The Game Dev Show

Episode 11 brings us Pasi Pitkanen who is the head of Rovio audio. Pasi dispels the myth that audio is irrelevant to mobile games,  talks to us about his journey to where he is today, and even has a transcendental experience with Kaley talking about the sound of trees. Pasi is a gift to the games industry and an incredible guest. Enjoy! 

Episode ten is here and our guest is Daniel Mesonero from Toadman Interactive. Daniel has worked in so many different regions and countries within the games industry that he has an incredibly wide breadth of knowledge to share. He even helped launch Toadman's Berlin studio and now runs the day to day operations.  Because Daniel knows five languages, we spend a good portion of the episode exploring words and their cultural context. 

Our guest for week nine is the the physicist and founder of Brilliant Skies Nick Smart. Nick has created such an incredible From The Depths is a wildly creative sandbox game.  Game Ramble said, “My jaw almost hit the floor when I installed a few community made vehicle blueprints. The creativity and ingenuity on display was simply incredible [...] there is no doubt that this game is going to be truly epic” We loved talking to Nick about his journey in the industry and how his physics background has impacted the games he creates. The real-life physics and engineering aspects to From The Depths make it hugely unique . Building a submarine in the game mirrors the processes of real life. The basic principles are transferable, so players are actually learning valuable skills whilst playing From The Depths.  Nick shares insights, jokes, and laughs. 

Our Guest for week eight is Katie Goode, who is the co-founder and Creative Director at Cornwall-base VR studio, Triangular Pixels. We talk gender equity in games and Katie breaks down the roots of the disparity for us. Katie also makes the case that parents need better systemic support within the games industry. We also talk VR, living the dream, and why Katie and her husband are the great games industry love story of our modern times. We hope you listen and love this one as much as we do. 

Our guest for episode seven is the philosopher/ Head of Line Production at Focus Home, Xavier Marot. Xavier is a man of many talents, from developing his own project management software, to producing incredible titles, to writing a book at 15. Luke and Kaley firmly establish their partnership as frenemies, and Kaley pitches her alternate title for the podcast. You can learn more about Xavier from his website and also download his free project management software https://xmarot.com/

This week, we were joined by David Ecker who is currently the Lead Producer at CCP where he works on Eve Online. David schooled us on live ops, player-led communities, and Pokemon Go tips and tricks. David has had a long and interesting career, including a time at Disney where he voiced Rock Hopper the Penguin while simultaneously rocking faces off as part of his band, Shreddy Kreuger. We laugh, we cry, we try to get invited to the yearly Eve Online meetup. 

This week, we are joined by Miguel Corti. Miguel has been working in games for a decade and a half. He started in Localization but is now the is Senior Manager, Global Production at Capcom. You may even recognize his voice from Resident Evil. Miguel fills us in on what his life in Japan is like,  how he has seen Localization change over the past 15 years, and even what it was like to be THE Captain Morgan for a time. 

Adam Campbell is our guest this week! Adam is Co-founder of POC in Play and Director of Product at Azoomee  (Europe’s fastest growing kids’s media company). He is also a jury member of the British Academy Film & Television Arts (BAFTA) and an award-winning producer.

With a career spanning over a decade in video games, he has an incredible about of knowledge to share. His accolades include; listing on Gamesindustry.biz 100 Future Talent, Game Dev Heroes Awards Shortlist, Dutch Game Award 2014 and was part of a Golden Joystick Award winning team for ‘UK Developer of the Year’.

Adam was kind enough to share a lot with us about representation and marginalization in games and the incredible inter-sectional challenges of changing that system. If you want to know more about POC in Play, check out their website https://www.pocplay.org/

For our third episode, we are joined by Rosie Ball! Rosie is a producer at Chucklefish, she has worked in the games industry for nearly a decade, and in that time, worked across disciplines, including art, marketing, branding, and game development. Rosie is a board member of women in games and was named in 2018 as one of the top 100 most influential women in games in the UK. Rosie is multi-award winning and we are thrilled to have her as our guest. We talk about creative process, finding your path within the games industry, and innovation. 

Our guest this week is the absolute legend, IAN LIVINGSTONE! We may have peaked early. We talk Warhammer, Games Workshop, DnD, Fighting Fantasy, Special Effect, and Lara Croft. This episode was a joy to record and we hope it's just as much fun to listen to.  If you want to learn more about the early days of Games Workshop-  1975-1985, Ian is working on a book called Dice Men, find out more here https://unbound.com/books/games-workshop/