Checkpoints
166 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 21 ratingsThis is a show about videogames, The people who play them and the people who make them. Each week, a guest on the show talks about the games that have shaped their life in one way or another. Games that have inspired them, games that forged connections with others and games that have soothed wounds. Checkpoints!
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Episodes
Epilogue - Declan Dineen
February 22, 2021 00:38 - 1 hour - 54.9 MBIn a special epilogue episode the tables are turned as I sit down with Violet Berlin and she interviews me about the games that shaped my own life. We talk about blind runs of Alex Kidd, Tony Hawks Pro Skater as teenage therapy, why death wouldn't stand a chance against my Science Genius Girl, why I always skip the cutscenes, how far I was willing to go to get a Gamecube and why DDR is still one of the greatest games ever made. We also of course talk about Checkpoints, how my own experienc...
rebroadcast - Episode 128 - Robert Ashley
February 15, 2021 00:37 - 1 hour - 71.3 MBConsoles don’t really brag about bit ratings anymore. Growing up with games, the leaps between generations felt profound From 8 Bit to 16 Bit, to 32, to Nintendo 64! It was exciting. The last consoles to even mention it in their marketing were the Dreamcast and the Playstation 2. They were the 128 bit consoles. They were the end of an era. The same is true for Checkpoints. Episode 128 is the final episode. This isn't bad news. There will be a special Epilogue episode coming in a week or tw...
rebroadcast - Episode 127 - Julian 'Jaz' Rignall
February 08, 2021 00:36 - 1 hour - 72.4 MBMy guest today Julian 'Jaz' Rignall. A formative character in my life in games during his role as the editor for magazines like Mean Machines and CVG, Julian is the first guest I've spoken to on checkpoints that I did drawings of as a child. As well as reminiscing about the UK magazine scene of the eighties and nineties, we talk about growing up in Aberystwyth and the arcade scene that forged his love of games, his time winning the 1983 computer game championship at Club Xenon in London, h...
rebroadcast - Episode 126 - Chris Bell
February 01, 2021 00:35 - 1 hour - 77.5 MBMy guest today is Chris Bell, a game designer with a remarkable CV that includes thatgamecompany's Journey and the upcoming Sky, What Remains of Edith Finch, Way and 12 Minutes. As well as being an incredible designer Chris is also filled with stories. We talk growing up in Boston playing games in the Pala, that time he kicked a TV off the wall emulating the Power Rangers, joining a Jewish Fraternity in University (the token Catholic) and giving video game presentations to his fraternity br...
rebroadcast - Episode 125 - Gabby DaRienzo
January 25, 2021 00:35 - 1 hour - 58.8 MBToday I'm joined by Gabby DaRienzo and we have an incredibly lively and upbeat chat about death and video games. Gabby is the co-founder of Laundry Bear games. creator of the wonderful Mortician's Tale, and also the host of the Play Dead podcast where she speaks with fellow developers about death in video games. We each chat quite openly about our own experiences of loss and the intoxicating cocktail of emotions that can throw up, including the loss of her mum during the development of the...
rebroadcast - Episode 124 - Johnnemann Nordhagen
January 18, 2021 00:34 - 1 hour - 60.1 MBMy guest today is Johnnemann Nordhagen - the creator of the incredible Where the Water Tastes Like Wine - and he has some wonderful stories to share. We talk spelling games in Colarado on an Apple IIe, learning to program in DOS, losing years in Discworld MUDs, how soothing Burnout Paradise can be and the genius of Kentucky Route Zero. We also hit on the highs and lows of making games in the 21st century, the bold step of leaving QA to found Fullbright and make Gone Home with Steve Gaynor ...
rebroadcast - Episode 123 - Ian Bogost
January 11, 2021 12:34 - 1 hour - 51.4 MBMy guest today is Ian Bogost, an award winning game designer and author of several books including Persuasive Games and Play Anything. He's also a contributing editor to the Atlantic magazine, the professor of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech and an incredibly engaging and articulate podcast guest. We talk about how geek culture has become canonised, the importance of external influences in the early history of video games, how aspects of the grimy arcade experience of the 80s are bei...
