Some episodes of Dev to Dev reveal a journey that feels instantly relatable, and Zac’s story is one of those. We talk about growing up in a small UK town, carrying an original Xbox across miles to make a LAN party happen, and the strange internal push-and-pull between wanting everything to be perfect and wanting everyone around you to succeed.

Zac’s competitive streak runs through his whole life—football, board games, Halo ranking grinds—but what's fascinating is how it sits alongside sincere empathy. He’s the kind of engineer who builds tools so other developers can thrive, even if it means rewriting systems others would ignore. That duality shaped his transition from years of grinding through Flash and HTML5 at a gambling studio to finally stepping into a AAA Codev team where he felt creatively at home.

We talked openly about imposter syndrome, the pressure of submitting code you know isn’t perfect, and how becoming a developer can make you both more introspective and more forgiving of other games’ flaws. We close on family: the early doubts, the pride, and the dream of one day making a game his daughters will get to play.

• Growing up in a small town and navigating early identity duality between his football and gaming passions

• Competitive roots formed through Mario, GoldenEye, & Halo

• Discovering game development via the Halo 2 dev diaries

• Evolving from Flash/HTML5 slots work into modern C++ engineering

• Learning to balance perfectionism with iteration

• Finding belonging at a Codev studio filled with creative, passionate developers

• Navigating imposter syndrome and learning to reflect with kindness

• Family support, pride, and the hope of eventually making games for his kids

PODCAST DETAILS

Find the Podcast at:

• Patreon: DevToDevPodcast
• RSS: https://feeds.castos.com/r37p9
• Instagram: @devto.devpodcast
• Bluesky: @devtodevpodcast.bsky.social‬
• TikTok: @devtodevpodcast
• YouTube: @DevToDevPodcast
• Email: DevToDevPodcast@Gmail.com

Find Zac At:

• ⁠https://www.instagram.com/zfm7/⁠
• ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachary-markham/⁠

• (00:00:00) - Dev to Dev: An Interview With Former colleague and friend
• (00:00:57) - What First Influenced You To Play Video Games?
• (00:07:33) - Football and gaming in the UK
• (00:13:15) - Zach Gets Real About His Competitiveness
• (00:17:29) - Starting Out: Learning to Make Video Games
• (00:20:54) - Tutorials in computing before university
• (00:27:30) - How to get your foot in the game industry with a degree
• (00:35:56) - How to Get Out of a Rut
• (00:36:25) - How to get out of your 'Luck'
• (00:40:36) - MPG Studios: The Dream realized
• (00:43:34) - Moving from mpg to Blueprint
• (00:48:55) - The Process of Design and Engineering
• (00:54:43) - Does Competition Play a Part in Your Work?
• (00:59:24) - How has being a developer changed you as a gamer?
• (01:02:00) - How Having Been a Developer Changed You
• (01:04:07) - How does your family relate to your job?
• (01:06:54) - In the Elevator With Adam Levine

This week’s Dev to Dev conversation is with someone whose journey genuinely surprised me at every turn — producer and creative leader Landon Hood. His path into games didn’t follow the traditional routes. In fact, it’s full of unexpected pivots, green-light moments, and people who changed the course of his life at just the right time.

Landon grew up in Maryland, discovered World of Warcraft in eighth grade, and immediately found himself drawn into the parts of MMO play that look suspiciously like early production training — scheduling raids, coordinating people, leading with confidence. He didn’t know it yet, but those skills were planting seeds for everything that came later.

What struck me most was how honest he is about the messy middle of his journey. He pursued auto mechanics, flirted with the military, and eventually ended up at community college — where a Design Professor became a career-changing mentor. She pushed him into opportunities he didn’t see in himself, including the fateful art show that connected him with Bully Entertainment and launched his first job in games.

From there he carved out a career built on flexibility, creativity, and pure willingness to jump into the unknown. VR prototypes before VR was cool. AR toothbrush apps for Disney. Holograms. NASA graphic novels. And eventually, a major role at ZeniMax Online Studios leading creative services work on ESO and Bethesda projects.

Landon also shares how moments of failure reshaped him — including a tough relocation to Florida that collapsed beneath him and ultimately helped him rebuild with more humility and perspective. He talks openly about burnout, therapy, ADHD, and learning to see each setback as something survivable.

And today? He’s at Blizzard, connecting with the universe that first lit the spark.

