Player Characters

Jordan has a fascinating story about growing up in less than ideal circumstances, and even though he's always loved games, he was kinda guided away from a career in games. But of course, it crept into his life anyway. I talk to Jordan about Lord of the Rings, Elder Scrolls, modding, running a remote team, what having construction company can do for your game studio and much more.

Title: Make sure your demo works | Game developer Mark Gregory Guest: Mark Gregory, Game developer at Freesphere Entertainment Twitter: @gamedevmark Freesphere: freesphere-entertainment.co.uk Summary: I talk to Mark about all the areas of the game industry that he has touched so far. Writing about the technical qualities of ports for Mac, developing games, seeking funding for games, and organizing talks for game developers. That leads to topics like how to combat Imposter Syndrome, how to seek funding as a creative person, and what Fortnite has done for game development. People: Caoimhe Roddy Hollie Emery Games Super Mario Bros. Duck Hunt Metal Gear Solid Solarix Tether Links www.macgamerhq.com/ www.meetup.com/WA-Games/ EIS - Enterprise Investment Scheme www.seis.co.uk/

Title: It's about the art | Solo game developer Paul Bradish Guest: Website: http://www.marshinthegame.com/ Steam page: store.steampowered.com/app/1062180/Marshin/ Twitter: @MarshinTheGame Instagram: @MarshinTheGame YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCr6Y2II45Kf8mbJcsJWWBiw Summary Paul recently started a journey as a solo game developer. We talk about how his background as a web designer and in digital marketing fits into that journey. We also get around topics like how to manage your time and priorities, where to find help with Unity and programming, analytics and feedback, and Twin Peaks. Games Super Mario Bros. Duck Hunt Dragon Warrior / Dragon Quest Limbo Typoman Super Meat Boy Hollow Knight YouTube Black Thorn Prod Brackeys GDC - Postmortems Links QBasic Udemy - game development Trello Kanban Jira People Tim Burton David Lynch Bob Saget Drew Carey Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

In this episode, I talk to Tastygraph the Viking, a streamer and solo game developer. Making games has always been a hobby project for Tastygraph, but he has plans to change that. He's put a lot of thought into what it takes to make sure that when you release a game, it has a chance to be seen and discovered by players. We talked about how he's building his community on Discord and Twitter. But we started with his obsession with MMO's and also got into how he uses the social interaction around games in his daily work with kids.

In this episode, I talk to the solo developer behind Studio Sploot. We get into how to structure your work, Impostor Syndrome, asking for help, getting feedback and the whole mentality of working on something on your own.

