Kiwi Talkz

por Kiwi

#212 - John Ricchio On GTA 5, GTA 6, Rockstar, RDR1, Leadership, AI, Crunch, Cut Content etc.

John Ricchio was a former producer at Rockstar on games such as GTA 5, RDR1 & Max Payne 3. In this interview he covers his time training people on QA, being a producer and a leader to teams at Rockstar, working on GTA, RDR, MP and more.. #gta #gta5 #rockstargames TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:27 - The Importance Of QA/Training QA People 04:30 - QA People At Rockstar/Advancing Your Career From QA 08:19 - Will AI Be Used To Save Time For QA 12:21 - Unicorn Dev Specialists/T Shaped Game Developers 14:30 - Managing Over 200 People On RDR & GTA 5/Producing Challenges 21:45 - Relinquishing Control/R* San Diego Changed Processes For GTA 5 24:40 - Cut Content From GTA 5 Due To Resources 26:10 - Working Through Constraints/Picking Your Battles 27:10 - Having Your Work Cut From R* Games 28:37 - Will GTA 5 Cut Content Be In GTA 6 29:21 - Cancelled Game Content Ended Up In GTA IV/Tech Changes 30:02 - New Ideas Usually Transcend Cut Content 30:57 - RDR Undead Nightmare/Hot Coffee Mini Game 32:05 - Rockstar’s Approach To DLC 33:17 - Managing R* Devs During High Times Of Stress/Crunch 41:20 - R*Can Get Away With Anything/Unionisation 42:15 - R” Are Good Because Of Iteration But It’s At The Cost Of Crunch 43:26 - Why John Left Rockstar/Crunch 46:45 - Leaders Initiate Crunch Either For Results Or Out Of Fear 52:40 - John Speaks About GTA 6 57:40 - The Future Of The Industry 1:00:11 - Q+A - Will R* Devs Lose More Creative Freedom As The Studio Gets Bigger 1:03:43 - Hanging Out With Dan & Sam Houser 1:05:10 - Following GTA 5’s Model For GTA 6 1:06:03 - GTA 5’s Launch 1:07:02 - Q+A - How Much Did The 360/PS3 Limit The Scope Of GTA 5 1:09:30 - Why R* Release On Console First Before PC 1:12:30 - John Is Currently Unemployed/Where To Follow John

E212

11 jul 2026

1:15:16

#211 - Andrew Kim On Naughty Dog, Uncharted, Marvel, Film, Concept Art, Sony Santa Monica

Andrew Kim is a freelance concept artist who has worked on video games, tv and film. Hes done numerous concepts for games in the MCU and he did concept art for Uncharted 2-4 #uncharted #uncharted4 #uncharted3 ANDREWS WEBSITE IS HERE https://www.andrewkimart.com/ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:34 - Differences Between Working In Video Games & Film/TV 04:41 - Getting A Job at Naughty Dog 07:20 - Working With The Designers On Concept Art For Uncharted 09:03 - The Process Was Similar Between Uncharted 2,3 & 4 10:46 - Leaving Marvel/Being A Freelancer On Uncharted 4 12:30 - Why Andrew Left Naughty Dog 15:30 - How Film Union Works 18:23 - The Challenges Of Being A Freelancer In The Film Industry 20:55 - It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know 21:30 - How You Network In The Film Industry 23:10 - ART CONCEPT REEL - Uncharted 2 33:40 - Sony Santa Monica Has 6 Hour Interviews 35:30 - Naughty Dog Interview Was 20 Minutes 36:19 - Interviewing Process In The Game Industry Now 37:49 - Andrew Would Work On Uncharted 5 If Asked 39:20 - Andrew Had Limited Interactions With Amy & Bruce 40:17 - ART CONCEPT REEL - Uncharted 3 42:39 - Uncharted 3 Piece Got Andrew His Job At Marvel 44:00 - ART CONCEPT REEL - Uncharted 3 59:36 - Where To Follow Andrew

