Game Dev Unsung Heroes
Welcome to Gamedev Unsung Heroes — a podcast celebrating the people behind the games you love.
Your host is Jake Simpson, CEO of TNB Games. He's been in the industry for over 40 years now, and seen fads come and go, and still managed to survive it.

The idea of Gamedev Unsung Heroes is to highlight some of the people you've never heard of, that have been around for a while doing things behind the scenes, that bring you some of your favorite games.

Jake talks to each person about how they got into the industry, their career to date, and tells some fun stories along the way.

Note, these are free - no ads, and we won't try and sell you anything. They are put up just because I thought it would be fun to do something like this.

We are building this in seasons - each season will have several episodes, and each season will be released en-mass in one go, at periodic intervals (which is a fancy way of saying they'll come out as and when I have time to record and edit them all!)
Jake

Episodes

Season 1

The Legend that is Tony Barnes.

The Legend that is Tony Barnes.

February 28, 2022

Industry legend that is Tony Barnes chats about his life in games, how he came to start, where he's been and where he's going. And wherever it is, it's going to be pretty fast, given the kinds of car this man drives! Tony has been in games so long, he doesn't remember a time he _wasn't_ in games. And he's got some pretty hefty titles under his belt to prove it - Strider, Waking Mars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, New Worlds. I could go on but I've about run out of spa

Chris Busse talking Production.

Chris Busse talking Production.

February 3, 2022

The producer behind oh so many hits of the early 2000's - Spiderman, for Activision, being one highlight. He's done so many interesting things, and he's not stopping now! Chris' resume reads like a list of games everyone has played. Ultimate Spiderman, Medal of Honor, The Evil Within, Archangel, NHL2K3 - the list just goes on. Plus a stint as an executive at Skydance -  one very accomplished game dev executive.

Caryn Vaino has stuff to say!

Caryn Vaino has stuff to say!

February 2, 2022

Caryn Vaino, aka HellChick, from Quake Clans back in the day, is now a UI expert. She's worked on some big titles over her time as a developer - Wolfenstein, Call of Duty, Quake IV, Monday night Combat are just a few of those. See? Told you she was accomplished! But she does other stuff to. Shes a knitter. And an artist. And an Alpaca raiser. Is there no end to her talents? We find out!

Alyssa Findley Regales!

Alyssa Findley Regales!

February 2, 2022

Alyssa Findley is another one of those names that most won't have heard of - unless you are actively in the industry, in which case you definitely will have -, but she's more than made her presence felt in the games industry. Producer to some of the biggest names - Bioshock, Walking Dead, Batman Telltale games, Tales of the Borderlands, to name a few. She's quite the powerhouse and example to us all!

Tom Forsyth comes clean.

Tom Forsyth comes clean.

January 31, 2022

Tom Forsyth, graphics, chip designer and VR supremo, talks about his life, his journey in the UK and then to the US, and even mentions he lived in the same town as our interviewer! Tom's been around a bit, from writing drivers and supporting code for the Sega, to writing drivers for 3D chips, building graphics engines for Muckyfoot on games like Startopia and Blade II, supporting RAD games tools Granny animation tools, building chipset instruction pipelines for Intel, and VR for Valve and Meta. Yeah, he's been around the block once or twice. And in conversation, it shows!

Matt Pritchard talks Age-ing.

Matt Pritchard talks Age-ing.

January 28, 2022

Matt Pritchard, late of Ensemble and Valve, has had a varied career, with lots of ups and downs, and work on some major titles - Counter strike 2, Portal 2, Brothers in Arms, Left for Dead, and of course, almost all the Age of series. Sometimes he got to work twice on the same game, but with a 30 year gap! Hear lots of tales of the making of the Age of Empires titles, among other things!

David Johnson (DJ) - VFX Genius.

David Johnson (DJ) - VFX Genius.

January 27, 2022

DJ has been around games for sometime, and worked on some big titles as a VFX artist, and chances are, you've seen his work somewhere. DJ has been involved in games like Halo, a bunch of the Call of Duty Games, and most recently has a whole slew of games his company have created the VFX for, like Starfield, Doom Dark Ages and Star Wars - Jedi Survivor. So come learn about him - he's an incredible and unique character!

Lee Perry, designer to the stars.

Lee Perry, designer to the stars.

January 26, 2022

Lee has had quite the career at Epic, and was the original designer of Fortnite! He has a lot to say about his career, and interesting listening it most certainly is. Lee has been around a bit, and some of the highlights include all three of the original Gears of Wars game (where Blueprints was created, pretty much for Lee to play with!), Bulletstorm, and even Unreal Tournament! But Lee is most famous as the original designer of Fortnite!

Simon Cooke lurks. Sometimes.

Simon Cooke lurks. Sometimes.

January 21, 2022

Simon Cooke, originally of Your Sinclair magazine, show runner for XFest and now of Google, talks about how he came to be a developer, his life in Seattle, and good hangover cures. Simon is one of those developers who tends to stay in the background, but I can guarantee that almost any gamer has seen his work. When working at ATG, his influence and expertise allowed many XBox games to ship better than they ever would have been, and now he's doing the same thing at Google, for Android.

Mike Arkin presents.

Mike Arkin presents.

January 21, 2022

Mike Arkin, producer and studio runner, describes working for Ellen, the career of an indie, and how RTS games on console ARE possible! Mike is another veteran of Game Development, and he's got quite the accomplished resume. BattleZone : Battlefield Commander (as well as BattleZon 97 Redux), Die Hard Triology, Alien Versus Predator : Extinction, Independence Day, the list goes on and on.

Les Ellis, Gamedev rocker.

Les Ellis, Gamedev rocker.

January 5, 2022

Les Ellis, ex journo and now producer extraordinaire, talks his career. Starting out in the British UK games magazine scene, and graduating to producer, and then studio runner for JAW, Les has come a long way. He's been involved in some big titles, like Doctor Who: Edge of Reality, Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy and Empire of Sin. Plus, he has how own coffin. Find out more!

Dave Taylor, indie mad scientist!

Dave Taylor, indie mad scientist!

December 29, 2021

Dave Taylor, the legend of the mad game developer of Santa Monica, a man who marches to the beat of his own drum, who's work includes Doom and Quake - a seminal indie who has seen it all come and go, and yet still returns for more! Dave resides in CA, by the beach and is integral to the LA indie scene, but has definitively made his own path in the games industry. Quite the unique individual and linux enthusiast.