Playmakers: The Game Industry Podcast

Resources Mentioned:  Connect with Tommy on LinkedInCheck out more of Tommy's workMeet Amico!Connect with Tommy on InstagramWatch "The Secret" DocumentaryRead "The Secret" Read "How to Win Friends & Influence People"Read "How to Make Anyone Fall in Love with You"Explore the teachings of Eckhart Tolle

Named by Fortune as one of the “Top 10 Influential Women in Games”, Amy Jo Kim is a game designer, community architect, and innovation coach. Her design credits include Rock Band, The Sims, eBay, Netflix, nytimes.com, Ultima Online, Covet Fashion,  & Happify. Amy Jo helps entrepreneurs & innovators bring their ideas to life at gamethinking.io. She pioneered the practice of applying game design to digital services and is well-known for her books “Community Building on the Web” (2000) and “Game Thinking” (2018). Open up your notes app and get ready to use it as we discuss topics like: “Super Fans” and why they are critical to getting a “beachhead” in the marketWhy the “Fast Follow” method limits growth potentialHow to find your Super Fans quicklyHow to create innovative projects that scale in a BIG way How to join Amy Jo’s free Superfan ChallengeResources Mentioned:  Take Amy Jo’s FREE challenge! Check out Game ThinkingWork with Amy JoFollow Amy Jo on TwitterConnect with Am

Jon Radoff is the founder of Beamable, the creator-centric platform for building live games in Unity. Before founding Beamable, Jon built one of the first commercial games on the Internet, took a web content management company public, grew a game advertising network, and launched mobile games played by millions of people including Game of Thrones Ascent and Star Trek Timelines. He fights for the game makers of the world by helping make it possible for creative people to make the games they envision without the technological hurdles that normally stand in their way.Listen in to gain some incredibly valuable insight spanning topics like:    How his company evolved into what Beamable is todayTips and techniques for getting your  game off the groundHow to balance time iterating a game and the time and budget to move on to a new projectWhy it’s important to get user feedback before you even have a playable version of your gameHow to know when it’s time to throw in the towel on a project Th

Joakim Achrén is a gaming entrepreneur, with fifteen years of experience from two venture-backed gaming startups, including Next Games, which IPOed in 2107. Joakim is now running Elite Game Developers, a company that helps entrepreneurs start their first game company. He's also an angel investor in Skunkworks Games, Lightheart Entertainment, Savage Game Studios, and more. Joakim recently took on the role of Venture Partner at Play Ventures and hosts his own podcast, Elite Game Developers Podcast. Join us in this fascinating discussion with topics like:    How Joakim caught “the bug” for helping other foundersWhat comes between the early validation phase and obtaining data from user behavior within a playable version of your gameThe most common trap mobile developers fall into The biggest takeaways you should be gaining from your metricsThe key to building mobile games that make players want to come backThe balance between “stealing like an artist” and innovating What the gaming i

Tadhg Kelly is a highly experienced consultant in augmented reality, virtual reality, and video games. He has a deep background in game design and production, as well as partner and developer relationship management. Since the early 90s, Tadhg has worked on all sorts of game projects, from board games and live-action roleplaying games to multi-million dollar PC projects. He has served as lead designer, senior producer, and a number of other roles at several companies including BSkyB, Lionhead, and Climax.We get deep on this episode with topics spanning:    The transition from game designer to consultant and the lessons he learned along the wayWhat is the “Sexy / Worthy Trap” and how do you use it to your advantage?Balancing speed-to-market against adding more featuresThe benefit of the games industry opening up to more diverse skillsets Simple mistakes made at the beginning of a project that can cost you in the long runThe value of letting your game developer do their jobResources Mentione

Travis is CEO and co-founder of Carbonated, an LA-based mobile games studio. A 25-year veteran of the game industry (with over 20 years in mobile), Travis has also served as SVP Mobile at both Zynga and Electronic Arts, where he led global studios and mobile game strategy. Travis quickly rose in the ranks from producer to Senior VP, and now runs his own studio. We’re sitting down to chat about the keys to his success with topics like: The three pillars of the game industryFollowing the customers’ lead toward successHow the game industry is similar to standup comedyThe importance of continuing to embrace new technologiesWhat sets apart a truly successful live ops gameResources Mentioned:  Connect with Travis on LinkedInConnect with Travis on TwitterLearn more about CarbonatedConnect with Carbonated on TwitterConnect with Carbonated on DiscordConnect with Carbonated on Facebook

Nick Fortugno is an entrepreneur, interactive narrative designer, and game designer based in New York City.  He is a founder and principal of Playmatics, a game development company that has created a variety of digital and real-world experiences for organizations including Pro Publica, Red Bull, AMC (such as the CableFAX award-winning Breaking Bad: The Interrogation), Disney, American Museum of Natural History, the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Red Cross/Red Crescent. Nick has taught game design and interactive narrative design for 15 years at institutions such as Columbia University and the Parsons School of Design and has participated in the construction of game design and immersive storytelling curriculum. You’ll likely want to listen to this episode more than once with topics spanning: Nick’s professional journey from intern to Founder & CCOThe top two lessons Nick learned while keeping his company afloat when other competitors failedT