E211

20 jun 2026

1:03:19

#210 - Quentin Cobb Interview On Uncharted 4, The Last Of Us, Naughty Dog, Ironroot Games

Quentin Cobb is the CEO and Co-Founder of Ironroot Games, he was previously a designer at Naughty Dog on Uncharted 4 & The Last Of Us and did a 5 year stint at Zenimax before on a cancelled project he was laid off. #uncharted4 #uncharted #thelastofus SOCIALS TWITTER - @QTrainCobb INSTAGRAM @qtrain.cobb/ @I IronrootGames https://ironrootgames.com/ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:30 - Why Quentin Cobb Loves Wutang Clan 01:37 - Crunch On Uncharted 4 04:02 - Working On Lost Legacy 04:40 - Why Quentin Left Naughty Dog 06:07 - Was It Harder To Salvage Uncharted 4 Rather Than Creating A New Game 07:36 - Quentin Worked On Chapter 8 In Uncharted 4 09:00 - Puzzle Sequences Were Difficult In Uncharted 4/Bruce Straley 10:35 - Difficulty Of Making Puzzles 11:50 - Shifting Mindset From Single Player To Multiplayer 13:39 - Why The Last Of Us Was A Life Changing Experience/Working With Bruce Straley 19:30 - Sony Executives Didn’t Believe The Last Of Us Would Succeed 20:30 - Naughty Dog Was Shocked How Well The Last Of Us Was Received 22:30 - Overcoming The Trauma Of Project Blackbird Being Cancelled 27:00 - Indie Dev Community Are Kind & Supportive 28:01 - Ironroot Games New Action-Adventure Project 29:40 - Naughty Dog Teams Were Well Connected/Small Team Sizes 32:00 - AAA Is All About Trends As Opposed To Making Games With A Heart 34:00 - Creating A Unique Game Can Be Tricky 36:30 - Advice From Bruce Straley/Pacing In Games 40:17 - Microsoft Pulled Funding For Bruce Straley’s Indie Game 41:40 - How Devs Try To Get In Front Of Layoffs/AAA Industry Isn’t Stable 43:04 - Naughty Dog Layoffs/No One Is Safe 44:00 - Last Of Us Part II/Quentin Is Glad He Didnt Work On It 45:39 - Working On Last Of Us Part 1 Was Nostalgic 46:30 - Intergalactic/Meeting His Old Naughty Dog Colleagues 48:05 - Quentin Didnt Work Much With Amy & Neil 48:58 - Q+A - Why Was India Chosen For Lost Legacy 50:17 - Is It Easier To Make A Story First Or Design Mechanics First 51:30 - Q+A - How To Get A Design Job At Naughty Dog 54:30 - A Portfolio Is More Important Than A Degree 57:19 - Q+A - What New Things Were Possible Going From PS3 To PS4 For Uncharted 58:55 - Diminishing Returns With The Next Hardware 1:00:30 - Padding In Open World Games 1:03:05 - Where To Follow Ironroot Games & Quentin

E210

6 jun 2026

1:04:46

#209 -Jake Kazdal Interview On Nintendo, Eiji Aonuma, Zelda, SEGA, Hirokazu Tanaka, Awaysis

