Explore every episode of the podcast Make Games, Drink Coffee
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1E1 - Kay Purcell - Community Manager and Professional Dungeon Master! | 01 Oct 2025 | 00:29:44 | |
This week, Aaron interviews Kay Purcell. Kay (she/they) is a community manager, marketing expert, project manager, and Jack-of-all-trades with experience at DeviantArt, Red Bull, Avalanche Studios Group, and games journalism. Kay is also a charity streamer, event organizer, and professional dungeon master! This is Make Games, Drink Coffee, a podcast featuring conversations with game developers about their jobs, their hobbies, and whatever they're passionate about! No rambling two-hour interviews and no meandering monologues! It's short and sweet, thirty minutes or less, with bonus clips on the Make Games, Drink Coffee youtube channel, TikTok, etc. Chapters: 00:00 Introductions and Texas Is Big 01:54 Community Management at DeviantArt and Red Bull 08:31 Games Journalism Is Hard (And Broken) 16:46 Being A Professional DM 20:07 The Fluidity of Game Lore 21:54 Understanding That Not All Media Is For Me (And That's Okay!) 25:47 Finding Your Audience 27:21 Kay's Favorite Game 28:53 Wrap-Up 29:10 Make Games Drink Coffee Outro Music.mp3 Links: Shout out to Rogue (independent games journalism!): https://www.rogue.site/ You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? makegamesdrinkcoffee@gmail.com | |||
| S1E11 - Clip Show ft. Kay Purcell and Sahil Bajaj | 11 Dec 2025 | 00:23:32 | |
This week, we'll be listening to some bonus cut content from the first and third episodes of the podcast. These were answers that were both too long to include in their respective episodes, and too interesting to cut down into smaller pieces. First we'll hear from Kay Purcell, currently a Brand Manager at Konami and previously a community manager at DeviantArt and at Red Bull's gaming division, about TTRPG influence, scenarios, and subverting expectations. Then, we'll hear from Sahil Bajaj. Sahil is a writer and narrative designer on indie games he can talk about (such as ValiDate: Struggling Singles In Your Area), and AAA titles that he's still under NDA about. He's also an Indian living in Dubai who loves Western media, and I'm glad I finally have somewhere to put this interesting discussion about the history and current state of the movie industry in India. 00:00 Intro 00:47 Kay Purcell on TTRPG Design, Influence, and Subversion 05:34 When Kevin Eastman Likes Your Hair 11:41 Silksong? No. Farming? Yes. 13:21 "Ad" Break 14:13 Sahil Bajaj: The State of Movies In India 22:58 Outro Links: Sahil's web site: You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? | |||
| S1E10 - Jonathan Jennings - Veteran VR Developer, "The dumbest good programmer you'll ever meet!" | 04 Dec 2025 | 00:30:45 | |
This week, Aaron chats with Jonathan Jennings, a passionate VR developer with a decade of experience in the space. Jonathan is currently at Owlchemy Labs working on Dimensional Double Shift and is Director of Education at Black In Gaming. We had a wide-ranging discussion about VR development, its progress over the years, how it's different from non-VR game development, why the strengths of video games don't lie in cinematic experiences, Jonathan's labor of love VR game, Galactic Bar Fight, and more. 00:00 Introduction 01:23 The Evolution of VR Over the Last Decade 09:33 Good VR Game Design And Galactic Bar Fight 14:43 Learning From Volunteering With Black In Gaming 16:33 Technical Evolution of Unity VR Support 19:13 Finding VR's "Nintendo Moment" 22:46 VR Can Be Dangerous! 24:27 Loving Words and Simple Explanations 30:03 Wrapping Up Links: Jonathan's Personal Page: http://jjenningsgames.weebly.com/ Galactic Bar Fight on itch.io: https://weirdkidstudios.itch.io/galactic-bar-fight Black In Gaming: https://www.thebigfoundation.org/ Owlchemy Labs (yes, that's how it's spelled, not "Alchemy"!) Jonathan's LinkedIn, which has even more links to stuff he's done: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jjennings3/ You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? | |||
| S1E9 - Thanksgiving Special - Making Madagascar's Cutscenes | 27 Nov 2025 | 00:29:59 | |
