Alternate World Podcast: Cole Medeiros, from Gubs to Stardew Valley
In this thoughtful and often hilarious conversation, Brian sits down with game designer, entrepreneur, producer, and storyteller Cole Medeiros to explore a career that spans board games, social games, Kickstarter projects, mobile gaming, and eventually helping steward the remarkable success of Stardew Valley. The discussion centers on creativity, storytelling, game design philosophy, career growth, and the tension between making products for business versus making things you genuinely love.
Note from Brian:
Cole Medeiros designed and self-published the game Gubs, joined Zynga to design games, worked on three of the biggest — CityVille, Mafia Wars and FrontierVille - then went on to continue his creative journey at Storm8 & Jam City.
He’s launched a successful kickstarter, acted in a two-person play, written a book that’s publishable now — but he’s not quite ready to do so, and most recently designed the Stardew Valley board game.
Today, he runs operations & business development for Stardew Valley, that is, when he’s not helping his kids become better humans.
Topics Covered
* Why storytelling sits at the heart of great games
* Early influences from board games, roleplaying games, and Magic
* Historical and educational games
* The creation and evolution of Gubs
* Self-publishing and pitching games to retailers
* Kickstarter lessons and independent publishing
* Life and lessons at Zynga
* Mafia Wars, CityVille, and social gaming’s boom years
* Product management versus game design
* The emotional realities of working in commercial game development
* Storm8 and Jam City’s differing approaches to game creation
* Building the Stardew Valley board game
* Iteration and balancing games after launch
* Independent creators versus corporate development
* Star Trek as a design inspiration
* Solo gaming, simulation systems, and emergent storytelling
* Career growth through helping people rather than just building products
* The relationship between creativity, business, and personal fulfillment
Memorable Moments
* Cole explaining that what he loves most about games is not winning, but the stories players tell afterward.
* The origin story of Gubs, which began as hand-drawn cards created when he was a child and evolved into a commercially successful game.
* Brian’s affectionate observation that Cole is “not a linear being” because of his unusually diverse mix of talents and interests.
* Stories about literally walking homemade card decks into local game stores and asking owners to stock them.
* Cole describing the realization that he was often functioning more as a “mechanic” than an artist while working on social games.
* The discussion of how Eric Barone’s approach to Stardew Valley often starts with a simple question: “Let’s make something we would enjoy playing.”
