great studios start with people. Recognizing unexpected talent, building trust, and understanding what holds people back helped shape Westwood’s creative culture.
3. Reinvention keeps creativity alive. Returning to small teams and hands-on development, Lou explores new possibilities while emphasizing the human stories behind games.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Louis is the CEO and Game Director for Childlike Wonder Games. Louis is best known as the co-founder of Westwood Studios and formerly served as the Head of Studios for Amazon Games, CSO of SHFL, vice president of studios for Zynga, CEO of IAC's Instant Action, and vice president of creative development at Electronic Arts Los Angeles. Louis has contributed as an executive producer, creative director, programmer and artist to over 100 games in the past 40+ years, including the bestselling original franchises ‘Command & Conquer’, ‘Lands of Lore’ and ‘Eye of the Beholder’, as well as blockbuster licensed original products, including 'The Lion King’, ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Monopoly’.

ABOUT THE INDIE STUDIO

Shirley interviews Clara Cattaneo, a UI designer with 12+ years of experience, co-founder of Women in Games Argentina, and co-founder of Bicho Raro Games. Clara discusses the studio’s narrative game “The Swamp Daughter”, based on a novel written by their game designer (Alejandra Bruno) and set in Argentina’s Delta del Tigre: the post-apocalyptic story follows a 13-year-old girl who seeks a nonviolent, ecological way to survive (a Steam demo is available, find the link below). Clara then discusses how they aim to balance game mechanics with narrative through player feedback at events. She also describes doing client side projects, how networking and pitching help secure gigs, and how awards, outreach, and funding opportunities support development and outsourcing. 

Find Clara
 https://www.linkedin.com/in/claracattaneo

Find BichoRaro Games
 Website: https://bichorarogames.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bichorarocoop/
Itch.oi: https://bicho-raro.itch.io/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bichoraro.games/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bichorarogames

Play the demo for The Swamp Daughter: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4944820/The_Swamp_Daughter_Demo/
Wishlist The Swamp Daughter on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3301850/The_Swamp_Daughter/

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LINKS AND RESOURCES

Guest: [Website]  |  [LinkedIn]  |  [Portfolio / Game]  |  [Social]

Mentioned: [Suri]  |  [Indie Studio]  |  [Resource]

STAY CONNECTED

Follow GGJ Podcast: [Podcast on Spotify]  |  [GGJ Podcast Substack]  |  [ GGJ Podcast on YouTube]

Our Sponsor: Sony PlayStation Hero Project

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/india-hero-project/

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/mena-hero-project/

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/china-hero-project/

https://www.surithegame.com/

In our final episode of the season, sponsored in part by Sony Playstation’s Hero Project and the Knight Foundation,  Susan talks to award‑winning creative director, game designer, and author Fawzi Mesmar about what it means to turn a childhood dream of Japan and video games into a multi‑continent career, and then use that journey to demystify creativity for an entire region. Drawing on early years moving between Saudi Arabia and Jordan with an Atari 2600 and MSX, his decision to study computer science and Japanese when almost no one around him believed game development was a viable job, and leadership roles at studios like GameLoft, Atlus, DICE, King, and Ubisoft, Fawzi shares how writing Resident Evil walkthroughs in his school notebook first revealed the invisible hand of game design, why seminal books by Raph Koster, Jesse Schell, and Eric Zimmerman turned “ideas guy” myths into hypothesis‑driven craft, and how being repeatedly promoted at his teams’ request shaped his view of leadership as servitude. From composing music for a tiny Game Boy Advance team in Amman to authoring the first Arabic‑language game design textbook now used in universities across five countries, creating free courses with partners like the Queen Rania Foundation, and collaborating with Global Game Jam organizers across the MENA region, he talks about placing himself in destiny’s path, saying yes when the train stops, and why he now sees his role as being the mentor he never had so aspiring developers in Arabic‑speaking communities can feel that their dreams are possible too.