This week, we're doing something different. Instead of interviewing a guest, I (Aaron Nemoyten) am answering an email from someone who found the reel of my cutscene work on the Madagascar PS2/GameCube/XBox game (2005). So, in this episode, I'll be talking through the process of making cutscenes for a AAA licensed game in 2004/2005, a time when we didn't have timeline editors, motion capture studios, or even dedicated cutscenes tools. For a video version of this episode, check out the Make Games, Drink Coffee YouTube Channel. 00:00 Introduction 00:44 Working at Toys for Bob at 19 04:24 Getting Into It 05:50 Creating the New York Street Chase Ending Cutscene 13:41 All Timing Is Code 17:21 How Do Scenes Even Get Written? 20:18 Celebrity Impersonation VO 21:51 About Animations 24:39 A Look Book 25:45 Finalizing Animations and Music 27:06 Final Thoughts 29:05 Outro Links: The longplay I sourced the cutscenes from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPK7gYCGGHQ My writeup of my time at Toys for Bob on my web site: https://www.aaronnemoyten.com/madagascar-ps2-gamecube-xbox/ (This includes links to the YouTube reels I uploaded as well.) You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? | |||
| S1E8 - Jonathan Rucker - Senior Game Engine Programmer, Nerd, Beans Enjoyer | 20 Nov 2025 | 00:33:00 | |
This week, Aaron chats with Jonathan Rucker, or just "Rucker," as he's known at work. Rucker is a Senior Game Engine Programmer who has worked on a ridiculous number of games, building tools and fixing bugs, doing some of the least glamorous stuff in game development and enjoying it anyway. This week's show is more of a "hang out" episode, with wide-ranging discussion from working on Nintendo DS game engines to 3D printing to restaurant horror stories, delicious smoked salmon, and even regional Mexican food in California! 00:00 Intro 01:08 Getting Into Games Because of Your Mom 03:27 Getting Started In The Industry 05:31 Working On Nintendo DS Game Engines 07:35 A Few Minutes On Esoteric Hobbies 12:47 Mexican Cuisine 22:32 Digression: Salmon! Breakfast! 25:04 Restaurant Horror Stories 30:56 And Now: A Positive Restaurant Story 32:20 Wrapping Up Links: Rucker's Mobygames profile, because you just have to see all these games! https://www.mobygames.com/person/300315/jonathan-rucker/credits/ You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? | |||
| S1E7 - Manuela Malasaña - Graphics Programmer: Infecting Your Brain With Theater | 13 Nov 2025 | 00:30:46 | |
This week, Aaron chats with Manuela Malasaña, a graphics programmer, tech artist, indie game developer, and hobbyist opera singer. Yes, I do keep finding guests with unusual hobbies! You've seen Manuela's work in games like Darkest Dungeon 2 and I Am Your Beast, where she helps indie game developers implement their games' distinct art direction and visual identity. We talk about that, studying economics in Europe, creating theater performances in video games, and learning to sing opera in your thirties! 00:00 Intro 02:39 Visual Style and Consistency 06:41 Studying Economics, Doing Theater, Starting Game Dev 14:04 One Game Jam Starts It All 18:26 Adapting Plays To Video Games 21:49 The Role Of A Freelance Graphics Programmer 23:56 Advice For Indie Game Developers 25:11 Learning To Sing Later In Life 28:12 Lessons For Game Developers From Economics 30:04 Wrapping Up Links: Manuela's indie studio (Team Dogpit) Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamdogpit Team Dogpit itch.io page: Team Dogpit on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TeamDogpit You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? | |||
| S1E6 - Kyle Holmquist - Writer, Narrative Designer... Blacksmith?!? | 06 Nov 2025 | 00:29:41 | |
This week, Aaron chats with Kyle Holmquist. Kyle is a generalist game designer, writer, developer, and narrative designer with a ridiculous variety of experience writing and designing for indie, mobile, and AAA games. He is also a hobbyist blacksmith and volunteers teaching blacksmithing in his spare time! 00:00 Intro 01:02 What Makes A Good Narrative Designer? 04:44 Horro Games, Horror Movies, And A Bit Of Comedy 11:49 Media Literacy and Subjective Experience (And Helldivers 2) 17:38 What We [Developers] Notice Isn't What Others Notice 20:08 What Developers Get Wrong About Narrative Design 24:59 Getting Into Blacksmithing in 2020 28:53 Wrap Up Links: Kyle's Portfolio site: You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? | |||
