S2 E11: From Reviving to Thriving with Backyard Sports featuring Lindsay Barnett and James Deighan

How do you take once-beloved family games - source code lost to the ages - and revive them for new generations? And what about today's video game market might make the timing better than ever for an accessible, co-op, family friendly sports game? Playground Productions CEO Lindsay Barnett, a former educator, went on a quest for educational games during the pandemic that took her all the way to acquiring the rights to the Backyard Sports franchise, headed by Backyard Baseball - and then she teamed up with Mega Cat Studios CEO James Deighan to start bringing the suite of the 6 original Backyard Sports games to life. We explore retro gaming and the art of reverse engineering to restore original games developed by Humongous Entertainment, the modern community response to these classic games, and how the folks at Playground and Mega Cat are now applying what they've learned from their community to build a modern Backyard Baseball release that is designed to withstand the test of time, thriving season after season with accessible controls and pricing and downloadable content. This conversation gives us a chance to explore Motivators of Play like immersion, education, comfort, and of course companionship and competition - and captures a unique moment in time between the demo of Backyard Baseball and its release in July 2026. Don't miss this exciting conclusion to Season 2 of Enduring Play and its exploration of themes like community, self-expression, and education. We are better together - as a baseball team, as a game development team, and as an industry. Game on.  Enduring Play is a unique, human crafted, high production value podcast about the modern craft of video game development. The format is inspired by gaming itself, with a level structure and tutorials and asides that help listeners of all experience follow along. Season 1 of the Enduring Play podcast is drawn from interviews that informed Cheryl Platz's new book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, and Season 2 explores the communities, systems, and research methods that help us lead curiously and sustainably to thriving games.  This is the final episode of Enduring Play Season 2 - catch up on the episodes you missed and follow the podcast on your favorite platform so you don't miss a minute of Season 3 when it launches late this year! #gamedev #videogames #backyardsports #backyardbaseball #playgroundproductions #megacatgames #retrogames #classicgames #pixelart #humongousentertainment #education #edutainment #accessibility #pablosanchez #sportsgames #baseball  Use code ENDURINGPLAYS2 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order - and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 2 discount offer expires July 30, 2026. Love the podcast or the book? Please spread the word with shares and reviews so we can change the industry together! For show notes including bonus material, head to: https://www.gamedevelopmentstrategyguide.com/enduring-play/enduring-play-season-2/enduring-play-a-game-dev-podcast-season-2-episode-11-lindsay-barnett-and-james-deighan-for-backyard-sports-show-notes/