Revisiting Dev to Dev S01! Landon Hood started organizing World of Warcraft raids at 14 — now he's a Brand Manager at Blizzard who built his whole career on people believing in him before he believed in himself. Dev to Dev S01 E11 REVISIT is live now on all good podcast platforms & Patreon

(REVISIT) Chance, Creativity, and Career Green Lights

In this revisit of a Dev to Dev S01 episode we rediscover the conversation with Landon Hood who was raiding in World of Warcraft when he was in 8th grade — twenty years later, that same instinct for organizing chaos has taken him from a scrappy production agency to ZeniMax Online Studios to Blizzard Entertainment. This episode traces how a self-described "Swiss Army knife" who never mastered one craft became the person three creative teams reported to, and why every pivot in his career started with someone else believing in him first.

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Four Season 2 guests, one thread: the family that handed them the controller — and never quite let go. Dev to Dev S02 Mini-sode, themed around Family, is live now on all good podcast Platforms

Passed Down, Played Forward 

Four Season 2 guests, one thread: the family that handed them the controller — and never quite let go.

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Twenty strangers, twenty stories, and the same thing waiting at the end of almost every one: empathy. Dev to Dev S02 Wrap Up is live now on all good podcast platforms & Patreon

Season 02 Wrap

Twenty episodes in, and the thread running through Season 2 wasn't a game or a studio — it was empathy. I close out the season reflecting on strangers-turned-guests, the moment it "clicked" for people who never planned to be developers, and the pattern of empathy showing up again and again, and how the craft can consume you. A season reflection before we roll into Season 03.

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Luke Shingleton used to only play FPS games. His design degree forced him into genres he'd never touched — now he's got 600+ hours in The Binding of Isaac! Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #DevToDevPodcast #gamedesign #gamedev #videogames @ulsteruni.bsky.social

Designers need to be polyglots, says Luke Shingleton — able to speak programmer, artist, and producer languages alike. The real skill isn't the idea. It's the translation. Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #DevToDevPodcast #gamedesign #gamedev #careertips @ulsteruni.bsky.social

Job interview at 1pm, marriage proposal that afternoon — same day. Luke Shingleton on surviving the most stressful 24 hours of his life! Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #DevToDevPodcast #gamedev #podcastclip #careertips #gameindustry

Luke Shingleton had a job interview and a wedding proposal booked for the same afternoon in Paris. He said yes to both. Dev to Dev S02 E20 is live now on all good podcast platforms & Patreon

One Day, Two Life Changes 

APOLOGIES FOR THE DELAY!! Had a slight scheduling snafu but we still made it this week!!! On this episode of Dev to Dev, I caught up with Luke Shingleton, a Quest Designer at Double Eleven who's spent the last four years shaping the same AAA world from the inside out. We talked about growing up an only child in a tiny Northern Irish village, the marketing course that nearly pulled him off the dev path, and the single afternoon in Paris when he had a job interview and a wedding proposal on the same clock.

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Tyler Rotheram's granddad ran an allotment where PlayStation devs volunteered — young Tyler just kept talking to them. That's literally where the seed got planted. Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . #DevToDevPodcast #gamedev #gamedesign #careertips #podcastclip @tyrotheram.bsky.social

Tyler Rotheram walked up to a games studio as a teenager and asked to come in and help. That approach has basically worked for his whole career! Dev to Dev S02 E19 is live now on all good podcast platforms & Patreon

Knock First, Ask Later!

This week on Dev to Dev I got to sit down with Tyler Rotheram, a Technical Game Designer whose career reads like a highlight reel of trying by just showing up — and it really working ou!. Tyler's story is proof that most doors aren't locked, they just haven't been knocked on yet. A Constant, Not a Hobby Games weren't a phase for Tyler — they were the family language.

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Show people a low-poly VR library, then the real one, and they swear they've been there before. Scott Nisenfeld set out to measure 'presence' in the spaces we build. Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #DevToDevPodcast #gameprogramming #softwareengineering #gameindustry #podcastclip

Cancelled projects, eight months of crunch, a layoff that took his whole team — Scott Nisenfeld kept coming back to the same desk. Twenty years in, he still loves the build. Dev to Dev S02 E18 is live now on all good podcast platforms & Patreon.

I Had a Hand in That

This week on Dev to Dev, I caught up with Scott Nisenfeld, a gameplay engineer whose career runs from Command & Conquer to World of Tanks to The Elder Scrolls Online — nearly two decades spent building the systems players never quite see. Under the Hood Scott’s first love was a story. King’s Quest, on an IBM PC Junior, showed him a game could tell one.

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Sangita says games taught them to run toward discomfort, not from it — in a medium young enough that the rules keep changing. Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #DevToDevPodcast #gamedev #gameindustry #narrativedesign #podcastclip

A project can be cancelled. The community you built on it can't be. Sangita on grieving a lost IP — and the bonds that outlasted it. Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #DevToDevPodcast #gamedev #gameindustry #narrativedesign #careertips

Sangita ran playtests before they ever made a game — they just called it theatre. A live crowd is the most honest data you'll get. Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #DevToDevPodcast #gamedev #narrativedesign #gamedesign #podcastclip

Sangita Nuli spent years convinced that making games was too daunting to try. Then they jumped — and learned the story only gets stronger the more you let it go. Dev to Dev S02 E17 is live now on all good podcast platforms & Patreon alexsulman.wordpress.com/2026/06/22/e...

