The Creative Juice Podcast

Matthew Zanazzo (Immature Gamer)
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Entrepreneurship

Creative Juice is a bi-weekly podcast dedicated to Fortnite Creative and UEFN game development. It brings together game developers, business professionals, and gamers for authentic, casual, and humorous conversations about creativity, industry insights, and real-world success stories. Episodes are recorded with video using tools like Riverside and later distributed as audio on major podcast platforms. Each episode lasts between 30 minutes and 1 hour and features in-depth interviews with top talent and studios—all while keeping the focus on uncovering what fuels each guest’s creative juice.This is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Epic Games, Inc. 

  1. Sep 2

    Building Star Wars Droid Tycoon on Fortnite: Scott Ulliman and Nate Reese of Future Trash

    When Epic invited Future Trash to pitch a Star Wars experience, the temptation was to go as big as the universe itself. Scott Ulliman and Nate Reese kicked around lightsabers and even a Death Star before choosing the least obvious hero: droids. This episode is about why that restraint worked, and what it takes to turn one of the world's biggest IPs into one of Fortnite's stickiest games. Scott and Nate have worked together for almost two decades, from mobile games in Unity to their own indie title, and they describe jumping into UEFN as a massive increase in development speed. They walk through the research behind the design: replaying Cookie Clicker, studying the top Roblox games, cutting every idle moment they didn't enjoy, and adding pickaxing because they were too impatient to watch their own droids work. They also credit watching Havoc Hotel wean players into complex mechanics as a model for how Droid Tycoon onboards without overwhelming. The back half is pure operator talk: growing the team with a new developer, producer, and dedicated QA after launch, staying picky about who joins, and the advice they'd give studios grinding in this ecosystem. As Scott puts it, they've failed more in their careers than they've succeeded, and knowing exactly who each game is for, while protecting the fun of making it, is what kept them in the game long enough to hit. Scott Ulliman  X: https://x.com/scottulliman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-ulliman-a3169516/ Nate Reese  X: https://x.com/natereesedev LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nate-reese/ Please leave a positive review 💚(Helps out a bunch) Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/@ImmatureG/podcasts Twitter: https://www.x.com/immaturegamer

  2. Aug 19

    Adam Feragne, Founder of Dilly App, on Eight Years of Building and Shipping Beat the BrainRots

    Adam Feragne spent close to eight years building Dilly App before it looked anything like a business. Most of those years produced no money at all, and every dollar that did come in went straight back into the product. He talks openly about the part of the story people skip, which is what it takes to keep improving something while nobody is using it and the bank account is going the wrong direction.   The conversation gets into the decisions that actually moved the number. Adam could not afford a designer, so he started designing the app himself in PowerPoint, the only program he knew, then moved to Photoshop, then Sketch, then Figma. He calls it the best decision he has made, not because the early work was good, but because owning design collapsed the distance between having an idea and seeing it built. That speed became the competitive advantage.   Then there is Beat the Brain Rots, his first game in Fortnite Creative, built over five months with Pinefruit, Third Made and Last Made after Adam flew to California and talked the Chartis team into building his concept instead of theirs. He is candid about being the kind of builder who never wants to ship, and about why having a partner willing to say the game is ready was worth more than another month of polish.   Adam Feragne X: https://x.com/GetDillyApp YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dilly.fortnite Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dillyapp LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-feragne/ Dilly App: https://dillyapp.gg/ Please leave a positive review 💚(Helps out a bunch) Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/@ImmatureG/podcasts Twitter: https://www.x.com/immaturegamer

  3. Aug 5

    The Truth About Discovery, Tester Tabs, and Building UEFN Horror Solo | ItsBlind (Top Horror Creator)

    Most UEFN creators build the game they want to play. ItsBlind thinks that is exactly why so many maps die on arrival. In this conversation he explains the gap between what a developer wants to make and what the player base will actually sit through, and why the tester tab is where that gap gets exposed in about ten seconds.   He is a solo horror developer who came up through UEFN while finishing a graphic design degree, and he now spends roughly six months per map. He talks through the parts of the job that do not show up in trailers: sending builds to friends in the horror space three weeks out and finding out the level design was too confusing to follow, blocking off hallways in prebuilt environments until there is one clear path, and starting the next project the same week the last one publishes because a story map has a ceiling on how many plays it can pull before it dries up.   He also gets specific on Discovery. He believes the recent changes have moved things toward a fairer shot for good maps, and he is honest about where the system still leaves creators exposed. His last launch got a tester tab placement at number sixteen for about ten minutes, and he credits his in game following for carrying it from there. Anyone building without that following should hear how he thinks about it. Useful listening for creators, studio builders, and anyone trying to turn a genre they love into a business that lasts.   Follow ItsBlind X: https://x.com/itsblindd YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@itsblind Please leave a positive review 💚(Helps out a bunch) Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/@ImmatureG/podcasts Twitter: https://www.x.com/immaturegamer

