The Gamemaker Podcast - Now Live- Episode 12 Out Now

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mysticjim

Guest
Thank you for another great episode. It's inspirational hearing from people who take the plunge of leaving their more or less stable work environments in order to follow dreams and passions.
Cheers dude :) Indeed, it certainly is.
 

WarpDogsVG

Member
Thank you for another great episode. It's inspirational hearing from people who take the plunge of leaving their more or less stable work environments in order to follow dreams and passions.
I'm super happy to hear that!

My #1 motivator to quit was seeing all these other folks that were finding success. I've never been much of a risk taker, but seeing people who were just like me doing the thing that I always wanted to do lit a fire under me. It wasn't a crazy idea anymore - it was actually possible to do!

Speaking of which, as I mentioned on my episode of the podcast I had a Kickstarter in the works...and it launched today! I can't call my own plunge successful until i can start living off my work, and this is my first opportunity to do, so I'm real anxious and excited. It's exactly how I felt when I first quit my job :)

Take a look if you're interested!! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/389391560/village-monsters-a-monstrous-life-sim-game
 

chamaeleon

Member
I'm super happy to hear that!

My #1 motivator to quit was seeing all these other folks that were finding success. I've never been much of a risk taker, but seeing people who were just like me doing the thing that I always wanted to do lit a fire under me. It wasn't a crazy idea anymore - it was actually possible to do!

Speaking of which, as I mentioned on my episode of the podcast I had a Kickstarter in the works...and it launched today! I can't call my own plunge successful until i can start living off my work, and this is my first opportunity to do, so I'm real anxious and excited. It's exactly how I felt when I first quit my job :)

Take a look if you're interested!! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/389391560/village-monsters-a-monstrous-life-sim-game
I would if I hadn't already backed it yesterday. ;) Looking forward to reading about your progress over time until release. :)
 
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SpecTre

Guest
@mysticjim Hi there, I am new to Gamemaker having bought GM1.4 in a humble bundle a while back and then purchasing GM2 at the discounted rate on release with having 1.4
I have yet to use it though as I haven't even wrote a single line of code yet on either 1.4 or GM2 but instead I started looking around the forum and video tutorials etc.
I am not new to coding as have come from AppGameKit and know C++ as well as some C# and also AMOS on the Amiga :)
Anyway I just thought I would just mention that I came across your podcast and have found it to be very interesting and informative. I have downloaded them all onto my phone and listen to them in my car when traveling to work etc.
So keep up the good work and thanks for the great podcasts! :)
 
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mysticjim

Guest
Hello People :)

@WarpDogsVG - great looking Kickstarter, dude, very comprehensive. And a flying start, too, £2000 in the bag already. And very glad that you got at least one backer from here - nice one @chamaeleon

@SpecTre - A fellow refugee from AMOS on the Amiga! Awesome!!! Great to hear from you, glad you are enjoying the show and finding it useful. The podcast was always meant to be inspirational rather than instructional - and I'm really pleased that people are getting on board with it. :)

Speaking of which, episode 10 saw the largest single day of downloads and streams in the podcast's short history. I've got a modest listener base - I estimate it's between 100-150 at the moment, but nearly 90 of those are people subscribing through the audio feeds so they seem to be a fairly committed hardcore. The show has had over 1000 downloads through the feeds and about as many again through streaming. Obviously I can't know how many people listen to the whole episodes intently, but evidently the listener base in increasing steadily. And this is really with minimal advertising. I've only just started posting links to it in a couple of GameMaker specific Facebook groups. I haven't really touched Twitter or Discord yet.

I'm taking a short hiatus for a few weeks while I try and keep an earlier promise to see if I can get hold of a few of the slightly higher profile developers that have been suggested to me as potential interviewees, but will also actively be looking for more people from the forums here as well. It's good to hear the stories from people at all of the different stages of development projects/careers.

More episodes will be coming soon! :) :)
 
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SpecTre

Guest
Can't wait for more to come, still have half to listen too yet due to only coming to GM.
Try someone from Vlambeer as that is one of the big ones - https://twitter.com/tha_rami you never know from sending a tweet :)

Good luck with your work!
 
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Bamboo Panda

Guest
Been really enjoying this podcast over the last week or so, hope you do come back with more in the future!
 
