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Come spend some Koalatea Time with us as we discuss various topics relating to game dev, game design, gaming culture, and the games industry!
#93: JUICINESS
Posted 10/27/2021
Second order motion, haptic feedback, impeccable Nintendo polish, and more!
Join Anthony & Skylar as they discuss what makes games "juicy", inspired by insights from Jesse Schell in his book, "The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses".
#92: SLEEPOVERS
Posted 10/19/2021
Nothing beats crashing at a friend's house and staying up all night hitting headshots on Colossus in Halo 2, or Uther-ing your night away in Warcraft 3 custom games!
Join bramoala & ChipSkylark as they take a stroll down memory lane and discuss:
The awesome fun of custom games
Optimal energy drink strategies
Tricking friends into getting drunk so you could stay up and play Halo 3 on their big screen TV
And more!
#91: DR. RANDY PAGULAYAN - THE LEGENDARY XBOX UR GURU
Posted 10/12/2021
The Senior Director of Research for Xbox & Xbox Game Studios, Dr. Randy Pagulayan joins Anthony & Skylar to discuss his epic career and fascinating insights in this legendary episode of Koalatea Time!
Join us as we discuss:
Randy's journey at Xbox (including how he turned down the initial job offer!)
The accountability game devs have to the equity and fulfillment of magical experience
How his team help Xbox studios balance creative vision against data insights
What career Randy would choose to pursue if he had to start over
And much more!
#90: EDUARDO ORTIZ FRAU - GROOVE BOX GAMES FOUNDER
Posted 10/12/2021
Acclaimed game audio designer, and head of indie studio Groove Box Games, Eduardo Ortiz Frau joins Anthony & Skylar in this banger of a Koalatea Time episode!
Join us as we discuss:
Eduardo's epic indie game career, including his work on Afterparty, The Stanley Parable, Everything, and more!
How to network in the games industry as an indie dev
Making sounds you'll hear thousands of times
And much much more!
#89: PUNISHMENT
Posted 10/2/2021
Including punishment into game loops can help spice up gameplay, but when is it taken too far?
Join bramoala and ChipSkylark in this episode of Koalatea Time as they discuss punishment in games, including:
The challenges of balancing punishment along a compelling mastery path
Why many F2P progression systems feel punishing
Dark Souls 😅
And more!
#88: NEW DEV: THE RAHLEKK GOOBCAST
Posted 9/21/2021
WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST DEVELOPER: SEAN 'RAHLEKK' STEVENS !!!
Want to know what Rahlekk's favorite games are?
Want to know what Rahlekk's favorite controllers are?
How about how epic his PC build is (and why it literally smells)?
Get all these deets and more in our first ever new-dev-goobcast with Rahlekk!
#87: DR. CELIA HODENT, UX MASTER EXTRAORDINAIRE
Posted 9/14/2021
With decades of extremely impressive experience leading and working with UX teams across the game dev industry, Dr. Celia Hodent is nothing short of amazing! She's not only an expert on all things cognitive science, but she's extremely personable and funny!
In this episode of Koalatea Time bramoala and ChipSkylark discuss a variety of UX and gaming related topics with Celia, including:
How indie studios can implement a UX process (even with limited resources)
The UX maturity of AAA game studios
Improving ethical conduct in the gaming industry
How painful it was to work on Star Wars 1313 just to have it cancelled
AND SO MUCH MORE!
#86: WHO SHOULD STUDIOS LISTEN TO?
Posted 9/8/2021
Studios who are responsible for nurturing and evolving beloved IPs have to constantly balance listening to the desires of their dedicated fanbase and the wider general gaming audience.
After Halo Infinite's recent flight, 343 Industries posted a blog breaking down how they were processing and handling feedback from the community, and some findings have hardcore and casual fans divided.
bramoala and ChipSkylark discuss the difficulties of such a task, and why they think 343 is going about it the right way, in this episode of Koalatea Time!
#85: INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES VS. GAMES
9/2/2021
Some games like Dear Esther and other walking sims don't seem like they're technically games at all... so what are they?
The man himself, Will Waltz, challenges us to identify these interactive experiences in the latest episode of Koalatea Time!
#84: THE EPIC JOE WINTER | SONG OF IRON
Posted 8/25/2021
What's more legendary than directly contributing to Halo and having several of the assassinations you animated end up in the final game? Risking it all to quit that job and develop an indie game... SOLO.
Joe Winter, solo creator of Song of Iron (releasing August 31st on PC & Xbox) and former AAA animator at 343 Industries, joins bramoala and ChipSkylark on this epic episode of Koalatea Time!