| S1E5 - Don Bellenger - Founder of The Beauty Cult, indie dev, the most punk rock developer I know | 30 Oct 2025 | 00:28:30 | |
This week, Aaron chats with Don Bellenger, founder of the indie game studio The Beauty Cult. We spoke about games as subversive art, Don's experience working at a high-flying company at the height of Facebook games, and the Oakland nonprofit Gameheads, which teaches game development to underserved youth. 00:00 Intro 01:26 Subverting Hard By Drinking Water 02:30 Games as Subversive Art 07:07 In Which We Talk About Horror Films 09:43 Working At Kixeye (At the height of Facebook games) 15:08 Volunteering and Mentoring at Gameheads 20:46 Advice On Breaking In 23:36 "Kids These Days" Links: The Beauty Cult: https://teambeautycult.com/ Black Future '88 (Don's other indie game): https://store.steampowered.com/app/751820/Black_Future_88/ Highsidin: https://gameheads.itch.io/highsidin This game was mentioned in part of the interview that was cut for time but I wanted to link it anyway: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3255890/Relooted/ You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? | |||
| S1E4 - Benjamin Lindsay - Game Designer (formerly: Riot), "Give Everyone a Cookie!" | 23 Oct 2025 | 00:33:05 | |
This week, Aaron chats with Benjamin Lindsay, game designer with experience mostly in multiplayer action live service. Benjamin worked for Riot Games on League of Legends and in one of their illustrious R&D studios, then for a startup called Sprocket Games. In this episode, we talk about some of the most topical issues that have ever come up on this podcast, including Silksong's difficulty, what makes 'good' game design, how to design and balance for live service games, and what it's like working on a Riot R&D project! 00:00 Introduction 02:03 "Resource Management Under Pressure" 03:23 Playing Games In Time to Catch the Discourse 04:14 The Silksong Discourse ("Good" vs "Bad" Difficulty, Audience Expectations, etc.) 16:33 Systems Design For Live Service Games ("Give Everybody a Cookie") 25:23 What Even Is "Good Game Design"? 28:36 The Riot R&D Process - Pros and Cons 32:08 Wrapping Up Links: Benjamin's person site: You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? | |||
| S1E3 - Sahil Bajaj - Narrative Designer, Writer, "Bearly" Chillin'! | 16 Oct 2025 | 00:26:29 | |
This week, Aaron chats with Sahil Bajaj, a narrative designer and game writer. Sahil has worked on the Blackwood Charter Escape Room with Sweet Baby Inc and with Veritable Joy on ValiDate: Struggling Singles in Your Area, as well as making his own Twine games for kids, and a bunch of other stuff still under NDA because that's just how the game industry rolls sometimes. In this conversation, we chat about growing up as an Indian immigrant in the USA vs. the UAE, humor in game writing and design, making interactive fiction for kids, and more! 00:00 Introduction 03:12 Cultural Influences and Identity 06:54 Experimentation and Humor in Game Design 15:37 State of the Discipline ("John doesn't know s$@%!") 21:34 Making Games For Kids 25:23 Wrapping Up Links: Sahil's web site: https://sahilbajaj.dev/ You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? | |||
| S1E2 - Christina-Antoinette "castpixel" Neofotistou - Pixel Artist, Cosplayer... Demaker! | 09 Oct 2025 | 00:28:46 | |
This week, Aaron interviews legendary pixel artist Christina-Antoinette Neofotistou AKA castpixel. Christina has been in the industry for 20 years as an artist, illustrator, art director, and more. In this episode we talk about her experience growing up on obscure PC games in Greece in the 1980's, developing an individual style, aphantasia, demakes, having the same favorite game for nearly 40 years, and more! 00:00 Introduction 01:17 Art in College and Surrealism 05:59 Entering the Game Industry 08:29 Aphantasia 10:25 Developing an Individual Style 12:11 Growing Up with Unique Gaming Experiences 16:59 Demakes 18:56 The Same Favorite Game For Four Decades 22:26 What's Exciting? Not New Games! Links: Christina's ArtStation - https://castpixel.artstation.com/ You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? | |||
| S1E17 - Des Gayle (Part 2 of 2) - Streaming Games, Transmedia IP, and Bandersnatches | 09 Apr 2026 | 00:23:44 | |
