Behind every game world are the characters that make it feel alive. But how do you design them to be both realistic and fun to play, and what happens when creative vision meets the limits of technology?

In this episode of Line of Fire, host Martin Hultberg talks with Sharkmob’s Character Art Director Erik Nilsson about shaping the look of games, drawing from years of experience in the industry and at Sharkmob. From the complexity of building exo-rigs for Exoborne to the importance of creative constraints, they discuss how strong art direction guides a project and why feedback and failure are essential to building better teams.

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When a game launches without issues, it can feel effortless. But what really makes that possible? How do cloud services carry the weight of release day and keep worlds running as they grow?

In this episode of Line of Fire, host Martin Hultberg, CMCO at Sharkmob, talks with Marcus Demnert from Google Cloud for Games about the invisible backbone that powers modern development. From years of working with Nordic studios, Marcus shares stories and lessons on scaling for the unknown, avoiding costly downtime and why the best launches are often the "boring" ones.

The conversation also looks ahead, exploring how AI is beginning to play a role in both development and gameplay, and what opportunities and challenges it might bring in the years to come.

Curious what it really takes to keep today’s games stable under fire? Tune in to find out.

Behind every great game world lies a web of characters, history and hard creative choices. In this episode of Line of Fire we explore the craft of game storytelling and the people who bring it to life. At this year’s GDC, Martin sat down with industry veteran Richard Dansky to talk about narrative work in games and his career advice for aspiring writers. From guiding other storytellers to navigating the shift from linear campaigns to live service worlds, Richard shares insights from decades in the industry. Back in the studio, Sharkmob’s own principal lore master Jimmy Wilhelmsson offers a behind-the-scenes look at his role on Exoborne, explaining why consistency in the lore matters when hundreds of developers are involved, and how a shared creative vision can inspire new ideas and bring a game world to life.

So, whether you’re an aspiring writer or just curious how the narrative magic happens, this one’s for you.

Games need powerful tech to come to life—but what does it really take to build and maintain the tech behind them? In this episode of Line of Fire, we explore the backbone of game development with Studio Infrastructure Engineers Navdeep Dhanjal and Stephen Rodriguez. From high-end PC builds to server farms, we’re breaking down the hardware, software, and behind-the-scenes problem-solving that keeps game studios running. How do teams balance performance, cost, and sustainability? What does it mean to be cutting edge? And just how much power does it take to make a AAA game? Tune in to find out.