Title: It's better to be yourself | Twitch streamer Virtute Guest: Twitch streamer Virtute Twitch: twitch.tv/virtute Twitter: twitter.com/VirtuteStreams Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/VirtuteStreams/ Other links: links.virtute.gg Summary Virtute tells the story of how he started streaming from his PlayStation 4. Broadcasts that he himself now labels as not good. But he kept at it and began thinking about ways to improve his stream. We get into his thought process behind the changes he made and how he keeps changing. We also talk about how you can prepare something to talk about on stream so that you're not just sitting in silence waiting for viewers to start a conversation. Highlights Virtute started streaming from his PlayStation 4 using the built-in streaming app and no camera. Eventually he graduated to a full streaming setup on a PC with a webcam. He watched Ninja and got inspired by him and other people like Markiplier and PewDiePie, so he changed his formula and started thinking a bit more consciously about how his streams where structured and which games to play. Through experimentation and networking with other streamers he has come up with his own unique style. Networking and doing off-stream work takes up a lot of time. The many skills needed for streaming also means an opportunity to keep learning. Streamers are quite accessible and friendly. Games Project Winter Secret Hitler Secret Neighbor Doki Doki Literature Club Outer Wilds Book of Demons People Lucanaii The Sushi Dragon: twitch.tv/thesushidragon Gear Logitech HD pro webcam C920 Roland VT-3 Voice Transformer Elgato Stream Deck The name "SeventhSun" http://daim.org/site/en https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Son_of_a_Seventh_Son https://genius.com/Raekwon-wu-gambinos-lyrics Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: Remember to network | Twitch streamer Mr Jake Woof Guest: Twitch streamer Mr Jake Woof Twitch: twitch.tv/MrJakeWoof Twitter: @MrJakeWoof Instagram: @MrJakeWoof/ Summary I talk to Jake about how getting fired from his job lead to streaming video games. He shares his thoughts on all the different aspects of streaming like what type of stream you want, the skills you need, building a community, what games to stream, stream schedule and how to stay healthy when you sit in front of a computer all day. Jake also shares how much time he spends off stream working on different ways to grow his channel. Games Lemmings Duke Nukem Doom Super Mario 64 H1Z1 People summit1g: twitch.tv/summit1g Dr Disrespect: twitter.com/drdisrespect Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: Make art, not just games | Lead organizer of Nordic Game Jam Victor Breum Guest: Victor Breum - Lead organizer of Nordic Game Jam Twitter: @zepcap Nordic Game Jam: www.nordicgamejam.com Summary I talk to Victor about why his goal is to make art, and why he chose to enter a film school in order to make games. We also talk about the role of the game jam in the broader gaming industry and all the work that goes into running Nordic Game Jam. Highlights A degree from the film school does not guarantee you a job, so in Victor's words, you should choose a school like that because it has a big focus on games as art, and you the director as an artist. Nordic Game Jam is a good place to meet other game developers. The advantage of a physical game jam, you get to actually work with other game makers. Which is also a different way to meet people compared to going to conferences. Victor is studying directing, but it's difficult to just apply for the position as director in a game studio. So you have to either work your way up in a company or start your own studio. The value gained from having diverse speakers in subjects, backgrounds, experience and so forth. A game jam is a good place to try ideas and the short time frame actually fosters creativity. For someone working at a big AAA game for years at a time, the short time frame of a game jam can be a breath of fresh air. Games Pokémon TCG Neverwinter Nights Grand Theft Auto Hugo Journey What Remains of Edith Finch God of War Monument Valley Tetris People Astrid Refstrup Anchel Labena Interactive Denmark - Fanny Saemund Producentforeningen - Jan Neiiendam Lorenzo Pilia Paul Thomas Anderson Chris Bell Cory Barlog Tale of Tales Links Mystery Makers Indiecade A Maze Festival Nordic Game Syndicate Subscribe with these services: Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: Share your passions | Freelance writer Daryl Baxter Guest: Daryl Baxter freelance writer and podcaster Twitter: @darylbaxter Website: darylbaxter.com/ Podcast: PAL Keys Summary I talked to Daryl about writing and freelancing, how does he use feedback and Google Analytics, what's special about a retrospective and what does his process look like when he's writing, plus how to send a direct message to an editor to ask for a gig. Highlights Daryl was studying computer networks and got an email from a magazine looking for people to contribute. He contacted them and spend a week writing a piece on Tomb Raider 2. Saw his name in the Platformer Magazine on his Tomb Raider 2 retrospective. From then on he knew he had to write. So he has been squeezing in some way to write at his different non-writing jobs. For instance, he wrote phone guides at his tech support job. But also he kept a blog in his spare time. With SEO and Google Analytics, he kept track of which times of the year people were most interested in retrospectives and other subjects. Daryl has been very focused on getting feedback on his work. So he's asked for feedback on both paid articles, but also by reaching out to other writers to get feedback on blog posts for instance. Games Alex Kidd in Miracle World Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Tomb Raider II Street Fighter II: The World Warrior People DHH - David Heinemeier Hanson James Joyce Vic Hood Lauren Aitken Matt Gemmell Chris Scullion J. D. Salinger C. S. Lewis J. K. Rowling Terry Pratchett Links Sonic the Hedgehog - Movie trailer Chris Scullion on the Street Fighter series Player Characters episode with Vic Hood BBC Desert Island Discs Podcast Books Ulysses - James Joyce Apps Ulysses writing app Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: You'll never be completely ready | Gamification Expert Rob Alvarez Guest: Rob Alzarez Expert on Gamification Website: professorgame.com Twitter: @robalvarezb Instagram: @robalvarezb Summary Rob is an expert on gamification and works at IE Business School in Madrid. He is involved with the various projects that they make around gamification and also teaches at the school. We talk about what gamification is exactly, how and why you'd use it in both education and business. And we also get into the ethical aspects of gamification. Highlights Got a Nintendo Entertainment System as a child and wanted to write for The Nintendo Magazine. Went to university and studied computer engineering. Loved coding, but didn't want to spend his life programming. Got a masters degree in business. Moved to Madrid to work at IE Business School. The process of working with a client to create a project that uses gamification to help convey a message to the user. His role also involves going to other universities to talk about the materials that they make at IE Business School. The area of gamification is relatively new but at the same time there are quite a few people working on it, and Rob has talked to a lot of them and his heroes on his podcast. Between the podcast and his career Rob is asked to travel all over the world to speak at conferences. We talk about the power of sharing your thoughts and struggles with someone close to you. Rob uses an example of a hammer as a tool that has very practical uses, while at the same time it's possible to use it in harmful ways. He sees gamification in the same light, when we talk about the risks of somebody abusing the addictive nature of games. People Yu-kai Chou Andrzej Marczewski - gamified.uk Amy Jo Kim Tim Ferriss - tim.blog John Lee Dumas - Entrepeneurs on Fire Mahatma Gandhi Jane McGonical / @avantgame An Coppens Shigeru Miyamoto Chuck Coonradt Links An App You Can't Refuse Tim Ferriss episode with Kevin Systrom from Instagram # Open Gamification Code of Ethics Books Jane McGoncal - SuperBetter Jane McGonical - Reality is Broken Chuck Coonradt - The Game of Work Subscribe with these services: Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: Be the best version of you | Freelance concept artist Jason Pickthall Guest: Jason Pickthall freelance concept artist. Twitter: @jpickthall www.jasonpickthall.com Summary Jason tells the story of how he got his first job almost by chance, and how he pivoted from in-game assets to concept art. We talk about the importance of finding your own voice as an artist, and also believing in yourself and your worth. Highlights Started as a product designer. Took university courses in industrial design. By chance he got into 3D Max. Got told by the head of his school that he would never be good at making art. Did retail jobs after school. Got a job at a video company with a combination of luck, preparation and an attitude to capitalize on that luck. With his skill in using 3D Max and Photoshop he got a job as a level designer. Got a job in Australia, but the company got shut down shortly after arriving. Started spending his free time on studying concept art. Pivoted from in-game graphics to concept art. Working at a studio can often mean working on a lot of the same stuff. Games Centipede - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centipede_game Hellboy: The Science of Evil - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellboy:_The_Science_of_Evil Links Rare - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_(company) Razerworks - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razorworks Rebellion - https://rebellion.com/ FreeStyleGames (NowUbisoft_Leamington) People Jeremy Love - jeremylove.com Dylan Cole - https://dylan-cole-j5dx.squarespace.com/ Feng Zhu - https://fzdschool.com/ Mike Rutter - Check out the episode of Player Characters with Mike Rutter Doug Chiang - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Chiang Walt Stanchfield - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Stanchfield Glen Keane - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Keane John Nevarez - https://www.iamag.co/the-art-of-john-nevarez/ Ian McQue - https://ianmcque.bigcartel.com/ John McCoy - https://www.jonmccoyart.com/ Books https://www.amazon.com/Walt-Stanchfield/e/B002LFQWSG Subscribe with these services: Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: Excellence requires teamwork | Mike Rutter director at The Digi Monsters Guest: Mike Rutter Co-Founder and Director at The Digi Monsters www.thedigimonsters.com Twitter: @digimonsterboss Summary I talk to Mike about his work on the UI for Colin McRae: DiRT and his journey from 3D modeling to UI and becoming a director and co-founder at The Digi Monsters. Games Pac-Man Space Invaders Pitfall! Galaxian LMA Manager Club Football Operation Flashpoint Colin McRae: DiRT TOCA Touring Car Championship Race Driver: Grid DJ Hero Guitar Hero Sing Party Links Codemasters FreeStyleGames (Now Ubisoft_Leamington) Activision Houdini 3D software Swiss Design https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Typographic_Style http://www.designishistory.com/home/swiss/ https://medium.com/@mason_weis/what-is-swiss-design-2c97088c3f20 Helvetica Documentary about Helvetica People Gavin Raeburn: www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,46834 Andrew Pallister: www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-pallister-14121514 Philip Cox: www.ludodoesjudo.com/ Jamie Jackson: www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-jackson-9568b93/ Dave Osborne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-osbourn-390181/ Subscribe with these services: Apple PodcastsGoogle Podcasts Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Hey Players It's just me, so no new episode this week Unfortunately, I've been without internet for almost 2 weeks and so I didn't have a chance to set up a new interview for an episode this week. Sorry about that. But I have a bonus episode for you. I got an email from a listener named Brandon who asked me if I had any advice on how to start off with gaming Journalism. And I figured, since giving advice is the whole purpose of this podcast, why don't I share that advice with you. Here's the email: I think the most important thing is to get some experience. That goes for any area really :-) Now I don't really know if you're interested in writing reviews and news and such, or you're more into deep diving journalism with a focus on games. It's probably going to be hard to get to do the ladder with no experience, so let's just say that you need to the former either way :-) So go find as many sites that you'd like to write for. See if they have any email accounts that accept unsolicited applications. Find their Twitter accounts and follow them. Follow as many as the writers that you can find. Just the other day, for instance, I saw the previous writer on guides for Eurogamer, tweet that they're looking for a new guide writer. So keep your eye out for openings. Vic Hood from episode 15 started as an intern for Eurogamer. But when you contact them, they'll probably like to see something you've written. So start doing that. Start a blog or a Facebook page. Or start writing on Medium. So long as you publish your stuff. Besides the writing, you need to get experience with publishing and opening yourself to criticism and feedback. And you need to start getting in the habit of writing every day. Writing something that gets published every day. That's a tremendously good skill to have, even if you one day end up with the type of job where you spend most of your time researching, and the writing is just a part of it. That's probably not a starting position anyway :-) If money is an issue, you can look into ways that your writing can earn you something without it being a proper job, just like Steven in episode 14 who posts his writing on Steemit. I know blockchain is not as hot right now as it was last year, but there are also options like Patreon and Ko-fi. Think about what type of writing you want to do. If it's news, think about how you can present news stories in a way that separates you from all the other news outlets. As a beginner, you'll probably not have the access that's needed to write investigative stories like Cecilia D'Anastasio or Jason Schreier over at Kotaku. But you can still follow the industry and write about it. Writing reviews is simpler in a way. But I would advise you to also think about your style and tone in your reviews. In my opinion, the completely subjective review is passé - and it probably never really existed - so how do you make your voice heard in a review without drowning out the information that people are looking for in a review. Or maybe your reviews is all about style and entertainment, just like Zero Punctuations videos. If you don't have access to all the latest AAA titles, what's your strategy? Free to play games? Indie games? Older games? Humble Bundles? The Xbox Box Games Pass is 10 dollars a month. And I'm not saying that you can only ever write one type of content. But be deliberate about what it is that you're doing. Put some thought into it. But most importantly: start writing. Nobody is ever going to come and ask you to write for them unless you're an established writer. So get that experience and be ready to seize the opportunities that you see. The ways that you can build your own career have never been better than they are now and getting the right education or the right titles have never meant less than it does right now. Hope you can use that! That's it for this bonus episode of Player Characters. Remember that you are more than welcome to write to me as Brandon did, the email address is: contact@playercharacters.co

