In this episode, we reconnect with gaming industry veteran Steve Cuss to discuss his journey from traditional to liberated leadership, starting The GamePlan Consultancy and publishing his first book, Liberated Leadership. Steve shares his insights on the challenges and rewards of fostering a more inclusive and authentic workplace, exploring the significance of authenticity, vulnerability, and emotional intelligence for creative leaders.

Steve emphasises the importance of self-awareness for leaders and the opportunities for self-transformation through retreats and personal inner work. We delve into the significance of creating psychological safety, balancing control with autonomy, and aligning personal and organisational values to find a deeper purpose in leadership.

01:46 Steve Cuss’s Journey Over the Past Year

04:05 Challenges and Insights in Leadership Training

09:34 The Evolution of Leadership in the Gaming Industry

10:51 The Concept of Liberated Leadership

15:12 Personal Growth and Authenticity in Leadership

26:45 The Power of Vulnerability in Leadership

27:40 The Importance of Deliberate Pauses

29:09 Creating Psychological Safety

30:10 The Need for Feedback in Leadership

31:39 Integrating Values and Purpose

38:22 Challenges in Leadership and Gender Differences

43:20 The Business Case for Emotional Intelligence

48:21 Practical Steps for Leaders

This conversation is a follow-up to a discussion we had with Steve a year ago, introducing the concept of Liberated Leadership, and its genesis. You can listen to that episode here:

You can buy the book “Liberated Leadership” here: https://amzn.eu/d/6lHxbAW

Thanks for listening to Rise and Play! Subscribe to receive new posts and support our work.

In this episode, host Sophie Vo interviews Eric Tan, a highly experienced executive with 17 years in the entertainment and music industries. Eric shares his journey from being a business executive to embracing his role as a creative executive, his experiences and struggles in the gaming and music industries, and his insights on the importance of music partnerships in gaming. They discuss Eric's career highlights, including his roles at Riot Games, Sony Music, and his own company, Fifth Journey Limited. Eric also shares his vision for the future of music in games and offers advice for entrepreneurs navigating similar paths.

Interested in exploring a music partnership? Reach out to Eric here: https://calendly.com/erictanhk/call-with-eric

01:34 Introducing Eric Tan: A Music and Gaming Executive

03:55 Eric's Journey into Music and Gaming

05:38 The Evolution of Music in Games

07:41 Music Marketing Strategies in Gaming

10:38 Challenges and Opportunities in Music Partnerships

20:04 Reflecting on Fifth Journey Limited

24:21 Lessons Learned and Moving Forward

31:17 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Thanks for listening to Rise and Play! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

In this new episode, we interview Charlotte Lavergne, who shares her journey co-founding Supercosi Games in 2020, a mobile studio focused on evergreen games.

Charlotte shares the context of bootstrapping the company in 2020 until they raised 2M€ in 2022. She also discusses the challenges of raising seed/Series A funding through VCs in 2024, despite having healthy financial results. She explains her strategic process focusing on evergreen games and the multiple iterations that led their team to find their 'hit' title in 2023: Word Search Puzzle Challenge, and how they keep scaling the game in 2024.

This episode is an open-hearted testimonial about the ups and downs of being a game entrepreneur, reminding all founders that whatever you are going through this year, you are not alone. We do the best with what we have and can control, and try to survive the wave(s) 🌊

01:55 Meet Charlotte Lavergne: From Gameloft to Supercosi Games

03:58 Charlotte's Early Career and Transition to Gaming

09:55 Founding Supercosi: The Journey Begins

14:19 Building the Team and Early Prototypes

20:14 Fundraising and Scaling Up

29:14 Challenges and Learnings in 2024

34:43 Final Thoughts and Reflections

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this episode, I am debunking with Steph all the misconceptions about narrative design, and why this field remains so misunderstood in the gaming industry.

- What is narrative design, and why it is not just "writing" for games?

- Why narrative design is essential from the concept phase to build long lasting IPs

- Why and how diversity enables to create impactful and meaningful stories for players

- What is the ROI of narrative design? (bring those insights to your stakeholders)

- Fun fact: Steph shares why Chess is a great example of what conceptual narrative design is

Steph is a Canadian working as the Global Narrative Director at Gameloft. Steph started her career in games at Stardoll, a metaverse style sandbox game with tens of millions players, mostly women and girls. Then she joined King in 2014 and worked as the first narrative designer there and eventually global narrative lead there, before she eventually joined Gameloft to lead the Narrative Design team.

I enjoyed so much Steph's passion on narrative design through our conversation. I hope you will learn as much as I did about narrative design.

Enjoy this new episode!

Don't miss out on more leadership content by subscribing to the monthly newsletter at https://www.riseandplay.io/

In this episode, we are tackling with Kegan all the burning questions you could have about the history and development of the Diablo Franchise:

• What is the Product Management approach to Diablo IV, and why is this is a new approach in AAA development?


• The important differences in Product Management between F2P mobile and AAA development


• What can we learn from the advanced Player Research methods at Blizzard?


• The challenges of aligning between PM and Development teams on Diablo, and how Kegan is adding the PM mindset to the creative development process


• Learn how Kegan tackled with professionalism and wisdom the situations of "being the only woman in the room" at companies like Blizzard and Riot Games

I deeply enjoyed the authentic and genuine conversation with Kegan, sharing her passion working on Diablo franchise and her personal journey in gaming.

