I am joined by Steve Ince who is an artist, game designer and writer working on games from Revolution Software such as Broken Sword and Aaron Fothergill previously from Argonaut Games and now with Shifty Eye Games as we discuss more gaming, gadgets and technology both retro and modern.
James Woodcock is a UK-based freelance journalist, copywriter, author, blogger and podcaster with a passion for gaming, gadgets and technology, both retro and modern. He is also the founder of Pixel Refresh, which originally started as his personal blog in 2006 and was later rebranded to Pixel Refresh in 2021.
Ever since he experienced the first controllable pixel movement on the television screen, he has been entranced by the possibilities and rewarding entertainment value generated from these metal and plastic boxes of delight. Writing hundreds of articles, including commentary and reviews on various gaming platforms, whilst also interviewing well-known industry figures for popular online publications.
Writing games as a small team (myself and my brother usually) since the 80s for ST, Amiga, Mac and PC. Through an interesting sequence of buyouts joined Argonaut Games in 1997, primarily focusing on gameplay code. Worked on Croc 2 (PS1/PC), Aladdin Nazira’s Revenge (PS1/PC), Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone (PS1), Bionicle (GBA), Bionicle (PS2,PC,XBox, GC) and Catwoman (PS2,XBox,GC) while working on Mac games in my spare time, including Airburst and the Apple Design Award winning ToySight.
Born and raised in Hull, Steve studied Astronomy and Astrophysics at Newcastle University before taking on jobs as varied as bingo hall management and metal refinery worker. At the age of thirty five he joined the games industry at Revolution Software as an artist and has developed this creative career ever since, now working as a freelance writer and artist.
Steve gained a nomination for Excellence in Writing at the Game Developers Choice Awards in 2004 for Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon and received a second nomination in 2008 from the Writersโ Guild of Great Britain for his writing on So Blonde.
Steveโs book, Writing for Video Games, was published by A&C Black and has sold throughout the world, sometimes used as a text in game writing courses. This has recently been followed by the books, An Introduction to Game Writing and 201 Things for Better Game Writing.
Regularly invited to speak at conferences around the world, Steve enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience. His short film, Payment, was released a couple of years ago to critical acclaim.
He has written three fiction books, two of which are for children that he also illustrated. He undertakes illustration work for other writers, too. He has been working on a climate change app aimed at young children but is now concentrating his creativity on further books.
