Podcasts by The Dialog Box
Conversations on game development hosted by game developer Gwen Frey (Bioshock Infinite/The Molasses Flood/Kine)and Chris Slight (Games Journalist/Host).
Further podcasts by Gwen Frey and Chris Slight
Podcast on the topic Freizeit
All episodes
Ep. 119 Why does Game Dev take so long? from 2021-10-05T09:00:20
Gwen and Chris talk about game production, pipeline iteration, audio workflows, cutscenes in games, and trailers that maybe don’t have much to do with the game.
ListenEp. 118 Game Writing & Production Woes! from 2021-09-05T08:00:16
Gwen and Chris catch up on: Lab Rat's development, comedy writing, writing in games, Psychonauts 2, BioShock Infinite, and much more!
ListenEp. 117 Business and design decisions in Darkest Dungeon /w Tyler Sigman from 2021-05-10T11:30:04
This week we chat with the Design Director of Darkest Dungeon - a brilliantly designed and wildly successful indie game. Tyler dives into his backstory and explains how he gained the experience bot...
ListenS2 - 02 - Business and design decisions in Darkest Dungeon /w Tyler Sigman from 2021-05-10T11:30:04
This week we chat with the Design Director of Darkest Dungeon - a brilliantly designed and wildly successful indie game. Tyler dives into his backstory and explains how he gained the experience bot...
ListenEp. 116 Designing Highly Systemic Games With Narrative /w Tom Francis from 2021-04-15T13:52:16
This week Tom Francis outlines the difficult decisions he has made while developing Tactical Breach Wizards, and why he made them. We also talk about what he learned designing hit indie games Gunpo...
ListenS2 - 01 - Designing Highly Systemic Games With Narrative /w Tom Francis from 2021-04-15T13:52:16
This week Tom Francis outlines the difficult decisions he has made while developing Tactical Breach Wizards, and why he made them. We also talk about what he learned designing hit indie games Gunpo...
ListenEp. 115 w/ William Chyr on transitioning between projects from 2021-04-04T13:02:55
William Chyr spent 7 years developing the hit puzzler Manifold Garden and then another 1.5 years porting it and releasing it on every known platform. Now he's reflecting on how far he's come and wh...
ListenEp. 114 Last Year In Games from 2021-01-11T10:00:20
2020 was a weird year! Gwen and Chris have a casual chat about what we played and why.
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Ep. 113 Crunch, Cert, & Cyberpunk 2077 from 2020-12-22T07:00:28
Gwen & Chris chat about what went wrong with Cyberpunk 2077 - the "edgy" marketing, the way it was developed, the launch issues, the rabid gaming fandom, how this is going to impact console cert fo...
ListenEp. 112 What We Learned From Playtesting from 2020-12-07T13:34:40
This week Gwen & Chris chat about game shows in 2021, the Lab Rat playtest, the value of playtests, and how Gwen is approaching marketing in 2021.
ListenEp. 111 Collaborative Game Dev During Covid-19 from 2020-10-26T12:23:56
Gwen & Chris chat about Kine's Steam launch and Gwen's upcoming game, Lab Rat. They specifically discuss how her micro-studio is collaborating remotely. There is definitely room for improvement!
ListenEp. 110 Puzzle Game Devs Nerding Out w/ Corey Martin & Alan Hazelden from 2020-10-05T10:00:17
Three puzzle developers chat about about pacing in puzzle games, puzzle difficulty, the puzzle genre, the indie game market in general, and what we are playing right now.
Guests:
Alan...
Ep. 109 The Importance of Passion from 2020-08-24T08:32
Is it important to love the game genre for the game you are working on? That depends on the studio size and your role, right? This week we chat about passion and how important it is for marketing i...
ListenEp. 108 Finding Inspiration & Staying Motivated As An Indie Dev from 2020-07-20T16:18:11
Chris grills Gwen on how she finds motivation to develop games, how she plans her work, why she does it, and more.
ListenEp. 107 Online Game Festivals, Streaming Platforms, & Dis Respect M.D. from 2020-06-29T13:22:59
Dr Disrespect is thrown off Twitch. Mixer shuts down. Steam adds live streaming to their store. Online game festivals are bad for indies.
Gwen and Chris chat about all this and more!
