Branching Factor

Hosted by AI and Games

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Sep 2024

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About the show

Welcome to Branching Factor , a podcast about video games from people who play, develop and research video games. In each episode, join our host Dr. Tommy Thompson as he sits down with co-hosts Dr. Anne Sullivan, George Osborn, Dr. Mike Cook, and Quang as they explore the gaming world. Learn about how video games are made, the goings-on of the games industry, what academic research in games is all about, interviews with guests, and more! Branching Factor is brought to you by the AI and Games YouTube channel, watch episodes on AI and Games Plus, and become a Patron to support the show. Watch episodes of Branching Factor on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@AIandGamesPlus Learn About AI and Games: http://www.youtube.com/@AIandGames Become an AI and Games Patron: http://www.patreon.com/ai_and_games Follow AI and Games on Twitter , Mastodon and TikTok Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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25 recent

September 2, 20241 hr 10 min

#024 - Digging into Little Learning Machines

Tommy is joined by three of the developers behind ‘Little Learning Machines’: a puzzle game that entrusts players with teaching AI agents called Animos to solve puzzles in a variety of idyllic environments. With a huge content update coming on September 5th to Steam, Tommy sits down with art director Nick Counter, technical lead Dante Camarena and community manager Fiona Firby from Transitional Forms to discuss the game and the year as they transition from early access to full launch, plus winning awards, delivering talks at GDC, and some of the other work they're up to as well! Little Learning Machines is available right now on Steam, with a free update coming September 5th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1993710/Little_Learning_Machines/ Catch the video version of this podcast on @AIandGamesPlus https://youtu.be/pG7-ubbNZFI Find out more about Little Learning Machines via the links below. Website: https://www.transforms.ai/little-learning-machines Learning Companion (PDF): https://www.transforms.ai/learning GDC Postmortem Talk: https://gdcvault.com/play/1034597/AI-Summit-Little-Learning-Machines -- Check out all of our content: AI and Games on Substack with new content weekly: http://www.aiandgames.com AI and Games: http://www.youtube.com/@AIandGames AI and Games Plus: http://www.youtube.com/@AIandGamesPlus Branching Factor Podcast: https://shows.acast.com/branchingfactor Livestreams on Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/aiandgames Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

August 29, 20241 hr 8 min

#023 - The 2024 GDMC Competition

Tommy is joined by Dr Christoph Salge and Victoire Herve from the University of Hertfordshire to talk about the 7th annual Generative Design in Minecraft Competition - an event where participants write AI systems to build settlements in Minecraft. We discuss how the project has continued to grow and persist for this long, the community that has thrived around it, and the big challenges still left to face in Minecraft settlement generation. Find out more about the GDMC by visiting: https://gendesignmc.wikidot.com/wiki:2024-settlement-generation-competition -- Check out all of our content: AI and Games on Substack with new content weekly: http://www.aiandgames.com AI and Games: http://www.youtube.com/@AIandGames AI and Games Plus: http://www.youtube.com/@AIandGamesPlus Branching Factor Podcast: https://shows.acast.com/branchingfactor Livestreams on Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/aiandgames Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

August 19, 20241 hr 2 min

#022 - We Made a Conference!?!

After a summer hiatus the Branching Factor podcast is back! Sorry, I don't think we mentioned we were going talking a break, but hey - here we are! Tommy fills you in on his travels, the work he's been up to, the stack of episodes we have coming up with some guests. But critically Tommy and George sit down to talk about an event they've put together with a group of friends and colleagues: the 2024 AI and Games Conference! Let's get into the origins of it, how we've set it up, why we think it's needed and more. Find out more about the event and grab tickets at: http://www.aiandgamesconference.com Plus read up on the origins and particulars of the event on Substack: https://www.aiandgames.com/p/introducing-the-ai-and-games-conference -- Check out all of our content: AI and Games on Substack with new content weekly: http://www.aiandgames.com AI and Games: http://www.youtube.com/@AIandGames AI and Games Plus: http://www.youtube.com/@AIandGamesPlus Branching Factor Podcast: https://shows.acast.com/branchingfactor Livestreams on Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/aiandgames Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 28, 20241 hr 17 min

#021 - Goal State Announcement Q'n'A

Last week Tommy announced his new project 'Goal State', a series of online courses designed to teach people about AI for video games. It's going live on Kickstarter later this year, Here's Tommy replaying the livestream QnA hosted last week that answered as many answers as he could on the subject at this time. Follow 'Goal State' on Kickstarter at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aiandgames/goalstate You can find out more about Goal State at: https://www.aiandgames.com/p/introducing-goal-state The Branching Factor podcast is sponsored by modl.ai : unleash an army of AI and ML bots that play, grow, and learn― all inside your game. With millions of players’ to your aid, game testing will never be the same again. With over 5,000 subscribers across our Substack and LinkedIn audiences, plus of course a YouTube audience of over 200K, now is a great time to consider sponsoring the Branching Factor podcast. Visit our sponsorship page for more details. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 13, 202449 min

