Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast

Cheryl Platz
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  • VIDEO GAMES
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Creative director, game designer, and author of The Game Development Strategy Guide Cheryl Platz hosts this engaging look behind the scenes at what it takes to make video games that transcend the test of time. In-depth conversations with industry veterans cover deep topics intended to get listeners thinking about how to pull the video game industry out of the doldrums and into a more sustainable, more playful future.

  1. Proactive People Programs for Thriving Game Studios with Amy White

    2 DAYS AGO

    Proactive People Programs for Thriving Game Studios with Amy White

    Most game studios start out chasing a game, not a plan to stick around for the long haul - and that's where things start to fall down. Right at the moment when success knocks at the door and you start to scale, things fall apart. Why aren't people working together well? Why did we reboot the game design 18 times? Why is everyone leaving? This week's guest, Amy White, is a lifelong gamer and Director of People at Fusebox Games here to help dispel the stereotypes about human resources and help us understand what proactive people policies look like. While HR is always going to need to protect the business, what if they could also help you define a thriving culture? What if you could consciously partner with your employees to co-create an environment that makes them excited to come to work? And what about navigating the incredibly fraught world of recruiting in a world of AI-informed candidates and layoff-amplified applicant pools? This conversation between experienced senior leaders in gaming provides unique insights for managers, individual contributors, and entrepreneurs trying to navigate the question: how do I design not just for my game, but for the people making our games? And if you think this conversation doesn't apply to video gaming, please think again. It's exactly that mindset that's gotten us into this industry doldrum. With so many projects spanning years, you can't afford not to have a people plan in place to help support career growth, provide cultural clarity, and proactively reduce the risk of interpersonal and legal challenges. Treating your studio like it's a temporary project and not a long-term workplace is the road to eventual reductions in force.  Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.  #gamedev #videogames #management #leadership #recruiting #peoplemanagement #peoplepartner #humanresources #seniorleadership #entrepreneurship #indiegames  Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! To take Amy up on her offer of LinkedIn networking or to follow up on the research and other information cited in this episode, head to the show notes at https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-6-amy-white-show-notes/

    1hr 12min
  2. Helping Local Game Devs Reach Global Impact with Tim Cullings

    31 MAR

    Helping Local Game Devs Reach Global Impact with Tim Cullings

    Seattle's indie gaming scene boasts the largest thriving indie game community in North America - Seattle Indies - headed currently by Executive Director Tim Cullings. Tim's background started in traditional information technology, but a deep growth mindset helped him learn from Portal co-creator Kim Swift at his first game industry gig, transforming opportunity into a lifelong journey. From his initial days doing IT for gaming, Tim went on cover a variety of roles from production to social media and eventually found himself working on the launch team for the Oculus platform at Meta. As he explored the Seattle scene, Tim realized how unique the energy was in this region, and became a fierce advocate for local game developers - creating events and programs that help them supplement great ideas with the great execution required to thrive. Today's episode should provide inspiration for folks looking to learn more about how game development communities themselves evolve, will provide more insight about the nuances within the indie developer community, will highlight a few games like Slay the Spire that got their start in the Seattle Indies community, and will also provide a peek at some of the ways gaming and education collide in the Seattle indie scene. Seattle Indies welcomes everyone regardless of region at SLICE and SIX, their annual events around PAX, and in their Discord - so no matter where you're based, join us to learn how this community and others like it can continue to grow and thrive. Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.  #gamedev #videogames #indies #indiegames #conventions #conferences #communitymanagement #seattle Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! This episode has BONUS CONTENT at the show notes page, including a photo from Tim's time at Airtight games and several other stories from his gaming past: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-5-tim-cullings-show-notes/

    1hr 10min
  3. S2 E4: Events as a Catalyst for Thriving Communities with Cristina Amaya

    24 MAR

    S2 E4: Events as a Catalyst for Thriving Communities with Cristina Amaya

    What's a third space, where did they go, and what role can gaming events play in helping players pursue the growing motivator of play of companionship? Why are events the first to get cut when budgets get tight in a world where a return to onsite work would imply tangible events are more valuable than ever? Today's guest is veteran video game event manager and strategist Christina Amaya, who has managed events for new product launches like Riot's 2XKO and Google Stadia, eSports events for Team Liquid, developer events for Unity, and conferences like DreamHack. She's also a prolific community organizer who founded Latinx in Gaming and has contributed meaningfully to the International Game Developers Association. She is one of the many helpers behind the scenes, connecting folks experiencing layoffs over and over again, building community when we need it most. Today's candid conversation covers topics like the role events play in successful video game launches, first hand stories from a community organizer's perspective, lived experience growing up as a gamer and getting into the industry and shared real life stories about the coping strategies we've developed to get through our own video game layoff stories and much more. #gamedev #videogames #eventmanagement #esports #conventions #communitymanagement Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book  The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games. This episode pairs particularly well with Chapter 1 (player motivation), chapter 2 (The Living Business of Games), Chapter 6 (The Why of Multiplayer), and Chapter 9 (From emergence to prosocial gaming). Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! Show notes: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-4-cristina-amaya-show-notes/

