On AI, shortcuts, and the joy of making

On this week’s episode, Nathan and Luke are joined by Samantha Kalman, a game developer who’s worked on everything from experimental indies to Apex Legends, to discuss her very cool-looking new game, Verses: Hyper-Kinetic Aerial Joust, and the fraught industry climate surrounding it. What does it mean that even somebody with such a proven track record has been unable to secure funding via traditional channels? And can a Patreon, a podcast, and a dream really keep an inventive idea afloat in such choppy waters? More broadly, what will the games industry—or games industries, considering how many different types of games there are—look like when it rises from the ashes of this increasingly unstable moment? Questions far outnumber answers, but nobody could’ve predicted that games as we know them now would emerge from the industry crash of 1983, so some kind of future awaits us. What it will look like is anyone’s guess. Also, Samantha tells us about a truly wild Mega Man novelization in which the blue bomber becomes a real boy.

Credits

- Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Luke Plunkett, and special guest Samantha Kalman

- Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude

- Subscribe to Aftermath!

About The Show

Aftermath Hours is the flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info.

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