rebroadcast - Episode 122 - Ben Myres & Cukia ‘Sugar' Kimani
December 28, 2020 01:49 - 1 hour - 57.8 MBMy guests today are Ben Myres and Cukia ‘Sugar' Kimani, co-founders of South African based game studio Nyamakop, creators of the inventive 'Clay Doh' platformer Semblance. They are also excellent, inspiring company with an infectious passion for video games. We talk about their diverse paths to game development, from childhood where Ben assumed videogames had been around forever and was taught gamemaker in primary school (!) and Sugar's knock off Dreamcast bought from a roadside stall in Na...
rebroadcast - Episode 121 - Dane Hearthstone
December 21, 2020 01:48 - 1 hour - 58 MBMy guest today is one of my favourite streamers of one of my favourite games, Dane McCappin AKA Dane Hearthstone. I first noticed Dane when his incredibly inventive and creative Hearthstone decks became a regular on highlight reels like Trolden. and I've become a big fan of his videos. His laconic and relaxed style of streaming has gained him a dedicated fanbase, not the least of which is Blizzard who recently invited him to LA to cast for the Hearthstone Wild Open 2018. We talk about the ...
Episode 120 - Mahdi Bahrami (Copy)
December 14, 2020 01:48 - 1 hour - 51.4 MBMy guest today is Iranian video game developer Mahdi Bahrami. Annoyingly young, Mahdi already has an incredible game under his belt with the release of Engare in 2017. A unique puzzle game inspired by Islamic art which also comes with a creation mode that reminds me of soothing afternoons of my youth spent making endless patterns with a spirograph. We talk about the video game scene in Iran, how his puzzle game enthusiast mother is still a tough critic, his dad teaching him to program, movi...
rebroadcast.- Episode 119 - Dr Mark R. Johnson
December 07, 2020 01:47 - 1 hour - 70.1 MBMy guest today is Dr Mark Johnson. Mark is a man of many talents, he's currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta where he mainly focuses on the intersection of money and games, particularly in relation to eSports and pro streamers. He's also the co-host of Roguelike Radio, creator of the game Ultima Ratio Regum, a former bullet hell world champion and a former professional poker player. As that breif intro suggests, Mark is not someo...
Rebroadcast - Episode 118 - Richard Garriott
November 30, 2020 01:46 - 1 hour - 46.5 MBI'm very excited to welcome Richard Garriott to the show. Sometimes known as Lord British, Richard is a video game trailblazer. As the creator of Ultima he helped forge a new genre in games, and with Ultima Online invented a whole new one. His latest, Shroud of the Avatar, was released just a few weeks ago and continues this storied tradition. As one of the only second generation astronauts in the world, he's also travelled into space. We talk about luck and timing, how his interests and...
Rebroadcast - Episode 117 - Paul Kilduff-Taylor
November 23, 2020 01:46 - 1 hour - 74.6 MBLast month I recorded a special episode of Checkpoints live from the All Your Base festival in Nottingham. One of my guests was Paul Kilduff-Taylor who I ended up hanging about with a bunch over the weekend and we had a lovely time so I asked him back for a full episode. Wholesome af. Paul is one of the co-founders of mode7 games - creators of Frozen Synapse and the upcoming Forzen Synapse 2 - and while music is his specialty, he has a hand in all aspects of design. In a wonderfully meander...
Rebroadcast - Episode 116 - Andrej Bjelaković
November 17, 2020 15:45 - 2 hours - 95.1 MBOne of my favourite parts of doing this show is discovering the ways people played games in countries all around the world, In this special episode of the show I speak with a listener and linguistics lecturer Andrej Bjelaković about growing up with games in Belgrade, Serbia. Part of the former Yugoslavia, Serbia has had a tumultuos half century. During Milosevic's reign in the 1990s, the country was sanctioned by the UN meaning imports like video games would not be allowed through by any ...