Jake Kazdal is a japanese game developer who has worked on games such as Galak-Z and Skulls Of The Shogun, he has worked for Nintendo, SEGA and Square Enix and is releasing his new game Awaysis very soon. This is a rare pullback of the curtain on Japanese design. #nintendo #zelda #botw WEBSITE - http://awaysis.jp/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/3334760/Awaysis/ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:45 - Differences Between Japanese & Western Development 02:30 - Differences Between SEGA & Square Enix/Japanese Work Culture 07:00 - Nintendo Devs Are Retiring/Japanese Devs Are Nimble 09:15 - Kyoto’s Indie Scene/Hiring People At 17-Bit 10:39 - Japanese Labour Laws 11:40 - What Nintendo Devs Do Once They Retire/Retirement Age At Nintendo 11:46 - Nintendo Dev Legends Have Playtested Awaysis 14:11 - Playtesting With Awaysis 16:25 - Importance Of Iterating On Tutorials/What Is Awaysis 20:20 - Local Multiplayer Can’t Be Matched/Online Multiplayer/Covid 23:30 - Getting Hirokazu Tanaka To Compose Awaysis/Jake Is A Huge Nintendo Fan 25:40 - Pitch To Hirokazu Tanaka 26:50 - Physics System Of Awaysis 29:54 - Super Mario 64/Game Controls Are Too Tight Nowadays 33:28 - Graphics Take Precedent Over Physics 34:28 - The Physics System In Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom 36:40 - Being Friends With Eiji Aonuma/The Glider In BOTW 38:14 - Physics Limitations In Unreal Engine 42:24 - Zelda BOTW & TOTK Are Masterpieces/Next Zelda 43:15 - Friendship With Eiji Aonuma 44:17 - Working At SEGA/Being Mentored By Tetsuya Mizuguchi 46:19 - Working With Steven Spielberg On Elemeno/Mirrors Edge 50:21 - Original Ideas In Games Are Few & Far Between 52:30 - Oversaturation Of Indie Games/Devs Leaving The Industry 55:11 - Devs Getting Laid Off Despite Success/The Dire State Of The Industry 56:15 - Stability Working At Nintendo & Valve/Struggles For Funding 01:01:00 - Gen-Z Play GAAS/Gamers Are Playing Old Games 1:03:49 - Where To Keep Up With Awaysis

E209

23 may 2026

1:06:51

REVIEW - Super Mario Galaxy Movie With Former Nintendo Devs!!

I got together some of the old Retro Studios crew including Kynan Pearson (Metroid Prime 2,3 & DKCR), Jay Epperson (DKCR & Tropical Freeze), Eric Kozlowsky (DKC Tropical Freeze) and Brad Taylor (DKC Tropical Freeze), the latter has never appeared on the show before. Hope you enjoy this, cause we had a blast recording it. #supermariogalaxy #supermario #mariogalaxy TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:25 - Overrall Thoughts 08:30 - Fox/Starfox Movie 09:53 - Smash Bros Movie 12:00 - Super Mario World Vinettes 13:12 - Lack Of Story/Nintendo Are Still Learning How To Make Movies 14:53 - Nintendo Fans Are Aging Out 16:00 - The Movie Shouldve Been Super Mario World Instead Of Super Mario Galaxy 18:03 - No Licensed Music 19:46 - Should Mario Have A Deeper Story? 24:04 - Film Critics Don’t Respect Gaming/Video Game Films 25:01 - Peach Is OP/Super Mario Bros 2 27:15 - Where Do They Go From Here 30:21 - Rumored Star Fox Game/Fox Appearance 33:38 - Kiwi’s Opinion On The Film/Hollwood Actors Being Mario Fans 36:25 - Being An Artist And Picking Apart Art In The Movie 39:43 - The Film Should Be Watched At 0.7 Watch Speed 40:30 - Nintendo Are Hands On With Legacy Characters 43:10 - Bowser Jr 44:30 - Koopalings/3rd Mario movie/Cappy 45:30 - Super Mario Odyssey/Original Idea For SMO’s Artstyle 48:00 - The Soundtrack/Starfox 49:23 - Nintendo Cross Promotion 52:40 - DKC Tropical Freeze Original Name 53:53 - Final Thoughts/Plugs For Nothing LOL 54:57 - The Dire State Of The Game Industry

E208

9 may 2026

56:42

#207 - Heather Cerlan Interview On Naughty Dog, Bethesda, Last Of Us, Hawthorne, Creation Engine

