Season 3 of the Signal Award-winning Enduring Play will shift to a biweekly format, releasing every other Tuesday while still bringing 10 interviews with 11 veteran game developers and academics exploring concrete case studies and insights from their past and present work.
Listen to Season 3 Episode 1
Topics include:
- Generational shifts in gaming
- The relationship between UX and Game Design
- Collaboration as a critical game dev skill
- Gaming for kids and families
- Video games for comfort, self-regulation, and therapy
- Breaking OUT of gaming while using game dev skills
- Venture capital in gaming
- Evolving trends in indie game releases
- Motivators of Play like companionship, education, and self-expression
Enduring Play is a human-crafted podcast by host Cheryl Platz intended for a wide audience: she intentionally and thoughtfully curates guests and questions that spotlight cutting-edge themes that often push the boundaries of the latest trends in gaming, but with enough additional context on terms, history, and best practices that even fans of gaming and aspiring game developers can follow along.
Browse by Cover Art – Guest Gallery – Episode List
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Double Signal Award Winning Podcast (2026)
The Signal Awards recognizes the podcasts that define culture. The awards body is mission-focused on uplifting the podcast medium by recognizing the most potent, meaningful and unprecedented audio projects being made today as decided by The Signal Awards Judging Academy.
Enduring Play was named a Gold Winner in the Signal Awards Solopreneur Podcast category and Bronze Winner in the Gaming and Actual Play category for 2026.
Browse by Cover Art
Guest Gallery
Episode List
| Episode | Guest | Episode name | Date | Topics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dr. Christopher Maverick | A New Career Narrative for Game Developers | October 27, 2026 | UX and Game Design, video game education, game dev skills in other industries, generational gaming trends, gaming for preteens, |
| 2 | Victoria Aleexeev | Video Games as Emotional Strength Training | psychology, video games as therapy, player motivations, player behaviors, research, coping frameworks | |
| 3 | Jonathan Hau-Yoon and Sabrina Becker | Powering Near-Infinite Self-Expression in Dressmaker | Indie games, crafting games, cozy games, South African game dev, prototyping, iteration, player self-expression | |
| 4 | Amir Satvat | From Crisis to Community | game dev communities, venture capital, advocacy, business development, indie games, community organizing, hiring practices | |
| 5 | Dr. Rachel Kowert | The Future of Family Video Gaming | digital leadership, parental guidance, community standards, ethical leadership | |
| 6 | Evan Berman | Global Community Management Demystified | ||
| 7 | TBD | |||
| 8 | TBD | |||
| 9 | TBD | |||
| 10 | TBD |
AI Disclosure
Enduring Play is a human-crafted podcast by Cheryl Platz that explores what it takes to craft video games (and teams) that don’t just survive, but thrive. The editing process is an integral part of how she determines the thesis of the episode and what to say, what to add as asides, and how to frame the content for maximum impact.
Human Crafting for Episode Content
- All interview questions are drafted by Cheryl and sent to participants in advance.
- Episodes are recorded as raw audio and video in Zencastr.
- The raw audio is downloaded and downsampled to mono in Adobe Audition and mixed into a multitrack editor.
- Cheryl edits by hand in Adobe Audition.
- Notes are made manually in Notion.
- When Cheryl needs voiceover, she records her own voice and applies track-level effects (like the Computer Voice, which is Cheryl’s voice modulated.)
- Sound effects are sourced from licensed stock libraries.
- Themes were manually composed by Cheryl Platz using Bandlab looping tools.
- Episode drafts are reviewed by a beta listener when possible
- Cover art is hand-edited by Cheryl Platz in Adobe Illustrator
- Show notes are hand-edited by Cheryl Platz in WordPress
- Episode distribution is configured manually by Cheryl Platz in Libsyn
Moderate AI Post-Production Assistance
Minimal use of AI-powered tools for support, transcription, and social media video editing allows Cheryl to manage her physical disability and keep a modern production schedule without funding (which she can’t solicit while fully employed elsewhere.)
- Some internet searches are conducted in AI mode on Google / Gemini’s free mode, but facts are verified via links
- Background removal of photos is done using Adobe Photoshop
- Transcripts are generated in Otter.ai, although extensive manual corrections are required
- Episode outlines are initially generated via Otter.ai, and then manually updated
- Transcripts are exported to SRT and PDF
- When time allows, social media video clips are generated using Zencastr’s AI-powered video editing suite.