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The games we love reveal something true about who we are, and about the world that made them. They Create Worlds is a podcast about the people, technology, and forces that built the video game industry.
Through video game history, the show looks at how culture, business, and technology shaped what we play, tracing the choices and circumstances that led to the games so many people around the world enjoy.
Each episode digs into where games came from, who made them, and why they were made the way they were. Business decisions, technological shifts, and creative choices all shaped what ended up on screen, and the show covers all of it together, not just one piece in isolation.
Hosted by Alex Smith and Jeffrey Daum, They Create Worlds grew out of long conversations about the strange corners of the industry and the patterns that only show up when you look across companies, platforms, and decades. That conversational feel remains, built on careful research, clear structure and editing that makes even the deepest topics easy to listen to.
History turns out to be less settled than it looks. New documents surface, memories conflict, and the clean stories about why things happened the way they did rarely survive contact with the evidence. The show digs into all of that, following the creative and business forces that pushed and pulled on each other, and uncovering the human stories that lie beneath the games so many people around the world enjoy.
New episodes are released twice a month.
Episodes
Wednesday Apr 15, 2026
Wednesday Apr 15, 2026
TCW Podcast Episode 256 - Cinemaware
Bob Jacob launched Cinemaware to fuse movies and video games on Amiga, hiring journalist Kellyn Beeck to design Defender of the Crown's medieval themes. Programmer John Cutter led in-house development after massive outside studio delays, tapping coder R.J. Michael for an intense programming marathon to barely hit deadline and make Defender the Amiga's killer app. Lone coders followed with Doug Sharp's janky Macintosh hypercard-style King of Chicago and Bill Williams' Sinbad, creator of Mind Walker. Licensed properties piled on, Rocket Ranger, Three Stooges, and Lords of the Rising Sun, plus TV Sports Football that inspired EA Sports' empire. Jacob chased Academy Award glory with a 1927 Wings adaptation you couldn't lose, featuring a story told by WWI pilot journals where downed fliers were memorialized via an end credits roll. With poor Amiga reception in the US, loyalty to the system cost them dearly. Pivots to consoles like obscure View-Master Interactive Vision and failed TurboGrafx-16 prevented a PC shift. Amid financial difficulties, Jacob sold Cinemaware in parts after just five years.
TCW 082 - An Unlikely Pairing of Siliwood: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW082
TCW 246 - The History of Commodore Pt 3: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW246
Kellyn Beeck - Atari Battlezone for the U.S. Army: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ppv5B6Lwcc
Kellyn Beeck - The Pac-Man Zone: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ClEuynw--YQ
Kellyn Beeck - Final Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfW6h1_yrvY
Commodore Power Play Issue 13 (Page 66 - Who Will Design The Perfect Game? - by Kellyn Beeck): https://archive.org/details/commodore-power-play-13/page/n67/mode/2up
TCW 094 - Epyx not Epic: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW094
Defender of the Crown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1qqoczc0m8
SDI (Amiga): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLOAkpOKWno
The King of Chicago (Macintosh): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2Oi6a68MqE
The King of Chicago (Amiga): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLaDhmIdvcs
Mind Walker (Amiga): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NygI9u_10Vs
Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon (Amiga): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flpTfx0jaMw
The Three Stooges (Amiga): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAu-XvxV3zs
Rocket Ranger (Amiga): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6vIHcxGyIA
Lords of the Rising Sun (Amiga): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAfMrJ3rpSw
TV Sports Football (TurboGrafx 16): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKYCgHhHquM
TV Sports Basketball (Amiga): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gdIRB-6s_k
Wings (Amiga): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL-qtxNgoHU
Wings (1927 Film): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jf7Qn1IJsY
View-Master Interactive Vision (Sesame Street): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7ZciCfgjmg
View-Master Interactive Vision (Muppets - You're the Director): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i56ym5vZpQU
View-Master Interactive Vision (Disney Interactive Arcade): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31QN5aT_RHw
Green Eyed Lady by Sugarloaf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYbmls7c8EM
Aspen Interactive Movie Map: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf6LkqgXPMU
TCW 042 - Laser Craze: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW042
Them! (1954 Trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4URRp39XOo
It Came From the Desert (Amiga): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8LaMMSEs5Q
It Came From the Desert (Turbo Grafx 16): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVFQXnukUvQ
New episodes are on the 1st and 15th of every month!
TCW Email: feedback@theycreateworlds.com
BlueSky: @theycreateworlds.bsky.social
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theycreateworlds
Alex's Video Game History Blog: http://videogamehistorian.wordpress.com
Alex's book: http://bit.ly/TCWBOOK1
Intro Music: Josh Woodward - Airplane Mode - Music - "Airplane Mode" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/song/AirplaneMode
Outro Music: RoleMusic - Bacterial Love: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Rolemusic/Pop_Singles_Compilation_2014/01_rolemusic_-_bacterial_love
Copyright: Attribution: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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