Heather Cerlan a former artist at Naughty and Bethesda, in this interview she shares her journey from a passionate artist to a studio founder, discussing her experiences at Naughty Dog and Bethesda, her insights on game development, and her ambitious new project Hawthorne. Discover lessons on persistence, navigating industry challenges, and the future of game art and design. HAWTHORNE INFO https://playhawthorn.com/ #thelastofus #starfield #uncharted TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:55 - Being In A Rockband 02:30 - Heather Kept Pestering Naughty Dog Till They Hired Her 06:17 - Having Imposter Syndrome At Naughty Dog/Naughty Dog Didnt Have Producers 08:30 - Bethesda Are About Quantity/Naughty Dog Is About Quality 10:36 - Heather’s Role At Bethesda/Starfield 13:45 - Pros & Cons Of Creation Engine 15:05 - There Was Pressure Internally For Bethesda To Migrate To Unreal Engine 16:59 - Uncharted Lost Legacy Production Issues/Intense Crunch 22:44 - Working On The Shiva Temple 24:28 - Heather’s View On Her Work Getting Remastered/Originals Vs Remasters 29:28 - Working With Neil Druckmann/Lesbian Stories 33:04 - Heather Had Concerns On LGBTQ Themes In Last Of Us Part II 38:00 - Naughty Dog Were Split On Joel’s Death In TLOU Part II 38:48 - The Reason Heather Left Naughty Dog 40:04 - Work On Hawthorne/NEAR Studios 43:41 - Bruce Nesmith 46:00 - Hawthorne Is Skyrim Meets Stardew Valley/Raising Money/Bad Publisher Terms 48:15 - How Naughty Dog & Bethesdas Culture Has Influenced Hawthorne 51:16 - Q + A - Differences Between Naughty Dog & Bethesda 54:54 - Todd Howard Is A Neil Druckmann Fanboy 56:42 - Heather Feels Very Lucky/The Decision To Start Her Own Company 59:18 - Overcoming Fear With Hawthorne 1:05:22 - Where To Follow Heather & Keep Up With Hawthorne

E207

25 abr 2026

1:07:18

#206 - Gabriel Betancourt Interview On Naughty Dog, Last Of Us, Neil Druckmann, Lighting, Nintendo

Gabriel Betancourt is a former lighting artist at Treyarch and of course Naughty Dog. We cover his career at Naughty Dog and various other topics on the game industry. #thelastofus #lastofus #lastofuspart2 WEBSITE - https://gabereel.com/ CALORIE GAME - https://www.caloriequest.app/ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro/Gabriel Watches Kiwi Talkz & Lists His Favourite Guests 01:44 - It’s Hard To Find Info On Lighting Artists/Early Days As A Lighting Artist 03:00 - Naughty Dog Has A Designer First, Speciality Second Philosophy 06:25 - Naughty Dog Devs Had Huge Arguments During The Last Of Us 09:17 - Game Development Requires The Risk Of Offending People 13:00 - Delivering Negative News In A Positive Way 14:54 - Game Devs Being Passionate & Emotional 18:45 - Naughty Dog Changed As The Studio Got Bigger/AAA Team Sizes Are Too Big 24:43 - The Brilliance Of Nintendo/Making Your Game Fun 27:35 - 60 People Worked On World Of Warcraft/Small Teams Make The Best Games 29:38 - Graphics & Gameplay Were Even During The Seventh Generation 31:00 - Art Is Used To Cover Up Gameplay Issues 32:34 - Everyone At Naughty Dog During The Last Of Us Was A Monster In Skill 33:00 - How Gabriel Joined Naughty Dog/New IP’s Increasingly Are Risky 36:20 - Bruce Straley & Neil Druckmann Risked Their Careers For The Last Of Us 37:45 - Uncharted 2 Put Naughty Dog On The Map 38:42 - Last Of Us Happened Because Bruce & Neil Were Influenced By Robert McKee Conference 43:44 - Why Gabriel Left Naughty Dog 46:49 - Last Of Us Part 2 Pre-production Ran Like Clockwork 49:58 - Gabriel Was Surprised By The Last Of Us Part 2 Controversy/Gabriel’s Suggestion Was Shot Down By Neil 52:19 - Neil Druckmann’s Specialty/Problems With The Last Of Us Part 2 55:00 - Dubar’s Number/Bureaucracy 01:01:40 - Changes At Naughty Dog That Impacted Last Of Us Part 2 1:06:30 - Specialists Left Naughty Dog Which Created Gaps In Skills Needed In The Teams 1:07:50 - A Game Will Be Good If The Director Has A Vision 1:09:54 - Gabriel Was Initially Skeptical Of The Last Of Us 1:11:39 - On Gabriels First Day Neil & Bruce Had A Special Presentation About The Last Of Us 1:16:35 - Q+A - How Did The Lighting Change Between Uncharted & The Last Of Us 1:30:22 - Q+A - Is Baked Lighting Better Than Path Traced Lighting 1:35:00 - Lighting On GTA 6 Trailers 1:36:03 - Closing Comments/Where To Follow Gabriel

