Out of Play Area

By John R. Diaz

A bi-weekly video game development podcast by John R. Diaz, a veteran game designer who goes 1:1 in candid conversations with the developers behind today‘s hit games where we discuss their journey and... more

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FAQs about Out of Play Area:

How many episodes does Out of Play Area have?

The podcast currently has 41 episodes available.

Out of Play Area episodes:

October 11, 2021Testing Games Is Awesome with Brian Dumlao QA Analyst @ Jam City | Ep 19
Episode 19 of the game dev podcast Out of Play Area features Brian Dumlao a QA Analyst at Jam City in Carlsbad, CA with Philipinne roots hailing from Los Angeles, California.
We talk about how he used his sociology degree and experience at EB Games, to break in at Midway Games in San Diego and work on Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance, his journey through the industry at Disney, High Moon Studios on Destiny, to where he is today and what about your mindset makes the difference in thriving in this field and where he looks to grow even after 20+ years of experience.
Chapters:
(00:00) Who is Brian Dumlao?
(7:14) What is Quality Assurance in Games?
(17:44) 1st Midway Games Interview
(28:26) Gravity Games Bike Street Dirt Vert
(35:07) Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance on GameCube
(41:59) Unreal Tourney & MYST
(49:14) Final Midway Years
(01:01:16) Disney, TC Digital, & High Moon on Destiny
(01:12:09) Current Day at Jam City
(01:25:24) The Final Round
(01:32:09) John's Final Thoughts & Next Episode Teaser

Additional Links:
Brian's Moby Games: https://www.mobygames.com/developer/brian-dumlao/credits/developerId,92531/
Connect with the host - https://linktr.ee/jkingpin
Connect with us: http://outofplayarea.com
...more
1h 37min
September 27, 2021Entrepreneur, Technologist, & Storyteller Matt Udvari | Co-Founder & CTO @ Aquifer Motion | Ep 18
Episode 18 features storyteller/technologist Matt Udvari the CTO and Co-Founder of Aquifer Motion in Austin, TX.
We talk about his journey through game development onto his path to build new technology to make it easier for content creators, media businesses, and brands to build interactive stories.

Chapters:
(00:00) Who is Matt Udvari
(13:23) Austin Texas Development
(21:29) UFC Fighting Games & IK
(31:58) Aquifer Motion's Origin
(41:49) Animation Cinematography Automation
(48:51) Matt's Background
(01:01:38) Game Development & Aquifer
(01:10:44) Fall Back into Games
(01:20:36) Work from Office vs Work From Home
(01:34:11) John's Final Thoughts

Additional Links:
Careers @ Aquifer - https://www.aquifermotion.com/jobs
Rising Startups To Watch With Diverse Founders 2020
Matt Udvari's Twitter
Matt's Moby Games: https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,167075/
Connect with the host - https://twitter.com/ElKingpin
Connect with us: http://outofplayarea.com
...more
1h 40min
September 13, 2021Being Authentic with Yesenia Cisneros | Lead Producer @ Brass Lion Entertainment | Ep 17
On Episode 17 of the Game Developer's Podcast Out of Play Area hosted by John R. Diaz we sit down with Lead Producer at Brass Lion Entertainment Yesenia Cisneros a Queens New York City Native with Chinese - Ecuadorian roots and we talk about what's it like breaking into games, working in eSports, transitioning into QA, and finally as a Producer at a place that she's so relieved she gets to bring her authentic self to work every day.
Chapters:
(00:00) Who is Yesenia Cisneros
(08:29) Welcome First Producer
(16:44) Code-Switching & Sneaker Shopping
(19:54) Day in the Life of a Producer
(33:12) How Did You Get Into Games?
(36:40) Halo 2 & PAX Throwback
(42:41) Xbox Live Enforcement Team Op
(48:07) Working in QA
(52:50) Pokemon Producer
(01:01:25) Production Tips & Networking
(01:07:21) Books, Games, Office & WFH Life
(01:19:58) John's Final Thoughts
More Info:
John's Twitter- https://twitter.com/ElKingpin
Yesenia's Twitter -
https://twitter.com/msyeseniac
Yesenia's LinkedIn -
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yeseniacisneros/
Brass Lion Entertainment Careers in NYC & Montreal -
https://brasslionentertainment.com/careers/
Book: Think Like a Game Designer by Justin Gary -
https://justingary.com/think-like-a-game-designer-book/
How to grow your gaming community - #71 - Game Dev London Podcast
Unidos 2020: Building Features: How to Get it Done and Make it Fun!
Interview with Yesenia Cisneros!
Connect with us: http://outofplayarea.com
...more
1h 24min
August 30, 2021Creative Director @ Rovio Montréal Stephan Carmignani | Ep 16
Episode 16 features Stephan Carmignani Creative Director at Rovio in Montreal.
We discuss diversity, hiring in the pandemic, VR arcade design at Minority Media, UGC in the metaverse, and more.