Ep. 106 Star Trek: PS5 from 2020-06-15T09:01:56
Star Trek! Gwen's next game! The PlayStation 5! All of it is discussed on this episode!
PSA: If you want to skip Star Chat skip to 14:28.
Ep. 105 Unreal Engine 5? Sounds Epic! from 2020-05-25T12:14:31
Gwen and Chris discuss the recently revealed Unreal Engine 5 from Epic, GTA 5 and Civ 6 going on the Epic Store for free and more.
ListenEp. 104 New consoles and a new puzzle game! from 2020-05-11T14:45:28
This week Gwen & Chris have a quick chat about new console reveals, or lack thereof. We also cover the new game Gwen is working on.
ListenEp. 103 Producing games for over 30 years! w/ Mike Arkin from 2020-03-31T08:00:02
Long-time veteran Mike Arkin and I talk about his his career and his wartime stories shipping games across each console generation. Topics include working with licensed ip, being the bad guy (publi...
ListenEp. 102 Human Connection Through Video Games from 2020-03-16T07:00:35
Gwen and Chris discuss online multiplayer experiences and how they, along with streamers, are bringing people together and giving them something fun to do.
ListenEp. 101 w/ Xalavier Nelson Jr from 2020-03-09T07:00:20
Gwen and Chris are back from PAX East and are joined by the creator of An Airport For Aliens Currently Run By Dogs Xalavier Nelson Jr! We discuss, exhibiting at PAX, getting satisfaction from your ...
ListenEp. 100 Coronavirus, PAX East and Personal Brands from 2020-02-24T07:00:10
Chris & Gwen discuss the impact the Coronavirus could have on the industry at large as well as PAX East, which they have to prep for. They also touch on having a personal brand and the difficulty o...
ListenEp. 99 How Tom Francis designs and builds games w/ Tom Francis from 2020-01-27T09:00:20
Tom crafted Gunpoint, Heat Signature, and soon Tactical Breach Wizards. In this episode we chat about how he got into games, how he staffs his projects, where his game design inspiration comes from...
ListenEp. 98 Wrapping up one game and lookin' forward to the next one from 2020-01-20T09:00:10
We talk about what Gwen is working on next, transitioning between projects, problems with multi-platform launches, porn in games, and the upcoming new consoles.
ListenEp. 97 Interviewing Freya Holmer the dev behind Shader Forge & Budget Cuts from 2020-01-13T09:00:16
This week Gwen interviews Freya Holmer. We talk about Freya's self-started career, why she only works on things that interest her, burn out, how she funds her ventures, and her goal to craft an onl...
ListenEp. 96 Streamers & Indie Devs have a lot in common from 2019-12-16T10:00:23
Chris Slight is back! He moved to America, lost everything in a layoff, and then moved back to the UK. We'll cover that, and also: How is streaming similar to indie development. What is Mixer up to...
ListenEp. 95 All about VR, Halo, Ubisoft, and more w/ game director Scott Warner from 2019-12-09T10:00:43
This week Gwen chats with Scott Warner, game director at Ubisoft, about his 20 year career, Halo, how he got into VR, why he left VR and went to Ubisoft, what game dev is like at Ubisoft, and more!
ListenEp. 94 Game devs talk about game dev /w Jason Mojica from 2019-12-02T10:00:13
A meandering conversation: making art for FPSs, visual language in games, why puzzle games are fun to make, the puzzle game genre, what we are excited about in game dev, and why VR is coming back!
ListenEp. 93 What is it like at Valve? /w Chris Remo from 2019-11-18T14:49:49
Chris Remo has worked at studios large and small, and in teams of all sizes. This week we chat about his move from San Francisco to Seattle, why he'll never go back, and what is it like to work at ...
ListenEp. 92 WE SHIPPED OUR INDIE GAMES! 24 hours after launch /w William Chyr from 2019-10-21T09:00:22
24 hours ago William Chyr launched Manifold Garden. A game 7 years in development!! 18 hours before that Gwen Frey launched Kine. A solo passion project and obsession. Fresh off the launch-time aft...
ListenEp. 91 Finishing and shipping an indie game after 7 years! /w William Chyr from 2019-09-30T09:00:24
William Chyr returns to chat about launching Manifold Garden on Apple Arcade and EGS! This game has been seven years in the making and the reality of launching it soon is finally sinking in. Gwen i...
