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Episodes
A bi-weekly video game development podcast by John R. Diaz, a veteran game designer who goes 1:1 in candid conversations with the developers behind today‘s hit games where we discuss their journey and learnings in this wild industry with no punches pulled. John is a kid born to emigrants from the Dominican Republic in New York City, raised with lots of love, off of food stamps & welfare, where English was not his native language, who got lucky enough to find his passion in developing video games. It took him years in college before figuring out that video game development was something he could learn and do. It wasn‘t until 2007 when he got his lucky 1 in a million chance to get his foot in the door, which required him to move away from all of his family into a city that he knew no one in, Austin Texas to work on his first game Blacksite Area 51 with Midway Games. Since then he‘s gone on to work on some of the biggest games of our time including Grand Theft Auto V and both Red Dead Redemptions. However that road was long, exhausting, and expensive, and it didn‘t have to be. That‘s why he‘s making this show. The video game industry needs more people from all walks of life, beliefs, countries, cultures, languages, shapes, sizes, and origins to make the next big game the world wants to play. If John could do it so can you. This show is all about sharing the experiences of his network, the developers behind the games you love and play, including Game Designers, Animators, Artists, Producers, Engineers, Testers, Directors, Writers, and everything in between, sharing their stories and advice, to answer all those questions you have about how video games are made, and how do you even become a game developer. If you are making video games or want to make them this show is for you, the current & future video game developers where we discuss our art and motivations out of the lines, out of the play area. This is to help put you on to get the opportunity to make the video games you want to play, by hearing how they are made and how the people got here. http://outofplayarea.com Connect with us on Twitter @OutOfPlayArea & the host John R. Diaz. @ElKingpin
Episodes
Monday Oct 17, 2022
Monday Oct 17, 2022
Episode 39 features Jason Knobler, a Senior Staff Engineer at Lightning Games in Philadelphia. Jay’s a fellow Full Sail University alumni, who has worked as an Engineer on Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption, and is also writing his own Harmony Game Engine.
Chapters:
- (00:00) John’s Life Notes
- (4:15) Who is Jason Knobler?
- (14:19) Origins
- (28:41) First Job Digital Embryo
- (40:38) Rockstar San Deigo & Red Dead Redemption
- (01:14:03) Going Back to Philly
- (01:17:05) Harmony Game Engine part 2
- (01:26:24) John’s Outro
Links:
Harmoney Game Engine GitHub: https://github.com/GameOverture/HarmonyEngine
Jay’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Game_Overture
Jay’s Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/game_overture
Connect with the host: http://elkingpin.com
Come On The Show: https://outofplayarea.com
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/out-of-play-area/id1550421307
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Da0qLAOBi6rV6ccSzx1gX?si=043f4ec5a6034bf0
Follow @outofplayarea & @elkingpin on Twitter
Check out Descript using my affiliate url: http://descript.com?lmref=john@outofplayarea.com
Monday Aug 15, 2022
Monday Aug 15, 2022
Episode 38 features Claude Jerome, a Lead Gameplay Designer for Firewalk Studios part of the Probably Monsters family. Claude’s experience has led him from Vicarious Visions, 1st Playable, to Microsoft on Project Spark, and Bungie on Destiny to where he is today. We talk about how he got where he is, where he’s trying to go, and everything in between.
Chapters:
- (00:00) John’s Life Notes
- (2:56) Who is Claude Jerome?
