Your first indie game is probably still too big.

In this episode of The Summoning Hour, host Joe Belousek sits down with Noatak Post and Riley Sikes of Gllama Games, the two-person team behind Upstream. What began with a reused salmon sprite from a fishing-themed game jam became a commercial two-button physics platformer on Steam.

Noatak and Riley explain how they found the game's core, divided responsibilities, handled Steamworks, and used player feedback to rebuild a controller they once thought was finished. They also discuss why completing a game can be harder than endlessly improving it, and how a community poll helped resolve one of their design disagreements.

The conversation also introduces Gllama Games' next project, Minds of Mana. The team explains why playtesters felt a Minesweeper game and a roguelike fighting for the same identity, why they removed systems rather than adding more, and how the lessons from shipping Upstream are shaping the second game.

IN THIS EPISODE

- Turning a fishing-game-jam sprite into a commercial Steam game

- Building satisfying movement around only two buttons

- The playtest that led to a complete controller rewrite

- Steamworks, Godot, localization, and two-person role division

- Using community feedback without surrendering creative ownership

- Why finishing something small can teach more than planning something enormous

- The advantages of finding a collaborator

ABOUT GLLAMA GAMES

Noatak Post and Riley Sikes are longtime friends and the two-person team behind Gllama Games. They developed and published Upstream and are currently working on Minds of Mana.

PLAY UPSTREAM

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3245890/Upstream/

ON SALE FOR A LIMITED TIME!

FOLLOW GLLAMA GAMES

Website: https://gllamagames.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GllamaGames

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/gllama.games

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gllamagames

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/U9TVUuEWQA

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION

The Summoning Hour Discord: https://discord.gg/EAFcfV6YYU

Joe: https://linktr.ee/warlockrakaul

GAME REFERENCED

Dragonsweeper by Daniel Benmergui: https://danielben.itch.io/dragonsweeper

CHAPTERS

00:00 Calling a Game Done Is the Hardest Part

00:16 Meet Noatak, Riley, and Gllama Games

02:43 The Game-Jam Salmon That Became Upstream

06:07 The Playtest That Rewrote the Controller

09:15 Becoming a Real Shipping Team

11:31 Designing a Game Around Two Buttons

15:12 Letting Players Settle a Design Disagreement

18:46 Revealing Minds of Mana

20:38 When Two Game Ideas Fight Each Other

32:02 Leaderboards and Accidental Speedrunning

35:25 What Kind of Studio Gllama Wants to Be

41:21 Make Something - Then Finish It

42:49 Why Finding a Collaborator Changes Everything

Why are fighting games easier to pick up than ever, yet still so difficult to truly enter?

Modern controls, detailed training tools, rollback netcode, and free-to-play releases have lowered many of the genre's traditional barriers. None of them can completely remove the moment when a new player meets decades of accumulated skill, loses repeatedly online, or is told that improvement requires a specialized controller. Accessibility can help someone start. It takes stronger onboarding, worthwhile solo content, and a healthy community to give that person a reason to stay.

In this more casual episode of The Summoning Hour, Joe sits down with his friend Cameron for a wide-ranging conversation about the games, people, and competitive traditions that shaped the fighting-game genre. They trace its history from Street Fighter II and the golden age of arcades through the rise of 3D fighters, Street Fighter IV's revival of classic series, rollback netcode, licensed-IP fighters, free-to-play games, and the growing space for independent developers.

Joe and Cameron examine why the genre's competitive identity is both its greatest strength and one of its hardest barriers. They discuss the cost of buying a full-price game only to lose immediately online, why an arcade stick should never be treated as an entry fee, and how modern control schemes can make execution easier without removing the decisions that create a high skill ceiling.

They also make the case for single-player modes as genuine onboarding. A story, arcade ladder, tutorial path, or experimental solo mode can teach the roster and its world before asking someone to compete. From there, the conversation turns to local scenes, casual nights, tournament culture, publisher support, outside investment, and the players and organizers who keep communities alive when corporate attention moves elsewhere.