Rebroadcast - Episode 115 - Zach Barth
October 26, 2020 01:54 - 1 hour - 54.7 MBMy guest today is Zach Barth, founder of Zachtronics and creator of some of the best video games ever made, including Spacechem, Infinifactory and their latest, Opus Magnum. We talk about the surprising amount of instinct and chance that goes into designing a Zachtronics game, his love of play sets and miniatures but oddly his hatred of board games, the influence of the TV series How it's Made?, why Solitaire is such a great chicken soup game, the unique struggles of making educational soft...
Rebroadcast - Episode 114 - James Ryan
October 19, 2020 00:53 - 1 hour - 71.9 MBMy guest today is James Ryan who - as part of his PhD at US Santa Cruz - has been working on some of the coolest and most exciting projects I’ve seen in years, and this chat made me incredibly excited about the future of games and could potentially change the future of writing. This is largely due to his Talk of the Town framework, which simulates 500 years of history in a small American town, and is the engine behind the award winning theatre piece / text adventure / procedural story tellin...
Rebroadcast - Episode 113 - Sarah Elmaleh
October 12, 2020 00:52 - 1 hour - 58.2 MBMy guest today is Sarah Elmahleh. Sarah is an actor and voice over artist and has worked on a whole bunch of videogames including Gone Home, For Honor, Call of Duty, Pyre, Galak-Z and Final Fantasy 15. She was also the lead in the recent - and excellent - BBC Radio play Game Over written by Emily Short. (This is only available until the 29th of January so click the link and listen now!) We talk about how games were a forbidden fruit for a chunk of her childhood, and how getting a PC changed...
Rebroadcast - Episode 112 - Devine Lu Linvega
October 05, 2020 00:51 - 1 hour - 64.7 MBMy guest on today's episode is Devine Lu Linvega. How to begin describing Devine. In videogame terms he has created some wonderful games like Hivesaires, Donsol or the Proteus remix Purgateus. He currently lives with his girlfriend on a sail boat, where they run their floating studio 100rabbits. This interview was conducted while they docked in New Zealand. He is also a musician and a photographer and a visual artist and a developer and he created a new language. In an incredibly broad and ...
Rebroadcast - Episode 111 - Jim Rossignol
October 01, 2020 20:51 - 1 hour - 51.1 MBMy guest on today's episode is Jim Rossignol. Jim spent many years working at PC Gamer, founded Rock, Paper, Shotgun and has since set up his own video game studio, Big Robot, and made the games Sir, You Are Being Hunted and The Signal from Tölva. We talk his early memories of Amstrad CPC and Amiga gaming, why philosophy is important, how S.T.A.L.K.E.R represents the open world we were promised, the genesis and risks of Rock, Paper, Shotgun, whether or not he misses video game journalism, a...
Rebroadcast - Episode 110 - Lisy Kane
September 21, 2020 00:18 - 1 hour - 55.9 MBMy guest today is Lisy Kane. Lisy is a speaker, curator and videogame producer currently at League of Geeks. She's also the co founder of Girl Geek Academy and the only Austrailian on this year's Forbes 30 Under 30. We talk Commander Keen on paternal laptops, playing Driver by the rules, a fierce love of demo discs, finding friends in Age of Empires, why my quick fire questions remind her of a high school band and how deals get done in DOTA 2. "It was the last hero left and I never played i...
Rebroadcast - Episode 109 - Erica 'aurahack' Lahaie
September 14, 2020 00:17 - 64.7 MBMy guest today is Erica Lahaie, a designer, illustrator and concept artist based out of Montreal. I'm a particular fan of the incredible work on Shrouded Isle but all of her art is amazing. Also she has the best URLs. We go deep on our mutual love of the Tony Hawks Pro Skater series, talk about the mythical PS2 modem and her SOCOM 2 adventures, how she got her first break posting in the Giant Bomb forums and why we both think that rhythm action is probably the best video game genre. "Gleam ...
