The Flipside of Gaming
This is the conclusion of my chat with composer Mark Benis about composing music for games. We talked more about working with designers, and how designers can best utilize composers for their games.
Owner of Game Wisdom with more than a decade of experience writing and talking about game design and the industry. I’m also the author of the “Game Design Deep Dive” series and “20 Essential Games to Study”
For this perceptive podcast, I (Josh Bycer) spoke with composer Mark Benis who has worked on a number of game soundtracks to discuss his role and what it’s like creating original scores for games and how indie devs can understand the job when thinking about getting music created for their titles. This is a two-parter as we spoke at length about composing music.
Owner of Game Wisdom with more than a decade of experience writing and talking about game design and the industry. I’m also the author of the “Game Design Deep Dive” series and “20 Essential Games to Study”
Another find that should be credited to a Metafilter member, in this case AndrewStephens. It’s an interview on the site “spillhistorie.no” with Peter Liepa, creator of the 80s home computer hit Boulder Dash, an early game application for cellular automation. A digging game, like Dig Dug and Mr. Do!, but instead of just dropping single rocks or apples on enemies, falling boulders are an essential aspect of gameplay, as well as gemstones, butterflies and growing amoebas. And oddly, its publisher, First Star Software, still has a living website, yes even in 2025, and may even still be in business, presumably as a company licensing its microcomputer-era products?
Please take a moment that Peter Liepa is still alive, and willing to talk about his work, for which the same can’t be said for Doug Smith, creator of Lode Runner. There, that’s enough maudlin talk. Time to dig out from beneath a pile of boulders; no one else is gonna do it for me.
For this podcast, I spoke with Dominic O’ Reilly from Krunchy Fried Games who is working on the adventure game Five Day Detective. We spoke about adventure game design and writing along with the challenges of creating the story alongside the puzzles.
Owner of Game Wisdom with more than a decade of experience writing and talking about game design and the industry. I’m also the author of the “Game Design Deep Dive” series and “20 Essential Games to Study”
For this perceptive podcast, I sat down with Joseph Mirabello from Terrible Posture Games to talk about developing the upcoming roguelike Battle Train. We spoke about the challenges of roguelike design, what is special about Battle Train, and then talked about their Kickstarter.
Owner of Game Wisdom with more than a decade of experience writing and talking about game design and the industry. I’m also the author of the “Game Design Deep Dive” series and “20 Essential Games to Study”
For this perceptive podcast, I sat down with Camila Gormaz and Pablo Videla from This I Dreamt to talk about Long Gone Days. We spoke about how the project began, what it was like creating a game in a modern setting and trying to balance the story with the JRPG-inspired combat.
This I Dreamt:
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Serenity Forge:
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Owner of Game Wisdom with more than a decade of experience writing and talking about game design and the industry. I’m also the author of the “Game Design Deep Dive” series and “20 Essential Games to Study”
For this Perceptive Podcast, I sat down with RPG designer Kasey Ozymy to talk about working in RPG Maker and designing Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass. We discuss RPG design and making something that stands out from the rest of the pack. For the final part of our talk, we focused on the Kickstarter for his next game: Hymn to the Earless God, and what makes that one different.
Owner of Game Wisdom with more than a decade of experience writing and talking about game design and the industry. I’m also the author of the “Game Design Deep Dive” series and “20 Essential Games to Study”
This is a video review of the making of karateka played with a press key provided by the developer.
My interview with Digital Eclipse
Owner of Game Wisdom with more than a decade of experience writing and talking about game design and the industry. I’m also the author of the “Game Design Deep Dive” series and “20 Essential Games to Study”
For this Perceptive Podcast, I’m talking with Christopher Bischke from Daylight Basement Studio to discuss their game Rightfully, Beary Arms that just released on early access. We spoke about making their first rogue-lite and the challenges of balancing the elements there.
Owner of Game Wisdom with more than a decade of experience writing and talking about game design and the industry. I’m also the author of the “Game Design Deep Dive” series and “20 Essential Games to Study”
For this perceptive podcast, I interviewed self-taught indie developer Lee Easson about working on his first game Odd Infinitum. We discussed what it’s like to learn game dev today and how that has changed over the years and the challenges it brings to indie developers.
Owner of Game Wisdom with more than a decade of experience writing and talking about game design and the industry. I’m also the author of the “Game Design Deep Dive” series and “20 Essential Games to Study”
For this perspective podcast, I spoke with Adriaan Jansen from Abbey Games to catch up about how the studio is doing since our last conversation. We spoke about the challenges of creating Godhood, Renowned Explorers International Society, and more. For our main topic, we talked about recreating Reus with its sequel, and how the studio is changing things up compared to the first.
Owner of Game Wisdom with more than a decade of experience writing and talking about game design and the industry. I’m also the author of the “Game Design Deep Dive” series and “20 Essential Games to Study”
For this perceptive podcast, I sat down with Sinister Design’s Craig Stern to catch up about RPG design and his latest game Together in Battle. We talked about adding more relationship and character development to an SRPG without taking away the player’s control or tactics.
Owner of Game Wisdom with more than a decade of experience writing and talking about game design and the industry. I’m also the author of the “Game Design Deep Dive” series and “20 Essential Games to Study”
