Game Industry

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 Old and New Testaments of Game Development

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Update: We’ve had a slow start on giveaway entries, so we’re opening it up to everyone!

Man, we’ve had some great guests lately, and you won’t believe some of the folks we’re going to be talking to in the coming months! With all this action, it was nice to get back on Skype with John for a night, check in, talk a little news, and hang out. We’re also dialing in some new recording equipment in the studio, and although my mic was a little hot for this one, the overall show quality is moving steadily in a positive direction.

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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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Winning the Screen Time Debate and Forming Your Company

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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

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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

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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The Predator’s Code

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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

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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?

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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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