Kegan Clark is the current Director of Product on Diablo IV at Blizzard Entertainment, former head of Business Intelligence on League of Legends Franchise at Riot Games. 

Enjoy this new episode!

Anette Staloy is CMO at the Norwegian games studio Dirtybit. The studio focuses on social multiplayer games, and have grown organically to close to 140 million downloads for their games in the Fun Run series. Dirtybit was founded almost 11 years ago, and Anette has been part of the team for the last 7 years. Anette is also the co-founder and chair of Women in Games Norway.

In this episode, Anette shares her journey growing a small independent studio in Norway, building on top of their Fun Run series success:

• How Anette's role has evolved as the CMO of the company over the past 7 years


• The challenges of maintaining a big IP versus launching new successful games


• The perks and challenges of remaining as an independent studio: ownership vs growth?


• How Dirtybit managed to bring their leadership team to full parity and 40% of employees being women. It is possible!


• How the work-life balance is at the heart of the culture at Dirtybit, without compromising on execution and delivery

Enjoy this new episode!

1 - YEAR ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EPISODE

I often ask other leaders in my podcast interviews: “What keeps you up at night?”When I ask myself this question, I cannot think of anything but “How do I keep my team together on our mission to create something bigger than ourselves?”

This question keeps me busy all the time.

I previously wrote why if you’re looking to achieve in life and business, you first need a great team. Without a team, you’ve got no product — and without a product, no business. (Re-)building a great team takes time, lots of energy, and financial backing. Naturally, I often think about the threats that can endanger the most precious thing I have built over the years: a high-performing, well-functioning, and fun team to work with.

So, what can we do about it?

In this special episode, I reflect my key learnings from the past 3 years building a casual studio from scratch at Voodoo.

Enjoy this new episode!

You can read the full article here

Noemie has been working in international digital marketing and mobile gaming for the past 10 years.

She has led performance marketing teams for startups like PlayQ and also has experience with bigger companies like Jam City where she led the user acquisition strategy for the launch of the top mobile game Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery. 

She is now the CMO of Air Console, an online video game console for friends and family to play together from TV and their mobile devices.

Topics we discuss:

• Why Noémie joined Air Console, moving her marketing focus from the product to the player experience


• Noémie's vision of leading lean UA and creative teams in different organization sizes


• How Noémie innovated in the marketing launch of Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery, at Jam City

Enjoy this new episode!

More about Air Console here

The third season of the podcast is in the making!!!

I would love to get your feedback and suggestions (2-min survey): https://www.surveylegend.com/s/47al

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Simonetta joined GameHouse as their new CEO in October last year, to fulfill the mission of becoming the leading provider of casual mobile games for Women. In this episode, Simonetta shares her vision and execution plan to own the "me-time" of the female audience.

Prior to joining GameHouse, Simonetta spent the last several years as Head of Spin Master Studios in Los Angeles, and the President, CEO, and Chairwoman of the Board at Woozworld in Montreal. In her earlier career, she was SVP at Sulake, developers of Habbo, the biggest online virtual game for teens where among other roles she led global marketing, community, advertising, and user growth.

We are discussing in this new episode:

- The new vision and mission of GameHouse under Simonetta's leadership

- Why Simonetta, as a female CEO, has a competitive edge in executing the mission of owning the "me-time" of the female market

- Simonetta's vision of building a great company culture based on: ownership, flexibility, and data-informed decisions

- Why it is important to break the bias about female CEOs



Enjoy this new episode!

More about GameHouse openings: here

The third season of the podcast is in the making!!!

I would love to get your feedback and suggestions (2-min survey): https://www.surveylegend.com/s/47al

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Devon has always been drawn to building heartfelt experiences that captivate everyday people and result in long-term value. During her 15-year career including working at Big Fish Games and GSN games, she’s explored the capabilities of UX research and UX design methods within free-to-play mobile game development, resulting in engagement-boosting gameplay optimizations while supercharging her team’s efficiency by aligning the team around the needs of their target audience. 

Devon is committed to the well-being of players, which is what drew her to Solsten where she’s leading the design of services that empower companies to craft solutions that fully resonate with people.

In this episode, Devon debunks all the myths and misconceptions about UX:

- What is actually UX Design

- The limits of designing game experiences based on demographic and group generalizations

- Why having a deep understanding of human behavior and psychology is fundamental in UX design

- What is the difference between UX Design, UI art, and a UI designer, and why the overused acronym UX/UI is misleading.

- When do you need to think about UX? at the very start or at the very end of the design process?

- Can we calculate the ROI of UX?

I hope you'll have more light on what UX is and how to make better UX-related decisions, after listening to this episode.

Find more about Solsten

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Ksusha Zito is the CTO and Co-Founder of Superbloom, a new studio focused on mobile lifestyle games. Before starting on the journey of a founder she was a Director of Mobile Engineering at Dots, and a Senior Engineering Manager at the NY Times Games. Ksusha has over a decade of experience in shaping highly scalable and efficient systems that power games played by millions of daily users. 

In this episode, Ksusha shares her vision for building the next generation of lifestyle games for the female audience:

• Why product matters before tech, at the founding stage


• What should be your focus as a CTO in the early days of your gaming startup


• How Ksusha juggles between her family life and her role as a CTO. Disclaimer: It is possible! You don't have to choose between being a mother or having a career.


