Trynn Check is an independent game designer from DePaul University. She works at iThrive Games that promote mental health and teen thriving. She also has her studio called Intrynnsic Entertainment. We talk about her journey of going to school, working, and breaking into the game industry. Breaking into the game industry is hard, and entry-level jobs pay low, and she needed to keep her corporate responsibility to pay off school. It did not stop her from investing in skills like in Udemy or implementing game design elements into her job. She also pointed out not to assume your game is not worth ..read more

Voice actor Ben Britton graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of Arts and has been behind the mic for more than 30 years. You can hear him in a variety of games such as Lamplight City, Spellforce III, The Occupation, and many more. You have to learn how to edit files, work on volume levels, create a functional space for consistent recording, and learn acting because you will be expressing a range of emotions. One important tip is to get the exact criteria for the voice-over recording to ensure it works with the game. Support my work at patreon.com/gamedevloadout ..read more

Vincent Michael is one of the founding directors of YHWH Games that teach students how to create video games and transform them into self-sustaining artists. We discuss: Exploit your strengths and stop wasting time on your weakness Learn the different type of artists and stages of an artist There is no work/life balance, only work/life decisions Best investments: god, family, self, board, company Hammer in your value and do not sell your service for cheap *** If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and ..read more

Award-winning British voice actor, Jay Britton has done 50 titles and over 300 characters ranging from indie studios to AAA developers. Games include Divinity Original Sin 2, FIFA 17, Starcraft 2, and more. We discuss: Voice actors should be experts in creating characters Get them involved in a project as soon as possible Table reads is a great way to establish characters 90% of having a successful voice acting career is what you do outside the booth Foster emotional agility because your lines will have an angry element to it, then the next line will be sad, then the next line will be happy. O ..read more

Mikolai Stroinski is a music composer that has worked on the Witcher 3, Dark Souls, Vanishing of Ethan Carter, and much more. We discuss: Think not just as a composer but as a video game maker as well. You don’t want to get too attached to your music because it might not fit the game. Trust your inner voice because it's a sign to either continue or stop composing. Study different music vocabularies and play lots of different games. Don't just study video game music. Be a good human being because good karma ricochets back to you. Don't think about just making money. Think about how you can cont ..read more

Jeremy Liu was the narrative design lead at NetEase Games, an intern at EA, and a technical designer at Rockstar Games. Titles include Red Dead 2, NBA Live Mobile, and Realm of Duels. We discuss: How to get into technical design Why you need to study and plan ahead of time before taking action His worst moment of working on a game that was destined to not be a commercial hit Listening is a great quality of a leader Do power naps, 20 minutes How he becomes a walking exoticism in China because of his experience in the USA The culture shock of working in the USA and China Imagine ramming through ..read more

Gary Kings of National Insecurities is a lead game designer, writer, editor that has worked on games such as Once Upon a Crime in the West and 2000:1 A Space Felony. We discuss: Get a producer to optimize teamwork and productivity. Before choosing a university, make sure it has the courses you want and need. Get better at game design - play lots of games, have outside people play your games, figure out what’s have been done and what hasn’t been done before. How Gary overcome his worst moment of not getting his game funded and his granddad passing away. He still found the motivation to make pla ..read more

Ivy Dupler is a NYC-based voice actress who can be heard in video games, commercials, and cartoons. Her recent work includes voicing protagonist Special Agent Vera Englund in Whispers of a Machine (Clifftop Games/Faravid Interactive), as well as several roles in Unavowed (Wadjet Eye Games) and Lamplight City (Grundislav Games). We discuss: Don’t get distracted by mistakes during voice recording. Take a deep breath and wait a few seconds then just go again. Focusing on the mistake can mess up future takes and use up the studio and the audio engineer time. Take Improv and voice acting class. BE ..read more

Solo UK indie Nic Rutherford is working on a game called Fringe Plant. We discuss: His decision to go full indie after having a good amount of savings Think about the accessibility of your games such as subtitles, sound effects, or controller inputs Ask questions asap to get answers asap External entities can be a waste of time such as responding to emails to people who never answer back or waiting on the phone Take some downtime as soon as you notice you are not being productive Stream your game development to talk to people and build a rapport Games are positive for the world, you are creati ..read more

IGF-nominated narrative designer Xalavier Nelson Jr. creates a morally-complex world with human emotion at the core of every scenario, where the individuals outside your squad matter as much as the rangers you deploy on each map. We discuss: How too much narrative can be detrimental to the game Pre-production is one of the most important part of development Make time for your health: spending time with loves one, exercise, eating right Spend less time making your games so you can start early on building your foundation *** If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short rev ..read more