Mat Annal (Shovel Knight Dig)

Dig your paws into an all-new Pixel Pizza! Just in time for the release of Bubsy 4D, we have game artist Sabaku on the show! She tells us about her early days in the German RPG Maker community, bringing her ideas into 3D with Skellboy, and the process of working with Fabraz on Demon Tides and Bubsy. Featuring chiptune music from Refmaven~LINKS:☕️ Sabaku's Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/sabbi_tabbi☁️ Sabaku's BlueSky: http://sabakudoesart.bsky.social💿 Refmaven: https://refmaven.bandcamp.com/

This episode originally aired on May 10, 2024.Sorry for two encores in a row, but lots of brand new episodes coming over the next few weeks- promise! This time we're revisiting our talk with Swedish game writer and solo dev Christoffer Bodegård. His latest title, the DnD and Disco Elysium-inspired Esoteric Ebb, came out earlier this year and is one of 2026's best reviewed games so far! We talk about freelance writing, the Swedish gamedev scene, and adding dumb fun choices to your game. Music from Slamhaus!LINKS:🎮 Esoteric Ebb: ⁠https://store.steampowered.com/app/2057760/Esoteric_Ebb/ ⁠🌐 EE Website: ⁠https://esotericebb.com/⁠💿 Slamhaus: ⁠https://slamhaus.bandcamp.com/

This episode originally aired on May 30th, 2025.Swipe right on this week's episode to hear from writer on the hotly anticipated dating sim Date Everything, Jay Choi! Jay tells us about his background in writing for animation and film, finding his way into the industry by being a "LEGO drug dealer", and making wholesome romantic storylines. Music from Epshirey!LINKS:🌐 Jay's Website: ⁠Jayperior.com ⁠☁️ Jay's BlueSky: ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/jayperior.com⁠📸 Jay's Instagram: ⁠@Jayperior⁠🎮 Date Everything!: ⁠https://dateeverything.com/⁠💿 Epshirey: ⁠https://epshireytcc.bandcamp.com/

This week we talk about a rarely discussed but essential part of game development: QA! And few people are more well-versed in the field than our guest Paul James. Paul has tested over 30 projects in the indie sphere, including breakout hits like Foolish Mortals and Blue Prince. He tells us about how his work touches on all aspects of game dev, when in the process developers should bring in QA testers, and the satisfying feeling of catching a bug. Featuring music from Lion Wisdom!LINKS:🌐 Paul's Website: https://pauljamesgamestesting.com/💿 Lion Wisdom: https://lionwisdom777.bandcamp.com/music

Joining us on Pixel Pizza this week is my fellow CMU alum Lawrence Plofker! For the past five years Lawrence has been a game designer at Simcoach Games, developing educational experiences for players on the autism spectrum. We get into his experiences playtesting, teaching life skills through games, and the wider success of the team's game Tidekeeper. Ft music from Cloning People!LINKS:🌐 Lawrence's Website: https://lplofker.wordpress.com/🎮 Simcoach Games: https://www.simcoachgames.com/💿 Cloning People: https://cloningpeople.bandcamp.com/

Joining us this week is multitalented game designer Osama Dorias! Osama's wealth of experiences extend from mobile games with Gameloft to AAA games like Diablo IV and Gotham Knights to his current independent venture with HeartLoop Games! His small team at HeartLoop is currently working on the roguelike fighting game Poly Fighter. We chat about how developers can bring their personal experiences into the content of their games, recapturing the feeling of discovery in fighting games, and Magic the Gathering 🃏LINKS:☁️ Osama's BlueSky: osamadorias.bsky.social💼 Osama's LinkedIn: https:/linkedin.com/in/osamadorias/❤️ Heartloop Games: https://heartloopgames.com/💿 Unfamous Radish: https://unfamousradish.bandcamp.com/

Go out and touch some grass while you listen to this week's Pixel Pizza! We've got Connor Quinn, one of the devs behind the wholesome adventure Lil' Gator Game, joining us this week. Connor talks about growing up with ADD, his core pillars of what makes a good game, and the recently-released "In the Dark" expansion. Featuring music from Spring 🌸LINKS:🎮 Mega Wobble Games: https://megawobble.games/👾 Lil Gator Game Discord: https://discord.com/invite/5e4Un5CcMX💿 Spring: http://springenterprises.bandcamp.com/

We've made it to EPISODE 200 BABYYYY! (shhh never mind the encores)I loved what we did last time to celebrate: Hearing from former guests about where their professional and personal journeys have taken them since appearing on the show. So I decided to do it again! Who needs originality anyway? Join the party and listen to what nine super talented game industry folks have to share. Plus heavy metal music from guest Ali Cedroni's band, Tungsind 🤘Thank you all for listening to the show so far and here's to many more!!LINKS:🐸 Adam Butcher: stretchmancer.bsky.social🍓 BabeRuthless: baberuthless.bsky.social🐻 Catherine Litvaitis: litvac.com💀 Idris Grey: sirensstrand.bsky.social💎 Julia Minamata: juliaminamata.bsky.social📝 Mai Namba: mainamba.bsky.social🧩 Nico Recabarren: cabezotta.bsky.social🍊 Rosie Caddick: rosiecaddick.bsky.social💫 Star Victoria Power: slide20xx.com💿 Tungsind: https://www.instagram.com/tungsind_band/

On episode 199 of the Pixel Pizza Podcast (yes really!), our game industry guest is Nitrome's Mat Annal! In his prolific career so far, Mat's worked on dozens of games spanning flash, mobile, and console platforms. We discuss the missed opportunities that ultimately built up his career, collaborating with Yacht Club Games on Shovel Knight Dig, and how the team built their Switch 2 exclusive game Mouse Work... before they had a Switch 2 devkit! Feat. music from Slamhaus. Stay tuned next week for the big two hundo~LINKS:👾 Nitrome Discord: https://discord.com/invite/qarkZWt🗣️ Nitrome Socials: @Nitrome✉️ Mat's Email: Mat at Nitrome dot com💿 Slamhaus: https://slamhaus.bandcamp.com/

Settle in for a brand new Pixel Pizza, where we're speaking to Argentinian developer Kenneth Azcurra! Kenneth is the Chief Technical Officer at indie studio GamKat, who just released their cozy puzzle game Piece by Piece (the one with the fox 🦊). Kenneth tells us about his time teaching as a university professor, building a popular Unity plugin, and lessons learned porting/optimizing Piece by Piece for other platforms. With music from Waxterk!LINKS:🎮 GamKat: https://linktr.ee/gamkat💼 Kenneth's Portfolio: https://linktr.ee/kennethdevelops💿 Waxterk: https://waxterk.bandcamp.com/