• What is her vision with Emily (her co-founder) on company culture and the opportunities of being a full-remote team

Enjoy this new episode!

More about Superbloom and their open positions.

Laura Taranto has 10+ years of experience in the games industry. She previously worked at Scopely, King and Wooga where she worked on multiple titles including Farm Heroes Saga, Pearl’s Peril, and Diamond Dash! 

While most of her experience is running and growing live titles, she has worked on games in all phases of development. She recently joined Big Fish Games last year and is sharing in this episode her exciting challenges of growing the hit title Evermerge.

In this episode, Laura is sharing:

- The Product Managament challenges switching from Match3 and Hidden Object games to Merge games

- How they operate the Live Ops on the hit title Evermerge at Big Fish Games

- The inherent challenges of growing merge games and specifically a game like Evermerge

- The compound effect of investing in people before the product

I loved Laura's energy and honesty in sharing her experience, with no filter and BS. Enjoy this new episode!

Book referenced from David Rock: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6516173-coaching-with-the-brain-in-mind

Mari Aizawa Burns is a multi-media Producer currently working as the Development Director for Tetris® on mobile.  She started with live-action television Production, but really built her foundation through 15 years of Production in CG film at Pixar Animation Studios. She moved to games in 2014, first at Telltale Games as Studio Production Manager for IP projects ranging from Game of Thrones, Minecraft and The Walking Dead.

In this episode, Mari is sharing her journey transitioning from animations studio to games production:

• What did she learn at Pixar Animation studios and could translate into her work making games?


• What is the role of a Development Director, and the fundamental skills you need to thrive in this position?


• How her experience as being a first-class waitress has shaped her producer skills in her career?


• How to refresh an iconic franchise such as Tetris on mobile?


• How to build an effective working and remote culture at N3twork?

Enjoy this new episode!

In this episode, we delve into an inspiring conversation with Emma Delage, CEO of Studio Camelia. Emma shares her journey from working at Ubisoft Paris to founding her own independent game studio based in Montpellier, France. We cover the challenges and wins of starting a new game company, focusing on JRPGs, and navigating the complexities of fundraising and Kickstarter campaigns. Emma's story exemplifies resilience, conviction, and the importance of staying true to one's vision, offering invaluable insights for aspiring entrepreneurs and independent game developers, when plans A, B, C and D fall apart.

Congratulations to Studio Camelia for closing their Kickstarter Campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/studiocamelia/seed-a-vibrant-tribute-to-jrpg-classics

Follow their JRPG Alzara: https://studio-camelia.com/

02:28 Meet Emma Delage: CEO of Studio Camellia

03:46 Emma's Journey Before Studio Camellia

05:36 The Birth of Studio Camelia and JRPG Passion

09:50 Building the Team and Early Challenges

13:47 Funding the Dream: From Surveys to Investors

19:33 Kickstarter Success and Community Support

29:18 Values and Vision: Creating a Unique Studio Culture

32:31 Reflections and Future Aspirations

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

Sarah has over 20 years of experience making games. For the past 12 years she has been focusing exclusively on mobile. Most recently she was the VP and GM of the #1 Fashion game, Covet Fashion. Prior to that Sarah worked on The Sims Mobile, various mobile titles at Ngmoco and DeNA as well as Spore, X men- the official game, The Sims 2, The Godfather and James Bond Everything or Nothing. 

Sarah could have continued her career path at big companies. But instead, she decided to start her own initiatives and work on projects that give her meaning and allow her to make a bigger impact on the industry.

In this episode, Sarah is sharing with us:

• How she led her team on Covet Fashion and built her Leadership team with 90% women


• How the Covet Fashion team addressed the sensitive topic of racial diversity in the game


• How she made the switch from Glu Mobile to invest her time on  meaningful and impactful projects such as WINGS mobile


• Why is it hard(er) for women and marginalised communities to get funding, and what we can do about it

Enjoy this new episode.

If you want to support WINGS interactive mobile and join the initiative of supporting more diverse games and teams in the market, reach out to us: https://wingsfund.me/

Delphine has a unique story on how she brings her athlete mindset to her practices of leadership and building creative teams at King. Delphine is the Head Of Experimentation on Candy Crush and shares her challenges of bringing novelty to an iconic game such as Candy Crush, while satisfying the most loyal players from over a decade.

In this episode, Delphine shares her leadership tools to lead large creative teams (50+ people):

• Why Energy is one of your most important resources as a Leader, and how to nurture it


• 3P approach: People, Product and Process


• How to run large teams of 50+ people and break the silos


• How to build a solid long term vision for large teams


• Managing upward


• Why it is important to build your personal branding with intention, for your career progression

Here are the links of the resources mentioned in the episode:

• Multipliers book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8310410-multipliers


• Why Great Leaders Take Humour Seriously (TED talk): https://youtu.be/uJKDipbCzdc

Enjoy this new episode!

Maya Hofree is the VP of New Games at Product Madness. She counts 10 years of industry experience, starting as a Product Manager at Jelly Button Games and later became the Product director on big titles such as Pirate Kings, Board Kings and World Series of Poker, when Jelly Button was later acquired by Playtika.