  4. Jul 22

    He Almost Left UEFN Forever. Then the Backrooms Blew Up | Giova

    Giova had his leaving UEFN post written and sitting in drafts. Nothing was working, school was over, and a real job was waiting. So he made a deal with himself: build the best game he possibly could, one last time. That game was Backrooms, and this conversation covers everything that happened next, from landing in Discover within hours to a rare backend bug that took the map offline for all of November while players flooded YouTube comments asking where it went. Matt and Giova get into the unglamorous machinery behind a hit UEFN map. Giova started building in Fortnite Creative at 13, learned systems before he learned art, and spent months in a self-described loop of overthinking that he estimates cost him around 30 percent of his development time. He explains why publishing is where the real learning starts, how leaderboards and weekly updates turned a passion project into a job overnight, and how he channeled his frustration from the shutdown into designing the angriest boss in the map. The back half is practical and a little contrarian. Giova argues new creators should mostly ignore their analytics in week one because small sample sizes lie, and should ask actual players direct questions instead. He makes the case for attracting teams with public work rather than cold outreach, points to Tom Jank's morning warm up posts as the model, and closes on the lifestyle side of sustainable development: sleep, training, and cutting the cheap dopamine that was draining his focus before Backrooms. Follow Giova on X at X.com/GiovaUEFN or on Discord at GiovaUEFN. Please leave a positive review 💚(Helps out a bunch) Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/@ImmatureG/podcasts Twitter: https://www.x.com/immaturegamer

  5. Jul 8

    What Top Fortnite Creators Actually Do Differently | Live from Unreal Fest with Mustard Plays, Kevin Marciano (FOAD) & TomJank

    Every builder is asking the same question: why do some maps blow up while others with just as much effort go nowhere? Recorded live at Unreal Fest minutes after State of Unreal, this episode puts three operators with very different playbooks on one stage. Chad Mustard, COO and co-founder of JOGO Studios and one of the most recognizable voices in Fortnite Creative, argues that passion alone is why most creators fade out, and that treating your work like a business is what carries you through the grind. Kevin Marciano, CEO and co-founder of Future Trash, the studio behind FOAD and the official Star Wars collab Droid Tycoon, explains why their biggest launch came down to open collaboration, discipline, and a little luck, because there is no secret recipe. Austin Rodriguez, better known as TomJank, lays out the survival guide for the solo creator: the DreamWorks method of balancing contract work against passion projects, why his morning warmups built more trust than any single map, and why the creators sharing their work publicly are the ones landing the brand deals. The panel also gets honest about the hardest call in live service: when to keep updating a map and when to pull resources and move on. Recorded in front of a live audience with creator Q&A from the floor. If you build in Fortnite Creative or UEFN, this is the closest thing to being in the room. Kevin Marciano: https://x.com/kev_marciano Chad Mustard: https://x.com/MustardPlays Austin Rodriguez (TomJank): https://x.com/tomjank Please leave a positive review 💚(Helps out a bunch) Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/@ImmatureG/podcasts Twitter: https://www.x.com/immaturegamer

  6. Jun 24

    Inside the 57,000 Member Gaming Community She Built from One TikTok - Nancy Chen

    Community building in Fortnite and UEFN usually gets treated like it happens by accident. Nancy Chen is proof it does not. She posted a single TikTok in early 2024 asking where the Fortnite girlies were, woke up to 200,000 views, and decided to do something about the thousands of women in her comments who had been treated badly the moment they turned a mic on. That decision became Girlies Squad, a 57,000 member Discord that now drives more than 35,000 messages a week. In this conversation she walks through the operator side most creators skip. How she runs moderation and conflict resolution as a genuine 24/7 job, why her good sportsmanship standards are stricter than most servers, and how a fast feedback loop with real members beats scattered comments on every other platform. She also gets candid about coming in with zero game development experience and learning the hard way that the map you personally love is not always the map your community wants. For creators and studio builders, the takeaways are concrete: design for the people who already know each other, hand the community real decision making power, and protect the culture on purpose. Nancy also shares where she thinks the biggest gaming communities get built next and what she is cooking up with a team that has shipped some of the largest titles in the industry. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyc56421 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@yourboujeegal Girlies Squad TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@girliessquad_ Discord: https://discord.gg/girliessquad Website: https://www.girliessquad.com/ Please leave a positive review 💚(Helps out a bunch) Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/@ImmatureG/podcasts Twitter: https://www.x.com/immaturegamer

