Lightmap - Conversations with video game creators

Our special 100th episode guest is Tim Colwill, creator of Point & Clickbait and union organiser of the Australian chapter of Game Workers Unite.

Point & Clickbait is a satirical gaming news site, described as The Onion but for games journalism, that aims to call attention to all the things that gamers and the games industry take too seriously, or doesn't take seriously enough. With a recent successful Kickstarter campaign under his belt for a print magazine version, Tim shared his thoughts on games journalism and what writing good satire should achieve.

Game Workers Unite is a budding unionisation effort that formed around the 2018 Game Developers Conference, and part of a broader effort to stop workers in the games industry getting exploited for their passion. Tim is part of the organisation efforts to start Game Workers Unite Australia and draws on his work in an Australian union. Tim shares his thoughts on why unionisation is an important step for developers, journalists, streamers and anyone working in games and how pulling together makes everything better for everyone.

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

Abi Rahmani joins us in the studio to talk about his game Project Wingman, the arcade fighter jet combat game taking Kickstarter by storm. Abi let us know what is took to bring the various planes to life from right here in Perth.

Sony’s move to lock out Epic accounts from playing Fortnite if they have been linked with Playstation Network accounts have the community grabbing their pickaxes in anger. With even hardcore Sony fans like Greg Miller strongly criticizing Playstation for their actions. 

Pixel Sift is produced by Fiona Bartholomaeus. Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Salty Dog Sounds for some of our promo music this week.

SUPPORT PIXEL SIFT: We couldn't do what we do without your support. If you'd like to show your support on your exterior form why not head to our Merch store? You can pick up shirts, Totes and even socks! pixelsift.com.au/sifters 

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

Matt Kelly from Mokomoto joins us all the way from Japan to talk to us about his latest game Molemen Must Die. Matt spoke to us about how his team achieved Molemen’s unique new style retro look as well as the advantages and the culture of developing games in Japan. You can also check out Pixel Sift Plays: Molemen Must Die! to see a little bit of the game or you can find out more information here: Molemen Must Die! on Steam

Last month, developers of "adult" visual novel style games were told out of the blue that their games would need to be changed in order to stay in the catalog of the popular online store Steam. This week Valve released a statement addressing the concerns that some developers have voiced over curation of the store, with many hoping it would clear up some of the questions they had about Valve's position on moderation. With some developers expressing their willingness to move their games to other delivery platforms, does Valve's inconsistent application of policies and backflips give players and developers the clarity they've been looking for?

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

SUPPORT PIXEL SIFT: We couldn't do what we do without your support. If you'd like to show your support on your exterior form why not head to our Merch store? You can pick up shirts, Totes and even socks! pixelsift.com.au/sifters

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

Justin Ng is one of the creators of Muffled Warfare and Stifled, and he joins us to talk about how his two games both use the mechanic of echolocation in very different ways. Justin spoke about what it was like to bring these concepts into reality as well, what it's like to build a game from an April Fools joke, and what the future holds for his studio Gattai Games

Epic Games, the creators of the mega sensation Fortnite, have pledged a whopping $100,000,000, towards Fortnite esports tournaments, and they've put an emphasis on being as inclusive as possible. What what will this mean for the game itself moving forward and competitive gaming as an industry?

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

SUPPORT PIXEL SIFT: We couldn't do what we do without your support. If you'd like to show your support on your exterior form why not head to our Merch store? You can pick up shirts, tote bags and even socks! pixelsift.com.au/sifters

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

Ian MacLarty is a prolific game designer and one that loves making small experiential titles that challenge the way you think about playing games. We had the pleasure of speaking to Ian this week about his minimalistic puzzle game Dissembler, where you flip colour tiles to match 3 and clear the screen. You can find all of Ian's games here on his Itch.io page.

Well this week a writer at Destructoid called the new Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery "The cruciatus curse of mobile gaming" and called for everyone involved to feel ashamed of themselves. It's drawn some criticism from some of the games industry's biggest names, and it seems that one persons curse is actually the charm to million dollar daily revenues.