Join them as they discuss the creative anguish of developing your own game, how working on Halo changed Joe's perspective on it, whether Joe is planning a Song of Iron sequel, and more!
PLEASE consider supporting Joe by purchasing SONG OF IRON on Steam or Xbox!
#83: GAMER DATA (PT. 2)
Posted 8/22/2021
bramoala & ChipSkylark wrap up Limelight Network's 2021 report on "The State of Online Gaming" in this episode of Koalatea Time!
Join us as we discuss how many people play games at work, how many people miss work to play games, how many people ditch friends to play games, and more!
#82: GAMER DATA (PT. 1)
Posted 8/16/2021
Want to know what country in the world spends the most average hours a week gaming?
Want to know what country in the world binge-games more than anyone else?
How about what the primary device used for gaming in the world is?
WELL LOOK NO FURTHER, bramoala and ChipSkylark breakdown Limelight Network's 2021 datasheet, "The State of Online Gaming" in this episode of Koalatea Time!
#81: ATMOSPHERE
Posted 8/16/2021
Every game communicates some sort of atmosphere that is comprised more than just it's setting. In his book, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, Jesse Schell explains how visuals, sounds, music, and game mechanics all work together to create an immersive experience.
bramoala and ChipSkylark discuss these topics and more in this episode of Koalatea Time!
#80: HACKERS
Posted 7/29/2021
Popular FPS games continue to be hammered by a seemingly unending wave of hackers. In this episode of Koalatea Time, ChipSkylark and bramoala shed light on the financial incentives of hacking, how hacks are developed, why they're so hard to stop, and what they think are the best ways to stop them.
Join us as we discuss COD Warzone, Apex Legends, Rainbow 6 Siege, Valorant, and more!
#79: THE STEAM DECK
Posted 7/20/2021
The Steam Deck hype is REAL but is it warranted? bramoala and ChipSkylark break down their thoughts regarding Valve's latest creation in this episode of Koalatea Time!
Join us as we discuss whether the Steam Deck is worth getting excited for, what the reality of playing AAA MP games on this will cost (literally), how indie studios could be immense beneficiaries from Gabe's latest toy, and more!
#78: RANDOMNESS
Posted 7/14/2021
Does randomness make games better or worse? What are the different kinds of randomness in games and how do they affect gameplay? Can randomness make things more addicting?
Join bramoala and ChipSkylark in this episode of Koalatea Time as they discuss these and other related topics surrounding randomness! Join us as we discuss Pokémon, TemTem, board games, Super Smash Brothers, roguelites and more!
#77: JOE BELOUSEK, THE PRODUCTION WARLOCK
Posted 7/6/2021
What does over a decade of game production experience get you? A freaking wizard-tier beard and serious gaming industry insight, THAT'S WHAT.
Join bramoala and ChipSkylark this week as they welcome (newly announced) Lead Producer of Hearthstone features at Blizzard, Joe Belousek! Join us as we discuss why hackers are so hard to stop, why game delays happen, what it was like to work on games during 2020, whether Joe would Thanos-snap pizza or burgers, and much much more!
#76: E3 2021 SHOWDOWN
Posted 6/28/2021
E3 is that awesome time every year in which THE WHOLE GAMING INDUSTRY VIES FOR THE VALUABLE MENTAL SPACE DEDICATED TO GAMING IN YOUR BRAIN BY THORINWG OUT THEIR HOTTEST & JUICIEST ANNOUNCEMENTS IN COLLECTIVE UNISON!!!!
And we (yes, with a wild Josh included) are here to give OUR EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AND RELEVANT opinions about it. You better believe the boys exchanged some passionate opinions on this one...
#75: KYRA, THE EGD CEO!
Posted 6/20/2021
Kyra has played a pivotal role in helping EGD navigate the variety of significant hardships they've encountered along the way of moving from an underground game design club spurned by their own college, to building an organization that has, and continues to, successfully guide their members to professional opportunities across a variety of industries, especially the gaming industry.
Join bramoala, ChipSkylark, and Nobody as they talk with Kyra about her impressive journey, game industry ethics, her favorite games, and more!
#74: BATTLEFIELD$70
Posted 6/12/2021
The gaming world's MP scene is dominated by F2P titles, which makes Battlefield's choice to release full price without a campaign borderline out-of-touch.
bramoala and ChipSkylark discuss why they think EA would make this decision as well as whether MP-only games deserve the full price purchase price in the week's episode of Koalatea Time!