The AIAS Game Maker's Notebook

Trent Kusters chats with Ben Esposito, Game Director behind the Annapurna Interactive published Neon White. Together they discuss what sparked his interest in game development; his work at The Unfinished Swan and What Remains of Edith Finch developer Giant Sparrow; the long development journey of his previous game Donut County; and how he followed that up by creating the "gamiest game" he could think of in Neon White.  Watch this episode on our Youtube channel. The Game Maker's Notebook is sponsored by Xsolla. To learn more, go to xsolla.pro/AOIAAS. Follow us:  Twitter Instagram

Austin Wintory chats with award-winning composer Neal Acree, who has created music for several of Blizzard's most well known franchises including Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch. Together they discuss his career inside and outside of games; how he first started working with Blizzard; the differences between composing music for an existing universe and creating for a completely new IP; and his work on Critical Role's The Legend of Vox Machina. Watch this episode on our Youtube channel. The Game Maker's Notebook is sponsored by Xsolla. To learn more, go to xsolla.pro/AOIAAS. Follow us:  Twitter Instagram

Austin Wintory chats with veteran composer Chance Thomas. Together they discuss his 20+ year career across video games, television, and flim and what ultimately led him to recently announce his retirement. They cap off their discussion exploring his final and most ambitious work, the procedural score for Ubisoft's The Settlers: New Allies. Check out Chance's memoir here: https://hugesoundrecords.com/memoir Watch this episode on our Youtube channel. The Game Maker's Notebook is sponsored by Xsolla. To learn more, go to xsolla.pro/AOIAAS. Follow us:  Twitter Instagram

Shiny Shoe's Mark Cooke talks about his journey in game development, founding Shiny Shoe, and the development of Monster Train and their upcoming early access game Inkbound. They also discuss nostalgic video game memories, mentors in game development, moving to Japan, challenges of the free-to-play model, finding funding, iterative design, and the anticipation of launching Inkbound.

Trent Kusters chats with Benjamin Coquelle (Project Manager and Game Designer) and Bruno Laverny (Marketing Director) from Ishtar Games. Together they discuss the journey that led each of them to Ishtar Games; the development of The Last Spell; the features they felt were crucial to showcase to funding partners and potential customers; communicating with your community during early access; and their next game, Lakeburg Legacies. The Game Maker's Notebook is sponsored by Xsolla. To learn more, go to xsolla.pro/AOIAAS. Follow us:  Twitter Instagram

Trent Kusters chats with Phil Crifo, the Creative Director behind the recently released tropical open-world adventure game, Tchia. Together they discuss his path into game development; meeting his development partner and releasing their first game to little fanfare; finding the courage and inspiration to start the next project; and how his home island of New Caledonia became the inspiration and setting of Tchia. Watch this episode on our Youtube channel. The Game Maker's Notebook is sponsored by Xsolla. To learn more, go to xsolla.pro/AOIAAS. Follow us:  Twitter Instagram

Trent Kusters chats with Tarn Adams and Zach Adams, brothers who together created Dwarf Fortress. This is part 2 of an extended interview where they discuss the 20 year journey in creating the aforementioned title including the early inspirations that led them to learn programming; the games they developed before Dwarf Fortress; crucial creative and community milestones; working together with Kitfox Games on the updated version for Steam; and their favorite stories from their ever growing community. Listen to the full episode here or watch this episode on our Youtube channel. The Game Maker's Notebook is sponsored by Xsolla. To learn more, go to xsolla.pro/AOIAAS. Follow us:  Twitter Instagram

Trent Kusters chats with Tarn Adams and Zach Adams, brothers who together created Dwarf Fortress. This is part 1 of a 2 part extended interview where they discuss the 20 year journey in creating the aforementioned title including the early inspirations that led them to learn programming; the games they developed before Dwarf Fortress; crucial creative and community milestones; working together with Kitfox Games on the updated version for Steam; and their favorite stories from their ever growing community. Listen to the full episode here or watch this episode on our Youtube channel. The Game Maker's Notebook is sponsored by Xsolla. To learn more, go to xsolla.pro/AOIAAS. Follow us:  Twitter Instagram

Austin Wintory chats with Aurélien Piters (Audio Director) and Maxime Touchon (Sound Designer). Together they discuss developing the audio design behind Asobo Studio's A Plague Tale: Requiem including their influences; the process of casting the actors; what they learned from the previous entries; working together with composer Olivier Deriviere and the music team in creating the right mood; and what it takes to create the unsettling sound of a mischief of rats.  Listen to the full episode here or watch on our Youtube channel. The Game Maker's Notebook is sponsored by Xsolla. To learn more, go to xsolla.pro/AOIAAS.

Min Kim from Bonfire Studios chats with Jeonghee "JJ" Jin, the CEO of Pearl Abyss America. Together they discuss how Korea's unique culture and environment has helped shape it's games industry; how Korean game companies are growing and evolving based on years of global expansion; and building experiencing for an ever growing global audience.  Listen to the full episode here or watch this episode on our Youtube channel. The Game Maker's Notebook is sponsored by Xsolla. To learn more, go to xsolla.pro/AOIAAS.