Lightmap - Conversations with video game creators

It’s been almost a year now and the show down between the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and a number of different video game employers has finally kicked off. After years of talking the employers have refused to budge in contract negotiations. As of October the 21st SAG-AFTRA is on strike against a number of high profile video game companies, and voice actors are calling for a better deal.

We were joined by this week by Gustav Seymore from Lost Goblin an experienced development team based in Auckland, New Zealand. Gustav joined us to talk to us about his game Goblins of Elderstone, a city management game featuring everyone’s favourite video game punching bags, goblins. As you may have noticed Gustav and his team have an affinity for the small green creatures, they feature and the main protagonists of the game. You can back Goblins of Elderstone on Kickstarter right now, or check them out at the PAXAUS indie showcase.

Nintendo has revealed its new baby to the world and with that the Nintendo Switch has been polarising the internet all week. We’re rather looking forward to it here at Pixel Sift but the unusual design and unique features are proving to be quit the head scratcher. We try to make heads or tails of the whole thing.

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Ken Johnson from Hoodwinked Studios joined us this week to talk about his game Starlost. We asked Ken about what it takes to design a game for mobile and taking the traditional tower defence formula, and turning into something unique. You can find the Alpha version of Starlost on Google Play.

Nothing inspires gamers more than a mystery. There is something about a digital treasure hunt, that brings players together and fosters community. We’ll be exploring the games that are littered with  hidden content that require players to go the extra mile for the spoils, and the obscured mysteries that capture the attention of players.

Just like all good things games have always had the possibly misused, in recent time sadly some people have been using certain in-game economies to launder illegal money. By buying and selling in-game currency cyber criminals to “clean” real money than can be then used to fund other damaging assets. Gamers are often the targets of these scams, as reports show they aren’t that careful with their online habits.  

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Tom Cox, co-founder and lead programmer of Canberra’s Whalehammer Games joins us to talk about his new game Tahira: Echoes of the Astral Empire. Tom shared his thoughts on the challenges of making games, designing a game for a genre that he grew up with, and designing a science fiction/medieval game world,

As gamers we are no strangers to the feeling of powering on our machines only to find that the network is offline, but sometimes this is because of a deliberate assault on the servers of those games. Back in 2014 a distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack took out the Playstation Network and Xbox Live right in the middle of the holidays.. For the longest time it seemed like the perpetrators of these attacks were untouchable, using the anonymity of the internet to fade into obscurity after the deed has been done. But now the law has caught up to small collection of disruptors.

It wouldn’t be an episode of Pixel Sift without touching on the topic of eSports. Notable sporting figures such as Magic Johnson Shaquille O’Neil are now dropping some serious cash on eSports teams. With many other big names joining the ranks of owners and team affiliates we thought it would be a good idea to dive into the world of high profile eSports competition. The tournaments we love could now be moving closer to the traditional sporting organisations.

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

Support the show: https://sifter.store

It’s the big five zero this week for Pixel Sift, that right episode 50 is here! For this milestone we brought the show to Perth Games Festival 2016 for a live panel! First off we talked gaming with friends, how most interactive experiences can be enriched by playing with a close companion.

We also welcomed back a couple of old favourites onto the show. Liam Hunt from ByteSprite Games, Mark Mennell from Gnomic Studios and Anthony Sweet from Black Lab Games all joined us to talk about their experiences releasing their games to the world. The trials they faced, what surprised them and how not to make mess of the whole process. This is an insight into the publishing world you don’t want to miss.

Finally we tackled a couple of questions you submitted over the past couple of weeks in a fun little question and answer session. There were quite a few to choose from and we didn’t quite get through them all but we sure had a good time shedding some light on the queries you threw at us. Thank you to everyone that made it down to the live show, it was great to see you all there.

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

Support the show: https://sifter.store

The limit to what developers can add onto their games after launch is being pushed further and further with each title release. Now many games are entering the market for free and charging players for pieces of the game. The purchases players make can start to quickly add up often totalling more than the cost of a full retail game. Buying so many small in game items can get out of control for some gamers. For our first topic this week we take a look at the free to play model and the potential minefield micro transactions.