In this episode, Maya shares her new challenges in building the New Games Strategy and Teams at Product Madness. We are covering in our discussion:

• How to build a strategy for new games from scratch?


• What should be the focus and priorities as the VP of New Games?


• Maya's experience leading small teams in a family-friendly environment at Jelly Button to leading a 400-people team at Playtika


• How does Maya approach building her long-term vision and career?

Enjoy this new episode!

More about the job openings at Product Madness: https://www.productmadness.com/join-us/

or contact directly Maya if you would like to join her team: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maya-hofree-416a3b2/

In this second episode, I am speaking with Maryna Iaremenko, a Lead Game Designer specialised in system design with 10 years of experience in F2P. She is currently the Lead Designer (and the one only) at GameHouse and has an amazing career track record. She previously worked at King, Social Point and Gameloft.

In this episode, we tackle:

• How to build design processes when you are the only designer in house?


• How to approach the design of new concepts?


• What are the current game design trends to watch?


• What are the challenges of working abroad and in a very different culture from yours?


• Why are there so few women in Senior Design positions, and what can we do about it?

Enjoy this new episode!

More about GameHouse and open positions: https://talent.gamehouse.com/

Welcome to the second season of Rise and Play podcast, where we are focusing on Portraits of Women in Games. In this first episode, I am talking to An Vu, Chief Marketing Officer at Small Giant Games.

In this episode, we will cover the following questions:

- What does a CMO do?

- How did An build a small and effective UA team of 11 people at Small Giant Games?

- How does she lead her team? What is her strategy with UA and creatives, and how do these two parts are collaborating together?

- What was her career journey from a UA associate to a CMO position? How did she create these opportunities for herself?

Enjoy this new episode!

More about Small Giant Games: https://www.smallgiantgames.com/

More about the UA Society: https://uasociety.com/

To kick off the New Year, I wanted to share some thoughts for 2022. In this special episode, I am sharing the journaling methods I have been using at the transition of each year, and key moments of my life.

Instead of focusing on your BIG goals one time a year, conduct regularly self reflection work and journaling instead. 

Enjoy this new episode. I wish you a great start for 2022!

Follow the second season of my MasterClass on building teams for the long term, what I call: Antifragile teams.

In this episode, I share the mindset required as a Lead to build an Antifragile team.

• How do you build long-term trust in a group, and how can you influence it as the Team Lead?


• Show vulnerability as a Leader, and what does it look like to act vulnerable?


• At last, to become Antifragile, you need to face your biggest fears as a Leader. Are you driven by your fears or by the clarity of your thoughts?

Link to the full masterclass video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/how-to-build-trust-for-the-long-term

Follow the second season of my MasterClass on building teams for the long term, what I call: Antifragile teams.

• What is your main responsibility as the Team Lead?


• The 4 steps to build a great environment in a team


• How do you create a strong culture with certain values in your team? Where do you start? 

Link to the full masterclass video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/how-to-create-your-studio-culture

Follow the second season of my MasterClass on building teams for the long term, what I call: Antifragile teams.

• What is an Antifragile Team? Why does it matter?


• How do you become Antifragile?

Link to the full masterclass video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/what-is-an-antifragile-team

From building your vision to the methods to find, screen and select the best candidates for you - I will share my full hiring framework with you. Hiring makes up 50% of the success of your studio, so it is important to get it right! It is worth investing heavily upfront to build a sustainable studio for the long term.

My best practices on running phone screening interviews from 100+ interviews.

- Phone Screening Interview 

- Team and Cross interviews 

- Identify the Red flags early  

Link to the Masterclass video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/screening-interview

How to combine games and education, and is there a case for it?

We interview Melissa Cash, co-founder and CEO of PokPok, a company creating educational and engaging digital content for children. They discuss the challenges and strategies of developing non-addictive, educational content for young children, focusing on the importance of designing tools that integrate seamlessly with a parent’s daily life.

Melissa shares insights into her entrepreneurial journey, balancing professional and personal life, and highlights the critical role of networking as a CEO. We also touch on PokPok’s unique approach to early childhood education and the importance of community and collaboration in achieving success.

Pok Pok, raised $3 million in seed funding in 2022. The company was founded in 2019 after it spun out of Snowman, the small studio behind award-winning iOS games Alto’s Adventure, Alto’s Odyssey, Skate City and others.

Pok Pok is a great example of how games can be taken beyond the gaming industry to consumer and educational apps. Learn more about Pok Pok: https://playpokpok.com/

03:02 Melissa's Journey to Pok Pok

12:08 Building the Product

16:09 Marketing and Business Model

19:15 Challenges and Parental Concerns

23:20 Balancing Toddler Activities and Screen Time

24:03 The Healthy Screen Time Debate

24:40 Understanding Pok Pok's Unique Value

26:15 Challenges and Differentiation in the Market

30:36 Team Composition and Educational Approach

33:18 Reflections on Entrepreneurship

39:02 Balancing Family and Business

41:34 Future Plans and Excitement

43:27 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

From building your vision to the methods to find, screen and select the best candidates for you - I will share my full hiring framework with you. Hiring makes up 50% of the success of your studio, so it is important to get it right! It is worth investing heavily upfront to build a sustainable studio for the long term.

Crystallise your Team Vision - Who do you need, how many people, which skills for which phase, what team composition should you aim for? Why Diversity matters so much when hiring?

