Levelling Up with Blak Magic

In this episode, I sit down with the deadly Elijah McDonald – a proud a Noongar|Yamatji|Pitta-Pitta man from WA– who’s part of the team behind Blaktasia: Invasion of the Merk, Australia’s first-ever Aboriginal-led mobile game. I caught up with Elijah fresh from Yabun Festival on Gadigal Country, where he and his team were showcasing Blaktasia and spreading the word about this groundbreaking project. Made by mob, for mob, this game isn’t just about fantasy and fun – it’s about reconnecting with Country, fighting back the darkness with mulga magic, and seeing our stories and faces represented in digital spaces. We yarn about Elijah’s journey from playing games with his dad to studying Game Art and Design at TAFE, and how he landed a role at Guck – a majority Blak-owned company making big waves in the gaming world. This was such a refreshing convo – I’ve never had a game developer on the podcast before, and Elijah is leading the way for young First Nations creatives in the tech space. If you’re a young fulla dreaming of a future in gaming, design or digital storytelling – or just curious about how culture and coding can come together – this one’s for you. And the best part? Blaktasia is 100% free – no ads, no microtransactions. Just pure Blak brilliance. 🔗 Resources from this episode: Follow Blaktasia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blaktasia_game Follow Blaktasia on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@blaktasia_game Follow Blaktasia on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/blaktasia_game Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blaktasiagame Learn more about Guck: https://www.guck.com.au Indigenous Game Developers (IGEA article): https://igea.net/2022/10/indigenous-game-developers CSIRO Indigenous STEM Programs: https://www.csiro.au/en/education/programs/Indigenous-STEM Indigitek – Mob in Tech & Innovation: https://indigitek.org.au Unity Learn (Free Game Dev Tutorials): https://learn.unity.com Unreal Engine Learning Portal: https://dev.epicgames.com/community/learning Roblox Studio (Create Your Own Games): https://create.roblox.com Website: www.blackmagicwoman.com.au Follow us on Instagram - @blackmagicwomanpodcast The Black Magic Woman Podcast is hosted by Mundanara Bayles and is an uplifting conversational style program featuring mainly Aboriginal guests and explores issues of importance to Aboriginal people and communities.  Mundanara is guided by Aboriginal Terms of Reference and focusses more on who people are rather than on what they do. If you enjoyed this episode, please ‘Subscribe’ on Apple Podcasts or ‘Follow’ on your Spotify app and tell your friends and family about us! If you’d like to contact us, please email, [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.