TWIG #100 Episode Retrospective
This week marks the 100th episode of our Deconstructor of Fun podcast series This Week in Games (TWIG). We commemorated our 100th episode with a look back at the origins of the podcast series, lessons learned, biggest news, and the future of TWIG.
If you haven’t checked out the podcast or the 100th episode, please do. But with that, here’s a summary of some of the key highlights from 100 episodes of TWIG below!
Origin Story
Interestingly, the origin of TWIG began with someone sucking badly! And, that would be me.
Miska Katkoff invited me to speak at the Roviocon conference in Helsinki in 2018.
Following the conference, Miska asked me to record a podcast with him.
So we recorded: Working with Big Entertainment IPs on Mobile on July of 2018.
Boy was I bad! It was early, I was nervous, and I realized that despite a decent talk at Roviocon, my podcasting skills were absolutely terrible.
After the recording Miska made a passing comment that stuck with me even after I arrived back home in LA:
- “Don’t worry about it. It took me 10 episodes to get better at podcasting.”
10 episodes you say… Well, how do we come up with a format that is easy, repeatable, and can get me as many reps as possible? Scheduling interviews is a pain in the ass, and it’s better to not do original content if possible, so…
This Week In Games was born.
Lessons Learned
JK:
One of the biggest lessons coming out of the years we’ve been doing TWIG is something I call the “Naruto Effect.” For those of you who don’t know the anime series Naruto, Naruto starts off as a character who can’t control “chakra” which is the magical ability in the Naruto world. His biggest weakness, based on his inability to control chakra, is a cloning “spell” which requires precise control of chakra.
Without getting into the weeds on this, Naruto by the end of the series turns his greatest weakness into his greatest strength: cloning becomes one of Naruto’s greatest abilities.
Going back to the origins of TWIG to today, I’m now less convinced of the Silicon Valley mantra: “Play to your strengths.” I believe this is situational. For some situations this may be true. However, if you can turn a weakness into a strength, the overall delta in your overall skillset can be maximized. Also, think about what skills are necessary for a specific objective. If the set of skills for a role or objective include a weakness, consider turning that weakness into a strength rather than partnering for it!
Adam:
Adam mentioned one of the best lessons from doing TWIG has been to more critically interpret news. What parts are likely true, what parts are likely manufactured? Eric’s cynical influence has been a positive to be more skeptical of news and to seek for hidden motivations.
Further, understanding that there is often additional depth behind a lot of news stories we cover. In most cases, we only have public data and don’t know have the full context.
Miska:
Miska learned that sometimes what he says as a joke on the podcast can be taken very seriously. Further, that he is often the recipient of blow back from critical comments that Eric makes about various companies out there. Lol!
Eric:
Eric believes that podcasts are the best way to get “the real news.” Writing is too manufactured and only by having verbal conversations with people can the real truth come out.
Biggest News
- Epic vs. Apple
- Supercell CEO Yearly Reviews
- IDFA Deprecation
- Tencent Quietly Acquiring Console Studios
JK:
I really enjoy the Supercell CEO yearly blog posts. The blog posts are big news but even further help to force thinking around the current ways things are being done today. Supercell takes a different approach. Are the ways your game studio operates actually the right way to operate just because that’s how it’s always been done?
Adam:
On the mobile side, Adam believes the biggest news will be IDFA deprecation, he feels the other news will not have the same impact that IDFA deprecation will have in the future.
For console, Tencent quietly acquiring top future facing studios like Leyou/DigitalExtremes and Grinding Gear Games.
Eric:
The biggest news for Eric has been all of the news around Apple’s treatment of its development partners. Eric has joined Team Sweeney and hopes for changes to their practices and stance towards developers.
Miska:
Miska enjoys covering Supercell’s yearly CEO blog. However, he cautions to read through the PR and think more critically about the company. Further, Miska has enjoyed reading all of the PR news releases in general and gives a special shout out to Scopely’s Brittany Geldmacher as especially gifted in crafting PR for their company.
Future of TWIG
JK:
I believe the future of TWIG could potentially be the future of the game conference. To some degree we are filling a void not only through TWIG but through our weekly interviews and deep dives on various topics. An open question for me has been: How do we further fill the void?
One of the biggest gaps I still see in the void from conferences is networking. There really isn’t a way to have that same experience meeting up with all of the folks you haven’t seen in a while and catching up. Or having that serendipitous random encounter and conversation at a hotel lobby that leads to opportunities.
Adam:
Adam strongly believes that we need more feedback! While we constantly criticize and cast stones, we need push back and for folks to allow us to get better. Further, it’s often useful to get the full story. For example, after we criticized Might & Magic: Chess Royale, bringing on Damien from Ubisoft allowed us to get a more complete picture of what was happening in the game. Similarly, after talking to Manticore we were able to get a more complete view on what they were working on as well.
We’re also wrong and should be called out: for example, monetization on Valorant!
Eric:
Eric wants us to do more live shows. Ideally at a conference in the future. However, we’ll also explore live digital shows as well. Eric is also asking to be called out on anything he gets wrong.
Miska:
From the feedback, Miska has determined to open up the Deconstructor of Fun Slack channel to a broader community.
Feel free to apply: https://www.deconstructoroffun.com/slack
Our Favorite Episodes
Here are some of our favorite episodes we recommend you check out in case you haven’t listened to them:
- After Crisis: Games & Life In a Post COVID-19 World: This episode goes unusually deep and talks about issues in a way we rarely cover in TWIG.
- How to Transform Company Culture | Riot 1 Year Later with Angela Roseboro: As a student of culture and an area that I need to turn from a weakness into a strength. I appreciated Angela’s wisdom and advice in this episode.
- The Economy of the Metaverse | Tim Sweeney CEO of Epic Games: Helped change Eric’s mind about Epic and Tim. Great insights about building an ecosystem and Apple.
- IDFA — Everything You Ought to Know with Eric Seufert & Yevgeny Peres: Very informative and one of our most listened to podcasts of all time!
- Biggest Lessons from Gaming with Jori Pearsall: Lots of great insights you really can’t find anywhere else.
- Rant-cast: Eric Kress Unchained | IDFA Apocalypse, Why Tech Companies Fail at Games, Geopolitical Shenanigans: This is a dark horse podcast without as many listens as others. Don’t let the title fool you, a lot of insights from Eric despite the title.
Well there it is. We hope to continue for another 100 episodes and to integrate new members to our cast such as Kenny Liu who you’ll be hearing from a lot more soon!