The episode closes by looking beyond conventional matches. Joe and Cameron explore fighting games mixed with RPGs and other genres, the challenge of translating character kits into games such as 2XKO, memorable and disappointing character designs, the need for another wave of 3D fighters, and why longevity matters more than a launch-week peak. A successful fighting game is one people still bring to tournaments, argue about, rediscover, and teach to someone new years later.

In this episode:

- The four major waves of fighting-game history

- Street Fighter II, the arcade era, and the rise of 3D fighters

- Rollback netcode, free-to-play releases, and modern controls

- Why a $120 controller is not the price of improvement

- Single-player modes as onboarding rather than an optional extra

- Streaming, indie fighters, and easier access to high-level play

- Local scenes, competitive integrity, and welcoming newcomers

- Esports investment, publisher support, and community resilience

- Character design, cross-genre experiments, and the future of 3D fighters

- Why long-term community matters more than launch-week player counts

Reach out to Cameron at cyber.fraser@gmail.com

Follow Joe and The Summoning Hour: https://linktr.ee/warlockrakaul

Continue the conversation: What fighting game first made you feel welcome, and what should the genre do to help the next new player stay?

Join The Summoning Hour Discord: https://discord.gg/EAFcfV6YYU

What actually happens when thousands of people apply for one game-development job, and the recruiter on the other side is balancing far more than a stack of résumés?

Game-industry talent acquisition leader Christeen Mackey joins Joe Belousek to explain what recruiters generally control, what sits with hiring managers and studios, and what candidates may not see when a process slows down or goes quiet.

Drawing on nearly fifteen years in game recruiting and talent leadership, Christeen breaks down applicant tracking systems, the scale of today's applicant market, and why a strong résumé must show impact rather than simply repeat a job description. She also shares a useful way to read both résumés and job descriptions: as risk-mitigation documents that reveal what a team needs to protect, fix, or strengthen.

Joe and Christeen discuss STAR interview preparation, asking for accommodations, practicing difficult stories, the time and cost behind hiring, and why recruiters cannot simply give every qualified person a chance. They also explore how candidates can use AI without sounding copied, what responsible assessments should require, and how to work with a recruiter through delays, follow-up, and rejection.

The conversation does not ignore how painful the current game industry has become. Christeen also explains why she still believes smaller teams, accessible tools, and determined creators can build the next generation of great games.

In this episode:

· What recruiters control and what they do not

· Why applicant volume has changed the hiring process

· What applicant tracking systems actually do

· Résumés and job descriptions as risk mitigation

· STAR stories, interview practice, and accommodations

· The real investment behind hiring decisions

· Using AI without copying the job description

· Why smaller teams may shape the future of games

About Christeen: Christeen Mackey is a game-industry talent acquisition leader with nearly fifteen years of experience recruiting, leading talent teams, and helping studios and candidates navigate difficult hiring decisions. This conversation reflects her professional experience and personal perspective, not the hiring process of any one employer.

Continue the conversation: What hiring question do you wish you could ask without worrying that it might hurt your candidacy? Join The Summoning Hour Discord and share it: https://discord.gg/EAFcfV6YYU

Follow Christeen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christeen-mackey/

Follow Joe and The Summoning Hour: https://linktr.ee/warlockrakaul

Why do the best game ideas rarely survive contact with a team—and why is that a good thing?

Game designer and published author Joey Kalitovic joins Joe Belousek to explore why game development is a team sport. Drawing on twelve years across narrative, character, gameplay, combat, cloud-gaming controls, indie projects, mods, and game jams, Joey explains why collaboration produces stronger work than protecting a single creator's “perfect” vision.

The conversation covers Joey's path from childhood Zelda experiments with his twin brother to designing more than 100 playable characters and enemies, creating custom touch controls for Xbox Cloud Gaming, contributing to a large Baldur's Gate 3 mod, and helping lead a six-month community game jam.

