How to Create Innovative Game Designs, with Nick Fortugno

Playmakers - The Game Industry Podcast

Nick Fortugno is an entrepreneur, interactive narrative designer, and game designer based in New York City. He is a founder and principal of Playmatics, a game development company that has created a variety of digital and real-world experiences for organizations including Pro Publica, Red Bull, AMC (such as the CableFAX award-winning Breaking Bad: The Interrogation), Disney, American Museum of Natural History, the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Red Cross/Red Crescent. Nick has taught game design and interactive narrative design for 15 years at institutions such as Columbia University and the Parsons School of Design and has participated in the construction of game design and immersive storytelling curriculum.

You’ll likely want to listen to this episode more than once with topics spanning:

• Nick’s professional journey from intern to Founder & CCO
• The top two lessons Nick learned while keeping his company afloat when other competitors failed
• The game-changing principles of game design he’s picked up over the course of his career
• Failing up in game design: making and breaking
• MDA as an approach to game design and how he utilizes this technique
• What Nick looks for when hiring game designers and producers: what’s taught in school vs. what needs to be cultivated
• AI in the gaming technology forecast

Resources Mentioned:

• Connect with Nick on LinkedIn
• Connect with Nick on Twitter
• Learn more about Playmatics
• Check out the Come Out and Play Street Games Festival