Scottish Games Network Podcast Scottish Games Network

On the podcast this week we have Ally Low, founder of LowTek Games. LowTek burst onto the indie scene last year and have continued to grow from there. Working on both retro games (that you can actually play on NES, Dreamcast and soon to come to Gameboy) and dyslexic friendly titles and game-making tools. We spoke to Ally in February before his talk at the Tinderbox collective's Play Away Festival. In this episode, Ryan and Ally sit down for a catch up on everything he's been up to since then (Spoilers, he's been busy... he always is). 



Ally speaks about everything from his ever-growing Tik Tok presence to his work on his upcoming title, 'Tapeworkm Disco Puzzle' as well as the recent release of Disletek and his arts and crafts animation side projects! He has been incredibly busy, we're not even sure that he sleeps. 



Also, Ryan is returning for this episode...



If you have any feedback or questions, leave a comment below or send us an email. You can also get in touch with the show via the hashtag #SGNpodon Twitter or message us directly @ScottishGames.    

Links:

Ally on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Wallmasterr

Ally on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wallmasterr?lang=en&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1

LowTek: http://lowtek.co.uk/

On the podcast this week is Gary MacCarten, the CEO of Dundee-based AR and VR specialists Pocket Sized Hands. This chat with Gary was another of the terrific conversations put together by Sebastian MacKay of The Scottish Business Podcast earlier this year. Seb’s kindly let us re-air all of his videogame interviews, including one-to-ones with Maxwell Scot-Slade of Glitchers (makers of Drive Buy) and Marc Williamson from Tag Games.

Gary gives Seb a younger games company’s perspective on the industry and Scotland as well as an insight into how an indie studio can use consistent client work as a launch pad for developing their own original titles. Originally from Ireland, Gary also explains how Abertay University attracted him to Dundee in the first place and the important role that the university and its links with local veterans has played in fostering a healthy industry.

If you've have any feedback or questions, leave a comment below or send us an email. You can also get in touch with the show via the hashtage #SGNpod​ on Twitter or message us directly @ScottishGames.

Links:


Gary McCarten on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zecbmo
Pocket Sized Hands: https://pocketsizedhands.com/

Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/danijel-zambo/kindness
License code: PQTTVBC9YOWGLEV3

We’ve got another brilliant archive interview for you this week with Maxwell Scott-Slade, the director of the BAFTA-nominated, Edinburgh-based developer Glitchers. The conversation was conducted by Sebastian McKay of The Scottish Business Podcast and follows his similarly enlightening chats with Marc Williamson from Tag and Colin Mcdonald from Rivet Games that we’ve previously featured on SGN.

Seb caught Maxwell just a few weeks before Glitchers launched their fantastic "delivery car combat" game Drive Buy. The pair chatted about the business side of preparing to release a game and a whole swathe of other interesting topics in this tangent-happy episode, including: the value of the Switch and the Nintendo eShop as a platform for indies; the difference between being doing client work and being a collaborator; building a sustainable studio in a title-focused industry; Maxwell's eye-opening trip to Tokyo; and even Maxwell and Seb’s strategies for surviving a zombie apocalypse. (Seb’s is ingenious btw)

If you've have any feedback or questions, leave a comment below or send us an email. You can also get in touch with the show via the hashtage #SGNpod​ on Twitter or message us directly @ScottishGames.

Links:


Maxwell Scott-Slade on Twitter: https://twitter.com/maxscottslade
Glitchers: https://glitchers.com/
Drive Buy: https://glitchers.com/drive-buy/

Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/danijel-zambo/kindness
License code: PQTTVBC9YOWGLEV3

The CEO of Dundee-based mobile games developer Tag Games Marc Williamson has been in the games industry for more than 15 years. With Tag, he's overseen projects working with some of household names in entertainment, including the BBC, Adult Swim and Angry Birds creators Rovio.

This conversation is another achive episode courtesy of Seb McKay of The Scottish Business Podcast.  Marc tells Seb about operating as business-facing game developer in a consumer-facing industry and how that dynamic shapes the public profile Scottish games industry.

The pair also touch upon the benefits of working in Dundee, the advantages of growing your company gradually and why playing buggy games like Cyberpunk 2077 can be especialy frustrating for game devs.

If you've have any feedback or questions, leave a comment below or send us an email. You can also get in touch with the show via the hashtage #SGNpod
on Twitter or message us directly @ScottishGames.

Links:


Marc on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mungry
Tag Games: https://www.tag-games.com/

Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/danijel-zambo/kindness
License code: PQTTVBC9YOWGLEV3

With the console versions of Before I Forget released earlier this week, we took the opportunity to have an extended chat with Claire Morwood, who co-developed the game alongside narrative designer Chella Ramanan. Before I Forget is the first release from 3-Fold Games, the studio the pair formed together.

Previously based in Bristol (which was where she met Ramanan), Morwood has recently relocated to Dundee and is now also a member of Biome Collective.

In this podcast, Morwood tells us about how 3-Fold Games got started, the logistics of making a game like Before I Forget, how she went from a geology graduate to a celebrated game designer and what it feels like to be nominated for BAFTA.

You can listen to this podcast interview with Claire Morwood of 3-Fold-Games via our usual podcast feed, or via the YouTube video embedded below.

If you've have any feedback or questions, leave a comment below or send us an email. You can also get in touch with the show via the hashtage #SGNpod​ on Twitter or message us directly @ScottishGames.

Links:


Claire on Twitter: https://twitter.com/shimmerwitch
3-Fold Games: https://www.3foldgames.uk/
Teenage Blob: https://teamlazerbeam.itch.io/teenage-blob
Bitsy: https://bitsy.org/
Flat Jam 2017: https://itch.io/jam/flatgame-annual-2017
This System (by Claire Morwood): https://shimmerwitch.itch.io/this-system
flatpack: https://candle.itch.io/flatpack
Mycorrhiza (by Claire Morwood): https://shimmerwitch.itch.io/mycorrhiza
Suzanne Simard TED Talk on mycorrhizal networks: https://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne_simard_how_trees_talk_to_each_other/

Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/danijel-zambo/kindness
License code: PQTTVBC9YOWGLEV3

In this episode Seb chats with Rivet Games' commercial director, Games Jobs Live head honcho and SGN bestie Colin Macdonald about the advantages of serving a niche audience and the importance of app store search optimisation. Colin also talks about how the industry has changed over the course of his career and reveals how he once succesfully used Brexit to market a game while working at Channel 4.

If you've have any feedback or questions, leave a comment below or send us an email. You can also get in touch with the show via the hashtage #SGNpod​ on Twitter or message us directly @ScottishGames.

Links:


Colin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottishcolin
Rivet Games: https://www.rivet-games.com/

Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/danijel-zambo/kindness
License code: PQTTVBC9YOWGLEV3