June 10, 2025 • 11 mins
AJ introduces "Behind the Games," a podcast offering an insider's perspective on both indie game development and AAA studios. Drawing from his experience at Electronic Arts Tiburon and as a computer science professor, he aims to bridge the gap between development expertise and business knowledge for aspiring game creators.
• Three key topics covered: why to tune in, what to expect, and why the podcast was created
• Targeted at those dreaming of launching their own game studio or working at major gaming companies
• Host's credentials include work at EA Tiburon, teaching computer science, and 22 years in IT
• Weekly episodes featuring interviews with industry professionals from indie developers to AAA studios
• Focus on practical, actionable advice to help avoid common mistakes in game development
• Covers both technical and business aspects of creating sustainable game businesses
• Fills a content gap between gaming entertainment and pure technical development content
Please hit subscribe, follow the podcast, and visit www.behind-the-games.com. Click on the Behind the Games newsletter in the top right corner to join our email list.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, I am AJ, entrepreneur, educator and host
of Behind the Games your insidelook at the business and
technology behind indie gamedevelopment and AAA studios.
Thank you again, and thank youso much for being here.
There are three very importanttopics that I want to cover
today.
This is going to be a veryorganic and natural podcast
(00:22):
session for you, and so, beforewe start, there are three topics
that I think are very importantthat I'm going to cover with
you today.
Number one why should you betuning in?
Number two what can you expect?
And number three, and probablythe most important, is why I
started this podcast.
Now, if you're new to thispodcast, this is only our second
episode.
The first one is a very smallone it's a trailer, but there is
(00:43):
a key question that I want toask you.
The first is have you everdreamed of launching your own
game studio?
If the answer to that is yesand it resonates with you, then
you're in the right place.
Number two how about the otherside of it?
Have you ever dreamed ofworking at a AAA studio before,
like an Electronic Arts, anUbisoft, an Activision Blizzard?
Whatever the case may be, ifboth of those questions are
(01:05):
intriguing to you, then you aredefinitely in the right place.
Now, for those of you who arenew or may not know me, let me
give you a little backgroundabout myself and think of it
more as like a credibility check.
Now, I think it's important tobe humbling, and so I am very
humble and I'm just sharing afew things with you just so that
you know that I have a littlebit of background here that I
think will be important, and thenumber one thing is passion.
(01:28):
From a credibility perspective,now, passion is important, but
there are other things that aremore important than that.
So let me start with this.
The reason that I am sopassionate about games is
because many, many, many moonsago, I worked for Electronic
Arts Tiburon, located inMaitland, florida, which is
basically in Central Florida, alittle bit outside of Orlando.
(01:48):
For those of you who may notknow, I worked there for two
years while I was in college,and it was probably one of the
best experiences that I've everhad overall.
So working at Electronic Artsis key.
I still have very closeconnections with folks there.
I know many folks that workthere and, yes, as you could
guess, there will be some folksfrom Electronic Arts joining
this podcast as well, and manyothers.
(02:09):
I have some friends atActivision and a few other
places, so I think it'll beimportant for you to experience
and talk to some of them.
So work to Electronic Arts froma credibility side of it.
I also am a current assistantprofessor of computer science at
a college here in Florida aswell.
So not only talking about thedevelopment side of it teaching
software development, teachinggame development, teaching
(02:29):
students computer science indifferent languages such as Java
and Python and C all items thatI very much enjoy, and so we
really go into the details thereon how the games are made, not
just talking about the businessside of it, very much in the
trenches, in the details of howit works.
Also do a lot of work withdigital arts and photography.
That's something that my wifespecializes in, and so I have a
lot of background there as well.
(02:50):
We'll talk about game engines,things like Unreal and Unity and
Frostbite, and so that is veryimportant too, and I think it's
going to be something that welike to dive into and uncover.
So that was number two.
The third is I do have adoctorate degree in information
systems and business.
So yes, by title I am a doctor.
However, for you guys, I amjust AJ and I am your host, and
(03:17):
I love to make contacts withfolks in the industry and talk
about these things.
But, again, having multipleyears experience doing
information systems as abachelor's degree, having a
master's degree and then adoctorate degree as well all of
that helps and plays into it aswell to kind of go behind the
behind the games part of it,which is the technology behind
what it is that we're talkingabout.
And finally, the other biggestpiece, which is probably the
(03:37):
longest piece of my career, is22 years in information
technology working at a top 10healthcare organization.
Now, what does healthcare haveto do with IT?
Well, a lot.
Everything in healthcarecenters around information
technology, and so working at ainformation technology side of
the house at a large healthcareinstitution for the last 22
years has been a major part ofmy life.
