Season 1 Episode 3: Creative Strategy for Thriving Teams
Sometimes life is stranger than fiction: hear from two veteran video game producers about the nuances of navigating design for AAA games and the world’s biggest IP, even when things get weird. In this episode, I reunite with longtime friend and former colleague Amy Kalson. Currently an Executive Design Producer for VR at Meta, Amy is an accomplished game designer and producer who worked with me as Lead Designer on Disney Friends DS. We start with a brief journey into Radio Lab territory to recount one of the world’s weirdest pitch meetings before diving into deeper topics like effective game leadership, the varied role of video game producers, the art of effective creative collaboration video game labor rights, and how our shared experience at Electronic Arts during the EA_Spouse era influenced our perspective on what really matters when leading game development teams.
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Featured in this Episode:
Amy Kalson, Executive Design Producer
Amy Kalson has held roles in game design and production through to Creative Director and Chief Product Officer. Her work spans major brands like Maxis, Disney, PopCap, and Bad Robot Games, and includes the title Disney Friends DS on which she worked alongside Cheryl Platz. She currently works as an Executive Design Producer helping define the future of VR at Meta.
Show Notes
Quotable Moment
“Early on in my career I thought making a great game was enough… Now that I’m older I really think about it differently. Making great games is not enough. I think it’s great to make great products and to put them out there and to make people happy, but I also want to work on great teams. I also want to help people make their dreams come true as well. And that making great products at the expense of others is not worth it. You know, if you’re doing it at the expense of others, you’re doing it wrong.”
– Amy Kalson
Supporting Links
| Disney Friends DS | Disney Friends (Wikipedia) Disney Friends Play Video (YouTube) |
| EA_Spouse and Video Game Labor Rights | EA_Spouse Original Post EA_Spouse Livejournal Followup Former EA devs reflect on work culture 14 years later EA Spouse And the Crisis of Video Game Labour (Canadian Journal of Communication) |
| IGDA Quality of Life Reports | http://www.igda.org/qol/ |
| Amy’s career in Europe | Subway Surfers developer hires PopCap’s Amy Kalson (GameDeveloper.biz) |
| Amy Kalson on the Internet | LinkedIn IMDB MobyGames |
Episode Outline
| Scene | Time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Podcast Start | 1:31 | Introductions |
| Level 1 | 3:03 | Milestone Review |
| Host Commentary | 7:50 | Stranger than Fiction |
| Level 2 | 8:15 | Career Advice |
| Tutorial Level | 10:45 | EA_Spouse, Video Game Labor Rights |
| Level 3 | 13:50 | Planning and Production |
| Level 4 | 17:40 | Innovation, Iteration, and Playtesting |
| Level 5 | 21:52 | Adapting designs for emotions and age groups |
| Level 6 | 26:21 | Variety in video game production roles |
| Tutorial Level | 31:54 | Creative Collaboration Technique |
| Level 7 | 35:00 | Global culture and communication in Game Design |
| Level 8 | 43:42 | Strategy for video game leadership |
| Level 9 | 46:21 | Interpreting IP for Games |
| Final Boss Level | 52:00 | Future of Technology in Gaming |
Bonus Photos: Disney Friends DS Development
As promised in the episode, here’s an image of the custom sketch Lilo and Stitch creator Chris Sanders did for our game development team when I was in Los Angeles directing a voice recording session with him for our game. I’ve also included a few other snapshots from our time on the game. We neglected to take a photo of the incident from the Milestone Review, since cell phones weren’t yet ubiquitous.
The Game Development Strategy Guide
Amy Kalson is featured as Player 7 in Cheryl Platz’s new book, The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games that Thrive. Pre-order before the release on September 16, 2025 direct from publisher RosenfeldMedia.com to receive 15% off, and a free ebook with every physical purchase.