Emma-Jane is a space engineering dropout liberating gaming and fashion in web3 through mod culture. She is the Founder & CEO of DIGITALAX, the pioneer Digital Fashion NFT protocol and marketplace for gaming and esports. In short, she’s a dynamic innovator living at the intersection of gaming and emerging internet technologies. In this mind-bending episode, we deep dive into the metaverse and discuss how the game industry stands to be disrupted during the rise of ”web3” technologies that enable digital scarcity, decentralization, and interoperability. NFT’s and cryptocurrency as they relate to gaming The intersection of the gaming industry and web3 Who are the new digital natives? Digital fashion, and the challenge of interoperabilityHow web3 presents an opportunity for more stability in the game industry rat raceAdvice for game devs looking to break into the NFT spaceResources Mentioned:  Connect with Emma-Jane on LinkedInFollow Emma-Jane on TwitterDIGITALAX Connect with

Colm is a programmer, game designer, and board game enthusiast. He jumped into game development by founding Gambrinous in 2014 and has released two titles so far: Guild of Dungeoneering and Cardpocalypse. He is also involved with the Irish game development community, including spending four years on the board of Imirt, the association for Irish game makers.This highly insightful episode packs a punch with topics like: How Colm transitioned from a part-time to a full-time game developerThe importance of conquering perfectionism What helped Colm the most in getting his first game off the groundHow to know when it’s time to start expanding your team as an indie developerTo animate or not to animate? The impacts of art on your creation processHow to set yourself up for success when it comes to seeking out a publisher Resources Mentioned:  Connect with Colm on TwitterLearn more about GambrinousCheck out the announcement of Colm’s Secret Project! Watch Colm’s talk: “Share Your Games” 

Playmakers is back with a brand new season by and for game industry professionals. We're bringing you actionable insights you can use to grow in your career, make better games, and improve your game industry business. The pandemic has been called "The Great Accelerator" and it's important to stay on top of where the industry is going. That's why we're bringing you an amazing variety of game industry leaders and legends to light the way. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you love to listen and head to www.playmakerspodcast.com to check out even more resources and episodes. We're really proud and excited to show you what we've been cooking up. Game on. 

Master of cross-medium storytelling, Chris Ferriter, joins us on the podcast today. Chris is an award-winning Producer and Designer whose career has spanned the motion picture and video game industries beginning in 1994 before transitioning to the game industry in 1998, where he went on to produce over 50 games for several of the game industry’s top publishers including THQ, Midway, and Ubisoft, and EA Sports.Chris is currently CEO and Executive Producer of Halon Entertainment, a visualization, virtual production, and game cinematics studio comprised of seasoned Visualization Supervisors, Artists, and Creatives committed to the advancement of storytelling and real-time virtual production.Listen in as we discuss how game engine technology is revolutionizing motion picture production with topics like:   Chris’ start in the industryGetting a degree vs. getting your foot in the doorTelling the best possible storyThe importance of previs Behind the scenes of building a gameThe COVID-accelerated norm

In this value-packed episode, we’re joined by Jay Powell, founder of The Powell Group,  a video game consulting firm focused on business development, publishing support, and licensing with clients like Other Ocean, Spill Games, and Deep Silver. Jay has also spearheaded the Indie Game Business Initiative which produces both a weekly podcast and hosts multiple virtual business conferences each year in order to help game creators develop a solid understanding of the business and marketing aspects of the game industry.Join us as we dive into important topics for indie devs and small devs trying to get their foot in the door such as:   How to strategize your approach to publishers as an indie developerHow to avoid the biggest business mistakes that small studios makeThe hottest opportunities in the market for developers right nowHow the pandemic has affected the publishing landscape for indies and small dev teamsAnd how new platforms like Microsoft Game Pass are impacting the rest of the distri

Bernard François runs Preview Labs, a company dedicated to helping studios create prototypes. They have created prototypes for Amazon, Wargaming, Unity, Google R&D, Disney Imagineering, and many more.In this highly actionable interview, we cover how to make prototypes that are efficient and effective. What kinds of problems prototyping can solve, the difference between internal prototypes and prototypes for a pitch, common prototyping mistakes, key variables to include in prototypes, the importance of functional graphics, the difference between MVP, prototyping, vertical slice, and grey boxing, when to stop the prototyping process, and much much more.Find Bernard at Preview LabsFind more episodes with leaders and legends of the game industry at playmakerspodcast.com

Interested in collaborating with the great Steve Meretzky? Find him on LinkedIn here.In This Wide Ranging Interview, Steve Shares Mucho Wisdom:How to know during a project if it’s on track for greatnessHow technology choices can make or break your game projectHow to moderate creative ambition so the resources of your team don’t get stretched too thinWhat should come first, the story or the puzzles in an adventure game?How Steve invented and developed leather goddesses of phoebesA valuable story about the dangers of not leveraging successes when you have themTips for choosing an IP for your audienceHow Steve develops new charactersAnd much more!