(03:58):
It's basically been the biggestchapter, for sure, and so I
think it is extremely importantthat we talk about that as well,
and so that is something thatwe're going to dive into as well
.
So those are the four keythings from a credibility check
that I think are important foryou to know as a whole.
However, let's talk a little bitmore about you and this podcast
and what those three things Imentioned why you should tune in
(04:19):
, what you can expect and why Istarted this podcast.
So back to the whole.
Why behind everything?
Maybe you're working at a bigAAA company right now and you're
ready to break out and buildyour your own product.
This could be a podcast for you.
Maybe you're a student whowants to turn your capstone
project into a real projectoverall, or maybe you are stuck
in a dead-end job, wondering ifit's finally time for you to
(04:40):
take that big shot and buildyour own indie game studio that
you've always dreamed of.
If that's the case, then againyou are in the right spot as
well.
If that's you, you are thepeople for this podcast and this
podcast is made for you overall.
So let's now get back to thosekey things we talked about the
beginning.
Why should you tune in?
Because behind the games givesyou the most in-depth review of
(05:04):
game development that you'regoing to be able to find.
I will be talking to founders,producers, technical directors
and project managers from AAAstudios to small indie game
studios as well the small,behind-the-scenes components of
it one to two-man shops, peoplewho still haven't launched their
first game, all the way up tothese billion-dollar
organizations that you seepumping out these incredible
(05:25):
games as well.
If you're serious aboutbuilding something, this podcast
gives you the insights, thestrategies and the stories that
can help make you into a smarterindividual, to move you into
those and help you avoid therookie mistakes as a whole.
Number two what can you expectNow?
I talked a little bit aboutthis in that intro piece and,
sorry if you hear that noise inthe background, that's my cat,
(05:45):
who wants to be part of thepodcast.
Apparently, the cat's name isHolly, by the way, for those of
you who want to know.
So, number two what can youexpect?
New episodes every single week.
So at this point, the newepisodes will come out every
Tuesday morning and I may domore of those as we go on.
So it may be more frequent thanTuesday, but I can guarantee
that you always have one outevery Tuesday.
I will give you a no BSapproach to how everything works
(06:08):
.
So, yes, we will interview folks, but also, if there's something
that we need to call out oravoid, this podcast is for you,
the listener.
And yes, the host of thepodcast myself is going to work
with folks to interview and theyare part of this.
But this is really meant foryou, so every episode will give
you actionable advice.
Most weeks, I'll interviewstudio leaders and actual
individual people where it's atrue interview, to interview
(06:31):
conversations, and other timesit'll just be me pulling back
the curtain on a specific topicor finding a game, or talking to
you about how you would fundyour first game, how you can
fund something when you reallycan't afford it, how do you
raise capital for it, how do youavoid burnout and being able to
do two things at once?
So, if you're working in a jobtoday, how can you work at that
job in the daytime and still dostuff at night and still have
the passion to keep going?
(06:52):
All of those things I think aregoing to be helpful, important
and how you turn an idea intosomething that's sustainable.
Right, this is meant for you tohave passion about, but most of
you probably wanted to help youfinancially or earn a living.
So every episode will give youan actionable piece of advice
you can use and take it forward,whether you're just starting
out or you're already doing thisand you want to level up a
little more Now.
(07:12):
Are there other folks out therelike this?
Yes, are there other podcaststhat do things like this?
Yes, however, we're going to doit a little bit differently,
and this is again something thatI think is very, very important
, and I'm going to get to it formy very last item of why this
podcast was created.
So, number three, why I startedthis podcast.
Sure, I love playing games andwho doesn't love playing games?
But for me, this is not aboutwho loves to play games.
(07:34):
Let's play games, and what'sthe funnest game that you've
ever played?
This is about the love fordevelopment, the love for
creating every aspect of thegame, from building the business
side of it to coding, to everysingle comment that you put in,
creating the assets for it,launching it, marketing it,
everything that you can imagine,putting in the hours and
(07:56):
grinding.
That is what this podcast isabout, and to teach you about
folks that have done that and tohelp you avoid those key
mistakes that you may be lookingat doing, or just this is
something that's interesting toyou and you want to check a
little bit more about that.
That's fine.
I've been wanting to make thispodcast for over three years now
, specifically exactly how I'veadvised it.
I just had not had theopportunity or the time to do it
(08:16):
, but I have now finally beenable to open that up and give
this content to you guys, whichI think is extremely special.
