My guest today is the velvet owl Will Porter - Former PC Zone editor, freelancer, and the writer of Project Zomboid, Alien Isolation and No Man's Sky. We talk about how the PC Zone vs. PC Gamer rivalry is no joke, whether growing up on a farm puts you off farming sims for life, how it felt to be a Betamax kid in a VHS world, and how working in the bowels of Canary Wharf made him feel like he was living in Half Life. We also hit on Drop 7 addiction, the challenges of working on a game like...

Hello! So good to be back. My guest on today's episode is the amazing Mike Cook Mike is an AI researcher, the founder of #procjam (this year's even has just started so you should check it out.) and the creator of ANGELINA an AI system that makes video games. As you can imagine, this is a mind blowing and fascinating talk. It honestly completely reshaped the way I think about and understand AI. There's also a ton of great video game stories like the surprise LAN party he had for his 10th...

My guest on today's episode is the Jolie Menzel. Jolie is a game designer and developer who started her career at Telltale games and currently works at Ubisoft as the Narrative Desiger for the upcoming South Park - The Fractured But Whole. We talk arcade games on the Jersey Shore, the pride and shame in Dance Dance Revolution, how her science teacher taught evolution via Pokemon, her love of the Sonic Fandom, and how she maybe got a little too into Minecraft. We also hit on her time in...

My guest on today's episode is the features editor of Eurogamer, co-host of the Eurogamer podcast and one of my favourite writers, Christian Donlan. As anyone familiar with Christian or the Eurogamer podcast will expect, this episode goes off on a lot of tangents, but we always end up back at videogames - some highlights include how Uncharted might just be a magic trick, how great writing can give you that same Aha! moment the best games can, and how failing at Spelunky helped him cope with...

My guest on today's episode is Arthur Gies. Arthur is a veteran video game journalist, former reviews editor for Polygon and long time host of Rebel FM. We talk about his recent decision to leave Polygon and go back to grad school to study fine art before digging back through his video game milestones including: early memories of Atari 2600, video game sense memories, the power of sequels, how SEGA broke his heart, how Halo made him fall in love with games again, the impact of Bioshock, the...

Checkpoints 100! Massive thanks to everyone that listens to and subscribes to the show, and of course to all of my previous guests, without whom the show literally wouldn't exist. A milestone show requires a milestone guest, so today I'm joined by the creator of several iconic games including Full Throttle, Grim Fandango and Psychonauts and the founder and CEO of Double Fine, Tim Schafer. We hit on a bunch of topics as we meander through Tim's life in games including computer clubs, summer...

My guest on today's show is Teddy Dief. As well as having an incredibly enjoyable name to say out loud, Teddy is also a writer, game designer, Squarebowl founder and the creative director of Square Enix Montreal. We talk about high stakes Duck Hunt battles, being all in on Nintendo, getting an early introduction to game design via Nintendo Power VHS tapes, whether or not fitness is a game and, much to my personal delight, his time as a member of the acapella group The Clef Hangers. We also...

My guest today is a writer, designer, creator of Lady Killer in a Bind and the namesake of Love Conquers All Games, Christine Love. In a wild and divergent talk we hit on how 18th Century twitter would be angry about how novels weren't real writing, the connection between Link's Awakening and Twin Peaks, why Pokemon feels like folk lore, and the thrill of meeting strangers on the internet. We also talk about the impact of Ace Attorney, her coaching sessions in Street Fighter 3rd Strike,...

My guests on today's show are the creators of the amazing FTL and the upcoming Into the Breach, Justin Ma & Matt Davis AKA Subset Games. We talk about how they both moved to China to get their first job in games, working at 2K in Shanghai, and how they got to know each other as desk mates and eventually, inspired by weekly board game sessions, decided to try and make a game together. That chance meeting led to one of my favourite games of the past ten years, FTL. This episode is...

My guest on today's episode is Ben Andac. Ben does a whole bunch of stuff: writer, producer, designer, business developer. He's recently gone freelance after spending many years working at larger companies like Sega and Sony, problem solving, fostering new talent and ensuring the games being released on the platform are as good as they can possibly be. We talk about his early love of the Master System, how his early experience of games was an attempt to wean him off reading, his competitive...

My guest on today's episode is Walt Williams. Walt is the writer of Spec Ops - The Line and the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront 2. He'll also be releasing a book next month called Significant Zero which is a behind the scenes look at modern AAA development which, if you're a fan of this show, you're very likely to enjoy. We talk about his early love of Adventure on the 2600, video game branded breakfast cereal, the impact of Final Fantasy 6, why Red Dead Redemption is maybe the best game, and...

My guest on today's episode is Brendan Keogh, a Brisbane-based critic, journalist, and academic. He's written a book about Spec Ops - The Line, tons of amazing articles for places like Edge, Polygon, The New Statesman, Ars Technica and as of this year has started making some games for fun. Brendan Keogh wrote a thesis about Grand Theft Auto 4 and a book about Spec Ops - The Line so you know the type of episode this is going to be. There are two fine beards either end of a Skype call and they...