Title: You have to be a leader | Jess Bolden coach and analyst Guest: Jess Bolden - Coach and analyst for PENTA Rainbow Six Siege Twitter: @jessica_r6s Twitch: twitch.tv/jesspenta Instagram: @jessbolden Highlights: Educated as a criminology specialist Got into playing games on PlayStation 2 through her dad. While at school she bought Rainbow 6 Siege for her rent money. Switched from console to PC and started her own team. Kept studying during the day and got a bachelor in criminology and justice. Moved to Europe and got the job as analyst for PENTA. Writing a book "The Three P's of Esports". Topics Being alone with your expertise in esports. In esports there isn't really full support staff available to teams. The professionals at the non-playing roles are only just now being developed. The stress of travel, pressure to deliver, getting ready to perform at a moments notice. Why is Rainbow Six Siege is attractive for women. How a background in the military and experience from the Australian online community has given Jess a thick skin. With a platform comes responsibility, if not you are enabling it. Why Jess feels that she has to stick to FPS games and avoid the more casual gaming. Games Jak and Daxter Skyrim Call of Duty Rainbow 6 Siege Links CyberGamer The Three P's of Esports: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HptXXWOG4k Astralis Meet the sports psychologist behind Astralis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FB76xQ8XL4 The Rise and Fall of The Frag Dolls: https://kotaku.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-frag-dolls-a-group-that-blaze-1832991370 The #StopToxicity campaign from North: https://www.north.gg/blog/stop-toxicity-next-step People Tom "Shas" Lee: https://twitter.com/g2shas Kevin "Sua" Stahnke: https://twitter.com/G2_Sua Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: Nobody's going to just give you the answer | Gabriel Langlois Lead Designer Guest: Gabriel Langlois Lead Designer at CAGE Studios Instagram: @CageStudios Facebook: facebook.com/cagestudios/ www.cagestudios.net/ Highlights: I talk to Gabriel about crowdfunding a game on Kickstarter, pivoting away from the survival genre, how does it feel when well-known studios like Rare and UbiSoft release AAA titles with the same theme as the one you are working on and much more. Games Sail and Sacrifice on Steam Sea of Thieves Skull and Bones Don't Look Down No Man's Sky Links Catapult Games VR Unreal Engine Blueprints Extra Credits YouTube Games Makers Toolkit - Mark Brown GDC Vault Hello Games People Jesse Schell Sean Murray Subscribe with these services: Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: Make the space readable | Jonathon Wilson Lead Designer Guest: Jonathon Wilson Lead Designer / Producer at Pocket Money Games Twitter: @Omnislash92 Highlights: I talked to Jonathon about how UX and level design cross over, crunch, communication in the team and of course his journey from studying at university, to getting a job as an intern with QA, to now being a Lead Designer. Games Metal Gear Final Fantasy Rayman Shu Esper 2 Dimension Hunter Links Coatsink EGX Rezzed Pocket Money Games Holographic Display - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lookingglass/the-looking-glass-a-holographic-display-for-3d-cre GDC Vault World of Level Design Level Design Lobby Game Maker's Notebook Jonathon's talk at Unite Berlin 2018: Worldbuilding with ProBuilder Effective Iteration & Workflow Enhancements People Hideo Kojima Ken Levine Neil Druckmann Jason Rubin Ted Price Subscribe with these services: Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: Don't take gaming so seriously | YouTuber Callum "Reaygun" Reay Guest: Callum Reay Twitter: @ReayGun YouTube: youtube.com/c/Reaygun Instagram: @ReayGun Highlights: How do you become an ArenaNet partner and what does it entail? What does it mean to study esport? Balancing competitive games for both casual players and pro players. How to standout with Guild Wars 2 content in sea of content creators and on YouTube in general. Dealing with making mistakes in your content. Games Evolve I mentioned Dying Light in the podcast, but it was actually Dead by Deadlight I was thinking about as an asymmetrical game. Guild Wars 2 Gary's Mod Links Ninjas in Pyjamas Wipeout gameshow Strafe ssports app People Day[9] Sean Anners WoodenPotatoes Dulfy Rin the Yordle Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund Subscribe with these services: Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: It should be like this, for these reasons | Chris Wilson, Design Director at Cardboard Sword Guest: Chris Wilson, Design Director at Cardboard Sword Twitter: @crwilso Cardboard Sword The Siege and the Sandfox Highlights: We talk about: How he started playing Formula One games with manual gear and a crash helmet on as a kid. How did he get a job as a designer without any prior experience as a designer. The pros and cons of working in AAA and indie. What does the day to day work of a Design Director look like. The long-term effect of crunch on people in the industry and what that means for your career in video games. Games Doom Quake Forza Horizon Formula 1 Project Gotham Racing Gran Turismo Project Cars Assetto Corsa Wipeout Mario Kart Burnout Out Run Need For Speed Doom (2016) Alien: Isolation Links Frontier Playground Games CodeMasters Slightly Mad Studios Naughty Dog Rockstar Games Respawn Creative Assembly Books Masters of Doom Subscribe with these services: Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