Bruce Has Much to Share In This EpisodeHow much content do you need to launch?How to make a game that doesn't create an impossible content treadmill for your teamWhy live ops allows as much, or more creativity as making new gamesThe importance of designing effective content toolsHow to effectively use production resource on a live productThe negative impact of tech debt and procedural debtHow to balance between retention and revenueWhy live ops forces  teams to constantly reinvent the game and bring in new ideas How to put together a quarterly calendar of content releases in a way that balances the key KPIHow to balance out risky new features with reliable featuresHow to adjust a release plan based on the feedback and metrics from usersHow to design for your game's audienceHow to work with your community to create content your users will loveThe importance of passion and empathy in game designConnect with Bruce on Instagram: @amazingfoxbat

About Our GuestGordon Rowe was a product manager on Mafia Wars, and then served as Zynga's only product manager on the 3rd party publishing team working with external studios to help them improve the performance of their games. He also worked on PC f2p as the Director of Product at Daybreak games. He's currently working at Facebook as an in-house consultant.Connect with UsFind all of the Playmakers episodes at playmakerspodcast.comConnect with GordonFind Gordon on Twitter (kinda)Gordon talks fast-- blink and you might miss some of this:The hypothesis, test, iterate framework for moving KPIThe importance of using funnels to understand player behaviorThe team composition on Mafia WarsAnti-cheat considerations in competitive mobile gamesZynga monetization tricksGame currency "hangovers" and how to manage themThe nuances that allow teams to avoid "pay-to-win"Why League of Legends has elements of "pay-to-win"The importance of analytics, and why many companies get this wrongThe four elements needed to have real, ac

Learn More About Jordan & Bright BlackSUPPORT THE SHOW: WRITE A REVIEWListen to it on iTunes.AAA audio composer and sound designer Michael Bross has composed on games like Ratchet and Clank, Counter Strike, Odd World, X-com 2, Simpsons Tapped out, World of Tanks, Arena of Valor, and many more.We talked about how he broke into the industry, and what he looks for when hiring young composers and sound designers. We also covered when is the right time to bring an audio team into the game development process. We cover how producers and developers can get the most from their audio teams-- and much more! Lots to learn in this episode of Playmakers!Learn More About Michael Bross at bross.comGo to playmakerspodcast.com  to get access to the full blog post for this episode and much more!

Learn More About Jordan & Bright BlackSUPPORT THE SHOW: WRITE A REVIEWListen to it on iTunes.Marc’s first gaming job was at Sphere, which was later renamed to Spectrum Holobyte. He worked as a software engineer on the games Vet and Falcon 1. When Spectrum Holobyte merged with Microprose in 1993, Mencher was asked to staff the entity and hired over 200 people. He later joined The 3DO Company, a game console manufacturer, as Staffing Manager, and helped to build The 3DO Studio (The 3DO Company’s Game Development Studio) from scratch, hiring over 300 people. In 1996, Mencher decided that he enjoyed the work so much, he opened his own recruiting firm, Virtual Search, which was later renamed to GameRecruiter in 2004, with Mencher as CEO, along with co-founder Howard Taule. The firm specializes in career opportunities within the worldwide gaming industry and is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with satellite offices in Austin, Texas, Las Vegas, Nevada, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. While running the recruit

Learn More About Jordan & Bright BlackSUPPORT THE SHOW: WRITE A REVIEWListen to it on iTunes.Connect with Ian@Monkey_PantsSelected Links for the EpisodeNaughty DogDead SpaceLucasArtsGrim FandangoTell TaleUbisoftTitanFall Battlefield HardlineBethesdaFeatured Show HighlightsIt’s imperative to ensure clear communication when working on large game development teams.In a AAA process, your plan needs to appeal to everyone in the marketThe key is to make people “feel” something with your game trailerThe best alignment or reference for chi is real worldThe role of a director is to draw a treasure map for the team and then creating faith for those who do not see it.My career as an Art Director was not spent improving people’s art, but rather aligning there are to make it look as if one person created itThey key in game maker audience is focused and presents a powerful promise to the playerRipomatic Demo Reel - Chris Weakley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7y5YmTvSGkEpisode TranscriptionJordan (00:03):You're liste

Learn More About Jordan & Bright BlackSUPPORT THE SHOW: WRITE A REVIEWListen to it on iTunes.Adrian Crook is an award-winning game design consultant with over 20 years’ experience in the social, casual, and core games sectors. He has produced and designed over two dozen products across platforms ranging from early Nintendo and Sega Genesis to PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, PC, Xbox 360, Wii, Facebook, iOS, and Online. In 2006, Adrian was named Producer of the Year by the Canadian New Media Awards and his products have won numerous awards, including “Game of the Year.” In January 2008, Adrian founded Adrian Crook & Associates, a game design and strategy consultancy that has contributed to the success of over 90 valued international clients. Adrian’s experienced team is focused on social and mobile game design, gamification, business development, and startup growth strategy. Adrian is an advisor to several game industry firms and is currently a creative mentor at Execution Labs, a game incubator, and acc