Player Characters

Jordan has a fascinating story about growing up in less than ideal circumstances, and even though he's always loved games, he was kinda guided away from a career in games. But of course, it crept into his life anyway. I talk to Jordan about Lord of the Rings, Elder Scrolls, modding, running a remote team, what having construction company can do for your game studio and much more.

Title: Make sure your demo works | Game developer Mark Gregory Guest: Mark Gregory, Game developer at Freesphere Entertainment Twitter: @gamedevmark Freesphere: freesphere-entertainment.co.uk Summary: I talk to Mark about all the areas of the game industry that he has touched so far. Writing about the technical qualities of ports for Mac, developing games, seeking funding for games, and organizing talks for game developers. That leads to topics like how to combat Imposter Syndrome, how to seek funding as a creative person, and what Fortnite has done for game development. People: Caoimhe Roddy Hollie Emery Games Super Mario Bros. Duck Hunt Metal Gear Solid Solarix Tether Links www.macgamerhq.com/ www.meetup.com/WA-Games/ EIS - Enterprise Investment Scheme www.seis.co.uk/

Title: It's about the art | Solo game developer Paul Bradish Guest: Website: http://www.marshinthegame.com/ Steam page: store.steampowered.com/app/1062180/Marshin/ Twitter: @MarshinTheGame Instagram: @MarshinTheGame YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCr6Y2II45Kf8mbJcsJWWBiw Summary Paul recently started a journey as a solo game developer. We talk about how his background as a web designer and in digital marketing fits into that journey. We also get around topics like how to manage your time and priorities, where to find help with Unity and programming, analytics and feedback, and Twin Peaks. Games Super Mario Bros. Duck Hunt Dragon Warrior / Dragon Quest Limbo Typoman Super Meat Boy Hollow Knight YouTube Black Thorn Prod Brackeys GDC - Postmortems Links QBasic Udemy - game development Trello Kanban Jira People Tim Burton David Lynch Bob Saget Drew Carey Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

In this episode, I talk to Tastygraph the Viking, a streamer and solo game developer. Making games has always been a hobby project for Tastygraph, but he has plans to change that. He's put a lot of thought into what it takes to make sure that when you release a game, it has a chance to be seen and discovered by players. We talked about how he's building his community on Discord and Twitter. But we started with his obsession with MMO's and also got into how he uses the social interaction around games in his daily work with kids.

In this episode, I talk to the solo developer behind Studio Sploot. We get into how to structure your work, Impostor Syndrome, asking for help, getting feedback and the whole mentality of working on something on your own.

Title: It's better to be yourself | Twitch streamer Virtute Guest: Twitch streamer Virtute Twitch: twitch.tv/virtute Twitter: twitter.com/VirtuteStreams Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/VirtuteStreams/ Other links: links.virtute.gg Summary Virtute tells the story of how he started streaming from his PlayStation 4. Broadcasts that he himself now labels as not good. But he kept at it and began thinking about ways to improve his stream. We get into his thought process behind the changes he made and how he keeps changing. We also talk about how you can prepare something to talk about on stream so that you're not just sitting in silence waiting for viewers to start a conversation. Highlights Virtute started streaming from his PlayStation 4 using the built-in streaming app and no camera. Eventually he graduated to a full streaming setup on a PC with a webcam. He watched Ninja and got inspired by him and other people like Markiplier and PewDiePie, so he changed his formula and started thinking a bit more conscio

Title: Remember to network | Twitch streamer Mr Jake Woof Guest: Twitch streamer Mr Jake Woof Twitch: twitch.tv/MrJakeWoof Twitter: @MrJakeWoof Instagram: @MrJakeWoof/ Summary I talk to Jake about how getting fired from his job lead to streaming video games. He shares his thoughts on all the different aspects of streaming like what type of stream you want, the skills you need, building a community, what games to stream, stream schedule and how to stay healthy when you sit in front of a computer all day. Jake also shares how much time he spends off stream working on different ways to grow his channel. Games Lemmings Duke Nukem Doom Super Mario 64 H1Z1 People summit1g: twitch.tv/summit1g Dr Disrespect: twitter.com/drdisrespect Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: Make art, not just games | Lead organizer of Nordic Game Jam Victor Breum Guest: Victor Breum - Lead organizer of Nordic Game Jam Twitter: @zepcap Nordic Game Jam: www.nordicgamejam.com Summary I talk to Victor about why his goal is to make art, and why he chose to enter a film school in order to make games. We also talk about the role of the game jam in the broader gaming industry and all the work that goes into running Nordic Game Jam. Highlights A degree from the film school does not guarantee you a job, so in Victor's words, you should choose a school like that because it has a big focus on games as art, and you the director as an artist. Nordic Game Jam is a good place to meet other game developers. The advantage of a physical game jam, you get to actually work with other game makers. Which is also a different way to meet people compared to going to conferences. Victor is studying directing, but it's difficult to just apply for the position as director in a game studio. So you have to either wor