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mysticjim

Guest
Quick update. After a few domestic issues, mostly involving a malfunctioning hot water and central heating boiler, I'm now back to working proactively to find new interviewees for future episodes of the podcast. In accordance with messages from listeners I have started a Twitter account so I can try and get hold of the higher profile developers that people have suggested. Here it is;

https://twitter.com/Gamemaker_PCast

Now, I'm really bad with Twitter, so don't expect it to be massively influential, I'm mostly using the account to contact the aforementioned developers (slowly as damn Twitter limits the number of non-followers you can direct message in a single day) - but I will endeavour to pop the odd update on there and try and network through a few other GameMaker themed Twitter accounts.

In other news, the podcast is averaging 100 downloads per episode via a combination of Itunes and RSS feeds, and around double that in terms of accessing by all sources, so currently reach is at it's highest ever level and steadily increasing. Will have to get some content out very soon before that starts to fall away so stay tuned :)
 

hogwater

Member
Wow. Zack Bell has replied to me on Twitter. He sounds keen to do an interview, so there might be something to this approach afterall :)
That would be a great guest! Zack's tutorials and articles on his blog are some of the best I've seen online. I wish there were more in this format, as opposed to a youtube video I have to skip through as someone mumbles through the repeating the same information over and over.
 
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mysticjim

Guest
That would be a great guest! Zack's tutorials and articles on his blog are some of the best I've seen online. I wish there were more in this format, as opposed to a youtube video I have to skip through as someone mumbles through the repeating the same information over and over.
Well, I've emailed him some preliminary questions, it just depends on how flexible his schedule is against mine. 8 hour time difference is a bit of pain. Means either I have to interview him at one in the morning UK time, or hopefully he's flexible enough to be free somewhere in the middle of a working day. We shall see.

I like his tutorials as well, although if I have to watch a Youtube tutorial I prefer the ones with some talking in them, even if it is repetitive mumbling, more than the ones where there is bad music playing and the presenter communicates by typing in notepad and seemingly endlessly waving the mouse pointer around!!!
 

hogwater

Member
I like his tutorials as well, although if I have to watch a Youtube tutorial I prefer the ones with some talking in them, even if it is repetitive mumbling, more than the ones where there is bad music playing and the presenter communicates by typing in notepad and seemingly endlessly waving the mouse pointer around!!!
Oh absolutely, people obviously need to talk in youtube tuts. I just mean that when you write a blog/article tutorial, you gather your thoughts and present it in a coherent matter.

Most youtube tutorials are done off the cuff or "live" so they ramble quite a bit. If people carefully decided on what they wanted to say and organized it the video tuts would be much better. That obviously takes a lot more time and effort, so I get why it's not done often.
 

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
Rather late, but finally listened to your interview with Josh Bossie. His story was interesting. Good interview.

It's fun to hear what inspires developers to make certain games, or certain game styles. So I enjoyed hearing Josh discuss what led him here, and where he's heading (or plans to head). He seems very down to earth in his approach -- i.e., more focused on results than on process. I can appreciate that.

Your podcast is doing well. Hope you continue.
 
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mysticjim

Guest
Rather late, but finally listened to your interview with Josh Bossie. His story was interesting. Good interview.

It's fun to hear what inspires developers to make certain games, or certain game styles. So I enjoyed hearing Josh discuss what led him here, and where he's heading (or plans to head). He seems very down to earth in his approach -- i.e., more focused on results than on process. I can appreciate that.

Your podcast is doing well. Hope you continue.
Hi @chance - thanks for your continued following of the show :) Josh ( @WarpDogsVG ) was great fun to interview, and in case you hadn't seen it - his kickstarter campaign for Village Monsters has been successfully funded, so he's certainly riding high at the moment. :)

Am in a bit of a hiatus from the podcast right now. Took a break after making it to 10 episodes to take stock. Subscriber numbers and downloads have reached record levels since Ep10 came out, so there is a bit of demand for more. Have been trying to get in contact with a few of the developers that were suggested by listeners - so far only Zack Bell has responded, but he's gone quiet now since I sent him a list of preliminary questions for a possible interview (have I scared him off????) Have also just this week started contacting developers on the GMC again, to try and maybe line up a few more interviews and get some episodes out before Xmas.

