Brain Arcade

Brain Arcade

Unlock the secrets of game design with Brain Arcade! Join Creative Director Chris Cross, a 30+ year industry veteran, as he dives into his insights on building engaging games and mastering the art of communicating with your audience. Looking for deeper knowledge that you can actually apply? Chris and his diverse guests from various professions examine theories and uncover fresh perspectives to validate or debunk Chris' experiential knowledge. Get ready to learn, challenge ideas, and elevate your brain.

Episodes

How Theater, Parenting, and Raid Guilds Build A Great Game Producer

June 24, 2025 • 47 mins
Producer Jessica Woodard (Terrible Posture Games) joins Brain Arcade to talk about how seemingly unrelated experiences like theater, parenting, and WoW guild raids can lead to powerful contributions in game development especially for small indie teams where everyone wears multiple hats. We explore how small studios benefit when team members are given space to grow and why embracing nontraditional backgrounds can lead to better, mor...
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The Hidden Art of UX: Lessons for Game Developers with Ed Moore

June 17, 2025 • 48 mins
UX makes or breaks your game, even if players don't know it. Good UX designers know their work is about designing the entire player journey. In this episode, Chris Cross talks with veteran UX designer Ed Moore about what makes good UX invisible, how friction shapes engagement, and why indie devs need to master the balance between challenge and clarity. Essential listening for anyone making games with intention. Learn more about you...
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How Retro Games Still Grab Our Hearts: with Stubbs from Retro Handhelds

June 10, 2025 • 47 mins
In this episode of Brain Arcade, we dive into the psychology of nostalgia with Stubbs, founder and proprietor of Retro Handhelds, a news organization and community born during the isolated lull of 2020 to connect people to a simpler time. Retro games can really feel like time machines transporting us back to where you were, who you were with, and how it felt when you played them first. In this episode, we explore why handheld emula...
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Lessons from Neopets: Secrets to Successful Kids Content

June 3, 2025 • 41 mins
Neopets is a wildly successful kids game, it taught people how to code, had a thriving economy, and people still love the game today. What made the game so popular and what is the secret sauce to creating engaging kids content? We talk to Natalie Odien, game designer and current Design Director with over 15 years of experience, about her time on Neopets and how making games for kids is different (or not) from her work on titles lik...
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Team Psychology, Burnout, Being Neurospicy: With Extra Uncle Energy

May 27, 2025 • 49 mins
We kick back with Layla Mamedova—Cinematic Pipeline Manager, deep thinker, and proud purveyor of Uncle Energy—for a candid chat about the psychology of group dynamics, how to make teams that thrive, and her experience moving from an Artist to Production role. We unpack the very real physical toll of burnout and how creative teams can either lift each other up—or collapse under the weight of misaligned goals and corporate pressures...
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Dopamine Isn't What You Think It Is.

May 20, 2025 • 46 mins
Is gaming actually bad for you!? Liam is back today to talk to us about Dopamine and how it's not really what you probably think it is. We talk through what Dopamine really is, how our brains are effected by games, and whether or not that effect is actually bad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Solving Lag and Fair Play for Indie Live Ops Games

May 13, 2025 • 49 mins
We are huge fans of Ken Anderson from Tashi.gg and their support for the indie revolution! Ken has created some amazing solutions so that indie game studios can build smooth live games that can compete with big live ops titles. We talk about what makes games like Roblox, League, and Call of Duty feel 'smooth' and how FPS isn't the solution to everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Zelda, Mega Man X, Telltale: Secrets To Marrying Narrative and Gameplay

May 6, 2025 • 46 mins
How do we create engaging interactive stories that compliment and heighten gameplay experiences? We talk to Martin Montgomery, Emmy Award-Winning Creative Director, Writer, and Consultant about his industry secrets and philosophies by studying some well known games. Martin has worked on titles like Legends of Runeterra, DC Heroes United, Silent Hill: Ascension, and Telltale's The Walking Dead Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
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Indie Revolution! with Ayla Derrick, Cave Bear Games

April 29, 2025 • 42 mins
Ayla Derrick, founder of Cave Bear Games, found viral success with the launch of her volunteer indie studio. Celebrating the early access launch for their game Plantasia, we chat about the psychology behind idle games and why we love them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Should We Listen To The Zeitgeist?

April 22, 2025 • 42 mins
With big changes in media production and audience consumer habits, how do we capture the zeitgeist in entertainment today and should we even be trying to? This week we talk to Mark Netter Co-Owner / Co-Founder of ElectraCast to dive into how to launch successful projects and engage audiences in this highly saturated media age. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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How Asking Why Changed My Life

April 15, 2025 • 47 mins
In this honest and open conversation, Chris talks about his unique career path to becoming an established Creative Director in the game industry. We'll talk about how some major life events changed his outlook and the way he made life decisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Is Your Game Too Big For Your Brain?

April 8, 2025 • 57 mins
How is Skyrim a slot machine? What does that have to do with amount of information our brain can hold? Game studio founder and Neuroscience professional, Liam McDonough, thinks that psychology can tell us a lot about player experience and help developers turn a good game experience into an amazing one. Chris and Liam explores the relationship between cognitive load, reward systems, and how we can use our knowledge of the brain to i...
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Is the Game Industry Dying?!

March 27, 2025 • 43 mins
With over 20,000 layoffs in the gaming industry last year, many people are asking what is going on and will the games industry survive? Chris and Liam talk through the psychological shift of game developers, the way money flow changes investments, and the industry crash of 2008. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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