Joe and Joey discuss what solo projects are actually good for, why game jams may demonstrate employability better than working alone, how different disciplines reshape a design, and why curiosity is more useful than arriving with twenty pages of unsolicited answers. They also get into player accessibility, voice acting, writing for performance, learning unfamiliar disciplines, and trusting the people hired to solve problems you cannot see.

In this episode:

- Why game development is uniquely collaborative

- Game jams versus solo portfolio projects

- Trusting designers, artists, engineers, QA, and production

- Building characters through a shared creative vision

- Xbox Cloud Gaming touch controls and accessibility

- Voice acting, audio implementation, and concise writing

- Career growth through curiosity, flexibility, and pivoting

About Joey: Joey Kalitovic is a game designer and published author. His work spans studio development, independent projects, community game jams, and large collaborative mods.

Continue the conversation: What has another discipline added to your work that you never would have created alone? Join The Summoning Hour Discord: https://discord.gg/EAFcfV6YYU

Follow Joey:

- Portfolio: https://www.joeykalitovic.com/

- itch.io: https://corvid-quill.itch.io/

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeykalitovic/

Follow Joe and The Summoning Hour: https://linktr.ee/warlockrakaul

Episode Chapters:

0:06 — Audio check and going live

1:50 — Introducing Joey Kalitovic

3:03 — Game design career overview

4:46 — Xbox Cloud touch controls and accessibility

5:48 — Zelda, twin collaboration, and early design instincts

8:30 — Baldur’s Gate 3 mod work and gameplay UX

11:11 — Game jams, leadership, and team collaboration

15:19 — Designing for accessibility across devices

23:10 — Indie vs. team development

27:24 — Shared vision and collaborative creativity

32:24 — Solo projects and learning through experimentation

36:21 — Voice acting, narration, and production lessons

40:34 — Why voice acting matters in games

45:46 — Curiosity, trust, and asking better questions

51:08 — Advice for new designers in a crowded industry

55:20 — How producers, QA, and marketers can get involved

59:43 — Where to find Joey and wrap-up

What happens when a fictional civilization develops its consciousness instead of its machines?

Cultural researcher and worldbuilder Zhenya Zerkalenkov joins Joe Belousek to explore how believable fictional cultures form, why the hero’s journey can become limiting, and how game developers, writers, and narrative designers can imagine worlds built around entirely different assumptions.

Drawing from his background in Sinology, cultural studies, East Asian philosophy, content marketing, and the creator economy, Zhenya explains why strong worldbuilding requires more than borrowed aesthetics. Believable cultures emerge from geography, beliefs, rituals, social needs, history, and the systems people create around them.

The conversation explores what World of Warcraft gets right about cultural representation, how games can teach without feeling like homework, and why so many stories rely on external enemies and familiar escalation. Zhenya also shares the foundation of his creator-owned worldbuilding project: a civilization where consciousness functions as technology. Rather than advancing primarily through machines, its people evolve how they perceive time, shape their environment, solve problems, and understand themselves.

Joe and Zhenya also discuss science-fiction and fantasy worldbuilding, alternative storytelling structures, creator ownership, sustainable growth, industry complacency, and what happens when companies prioritize predictable metrics over creative excellence.

In this episode:
• Building believable fictional cultures
• Culture as a game-design system
• Worldbuilding beyond the hero’s journey
• Consciousness evolution as a narrative framework
• Consciousness as inner technology
• Creator-owned worlds and sustainable growth
• Creativity versus metric-driven decision-making

About Zhenya:
Zhenya Zerkalenkov is a cultural researcher, writer, and independent worldbuilder exploring how cultural science, East Asian philosophy, and consciousness studies can inform fictional worlds. Through his Weltenwanderer newsletter, he shares the research, ideas, and creative process behind his original worldbuilding project.

