The Here's Waldo Podcast

William S. Schmitt has launched 60 titles across 23 platforms, including Tetris Worlds, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Spider-Man, and Madden Football. He's currently Head of Studio at Proof of Play, a group of veteran game developers and entrepreneurs (led by co-creator of Farmville Amitt Mahajan) creating games using blockchain technology. Dive into the full episode of The Here's Waldo Podcast for more on the Web3 space, how to fail fast using rapid prototyping and player feedback, and most importantly: how to build uncompromisingly fun games.

There’s a bigger threat to team morale than #crunch. Check out what Garrett Young, GM of emptyvessel, has to say about what's more damaging in this highlighted clip. 🔗 You can catch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/g3EJCzgV

Garrett Young launched the original Forza Motorsport. Here's the "aha" moment of how they found the fun. Previously, Garrett contributed to the DOOM, Quake and Rage franchise at id Software, shipped Activision's first James Bond game, and managed 5 AAA game franchises at The Walt Disney Company. His new studio emptyvessel received 1.9 million views on their trailer in just 3 days. They got to this point in under a year with a fully remote team of just 14 people. Link to their game trailer and full episode in the comments.

Learn more about the African game market's current state and unique growth opportunities from Chris Quaidoo, Content Acquisition Lead at Carry1st, the #1 games publisher in Africa. Chris is also a Venture Partner at Griffin Gaming Partners and runs an excellent podcast called Venture Games where he interviews leaders in gaming and venture capital. Tune into the full episode to learn more about the African game market and Chris' perspective on strategic networking, venture capital trends, and predictions for the future of the gaming industry.

Sami Ramly is the founder of Echo Chunk AI, a studio focused on creating AI-powered strategy games that generate themselves. Their first game Echo Chess went viral when it launched in April. The game's Blitz mode is built using AI real-time generation with a model he trained on game states. He's backed by Mark Pincus, the founder of Zynga, Stefano (Stef) Corazza, Roblox Head of AI, A16Z GAMES SPEEDRUN, and more. He recently raised a pre-seed round. Check out his game, and tune in to hear more about how Sami plans to continue to leverage AI as a co-pilot for game design. 

Happy National Video Game Day! 🎮 Today, we celebrate over 50 years of creativity, evolution, and the incredible people who’ve brought unforgettable gaming experiences to life. Here’s to the power of play and the people behind the magic! #GameIndustry #GameDevelopment #Hiring

At big companies, I felt like my title was one of the only ways to validate my career growth. I yearned to have words like 'senior' and 'director' in there for years. Now, working for myself and servicing studios as a consultant; no one cares what I'm called. All that matters to them is my work's impact. And that's helped me refocus on that too, and be cured of my addiction to titles. This fun and casual conversation I had with Lizzie Mintus ended up covering many topics that I hope are relevant to those eager to make career transitions towards that which they love. Thanks for having me on, Lizzie!

Curious how games are revolutionizing healthcare? Tune in to learn from Noah Falstein's four decades of industry wisdom—where he led iconic games and teams at Lucasfilm, 3DO, DreamWorks Interactive LLC, Google, and more. Today, as the founder of The Inspiracy, Noah shares his journey in integrating game tech with health. #neurogaming #gamesforhealth

You may know Noah Falstein because he was famously one of the first 10 employees at Lucasfilm Game. But did you know that these days he's all-in on how games are revolutionizing healthcare? Noah has worked for 3DO, he was Chief Game Designer at Google and he was the first elected chair of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA®). Tune in to hear more about Noah's current venture, The Inspiracy and what exactly is going on in games meets healthcare.

Mark 🔜 Gamescom Subotnick aka "Bot" is VP of Partner Alliances at ProbablyMonsters, but he got started in games as a QA tester at Sega of America, Inc. This is an excellent reminder that the majority of highly successful people (many who've been on my podcast) started in a not-glamorous entry level job, volunteered to do whatever was needed and worked their way up. Mark has worked in nearly every category of gaming, and has credits in over 31 games with experience across 10 platforms and 8 platform launches. Tune in to hear about his unconventional journey, the evolution and challenges of the gaming industry, and the importance of nurturing relationships this week on The Here's Waldo Podcast.