Script Lock

About Script Lock

Writers Max and Nick Folkman sit down with other writers and developers to discuss storytelling in video games.

Publisher

Max Folkman, Nick Folkman

Category

leisure · leisure · technology

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

2 Oct 2015

Latest episode

9 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 84 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   9 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Courtney Woods & Ari Martinez

   Host Alex Smith interviews game designers Courtney Woods and Ari Martinez about the thematic and narrative design of "Ghost of Yotei," revealing insights into creating resonant game experiences.

2. 

   22 Dec 2025

   Yuri Lowenthal & Nhi Do

   Happy holidays!!! We have returned from the crisp winter cold of work deadlines with a brand new episode containing Yuri Lowenthal AND Nhi Do! They join us to discuss coming from theater, crazy requests they’ve made in the booth, how they’ve managed to develop deep relationships were certain studios, not knowing where your character is going in a story, how they prefer to receive direction, favorite/least favorite pieces of direction, do they ever push back when they see a line that doesn’t feel right for the characters, has the way they’ve handled auditions changed over the years, what it’s like being married to actors, how often they make discoveries with a character after they’ve started recording, is there a game or character they’ve wished they worked on, and so much more!

3. 

   21 Jul 2025

   Karrie Shao & Ros Dachtler

   We're over halfway through 2025 and we've got Karrie and Ros in to talk about breaking into games via Craigslist, what Ros has been up to since working on Battlefield 1, who/what taught them the most about storytelling, changing a game in response to fans, how Karrie’s experience making escape rooms and working in marketing influenced her narrative work, handholding players too much, rules they adhere to for getting exposition across successfully to players, how to make a good opening, how they feel about games that get “good” after a certain amount of time, favorite openings, favorite and least favorite tools for storytelling, strategies for breaking through creative blocks, things they’ve had to unlearn in their work, the rule of cool, how do you tell when something is funny enough, and how open you should be with artistic intent after releasing something.

Inside a recent episode

Courtney Woods & Ari Martinez

Published 9 Jun 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] That's a great answer. And then Nido asked, when you're working out minutiae of a game, how do you make sure to bring it back to the game's overarching theme and not get lost in the details? Have a strong vision, a strong guiding star that you really can ask on every level, does this serve that overall vision? Is this going to add to that or... Is it just fluff? Yeah, I'm going to repeat something some peeps might have heard me say before, but it's the diamond, right? It's whatever your theme or your premise is, right? This sentence of what you're trying to say, that's a diamond. Diamond has different facets, different ways of looking at things. […]

Who has been a guest on Script Lock

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Courtney Woods
• Ari Martinez
• Brendon Chung
• Laura Michet
• Chase Dodge

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

36 ratings

Spotify

4.9 / 5

27 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 42 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

48

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

92

Contact Script Lock

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Script Lock