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GGJ Podcast Sponsors:
https://www.playstation.com/en-in/india-hero-project

https://www.playstation.com/en-in/china-hero-project

https://www.playstation.com/en-in/mena-hero-project/
https://com.miami.edu/department-of-interactive-media/

Wishlist Meteora: The Race Against Spacetime now on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1155220/METEORA/

In episode 19 Sponsored in part by Sony PlayStation’s Hero Project and the Knight Foundation, Susan chats with indie game developer and Cage Studios co‑founder Salaar Kohari about what it means to build fast, colorful, anti‑toxic games while challenging capitalism and centering joy. Drawing on a childhood spent across Amsterdam, Chicago, Cairo, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, his experience living through Egypt’s Jasmine Revolution, and a career that took him from Flash prototypes on Newgrounds to shipping AAA titles at Sony Santa Monica before striking out on his own, Salaar shares how he designs interactivity as the “whole point” of the medium, why he believes game education too often traps students in outdated, capital‑driven curricula, and how mentoring shy early‑career devs to reach out boldly is part of his practice. From cold‑booking a meeting with the God of War game director as an intern, to co‑creating co‑op movement shooters like Sherwood Extreme that bake collaboration into their systems and designing his new anti‑capitalist, family‑centered game Gun Stoppable, he talks about killing ambitious prototypes when the ecosystem isn’t ready, the mechanics that quietly turn blame into mutual support, and why he’d rather make explicitly political games that help players feel seen, connected, and “locked in” than chase neutrality in a world where everything is already political.

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 Wishlist Gunstoppable on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3724710/Gunstoppable

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GGJ Podcast Sponsors:
https://www.playstation.com/en-in/india-hero-project

https://www.playstation.com/en-in/china-hero-project

https://www.playstation.com/en-in/mena-hero-project/
https://com.miami.edu/department-of-interactive-media/

Wishlist Suri: The Seventh Note on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4110680/SURI_The_Seventh_Note/

In episode 18, Sponsored in part by Sony Playstation’s Hero Project, Susan talks with New Zealand studio founder and longtime developer Mario Wynands about what it means to help build a national game industry almost from scratch and turn local projects into globally recognized work. Drawing on his early days as a gamer and programmer in a country that was not yet known for games, his experience starting and sustaining a studio through multiple hardware generations and market shifts, and his role in nurturing Wellington’s ecosystem as it grew from a handful of teams to a connected community, Mario shares how he navigated the leap from contract and handheld projects into original IP, why regional meetups and game jams became critical infrastructure for isolated creators, and how he approaches studio leadership as a long‑term design problem in its own right. From mentoring emerging developers and collaborating with initiatives like Global Game Jam to advocating for policy, funding, and education that recognize games as both culture and industry, he talks about the emotional reality of building something that didn’t exist before, what it means to make games that feel distinctly “from here” while resonating worldwide, and why the future of New Zealand games depends on supporting diverse voices, sustainable studios, and deeper cross‑border collaboration.

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239710/Into_the_Dead_Our_Darkest_Days/

https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/into-the-dead-crimson-heights/27318581554432214/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4638740/Into_the_Dead_Crimson_Heights/
Just launched: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/barbie-horse-ride-rescue/id6736413272 or https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pikpok.br.play

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GGJ Podcast Sponsors:
https://www.playstation.com/en-in/india-hero-project

https://www.playstation.com/en-in/china-hero-project

https://www.playstation.com/en-in/mena-hero-project/   

In episode 17, sponsored in part by the Sony PlayStation Hero Project, Susan chats with artist and game developer Matthew Moss about what it means to build community across cultures in one of the world’s most storied game hubs. Growing up in Miami in a deeply creative, nonconforming household, Matthew found his way into newspapers, editorial cartooning, and early web games before moving to New York and eventually to Japan, where he spent years working inside the industry while learning the language and rhythms of life in Tokyo. After a period of personal upheaval during COVID, he returned to Japan determined to create a space for connection, which became Tokyo Game Bridge, a community hub that brings together local developers, students, international studios, and partners across languages. We explore how listening became his most important skill, why spaces like Tokyo Game Bridge matter for people who feel like they stick out, and how his teaching instincts show up today as service to the community he has helped grow.

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Find out more about Matthew & the Tokyo Game Bridge!
https://www.matthewmoss.com/
https://www.tokyogamebridge.org/

GGJ Podcast Sponsors:
https://www.playstation.com/en-in/india-hero-project

https://www.playstation.com/en-in/china-hero-project

https://www.playstation.com/en-in/mena-hero-project/  

Wishlist "Suri: The Seventh Note" on Steam today! - https://store.steampowered.com/app/4110680/SURI_The_Seventh_Note/

Join our Substack - https://tinyurl.com/GGJPodcastSubstack

In episode 16 Susan talks to Global Game Jam executive director Maria Burns Ortiz about what it means to lead a veteran global community with empathy and an eye toward underrepresented creators. Drawing on her background as a journalist for outlets like ESPN, her experience co‑founding Seven Generation Games to build educational games with tribal and marginalized communities, and her first two years at the helm of GGJ, Maria shares how she works to see the organization through the perspectives of jammers in Latin America, Africa, Asia, India and beyond, how she balances legacy with necessary change, and why expanding pathways like partner jams, multilingual programs, and micro‑grants is essential if Global Game Jam is truly going to belong to the people it serves.