ListenEp. 90 Puzzle Designers Talk About Puzzle Games /w Alan Hazelden from 2019-09-23T09:00:25
Award winning puzzle game designer Alan Hazelden joins Gwen for a low-key chat about game design. Topics include: difficulty curves for puzzle games, puzzle overworlds/layouts, non-linear puzzle st...
ListenEp. 89 Porting indie games ain't easy! /w Jason Mojica from 2019-09-16T09:00:25
Gwen and Jason talk about porting to different platforms, why Stadia is difficult, how localization complicates things, why the new storefronts are important, and more!
ListenEp. 87 Mock Interview: Let's talk about Kine! from 2019-08-18T17:13:55
Words are hard. Today Chris gives Gwen interview tips as she prepares to talk to some press at Gamescom. Then they chat about subscription services, EGS, and the future.
ListenEp. 85 w/ Jason Mojica - Yet Another Ex-Irrational Indie Dev from 2019-07-22T11:00:24
Two ex-Bioshock turned indie devs have a long, cheerful chat about their lives after Irrational Games shut down. We cover Jason's love of modding and how it has driven him to Co-found an indie stud...
ListenEp. 84 Sexy New Hardware from 2019-07-15T11:00:24
Nintendo is launching a handheld Switch, so Chris and Gwen chat about consoles and console development.
ListenEp. 83 Outsourcing art ain't easy! from 2019-07-08T11:00:24
Now that Kine is in the last few months Gwen and Chris chat about the end of development, and what went right and what went wrong during Kine's production.
ListenEp. 82 Utilikilts from 2019-06-24T11:00:19
Kine is approaching content lock and we might get some promotional utilikilts.
ListenEp. 81 E3 was super quiet this year. from 2019-06-17T11:00:09
Gwen and Chris talk about the E3 conference highlights: what was there and what wasn't.
ListenEp. 80 Death Standing from 2019-06-03T11:00:27
Gwen and Chris discuss the new Death Stranding trailer, Kojima and more as we stand in the shadow the three E's.
ListenEp. 79 Launch timing matters & this year is PACKED with games! from 2019-05-28T11:00:17
Gwen and Chris talk about all the game and platforms launching later this year. Other topics include cloud gaming, E3, British accents, and streaming conferences.
ListenEp. 78 The Epic Game Store Controversy from 2019-04-15T11:00:14
Gwen and Chris catch up and there's a lot! GDC had loads of announcements. Also Kine is coming to the Epic storefront and is getting closer to launch!
ListenEp. 77 w/ Jason Schreier from 2019-03-11T11:00:38
Gwen talks to Jason Schreier, editor of Kotaku, about GDC from a journalists perspective, the recent reporting on ArenaNet job layoffs and his approach to clicks vs content.
ListenEp. 76 Back On Our BS from 2019-02-25T12:00:27
This is peak Dialog Box, Dialog Box Classic, Kiss 1996 Reunion Dialog Box. Gwen and Chris talk store fronts, streaming, game engines, GDC and laugh a lot.
ListenEp. 75 w/ Joe Mirabello: Globalization in the Games Industry from 2019-02-18T12:00:15
Joe Mirabello, developer of Tower of Guns and Mothergunship, discusses the controversy around 38 studios, how he started his indie studio, how he developed a game with a team spread across the plan...
ListenEp. 74 w/ Alan Hazelden: How do you pay your indie team? from 2019-02-04T12:00:25
Gwen & Chris are joined yet again by developer Alan Hazelden to discuss profit sharing at indie studios.
ListenEp. 73 w/ Rami Ismail from 2019-01-28T12:00:33
Rami Ismail of Vlambeer joins Gwen and Chris this week to discuss his latest project, Meditations, his work, his influences and what drives him!
ListenEp. 72 Marketing and Publishers in 2019. Who Is Anna? from 2018-12-17T11:00:25
Gwen talks about her fears marketing an indie game in 2019 while Chris asks the question on his own ignorant lips "who is Anna?"
ListenEp. 71 An Epic Store from 2018-12-10T12:00:20
The Epic Store is here and Gwen and Chris see big changes coming to the PC landscape! We also discuss video game streaming services again because, well, we think it's the future!