E206

18 abr 2026

1:39:50

#205 - Benson Russell Interview On Naughty Dog, The Last Of Us, Uncharted, Neil Druckmann, Scope..

Benson Russell was a former designer at Naughty Dog on The Uncharted Trilogy and The Last Of Us.He has now started his own consulting firm to help game developers navigate a lot of the pitfalls in game development. #uncharted #thelastofus #naughtydog WEBSITE FOR CONSULTING https://www.unhandledexceptions.io/ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:32 - The Most Important Aspect Of Design/Player Fantasy 02:50 - Why Games Take So Long To Make/North Star You Need For Development 05:45 - Why Naughty Dog Games Are So Well Made/Story Is Their North Star 08:18 - Games Shouldn’t Take So Long To Develop/Wandering 13:30 - Scope Neglect/The Doomsday Clock 16:00 - Why Intergalactic Crunch Happened/Naughty Dog Treats Internal Deadlines Like External Deadlines 18:23 - Bureauacracy/How Games Differ From Other Creative Outlets 23:13 - Naughty Dog’s Work Structure 26:20 - Planning/Core Mechanics 27:00 - Flexible Working Hours At Naughty Dog/Crunch At Naughty Dog 29:00 - Why Benson Left Naughty Dog 32:45 - Benson Was P!ssed Off With Naughty Dog Deleting His Work On Last Of Us Part 1 46:01 - Working With Evans Wells & Neil Druckmann 47:00 - Clashing With Neil Druckmann 50:14 - Working With Amy Hennig 51:20 - Uncharted 2’s Introduction/Creating Introductions In Games 56:00 - Focus Testing At Naughty Dog/Companies Interpret Data Wrong 1:02:30 Q+A - How Much Naughty Dog Looks At The Competition When Designing Games 1:06:10 - AAA Studios Pivoting When They Are Too Deep/Games Should Be Cheaper 1:10:00 - Cost Of Game Development On The West Coast/China’s Meteoric Rise 1:16:04 - Uncharted 2 Was Influenced By Resident Evil 5 1:16:48 - Q+A - What Is Naughty Dog’s Hiring & Training Process 1:24:00 - Why Naughty Dog Started Losing Talent 1:26:00 - Is Game Development A Young Person’s Game/Knowledge Isnt Being Passed Down 1:31:00 - Closing Comments

E205

11 abr 2026

1:32:54

#204 - Rob Carr Interview On Rockstar Games, GTA 5, GTA 6, Audio Design, AI, Red Dead Redemption....

