The Global Heartbeat of Music Games with David Ventura (Enduring Play S1 E4)

Season 1 Episode 4: The Global Heartbeat of Music Games

David Guiseppe Ventura is one of those creative minds who knows exactly what part of the industry he’s most excited to innovate in after two decades of shipping innovative video games: music games and cross-cultural storytelling. He lives in the liminal space between disciplines as a Creative Director and CEO of Ichigoichie Games, listening to the needs of his teams and creating spaces where creativity and unexpected experiences can thrive. In this conversation, we explore David’s career from his start at Rockstar Games and iNiS in Japan to his current work connecting European and Japanese gaming companies and their markets while shipping uniquely compelling music games, all without burning out his teams. Learn about the value of interdisciplinary empathy, and hear about why the lack of discoverability in games marketplaces is hurting indie game studios and gamers alike.

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Featured in this Episode

David Guiseppe Ventura, CEO and Creative Director at Ichigoichie

David’s twenty years of product development experience on three continents includes time worked with legendary gaming companies like iNiS and Rockstar Games before starting Ichigoichie, his studio based in Sweden blending insight about the Japanese market with European game design talent while shipping musical strategy games like Hexagroove: Tactical DJ. An experienced director proficient in graphics and audio, project management, and console game development. David speaks three languages and is a postgraduate of Carnegie Mellon University. An active contributor to the video gaming community, David is the author of numerous research papers and trade magazine articles on entertainment technology and game development and has been repeatedly featured as a speaker at the Game Developers Conference.

“In terms of collaboration, I would say that it’s about listening to what the other person says they need. And then taking that back, and digesting that, and thinking about is there something else maybe they really need? So really being able to empathize with the other members of the team and trying to figure out how to best serve them and what they’re after. You can’t always just build what the client says they need… that’s the key thing with consultancy, right? You need to really listen for something different that would serve their needs even better.”
– David Ventura

Show Notes

Supporting Links

Music Games: Industry Background	iNiS Corp. (Giant Bomb) PaRappa The Rapper Wiki (Fandom) Gitaroo Man Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan Elite Beat Agents Harmonix Music Systems Fortnite Festival Main Stage
Ichigoichie	Ichigoichie (151A) on the web Game: Hexagroove: Tactical DJ (available now) Game: Backbeat (available now) Coming soon: Tactichord Ichigoichie Records (Spotify) Ichigoichie on LinkedIn
Carnegie Mellon University program	Entertainment Technology Center
Game Credits	David Ventura on MobyGames
David Ventura’s GDC Talks	Game Career Seminar: Paint Me a Picture, Sell Me A Story Getting Hired with a Personal Touch More Getting Hired With a Personal Touch: The Side Door
David Ventura on Socials	David on Bluesky David on Linkedin

Episode Outline

Scene	Time	Description
Level 1	2:18	Career Overview
Tutorial Module	4:23	Early Virtual Reality
Host Commentary	6:54	History of music and rhythm games: iNiS
Game music sample	8:50	“Joking” from Backbeat
Level 2	9:34	Introduction to the Music game genre
Game music sample	13:11	“Cool” from Backbeat
Level 3	13:31	Emergent player behavior
Game music sample	14:23	“Techno: Mr YT” from Hexagroove (background loop)
Game description	15:46	Backbeat: Strategic Puzzling
Game music sample	15:53	“Powerslyde’s Theme” from Backbeat
Level 4	19:43	Video game industry survival skills
Game music sample	24:11	“Chill Out” from Hexagroove
Level 5	24:42	Bracing for difficult video game industry conditions
Game music sample	29:28	“Synthwave Runners Club 95” from Hexagroove
Level 6	29:37	Cross-cultural experience design
Level 7	36:23	Creative collaboration techniques
Level 8	41:00	Artificial Intelligence for game development
Level 9	45:33	Training Recommendations
Game music sample	49:39	“Powerslyde’s Theme (Finale) from Backbeat
Boss Level	49:54	Video game market discoverability
Final Podcast Level	54:57	Links and Followup
Bonus advice	55:58	Expert advice for networking on LinkedIn

Bonus Screenshots

David was kind enough to provide screenshots for our book – take a look at these for some extra visual context about the discussion of Ichigoichie’s music games. Both images are from Hexagroove: Tactical DJ.

In this Hexagroove: Tactical DJ image, the player is receiving positive feedback after successfully deploying a new loop in sync with the overall timing of the broader track, and a “quick fingers” bonus for deploying multiple loops at once. The screen is full of confetti.

This screenshot from Hexagroove: Tactical DJ depicts the “calm” moments between interactions where the player is waiting for a loop to age out. A purple ball is seen at left with a column indicating an audience member rising to meet it, and a “bounce” counter with interaction instructions seen on screen.

The Game Development Strategy Guide

David Guiseppe Ventura is featured as Player 14 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.