However, have mostly spent my time working on an actual game. Have combined quite a few aspects from the 3 or 4 concept game engines I've worked on previously but not done anything with. This feels a bit different, I think I have all the mechanics almost in place to finish a proof of concept level for this latest venture and really hope I can get something posted in the Work in Progress forum pretty soon :)

This last bit of news is especially poignant as getting that extra bit of motivation was one of the reasons for me starting the podcast in the first place. Talking to all these people on the podcast has really given me a boost. As with almost everything in life - creativity and inspiration only get you about 10% of the way - there's no shortcuts around it, the rest is all about hard work, and particularly staying focused, determined and motivated.
 

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
...I think I have all the mechanics almost in place to finish a proof of concept level for this latest venture and really hope I can get something posted in the Work in Progress forum pretty soon :)

This last bit of news is especially poignant as getting that extra bit of motivation was one of the reasons for me starting the podcast in the first place.
Glad to hear you're being productive during your break from the podcast. Someone may interview you someday... who knows?
 
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mysticjim

Guest
Glad to hear you're being productive during your break from the podcast. Someone may interview you someday... who knows?
I've been interviewed a few times. I find it's best to deny everything then say nothing until my lawyer turns up!
 
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Active Avi

Guest
Hey Jim, just wanted to pop in and say great job on the podcast so far. Just listened to the fourth episode today. Its been very inspiring to hear the stories of these gamemaker devs. Its actually what gave me the final push to purchase GMS 2 (my first purchase of any version).

My main criticism is that the audio quality of the people you interview can be very echo-y. At least it was in ep 03 & 04. Unfortunately, i had to skip the third episode because i couldnt understand what the interviewee was saying. Ep 04 was more intelligible. Hopefully this improved later in the series.

Regardless, thanks for the work youve done.
 
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mysticjim

Guest
Hey Jim, just wanted to pop in and say great job on the podcast so far. Just listened to the fourth episode today. Its been very inspiring to hear the stories of these gamemaker devs. Its actually what gave me the final push to purchase GMS 2 (my first purchase of any version).

My main criticism is that the audio quality of the people you interview can be very echo-y. At least it was in ep 03 & 04. Unfortunately, i had to skip the third episode because i couldnt understand what the interviewee was saying. Ep 04 was more intelligible. Hopefully this improved later in the series.

Regardless, thanks for the work youve done.
Hi dude, it's great to hear that you've felt inspired by my guests stories. And the good news is that the audio quality does indeed improve from episode 5 onwards - and you've got some equally inspirational stories still to come :)
 
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mysticjim

Guest
Bit of an update - all being well, new interview taking place this week, so hopefully new episode next week.

Alas, not much progress with the higher profile developers people have asked if I can get an interview with. Zack Bell has totally gone quiet on me so think that might be a non-starter.

However, these last few weeks I've come across a number of new game projects by relatively new developers made with GMS that have been absolutely incredible - the power of the platform seems to really be coming into it's own, especially since the release of GMS2, and the levels of innovation and professional presentation being shown by developers is getting really impressive. It's a very exciting time to be a GameMaker developer. While I'd definitely kill to get some more established interviewees on the show, I do really enjoy interviewing up and coming talent too. I think my regular listeners are in for bit of treat with the interviews I've got planned... :)
 

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
Good interview. Perhaps the best part was your Rain Dance anecdote.

Mr. Oldham's comments were interesting, but not as detailed and revealing as some previous guests. He seems less of a dreamer and future planner. More down to earth and focused on this particular game. He came across as a "working man's" game developer. Maybe that's part of his Manchester heritage.

Speaking of Manchester, I had a bit of trouble understanding in a few spots. Maybe that was due to the flat enunciation. Or maybe it was the lack of treble in his microphone feed. Not a serious issue through.

The game (Walking Heavy) looks good from the video and screenshots. Hope it does well on Steam.
 
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mysticjim

Guest
Hello people!

@Messsi1 - thanks for your comment, hope you're enjoying the show :) As I've said before, I was looking around for a GameMaker themed podcast - and found nothing but a GameMaker Themed podcast shaped hole where there should have been one! So I figured I'd start one and see if anyone else was interested. The format is not new, podcasts like Sausage Factory are doing much the same sort of thing for indie devs generally, but mine I believe (at the moment) is the only one purely aimed at GMS users :)

@chance - A couple factors might have been at play there- firstly, Greg was speaking into the mic in his laptop, which is never ideal, and secondly, poor Greg had been working late that day and was mostly probably exhausted!