ListenEp. 70 w/ Alan Hazelden: Steam's Doing New Splits! from 2018-12-03T12:00:24
This week we chat with Alan Hazelden: His lifestyle, his games, and his perspective on Steam's new tiered revenue split.
ListenEp. 69 Fortnite Dancing In To A New Store from 2018-11-26T13:00:14
Gwen and Chris talk the confusing issue of who owns a dance in Fortnite, gaming entering mainstream culture and if selling games outside of a storefront is viable.
ListenEp. 68 Chump Squad from 2018-11-19T14:00:18
Gwen and Chris return after a long break! Find out about Gwen exhibiting her solo game, Kine, at EGX in the UK and forming a new company, Chump Squad. Chris has moved to the USA and works for Meow ...
ListenEp. 67 Subscription And Streaming Services For Videogames from 2018-08-31T06:00:06
Gwen and Chris discuss Microsoft recently announcing a subscription bundle of an Xbox One with Game Pass and Xbox Live. Is this the future for games distribution?
ListenEp. 66 w/ lunoland / Stugan and Year in the Trees from 2018-08-24T06:00:08
Solo game developer @lunoland, (aka Chris Smith), joins Chris and Gwen to talk about his trip to the Stugan. We cover his path towards becoming a solo indie developer, his game Year in the Trees, a...
ListenEp. 65 w/ William Chyr : Making Manifold Garden Solo from 2018-08-10T06:00:14
William Chyr, developer of Manifold Garden, joins Gwen and Chris this week to discuss solo development, his background, and live streaming development.
ListenEp. 64 w/ Elizabeth Baumel : Unreal Engine And Programming Chat from 2018-08-03T06:00:04
This week Gwen and Chris are joined by Elizabeth Baumel giving Gwen the chance to get super nerdy about Unreal Engine 4, Blueprint and programming!
ListenEp. 63 Kickstarting an indie game isn't easy! from 2018-07-27T06:00:15
Gwen discusses marketing an indie game, both solo and with a studio, and her experiences using Kickstarter to fund The Flame in the Flood.
ListenEp. 62 ID@Xbox And No Man's Sky from 2018-07-20T06:00:14
Chris talks the No Man's Sky NEXT update and how Hello Games stuck with the game post release, Gwen talks her experiences with ID@Xbox and Microsoft as well as publishers for indie games.
ListenEp. 61 ArenaNet and Social Media from 2018-07-13T06:00:04
Live on Twitch for the first time Chris & Gwen discuss Arena.net, social media and more!
ListenEp 60. Seven Hour Shitty Pixel Art Battle Royale from 2018-06-08T06:00:04
A goofy podcast where Chris and Gwen chat about humour in games. Why isn't there more of it? Why is comedy hard? They also discuss E3, leaks, BioShock, and why making sequels is soul crushing.
ListenEp 59. The Internet is a Battlefield (V) from 2018-06-01T07:22:45
People are mad at Battlefield V and Chris is mad at people for being mad at Battlefield V, Gwen is shocked at how dark the internet can be. There is no information or game-dev talk in this podcast....
ListenEp. 58 A hundred million dollar podcast! aka chattin' about esports. from 2018-05-25T06:00:02
With Fortnite taking over the world and Epic throwing crazy money in to e-sports let's chat about e-sports, streamers, and storefronts.
ListenEp. 57 Game Industry Predictions? Epic Replaces Valve And Microsoft Stops Making Consoles! from 2018-05-17T23:41:46
Let's speculate wildly about the future! With the wild success of Fortnite Gwen suggests a time where Epic take over digital distribution from Steam, and with changes in Microsoft as a whole Chris ...
ListenEp. 56 Growing an indie studio is hard. Working with contractors is hard. Makin' games ain't easy! from 2018-04-27T05:00:13
Gwen talks to Chris about how a studio culture is created and what pitfalls there can be. They also get in to out sourcing work and how much strain this can initially put on a team.
ListenEp. 55 Island Life from 2018-04-19T23:16:58
We talk about battle royales, Epic, and Fortnight. We talk about China. We talk about media molecule. Hot damn we have a lot to say today!