It's just me. No guests, I thought I'd give them and myself a little vacation. But then I saw someone mention that the end of the year, is a good occasion to look back at the year that's passed, and maybe celebrate your wins. Now I am super bad celebrating my successes. There's a voice inside me that says that if it can't be perfect, it shouldn't be done at all. You should definitely not be showing off something flawed. So this whole podcast is me trying to overcome that feeling. I deliberately try edit as little as possible and plan to edit as little as possible. Because if I record two hours of conversation, I can spend the rest of the week trying to figure out what the best parts are. But now I'm forcing myself to publish and iterate. Notice my mistakes, and do better next time. Because I want there to be a "next time", I'm simply enjoying talking to people in all areas of the industry too much. And it seems that you enjoy it too. Just before the latest episode, I saw that the total number of downloads had passed 1000 downloads. And that's just since August because I switched hosting platform. That really warms my heart and make me happy. Obviously, I'd love to have millions of downloads, but it feels good to know that this little project I started because I missed creating something in relation to video games has found an audience. So I want to thank all of you listening right now. Thank you, I mean it. And thank you to all the guests who make it possible. Without them, I would have nothing. I have a lot of plans for 2019, and hopefully, Player Characters can grow into something even bigger. So let's aim to grow those 1000 downloads by 100% That's 2000 downloads in six months, meaning by the end of 2019 - we should hit 5000 downloads. That would be absolutely phenomenal!

