Stay ConnectedOur podcast breaks the mold of don’t ask don’t tell about the video game industry. We give everyone the real inside look at what its like to be a professional game developer, Every week we’ll interview pro and indie developers, we’ll talk jobs, studios, salaries and of course crunch horror stories. Tune in!
Hosted by Brandon Pham
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Roger Lundeen was a architect for over a decade working at small to large firms before landing his first game dev gig at Valve. He talks about his experience and compares the differences between the architectural, film, and game industry. We also managed to sit back and hear some enlightening stories of his experience at Valve and how much he misses Portland. Roger is currently a design/ environment specialist working at Turtle Rock Studios.
You always hear how getting into the industry is an uphill battle but every game developer have their own little details that makes it different. This week, Damien Evans discusses how he went from having five years of industry experience to going back to school and eventually working at places like Naughty Dog and Sony Santa Monica. Listen in as we also discuss surviving layoffs and go off tangent with how he narrowly dodges the VR porn industry as well.
A round table discussion with game industry professionals about last month's biggest bits and news.
Josh Coons has worked with people he had admired all his life like Joe Mad, John Carmack, and Chris Roberts. This week he sits down with us to share stories of his interaction with these legendary developers as well as other topics like his passion projects and his Blizzard art test rumor. Josh Coons is a 3D artist currently working at Cloud Imperium and has been at places like ID Software and Vigil Games.
Accruing student debt is sometimes a necessary evil when learning how to become a game developer. However, paying that down to enjoy a full paycheck can happen sooner than you think. Forest Baker sits with us this week and talks about his struggle and sacrifices he's made to pay down his student debt of $80,000 in 5 years! Forest is a VFX artist that has worked on major franchises like Call of Duty and Halo and is currently at 343 Industries. https://www.linkedin.com/in/forestbaker/
Richard Lico has over 20 years of experience in the industry spending the bulk of the last decade at Bungie as a Animation Lead. He has made his mark on the Halo franchise and was the first animator on the Destiny franchise and now he is embarking his journey to the indie world with Polyarc Games (https://www.polyarcgames.com/.) Listen in on his adventure from being a self taught artist to being the highest-level animator at Bungie and then finally becoming an "Animation Director of one" at Polyarc. https:
This episode is likely one of the most special episodes of our podcast yet. We were able to sit down with Kirill Tokarev, and get the entire story of 80.lv We find out how it came about, the early struggles and successes as well as find out what someone needs to have if they want to be featured on their website! Also, we honor the memory of Paul Pepera on this episode with a touching feature in dedication by David Ballard.
Olaf Piesche talks about his journey through the industry in the United States as a German immigrant. We discuss about his struggles, his big wins, and the impact he faces as a foreigner when the industry gets volatile. Olaf is currently a Senior FX Engineer at Epic.
Another month has passed and so the crew gets back together with special guest Ray Graham to discuss the hottest topics of last month. Giving a unique game developer perspective and how it may affect our industry.
Drew Smith handles Business Development at Google's game division and has an impressive resume working for Bungie and 2K among many other companies. In this episode, we discuss what he does as well as his perspective of the current and future place for gaming entertainment and the lessons he learned from his career. You can check out his blog @ https://medium.com/@drewsmith_11595 linkedin.com/in/drew-smith-701b90
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