When did you first know that you wanted to pursue a career in voice acting?

I think it was something I always wanted to do since childhood. I remember growing up on Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, which inspired me to want to act out scenes from the shows. One day day, I found my mother’s THE PLANETS record, composed by GUSTAV HOLST (which I believe John Williams built a lot of the Star Wars music from), and would play along to it. It’s very dramatic music, so I would use it to act out scenes on my own or with my friends and we’d record them on my mother’s cassette recorder. We did whole hallway walking scenes, captain in his command chair scenes, engine room scenes, discovery scenes, and of course battle scenes! Obviously we’d make our own laser and explosion sound effects as well, to make it more realistic. So really, acting has ALWAYS been a huge part of my life.

Describe what your career has been like so far, from the point when you first started voice acting to now.

This is a challenge to answer, since the truth is filled with heartache, broken dreams, missed opportunities, self loathing, self appreciation, desperation, excitement, blessings, thunderous applause, brilliant successes, tears of joy. The highs and the lows from seeing yourself on the big screen to not working for years at a stretch. You know those face masks? Comedy and Tragedy? Turns out those are pretty accurate when it comes to being an actor! It’s been a ride so far, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s hard to want or imagine any other life for myself.

Evan Sabba.

What challenges do you face as a voice actor in the games industry?

We all know the big one. AI replacement. Everything is like that old game PONG right now. PONG released on November 29th 1972. Look where we are now with games. Didn’t take long to get here, right? So imagine AI Voice mapping and reproduction is PONG right NOW as of 2025. Paying artists with dignity and appreciation will go out the window when no one thinks of it as an art.

I fear corporate directions and interests will pollute the world with data produced noise, rather than lovingly captured real human voices. A human’s voice is shaped by the performer’s whole extremely diverse life, the joy and the pain of existence. I fear AI will dehumanize concepts of art and existence.

What other games have you worked on besides Ground Zero?

I had the extreme pleasure of voicing Brad Vickers in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Yes, I am the guy who Nemesis takes out at the RPD. He was after STARS members, and there was no escape for me. Jill got away though. She was lucky and made it out somehow. Good for her, I guess!


Character art of Brad Vickers from Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.

What types of games do you like to play in your free time?

I play EVERYTHING. I mean it. There are some types of games I do not play for longer stretches than others, but eventually I will at least try them. I do not have the time to finish all the games I own, which seems to be a common issue with gamers! I will at least try and see some of the artwork, design, controls, and imagination at play for however briefly I get with a game. It’s sort of like going to a gallery to see some paintings. I may spend more time looking at one painting than another, but I want to see all the paintings I can. I’m there letting the painting affect me. Let what I am looking at IN and feel what emotions and thoughts the painter wanted to create in me. That’s how I like to give time to every game I play. Be it jank, AAA, slow, fast, too fast. For me, it’s about letting the art of it all in and letting it take you away. If it doesn’t hit for me, I move on quicker.

What has it been like stepping into the shoes of Evan?

Pretty easy. I am already an Evan and, as a proud member of the Order of Evans, I have to know at least half of all other Evans’ mindsets and emotions before embarking on a role with such magnitude which, I might add, only an Evan could perform. I hope that explains it. If it doesn’t (and it probably won’t, since only an ordained member of the Order of Evans could possibly understand), then the performance mainly started to take shape after some detailed discussions between myself and Ground Zero’s lead developer James over the course of two weeks. We had live sessions for recording, so there were adjustments on the fly and it was a great deal of fun. I can’t wait to see what they do with all the audio!



What do you do in order to get in character before you record your lines? Are there any other characters, TV shows, games, films, etc. that you draw inspiration from when becoming Evan (the Ground Zero Evan, that is!)?

I think, once you get an idea of what you are good at, you do lean on performances that you loved growing up or just think are perfect moments to try in a scene. I think knowing myself and my range, there is always a part of Hudson balanced by Hicks from Aliens in my performance that I like to tap into.

What’s been the highlight of working on Ground Zero so far?

