Lightmap - Conversations with video game creators

CULT OF THE LAMB is really two different games in one, a town builder and a dungeon crawler, but they've been welded together using arcane magics by the creative team at Massive Monster (THE ADVENTURE PALS, NEVER GIVE UP) into an experience that keeps you busy.

Julian Wilton, Creative Director and Will Mesilane, UI Developer share the secrets hidden in this world, what it took to build this cult management game and what they are most proud of in this exclusive interview.

SIFTER is produced by Nicholas Kennedy, Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang & Adam Christou. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer.

Thanks to Omny Studio for their support of SIFTER.

Join the SIFTER Discord to be part of the conversation

Support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by buying us a coffee on KoFi or some merch on the SIFTER STORE

Support the show: https://sifter.store

CARD SHARK is a beautiful picture book styled video game where you cheat your way through 18th century France and every single graphic you see was hand printed and then scanned into the game.

Lead artist and animator Nicolai Troshinsky was inspired by a love of card magic and sleight of hand, as well as a 1975 Stanley Kubrick film to build this amazing and unique game and joins SIFTER for an in depth conversation about the process of design.

SIFTER is produced by Nicholas Kennedy, Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang & Adam Christou. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer.

Thanks to Omny Studio for their support of SIFTER.

Join the SIFTER Discord to be part of the conversation

Support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by buying us a coffee on KoFi or some merch on the SIFTER STORE

Support the show: https://sifter.store

WITCH STRANDINGS is a mouse controlled "strand-type" game, where you make connections and paths across a cursed world.

Even though Hideo Kojima wanted to turn DEATH STRANDING into a genre, it was Xalavier Nelson Jr and the team at Strange Scaffold who did it first  

Learn more about this open world adventure through a forest, how the game runs WOLFENSTEIN 3D every single frame, and the hope that can be found in connections  

SIFTER is produced by Nicholas Kennedy, Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang & Adam Christou. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer.

Thanks to Omny Studio for their support of SIFTER.

Join the SIFTER Discord to be part of the conversation

Support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by buying us a coffee on KoFi or some merch on the SIFTER STORE

Support the show: https://sifter.store

DLC and expansions could be a possibility for NEON WHITE, the anime inspired speedrunning shooter , but you'll need to let Game Director Ben Esposito know what you'd like to see.

Ben shares the Y2K Dreamcast aesthetics of import CDs from Japan and how Machine Girl's music shaped this world, what they are doing about leaderboard cheaters, as well as how he feels about your thirstiness for all the characters in the game. 

SIFTER is produced by Nicholas Kennedy, Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang & Adam Christou. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer.

Thanks to Omny Studio for their support of SIFTER.

Join the SIFTER Discord to be part of the conversation

Support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by heading to the SIFTER STORE

Support the show: https://sifter.store

Everyone is talking about V RISING, Stunlock Studios' survival game which has just entered early access and then rocketed up the Steam charts to be one of the most popular new titles around.

For Community Manager Jeremy Fielding, it's a dream come true, this is the first game Fielding has worked on and there's also the challenge of managing more than 1 million players in the first couple of weeks.

Learn more about the roadmap forward, how the team is tailoring the experience and what to expect as this game which is still in active development keeps evolving.

SIFTER is produced by Nicholas Kennedy, Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang & Adam Christou. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer.

Thanks to Omny Studio for their support of SIFTER.

Join the SIFTER Discord to be part of the conversation

Support SIFTER's independent gaming journalism by heading to the SIFTER STORE

Support the show: https://sifter.store

What if Link was a cute fox? At first glance TUNIC looks like a beautiful spiritual successor to THE LEGEND OF ZELDA franchise, but as lead developer Andrew Shouldice shares with us in this interview, it also embraces modern "souls-like" gameplay. 

TUNIC is filled with lots and lots of secrets, the game was at one time called Secret Legend, and Shouldice said it's all about capturing that feeling of playing a game in the pre-internet Nintendo era where a game feels like limitless exploration. 

SIFTER is produced by Nicholas Kennedy, Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang & Adam Christou. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer.

Thanks to Omny Studio for their support of SIFTER.

Join the SIFTER Discord to be part of the conversation

Support the show: https://sifter.store

CITIZEN SLEEPER is a tabletop inspired roleplaying game from Gareth Damian Martin (IN OTHER WATERS) that puts you in the shoes of person trying to escape their digital enslavement in the far future. If it sounds grim, in parts it is, but quickly you discover your place in the world where you can make a life.

Each day you've got just the dice you've been dealt, as you choose how to fulfill your goals or avoid negative countdowns, in a stylish visual novel with stunning artwork by Guillaume Singelin and a kicking scifi soundtrack by Amos Roddy.

SIFTER is produced by Nicholas Kennedy, Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang & Adam Christou. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer.

Thanks to Omny Studio for their support of SIFTER.

Join the SIFTER Discord to be part of the conversation

Support the show: https://sifter.store

Inspired heavily by the CARMEN SANDIEGO series, CHINATOWN DETECTIVE AGENCY is a contemporary take on the format set in a cyberpunk Singapore in 2037 where social and government support has languished.

Creative Director Mark Fillon from Singapore's General Interactive Co shares the authentic design and characters you'll meet as you jet off around the world in search of answers as ex-cop Amira Darma in this glorious pixel art game.

SIFTER is produced by Nicholas Kennedy, Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang & Adam Christou. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer.

Thanks to Omny Studio for their support of SIFTER.

Join the SIFTER Discord to be part of the conversation

Support the show: https://sifter.store

If you work in the games industry it can be surprisingly complex to get your name into the end credits, that ending sequence often doesn't include everyone who helped to ship that video game.

Project based work and short contracts, and inconsistent recognition makes it more complex than you'd think for developers to get the acknowledgement of the work put in.

It's something that Alexander Swords, one of the members of the Games Credit Special Interest Group (SIG), part of the International Game Developers Association wants to change with a standarised system of creative credits.

Read a written version of this story on our website: Credit where credit is due: Game developers call for simpler, consistent creative credits

SIFTER is produced by Nicholas Kennedy, Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang & Adam Christou. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer.

Thanks to Omny Studio for their support of SIFTER.

Join the SIFTER Discord to be part of the conversation

Support the show: https://sifter.store

André Read always wanted to make a real time strategy game. A huge fan of the genre, it was many years working in the industry before he got his chance with TFC: THE FERTILE CRESCENT set in the plains of Mesopotamia.

Teaming up with Anders Grønningsæter the two person team at Wield Interactive have crafted a multiplayer RTS game built with their Discord community that reimagines the classic format.

They dive into the world of historical RTS games, the influence of Age of Empires on the genre, and the ways in which The Fertile Crescent works to streamline elements of the genre to create new systems and frameworks.

SIFTER is produced by Nicholas Kennedy, Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang & Adam Christou. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer.

Thanks to Omny Studio for their support of SIFTER.

Join the SIFTER Discord to be part of the conversation

Support the show: https://sifter.store