Follow Zhenya:
Weltenwanderer
LinkedIn

Joe’s Socials:

Linktree

Continue the conversation:
If consciousness were a civilization’s primary technology, what part of everyday life would change first? Join The Summoning Hour Discord and share your answer:

https://discord.gg/peMDqSvPR

What Does 20 Years in Games Design Teach You?

In this episode of The Summoning Hour, Joe Belousek sits down with veteran game designer Nellie Hughes to explore more than two decades of experience designing, shipping, and leading games across the industry.

From MMO development and live service design to leadership roles, Nellie shares the lessons she's learned about creating engaging player experiences, building healthy development teams, and navigating an industry that's changing faster than ever.

Together, they discuss the evolution of MMORPGs, accessibility in modern games, balancing data with creative instinct, the growing role of AI in development, and why empathy—not ego—is one of the most valuable skills in game development.

Whether you're an aspiring developer, industry veteran, or simply curious how great games come together, this conversation offers practical insight into the craft, leadership, and philosophy behind game development.

The Summoning Hour is a podcast about games, the people who make them, and the creative process behind the worlds we love to play.

Every episode features thoughtful conversations with developers, artists, designers, producers, and creators about the decisions, tradeoffs, and stories behind modern game development.

• Nellie Hughes on LinkedIn
• Joe Belousek on many platforms!

00:17 — From MMO Designer to Industry Veteran
03:42 — What the Rise and Fall of Thirty Eight Studios Taught Us
08:14 — The Hardest Promotion: Becoming a Manager
11:00 — Publishing at Xbox: Data Without Losing Creativity
16:42 — Why We Keep Coming Back to MMOs
19:29 — What Actually Makes a Game Accessible?
27:05 — The Next Generation of Players and Game Ecosystems
35:22 — Accessibility Isn't a Feature—It's Better Design
39:23 — The Best Design Lessons Come From Players
44:55 — Can AI Make Better Games?
45:35 — Surviving Layoffs and an Industry in Transition
51:15 — Nellie's Advice for the Next Generation of Game Developers

The conversation doesn't end when the episode does. Join us in Discord and discussion thread and tell us:

• What game taught you the most about design?

• Should designers trust player data or creative instinct more?

• What's one accessibility feature every game should include?

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and follow along for thoughtful conversations about game development, design, production, and the people shaping the future of games.

game development, game design, game designer, MMO, MMORPG, live service games, Xbox Publishing, Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2, player engagement, game leadership, game production, accessibility in games, inclusive design, AI in game development, game analytics, data-driven design, UX design, leadership, game industry careers, indie game development, game development podcast

#TheSummoningHour #GameDevelopment #GameDesign #GameDev #MMO

Why do some fantasy worlds stay with us long after we leave them?

In this episode of The Summoning Hour, Joe Belousek sits down with world builder and game designer Dmitry Ryabchuk to explore how mythology, language, anthropology, and history shape believable game worlds.

Dmitry shares how his background in linguistics and anthropology influences his approach to game development, from creating the Slavic-inspired Garda Realm setting for Dungeons & Dragons to building worlds that feel authentic without sacrificing fun.

We also discuss language, cultural authenticity, AI in creative work, and why the strongest fantasy settings are built around people—not just lore.

Whether you're designing games, writing fiction, running tabletop RPGs, or simply curious about world building, there's something here for you.

Thoughtful conversations about games, the people who make them, and the creative process behind them.

⚔️ Gardar Realm
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/31270/dmitry-ryabchuk

🌐 Worldbuilding Corner
https://substack.com/@thatanthropologist?r=25a7ul&utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page

🎨 ArtStation
https://lorddisel.artstation.com/

🐦 X
https://twitter.com/dmitryryabchuk

Rakaul and The Summoning Hour Official: Instagram, Facebook, Twitch, Twitter | Linktree

00:00 Welcome
01:02 From Linguistics to Game Development
02:07 Leaving Academia
05:31 VFX Industry Lessons
09:00 Slavic Mythology & World Building
13:51 Anthropology & Storytelling
19:04 Balancing Fun & Authenticity
23:49 AI & Creativity
26:38 The Human Touch
30:10 Cultural Representation
31:36 Language Builds Worlds
34:45 Future Projects
43:30 Managing Creative Work
47:25 Diversity in Tabletop RPGs
53:00 Final Thoughts

What real-world culture or mythology do you think deserves more attention in games?

