Episode 110 - An Interview with Andrea Alvarez from Joystick Ventures!

This week Ben is excited to talk to Andrea about her role as a project manager at Joystick Ventures for the games “Star★Vaders,” “Big Boy Boxing,” and “Chicken Police: Into the Hive!”  But first, Andrea and Ben have each been playing games with an abundance of atmospheric tension, suspense, and dare we say… creepiness.  After sharing these experiences with each other, they dive right in and have a very interesting conversation about the funding, developing, promoting, and marketing of independently made video games!

00:00:20 - Rituals, runes, pools, Pacific Drive, weeping angels, and Andrea’s introduction
00:06:18 - A startup background, changes in the games Andrea plays, and still a console girl
00:10:27 - How Joystick Ventures chooses, team diversity, and the “open world” game
00:13:38 - Development, production, and what a project manager at Joystick Ventures does
00:16:48 - Facilitating development, fostering relationships, and balancing a number of projects
00:20:51 - Hungarian game noir, challenges in working globally, and Discord communication
00:25:00 - Summer showcases, Andrea says hello to Norah, and PAX versus other trade shows
00:28:52 - Ben talks about attending PAX as press, networking for the show, and playing games
00:31:34 - Public relations, marketing, activating the pillars, and demographic strategy changes 
00:37:05 - Segmenting based on interest instead of demographics, and audience clusters
00:39:26 - New monster, determining appropriate platforms, and Steam infrastructure flexibility
00:42:32 - The growth of Steam, the FTC’s noncompete announcement, and speculation 
00:46:15 - Movement toward independent games, and closing the show

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References, Links, and Tags

Joystick Ventures - https://www.joystickventures.com/

Star★Vaders - https://star-vaders.com/
Wishlist Star★Vaders on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/2097570/StarVaders/
Check out the 2VP episode we did with Star★Vaders lead designer Eddie - 
https://www.twovaguepodcast.com/e/episode-94-nature/ 

Big Boy Boxing from Soupmasters -  https://soupmasters.com/
Wishlist Big Boy Boxing on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1680780/Big_Boy_Boxing/
Check out the 2VP episode we did with Big Boy Boxing lead designer Martin - https://www.twovaguepodcast.com/e/episode-95-animate/

Chicken Police: Into the Hive (the sequel to Chicken Police: Paint hit Red) by The Wild Gentlemen - https://thewildgentlemen.com/
Wishlist CP:ItH on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/2362090/Chicken_Police_Into_the_HIVE/

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