Lightmap - Conversations with video game creators

Ian Mclarty joins us again to talk about his latest game JUMPGRID a fast paced puzzle game that features a combination of quick fire action gameplay, sort of a plays a bit like Pacman but with teleporting. With a kicking soundtrack and cosmic level design JUMPGRID looks like it's a big departure from Ian's last game Dissembler but things might be closer than it seems. We first spoke to Ian...

Aidan McKeown  from Ultimerse  is our guest for episode 114, and he is the lead developer of Paperville Panic , a project that was initially planned to take three months, but ended up taking two years. Paperville Panic is a VR game about a town made entirely of paper that has just experienced its first fire and you are the single rookie firefighter with the power to save the day. Paperville Panic...

Daniel Elston joins us this week from Elston Studios in Melbourne to talk about his game Guile and Glory: Firstborn , a game featuring tactics, puzzles and most importantly adventure. Daniel spoke about the humble beginnings of his studio and how this retro tactical game was prototyped as a boardgame.   We take a look at look back at the charity stream run by Hbomberguy and how a simple run of Don...

Brigitta Rena is the Art Director and Writer of the adorable and stylish She and the Light Bearer , the brand new point & click adventure game from Surabaya's Mojiken Studio . Rena shared her journey from illustrator to game developer, and what it took to make this classic yet modern fairytale. She and the Light Bearer will be released on the 17th of January. Gamers in the middle east have...

Ellen Jurik from Sydney’s Blowfish Studios joins us in the studio this week. She is the Game Director of Storm Boy: The Game , an interactive adaptation of the classic Australian children's novel by Colin Thiele. We spoke about what it took to adapt this game, and capturing the essence of the story. We also talk about Epic Game 's aggressive push into the videogame delivery market. With be...

Clinton McCleary wasn't working in games before he started Caustic Reality and his debut game Infliction. In fact it was a redundancy at work that prompted him to start working on his game over 3 years, which lead to award nominations, PAX Australia indie showcase selection and a story that really resonates with people. Infliction is a horror first person narrative exploration game that draws...

Greg Louden is the Chief Convict at Convict Games and our guest this episode . This remote studio have put together STONE a love letter to noir, stoner flicks with a strong Australian aesthetic and a surreal anthropomorphic animal universe . Greg shared with us what it was like to work on this game, and how he collaborated with musicians from across the world as well as roping in as many friends a...

Fresh from the showfloor of PAX Australia 2018 is PARTY SIFT the great collaborative podcast we share with our friends at Party Loaded . This year Matt and Luke stepped up to the Mic at the Audio Technica podcast booth on the show floor and we recapped some of our favourite parts of the show. If you like Party Loaded why not give them a listen! They're out every single week. Pixel Sift is prod...

Zamfir Dumitru , the Founder & CEO of MonsterScope Studios joined us this episode to Share his team's latest project Dawnblade the modern hack 'n' slash dungeon crawler and Action RPG for mobile devices. Zamfir talked about the challenges of taking his work to Gamescom in Germany and at the Tokyo Game Show and why exhibiting it at PAXAUS seems like a walk in the park in comparison...

The infamous John Robertson , the mastermind behind the YouTube series turned popular stage show turned video game The Dark Room is our guest this episode. John has come back to his roots, working with Perth's own Stirfire Studios which brings the whole thing full circle. One of the first "games" on YouTube and based heavily on the 1980s style text adventures, John shared what it was l...

Locky Betts and Jeff Hayes of Fitzroy's Grease Monkey Games take us on a journey with their game Torque Drift. It's a competitve drift racing game made by drift enthusiasts. We learn about how they've translated the feeling of weight shifting in a car around a corner into a game you can take with you on your phone, and challenge your friends. For the hoon at heart, Torque Drift will be...

Two of the developers from Melbourne based studio Pixel Engineers,   James Koehne and Daniel Spiteri join us this week, they're the creators of Hunt 'n Sneak the asymetric multiplayer game where light is both your friend and foe. We learn exactly what it took to make this game that's still in development and the challenges of making a balanced game where each player has different goals...

Aladar Apponyi joins us from Melbourne to talk about his game Eatvolve, the "eat em up" platformer that has players take charge of a base level lifeform climbing its way up the food chain by consuming different animals and stealing their abilities. We learn what its like moving to solo development after working at Team Bondi and the future of the game. Patrick Klepek at Waypoint wrote an i...

Sean Simon AKA Those Six Faces joins us this week to talk about his game Snake Time . Developed by Sean alone Snake Time takes the traditional Snake gameplay and turns it into a move by move puzzle game. Sean spoke to us about building out his first released game, and what success looks like to him. We also take a closer look at the trend of games choosing to move away from traditional online mark...

David Lloyd from Melbourne based studio Powerhoof joins us this week to share his new game Regular Human Basketball, where you take control of a giant mech to score dunks and three pointers in the normal sport of basketball. Following on from Crawl, another local multiplayer asyncronous couch game, Dave shared what inspired the game and what they learnt along the way. Regular Human Basketball is a...

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...

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...

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:...

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 o...

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  Dest...

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 r...

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 resp...

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 t...

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 Entertain...

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 cal...