  7. Jun 10

    A Single Tweet Got Him a Cease and Desist (And What It Costs to Build on a Platform You Don't Own) - Richytoons

    Richytoons built a first person practice map to support Fortnite's Ballistics mode, and without any promotion it grew through Discovery into one of the most played warmup maps in the ecosystem. Then the mode was sunset, and the map went from around 100 average players to single digits almost overnight. That story sits at the center of this conversation, and it says a lot about what it actually means to build on a platform you do not control. Richytoons has been making Fortnite Creative and UEFN tutorials since almost day one, and his work has helped build maps that still rank years later. We talk about the cease and desist that landed on his doorstep over a single tweet, why he believes Epic should treat Creative 1.0 as a beginner tool and pour everything into UEFN, and the money gap between content and games that most creators learn the hard way. He is blunt about where Ballistics and Rocket Racing went wrong, and what custom weapons could open up next. The takeaways are built for creators and studio builders. Pick one UEFN skill and get great at it, post your work in public so the commissions find you, play your own map until you find the small things that lose players, and protect your time away from the screen so the ideas keep coming. This is an operator talking, not a hype reel. Check out the UEFN Community Awards: https://www.uefncommunityawards.com/ Follow Richytoons: X: https://x.com/Richytoons YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/RichyToons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richytoons/ Please leave a positive review 💚(Helps out a bunch) Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/@ImmatureG/podcasts Twitter: https://www.x.com/immaturegamer

  8. May 27

    How a Small UEFN YouTube Channel Landed Disney, Amazon MGM, and Jack in the Box Brand Deals - Javi Romero

    UEFN is not just a game engine. That is the thesis Javi Romero, founder of Sulfuric Media, opens this episode with, and it is the line most UEFN creators are leaving real craft on the floor by ignoring. Unreal Engine powers the Mandalorian, AAA cinematics, and live broadcast production. UEFN inherits the same cinematic toolset, and most creators never touch the cameras, lighting, post process, or replay angles that separate a Fortnite trailer from a Discover thumbnail filler. In this conversation Javi walks through how Sulfuric Media operates as the trailer division inside the Chartis network, what changed when the Created in Fortnite disclaimer flipped to Developed in Fortnite on April 26, and why working with major brands like Amazon MGM, Disney, and Jack in the Box is less about strict revisions and more about being someone the brand can trust without thinking twice. He also breaks down how to use Fortnite's replay tool to capture multiple angles of the same gameplay moment so a single clip cuts like three. Plus the part that is hardest to internalize: gatekeeping is a losing strategy. The thing that feels obvious to you is the thing another creator needs. Javi's next move is to pull the curtains back on how Sulfuric builds trailers, step by step.  WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeEdFBJesf6Ruqlpktj13hOdTdA7UHRQS Guest links: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@imJaviRomero X: https://x.com/imJaviRomero LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/imjaviromero/ Sulfuric Media: https://www.sulfuricmedia.com/ UEFN Community Awards: https://www.uefncommunityawards.com/ Please leave a positive review 💚(Helps out a bunch) Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/@ImmatureG/podcasts Twitter: https://www.x.com/immaturegamer

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About

Creative Juice is a bi-weekly podcast dedicated to Fortnite Creative and UEFN game development. It brings together game developers, business professionals, and gamers for authentic, casual, and humorous conversations about creativity, industry insights, and real-world success stories. Episodes are recorded with video using tools like Riverside and later distributed as audio on major podcast platforms. Each episode lasts between 30 minutes and 1 hour and features in-depth interviews with top talent and studios—all while keeping the focus on uncovering what fuels each guest’s creative juice.This is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Epic Games, Inc. 

Information

  • Creator
    Matthew Zanazzo (Immature Gamer)
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    38
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Creative Juice Podcast
  • Show Website
    The Creative Juice Podcast

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