The Fourth Curtain

Епизоди

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  Octodad's Philip Tibitoski Grows with His Gamers 29.07.2026 1ч 16мин

  Founder and CEO of Young Horses Phil Tibitoski joined us to explain how you can succeed without greenlights! Their student project Octodad went on to IGF fame and solid sales, followed by the charming Bug Snax. We talk knowing when to ship and the art of fumblecore - this week! TIMESTAMPS [0:08:27] Intro: Phillip Tibitoski / Phil Tibbs [0:10:29] The Secret to 15 Years: Self-Publishing, Weird Ideas & Happy Teams Alex asks Phil the core question: how do you sustain an indie studio for...
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  The Spiky Strategies of StarCraft's Rob Pardo 08.07.2026 1ч 47мин

  Our guest was chief creative officer at Blizzard and helped drive some of the biggest videogames ever, like StarCraft and World of Warcraft. Now CEO of Bonfire Studios, he's making a new title, Arkheron. We discuss smurfing, game seeds and cracking the art style - this week! TIMESTAMPS: [0:04:58] Intro: Rob Pardo [0:09:07] From Retail to Roller Hockey: How Rob Got Into Blizzard Rob traces his path from managing a Software Etc. store and game testing at Interplay to first meeting the Blizzard ...
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  You Don't Know Jack's Mike Bilder Laughs Out Loud 24.06.2026 1ч 14мин

  If your hilarious party game is laced with snark you know the work of this week's guest, Jackbox CEO Mike Bilder. One of the legion of the Midway diaspora, he saw the transition from coin-op to console. We discuss drive vs crunch, streaming platforms, and the human touch - this week! TIMESTAMPS [0:04:38] Intro: Mike Bilder [0:06:25] From Learn Television to Jackbox: The Full Company History Mike explains Jackbox’s origin story; he traces it from Jellyvision to You Don't Know Jack to Jackbox G...
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  It's Raining Technology with Nexon's Owen Mahoney 10.06.2026 1ч 13мин

  We have an insight-packed and hopeful discussion with Owen Mahoney, CEO of Maplestory's Nexon. This Choplifter fan went on to acquire JAMDAT and DICE for EA, then saw the future with Embark. We discuss forever games, where stories come from and the huge growth coming - this week! TIMESTAMPS [0:00:00] Intro: Owen Mahoney [0:10:22] Medium shifts favor beginners Owen explains why every major technology shift benefits newcomers. [0:19:33] An “unusual background” Owen describes his and Nexon’s “un...
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  The Guts of Indie with Animal Well's Billy Basso 27.05.2026 1ч 21мин

  We're hyped to talk secrets with Billy Basso, creator of the award-winning smash Animal Well. Beginning with educational and medical games he went on to solo develop Animal Well, which delivers a huge game in less than 40 MB. Surgery, celebrity and an ARG - this week! TIMESTAMPS [0:00:00] Intro: Billy Basso An introduction to Billy Basso, developer of Animal Well. [0:07:54] Choosing film school over game dev Billy reveals he went to film school because he "deep down wanted to make video games...
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  Patrick Söderlund and the Raiders of the Arc 13.05.2026 1ч 24мин

  We kick off Season 4 with Patrick Söderlund, CEO/founder of Embark Studios and maker of the hit Arc Raiders. Former head of DICE and Battlefield at EA, he found faster ways to build. We discuss owing the community, AI, and incredible value - this week! [00:00:00] Intro: Patrick Söderlund [00:13:23] The recipe for games people want to play Patrick explains that the core motivation isn't money, it's finding the recipe that makes people want to come back. He'd go stand in midnight launch l...
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  We Open the Curtain on Season Fourth 29.04.2026 38мин

  Our intrepid hosts provide a prologue to the fourth season of the podcast with a wide-ranging conversation on the state of the videogame industry. With appreciation for GDC, Resident Evil 9 and Phil Spencer, they also talk (of course) AI and signs we may finally be exiting the trough - this week! Support the show Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life! Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron Marroquin Find us at www.thefourthcu...
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  Grade Expectations 2025 17.12.2025 46мин

  For our end of year episode Aaron and Alex reflect on the year and a raft of topics in videogame dev: Steam Deck vs Switch, understanding how AI will work for dev, Netflix's place and "successful to nice" ratios! Devils and Dungeonauts within - this week! Support the show Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life! Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron Marroquin Find us at www.thefourthcurtain.com Join our Patreon for early, ad-f...
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  Live Long and Prosper with Amazon's Christoph Hartmann 15.10.2025 1ч 22мин

  VP of Amazon Games Christoph Hartmann is our guest. At BMG he helped launch GTA and went on to co-found 2K Games and publish NBA 2K, Civilization, Bioshock and Borderlands. We discuss the upcoming King of Meat, a very fresh take on how AI can help gamedev and more - this week! Episode Highlights [00:00:00] Intro: Christoph Hartmann [00:20:32] From Music to Games: Christoph’s First Break at BMG Christoph shares how his early exposure to computers led to an internship at BMG Interactive — a mov...
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  Trip Hawkins, the Electronic Artist 08.10.2025 1ч 29мин

  We're thrilled to speak with Trip Hawkins, founder and CEO EA, 3DO, Digital Chocolate and more. From childhood football strategy, to WWIII Sims, he grew to make a company of electronic artists who made legendary games. Calming Steve Jobs, hacking consoles and many firsts - this week! Episode Highlights [00:00:00] Celebrating 100 Episodes and a Wild Week for EA Alex and Aaron mark The Fourth Curtain’s 100th episode and react to the breaking news that Electronic Arts is being taken private. [0...
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  Ghost of Yotei's Mud Blood and Steel, with Sucker Punch 01.10.2025 1ч 16мин

