Rise and Play Podcast

In this episode, I am debunking with Steph all the misconceptions about narrative design, and why this field remains so misunderstood in the gaming industry.- What is narrative design, and why it is not just "writing" for games?- Why narrative design is essential from the concept phase to build long lasting IPs- Why and how diversity enables to create impactful and meaningful stories for players- What is the ROI of narrative design? (bring those insights to your stakeholders)- Fun fact: Steph shares why Chess is a great example of what conceptual narrative design isSteph is a Canadian working as the Global Narrative Director at Gameloft. Steph started her career in games at Stardoll, a metaverse style sandbox game with tens of millions players, mostly women and girls. Then she joined King in 2014 and worked as the first narrative designer there and eventually global narrative lead there, before she eventually joined Gameloft to lead the Narrative Design team.I enjoyed so much Steph's passion on narrative design through our conversation. I hope you will learn as much as I did about narrative design.Enjoy this new episode!Don't miss out on more leadership content by subscribing to the monthly newsletter at https://www.riseandplay.io/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit riseandplay.substack.com

In this episode, we are tackling with Kegan all the burning questions you could have about the history and development of the Diablo Franchise: What is the Product Management approach to Diablo IV, and why is this is a new approach in AAA development? The important differences in Product Management between F2P mobile and AAA development What can we learn from the advanced Player Research methods at Blizzard? The challenges of aligning between PM and Development teams on Diablo, and how Kegan is adding the PM mindset to the creative development process Learn how Kegan tackled with professionalism and wisdom the situations of "being the only woman in the room" at companies like Blizzard and Riot GamesI deeply enjoyed the authentic and genuine conversation with Kegan, sharing her passion working on Diablo franchise and her personal journey in gaming.Kegan Clark is the current Director of Product on Diablo IV at Blizzard Entertainment, former head of Business Intelligence on League of Legends Franchise at Riot Games. Enjoy this new episode! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit riseandplay.substack.com

Anette Staloy is CMO at the Norwegian games studio Dirtybit. The studio focuses on social multiplayer games, and have grown organically to close to 140 million downloads for their games in the Fun Run series. Dirtybit was founded almost 11 years ago, and Anette has been part of the team for the last 7 years. Anette is also the co-founder and chair of Women in Games Norway.In this episode, Anette shares her journey growing a small independent studio in Norway, building on top of their Fun Run series success: How Anette's role has evolved as the CMO of the company over the past 7 years The challenges of maintaining a big IP versus launching new successful games The perks and challenges of remaining as an independent studio: ownership vs growth? How Dirtybit managed to bring their leadership team to full parity and 40% of employees being women. It is possible! How the work-life balance is at the heart of the culture at Dirtybit, without compromising on execution and deliveryEnjoy this new episode! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit riseandplay.substack.com

1 - YEAR ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EPISODEI often ask other leaders in my podcast interviews: “What keeps you up at night?”When I ask myself this question, I cannot think of anything but “How do I keep my team together on our mission to create something bigger than ourselves?”This question keeps me busy all the time.I previously wrote why if you’re looking to achieve in life and business, you first need a great team. Without a team, you’ve got no product — and without a product, no business. (Re-)building a great team takes time, lots of energy, and financial backing. Naturally, I often think about the threats that can endanger the most precious thing I have built over the years: a high-performing, well-functioning, and fun team to work with.So, what can we do about it?In this special episode, I reflect my key learnings from the past 3 years building a casual studio from scratch at Voodoo.Enjoy this new episode!You can read the full article here This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit riseandplay.substack.com

Noemie has been working in international digital marketing and mobile gaming for the past 10 years.She has led performance marketing teams for startups like PlayQ and also has experience with bigger companies like Jam City where she led the user acquisition strategy for the launch of the top mobile game Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery. She is now the CMO of Air Console, an online video game console for friends and family to play together from TV and their mobile devices.Topics we discuss: Why Noémie joined Air Console, moving her marketing focus from the product to the player experience Noémie's vision of leading lean UA and creative teams in different organization sizes How Noémie innovated in the marketing launch of Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery, at Jam CityEnjoy this new episode!More about Air Console here This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit riseandplay.substack.com

