Advertise on podcast: Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast

How do you take once-beloved family games - source code lost to the ages - and revive them for new generations? And what about today's video game market might make the timing better than ever for an accessible, co-op, family friendly sports game? Playground Productions CEO Lindsay Barnett, a former educator, went on a quest for educational games during the pandemic that took her all the way to acquiring the rights to the Backyard Sports franchise, headed by Backyard Baseball - and then she teamed up with Mega Cat Studios CEO James Deighan to start bringing the suite of the 6 original Backyard Sports games to life. We explore retro gaming and the art of reverse engineering to restore original games developed by Humongous Entertainment, the modern community response to these classic games, and how the folks at Playground and Mega Cat are now applying what they've learned from their community to build a modern Backyard Baseball release that is designed to withstand the test of time, thriving season after season with accessible controls and pricing and downloadable content. This conversation gives us a chance to explore Motivators of Play like immersion, education, comfort, and of course companionship and competition - and captures a unique moment in time between the demo of Backyard Baseball and its release in July 2026. Don't miss this exciting conclusion to Season 2 of Enduring Play and its exploration of themes like community, self-expression, and education. We are better together - as a baseball team, as a game development team, and as an industry. Game on.  Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.  This is the final episode of Enduring Play Season 2 - catch up on the episodes you missed and follow the podcast on your favorite platform so you don't miss a minute of Season 3 when it launches late this year! #gamedev #videogames #backyardsports #backyardbaseball #playgroundproductions #megacatgames #retrogames #classicgames #pixelart #humongousentertainment #education #edutainment #accessibility #pablosanchez #sportsgames #baseball  Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! For show notes including bonus material, head to: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-11-lindsay-barnett-and-james-deighan-for-backyard-sports-show-notes/

Millions of players enjoy playing games like Call of Duty that simulate military life, but how does experience as a veteran translate to video game development? Program manager, community manager, and military veteran Desirée Rincón has a leadership style forged in the field: she understands innately that batons can't get dropped, that communication must be explicit, and that misses can have real-world consequences. The resilience she developed in the field has served her not just in her prior role as Program Manager for Xbox 3rd Party Operations but in her role as Head of Gaming Partnerships and Brand for Gold Star Gamers, a 501(c)3 nonprofit connecting kids in need to therapeutic gaming experiences, her role as Head of Creative (Art and Design) for the Always Supporting Games Community, and in her own life transcending multiple disabilities to continue to engage with her love of the game. Oh, and you might have already met her service dog, Sydney. You know, the one with the lightsaber? This is a unique episode that covers everything from children processing grief in games to the staggering stress of managing games manufacturing to first-person gaming stories from Iraq and navigating life as an unemployed game developer while helping thousands of others get hired. Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.  #gamedev #videogames #xbox #veteran #military #goldstargamers #consoles #consolegaming #producer #accessibility #dogs #asgc  #amirsatvatsgamecommunity  Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! To learn more about Desirée and the reference materials cited in this episode, check out the show notes at https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-10-desiree-rincon-show-notes/

Have you ever wished your production tools and process were more like the games you make? Lead gameplay engineer turned lead producer Cory Tsang is here to tell you that configuring JIRA can be like… engineering Sims objects. And he should know, because as one of the original Object Engineers on the Sims franchise from the Sims 1 era, he's built everything from toilets to magic cauldrons. But halfway through his career, Cory's adaptability and drive for growth took him to Zenimax Online Studios where he had the opportunity to spend a decade honing a new craft as a Senior Producer, making JIRA sing for teams of up to 100+ artists on a thriving massively multiplayer online role playing game. Whether you're a Sims fan, a manager in video games struggling to hit the right pace, or an individual contributor who feels like JIRA is another world, this episode is for you.  Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.  #gamedev #videogames #thesims #maxis #elderscrolls #elderscrollsonline #eso #gameart #jira #gameproduction #projectmanagement #productmanagement #producer #engineer #zenimax Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! To learn more about Cory's work or to follow up on the books and reference material cited in this episode, check out the show notes at https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-9-cory-tsang-show-notes/

