Game Dev Advice: The Game Developer's Podcast

I welcome Norman Morse, Triage Engineer at Perforce Software. We begin by discussing COVID-19’s impact, and his current role helping game developers. Hear thoughts on the importance of git and Perforce, how a previous job led to his current one, and the challenge of layoffs.

Listen to his origin story around doing kernel development, building a team, and getting absorbed into EA. Learn his theory for success, going door-to-door for a job, teaching himself languages, and the importance of Linux and enthusiasm.

We then talk about the importance of GDC and social skills, Toastmasters, studying NLP, along with learning technical skills. Hear about working in Unity back in 2008, supporting P4, and how GitHub is an engineer’s resume. Learn about favorite games he worked on, thoughts on the future, concerns about how studios fill roles, ageism, sharing a game engine, and crunching.

We then wrap up talking about triple-A dev concerns, missing co-workers during COVID-19, commuting, a bad air conditioner, connecting with people, engineering tips, and how the industry is finally evolving.

Bio:

Norman Morse is an Engineer and 25+ year veteran of the game industry who’s worked both within game studios and tool companies. EA, Sega, Crystal Dynamics, and Stormfront Studios are some of the bigger game companies he’s been at along with many others, plus ten years as a Triage Engineer at Perforce Software. He’s also a life-long learner and self-taught engineer, Master Practitioner in Neurolinguistic Programming, Toastmasters advocate, and personal coach.

Show Links:

Perforce Swarm

git

WorldsAway

Stormfront Studios

Quake

GitHub

No Man’s Sky

Surviving Mars

Perforce Software

JetBrains

Connect Links:

Norman on Twitter

Game Dev Advice:

*New: Game Dev Advice Patreon - please help support if you find this useful

*Game Dev Advice Twitter

*Game Dev Advice email

*Game Dev Advice website

*Level Ex website - we’re hiring

*Game Dev Advice Hotline: (224) 484-7733, give a call!

*Subscribe and go to the website full show notes with links

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I welcome Scott Millard, Managing Director at Feardemic. We begin discussing his Krakow, Poland location, and the country’s forward-thinking and vibrant game development industry. We then shift to COVID-19’s impact, plus his current role as a Managing Director at Feardemic working on horror games.

Listen to his origin story starting at Sega’s Oziesoft followed by lots of acquisitions, a controversial perspective on big companies, and his advice to finding your own way when starting out. Hear his idea on the most important skill to learn, what publishers are looking for in developers, and helping distribute classic games like DOOM II, Tomb Raider, and Command & Conquer.

We then talk about game classification ratings, a time-intensive mistake, and what’s happening with Stadia and Xbox in the console wars. Hear about Game Pass, niche markets, the music industry’s approach to streaming, plus the chip shortage.

Towards the end we talk about the challenges around AR/VR, an AK-47 meeting room, current games he’s excited about, Israel’s game dev scene, where to find online, and the importance of being thankful.

Bio:

Mr. Millard is Managing Director of FEARDEMIC sp. z o.o, a wholly owned subsidiary of BLOOBER TEAM S.A, a publisher of computer games and their related entertainment products.

Previously Mr. Millard had held various positions in the games industry. Most notably the Asian distribution of Bethesda games including the Award winning Elder Scrolls Skyrim and Asia versions of The Elder Scrolls Online.

Previously Mr. Millard served as Managing Director of Namco Bandai Partners Singapore Pte Ltd and Namco Bandai Partners Korea Ltd, a post he held for near 7 years that saw him oversee the releases of dozens of triple A titles.

Mr. Millard was co-founder of a Korean Games Association that represents the interests of foreign and local publishers operating in the packaged games sector in the Korean domestic market. In 2005 Mr. Millard held the post of Vice President, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Committee, European Union Chamber of Commerce Korea. He consults for several games industry organisations and companies, and is a regular blogger and producer of opinion pieces for various publications.

