The AIAS Game Maker's Notebook

Austin Wintory chats with Composer Stephen Barton. Together they discuss his career inside and outside of games including his early work as part of the Metal Gear franchise; working with Infinity Ward on the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise; and his recent projects with Respawn Entertainment on the Titanfall games, Apex Legends, and the Star Wars Jedi series including the recently released Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. 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 Sarah Northway and Colin Northway from Northway Games. Together they discuss both of their early careers and the path they eventually took which led them to develop games together; early projects including the Fantastic Contraption series and Rebuild; how their releases always seem to be at the zeitgeist of cultural and technological shifts in gaming; traveling the world while developing games; and the development of their latest hit, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist. The Game Maker's Notebook is sponsored by Xsolla. To learn more, go to xsolla.pro/AOIAAS. Follow us: Twitter Instagram

Ted Price chats with Diablo IV Game Director, Joe Shely. Together they discuss the challenge of meeting expectations for such a beloved franchise; key decisions around classes, balance, and skill trees; their goals behind the end game; and how to design memorable bosses. 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 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