Suit up for an all-new Pixel Pizza! Joining us from Chicago is the President of Trinket Studios, Tom Eastman. You may know their work from the Kickstarter success Battle Chef Brigade and the recently released sci-fi deckbuilder Battle Suit Aces 🚀 Tom shares stories about his time working on games for Disney, how he formed a three-person studio, and the unique challenges of developing and marketing a visual novel/deckbuilding game. Featuring music from P Crema!

LINKS:

☁️ Tom's BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/tom.trinketstudios.com

✉️ Trinket Studios Newsletter: https://trinketstudios.us6.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=834b406929647d10102efe915&id=6fd2af1b22

👾 Trinket Studios Discord: https://discord.com/invite/trinketstudios

💿 P Crema: https://pcrema.bandcamp.com/

Sitting down with us this week is the incredibly talented animator Aniket Natekar! Aniket most recently was Animation Director on one of this year's breakout hit games, Dispatch. Aniket discusses his beginnings in animated film, entering the game industry at Hangar 13, and the process behind some of Dispatch's most hard-hitting scenes. Featuring chiptune music from Aubery aka Elysian Tunes!

LINKS:

📸 Aniket's Instagram: @aniket.natekar

💼 Aniket's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aniket-natekar-143aa04/

💿 Elysian Tunes: https://elysiantunes.bandcamp.com/

We're back after a holiday break with a jam-packed new episode! This week we are joined by Dmitry Minsky of the Lithuanian game studio Button Mash. The demo of their upcoming typing battle royale game, Final Sentence, has been making waves on Steam for its unique premise and addictive gameplay loop.

Dmitry goes into the many failed projects it took before finding success, the importance of keeping a game idea "on freeze" for the right time, and how many hours there REALLY are in a day. Featuring DnB music from Baychimo!

LINKS:

🎮 Final Sentence Demo: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4021860/Final_Sentence_Demo/

💼 Dmitry's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmitryminsky/

💿 Baychimo: https://baychimo.bandcamp.com/

Joining us this week is developer of the beloved Runner series, Mike Roush of Choice Provisions! We revisit Mike's career through his days at Santa Cruz Games, then making his own games at the beginning of digital distribution for consoles and mobile, all the way to his more recent work with Riot Games on Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story. Plus, we go deep into our shared love and memories of David Bowie 💫 Featuring music from OGNOMO!

LINKS:

🌐 Choice Provisions Website: https://choiceprovisions.com/

🎮 Choice Provisions Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Choice%20Provisions

💿 OGNOMO: https://ognomo.bandcamp.com/

Put on your nicest pair of headphones and get ready for a masterful audio experience with music designer Seth Wright! Seth's brought his talents to acclaimed titles like Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Marvel's Iron Man VR, and Batman: Arkham Shadow. Most recently he's gone freelance and founded Wright Music Interactive. We discuss the making of those projects and a bunch more on this week's show! Featuring music from Waddoop 🐸

LINKS:

💼 Seth's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-wright-04305a173/

✉️ Seth's Email: Sethwrightmusic@gmail.com

💿 Waddoop: https://waddoop.bandcamp.com/

We are back with a brand new game industry interview, and it's a blast! WayForward Producer Austin Ivansmith joins us to talk about his directorial process on games like DuckTales Remastered and The Mummy Demastered, as well as the live TV-like interactive experience Silent Hill: Ascension. We also discuss unconventional ways to communicate your vision to your teammates, typos in emails, and woodworking. With music from Grounds.!

LINKS:

☁️ Austin's Bluesky: ivandashsmith.bsky.social

🐦 Austin's Twitter: @Ivandashsmith

🌐 Austin's Website: www.austinivansmithgames.com

💿 Grounds: https://gggrrrooouuunnndddsss.bandcamp.com/

No new guest this week, sorry! 😞 Rather than another encore episode, though, I decided to use this week to yap about all the games I've played this year so far. From a software perspective it's been an incredible year for gaming and I've had so many unforgettable experiences going through many of these titles. Regardless of if you want recommendations for stuff to check out or just need background noise while you're driving, I hope you're able to get some enjoyment out of this one! We've got a packed guest lineup November so stay tuned for that too 👀 Featuring music from 8BitGang!