Rob Carr is an audio designer who is best known for his tenure at Rockstar Games on L.A. Noire, RDR1, GTA 5 and RDR2. He is currently living in Finland working on his game Nyrkkipöytä #rockstargames #gta #gta5 WEBSITE - https://audioexpat.wordpress.com/ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 00:30 - How Rob Went From Being A Music Teacher To Working At Rockstar Leeds 07:51 - Moving From Handheld Games To Console Games/Rockstar Have Unlimited Resources 08:30 - The Psychology Of Sound/Finding Sounds That Sound Like Other Sounds 11:19 - There Are No Constraints On Audio With Rockstar Open World Games 13:10 - In Audio Everything You Can Use Is Recordable/Rob Has A 3TB Audio Library 15:17 - Tools & Workflow 19:50 - Technology Evolution/AI 23:51 - Rob Has Been Unemployed For Over A Year/Problems With The Game Industry/ 25:50 - Learning A Coding Language 27:40 - Difference Between Numbers People & Creative People 30:30 - Working On Audio Bugs For Red Dead Redemption 1/Why It’s One Of Rob’s Favorite Games 34:30 - Playing A Game And Not Disecting It 37:30 - The Cost Of Buying Games 39:10 - GTA 6 43:21 - Why Rob Left Rockstar 45:24 - Crunch Culture/Europe Has Better Work Life Balance 46:45 - Moving To Finland/Rob’s Brother Has Motor Neuron Disease 51:35 - Rob Can’t Relocate For Work Anymore/Dire State Of The Game Industry 53:10 - Working From Home Has Ceased Because Of Security Reasons 55:20 - Why Rob Worked At The Office During Covid 56:51 - Dealing With Ear Fatigue During Crunch/How Audio People Deal With Crunch 1:05:30 - Q+A - Do You Physically Go On Location To Get Raw Recordings 1:08:00 - Q+A -What’s Rockstar Setup To Test Audio Systems 1:10:48 - Q+A - Is There A Particular Idea That Had To Be Cut 1:13:52 - Robs Game - Nyrkkipöytä 1:21:19 - Where To Follow Rob

E204

28 mar 2026

1:25:18

Fallout Season 2 Review With Former Fallout Devs (Jonah Lobe, Bruce Nesmith etc.)

I got some of the old devs who worked on Fallout to help review Season 2 of the Fallout series. Bruce Nesmith got the time wrong so didnt join until the last 20 minutes. #fallout #falloutnewvegas #bethesda TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Fallout Is The Best Video Game Adaptation Of All Time 02:21 - Fallout S2 Thoughts Overrall 05:40 - Macauley Caulkins Acting 06:48 - Walton Goggins/The Ghoul 07:44 - Ella Purnell’s Accent As Lucy 08:40 - The Deathclaws 17:05 - The Prydwens/Factions 18:06 - Brotherhood Of Steel Tone Was Wrong 18:50 - Trust The Audience More/Have More Talking Instead Of Actions Scenes 20:21 - S2 Is A Setup For S3/The Roaches Were Scarier Than The Deathclaws 21:07 - Release Strategy 21:56 - Super Mutants/Ron Perlman 26:15 - Super Mutants In Fallout 4/Todd Howard’s Direction 26:50 - Deprioritize Brotherhood Of Steel In Fallout 5 28:10 - Bethesda’s Views On Fallout New Vegas 31:45 - Where Will S3 Go?/The Toddification Might Cause A Degrade 33:00 - Thaddeus/Keep The Show Low Key & Not Focused On Spectacle 35:55 - Casuals Buying The Games As A Result Of The Show 36:37 - Fallout 3 Remaster Will Release After S3/Remasters 37:50 - Bethesda Games Won’t Be Remade 38:57 - Deathclaw Differences Between Fallout 3 & 4 40:10 - Favourite Scenes 46:18 - Devs Give The Show A Score Out Of 10 47:00 - Making The Show Go On Indefinitely 48:13 - Bruce Nesmith Joins & Gives His Review 50:25 - Bruce’s Hopes For S3 50:45 - Will The Show Influence Fallout 5 51:56 - Bethesda Will Give Fallout 5 To Someone Else/Todd Howard 55:45 - Todd Howard’s Retirement 59:22 - Story Threads In S3 Will Be Less 1:01:20 - Hank’s Story/Will The Ghoul’s Story End In S3 1:03:30 - Practical Effects 1:04:59 - Actors Everyone Would Like In A Cameo 1:10:09 - Final Thoughts

E203

14 mar 2026

1:15:10

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