Nathan is at GDC, so this week Gita, Chris and special guest Stella Sacco sit down to talk about the horrors of the video game industry and the joys of Pokopia.
We don’t need to explain how bad the economy is, or how hard it is to get a job in game development. What happened to Stella Sacco, a 20 year veteran of narrative design, is something else entirely. Stella joined Chris and Gita to talk about her efforts to try to get a development studio to pay her what she is owed for her work—to the tune of an eyewatering $24,000.
Later that evening, Stella’s friends, Gita included, ran a fundraising stream to help Stella as she’s still fighting to get paid. If you’re reading this, you missed the Stellathon, but the good news is that they raised close to $13,000.
To lighten the mood, we rounded out our conversation by talking about Pokopia, a game so delightful it has completely ensnared Chris and Gita. Who knew that taking the best parts of Dragon Quest Builders and mashing them up with Pokemon and adding a dash of Nier’s post-apocalyptic narrative would be so engrossing?
You can find this week's episode below and on Spotify, Apple, or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, make sure to leave a review to tell the rest of the hivemind how much you like it.
