Phoebe Watson: Who Gets to Build the World?

Game designer, producer, and storyteller Phoebe Watson joins Susan to discuss the influences behind her creative voice and her work on Blaktasia: Invasion of the Murk. Phoebe explains how Country represents a relationship with land, community, responsibility, and cultural authority, rather than simply a setting. She reveals how Blaktasia turns these values into play through restoration, biodiversity, and a protagonist who helps rather than saves. She also discusses how Blak Cloud protects communities, supports young designers, and gives the team freedom to create. Finally, Phoebe looks beyond representation toward the strange, emotional, and imaginative games she hopes to make next.

Three takeaways

1. Country is a relationship: It connects identity, community, place, responsibility, and cultural authority.
2. Values can become mechanics: Blaktasia rewards restoration and biodiversity while positioning the player as a helper, not a savior.
3. Cultural safety supports creativity: Blak Cloud shares the burden of cultural decision-making so designers can concentrate on making a compelling game.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Phoebe Watson is a proud Gunditjmara woman of the Maar Nation, growing up in Warrnabool she moved to Melbourne to study a bachelors in Games at RMIT. Since graduating Phoebe has worked with local indie teams, as well as larger international companies like Ubisoft and Star Stable Entertainment. Currently she's with the incredible team at GUCK, working on a First Nations mobile game titled Blaktasia: Invasion of the Murk.

LINKS AND RESOURCES

Guest: [Website]  |  [LinkedIn]  |  [Portfolio / Game]  |  [Social]

Mentioned: [Meteora]  |  [Resource]  |  [Resource]

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INDIE SPOTLIGHT

imissmyfriends Studio | Rhea Gupte & Prateek Saxena | Studio Co-Founders, Artist & Programmer

On this episode, Shirley chats with Rhea (director, writer, art director, character designer) and Prateek (producer, programmer, pixel artist, composer) about their two-person indie studio, imissmyfriends Studio. Their debut pixel-art game “Fishbowl” was conceived during the pandemic as a slow-paced, reflective, hopeful comfort game about moving through grief and mental health struggles without trivializing them, encouraging players to slow down rather than “grind” stats. They describe the challenges they faced as first time game creators, and how being part of Sony’s India Hero Project provided funding, creative freedom, accessibility and expertise. They share advice on learning from online resources and seeking community help.

LINKS AND RESOURCES

Find Rhea & Patreek on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhea-gupte/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/prtksxna/

Find imissmyfriends Studio on Social Media
 Website:https://imissmyfriends.studio/
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/imissmyfriends-studio/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imissmyfriends.studio
TikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@imissmyfriends.studio
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/imissmyfriends.bsky.social

Get and play Fishbowl TODAY
PlayStation 5:https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10009812
Steam::https://store.steampowered.com/app/1638070/Fishbowl/