Chapters:
(00:00) Who is Stephan Carmignani
(01:47) A Toast
(15:03) Hiring Practices in the Pandemic
(26:02) VR Arcade Design
(38:29) Level Design Roots
(43:10) User-Generated Content in the Metaverse
(45:30) The End Game
(58:35) The Lightning Round
(01:14:37) John's Closing Thoughts
Additional Links:
Stephan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephancarmignani/
Stephan's Moby Games: https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,43883/
Out Of Play Area Home: http://outofplayarea.com
Connect with the host John R. Diaz: https://linktr.ee/jkingpin
...more
1h 20min
August 16, 2021Solve Cutting Edge Game Design Problems with Sylvain Dubrofsky - Product Designer @ Oculus | Ep 15
In episode 15 of the game dev's podcast Out of Play Area we sit with Sylvain Dubrosky a product & game designer for Facebook's Oculus Virtual Reality, where we go through his journey breaking into game development as a programmer and then transitioning in game design in San Francisco at Shaba, 3DO, and Factor 5, then moving to Harmonix for Rock Band 2, then PopCap where he went into casual games before venturing into VR.
Sylvain was nominated by Jeff Junio back in episode 7.
Chapters:
(00:00) Announcements
(00:01:37) Who is Sylvain Dubrofsky?
(00:10:40) Oculus Quest Differences
(00:21:28) Forget NASA I Want to Make Games
(00:33:42) Designer at 3DO
(00:44:01) Working on Lair at Factor 5
(00:48:39) Making Good Games at Harmonix Music Systems
(00:58:33) Casual Game Dev at EA PopCap
(01:11:26) Incubating Games at PopLabs with Unity
(01:23:24) Lightning Round Questions
(01:33:29) John's Outro & Teaser
Links:
Register for John's AI Talk at AI4: https://ai4.io/2021/application-attendee/
GDC Talk 2015 - Overcoming Analysis Paralysis Experimenting with Bears vs Art - https://youtu.be/4w6LohQ0-wk
Sylvain's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sylvaindubrofsky/
Sylvain's Moby Games Credits: https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,67208/
Connect with the host John R. Diaz: https://linktr.ee/jkingpin
Show website: http://outofplayarea.com
...more
1h 39min
August 02, 2021Combat Design Deep Dive with Nicolas Monteilhet-Laboissiere - Advanced Game Designer @ WB Games Montréal | Ep14
John dives into Melee Combat Game Design with Nicolas Monteilhet-Laboissiere an Advanced Games Designer at WB Games Montreal.
We talk about how he approached extending Free-Flow Combat in Arkham Origins, after going through the chronology of Melee Systems dating back to Zelda Ocarina of Time, God of War 1, onto the Batman Arkham series.
He also talks about making the jump from QA to Game Design at Ubisoft Montreal.
Chapters:
(00:00) Who is Nicolas Monteilhet-Laboissiere?
(00:04:20) A Day in Combat Design
(00:13:39) 3D Melee Combat History
(00:24:51) Combat Design Lexicon
(00:29:50) Free-Flow Combat and Souls Likes
(00:42:00) WB Games Montreal's Batman
(00:56:23) Arkham Origins Boss Fights
(01:07:07) Montreal's Gotham
(01:09:09) Evolve from QA to Designer
(01:24:32) John's Outro and Teaser
Connect With Us:
John Diaz's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElKingpin
Out of Play Area's Home Page: http://outofplayarea.com
...more
1h 30min
July 19, 2021A Game Character Artist's Portfolio - Corinne Scrivens - Art Director @ Polyarc | Ep 13
In episode 13 of Out of Play Area, we sit down with Corinne Scrivens who is an Art Director at PolyArc in Seattle Washington. She's worked as an artist at Arena Net, at Bungie on Destiny 1 & 2, and lets you know as an artist, your portfolio is everything.
Chapters:
(00:00) Who Is Corinne Scrivens?
(08:04) Learning New Tools
(14:46) It's all about the Portfolio
(26:36) Neversoft Motion Capture Internship
(40:14) Finding Work In Washington
(52:33) Armor Sets for Guild Wars at Arena Net
(01:06:43) Networking into Bungie
(01:29:12) Destiny DLC Characters
(01:53:35) Moss is My Dream Game
(02:05:42) John's Final Thoughts
Show Links & Info:
Corrine's Artstation - https://www.artstation.com/corinne
Corinne's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinne-scrivens-a455547/
Website - https://corinnescrivens.com/
Follow Corinne Scrivens on Twitter - https://twitter.com/artofco
Gamasutra Article:
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/337303/Catch_Corinne_Scrivens_postmortem_of_Moss_at_GDC_2019.php
Follow your host John Diaz on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/elkingpin
Connect with us http://outofplayarea.com
...more
2h 10min
July 05, 2021 Inspired by Pixar to Animate Video Games | Chris Torres - Animation Director @ Bluepoint | Ep 12
In episode 12, Chris Torres, video game animation director for Bluepoint in Austin, TX discusses what led him to get into video game animation, his love of technical animation, and what led him to become a director and more.