• (00:00) - Intro

Previous to leading GGJ, she co-founded and was CEO of 7 Generation Games, creating educational and social impact games and the tools to make them. She led the development of 30+ games from concept to commercialization, aimed at closing educational and opportunity gaps in underserved communities, tackling topics from math proficiency to Indigenous language preservation to climate change. Maria transitioned to the games industry after a decade in media, where she was an award-winning journalist and NY Times bestselling author. She currently lives in Minneapolis with her husband and three children

Find out more about Maria and the Global Game Jam!

Maria's LinkedIn
www.7generationgames.com

www.globalgamejam.org

GGJ Socials

https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-game-jam

https://www.instagram.com/globalgamejam

https://www.facebook.com/GlobalGameJam/

Our Sponsors

This episode is sponsored by the University of Miami School of Communications and the Knight Foundation

This episode is sponsored by The PlayStation Hero Project.

https://www.playstation.com/en-in/india-hero-project

https://www.playstation.com/en-in/china-hero-project

https://www.playstation.com/en-in/mena-hero-project/
 
Wishlist Big Boot Games's Meteora: The Race Against Spacetime on Steam!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1155220/METEORA/

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In episode 15 Susan chats with Amanda Asofsky, a senior digital product manager at Wizards of the Coast who helps steer Magic the Gathering Arena, about what it means to lead with care in a live game that never sleeps. We explore how her Dungeons and Dragons roots, a gamer family and an early game design class shaped her sense of responsibility to both players and teammates, how she navigated survivor’s guilt after layoffs by creating “Tea Time Chats” to rebuild connection at work, why she pushed for tiny joyful touches like letting players say “howdy” in game, and how she is learning to step into a bolder, more visible version of herself while still protecting her own boundaries online.

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In episode 14 Susan sits down with Latoya Peterson who lives at the intersection of emerging technology and culture. In this episode, the former co founder and CXO of Glow Up Games, creator of AI in the Trap and current narrative designer at Elsewhere Entertainment talks about her “Phoenix era,” growing up as a Black girl who loved Tekken, and what it means to move from critic and journalist to game maker. She shares how Insecure: The Come Up Game wrestled with the realities of representation and scope, why AI and predictive systems need hip hop and lived experience in the loop, and how she protects her joy while being asked to explain race, gender and bias in rooms that were not built with her in mind.

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In episode 13 Susan sits down with  Designer and storyteller Nick Fortugno has spent more than 20 years pushing games into new spaces on screens, on streets and in the classroom. He talks about co founding studios like Rebel Monkey and Playmatics, helping define early casual and social games, creating playful public experiences through Come Out and Play, and now running the digital game program at City College in New York while designing “games about non game things for people who do not play games.” Nick reflects on pattern recognition in a fast changing industry, what it really means to treat game design as an innovative discipline, and why he believes live, physical play and community centered work will remain vital no matter how technology shifts.

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Find Nick's work!

www.nickfortugno.com

https://nicholasfortugno.substack.com/

https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/digital-game-development

Join our Substack - https://tinyurl.com/GGJPodcastSubstack

In episode 12 Susan sits down with Lisette Titre Montgomery, veteran art director and co founder and CEO of Cornerstone Interactive, looks back on a two decade career that spans Freakstyle, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, The Simpsons, South Park and Psychonauts 2, and forward to new ways of making games feel truly handmade again. She talks about leading teams through tricky visual problems, building Gameheads Oakland for youth from underserved communities, and using AI and emerging tools in ways that still put artists and human authored work first. 

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Lisette has led art studios large and small in the US, Japan, China, Australia, India, and the Philippines. Lisette has contributed to some of the industry’s highest profile games, including Tiger Woods Golf, The Simpsons, Dante’s Inferno, Dance Central 3, SIMS 4, South Park, and Transformers Age Of Extinction for Android and iOS. Her most recent project was Psychonauts 2 with Double Fine Productions. She is currently launching Cornerstone Interactive, a new studio focused on reimaging cinematic and interactive experiences.

Lisette’s list of personal achievements are just as impressive. She has been featured on CNN,  invited to The White House, and a member of the US Department of State's Speakers Bureau.  Mrs Titre-Montgomery has been a featured keynote speaker at N.A.S.A., Goggle, Intel, Black Girls Code, Girls Who Code and more. She has also been named One of the Most Powerful Women in Tech by Business Insider. 

Find Lisette's work!

https://linktr.ee/LisetteTitre

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