Title: Share your passions | Freelance writer Daryl Baxter Guest: Daryl Baxter freelance writer and podcaster Twitter: @darylbaxter Website: darylbaxter.com/ Podcast: PAL Keys Summary I talked to Daryl about writing and freelancing, how does he use feedback and Google Analytics, what's special about a retrospective and what does his process look like when he's writing, plus how to send a direct message to an editor to ask for a gig. Highlights Daryl was studying computer networks and got an email from a magazine looking for people to contribute. He contacted them and spend a week writing a piece on Tomb Raider 2. Saw his name in the Platformer Magazine on his Tomb Raider 2 retrospective. From then on he knew he had to write. So he has been squeezing in some way to write at his different non-writing jobs. For instance, he wrote phone guides at his tech support job. But also he kept a blog in his spare time. With SEO and Google Analytics, he kept track of which times of the year people were most interested in r

Title: You'll never be completely ready | Gamification Expert Rob Alvarez Guest: Rob Alzarez Expert on Gamification Website: professorgame.com Twitter: @robalvarezb Instagram: @robalvarezb Summary Rob is an expert on gamification and works at IE Business School in Madrid. He is involved with the various projects that they make around gamification and also teaches at the school. We talk about what gamification is exactly, how and why you'd use it in both education and business. And we also get into the ethical aspects of gamification. Highlights Got a Nintendo Entertainment System as a child and wanted to write for The Nintendo Magazine. Went to university and studied computer engineering. Loved coding, but didn't want to spend his life programming. Got a masters degree in business. Moved to Madrid to work at IE Business School. The process of working with a client to create a project that uses gamification to help convey a message to the user. His role also involves going to other universities to talk about t

Title: Be the best version of you | Freelance concept artist Jason Pickthall Guest: Jason Pickthall freelance concept artist. Twitter: @jpickthall www.jasonpickthall.com Summary Jason tells the story of how he got his first job almost by chance, and how he pivoted from in-game assets to concept art. We talk about the importance of finding your own voice as an artist, and also believing in yourself and your worth. Highlights Started as a product designer. Took university courses in industrial design. By chance he got into 3D Max. Got told by the head of his school that he would never be good at making art. Did retail jobs after school. Got a job at a video company with a combination of luck, preparation and an attitude to capitalize on that luck. With his skill in using 3D Max and Photoshop he got a job as a level designer. Got a job in Australia, but the company got shut down shortly after arriving. Started spending his free time on studying concept art. Pivoted from in-game graphics to concept art. Working

Title: Excellence requires teamwork | Mike Rutter director at The Digi Monsters Guest: Mike Rutter Co-Founder and Director at The Digi Monsters www.thedigimonsters.com Twitter: @digimonsterboss Summary I talk to Mike about his work on the UI for Colin McRae: DiRT and his journey from 3D modeling to UI and becoming a director and co-founder at The Digi Monsters. Games Pac-Man Space Invaders Pitfall! Galaxian LMA Manager Club Football Operation Flashpoint Colin McRae: DiRT TOCA Touring Car Championship Race Driver: Grid DJ Hero Guitar Hero Sing Party Links Codemasters FreeStyleGames (Now Ubisoft_Leamington) Activision Houdini 3D software Swiss Design https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Typographic_Style http://www.designishistory.com/home/swiss/ https://medium.com/@mason_weis/what-is-swiss-design-2c97088c3f20 Helvetica Documentary about Helvetica People Gavin Raeburn: www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,46834 Andrew Pallister: www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-pallister-14121514 Philip Cox: www.

Hey Players It's just me, so no new episode this week Unfortunately, I've been without internet for almost 2 weeks and so I didn't have a chance to set up a new interview for an episode this week. Sorry about that. But I have a bonus episode for you. I got an email from a listener named Brandon who asked me if I had any advice on how to start off with gaming Journalism. And I figured, since giving advice is the whole purpose of this podcast, why don't I share that advice with you. Here's the email: I think the most important thing is to get some experience. That goes for any area really :-) Now I don't really know if you're interested in writing reviews and news and such, or you're more into deep diving journalism with a focus on games. It's probably going to be hard to get to do the ladder with no experience, so let's just say that you need to the former either way :-) So go find as many sites that you'd like to write for. See if they have any email accounts that accept unsolicited applications. Find their T

Title: You have to be a leader | Jess Bolden coach and analyst Guest: Jess Bolden - Coach and analyst for PENTA Rainbow Six Siege Twitter: @jessica_r6s Twitch: twitch.tv/jesspenta Instagram: @jessbolden Highlights: Educated as a criminology specialist Got into playing games on PlayStation 2 through her dad. While at school she bought Rainbow 6 Siege for her rent money. Switched from console to PC and started her own team. Kept studying during the day and got a bachelor in criminology and justice. Moved to Europe and got the job as analyst for PENTA. Writing a book "The Three P's of Esports". Topics Being alone with your expertise in esports. In esports there isn't really full support staff available to teams. The professionals at the non-playing roles are only just now being developed. The stress of travel, pressure to deliver, getting ready to perform at a moments notice. Why is Rainbow Six Siege is attractive for women. How a background in the military and experience from the Australian online com