Rebroadcast - Episode 108 - Clint 'halfcoordinated' Lexa
September 07, 2020 00:17 - 1 hour - 70.2 MBMy guest today is Clint 'halfcoordinated' Lexa. Clint is a beloved and incredible speed runner and a common highlight of GamesDoneQuick. Despite being born with a condition known as hemiparesis which limits the use of one side of his body, Clint has become a beloved and incredible speedrunner, with his one handed runs of intense action games like Vanquish and Nier being among the highlights of GamesDoneQuick these past few years. His experience in overcoming accessibility issues has also led ...
Rebroadcast - Episode 107 - Jennifer Scheurle
August 31, 2020 00:16 - 1 hour - 55.3 MBMy guest today is Jennifer Scheurle, the game design lead at Opaque Space currently working in collaboration with NASA on the VR game Earthlight. The team recently won studio of the year and game of the year at the Austrailian Game Developer Awards. We talk about how cool it is to work with NASA, her childhood playing games in Germany and why PCs rule, how a particularly harrowing experience with a bear in the original Tomb Raider turned her off games for years, how she might need an interve...
Rebroadcast - Episode 106 - Richard Franke AKA Miss Kitty Powers
August 25, 2020 17:16 - 1 hour - 70.3 MBMy guest today is that rarest of unicorns, a video game designer who moonlights as a drag queen. Richard Franke first got into games through his comic book art, and after spending many years working on a variety of titles - most notably the Burnout series - he left to found Magic Notion and create Kitty Powers Matchmaker, whose titular character is based on Richard's own drag queen persona. We talk about his older brother passing on video game wisdom, his fear of 3D Monster Maze, recreating ...
Rebroadcast - Episode 105 - Will Porter
August 17, 2020 00:14 - 1 hour - 75 MBMy guest today is the velvet owl Will Porter - Former PC Zone editor, freelancer, and the writer of Project Zomboid, Alien Isolation and No Man's Sky. We talk about how the PC Zone vs. PC Gamer rivalry is no joke, whether growing up on a farm puts you off farming sims for life, how it felt to be a Betamax kid in a VHS world, and how working in the bowels of Canary Wharf made him feel like he was living in Half Life. We also hit on Drop 7 addiction, the challenges of working on a game like ...
Rebroadcast - Episode 104 - Mike Cook
August 10, 2020 00:13 - 1 hour - 69.1 MBHello! So good to be back. My guest on today's episode is the amazing Mike Cook Mike is an AI researcher, the founder of #procjam (this year's even has just started so you should check it out.) and the creator of ANGELINA an AI system that makes video games. As you can imagine, this is a mind blowing and fascinating talk. It honestly completely reshaped the way I think about and understand AI. There's also a ton of great video game stories like the surprise LAN party he had for his 10th bir...
Rebroadcast - Episode 103 - Jolie Menzel
August 03, 2020 00:12 - 1 hour - 54.1 MBMy guest on today's episode is the Jolie Menzel. Jolie is a game designer and developer who started her career at Telltale games and currently works at Ubisoft as the Narrative Desiger for the upcoming South Park - The Fractured But Whole. We talk arcade games on the Jersey Shore, the pride and shame in Dance Dance Revolution, how her science teacher taught evolution via Pokemon, her love of the Sonic Fandom, and how she maybe got a little too into Minecraft. We also hit on her time in Japa...
Rebroadcast - Episode 102 - Christian Donlan
July 27, 2020 00:12 - 2 hours - 91.5 MBMy guest on today's episode is the features editor of Eurogamer, co-host of the Eurogamer podcast and one of my favourite writers, Christian Donlan. As anyone familiar with Christian or the Eurogamer podcast will expect, this episode goes off on a lot of tangents, but we always end up back at videogames - some highlights include how Uncharted might just be a magic trick, how great writing can give you that same Aha! moment the best games can, and how failing at Spelunky helped him cope with ...