- (17:23) Island Mates
- (24:26) Firewalk Studios & Probably Monsters
- (46:08) Building Culture
- (50:18) Bungie
- (01:09:32) Project Spark at Microsoft
- (01:19:45) East Coast Dev
- (01:27:33) Origin
- (01:38:07) Final Round
- (01:49:19) John’s Outro
Links:
Claude’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Claude_Jerome
Claude’s LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudejerome/
Game Devs of Color Expo 2020: Advanced Game Feel: https://youtu.be/EABa8X3lEPM
Project Spark E3 Demo: https://youtu.be/m37sVEgJrOA
Connect with the host: http://elkingpin.com
Come On The Show: https://outofplayarea.com
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/out-of-play-area/id1550421307
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Da0qLAOBi6rV6ccSzx1gX?si=043f4ec5a6034bf0
Follow @outofplayarea & @elkingpin on Twitter
Check out Descript using my affiliate url: http://descript.com?lmref=john@outofplayarea.com
Monday Jul 25, 2022
Monday Jul 25, 2022
Episode 37 features Chris Cole a Senior Pipeline Technical Artist working at Amazon Game Studios as of the debut of this episode. We discuss his time at Survios working in VR, breaking in on Blacksite Area 51 at Midway Austin, life at Blizzard working on World of Warcraft, and we discuss ways to better manage and retain your talent.
Chapters:
- (00:00) John’s Intro
- (2:10) Who is Chris Cole?
- (13:15) Amazon Game Studios
- (25:39) Breaking in at Midway Austin
- (41:03) Leadership Style
- (52:47) Neuro-Divergence & Superpowers
- (01:15:07) Activision Blizzard
- (01:24:05) Pay Transparency
- (01:38:47) Final Round
- (01:44:09) John’s Outro
Links:
Chris’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/overlorddagon/
Electric Nodes UE Plugin: https://unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/electronic-nodes
Connect with the host: http://elkingpin.com
Come On The Show: https://outofplayarea.com
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/out-of-play-area/id1550421307
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Da0qLAOBi6rV6ccSzx1gX?si=043f4ec5a6034bf0
Follow @outofplayarea & @elkingpin on Twitter
Check out Descript using my affiliate url: http://descript.com?lmref=john@outofplayarea.com
Monday Jul 04, 2022
Monday Jul 04, 2022
Episode 36 features Leon Kuperman, who gets his gamedev cred from text based Zork style adventures, and is a Co-founder and CTO at CAST AI. Formerly Vice President of Security Products OCI at Oracle, Leon’s professional experience spans across tech companies such as IBM, Truition, and HostedPCI. He founded and served as the CTO of Zenedge, an enterprise security company protecting large enterprises with a cloud WAF. Leon has 20+ years of experience in product management, software design, and development, all the way through to production deployment. He is an authority on cloud computing, web application security and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), e-commerce, and web application architecture. And that's where we talk about his journey through development, his views on building a resilient team and product, and more.
Chapters:
- (00:00) John’s Intro
- (3:20) Who is Leon Kuperman?
- (14:45) Computer Scientists
- (22:14) Cloud Computing
- (34:57) Cloud Instance Pricing
- (43:01) Cast.AI
- (50:57) Finding the Right Fit
- (01:04:35) Company Culture
- (01:15:45) Final Round
- (01:23:38) John’s Outro
Links:
Claim this Exclusive Offer from Cast.AI: https://cast.ai/outofplayarea/
Leon’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itexecutivecto/
Follow Cast. AI on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cast_ai
Connect with the host: http://elkingpin.com
Come On The Show: https://outofplayarea.com
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/out-of-play-area/id1550421307
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Da0qLAOBi6rV6ccSzx1gX?si=043f4ec5a6034bf0
Follow @outofplayarea & @elkingpin on Twitter
Check out Descript using my affiliate url: http://descript.com?lmref=john@outofplayarea.com
Tuesday Jun 21, 2022
Tuesday Jun 21, 2022
Episode 35 of Out of Play Area the game developer's podcast, we sit down with the creator of Treachery in Beatdown City and discuss founding his company NuChallenger, alongside his time working in the Game Devs of Color Expo, as well as his journey from NYC and the games industry.
Chapters:
- (00:00) Who is Shawn Alexander Allen?