Link to the Masterclass video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/team-vision

From building your vision to the methods to find, screen and select the best candidates for you - I will share my full hiring framework with you. Hiring makes up 50% of the success of your studio, so it is important to get it right! It is worth investing heavily upfront to build a sustainable studio for the long term.

Define your Studio Mission and Vision - Before you hire, get clarity about your studio mission and vision so you attract the right people for your mission.

Link to the Masterclass video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/studio-vision-mission

From building your vision to the methods to find, screen and select the best candidates for you - I will share my full hiring framework with you. Hiring makes up 50% of the success of your studio, so it is important to get it right! It is worth investing heavily upfront to build a sustainable studio for the long term.

Start with Why - Your Why is your North Star for every single decision you make. It shapes your behaviour and communication towards others, including new hires. Invest the time to define and crystallise your Why, before building a new studio

Link to the class video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/start-with-why

Your Personal Values:  After you defined your Why, define your own personal values. Your personal values influence everything you do, who you hire, how you make decisions. Make it intentional, not accidental.

Link to the class video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/define-your-personal-values

Gallup Strengths Test: https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/252137/home.aspx

Enneagram Test: https://www.truity.com/test/enneagram-personality-test

Big 5 Personality Traits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits

In this last episode of the Season 1 of Rise and Play Podcast, I am thrilled to have the one and only Mishka as a guest. Mishka is the CEO and founder of Savage Game Studios and the founder of Deconstructor of Fun. 

We are addressing several topics in this episode:

- How Deconstructor of Fun started from an accident and a discovery process

- Why and how should you start to create your own content to elevate the industry

- What's behind the name and culture of Savage Game Studios

- Tips on how to handle exit interviews, keeper test, probation periods

- Mishka's vision on the importance of the diversity of mind over ethnical diversity only

- The challenges and responsibility to be a CEO and step away from day-to-day operations

Enjoy this last episode! Stay tuned for the Season 2 we are preparing for winter 2021!

More about Savage Game Culture at: https://www.savagegamestudios.com/culture

Georgina is the COO & Co-founder of Talewind, a studio with a mission to create incredibly fun and engaging gaming experiences for the metaverse, starting with Roblox! At Talewind she is responsible for the operational running of the business and is typically known as the Head of Happiness! The health and wellbeing of the team are always a top priority and she has her finger constantly on the pulse of ways in which she can innovate best working practices. She has proven passion and success in building diverse, high functioning, emotionally intelligent teams and operations for the Games industry.

In this episode, we cover how she started the company Talewind with her co-founder and partner Mike Allender. We will also cover the company culture they consciously built, valuing kindness, positive impact, sustainability and education. For example, they applied the model of a 4-day workweek.

Enjoy this new episode!

In this new episode, I have the pleasure to have Tom Hammond as my guest. Tom has been an active contributor to the Live Ops community with his podcast Mastering Retention and recently the UserWise Academy. Tom is sharing his entrepreneurial journey creating his two companies TheoremReach and UserWise, his company culture and values, and what led him to create the Mastering Retention podcast. To "give back" to the community.

I recommend his podcast as there is a lot of valuable and tangible content about Live Ops.

Enjoy this new episode!

Mastering Retention Podcast: https://userwise.io/podcast/mastering-retention-podcast-presented-by-userwise/

UserWise Academy: https://userwise.io/academy/

In this new episode, I am talking to Carolin Krenzer, the CEO and co-founder of Trailmix, a London based studio which focuses on combining great storytelling with the best of free-to-play mobile gaming as well as creating a space for people to be the best version of themselves. Their latest title is Love & Pies, taking an innovative twist on the puzzle hybrid genre.

Carolin has an impressive background in gaming. Before founding Trailmix, she worked as VP & Head of Studio for King. She joined the company in 2012 to help set up the London studio and bring the studio’s first title Farm Heroes Saga to life. Carolin also worked at EA/ Playfish as a Director of Product Management.

We address in this episode, how Carolin started her new company Trailmix with her co-founder and ex-King colleague Tristan. As co-founders, they spent 6 months before the company founding to discuss and set up a clear vision, mission and culture for their company. Their studio is backed by Supercell.

Enjoy this new episode!

More about Trailmix: https://www.trailmixgames.com/

In this new podcast episode, I am talking to Benjamin Chevalier, one of the co-founders of Mighty Bear Games. With Simon Davis and Fadzuli Said his two other co-founder, they started Mighty Bear Games in Singapore in early 2017 with ex-King colleagues and grew the studio to 50+ team members after two rounds of funding. Mighty Bear Games has been known lately for their successful title 'Butter Royale' on Apple Arcade.

We tackle the vision and company culture the co-founders established from the beginning, focusing on honesty and transparency. How they run their company with integrity and 'walk the talk'. We address the challenges and opportunities they faced by building a studio with the Western mindset in a Southeast Asian hub such as Singapore. 

My discussion with Ben was very inspiring to see how a value-based company can look like. Without compromising on getting things done and achieving financial results.

Enjoy this new episode!

