Fireside Chats, Episode 43: The Life of an Indie Game Dev
Added 2018-06-26 16:00:02 +0000 UTCJools Watsham has been a game developer for two and a half decades. He cut his teeth at Acclaim before co-founding popular Nintendo-centric indie studio Renegade Kid in 2007. These days, Jools operates Atooi, a tiny operation that makes games for Switch. During E3, I invited him to take the short drive to Santa Monica to sit down with me, so we can chat about his life. How did he get into gaming? How did he land his first gig in the industry? And what has it been like operating two different studios over the last decade? Jools has shipped 22 games since he went independent, so he has a ton of experience. Let's pick that brain of his, shall we?
Comments
Yeah, he's the real deal. Thank you for listening!
Colin Moriarty
2019-01-08 23:58:07 +0000 UTCLate to the party here, but I loved this episode. I love that he wasn't afraid to throw out some numbers for what video game development actually costs. Jools seems like a real dude.
Jason Gonzales
2018-07-06 07:30:58 +0000 UTCOh, we're seeing where that goes. =) Thanks for listening!
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-02 00:32:03 +0000 UTCDude, this one is up there in ‘new favorite’ territory. What an interesting fucking guy with an awesome story. I love his honesty about projects that did and didn’t do so well, I love the relationship you guys have, this one felt so flowy and perfect. I would looove if he was on again in the future, and holy hell would I love to see you guys collaborate on a game. Don’t let that fall by the wayside!
Ian (616Entertainment)
2018-06-30 20:07:52 +0000 UTCAgree! Faxanadu would be a fun deep-cut.
Dylan
2018-06-28 18:44:09 +0000 UTCThank you for your kind words! I appreciate you.
Colin Moriarty
2018-06-27 19:05:26 +0000 UTCSimon would be a great one, too. No doubt. I will say that I think Ridley is a dumb character idea, but maybe that's just me. How about Mike from StarTropics?
Colin Moriarty
2018-06-27 19:04:47 +0000 UTCLove it when he talks about the computers he started with as that's the order I had them , always haunted by the memory when waiting 40 mins for a game to load on the spectrum ( a cassette ) and then getting an error message and then having to start all over again ! Great fireside chat and much love to all you are doing Colin :-) p.s atooi ...great name , very querky !
Matthew Perry
2018-06-27 16:10:39 +0000 UTCLoved this! Colin, love you bringing up the fact that Dr. Wily is not playable in a Smash Bros. game. I’ve always thought Simon Belmont would be a perfect addition to the Smash roster! Any other wish list characters you’d love to see in a Smash?
Dylan
2018-06-27 04:41:16 +0000 UTCThank you for listening! I find these origin stories quite interesting, too.
Colin Moriarty
2018-06-26 21:41:58 +0000 UTCGreat conversation! Always fascinating how one gets their start in the industry, what a guy! I really need to put myself out there a bit more haha.
Ryan Harvey
2018-06-26 20:16:19 +0000 UTC
