Lightmap - Conversations with video game creators

The groundbreaking STRAY GODS: THE ROLEPLAYING MUSICAL is pretty unique and the very first Australian made game to be nominated for a Grammy Award, which will be awarded today.

Composers Austin Wintory (JOURNEY, ASSASSIN'S CREED SYNDICATE) Scott Edgar and Simon Hall from musical comedy group Tripod, singer-songwritter Montaigne aka Jess Cerro join Summerfall Studios Liam Esler to talk about what it was like to make this branching musical adventure.

The 66th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday 4th February 2024 (Monday 5th February in Australia)

You can support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by

☕ Tipping us on KoFi https://www.ko-fi.com/sifterHQ

👕 Wearing our merch https://sifter.store/

💬 Talking to us on the SIFTER Discord https://www.sifter.com.au/discord

SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Courtney Borrett, Daniel Ang, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia for their support of SIFTER.

We listen back through this incredible year of games with our friend Meena Shamaly, musician, composer and host of ABC Classic's The Game Show. It's Shamaly Selects 2023 and boy are there some incredible pieces to listen to. Here is what delighted and made the top eight this year.

• STRAY GODS: THE ROLEPLAYING MUSICAL - Adrift & Challenging a Queen (Red Edition)
• TCHIA - Main Theme
• BALDUR'S GATE 3 - Down by the River
• MARVEL'S SPIDER-MAN 2 - Greater Together
• ASSASSIN'S CREED MIRAGE - Mirage Theme
• MORTAL KOMBAT 1 - A New Era (Main Theme)
• VENBA - Raasa
• THE LEGEND OF ZELDA TEARS OF THE KINGDOM - Main Theme

What made your soundtrack list? Leave us a review with your favourite soundtrack.

You can support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by

☕ Tipping us on KoFi https://www.ko-fi.com/sifterHQ

👕 Wearing our merch https://sifter.store/

💬 Talking to us on the SIFTER Discord https://www.sifter.com.au/discord

SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Courtney Borrett, Daniel Ang, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia for their support of SIFTER.

If you grew up playing the Gameboy Advance and the Nintendo DS, you might have missed the aesthetic those games created at the time, but you'd definitely remember the vibes. Those vibes are what Andy Brophy and Olivia Haines are trying to recapture in their weird and wonderful roleplaying game KNUCKLE SANDWICH.

With some kicking tunes and fun turn based battles, this is a game that might just inspire the next generation of video game creators. Learn how this project went from flash game to full release and how Olivia's love of PlayStation 1 era games also shaped the game for the better.

You can support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by

☕ Tipping us on KoFi https://www.ko-fi.com/sifterHQ

👕 Wearing our merch https://sifter.store/

💬 Talking to us on the SIFTER Discord https://www.sifter.com.au/discord

SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Courtney Borrett, Daniel Ang, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia for their support of SIFTER.

SLAY THE PRINCESS is a horror narrative visual novel where you've got one task. You're here to slay a princess, but if you do is actually up to you. This game brings branching narratives and a style of roguelite gameplay to the visual novel genre where all your choices can lead to an ending.

Developers Abby Howard and Tony Howard-Arias join Lightmap to share how their small side project SLAY THE PRINCESS was made while developing episodic game SCARLET HOLLOW and how it's found them a brand new audience.

You can support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by

☕ Tipping us on KoFi https://www.ko-fi.com/sifterHQ

👕 Wearing our merch https://sifter.store/

💬 Talking to us on the SIFTER Discord https://www.sifter.com.au/discord

SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia for their support of SIFTER.

THE PLUCKY SQUIRE feels like a world of pure imagination. Jonathan Biddle and James Turner head up All Possible Futures a completely remote studio working on the gorgeous game that acts as a love letter to some of your favourite genres and games of the last 30 years.

Gianni sat down with Jonathon Biddle at PAX Australia to explore how this collaboration came together, inspirations from Nintendo games past, and what to expect when the game hits your consoles next year.

You can support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by

☕ Tipping us on KoFi https://www.ko-fi.com/sifterHQ

👕 Wearing our merch https://sifter.store/

💬 Talking to us on the SIFTER Discord https://www.sifter.com.au/discord

SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia for their support of SIFTER.