LINKS:

💿8BitGang: https://8bitgang.bandcamp.com/

Get crafty with us this week as we chat with Art Director & UI Artist Sofie Wikström! Sofie worked for years on the LittleBigPlanet franchise, as well as other popular titles like SteamWorld Build and the recently released Islanders: New Shores. She tells us about overcoming burnout, breaking down the art style of a franchise when developing sequels, and the importance of making environments look literally good enough to eat! Featuring tunes from JamelBurger 🍔

LINKS:

☁️ Sofie's BlueSky: http://sofiewikstromart.bsky.social

🎨 Sofie's ArtStation: https://www.artstation.com/sofiewikstrom/

💿 JamelBurger: https://jamelburger.bandcamp.com/

This week we have a fantastic conversation with Co-Lead at 7th Beat Games, Kyle Labriola! Kyle has worked on the popular rhythm games A Dance of Fire and Ice and Rhythm Doctor, and he's also done animation work on some of the Jackbox games. We discuss how Kyle "fell into" the industry, his initial reluctance to call himself a game developer, how Rhythm Doctor has evolved in its 10+ year development cycle, and accessibility for blind players. Plus music from PICE!

LINKS:

☁️ Kyle's BlueSky: https://kylelabriola.bsky.social

💿 PICE: https://8bitpice.bandcamp.com/

Gear up for an all-new Pixel Pizza with multidisciplinary artist Mark LaCroix! Mark runs the development & publishing studio Noble Robot. He talks about creating animations for the show Parks & Recreation, building an open-source engine for the PlayDate handheld, game design philosophies, and his involvement on previous guest JJ's Blippo+! Plus lots more AND music from Kaskatron!

LINKS:

🤖 Noble Robot: https://noblerobot.com/

🎙️ Nice Games Club Podcast: https://nicegames.club/

💿 Kaskatron: https://kaskatron.bandcamp.com/

Take a trip out of the airwaves and Into the Unwell with Mathias Johansson and Andreas Göransson of the Swedish game studio She Was Such a Good Horse! Mathias is the studio's Co-Founder and Andreas is its Creative Community Manager, and they're currently hard at work on the cartoon-inspired roguelike brawler/platformer Into the Unwell. We discuss recreating the classic rubber-hose animation style in 3D, the importance of contextual abilities in roguelikes, and giving power to the powerless. Featuring music from GLLTCH!

LINKS:

🗣️ She Was Such a Good Horse Socials: https://linktr.ee/suchagoodhorse

👾 Into the Unwell Discord: https://discord.com/invite/SJaBnJFsgj

☁️ Andreas' BlueSky:

https://shutterandreas.bsky.social

💿 GLLTCH: https://glltch.bandcamp.com/

You made it to Friday! 🙌 Rest your weary head with an all-new Pixel Pizza featuring two of the founding members of the Zurich-based Lululu Entertainment. Aaron Abt & Tim Bürge join the show to discuss their multiplayer boomerang action game Bamerang and the super unique recently released puzzle game, Henry Halfhead! Featuring music from The Divingons!

LINKS:

🗣️ Lululu Socials: @LululuEntertainment

🎮 Henry Halfhead: https://henrygame.com/

💿 The Divingons: https://thedivingons.bandcamp.com

Tune in to an all-new episode of the Pixel Pizza Podcast featuring music video director, commercial producer, and game developer Jennifer Jupiter Stratford! JJ's new FMV game Blippo+ is out on PlayDate and coming soon to Nintendo Switch. We get into recapturing the public access era of TV in a loving and authentic way, building confidence as an artist, and also her work with Sabrina Carpenter! Plus music from CMYKitsune & Alison Grace 🦊

LINKS:

📺 TeleFantasy Studios: https://telefantasystudios.com/

📸 JJ's Instagram: @JJStratford

🏰 Dungeon Majesty: https://dungeonmajesty.com/

💿 CMYKitsune & Alison Grace: https://cmykitsune.bandcamp.com/

Drop on in for an extremely fun episode this week featuring the director of the acclaimed indie adventure game OneShot, NightMargin! She tells us about pivoting from biology studies to game development, the process of creating OneShot, and her current work on the upcoming Margin of the Strange! Then we swap stories about our strangest dreams and keeping things too long in the freezer. Featuring music from BeatScribe!