I found Greg's whole approach to development to be somewhat different overall. From being a non-coder, he picked up GM after being inspired by a TV series, then immediately charged headfirst into a very ambitious project - not many small prototypes or training runs (I've got a HD full of small mini projects that didn't really go anywhere!) I know that in the end Walking Heavy is slightly scaled back from the massive project he was planning originally, but I'm just impressed he remained so focused and dedicated to this first project to get it totally finished, and to such professional standard.
 
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mysticjim

Guest
Whay hey! New interview planned for next week, so all being well, new episode will drop on the 24th November (or just after!)

Thanks to everyone whose downloaded or streamed Episode 11, it's doing good numbers :) But so far, only one competition entry - c'mon, you've only got a few days left!!!
 
M

mysticjim

Guest
Quick update - Apologies to anyone expecting the latest episode to drop today. Interview was only done on Wednesday, have literally had no chance to edit it, and then record my intro and outro yet. Going to get all that done Tonight and tomorrow. Expect it all to be sorted by Sunday :)

Update - Or right now, in fact!

Got the whole episode edited and uploaded in super quick time. - episode 12 is now live :)

Massive thanks to @milch for coming on the show - it's a really good one :)
 
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ColtonPhillips

Guest
enthusiastically: a gamemaker podcast! now this i gotta try!
 
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mysticjim

Guest
enthusiastically: a gamemaker podcast! now this i gotta try!
Go for it dude. Episodes 1-4 suffer a few audio issues, and I didn't really nail down the format of the show until about episode 6, but I think I got it all together now :) Hope you enjoy it.
 
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cobra6steve

Guest
I think his experiences are familiar to most of us who started with computers like Commodore and Atar!
 
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AnomalousArcane

Guest
Hey there! Just listened to the first episode and just wanted to say I really enjoyed it. The quality was great and sounded very professional. Keep it up! Can't wait to hear the rest.
 
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mysticjim

Guest
@AnomalousArcane - thanks dude, have had to take a slightly more extended break from the podcast than I was planning. Am building up to another run, but I've had no time this year so far - but new people seem to keep finding the podcast so I really want to get it resumed soon. Many thanks for listening :)
 

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
I just listened to episode 12 from last November. Your interview with Annika Maar was interesting -- and a bit different than previous guests. And not just because you "bleeped" her colorful comment. Funny.

Granted, Ms. Maar does make games herself (with GameMaker), but her main focus seems to be artwork. So that was a slight change in direction for your show, but I enjoyed it. I browsed her website and was impressed with that too. She's an accomplished artist with a good range of style. I really enjoyed the illustrations she did for the book covers.

Good interview. Looking forward to the next one.
 
Hay Jim,
Just stopping by to tell you how wonderful a podcast you have created. It is this *gestures hands way apart* wonderful. I first noticed the podcast back when you posted your first episode. I thought "hmm, sounds interesting, I should definitely check that out!".. And I did! Like, starting a week ago :p Since then, I have been listening to it during my daily commutes, and I've had a really great time doing so. I am currently going through episode 11, which sadly means I am almost caught up...

Anyway, looking forward to the next 1½ episode and to new ones whenever you resume! Your podcast has become one of my favorite parts of the GameMaker community :D
 
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mysticjim

Guest
@chance - thanks again for your continued feedback, always appreciated and glad you enjoyed the interview and the slightly different angle of the interview. @milch was an awesome guest because her slant on game development was slightly different, as you said, coming from a visual art background. Artists have always fascinated me - mostly due to how much I envy them, being I'm so hopeless at art myself! It was also good to finally get a female guest on the show and get a female perspective on what is still a massively male dominated arena.

Hope to do a run of more episodes soon, but it's definitely getting harder to get time to do it, especially for guests in the US because of the time difference. I recall when I first touted the idea of the podcast you mentioned that there had been previous ones, but they'd petered out at around a dozen episodes, so I'm keen to do more so as not to suffer the same fate!

@BlessHayGaming - thank you for your very generous feedback. Obviously, one of the great things about podcasts is that they are available on demand - you can follow them religiously, or you can store them up then listen to them at a later date and have a good binge on multiple episodes :) The principle aim of the podcast was not to showcase what can be created with GMS, but what real people across the world are actually achieving with it. I'm really pleased that's struck a chord with you.

I'm planning to try and get a new episode out in March, and hopefully average at least one a month thereafter.
 
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caryn0044

Guest
It wasn't my first computer, but I remember spending hours after school playing Zarch on the Archimedes in the library !
 
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