In this third episode, of Growing Pains, GDL host and Games Strategy Consultant, Jay Uppal sits down with Kamen Brestnichki, an AI researcher and Co-founder of Martian Lawyers Club, a newly founded Indie Games Studio based out of the UK. They dive into all things AI, discussing the hype behind the AI ecosystem and the broader ramifications of AI technologies in games and beyond. Growing Pains is a series focusing on key business trends and people shaping the Global Games Market and their impact on the Games Industry. In this series Jay speaks with industry leaders across the Games and Gametech space; trying to demystify the industry, understand the state of leadership, and answer the all-important question 'Is having a fun game still enough to succeed in today's games market?' Jay Uppal https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayant-uppal-18ab34a5/ Kamen Brestnichki https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamen-brestnichki https://martianlawyers.club/ https://x.com/MartianLawyers https://store.steampowered.com/app/2824790/GUG

Episode 3 Segments: 00:00 Introduction to Episode Three 04:45 What is AI? 12:25 Using AI to Make Games 21:47 Humans vs AI 31:05 MLC's AI Stack 34:40 Ethics of Using AI for Development 42:05 Advice for New Adopters 45:10 Do we need Intelligent NPCs? 52:15 Efficacy of No-code 56:00 State of the AI Ecosystem 01:00:10 AGI and the Singularity 01:04:35 Favourite Games 01:07:10 Ending Segment + Learning Resources

In this episode, Ioana from Mojiworks joins Oscar on his Podquest to learn everything about game development to explore how to design games meant for sharing, which is also the topic of her new book with CRC press.

This week I am joined by my friend, Nicholas, who is a narrative designer, artist, and founder of Essay Games. His artwork and games have been featured in Kotaku, Rock Paper Shotgun, Game Developer, Critical Distance, Unwinnable, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. His games are interesting, thoughtful, and delve deeply into human stories. While his last two games relied on his skill for research, his current undertaking, Bundle of Joy, draws on his recent experience of becoming a parent during the pandemic. We speak at length about creativity as a practice and what his personal go-to tools are to tell stories and create games Wishlist Bundle of Joy: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3138370/Bundle_of_Joy/ https://bsky.app/profile/essaygames.bsky.social https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-o-brien-essaygames/ https://essaygames.itch.io/