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On a complete and utter whim after checking my podcast stats, I decided to record a quick live stream of the Top 10 Downloaded Episodes of 2016!
Who was your favourite guest of the Paid to Play Podcast in 2016?
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Veteran video game designer and roleplaying game master Steven Lumpkin has worked for some of the biggest names in the online gaming industry, including Red Storm Entertanment, the makers of the Rainbow Six franchise, and Funcom, the makers of Age of Conan, Anarchy Online and The Secret World, as a level designer. His job was creating the tense action scenes that have challenged players across the globe as they venture through these games’ vast virtual worlds.
Steven is now working on the Rollercoaster Tycoon franchise, but has gone from creating levels to working on the basic infrastructure of the game itself as a game designer.
Steven is also a lover of tabletop roleplaying games. He’s been a game master for the RollPlay team on the Twitch channel ItMeJP, where he ran the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition campaign, The West Marches, which featured a huge rotating roster of streaming and YouTube celebrity players. While Steven was on hiatus at the time of recording, he’s since returned to gaming with a new campaign on his own Twitch and YouTube channels and is looking forward to GMing for the Misscliks and other channels!
Steven and I talk about having a day job in gaming while pursuing a musical hobby in his off hours, the reality of working quality assurance in the video game industry, taking out the trash in online game encounter design, how to manage the “crunch” cycle at the end of pre-release game development and staying chill when gaming with some of the biggest names in live streaming.
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Cosplayer and YouTube show host Feisty Cuffs has been in love with the cosplay community since her very first convention. She enjoys the creative process of constructing her own costumes and props, and picks her next cosplay projects based on whether she can learn a new technique or skill.
Feisty loves attending conventions as a cosplayer, panellist and cosplay judge, and connecting with like-minded geeks. You may even recognise her as one of the hosts and of the Kapow! Comic Book Show on YouTube.
Feisty and I have a great chat about being that friend you invite to a fancy dress party, a love of European comic books, meeting those crazy people you just click with, the awesomeness of being asked to host a cosplay competition at the Rooster Teeth Expo and her favourite comic book character of all time!
Keep listening after the chat wraps for a retrospective on the first 100 episodes of The Paid to Play Podcast!
C. J. Miozzi is the paid player I want to be when I grow up. He’s a writer, graphic artist and voice talent, and he’s built his revenue streams around his love of video games, especially Diablo III. He’s probably best known for his YouTube channel of advice for players of Diablo III, for which he goes by the handle of Rhykker.
We chat about the difference between personalities and content providers on YouTube, the conflict between outsourcing and the desire for complete control, pursuing a career almost completely outside your field of study and planning for the inevitable changes in any modern career, not just freelancing. Oh, and we have a bit of a geek-out about Dungeons & Dragons.
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I don’t know how well this experiment of Even Episodes via Live Chat is going, but I’m having fun doing it! In this live-streamed Even Episode, I talk like a pirate about my own progress on getting paid to play! Special Guest Game: FTL!
Thank you to all my lovely audience members Lilith and Birdy for coming along!
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WARNING: Sound issues present in the video version.
Every now and again, a mate forwards me a link to a website which is advertising for video-bloggers to come on board. My first reaction is usually, “Thanks for the thought, but for crying out loud – I’m a podcaster, not a video blogger!”
Yet, I’ve started getting curious about the idea. I’ve played with video recordings a few times, and creating video versions of Paid to Play has lurked at the back of my mind for a good while.
Is video the next logical step for Paid to Play?
Ali Spagnola is one of my ultimate Career Crazies; she’s taken two things she digs – making music and making parties – and fused them into The Power Hour, an album of sixty one-minute-length sings that you drink a shot of beer in between. Rather than release the album on CD, she sells it as a USB stick – built into the bottom of a shot glass!
Not only has Ali taken the Power Hour on tour to university campuses across the United States, she’s started a YouTube show where she comes up with a new tune each week based on what was trending on Google and freelances doing sound design!
I chat with Ali about how she sustains her off-the-wall career, the pros and cons of touring and how she juggles her schedule. I also talk a little after the interview about my own progress toward getting paid to play – including some interesting possibilities for the future of the podcast!
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You’ve probably noticed the headline that announces this episode as the first Brazen one. That’s because the Paid to Play Podcast has joined forces with Brazen Careerist!
They even made me up this neat logo, too! Now I just have to figure out how get it into iTunes…
The folks at Brazen and I have a lot in common. We both want to help folks get the most satisfaction out of their working lives as possible. Brazen’s team of bloggers – including my guest for episode 15, Kelly Gurnett – give out tips on how to thrive in the modern workplace without compromising what’s important to you.
Which, I reckon, is a pretty good definition of my guests on Paid to Play.
Once a month, I’ll contribute an interview to Brazen; I hope that my interviews can add to Brazen’s already massive library of work-life wisdom.
The first of these is already up; my chat with Trevor Longino, head of marketing and public relations at game distributor GOG.com. Formerly known as Good Old Games, GOG.com has expanded its mission from bringing classic computer games from the nineties back to life on modern operating systems into offering newer titles from indies like FTL to mainstream games like The Witcher DRM free.
Trevor and I discuss the classic video games of the nineties, just what marketing and PR involves in this social media age and how Trevor has handled relocating from the US to Poland in order to work for GOG!
Turning a Passion for Classic Video Games Into a Career (Podcast) – The Brazen Careerist
Can you leave any comments and feedback on the episode’s blog entry on Brazen, please?