Rebroadcast - Episode 101 - Arthur Gies
July 21, 2020 15:11 - 1 hour - 74.3 MBMy guest on today's episode is Arthur Gies. Arthur is a veteran video game journalist, former reviews editor for Polygon and long time host of Rebel FM. We talk about his recent decision to leave Polygon and go back to grad school to study fine art before digging back through his video game milestones including: early memories of Atari 2600, video game sense memories, the power of sequels, how SEGA broke his heart, how Halo made him fall in love with games again, the impact of Bioshock, the ...
Rebroadcast - Episode 100 - Tim Schafer
July 13, 2020 00:52 - 1 hour - 56.6 MBCheckpoints 100! Massive thanks to everyone that listens to and subscribes to the show, and of course to all of my previous guests, without whom the show literally wouldn't exist. A milestone show requires a milestone guest, so today I'm joined by the creator of several iconic games including Full Throttle, Grim Fandango and Psychonauts and the founder and CEO of Double Fine, Tim Schafer. We hit on a bunch of topics as we meander through Tim's life in games including computer clubs, summer...
Rebroadcast - Episode 99 - Teddy Dief
July 06, 2020 00:51 - 1 hour - 65.3 MBMy guest on today's show is Teddy Dief. As well as having an incredibly enjoyable name to say out loud, Teddy is also a writer, game designer, Squarebowl founder and the creative director of Square Enix Montreal. We talk about high stakes Duck Hunt battles, being all in on Nintendo, getting an early introduction to game design via Nintendo Power VHS tapes, whether or not fitness is a game and, much to my personal delight, his time as a member of the acapella group The Clef Hangers. We also...
Rebroadcast - Episode 98 - Christine Love
June 29, 2020 00:51 - 1 hour - 57.3 MBMy guest today is a writer, designer, creator of Lady Killer in a Bind and the namesake of Love Conquers All Games, Christine Love. In a wild and divergent talk we hit on how 18th Century twitter would be angry about how novels weren't real writing, the connection between Link's Awakening and Twin Peaks, why Pokemon feels like folk lore, and the thrill of meeting strangers on the internet. We also talk about the impact of Ace Attorney, her coaching sessions in Street Fighter 3rd Strike, p...
Rebroadcast - Episode 97 - Justin Ma & Matthew Davis AKA Subset Games
June 23, 2020 14:50 - 1 hour - 54.5 MBMy guests on today's show are the creators of the amazing FTL and the upcoming Into the Breach, Justin Ma & Matt Davis AKA Subset Games. We talk about how they both moved to China to get their first job in games, working at 2K in Shanghai, and how they got to know each other as desk mates and eventually, inspired by weekly board game sessions, decided to try and make a game together. That chance meeting led to one of my favourite games of the past ten years, FTL. This episode is packed. We...
Rebroadcast - Episode 96 - Ben Andac
June 08, 2020 00:04 - 1 hour - 59.8 MBMy guest on today's episode is Ben Andac. Ben does a whole bunch of stuff: writer, producer, designer, business developer. He's recently gone freelance after spending many years working at larger companies like Sega and Sony, problem solving, fostering new talent and ensuring the games being released on the platform are as good as they can possibly be. We talk about his early love of the Master System, how his early experience of games was an attempt to wean him off reading, his competitive...
Rebroadcast - Episode 95 - Walt Williams
June 01, 2020 00:03 - 1 hour - 76 MBMy guest on today's episode is Walt Williams. Walt is the writer of Spec Ops - The Line and the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront 2. He'll also be releasing a book next month called Significant Zero which is a behind the scenes look at modern AAA development which, if you're a fan of this show, you're very likely to enjoy. We talk about his early love of Adventure on the 2600, video game branded breakfast cereal, the impact of Final Fantasy 6, why Red Dead Redemption is maybe the best game, and...