Title: Wouldn't you want as much information as possible | Adam Lobel, Games User Researcher at Ubisoft, Montréal Guest: Adam Lobel, Games User Researcher at Ubisoft, Montréal Twitter: @GrowingUpGaming YouTube: youtube.com/user/GrowingUpGaming Highlights: How did a psychology student from Brooklyn end up working in Montreal for one of the biggest game publishers in the world? And what did he do in Geneva and The Netherlands? We discuss whether the invention of Achievements kickstarted User Research in video games. Does the reliance on user data kill creativity and foster things like icon fatigue? Just like any other creative media the tastes of the players change, trends change, and so User Research is constantly needed because the answers are never self-evident. That also means that developers and game studios are constantly experimenting to find the right balance of things. Adam tells the story of how Microsoft and Bungie essentially started the concept of Games User Research with the first Xbox and the original Halo. People: Isabella Granic Jordan Peterson Louise Bonnamy Olivier De Maeyer Hideo Kojima Games Street Fighter II Transference Child of Light God of War FarCry: New Dawn Metal Gear Solid Halo: Combat Evolved Books Games User Research Subscribe with these services: Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: Give uniqueness to the conversation | Nida Ahmad UX'er and host on the Level Edit podcast Guest: Nida Ahmad UX'er and host on the Level Edit podcast Twitter: @NidaAhmad_ Level Edit podcast: @leveledit Highlights: We talk about what UX really is, is it manipulative? Why a game is all in the head of the player, crunch and over time, game jams, and the value of being yourself and being unique. People: Celia Hodent: celiahodent.com Chris Wilson: @crwilso Luke Wroblewski: lukew.com Games Surgeon Simulator Candy Crush Saga Links Bossa Studio: bossastudios.com/ Subscribe with these services: Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Guest: David Turner from The Computer Game Show about video games and podcasting. David has over tean years of experience making podcasts and naturally has a lot of advice to give for anybody considering starting a podcast. We talk about why they spend a lot of time arguing on The Computer Game Show and how or why you'd want to monetize your podcast. Or not

Title: You gotta jump in | Jason Howard, Graphic Designer for Twitch and Mixer Guest: Jason Howard, Graphic Designer for Twitch and Mixer Twitter: @jhoward404 Instagram: http://instagram.com/jhoward414 Twitch: http://twitch.com/jhoward414 http://414graphics.weebly.com Takeaways: Ask questions if the client doesn’t know what they want. Watermark the files you show on social media or to the client before final delivery. Make showcases in low resolution. Accept rejection. Make sure your designs are not copying other designs by accident. Don’t be afraid of it. Seek out clients by finding streamers that have no graphics. Put a screenshot of a relevant game in your photoshop file to design an overlay around. Research how to make your YouTube thumbnails stand out. Highlights: Jason started his started his fascination with games with Atari and the original NES. He has memories of coming home from school and begging: Let me play Super Mario Bros on the one TV in the house. Later went on to Super Nintendo and has owned all the common consoles ever since. Jason is also a big fan of music and he got his start as a graphics artist by doing logos for local musicians. That evolved into doing album covers and MySpace graphics. With the rise of Twitch and YouTube, his friends in gaming also started asking for logos. In the beginning, he worked for free, but eventually, he started charging money for his work. We discuss the pros and cons of working for free when you first start out with doing graphics for Twitch. Jason doesn’t charge by the hour, even though a lot of artists do with good reason. Jason streams while he works as a way to iterate on a project with a client, and at the same time showing off his talents to other potential clients and even other artists with questions. People: Professor Broman Captain Twaz King Gothalion Yung Khan Rotting Jackal Links: Guardian Con @DestinyComArt @1MoreGameCast Subscribe with these services: Support the podcast: Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: You need a business sense | Moxu Kraze, translator Guest: Moxu Kraze freelance translator Twitter: @MoxuKraze YouTube Highlights: Kraze grew up with parents who didn't really want him to play video games even though they had a Sega console at home. Possibly a bootleg version. But as a teenager, he got a laptop, discovered DragonAge and the world of video games. He's been hooked ever since. He grew up outside the US but visited with his parents and found out that he was good with languages. So he started translating by helping with a fan-translation of a novel. Even though he wasn't very good at the beginning, they had a small community that helped each other. Later he came to the US for college and stayed afterward. As a way to make money, he searched online for translating jobs. Kraze started on small projects and even got scammed a few times. But he found out that video games also need translations and figured he could combine his talent for languages with his passion for video games. After working on mobile games and smaller indie games he the opportunity to work on a big AAA game which led to more projects in the same caliber. We talk about the challenges of being a freelancer and the need to build your own client base. Even though translation is a part of video game development that doesn't get a lot of attention and in a way is almost invisible for the end user, it does take effort, there's a lot to consider and often there is not one true answer to a problem. You'll hear me show my admiration for puns in the Pokemon games, and Kraze voices his frustration that Japanese games can have both the best and the worst translations. Games: Ninja Turtles games Bare Knuckles / Streets of Rage Dragon Age Anthem Titanfall 2 Pokemon games Final Fantasy games Nioh Yakuza games Links: MeetTheTranslator hashtag Computer-assisted Translation Subscribe with these services Support the podcast Support Player Characters with Flattr