    59 min
  4. Putting Playtesting into your Process with Steve Bromley

    17 MAR

    Putting Playtesting into your Process with Steve Bromley

    Games user researcher and educator Steve Bromley literally wrote the book on games user research, and he's been coaching and teaching the gaming community in how to get the most from their playtesting and research efforts for 15 years. He's working on his third book, Playtest Plus, while his most popular book How To Be A Games User Researcher serves as the basis for his semiannual class for devs looking to amp up the effectiveness of their playtesting practice. As always, this episode is for anyone regardless of discipline. We cover topics like interdisciplinary collaboration and strategy, common pitfalls in playtesting, onboarding and player comprehension, games research communities, and so much more.  Explore the book, podcast, merch, and show notes for this episode at enduringplay.com. #gamedev #videogames #uxresearch #userexperience #gamesresearch #playtesting Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book  The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games. This episode pairs particularly well with Chapter 1 (player motivation), Chapter 3 (the many disciplines in game development), Chapter 5 (user experience design and research), and Chapter 15 (common development pitfalls). Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! Show notes: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-3-steve-bromley-show-notes/

    59 min
  5. Self-Expression, Representation, and Generational Gaming with Adanna Nedd

    10 MAR

    Self-Expression, Representation, and Generational Gaming with Adanna Nedd

    Narrative designer, games writer, and games researcher Adanna Nedd brings her extensive knowledge of what's current in gaming to expand our horizons. Explore unexpected questions like: what's "friend slop" and why does it matter? What does self-expression really mean to marginalized groups in games? How is one of the current breakout games innovating in women's health? Why are some vintage consoles still getting playtime? And... what do spiders have to do with AI? While Adanna's research focuses on the experiences of players of color in video game spaces, the insights she brings are applicable to all listeners at any stage or role in gaming: player, developer, leader. Adanna is also a speaker at the 2026 GDC Festival of Gaming and is nominated for the Black in Gaming Foundation's 2026 Indie Developer Award for her community engagement and outreach, trying to help solve the discoverability problem by connecting interested gamers and game devs to the games that can serve them. You'll learn more about the cognitive benefits of gaming, economic drivers of self-expression, and a surprising revelation about a challenge facing younger gamers in this generation. Don't miss this fun and extremely practical exploration of an astonishing array of modern games and genres. For readers of host Cheryl Platz's new critically acclaimed book The Game Development Strategy Guide, this episode not only hits the Motivators of Play, but covers the Spectrum of Gaming Graphics from Chapter 8: Creating Immersive Worlds, some of the topics from Chapter 11: Efficient and Ethical Economies, and goes deep on topics from Chapter 6: The Why of Multiplayer. Show Notes: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-2-adanna-nedd-show-notes/ #gamedev #gdc2026 #indiegames #gamesresearch

    1hr 10min
  6. S2 E1: Powering Up Game Dev by Making Space for All with Joanie Kraut

    3 MAR

    S2 E1: Powering Up Game Dev by Making Space for All with Joanie Kraut

    Welcome to Season 2 of Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast. Where Season 1 expanded on the interviews from host Cheryl Platz's critically acclaimed book The Game Development Strategy Guide, Season 2 covers new ground. The overarching themes: community and curiosity in a time of chaos. We'll talk to educators, community leaders, researchers, event organizers, studio leaders, and many others who can help us understand how to sustainably scale our game development work even when the future seems uncertain. Season 2's bonus-length debut episode features a candid, constructive, and hopeful conversation with Women in Games International CEO Joanie Kraut. Recent reports indicate that 46-48% of gamers globally are women - but only one third of game developers identify as women or nonbinary, and that's still far larger than the representation numbers seen in esports. How do we break these cycles, and how can we lift up marginalized groups in gaming in a way that benefits everyone - all genders, all ethnicities, all races, all sexual orientations - with an eye towards equity? Joanie Kraut has been exploring these questions in her work as CEO of WIGI, bringing diverse cohorts of allies to the table across the industry for years. We cover everything from Joanie's incredibly relatable origin story in gaming to WIGI's history of partnership with the Game Developers Conference and what all listeners can learn from the preparations WIGI's GDC scholars engage in each year. It doesn't matter what your gender is or what your career stage is - there's something here for you, and there's a seat at WIGI's table for you, too. Game development is complex and challenging and we all know it's dangerous to go alone - learn about the programs WIGI offers to anyone who needs guidance on navigating complex workplace scenarios to help you build inclusive teams and games that speak to wider audiences. For readers of host Cheryl Platz's new critically acclaimed book The Game Development Strategy Guide, this episode hits the Motivators of Play from Chapter 1 particularly frequently as well as themes from Chapter 9's focus on prosocial gaming and Chapter 11's gaming economies - and it also hits the theme of the epilogue: in the end, your biggest challenge is not actually any individual game but building a sustainable studio that can survive each individual game launch. #gamedev #videogames #wigi #igda #gdc Show Notes: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-1-joanie-kraut-show-notes/