In a world littered with vibe-coded experiences, how will games differentiate themselves? How can stories remain resonant? Melanated Game Kitchen Creative Director and adjunct USC faculty Timothy Staton-Davis is a self-styled cultural technical game designer charting a path forward: a unique blend of game design, engineering, and cultural research and insight that weaves authenticity into each interaction in the games he serves as a contributor or consultant. Games like Spider-Man rely on this kind of deep insight to provide their players with games that live up to the motivators of play like Immersion, Education, and Self-Expression that we identified in the Game Development Strategy Guide, and Tim has extensive experience on world-class AAA games like Marvel's Avengers and God of War: Ragnarok that now inform his foray into independent gaming. In this episode, we explore broadly applicable topics like localization and culturalization that are critical to global success, complex topics like the nuanced ethical application of artificial intelligence in games (if it exists), an exploration of more gaming communities like Black in Gaming, a definition of cultural technical game design and Tim's new USC educational experience, and much more. #gamedesign #culturalization #localization #selfexpression #videogames #gameeducation #usc #indiegames #blackingaming #technicaldesign #culturaldesign #consulting Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.  Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! To learn more about Timothy's work or to follow up on the books and reference material cited in this episode, check out the show notes at https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-8-timothy-staton-davis-show-notes/

From software engineer to technical designer to game design professor - Jo Cronk has turned a successful career bridging the gap between engineers and creatives at companies like Crystal Dynamics and Snowblind Studios into a thriving career as an Assistant Professor of Technical Design at one of the top-rated game development schools in the world, DigiPen Institute of Technology. Jo brings extensive technical prowess and a mastery of game design techniques to both their course material and their approach to teaching. In this episode, we explore what technical design really means, the complexities of ideation and pre-production in the game development process, specific advice for navigating prototyping, the intricacies of video game engines, modern video game development curriculums, and much more. There are also some unexpected insights about human behavior, like how younger students show up in class and how that maps to disruptive behavior we see in games. Whether you're considering a video game education or looking to better understand your younger audiences and engineering colleagues, there's something in this episode for you. Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.  #gamedev #videogames #technicaldesign #engineering #digipen #education #professor #tombraider #college #prototyping #production #gamedesign #indiedev Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! To learn more about DigiPen or to follow up on the research and other information cited in this episode, head to the show notes at https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-7-jo-cronk-show-notes/

Most game studios start out chasing a game, not a plan to stick around for the long haul - and that's where things start to fall down. Right at the moment when success knocks at the door and you start to scale, things fall apart. Why aren't people working together well? Why did we reboot the game design 18 times? Why is everyone leaving? This week's guest, Amy White, is a lifelong gamer and Director of People at Fusebox Games here to help dispel the stereotypes about human resources and help us understand what proactive people policies look like. While HR is always going to need to protect the business, what if they could also help you define a thriving culture? What if you could consciously partner with your employees to co-create an environment that makes them excited to come to work? And what about navigating the incredibly fraught world of recruiting in a world of AI-informed candidates and layoff-amplified applicant pools? This conversation between experienced senior leaders in gaming provides unique insights for managers, individual contributors, and entrepreneurs trying to navigate the question: how do I design not just for my game, but for the people making our games? And if you think this conversation doesn't apply to video gaming, please think again. It's exactly that mindset that's gotten us into this industry doldrum. With so many projects spanning years, you can't afford not to have a people plan in place to help support career growth, provide cultural clarity, and proactively reduce the risk of interpersonal and legal challenges. Treating your studio like it's a temporary project and not a long-term workplace is the road to eventual reductions in force.  Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.  #gamedev #videogames #management #leadership #recruiting #peoplemanagement #peoplepartner #humanresources #seniorleadership #entrepreneurship #indiegames  Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! To take Amy up on her offer of LinkedIn networking or to follow up on the research and other information cited in this episode, head to the show notes at https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-6-amy-white-show-notes/