Title: Focus on the soft skills | Matt Demers social media manager for Evil Genuises Guest: Matt Demers social media manager for Evil Genuises Twitter: @mattdemers Instagram: @mattdemers Twitch: twitch.tv/mattdemers Highlights: We talk about the role of the journalist in video games today, and content creators on a broader scale. How the current model of free content paid for by ads and sponsorships is not very solid and certainly not scalable. For Matt this meant that he couldn't see himself as a games journalist in the long term. While he was taking his bachelor in journalism, Matt spend his free time watching Heroes of Newerth matches and later on League of Legends and he realised that the esports industry would need professional journalists. So he started focusing on esports both as a writer and a streamer. After quitting a job at a software company, he started freelancing in esports. While that didn't exactly make him rich, it gave him experiences and connections in the industry. At the same time Matt was very conscious of adding more than just writing to his skillset. He took courses in Photoshop in order to make GIF's for social media with technical analysis of tournament games. Eventually though he chose a more traditional employment with Evil Geniuses in order to stay healthy. Games: Super Mario World Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Super Metroid Heroes of Newerth Dota 2 League of Legends Links: Evil Geniuses theScore esports OG Dota Fly vs n0tail: https://coub.com/view/1d34xz Nintendo Power TSM (Team SoloMid) Riot Azubu (now defunct) People: Johan "N0tail" Sundstein Tal “Fly” Aizik Gustav "s4" Magnusson Andreas Franck "Cr1t-" Nielsen Hideo Kojima MonteCristo Chobra Day[9] Subscribe with these services

Title: Don't wait for someone to pay you | Esports shoutcaster Sam Wright Guest: Sam Wright - Esports shoutcaster plus tech and games blogger Blog: techgirl.co.za Facebook: facebook.com/techgirlza Twitter: @techgirlza Instagram: instagram.com/techgirlza/ YouTube Highlights: Got her start in video games with Nintendo games and playing Mortal Kombat 3 on PC that her dad had gotten. Later her brother and his friends would play Dota in the weekends, and he eventually got signed to a pro team. That lead to Sam wanting to cover the esports scene more seriously to help build the local scene. That led to working alongside Paul 'Redeye' Chaloner on a big tournament, and he told her that she could have a career in esports. That might sound like she got lucky, but she also worked hard to put herself in a situation where she could take advantage of that lucky break. Besides writing about technology and games on her blog and going esports events, she studied journalism and chose a university where she could do radio. So before working with esports, she worked in a newsroom. All these elements clearly give her a lot of useful experience and you can tell by the way she approaches a job like hosting the Overwatch Contenders that she's thought a lot about what it takes to work in esports and broadcasting in general. Games: Mortal Kombat 3 Dota Overwatch Links: Overwatch Contenders: https://overwatchcontenders.com/en-gb/ Code Red: http://coderedesports.com/ Paul Chaloner - Talking Esports – A free book on esports broadcasting People: Paul 'Redeye' Chaloner: @paulchaloner Sheever: @sheevergaming Sjokz: @sjokz Pansy: @pansy Soe: @Soembie Quickshot: @riotquickshot Subscribe with these services

Title: Write something only you can write | Video games journalist Vic Hood Guest: Vic Hood - Video games journalist Twitter: @hood_vic Highlights: Got into video games early with her dad playing Tomb Raider and playing games with her cousins. She even wanted to be a pro gamer as a kid. Went the route of creative writing and journalism and got an internship at Eurogamer. Love digging in for the deep stories Most people are willing to help, they want to see people succeed. Colleagues offer help when you mess up Games: Tomb Raider The Sims Detroit: Become Human Far Cry 5 Friday the 13th Links: Eurogamer PC Games N VG 247 Kotaku Games Press The original Demon's Souls review: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/demons-souls-review People: Wesley Yin-Poole: @wyp100 Kirk McKeand: @mckkirk Jason Schreier: @jasonschreier Julian Benson PlayerUnknown: @PLAYERUNKNOWN Christian Donlan Tom Phillips: @tomphillipseg Keza MacDonald: @kezamacdonald Subscribe with these services nqn8idss