This week, Aaron chats with Des Gayle in the second of a two-part interview. Des is a Senior Partner Relations Manager at Unity (day job), Studio head at Altered Gene (his company), and does "production stuff" for a couple of indies. He describes himself as having "Produced one game that won a BAFTA (Life Is Strange) and plenty more that didn't." In this episode, we discussed Netflix's games strategy and how other big tech companies have tried to get into gaming, as well as so-called "transmedia IPs," like Quantum Break, and adaptations like the Last of Us and Fallout. 00:00 Introduction 00:56 How to Run Games For A Streaming Service 11:28 Game And Movie Adaptations and Crossovers: Knowing Your Audience 16:52 What Has And Hasn't Worked In "Transmedia IP" 19:16 Building Your Own "Transmedia IP" 23:11 Outro Links: "There's a Last Time for Everything" Kickstarter campaign. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alteredgene/taltfe?ref=9odmgb Des Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kid_desimo/ Des Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/kiddesimo.bsky.social Des Twitter "Kidd Copter" Playdate game https://play.date/games/kidd-copter/ Altered Gene website https://www.alteredgene.co.uk/ You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? makegamesdrinkcoffee@gmail.com Make Games, Drink Coffee is produced, edited, and just generally all-around made by me, Aaron Nemoyten. Please email the Make Games Drink Coffee email address, I'm tired of only getting podcast SEO spam at that address! | |||
| S1E16 - Des Gayle (Part 1 of 2) - Indie Publishing And Diverse Narratives | 26 Mar 2026 | 00:25:17 | |
This week, Aaron chats with Des Gayle in the first of a two-part interview. Des is a Senior Partner Relations Manager at Unity (day job), Studio head at Altered Gene (his company), and does "production stuff" for a couple of indies. He describes himself as having "Produced one game that won a BAFTA (Life Is Strange) and plenty more that didn't." In this episode, we talk about game publishing and funding, and answer questions about how and why games with narratives focused on diverse protagonists and situations are or aren't funded. We also briefly discuss Des' short film, "There's a Last Time for Everything," for which he's running a Kickstarter campaign. 00:00 Introduction 02:13 Square Enix and Life Is Strange 04:35 Publishing Indie Games At Fellow Traveller 08:37 Why Don't Publishers Publish More Diverse Games? 11:34 The Current Funding And Publishing Landscape For Indies 17:54 Funding Tips and Tricks 22:24 Des' Short Film Kickstarter 24:37 Wrapping Up Links: "There's a Last Time for Everything" Kickstarter campaign. (Ends Sunday 29th March) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alteredgene/taltfe?ref=9odmgb Des Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kid_desimo/ Des Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/kiddesimo.bsky.social Des Twitter "Kidd Copter" Playdate game https://play.date/games/kidd-copter/ Altered Gene website https://www.alteredgene.co.uk/ You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? makegamesdrinkcoffee@gmail.com Make Games, Drink Coffee is produced, edited, and just generally all-around made by me, Aaron Nemoyten. Please email the Make Games Drink Coffee email address, I'm tired of only getting podcast SEO spam at that address! | |||
| S1E15 - Monica Fan (Part 2 of 2) - Jump-scared By Your Own Face | 12 Mar 2026 | 00:30:28 | |
This week, Aaron chats with Monica Fan in the second of a two-part interview. Monica is a game designer currently working at Pipeworks on an unannounced AAA game, but they consider themselves an eccentric creative at heart, having worked in entertainment media including newspaper, radio, theater, and film. In this second half of our two-part interview, we went DEEP on just a few topics: The importance of consuming more media to broaden your knowledge (even if it means playing games you don't like), short vs. long-term thinking in life and in your career, and the value of unconventional protagonists in games and how they could contribute to helping people love themselves as they are. 00:00 Introduction 00:59 Hot Take: Consume More Media, Even If You Don't Like It 10:25 Short Vs Long-Term Thinking 17:24 Unconventional Protagonists And Loving Yourself 29:49 Outro | |||
| S1E14 - Monica Fan (Part 1 of 2) - Dopamine Slinging As A Career | 26 Feb 2026 | 00:34:56 | |
