There has always been an air of mystery surrounding the game development process. In the past, this was mainly due to the archaic processes involved and the massive amounts of specialized knowledge required to dip a toe into that world. Fast-forward to now, what has changed? Well, the tools are a

It seems like every year, one game comes along and dominates the conversation, whether for its excellent execution, superb gameplay, or its originality of ideas. For awhile we thought that game for 2017 would be the triumphant return of the Zelda franchise in Breath of the Wild, but a well-known

Making a good game is not enough to make a profit from it. That is why we decided to talk about Marketing in this episode. With such overcrowded market and players with smaller attention spans, it is extremely important to know how to market your game. Of course, we are

In this week’s episode we discuss game data security, but specifically try to target how developers should think about and approach security as it relates to their game’s data. This episode is one of a possible* three-part series about security within game development. The Debug Log crew, sans Andrew, also

After a brief month of summer vacation, we are back in action. This week we are talking about Personal Programming Methodologies. Basically, different methods and thought processes that you can employ to break your projects into manageable pieces. We start with a brief exploration into the most popular schools of thought in

Back at last! It’s time for another edition of “Rapid-Fire Roundup”. This week we break down the colossal new version release from Unity, resist the temptation of a cheaper Oculus, assess the fallout from the Fallout 4 ad campaign, and get our minds blown by the amount of money in Esports

From flunk to hunk! In this week’s episode, we have the privilege of sitting down with the Studio Technical Director of “Sprockets,” Benjamin Jordan, who talks about his experience, growth, and the lessons he’s learned as a TD. Knowledge is dropped consistently throughout this episode as we explore his early

E3 2017 has come and gone and as usual, we are left with a bevy of game industry news to wade through. There were some significant format changes to show this year, some major hardware announcements from Microsoft, and as always, a ton of info on new games that we

AAA: From Start to Finish! In this week’s episode, we sit down with another one of our fantastic co-hosts, Ryan Killgore. We jump into an in-depth conversation about how Ryan took a very deliberate approach to his career in game development, mapping out his way to becoming a AAA game

Hello, guys. Here is another episode of the series about design patterns. For this round of basic patterns, I wanted to finish with the observer. In next episodes, we will be focusing more in design patterns that improve performance. Anyways, that is in the future. In this episode, we talk

What do rollercoasters, songs, fancy meals, and summer blockbusters all have in common? They are designed to take us for a ride. Whether emotionally or physically, each moment is engineered to be just what the audience needs at just the right time. The creators in these mediums are able to

A Tale of Proving out Passion! In this week’s episode, we have the honor of speaking with our very own Zack Schneider about his career and growth as a game developer. We go into how his initial passion for playing games provided the spark to pursue a career in game

Hello, Debuggers. In today’s episode, we continue our series about design patterns with one of the most polemic design patterns of all, Singleton. We explain when you might want to use a Singleton, we go over the definition of this design pattern, we talk about two very common definitions, and

From Tomb Raider to Ninja Turtles, this pair of Game Designers have been through it all. In this week’s episode we sit down with Benjamin Gross and Joshua Herbert about their roles as Content Designers in the game industry. We discuss the basics behind content design but also take a

Mistakes. We all make them, especially as developers. The good news is that we can all learn from each other and try to avoid them in the future. This week we discuss a really interesting article by Tomas Macek entitled, The 10 Most Common Mistakes That Unity Developers Make. This

“Whatchu working on?!” In this week’s episode, the gentlemen of The Debug Log discuss their progress on their respective games. Eduardo drops a few more hints on THE new VR game he has been working on. Zack and Andrew outline some of the work and challenges that were encountered during

In today’s episode we talk about design patterns in game development, specifically, the State pattern. This is going to be an episode mostly oriented to developers, but it is an important part of our effort to bring good programming practices to other devs. We explain the basics of what a

Before the thousands of players, before the money, before the press conferences, even the biggest games had to start with one simple thing; the pitch. Whether it’s to investors or collaborators, fans or the press,  pitching your game is something you will be doing constantly as a developer. Not only is

Tired of getting your PM’s mixed up? Not sure what goes into product management? Eager to impress your friends and co-workers with some key, trivia-ready information about what a product manager does? If you answered, ‘Yes’ to any of the above questions, then this episode is for you! In this

In this episode, I have to pleasure to talk to John Cheng, the head of Unity Analytics. We go over the different parts of Unity Analytics and its features to show you all the power that you have in your hands if you use Unity. Finishing a game is not

You lookin’ gooooood! In today’s episode we are covering the topic of visual effects in a conversation with our friend Dan Moran. Dan runs the Youtube channel Makin’ Stuff Look Good and works with Obinna and I at Sprockets as a Graphics Engineer. He is very knowledgeable when it comes

It’s time to stretch our academic muscles! On today’s episode, we revisit a topic we’ve discussed previously, UI. This time we look at it through the lens of User Experience Design. Instead of listing Unity libraries and various technical solutions, we try to take a more formal design approach to the

They’re back! In this week’s episode, we welcome back our friends of the podcast, Will Dal Porto and Greg Anderson to talk about what makes a game a classic! We lay out some criteria on how we gauge a game (or franchise) to claim ‘classic status.’ In addition to laying

“I am a tiny potato. And I believe in you. You can do the thing.” In this week’s episode, we have the privilege of chatting with our friend and community management adept, Janine Dong, about her experiences and growth as a Community Manager. She was an absolute pleasure to interview

Creating original ideas for games might be a difficult process for some people and an easy ride for others. In any case, polishing that original idea takes time and discipline. That is why today we go over how we come up with new ideas for our games and how we

Welcome to our 2nd annual Holiday Special where we discuss some of the biggest games and stories of the past year. We also get a chance to revisit our game dev resolutions for 2016. Before all that, we kick off the episode with a nice positive discussion about why we

What is better than one episode about the dark underbelly of software development? Two episodes about the dark underbelly of software development! That’s right ladies and gents. It’s that time again! Put the kids to bed, grab a bottle of wine or your favorite brew, and sit back and enjoy

With all the merriment of the holiday season going on around here at TDL, we thought it appropriate (and of true ‘Troll’ fashion) to go on a series of rants about the uglier side of game development. Today’s episode is Part One of what is slated to be a two-part

Game Development has many roles: Gameplay Developer, Systems Developer, Level Designer, Character Artist, Sound Designer, Game Designer, and many more. In today’s episode, we are going to talk about the role of a Systems Developer. To do so, I have the pleasure of talking with Dayle Flowers, lead developer on

It’s that time of year folks, that’s right, it’s time for Unite 2016! This year, Obinna, Eduardo, and I had the chance to fly out to Los Angeles and attend the event. We’ve been the past couple of years and had a lot of fun, but this year we decided to