    1hr 14min
  7. People, Process, and Players: Human-Centered Video Game Production

    21/10/2025

    People, Process, and Players: Human-Centered Video Game Production

    How do you navigate the incredibly high stakes of video game development (even AAA video game development) without losing the fun, and your humanity along the way? Senior Producer Yesenia Cisneros helps us close out Season 1 with her signature blend of world-class production, problem solving, and people focus. All listeners will walk away inspired by techniques for more human-centered video game production along with some of our top tips for building more successful thriving games from the ground up. We touch on topics like globalization, telemetry, esports, crunch culture, planning, user experience research, the power of community, and much more. Yesenia's iconic video gaming journey took her from video game quality assurance to her current role as Senior Producer at Riot Games with stops at studios like Brass Lion Entertainment, Signal Studios, Mojang Studios, and The Pokémon Company International along the way before landing at her current role at Riot Games. (This podcast is not affiliated nor sponsored by my current employer, TPCi nor my past and Yesenia's present employer Riot.) Enduring Play is a uniquely crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book  The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, which is available worldwide as of September 16, 2025 and received a "Get It" recommendation from Kirkus Reviews.  Show notes, including a full bio, episode outline, and links are available on the Enduring Play website. Use code ENDURINGPLAYS1 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 1 discount offer expires November 30, 2025. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! For readers of host Cheryl Platz's new critically acclaimed book The Game Development Strategy Guide, this episode is a perfect closer to the season as we explore several of the topics from Chapter 14: Let the Right Ideas Win and Chapter 15: Failure to Thrive in addition to its relevance to chapters discussing production and business models like Chapter 2 and Chapter 13. All listeners will take something away from this podcast, but the book is a great way to expand your understanding.

    1 hr
  8. S1 E9: Doing More with Less for Video Game Art and UI with Tamara Knoss

    14/10/2025

    S1 E9: Doing More with Less for Video Game Art and UI with Tamara Knoss

    Tamara Knoss has played many roles in the video game industry: character animator, lead artist, UI artist, and now Senior Technical UI Designer - or, as she describes it, "UI/UX unicorn" thanks to the rarity of her combined skillsets navigating the "why" of user experiences and the "how" of executing high fidelity user interface art in game engines like Unity. She's seen the rise and fall of multiple console generations, and created game art for some of the world's most famous IP, including The Sims, Disney, and Harry Potter. We had the opportunity to work together directly on multiple titles, and this wide-ranging episode serves as a great look at the history of some early handheld development and a challenge to current developers to think smaller when developing for mobile games. Why aren't we learning from the past when trying to build games that get the most out of as many devices as possible? This episode doesn't just ask that question, but it pulls back the veil on some of the techniques and mindsets used to solve for extreme constraint when games were shipping on cartridges no larger than 16 megabytes. That's right. Megabytes. But there's also plenty of modern insight about how specialization in an engine like Unity unlocks creativity in new ways, firsthand insight about shipping console launch titles, and industry-agnostic insight about the nature of UX/UI roles and their ability to serve not just software, but the organization around them.  For readers of The Game Development Strategy Guide, this episode is a particularly great complement of themes from Chapter 3: Putting the Dev in Game Development, Chapter 8: Creating Immersive Worlds, and Chapter 12: Gaming Technology Platforms. Enduring Play is a uniquely crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book  The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, which is available worldwide as of September 16, 2025 and received a "Get It" recommendation from Kirkus Reviews.  Show notes, including a full bio, episode outline, and links are available on the Enduring Play website. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together!

    1 hr
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Creative director, game designer, and author of The Game Development Strategy Guide Cheryl Platz hosts this engaging look behind the scenes at what it takes to make video games that transcend the test of time. In-depth conversations with industry veterans cover deep topics intended to get listeners thinking about how to pull the video game industry out of the doldrums and into a more sustainable, more playful future.

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