Conversation 01
Hakeem (Game Developer)
A game developer’s perspective on building work, finding language for it, and staying close to community.
Watch on YouTube ↗Games / people / culture
Video game
podcast
Original conversations with the creators, builders, and community giving games their voice, their shape, and their staying power.
Beyond the screen
Games get richer when the people behind them get heard.
A game can arrive as a release date, a trailer, a stream, or a favorite late-night session. The work that gives it life usually begins much earlier, with people asking better questions, making difficult calls, and finding ways to keep an idea moving when the path is not obvious.
Jams and Joysticks sits down with the people carrying that work. The conversations leave room for the creative spark, the discipline it takes to build something real, and the community that helps an idea find its audience. It is a place to hear the fuller story from people doing the work, not just commentary about it.
Start with a real voice
See every episode →Meet people shaping games from different directions. Pick a perspective that pulls you in, then follow it into the wider archive.
Conversation 02
Jordan Horton (Creative Director, Wakeup Super Studios)
A creative director’s view from inside the choices, teams, and culture that shape a playable world.
Watch on YouTube ↗
Conversation 03
Timothy Fields (Community Builder)
A community builder’s perspective on the relationships that help creative work find a home and keep moving forward.
Watch on YouTube ↗A place to begin
A video game podcast for the questions that stay with you.
Find language for the work.
Creative work is easier to carry when you can hear how other people describe their first steps, their hard choices, and the habits that helped them keep going. Take a useful question back to your own sketchbook, build, or conversation.
See how roles connect.
Games are not made by one discipline alone. Design, technology, art, music, leadership, and community all influence what a player experiences. These conversations make the connections visible without pretending there is only one route into the work.
Get closer to the people.
A favorite game can mean more when you understand the taste, care, and relationships behind it. Listen for the stories that make a credit roll feel less distant, then pass an episode to someone who would appreciate the perspective.
What the archive holds
Not a highlight reel. A record of people making things matter.
The archive is built for the moments that do not always fit inside the usual conversation around games. The first time a person sees a possibility in their work. The collaborator who changed a project. The small creative choice that became the center of an experience. The community that helped someone feel they had a place to contribute.
Creative choices in context.
Guests can talk about more than the finished result. The conversation makes room for influences, tradeoffs, and the instincts that guided their work. That gives listeners a clearer way to notice the decisions that shape the games they care about.
Routes that feel human.
There is no single career story hidden in these episodes. A listener may hear a route through design, a studio, a card table, a community event, or a creative practice that does not fit a neat label. That variety is useful because the field needs more than one kind of person.
Connections worth carrying forward.
One good conversation can make a project feel less lonely. It can offer a name for a problem, introduce a role someone had not considered, or make a person feel seen before they have found the words to explain why they care about games.
How to listen
Bring your curiosity. Leave with a better next question.
If you are building a game, start with the guest whose role feels nearest to the decision in front of you. Listen for the part of their story that sounds less polished and more useful: the creative limit they had to work within, the conversation that changed their direction, or the way they kept a project connected to the people it was for.
If you are exploring where you fit, treat the archive like a room full of introductions. A developer conversation might lead you toward design. A creative director’s perspective might make you notice the work of a producer. A builder’s story may remind you that community is also part of how games take shape and travel.
If you care about the culture around games, follow the people, not only the headlines. Games live longer when the communities around them can recognize the care, taste, and work involved. Sharing an episode is a simple way to bring another voice into that circle.
The best conversations do not ask you to copy a route. They give you more ways to think about your own. Return when you need a fresh perspective, when a collaborator needs encouragement, or when you want to spend time with someone who takes games seriously enough to talk about the people behind them.
Keep exploring
Follow the thread that feels closest to your work.
Some listeners want a broad view of games. Others want to go deeper into independent work, game development, or game music. Jams and Joysticks has room for each starting point, while keeping the people behind the work at the center.
Start where your curiosity has the most energy. A developer may want to hear how another builder made a difficult decision. A player may be drawn to the culture around a studio or creative practice. Someone new to the field may be looking for proof that there are many ways to contribute. The archive is designed to meet each of those starting points with a voice that feels grounded in real work.
Frequently asked questions
Good to know
What is Jams and Joysticks?
Jams and Joysticks is a video game podcast and conversation space for creators, builders, and community. Episodes explore the people, choices, and relationships behind the games and culture they help shape.
Who are the conversations for?
Start here if you make games, care about game culture, want to understand a role more clearly, or simply want to hear the people behind the work speak for themselves. You do not need a title or a finished project to belong in the conversation.
Where can I watch or listen?
Watch full conversations on YouTube, listen on Spotify, or browse the episode archive here. Each route leads to the same growing collection of creator stories and practical perspectives.
What kinds of guests appear on the show?
The archive includes game developers, designers, creative directors, card game creators, community builders, and other people whose work helps games reach players and bring people together.
Stay in the conversation
Meet the people behind the games you love.
Watch original conversations across games, music, and culture, then bring someone from your community into the mix.