A series of in-depth conversations between video game makers on the business and craft of interactive entertainment, exploring the core tenants of D.I.C.E. (Design. Innovate. Communicate. Entertain.)
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The world’s leading professors explain the latest thinking in the humanities and social sciences in just 10 minutes.
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Master Class: How to Communicate in Public and Ace VoiceOvers. https://www.facebook.com/RealSolutionswithScottAlexander/ Scott has decades of combined experience in both Radio and TV…announcing, voice-over production, promotions, research, sales, and development. While residing in Southern California Scott has worked for DreamWorks, POP.com, NBC, and is a former member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Scott has voiced hundreds of commercials for radio, TV, narrated Infomercials ...
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Brainstorming 50 Games in 1 for UFO 50
1:40:25
1:40:25
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1:40:25
This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with Derek Yu, Jon Perry, and Eirik Suhrke. Together they discuss how they collaborated along with other legendary indie developers to brainstorm the 50 games found in the retro-inspired collection, UFO 50; how important it was to have a core vision for each game, the creative decisions they m…
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From Quake to Space Marines with Saber's Tim Willits
1:30:02
1:30:02
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1:30:02
This episode is supported by Xsolla Adam Orth chats with Tim Willits, Chief Creative Officer at Saber Interactive. Together they discuss Tim's long tenure at id Software and his work on the Quake series; why after 23 years he decided to leave and join Saber; the development of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2; the importance of "finding the fun" ea…
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What exactly is the work of a neuropsychologist? In this 10-Minute Talk, Professor Barbara Sahakian FBA unpacks some of her key work over the years and more recent ventures – from developing early models of memory testing to now transforming psychological tests into game apps. Speaker: Professor Barbara Sahakian FBA, Professor of Clinical Neuropsyc…
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Marvel Games Executive Producer, Eric Monacelli
1:50:49
1:50:49
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1:50:49
This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with Eric Monacelli, an executive producer at Marvel Games. Together they discuss his career working on the marketing and community side of some of gaming's biggest franchises including Bioshock, The Last of Us, and Call of Duty; the process of how development studios come to work with Marvel …
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Traditional Japanese theatre and audience interaction
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9:31
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Japanese theatre has, from its beginnings, encouraged audience participation – from formal fan-clubs to lessons on dancing and chanting. Hear Professor Drew Gerstle FBA take us through the key characteristics of Kabuki, Bunraku and Noh theatre and the ways viewers interacted with these 14th-17th century performances, both as patrons and amateur pra…
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Finding Creativity within Constraint with Composer Jon Everist
1:49:17
1:49:17
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1:49:17
This episode is supported by Xsolla Austin Wintory chats with composer Jon Everist. Together this discuss how he transitioned from a career path in economics to composing music; his work with Harebrained Schemes across their library of games and his most recent contributions on Star Wars Outlaws; and how the concept of constraint can lead to creati…
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What are empires, nation states and colonialism?
9:53
9:53
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How do we understand empire in the modern age? In this 10-Minute Talk, Professor Gurminder K Bhambra challenges the idea that modern nation-states emerged as a result of the break-up of empire, and instead invites us to rethink what defines empire entirely. By considering different colonial processes and the impact these have on how we understand e…
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Scoring the Witcher and Beyond with Composer Mikolai Stroinski
1:14:23
1:14:23
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1:14:23
This episode is supported by Xsolla Austin Wintory chats with award winning composer Mikolai Stroinski. Together they discuss his extensive work on the Witcher franchise for CD PROJEKT RED; his work on various projects both in and outside of games; the various influences that helped him score games across different genres; how his work on TV and fi…
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Books in wartime: innocent victims or guilty parties?
9:32
9:32
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While books are often thought of as victims of war, looted or burned in libraries, in this 10-Minute Talk Professor Andrew Pettegree suggests an alternative narrative: books are essential in the waging of war. Sharing insights from his recent publication, ‘The Book at War’, Pettegree explores the active role of books in wartime from the Napoleonic …
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Talking Southeast Asian Game Dev with Kris Antoni, Toge Productions
1:19:54
1:19:54
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This episode is supported by Xsolla Xbox's Jun Shen Chia chats with Kris Antoni, Founder of Toge Productions. Together they discuss the history of Toge including the release and reception of their hit indie game, Coffee Talk; what's next for the studio; the burgeoning development scene in Southeast Asia; and how Toge is working with studios in the …
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What was the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings?
