PAX, Star Wars, and the strange relationship between creativity and constraint. We look at George Lucas’s defence of changing the original trilogy, then go back to A New Hope to explore how limited budgets, practical effects and unconventional ideas helped shape one of cinema’s most influential films. We then look at the winners of PAX Aus 2026 Indie Showcase.
This episode was recorded live at Edge Radio 99.3FM studios in Hobart Tasmania, and first aired on 24 Sept 2026.
Watch here
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Star Wars Commentary notes here.
PAX Australia is coming up in Melbourne from October 9 to 11, and one of the things they’ve announced is the winners of this year’s Indie Showcase.
There are twelve games in total. Six digital games and six tabletop games.
The six digital games
Why would someone want to play a game about cleaning an old cartridge?
- The rise of “cozy” games.
- Games turning mundane activities into satisfying mechanics.
- Nostalgia for physical games and cartridges.
- The difference between playing a game and performing a relaxing activity.
a hand-drawn, pacifist, folkloric bullet-hell where you grapple and dance around monsters rather than simply killing them.
What does it mean to make a bullet-hell game that is pacifist?
3. Finch & Archie.
1930s noir detective game with a police dog
How do you design a detective game where the detective has a dog?
a 1990s-style action blockbuster shooter, with over-the-top action, corny humour and explosive set pieces. The developers even built their own engine.
Contrast to Cozy Game Restoration. Why are we still making games that deliberately look like games from 30 years ago?
a co-op action roguelike shooter set inside a corporate skyscraper, involving mutants, experiments, weapon combinations and upgrades.
a comedy game about being trapped at a flat-warming party with increasingly peculiar roommates. It uses photographs and videos, grid-based movement, hundreds of lines of dialogue and a first-person perspective.
Why would anyone want to turn social anxiety into a videogame?
The tabletop games.
Aqueducks.
- Ridiculous premise, serious strategy?
- At what point does a ridiculous theme become an advantage?
- Would you be more interested in a Roman city-building game because it has ducks?
Deathbed
- political manipulation, prediction and hidden information.
- the tabletop equivalent of Machiavellian politics?
Drago’s Dreamland
- What does it mean to work on a game for thirty years?
Wireburn . cyberpunk card game, very complicated-sounding mechanics.
Caught in the Rain. mystery TTRPG.
Thrive. cute animals, resource competition, 15-minute games.
Which premise would actually make you stop at the booth?
Digital.
- Cozy Game Restoration. nostalgia, cleaning as gameplay, cozy games.
- Key Fairy. pacifist bullet-hell, genre conventions.
- Finch & Archie. detective plus dog, co-op, asymmetric roles.
- The Last Exterminator. 1990s nostalgia, retro aesthetics.
- Mission Delta. co-op roguelike, indie development takes time.
- A Real Life Party. social situations as gameplay, unusual premise.