Getting to work with PAYDAY is a big opportunity. Turning it into a Fortnite game that players understand is a different challenge. Leo Linderoth, Creative Director at OceanWave Games, joins me to explain how a conversation with Starbreeze became Heist Escape Roguelike: PAYDAY Experience. We talk about the pitch, the freedom his team had to reinterpret the IP, and why the game's name needed to explain the experience before anyone pressed play.

Leo's route into game development started with plans to study dentistry and a return to Fortnite OG. From learning design and modeling to building with friends, he shares how the team found its roles and learned where to focus. For anyone running a small studio, his experience trying to maintain several games at once is worth hearing. We also talk about Mafia Tycoon, the weeks spent testing an economy, and how to spot when progression starts feeling like a chore.

The practical detail comes through in how OceanWave watches players. Leo explains why knowing which heist gets played most isn't enough, what the team tracks between a failed run and the next attempt, and how repeated deaths pointed to rooms worth investigating. We finish with his approach to in-game purchases: letting players pay to progress faster while keeping those rewards available through play. If you're building in UEFN, this conversation gives you specific questions to bring back to your own design, analytics, and team.

Leo on X: https://x.com/stackUGC
Leo on LinkedIn: https://se.linkedin.com/in/leo-linderoth-1640b1392
OceanWave Games / OCWG: https://x.com/OceanwaveStudio
OceanWave's games: https://www.fortnite.com/@ocwg
Heist Escape Roguelike: PAYDAY Experience: https://www.fortnite.com/@ocwg/8105-9005-4478
Mafia Tycoon: https://www.fortnite.com/@ocwg/5593-9896-0397

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Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/@ImmatureG/podcasts
Twitter: https://www.x.com/immaturegamer

How do you get a game noticed when you're still figuring out how to build it? Lena Glitch joins me to talk about finding her way into Fortnite development after job applications went nowhere, and what changed when she started publishing her own work. We trace the move from music to UEFN, including the remote PC she used to get started and the skills that carried over from years of making music.

Lena shares the story behind pitching Gold Gondola Adventure to a tourism client, the Epic DM she thought might be spam, and discovering her KPOP Team Deathmatch island in Netflix Picks. We also talk about building Galactic Domination in six weeks alongside a full-time job, the burnout that followed, and the player behavior that turned launch fixes into detective work.

For anyone making games or trying to turn a creative skill into a career, this conversation gets specific about the work beyond the build: trailers, thumbnails, social promotion, asking for feedback and learning to let other people help. Lena also shares why she'd rather creators publish, learn and improve than wait until their first game feels perfect.

Lena on X: https://x.com/lenaglitchFN
Lena's portfolio: https://www.lenaglish.com/
Lena on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lena-glisovic-lenaglitch-90aa4b292/
Play Lena's games: https://www.fortnite.com/@lenaglitch?lang=en-US
Watch Creative Juice: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeEdFBJesf6Ruqlpktj13hOdTdA7UHRQS
Follow Matt: https://x.com/immaturegamer
UEFN Community Awards: https://www.uefncommunityawards.com/

Don't hate, create

Please leave a positive review 💚(Helps out a bunch)

Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/@ImmatureG/podcasts
Twitter: https://www.x.com/immaturegamer

How do you build a UEFN studio while keeping your own games moving forward? Simone, known as Weeplow, joins Matt to discuss the choices behind Party Golf, Fortnite brand projects, and his plans to grow Weeplow Creative in Milan.

Weeplow explains how experiments with a football prototype shaped Party Golf's physics, why he built a lobby that gives players control over which course they join, and how he managed scope as a solo developer. He also looks back at One by One and the decision to stop development after Epic's Picks. The lesson for Fortnite Creative developers is practical: a promising idea still needs a playable experience, an audience, and a reason to keep investing time.

On the business side, we discuss the bicycle prototype that helped secure the Giro d'Italia project, balancing client work with original games, and how Party Golf's Epic MegaGrant fits into his plans. We close with advice on studying player behavior and building games that feel good on PC, console, and mobile. It's a conversation about game design, technical art, and the realities of growing a game studio.

Follow The Creative Juice Podcast for more conversations with game developers and studio builders.

Connect with Weeplow:
X: https://x.com/WeeplowCreative
Studio: https://weeplow.gg/
LinkedIn: https://it.linkedin.com/company/weeplowcreative
Party Golf and other games: https://www.fortnite.com/@weeplow

Don't hate, create

Please leave a positive review 💚(Helps out a bunch)

Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/@ImmatureG/podcasts
Twitter: https://www.x.com/immaturegamer