This week, Aaron chats with Monica Fan in the first of a two-part interview. Monica is a game designer currently working at Pipeworks on an unannounced AAA game, but they consider themselves an eccentric creative at heart, having worked in entertainment media including newspaper, radio, theater, and film. In this first half of our two-part interview, we talked about Monica's supervillain origin story (the world's worst Tinder date, I'm not kidding), who gets to create underdog narratives and why, the importance of creating games that fulfill fantasies other than typical male-driven power fantasies, how Roblox is driving a new generation of game design, and more! 00:00 Cold Open 00:30 Intro 03:05 Monica's Supervillain Origin Story (AKA The Worst Tinder Date Ever) 09:24 Dopamine Slinging As A Career 12:13 Slop And The Fantasy of Creating Art 18:03 Roblox And Game Design For A New Generation 20:59 The Elder Millennial Teenage Boy Power Fantasy 23:23 Diverse Fantasies For Diverse Audiences 25:38 White Men Can't Introspect(tm) 32:13 ...But The Video Game Industry Is Still (Relatively) Small 34:25 Outro Links: You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? makegamesdrinkcoffee@gmail.com Make Games, Drink Coffee is produced, edited, and just generally all-around made by me, Aaron Nemoyten. Please email the Make Games Drink Coffee email address, I'm tired of only getting podcast SEO spam at that address! | |||
| Bonus Episode - Politics, Unions, GDC, and Doom: The Dark Ages | 12 Feb 2026 | 00:06:08 | |
In this short bonus episode, instead of interviewing a guest for 30 minutes, I talk politics, unions, GDC, and Doom: The Dark Ages... for about six minutes. Why no guest? You'll just have to listen to find out! Links: You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? | |||
| S1E13 - Daniel McLaren - Humility in game design, and don't call it "sportsball!" | 29 Jan 2026 | 00:30:25 | |
This week, Aaron chats with Daniel McLaren. Daniel has been making games since 2005 and has worked on everything from MMOs to mobile games. While he has held a variety of roles over the years, from Game Designer, Producer, to even Product Manager, his primary focus is Design and Team Leadership. Daniel has a passion for reading books, laying on the ground, watching the San Diego Padres mismanage their team, and Path of Exile. Daniel and I worked together at EA on Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, and that's how we know each other. We spoke about Daniel's philosophy of humility in game design, what it was like briefly working in Finland, how we should take sports seriously as lessons in game design, and more. 00:00 Intro 01:39 Humility As A Game Design Philosophy 09:43 Finland's Game Development Culture 11:50 Learning Game Design From Popular Sports 19:19 Spending Time With Friends Is Its Own Hobby 21:50 What Games Are You Playing Right Now? Links: Daniel McLaren doesn't have much of an online presence, so here's a link to the game he's working on at Stoic, Towerborne: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2458830/Towerborne/ You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? | |||
| S1E12 - Nat Loh - Skylanders, leadership, and asking questions...? | 15 Jan 2026 | 00:28:56 | |
This week, Aaron chats with Nat Loh, a game design and leadership consultant with nearly 20 years of experience, including character gameplay design on every Skylanders game, mobile free-to-play, VR, and more! We spoke about designing characters in Skylanders, the need for better leadership training in the game industry, how to run better meetings, and why game developers need a seat at the table when big companies discuss the use of AI. This might be the most simultaneously topical and timeless conversation I've had on the podcast! 00:00 Intro and Industry Start 02:21 Character Gameplay Design in Skylanders 07:35 Leadership and Leadership Training In the Game Industry 12:41 More On Masking 15:02 Having A Seat at the AI Table 17:42 A War Story That's Not A War Story 19:10 The Importance of Asking Questions 25:00 Current Projects and Future Excitement Links: Nat's web site: Toys for Bob's website from 2005 on the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20040224212701/http://toysforbob.com/ Dragon Sweeper on itch.io: https://danielben.itch.io/dragonsweeper You can find the podcast at: http://www.makegamesdrinkcoffee.com Questions? Comments? | |||