  It's a one-two move with Sucker Punch's Chris Zimmerman and Brian Fleming. Now shipping Ghost of Yotei, they tell us about leaving Microsoft for Sony and becoming a gamedev powerhouse. Tales of exact pitches and being great instead of good - this week! Episode Highlights [00:00:00] Intro: Chris Zimmerman & Brian Fleming of Sucker Punch Productions An introduction to Chris and Brian, co-founders of Sucker Punch Productions (Sly Cooper, Infamous, Ghost of Tsushima). [00:08:23] “Name it Anyt...
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  The Origin Stories of Elder Scrolls' Paul Sage 03.09.2025 1ч 13мин

  We get an inside look this week from Paul Sage, founder and CEO of Ruckus Games. Inspired by Ultima 3, he worked his way up to lead designer of Ultima Online, to Borderlands 3 and more. Now working on a new project at Ruckus, we talk LEDs to 2600, Multima and when players outsmart you - this week! This week's episode contains mentions of suicide. Viewer discretion is advised. Episode Highlights [00:00:00] Intro: Meet Paul Sage [00:09:15] Founding Ruckus Games: Origins of the Studio an...
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  How to Make an Atari Sandwich, with David Gardner 27.08.2025 1ч 17мин

  David Gardner joins us this week with tales of the early days of videogames. A teenage tech prodigy, he was employee #11 at EA, ran Atari and is now a games VC. We talk Hawkins distortion fields, Atari sandwiches and when EA was hip - this week! Episode Highlights [00:00:00] Intro: Meet David Gardner An introduction to David Gardner’s journey in games, from his early days to becoming a leader at Electronic Arts and later a venture capital investor. [00:07:30] Breaking into Games: From Atari t...
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  Indie Megabooth's Digital Nomad Kelly Wallick 20.08.2025 1ч 18мин

  This week we talk with the founder of the Indie Megabooth and games VC Kelly Wallick. Through her indie beginnings to her investing portfolio, community has always been the core. We discuss the Indie Game Festival, spotting hits and making a great pitch deck - this week! Episode Highlights [00:00:00] Founding the Indie MEGABOOTH: Building a Platform for Indie Games Kelly shares how she launched the Indie MEGABOOTH, creating a showcase that gave indie developers global visibility at major conv...
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  Fallout's Feargus Urquhart Stares into the Abyss 13.08.2025 1ч 19мин

  Our guest is Feargus Urquhart, founder and CEO of Obsidian, the premier maker of videogame RPGs. Having mastered 27 second pizzas he moved to testing and production of huge titles like KOTOR, Baldur's Gate and Fallout. We discuss snatching victory from the jaws of defeat with Pillars of Eternity, and when a feature is real - this week! Episode Highlights [00:00:00] Founding Obsidian Entertainment: From Black Isle to New Beginnings Feargus shares how he and his former Black Isle colleagues lau...
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  Making Myst a World with Rand and Robyn Miller 06.08.2025 1ч 26мин

  Our guests are Rand and Robyn Miller, founders of Cyan (World) and creators of the smash game Myst. From humble beginnings in Hypercard kids' games, they made the 3D puzzle experience Myst which changed the world of adventure games. We discuss GRR Martin stories, line art to 3D and more - this week! Episode Highlights [00:00:00] How Myst Was Made: The Birth of a Gaming Landmark Robyn and Rand Miller reflect on the early days of Cyan and how they created Myst—a genre-defining game that shaped...
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  World of Warcraft's Seth Sivak Tips the Dealer 30.07.2025 1ч 15мин

  Our guest this week is Seth Sivak, VP Development for World of Warcraft at Blizzard. From early years at Zynga he became Founder and CEO of Proletariat, shipping big games like Spellbreak. We discuss being an Imagineer, the three components of creative decisions and "always be pitching" - this week! Episode Highlights [00:00:00] Why Games Fail: No Audience, No Hype Seth explains how several recent games failed not from poor quality, but because they launched without building an audience...
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  Night Street's Mac Reynolds Captures the Last Flag 03.07.2025 1ч 12мин

  Our guest this week is Mac Reynolds, CEO and co-founder of Night Street Games, making the PvP shooter Last Flag. As manager of the band, Imagine Dragons, he learned how to find magic from the grind and now applies that to a videogame. We discuss Eagle Scouts, learning to advocate and CTF - this week! Episode Highlights [00:00:00] Realizing How Hard It Is to Make a Game Mac shares how his early assumptions about game development were quickly shattered after launching Night Street Games....
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  Oregon Trail's Phillip Bouchard Blazes Deadly Paths 25.06.2025 1ч 1мин

  Our guest this week is the poster boy for educational software going massively mainstream, Phillip Bouchard. Starting in the world of mainframes he created a worldwide hit on Apple II and beyond. We talk Apple getting kickstarted and science for fun and profit this week! Episode Highlights [00:00:00] The Legacy of The Oregon Trail: Still Remembered 40 Years Later Philip reflects on the surprising longevity of The Oregon Trail, a game still remembered decades after its release and played by n...
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  Killer Instinct's Adam Boyes Tears Down the Walls 18.06.2025 1ч 20мин

  Our guest this week is Adam Boyes, longtime co-CEO of Iron Galaxy and now founder of Vivrato. From Killer Instinct to The Last of Us Part I, he’s helped bring major games to life and now supports devs launching their own. We discuss putting in raunchy stuff, nemawashi and his magic deck of challenges - this week! Episode Highlights [00:00:00] "Shipping Will Burn You": Why Making Games Is the Best Teacher Adam kicks off with advice for aspiring devs: build, release, and learn from failure—bec...