READ: Cultural integrity and Indigenous collaboration on the Innchanted soundtrackĬienan: After fully understanding the game and the unique nature of it, I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. Drop Bear Bytes had already been fortunate enough to receive the support and guidance of Anthony Hume from the Narana Aboriginal Cultural Centre, but having someone engaged within the team in an ongoing capacity as Cienan is now was much needed. I wanted someone close to the space who could help out with authentic, respectful representation. This interview has been edited for clarity.Ĭraig: I first met Cienan, very briefly, after a panel discussion about Indigenous representation in games at PAX 2019. I spoke to the team about Broken Roads’ approach to telling a multifaceted Australian story. Muir describes the game as ‘a moral and ethical look at a world conquered by the apocalypse’ that will actively resist stereotypes in its characterisation of Indigenous cultures. Now, he’s working with Taylor-Giles to provide both an expert perspective on the narrative treatment of Aboriginal characters and Countries, as well as giving creative input of his own. To this end, Drop Bear Bytes hired Indiginerd founder Cienan Muir, a Yorta Yorta and Ngarrindjeri writer, events producer, cosplayer and lover of pop culture, who ran the country’s first IndigiCon in 2019. Aboriginal peoples are the world’s first creative technologists, whose expertise is spread across hundreds of Indigenous nations. Representing life in this country is more than just vegemite and prawns on the barbie – this land is home to the world’s oldest living culture. Despite their love of genre, Drop Bear Bytes are focussed on making a game that reflects the complex reality of Australia, without relying on stereotypes. It’s a rich creative goal – and one that requires real care to do right. It’s been a busy year getting us to this point and I’m incredibly proud of what the team has done,” said Craig Ritchie, Founder & Game Director at Drop Bear Bytes.īroken Roads tells the story of a group of companions as they make their way across a post-apocalyptic Western Australia, encountering new friends, fighting fierce enemies, and uncovering a mystery behind strange happening in the Never Never.READ: Why do the elves in Dota have Australian accents? Being able to put our own spin on the post-apoc genre and get experimental with philosophy and morality has been a lot of fun. “ As a fan of computer RPGs since the 80s, it’s been amazing getting Broken Roads to this point. Since the studio was founded this year, it wouldn't be wrong to say that Broken Roads is their debut title. The team comprises industry veterans and talented newcomers, with alums from the likes of CCP Games, Riot, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and Torus Games. Interestingly enough, Drop Bear Bytes was founded in early 2019 by Craig Ritchie, a former games journalist turned marketing and brand manager who has worked on titles such as EVE Online, the Vampires: The Masquerade MMO, DUST 514, EVE: Valkyrie and Freya and the False Prophecy. Broken Roads is the name of the upcoming post-apocalyptic RPG developed by a brand new Australian indie studio called Drop Bear Bytes. It looks like there's a surge of post-apocalyptic RPG announcements these days, but, thankfully, we can never have too many RPGs.
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