I love working on a smaller project like this. I got to know James and what he was going for a lot better from casual discussions about his game and his passion behind wanting to create it. I am honored he asked me to voice such a fantastic character and be a part of his game. It has been a deep wish of mine to be in a game again, and to be in a game set in the same classical style as early Resident Evil games is a dream come true.

Once they’ve finished the game, how do you want players to feel about Evan? What type of person is he?

I think Evan is extremely sharp but a bit of a joker. He’s very caring but brings chaos when needed. He’s also always a little hangry.

If you met Evan in real life, do you think you’d get along?

Sure, but I would have to let him poke fun at me for a while.

We're back with another unforgettable episode of SCS On The Road! Join Oscar and Beny as they take you back to Oregon for the Star Nation Experience 2025. Partnering once again with our friends at Western Star, the event brought together eight lucky contestants from across North America for a weekend packed with adrenaline, adventure, and—of course—trucks!

Among the group were two members of the American Truck Simulator community, Tyler and Alex. Tyler, a seasoned truck driver, brought his real-world experience to the challenge. Meanwhile, Alex, despite it being his first time ever behind the wheel of a real truck, was brimming with excitement to test drive the powerful Western Star 49X! You can find more information about the two ATS participants in our previous blog.

Kicking off the action-packed weekend was a team-based competition designed to test both skills and spirit. Tyler and Alex found themselves on opposing teams, turning friendly rivalry into pure entertainment.

One of the highlights of Saturday was a test track experience. But before participants got behind the wheel of a real truck, their first challenge was to complete a course on the SCS Motion Simulator running American Truck Simulator. Once completed, they moved on to driving real trucks on the test track, taking on a series of driving challenges that brought the in-game experience to life.

Another exciting moment came during a challenge at the High Desert Proving Grounds. Participants had to reverse trucks downhill, then stop precisely at a marked zone to score points. Next, they tackled another challenge at a quarry – guessing the weight of a gravel-loaded trailer and spreading it evenly between two cones.

The adventure didn’t slow down on Sunday. With the sun barely rising over Oregon, the group kicked things off with a fly fishing session. Then came ATV riding, where the drivers embraced the dust, speed, and freedom of the Deschutes wilderness. We were once again blown away by the skill and dedication of our American Truck Simulator community. Watching Alex transition from virtual to real trucking with such confidence and enthusiasm was especially moving – a true example of how games can spark real-world aspirations. Tyler’s journey was just as inspiring, as American Truck Simulator played a big role in helping him choose his future path in trucking and earning his CDL.

We’re incredibly proud of Tyler, Alex, and all the participants who made this year’s Star Nation Experience unforgettable. Whether behind a wheel or in front of a monitor, the passion for trucking runs deep in the #BestCommunityEver.

A huge thank you goes out to Western Star for hosting and organizing this amazing event, and for continuing to believe in the powerful connection between simulation and reality. Until next time, keep on truckin’, and we’ll see you out there on the road!

The first thing you’re probably all wondering is, why make a movement shooter with a Y2K style?

As I mentioned in the previous dev storytime, I’m a huge fan of games like ULTRAKILL, TURBO OVERKILL, and DOOM Eternal, but they’re all grimdark and gritty. From an aesthetic perspective, we’re in hell, we’re in a dark fantasy castle, we’re in a cyberpunk dystopia. They’re all beautiful in their own right, but there’s just this common set of aesthetics that seem to dominate in FPS games and especially arena shooters. It’s a lot of browns, blacks, reds, etc.

When I was in Melbourne 2 years ago trying to pitch our game to publishers, I kept getting knocked back because it was “just another sci-fi shooter.” When you’re in the indie space, being able to stand out is crucial, so you need a hook that really screams in peoples’ faces. I was on an escalator talking to our marketing consultant Michal over the phone when I had this revelation. What if the enemies EXPLODED into pink blood?

I prototyped it straight away and it looked AWESOME. I discovered that having the enemies explode into love hearts and pink blood was just as satisfying as seeing them explode in gibs and regular blood. I decided that I wanted aesthetically to lean much more into using a lot of color and particularly a lot of pink, which is not a palette that’s used a lot in FPS games. It’s a very maximalist aesthetic. That’s really where the Y2K style started.



