Adron and Wendy talk with Sam Coster and Seth Coster from indie video game studio Butterscotch Shenanigans. Together with their brother Adam, they created the hit platform-crossover game, Crashlands. Crashlands is an outlandish, story-driven action-adventure set in a world of hidden magic and high technology. The game combines classic RPG elements with crafting mechanics with vibrant, whimsical characters and a distinct sense of humor. Available on both desktop and mobile devices, Crashlands took iTunes, Steam, and Google Play by storm, with great reviews and instant popularity. We talk with Seth and Sam about the two-year development cycle for Crashlands, a project they estimated early on would only take them a few months. We discuss how their studio came together, and all the ways their college educations did NOT put them on the path to careers in video games.

In this episode, Andy Schmidt drops by again, this time to talk about writing for video games. Andy is the founder of Comics Experience, an online school that connects students with industry professionals to learn the craft of making comics. But beyond his vast experience in comics, Andy has also written for a number of video games - most notably, the recent hit Activision game, Transformers: Devastation.

A love-letter to fans of classic Generation One Transformers characters and stories, Devastation features legendary voice actors including Peter Cullen and Frank Welker. Adron talks with Andy about the experience of writing dialogue for the characters and actors he’s loved since he was a kid growing up with the Transformers animated franchise. They discuss the storytelling challenges of writing for video games, how the writer interfaces with the production teams, and elements unique to gaming like “battle chatter”. There’s also a fair amount of geeking out about Transformers in there as well.

This April, Andy will be teaching a 5 week online course called Introduction to Writing for Video Games. If you’re a writer who’s interested in the video game industry, you should definitely check it out. Space is limited, so go sign-up now!

This is a really fun chat full of great info, both for game writing hopefuls, and fans of Transformers and gaming in general.

In this episode, Adron and Wendy talk with PixelPop founders Carol Mertz and Jeremy Johnson. PixelPop Festival celebrates gaming and gamer culture, and explores careers and hobbies in game development. This includes traditional video games, mobile gaming, and also tabletop gaming. This year's event is September 12th-13th in St. Louis, MO.