Pixel Sift is produced by Fiona Bartholomaeus, Mitch Loh & Scott Quigg. Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer

SUPPORT PIXEL SIFT: We couldn't do what we do without your support. If you'd like to show your support on your exterior form why not head to our Merch store? You can pick up shirts, Totes and even socks! pixelsift.com.au/sifters

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

Nicholas McDonnell of Samurai Punk, is our guest this week, and he's joined us to share how his team created their new VR game The American Dream. The American Dream is a satirical VR title that has players navigate a world using only guns, and no problem is too big or small to be solved without them. Nicholas filled us in on what was like to make such a game and how the American audiences reacted when touring the game to US conventions. Nick joined us back in Episode 19, and you can listen back to that show here where we learnt all about Screencheat..

For a long time, the value of a game was based on how many hours of gameplay it could provide, but now the tide appears to be changing. With game audiences getting older, and priorities shifting shorter focused games are becoming a godsend for the time poor player. Are games too long, or have our tastes changed? Pixel Sift is produced by Fiona Bartholomaeus, Mitch Loh & Scott Quigg. Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer

SUPPORT PIXEL SIFT: We couldn't do what we do without your support. If you'd like to show your support on your exterior form why not head to our Merch store? You can pick up shirts, Totes and even socks! pixelsift.com.au/store

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

Mike Blackney the developer of the highly anticipated road trip survival game Dead Static Drive is our guest this week. Dead Static Drive draws heavily on nostalgic classic americana, with drop of monster movie chucked in for good measure. We asked him about how it felt to leave his stable teaching job to become a full time game developer, what inspired the style of the game, and what sort of response he wanted players to have. Dead Static Drive is currently in development and you can check out our first impressions of the game at PAX Australia 2016 here.

We're also talking about cheating in games, with a great video by Wrestling With Gaming about the history of the Game Shark and Game Genie cheat devices bringing back memories of cheat codes scribbled in the back of manuals. Why do people cheat in games, is it ok, and what happens when they take their cheating tendencies online?

Thanks to James Morrison for jumping onto the show this week to take the hosting duties. Pixel Sift is produced by Fiona Bartholomaeus, Mitch Loh & Scott Quigg. Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer

SUPPORT PIXEL SIFT: We couldn't do what we do without your support. If you'd like to show your support on your exterior form why not head to our Merch store? You can pick up shirts, Totes and even socks! pixelsift.com.au/store

Support the show: https://sifter.store

We take a look at the first-person speedrunner Nova Flow, and to help us along is Lachlan Juzva, the Creative Lead at Wrecked Angle Studios, the developers behind the title. We found out what it took to bring the team together and finally settle on a name for the project, all while dodging the snarky remarks of Lachlan's co-workers in the Twitch chat.

Game developer unionisation is a hot topic after the idea was addressed in depth at this year's GDC (Game Developers Conference). With stories of developer exploitation and burnout becoming the unfortunate norm these days the idea of unionisation is looking like a better idea.

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

This week as we are joined by Tim Bermanseder, a Director and Technical Artist at Cardboard Keep, the studio behind Witch Thief. Witch Thief combines a fun magical girl art style with the chaotic projectile dodging action. Tim went into detail about what it took to bring such a game to life, and how it all started with a Witch.

The game preservationists at the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (MADE), are leading the charge to preserve servers and other digital spaces,from falling into obscurity, all in the name education and study. However the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), is pushing back against this idea, saying that this allow easy theft of valuable IP and copyrighted content. How do games fit between historical objects and saleable products?

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

We're joined by Ally McLean this week, and she's a Gamerunner at Robot House, the studio behind RUMU, a game that features a sentient robot vacuum cleaner with plenty of love and emotion. We spoke what inspired the game and influenced its design, as well as games that respect your time, and the giving your robot a hug.

We also got the chance to speak to Ally about about a new program called "The Working Lunch" which aims at mentoring and supporting women in the Australian games industry with skilled mentors the help their career development and open new doors. If you're interested in being involved make sure you follow Working Lunch on Twitter to keep up to date.

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