Mighty Bear Games blog: https://medium.com/mighty-bear-games

Shane Parish podcast: https://fs.blog/knowledge-project/

In this new episode, I am talking to Tatiana Kondratyeva, CEO & co-founder at Playpack, a new company formed in early 2021 focused on making games for an underserved audience with meaningful social interactions. Tatiana started her career in games more than 13 years ago. Games were always her biggest passion and she made it all the way up from being in QA to her current role of CEO and co-founder at Playpack. Tatiana has an amazing track record in the industry. She has worked at Wooga and Etermax, and beforehand she’s been working at Glu Mobile at the times where mobile Free-to-pay games were just on a rising trend.

We tackle in this episode how Tatiana formed her new company, how she found her co-founders, and how they defined together their company mission and values.

Enjoy this new episode!

Open positions at Playpack: https://www.playpack.games/

In this new episode, I have the pleasure to talk to Taina Myöhänen, the president of We In Games Finland (formerly named Women in Games Finland). We tackle with Taina the sensible topics of diversity, inclusivity, women in games... and what it means concretely for We in Games, and how these important topics are handled in the community. I love the Finnish gaming community for their progressive thinking and thoughtfulness on diversity and equality. Not being afraid to tackle the hard things. I believe many could benefit from the practices from We In Games, whether you are running your own community or are in a position of leadership. 

Enjoy this new episode!

More about We In Games Finland: https://weingames.fi/

In this episode, we interview Olya Caliujnaia, the CEO and co-founder at Sanlo.io, on a mission to help game businesses thrive revenues. Olya shares her entrepreneurial journey, from growing up in a family of resilient entrepreneurs, to eventually founding her own company in the gaming industry. Before Sanlo, Olya managed product and growth at Playfish, EA, Getty Images, SigFig, Wells Fargo and worked with early-stage companies as an entrepreneur-in-residence at XYZ Venture Capital.

Olya shares her process, trial and error of finding the right co-founder, the early stages of customer discovery, and the importance of building a committed and complementary co-founder team. Olya also talks about the products Sanlo offers, including web shops and capital financing for gaming companies, and emphasizes the importance of financial health and sustainable monetization, as vital components of a game business.

More on Sanlo.io: https://www.sanlo.io/

01:33 CEO Olya Caliujnaia's Journey: From Product Leader to Gaming Entrepreneur

02:12 The Entrepreneurial Path: Olya's Journey to Founding Sanlo.io

09:41 The Co-Founder Search: Lessons Learned and Finding the Right Match

12:40 Customer Discovery and Product Development Insights, Pivoting to PMF

18:01 Building a Team and Overcoming Challenges in the Gaming Startup World

24:36 SanloToday: Products, Vision, and the Future

29:08 Closing Thoughts and Future Directions

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

Kam Punia started his career in the games industry at Konami working with IP’s such as Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill before leading the Yugioh Brand in Europe. He is now the founder and CEO of Pixion Games (new unannounced game launched soon).

In this new episode, Kam shares how he found at 14 years old his passion to create games to connect meaningfully people together. Kam also shares how he established the SUPREME Culture at his studio: Supportive, United, Positive, Respectful, Efficient, Merry and Encouraging. To him, his role as the CEO is not to control the team but to enable and encourage the team to succeed. 

Enjoy this new episode!

More about Pixion games at: https://pixiongames.com/

In this special episode, I share about my personal journey on what led me to a career path as a Leader in games, my life "drivers" and what led me to create Rise and Play early 2021.

The story I am sharing is not something I have shared publicly anywhere before. I feel comfortable to share it in this podcast as the result of my own reflection work, to also give more light of what's behind the curtains of leaders who seem to "have it altogether".

I hope this episode will inspire you to look inwards, and be brave to share the findings with your safe circles.

Enjoy this special episode!

In this new episode, I am talking to Annina Salvén, CFO at Next Games. Annina has an impressive and inspiring journey, starting as a Chef to later become the CFO of Next Games which went public in 2017.

Annina walks us through her journey as a CFO and how she handled the difficult times of the company during the layoff wave in 2019. Annina shares openly her personal experience as a female leader in a male-dominated environment and the shocking bias she is going through with her high position. Beyond her C-level responsibilities, Annina has been publicly active advocating for Diversity and Inclusion and championing it at Next Games too. 

Enjoy this new episode!

Ivanna Pogrebniak is the Executive Director at AB Games (who released the successful title: Hidden City). Ivanna has an impressive career of 12 years working in IT, plus 3 years in the gaming industry. After working as a corporate lawyer just for half a year at AB games, Ivanna got offered the position of CEO of the company. 

She shares her career debut as a female CEO in an industry where she had little experience, the challenges she faced, and how she overcame them. Ivanna shares her mental models and routines to handle her busy life between the family (married, with 3 children), her CEO responsibilities, and her own needs. One thing she will never compromise on is to continue to learn and develop herself.

Additionally, Ivanna is an active member of the Ukrainian IT and Gamedev community and a driver of the Ukrainian Gamedev Association with initiatives such as the AB library that she is leading.

More about AB games: https://ab-games.com/en/

More about AB library: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKj2OS1lj8lwMTmdaf9roPQ

In this episode, I am talking to Audrey Leprince who has an impressive background in gaming. Audrey started in the industry as a game designer and producer for Ubisoft and Quantic Dream on AAA games. She is now the co-founder of the indie studio The Game Bakers, behind games like Haven or Furi. Audrey is advocating for diversity in the games industry: she co-founded WINGS in 2019, an international mini-fund only focusing on funding games by women and marginalised genders developers and founded Women in Games France. She’s also on the board of the French Video Game Trade Association.