- (11:14) Sneakerhead Transformation
- (23:49) Hip-Hop
- (29:57) NuChallenger Full Time
- (37:29) Running Your Own Studio
- (43:29) Treachery in Beatdown City
- (58:52) Inspirations and Origins
- (01:09:58) Combat Mechanics
- (01:28:36) Game Devs of Color Expo
- (01:48:33) Game Dev Origin
- (02:00:38) John’s Outro
Links:
Shawn’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnalexanderallen/
Shawn’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShawnDoubleA
GDC Vault - Independent Games Summit: Indie SoapBox - https://gdcvault.com/play/1027343/Independent-Games-Summit-Indie
GDC Vault - Knights, Fist Fights, Lasers & Catacombs: Subversive Diversity to Improve Our Games - https://gdcvault.com/play/1023756/Knights-Fist-Fights-Lasers-Catacombs (Beyond Basic Represenation)
Treachery in Beatdown City: A Postmortem #GDoCExpo 2021 - https://youtu.be/4YKA_swJm5A
Game Devs of Color Expo's Shawn Alexander Allen on COVID-19, Allyship & Future Plans - https://youtu.be/MKRl1TeOlQA
Connect with the host: http://elkingpin.com
Come On The Show: https://outofplayarea.com
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/out-of-play-area/id1550421307
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Da0qLAOBi6rV6ccSzx1gX?si=043f4ec5a6034bf0
Follow @outofplayarea & @elkingpin on Twitter
Check out Descript using my affiliate url: http://descript.com?lmref=john@outofplayarea.com
Monday Jun 06, 2022
Monday Jun 06, 2022
Henry Golding is a Principal Software Engineering Lead at Xbox Game Studios currently spreading the significance of Test Driven Development and Automated Testing in Game Development. He's a native of the UK who has programmed for Sea of Thieves, Minecraft, Disney Universe, and Dead Space: Extraction for the Wii.
We talk about his latest endeavors as well as discuss his journey into the games industry.
Chapters:
- (00:00) Who is Henry Golding?
- (11:21) Software Architecture In Games
- (25:13) Development Team Dynamics
- (37:30) Academics & University
- (51:02) Deadspace Extraction
- (01:05:44) Rare & Work Visas
- (01:19:01) Breaking in at Microsoft
- (01:27:19) Final Round
- (01:37:43) John’s Outro
Links:
Henry’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hgolding/
Henry’s MobyGames:https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,451834/
The Games Automated Testing Resource Hub : https://trello.com/b/nGE5yqZk/game-automated-testing-resource-hub
Henry’s GDC Talk - Lessons Learned in Adapting the 'Sea of Thieves' Automated Testing Methodology to 'Minecraft' https://gdcvault.com/play/1027345/Lessons-Learned-in-Adapting-the
Connect with the host: http://elkingpin.com
Come On The Show: https://outofplayarea.com
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/out-of-play-area/id1550421307
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Da0qLAOBi6rV6ccSzx1gX?si=043f4ec5a6034bf0
Follow @outofplayarea & @elkingpin on Twitter
Check out Descript using my affiliate link: http://descript.com?lmref=john@outofplayarea.com
Monday May 23, 2022
Monday May 23, 2022
Kent Hudson is a fellow Midway Austin colleague who now serves as a Design Director for Brass Lion Entertainment.
We talk about his start at Ion Storm on Deus Ex in Austin TX, then his jump to 2K Marin on Bioshock 2, and end with his indie hit The Novelist and everything in between.
Chapters:
- (00:00) Who is Kent Hudson
- (15:38) Ion Storm
- (24:12) Shipping Deus Ex
- (39:09) Midway Austin Criminal
- (51:23) Leaving for 2K Marin
- (01:06:10) Bioshock 2
- (01:34:06) Going Indie The Novelist
- (01:57:36) Contract Advice
- (02:07:55) Brass Lion Entertainment
- (02:17:39) Final Round
- (02:23:29) John’s Outro
Links:
Follow Kent on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KentInPublic
Kent's MobyGames: https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,70322/
Connect with the host: http://elkingpin.com
Come On The Show: https://outofplayarea.com
Learn more about Brass Lion Entertainment: https://brasslionentertainment.com/careers/
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/out-of-play-area/id1550421307
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Da0qLAOBi6rV6ccSzx1gX?si=043f4ec5a6034bf0
Follow @outofplayarea & @elkingpin on Twitter
Fast Company Article on Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney - https://www.fastcompany.com/90741893/epic-games-ceo-tim-sweeney-talks-the-metaverse-crypto-and-antitrust
Monday May 09, 2022
Monday May 09, 2022
Zach Mumbach is a designer & producer at the Wandering Band who spent 17+ years at EA as a producer on Dante's Inferno, Dead Space, Battlefield: Hardline, Godfather 2, Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel, the Simpsons and more. We talk about his journey in and out of games and more.
