The Genesis Temple Podcast

Together with Fawzi Mesmar we look back at his long career in gaming, how to handle burnout, the importance of going beyond your limits and working in so many different countries. Fawzi is on Twitter @FawziMesmar

I sit down with the creative director of Polygon Treehouse to discuss his years working in the gaming industry, going from Sony to full indie, how to approach indie publishing and his work on his latest game, Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island. You can find Alex on Twitter (@Kanaratron, @PolyTreehouse) and find out more about Polygon Treehouse here.

In the final episode of Season 2, I go back in time with writer/producer Richard Moss as we discuss the 80s/90s in playing on an Apple computer and - naturally - the shareware years: where did shareware come from, how did it fade and the different experience between Europe and the United States. Along the way, we also touch upon demo discs nostalgia.

I discuss with game designer/writer Xalavier Nelson Jr. the beauty of living in the brainspace of a different world while playing a game, the importance of "choices matter" along with consequences and the way the games we play as kid shape our roles and work as adults.

A very pleasant talk with narrative designer Ben Gelinas on the beauty of writing small details for characters in games from AAA like Mass Effect 3 to small indie visual novels like Speed Dating for Ghosts. We also talk about collecting physical games and dwell into a whole forest of obscure titles.

New Zealand and Sweden come together as I welcome Dave Oshry to the podcast. He is one of the hardest working people in the gaming industry today and we talked about his first contact with the FPS genre, his work on the Rise of the Triad reboot, learning to work as a video game producer and what really makes a "boomer shooter" special.

I welcome Dave Gilbert to the podcast to pick his brain about adventure games and nostalgia. We touch upon the birth of the Adventure Game Studio community, the role of Wadjet Eye as a publisher and also get pleasantly derailed talking about voice acting in games and directing voice actors.

Together with Stephen Kick of Nightdive studios we take a quick look back at some of the FPS that made us fall in love with the genre as kids, before diving head on into the work around the titles released by the company, touching upon the issues with game preservation and possible ideas for future remasters.

New iteam reveal! I have a new podcast format going live which, starting from Episode 2, will be made exclusively available for "Columns" patrons. "Bits of Game Design" will be a series of short (10-15 minutes or more if the topic deserves more scrutiny) weekly podcast episodes centered on classic, and less classic, games, with a quick but in-depth look at their game design and mechanics, to find out what is still relevant today along with providing, hopefully, some food for thought. Starting next week, I will feature a poll for Columns patrons so they can decide which game I shall cover in episode number two and all future episodes. Enjoy this new format!

A very pleasant talk with Jess Morrissette about his years spent with the Sierra games, toxic gaming culture throughout the 80s and 90s plus a possible approach for a game writer in writing sensitive topics, like the correct usage of content warnings.

A very pizza centered episode, as me and Yann discuss his adventure games inspirations, the episodes that would go to inform the narrative in his Inspector Waffles adventure and, of course, a whole lot of pizza: from Naples to Rome.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Florent Guillaume, creative director of Dontnod entertainment, about how the games we play as a child shape our imagination (and his original childhood plans for a sequel to The Legend of Zelda!), the role of a level designer in shaping the narrative of a game and his work on many of Dontnod's important games, along with how the company can help improve things in the current gaming world.

In this very Swedish episode, I speak with Oskar Stålberg about his ideas on game design, his inspirations (Scandinavian and beyond) and his experience on marketing. We also discuss his years in studying as a programmer and how difficult it might be to think of a possible education model for an indie developer. Also: games as "toys".

Lovecraft, gone but not forgotten, as together with game designer and writer Agustin Cordes we discuss about his experience with the Providence writer, along with his early gaming influence and growing up in Argentina. Along the way we also, naturally, discuss Scratches and its Director's cut, along with touching upon the failed Kickstarter of the Case of Charles Dexter Ward and look forward to the release of Asylum.

In what is the most freeform episode yet, with indie developer Jack King-Spooner we ponder about the nature of games, their weirdness and his inspirations for all that fascinating peculiar stuff that he puts in. Along the way we stumble upon various topics, such as politics and fascism, and what about a game based on sex trafficking in Austria? You can find Jack's games here.

A Mediterranean get-together of sorts as Greece and Italy meet. With Konstantinos we chatted about the early gaming industry in Greece, how to design a city in games and a whole lot of horror and Lovecraft as well. It is not Halloween, but we always love to talk horror. Check out Konstantinos' book, Virtual Cities.

In the first episode of the second season of the Genesis Temple podcast I talk with journalist and games writer Richard Cobbett about his experience in writing for Failbetter games, his current work on Nighthawks and, especially, how to completely change our way of thinking about bad games.

In the final episode of the first season, I have the pleasure of speaking to Steve Ince, a writer and game developer I've been following for quite a few years, ever since getting into the Broken Sword series and speaking with him on the Adventure Gamers forums. We naturally speak a bit about his career, especially on some more obscure titles like Gold and Glory: The Road to El Dorado. Topics of discussion will also be the current state of the adventure gaming genre, the problem with its "name" and the future of the industry.

Together with Jesse Gregoire, I reach Julia Minamata to talk about her upcoming adventure game, her inspirations, her work as a solo indie dev with the Playdate and also discuss puzzles and the adventure genre.

Damiano sits down together with co-host journalist Jesse Gregoire, to have a nice conversation with Francisco Gonzalez, designer of Lamplight City, A Golden Wake and future adventure Rosewater. We chat about adventure design, genre tropes and a whole lot of animal cruelty.

Me and Jay Tholen sit down for a nice chat about the good old days of the internet, how a sense of community inspired the overall design of Hypnospace Outlaw, how to make a prog rock title that might not be entirely terrible and religion in gaming.

I sit with fellow gaming journalist and expert in history Jack Yarwood to trade tips, experiences and interesting anectodes encountered while writing stories.

I sat down with Daniel Adams and James Patton curious to talk about the hardships of developing Silicon Dreams, their overall preferences in game design and their inspirations in writing. But, naturally, since this is the GT podcast we touched upon a whole lot of random topics from Quantic Dream to Discworld and I also had the pleasure of answering a question from them!

I sit down with writer and graphic designer Daniele Giardini to talk about his work on Still There, narrative in adventure games, how can mediums like comics and videogames influence each other and a whole bunch of nonsense cause we are two crazy Italians.

I sit down with game designer Saverio Caporusso of Troglobytes Games (HyperParasite) to discuss the importance of marketing for indie studios, how to better promote an indie game and his experience on HyperParasite and Blind Fate:Edo no Yami.

In the first episode of the Genesis Temple podcast, I speak with Mark Yohalem about Loom, people's reactions to Strangeland, puzzle design and how faster walking speed can make everything a bit more tolerable.