Game Hugs

Chris Wright [https://twitter.com/SurprisingChris]is a 17 year veteran of the games industry and the founder and Managing Director of three companies: indie games label,Fellow Traveller [http://fellowtraveller.games/], games marketing agency,Double Jump Communications [http://doublejump.com.au/], and indie games investment vehicleThe Treasure Hunters Fanclub [http://treasurehuntersfanclub.com/]. After a decade working in the AAA games industry including senior marketing roles at THQ, Chris found himself out of a job in 2011 when THQ closed their Australian studios Bluetongue and THQ Studio Aus. Rather than get another job, Chris decided to go indie and set out to build his own publisher from scratch. Honestly, how hard could it be, right? Join Chris, and our host Jason Imms [https://twitter.com/jasonimms/]as they take a trip down memory lane and chat through the inception and growth of Surprise Attack and its sub-brands, what running an indie publishing label looks like, and the challenges and pressures of running your own business in the games industry.

Louis Roots [https://twitter.com/sk_louie/] is the proprietor, owner, and curator of Bar SK [http://barsk.com.au/], the first gallery space dedicated to interactive art in Australia. Louis has previously curated and run events in South Africa, England, the USA, and all around Australia. His interest lies in the social aspect of videogames, and he is known for quickly creating bespoke controllers that add tactility and accessiblity to the games he exhibits. Join Louie and our host Jason Imms [https:/twitter.com/jasonimms/]for a... strange, irreverent, yet fascinating episode of Game Hugs Live, recorded in front of an audience at Game Connect Asia Pacific 2018 [http://gcap.com.au/](there definitely weren't beers there don't call the cops).

Wadjet Eye Games founder Dave Gilbert [https://twitter.com/WadjetEyeGames] has been interested in adventure games since 1986, when his mother made the mistake of buying him a copy of Infocom’s Wishbringer. Fifteen years later, he discovered the Adventure Game Studio engine and began making his own ever since. Dave joins our host Jason Imms [https://twitter.com/jasonimms/] this week to discuss how he moved from a career in the garmet industry to running one of the most prolific adventure game studios and publishers in the world.

Robert Yang [https://www.debacle.us/]is an assistant arts professor at NYU Game Center [https://gamecenter.nyu.edu/], and makes "surprisingly popular 3D video games about gay culture and sexuality." Known best for his work on The Tearoom [https://radiatoryang.itch.io/the-tearoom], Rinse and Repeat [https://radiatoryang.itch.io/rinseandrepeat], and Cobra Club [https://radiatoryang.itch.io/cobraclub/], Yang believes that it's important for game creators to include sexuality in their games, despite the fact that it's not always easy to do so. Join Yang and our host Jason Imms [https://twitter.com/jasonimms/] as they discuss his games' persistent bans from the Twitch streaming platform, why he makes the types of games he makes, and what it means to create games that feature sexuality for more than simple titillation.

Our guest this week is Shang Lun Lee (李尚倫) [https://twitter.com/leeshanglun/], one of the directors of PlayReactive [https://www.playreactive.com/about], a "play-making" collective based in Melbourne, producing video games, interactive theatre, and installation pieces. Shang Lun is also a former director of the long-running Freeplay independent games festival [http://www.freeplay.net.au/], and most importantly to this episode, an incredible thinker. Join our host Jason Imms [https://twitter.com/jasonimms/] as he chats with Shang Lun about privilege, why we make games, how the structures we put in place to support our work can also hurt us, and what it means to make games outside of the industry.