Change of plans this week! Doing something I've wanted to try for some time, ranking my top 50 favorite games of all time. Strap in because this is a long one. (My voice can hardly handle it by the end 🤣) Whether it's RPGs, shooters, platformers, or roguelikes, you'll find it on this list. Hope you enjoy and see you next week with another interview! Chiptune artist of the week is Sushi-Nator 🍣

LINKS:

💿 Sushi-Nator: https://simasima.bandcamp.com/

☁️ Pixel Pizza BlueSky: pixelpizza.bsky.social

Joining us this week on the show is filmmaker and game director Adam Butcher! You might know him best from his viral YouTube horror videos like Crow 64 and Internet Story, but Adam has been making a strong foray into game development with his team at Triangle Wave. Their first major project, Stretchmancer, is a zany and inventive puzzle game inspired by 90's Saturday morning cartoons. Tune in to hear all about it! Music from Iceferno ❄️🔥

Pizzeria of the week:Franco Manca

🎮 Stretchmancer (Wishlist!):https://store.steampowered.com/app/2929290/Stretchmancer/

☁️ Stretchmancer BlueSky:stretchmancer.bsky.social

▶️ Adam's YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@AdamButcher

💿 Iceferno:https://iceferno.bandcamp.com/

This week on Pixel Pizza, we step into the mind of Creative Director at Sunset Visitor, Remy Siu! Remy and his team recently released the acclaimed sci-fi narrative adventure game 1000xResist. We dive deep into Remy's background in live performance production, what the average day of a creative director looks like, and the voice direction process. Music from 380bitworks~

Pizzeria of the Week: Maple Leaf Pizza in Vancouver 🍕

LINKS:

☁️ Remy's BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/remysiu.com

🌅 Sunset Visitor's BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/sunsetvisitor.studio

💿 380bitworks: https://380bitworks.bandcamp.com/

After a tumultuous start to the new year, we are BACK cooking more Pixel Pizza! 🔥 To start off this season, we are joined by two level designers from Strange Scaffold-- Kevin Ribeiro and Jim Brown. Together they've worked on the critically acclaimed, high-octane shooters El Paso, Elsewhere and I Am Your Beast. Kevin & Jim tell us about using verbs as a guide for level design, creating a John Wick experience, and the newly-released update for I Am Your Beast called Cold Sweat. Music from Duv!

Pizzerias of the week: Marco's (Ohio) and Gatto Figa (Sao Paulo)

LINKS:

🎮 I Am Your Beast: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1876590/I_Am_Your_Beast/

☁️ Kev's BlueSky: gentlekevs.bsky.social

☁️ Jim's BlueSky: rokmod.bsky.social

💿 Duv: https://ddduv.bandcamp.com/

For our final show of 2024, we've got a super prolific guest in the sound design world! Akash Thakkar has brought his talents to hit games like Hyper Light Drifter, Destiny, and The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye. On top of that, he hosts the Sound Business podcast, gives industry talks at conferences around the world, and creates YouTube tutorials on sound design skills. We cover his work across all of these different areas and how he manages it all. Enjoy and have a happy and safe holiday season 🎄

LINKS:

🌐 Akash's Website: https://www.akashthakkar.com/

💿 Anodyna: https://anodyna.bandcamp.com/

🍕 Pizzeria of the week: Prince Street Pizza

Joining us this week is our first-ever guest in the localization field, Mai Namba! Mai's got decades of experience in translating and localizing some of the most renowned Japanese RPGs including Persona 2-5, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and Metaphor: ReFantazio. Most recently they've brought their talents to NIS America.

Our wide-ranging conversation covers the evolution of game localization with new technology, the multicultural effort that brought Metaphor to life, and what can be done to improve the emotional and professional wellbeing of linguists in the industry.

Music from Kaiden!

LINKS:

💼 Mai's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mainamba/

💿 Kaiden: https://k9id3n.bandcamp.com/

🍕 Pizzeria of the week: Domino's

This week we welcome animation director Chris Burns of Exit 73 Studios to the show! Chris's career started with animated TV shows at networks like Adult Swim and Comedy Central, and his own game-inspired pilots eventually led him to pursuing game dev proper. His studio's first project, the dungeon crawler #BLUD, is a love letter to 90's animation and top-down action games like The Legend of Zelda. If you're in the northeast US, check his team out at MAGFest next month! Music from TLC.

LINKS:

🗣️ Exit 73 Socials: @Exit73Studios

🎮 #BLUD: https://www.bludgame.com/

💿 TLC: https://tlcmany.bandcamp.com/

🍕 Pizzeria of the week: Three Brothers in Jersey City, NJ

On tap for this week's show is a talk with Washington-based developer Alice Bottino! Alice's gamedev career has taken her to studios like Xbox and Harebrained Schemes, and to the indie space with her current project, the ethereal rhythm game Hyperbeat. We chat about making games out of spite, the similarities between game development and skateboarding, and the importance of a strong aesthetic vibe. Music from bit.umen!

LINKS:

🗣️ Alice's Socials: @Bottinogames (Twitter), @Bottino.games (Bluesky)

🎮 Hyperbeat: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2263360/HYPERBEAT/

💿 Bit.umen: https://bit-umen.bandcamp.com/

Joining us this week is talented game composer Star Victoria Power, aka Slide20XX ⭐️ They've recently done work on games like Calico and Bloodstained: Dominique's Curse, and were even featured as part of Bandcamp's best soundtrack releases of 2022. Having worked towards making music for games since the age of 13, Star offers a lot of meaningful insight into how to balance pursuing your passions while still being practical. With music from Mistil!

LINKS:

⭐️ Star's socials: @Slide20XX

💿 Mistil: http://mistil.bandcamp.com

📕 The Algebra of Wealth by Scott Galloway

🍕 Pizzeria of the Week: Rocco’s Pizza in Seattle

This week on the show we've got the two Brazilian devs that make up Helena Creative Studio-- Gabriel Felipe (Gabs) and Gabriel Vinicius de Souza (GV). Together they've been hard at work on their first game, the upcoming experimental RPG Moth Kubit. It's already made a big impression at the Tokyo Game Show and Latin American Games Showcase, and even been featured in a Nintendo Direct presentation! Listen to their story, plus music from Floor Baba, now 🦋

LINKS:

🎮 Moth Kubit: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2257830/Moth_Kubit/

💿 Floor Baba: https://floorbaba.bandcamp.com/