Hello again! This is a continuation of a series of audio podcasts, featuring myself and other independent developers.
Each episode will feature different developers or projects, and the format will be more like a sprawling conversation than a formal interview. Topics covered will vary depending on the developer in question, but some of the same topics will pop up with many of the guests. I’ll also interject some of my own opinions and views into the discussion.
Why am I doing this? Personally, I’m very interested in how other developers work. What motivates them? How do they deal with criticism? What do they find meaningful about games? (if anything?) What are the stories behind the development of their projects? I hope to learn a lot, and also help spread more knowledge around.
Four independent game developers, two couples, one house! Kyle Pulver / Corey Nolan and Erin Robison / Steve Swink all live under one roof in Arizona. How is this working out for them? Apparently really well, if this podcast is anything to go by! We discuss a myriad of topics: diets, IGF controversy, education, systems theory, the upcoming release of Offspring Fling, the development of Gravity Ghost, how game design might apply to relationships and much more.
Developer Names: Steve Swink, Erin Robinson, Kyle Pulver, Corey Nolan
Location: Arizona
Projects: Offspring Fling, Gravity Ghost
Twitter: @SteveSwink, @KylePulver, @LivelyIvy
Diet: Kyle Pulver’s Diet Info
You can listen to the podcast here:
Podcast Download → Episode 15 – IndieHouse Arizona [2:23:23]
WIP RSS feed up here:
http://infiniteammo.ca/podcast.rss
Feedback Welcome!
Please post your thoughts below. Thanks! 
Interested in being on the podcast? Post in the comments and let me know what you’ve been up to. 
Stephen wrote a Comment on March 26, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Saw this downloading in iTunes and just thought awesome. It’s been a while. Thanks for publishing these.
FellaDudeMan wrote a Comment on March 27, 2012 at 11:01 pm
Yay! Welcome back podcast!
axcho wrote a Comment on April 3, 2012 at 12:15 pm
Awesome! Four people living together, eating Paleo and making indie games? …and talking about teaching game design and designing games to teach! Do they need a roommate?
salty-horse wrote a Comment on April 9, 2012 at 2:05 pm
I’m in the process of listening (Great podcast
and I have two anecdotes about exploring a world for its own sake:
1) In the Get Lamp documentary about interactive fiction, one of the Infocom guys says they got letter from a player that really enjoyed strolling in the forest of Zork, and how nice the game was. They never got into the house. They never got underground where the bulk of the game is. They had fun exploring the game world, with little challenge.
2) When I was playing WoW (as part of the free 3-day trial, and that’s it!), I had to pause playing, and instead of logging out, I just found a nice tree and sat beneath it. It just seemed the right thing to do as a character in the world. (I just checked, and it improves health regeneration, but I’m not sure I knew that at the time.)
Denifia wrote a Comment on April 17, 2012 at 10:57 pm
Great pod cast!
Around the 25-28 minute mark there was talk about game design sessions that some of your guests have run. I was particularly interested in the mario balancing exercise – is there a site that I could try this out?
Also, keep up the great work. It’s fun to get to know some of the indie devs and hear that they have the same struggles/challenges as us and how they get around them.
Alec Holowka wrote a Comment on April 17, 2012 at 11:04 pm
Denifia: Not sure if it’s online, it’s an exercise that Steve uses in one of his classes.
Denifia wrote a Comment on April 17, 2012 at 11:18 pm
k, thanks for that. I’ll ask him directly (now that I know who said it
)
Joshua Steele wrote a Comment on May 20, 2012 at 3:24 am
Great listen. I live in Tempe by ASU too and I’m interested in participating in some of the events nearby.
DHL wrote a Comment on June 11, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Just wanted to say thanks for the podcasts. They’re always great to listen to at my day job, then get pumped and go back home to work on games : D
KrookedSaint wrote a Comment on July 10, 2012 at 4:51 pm
Thanks for posting! This made for good listening.