If you want to play a video game you have to plug something in, that power comes from somewhere and Dr Ben Abraham, has completed the second annual Net Zero Snapshot for the games industry.

Ubisoft is leading the charge dropping their emissions, despite being one of the world's biggest studios, but for many other Triple A game developers they just aren't making enough of a change according to Abraham.

You can read the full report over on the After Climate website.

You can support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by

☕ Tipping us on KoFi https://www.ko-fi.com/sifterHQ

👕 Wearing our merch https://sifter.store/

💬 Talking to us on the SIFTER Discord https://www.sifter.com.au/discord

SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia for their support of SIFTER.

When you first hear the soundtrack for CULT OF THE LAMB it's immediately clear how much of a part it is to the experience of the game. Narayana Johnson who performs under River Boy made his first soundtrack when working on Massive Monster's smash hit, and it will be rearranged and performed this Melbourne International Games Week with Orchestra Victoria.

Narayana shares the origins of this work, some of the techniques used to make the music, and what it's like to be making all the sounds for the game now.

You can support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by

☕ Tipping us on KoFi https://www.ko-fi.com/sifterHQ

👕 Wearing our merch https://sifter.store/

💬 Talking to us on the SIFTER Discord https://www.sifter.com.au/discord

SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia for their support of SIFTER.

We've got some brand new episodes of Lightmap on the way, featuring some very cool guests but to get you there here is the latest episode of Drop Rate featuring Chris Button, SIFTER EP Gianni Di Giovanni and Player2.net.au writer Jess Zammit talking all about STARFIELD Bethesda's huge spacefaring roleplaying game.

Follow Drop Rate on your favourite podcast player here

New episodes of Lightmap next week.

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It's a massive universe to explore in STARFIELD a game that builds on many of the gameplay systems you've come to enjoy in Bethesda's roleplaying games.

Does it live up to the hype after years of development and delays? Well it depends on what type of player you are, but there is lots of fun to be had here.

Jess Zammit (Player2.net.au) joins SIFTER's own Gianni Di Giovanni for two pretty different galaxy spanning adventure.

A copy of STARFIELD on Xbox Series X|S was provided to SIFTER for the purpose of this review.

You can support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by

☕ Tipping us on KoFi https://www.ko-fi.com/sifterHQ

👕 Wearing our merch https://sifter.store/

💬 Talking to us on the SIFTER Discord https://www.sifter.com.au/discord

SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang, Adam Christou, Omi Koulas and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia for their support of SIFTER.

The first thing you notice when you see a game made by Half Mermaid the studio lead by Sam Barlow is that it doesn't really look like a game, the full motion video looks more like a TV show or movie.

For Barlow what initially started as a creative and budgetary constraint of being a small indie team has become a defining feature of his work, with his most recent title IMMORTALITY which explores three decades of filmmaking.

Barlow will be making his way to Australia for SXSW Sydney in October this year and spoke about his creative process, filmic literacy in the audience, and why he stands with the actors striking for a better deal in Hollywood.

You can support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by

☕ Tipping us on KoFi https://www.ko-fi.com/sifterHQ

👕 Wearing our merch https://sifter.store/

💬 Talking to us on the SIFTER Discord https://www.sifter.com.au/discord

SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia for their support of SIFTER.

You know when you just look at a game and think, everyone is going to be talking about this? LAIKA: AGED THROUGH BLOOD combines some of the best motorbike tricks of TRIALS with a stylish story featuring some of the coolest anthropomorphic animals in game since CULT OF THE LAMB.

Ivan Papiol one of the artists from Spanish studio Brainwash Gang joins us to share the origins of their pirate collective studio, how Newgrounds flash games inspired the distinctive look & studio ethos and what it's like having to make games for a big foreign imperial culture that you've made the enemies in your game.

You can support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by

☕ Tipping us on KoFi https://www.ko-fi.com/sifterHQ

👕 Wearing our merch https://sifter.store/

💬 Talking to us on the SIFTER Discord https://www.sifter.com.au/discord

SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang, Adam Christou and Omi Koulas. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia for their support of SIFTER.