Chapters:
- (00:00) Who is Zach Mumbach
- (07:21) Visceral Games & Ragtag
- (18:28) Critical Skills
- (27:32) Managing External Teams
- (35:51) Being a Closer
- (47:37) Montreal Memories
- (56:10) Pitching at EA
- (01:05:56) Rag Tag
- (01:15:22) Time for New Adventures
- (01:27:34) Something Calls You Back
- (01:37:55) Publishing with Epic
- (01:45:50) Final Round
- (01:53:16) John’s Outro
Links:
Follow Zach on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zachulon
Zach’s MobyGames: https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,164514/
Connect with the host: http://elkingpin.com
Come On The Show: https://outofplayarea.com
Check out his latest game Airborne Kingdom: https://www.airbornekingdom.com/
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/out-of-play-area/id1550421307
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Da0qLAOBi6rV6ccSzx1gX?si=043f4ec5a6034bf0
Follow @outofplayarea & @elkingpin on Twitter
Monday Apr 25, 2022
Monday Apr 25, 2022
Episode 31 features Ben Retan, a Lead AI & Encounter Designer at 2K’s Hangar 13 Studio out of Novato California. Ben is an old Midway Austin homie as well as a fellow Full Sail University alumni whose credits include Star Wars the Force Unleashed 1 & 2 for his days at LucasArts. We talk about Quantum Computing, Game Design, Dream Week, and more.
Chapters:
- (00:00) Who is Ben Retan?
- (7:49) Discord or Slack?
- (18:31) LucasArts
- (33:01) Quantum Computing
- (39:10) Back to GameDev
- (49:46) Game AI
- (57:58) All About Marketing
- (01:05:40) Dream Week
- (01:18:55) Final Round
- (01:27:45) John’s Outro
Links:
Ben’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benretan/
Ben’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/benretan
Ben’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/benretan/
Discord: Ben "Phrost" Retan#1337
Ben’s MobyGames: https://www.mobygames.com/developer/ben-retan/credits/developerId,368591/
Connect with the host: http://elkingpin.com
Come On The Show: https://outofplayarea.com
Learn more about Full Sail University https://www.fullsail.edu/
Monday Apr 11, 2022
Monday Apr 11, 2022
Episode 30 features Chris Bourassa, a Design Director at Polyarc working out of Seattle. Chris is a fellow Full Sail University of Alumni with over 15 years of game design and engineering experience having worked on Midnight Club LA & Red Dead Redemption at Rockstar San Diego and Carnage Racing at Tiny Giant on Mobile, to his last game Moss 1 & 2.
Chapters:
- (00:00) Who is Chris Bourassa?
- (13:05) Moss 1 Design Responsibilities
- (22:16) Player Empathy & Game Balancing
- (32:44) Design Director Moves
- (40:41) Game Dev Origin & Full Sail University
- (58:13) Working on Midnight Club LA
- (01:07:56) Designing Stronghold For Red Dead Redemption
- (01:20:19) Startup Life
- (01:28:06) Final Round
- (01:39:51) John's Final Thoughts & Teaser
Episode Resources:
Chris Bourassa’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bourassa86
Polyarc’s Careers :https://www.polyarcgames.com/work
Connect with the host: http://elkingpin.com
Show: https://outofplayarea.com
Learn more about Full Sail University https://www.fullsail.edu/