Through the episode, we talk about the culture of freedom and flexibility they created at The Game Bakers, a self-funded studio. We also talk openly about how being a mother led Audrey to take a leap into funding WIG France and WINGS. 

You can apply your game at WINGS: https://wingsfund.me/

In this episode, Joakim and I cover how Elite Game Developers started: how the platform grew up to 3,000+ subscribers in 2 years, what was the reasoning behind the content creation, and what is the ambition with the platform going forward.

Joakim shares few pieces of wisdom about his life values and priorities, why he decided to not start another company to create Elite Game Developers instead, a great platform of content for founders to not repeat the common mistakes and pitfalls in the industry. We also touch on the topic of angel investing, and why it is important to continue to support the ecosystem of founders.

Joakim Achrén is a gaming entrepreneur, with fifteen years of experience from two venture-backed gaming startups, including Next Games, which IPO-ed in 2107. Joakim is now running Elite Game Developers, a company that helps entrepreneurs start their first games company. He's also an angel investor in Skunkworks Games, Lightheart Entertainment, Savage Game Studios, and more. Joakim recently took on the role of Venture Partner at Play Ventures.

More about Elite Game Developers: https://elitegamedevelopers.com/

In this episode, I am tapping into Tara's motivations who moved away from her long experience in the game industry as a designer, to build her own coding school to support a new generation of game creators.

Tara Mustapha (she/her) is an award-winning, seasoned game designer and producer. Her experience in gaming is vast, as she's worked with Backbone Entertainment, Microsoft, and EA on titles such as the Skate series, Monster Lab and Death Jr. Her bewitching work doesn't stop at game design and production, as she and Code Coven have been recognized for their work by The Game Awards: Future Class, Women in Games Global Awards and MCV/Develop Awards.

She founded Code Coven in 2019, with the aim of making careers in the games industry achievable and nurturing for marginalised communities. She's passionate about amplifying underrepresented voices, and through her educational work with Code Coven seeks to give them the building blocks to make their magic happen.

Learn more about Code Coven at: https://codecoven.co/

In this episode, Drussila Hollanda (ex-Supercell) takes us through her journey which led her to start her recent company Papukaya (backed by Supercell). She shares with us her vision of a world where everyone, regardless of their background or age, would have a great game to play. She will also share her mental models in making tough decisions, how she built the culture in the new company and the origins behind the mysterious name "Papukaya"...

Enjoy this very first episode of Rise and Play!

More about Papukaya at https://www.papukaya.com/ 

Open positions: https://www.papukaya.com/careers

We continue our short series on fundraising in games in 2024, following the journey of Sophie Vo, founder of Rise and Play and CEO of Kylan, a new studio created in 2024.

In this episode hosted by Clair Rozain, Sophie shares what she wishes she had known before fundraising and how she would approach it a second time with all she has learned: start by bootstrapping instead of relying solely on VC/fundraising, have a founding team who can build the product, and be critical about your business like an investor.

A hard self-reflection question: If you had to invest your own money in your business, would you do it? If the answer is no, then how can you expect other investors to invest in you too? What do you need to change or pivot to make it investable for yourself?

This episode will provide insights on mistakes to avoid before fundraising with VCs.

00:19 Launching a New Game Company: Insights and Challenges

01:16 Deep Dive into Pitching and Fundraising in 2024

10:06 Understanding the Venture Capital Landscape

22:32 Empowering Women in Gaming and Entrepreneurship

27:41 Reflecting on the Pitching Experience and Looking Ahead

30:21 Closing Thoughts and Future Directions

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this episode focused on fundraising, we hear the stories of three powerful women and founders who raised with VCs in seed and round A between 2015 and 2023. All you need to know while you are fundraising with VCs in 2024, and asking yourself, is this the right path for you?

• Julia Palatovska, Dorian Games, $19M raised.


• Aurora Klæboe Berg, Megacool and Medal TV, $60M raised.


• Ioana Hreninciuc, Runware (PicFinder), $3M raised.

Host, Sophie Vo alongside founders Julia Palatovska, Aurora Klæboe Berg, and Ioanna Hreninciuc, share their firsthand experiences and lessons learned from fundraising with VCs, including the importance of iteration on the pitch, building a strong team of co-founders, and the journey from concept to securing investments, as a major responsibility of a CEO role.

We cover the different fundraising rounds, the impact of investors' feedback, and strategies for creating a compelling pitch. Additionally, the episode covers the dynamics of working with co-founders, the realities versus expectations of fundraising, and practical advice for other founders navigating their fundraising efforts in 2024 and beyond.

01:37 The Realities of VC Fundraising: Stories from the Front Lines

07:32 Hope vs. Reality: The Fundraising Experience

21:38 Navigating Feedback and holding Vision in Fundraising

30:10 FOMO, Fundraising Matchmaking

38:05 Advice for Future Fundraisers in 2024

Episode available on Youtube: https://youtu.be/Sig-w3_2aYo

Learn more about Aurora's journey: Our Roller Coaster $1.6m Seed Fundraise

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

It takes courage to build a game company. It takes courage to decide to close a company. It takes double courage to talk about it and share the learnings.

In this episode, we follow the journey of Shelby Moledina, co-founder of Double Loop Games, from the aspiring start in 2019 to the difficult decision to close the company in 2023.

