GAMES INDUSTRY CAREERS & FEMALE GAMER STORIES. 🚀 Tina Townley (Production Director, Act 3) gives an unfiltered look at climbing the ladder from QA at Sega to a director at an independent studio. She reveals the shocking reality of working in game testing and how classics like Final Fantasy VII fuel her escapism.

• QA Exposed: The hard truth about testing one game over and over for years and the rush of finding submission-breaking bugs.

• The Escapist's Code: Why puzzle-heavy games like Tomb Raider and Monkey Island are essential for problem-solving and clearing a director's mind.

• Online Reality: Tina's strategy for navigating online gaming toxicity as a woman is by using private parties and avoiding public voice chat.

• Career Advice: Essential tips for aspiring game developers: Start in QA and network often.

Jason Wilson is the co-creator of the MediEvil series, a smash hit on the PlayStation. He started working in the games industry straight out of school in the 80s and has worked at many studios, including as a Creative Director with Sony.

In this episode, we talk with BAFTA winner Jason about the games he plays, such as the Elder Scrolls series, his enjoyment of gothic horror, his similarity to Tim Burton, comics and genius comic artists, his book 'Coal Face - The Devil in the Smoke' and lots and lots about Doncaster.

Check out Jason's work at https://jwartdesign.myportfolio.com/. Buy Coal Face on Amazon.

Some of the games and people we talk about:

Elder Scrolls, Knightlore, The Exit 8, Silent Hill 2, Pat Mills, Clint Langley, Chris Weston, Kevin O’Neill, Raymond Briggs, 2000AD, "Papers, Please", Dave the Diver

In this episode, we talk with Luke Hale, Head of Production Services at Frontier Developments. Luke is not retired, or even thinking about retirement, because he's in his early thirties. We're expanding our exploration of gaming experience to people of many ages now, at Horace Goes Podcasting.

With Luke, we talked about Football Manager, John's grudge against Frontier for nerfing his trade route in Elite:Dangerous, city builders, 'solo' developed games like Manor Lords and the most significant challenge Luke sees to video games (spoiler - it might be you!). Also, hear how Luke is helping out universities develop better game development degrees and how he mentors students.

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