Starting a new studio is always challenging, but what does it mean for two people who had never even met before?  Oksana Kubushnya and Travis McGeathy of Seeker Entertainment tell Daryl Ogden how they joined forces, built trust, and developed a studio culture in support of their yet to be launched game.  They explain why they emphasize passion for games and the game-making process when hiring new studio members, and what it means to focus on winning rather than not losing.  And what do mushrooms have to do with it?  So take a trip with us to the burgeoning game center of Bend, Oregon to meet these new founders!

Level up Games:

Dead as Disco

Kaizen: A Factory Story

Speaking with Jason Della Rocca is a trip:  an actual journey through the years and around the world.  Starting out as an accountant at PWC, Jason went on to developer network jobs at SGI and Matrox before leading the IGDA–both internationally as Executive Director as well as becoming a founder of the local Montréal chapter.  He then launched both the incubator Execution Lab (devoted to a small cohort of incipient studios) as well as the related Gameplay Space (serving a broader range of studios with an “open door” approach).

Armed with knowledge both local and international, Jason now works as an “Ecosystem Strategist”, advising governments at every level about best approaches to building a burgeoning game industry.  Join us as Jason brings us the gaming news from all over the globe:  Australasia, the Middle East, and Africa.  Finally,  find out why launching an incubator in the desert may not be a great first step, and discover how you may be better off trying to first serve the world rather than your own regional market.

Today, our Co-Founder Daryl Ogden speaks with Gordon Bellamy, who serves as Professor of the Practice of Cinematic Arts at USC and is a long-tenured veteran of the video game industry.  They discuss Gordon’s “brute force” approach to entering the game industry, what mentorship meant to him then and what it does now, and how “digital civics” might play out in today’s game culture.  Finally, they explore how Gordon’s own quest to live and work as his full, true self–as well as his desire to give back to a field that has nurtured him–finds expression in his work with Gay Gaming Professionals and the Collegiate Games Challenge.

Level Up Games:

Donuts!

Smoke Break!

Joining us on the pod today is Jen MacLean, Co-Founder and CEO of Dragon Snacks Games.  She speaks with our own Co-Founder Daryl Ogden who has known her since she was heading up partnerships and business development at Xbox.

Jen speaks to her rich, varied career in games–one which began as a play tester– with a focus on why she recently decided to take the plunge and start her own studio, including a life-defining story of a friend who asked her what she wanted to be said in her eulogy. She explains why she believes there is an opportunity to serve Gen Z and Gen Alpha, that the market is demanding a studio where, in her words, “players don’t just exist, but connect, create, and build something lasting.” Finally, she goes on to walk us through the culture that she and her co-founders are building to deliver on that opportunity.

Level Up Game:  Metaphor:  ReFantazio

Today Ed Fries joins us on the pod.  Ed is a long-time veteran of gaming, having founded Microsoft Game Studios, and been there at the birth of Xbox.  He is now a founder of 1Up Ventures which funds and supports independent game developers globally. 

Ed tells us about his early days in gaming, which actually started in high school on an Atari 800!  After the game industry crash of 1984, he began working as a programmer for Microsoft Office, and only then moved over to games.  We discuss the differences in work and culture between these two experiences, and go on to explore how he thought about integrating studios he brought into Microsoft, as well as how 1Up seeks to build community amongst its portfolio studios.   

Finally, Ed provides a characteristically optimistic view on the state of the games industry.  We all left feeling a bit better.

Level Up Game:

Star Rail

Today Daryl Ogden and Mike Merrill speak with Lizzie Mintus, founder of the boutique placement firm Here’s Waldo, now celebrating their 4-year anniversary.  Lizzie explains how an off-handed conversation led her to a career in recruiting and to eventually founding her own firm, one based in the deeply customer-centric experience that she learned in her early work at Nordstroms.  

Daryl and Mike explore with Lizzie what she’s seen in the four years of Here’s Waldo’s existence:  From incredible growth during the height of the COVID pandemic, to a slowing market now, and why and how she stays optimistic about the future.  They discuss evergreen themes of recruitment:  For example, how a studio needs to carefully define what they are looking for, but stay open to a variety of people. And they speak as well to current considerations:  Notably, how RTO affects both applicants as well as employers.  Finally, they consider what new technologies mean for the job market today.

To learn more about Here’s Waldo:  https://hereswaldorecruiting.com/

To download Valued Cultures’ report, “Winning Game Studio Culture in the Post-pandemic Era”: https://www.valuedcultures.com/game-studio-culture-report/

Kicking off a new year of pods, Daryl Ogden speaks with Tanya Short, the co-founder and creative director of Kitfox Games. Tanya and Daryl dig into how her team accomplishes so much with limited resources, notably a very tight team of studio members.  In addition to developing games like “Streets of Fortuna” & “Boyfriend Dungeon”, Kitfox serves as a publisher for other small studios. As you'll hear, that's the result of a relentless eye on efficiency, the deployment of resources for multiple purposes, and judicious use of procedural generation.

Level up Games:

Against the Storm

Crypt Master

When you take on the head role of a studio in the wake of the founders departing, how do you not only maintain the “DNA” of the studio, but even build upon it?  That is the challenge that Ninja Theory Studio Head Dom Matthews explores with our own Daryl Ogden.

Dom started out thinking he wanted to be a sports agent, but quickly found himself pursuing a marketing career within the games industry.  How did he end up leading a studio that would go on to win 5 BAFTAs for "Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice"?  And what does it take to lead a studio filled with unparalleled technical and artistic talent?  Finally, how do you keep that “Ninja” DNA alive as part of a broader Xbox portfolio?

To download our report, “Winning Game Studio Culture in the Post-Pandemic Era”:  

https://www.valuedcultures.com/game-studio-culture-report/

How does a gamemaker’s gamemaker transition to being a builder of an organization that cultivates studios?  That is the story of Matt Booty, a veteran gamemaker–starting with pinball machines at Midway in Chicago before he moved on to Xbox in Seattle.  He now serves as President of Game Content & Studios at Xbox where he oversees the dozens of games that constitute the Xbox portfolio.

To download our report, “Winning Game Studio Culture in the Post-Pandemic Era”:  

https://www.valuedcultures.com/game-studio-culture-report/

We’re back for Season 2 of the Valued Cultures Podcast, and we’re welcoming Julian Maroda, co-Founder and CEO of Norsfell, a Montréal studio with a mission to forge new genres that bring people together.  The studio’s best-known game, Tribes of Midgard, is enjoyed by over 4.5 million players.

Julian speaks with our co-Founder, Daryl Ogden, about his youth in Belgium, an impactful trip to Australia, and his immigration to Québec–all with a focus from his earliest day on making games.  Julian and Daryl dig into the values that define the quality of Norsfell games, including: a focus on learning and mentorship; a deeply iterative philosophy that informs everything from weekly sprints to evaluation grids; as well as Julian’s own (productive) stubbornness and impatience!

Finally, Julian and Daryl discuss the broader macroeconomic trends affecting the game industry today–and where they see it going in the near future.  Join them as they navigate the golden, smokey halls of dancing bear warriors!