In terms of other games, Bratz: Rock Angelz was a huge inspiration for us, particularly when it came to the dress-up mini-game. Outside of gaming though, I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from music. I was obsessed with Britney Spears, so her style and music have had a major influence on the game. PinkPanthress as well has been a huge inspiration. The music video for her song “Nice to Meet You” has all of these crazy VFX effects in it, which reminded me a lot of those old school Microsoft screensavers. A lot of her music videos are like a romanticised version of the Y2K era, which is the same style we’re shooting for in Don’t Stop, Girlypop!

Growing up in Australia, I was also heavily influenced by a kid’s TV channel called ABC3. In terms of style, ABC3’s visuals were like a combination of pop art with clip art. Think of like the 2010s line art and clip art. If you want to get technical, I guess the style we’re going for is a mixture of Frutiger Metro and Fruitger Aero.

When you wave-hop in the game, there are these filigree lines that grow around the edges of the screen, which was inspired by the Frutiger styles. There’s also a section with a boom box where big fat music notes visually appear and pulse with the music, which also follows this style.

I’d like to add here that I think Windows Vista is beautiful and nobody is gonna change my mind on that!!!



Speaking of pop stars, the character of Adiuvo (your guide who speaks to you via the flip phone) is inspired by Magdalena Bay. Mica’s look and make-up in the music video for “Image” is where I got the idea for Adiuvo. I also love the deliberately sort of DIY-looking greenscreen visuals in that music video. Like the PinkPanthress videos, it has this old school Microsoft Windows feel to it.

The faeries in Don’t Stop, Girlypop!, who provide you with new fabrics and accessories for your guns, were mainly inspired by the 3D Tinkerbell movie. For me, that’s always what I imagine whenever I think of faeries!



Speaking of fabrics, we obviously wanted to include the fabrics that we felt were staples of the Y2K era. Obviously the first one was denim, thanks to that iconic image of Britney and Justin in ALL denim at the VMAs. The flannel was thrown in for the country/lumberjack flair. It’s one of my favorite fabrics to use on the fluffy parts at the bottom of the arms. Another style I really like is that sort of PinkPanthress’s TKMaxx crossed with grandma-core aesthetic. There’s this one fabric in the game that’s purple and has this flower pattern embedded in it. For me, that screams Y2K grandma-core.



For the tech in the game, like the flip phone, my process is usually to start off with a bunch of reference images, try to rip them off, do a bad job of ripping them off, and end up with a completely different thing!

For example, I used a very average flip phone as my first point of reference, but I wanted it to have that transparent see-through plastic look that was really popular in the 2010s. Think like the iMacG3 or the old Rock Candy controllers. I love that plastic see-through look! I don’t think there was ever actually a flip phone with transparent plastic like that, but I guess now there is in Don’t Stop, Girlypop! The weirdest part is I’ve never even opened a flip phone before. My first phone was an iPhone 4!

In fact, I get a lot of people asking me why I wanted to lean into a Y2K style when I wasn’t even around for most of that era. For me though, it’s like a very romanticised version of the Y2K era. It’s all of these things I barely have memories of that become so much more magical and meaningful to me precisely because my memories are so faint. When I see an iPod Nano or an iPod Shuffle, I get this like magical feeling. There are so many things we don’t have anymore because our phones or computers do it all for us, it’s all digital. I love collecting DVDs and discs, and generally just having physical things.

I wanted to take a very non-commital approach to the era though, because for example the flip phone has videos, which isn’t realistic. It’s more like one big nostalgic dream of the Y2K era. It’s not just about the aesthetic style either. I’ve always been fascinated by technology, so a large part of the game is also this element of imagining what technology could be like from the perspective of a child growing up in the Y2K era.





One of the best parts of having this style is that it attracts all of these gamers who wouldn’t normally play an FPS game. When we’re at events, we have people come over and try the game out because they think the game looks cute, and then they’re like, “Wait, WTF is this?” It’s been a really interesting experience trying to onboard these players and have them see that it’s fun. A lot of gamers seem to have this idea in their heads that they shouldn’t play FPS games because they’re bad at them or they can’t aim, but they see the style of our game and they really want to play it. It’s all about convincing them that you don’t need to be good at FPS games to enjoy playing them.

