My first guest of 2017 is the wonderful Aleks Krotoski. Best known to many as one of the presenters of the late 90s videogame show Bits, Aleks is also a renowned broadcaster, academic and journalist in the fields of psychology and technology, and currently hosts Digital Human on BBC Radio 4.
Episode 64 - Zach Gage
Episode 63 - Alex Preston
All of my guests in December have created some of my favourite games of the year, and this week I welcome the creator of Hyper Light Drifter and co-founder of Heart Machine, Alex Preston. We talk about the creation of Hyper Light Drifter, the global community of Indie Game Developers, why you have to be a crazy person to make videogames and how a VHS tape about the making of Donkey Kong Country changed his life.
Episode 62 - Jonathan Burroughs
Continuing the December theme of speaking with devs who made some of my favourite games of 2016, I'm joined this week by Jonathan Burroughs, one of the creators of Virgina and co-founder of Variable State. The team have recently been nominated for Writer's Guild of Great Britain award for the writing in the game too, so huge congratulations to them for that.
Episode 61 - AP Thomson
My guest today is AP Thomson, creator of Beglitched, the recently released iOS puzzler Swap Sword and many, many more. (My personal favourite is Tony Hawks Pro Dater.) He also teaches game design at NYU and has a masters degree from MIT. No big deal.
Episode 60 - Mr. Biffo
Episode 59 - Edmund McMillen
My guest today is Edmund McMillen, the creator of Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac, Gish and many, many more. He was also one of the developers profiled in the excellent Indie Game The Movie.
AUTOSAVE (5) - GAMES ARE FOR EVERYONE
Checking for AUTOSAVE.
Ah, the 20th of October 2016, simpler times. I attended the 4th Games are for Everyone event at the Caves in Edinburgh. A mixture of art gallery, videogame arcade and club night, the labyrinthine venue was transformed into an interactive wonderland including real life haunted houses, yoga ball controllers, awkward arcades, competitive hugging and a Moby Dick game you control with a giant piece of drift wood.
Episode 58 - Alexander O. Smith
My guest today is Alexander O. Smith, a veteran translator who has worked on an incredible array of video games including Vagrant Story, Phoenix Wright, Vanquish and one of the greatest games ever made, Final Fantasy 12.
Episode 57 - Tim Constant
My guest today is Tim Constant, founder of Panic Barn and creator of the Tiki Taka Soccer series of video games. Me and Tim chat about his rich history and love of games, including an obsession with Champ Manager, a homemade Out Run cabinet and the struggles of being the only gamer in the village.
Episode 56 - Tom Bramwell
My guest today is Tom Bramwell, former editor of Eurogamer, former Head of Writing at Riot Games and all around good guy. We talk about Tom's ridiculously early start in videogame journalism fuelled by a passion for videogame magazines, his deep love of FIFA and how Destiny has provided some of his finest gaming memories.
Episode 55 - JP LeBreton
My guest today is JP LeBreton. Having worked on a variety of games including Bioshock 1 & 2 and The Cave for Irrational Games and Double Fine respectively, JP has since gone solo and is currently working on Autobiographical Architecture as well as various other small projects.
Episode 54 - Simon Byron
My guest today is Simon Byron, formerly a videogame journalist and PR person, now a co-host of videogame radio show One Life Left, Publishing Director at Curve Digital and creator of hit mobile games Bang Man and Up Down Left Right. He is also the reigning Sensible Soccer World Champion.
Episode 53 - Rami Ismail
My guest today is Rami Ismail, a Dutch/Egyptian video game developer, creator of presskit() and one half of one of the most prolific and successful independent video game studios of the past few years, Vlambeer.
Episode 52 - Ori Takemura
My guest today is Ori Takemura. Originally from Russia, Ori is an award winning UX and product designer, a video game designer and the founder of qixen-p design. This is perhaps the most international episode yet. I spoke to Ori about growing up in Russia, winning design awards in Germany, being inspired by Japan and living in Singapore.
Episode 51 - Alexis Kennedy
My guest today is Alexis Kennedy, the founder of Failbetter Games, creator of Fallen London, creative director of Sunless Sea, and as of just a few days ago, the first ever guest writer for BioWare.
Episode 50 - Bennett Foddy
My guest today is Bennett Foddy, the creator of QWOP, GIRP and Multibowl and a professor at the NYU Game Center.
Episode 49 - Steve McNeil
My guest today is Steve McNeil, one of the creators and team captains of Go 8 Bit, a videogame comedy show that started life as a fringe experiment and has now been turned into a real life TV show! It starts tonight in the UK at 10pm on Dave.
Episode 48 - Tony Coles
My guest today is Tony Coles, a freelance videogame writer and former videogame PR. The length of the episode gives you some idea of how passionate and excited Tony is by videogames. This episode runs on the rocket fuel of enthusiasm and nostalgia.
AUTOSAVE (4) - Performance
This is a special episode of Checkpoints all about the relationship between performance and playing games. I spoke with a number of actors about how their relationship with games was shaped by their experience of acting.