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In this follow up to episode 15, Michael gives a brief postmortem about releasing his first Playstation 4 title.

We discuss the process for getting approved through the ESRB as well as Europe’s PEGI system, in addition to how to prevent burnout and fatigue from working on one project for too long.

Sony’s fatastic services for independent developers are highlighted as well, and I inquire about Michael’s decision to stick with MonoGame for his current and future titles.

Benjamin Briggs

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs.

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs

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@DaveVoyles

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PC, Unity

Episode 18 – Livid Interactive

January 14, 2015 By Dave Voyles No Comments

Melissa Pennock, Jacob Pennock, and Mike Schaiman

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Joining me today are Game Designer / Leader Developer Jacob Pennock, Executive Producer Mike Schaiman, & Art Director Melissa Pennock of Livid Interactive.

We talk diversifying a studio, making money in the middleware marketplace, how to stay afloat as an indie, and how they use Intel’s RealSense technology and Unity to create their gesture based first person combat game, Head of the Order.

In 2010, the husband/wife team of Jacob and Melissa Pennock founded a small studio in North Carolina called Unicorn Forest Games. Unicorn Forest was mainly focused on providing outsourcing services, for games on facebook and mobile devices.

Soon after arriving in California, Jacob was introduced to Mike Schaiman, and joined the team at Helios Interactive. Helios uses a variety of technologies to build interactive experiences for consumers in retail and at large events.

In 2013, Head of the Order, a tech demo, was entered into Intel’s Perceptual Computing Challenge, and took the first place prize in the games category.

Early in 2014, Helios took notice of the potential of the game, and the saw an opportunity for the company to open a new games division. So Livid Interactive was created, under the wing of its parent company, Helios. Their latest title, Head of the Order, is a magical fantasy game played entirely with gestural spell casts. It’s format is similar to a tournament style fighting game but with magic instead of martial arts.

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs

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@DaveVoyles

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HTML5, PC, WebGL

Episode 17 – Illyriad Games

December 14, 2014 By Dave Voyles No Comments

Illyriad (ih-lih-re-ad) Games is an independent studio based across three continents. Realizing that WebGL isn’t just a pipe dream, they’ve built their latest game on it. Their lcurrent title, Age of Ascent, is built on a custom WebGL engine, and is using Azure as a backend, with the ability to scale to 50k+ concurrent users.

Joining me tonight are CTO, Ben Adams, and CEO, James Niesewand. We discuss what it’s like to manage a small team of developers across 3 continents, the importance of managing every last bit of processing power, when it comes to a game that scales to this size, and performance implications across browsers.

Benjamin Briggs

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs.

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs

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@DaveVoyles

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PC, XNA

Episode 16 – Wimbus Studios

November 25, 2014 By Dave Voyles No Comments

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Founded in 2011, and based out of Wilmington DE, Wimbus Studios is the culmination of a few friends wanting to get together and make video games! Fueled by the passion to make awesome games that they would love to play themselves, Wimbus Studios is dedicated to making games that don’t suck! Their first title, The Island of Eternal Struggle, is a turn based RPG adventure.

Joining me today is Steve Sefchick, and Mike Williams. Becky Mount is also part of the team, but not able to make it on that evening. Join us as we talk about how they got started, why game development can often take so long, and their decision to stick with XNA and MonoGame at this time.

Benjamin Briggs

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs.

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs

-----------------------
@DaveVoyles

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Playstation, Unity, Xbox 360, XNA

Episode 15 – Michael Hicks

November 13, 2014 By Dave Voyles No Comments

Listen to the podcast here.

Designer and musician on Pillar, a collection of minigames, each with unique personalities and challenges, which his headed to PS4.

Previously, Michael and I had coordinated the third Indie Games Summer Uprising in 2012, which was a showcase for XNA developers on Xbox 360. Additionally, Michael had created Sententia and released it at the time as well.

As though that’s not enough, Michael finished college this summer, and earned a BA in Computer Science.

We talk about going from C++ to XNA, writing your own engines, the current pricing structure of indie games, and what his experience was like at Full Sail University.

Benjamin Briggs

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs.

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs

-----------------------
@DaveVoyles

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Construct 2, Unity, XNA

Episode 14 – Erik Umenhofer, Firebelly Studios

October 24, 2014 By Dave Voyles No Comments

Listen to the podcast here.

.NET Developer by day, and game dev by night, Bay Area resident Erik Umenhofer has been quietly working on games for several years, from the comfort of his own home. First he started with XNA, before making the transition to Construct 2, and has finally settled on Unity.

Listen in as we talk about the good old days of the Commodore 64, solving problems through technology, and the way Construct 2 handles wrapping games for each platform. Going by the studio name Firebellys, their upcoming release, Temporus, a 2D sci-fi sidescrolling platformer is aiming for a release in 2015.

Benjamin Briggs

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs.

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs

-----------------------
@DaveVoyles

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Linux, Mac, PC, Unity

Episode 13 – Richard Weeks, Total Monkery

May 28, 2014 By Dave Voyles No Comments

Listen to the podcast here.

Download the .mp3 here

Total Monkery is an independent game development company and family business with a healthy fixation on mockery, puns and primates. Created in 2012 by game development veteran Richard Weeks (LucasArts, Psygnosis), Total Monkery aims not only to produce high-quality products, but also to foster new talents, collaborate with passionate indies and contribute value to the industry we love.

We talk the FM Towns Marty, his experiences at Psygnosis and LucasArts, and the necessary skills for establishing and maintaining a studio of his own. Furthermore, we conclude the discussion with the importance of keeping in touch with your audience during development, either by use of Twitch.TV, blogging, and attending industry events.

Benjamin Briggs

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs.

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs

-----------------------
@DaveVoyles

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Unity

Episode 12 – Russ Clarke, West London Games

April 30, 2014 By Dave Voyles 1 Comment

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Download the .mp3 here

West London Games is a British independent game studio founded by Russ Clarke to develop the ultimate exploration and combat game, TerraTech. Russ has previously worked at London’s Ideaworks mobile studio until 2012. He developed the first prototype for TerraTech by himself shortly afterwards, pulling in his experience from working on beloved franchises like Metal Gear, Call of Duty, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider and Fable. After spending some time working as a consultant he returned to the TerraTech prototype to turn his vision into a full blown indie project.

Join us as we discuss the radical growth of “Let’s Plays” and how they can be beneficial to the developer. Moreover, we start with his first machine, the BBC Micro, and how the experiences for gamers in the UK contrasted those of gamers in the US in the 80s and early 90s.

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs.

All music is courtesy of Benjamin Briggs

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@DaveVoyles

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Android, iOS, PC

Episode 11 – James Parker, Opposable Games

April 11, 2014 By Dave Voyles No Comments