I know what it feels like to be tricked into playing genres that you don’t normally play. I really don’t like horror or being scared, but Alan Wake 2 drew me in so much with other aspects I wanted to explore that I was willing to play a genre I normally avoid. I’m hoping I can bridge that gap as well with gamers who find FPS games off-putting.

At the end of the day though, I’m mainly making a game that I wanted to play and sometimes I think it’s good to just really lean into your niche. I’d love to bring more people into the FPS genre, but the real motivation behind Don’t Stop, Girlypop! is that I’m just making the game that I’ve always wanted to make.



That’s all for now, girlypops!!!

Don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for our next dev storytime in August though, where we’ll be chatting with the incredible composers working on the soundtrack for Don’t Stop, Girlypop!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2610650/Dont_Stop_Girlypop/

Greetings, ladies, gentlemen, and any eldritch entities watching us from the void!

When we started working on Stygian: Outer Gods, one of our earliest and most daunting challenges was designing a town that would evoke the feelings of Lovecraft’s tales, as if it hovered on the edge of reality itself. Not merely a physical space, but a place where time had grown thin, where the present was an echo and the future a distant cry.

Eventually we designed Kingsport – an ancient coastal town in Massachusetts, seemingly caught in suspension between centuries. The past never truly passed. The future never arrived. Its crooked lanes twist between crumbling 17th-century houses, untouched by the passage of time.

We turned to Lovecraft’s own depictions of Kingsport, as seen in The Festival, and, in part, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. Our Kingsport is a place steeped in forgotten centuries. A town preserved not by care, but by madness.

We drew visual inspiration from the abandoned fishing hamlets of New England, those coastal towns that seem to have turned their backs on the sea, unable to bear what they once glimpsed within it.

Dilapidated houses lean into one another, as if seeking support. The narrow streets show no sign of life – only a tense, lingering silence. Masonry is thick with moss and black mildew. Beams hang low, like soaked bones beneath rotting flesh. Old ropes still sag above the alleyways, once strung for drying fish, now they hang like silent nooses, long forgotten.

The farther you stray from the town center, the more it feels as though you're wandering not through the streets of Kingsport, but through someone else’s dream.

The color palette in Stygian: Outer Gods is sickly and tightly restrained. There is no true black, nor pristine white. At times, the colors feel unreal, soaked in dream logic.

Light in Kingsport doesn’t illuminate; it only reveals. It isn’t sunlight, but a dim glow, like the mist before a storm. It casts no shadows and offers no comfort.

The only living light comes from torches and the slow burn of candle flames.

We deliberately avoided pitch darkness in areas where gameplay doesn’t demand it. Instead, we embraced a pale, evasive radiance. Not to conceal horror, but to underline it.

The town doesn’t merely sit beside the sea – it is nearly consumed by it. The ocean is an ancient, hostile presence, slowly swallowing the streets.

Kingsport is covered with salt, shrouded in fog, and worn thin by the ceaseless wind. Each breath carries the bitter tang of rust. And with every dawn, the waters rise anew, creeping further, claiming more.

The Brasco Estate serves as our architectural guiding mark and the emotional core of Kingsport. We designed it to always haunt the player’s periphery. It stands somewhere between cathedral and crypt – a vessel for memories twisted beyond recognition.

The Lighthouse is a presence of its own. In Lovecraft’s fiction, lighthouses often serve as symbolic and visual anchors, perched at the boundary between reality and the unknowable. We drew upon the image of Basil Elton, the lighthouse keeper from The White Ship, a solitary wanderer, slipping into dreams in search of distant, forbidden worlds. Our lighthouse remains ever-present and always on the horizon.

The lighthouse burns with a pale light above the cliffs, casting its indifferent glow across the shoreline. But deeper in the fog, other lights flicker, a thick, venomous green radiance seeping from the windows of the House of Mists, a place that seems fused to the rock itself. Inaccessible by land, it yields only to the wind. Or to those who no longer belong to the world of the living.

