Getting2Alpha

Join us for a look back at the highlights and key themes of the first season of Getting2Alpha - the podcast about how creative people bring their idea to life.

Jon Radoff is the CEO of Disruptor Beam, an independent studio building social games for beloved brands like Game of Thrones and Star Trek. Jon combines a deep love for strategy games with a knack for innovation. He's got great stories to tell about bringing iconic properties to life with rapid prototyping and early fan involvement. Tune in to find out what really goes on behind the scenes at a top independent game studio.

Hiten Shah is a serial entrepreneur and startup advisor who loves to create and grow businesses. He's is the co-founder of two software-as-a-service companies: Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics - and co-host of The Startup Chat - a podcast that offers actionable advice straight from the trenches of startup life. Hiten has great insights about business and marketing - and a knack for simplifying complexity into cogent ideas. Listen in and learn from a true pioneer who’s on the forefront of building and selling software as a service.

Peek inside the creative mind of Eric Zimmerman - a multi-talented game designer, educator and artist who never stops innovating. A self-described Play-Test Fundamentalist, Eric teaches at the NYU Game School and co-creates innovative experiences on the sides. Eric is a true industry visionary - always ahead of his time. What does Eric thinks about teaching, playing and creating compelling and meaningful games: Listen in.

Katherine Isbister is well-known for her work exploring how emotions are evoked through interactive entertainment. She's an accomplished game designer and educator who works with students and collaborators to bring innovative ideas to life. Her new book, Games and Emotions, will be out in February from MIT press. Join me for a glimpse into Katherine’s approach to teaching, researching, and creating emotionally evocative games.

Blair Ethington is a product manager turned game creator - with a passion for numbers and a knack for innovation. At Crowdstar, she's VP of Covet Fashion - a innovative mobile game with over 3 million monthly players who like to dress-up in real-world designer fashions - and then purchase those clothes in real life. I worked on Covet Fashion under Blair's leadership - I learned a lot from her, and admire her greatly. Listen in and discover what Blair has learned about bringing hit products to life.

Erin Hoffman is a game designer and fantasy novelist - with a passion for social activism and projects with a purpose. She's currently lead game designer at GlassLabs, a Gates-foundation initiative where she creates assessment-based learning games for underserved niches. Erin has deep insights into the nature of games and learning - and powerful ideas about how game design can impact the world.

Jesse Schell is a visionary game designer and educator whose work spans from theme parks to educational games. In this conversation, he unveils the enchanting origins of his passion for transformational entertainment. Jesse shares the art of prototyping and playtesting, stressing their impact on game design. He discusses the innovative fusion of physical and augmented reality in educational tools, like the Happy Atoms project. Finally, he highlights the importance of flexible team dynamics and self-awareness in fostering creativity and collaboration.

Chelsea Howe wears many hats: indie game designer, community organizer of local game jams & QGCon, a Creative Director of Electronic Arts Mobile, creator of successful mobile games, and champion of underdogs and outsiders everywhere. She's not afraid to speak her mind and cut to the chase - a woman after my own heart :-) She's fascinated with the role of love in game design, and the submission to ritual that's embedded in free-to-play gaming. Always stimulating and original, Chelsea is a force of nature - and a rising star in the gaming industry.

Tracy Fullerton is a player and maker of games. Her most recent game, “Walden,” puts you - the player - inside Thoreau’s Walden Pond experiment. Tracy runs the USC Digital Media and Games program - the top game design school in the country, according to the Princeton Review. We co-taught multi-player game design when that program was first getting started - and Tracy has gone on to train innovative designers like Jenova Chen - creator of Journey. She's an accomplished and insightful designer and educator, and one of my all-time favorite people on the planet.