Seattle's indie gaming scene boasts the largest thriving indie game community in North America - Seattle Indies - headed currently by Executive Director Tim Cullings. Tim's background started in traditional information technology, but a deep growth mindset helped him learn from Portal co-creator Kim Swift at his first game industry gig, transforming opportunity into a lifelong journey. From his initial days doing IT for gaming, Tim went on cover a variety of roles from production to social media and eventually found himself working on the launch team for the Oculus platform at Meta. As he explored the Seattle scene, Tim realized how unique the energy was in this region, and became a fierce advocate for local game developers - creating events and programs that help them supplement great ideas with the great execution required to thrive. Today's episode should provide inspiration for folks looking to learn more about how game development communities themselves evolve, will provide more insight about the nuances within the indie developer community, will highlight a few games like Slay the Spire that got their start in the Seattle Indies community, and will also provide a peek at some of the ways gaming and education collide in the Seattle indie scene. Seattle Indies welcomes everyone regardless of region at SLICE and SIX, their annual events around PAX, and in their Discord - so no matter where you're based, join us to learn how this community and others like it can continue to grow and thrive. Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.  #gamedev #videogames #indies #indiegames #conventions #conferences #communitymanagement #seattle Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! This episode has BONUS CONTENT at the show notes page, including a photo from Tim's time at Airtight games and several other stories from his gaming past: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-5-tim-cullings-show-notes/

What's a third space, where did they go, and what role can gaming events play in helping players pursue the growing motivator of play of companionship? Why are events the first to get cut when budgets get tight in a world where a return to onsite work would imply tangible events are more valuable than ever? Today's guest is veteran video game event manager and strategist Christina Amaya, who has managed events for new product launches like Riot's 2XKO and Google Stadia, eSports events for Team Liquid, developer events for Unity, and conferences like DreamHack. She's also a prolific community organizer who founded Latinx in Gaming and has contributed meaningfully to the International Game Developers Association. She is one of the many helpers behind the scenes, connecting folks experiencing layoffs over and over again, building community when we need it most. Today's candid conversation covers topics like the role events play in successful video game launches, first hand stories from a community organizer's perspective, lived experience growing up as a gamer and getting into the industry and shared real life stories about the coping strategies we've developed to get through our own video game layoff stories and much more. #gamedev #videogames #eventmanagement #esports #conventions #communitymanagement Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book  The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games. This episode pairs particularly well with Chapter 1 (player motivation), chapter 2 (The Living Business of Games), Chapter 6 (The Why of Multiplayer), and Chapter 9 (From emergence to prosocial gaming). Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! Show notes: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-4-cristina-amaya-show-notes/

Games user researcher and educator Steve Bromley literally wrote the book on games user research, and he's been coaching and teaching the gaming community in how to get the most from their playtesting and research efforts for 15 years. He's working on his third book, Playtest Plus, while his most popular book How To Be A Games User Researcher serves as the basis for his semiannual class for devs looking to amp up the effectiveness of their playtesting practice. As always, this episode is for anyone regardless of discipline. We cover topics like interdisciplinary collaboration and strategy, common pitfalls in playtesting, onboarding and player comprehension, games research communities, and so much more.  Explore the book, podcast, merch, and show notes for this episode at enduringplay.com. #gamedev #videogames #uxresearch #userexperience #gamesresearch #playtesting Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book  The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games. This episode pairs particularly well with Chapter 1 (player motivation), Chapter 3 (the many disciplines in game development), Chapter 5 (user experience design and research), and Chapter 15 (common development pitfalls). Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! Show notes: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-3-steve-bromley-show-notes/

Narrative designer, games writer, and games researcher Adanna Nedd brings her extensive knowledge of what's current in gaming to expand our horizons. Explore unexpected questions like: what's "friend slop" and why does it matter? What does self-expression really mean to marginalized groups in games? How is one of the current breakout games innovating in women's health? Why are some vintage consoles still getting playtime? And... what do spiders have to do with AI? While Adanna's research focuses on the experiences of players of color in video game spaces, the insights she brings are applicable to all listeners at any stage or role in gaming: player, developer, leader. Adanna is also a speaker at the 2026 GDC Festival of Gaming and is nominated for the Black in Gaming Foundation's 2026 Indie Developer Award for her community engagement and outreach, trying to help solve the discoverability problem by connecting interested gamers and game devs to the games that can serve them. You'll learn more about the cognitive benefits of gaming, economic drivers of self-expression, and a surprising revelation about a challenge facing younger gamers in this generation. Don't miss this fun and extremely practical exploration of an astonishing array of modern games and genres. For readers of host Cheryl Platz's new critically acclaimed book The Game Development Strategy Guide, this episode not only hits the Motivators of Play, but covers the Spectrum of Gaming Graphics from Chapter 8: Creating Immersive Worlds, some of the topics from Chapter 11: Efficient and Ethical Economies, and goes deep on topics from Chapter 6: The Why of Multiplayer. Show Notes: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-2-adanna-nedd-show-notes/ #gamedev #gdc2026 #indiegames #gamesresearch