My guest on today's episode is Rod Humble. Rod has an incredible CV - CEO of Linden Labs, head of the EA Play label responsible for the Sims, game artist in residence at the San Francisco MOMA and current Jam City GM - but at heart he is a guy who loves and is fascinated by playing, making, and talking about games. Here are some highlights of a particularly packed episode: We talk about being moved by scale, an early love of the precise lines of Atom Invaders and the wonder of the seaside...

My guest on today's episode is Anthony Gallegos - currently working as a game designer on Marvel Heroes, Anthony previously spent years working in the enthusiast press for sites like 1up and IGN, and has been everyone's favourite on a whole host of podcasts including GFW Radio, The Gamespy Debriefings, The Comedy Button and of course Rebel FM. We talk growing up on a naval base, the ubiquity of the NES in America, how multiplayer games were the bedrock of his early gaming life, his zoology...

My guest today is Daniel Cook, chief creative officer at SpryFox, creators of Triple Town, Alphabear, Road Not Taken and many more. Previous to Spryfox Daniel worked at the brand new Epic Mega Games (later simply Epic games) before spending a few years at Microsoft. He has also maintained his incredible design blog Lostgarden for over a decade. We talk about how much he loved the Amiga, Bitmap Brothers in particular, growing up in rural Maine, his work in the demo scene in the mid nineties,...

My guest today is Ed Key, game designer, creator of the incredible Proteus and founder of Twisted Tree games. We talk Kendall Mint Cake, why the Spectrum game Oh Mummy! had such a profound impact on his younger self, why Stellaris ticks so many boxes, how his dad would gamify their family walks, why Brian Eno and Ultima 7 are forever linked in his brain, and how Proteus almost came with a fold out cloth map. "Stay on the road. Keep clear of the moors." PATREON -...

My guest today is Jon McKellan, one of the founders of NoCode studios, creators of Stories Untold and Super Arc Light. Previous to setting up his own studio, Jon spent many years in a band, before getting working in AAA game development on games like Alien Isolation and the now infamous APB. We talk about his work at these studios, including being there when Realtime Worlds folded, and the human as well as financial impact this can have. We also hit on the job of a lifetime working on the...

My guest today is Brandon Sheffield, founder of Nercrosoft games, former editor of Game Developer Magazine & Gamasutra, ad creator of Insertcredit.com and No Girlfriend Comics. We talk about why all of Brandon's early videogame memories are blurry or in the third person, his deep level of discovery and delving into the forgotten history of games, university rivalries with the Maryland Puyo Puyo champion, his incredibly esoteric CV, and how the discovery of a video game in a store in...

My guest today is Brie Code, speaker, writer, AI programmer, and the CEO and creative director of Tru Luv Media, a video game studio making games with people who don't like games.

My guest today is Mathew Kumar, a video game designer, a writer, a zine creator and a podcast host. This is a very game heavy episode and Mathew's lifelong enthusiasm and passion for video games is incredibly infectious. We also hit on growing up playing games in Scotland, the forgotten treasures of the home computer scene, why he always wanted to be a videogame journalist, why he always has a Saturn ready to play, and the physical wonder of the joystick on a Neo Geo Pocket Colour, "What I...

My guest today is Violet Berlin, a writer, educator, producer and presenter, perhaps best known to listeners as the presenter of the video game TV series Bad Influence. We talk calculator games, Space Museums, Game & Watch, the hidden adventure within Zelda, a deep love for Castlevania, how Eternal Darkness tricked her a little too hard and bonding with her children through video games. We also talk about how she never owned a TV until she worked on TV, her unlikely route to becoming a...

My guest today is Omar Cornut, founder of Lizardcube and creator of the recent, and excellent, remake of Wonder Boy : The Dragon's Trap. We talk growing up in Paris and Egypt, the SEGA Computer 3000 (!), how he traded up from a home made Inidiana Jones board game to a Game & Watch, his founding of a video game course while still a student, and why Psycho Fox is burned into his brain. We also hit on Omar's role in the emulation scene of the late nineties when he created MEKA, one of the...

My guest today is Dominique Ferland AKA Dom2D an illustrator and game designer who most recently designed the excellent Finthook for Tribute Games. We talk about the lack of games in small town Quebec, the incredible music of Pictionary on the NES, early graph paper game designs and the inspirations behind Flinthook. We also talk through his strange journey to game design via advertising, how Spelunky took over his life, the joy of playing games with a guide and how Proteus taught him to...

My guest today is Margaret Roberston, former editor of Edge magazine, now game director at PlayDots and industry liaison for the New York Game Centre. We talk about forgotten classics of the Atari ST & Amiga era like Captive and Midwinter, the absurdist joy of Ranarama, the Playstation homebrew scene and how she fought through the pain for the love of Guitar Hero. We also reminisce about the genuine magic of early internet forums, how she got the job on Edge in the bar after the...

My guest today is Hannah Nicklin an award winning game designer, writer, academic, theatre maker, bike rider and talk giver. As the myriad of adjectives suggest, she's a brilliant guest. We talk about weird Comic Relief tie in game Sleepwalker, how Tony Hawk Pro Skater introduced her to punk rock, why controller literacy is such a forgotten problem, that time she bought 100 CDs and a Gamecube on a camping trip and how theatre is a game so old we've forgotten it's a game. We also hit on...