Steven Bailey is stupid clever. He has a PHD in mathematics, he's likely written some of the best videogame writing you've ever read, and now as a videogame analyst he's charting the future of the industry.
Episode 27 - Greg Rice
Greg Rice is the VP of Business Development for Double Fine, and was the producer of the Double Fine Adventure and Broken Age. Greg Rice also has a minor in dance.
AUTOSAVE (2) - Global Game Jam 2016
From January 29th to January 31st 2016, thousands of teams around the world decamped to various locations, formed teams, and made videogames.
Episode 26 - Kerry Turner
Today's guest is Kerry Turner. Kerry makes games under the banner of The Rabbit Club, is a programmer in the games industry and founded Make,Play,Code - a course designed to encourage more women to make games. We talk about videogames as places to visit, rediscovering a love of coding, solo LARPing, why snow in games is amazing, revisiting that game that you could never beat and the videogame equivalent of guitar feedback.
Episode 25 - Adam 'Atomic' Saltsman
AUTOSAVE (1)
Checking for autosave. About two or three episodes into the show, I decided it'd be quite fun to make shows that were compilations of smaller stories. Twenty four episodes in I've finally finished one.
Episode 24 - David Farrell
My guest on today's show is David Farrell, lecturer in videogame design at Glasgow Caledonian University. We recorded this live at the university and discuss the amazing set up that they have and the fun toys they can use to understand how people play games. There is some serious 'What is a game?' chat so be prepared, and we delve into David's videogame history, from tape trading on the spectrum to time management in The Witcher 3. David also talks about his job, and how teaching games and teasing apart how they work can be just as much fun as playing them.
Episode 23 - Brendon Chung
My guest on today's show is Brendon Chung. Founder of Blendo games and creator of Gravity Bone, Atom Zombie Smasher, Thirty Flights of Loving and the upcoming Quadrilateral Cowboy. Many of Brendon's games have been built using the mod tools from games like Quake 2 and Doom 3, so the games that Brendon creates and the games that have shaped his life intertwine in fascinating way. They become both cultural milestones in his life and the bedrock of the games he creates.
Episode 22 - Live from Gamecity
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Gamecity I recorded a special edition of the show live from the festival. This is different to the usual show where I have one guest and talk about the games that shaped them. In this episode, the checkpoint is a single year, and my panel of guests talk about their life and the games they played at that exact point. Since this was the tenth anniversary of Gamecity, we decided on the year 2005.
Episode 21 - Richard Lemarchand
Today's guest is Richard Lemarchand. A game designer with an enviable CV including Jak X, Soul Reaver and the Uncharted series, Richard is now an associate professor at the University of Southern California where he lectures on the videogame programme. We talk about that transition from AAA development to teaching, how his mum was responsible for getting him his start, the similarities between magic and design, and how sometimes being bad at games can help you be a better designer.
Episode 20 - Chris Crawford
Today's guest is Chris Crawford, an iconic figure in the history of videogames. Chris was a visionary creator in a time when the industry was still finding it's feet and when anything seemed possible. Many of his design ideas and principles are still taught and read by new developers, and his influence can be seen through the generations. Not least of which in the annual Game Developer's Conference which Chris founded in 1987. The first GDC was in his living room.
Episode 19 - Kieron Gillen
A few days before his 40th birthday I sat down for a meander through videogame past with Kieron Gillen. After a long and storied career in videogame journalism - from early beginnings at Amiga Power to becoming one of the founders of Rock, Paper, Shotgun via New Games Journalism - Kieron has moved on to a successful career as a comic book writer and been annoyingly great at that too. With a hugely successful run of books from Thor to Darth Vader, as well as his two creator owned books with Jamie McKelvie, Phonogram and the Wicked and the Divine, which has recently been optioned for a TV series.
Episode 18 - Jason Rohrer
Today's guest is Jason Rohrer, a fascinating, prolific and passionate videogame designer. From Passage to Sleep is Death to Cordial Minuet to his latest as yet untitled game which he talks about on the show, Jason is always searching for new ideas and new ways of playing. This passion for experimentation is what has led to a number of GDC design awards, a profile in Esquire magazine and name which has become synonymous with 'art games', despite how shallow a term that can be.
Episode 17 - Christopher Brookmyre
Today's guest is the Scottish novelist Christopher Brookmyre. Chris's love of videogames is peppered through many of his books, but most distinctly in his recent novel Bedlam which has subsequently become it's own videogame. We talk Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy, videogames as fuel for imagination, trolling Dreamcast players, and the parallels between the Quake scene of the 90s and the Punk scene of the 70s. All fun and games until someone loses an eye.
Episode 16 - Kirsty Rigden
Today's guest is Kirsty Rigden of futurlab, makers of Velocity and Velocity 2x. We chat Pikmin, Atic Atac, Wolfenstein, why we shouldn't fear AI, building a career in games, why the WiiU is the best console ever and, after a misunderstanding of a name, inadvertently come up with one of the greatest ideas for a licensed videogame ever. Oh boy.
Episode 15 - John Ribbins
Today's guest is John Ribbins, creative director at Roll 7, creators of Not a Hero, along with the BAFTA winning Olli Olli and it's sequel. We hit Urban Chaos, Rocket League, Doom, Death Tank, Bullet Storm, California Games, and the creation and development of Olli Olli. Believe me, he knows that it's hard.
Episode 14 - Cara Ellison
Today's guest is Cara Ellison, best known for her videogame journalism, in particular her soon to be immortalised as a book "Embed with" columns, which saw her travel the world meeting developers and checking out the local videogame scenes. She's now moved into development and is currently working on the narrative team for Dishonoured 2 and a bunch of other secret things. She's also really into Drake. Like, really. We talk DOTA, Goldeneye, Her Story and why her heart will always be with PC Zone.
Episode 13 - Geoff Glendenning
Today's guest is Geoff Glendenning, a marketing guy whose work on the UK launch of the original Playstation shifted the popular perception of gaming.
Episode 12 - Meg Jayanth
Today's guest is videogame writer and creator Meg Jayanth. We have a lengthy chat about her work as the lead writer on Time Magazine's game of 2014, 80 Days before delving into all kinds of other narrative based games. We talk IFs, MUDs, MUSHs and Fanfic. We also hit on our differing approaches to play, how she can't bear to say goodbye to Commander Shepherd, making GTA your own, the peculiar ending to Sim Tower and my poor romantic performance in 80 days. Oh Passepartout....
Episode 11 - Sean Vanaman
Today's guest is Sean Vanaman. award winning game designer, one of the founders of Campo Santo and a host of Idle Thumbs. He also wishes he was a little bit taller. He wishes he was a baller.