The third season of the podcast is in the making!!!I would love to get your feedback and suggestions (2-min survey): https://www.surveylegend.com/s/47al---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Simonetta joined GameHouse as their new CEO in October last year, to fulfill the mission of becoming the leading provider of casual mobile games for Women. In this episode, Simonetta shares her vision and execution plan to own the "me-time" of the female audience.Prior to joining GameHouse, Simonetta spent the last several years as Head of Spin Master Studios in Los Angeles, and the President, CEO, and Chairwoman of the Board at Woozworld in Montreal. In her earlier career, she was SVP at Sulake, developers of Habbo, the biggest online virtual game for teens where among other roles she led global marketing, community, advertising, and user growth.We are discussing in this new episode:- The new vision and mission of GameHouse under Simonetta's leadership- Why Simonetta, as a female CEO, has a competitive edge in executing the mission of owning the "me-time" of the female market- Simonetta's vision of building a great company culture based on: ownership, flexibility, and data-informed decisions- Why it is important to break the bias about female CEOsEnjoy this new episode!More about GameHouse openings: here This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit riseandplay.substack.com

The third season of the podcast is in the making!!!I would love to get your feedback and suggestions (2-min survey): https://www.surveylegend.com/s/47al---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Devon has always been drawn to building heartfelt experiences that captivate everyday people and result in long-term value. During her 15-year career including working at Big Fish Games and GSN games, she’s explored the capabilities of UX research and UX design methods within free-to-play mobile game development, resulting in engagement-boosting gameplay optimizations while supercharging her team’s efficiency by aligning the team around the needs of their target audience. Devon is committed to the well-being of players, which is what drew her to Solsten where she’s leading the design of services that empower companies to craft solutions that fully resonate with people.In this episode, Devon debunks all the myths and misconceptions about UX:- What is actually UX Design- The limits of designing game experiences based on demographic and group generalizations- Why having a deep understanding of human behavior and psychology is fundamental in UX design- What is the difference between UX Design, UI art, and a UI designer, and why the overused acronym UX/UI is misleading.- When do you need to think about UX? at the very start or at the very end of the design process?- Can we calculate the ROI of UX?I hope you'll have more light on what UX is and how to make better UX-related decisions, after listening to this episode.Find more about Solsten--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit riseandplay.substack.com

Ksusha Zito is the CTO and Co-Founder of Superbloom, a new studio focused on mobile lifestyle games. Before starting on the journey of a founder she was a Director of Mobile Engineering at Dots, and a Senior Engineering Manager at the NY Times Games. Ksusha has over a decade of experience in shaping highly scalable and efficient systems that power games played by millions of daily users. In this episode, Ksusha shares her vision for building the next generation of lifestyle games for the female audience: Why product matters before tech, at the founding stage What should be your focus as a CTO in the early days of your gaming startup How Ksusha juggles between her family life and her role as a CTO. Disclaimer: It is possible! You don't have to choose between being a mother or having a career. What is her vision with Emily (her co-founder) on company culture and the opportunities of being a full-remote teamEnjoy this new episode!More about Superbloom and their open positions. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit riseandplay.substack.com

Laura Taranto has 10+ years of experience in the games industry. She previously worked at Scopely, King and Wooga where she worked on multiple titles including Farm Heroes Saga, Pearl’s Peril, and Diamond Dash! While most of her experience is running and growing live titles, she has worked on games in all phases of development. She recently joined Big Fish Games last year and is sharing in this episode her exciting challenges of growing the hit title Evermerge.In this episode, Laura is sharing:- The Product Managament challenges switching from Match3 and Hidden Object games to Merge games- How they operate the Live Ops on the hit title Evermerge at Big Fish Games- The inherent challenges of growing merge games and specifically a game like Evermerge- The compound effect of investing in people before the productI loved Laura's energy and honesty in sharing her experience, with no filter and BS. Enjoy this new episode!Book referenced from David Rock: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6516173-coaching-with-the-brain-in-mind This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit riseandplay.substack.com

Mari Aizawa Burns is a multi-media Producer currently working as the Development Director for Tetris® on mobile.  She started with live-action television Production, but really built her foundation through 15 years of Production in CG film at Pixar Animation Studios. She moved to games in 2014, first at Telltale Games as Studio Production Manager for IP projects ranging from Game of Thrones, Minecraft and The Walking Dead.In this episode, Mari is sharing her journey transitioning from animations studio to games production: What did she learn at Pixar Animation studios and could translate into her work making games? What is the role of a Development Director, and the fundamental skills you need to thrive in this position? How her experience as being a first-class waitress has shaped her producer skills in her career? How to refresh an iconic franchise such as Tetris on mobile? How to build an effective working and remote culture at N3twork?Enjoy this new episode! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit riseandplay.substack.com