ListenEp. 54 GDC & Score Wars from 2018-04-13T10:14:54
Gwen returns from GDC with tales and Chris is back from Santa Fe where he co-hosted Score Wars, the Galaga World Championship!
ListenEp. 53 Why Do You Stay Indie? from 2018-03-09T09:02:27
Gwen has been looking at Steam Spy again and we need to talk about why someone would stay indie in 2018 vs going to a AAA developer.
ListenEp. 52 Slime Ranching With Chris Lum from 2018-03-02T18:24:03
Chris Lum of Monomi Park joins us this week to discuss Slime Rancher, tips for your first GDC, getting in to the games industry and more!
ListenEp. 51 Multiplayer in games, humanity in games, humanity in the future! from 2018-02-23T08:55:07
A upbeat talk about communication in video games, user generated content, and how technology will change how we interact in the future.
ListenEp. 50 Doughnuts Streamers And World Tours from 2018-02-15T18:34:16
Chris is back to talk with Gwen about eating many doughnuts, going on holiday, who watches the watched and more!
ListenEp. 49 Nerds on the D/L from 2018-01-26T06:21:56
Chris is back from PAX South to tell tales of the convention. They then go super deep with just how nerdy Gwen and Chris were as kids. (There's a bunch of Stargate: SG1 chat in here.)
ListenEp. 48 2018: Droppin' Porgs on the Floor Already from 2018-01-05T16:30:03
Gwen and Chris look at the Steam end of year sales figures, discuss big publisher indie labels, open world single player games not suffering in 2017, tech animation being on point this year and the...
ListenEp. 47 Game of the Year 2017 (Chris plays, Gwen Makes) from 2017-12-22T09:18:11
Chris lists his Game of the Year contenders, honourable mentions and winner, Gwen looks forward to making more games.
ListenEp. 46 Makin' Games ain't easy, but it sure is fun! from 2017-12-15T10:14:07
Real talk. Gwen talks about the mental fatigue of shipping a title, recovering from an "okay" indie game launch, and the struggle of figuring out the second project for a studio.
ListenEp. 45 An episode about your favorite game-dev topic! from 2017-12-08T11:44:01
Today: Esports are weird. Using a pre-built game engine does not stop you from developing new tech. And wtf is going on in China?
ListenEp. 44 "Fan Art" isn't fan art if you are selling it. That's called "stealing" from 2017-12-01T14:49:23
A light conversation about heavy topics: When is fan art theft? What can indies do to protect themselves from real theft? Why is Discord terrible? Are people more depressed today, or are we just on...
ListenEp. 43 Loot Boxes Again from 2017-11-17T09:04:51
Loot Boxes, or the discussion of them, is here to stay and Gwen and Chris somehow have more opinions on them! The Videogames Awards, the rise of China in the games industry, history and politics in...
ListenEp. 42 The Games They Are A-Changing from 2017-11-10T11:00:57
Listeners asked us questions: Are games too cheap? What is the future of the games industry? How is going indie from AAA different today than it used to be. And why wont anyone break NDA and talk t...
ListenEp. 41 Paris Game Week? Is this a thing? Since when? from 2017-11-03T13:54:15
This week we discuss many topics: Paris game week, violence in games, reader mail, and indie game dev marketing.
ListenEp. 40 Single Player: Cause_of_death == null; Time_of_death == Groundhogs_Day; from 2017-10-27T19:38:18
Things get a little rowdy this time. Gwen and Chris discuss Visceral's closure, layoffs, the theoretical death of single player games, and Twitch-con. Gwen: remember to take this down if you ever a...
ListenEp. 39 Getting Unreal About Engines from 2017-10-13T09:41:15
Gwen loves the Unreal Engine and Chris isn't fully sure exactly why or what it is an engine does. Many questions and many answers are given as to why you may use one engine over another.
ListenEp. 38 Finding Your Way In A Turbulent Industry from 2017-09-28T23:06:16
This podcast is more personal than usual. Chris is creatively stagnating and looking for ideas. Gwen offers up a few insights based on her career.
ListenEp. 37 w\ Steve Gaynor "I ate the bones!" from 2017-09-22T08:57:43
Steve Gaynor of the Fullbright Company joins Gwen and Chris to discuss launching Tacoma, distributing games world wide and eating bones.
