Joe Houston who worked on Demon Souls Remake joins me to review the GTA of indie games Hollow Knight:Silksong!! I did an interview with him a number of years ago, which you can find here. https://youtu.be/skAWid5zYfg #silksong #hollowknight #hollowknightsilksong TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:40 - Silksong Overview 01:30 - Silksong’s Difficulty/The Purpose Of Difficulty In Games 07:10 - Runbacks 10:54 - Bosses Of Silksong 13:40 - Progression Doesnt Help With The Difficulty 16:20 - Top Moments In Th...
Nov 08, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 197
In this engaging conversation, Filip Coulianos, co-founder of Keepsake Games, discusses his journey in game development, the influence of Half-Life 2 on his career, and the creative processes behind his latest project, Jump Space. He shares insights on addressing motion sickness in games, the importance of marketing for indie developers, and the evolving landscape of the gaming industry. The discussion also touches on the impact of working with Josef Fares and the lessons learned from successful...
Oct 25, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 196
Joshua Jay was a former world artist at Bethesda who worked on Fallout 4, 76 & Starfield, prior to that he was a world artist on the Gears Of War trilogy. Josh built a living saloon set in the style of Fallout 76 here! Check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7gBi3_lyag&t=167s #fallout #starfield #gearsofwar JOSHUAS ARTWORK CAN BE FOUND HERE https://www.joshuajayart.com/ https://www.artstation.com/joshua_jay_art TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:38 - Lord Of The Rings/Kurt Kuhlmann 04:18 ...
Oct 04, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 195
GOG is a digital distribution platform with a mission to preserve video games. I spoke with 3 employees Piotr(Senior PR), Marcin (Senior Business Developer) and Adam(Technical Producer). #gog #gamepreservation #pcgaming SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITE - https://www.gog.com/en/ X - @GOGcom NOTE: Unfortunately the guys had some technical and internet issues, so we needed to use Google Meet to record this so the audio quality and even the video feed arent up to my usual standard, this is also why the layout i...
Aug 17, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 194
David O'Reilly is a former game developer who is best known for his work at Rockstar on GTA, RDR2 and GTA VI, yes you read that right he worked on GTA VI up until 2023 when he left the video game industry. He now has a Youtube channel where he reviews environmental art in games. David's Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@Game-World-Art #rockstargames #gta6 #rdr2 TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:30 - Having Imposter Syndrome Working At Rockstar 04:30 - Having A Good Manager 06:05 - Doing Caves...
Jul 27, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 193
Kurt Kuhlmann was a jack of all trades at Bethesda, he was one of the studios most proficient designers and writers, he's best known as the lore master of the Elder Scrolls #elderscrolls #starfield #fallout TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:06 - How Kurt Became The Lore Master Of The Elder Scrolls 06:26 - Maintaining The Lore 07:57 - Studying History At University/Why Kurt Went To Bethesda 09:40 - Evolution Of Quest/Narrative Design At Bethesda 10:50 - Using History To Influence Lore/Tolkien’s Influen...
Jul 12, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 192
Obbe Vermeij, a former technical director at Rockstar Games during GTA III to GTA IV, is now working on his indie game Plentiful, and the demo is out now here. #grandtheftauto #gta #rockstargames Plentiful Demo is here - https://store.steampowered.com/app/3044790/Plentiful/ SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @ObbeVermeij BLUESKY - @ obbevermeij.bsky.social TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:46 - GTA IV Design Document 01:20 - Working With The Designers On GTA On What’s Possible & Not Possible 02:15 - Gang W...
Jul 03, 2025•57 min•Ep. 191
I got some of the old Bethesda crew back together (Jeremy Bryant, Nate Purkeypile, Bruce Nesmith & Kurt Kuhlmann) to review the remaster and talk about the old game and Bethesda as a whole. Enjoy! #bethesda #elderscrolls #oblivionremastered Nate Purkeypiles Games! Check them out! The Axis Unseen - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1807810/The_Axis_Unseen/ Deedlee Doo Carkour! - https://store.steampowered.com/app/3582590/Deedlee_Doo_Carkour/ Bruce Nesmiths Books https://www.amazon.com/Books-...