So, three years in the makingfor this specific piece from
making a podcast, probably over10 to 12 years of being
interested in doing so butwanting to find the right spot
in the right niche for it, whythis podcast?
One more time, there is truly agap in this space.
(08:37):
There is great content outthere for gamers on how you can
do gaming.
There is great technicalcontent for developers and how
to do that, but there's notenough for the person trying to
build a game business to launchtheir game, their business and
help pull all of that intogether.
So maybe you're the creativewho only wants to do the actual
development side of it, and ifyou do, that's great.
We'll teach you how to add thebusiness side of it.
(08:58):
Maybe you're the businessperson and you want to find a
talented person to develop thegame.
That's great too.
That's great too.
Both of those answers get donein this podcast as well.
So there's always something foreverybody.
Not enough.
Maybe there's something whereyou're a college student that's
just trying to get out andnavigate into this crazy world
of game development.
Where do you go?
This is something to help you.
(09:19):
If you know that you'reinterested in computer science,
information systems, informationtechnology and want to move
somewhere into the softwaredevelopment or gaming world,
this show is for you and aboutyou.
So if you're serious aboutlaunching your studio, leading a
team or just getting your dreamout of your head and onto the
screen, this podcast issomething that I think is going
to be helpful for you.
So, in review and just to recap, the three items we talked
(09:41):
about are why you should tune in, what you can expect and why I
started this podcast.
I have a lot of passion forthis.
I hope can expect, and why Istarted this podcast.
I have a lot of passion forthis.
I hope that you guys do too.
This podcast is basically tohelp empower you, give you
inspiring time and inspire youas a developer to put all of
your goals and wishes forward.
It's a platform for you tostart your first studio.
(10:01):
Give you research, give you thetools and talk to real people
who have done this before.
That's the key thing.
Don't ever try to go on ajourney when someone, if you
haven't done it on your own,stand on the shoulder of giants
and basically walk through andmake sure we can help work on
that together.
So my call to action for youguys is if this is interesting,
please, please, hit, subscribe,save this, follow this from a
(10:24):
podcast perspective.
Wherever you may listen to, headover to my website that we have
starting up here, which isalready out.
It is calledwwwbehind-the-gamescom Again,
wwwbehind-the-gamescom.
That's just to make it a littlebit easier to see, rather than
(10:44):
it being all scrunched uptogether.
Click on the Behind the Gamesnewsletter in the top right-hand
corner to join the list.
That's how you can get on ouremail list.
But, more importantly, this isa podcast piece, not a website
piece, but that's how you canfind out some more about us.
So again, come on in, join us.
Let's go Behind the Games and Ilook forward to talking to you
guys more in Episode 3, which Iwill walk you through all the
(11:04):
details of how I started atElectronic Arts Tiburon, what
games we made, how we created it.
So, until then, I look forwardto seeing you guys Take care.
Hello, I am AJ, entrepreneur, educator and host
of Behind the Games your insidelook at the business and
technology behind indie gamedevelopment and AAA studios.
Thank you again, and thank youso much for being here.
There are three very importanttopics that I want to cover
today.
This is going to be a veryorganic and natural podcast
(00:22):
session for you, and so, beforewe start, there are three topics
that I think are very importantthat I'm going to cover with
you today.
Number one why should you betuning in?
Number two what can you expect?
And number three, and probablythe most important, is why I
started this podcast.
Now, if you're new to thispodcast, this is only our second
episode.
The first one is a very smallone it's a trailer, but there is
(00:43):
a key question that I want toask you.
The first is have you everdreamed of launching your own
game studio?
If the answer to that is yesand it resonates with you, then
you're in the right place.
Number two how about the otherside of it?
Have you ever dreamed ofworking at a AAA studio before,
like an Electronic Arts, anUbisoft, an Activision Blizzard?
Whatever the case may be, ifboth of those questions are
(01:05):
intriguing to you, then you aredefinitely in the right place.
Now, for those of you who arenew or may not know me, let me
give you a little backgroundabout myself and think of it
more as like a credibility check.
Now, I think it's important tobe humbling, and so I am very
humble and I'm just sharing afew things with you just so that
you know that I have a littlebit of background here that I
think will be important, and thenumber one thing is passion.
(01:28):
From a credibility perspective,now, passion is important, but
there are other things that aremore important than that.
So let me start with this.
The reason that I am sopassionate about games is
because many, many, many moonsago, I worked for Electronic
Arts Tiburon, located inMaitland, florida, which is
basically in Central Florida, alittle bit outside of Orlando.
(01:48):
For those of you who may notknow, I worked there for two
years while I was in college,and it was probably one of the
best experiences that I've everhad overall.
