June 29, 2019

Indie Game Dev, Rick and Morty, Double Fine and Being in the Game Press with Chris Johnson of the Player One Podcast

1 hour 7 minutes

Chris Johnson from the Player One Podcast talks about producing games at Adult Swim for 11 years, and how he got hired. Hear what it was like working on Flash games, the transition to mobile and console, plus working with some well-known indie studios. How moderating the Adult Swim message board in 2002 lead to getting an offer. How in high school he was inspired to create a videogame fanzine, which leads to a magazine writer role at Electronic Gaming Monthly in 1994. How videogame magazines were the go-to source for gaming information in the ’90s. Hear ideas on getting in the industry nowadays.

Hear about working on his two favorite games, “Robot Unicorn Attack” and “Headlander” with Double Fine Productions. How using build notes to reduce frustration and make Production run smoother. Hear thoughts about live service games and post-launch content. Learn opinions on the state of AR and VR, including the “Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality” game. Hear about the importance of building relationships with others in the industry. Hear a discussion about the forgotten TurboGrafx-16, the announcement of their retro console, and the idea of having a 30th-anniversary episode.

Learn about some of the challenges back when developing games on cartridges. Hear opinions on playing the games you love and not being part of all the negativity. Hear about CJ’s passion for Rare’s “Sea of Thieves” and how it evolved. Hear ideas about not having all games online so the experience can be more personal, along with a discussion about Nintendo. Learn about his podcast, the Player One Podcast, which has been going for an amazing 13 years.

Resources:*Player One Podcast website*Player One Podcast iTunes*Player One Podcast YouTube*Player One Podcast Twitter*Chris (CJ) Johnson Twitter*Adult Swim website*Electronic Gaming Monthly Wikipedia*ScreenshotSaturday Twitter*Robot Unicorn Attack Wikipedia*Headlander Wikipedia*Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality Wikipedia*Astro Bot Wikipedia*Andy Eddy Wikipedia*TurboGrafx-16 Wikipedia*Johnny Turbo Wikipedia*Sea of Thieves website*Utopia YouTube*Don Daglow Gamasutra*John Vignocchi Twitter*Level Ex Video Games for Doctors website - and we’re hiring!*Game Dev Advice Twitter*Game Dev Advice email*Game Dev Advice website*Game Dev Advice Hotline at (224) 484-7733