Game Developer Podcast

This week on the Game Developer Podcast, Soft Rains creative director Joel Burgess and narrative director Kait Tremblay discuss the development of Ambrosia Sky, a cosmic science fiction game where players uncover the mysteries of a lost colony by cleaning up an alien mold and burying the dead. It’s the most interesting game you’ll hear about in 2025.

Check out the Ambrosia Sky demo on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/35801...

This week on the Game Developer Podcast, actor and SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media negotiating committee chair Sarah Elmaleh stops by to discuss the success and strategy behind the union’s year-long strike.

Follow Sarah Elmaleh on Bluesky at @selmaleh.bsky.social‬ 

- - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industr...

This week on the Game Developer Podcast, Sabotage Studio president and creative director Thierry Boulanger discusses the company’s approach to building a business off of retro-themed indie games. It's a journey into how to make retro games stand out in a crowded market, and also how to set up your business to last beyond a single shipped game. 

Learn more about Sabotage Studio: https://sabotagestudio.com/ 

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This week on the Game Developer Podcast we quiz Bithell Games CEO and Disney TRON: Catalyst creative director Mike Bithell about his journey from small-time indie to head of a successful game development studio. In this episode, Mike breaks down his creative influences and leadership lessons from over a decade of making commercial games, and what his experience means for developers trying to survive the economic turbulence of 2025.

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In this episode fresh from the GDC Showcase archives, Bryant sits down with Ben Brode, Chief Development Officer at Second Dinner (Marvel Snap) to discuss the importance of expertise in your own game, exploring the limits of your design space, striking the balance between "functional" and "understandable," thinking like a game designer, and much more.

More From Ben Brode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjhsY2Zuo-c

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Danielle is joined by Deborah Chantson, Writer and Narrative Designer at Sticky Brain Studios Inc., to discuss her multifaceted career writing for games, interactive media, TV and short films, as well as her gorgeous forthcoming folklore adventure game, Rooster.

Wishlist Rooster on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1834220/Rooster/

- - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs...

Danielle sits down with legendary adventure game designer Charles Cecil, cofounder of Revolution Software, to discuss the upcoming remake of Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars, the difference between classic and modern adventure game players, the infamous "goat puzzle," finding that hint system sweet spot, and a lot more.

Learn more about GDC Showcase: https://showcase.gdconf.com/

Check out Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars...

Hot off the heels of major unionization wins at Blizzard Entertainment and Bethesda Game Studios, Senior Editor Bryant Francis is joined by Emma Kinema of the CWA, as well as Autumn Mitchell and Chris Lusco of Bethesda Softworks, to discuss the ongoing surge of organizational efforts sweeping the video game industry.

Read more about the new unions at Blizzard and Bethesda: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/over-500-blizzard-...

With Summer Game Fest 2024 and its commingling events safely behind us, it’s finally time for everyone’s favorite part of video game announcement season: the post-show analysis!

Danielle is joined by Senior Editor Bryant Francis and News Editor Chris Kerr for an in-depth discussion of everything that Sony, Microsoft and Geoff Keighley brought to the table, as well as our favorites from Day of the Devs and a few choice words on raw ...

Danielle is joined by GDC Content Marketing Manager Beth Elderkin and Conference Producer Sam Warnke to discuss the secret, year-round work that goes into orchestrating everyone's favorite developer-focused conference.

- - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game ...

In this two-part episode of the Game Developer Podcast, Editor in Chief Danielle Riendeau finds the answers to these questions (and others!) by speaking with Rez Graham, senior AI programmer and Director of Game Programming at the Academy of Art University’s School of Game Development, as well as Game Developer Senior Editor Bryant Francis.

Find Rez on Twitter at https://twitter.com/rezibot

Peep his GDC talk on rolling your own ga...

Danielle is joined by veteran indie beat journalist Joel Couture to discuss his annual "Road to the IGF" series. With every 2024 Independent Games Festival finalist interviewed, which conversations stick out the most? And how can you, our beloved developers, best prepare for an interview? Find out!!

Complete Road to the IGF coverage can be found at https://www.gamedeveloper.com/keyword/road-to-the-igf

Find Joel at https://twitter....

Danielle is joined by John Warren, CMO of hardware startup GLYDR, to discuss accessibility in video games, GLYDR's new foot-based controller, the hardware Kickstarter meta, filming fake VR accidents with your wife, weathering a tumultuous industry, and of course, Peanut Butter the Speedrunning Dog.

For more on GLYDR, check out http://www.feetlegal.com/

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On Episode 39 of the Game Developer Podcast, we’re digging into this year’s GDC State of the Game Industry Report. Join host Danielle Riendeau and a rotating cast of editors, analysts, and experts as they share the key takeaways from the 2024 report and discuss how those factors will impact the game industry moving forward.

This month we’re joined by senior editor Bryant Francis and community editorial coordinator Holly Green from ...

The GameDeveloper crew sits down to discuss its favorite games of 2023, including Alan Wake 2, Dredge, Immortals of Aveum, Forspoken, El Paso Elsewhere, Baldur's Gate 3, and a lot more. Happy Holidays, y'all!

- - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can...

Strange Scaffold founder Xalavier Nelson Jr. sits down with Danielle to discuss his company's ongoing efforts to operate ethically, how said efforts impacted the creation of El Paso, Elsewhere, and how he handles life and leadership in a tumultuous industry.

- - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry s...

Arcade evangelists Josh Debonis and Nik Mikros of BumbleBear Games join Danielle to discuss the unlikely origins of their modern coin-op classic, Killer Queen. [Our apologies for the audio quality on this one, folks! We think the discussion is still worth it!]

- - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry...

Rod Humble and King Choi of Paradox Tectonic join Danielle and Alissa to discuss their enormously ambitious upcoming life sim -- Life by You -- as well as their approach to flat hierarchies, empowering mod communities, balancing feature creep in an inherently sprawling project, and a lot more.

- - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as d...

Danielle and Alissa sit down with Chris Zukowski of How to Market a Game to discuss the ins and outs of marketing an indie, including when to launch your game's Steam page, how best to utilize alternative platforms like itch.io, the many perils of Early Access, and a lot more.

- - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all side...