Title: You gotta write for an audience | Steven - Independent gaming journalist Guest: Steven - Independent gaming journalist Steemit: steemit.com/@holoz0r Twitter: @holoz0r Highlights: Steven studied visual arts at university with the aim to get into video game development or video game storytelling. Got his first console from his grandparents, and eventually graduated to playing PC games at school. At the same time, he started writing his school projects in the style of the Australian magazine PC Power Play. While playing online multiplayer games he got involved with managing servers and players as an admin, which lead to working for games.on.net. Then someone suggested that he applied for the role of community manager for World in Conflict, a strategy game developed by Massive and published by Vivendi. The community role lead to writing guides and articles. But a change in management meant that he found himself in disagreement with an editor, and so he quit the writing job in protest. Steven is very interested in storytelling and he told me that writing about experiences is what makes us human. Games: Puzznic Tetris Bejeweled SimCity Gorillas Master of Orion Neverwinter Nights Half Life 2 Counter-Strike Unreal Tournament Quake 3 Day of Defeat Source World in Conflict Empire Earth III Dawn of War 2 Links: PC PowerPlay Massive Entertainment Vivendi Games GamesPress Eurogamer.net https://www.eurogamer.net/ Digital Foundry DF Retro: Metal Gear Solid 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH2ZVlOLPNI Gamers Nexus Lazy Games Reviews PC Gamer Books Lisa Cron - Wired For Story Subscribe with these services

This is Player Characters, and if you're a fan of video games and you want to get a job that has something to do with games, this show is for you. Maybe you're thinking about becoming a youtuber, a streamer, a producer, a journalist or a creative like Jens. I want to help you do that. Highlights from this episode: Jens started programming BASIC on his fathers computer and later joined the local swedish demo scene. Helped Magnus Högdahl start Starbreeze Studios and became Programmer #2 there. At one point, things were going so badly, that they had to ask for unemployment benefits, but they kept working on games in their free time. Jens left StarBreeze because he wanted something different than big AAA game development. He still accepted a job at LucasArts though. But that job turned out to be something quite different to what he signed up for. Now he's back in Sweden and has spend the last five years with his own tiny games studio, working on the very indie Yoku's Island Express, a sort of pinball metroidvania.

This is Player Characters, and if you're a fan of video games and you want to get a job that has something to do with games, this show is for you. Maybe you're thinking about becoming a youtuber, a streamer, a producer, a journalist or a creative like Regina. I want to help you do that. Highlights from this episode: Educated in design for movies - Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Earning pocket money by doing paint brush for his father To advance in your job, look at areas in the product that are overlooked and take ownership of those. Point out how things could be better, and work on it. Present your ideas, but also respect the no. As a lead how can you make sure that the team feels that they can present their ideas to you, while at the same time turning down most of those ideas. When you turn down ideas, explain why it doesn't work. Make sure to show enthusiasm for the ideas that you do pick. When you're the lead, it's important to let people fail and make mistakes. If we always do the same, and do the same. We will never evolve and be better. You have to make room for creative content that maybe won't sell as well. Think about the user, always. Look at feedback on social media, YouTube etc. If you want a job, start doing it even though you have it yet. So if you want to work in games and can't get a job, start making games. Go to game jams. Don't let other people stop you. Consider taking a shitty job if it's in a field that you have strong desire to work in. Being in the right environment can lead to a better job. And don't hold yourself back. Don't tell yourself: "I can't do that because I'm not hired to do it". Don't wait for the perfect job to show up.

This is Player Characters, and if you're a fan of video games and you want to get a job that has something to do with games, this show is for you. Maybe you're thinking about becoming a youtuber, a streamer, a producer, a journalist or a streamer like today's guest Candy Explosives. I want to help you do that. Candy got her love for games from her dad, who was kind enough to get her a PlayStation for Christmas. But obviously he had to try it out for himself first. That started a life long love for video games, so it was only natural to get a degree in computer games design. That lead to her first job in software testing, but she found that she would rather be playing games than making them. And then when the PlayStation 4 arrived with the share button right there on the controller, she just had to try streaming. In this episode we discuss how Rainbow Six Siege went from a bit of a niche game, to a massive success. Candy mention how her brief experience with the Destiny community was an incredibly positive experience, and how streamers in general are very welcoming and willing to help other streamers.

This is Player Characters, and if you're a fan of video games and you want to get a job that has something to do with games, this show is for you. Maybe you're thinking about becoming a youtuber, a streamer, a producer, a journalist or a writer like Michael the guest in this episode. I want to help you do that. Michael actually never pictured himself as a games writer, and he started his career focusing on movie with a degree in film and media science. He was involved in making music videos as a way to get to do movies, but ended up writing on Hitman Absolution through a friend. Through that experience he discovered that games and Hitman in particular could actually be the medium to tell the kind of stories that he liked. And even though Michael actually says that he doesn't really have any advice for aspiring writers, he clearly has a lot to say about games and writing. We also talk about how our imagination works for us, and how games as a medium is very well suited to take advantage of that. And how stories in games have gotten better and more complex in AAA titles as well as indie games.

Title: From Edge Magazine to Angry Birds 2 | Author, designer, and product manager Will Luton Guest: Will Luton: http://will-luton.co.uk Twitter: https://twitter.com/will_luton Book: Free 2 Play - Making Money from Games You Give Away Highlights: Will tells the story of how he first got introduced to video games via a very early console, that his father used to test tv's as a tv engineer. Later Will got a job at Sega in the QA department, and from there he worked his way into producing games. And his expertise and view on games has given him the chance to write for Edge Magazine and PockerGamer.biz. Among many topics we talk going to school to get a job in video games, why Agile development is such a good fit for games development, and crunch plus how to avoid it.

