Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast

Cheryl Platz
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  • VIDEO GAMES
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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.

  1. Better Production Techniques, inspired by The Sims featuring Cory Tsang

    3 DAYS AGO

    Better Production Techniques, inspired by The Sims featuring Cory Tsang

    Have you ever wished your production tools and process were more like the games you make? Lead gameplay engineer turned lead producer Cory Tsang is here to tell you that configuring JIRA can be like… engineering Sims objects. And he should know, because as one of the original Object Engineers on the Sims franchise from the Sims 1 era, he's built everything from toilets to magic cauldrons. But halfway through his career, Cory's adaptability and drive for growth took him to Zenimax Online Studios where he had the opportunity to spend a decade honing a new craft as a Senior Producer, making JIRA sing for teams of up to 100+ artists on a thriving massively multiplayer online role playing game. Whether you're a Sims fan, a manager in video games struggling to hit the right pace, or an individual contributor who feels like JIRA is another world, this episode is for you.  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 #thesims #maxis #elderscrolls #elderscrollsonline #eso #gameart #jira #gameproduction #projectmanagement #productmanagement #producer #engineer #zenimax 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 learn more about Cory's work or to follow up on the books and reference material cited in this episode, check out the show notes at https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-9-cory-tsang-show-notes/

    1hr 7min
  2. Authentic Games through Cultural Technical Design with Timothy Staton-Davis

    21 APR

    Authentic Games through Cultural Technical Design with Timothy Staton-Davis

    In a world littered with vibe-coded experiences, how will games differentiate themselves? How can stories remain resonant? Melanated Game Kitchen Creative Director and adjunct USC faculty Timothy Staton-Davis is a self-styled cultural technical game designer charting a path forward: a unique blend of game design, engineering, and cultural research and insight that weaves authenticity into each interaction in the games he serves as a contributor or consultant. Games like Spider-Man rely on this kind of deep insight to provide their players with games that live up to the motivators of play like Immersion, Education, and Self-Expression that we identified in the Game Development Strategy Guide, and Tim has extensive experience on world-class AAA games like Marvel's Avengers and God of War: Ragnarok that now inform his foray into independent gaming. In this episode, we explore broadly applicable topics like localization and culturalization that are critical to global success, complex topics like the nuanced ethical application of artificial intelligence in games (if it exists), an exploration of more gaming communities like Black in Gaming, a definition of cultural technical game design and Tim's new USC educational experience, and much more. #gamedesign #culturalization #localization #selfexpression #videogames #gameeducation #usc #indiegames #blackingaming #technicaldesign #culturaldesign #consulting 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.  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 learn more about Timothy's work or to follow up on the books and reference material cited in this episode, check out the show notes at https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-8-timothy-staton-davis-show-notes/

    1hr 11min
  3. Bringing Technical Design to Higher Game Dev Education with Jo Cronk

    14 APR

    Bringing Technical Design to Higher Game Dev Education with Jo Cronk

    From software engineer to technical designer to game design professor - Jo Cronk has turned a successful career bridging the gap between engineers and creatives at companies like Crystal Dynamics and Snowblind Studios into a thriving career as an Assistant Professor of Technical Design at one of the top-rated game development schools in the world, DigiPen Institute of Technology. Jo brings extensive technical prowess and a mastery of game design techniques to both their course material and their approach to teaching. In this episode, we explore what technical design really means, the complexities of ideation and pre-production in the game development process, specific advice for navigating prototyping, the intricacies of video game engines, modern video game development curriculums, and much more. There are also some unexpected insights about human behavior, like how younger students show up in class and how that maps to disruptive behavior we see in games. Whether you're considering a video game education or looking to better understand your younger audiences and engineering colleagues, there's something in this episode for you. 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 #technicaldesign #engineering #digipen #education #professor #tombraider #college #prototyping #production #gamedesign #indiedev 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 learn more about DigiPen 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-7-jo-cronk-show-notes/

    1hr 9min
  4. Proactive People Programs for Thriving Game Studios with Amy White

    7 APR

    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
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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
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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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