In this episode I speak with Scott Miller, founder of Apogee Entertainment (Commander Keen, Duke Nukem) and 3D Realms (Max Payne, Prey). Scott is responsible for pioneering the shareware model of game distribution — giving away a large chunk of a game for free, then asking players to pay to access the rest, often by mailing in a cheque after downloading it over a dial-up connection.

We discuss his entry into the industry, and how early rejection from bigger studios pushed him to do things his own way. We also get into his work with John Romero and John Carmack at id Software on games like Commander Keen and Wolfenstein 3D.

This is a conversation with one of the pioneers of the games industry as we know it today, pushing the limits of what could be done with the hardware available at the time.

Today I’m talking with Clint Hocking, Creative Director of Far Cry 2 and Watch Dogs: Legion.

Clint has had a long and varied career in the video game industry, working on the original Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series, as well as roles at Valve Corporation, Ubisoft, LucasArts, and Amazon Game Studios.

This is one of the most dense and thought-provoking conversations I’ve had the privilege of conducting. The way Clint thinks about video games — and how we, as players, engage with them — genuinely shifted my perspective.

We take a deep dive into the making of Far Cry 2, exploring the systems and mechanics that make it so distinctive, from its dynamic world design to its underlying philosophy of player agency.

The conversation also gets surprisingly meta. At one point, we unpack a deceptively simple question: should a character be able to pet a cat in a game? That leads into a broader discussion about player expectation, character consistency, and how small interactions can either reinforce or undermine a game’s internal logic.

If you’re interested in game design, player psychology, or the thinking behind one of the most divisive shooters ever made, this is a conversation worth your time.

In today’s episode, I speak with Ben Fisher, Head of Design on Atomfall and Sniper Elite: Resistance. Ben is a key figure at Rebellion, and we break down how Atomfall’s opening establishes tone, pacing, and player behaviour in its open-world RPG design.

We get into the granular detail of how players are guided through environmental cues, limited resources, and design decisions that steer the player away from a “run and gun” attitude.

We also explore the game’s core philosophy: designing for uncertainty. Ben talks through the iterative process behind Atomfall’s systems, from dynamic loot and environmental storytelling as well as the risk he and the team took on their “leads” mechanic that replaces traditional quest structures—encouraging players to act more like detectives than objective-followers.