9:14
9:14
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Expanding on her book, ‘Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy’, Professor Annette Gordon-Reed unpacks the evidence around this contested relationship and the role of historians in erasing the narratives of enslaved people. Exploring the ‘American dilemma’, this talk investigates the contradiction between Jefferson’s commitment…
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Writing for Live Service Games with Destiny 2 Narrative Director, Alison Lührs
1:05:17
1:05:17
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This episode is supported by Xsolla Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Alison Lührs, Narrative Director on Bungie's Destiny 2. Together they discuss her approach to writing for fantasy in the Dungeons & Dragons universe and now sci-fi for Destiny 2; the unique aspects of writing for live service games; how to start projects effectively; and how theater a…
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What is it that makes great works from the past endure in the present? In this 10-Minute Talk, Professor Sir Jonathan Bate FBA explores Shakespeare’s legacy and his continued cultural presence over time. From influencing Jane Austen’s writing, to inspiring modern-day TV and film adaptations like 1999’s ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ and 2023’s ‘Anyon…
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Navigating the Business of Indie Games with Dan Adelman
3:02:36
3:02:36
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This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with indie gaming business guru, Dan Adelman. Together they discuss his time at Xbox and Nintendo helping to start their digital content marketplaces; transitioning to working independently with game developers to help them launch and market their games; how he decides which developers and pro…
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What have sign languages taught us about human language development?
11:19
11:19
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Sign language and how we use it and implement it into society has developed rapidly in the last 50 years, from little-to-no representation in education in the 1970s to the British Sign Language (BSL) Act 2022 and a new British Sign Language GCSE to be taught from 2025. In this 10-Minute Talk, Professor Bencie Woll FBA unpacks her research and invol…
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From Portal to Counter-Strike 2 with Valve Composer Mike Morasky
2:01:35
2:01:35
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This episode is supported by Xsolla Austin Wintory chats with longtime Valve composer and music designer, Mike Morasky. Together they discuss how he started his career outside of music in the visual effects industry working on film series such as The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings; how he found himself pursuing music and then joining Valve; and h…
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Aesthetics and emotions in pre-modern India
14:25
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In the West, emotions are often understood through the philosophy of cognition and experimental psychology – separated from the world of art and aesthetic. However, in pre-modern India, aesthetic and emotion were deeply intertwined. In this 10-Minute Talk, Professor Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad FBA discusses how the aesthetics of drama and literature we…
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Generating Human Stories with RimWorld Creator, Tynan Sylvester
2:05:26
2:05:26
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This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with Tynan Sylvester, creator of RimWorld and author of Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences. Together they discuss his ideas around development concepts and processes; how crystalizing those ideas in book form led to the creation of RimWorld; his ideas around core systems and h…
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In this 10-Minute talk, Laura Mulvey FBA responds to three key questions regarding her 1975 essay ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’. Returning to the origins of the essay and the concept of the ‘male gaze’, Mulvey explores the cultural climate of feminism and Hollywood which drove the conception of this now-cult term and the newer, controversi…
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From Nintendo's Snipperclips to Crow Country with Adam & Tom Vian
1:57:22
1:57:22
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This episode is supported by Xsolla Trent Kusters chats with brothers and co-founders of SFB Games, Adam & Tom Vian. Together they discuss how they began creating games in the early days of Flash and Newgrounds; transitioning to console development and working with Nintendo on the multi D.I.C.E. Award winning Snipperclips; the inspirations and deve…
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‘Genocide’ (meaning “to kill a group”) was first used as a legal term in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin in the hope that it would come to signal the agreed limits of sovereign power, alongside the parallel developments of the concepts of human rights and crimes against humanity. Professor Philippe Sands Hon FBA explains the origins of the term, its implica…
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Hannah Arendt's lessons for our times: the banality of evil, totalitarianism and statelessness
8:00
8:00
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Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was one of the most influential political theorists and philosophers of the 20th Century. In this 10-Minute Talk, Professor Lyndsey Stonebridge FBA explores three of Arendt's key concepts – totalitarianism, statelessness and the banality of evil – to explain the importance of her thinking for our times. Speaker: Professor …