Everyone a Storyteller

Sangita Nuli came into games the long way — through plays, film scripts, and a talent agency — convinced for years that interactive storytelling was too daunting to attempt. Then she jumped. From a…

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Louis Bayard nearly chose sound design — then realised level design lets him shape how players feel: art, light, space, even the music. Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #devtodevpodcast #leveldesign #gamedesign #systemdesign #gameindustry #podcastclip

What sold Louis Bayard on the Design school Rubika wasn't the building. It was the room — not thirty designers but a hundred, all there to learn from! Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #devtodevpodcast #gamedesign #careertips #gameindustry #leveldesign #podcastclip #Rubika

Louis Bayard calls it a flaw — he leaps into challenges before thinking them through. Once you're in, you can't stop yourself trying. Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #careertips #gameindustry #impostersyndrome #gamedesign #podcastclip

Louis Bayard never planned his way into games — he jumped, and figured it out on the way. Dev to Dev S02 E16 is live now on all good podcast platforms & Patreon

Jumping In Before You’re Ready 

Louis Bayard never planned his way into games — he jumped, and figured it out on the way. From a board-games-first design school in France to building racing worlds at Codemasters, and now leading level design on an open-world game at Third Kind Games, his career runs on a single instinct: say yes, then learn. A conversation about momentum, feel, and why the thing he calls a flaw might be his greatest strength.

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Howdy all. Apologies another intermission as I get back from travelling and work. Stand by for a new episode next Monday 15th June!!! Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev alexsulman.wordpress.com/2026/06/08/i...

INTERMISSION (AGAIN!)

Howdy folks, once again apologies that my work and travel commitments means there’s no new episode of Dev to Dev this week. We will be back next Monday 15th June but in the meantime thank you…

alexsulman.wordpress.com

Howdy folks, apologies but due to some work and travel commitments there's no new episode of Dev to Dev this week. I will be back in a couple of weeks but in the meantime thank you for your patience! Please check out Dev to Dev Here: https://linktr.ee/DevToDev

INTERMISSION

Howdy folks, apologies but due to some work and travel commitments there's no new episode of Dev to Dev this week. I will be back in a couple of weeks but in the meantime thank you for your patience!

alexsulman.wordpress.com

No art training. Just math. But he's always been an artist — he just needed the right tool. Brian Marinari on finding the exact place where your skills meet your love. Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #DevToDevPodcast #gamedev #gamedevelopment #gamedesign #videogames

His studio closed suddenly. How did he handle that? "The answer is: not well!" Brian Marinari on the industry's hardest conversation. Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #DevToDevPodcast #gamedev #gameindustry #gamedevelopment #impostersyndrome

He brought his wife to a sprint review. Not to explain the crunch — to let her feel what he felt building it. Brian Marinari on what good team culture actually looks like. Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . #DevToDevPodcast #gamedev #gamedevelopment #production #videogames #podcastclip

Brian Marinari wanted to explore worlds — so he learned to build them. From an Atari cartridge that lit his imagination, to rendering virtual worlds at ILM, Brian's career is a study in what happens when you finally stop doubting your right to follow what you love. Dev to Dev S02 E15 is out NOW!

Art from Math

Brian Marinari wanted to explore worlds — so he learned to build them. From an Atari cartridge that lit his imagination, to rendering virtual worlds at ILM, Brian's career is a study in what happens when you finally stop doubting your right to follow what you love.

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The season 4 finale of Feeling This with @peculiarpelican.bsky.social & @christianspicer.bsky.social is out now on RSS and VOD for all patrons.

Andy Samberg Says 'I'm Feelin' It'

ALT: Andy Samberg Says 'I'm Feelin' It'

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Rob's wonders if he's found his place had his band made it: a little more success might have been the worst thing that could've happened... Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #DevtoDevPodcast #careertips #musicindustry #impostersyndrome

Rob realised the walls he'd built around music weren't the job's fault — they were his own. Watching a boss at USC balance a band and a senior role made that uncomfortably clear. Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #gamedev #careertips #worklifebalance #impostersyndrome #podcastclip

Rob Gardner spent a decade in a band before games became his career - and the skill set he built along the way turned out to be exactly what directing voice actors requires. Dev to Dev S02 E14 is out now on all good Podcast platforms, and Patreon!

All Roads, Eventually

Rob Gardner spent a decade in a band before games became his career — and the skill set he built along the way turned out to be exactly what directing voice actors requires. A conversation about late starts, long detours, and finding out the thing you almost gave up was the thing you needed most.

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Usually it's the kid who wants to make games. Sarah's mum was the believer. Sarah needed convincing. Find Dev to Dev here: linktr.ee/DevToDev . . . . #gamedev #gameindustry #gamedesign #podcastclip #gamedevelopment