Jun 15, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 190
Jeremy Huxley is a former environmental artist at Naughty Dog who worked there for 11 years on the Uncharted & Last Of Us franchises. #uncharted #lastofus #lastofuspart2 TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:31 - Coming To Naughty Dog Partway Through Uncharted 3 02:30 - Art Test/Learning From The Veterans 05:20 - Team Being Split Off After Uncharted 3/Working On Uncharted 4/PBR 09:00 - The Jump For Art From PS3 To PS4 10:20 - Naughty Dog’s Reference Material For Uncharted 4 12:40 - Uncharted 4’s Jungl...
May 11, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 189
Former Retro Studios Dev Eric Kozlowsky (Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze) and I review the direct and go way off on another tangent lol. You can watch my life reaction to the Switch 2 direct(with former retro studios devs in the chat) here https://www.youtube.com/live/ocm4oRD-aik Get all the info on Eric and Fuzzybot's game Lynked here http://playlynked.com/ www.landofkoz.com www.fuzzybot.com Bluesky Eric - @ vonkoz.bsky.social #nintendoswitch2 #switch2 #nintendo TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00...
Apr 08, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 188
Chris Detyna is a video game composer who is best known for his brilliant score for Terminator Resistance. #terminator #terminatorresistance #theterminator TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:00 - Meeting Teyon/How Chris Got The Job Composing Terminator Resistance 04:19 - Including Electric Guitar In The Main Theme/Being Scared Of Making The Music 05:52 - Adapting The Terminator 1 Theme/T1 Theme Weird Time Signature 09:05 - Directions From Teyon’s Director On The Music 11:25 - The Gear Chris Used To Mak...
Mar 26, 2025•57 min•Ep. 187
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO DOOM ETERNAL!! To celebrate I spoke to former DOOM Eternal animator Chris Cantero, he left a few years to make his own indie game High Fructose, you can find here https://store.steampowered.com/app/2506550/High_Fructose/ #doom #doometernal #idsoftware SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @canterochris BLUESKY - @ canterochris.bsky.social TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:28 - Glory Kills 03:48 - Mocap/Principals Of Animation 05:55 - The Hardest Part Of Animating Glory Kills 07:30 - Making The M...
Mar 01, 2025•48 min•Ep. 186
Jeremy Bryant was an animator at Bethesda for over 15 years from Skyrim to Starfield. This is his first interview! #starfield #fallout #skyrim TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:26 - Jeremy Commuted To Work By Plane 04:07 - Working With Dennis On The Werewolf 06:26 - How The Animation Tools Evolved From Skyrim To Starfield 08:43 - Mocap Use On Skyrim/Jeremy Used His Own Mocap On Skyrim DLC 10:35 - Animating Hands/Hardest Things Animating 11:54 - Jeremy Was Known As The Gun Reloader Animator Guy 14:06 -...
Feb 11, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 185
Shawn Layden was former CEO of Playstation worldwide studios and former chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment America. His career in Sony is legendary as a Japanese localizer that had a meteoric rise to be one of the head honchos of the whole company. #playstation #sony #ps5 SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER -@SHAWNLAYDEN BLUESKY - @ shawnlayden.bsky.social TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:02 - Why Playstation Used Numbers For Each Console Iteration 03:26 - Being The Fix It Guy At Sony/What Motivates Shawn 0...
Feb 01, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 184
Dennis is an exceptional character artist who is best known for his tenure at Bethesda from Skyrim to Starfield. He has now retired from the video game industry. #starfield #fallout4 #skyrim SOCIAL MEDIA ARTSTATON - https://www.artstation.com/vsions INSTAGRAM - @vsions1 TWITTER - @Vsions Y OUTUBE - @Vsions TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:30 - Rivalry With Jonah Lobe At Bethesda 04:10 - Werewolf Was Almost Cut From Skyrim 08:40 - Dennis Broke Work Protocol To Get Things In Bethesda Games Resulting In...