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Creating a Soulslike Under the Sea with Another Crab's Treasure
57:14
57:14
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This episode is supported by Xsolla Greg Rice chats with Aggro Crab developers Nick Kaman and Caelan Pollock about their recently released undersea soulslike, Another Crab's Treasure. Together they discuss how the team got started as a game design club in college; their first commercial project in Going Under; the early ideas that led to Another Cr…
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Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure with David Hellman, Nico Recabarren, and Nick Suttner
1:15:55
1:15:55
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This episode is supported by Xsolla Greg Rice chats with David Hellman, Nico Recabarren, and Nick Suttner of Furniture & Mattress, about their debut title as a studio, Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure. Together they discuss how the team got together; the ground rules they established for the puzzle designs; decisions around scope; and how they b…
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In a famous 1963 letter, Martin Luther King Jr. argued that ‘extremism’ is not an inherently bad thing because it can be a way of describing radical action for the extension of justice. Professor Quassim Cassam FBA explores what we mean by extremism, what makes an ideology or course of action extremist, and whether King was right. Speaker: Quassim …
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Little Kitty, Big City with Matt Wood & Micah Breitweiser
1:37:07
1:37:07
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This episode is supported by: Xsolla Adam Orth chats with Matt Wood and Micah Breitweiser from Double Dagger Studio about their first tile as a studio, Little Kitty, Big City. Together they discuss how Little Kitty, Big City began as a teaching opportunity for Matt's children; the iterative nature of development and having malleable design pillars;…
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South Asia, the partition of India and the birth of three nations
11:37
11:37
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Following the partition of India in 1947 and the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, what was once one nation became three. Presenting anecdotes from her book 'Shadows at Noon' – a rich history sharing the stories of South Asia from the 20th century – Professor Joya Chatterji FBA discusses her view that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have remained m…
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Sustainable Game Development with Xalavier Nelson Jr.
1:14:31
1:14:31
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Trent Kusters chats with Xalavier Nelson Jr., the studio head, writer, and creative director of titles such as El Paso Elsewhere, Space Warlord Orgran Trading Simulator, Clickolding, and the upcoming I Am Your Beast. Together they discuss Xalavier's ideas around sustainable game development such as the importance of prioritizing shipping projects o…
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Plato, Aristotle and the question of self: what makes you 'you'?
11:32
11:32
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The question of what makes you ‘you’ has been a central theme in philosophical thought since ancient times. In this talk, Professor Richard Swinburne FBA takes us through the debates on personal identity, which were first had between Plato and Aristotle in the Western tradition. Through questioning the strength of the physicalist view, which says o…
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Writers and Script Lock Podcast Hosts, Nick and Max Folkman
1:16:59
1:16:59
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Alexa Ray Corriea chats with Max and Nick Folkman. Nick is a writer at Insomniac Games and Max a writer at Riot Games who together also host the Script Lock podcast where they chat to fellow game writers. Together they discuss their ideas around writing for games; what it takes to get into the games industry; how to write for live service games ver…
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Coffee as connection – tradition, controversy and literary representations
16:23
16:23
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Traversing the history of coffee through several literary examples, Professor Wen-chin Ouyang FBA explores coffee as not only a drink, but as tradition, commodity, and source of controversy. From the works of Mahmoud Darwish to Haruki Murakami, coffee has persisted as a social and intercultural tool. Hear more in her 10-Minute Talk. Speaker: Wen-ch…
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Creating Diverse Characters in Video Games with Jaclyn Seto and Christal Rose Hazelton
1:17:35
1:17:35
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Alexa Ray Corriea chats with writers Christal Rose Hazelton and Jaclyn Seto. Together they discuss the process and nuance of creating characters; the differences between creating for traditional narrative titles versus live service games; the importance of having a diverse group of voices in the writer's room; what it's like to work with a large de…
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Sharing insights from his book 'Why Politics Fails', in this 10-Minute Talk Ben Ansell FBA unpacks the challenges of democracy. Given that humans rarely agree, there can be no such thing as the ‘will of the people’ – which is why it’s so difficult to override individual self-interest in favour of our collective interest in resolving some of our mos…
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