Welcome to Season 2 of Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast. Where Season 1 expanded on the interviews from host Cheryl Platz's critically acclaimed book The Game Development Strategy Guide, Season 2 covers new ground. The overarching themes: community and curiosity in a time of chaos. We'll talk to educators, community leaders, researchers, event organizers, studio leaders, and many others who can help us understand how to sustainably scale our game development work even when the future seems uncertain. Season 2's bonus-length debut episode features a candid, constructive, and hopeful conversation with Women in Games International CEO Joanie Kraut. Recent reports indicate that 46-48% of gamers globally are women - but only one third of game developers identify as women or nonbinary, and that's still far larger than the representation numbers seen in esports. How do we break these cycles, and how can we lift up marginalized groups in gaming in a way that benefits everyone - all genders, all ethnicities, all races, all sexual orientations - with an eye towards equity? Joanie Kraut has been exploring these questions in her work as CEO of WIGI, bringing diverse cohorts of allies to the table across the industry for years. We cover everything from Joanie's incredibly relatable origin story in gaming to WIGI's history of partnership with the Game Developers Conference and what all listeners can learn from the preparations WIGI's GDC scholars engage in each year. It doesn't matter what your gender is or what your career stage is - there's something here for you, and there's a seat at WIGI's table for you, too. Game development is complex and challenging and we all know it's dangerous to go alone - learn about the programs WIGI offers to anyone who needs guidance on navigating complex workplace scenarios to help you build inclusive teams and games that speak to wider audiences. For readers of host Cheryl Platz's new critically acclaimed book The Game Development Strategy Guide, this episode hits the Motivators of Play from Chapter 1 particularly frequently as well as themes from Chapter 9's focus on prosocial gaming and Chapter 11's gaming economies - and it also hits the theme of the epilogue: in the end, your biggest challenge is not actually any individual game but building a sustainable studio that can survive each individual game launch. #gamedev #videogames #wigi #igda #gdc Show Notes: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-1-joanie-kraut-show-notes/

How do you navigate the incredibly high stakes of video game development (even AAA video game development) without losing the fun, and your humanity along the way? Senior Producer Yesenia Cisneros helps us close out Season 1 with her signature blend of world-class production, problem solving, and people focus. All listeners will walk away inspired by techniques for more human-centered video game production along with some of our top tips for building more successful thriving games from the ground up. We touch on topics like globalization, telemetry, esports, crunch culture, planning, user experience research, the power of community, and much more. Yesenia's iconic video gaming journey took her from video game quality assurance to her current role as Senior Producer at Riot Games with stops at studios like Brass Lion Entertainment, Signal Studios, Mojang Studios, and The Pokémon Company International along the way before landing at her current role at Riot Games. (This podcast is not affiliated nor sponsored by my current employer, TPCi nor my past and Yesenia's present employer Riot.) Enduring Play is a uniquely crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book  The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, which is available worldwide as of September 16, 2025 and received a "Get It" recommendation from Kirkus Reviews.  Show notes, including a full bio, episode outline, and links are available on the Enduring Play website. Use code ENDURINGPLAYS1 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 1 discount offer expires November 30, 2025. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! For readers of host Cheryl Platz's new critically acclaimed book The Game Development Strategy Guide, this episode is a perfect closer to the season as we explore several of the topics from Chapter 14: Let the Right Ideas Win and Chapter 15: Failure to Thrive in addition to its relevance to chapters discussing production and business models like Chapter 2 and Chapter 13. All listeners will take something away from this podcast, but the book is a great way to expand your understanding.

