Game Developer Podcast

This week on the Game Developer Podcast, senior editor Bryant Francis, former Maxis senior engineer David "Rez" Graham and former Take-Two head of AI Dr. Luke Dicken—both celebrated experts in the field of video game AI—are tackling the "black hole" of a topic that is generative AI. Graham and Dicken have spent their careers studying AI techniques to help developers make better, more exciting games, and they have had lots of opinions watching their field of expertise become the explosively large business driving excitement in Silicon Valley.

This is a conversation about AI and AI techniques, but it’s also a conversation about the nature of work, what goals we’re trying to achieve when we use AI technology, and the inherent value of AI in game development.

Learn more about David “Rez” Graham: https://www.academyart.edu/academics/game-development/ 

Learn more about Luke Dicken: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukedicken

Learn more about Suck Up: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2726370/Suck_Up/

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The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft.

Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com

Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews
Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial

Music by Mike Meehan
Edited by Pierre Landriau

This week on the Game Developer Podcast, we’re diving into the discipline of localization—the undersung heroes of the video game industry. Localizers and translators are the ones who make it possible for games to sell beyond the borders of their native language—but they’re also the ones facing brutal cuts and threats to their jobs in the face of cost-cutting and dodgy implementation of generative AI. They sometimes aren’t even properly credited for their work.

As it turns out, many developers never get a chance to speak with their colleagues in the world of localization, and there’s plenty of best practices that haven’t proliferated across the industry. Today we’re bridging that gap with our guests, Concha Fernández Álvarez and LocQuest’s Aurélie Perrin, and Guido Di Carlo.

Learn more about Concha Fernández Álvarez: https://cfernandez.me/

Learn more about LocQuest: https://locquest.com/

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The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft.

Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com

Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews
Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial

Music by Mike Meehan
Edited by Pierre Landriau

It's time for another episode of GDC Side Quest and another fantastic conversation recorded live on the GDC Festival of Gaming Show Floor. This month’s guest: acclaimed actor Samantha Béart, known for her work in Larian Studios' Baldur’s Gate III, Cloak and Dagger Games’s The Excavation of Hobbs Barrow, and IO Interactive’s 007 First Light. The powerhouse actor took time to discuss how they’ve seen developers better integrate acting performances in the creative process, their conversations with showrunner Craig Mazin about his planned Baldur’s Gate III TV show, and the challenges of doing great work in a sometimes secretive recording environment.

Learn more about GDC Festival of Gaming: https://gdconf.com/

Learn more about Samantha Béart: https://samantha-beart-shop.fourthwall.com/

Learn more about It Takes A Village: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdETg9xOislGXARi19-Tfm8SOUH46RHrl&si=5MLI1R2u4D8D4cE4

Game Developer and GDC Festival of Gaming are sibling organizations under Informa Festivals.

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The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft.

Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com

Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews
Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial

Music by Mike Meehan
Edited by Pierre Landriau

This week on the Game Developer Podcast, Jackbox Games CEO Mike Bilder joins senior editor Bryant Francis to discuss how the makers of the Jackbox Party Pack series survived the—in hindsight—inevitable decline of sales after the end of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. It’s a trend that’s battered game developers all over the industry, and if Jackbox had overexpanded after its success, things could have taken a turn for the worst.

Instead, Jackbox has endured the downturn and set up a new publishing arm to support other developers making weird, unique comedy games like Toot Games’ My Arms Are Longer Now. We're quizzing Bilder about Jackbox's strategy for navigating hard times and what kinds of games it wants to publish.

Learn more about Jackbox Games: https://www.jackboxgames.com/

Learn more about My Arms Are Longer Now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2646170/My_Arms_Are_Longer_Now/

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The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft.

Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com

Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews
Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial

Music by Mike Meehan
Edited by Pierre Landriau

This week on the Game Developer Podcast, NexusMods CEO Victor Folmann joins senior editor Bryant Francis for a conversation about the unique and fascinating world of video game modding. For years, players have used the site as a platform to host a bona fide treasure trove of creative modifications to their favorite games. Now, Folmann believes the company can evolve from a file-hosting company to a bona fide user-generated content (UGC) platform.

How? To find out, we’re digging into the unique dynamics of running an open-source platform defined by players who set the terms on what they want from video game mods. It’s a group of highly-technical and shrewd players who will do whatever it takes to alter the game of their choice, even if it means digging through obscure and poorly-documented file systems. 

Can this kind of content be brought to more players? That’s what we’re here to find out.

Learn more about NexusMods: https://www.nexusmods.com/

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The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft.

Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com

Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews
Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial

Music by Mike Meehan
Edited by Pierre Landriau