ListenEp. 36 Streaming Indie Development to Market Your Game from 2017-09-13T15:43:32
Gwen (an indie developer from The Molasses Flood) has streamed for the first time and wants to know more about it. Chris (a professional streamer), feels all indie developers should stream as they...
ListenEp. 35 Beautiful Indie BS from 2017-09-08T11:01:13
itch.io brings us some beautiful "indie bullshit", Gwen & Chris also discuss a little about PAX West, Steam Curation and more on streaming.
ListenEp. 34 To Stream Or Not To Stream from 2017-09-01T11:01:14
Gwen wants to know more about streaming and Chris, turns out, knows a ton, but is it good or bad for indie developers?
ListenEp. 33 Gotta Go Fast from 2017-08-18T08:04:21
Apparently Chris can talk about Sonic for long time while Gwen discusses the future of single player narrative games.
ListenEp. 32 if (Self == IndieDev) then: break from 2017-08-11T07:20:53
Going indie can lead to a lot of time in one room, on your own. Gwen & Chris explore some of the consequences of this (basically, Chris is weird.)
ListenEp. 31 Reviews, Streams And Content Creators Aka We're Old from 2017-08-03T22:57:42
There's a lot of ways videogames are discussed in 2017 and Gwen & Chris want to discuss the discussers!
ListenEp. 30 Our Indie Heroes from 2017-07-28T08:34:41
Team Meat, Double Fine, Playdead and more are discussed as Gwen & Chris discuss their indie dev heroes!
ListenEp. 29 We Like Games We Like from 2017-07-21T08:57:33
Destiny 2! Civilization VI! Gwen and Chris are firmly back in their comfort zones. They also discuss Kingdom Hearts, ASMR, The Sims and more!
ListenEp. 28 Working Together Is Fun from 2017-07-14T13:50:48
Gwen & Chris return discussing where they have been, how they like to work and what the future may hold.
ListenEp. 27 How To Start An Indie Games Studio Pt. 1 from 2017-06-09T10:03:02
Gwen discusses with Chris things that might help someone moving from triple-A Studios into forming their own indie company. Got more questions? Reach out to us on Soundcloud, Twitter (@DialogBoxCas...
ListenEp. 26 E3 Trailers Ain't Easy from 2017-06-02T08:30:38
Trailers are on the mind of Gwen & Chris today as we discuss the pitfalls, sucesses and process of making a trailer for for E3.
ListenEp. 25 Being Laid Off Or The Winter Vanishing from 2017-05-25T16:39:13
Gwen & Chris discuss being laid off from a studio and what steps you could take in that eventuality. Also, Gwen has an odd theory...
ListenEp. 24 Streamers, E3 & Toilets from 2017-05-12T09:14:24
Gwen & Chris talk about streaming, streamers, prep for E3, how you're treated on at different events and tales of toilets at conventions centers!
ListenEp. 23 Crunch, Health and Brown Day from 2017-05-05T08:04:15
Gwen and Chris discuss health, both mental and physical and the challenges working in the games industry can present to those things from crunch to working on games that include dark themes and con...
ListenEp. 22 Video Games Are Better With Story. (Mostly. It's a complicated issue.) from 2017-04-28T14:07:51
Off the back of The Atlantic article "Video Games Are Better Without Stories" Gwen & Chris discuss how games can tell unique stories and build character bonds other mediums cannot.
ListenEp. 21 Gwen Frey Q&A from 2017-04-14T08:20:05
Gwen discusses her inspirations, her process and more inside stories from behind the videogame animation curtain with Chris.
ListenEp. 20 Persona Non Streama 5 from 2017-04-06T16:31:27
Persona 5 has caused waves in the streaming community as developer Atlus have laid out strict guidlines for the broadcast of it's game. Gwen & Chris look at both sides of the argument.
ListenEp. 19 The Andromeda Effect from 2017-03-29T22:53:28
Mass Effect: Andromeda is still causing a lot of debate and Gwen & Chris want to delve in to this one.
ListenEp. 18 Mass Effect Animationpaloza from 2017-03-22T18:50:39
Mass Effect: Andromeda has caused some controversy pre-release with its character animation. Gwen is a character animator. Let's get into this. twitter.com/DialogBoxCast twitter.com/direGoldfish tw...
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