Jan 12, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 182
Will Shen was a designer at Bethesda for over 20+ years and his story is amazing as he started off as an intern on Fallout 3 and became lead designer on Starfield. #starfield #fallout4 #bethesdagamestudios SOCIAL MEDIA X - @WillShen101 BLUESKY - @ willshen101.bsky.social Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9jtZN92eGHA9Hxh-jYGqBw/join TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:30 - Will’s Internship At Bethesda Was A Trial By Fire 02:08 - Who Interviewed Will Both Times 0...
Jan 03, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 181
Nate Purkeypile is a former world artist and art lead at Bethesda who worked there for over 14 years. He has now released his indie game The Axis Unseen that you can purchase here! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1807810/The_Axis_Unseen/ SOCIAL MEDIA FOR NATE WEBSITE - https://www.justpurkeygames.com/home BLUESKY - @ npurkeypile.bsky.social TWITTER - @NPurkeypile YOUTUBE - @justpurkeygames #skyrim #fallout #bethesda TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:53 - Working At Retro Studios On Metroid Prime 3 ...
Dec 07, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 180
Kenny Young is the composer on the Astro Bot series including the recently acclaimed new Astro Bot game. He has also worked on games such as Tethered, Little Big Planet, Tearaway and more.... #astrobot #littlebigplanet #ps5 KENNY YOUNG SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER - @kcmyoung FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/KennyYoungMusic/ BLUESKY - @kcmyoung Follow me KIWI TALKZ on Social Media TWITTER - https://twitter.com/kiwitalkz Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kiwi_talkz/?hl=en Discord - discord.gg/yWRC...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 179
MP2 Designer Kynan Pearson returns to talk about all his work on Metroid Prime 2 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Prime 2. You can check out our previous interview here https://youtu.be/4sWfE2x-ClM #metroid #nintendo #metroidprime Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9jtZN92eGHA9Hxh-jYGqBw/join TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - EA Preparing Bryan To Work With Japanese Producers 01:49 - Challenges Of Working With Nintendo Japanese Producers 06:12 - Streamlining The Pro...
Nov 17, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 178
MP2 engineers Jack Mathews & Zoid Kirsch return to reminisce on the development of Metroid Prime 2 #metroidprime2 #nintendo #metroid TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:45 - Developing Multiplayer/Original Ideas 08:15 - Biggest Engineering Challenges In Prime 2 14:42 - Sanctuary Fortress 17:07 - Metroid Prime 2 Remastered Challenges/Prime 2 Constraints 20:15 - Devs Didnt Recognise Prime 2’s Difficulty At The Time 22:41 - Japanese Versions Were Made Easier 23:50 - Tanabe, Miyamoto & Sakamoto’s In...
Nov 10, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 177
MP2 Designer Kynan Pearson returns to talk about all his work on Metroid Prime 2 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Prime 2. You can check out his previous interview here https://youtu.be/y6YKebkPZNM you can follow Kynan on Twitter - @KynanPearson #metroid #nintendo #metroidprime TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:50 - How Metroid Prime 2 Ended Up With Its Zelda Esque Design 03:00 - Every Nintendo Game Is It’s Own Thing/Link To The Past Discussions 04:00 - Designing Prime 2’s Biomes/Dark World Was Or...
Nov 03, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 176
Here is the panel I did with Sonia Coronado at PAX AUS. Due to NDA's, we had to cover generic things involving her role for Playstation. All content is courtesy of PAX Australia, also thanks to the amazing crowd! Make sure you keep up to date with @PAXAustraliaOfficial #playstation #godofwarragnarok #ghostoftsushima TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:49 - How Sonia Got Into The Video Game Industry 03:19 - What Does A Music Designer Do 05:56 - How Sonia Approaches Mixing 100+ Stems 06:55 - Blending Musi...
Oct 29, 2024•58 min•Ep. 175
Here is the panel I did with Josh Weier at PAX AUS. I spent a year planning this with Josh and PAX AUS to make this happen. #portal2 #valve #halflife2 TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 02:21 - Why Valve Games Are Very High Quality 05:25 - Steam Originally Had Some Skepticism 09:07 - Importance Of The Source Engine On Valves Games 12:04 - Advanced Physics In Half-Life 2/Gravity Gun 15:20 - The Modular Nature Of Portal & Portal 2 17:10 - Why Valve Games Have Great Pacing 20:35 - Valve's Approach To Tut...
