The AIAS Game Maker's Notebook 3t1826

Alexa Ray Corriea chats with writers Dani Dee and Zaire Lanier about their work on Compulsion Games latest action-adventure, South of Midnight. Together they discuss how they began their careers in writing and what led them to Compulsion Games; how the team stayed authentic to the folklore of the American Deep South; the process of writing the main character and their emotional progression throughout the story; and how the game handles difficult subjects like trauma, loss, and powerlessness.  This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Alexa Ray Corriea chats with actor Jennifer English, best known for her iconic roles in games like Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate III, and Sandfall Interactive's debut smash hit, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Together they discuss her prior career in classical theater as well as her previous work in games leading up to playing Maelle in Expedition 33; working with the development team and which practices she finds helpful in the booth; embodying a character and viewing the world through their eyes; the complex emotions actors feel when portraying difficult scenes; and what kinds of roles she hopes to play in the future. This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Trent Kusters chats with Tonda Ros, the creator of the mind bending puzzle roguelike, Blue Prince. Together they discuss his prior career navigating the film industry and how he found himself creating his first game; the early tools and resources that helped him get started; brining in additional team and what that meant for the project timeline; and the significant influence board games had on the game's design.  This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Trent Kusters chats with brothers Adam and Seth Coster of indie studio, Butterscotch Shenanigans, who recently released Crashlands 2, the sequel to their hit debut release. Together they discuss their story of 3 brothers working in different fields who came together to make games; the mistakes and lessons they learned while building the studio; how their brother Sam's cancer diagnosis led to them diving into developing the original Crashlands; how they solved the marketing problem common to indie studios and how that led to their debut success; and the tools and procedures they created to help them efficiently move from concept to playable implementation.  This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Carrie Patel, the Game Director on Obsidian Entertainment's Avowed. Together they discuss how the team worked within the Pillars of Eternity universe while expanding the world and characters; transitioning the gameplay from an isometric RPG to a focus on third person action; writing memorable companions; and the complexities of real relationships and how that affected their decision to avoid romance options. This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Mike Laidlaw, Chief Creative Officer at Yellow Brick Games. Together they discuss his career developing role-playing games including his role as Creative Director on the Dragon Age franchise; the development of his new studio's first release, Eternal Strands; creating the physics based combat system; the key pillars for the world and story design; and the importance of identifying what it takes to finish a project. This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Trent Kusters chats with Johan Pilestedt, the Game Director on Arrowhead Game Studios' smash-hit, HELLDIVERS™ 2. Together they discuss his path in games that led to the founding of Arrowhead alongside his classmates in Sweden; the development and release of their first title, Magicka; the original ideas around that laid the foundation for the Helldivers universe; their ideas around game design; and the ups and downs of the 7 year development journey of HELLDIVERS™ 2. Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Alexa Ray Corriea chats with actor Troy Baker. Together they discuss his award winning performance as Indiana Jones in MachineGames's Indiana Jones and the Great Circle; his biggest challenges in playing an iconic character; lessons he learned from his past projects that informed his preparation and performance; and the difference between a performance being simple versus boring. This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Trent Kusters chats with game designer Tom Francis of Suspicious Developments, developers of hit indie tactical strategy games like Gunpoint, Heat Signature, and Tactical Breach Wizards. Together they discuss how Tom went from games journalism to game development; his ideas around challenge and difficulty; weaving gameplay with narrative; and his thoughts and advice on playtesting. Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Alexa Ray Correia chats with actor Nhi Do, who starred in Sunset Visitor's debut narrative adventure, 1000xRESIST. Together they discuss her background in theater and how she landed her first part in video games; finding the entry point when playing a new character; the catharsis of finishing a project; and the importance of compartmentalization while getting our of your comfort zone. This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Adam Orth chats with MachineGames' Jens Andersson and Axel Torvenius about their critically acclaimed title, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Together they discuss why they decided to make an Indiana Jones game in first person; the importance of introducing players to the Indiana Jones world by recreating the iconic opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark; and Troy Baker's award winning and Harrison Ford approved performance as Indiana Jones. This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Adam Orth Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Alexa Ray Correia chats with actor Suzie Yeung. Together they discuss how she got her start acting in games; her performance as Yuffie Kisaragi in the recent reboot of FINAL FANTASY VII; her extensive work in the anime industry; the process and differences in recording for animation versus games; how she prepared for her performance as Yuffie; and her advice for young voice actors beginning their careers. This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Trent Kusters chats with Insomniac Games' Ted Price. Ted recently announced his retirement from the games industry and received the 2025 AIAS Hall of Fame award at the 28th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. In this conversation, Ted recalls his life in game development as the co-founder and president of Insomniac Games from key projects and career milestones to lessons learned and his ideas for the future of games. Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Xsolla is a leading global video game commerce company with a robust and powerful set of tools and services designed specifically for the industry. Since its founding in 2005, Xsolla has helped thousands of game developers and publishers of all sizes fund, market, launch, and monetize their games globally and across multiple platforms. To learn more, please visit: xsolla.com This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Adam Orth Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation  

Shuhei Yoshida chats with Team ASOBI Studio Director Nicolas Doucet. Together they discuss his journey in game development from his early days in QA to his move to work at Japan Studio; building Team ASOBI to work on the emerging technology within SIE; the origins and development of Astro Bot; and how they worked with publishers around the world to represent their characters within the world of Astro Bot.  Episode Host: Shuhei Yoshida Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Odd Meter Studio Director, Dmitry Svetlow. Together they discuss the development of INDIKA including the origins and inspirations behind the haunting narrative; how they built the team and what it takes to be part of a small indie studio; their use of juxtaposition between dark and playful imagery; and balancing how much they reveal to the player and which questions they choose to answer. Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Adam Orth chats with Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov. Together they discuss his early life with computing and how he first created Tetris; his ideas behind real-time versus turn-based puzzle design; ideas he scrapped from early development; distributing Tetris outside of the Soviet Union; his work on titles outside of Tetris and the pressure his first creation put on his subsequent work; and what he hopes for the future of Tetris. This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Adam Orth Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Trent Kusters chats with Freehold Games' Brian Bucklew and Jason Grinbalt about their a science fantasy roguelike, Caves of Qud. Together they discuss the 17 year development journey to 1.0; developing the engine and systems that drive their game; their thoughts around modular design; balancing bespoke and procedural content; and the personal and professional challenges and lessons they experienced over the extended development period. This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Austin Wintory chats with Audio Director Aldo Sampaio, with whom he recently collaborated together with on the newly released Eternal Strands. They discuss Aldo's journey in game development including his work on the Assassin's Creed franchise; what he learned from working in AAA game development; how they came together at Yellow Brick Games to create the sound and music for the studios debut title. This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Austin Wintory Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

Greg Rice chats with James Carbutt and Will Todd from Coal Supper. Together they discuss growing up in Yorkshire in Northern England, how they first got together and began developing games; what they learned from their early projects; the British influences behind Thank Goodness You're Here; and the intricacies of writing humor for video games. This episode is ed by Xsolla Episode Host: Greg Rice Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider ing game dev students with: AIAS Foundation