So working at Electronic Artsis key.
I still have very closeconnections with folks there.
I know many folks that workthere and, yes, as you could
guess, there will be some folksfrom Electronic Arts joining
this podcast as well, and manyothers.
(02:09):
I have some friends atActivision and a few other
places, so I think it'll beimportant for you to experience
and talk to some of them.
So work to Electronic Arts froma credibility side of it.
I also am a current assistantprofessor of computer science at
a college here in Florida aswell.
So not only talking about thedevelopment side of it teaching
software development, teachinggame development, teaching
(02:29):
students computer science indifferent languages such as Java
and Python and C all items thatI very much enjoy, and so we
really go into the details thereon how the games are made, not
just talking about the businessside of it, very much in the
trenches, in the details of howit works.
Also do a lot of work withdigital arts and photography.
That's something that my wifespecializes in, and so I have a
lot of background there as well.
(02:50):
We'll talk about game engines,things like Unreal and Unity and
Frostbite, and so that is veryimportant too, and I think it's
going to be something that welike to dive into and uncover.
So that was number two.
The third is I do have adoctorate degree in information
systems and business.
So yes, by title I am a doctor.
However, for you guys, I amjust AJ and I am your host, and
(03:17):
I love to make contacts withfolks in the industry and talk
about these things.
But, again, having multipleyears experience doing
information systems as abachelor's degree, having a
master's degree and then adoctorate degree as well all of
that helps and plays into it aswell to kind of go behind the
behind the games part of it,which is the technology behind
what it is that we're talkingabout.
And finally, the other biggestpiece, which is probably the
(03:37):
longest piece of my career, is22 years in information
technology working at a top 10healthcare organization.
Now, what does healthcare haveto do with IT?
Well, a lot.
Everything in healthcarecenters around information
technology, and so working at ainformation technology side of
the house at a large healthcareinstitution for the last 22
years has been a major part ofmy life.
(03:58):
It's basically been the biggestchapter, for sure, and so I
think it is extremely importantthat we talk about that as well,
and so that is something thatwe're going to dive into as well
.
So those are the four keythings from a credibility check
that I think are important foryou to know as a whole.
However, let's talk a little bitmore about you and this podcast
and what those three things Imentioned why you should tune in
(04:19):
, what you can expect and why Istarted this podcast.
So back to the whole.
Why behind everything?
Maybe you're working at a bigAAA company right now and you're
ready to break out and buildyour your own product.
This could be a podcast for you.
Maybe you're a student whowants to turn your capstone
project into a real projectoverall, or maybe you are stuck
in a dead-end job, wondering ifit's finally time for you to
(04:40):
take that big shot and buildyour own indie game studio that
you've always dreamed of.
If that's the case, then againyou are in the right spot as
well.
If that's you, you are thepeople for this podcast and this
podcast is made for you overall.
So let's now get back to thosekey things we talked about the
beginning.
Why should you tune in?
Because behind the games givesyou the most in-depth review of
(05:04):
game development that you'regoing to be able to find.
I will be talking to founders,producers, technical directors
and project managers from AAAstudios to small indie game
studios as well the small,behind-the-scenes components of
it one to two-man shops, peoplewho still haven't launched their
first game, all the way up tothese billion-dollar
organizations that you seepumping out these incredible
(05:25):
games as well.
If you're serious aboutbuilding something, this podcast
gives you the insights, thestrategies and the stories that
can help make you into a smarterindividual, to move you into
those and help you avoid therookie mistakes as a whole.
Number two what can you expectNow?
I talked a little bit aboutthis in that intro piece and,
sorry if you hear that noise inthe background, that's my cat,
(05:45):
who wants to be part of thepodcast.
Apparently, the cat's name isHolly, by the way, for those of
you who want to know.
So, number two what can youexpect?
New episodes every single week.
So at this point, the newepisodes will come out every
Tuesday morning and I may domore of those as we go on.
So it may be more frequent thanTuesday, but I can guarantee
that you always have one outevery Tuesday.
I will give you a no BSapproach to how everything works
(06:08):
.
So, yes, we will interview folks, but also, if there's something
that we need to call out oravoid, this podcast is for you,
the listener.
And yes, the host of thepodcast myself is going to work
with folks to interview and theyare part of this.
But this is really meant foryou, so every episode will give
you actionable advice.
Most weeks, I'll interviewstudio leaders and actual
individual people where it's atrue interview, to interview
(06:31):
conversations, and other timesit'll just be me pulling back
the curtain on a specific topicor finding a game, or talking to
you about how you would fundyour first game, how you can
fund something when you reallycan't afford it, how do you
raise capital for it, how do youavoid burnout and being able to
do two things at once?