Shelby shares the story of founding Double Loop Games, focusing on creating mobile games for underserved audiences, particularly women, and the process of building the company from prototyping to fundraising. Despite the eventual closure of Double Loop Games due to market pressures and funding challenges, Shelby's story is one of resilience, strategic pivoting, and commitment to her team until the last day of closing the company.

This episode sheds light on the importance of community support as a founder, self-reflection, and the courage to make tough decisions for the team's well-being and personal integrity.

Double Loop Games raised a seed round of $2.5M in 2020 and $8M in Series A in 2021: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/double-loop-games-raises-8-million-to-create-meaningfully-charming-mobile-games

02:42 The Founding Story of Double Loop Games

03:12 From Corporate to Co-Founder: Shelby's Transition

15:13 The Early Days of Double Loop: Prototyping and Team Building

20:05 Navigating the Fundraising Landscape: Seed to Series A

28:45 Adapting to a Changing Investment Environment in 2024

32:29 The Evolution of Game Development Strategies

32:30 Insights from Soft Launch Experiences

33:26 Reflecting on the Final Months and Decision to Close

33:42 Pivoting to a New Game Concept

36:11 Exploring the Merge Game Market and Strategy Development

38:56 The Emotional Journey of Shutting Down and Moving Forward

53:20 New Beginnings: From Game Development to Filmmaking

58:57 Reflections and Future Directions

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

Is that a crazy idea to start a new game company in 2024?!

We are resuming the podcast in May, tackling the multiple challenges of building a new company/studio and surviving in 2024.

We kick off this new season, with the journey of Sophie Vo, founder of Rise and Play and first-time CEO of a game company.

Sophie shares her process of becoming a CEO, the challenges of fundraising and pitching, applying the learnings from 100+ entrepreneurs she interviewed in the podcast, building a company like a studio/product, and the importance of digging into co-founders' team dynamics and trust.

Co-host Claire Rozain interviews Sophie, exploring topics from the necessity of curiosity and learning in leadership roles to practical advice for new founders.

The discussion covers the strategies used by Sophie to navigate her company through difficult times, turning constraints into creative opportunities and not being afraid of making the hard call in times of business crisis.

04:04 Sophie Vo's Leap into Entrepreneurship: Building a Game Company in 2024, why???

09:46 Facing Skepticism and Embracing the Challenge

16:23 The Importance of Continuous Learning and Curiosity

19:50 From Solopreneur to Co-Founder: The Decision to Collaborate

20:09 The Solopreneur Journey and Team Dynamics

21:35 Building an Aligned Founding Team and the Role of a CEO

24:47 Effective Leadership and Role Clarity With Mission Cards

28:02 Building Trust and Embracing Challenges

33:47 Adapting to Market Constraints and Embracing Innovation

36:13 Final Thoughts and Advice for Entrepreneurs in 2024

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this special episode, Sophie Vo shares a heartfelt thank you to the community for their loyalty and support over the past three years, and reveals a major personal update: the start of her new game company, Kylan. This new venture will lead to a short break in podcast content, but we assure listeners that this is just a brief hiatus!

• We are onboarding new co-hosts so if you're interested in giving it a try, contact us at sophie@riseandplay.io


• Workshop and 1-1 coaching inquiry at sophie@riseandplay.io


• Next networking event in Berlin on April 25th: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rise-and-play-x-starberry-x-metacore-networking-brunch-tickets-861332878827?aff=oddtdtcreator

We're back in May! In the meantime, enjoy the evergreen top content from the previous episodes:

91. Founder Jens Begemann's⁠ Retrospective on Running Wooga For Over A Decade

90. Solving the Team Culture Map Puzzle  with Jen Donahoe

77. Master Emotionally Charged Conversation

59. How to Plan and Nurture Your Career in Games with Miska Katkoff and Sophie Vo

52. Running your 1:1 in a modern workplace (remote) - with Marko Kecman

43. Coaching episode: Tamara Rose Morales, On Examining Your Life Script 

32. What You Did Not Know About UX- with Devon Wyland, Head of UX at Solsten

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this episode, we interview Jamie Smith, a principal game designer at People Can Fly, about the challenges and insights into design leadership for AAA development. While agile development with quick feedback loop is common for mobile games, it is not for AAA! So how do you combine the mindset of agility and traditionally long and siloed AAA game development?

Jamie Smith, with over 13 years of experience working on AAA titles like Tom Clancy's The Division, FIFA, and Call of Duty, discusses his career journey, the transition from production roles to a leadership position, and the importance of team autonomy, cross-discipline collaboration, and decision-making structures in delivering successful game projects. The conversation sheds light on the balance between creative direction and the multitude of factors influencing game design, including technical limitations, publisher expectations, and market comparison, aiming to provide valuable insights for improving management skills and understanding the complexity and legacy of AAA game development.

More about Jamie's work and open AAA design learnings: https://youtu.be/q250xvbn9hg?si=kOEbYofqAGMJzVeH

02:42 The Evolution of a Game Designer, from IC to Leader

12:01 Leading Teams and Defining Quality in AAA Game Design

17:00 Navigating Conflicts and Priorities in Game Development

23:35 Adopting a Holistic Approach to Game Design

29:57 Reflecting on 13 Years in AAA Game Development

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.