In this week's Story x Story episode Nigel and Tazziii welcome author and The Koalition journalist, Gary Swaby for a deep dive into sci-fi adventure Minority Report. We look at how well this 2002 vision of future technology holds up in 2021 and discuss some big themes and the ethics of convicting people in the present for future actions.

This week's story tip is about implementing exposition though conflict and characters.

Stories we're enjoying this week: Warbreaker, The Poppy War, Dragon Quest Builders 2, The Nevers, Mr Robot, Firewatch

Show notes: https://mayamada.com/story-x-story-67-throwback-to-thought-crimes-minority-report/

This episode is a bumper interview episode! Nigel and Tazziii interview  Bob Cheshire, concept artist for Disney and Jurassic World franchises. He has worked on titles including: Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker, Endgame, Infinity War, Black Widow, Jurassic World 3! We talk about Bob's journey from school teacher to working on some of the biggest films on the planet! There's lots of advice for aspiring illustrators from an incredible creative professional.

Show notes: https://mayamada.com/story-x-story-66-behind-the-story-with-bob-cheshire-concept-artist

In Story x Story this week Nigel and Tazziii welcome Annabel Ashalley-Anthony, founder of Melanin Gamers and resident DC Stan to discuss Batman: The Killing Joke. We cover this animated adaptation of a classic graphic novel and definitive Joker origin story. We also talk about the problematic inclusion of the Barbara Gordon prologue in the animation version as well and this dark interpretation of the Joke character. This week's storytelling tip is about making good use of plot devices in your story.

Stories we're enjoying: Horizon Zero Dawn, Tiger & Bunny, Yasuke, Deadly Class, Black Lagoon

Show notes: https://mayamada.com/story-x-story-65-so-the-joke-was-on-us-batman-the-killing-joke/

The final part of our bonus episode is here! This is audio from the spring GamePad Online panel discussion looking at the growing size of video games and whether they are becoming "too big" as we move into a new generation. mayamada co-founder Nigel is joined by GAMINGbible journalist Imogen Mellor, founder of indie studio Asobi.tech Quang Nguyen and Creative Director at Perpetual Games Annie Grudeva. In part 3, we look towards the future and the actions we can take as an industry to ensure smoother game launches.

You can also watch part one of the panel on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uvpGuxzKCKM

Welcome back to part 2 of our audio from the spring GamePad Online panel discussion looking at the growing size of video games and whether they are becoming "too big" as we move into a new generation! mayamada co-founder Nigel is joined by GAMINGbible journalist Imogen Mellor, founder of indie studio Asobi.tech Quang Nguyen and Creative Director at Perpetual Games Annie Grudeva. In part 2, we look at the expectation for large games from a games media and fan perspective.

You can also watch part one of the panel on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uGgtTbpBboo

This week's bonus episode is audio from the spring GamePad Online panel discussion looking at the growing size of video games and whether they are becoming "too big". mayamada co-founder Nigel is joined by GAMINGbible journalist Imogen Mellor, founder of indie studio Asobi.tech Quang Nguyen and Creative Director at Perpetual Games Annie Grudeva. In part 1, we look at a brief history of open world games and what led to CD Projekt RED's rocky launch of Cyberpunk 2077.

You can also watch part one of the panel on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KJW-z839wKk

In this week's Story x Story episode Nigel and Tazziii welcome screenwriter Jed Shepard to talk about streaming services and their impact on storytelling. Jed tells us how his horror film Host became a runaway success during lockdown, being called "the scariest movie of the past decade" and "the genre phenomenon of 2020". We discuss binge watching, reaching niche audiences and the future impact of streaming services post-pandemic.

Show notes: https://mayamada.com/story-x-story-64-how-streaming-is-changing-storytelling/

In this week's episode of Story x Story Nigel and Tazziii welcome presenter and content creator, Trista Bytes for a deep dive into the Studio Ghibli animation, Kiki's Delivery Service. We figure out which version of the animation each person has seen and then get into the characters and favourite moments in this coming of age story, with themes still incredibly relevant 30+ years later. This week's storytelling tip is about exploring your story's theme through its characters.

Stories we're enjoying this week: Are You Human, The Way of the House Husband, Falcon & the Winter Soldier, Mr Robot.

Show notes: https://mayamada.com/story-x-story-63-subbed-dubbed-or-all-the-above-kikis-delivery-service/

"We're back for Story x Story and It's just Nigel and Tazziii here for this week! We get into a deep dive talk about X-Men: Days of Future Past. We discuss Charles' journey as protagonist and Magneto's flair for the dramatic as well as getting into our expectations for the X-Men in the Marvel Cinematic Universe...can you have too many character in a franchise? This episode's story tip is about raising the stakes in your story.

Other stories we're enjoying this week: A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV, Great Pretender, The Way of the House Husband, The Irregulars, Black Lagoon, Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Show Notes: https://mayamada.com/story-x-story-62-through-places-space-and-time-x-men-days-of-the-future-past/

This week's Story x Story episode is a Twitch Livestream replay! Nigel and Tazziii talk with Square Enix Product Manager, Karla Reyes and Code Coven Alumni, Midi Mayo about the journey into the video games industry. As Karla prepares for the release of the upcoming Tomb Raider Reloaded mobile game, she gives advice on how to break into video games and we're also joined by illustrator Midi about her early stage journey and aspirations in video games and VTubing.

Follow us on Twitch to catch all future Livestream events: https://www.twitch.tv/mayamada