Kingsport was never meant to feel like a common town. It was conceived as something alive that breathes and watches. Sound plays a crucial role in evoking that presence.

While moving through Kingsport, you might hear whispers threading through the walls, too faint to comprehend. The rattle of shutters, the steady ticking of ancient clocks, the weary groan of swollen doors on rusted hinges. The shrill wails of witches prowling the outskirts, tearing through the silence, sharp, unnatural shrieks that gnaw at your sanity.

The sounds shift and twist, as if the town is speaking to you in its own twisted language.

Creating Kingsport was one of the most demanding journeys we’ve taken as a team. We needed to preserve the spirit of the source material, weave it into our own vision, and, most importantly, to capture that delicate sensation of a dream gone wrong. That instability of existence, which is key to Lovecraftian horror, where behind every crooked wall, something ancient awaits.

We want players to feel more than fear the moment they step into these streets. That strange familiarity, as though something long-buried stirs in them. As if they’ve walked here once before, in a life not their own, or in a dream that still clings to them like mist.

Hello Shield Maidens and Vikings,

It is time to meet another character who can have a big impact on your adventure on Steineyjar Islands.

In Viking culture, the unseen world was regarded as woven into everyday life. For them, this meant that gods, spirits and their ancestors could shape their fate and fortune. The outcome could be manipulated by other forces, though.
Central to this were practitioners like the Völva (a kind of seeress), who sometimes travels from village to village, carries a staff and speaks in cryptic verses - not to mention that a Völva is proficient in magic. But not just any magic. The so-called seiðr can involve trances, future prophecies, weather influence or talking to spirits.
For some cultures, this seemed like witchcraft, but for Vikings, this was a living tradition that was able to connect the community to the supernatural.



One Völva you’ll meet on your journey is Tarja. Don’t mistake her quiet and distanced demeanor as harmless. Believe us, when we say that you really do not want to cross her or get on her bad side. If you are able to gain her loyalty you will have a truly powerful ally by your side.

Consulting a Völva before a long voyage, raid or major decision was common, for only a seeress was able to gain insight into hidden dangers or future success. If necessary with the help of runic magic, which also played a big part in Viking mysticism. Runes were more than simple letters. They were symbols of hidden power, giving the amulet, sword or whatever item they were inscribed to a special meaning, thus being able for example to protect or empower warriors.




Tarja will help you make sense of the unseen in a world where the physical and spiritual realms are intertwined. A world we cannot wait to show you more of.

Skål!

Digital Daredevils and Toplitz Productions

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/2753930/Vikings_Dynasty/

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Hello everyone, we have some news to share.

Wander Stars is coming out a little bit later than you might have expected. 

First of all, we want to thank you for participating in the open beta. We truly value every bit of feedback and ideas that you have shared with us, but it has also made it very clear that we need more time to truly deliver the game we wanted to make from the start. 

We heard you loud and clear – the UI is broken in many places and often confusing. The combat bugs can ruin the fun, and the balancing is a bit wacky starting from episode 2 onwards.

So based on your feedback, we have decided to take a bit more time to polish, balance, and take care of the bugs currently hindering the game. We’ve also been working on overdrive to meet our previous deadline, so taking a bit more time will not only make the game better overall, but it is also necessary for us to take care of our wellbeing as we approach the finish line.

And in an Underhero-like twist of events, Wander Stars is now launching on September 19. That’s right, on the 7th anniversary of Underhero!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/573320/Underhero/

That’s a very long time, and we are truly thankful for your patience with us and for being here all these years. We really think the wait will be worth it, and we can’t wait to share the final and improved version of Wander Stars with all of you.

