In collaboration with the IGDA LGBTQ+ Special Interest Group, we kicked off a micro-conference last month exploring queer monstrosity in games with some pretty unhinged academic takes on queerness in horror. This month, we’re keeping the monstrous vibes alive, but turning our attention to game devs instead by chatting to Phoebe Current.

Phoebe is a narrative designer, community support intern on Hello Kitty Island Adventure (yes, really), and a queer horror dev whose itch.io page is full of weird experiments. We talk about balancing studio work and personal games, the joys of community roles, and why horror is the perfect container for queer joy, rage, mess, and meaning.

Also: haunted cassette tapes, SIG shoutouts, and a moment about customer service we had to edit slightly for fear of angering the NDA gods. Don't worry, we turned it into a treatise on how community in games is actually really important!

We had plans to speak to more devs, but the episode had to ship. So consider this a taste of how nerdy I usually get when talking to Cool People Making Cool Stuff!

Links & Shoutouts:

🦇 Phoebe’s games: https://catsket.itch.io/

🌈 IGDA LGBTQ+ SIG: https://igda.org/sigs/lgbtq/

🐱 Hello Kitty Island Adventure: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2495100/Hello_Kitty_Island_Adventure/

📧 Wanna be on a future ep? gameacademypod@gmail.com

🧠 Adam lives here: https://web-cdn.bsky.app/profile/twoleft.bsky.social

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In collaboration with the IGDA LGBTQ+ Special Interest Group, we planned a micro-conference themed around queer monstrosity in games. But we never do anything obvious: we made it a podcast instead! That resulted in a gloriously unhinged series of interviews with brilliant academics sharing their research on horror, queerness, commodified death, mental illness, and maybe some giant fleshy orifices.

Three scholars joined me for the madness:

Dr Karolina Szpyrko opens with a look at Squid Game and the commodification of death as entertainment. As Netflix sanitises the game for its digital format, she unpacks how boredom itself becomes a monstrous force, with only a slight detour into late-stage capitalism. Not quite as queer, but still as monstrous! Then Dr Eoin Murray takes us into the punishing climbs of Celeste, discussing how the game’s mechanics and narrative are a metaphor for mental illness as well as trans allegory. What followed was an earnest conversation about what it means to be queer and all the mountains that need climbing. Finally, Ana Laura Torquato delivers the tentacle-shaped cherry on top with a deep dive into the intersection of genital horror and queer monstrosity. From Silent Hill to The Last of Us, she explores how the monstrous, the fleshy, and the queer are often rendered indistinguishable, how upsetting that can be at times, and how that discomfort that might absolutely be the point.

As the queer horror devs are game jamming with the IGDA, we theory jammed instead. But, of course, that's Game Academy: smart people, weird topics, and probably slightly NSFW!

Links & Shoutouts:

🌈 Learn more about the IGDA LGBTQ+ SIG: https://igda.org/sigs/lgbtq/

Check out our guests:

Karolina Szpyrko - https://www.regents.ac.uk/about/our-people/karolina-szpyrko

Eoin Murray - https://eoinm94.wordpress.com/

Ana Laura Torquato - https://www.instagram.com/analaurarte

📧 Want to be a guest or submit an abstract to a conference-that-becomes-a-podcast? Email: gameacademypod@gmail.com

🐦 Follow my descent into theory-induced madness at https://web-cdn.bsky.app/profile/twoleft.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yes, I know we skipped April (sorry), but Game Academy is back (again) with a guest who wears many hats (literally, he just made that joke again when I saw him a few weeks ago). Designer, Doctor, Dungeon Master... Nerd! This month I’m joined by Dr. Matthew Whitby, who took his storytelling skills from Portsmouth to York and now Rebellion North, where he’s working on games like Speedball.

In this episode, we dig into Matt’s PhD research on reflection, mental health, and perspective-taking in games, and how all that theory translates (or doesn’t) into the day-to-day reality of working in industry. We talk about the shift from academia to professional development, what it’s like being "overqualified" for a Graduate Game Designer role, and why making D&D campaigns is surprisingly great training for game dev chaos.

Can game design ever be done without spreadsheets? Is academia secretly just the tutorial level for the games industry? And can you name a Rebellion character after your homebrew bard? Maybe! If you roll a natural 20...

Links & Shoutouts:

📚 Follow Matt Whitby on Twitter: @WhitbyWrites

🎮 Go play Speedball: Speedball 2024 on Steam

🧪 Check out his portfolio: https://www.matt-whitby.com/

🐉 For your next chaotic D&D session, listen to Matt's podcast The DM's Guild House

📧 Guest ideas or questions? Email us at gameacademypod@gmail.com

🐶 Adam is still yelling about game feelings on https://bsky.app/profile/twoleft.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.