S3 E1: A New Career Narrative for Game Developers with Christopher "Mav" Maverick

We kick off season 3 by going back to school with Christopher "Mav" Maverick, PhD, who has been exploring storytelling and pop culture in all of its forms for decades. Mav combines a career of experience in digital user interfaces with a career of academic scholarship in the humanities to help a new generation of students channel passions forged in video gaming into more durable digital storytelling instincts that can be applied not just to games, but to industries across the world - and now that insight can help you at any stage of your career. As an Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Pittsburgh's Digital Narrative and Interactive Design program, Mav is deeply connected to the current shift in younger player motivations, so this is also a deep dive into what's changing for player audiences and how it is impacting the games of today and tomorrow. There's something for everyone in this playful episode that brings together two friends who have known each other for 3 years or 30 years; they can't quite commit to which. Whether you grew up in a pandemic or lived through the gaming renaissance of the 90's, there's something actionable here for you. Topics include the relationship between user experience design and game design, creative problem solving, collaboration for gaming, generational gaming trends, racing games, changes in gaming post-pandemic, gaming for children, artificial intelligence, and more. The Signal Award-winning Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast is a biweekly indie podcast (released on Tuesdays) from Cheryl Platz's design education company Ideaplatz LLC that explores the shifting state of the video game industry, with a lens on game development and video game education in addition to the games themselves. Season 3 returns to expand our horizons even further with academics, community leaders, innovators, and founders pushing the boundaries of what it means to make thriving games. Enduring Play is inspired by and based on the content from Cheryl Platz's book The Game Development Strategy Guide, which is an excellent way for listeners to level up their game career at any stage of the game. Check out the show notes for more context, a transcript, links, and the current discount code for The Game Development Strategy Guide: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play-season-3/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-3-episode-1-christopher-maverick-show-notes/ To support the Enduring Play podcast, leave a review, give us a follow, or visit our Dashery merch shop at https://ideaplatz.dashery.com/ . Feedback and inquiries can be directed to info at ideaplatz dot com.