A headshot of the very svelte looking game engineer James Marr on a beautiful fall day

Empathy is the Secret Superpower of Great Game Engineers

Empathy is the secret superpower of great game engineers. This was one of the most insightful takeaways from my interview with veteran Technical Director James Marr about the difference between merely Good and truly Great when it comes to game engineering. In his illustrious career in game development, James has held leadership positions at companies including Zynga, DeNA and N3TWORK Studios. He has been a technical lead on games including Eliminate – the first 3D, […]

Headshot for SVP and GM of Diablo, Rod Fergusson

Diablo Boss Rod Fergusson On What Makes a World Class Videogame Producer

There are few leaders in the industry whose CV even comes close to Rod Fergusson, who currently serves as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Diablo franchise. With credits including Gears of War, Unreal Tournament, Shadow Complex, Infinity Blade, Bulletstorm, BioShock Infinite, Microsoft Train Simulator and now Diablo, few producers have had a lead role in as many big name franchises as Rod…

Game designer Sophie Artemigi is young, glammed up, and unapologetically bisexual

How Being “Unapologetically Bisexual” Rocketed Hook Up to #1 on the Paid Charts

With her very first game release, up-and-coming game designer Sophie Artemigi did the seemingly impossible: she reached the #1 spot on the Top Paid charts on the App Store. What has been the key to Sophie’s success with premium mobile game Hook Up? Designing an “unapologetically bisexual” game that was authentic to Sophie’s experience and captured the eye of App Store curators, paired with some clever TikTok marketing. As an “old”, this was a delightful […]