Show Links:

Feardemic Games

Bloober Team

Unfold Games

Dark Fracture

DOOM II

In Sound Mind

Grim

Deadhouse Sonata

Connect Links:

Feardemic website

Feardemic Twitter

Game Dev Advice:

*New: Game Dev Advice Patreon - please help support if you find this useful

*Game Dev Advice Twitter

*Game Dev Advice email

*Game Dev Advice website

*Level Ex website - we’re hiring

*Game Dev Advice Hotline: (224) 484-7733, give a call!

*Subscribe and go to the website full show notes with links

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I welcome Kate Edwards, game industry pioneer at Geogrify and Executive Director of the Global Game Jam. We start by discussing COVID-19 totally changing everything for her speaking and traveling work along with the Global Game Jam (recorded before the event). We then talk about her culturalization consulting and public speaking projects keeping her even busier now.

Listen to her origin story about arcades, wanting to be an astronaut, Star Wars, going into Industrial Design, and grad school at the HITLab in Seattle. Hear how being a Cartographer started her career at Microsoft and translated into a new role as a Geopolitical Specialist. We then talk about consulting for Google, joining then leading the IGDA, Gamergate threats, 50 over 50 list, and mental health advocacy.

We reflect on lessons learned over time, marketing yourself, imposter syndrome, networking, finding a mentor strategy, and future meetups. Listen to ideas for those working now, parallel career paths, autonomy, bad managers, and her love for Halo. Hear about working on Age of Empires, BioWare projects, the long road left with Diversity and Inclusion, and developer leverage against being exploited. We then explore games as human narrative, VR’s challenges, democratized dev tools, Tehran game dev, and the global game community.

We then wrap up with a challenging situation back on Halo 2, games she’s playing now, how to find online, Mark Twain, not always comparing yourself to others, mentors, and having that creative drive to always get better.

Bio:

Kate Edwards is a 27+ year veteran and an outspoken, award-winning advocate of the game industry and the Executive Director of the Global Game Jam, as well as the former Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). She is also a professional geographer and corporate strategist who pioneered and specializes in content culturalization. Following 13 years at Microsoft, she has consulted on many game and non-game projects for BioWare, Ubisoft, LEGO, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and other companies. She was also profiled in the December 2018 publication Women in Gaming: 100 Professionals of Play, and was most recently honored with the Ambassador Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards at GDC 2020

Show Links:

Global Game Jam

IGDA

Thomas Furness interview

Cartography

Encarta

Steve Baller “Developers!”

Gamergate

‘50 Over 50’

Take This

Safe In Our World

Age of Empires

Google’s Union

Tehran Game Event

Halo 2

Whirling Dervish

Cloudpunk

Connect Links:

Kate on Twitter

Kate on LinkedIn

Geogrify website

Game Dev Advice:

*New: Game Dev Advice Patreon

*Game Dev Advice Twitter

*Game Dev Advice email

*Game Dev Advice website

*Level Ex website - we’re hiring

*Game Dev Advice Hotline: (224) 484-7733, give a call!

*Subscribe and go to the website full show notes with links

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I welcome Richard Lemarchand from the USC Games program tonight. We begin by discussing his Associate Professor role in the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the recent release of his book, A Playful Production Process, for Game Designers (and Everyone). Hear about how he got his first job at MicroProse, the importance of psychology in game design, along with wishing he’d known how to manage projects better when starting. We discuss the effects of crunch, the importance of managing projects, and how his book is a textbook of his class covering intermediate level design and production.

We then share stories of outdated GDDs, Mark Cerny’s Game Design Macro format, and moving over to Crystal Dynamics in the mid-90s to work on the Gex and Soul Reaver series. Hear about going over to Naughty Dog to work on Jax, the critically acclaimed Uncharted series, and how the game industry is really more like a dozen industries.

Learn Rich’s advice for game designers to understand psychology, systems dynamics, along with having T-shaped skills. Hear how soft skills were taught back at Crystal Dynamics, cultivating empathy, and treating others with respect. We then discuss Uncharted 2, his favorite game to work on, how well the team worked together, and the quality of the storytelling and the cast.

