Creating Universes and Characters with Ray Marek of Unparalleled Comics

Story-driven games are often revered as the height of artistic game development. For as dearly as we all hold Rocket League, it can’t match the impact of Mass Effect or tug at the heart strings like Red Dead Redemption. To create a project that stays with your players, you need to design a world for them to experience.

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Winning the Screen Time Debate and Forming Your Company

Hello 2019! We had huge plans for the Christmas show. If you don’t believe me, check out the functioning Unity game I made to show off as a joke. But being the family guys that we are, the actual holidays got in the way. So it’s back to business here in the new year. I’ll be showing you the process of launching my new development company, you’ll hear from more expert guests than ever before, and we’re even about to do our first giveaway–it’s something I absolutely love, and if you’re a listener, there’s a good chance you’ll love it too.

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Hot Take: The ESA Needs to Get Serious About Loot Boxes

We Need the Same Decisiveness That Saved Us in the 90s to Protect Indies from Federal Bureaucracy If you’ve followed along with the #GameDev Breakdown Podcast, you’ve heard us discuss loot boxes with some concern for well in excess of a year now. In fact, it was last year’s Christmas episode that I seem to … Read more

The Predator’s Code

John Schiber returns for Season 2! For once, we’re each playing a new release: John has jumped on his horse and has high praise for Red Dead Redemption 2, I’ve scratched my Call of Duty itch and downloaded Black Ops 4. For the first time in the history of the show, we’ve both played (and enjoyed) a battle royal game. 

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Season 2 Intro

Welcome back! Just an informal sit-down to talk about the state of the podcast, how we set things up for Season 2, and some of the cool stuff we’re working on in the coming months. Now is the time to subscribe and get in touch! Help make this the show you want to hear in 2019!

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Who is Video James?

It’s all about who you know, unless you’re not even the kind of guy who should be bothering that person.

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Reach Out and Sue Someone

Since we left off, my house was on HGTV for whatever reason, I moved the site to a shiny new server, and I never ended up telling John I was going to go ahead and record this episode without him. Sorry John.

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Warner Bros. Takes Bold Stance Against Bethesda in Westworld Lawsuit

By now, if you’re the type of person who cares, you’re up to speed on Bethesda’s aggressive lawsuit against Warner Bros. and Behaviour Interactive over suspicious similarities between Fallout Shelter and the new Westworld mobile game, both of which Behaviour developed. After loads of wild speculation across social media, we have our first defendant response, and all signs point to a good old-fashioned throwdown in court. 

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A Deep Dive into Bethesda’s Lawsuit Against Warner Bros. and Behaviour Interactive

Industry outlets reported this week that Bethesda Softworks has named Behaviour Interactive and Warner Bros. in a lawsuit, alleging breach of contract and willful copyright infringement stemming from suspicious likenesses between its game Fallout Shelter and Warner Bros’. new Westworld mobile game, both of which Behaviour developed. Although news of the suit just emerged late last week and neither … Read more

Designing for Accessibility

John returns at last following the birth of his second child!

Upon getting back down to business this week, we started in on a topic we should have covered much sooner: accessibility in game design. I’ve always thought it was odd, some of the political baggage that gets heaped on this topic. If you design or develop video games, you should have a natural appreciation for the people who seek out and enjoy your work, and you probably have a genuine interest in helping them overcome anything that might stand in the way. 

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