Chapters:
(00:00) Who is Chris Torres?
(06:35) Animation Inspiration Pixar's Toy Story
(13:33) Midway Games Broke Me In
(27:54) Hired at Nintendo because Ping Pong
(36:09) Why Technical Animation?
(41:24) Making the Jump to Bluepoint
(51:01) Managing Different Personality Types
(01:01:16) Navy Brats Evolve into Personable People
(01:11:17) Hiring & Demo Reels
(01:33:43) John's Final Thoughts

Episode External Resources:
Connect with Chris Torres on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-torres-8886184/
What Demon’s Souls can teach stunt performers about human movement - https://blog.playstation.com/2021/03/26/what-demons-souls-can-teach-stunt-performers-about-human-movement/
Chris Torres' Moby Games Credits - https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,72589/
Follow John Diaz on Twitter: https://twitter.com/elkingpin
To be a guest book a meeting here: https://calendly.com/outofplayarea/preshow
Connect with us http://outofplayarea.com
...more
1h 38min
June 21, 2021Freelance Game Developer The Dream Job | Grant Shonkwiler - Commander & Shonk @ Shonkventures | Ep 11
In episode 11 of Out of Play Area the Game Dev podcast, Grant Shonkwiler, a freelance game developer aboard his own company Shonkventures, talks about being an audio programmer, to a game designer, and finally a producer at ID on Rage, and for Epic Games on Fortnite.
We also discuss dealing with burnout, how to negotiate your salary and the power of radical vulnerability and more!
Chapters:
(00:00) Who is Grant Shonkwiler?
(06:18) Radical Candor & Vulnerability
(17:13) First Game Pokemon Killer
(23:50) Programming at Megatouch Games
(37:19) ID & Carrie Calls from AAA
(46:52) An Epic Favor over a Fortnite
(59:28) The Reality of Burning Out
(01:06:29) Make Money being a Game Dev Consultant
(01:16:19) Design your Life & Career
(01:32:40) John's Final Thoughts
Episode Links:
GDC 2016 Talk Production: Working at the Heart of the Team: https://youtu.be/j9-ZI1j4a6A
NO CLIP Doom Documentary: https://youtu.be/PS6SBnccxMA
Shonkventures and all of Grant's Contact Info: https://www.shonkventures.com/
Connect with the show: http://outofplayarea.com
...more
1h 35min
June 07, 2021 Open Your Own Studio with Empathy, Risk, & Trust | Danny Bulla - Design Director & Co-Founder @ Polyarc Games | Ep 10
In milestone episode 10, Danny Bulla, a co-founder and Design Director at Polyarc Games in Seattle, WA shares what it takes to leave the comfort of Bungie to open your own VR game dev studio with trusted friends.
We talk about the power of empathy to be the best designer, giving objective feedback, and the hub for game development and music that Seattle has become.

Chapters:
(00:00) Who is Danny Bulla?
(10:29) Convey Your Vision
(22:04) Leaving Bungie to Open Polyarc
(34:04) Breaking Down Design Direction
(46:53) Trust Your Teammates
(55:59) Seattle The Hollywood of Game Dev
(01:06:47) Merging Music & Game Dev
(01:18:16) Old Lessons from Midway Austin & Mookie
(01:27:19) Remember Mega Ran
(01:32:40) John's Final Thoughts

Episode External Resources:
Connect with Danny Bulla on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannybulla/
Follow Danny Bulla on Twitter - https://twitter.com/DBulla
Danny's Moby Games Credits - https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,295310/
Follow John Diaz on Twitter: https://twitter.com/elkingpin
To be a guest book a meeting here: https://calendly.com/outofplayarea/preshow
Connect with us http://outofplayarea.com
...more
1h 39min

FAQs about Out of Play Area:

How many episodes does Out of Play Area have?

The podcast currently has 41 episodes available.