Podcast Interview with PixelPop Festival organizers Carol Mertz & Jeremy Johnson
On September 12th and 13th, PixelPop Festival returns for its second year in St. Louis. Nerd For A Living is proud to be a sponsor of the event for the second time. PixelPop celebrates gaming and gamer culture, and explores careers and hobbies in game development. This includes traditional video games, mobile gaming, and also tabletop gaming.
Pixel Pop launched in 2014 as a one-day event powered by a successful Kickstarter. This year it has expanded to two days, with more programming, game demos and featured industry speakers.
In this episode, Wendy and Adron talk with PixelPop founders Carol Mertz and Jeremy Johnson.
Jeremy Johnson is an event organizer who operates Dynamic Midwest Events. He is the show runner for the annual Anime St. Louis convention, which celebrated its 10th year in 2015.
Carol Mertz is co-founder of Happy Badger Studio, a St. Louis-based game development company. She’s also the chair of the St. Louis Game Developer Co-Op, which provides support, community, resources, and events for game creators.
We talk about creating, promoting and running a small convention, and the challenge of growing events for niche audiences. We also spend a fair amount of time geeking out about the new opportunities available for game developers and the exciting array of new gaming experiences on the market.
Click here to download the podcast.
Jeremy Johnson
If life is an RPG, Jeremy Johnson put one too many points in charisma and none in dexterity. But his lack of rouge-like stealth is made up for in years of convention planning, being involved in Anime St. Louis for over 10 years and counting. His love of pop-culture promotion drives him to continue creating and improving events to drive and inspire current and future creators of fantastic content.
Carol Mertz
Carol is a partner at indie game company Happy Badger Studio and chairperson of the St. Louis Game Developer Co-Op. Between making games and hosting game dev events, Carol spends a substantial amount of her time encouraging and helping others to make games that they can be proud of. Because if there are two things she likes to see, it’s good games and happy people.
More from PixelPop Festival, Carol Mertz and Jeremy Johnson
- Visit the PixelPop website
- Like PixelPop on Facebook
- Follow the festival on Twitter: @PixelpopFest
- Follow Carol Mertz on Twitter: @carolmertz
- Follow Anime St. Louis on Twitter: @AnimeStLouis
- Follow STL GameDev Co-op on Twitter: @stlgamedev
You should also check out…
- Podcast #16 with Carol Mertz & Dana Huth of Happy Badger Studio
- Podcast #40: ‘How to be a Nerd for a Living’ Panel from Wizard World St. Louis 2015 (including Carol Mertz)
- PixelPop Festival 2014 Photo Recap
- Article: Let Me Help You Help Me Help You (by Carol Mertz)
This production included music from audionautix.com.