S2 E7 Episode Title: Bringing Technical Design to Higher Game Dev Education with Jo Cronk
From software engineer to technical designer to game design professor – Jo Cronk has turned a successful career bridging the gap between engineers and creatives at companies like Crystal Dynamics and Snowblind Studios into a thriving career as an Assistant Professor of Technical Design at one of the top-rated game development schools in the world, DigiPen Institute of Technology. Jo brings extensive technical prowess and a mastery of game design techniques to both their course material and their approach to teaching. In this episode, we explore what technical design really means, the complexities of ideation and pre-production in the game development process, specific advice for navigating prototyping, the intricacies of video game engines, modern video game development curriculums, and much more. There are also some unexpected insights about human behavior, like how younger students show up in class and how that maps to disruptive behavior we see in games. Whether you’re considering a video game education or looking to better understand your younger audiences and engineering colleagues, there’s something in this episode for you.
Listen Now: Season 2 Episode 7
Enduring Play Season 2 Episode 7 Transcript
AI disclosure: While no AI is used in the production of this podcast aside from background removal on some guest photos, Otter.ai is used to assist in transcription of these episodes as I have a physical disability that would prevent manual transcription in time for broadcast. I review these transcripts to catch major inaccuracies, but they may still be somewhat inaccurate. Please report major issues to info@ideaplatz.com.
Featured in this episode: Jo Cronk [they/them]
Assistant Professor, DigiPen Institute of Technology
Jo Cronk is a software engineer with multiple decades of professional game industry experience, mostly in areas related to gameplay programming and tools development. Their past employers in the video game industry include Microsoft, Crystal Dynamics, SnowBlind Studios, and PopCap Games. Some of Jo’s best known shipped titles include Age of Empires: Rise of Rome, Close Combat III: The Russian Front, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – Legend, Justice League Heroes, and Plants vs. Zombies 2: It’s About Time.
Jo currently teaches Technical Design and Computer Science at DigiPen Institute of Technology while pursuing a Masters in Computer Science, specializing in Machine Learning. When scheduling allows, they enjoy working on personal R&D projects and consulting for independent game studios.
Show Notes
Jo’s Links
| Jo Kronk on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocronk/ |
| Jo Kronk, faculty at DigiPen Institute of Technology | https://www.digipen.edu/about/our-faculty/design#JoCronk |
Reference Materials
| History of Tomb Raider | https://www.pcgamer.com/the-history-of-tomb-raider/ |
| Prototyping and Pre-Production | A Playful Production Process by Richard Lemarchand Catastrophic Prototyping and Other Stories |
| Experience Goals from Tracy Fullerton | Book Excerpt: Game Design Workshop |
| Princeton Review Rankings 2026: Game Design | https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/game-design/top-25-game-design-grad https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=top-50-game-design-ugrad |
| DigiPen Game Design Curriculum | https://www.digipen.edu/academics/game-design-and-development-degrees/ba-in-game-design |
| Video Game Engines | https://unity.com https://unrealengine.com https://godotengine.org |
Show Outline
| Podcast Start | 2:31 | Introductions |
| Level 1 | 5:08 | Defining Technical Designer |
| Tutorial Level | 7:38 | Prototyping as a Game Dev tool |
| Level 2 | 9:13 | Technical Design on Tomb Raider |
| Narrative Cutscene | 11:15 | The Tomb Raider Franchise |
| Level 3 | 12:47 | When does prototyping stop? |
| Level 4 | 15:44 | The struggle at small studios |
| Level 5 | 17:59 | Slowing down to speed up |
| Host Commentary | 21:14 | Experience Goals |
| Level 6 | 22:29 | Using templates to jumpstart creativity |
| Narrative Cutscene | 24:07 | Educational video game programs |
| Level 8 | 27:00 | Navigating interdisciplinary teams |
| Narrative cutscene | 31:25 | Video game engines |
| Level 9 | 33:01 | The why of engine programming |
| Level 10 | 35:51 | Development deep dive: update loops |
| Level 11 | 37:45 | The lost art of optimization |
| Host commentary | 39:27 | Scale matters |
| Level 12 | 40:28 | The hardware replacement cycle |
| Level 13 | 43:00 | Biz dev dog and pony show |
| Level 14 | 48:37 | Disruptive behavior in the classroom |
| Level 15 | 54:17 | Inspiring students with game design techniques |
| Level 16 | 59:26 | Teaching while indie |
| Final boss level | 1:02:38 | Artificial intelligence and game development education |
| Final level | 1:06:02 | Links and follow up |
| Credits | 1:08:23 | Credits sequence |
The Game Development Strategy Guide
Enduring Play is the companion podcast to The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games that Thrive. Season 1 features the interviews that inspired the book, and Season 2 expands our understanding of how to create sustainable gaming experiences. The book is available at all major online booksellers and at publisher Rosenfeld Media’s website.
Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order – and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 offer expires July 31, 2026.
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