Title: Nobody's going to just give you the answer | Gabriel Langlois Lead Designer Guest: Gabriel Langlois Lead Designer at CAGE Studios Instagram: @CageStudios Facebook: facebook.com/cagestudios/ www.cagestudios.net/ Highlights: I talk to Gabriel about crowdfunding a game on Kickstarter, pivoting away from the survival genre, how does it feel when well-known studios like Rare and UbiSoft release AAA titles with the same theme as the one you are working on and much more. Games Sail and Sacrifice on Steam Sea of Thieves Skull and Bones Don't Look Down No Man's Sky Links Catapult Games VR Unreal Engine Blueprints Extra Credits YouTube Games Makers Toolkit - Mark Brown GDC Vault Hello Games People Jesse Schell Sean Murray Subscribe with these services: Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: Make the space readable | Jonathon Wilson Lead Designer Guest: Jonathon Wilson Lead Designer / Producer at Pocket Money Games Twitter: @Omnislash92 Highlights: I talked to Jonathon about how UX and level design cross over, crunch, communication in the team and of course his journey from studying at university, to getting a job as an intern with QA, to now being a Lead Designer. Games Metal Gear Final Fantasy Rayman Shu Esper 2 Dimension Hunter Links Coatsink EGX Rezzed Pocket Money Games Holographic Display - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lookingglass/the-looking-glass-a-holographic-display-for-3d-cre GDC Vault World of Level Design Level Design Lobby Game Maker's Notebook Jonathon's talk at Unite Berlin 2018: Worldbuilding with ProBuilder Effective Iteration & Workflow Enhancements People Hideo Kojima Ken Levine Neil Druckmann Jason Rubin Ted Price Subscribe with these services: Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: Don't take gaming so seriously | YouTuber Callum "Reaygun" Reay Guest: Callum Reay Twitter: @ReayGun YouTube: youtube.com/c/Reaygun Instagram: @ReayGun Highlights: How do you become an ArenaNet partner and what does it entail? What does it mean to study esport? Balancing competitive games for both casual players and pro players. How to standout with Guild Wars 2 content in sea of content creators and on YouTube in general. Dealing with making mistakes in your content. Games Evolve I mentioned Dying Light in the podcast, but it was actually Dead by Deadlight I was thinking about as an asymmetrical game. Guild Wars 2 Gary's Mod Links Ninjas in Pyjamas Wipeout gameshow Strafe ssports app People Day[9] Sean Anners WoodenPotatoes Dulfy Rin the Yordle Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund Subscribe with these services: Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: It should be like this, for these reasons | Chris Wilson, Design Director at Cardboard Sword Guest: Chris Wilson, Design Director at Cardboard Sword Twitter: @crwilso Cardboard Sword The Siege and the Sandfox Highlights: We talk about: How he started playing Formula One games with manual gear and a crash helmet on as a kid. How did he get a job as a designer without any prior experience as a designer. The pros and cons of working in AAA and indie. What does the day to day work of a Design Director look like. The long-term effect of crunch on people in the industry and what that means for your career in video games. Games Doom Quake Forza Horizon Formula 1 Project Gotham Racing Gran Turismo Project Cars Assetto Corsa Wipeout Mario Kart Burnout Out Run Need For Speed Doom (2016) Alien: Isolation Links Frontier Playground Games CodeMasters Slightly Mad Studios Naughty Dog Rockstar Games Respawn Creative Assembly Books Masters of Doom Subscribe with these services: Support the podcast: Support Player Ch

It's just me. No guests, I thought I'd give them and myself a little vacation. But then I saw someone mention that the end of the year, is a good occasion to look back at the year that's passed, and maybe celebrate your wins. Now I am super bad celebrating my successes. There's a voice inside me that says that if it can't be perfect, it shouldn't be done at all. You should definitely not be showing off something flawed. So this whole podcast is me trying to overcome that feeling. I deliberately try edit as little as possible and plan to edit as little as possible. Because if I record two hours of conversation, I can spend the rest of the week trying to figure out what the best parts are. But now I'm forcing myself to publish and iterate. Notice my mistakes, and do better next time. Because I want there to be a "next time", I'm simply enjoying talking to people in all areas of the industry too much. And it seems that you enjoy it too. Just before the latest episode, I saw that the total number of dow

Title: Wouldn't you want as much information as possible | Adam Lobel, Games User Researcher at Ubisoft, Montréal Guest: Adam Lobel, Games User Researcher at Ubisoft, Montréal Twitter: @GrowingUpGaming YouTube: youtube.com/user/GrowingUpGaming Highlights: How did a psychology student from Brooklyn end up working in Montreal for one of the biggest game publishers in the world? And what did he do in Geneva and The Netherlands? We discuss whether the invention of Achievements kickstarted User Research in video games. Does the reliance on user data kill creativity and foster things like icon fatigue? Just like any other creative media the tastes of the players change, trends change, and so User Research is constantly needed because the answers are never self-evident. That also means that developers and game studios are constantly experimenting to find the right balance of things. Adam tells the story of how Microsoft and Bungie essentially started the concept of Games User Research with the first Xbox and the ori