#020 - Searching for Brilliant Indie Treasures with Quang and Jupiter Hadley

Co-host Quang Nguyen returns to Branching Factor as Tommy welcomes long-time friend of the show Jupiter Hadley to come and chat with us. Quang and Jupiter are two of the organisers behind ‘Brilliant Indie Treasures’ : a games event running this summer on July 10th during the Develop conference in the British seaside town of Brighton. You can find out more about the event itself, plus how to submit your own game or provide sponsorship at: https://brilliantindietreasures.com/ The Branching Factor podcast is sponsored by modl.ai : unleash an army of AI and ML bots that play, grow, and learn― all inside your game. With millions of players’ to your aid, game testing will never be the same again. With over 5,000 subscribers across our Substack and LinkedIn audiences, plus of course a YouTube audience of over 200K, now is a great time to consider sponsoring the Branching Factor podcast. Visit our sponsorship page for more details. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

April 29, 20241 hr 16 min

#019 - On the Harvest Hunt with Mark Drew

In this episode Tommy sits down with Mark Drew, the director of Villainous Game studios. Their next title, Harvest Hunt, launches on Steam on May 22nd. We get into our shared history, my accent, making sure you survive your first indie game, the lessons learned from shipping anything to Steam, building a scalable game with a small team, and the benefits of having a publisher in those closing stages. Check out the store page for Harvest Hunt on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2009620/Harvest_Hunt/ -- The Branching Factor podcast is sponsored by modl.ai : unleash an army of AI and ML bots that play, grow, and learn― all inside your game. With millions of players’ to your aid, game testing will never be the same again. With over 5,000 subscribers across our Substack and LinkedIn audiences, plus of course a YouTube audience of over 200K, now is a great time to consider sponsoring the Branching Factor podcast. Visit our sponsorship page for more details. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

April 15, 20241 hr 17 min

#018 Musings on Games Leadership with Melissa Phillips

In this episode Tommy is joined by longtime friend Melissa Phillips, who is now the director of the Games Leadership Network: a a non-profit organisation that aims to promote and improve leadership skills in the games industry. We dig into what it means to build leadership skills in games, why training is so vital and reflect on the projects we worked on together many years ago at Norwich Games Festival and the BAFTA YGD programme. You can find out more about Games Leadership at: https://www.gamesleadership.com/ -- The Branching Factor podcast is sponsored by modl.ai : unleash an army of AI and ML bots that play, grow, and learn― all inside your game. With millions of players’ to your aid, game testing will never be the same again. With over 5,000 subscribers across our Substack and LinkedIn audiences, plus of course a YouTube audience of over 200K, now is a great time to consider sponsoring the Branching Factor podcast. Visit our sponsorship page for more details. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

April 1, 202431 min

#017 - Tommy & George @GDC2024

Tommy and George are back for this episode of Branching Factor, recorded on the final day of the 2024 Game Developers Conference (GDC). The team reflect on the week that has passed, and just how valuable a solid nights sleep can be when caught up in all this madness. -- The Branching Factor podcast is sponsored by modl.ai : unleash an army of AI and ML bots that play, grow, and learn― all inside your game. With millions of players’ to your aid, game testing will never be the same again. With over 5,000 subscribers across our Substack and LinkedIn audiences, plus of course a YouTube audience of over 200K, now is a great time to consider sponsoring the Branching Factor podcast. Visit our sponsorship page for more details. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

March 11, 20241 hr 32 min

#016 - Legendary Chat with Will Overgard

Will Overgard, aka the Viking Blonde joins Tommy for a chat about his career as a Twitch streamer supporting game developers, and the current state of the industry going into GDC 2024. The conversation covers everything from good indie games to monetisation models, surviving as a game developer, being a content creator, generative AI, crypto and Web3, EA' project 10 dollar, good dogs, British civility and much more besides! Catch up with what Will's up to over at: https://www.twitch.tv/viking_blonde The Branching Factor podcast is sponsored by modl.ai : unleash an army of AI and ML bots that play, grow, and learn― all inside your game. With millions of players’ to your aid, game testing will never be the same again. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

February 26, 20241 hr 48 min

#015: Screaming Match with Ben Ridge

For this weeks episode, Ben Ridge of Unfathomable Audio (the guy who does our music) joins us to talk about working in game audio, plus Helldivers II, Elden Ring, Bloodborne, gaming news and more! As mentioned in the news: the early bird registration for the Summer School for AI and Games closes on March 1st. Find out more at: https://school.gameaibook.org/ Plus, Game AI Uncovered is out now, get 20% off with code SMA21 until April 30th https://www.routledge.com/Game-AI-Uncovered-Volume-One/Roberts/p/book/9781032343235 Timestamps (for the ad-free version) [00:00] Intro [01:40] Discussing Game Audio with Ben Ridge [31:32] Games: Suicide Squad / Evil West [36:08] Dead by Daylight X Iron Maiden [42:48] Games: More Helldivers II [48:07] Games: Apex Legends [56:56] News: Game AI Uncovered / Summer School 2024 [58:39] News: Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree plus Bloodborne! [01:10:20] News: Xbox Titles Coming to PS5 and Switch [01:16:14] News: No Big PS5 releases for 2024? Console sales to decline? [01:28:33] News: Nintendo's New Console Delayed to 2025? [01:32:30] Late-episode rambling [01:45:40] Credits The Branching Factor podcast is sponsored by modl.ai : unleash an army of AI and ML bots that play, grow, and learn― all inside your game. With millions of players’ to your aid, game testing will never be the same again. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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