Finding Creativity within Constraint with Composer Jon Everist

This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with Eric Monacelli, an executive producer at Marvel Games. Together they discuss his career working on the marketing and community side of some of gaming's biggest franchises including Bioshock, The Last of Us, and Call of Duty; the process of how development studios come to work with Marvel and what a successful collaboration looks like; the steps they take to maintain authenticity; and what it's like working with fan communities of established IP with high expectations.  If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

This episode is supported by Xsolla Austin Wintory chats with composer Jon Everist. Together this discuss how he transitioned from a career path in economics to composing music; his work with Harebrained Schemes across their library of games and his most recent contributions on Star Wars Outlaws; and how the concept of constraint can lead to creative freedom.  If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

This episode is supported by Xsolla Austin Wintory chats with award winning composer Mikolai Stroinski. Together they discuss his extensive work on the Witcher franchise for CD PROJEKT RED; his work on various projects both in and outside of games; the various influences that helped him score games across different genres; how his work on TV and film inform his compositions for games; and the tricks that composers and audio designers use to help guide players through their adventures.  If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

This episode is supported by Xsolla Xbox's Jun Shen Chia chats with Kris Antoni, Founder of Toge Productions. Together they discuss the history of Toge including the release and reception of their hit indie game, Coffee Talk; what's next for the studio; the burgeoning development scene in Southeast Asia; and how Toge is working with studios in the region to help them reach audiences worldwide. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

This episode is supported by Xsolla Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Alison Lührs, Narrative Director on Bungie's Destiny 2. Together they discuss her approach to writing for fantasy in the Dungeons & Dragons universe and now sci-fi for Destiny 2; the unique aspects of writing for live service games; how to start projects effectively; and how theater and improv have informed the way she writes. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with indie gaming business guru, Dan Adelman. Together they discuss his time at Xbox and Nintendo helping to start their digital content marketplaces; transitioning to working independently with game developers to help them launch and market their games; how he decides which developers and projects to work with; and his perspective on how the markets have shifted for indie games over his 20 years in the industry. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

This episode is supported by Xsolla Austin Wintory chats with longtime Valve composer and music designer, Mike Morasky. Together they discuss how he started his career outside of music in the visual effects industry working on film series such as  The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings; how he found himself pursuing music and then joining Valve; and his work across several of Valve's most memorable titles from Portal to Counter-Strike 2.  If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with Tynan Sylvester, creator of RimWorld and author of Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences. Together they discuss his ideas around development concepts and processes; how crystalizing those ideas in book form led to the creation of RimWorld; his ideas around core systems and how they lead to successful games; generating human stories with elastic failure; and the fundamental theory on why people play games. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with brothers and co-founders of SFB Games, Adam & Tom Vian. Together they discuss how they began creating games in the early days of Flash and Newgrounds; transitioning to console development and working with Nintendo on the multi D.I.C.E. Award winning Snipperclips; the inspirations and development of Crow Country; and the secret to making games look and feel how we remember while avoiding the limits of the past. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

This episode is supported by Xsolla Greg Rice chats with Aggro Crab developers Nick Kaman and Caelan Pollock about their recently released undersea soulslike, Another Crab's Treasure. Together they discuss how the team got started as a game design club in college; their first commercial project in Going Under; the early ideas that led to Another Crab's Treasure; avoiding the pitfalls of difficulty that players expect in the soulslike genre; and the nuance of discussing climate change as a central narrative theme. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation