Episodes
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Yume Nikki + Outer Wilds | Cafe Booleans | 22-DEC-23
Join SA video game developers John Oestmann, Susie Emery and Jackson Michael as they hang out at Cafe Booleans and chat about culturally innovative games they’ve discovered and the development stories behind them ☕🎮 -- For our final episode of the year, Alex and Kosta have sent in a heartfelt...
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Cafe Booleans Re-opens! | Cafe Booleans | 20-NOV-23
Cafe Booleans is back! ☕🎮 Alex Ferrabetta and John Oestmann are joined by Jacko to re-open the Cafe doors. Old friends join in spirit 👻 We discuss Sega's steps towards AI-powered User Generated Content tools, and the current state of Video-Game-to-Film Adaptations. We also had planned to play...
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King Arthur, Game Mods and the Public Domain
Dive into Episode 3 of "The Business of Indie Game Development" series for a fresh take on indie gaming. 🏰 We start with an exploration of King Arthur as the ultimate fanfiction, illuminating the power of shared storytelling. 📜 A quick history lesson on copyright and intellectual property paves...
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Indie Biz Basics: Game Marketing & Community Building - Ep.2
Join us in this second episode of The Business of Indie Game Development series: 🎯 The importance of marketing your indie game and how it's a mindset, not just a task 📈 We discuss the marketing funnel and its importance in understanding your audience's journey 💡 Explore how to build a strong...
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Indie Biz Basics: Legal, Contracts, & Rev Share - Ep.1
Join us for the first episode of The Business of Indie Game Development series, where we delve into: 🎯 Navigating legal structures for indie game devs 💼 Understanding budgeting, finance, and payment structure in the gaming industry 🤝 Assembling a solid team and tip on working with contractors…
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From The Sims to The Oregon Trail: Hannah Crosby's Artistic Journey
In this last episode for 2022 we chat with Hannah Crosby, multi-disciplinary Artist currently a Senior 3D Artist at Gameloft Brisbane, about: ❇️ How 'The Sims' kicked off Hannah's journey as a professional artist 🎬 Working in games and film for 16 years 🧊 Designing in 3D while being limited by...
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The Hidden Power of Incentives in Games | Cafe Booleans 15-12-22
Join us at the cafe this week as we deep dive and chat about Incentives vs Rules in video games, more specifically: 🤔 How do incentives affect player behaviour? 💻 How technologies can shape culture and behaviour generally 🎉 Examples of games influencing player behavior and culture 💡Players...
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Minimal and subtractive design in Video Games | Cafe Booleans 24-11-22
Join us at the cafe this week as we deep dive and chat about Minimal and subtractive in video games video games, more specifically: 🤔 What is minimalist design and philosophy? 👩🎨 Designing by subtraction ✅ 7 Minimalist Games that Every Developer Should Take Inspiration From 👹 How minimal…
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Game Production for Indie Teams with Reuben Moorhouse
We chat with Reuben Moorhouse, the Founder and Director of Noble Steed Games, an Australian Game Studio & Consultancy, about: 🏜️ Reubens start as a game developer and working in Silicon Valley 🤝 The key to working as a consultancy studio with a range of clients, guiding their projects 🌎…
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Concept Design Workshop with Simon Scales
We chat with Simon Scales, the Owner and Director of CDW Studios (Concept Design Workshop) school of visual effects and entertainment design about: 👶 Simon's start as an Illustrator and journey to founding CDW 🎂 CDW's 10 year anniversary 🚀 Launching two new CDW campuses in Victoria and NSW in...
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What makes a good horror game? | Cafe Booleans 7-11-2022
The lights are off in the spooky Cafe this week for this Halloween special, join us as we chat about what makes a good horror game? More specifically: 🤔 What are some key elements of horror games? 🧟♂️ What are some of the best horror games? 🎃 Why are horror games important? 🧡 Why do people...
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darkwebSTREAMER with Chantal Ryan
We chat and struggle to play Phasmaphobia with Chantal Ryan, Founder of We Have Always Lived in the Forest - developers of darkwebSTREAMER about: 🎃 The origins of RPG streamer simulation game, darkwebSTREAMER 🎨 Art style and story inspirations for the upcoming occult horror 🎉 Experiences and...
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What's the future role of AI in Video Games? | Cafe Booleans 20-10-2022
Join us at the cafe this week as we deep dive and chat about Artificial Intelligence in video games, more specifically: 🤔 What is AI in gaming and how is it used? 🧑🏻💻 Why does AI matter in gaming? 🤖 Can an AI make video games? 🧐 What kind of bias exists in AI? What impact does this have on...
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Open Source, Remixing and Copyright in Video Games | Cafe Booleans 13-10-22
Join us at the cafe this week as we deep dive and chat about open-source, more specifically: 🖥️ Open-sourced programs used to create video games 🎮 The moral argument of including and remixing copyrighted content in games ⚖️ The moral and legal dilemma of of modding in games. SUPPORT ARTICLES: -...
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GCAP Recap III 2022
Live from Melbourne... it's GCAP Recap. In this limited series we Recap our day by day at GCAP. In our third GCAP Recap for 2022 we're talking about: Talks ⚙️ Game Production for Indie Teams (Reuben Moorhouse) 🧐 Understanding your players better through user research (even on an indie budget)…
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GCAP Recap II 2022
Live from Melbourne... it's GCAP Recap II. In this limited series we Recap our day by day at GCAP. In our second GCAP Recap for 2022 we're talking about our takeaways from: Talks 🤖 Keynote: Voltrons Will Save Us--Flexible Collaboration Structures in the Information Age 🤘PROG ROCK ODYSSEY:...
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GCAP Recap I 2022
Live from Melbourne... it's GCAP Recap. In this limited series we Recap our day by day at GCAP. In our first GCAP Recap for 2022 we're talking about: Talks 🎨 Show Don't Tell - The intricacies of metaphors in visual media 💰 Max Art - Winning $250k in 30 days a prototype retrospective 🧑🏻💻...
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Odd Games with Ben Marsh
We chat with Ben Marsh, the Managing Director of local Adelaide game studio and leaders in mud & dirt racing video games, Odd Games, about: 👶 How Odd Games began, and Ben's introduction into the games industry 🐣 The game development industry in Adelaide in 2011 🚙 Odd Game's super popular…
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Why you should create Serious Games | Cafe Booleans 22-09-22
Join us at the diner this week as we deep dive and chat about Serious Games, more specifically: 🤔 What are serious games? ⚙️ Where are serious games used? ✅ What are the advantages of serious games and why are they important? 🌊 Examples of Serious Games including Sea Hero Quest - a game that...
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Whats the best way to tell story in games? | Cafe Booleans 08-09-22
Join us at the diner this week as we chat about: 🎟 SAFC sponsored GCAP all-access tickets – apply now! 😍 Whats your most memorable and favourite storytelling in games? 🧐 What are the different 'types' of storytelling in games? 🤔 Is there a 'best way' of storytelling? 🎮 Some games to check…
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Trapped by a Twisted Serial Killer (feat. Joakim "Chef" Lundström)
We chat with local indie game developer, Joakim "Chef" Lundström, of Partum Artifex and previously horror hit 'Stairs', about: 🧟 Partum Artifex, a puzzle horror game that features creative and challenging puzzles while telling a gruesome story about a failed artist 🚀 Taking Partum Artifex from…
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Why isn't anyone playing Netflix Games? | Cafe Booleans 25-08-2022
Join us at the diner this week as we chat about: ⚔️ Xbox and Sony battle it out in court over Activision Blizzard acquisition, PS4 sold twice as much as Xbox One 😰 Netflix Games not doing very well..... why isn't anyone trying it out? 👹 New Dungeons and Dragons coming in 2024, including an...
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VR Games for Rehabilitation with Daish Malani
We chat with Founder of Health VR company Add Life Technologies and UX/UI, Game Design Lecturer at SAE Australia, Daish Malani about: 👨🏫 Experience and journey teaching pre-school in Japan to working in VR ✏️ Teaching game design and UX/UI design at SAE 🧠 Designing cognitive, fine motor…
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How to Use AI to Generate Game Art and Ideas | Cafe Booleans 12-08-2022
Join us at the diner this week as we chat about: 😍 Tantalus Media is opening and hiring developers in Adelaide, South Australia 🤖 Technical artist using AI image generation tool, DALL E 2 as part of their workflow for texturing models 🎨 Exploring an AI image generation tool that creates images...
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How to Be a Games User Researcher with Steve Bromley
We chat with author and experienced games user researcher Steve Bromley, previously at Playstation, about: 🥼 What is Games User Research and what does it look like in real-life? 📚 Why Steve authored his books 'How to Be A Games User Researcher' and 'Building User Research Teams' and how they're...
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Which Games Should be in the Hall of Fame? | Cafe Booleans 28-07-2022
Join us at the diner this week as we chat about: 💰 GameStop launching an NFT marketplace, and $100M grant program for game developers with Immutable 🤔 Unity lets employees go and announces it's merging with a company known for malware delivery 🎬 Nintendo purchases Tokyo-based CG animation…
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Can You Teach Creativity? With Shane Bevin
We chat with Alex's old game art lecturer from Flinders University, co-founder of Monkeystack and all around digital creative Shane Bevin about: 👀 A story about when Alex was Shane's student 🎨 Can you teach someone to be creative? How to exercise your creativity & what to do when the creativity...
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ACMI hits Ctrl + S to Save Games to History | Cafe Booleans 14-07-2022
Join us at the diner this week as we chat about: 🤿 A horrifying scientific study rom an Austrian university simulates suffocation with a special VR mask 🦆 Untitled Goose Game IP acquired by ACMI - what does this mean for the future of the games preservation? 🧠 EndeauvorRX - a video game for...
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How to Compose Music for Games with Simon (Grand Prize Big Fuzz)
We chat with Simon Hanna aka Grand Prize Big Fuzz, award winning Music Artist & Composer for Video Games such as RITE and Immutable's Gods Unchained about: 🎼 Simon's process of creativity and composing music for games 👾 Working on the soundtrack for retro-inspired video game RITE 🎹 Composing…
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Game devs speak up for abortion rights | Cafe Booleans 30-06-2022
Join us at the diner this week as we chat about: - Melbourne developer Lumi Interactive smashes records securing largest to date investment, for any women-led studio in Australia, of $AU9.76 million dollars in VC seed funding - Lumi's gamified mindfulness planting game, and what else could...
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9 Ways to Prevent Burnout as a Game Developer
Join us as we do a deep dive into: 🎮 Avoiding burnout and managing time as game developers 🥵 Define what burnout is and how it can affect us 🤔 Give ways to assess burnout in our lives ❗ Provide 9 steps to prevent burnout in our lives 🧰 Share our and listeners personal experiences, tools, and...
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AI vs. Video Games: A moral dilemma | Cafe Booleans 15-06-2022
Join us at the diner this week as we chat about: - Xbox Game Pass coming directly to Samsung TVs - how this might open up distribution of games to new audiences - New research showing that making video games enables new forms of self-awareness for people struggling with their mental health -...
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Happy two years of Live Booleans!
John takes us through a journey of two years of laughs, interviews, jokes, and most importantly, friends and family of this game development podcast. We would like to thank you all so much for joining us in the studio and the cafe week after week. Your continued support has meant the world to us...
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Three steps to be a better game designer | Cafe Booleans 02-06-2022
Join us at the diner this week as we chat about: - Tennis legend John McEnroe plays against an AI version of himself via ESPN's Augmented Reality tennis match - what kind of opportunities does this open up in the future? - AI system DALLE2 which creates art from natural language descriptions…
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Zero to Play with Carl Leducq
We chat with Carl Leducq NZ Games Advocate, Host of the Zero to Play game development podcast, and experienced Games Producer about: - His journey into games and game development - The intricacies of the New Zealand games industry and how it compares to Australia's industry - Starting and growing...
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What player type are you? | Cafe Booleans 19-05-2022
Join us at the diner this week as we chat about: - Batman, Superman, Mickey Mouse, Wizard of Oz, 1984 and other huge IPs are going to, or are currently in, the public domain. What opportunities does this open up for new artistic direction and games for these iconic IPs? What would you like to see...
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Making Parselings a tabletop RPG with Leo Cheung
We chat with Leo Cheung aka BlueTwoDays, Artist and Design lead of Paper Cactus Games about: - Developing, play-testing and launching the super unique and super fun tabletop RPG, Parselings - a game about tattoos and collaborative word magic - Hosting a successful Indiegogo and Kickstarter...