Rebroadcas - Episode 94 - Brendan Keogh
May 25, 2020 00:02 - 1 hour - 61.7 MBMy guest on today's episode is Brendan Keogh, a Brisbane-based critic, journalist, and academic. He's written a book about Spec Ops - The Line, tons of amazing articles for places like Edge, Polygon, The New Statesman, Ars Technica and as of this year has started making some games for fun. Brendan Keogh wrote a thesis about Grand Theft Auto 4 and a book about Spec Ops - The Line so you know the type of episode this is going to be. There are two fine beards either end of a Skype call and they...
Rebroadcast - Episode 93 - Rod Humble
May 18, 2020 21:01 - 1 hour - 60.9 MBMy guest on today's episode is Rod Humble. Rod has an incredible CV - CEO of Linden Labs, head of the EA Play label responsible for the Sims, game artist in residence at the San Francisco MOMA and current Jam City GM - but at heart he is a guy who loves and is fascinated by playing, making, and talking about games. Here are some highlights of a particularly packed episode: We talk about being moved by scale, an early love of the precise lines of Atom Invaders and the wonder of the seaside a...
Rebroadcast - Episode 92 - Anthony Gallegos
May 11, 2020 13:17 - 1 hour - 77.4 MBMy guest on today's episode is Anthony Gallegos - currently working as a game designer on Marvel Heroes, Anthony previously spent years working in the enthusiast press for sites like 1up and IGN, and has been everyone's favourite on a whole host of podcasts including GFW Radio, The Gamespy Debriefings, The Comedy Button and of course Rebel FM. We talk growing up on a naval base, the ubiquity of the NES in America, how multiplayer games were the bedrock of his early gaming life, his zoology a...
Rebroadcast - Episode 91 - Daniel Cook
May 04, 2020 13:15 - 1 hour - 70.1 MBMy guest today is Daniel Cook, chief creative officer at SpryFox, creators of Triple Town, Alphabear, Road Not Taken and many more. Previous to Spryfox Daniel worked at the brand new Epic Mega Games (later simply Epic games) before spending a few years at Microsoft. He has also maintained his incredible design blog Lostgarden for over a decade. We talk about how much he loved the Amiga, Bitmap Brothers in particular, growing up in rural Maine, his work in the demo scene in the mid nineties, ...
Rebroadcast - Episode 90 - Ed Key
April 27, 2020 17:15 - 1 hour - 71.3 MBMy guest today is Ed Key, game designer, creator of the incredible Proteus and founder of Twisted Tree games. We talk Kendall Mint Cake, why the Spectrum game Oh Mummy! had such a profound impact on his younger self, why Stellaris ticks so many boxes, how his dad would gamify their family walks, why Brian Eno and Ultima 7 are forever linked in his brain, and how Proteus almost came with a fold out cloth map. "Stay on the road. Keep clear of the moors." PATREON - patreon.com/checkpoints i...
Rebroadcast - Episode 89 - Jon McKellan
April 27, 2020 13:14 - 1 hour - 71 MBMy guest today is Jon McKellan, one of the founders of NoCode studios, creators of Stories Untold and Super Arc Light. Previous to setting up his own studio, Jon spent many years in a band, before getting working in AAA game development on games like Alien Isolation and the now infamous APB. We talk about his work at these studios, including being there when Realtime Worlds folded, and the human as well as financial impact this can have. We also hit on the job of a lifetime working on the Al...
Rebroadcat- Episode 88 - Brandon Sheffield
April 13, 2020 00:33 - 1 hour - 84.3 MBMy guest today is Brandon Sheffield, founder of Nercrosoft games, former editor of Game Developer Magazine & Gamasutra, ad creator of Insertcredit.com and No Girlfriend Comics. We talk about why all of Brandon's early videogame memories are blurry or in the third person, his deep level of discovery and delving into the forgotten history of games, university rivalries with the Maryland Puyo Puyo champion, his incredibly esoteric CV, and how the discovery of a video game in a store in Torrance...
Rebroadcast - Episode 87 - Brie Code
April 06, 2020 17:33 - 1 hour - 71.5 MBMy guest today is Brie Code, speaker, writer, AI programmer, and the CEO and creative director of Tru Luv Media, a video game studio making games with people who don't like games.
