Design

Pico-8 for Game Development: Why and How

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In this post, we’ll discuss the retro virtual console, Pico-8, why you might be interested in it, and tips on how to get started.  Patrons saw this post first! Check out what we’re doing at Patreon to provide exclusive opportunities to our supporters! Pico-8, the fantasy console Don’t feel bad if you don’t yet know … Read more

Welcome Back, Here’s the News

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Glad to be back with another podcast and all kinds of news! In this show, I’ll go over some development topics from Twitter, we’ll talk a little bit about the recent hiatus, and we’ll go over some of what’s happening over at our shiny new Patreon page.

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NBA Jam Book Author, Reyan Ali

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I first interacted with Reyan Ali over Twitter just about a year ago. I’d just partnered with Microsoft to do a series of podcasts at GDC which was a total blast, but it caused me to miss the Classic Game Postmortem on the legendary NBA Jam. I tweeted out the presentation with great entusiasm once it hit YouTube, and Reyan and I became fast friends, vowing to do a podcast segment together before the launch of his book. Since that time, I’ve followed with great interest as we inch ever closer to the release of his definitive telling of the game’s incredible story, which will be published by Boss Fight Books.

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The Path of Motus Creator Michael Hicks

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Michael Hicks has released more creative projects since his late teens than some folks get to throughout an entire career. His top two game releases, Pillar and The Path of Motus, have been downloaded half a million times across a wide variety of platforms. When Polygon investigated Valve’s shortcomings in supporting Steam developers, Michael’s sharp criticism for Valve’s practices took center stage in the debate.

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Creating Universes and Characters with Ray Marek of Unparalleled Comics

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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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The Trouble with Game Jam Culture

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Following a few discussions on social media in the wake of Ludum Dare 43 (enjoy my photo from LD19), I took an opportunity to gather my thoughts on this revered tradition of ours and ask a few important questions: Why do we do this? Why do we do it like this? Should we still be doing this? 

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Min-Maxing Your Audio Production with John Schiber

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At last, more than a year after adding him to the show, I sit down with John Schiber to ask him some questions relevant to his expertise: being a life-long musician and internationally-signed recording artist. John’s experience producing music with his band, A Dark Orbit, and his personal studies of theory, engineering, and instrumental techniques have left him with skills you’d normally need a room full of people to tell you about. The fact that I hadn’t properly grilled him for your benefit before now is a disappointment to us all. 

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

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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

How Players Learn and How to Teach Them

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It’s time for a mini-show full of things to know! I’ve sort of been bouncing catchphrases like that in my head for the better part of a day, and I’ve determined there are no good ones–but that may be the fever talking. I was in the throes of a full Man Cold for this episode, but I landed on a topic I liked a few days ago and I decided not to rest until I could be sure the show went out on time. 

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Annual Holiday Game Design – Thanksgiving 2018

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Happy Thanksgiving! In this special holiday episode, we give thanks for tremendous opportunities we’ve had this year, and for so many kind words from the community. In keeping with tradition, we come up with holiday-themed design concepts and follow them as far as we dare down the rabbit hole. What begins as a good-natured creative exercise quite frankly spirals into a dark place where no vitriol is spared against man’s greatest natural enemy: the waddling garbage monster that is the wild turkey. 

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