LINKS:

☁️ NightMargin's BlueSky: http://nightmargin.bsky.social

💿 BeatScribe: https://beatscribe.bandcamp.com

Dive into a new Pixel Pizza featuring accomplished game designer James Beech! James has contributed design work to AAA games like Crysis 3, Darksiders 3, and Metroid Prime...4! He's also been making his own independent games: the philosophical exploration-focused titles Ultraworld and Carceri. We discuss gameplay flow in Metroidvanias, telling a story within an individual game level, and go to some really deep places by the end. With music from Luke Carlin again!

LINKS:

☁️ James' Bluesky: http://neonserpent.bsky.social

💿 Luke Carlin: https://anfeorh.bandcamp.com/

This week we had a blast chatting with Galen Drew, Art Director at Aggro Crab! Galen's worked on a number of VR and AR projects for major studios, the award-winning soulslike Another Crab's Treasure, and recently released one of the summer's biggest hit games: Peak.

Galen tells us about the joy of the process over the product, the challenges of going into a leadership role as a creative, and applying game design to procedural level generation in Peak. Plus a lot more! With music from Pink Orca~

LINKS:

☁️ Aggro Crab BlueSky: https://aggrocrabgames.bsky.social

📸 Galen's Instagram: @Galens_good_art

💿 Pink Orca: https://pinkorca.bandcamp.com/

This episode originally aired on December 22nd, 2023.

Excited to revisit one of our most popular episodes, a talk from nearly 2 years ago with indie developer InsertDisc5 aka Adrienne Bazir! In the time since this episode went up, Adrienne has released a new visual novel called This Game Will End in 205 Clicks. She's also announced her next major project, Truth Scrapper! Learn more about her background and the breakout hit In Stars and Time in this super fun episode. With music from Mabisyo!

LINKS:

🌐 Adrienne's Website: https://www.insertdisc5.com/

✏️ Adrienne's Tumblr: https://insertdisc5.tumblr.com/

🎮 In Stars And Time: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677310/In_Stars_And_Time/

👕 Merch: https://theyetee.com/collections/all/products/in-stars-and-time-tee-1?_pos=1&_sid=d54d32fe0&_ss=r

💿 Mabisyo: https://mabisyo.bandcamp.com/

Rain or shine, we are here with another Pixel Pizza! This week's guest is Doinksoft Creative Director, Britt Brady. Britt and his team have put out some incredible pixelated action games including Gato Roboto, Gunbrella, and Demon Throttle. Britt discusses his process on character controls, team communication, and his side projects for the Game Boy Color. Plus new music from Minus World!

LINKS:

☁️ Britt's BlueSky: brittbrady.bsky.social

💿 Minus World: https://theminusworld.com/

On this week's show it was a blast talking with the Nebula Award-nominated and BAFTA longlisted narrative designer/writer, Karrie Shao! You might know her best from the recent roguelike hit Pacific Drive, but she's also worked on the lore for League of Legends and done marketing for games like BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. We get into all of the unique opportunities she's had in her career and how to get players invested in game stories without cutscenes. With music from Hypervolt ⚡️

LINKS:

☁️ Karrie's BlueSky: karriebear.bsky.social

📸 Karrie's Instagram: @Karrieburr

💼 Karrie's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karrie-shirou-shao-38758715/

💿 Hypervolt: https://hypervolt.bandcamp.com/

On this week's show we're talking with Systems Designer Jan Stec Russo! His work has spanned across multiple studios, including Toys For Bob, Schell Games, Phoenix Labs, and his current role at Magic Soup. Jan talks about nailing down Crash's signature spin move in Crash 4 & Crash Team Rumble, mentoring young designers, and how he processed getting laid off and was able to move on. With music from Lili Gasanj!

LINKS:

💼 Jan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janstec/

💿 Lili Gasanj: https://liligasanj.bandcamp.com/