In this episode, I sit down with the deadly Elijah McDonald – a proud a Noongar|Yamatji|Pitta-Pitta man from WA– who’s part of the team behind Blaktasia: Invasion of the Merk, Australia’s first-ever Aboriginal-led mobile game.
I caught up with Elijah fresh from Yabun Festival on Gadigal Country, where he and his team were showcasing Blaktasia and spreading the word about this groundbreaking project. Made by mob, for mob, this game isn’t just about fantasy and fun – it’s about reconnecting with Country, fighting back the darkness with mulga magic, and seeing our stories and faces represented in digital spaces.
We yarn about Elijah’s journey from playing games with his dad to studying Game Art and Design at TAFE, and how he landed a role at Guck – a majority Blak-owned company making big waves in the gaming world. This was such a refreshing convo – I’ve never had a game developer on the podcast before, and Elijah is leading the way for young First Nations creatives in the tech space.
If you’re a young fulla dreaming of a future in gaming, design or digital storytelling – or just curious about how culture and coding can come together – this one’s for you.
And the best part? Blaktasia is 100% free – no ads, no microtransactions. Just pure Blak brilliance.
🔗 Resources from this episode:
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Follow Blaktasia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blaktasia_game
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Follow Blaktasia on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@blaktasia_game
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Follow Blaktasia on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/blaktasia_game
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Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blaktasiagame
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Learn more about Guck: https://www.guck.com.au
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Indigenous Game Developers (IGEA article): https://igea.net/2022/10/indigenous-game-developers
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CSIRO Indigenous STEM Programs: https://www.csiro.au/en/education/programs/Indigenous-STEM
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Indigitek – Mob in Tech & Innovation: https://indigitek.org.au
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Unity Learn (Free Game Dev Tutorials): https://learn.unity.com
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Unreal Engine Learning Portal: https://dev.epicgames.com/community/learning
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Roblox Studio (Create Your Own Games): https://create.roblox.com
Website: www.blackmagicwoman.com.au
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The Black Magic Woman Podcast is hosted by Mundanara Bayles and is an uplifting conversational style program featuring mainly Aboriginal guests and explores issues of importance to Aboriginal people and communities. Mundanara is guided by Aboriginal Terms of Reference and focusses more on wh
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