Lots of love,
Paper Castle Team

Over the past few months, we’ve been working hard on this updated version - fixing and improving many elements to make sure you can fully experience the game in its compact Demo form before deciding to purchase the full version! 🛠️✨


On top of that, we’ve added a fun new feature: animals can now be a bit naughty and run away from the washing station! 😅🐕
The full list of changes is quite long, but we’ve narrowed it down to the most important updates:

Patch notes:

• Improved teleportation to and from the park
  
• Fixed occasional input block when picking up animals
  
• Fixed player synchronization during park visits
  
• Fixed occasional broken items in the inventory that blocked interaction
  
• Improved pathfinding for animals and NPCs
  
• Added grass in empty areas
  
• Improved wall painting system
  
• Fixed interaction issues after destroying an item from the player’s inventory
  
• Fixed item offset after interactions (e.g., pouring food into a bowl)
  
• Fixed lingering interaction progress circle
  
• Stabilized multiplayer connection
  
• Improved overall game performance
  
• Fixed sliding NPCs
  
• Improved animals’ reactions to toys
  
• Added feedback when an animal refuses to play
  
• Animals can now misbehave and run away from the washing station
  
• Improved lobby display in the main menu
  

We encourage all our players to try out the updated Demo again and see how much smoother and more enjoyable the experience has become.
And for new players who are just discovering our game - now’s the perfect time to check it out! 💚




See you soon,
Animal Shelter 2 Team

Greetings, Aces!

This patch sharpens your swings, steadies your perks, and squashes some pesky bugs … Launcher behavior is tighter, Focus gains are smoother, and issues—like revive hiccups, UI oddities, and Request Board mix-ups—have been cleaned up.

Check out details below. As always, your feedback helps shape these updates—keep it coming!

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• Combat HUD

  • Fixed instances of the Combat Mini HUD disappearing when performing certain actions (drinking a Flask, using a Focus Skill, using an Umbra, etc)

  • Fixed an issue where the enemy’s healthbar would animate smoothly when attacked (this now behaves the way that it used to prior to Update 9)

  • Fixed an issue where the player can start/skip part of the revive process before the pop-up appears

• Boomguard Legacy

  • Fixed an issue that caused Boomguard Legacy’s perk to not work with the Rockbreaker universal launcher attack.

    • Adjusted the launch trajectory of the explosion so that it’s easier to do combos.

    • Adjusted the launch timing so that it’s easier to perform follow up combos.

• Request Board

  • Fixed an issue where an incorrect number of Launchers were required to complete the Ready to Launch request.

    • This requires 20 launchers instead of 30.

• Sentinel

  • Heavy Combo Finisher (HHH) is now considered a launcher and should work in conjunction with perks like Boomguard’s Legacy

  • Explosion from Sanguine Burst no longer knocks enemies far away and now applies the same type of launch opportunities as the normal HHH combo finisher

• Shadowstriker

  • Meter gain from basic attacks have been slightly improved to accommodate for the recent fixes to Focus Meter gain from certain perks. 

• McKraken

  • Fixed an issue where Atoll Oasis Focus Meter gain effect did not work if the Ace was in air

• Ryx

  • Fixed an issue that caused Ryx to remain stationary in missions if the Ace teleports to other party members

  • Fixed an issue where Ryx does not join the player to fight the Gobo Impaletail in the Snaggleshire Venture

We’re thrilled to share that Bahamut and the Waqwaq Tree is headed to Kyoto, Japan to take part in BitSummit25! 🌊

From July 18 to 20, you can play the latest demo of the game at booth IP3-11, alongside other amazing titles from our publisher Soft Source! 🎮

To celebrate, we’re running a 20% discount on the game, available now through July 25! ✨

Tell a friend, cause now is the perfect time to dive in!

Bahamut and the Waqwaq Tree on X
Bahamut and the Waqwaq Tree's Discord
Bahamut and the Waqwaq Tree on Instagram

Hey guys! Many of you have requested the addition of a settings button on the main menu, since the settings only being available on the mission control screen meant you couldn't change the settings until after the tutorial. This was totally an oversight by me during development, my apologies!!!

While this update is absolutely tiny, I am working on a much larger update with some new content! I just felt like this little tweak was needed enough that I wanted to get it out now rather than waiting however long the big update is gonna take me. I'm currently working on a challenge mode that has higher spawn-rates and a limited number of cadets, and I'm planning on an endless mode as well. I also want to try implementing Steam achievements!

Anyway, I hope you're all enjoying The Pale Deep!!! Thank you so much for playing! :D