The AIAS Game Maker's Notebook

Trent Kusters chats with Insomniac Games' Ted Price. Ted recently announced his retirement from the games industry and received the 2025 AIAS Hall of Fame award at the 28th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. In this conversation, Ted recalls his life in game development as the founder and president of Insomniac Games from key projects and career milestones to lessons learned and his ideas for the future of games. Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

10 Mar 1h 23min

Xsolla is a leading global video game commerce company with a robust and powerful set of tools and services designed specifically for the industry. Since its founding in 2005, Xsolla has helped thousands of game developers and publishers of all sizes fund, market, launch, and monetize their games globally and across multiple platforms. To learn more, please visit: xsolla.com This episode is supported by Xsolla Episode Host: Adam Orth Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

6 Mar 36min

Shuhei Yoshida chats with Team ASOBI Studio Director Nicolas Doucet. Together they discuss his journey in game development from his early days in QA to his move to work at Japan Studio; building Team ASOBI to work on the emerging technology within SIE; the origins and development of Astro Bot; and how they worked with publishers around the world to represent their characters within the world of Astro Bot.  Episode Host: Shuhei Yoshida Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

3 Mar 1h

Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Odd Meter Studio Director, Dmitry Svetlow. Together they discuss the development of INDIKA including the origins and inspirations behind the haunting narrative; how they built the team and what it takes to be part of a small indie studio; their use of juxtaposition between dark and playful imagery; and balancing how much they reveal to the player and which questions they choose to answer. Episode Host: Alexa Ray Corriea Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

24 Feb 49min

Adam Orth chats with Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov. Together they discuss his early life with computing and how he first created Tetris; his ideas behind real-time versus turn-based puzzle design; ideas he scrapped from early development; distributing Tetris outside of the Soviet Union; his work on titles outside of Tetris and the pressure his first creation put on his subsequent work; and what he hopes for the future of Tetris. This episode is supported by Xsolla Episode Host: Adam Orth Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

17 Feb 1h 12min

Trent Kusters chats with Freehold Games' Brian Bucklew and Jason Grinbalt about their a science fantasy roguelike, Caves of Qud. Together they discuss the 17 year development journey to 1.0; developing the engine and systems that drive their game; their thoughts around modular design; balancing bespoke and procedural content; and the personal and professional challenges and lessons they experienced over the extended development period. This episode is supported by Xsolla Episode Host: Trent Kusters Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

10 Feb 2h 23min

Austin Wintory chats with Audio Director Aldo Sampaio, with whom he recently collaborated together with on the newly released Eternal Strands. They discuss Aldo's journey in game development including his work on the Assassin's Creed franchise; what he learned from working in AAA game development; how they came together at Yellow Brick Games to create the sound and music for the studios debut title. This episode is supported by Xsolla Episode Host: Austin Wintory Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

3 Feb 1h 48min

Greg Rice chats with James Carbutt and Will Todd from Coal Supper. Together they discuss growing up in Yorkshire in Northern England, how they first got together and began developing games; what they learned from their early projects; the British influences behind Thank Goodness You're Here; and the intricacies of writing humor for video games. This episode is supported by Xsolla Episode Host: Greg Rice Producers: Claudio Tapia and Josh Chu, The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving us a rating and review. Follow us: linktr.ee/AIAS Please consider supporting game dev students with: AIAS Foundation

27 Jan 29min