Podcast | Polygamer

Polygamer #116: Beth Daggert of Lode Runner, Star Wars & Nox Archaist

Posted on August 25, 2021 by Ken Gagne

Beth Daggert has been a game designer, software engineer, lead programmer, director of engineering, and vice president of engineering, within and without the gaming industry. Having worked on such historic franchises as Lode Runner and Star Wars, she recently accomplished a bucket-list item of contributing to the development of an Ultima-inspired role-playing game — for the Apple II computer, where her passion for digital storytelling started decades ago.

In this podcast, Beth and I talk about the early encounters with Richard Garriott and Tim Sweeney that led her to pursue a career in the games industry; how leading a team of engineers is no different from being a Dungeons & Dragons DM; the long hours and burnout that’s been endemic of the games industry, from her time there in the 1990s through today; whether and how to encourage women to pursue careers in tech; and what it was like to return to her roots and contribute to 6502 Workshop’s Nox Archaist.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Overcast, Pandora, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for a transcript and links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Polygamer #115: Brianna Dym on fanworks

Posted on July 21, 2021 by Ken Gagne

Brianna Dym is a Ph.D student in the University of Colorado Boulder’s information science department under Dr. Casey Fiesler. Brianna’s field of study is fanworks: the original creations, derivations, and reimaginings of existing brands and media, from movies to video games. LGBTQIA+ authors engage in this creative component of fandom to produce original stories and games that better represent marginalized groups.

In this podcast, Brianna and I discuss what makes for good source material, and why there’s more fanfic of Dragon Age and Mass Effect than of Call of Duty or Super Meat Boy; whether fandom is necessarily participatory; why Nintendo should be more supportive of derivative works; how fanworks can develop skills in groups historically excluded from STEM fields; and how communities migrate from platform to platform, and why LiveJournal and Tumblr may serve their needs better than a CMS like WordPress.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:07:50 — 39.7MB) | Embed

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Polygamer #114: Dr. Melissa Chaplin on indie game marketing

Posted on June 16, 2021 by Ken Gagne

Dr. Melissa Chaplin is the head of client strategy at Game If You Are, a UK-based marketing firm helping indie video games get the attention they deserve. When not writing press releases, editing trailers, and landing podcast spots for upcoming developers, Melissa is busily building community. She’s the founder of Games Industry Lunch Club, a monthly online networking event; a participant in Limit Break, a mentorship program for games industry professionals; and the former organizer of PhD Write Up, where she addressed the isolation that is often inherent with writing an academic dissertation.

In this podcast interview, Melissa and I chat about when a game developer should start thinking about marketing; what a reasonable marketing budget is, and how to afford it; how much marketing and community building a developer should expect to do on their own; the benefits of a mentorship program, and how to get the most out of it; the intersection of gaming and fashion; why academia can be so competitive; how her education has lent itself to games marketing; and her upcoming new role at Robot Teddy.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:04:33 — 37.9MB) | Embed

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Polygamer #113: Maia Weinstock of LEGO Women of Computing

Posted on May 19, 2021 by Ken Gagne

Maia Weinstock is the creator of LEGO Women of NASA, a kit she proposed on the LEGO Ideas site that won approval to be made into a real product. Now she’s pitching the Women of Computing, a set that pays homage to Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, and other women who were instrumental in the early days of computers.

In this podcast, Maia and I talk about how she got into LEGO as an adult; the value of representation in LEGO; how the brick manufacturer itself has come around to including different skin tones; the opportunities Maia’s had to meet her heroes, including the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and present them with custom minifigs; the lessons Maia learned from previous pitches to promote judges and bioengineers with LEGO; her work by day at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and her upcoming book about Mildred Dresselhaus.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:55 — 34.6MB) | Embed

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Polygamer #112: Kate Olguin of Other Ocean Interactive

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Ken Gagne

Kate Olguin knew that finishing her undergraduate career and searching for a job would be difficult; she did not expect a pandemic to make it even harder. Fortunately, armed with a degree in interactive media and game design from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Kate landed as a game designer at Other Ocean Interactive, where she currently works on Project Winter. From her home in Connecticut, she also continues to volunteer with Boston Post Mortem, whose monthly events have moved to a virtual format.

In this podcast episode, Kate and I talk about how the pandemic affected not only her studies, but also her team’s development of the game The Call of Karen; what it was like to exhibit at WPI’s booth at PAX East; the tradeoffs of specializing in one field versus being a “nightmare jack of all trades”; how her minor in music will play a role in her game industry career; what makes a good guest speaker for Boston Post Mortem; and differences in the 19 years between when we each graduated from WPI.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:03:21 — 37.2MB) | Embed

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Polygamer #111: Artist & unschooler Ivy Dolamore

Posted on March 17, 2021 by Ken Gagne

Ivy Dolamore is an artist, cryptid, and unschooler. The product of a curriculum-free homeschooling education, Ivy quit her job at GameStop to become a full-time artist, supported by commissions, Patreon, and an extensive social media following. Her creations span a variety of art styles and media, including prints, jewelry, and Diamond Art.

In this episode, I chat with Ivy about how she made the leap to being an artist; how her retail experience lends itself to her new craft; which social media channels she finds most valuable; the vulnerability of vlogging; how unschooling differs from homeschooling; how an unschooler finds teachers and fills gaps in her curriculum; and what her next big projects are.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:00:51 — 35.7MB) | Embed

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