Lightmap - Conversations with video game creators

This week we’re talking design style changes, when games change certain elements of their art style, gameplay mechanics or story tone. This comes of the back of a recent Kotaku article telling gamers to “Not take Ghost Recon Wildlands Seriously”, referring to the apparent style changes of the new tittle.

We’re also joined by YoshaNoesjirwan the 3D artist and animator behind Inflatality. It has taken the combined effort of both Hojo Studioand Deepforge Studio to bring this quirky, physics based fighter to life. Yosha ran through the process of bringing the Wavers to life and granting them the skills take the fight from the car yard to your TV.

It has been a sad week of Australian games media as it was announced earlier that ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) has dropped the guillotine on their flag ship gaming show Good Game. For more than a decade Good Game was Australia’s only show dedicated to games in our mainstream media. We have been following this story very closely and are very sad to see it go. We wish everyone who worked on Good Game the best of luck for the future.

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We’re back with more console talk, this time focusing on the importance of good player networking features. In the past console generation Microsoft ruled this domain with it Xbox Live Gold but Sony’s game has been strong with the PS4’s PlayStation Plus service. With players now expecting robust solid ways to communicate with each other while they game, Nintendo’s proposed solutions to this issue has us scratching our heads.

You like stealth? Multiplayer? Ninjas? Then you might wanna stick around to hear Jack Knobel from Pinefire Studios talk about his game Kieru. Kieru lets you take control of one of two ninja clans that can hide in either the light or the dark to do battle and dance the dance of assassination.

Rumour has it that we have seen the last of consoles as we know it. With representatives from Sony and Microsoft both hinting that they’ll be changing up the release pattern for their machines. And with the PlayStation Pro on the market and the Scorpio right around the corner the shoe seems to fit pretty well.

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It is hard to believe that we have been around for 60 episodes but here we are! Up first today like almost everyone on the net we’re talking Nintendo Switch news. With the new system casting aside the region locking of its predecessors we will soon be able to indulge in the dating sims and abstract JRPGs that have been kept out of our reach due to pesky region based DRM.

We are also joined by Alberto Santiago, the creative director of the brand new multiplayer competitive tower climbing game Goat Punks. With a history of big projects under his belt Alberto is now striking out on his own with this latest project. He was kind enough to share some production stories on the eve of his game’s release.

Streaming website Twitch has recently launched a new channel they have dubbed IRL, the aim of this new category see’s to expand the time streamers spend with their broadcast on. IRL encourages streaming personalities to keep their cameras rolling even after they put their controllers down, bringing their viewers along and sharing their everyday lives but in turn drastically lengthening the time that they spend on stream. 

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

Support the show: https://sifter.store

When games are made in the wake of a major movie or comic book property there is time limit in which the properties in question are able to appear in the game. When the time runs out these tittles much be pulled from their market places. Unfortunately for a number of Activision games their licences have changed hands and these games can no longer be found.

We first heard of Sam Izzo last year when he constructed the brilliant “No Mario Sky” now he and Andrew Trevillian are back. They go by the name of Polyphonic LP now and they have created a game called Resynth. Resynth combines the strength on puzzles and music to create gaming harmony.

Every year ends with every major gaming outlet on the net naming their game of the year. Whether this adds credibility to the games that earn them has stirred up some debate among the Pixel Sift crew. But with so many different titles all wearing the badge proudly has the honour been watered down too far?

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

Support the show: https://sifter.store

Game Designer & Producer at Sydney’s Blowfish Studios, Ellen Jurik is our guest this week. We speak to Ellen about the trials of working in a studio with as many active as Blowfish while still reminding in love your work. Ellen was nice enough to join us for the the entire episode speaking about herself but also shedding an informed light on the episode other topics.

The first topic of the episode looks at developer Crytek, who hit the news headlines yet again this week for failing to pay their staff. This is the second time this has occurred, with the last being in 2014. The independent developer of games such as the original FarCry and the Xbox exclusive, Ryse, is once again faced with poor management and mass walkouts and sits as a reminder of the less than favourable side of working in the independent gaming world.