This week we have Michael Di Piazzi from +7 Software live in the studio with us. He’s here to talk about his new game Final Days. Developed right here in Perth by Michael himself Final Days is a top down zombie survival shooter. Michael shared the process of constructing the multiplayer shooter and the value of a strong player base. Final Days will be released on the Steam Greenlight program on the 3rd of October 2016 you can find out more about Final Days at http://plus7software.com/ where you can also download the demo!

Lots of us have had the chance to experience VR in one way of another. With the technology in its infancy neither of the major players can afford any bad press right now. Despite this Palmer Luckey has landed himself a boat load, with evidence that Luckey funding certain pro-Trump propaganda groups many virtual reality game developers have vowed to not support the Oculus with their titles. We take a look at the bigger picture and what this move means for the technology and the industry and whether or not a boycott is the way to resolve this issue. 

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

Support the show: https://sifter.store

Mainstream media is jumping onto the topic of video games more often these days but there is one aspect they keep failing to touch on, the power of the central Asian markets and development communities. Countries like China and South Korea are turning out quality titles that we just don’t ever see here in the west. With more and more great games coming from our friends in Asia there is a lot of talent and big money being thrown around, we cast an inquisitive eye up there this week to see what’s going on.

Another week, another DMCA take down. Yet again Nintendo has taken another fan project off the net with its zero tolerance attitude towards any use of their intellectual property. No Mario Sky is the latest high profile casualty. We were lucky to talk to Sam Izzo the developer behind No Mario Sky and video game and entertainment lawyer Cam Rogers. The legal and creative minefield around the fan project is a difficult one to navigate, and Cam and Sam shared their stories. You can download DMCA's Sky, the redesigned game made by Sam's team ASMB Games here: http://asmb.itch.io/

Keeping the legal theme going this week we’ve more drama surrounding American development studio Digital Homicide. In addition to suing game reviewer Jim Sterling the studio has now filed a law suit against Steam users directly. Further attention was directed their way when the court documents were released online. No matter how ridiculous this may seem it has prompted Valve to act, swiftly making modifications to the steam reviews rules, which not everyone is happy with.

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

Support the show: https://sifter.store

Sometimes video games fail to hold their audience, and for multiplayer games a dwindling player base can push more players away to greener pastures. With news this week that Battleborn, launched at a similar time to Blizzard’s Overwatch, had dropped to just 2000 active players (ed. incorrectly stated as 500 players in the episode), and the call for a change in direction has already started. Is it just as simple as flicking the “free to play” switch?

We also have a chat to Caroline Thant from Kodots Games. Caroline is the lead art director on their latest project Wanda. Wanda approaches the usually bleak and conflict filled post-apocalyptic genre from a perspective of love friendship and inner peace. Caroline was happy to tell us how her international team created their game.

Escapism is an idea that all gamers are familiar with but sometimes games make reality the game. Many games such as GTA and the Sims try very hard to emulate things that occur in the real world, but they aren’t the most accurate simulations by any stretch. Some groups are arguing some games aren’t accurate enough skimping on some of the more grisly details

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Support the show: https://sifter.store

It’s well known that the average age of gamers is rising every year (or sometimes going backwards). With audience tastes changing, does this have an impact on the way games are made? With more adults joining in on the realm of gaming and more gamers growing up and entering full time work there isn’t always time to sink into an MMO character or schedule a six-man raid. While hardcore players may cry foul at the way game play is being designed, do their views represent everyone, or are they in the minority?

For older gamers, a big part of the gaming experience can be revisiting the games you played as a kid. Jessie Yeoh is the owner of Perth’s own video game console museum The Nostalgia Box, and she shared her experiences collecting consoles, and doing the research needed to amass a collection big enough to open a museum.

Early access delivery has become one of the most popular tools for indie developers to release their game while bringing in some funds to keep the project going. Gamers benefit as well by getting new games at a discounted price. Recently developers of Ark: Survival Evolved have been accused of mishandling the expectations that their playershave, by release downloadable content for their game, before it hits release. With the lines shifting between what is finished, and what is a work in progress, can we be certain of any label that applies to games?

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

Support the show: https://sifter.store