Tamara Knoss has played many roles in the video game industry: character animator, lead artist, UI artist, and now Senior Technical UI Designer - or, as she describes it, "UI/UX unicorn" thanks to the rarity of her combined skillsets navigating the "why" of user experiences and the "how" of executing high fidelity user interface art in game engines like Unity. She's seen the rise and fall of multiple console generations, and created game art for some of the world's most famous IP, including The Sims, Disney, and Harry Potter. We had the opportunity to work together directly on multiple titles, and this wide-ranging episode serves as a great look at the history of some early handheld development and a challenge to current developers to think smaller when developing for mobile games. Why aren't we learning from the past when trying to build games that get the most out of as many devices as possible? This episode doesn't just ask that question, but it pulls back the veil on some of the techniques and mindsets used to solve for extreme constraint when games were shipping on cartridges no larger than 16 megabytes. That's right. Megabytes. But there's also plenty of modern insight about how specialization in an engine like Unity unlocks creativity in new ways, firsthand insight about shipping console launch titles, and industry-agnostic insight about the nature of UX/UI roles and their ability to serve not just software, but the organization around them.  For readers of The Game Development Strategy Guide, this episode is a particularly great complement of themes from Chapter 3: Putting the Dev in Game Development, Chapter 8: Creating Immersive Worlds, and Chapter 12: Gaming Technology Platforms. Enduring Play is a uniquely crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book  The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, which is available worldwide as of September 16, 2025 and received a "Get It" recommendation from Kirkus Reviews.  Show notes, including a full bio, episode outline, and links are available on the Enduring Play website. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together!

In today's episode, we demystify another specialty within the game design discipline: systems design. Joe Magdalena is better known as "joemag" (lowercase j) to many of his followers, or "joemag3d" to the maker communities that follow his 3D printing hobby work. But during the day, joemag serves as a systems designer with experience on world-renowned titles like Hearthstone and Teamfight Tactics, designing unique game mechanics while wielding the powers of math and communication using a deep foundation in competitive analysis to strike a balance between exponential and logarithmic curves in a quest for fun and engagement. Our conversation covers the basics, like exploring the definitions of live operations, campaign design, and the differences between content and systems design, before getting into best practices like player perception of value, new player experiences, and progression design.  Enduring Play is a uniquely crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, which is now available from digital booksellers around the world or from publisher Rosenfeld Media. Show notes, including a full bio, episode outline, and links are available on the Enduring Play website. Use code ENDURINGPLAYS1 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 1 discount offer expires November 30, 2025. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! For readers of Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide, this episode is a particularly good complement for   the topics covered in Chapter 2 The Living Business of Games, with discussion of business models and how they should - or should not - impact game design - in addition to Chapter 3, Putting the Dev in Game Development; Chapter 4, Game Designer's Toolkit; and Chapter 7: Engaging Players Over Time.

This week we speak with accomplished engineering leader Caerie Houchins, who played a critical role in the initial global launch of VALORANT, the global smash tactical shooter from Riot Games. Caerie has now expanded her career from triple-A gaming to become a co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of an independent game studio, Wicked Fox Games, which just successfully funded their first Kickstarter. Caerie walks listeners through insights that are not just useful for game engineers, but for anyone who dream of building video games at global scale and complexity. Hear about wide-ranging topics from game engine technology, crunch culture, and cross-cultural collaboration through the use of artificial intelligence in video game development. This episode also takes a frank look at one of the things that brought Caerie and host Cheryl Platz together - their layoff. Why are there so many layoffs in the video game industry? Why is it so hard for indie studios like Caerie's to get traction? To understand these things, we must look at the root of today's game industry instability, and that goes back to the gaming gold rush during the pandemic. Learn more about host Cheryl's take on what has brought the industry to this particular moment in time. Enduring Play is a uniquely crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book  The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, which is available worldwide as of September 16, 2025 and received a "Get It" recommendation from Kirkus Reviews.  Show notes, including a full bio, episode outline, and links are available on the Enduring Play website. Use code ENDURINGPLAYS1 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 1 discount offer expires November 30, 2025. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! For readers of Cheryl Platz's book The Game Development Strategy Guide, Season 1 Episode 7 is a particularly great complement to Chapter 6, The Why of Multiplayer; Chapter 9, From Emergence to Prosocial Gaming; Chapter 12, Gaming Technology Platforms; and Chapter 13: The Good and Bad of Game Dev Processes. debug: BxGoVv8Jm6McyeoAxChn