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Australian video game developers finally have a union | Cafe Booleans 05-05-2022
Join us at the diner this week as we chat about: - The launch of Game Workers Australia (GWA); the new national union for Australian game workers and the Australian Chapter of Game Workers Unite (GWU) and what this means for indie devs and studio devs - Examples of educational games and the merit...
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Empowering women and minorities to code with Sarah Brown
Sarah Brown is the Lead Technologist at Code Like a Girl - a social enterprise providing girls, women and minorities with the confidence, tools, knowledge and support to enter and flourish in the world of code. With John and Susannah in the interviewer chairs this episode, we discuss: - The...
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Features to check out in Unreal Engine 5 | Cafe Booleans 21-04-22
Join us at the diner this week, as we chat about: - Meta planning to take a nearly 50% cut on virtual asset sales in its 'metaverse' game Horizon Worlds - Unreal Engine 5 now available including UNREAL new features Nanite, Lumen, Metasounds, and more - Unpacking wins best narrative and best game…
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Nurturing game developer communities with Ceri Hutton
We chat with Ceri Hutton, the Director of Operations & Projects at the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA) about: - Ceri’s journey into the games industry - Nurturing an inclusive environment at The Arcade, a game development incubator and shared workspace in Melbourne Victoria -...
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Kirby wins the GRAMMYs (Café Booleans 08-04-2022)
Join us at the diner this week, as we chat about: - PAX Australia announced! & AVCon's approach to in-person events this year - Statistics showing how releasing on Microsoft's Game Pass could benefit your indie game - Apple rumoured to be exploring the idea of a game console and what this means…
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Protecting your video game's IP with Cam Rogers
We chat with Cam Rogers, a digital entertainment lawyer having worked on over 100 shipped titles on platforms across PS5, Xbox, Steam, Switch, VR, and mobile platforms about: - Common legal issues game developers and creatives run into early on and how to prevent them - Where to start with...
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Emotional abuse in indie studios (Café Booleans 24-02-2022)
Join us at the diner this week, as we chat about: - VicScreen allocating funds to support the Victorian game development ecosystem - A breakdown of the various rebates you can utilise as a developer around Australia - IGEAs new Australian Games: Expansion Pack - Gaming market trends in Unity's...
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The Psychology of Video Games with Celia Hodent
We chat with Celia Hodent, expert in game UX (user experience) and cognitive psychology previously on games such as Fortnite, Star Wars 1313, and at Ubisoft about: - What is 'UX'? And the history of UX - Celias studies in cognitive psychology and journey into the games industry - How game...
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Game developers everywhere supporting Ukraine (Café Booleans 10-03-22)
Join us at the diner this week, as we chat about: - Game development studios hiring practices, workplace culture and employee benefits - The state of the games industry in Ukraine and the effect of current events - John Romero making new level of Doom II and other industry initiatives supporting...
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Making Music for Hollow Knight with Chris Larkin
We chat with Chris Larkin, composer for video games such as Hollow Knight, Hollow Knight: Silksong, TOHU, Hacknet, and more about: - His journey into composing music and inspirations - Experience working on a variety of TV, film, and games - Working on Hollow Knight with Team Cherry - 'Getting…
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Crowd-funding game development (Café Booleans 24-02-22)
Join us at the diner this week, as we chat about: - Mighty Kingdom's new tie-in video game called 'Carnifex' - Local indie MMO project TitanReach shutting down - Crowd-funding video games through Kickstarter and risks/issues involved - Kickstarter for games trends for 2021 - Trying out games from...
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Oculus and the Future of Virtual Reality in Games with Gayan Ediriweera
We chat with Gayan Ediriweera, AR/VR developer formerly at Facebook/Oculus, about: - His journey into game development on franchises such as Star Wars at Krome Studios - Development on rhythm game NBA Baller Beats and using a real-life basketball as a controller - VR development at Oculus…
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The challenges of pricing your game (Café Booleans 10-02-22)
Join us at the diner this week, as we chat about the changing 'value' of games and the costs of distribution for game developers, players habits and game design choices in the newly released in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, a new game for Sega Dreamcast - 23 years after console launch, a huge Kaws art...
About this show
Join SA video game developers John Oestmann, Susie Emery and Jackson Michael as they hang out at Cafe Booleans and chat about culturally innovative games they’ve discovered and the development stories behind them ☕🎮
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