Lightmap - Conversations with video game creators

In an extended live panel discussion episode at XR:WA 2019, interactive writers Alan Butler, Anthony Sweet, Christy Dena, and Glen Spoors share their experience in story telling in the digital space.

How do you tell a story where elements can change? And what happens when players break the rules?

Pixel Sift is produced by Scott Quigg, Sarah Ireland, Fiona Bartholomaeus & Mitch Loh. Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Salty Dog Sounds for some of our promo music this week.

SPONSOR: Thank you to Murdoch University School of Arts for their support over every single episode of Pixel Sift. We couldn't have done it without you. If you want to bolster your skills in media, journalism or game development, check out the Murdoch University School of Arts website for more information!

Support the show: https://sifter.store

Paul Jakovich joins us to talk about Pico Tanks the competitive team based multiplayer game for mobile devices by Melbourne's very own Panda Arcade. Paul is the Creative Lead on the game and shared the challenges of balancing a game where 2 teams of 3 tanks do battle as well as maintaining a good work environment in his studio.

The Interactive Games and Entertainment Association has released the newest version of it’s bi-annual report on the “Power and Impact of Video Games in Australia”. The research includes new information on the number of Australians playing games, how old they are and who they are.

Pixel Sift is produced by Scott Quigg, Sarah Ireland, Fiona Bartholomaeus & Mitch Loh. Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Salty Dog Sounds for some of our promo music this week.

SPONSOR:Thank you to Murdoch University School of Arts for their support over every single episode of Pixel Sift. We couldn't have done it without you. If you want to bolster your skills in media, journalism or game development, check out the Murdoch University School of Arts website for more information!

Support the show: https://sifter.store

Ellie Balson joins us in the studio this week to talk about her latest project Brine Scene Finvestigation, a point and click adventure game where the player investigates the disappearance of the dolphins at the local aquarium. Ellie creates quirky artistic games, with plenty of nostalgia and style. Ellie creates games from an artist's perspective, using the Adventure Game Studio to craft her work instead of another engine. Ellie's work can be found on her itch.io page.

G2A the grey market digital games key reselling service has admitted that indie game sales make up only a small percentage of their business model. This has angered the indie dev community because sites like G2A have been known for facilitating the sale of fraudulent keys obtained via methods such as credit card fraud. So this has inspired some indies to petition the company to stop selling indie games entirely.

Pixel Sift is produced by Scott Quigg, Sarah Ireland, Fiona Bartholomaeus & Mitch Loh. Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer.Thanks to Salty Dog Sounds for some of our promo music this week.

SPONSOR: Thank you to Murdoch University School of Arts for their support over every single episode of Pixel Sift. We couldn't have done it without you. If you want to bolster your skills in media, journalism or game development, check out the Murdoch University School of Arts website for more information!

Support the show: https://sifter.store

Being creative can be hard, but there are those among us who seem like they are never ending creativity machines. On this special episode of the award-winning Pixel Sift podcast recorded live at Supanova Perth 2019 in front of a live audience, Twitch Partner Cabalia, Cosplayer PikaPi and Battlestar Galactica Deadlock writer Anthony Sweet about what it takes to make the things we all admire and enjoy, and what happens when the creative juices aren’t flowing.

Pixel Sift is produced by Scott Quigg, Sarah Ireland, Fiona Bartholomaeus & Mitch Loh. Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer.Thanks to Salty Dog Sounds for some of our promo music this week.

SPONSOR: Thank you to Murdoch University School of Arts for their support over every single episode of Pixel Sift. We couldn't have done it without you. If you want to bolster your skills in media, journalism or game development, check out the Murdoch University School of Arts website for more information!

You can find us on social media, Discord, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and Steam. Just search for "pixelsift"

Support the show: https://sifter.store

Leon Zawada and Simon Rance were next door neighbours and grew up playing Doom and Quake, before deciding to make their own games. You can see that inspiration in their newest game Amid Evil, a retro styled magical shooter built with modern technology. If you like the speed of those nineties shooters, but with a contempory twist this could be the game for you. Amid Evil is now available on Steam, Humble Store and GOG.

Microsoft and Google are both making their video game subscription package push, and they want players to shell out each and every month to keep playing. With streaming a huge part of Google's Stadia will that be a viable option in countries that don't have internet that's up to scratch?

Pixel Sift is produced by Scott Quigg, Sarah Ireland, Fiona Bartholomaeus & Mitch Loh. Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer.Thanks to Salty Dog Sounds for some of our promo music this week.

SPONSOR: Thank you to Murdoch University School of Arts for their support over every single episode of Pixel Sift. We couldn't have done it without you. If you want to bolster your skills in media, journalism or game development, check out the Murdoch University School of Arts website for more information!

Support the show: https://sifter.store

XR:WA is a brand new Western Australian immersive reality festival running in conjunction with Revelation Perth International Film Festival. The event aims to bring together great VR experiences from around the state and bridge the gap between traditional screen and interactive media. We are joined live in the studio by Dr Kate Raynes-Goldie the producer of XR:WA and Sof Mather the Curator of Playup Perth Games Zone. XR:WA is on from the 6th to the 14th of July in Perth Western Australia.