Episode 86 - Mathew Kumar (Copy)
March 30, 2020 00:15 - 1 hour - 74.9 MBMy guest today is Mathew Kumar, a video game designer, a writer, a zine creator and a podcast host. This is a very game heavy episode and Mathew's lifelong enthusiasm and passion for video games is incredibly infectious. We also hit on growing up playing games in Scotland, the forgotten treasures of the home computer scene, why he always wanted to be a videogame journalist, why he always has a Saturn ready to play, and the physical wonder of the joystick on a Neo Geo Pocket Colour, "What I ...
Episode 85 - Violet Berlin / Dr. Jen Hazel (Copy)
March 23, 2020 01:15 - 1 hour - 85.1 MBMy guest today is Violet Berlin, a writer, educator, producer and presenter, perhaps best known to listeners as the presenter of the video game TV series Bad Influence. We talk calculator games, Space Museums, Game & Watch, the hidden adventure within Zelda, a deep love for Castlevania, how Eternal Darkness tricked her a little too hard and bonding with her children through video games. We also talk about how she never owned a TV until she worked on TV, her unlikely route to becoming a TV p...
Rebroadcast - Episode 84 - Omar Cornut
March 23, 2020 01:14 - 1 hour - 64.7 MBMy guest today is Omar Cornut, founder of Lizardcube and creator of the recent, and excellent, remake of Wonder Boy : The Dragon's Trap. We talk growing up in Paris and Egypt, the SEGA Computer 3000 (!), how he traded up from a home made Inidiana Jones board game to a Game & Watch, his founding of a video game course while still a student, and why Psycho Fox is burned into his brain. We also hit on Omar's role in the emulation scene of the late nineties when he created MEKA, one of the best...
Rebroadcast - Episode 83 - Dominique Ferland AKA Dom2D
March 16, 2020 02:27 - 1 hour - 64.5 MBMy guest today is Dominique Ferland AKA Dom2D an illustrator and game designer who most recently designed the excellent Finthook for Tribute Games. We talk about the lack of games in small town Quebec, the incredible music of Pictionary on the NES, early graph paper game designs and the inspirations behind Flinthook. We also talk through his strange journey to game design via advertising, how Spelunky took over his life, the joy of playing games with a guide and how Proteus taught him to st...
Rebroadcast - Episode 82 - Margaret Robertson
March 09, 2020 14:26 - 2 hours - 93.8 MBMy guest today is Margaret Roberston, former editor of Edge magazine, now game director at PlayDots and industry liaison for the New York Game Centre. We talk about forgotten classics of the Atari ST & Amiga era like Captive and Midwinter, the absurdist joy of Ranarama, the Playstation homebrew scene and how she fought through the pain for the love of Guitar Hero. We also reminisce about the genuine magic of early internet forums, how she got the job on Edge in the bar after the interview, ...
Rebroadcast - Episode 81 - Hannah Nicklin
March 02, 2020 02:25 - 1 hour - 82.9 MBMy guest today is Hannah Nicklin an award winning game designer, writer, academic, theatre maker, bike rider and talk giver. As the myriad of adjectives suggest, she's a brilliant guest. We talk about weird Comic Relief tie in game Sleepwalker, how Tony Hawk Pro Skater introduced her to punk rock, why controller literacy is such a forgotten problem, that time she bought 100 CDs and a Gamecube on a camping trip and how theatre is a game so old we've forgotten it's a game. We also hit on str...
Rebroadcast - Episode 80 - Siobhan Reddy
February 25, 2020 14:25 - 1 hour - 62.6 MBMy guest today is the studio director and co founder of Media Molecule, Siobhan Reddy. We talk about the founding of the studio, the development of Little Big Planet and their upcoming title Dreams. We also meander through Siobhan's video game history, from her early love of the Game & Watch, how Resident Evil really shifted her understanding of games and awakened a life long love of horror games, why Bioware games are like a warm blanket, how working on punk fanzines influenced her career ...