The AIAS Game Maker's Notebook

Composer Olivier Deriviere chats with Austin Wintory to discuss the complexity of interactive music systems in games, the radical evolution of tools available to composers, and working together with game directors and audio directors to give games an authentic feel.  Olivier is best known for being the composer behind Remember Me, A Plague Tale, Alone in the Dark, the recently released Streets of Rage 4, and the upcoming Dying Light 2. Twitter @Official_AIAS or visit us at interactive.org.

Remedy Entertainment’s Mikael Kasurinen joins Ted to discuss his studio's approach to handling the current pandemic, his game design philosophy, creating and nurturing an overarching vision, taking risks on key design choices, and how Remedy has evolved from working on a single project to multiple productions at once. Kasurinen is best known as the Director behind Remedy Entertainment’s Control and Quantum Break, and as the lead designer for Battlefield 4 and Alan Wake.

Robin Walker joins host Ted Price to discuss bringing back the Half-Life series with Half-Life: Alyx, the importance of audio in games and especially VR, and how Valve culture and COVID-19 have affected work on Alyx and future projects. Walker is best known for being a Valve game designer working on the recently released Half-Life: Alyx, Half-Life 2, the Team Fortress franchise, and Dota 2. Follow us on Twitter @Official_AIAS or visit us at interactive.org.

Marty O’Donnell joins Austin Wintory on the Game Maker’s Notebook to discuss his early career before video games, his pioneering work as an Audio Director, and his collaboration with Sir Paul McCartney. O’Donnell is a composer, audio director, and a Co-Founder of Highwire Games. He is best known for his work on Halo series, Destiny, Myth, and the debut title by Highwire Games, Golem. Please consider taking this quick listener survey: https://survey.libsyn.com/interactive

Emily Greer sits down with Robin Hunicke during D.I.C.E. Summit to discuss her new start up Double Loop Games, her experience co-founding Kongregate, her understanding of how people purchase and how they play, and how to develop marketplaces that benefit both developers and players. Please consider taking this quick listener survey: https://survey.libsyn.com/interactive Follow us on Twitter @Official_AIAS, Facebook or visit us at interactive.org. Email us at info@interactive.org. 

Please consider taking this quick listener survey: https://survey.libsyn.com/interactive Fresh off his #DICE2020 keynote, Tim Sweeney joins Ted Price to discuss the idea of an “open metaverse” for players, where we are in recreating digital humans across games and film, how Epic Games makes key decisions and their studio culture, and the importance of awareness regarding digital privacy. Tim Sweeney is the CEO and Founder of Epic Games and is best known for creating the Unreal Engine.

Please consider taking this quick listener survey: https://survey.libsyn.com/interactive Ted and Phil Spencer discuss the importance of being accessible to fans, what lies ahead for Xbox and Project xCloud, thoughts on monetization, the importance of sharing with outside hardware and software developers, and the steps Microsoft has taken to help gamers with disabilities. Spencer is the executive VP of Gaming at Microsoft and head of the Xbox brand, leading the global creative and engineering teams.

Please consider taking this quick listener survey: https://survey.libsyn.com/interactive Stig Asmussen sits down with Ted Price to talk about his journey from drawing art to game development, owning failures while sharing successes with the team, sharing their mutual experiences working on existing IP, and discussing what it's like being a part of Star Wars canon. Asmussen is a Game Director at Respawn Entertainment. He is known for his work on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the God of War series.

Are you a fan of the show? Please consider taking this listener survey: https://survey.libsyn.com/interactive Game Directors Michel Koch and Raoul Barbet stop by to chat with Ted about the Life is Strange series, how and why they delve into certain topics in their games, releasing episodic content, and the future of interactive storytelling.   Koch is a Game & Art Director and Barbet is a Creative Director at DONTNOD Entertainment. They are best known for their work on the Life is Strange franc

Listener survey: https://survey.libsyn.com/interactive Actor Troy Baker sits down with Austin to discuss his acting debut, his career playing several memorable characters, what he learned working with game directors Hideo Kojima and Neil Druckmann, and his own career trajectory into directing with Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Baker is known for portraying Joel in The Last of Us series, Higgs Monaghan in Death Stranding, Booker DeWitt in Bioshock Infinite, Joker in Batman: Arham Origins, and many more.

Composer Wilbert Roget, II sits down with Austin Wintory to discuss his start working at LucasArts, composing for the Star Wars universe, creating the music for Mortal Kombat 11, and writing music that engages the orchestra and makes them feel "totally badass." Roget is best known for composing for games such as Star Wars: The Old Republic, Call of Duty: WWII, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, Mortal Kombat II. Please fill out this quick listener survey: https://survey.libsyn.com/interactive

Composer Bear McCreary chats with Austin Wintory to discuss creating the music for God of War, working together on Assassin's Creed Syndicate, the differences working in film and games, and the pitfalls of creating "cinematic" scores. Bear is best known for composing the music for games such as God of War and SOCOM 4; and movies and television such as Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Battlestar Galactica. Follow us on Twitter @Official_AIAS, Facebook or visit us at interactive.org.

Abbie Heppe joins Robin Hunicke in Croatia with another episode recorded on location at D.I.C.E. Dubrovnik. Abbie and Robin discuss community management and communications in addition to how both have evolved alongside advancements in game development. Abbie Heppe is the Communications Manager for Media Molecule and was previously with Respawn Entertainment and G4. Follow us on Twitter @Official_AIAS, Facebook or visit us at interactive.org. Email us at info@interactive.org.

Maria Sayans joins Ted Price in Croatia with another episode recorded on location at D.I.C.E. Dubrovnik. Maria and Ted discuss the ethics of design, how game makers interact with players, what kind of player behavior is desired and how to foster it, and the importance of community management. Maria Sayans is CEO at ustwo games and was previously with Electronic Arts and CCP Games. Follow us on Twitter @Official_AIAS, Facebook or visit us at interactive.org. Email us at info@interactive.org.

ID@Xbox Director, Chris Charla