Title: Meet up in person and start shaking hands | Freelance Game & Screenwriter Morten Brunbjerg Guest: Morten Brunbjerg | https://www.mortenbrunbjerg.dk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mortenbrunbjerg Twitter: https://twitter.com/mortenbrunbjerg Highlights: Morten tells the story about how he always wanted to write, but had to support himself with a education in IT and later a job as an IT teacher, because getting hired as a writer was difficult. But he kept writing, and read all he could about writing. And luckily he was able to get a mentor, who could help with getting better at writing. We talk about the main differences between writing a regular story, and writing fora video game. And how Mortens background in IT and programming came in handy when he started making video game stories in Excell spreadsheets. Games: Monkey Island: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Island_(series) Another World: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_World_(video_game) Flashback: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashback_(1992_video_game) The Last of Us: http://www.thelastofus.playstation.com/index.html Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons: http://store.steampowered.com/app/225080/Brothers__A_Tale_of_Two_Sons/ Inside: http://www.playdead.com/games/inside/ Forgotten Anne: https://www.forgottonanne.com/ Links: IO Interactive: https://www.ioi.dk/ Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: https://www.netflix.com/title/80171362 Mr. Plinkett reviews The Phantom Menace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI

Guest: Ben - Slothyy Twitter: @getslothyy Steemit: steemit.com/@getslothyy Dlive: dlive.io/@getslothyy) ### Advice: Leverage all you possible can. Your brand is your most important thing besides your product. Find that little niche and run it, make it yours. Don't copy what everybody else is doing. Either get a website going or get an e-mail list going and just engage with people. Send them a weekly update. Send out a little digest. For your personal brand you could do a weekly recap of your favorite moment or your most valuable lesson of the week for others that are trying to follow in your footsteps. Whatever it maybe. Do something that sets you apart from others. ### Highlights: Ben talks about how his passion for gaming started with playing NES with his father and also going to Magic the Gathering tournaments in addition to doing his own tournaments with friends and family. Later he got lost in World of Warcraft. We talk about how the experiences in games and in MMO's in particular, whether in Player versus Player or in the cooperative setting of raids, can teach you valuable life lessons in getting humbled and being humble. Later he started building and repairing computers and that led to starting his own company. That it turn led to making websites, and optimising those to get more traffic. Fair warning: we talk quite a bit about cryptocurrencies and especially Steem and the Steemit platform, as that is where Ben is focused at the moment. ### Games: Overwatch Paladins World of Warcraft Magic the Gathering ### Links: Alterac Valley in World of Warcraft Penny Arcade: First impression of Battlegrounds Infected Mushroom Steemit DTube Dlive Steepshot Steem is handling more than half of all blockchain transactions Crowdfire

My guest in this episode is actor Alex Lehman. Alex tells the story of how and why he added motion capture for video games to his already impressive acting CV. Why does it take an actor to do motion capture? Why not just use a person who is professionally doing those movements? We get into the differences between traditional acting with an audience where everything is live and you have one take, and using your body to very precisely express movements and feelings through possibly any number of takes. We talk about how the agency of a video game in some ways conflicts with the fact that story is often told through pace and timing. If you want to hear more interviews with people working with video games, please subscribe to Player Characters on SoundCloud or iTunes and of course tell all of your friends. You can find show notes and links on freeplay.co/playercharacters

Thomas is celebrating 20 years in game design, and is now a freelance designer in what he calls "full stack design". His interest in video games actually runs parallel with his passion for board games, a passion that started with pen and paper roleplaying games. Hear the story of how Thomas started as an intern and worked his way to a senior position - twice. Hear how IO grew along with the rest of the gaming industry, and basically had to figure out how to make games at a bigger and bigger scale. Along the way, they helped define what a Game Designer is. Thomas has an interesting view on unrealistic deadlines and how they can actually be useful, because "creativity finds a way".

Learn the origins of the Two Button Crew name, and how it's actually so much more than "just" a YouTube channel for and by Nintendo fans. Scott and Simeon tell about the respective memories and experiences with gaming and Nintendo games in particular, and the Big N is the cream of the crop in their eyes. I ask them about how and why they started their YouTube channel, and get and insight into their strategy on how they actively foster a positive community. And of course I get the details on how they manage to publish five videos each week, and practical advice on how to start on YouTube.

In this episode my guest is Tim "Teemo" Ashton who works for cybersport.com where concentrates primarily on League of Legends. But Tim has also worked as a barista before running a GameStop, and then he started to talk about video games every chance he got. I want to thank you for listening to this episode of Player Characters If you want to hear more interviews with people working with video games, please subscribe to Player Characters on SoundCloud or iTunes and of course tell all of your friends. You can find show notes and links on freeplay.co/playercharacters

An interview with Jesper Nielsen from EA Dice about what it means to be a video game producer. I want to thank you for listening to this episode of Player Characters If you want to hear more interviews with people working with video games, please subscribe to Player Characters on iTunes and of course tell all of your friends. You can find show notes and links on www.playercharacters.co

An interview with Rasmus Rolfshøj giving a bit of advice on how to make it in the video game industry. Rasmus works as a digital artist for IO Interactive and I talked to him about his job and how he got to where he is today. We talked about how it is work to in a big games company, what kind of games he plays, how he got into gaming in the first place and lots of other stuff. I want to thank you for listening to this episode of Player Characters If you want to hear more interviews with people working with video games, please subscribe to Player Characters on SoundCloud or iTunes and of course tell all of your friends. You can find show notes and links on freeplay.co/playercharacters