Sam Barlow, Game Director at Half Mermaid, talks about his career in the gaming industry, working on the Silent Hill franchise, and his decision to go indie. They discuss the challenges and experiences that led to his first indie project, creating games that require a full film crew, and the design of his newest title Immortality.

We're on a break from new content this week, but check out one of our past episodes with recent GMN host, Chris Charla of ID@Xbox! Originally released in Nov 11, 2019, Chris Charla joins Ted Price at the past D.I.C.E. Dubrovnik conference. Chris discusses his journey from journalism to game development, his work overseeing Xbox’s independent projects, challenges facing independent developers, opportunities available for independents in today’s development environment, and his thoughts on the future of games. Chris Charla is best known for leading ID@Xbox and now ID Productions, where he oversees the independent publishing program for Xbox One and Windows.

Adam Boyes and Chelsea Blasko, Co-CEOs of Iron Galaxy, discuss their roles, collaborating with founder Dave Lang, creating a safe work environment, and focusing on employee quality of life. They emphasize the importance of teamwork, selecting vendors, and unconventional career growth in the game industry.

Ted Price interviews Ilari Kuittinen, the Co-founder of Housemarque, discussing the ups and downs of Housemarque's 30-year history, growth, company culture, strategic advice for new companies, and the importance of well-being in the gaming industry.

Ted Price chats with Christian Linke and Alex Yee, two of the creative leads and executive producers of the Emmy award winning Netflix series, Arcane. Together they discuss what it was like creating a wildly popular and critically successful TV show based on one of the most popular video game IPs in the world; the ups and downs of the initial pitch process and early production; what they learned going from games to linear media; their advice for anyone who wants to take their game IP and build a new reality for it outside of games; and how key it is to make sure every creative decision is in service to the fans.  Listen to the full episode now or watch this episode on our Youtube channel. This episode is sponsored by FusionAuth. For more information, go to FusionAuth.io/game.

Raphaël Colantonio, Creative Director and President of WolfEye Studios and Co-Founder of Arkane Studios, discusses his career journey from Electronic Arts to founding Arkane and starting anew with WolfEye Studios. They also talk about their approach to accessibility and challenge in game development, the wins and near misses of their first game as a new studio, and the unique relationship between Devolver Digital and independent developers.

Mathijs de Jonge, Game Director for both the Horizon series and Killzone series, discusses building a sequel to a successful first entry while balancing new and existing features. They also talk about Guerrilla's approach to creating a massive and ambitious title like Horizon Forbidden West, including improving accessibility and melee combat, and the playtest process.

Chris Alderson and Josh Stiksma from Polyarc discuss founding the studio and developing for VR, the design choices that shaped the Moss series, and the balance between VR experiences and traditional gameplay. They also talk about creating content for VR, improvements in Moss Book Two, and the future of work in the game development industry.

Joseph Staten, Head of Creative at 343 Industries and Halo Infinite, discusses the challenges of developing an evolving campaign and a live-service game, the evolution of the Halo franchise in terms of team size and ambition, the difficulties faced during the development of Halo Infinite, and the essentials of successful game writing. He also shares his excitement for the future of the Halo franchise and the importance of expansion and bringing in new characters and creators.

Composer Tom Salta discusses his career journey before games, working with Arkane Studios on the Wolfenstein series and Deathloop, assembling a score rooted in the 60s for Deathloop, and how his experiences in game development have helped establish his creative workflow.