Jonathan Blow has raised some concerns about the global indie development scene stating that the industry has failed to innovate and has become "stagnant". How you define innovation in indie games has a big impact on whether or not you think this is true.

Pixel Sift is produced by Scott Quigg, Sarah Ireland, Fiona Bartholomaeus & Mitch Loh. Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Salty Dog Sounds for some of our promo music this week.

SPONSOR: Thank you to Murdoch University School of Arts for their support over every single episode of Pixel Sift. We couldn't have done it without you. If you want to bolster your skills in media, journalism or game development, check out the Murdoch University School of Arts website for more information!

Support the show: https://sifter.store

Dean Walshe is the 3D Art Lead at Canberra's Blue Manchu and they've just released their comic styled rogue-lite shooter Void Bastards. Looking like the science fiction comic worlds of the 2000AD comics, Void Bastards is a game built by System Shock and Bioshock designers, where every death is a lesson and a progression. Dean shared what it was like to build a game that even after years of working on it was still a blast for him to play. Void Bastards is available now on PC and Xbox One.

Well it was dropped into the world with much fanfare, the tiny yellow handheld called Play Date by software developer and publisher Panic made a big splash. Featuring an unconventional design, it got people equally excited and confused, but not without first causing a bit of controversy with a naming clash for an event featuring marginalised creators. Is the Play Date a gimmick, or has it changed the game?

Pixel Sift is produced by Scott Quigg, Sarah Ireland, Fiona Bartholomaeus & Mitch Loh. Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Salty Dog Sounds for some of our promo music this week.

SPONSOR: Thank you to Murdoch University School of Arts for their support over every single episode of Pixel Sift. We couldn't have done it without you. If you want to bolster your skills in media, journalism or game development, check out the Murdoch University School of Arts website for more information!

You can find us on social media, Discord, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and Steam. Just search for "pixelsift"

Support the show: https://sifter.store

How do you translate the essentially visceral experience of taking to the sea into the world of VR? Well Greg Dziemidowicz is Director and Lead Programmer at Melbourne's MarineVerse and along with his crew of sailing VR developers have done just that. It's not just for people who sail regularly but it also allows those people who can't sail to enjoy the experience. VR Regatta is out now and has just released it's big arctic sailing map expansion.

There is a big federal election happening and for YEARS government support for Australian game development support hasn't been on the agenda. The opposition Labor Party have announced a big $25m reinstatement of the Australian Interactive Games Fund (AIGF), the Australian Greens want to put $100m into the industry. The original run of the AIGF was cut short when the Liberal-National Government came to power but not before funding a number of well known studios were able to access the fund like Defiant Development, Tin Man Games, SMG Studio and Black Lab Games. We discuss what this will mean if the funding is reinstated if there is a change of government!

Pixel Sift is produced by Scott Quigg, Sarah Ireland, Fiona Bartholomaeus & Mitch Loh. Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Salty Dog Sounds for some of our promo music this week.

SPONSOR: Thank you to Murdoch University School of Arts for their support over every single episode of Pixel Sift. We couldn't have done it without you. If you want to bolster your skills in media, journalism or game development, check out the Murdoch University School of Arts website for more information!

You can find us on social media, Discord, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and Steam. Just search for "pixelsift"

Support the show: https://sifter.store

Hey I know you know that we're a podcast, but did you know that on our website we've got articles as well? Cool right? Well here is a bonus episode and extended version of our story "What does it mean to be indie?" Freeplay Festival celebrates 15 years."

If you like this please jump on the Pixel Sift Facebook page or send us a message over on Twitter or say hello on Discord.

Support the show: https://sifter.store

Hamish Wagstaff is the Director of Aberrant Realities in Canberra, the studio behind Double Shot, a virtual reality game that has players pour and concoct drinks for their customers all while defending their bar from attackers with a variety of weapons. It's set in retro 1980s aesthetic and it's a cocktail filled to the brim with style.

You might have read this week that Epic Games, the makers of Fortnite, and Respawn Entertainment, who developed Apex Legends two blockbuster battle royale games, are approaching their success in very different ways. While Epic allegedly is trying everything to keep that pace of content and fixes and burning workers out in the process, Respawn is taking a slower more manageable pace to avoid crunch. We discuss how crunch culture effects smaller studios and large studios and talk about how that is very different.

Pixel Sift is produced by Scott Quigg, Sarah Ireland, Fiona Bartholomaeus & Mitch Loh. Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Salty Dog Sounds for some of our promo music this week.

SPONSOR: Thank you to Murdoch University School of Arts for their support over every single episode of Pixel Sift. We couldn't have done it without you. If you want to bolster your skills in media, journalism or game development, check out the Murdoch University School of Arts website for more information!

You can find us on social media, Discord, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and Steam. Just search for "pixelsift"

Support the show: https://sifter.store