So, if you're working in a jobtoday, how can you work at that
job in the daytime and still dostuff at night and still have
the passion to keep going?
(06:52):
All of those things I think aregoing to be helpful, important
and how you turn an idea intosomething that's sustainable.
Right, this is meant for you tohave passion about, but most of
you probably wanted to help youfinancially or earn a living.
So every episode will give youan actionable piece of advice
you can use and take it forward,whether you're just starting
out or you're already doing thisand you want to level up a
little more Now.
(07:12):
Are there other folks out therelike this?
Yes, are there other podcaststhat do things like this?
Yes, however, we're going to doit a little bit differently,
and this is again something thatI think is very, very important
, and I'm going to get to it formy very last item of why this
podcast was created.
So, number three, why I startedthis podcast.
Sure, I love playing games andwho doesn't love playing games?
But for me, this is not aboutwho loves to play games.
(07:34):
Let's play games, and what'sthe funnest game that you've
ever played?
This is about the love fordevelopment, the love for
creating every aspect of thegame, from building the business
side of it to coding, to everysingle comment that you put in,
creating the assets for it,launching it, marketing it,
everything that you can imagine,putting in the hours and
(07:56):
grinding.
That is what this podcast isabout, and to teach you about
folks that have done that and tohelp you avoid those key
mistakes that you may be lookingat doing, or just this is
something that's interesting toyou and you want to check a
little bit more about that.
That's fine.
I've been wanting to make thispodcast for over three years now
, specifically exactly how I'veadvised it.
I just had not had theopportunity or the time to do it
(08:16):
, but I have now finally beenable to open that up and give
this content to you guys, whichI think is extremely special.
So, three years in the makingfor this specific piece from
making a podcast, probably over10 to 12 years of being
interested in doing so butwanting to find the right spot
in the right niche for it, whythis podcast?
One more time, there is truly agap in this space.
(08:37):
There is great content outthere for gamers on how you can
do gaming.
There is great technicalcontent for developers and how
to do that, but there's notenough for the person trying to
build a game business to launchtheir game, their business and
help pull all of that intogether.
So maybe you're the creativewho only wants to do the actual
development side of it, and ifyou do, that's great.
We'll teach you how to add thebusiness side of it.
(08:58):
Maybe you're the businessperson and you want to find a
talented person to develop thegame.
That's great too.
That's great too.
Both of those answers get donein this podcast as well.
So there's always something foreverybody.
Not enough.
Maybe there's something whereyou're a college student that's
just trying to get out andnavigate into this crazy world
of game development.
Where do you go?
This is something to help you.
(09:19):
If you know that you'reinterested in computer science,
information systems, informationtechnology and want to move
somewhere into the softwaredevelopment or gaming world,
this show is for you and aboutyou.
So if you're serious aboutlaunching your studio, leading a
team or just getting your dreamout of your head and onto the
screen, this podcast issomething that I think is going
to be helpful for you.
So, in review and just to recap, the three items we talked
(09:41):
about are why you should tune in, what you can expect and why I
started this podcast.
I have a lot of passion forthis.
I hope can expect, and why Istarted this podcast.
I have a lot of passion forthis.
I hope that you guys do too.
This podcast is basically tohelp empower you, give you
inspiring time and inspire youas a developer to put all of
your goals and wishes forward.
It's a platform for you tostart your first studio.
(10:01):
Give you research, give you thetools and talk to real people
who have done this before.
That's the key thing.
Don't ever try to go on ajourney when someone, if you
haven't done it on your own,stand on the shoulder of giants
and basically walk through andmake sure we can help work on
that together.
So my call to action for youguys is if this is interesting,
please, please, hit, subscribe,save this, follow this from a
(10:24):
podcast perspective.
Wherever you may listen to, headover to my website that we have
starting up here, which isalready out.
It is calledwwwbehind-the-gamescom Again,
wwwbehind-the-gamescom.
That's just to make it a littlebit easier to see, rather than
(10:44):
it being all scrunched uptogether.
Click on the Behind the Gamesnewsletter in the top right-hand
corner to join the list.
That's how you can get on ouremail list.
But, more importantly, this isa podcast piece, not a website
piece, but that's how you canfind out some more about us.
So again, come on in, join us.
Let's go Behind the Games and Ilook forward to talking to you
guys more in Episode 3, which Iwill walk you through all the
(11:04):
details of how I started atElectronic Arts Tiburon, what
games we made, how we created it.
So, until then, I look forwardto seeing you guys Take care.
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