Pixel Pizza

Not skipping a beat, we return this week to chat with a guy who has been all around the industry: Bayaar Lo-Borjiged. We discuss his work on both the east and west coasts, from his surprising start as a Naruto game promoter to his QA work at major companies like Treyarch and 2K to forming the indie studio Skull Fire Games! Our chiptune music of the week comes from Tamás Kátai off his Jupiter 92 LP!

🐦 Bayaar’s Twitter: @SkullFireGames

💀 Skull Fire Games: https://skullfiregames.com/

💿 Tamás Kátai: http://tamaskatai.bandcamp.com

🍕 Pixel Pizza Twitter: @PixelPizzaPod

The Reunion draws near...The awesome game composer and DJ, James Landino, returns to Pixel Pizza after our radio run in Boston! He's been up to a lot since then, including writing music for games like No Straight Roads and the hit anime Tower of God. We go over his creative process, how he presents himself professionally, and his new business venture: Rare Drop. And we play music off his newest EP, Gamecore!

🌐 James’s Website: www.jameslandino.com

📀 Rare Drop: https://raredrop.bandcamp.com/

🍕 Pixel Pizza Twitter: @PixelPizzapod

Let's get scientific this week and talk with Erica Kleinman, a PhD student currently writing her dissertation at USC Santa Cruz's Game User Interaction and Intelligence Lab. We discuss her research on learning in eSports, decision-making in game narrative, and plenty more. Chiptune music this week comes from Bribed Fuzz! 

LINKS:

🎮 GUII Lab: http://guiilab.ucsc.edu

🌐 Erica’s Website: http://erimedia.us

🕊 Erica’s Twitter: @EricaMKleinman

📀 Bribed Fuzz: https://bribedfuzz.bandcamp.com/

🐦 Pixel Pizza Twitter: @PixelPizzaPod

Yo yo yo yo! This week we're chatting with Brazilian solo game dev LakeFeperd. He's best known for his action-platforming series Spark the Electric Jester. We chat about his roots in the fan game scene, finding your niche, and how to analyze what works and what doesn't in game design. A super informative chat for anyone looking to jump into making their own stuff! With musical interludes from the awesome Sunnexo.

LINKS:

🐦 Lake’s Twitter: @LakeFeperd

🎮 Feperd Games: https://feperdgames.com/

💿 Sunnexo: https://sunnexo.moe/

🕊 Pixel Pizza Twitter: @PixelPizzaPod

📸 Pixel Pizza Instagram: @PixelPizzaPod

Can you believe it's been over 20 episodes of our gaming/chiptune podcast and we HAVEN'T had an actual chip musician on to interview?? Well, it's time to fix that! That's right, this week we are talking to one of the OGs (and the artist who introduced Jared to chiptune), Philly's own Paul Weinstein aka Chipocrite. We talk about discovering the medium, getting involved with the community scene, and the differences between writing music for games versus standalone songs. Naturally the songs this week come from Chipocrite too!

LINKS:

🎧 Paul’s Website: chipocrite.com

💿 Paul’s Bandcamp: https://chipocrite.bandcamp.com/

🐦 Paul’s Twitter: @Chipocrite

🕊 Pixel Pizza Twitter: @PixelPizzaPod

📷 Pixel Pizza Instagram: @PixelPizzaPod

🐸🐸 Take a trip to Frog Island with Max Wrighton, intrepid head of Half Past Yellow. We talk about his transition from filmmaking to game dev, the process of naming your game, and wearing multiple hats on a team. Check out their game Time on Frog Island when it launches next month, and enjoy the tunes from Watch Out For Snakes!

LINKS:

🐦 Max’s Twitter: @MaxWrighton

🟨 Half Past Yellow: https://halfpastyellow.com/

💿 Watch Out For Snakes: https://www.watchoutforsnakestheband.com/

🕊 Pixel Pizza Twitter: @PixelPizzaPod

📸 Pixel Pizza Instagram: @PixelPizzaPod

No matter where you are, it’s time for happy hour! We sit down with Tony Grayson, studio head of Summitsphere. They’ve just fully funded their new game on Kickstarter: The wild retro-inspired platformer Antonblast. Tony shares his candid thoughts on pitching to publishers, taking your game beyond its influences, and much more. He’s also responsible for the music in Antonblast, so we’ve got some tracks to share with you too!

-No episode next week, we will be on vacation-

LINKS:

🐦 Summitsphere Twitter: @Summitsphere

💥 Antonblast Kickstarter: antonblast.com

🎮 Tony’s Twitter: @GraysonZ80

🕊 Pixel Pizza Twitter: @PixelPizzaPod

📸 Pixel Pizza Instagram: @PixelPizzaPod

Ever wondered what it's like to be a writer for one of gaming's biggest news sites? Get the lowdown on this week's Pixel Pizza featuring Ruby Innes of Kotaku Australia, also an alum of the Gaming Cult Podcast! We chat about developing your personal writing style, spotlighting indie developers, and the differences between print, audio, and video journalism. And the most pressing question of all: WHERE IS GEX?? The tunes this time come from chip artist BC Likes You!

LINKS:

✍️Ruby’s Writing: https://www.kotaku.com.au/author/rubyinnes/ 

🐦 Ruby’s Twitter: @RubyInnes

💿 BC Likes You: https://bclikesyou.bandcamp.com/

🕊 Pixel Pizza Twitter: @PixelPizzaPod

📸 Pixel Pizza Instagram: @PixelPizzaPod

We've got a (mostly) virus-free chat this week with rising indie star Millie Walker, better known as Karatkuro! Our discussion delves into her upcoming monster-catching/3D platformer hybrid Myth Caller: The Nightmare Shaman, the journey of getting into game development via Game Maker, and the importance of being open about your failures. Add in some sick beats from Heavy Viper, and you've got an episode you don't wanna miss!

LINKS:

🐦 Millie’s Twitter: @Karatkuro

🎮 Myth Caller: https://www.mythcaller.com/

💿 Heavy Viper: https:/heavyviper.bandcamp.com/

🕊Pixel Pizza Twitter: @PixelPizzaPod

📷 Pixel Pizza Instagram: @PixelPizzaPod

That nasty BA.2 variant has struck again, but we're powering through to give you the pizza you crave. So excuse the voice as I talk with the prolific content creator Daan Koopman, better known as Nintendaan. Whether it's advising on indie games, covering press events and reviews for Nintendo World Report, or First Look videos on YouTube, the man has done it all and he's here to talk all about it. With music from Astro Grey!

LINKS:

🐦 Daan's Twitter: @Nintendaan

🐘 Daan's Mastodon: @Nintendaan

💿 Astro Grey: https://astrogrey.bandcamp.com/

🎶 Marly Records: https://marlyrecords.bandcamp.com/

🕊 Pixel Pizza Twitter: @PixelPizzaPod

📸 Pixel Pizza Instagram: @PixelPizzaPod