interview

Episode 105: Let’s Talk Tech Art
Like the complexities of for loops, switch statements, and allocating memory? Or, do you fancy getting the pixels to look just right on screen? Can’t choose?! Well, lucky you, this episode and interview with Technical Artists Andrea Bobick and Razvan Luta is tailor made for you! In this episode we

Episode 102: Developing Games for the Cloud
Everyone has been talking about the cloud… so, we figured we should too! In this week’s episode, we bring in another former Sprocketeer and backend server engineer, Tyler Ohlsen to talk about his experience when developing for the cloud and some of the tools, services, and concepts needed to begin

Episode 101: The Road to Better Concurrency
The party doesn’t stop at 100! We’re keeping the train moving right along with another fresh episode In this week’s episode, we bring in former Sprocketeer and backend server engineer, Matt Bolt to talk about a series of blog posts that he recently posted. In The Road to Better Concurrency,

Episode 99: The Darkside of Development: Company Closures II
What is better than three episodes about the dark underbelly of software development? FOUR episodes about the dark underbelly of software development!! That’s right depressed ladies and gents. It’s that time YET AGAIN! Put grandma and grandpappy to bed, grab a box of tissues, a tub of ice cream, a

Episode 98: The Darkside of Development: Company Closures I
What is better than two episodes about the dark underbelly of software development? Three episodes about the dark underbelly of software development! That’s right ladies and gents. It’s that time AGAIN! Put the dogs in their kennels, grab a keg of your favorite brew, and sit back and enjoy part

Episode 92: Optimizing Your Game for Performance with Lisa Hicks & Dan Moran
Double the flavor, double the fun! We’ve got a pair of Sprocketeers, in Dan Moran and Lisa Hicks, joining us today to talk about methodologies, tools, and techniques used to help optimize games for performance. We take a fairly high-level view of optimization techniques, which makes the discussions in this

Episode 90: World Building with Geoffrey Nahashon
It’s Interview Time! (to be read in Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers voice) In this week’s episode we sit down with industry vet, Geoffrey Nahashon to talk about his experience as a Lead Artist and his approach to building game worlds. He offers up a lot of solid advice and is

Episode 79: Technical Directing with Benjamin Jordan
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

Episode 77: Targeting AAA Game Studios with Ryan Killgore
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

Episode 74: From Gamer to Game Developer with Zack Schneider
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

Episode 67: A Product Manager’s Purpose with Vignon Zinsou
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

Episode 66: Unity Analytics with John Cheng
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

Episode 65: Makin’ Stuff Look Good With Dan Moran
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

Episode 63: Retro Review: What Makes a Game a Classic?
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

Episode 62: Tales of a Community Manager
“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

Episode 57: The Role of a Systems Developer with Hi-Rez’s Dayle Flowers
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

Episode 55: Women in Game Development With Ker-Chunk Games CEO, Molly Proffit
In this episode, we had the pleasure to talk to Ker-Chunk Games’ Co-founder and CEO Molly Proffit. She shares what motivated her to create a company that focuses on making games that empower women as players. We also discuss what the game industry can do to hire and retain more

Episode 51: The Problem with Freemium Games with Late Panda
We had the pleasure of snagging an interview with fellow TDLers, Elisabeth Heed and Stephen McCallum, from across the pond in Glasgow, Scotland. In this episode we talk about how the freemium game model, which is rapidly monopolizing the various app stores, can be seen as having very negative effects

Episode 50: The Art of Game Design with Jesse Schell
“The Art of Game Design, a Book of Lenses” is a must read book for every game developer. That is why, we wanted to bring Jesse Schell, author of this amazing book, to the show to celebrate our episode number 50. To be honest, we could make a one-hour episode

Episode 48: Creating In-Game Communities with KTplay CEO, Spencer Liu
Community is the secret sauce to any successful game. Knowing this, bigger companies often hire a community manager whose full-time job it is to build that community, running from social networks to message boards, engaging players and keeping everyone not only interested in the game at hand, but also in the future of

Episode 45: Quality QA with Will Dal Porto & Greg Anderson
Have you ever wondered what goes into the field of QA as it relates to the game development industry? Or maybe you have been itching to know what a ‘smoke test’ is and whether you should be running these tests as an indie dev? Well, in this episode, Obinna and

Episode 24: Networked Games with Eirik Pederson
Have you ever wondered what it would take to get a game online and accessible to individuals all across the globe? Curious as to when and how to plan for scalability and dealing with server load? For those of you out there interested in the ins and outs of networked

Episode 21: Game Monetization with Oscar Clark, Unity Evangelist
If you’ve had the opportunity to attend Unite in the past couple of years you’ll recognize today’s guest. With his signature hat and jovial personality, he’s hard to miss. I am of course talking about Oscar Clark, another awesome Unity Evangelist. We met Oscar at Unite 2015 in Boston and we

Episode 19: #MadeWithUnity with Unity CMO, Clive Downie
What do you get when you add the former VP of Marketing at EA and former COO of Zynga, an individual with a deep passion for games and gamers across the world, and a game-changing (pun intended) game development platform like Unity3D? You get Unity’s Chief Marketing Officer Clive Downie

Episode 17: The 4 Keys 2 Fun with Nicole Lazzaro – Part 2
Part 2 of our interview with Nicole Lazzaro, the founder and President of XEODesign. At Unite 2015 in Boston, some of us got a chance to see Nicole’s talk about Design Leadership in VR then we got to meet her and demo her upcoming VR game “Follow the White Rabbit”.

Episode 16: The 4 Keys 2 Fun with Nicole Lazzaro – Part 1
Nicole Lazzaro, the founder and President of XEODesign, Inc. and has twenty years expertise in Player Experience Design (PXD) for mass-market entertainment products. At Unite 2015 in Boston, some of us got a chance to see Nicole’s talk about Design Leadership in VR then we got to meet her and

Episode 11: 2015 IGF Grand Prize Winner and Crowdfunding Pioneers
In this episode we speak with a handful of game development pioneers in CEO and Founder of Fig, Justin Bailey and the team behind the 2015 IGF Grand Prize winner, Outer Wilds. Justin breaks down how the Fig platform works as a curated crowdfunding and investing medium where passionate players

Episode 9: Motion Capture on a Budget with James C. Martin
Download the Episode Here hiyah, hiyah, hiyah! Ahem, that was me practicing my jiu jitsu moves via text… anyway, horrible jokes aside, if you’ve ever wanted to motion capture your fighting moves, dances moves, or pretty much anything else — then this episode is definitely for you! In this episode we talk

Episode 7: How to Build a Community Around Your Game with Unity’s Mark Schoennagel
Download the Episode Here Oh. My. God. It’s Mark Schoennagel!!! *throws panties at stage!* That’s right, folks! We’ve managed to snag an interview with an inside man in Unity Evangelist, Mark Schoennagel. If your memory isn’t as bad as ours, then you will probably remember Mark Schoennagel who MC’d the

Episode 4: Steam Greenlighting with Travis Lacey
Download the Episode Here It finally happened! We wheedled the first person into sitting down with our ragtag group of developers for several minutes for an up close and personal interview. Travis Lacey is a freelance concept artist, seasoned Indie developer, official Steamworks Developer, Pax South Exhibitor, owner of Ravenseye