Out last topic covers the gift that you love to hate, loot boxes…or crate drops, ultimate chests or whatever your game developers want to call them! After a steady pour of public disheartenment, China is taking a stand and will require developers to display the probability of item drops online. Is this a step in the right direction? We’ll have to wait and see. Blizzard also recently played into a highly loot box related story by giving away 500 loot boxes to a wronged Reddit user. All that and more on Episode 58 of Pixel Sift!

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

Support the show: https://sifter.store

John Kane joins us for a second time right off the back of this award winning run and success in the weeks leading up to PAX Australia. The triumph of John’s previous game Killing Time at Light Speed was followed rapidly by that of his next release Mallow Drops. John tells us all about lessons learnt, what winning AGDA awards mean to him, and writing 2 year long pun threads.

Game fandom is one of the reasons why some seemingly simple titles stay in the spotlight far longer than anyone thought they would. In the case of games like Five Nights At Freddy’s and Undertale they seem to have whole new lives, living in the forums and image boards like Tumblr and Reddit. The fan’s dedication to the game redefines what a successful game is, and sometimes popularity doesn’t reflect the millions of dollars that are spent on the blockbuster games.

Developers spend massive amounts of time and money making their games flow so that their players have a good time. But has this made them too easy? Could the absence of the game over screen and abundance of save points simply taking the punishment out of the experience? We discuss the changing trends in game design, and why we don’t see a game over screen as often as we once did.

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

Support the show: https://sifter.store

James Cook developer of Crazy Coaster joined us live in the studio this week, he is from Super Cookie Games and shared his experiences on developing over vast distances and pulling design elements from his other tittles to create something new.

Blizzcon 2016 brought us a lot of great news regarding our favourite Blizzard titles like Overwatch and World of Warcraft. But what caught our eye is that the developers of StarCraft II are working closely with Google’s DeepMind branch which is dedicated to developing sophisticated Intelligence. DeepMind is using the advanced understanding of strategy needed for success in StarCraft II to develop and further the skills, challenge and learning of artificial intelligence.

Some games go through a process of localisation when entering markets outside of their place of origin. The reason for this is to so the game can be enjoyed in many parts of the world. But we all know the memes and the jokes, sometimes it gets lost in translation.

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

Support the show: https://sifter.store

Late last month gamers using EA’s Origin store found themselves locked out of the service and denied access to all of their games they had bought. Did you miss this story? That’s because it happened in Myanmar, and was supposedly as a response to international trade sanctions. What happens when the games you’ve paid for disappear?

We also had a chat to Jack Condon from S1T2, he’s the lead developer of their first game Kept. We spoke about the differences between making games for clients versus making them under your own direction and the challenges and advantages of working in an indie space. In development for the past four months, Kept is an exploration of the kind of stories that can be told using the VR medium.

Earlier this year Warner Brothers settled a case with the US Federal Trade Commission over the disclosure of paid commentary created by YouTuber Pewdiepie. EA have just released their new rules regarding disclosure and transparency for Youtubers and other influencers. There are some clear guidelines that everyone must now follow when uploading content featuring EA games. We discuss the nature of paid content, and when new media runs into older media rules.

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 are joined by Tom Booker and Lincoln Flintoft from Sleepyhead Studios. These Sydney based developers are behind the mobile arcade shooter Barking Irons.  Borrowing from the style of other arcade shooters such as Time Crisis and Big Game Hunter, Barking Irons compacts that experience into a hand held form you can put in your pocket. Tom, Lincoln and the rest of Sleepyhead Studios are rocking the Tom Selleck mos for Movember as well, and you can support their efforts here 

This week we’re talking Facebook and Unity’s new gaming initiative, Facebook Gameroom. Aiming to break into the digital delivery marketplace Gameroom is moving your mum’s favourite in browser titles to a Steam like collection and curation program on your desktop.

The long debated premium that Australians pay for their games or “Australia Tax” has been a talking point since games became a thing in this country. The issue was addressed by Major Nelson himself at PAXAUS earlier this month. With demand for games at an all-time high and the price hike seemly here to say we have chat about what can be done and why we pay more in the first place.

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

Support the show: https://sifter.store