Join us in Discord and tell us:

• What game world feels the most authentic to you?
• What made it believable?
• Has a game ever inspired you to learn about a real culture or mythology?

The conversation doesn't end when the episode does.

The Discord is the lobby after the episode—a place to keep discussing game development, world building, creative process, and the games that inspire us.
https://discord.gg/F8sbCDZ3T

The conversation doesn't end when the episode does.

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and follow along for thoughtful conversations about game development, design, world building, production, and the people behind the games we love.

#TheSummoningHour #GameDevelopment #WorldBuilding #GameDesign #DnD

Can You Monetize Games Without Losing Player Trust? | Tamerlane Barak

Monetization is one of the most debated topics in game development, but the reality is more complicated than “microtransactions are bad” or “developers are greedy.”

In this episode of The Summoning Hour, Joe Belousek talks with veteran game developer Tamerlane Barak about the business, psychology, and ethics behind game monetization. They explore why business models exist, how player trust is earned or lost, and the tradeoffs developers face when building games that are both sustainable and fun.

The conversation covers free-to-play economies, premium games, battle passes, loot boxes, player psychology, community feedback, industry consolidation, and today’s game industry economics.

SOCIALS

Tamerlane Barak
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nabibarak95/

Joe Belousek
https://linktr.ee/warlockrakaul

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why monetization is a game design problem
• Hearthstone and Guild Wars 2 as different monetization philosophies
• Free-to-play versus premium games
• Battle passes, loot boxes, cosmetics, and player trust
• The psychology behind modern monetization
• Why community feedback matters
• Industry consolidation and its impact on innovation
• Building sustainable businesses without sacrificing player goodwill

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Every monetization system creates tradeoffs.
• Player trust is one of the most valuable assets a game can build.
• Ethical monetization starts with respecting players’ time and investment.
• Community engagement is a competitive advantage.
• Great games create value players genuinely want to support.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction to Monetization in Games
11:03 Monetization Beyond Profit
14:41 How Game Development Economics Changed
20:08 Player Behavior, Pricing, and Value
25:15 Long-Term Sustainability vs. Short-Term Revenue
28:27 Battle Passes, FOMO, and Retention
30:21 The Problem with “Forever Games”
31:52 Riot Games and Player Engagement
33:43 Better Ways to Use FOMO
35:09 Loot Boxes and Ethical Monetization
38:22 How Monetization Models Evolved
40:11 Industry Pressure and Economic Reality
42:57 Accessibility, Class, and Innovation in Games
45:18 Ads, Subscriptions, and the Future of Game Revenue
51:23 The Dystopian Side of Game Economics
56:56 Emotional Connection and Why Games Matter
58:59 Surviving the Modern Game Industry
61:20 Market Dynamics and Player Feedback
64:00 Community as a Design Tool
67:29 Challenges and Opportunities for Developers
72:05 Resilience, Community, and What Comes Next
78:30 Final Advice for Game Developers
84:30 Closing Thoughts

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

What game has the fairest monetization model? What monetization practice turns you away from a game?

Share your thoughts in the comments or Discord:
https://discord.gg/NwXpQKq5u

FOLLOW THE SUMMONING HOUR

Subscribe for thoughtful conversations about game development, design, production, and the people who make games.

KEYWORDS

Game Development, Game Design, Game Industry, Live Service Games, Monetization, Free-to-Play, Battle Passes, Loot Boxes, Player Psychology, Community, Business Models, Indie Games, Hearthstone, Guild Wars 2

HASHTAGS

#GameDevelopment #GameDesign #GamingIndustry #GameDev #Podcast #Monetization #LiveService