Oct 15, 2024•58 min•Ep. 174
Jason Schreier the legendary video game journalist talks to me about his new book PLAY NICE that you can purchase here https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jason-schreier/play-nice/9781538725429/ #blizzard #blizzardentertainment #bloomberg NOTE: Jason had to bail urgently which is why the podcast ended very abruptly. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:23 - Researching & Preparing For Play Nice 04:01 - Movie/TV Adaptation Of Play Nice 04:50 - Blizzard Sex Parties 07:09 - Will Blizzard Ever Be On...
Oct 06, 2024•41 min•Ep. 173
Joel Mason was a developer on the indie game Dredge and works for @blacksaltgames #dredge #gaming SOCIAL MEDIA FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/blacksaltgames/ INSTAGRAM - @blacksaltgames YOUTUBE - @blacksaltgames TWITTER - @blacksaltgames TWITTER JOEL MASON - @bsg_joel TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:37 - How The Concept Of Dredge Came About 03:10 - The Artstyle Of Dredge 04:56 - Most Difficult Things To Implement 07:47 - Joel Has Never Played Zelda: Wind Waker/Keeping Scope In Check 08:50 - Com...
Sep 29, 2024•48 min•Ep. 172
Bruce Nesmith was a former designer at Bethesda and worked at the studio from Elder Scrolls II:Daggerfall before leaving and returning part way through Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion up until Starfield. He is now a novel writer who just launched his newest novel Glory Seeker Book One: Feast Of Ghouls #skyrim #bethesda #starfield Purchase Bruce's new book here! https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Seeker-Ghouls-LitRPG-Adventure-ebook/dp/B0D94KTJTN TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:45 - Lord Of The Rings Film Trilo...
Aug 18, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 171
Shawn Green was a former developer at ID Software, ION and Escalation Studios. He was part of the original ID Software team and worked alongside legends such as John Romero and John Carmack #doom #idsoftware #johnromero TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:36 - How Shawn Ended Up At ID Software/Commander Keen 05:05 - Learning The DOOM Editor 06:40 - Doing The Ports For DOOM 10:55 - Designing Levels For Ultimate DOOM 13:10 - Making E4M8 - Unto The Cruel 16:25 - How Shawn Learned To Design DOOM Levels 18:1...
Aug 04, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 170
Jonah Lobe is a former artist at Bethesda and did the art for a number of characters on Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as well as Fallout 3 and Fallout 4. He is currently working on his Fantasy Novel: Quiet Level One that you can support here. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/quietlevelone/quiet-level-one-by-jonah-lobe #bethesda #fallout #skyrim SOCIAL MEDIA YOUTUBE - @JonahLobeDraws TWITTER - @Jonahlobe FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/jonahjonahlobe INSTAGRAM - @iamjonahlobe 00:00 - Intro 01:1...
Jul 23, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 169
Stephen Hughes is a renowned director, producer, voice actor and teacher. He is well known in Spain in the voice over industry. He helped to direct the voice actors on Metroid Dread including Nikki Garcia(The Voice Of Samus) and he voiced the character Quiet Robe. #metroid #metroiddread #nintendo TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:00 - How Stephen Ended Up In Madrid, Spain 05:05 - Ongoing Consulting Work For American Companies 06:19 - Spain Is The Best Country In The World For Dubbing/Dubbing For The A...
Jun 08, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 168
Omar's story is amazing, he got an architecture degree before moving into video game art and film/tv vfx. He has worked on films such as Star Wars: Rogue One and Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, he also worked as a lighting artist on GTA V. #gtav #rockstargames #starwars TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:01 - How A Degree In Architecture Helped Omar With VFX 04:51 - How Omar Ended Up At Rockstar Games/China 07:15 - Omar Had Never Played GTA Before Joining Rockstar/Learning What GTA Was 09:15 - Doin...
Apr 30, 2024•52 min•Ep. 167