It’s an incredible conversation with someone who has seen nearly every corner of the industry, stayed grounded through chaos, and keeps pushing forward with empathy and passion.

• How World of Warcraft shaped his confidence, leadership, and communication
• The professor who changed his life with a single push
• The art show that launched his industry career
• Going from VR prototypes to DreamWorks and NASA projects
• Helping hold ZeniMax’s creative services team together during director turnover
• How ADHD became a superpower in production
• Navigating burnout, therapy, and industry instability
• Landing at Blizzard in a universe deeply personal to him

Find the Podcast at:

• Patreon: DevToDevPodcast
• RSS: https://feeds.castos.com/r37p9
• Instagram: @devto.devpodcast
• Bluesky: @devtodevpodcast.bsky.social‬
• TikTok: @devtodevpodcast
• YouTube: @DevToDevPodcast
• Email: DevToDevPodcast@Gmail.com

Find Landon At:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/landonhood

• (00:00:00) - Dev to Dev
• (00:00:19) - Blizzard Entertainment's Landon Hood on '
• (00:00:43) - What First Inspired You To Play Video Games?
• (00:03:17) - How World of Warcraft Made Me a Gamer
• (00:07:08) - Startups: How I Learned To Paint Cars
• (00:14:16) - The Making of 'Bully'
• (00:17:21) - Bully's Steven Levinson on Becoming a Creative Producer
• (00:20:27) - How I Went From Bully Entertainment to MAD Studios
• (00:25:20) - Started a cannabis dispensary while still in college
• (00:30:13) - Tom Holland on His 'Reception' With Adam Levine
• (00:30:36) - Developing Projects at Bully
• (00:32:48) - ZeniMax: The Transition From Bully to Zos
• (00:39:46) - The Creative Services Team at Zos
• (00:46:42) - Zelda on Being a Blanket Warrior
• (00:51:52) - How Does Your Family Relate To Your Job?
• (00:53:49) - How Having Been a Game Developer Has Changed You
• (00:55:09) - Blizzard's Landon on The Fort Lauderdale Drama

S01 E10 of Dev to Dev - the Podcast about everyday Videogame developers and why they do what they do every day - features a candid conversation with Liam McDonald who shares how gaming shaped his identity — from RuneScape escapades in school libraries to exciting projects at both Indie and AAA studios. Liam and I dive deep into the power of curiosity, risk-taking, and the unseen human side of game development.

Highlights

• Discovering community through early online games like RuneScape and Medal of Honor.

• Pivoting from politics to game design through a leap of faith at E3.

• The realities of relocating a family for an exciting role — and navigating the pandemic abroad.

• Insights into balancing creativity, family life, and imposter syndrome.

• Why mentorship and empathy are vital in helping new developers find their footing.

Liam’s story is one of resilience and rediscovery — a reminder that game development isn’t just about mechanics and code, but about people, purpose, and learning who you are along the way. Once again it wonderfully embodies the spirit of this podcast by exploring what it's really like to build a career in Game Development.

Find the Podcast at:

Patreon: DevToDevPodcast

RSS: https://feeds.castos.com/r37p9

Instagram: @devto.devpodcast

Bluesky: @devtodevpodcast.bsky.social‬

TikTok: @devtodevpodcast

YouTube: @DevToDevPodcast

Email: DevToDevPodcast@Gmail.com

Find Liam At:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-mcdonald-50861143

• (00:00:00) - Dev to Dev: A Conversation with Liam McDonald
• (00:00:42) - What First Inspired Liam To Play Video Games?
• (00:07:39) - Friends through Online Worlds
• (00:11:51) - Why Liam studied politics instead of coding
• (00:18:36) - How to Get Out There in the Game Development World
• (00:20:16) - Talking About the Computer Driving License
• (00:21:14) - How to get your first job in the industry
• (00:25:29) - How Liam got his foot in the door via E3
• (00:29:14) - Design and QA at the same time
• (00:33:30) - Back to School: Learning to Program
• (00:34:43) - How Liam got his first job in the industry
• (00:38:01) - Leaving The UK
• (00:40:58) - How Liam joined, and left, PlayStation
• (00:49:11) - The Making of a US Career
• (00:55:31) - Return to ZeniMax: The Pandemic Crisis
• (00:58:33) - How Does Liam's Family See His Role?
• (01:01:11) - How has being a game developer affected Liam's gaming habits?
• (01:03:26) - How Having Been a Game Developer Changed Liam as a Human?