Hear about his interests in VR, immersive design, narrative design, and storytelling that doesn’t involve violence as a core mechanic. We then discuss how crunch is the biggest threat to the industry, how it’s getting better, and studios moving to the 4-day work week. Towards the end we get into a great story about promoting Uncharted 3, trivia about Jake’s journal, and his recommended games - Subnautica, Boyfriend Dungeon, Beast Breaker, Jett, and Ring Fit Adventure. At the end we discuss music, the band XTC, the importance of audio, his book, how to get in contact with him, along with his parting advice.

Bio:

Richard Lemarchand is an Associate Professor in the USC Games program at the University of Southern California, where he teaches game design, development, and production, and is working on a series of experimental virtual reality game design research projects as part of the USC Game Innovation Lab.

Previously he was a lead game designer at Naughty Dog and led the design of all three PlayStation 3 games in the Uncharted series, including Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, winner of ten AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards, five Game Developers Choice Awards, four BAFTAs, and over 200 Game of the Year awards. He also worked on Jak 3 and Jak X: Combat Racing for Naughty Dog, and helped to create the game series Gex, Pandemonium, and Soul Reaver at Crystal Dynamics. He is also the author of a new book, A Playful Production Process, for Game Designers (and Everyone), published by the MIT Press in October 2021.

Show Links:

A Playful Production Process, for Game Designers (and Everyone) MIT Press

USC Games program website

Jason VandenBerghe’s 2013 GDC Talk YouTube

*Soul Reaver 2 wikipedia

Game Design Workshop Amazon

Mark Cerny wikipedia

Naughty Dog website

Jax X: Combat Racing wikipedia

Uncharted wikipedia

Thinking in Systems Amazon

T-Shaped Skills wikipedia

Young Horses website

The Well-Played Game Amazon

Subnautica website

Boyfriend Dungeon website

Beast Breaker Nintendo

Jett: The Far Shore website

Ring Fit Adventure Nintendo

XTC Spotify

Connect Links:

Richard Lemarchand Twitter

Richard Lemarchand email

Richard Lemar...

Game industry veteran Richard Lico joins me on this episode to discuss his career. Hear how he got started in the industry going from SCAD’s 3D Computer Art program to now being the Studio Animation Director at Polyarc 20 years later. Richard talks about working on Triple-A games like Halo, Destiny, and more recently, the indie VR hit, Moss. Learn about working at Bungie, advice to fellow animators and artists, his excitement around VR, a few wild stories, and his online animation school. Hosted by John ‘JP’ Podlasek (See gamedevadvice.com for in-depth show notes and links.)

In This Episode We Discuss:

[01:07] Introductions

[02:19] Richard’s current role as the Studio Animation Director

[03:41] How Polyarc started and evolved

[04:12] His story getting into the industry

[07:47] What he wishes he’d known before getting started

[10:47] Advice for someone looking to get a first job

[14:42] Career advice for fellow animators on how to bring characters to life

[18:11] Richard’s favorite project so far

[19:16] What Richard’s curious about right now in the industry

[19:44] Concerns around the industry and crunch culture

[25:59] Thoughts on opportunities for the game industry

[29:40] Glimpse into the VR creation process

[32:34] Wild West game development and SWAT teams

[37:38] Discussion about Final Fantasy 7, and the nostalgia that follows

[38:16] The secret weapon of AR and VR, including Half-Life

[40:40] Finding Richard online, including Animation Sherpa

Full Bio:

Annie and D.I.C.E nominated animation director at Polyarc with 20 years of experience making games. Previously animation lead at Bungie and Monolith Productions. Richard's latest adventures have been in VR, animating Moss. As well as opening an animation school, "Animation Sherpa".

Resources:

*Richard Lico Twitter

*Richard Lico Vimeo portfolio

*Animation Sherpa website

*Polyarc website

*Polyarc Twitter

Game Dev:

*New: Game Dev Advice Patreon

*Game Dev Advice Twitter

*Game Dev Advice email

*Game Dev Advice website

*Level Ex website - we’re hiring for all kinds of roles

*Game Dev Advice Hotline: (224) 484-7733 - give me a call and ask a question for the show

*Don't forget to subscribe and go to www.gamedevadvice.com for full show notes with links

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