From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's your host Sam Colley.
Hello, everyone. It's great to be here with you. And for the next half hour we talk matters of blindness and low vision.
Obviously, as we've expanded to focus on those with a disability, we've encountered people with different disabilities that we haven't come across before, which obviously provided some accessibility challenges that we've had to work through. But yeah, we've been very happy to work through those and just, you know, even just feeling the impact on the participants who, you know, have received our services and have made a huge difference in their lives, um, that's definitely made any kind of, um,
issues with, with trying to get that coordinated. Very much worth it.
Welcome to the program. This week we feature an interview with Alfie Coyle, the founder and creative director of Lightmass Studios, a game studio and training academy for coders and gamers with disabilities, to get into the gaming industry and share their love for games and computing and coding. That interview is coming up very shortly and I'm very excited to bring it to you. That's just around the corner, so
stick around. And then after we hear from Elfi, we share some Easter news and we finish up with a reader recommended from Francis Kelland. I hope you enjoy this week's episode of Talking Vision. Elfie Coyle is the founder and creative director of Lightmass Studios, a games company and Training academy for people with disabilities to get involved in creating games and joining together to enjoy gaming in a
social setting. But more recently, we can reveal on Talking Vision that they are set to launch the Vibe coding initiative, kicking off late this month for early adopters to the program, and it's my great pleasure to be joined by Alfie right now to talk all about it. Alfie, welcome to Talking Vision. Thank you very much for your time.
Thanks for having me, Sam.
Now, firstly, Alfie, let's jump into some details around your company. Nightmare games tell our listeners all about it.
Yeah. So Nightmare Studios is a video game studio primarily, but we've also been supporting those who want to learn how to make video games and want to learn social skills as well through making and playing games. For the last 17 years. So yeah, we've basically been very well known within the game development, education and the broader disability sectors over that time.
Before that, 17 years. So 17 years ago around that time, how did Nightmare Studios come about? Where did the idea spring from?
Yeah, so I started in 2007 because I become financially independent through a couple of phone shops and had just really got obsessed with playing video games. And then after a few months of trying to become a pro gamer and failing miserably, I decided to actually combine my two passions of games and business and create a game studio. That's where it began.
Okay. And, um, what's been the main things that Nightmare Studios have been up to over the 17 years? Give us a bit of a highlight package.
Yeah, absolutely. So we started in a garage back in 2007, 2008. We ended up moving into and purchasing an internet cafe. And then we operated out of that internet cafe during the day. And then at night it was internet cafe. That's kind of our humble beginnings. We made a few small titles, eventually got some success with a title called
Infinity Wars, and people have been playing it since 2011. Uh, we've been going pretty much that whole time with that game and continuing to to serve that across the world to over half a million players have played our game. And so it's one of the highlights during that time, we also got the rights to, uh, Star Trek The Next Generation and had that as part of our card
set as well. But the whole time that we've been doing video game creation in the background, we've or in the foreground as well as the background, we've been making programs for participants who want to learn either game development skills or social skills. And so through that time, we've actually helped over over 3000 young people gain qualifications and even employment in game development. And a good third of those are actually those with a disability.
Oh, wow. And has Lightmass Studios always had that focus on, you know, disability and accessibility from day one, or did that organically develop over the time where you sort of saw a niche and thought, you know, this is something we really want to be a part of and really get into that space and make a difference there.
Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, the idea of actually working specifically in disabilities wasn't something that we intended to do. We had organically done that through, you know, having these participants come in and do, um, game development courses with us and traineeships and actually get paid to, to make video games. And through that process, we noticed that there was a large number of those, um, coming through that had some
form of disability. It turns out that the industry itself has at least a 30% number of people who are identified as having a disability. So it ends up really lending lending itself well, particularly to those on the spectrum. So yeah, we kind of stumbled into that, uh, fact that we had helped so many people with disabilities and had done that for years and years before we even looked at other ways we could directly help those with
this disability. So we've only directly gone out to have programs that, for example, could have participants in it using using NDIS services. Only about three years ago. But we've been helping people with disabilities that whole 17 years.
Oh, wow. And had you or, you know, members of your team had much experience with disability before encountering it, with clients and people coming in and taking part in, you know, the activities that Nightmare Games had to offer. And what was that learning curve like for you in the team?
Sure. Well, it wasn't that hard a jump for us because we, like myself, I have ADHD and a number of other our staff members have got various disabilities of some sort. So we found that we actually ended up really resonating with those with the disability, particularly those on the spectrum very naturally anyway, because a number of us, upwards of half of us, had some form of, uh, something on the spectrum or something, uh, that made us
able to relate to those who were coming through. So obviously, as we've expanded to focus on those with a disability, we've encountered people with different disabilities that we haven't come across before, which obviously provided some accessibility challenges that we've
had to work through. But yeah, we've been very happy to work through those and just, you know, even just feeling the impact on the participants who, you know, have received our services and have made a huge difference in their lives, um, that's definitely made any kind of, um, issues with, with trying to get that coordinated very much worth it.
So cool. And, um, following on from that, Alfie, I'd love to have a chat about a couple of programs that Nightmare Studios are involved with lately, starting off with the Vibe coding initiative. Tell us a bit about that one.
Yeah, so the Vibe Coding initiative is a brand new initiative, so I would need to talk about the broader group that we're focusing on lately first. But basically, we have a social games community that connects our veteran game developers, as well as community managers and even those who work in various other roles in a clinical sense, with those that are passionate about video games. And yeah, and then a lot of those participants are actually secretly suffering from
loneliness and social anxiety as well. So the community basically gets together and either plays games or creates games. And then that allows a space for people to develop their social skills whilst engaging with them, something that they love as it could be like Minecraft or digital art or game design, or even virtual Dungeons and Dragons that we do as well. And so ultimately, our purpose is to transform lives through games. And so we'll we'll find various
means to do that. And the latest one of those is the vibe coding group. So happy to cover that unless you've got another question. In the meantime.
No, that's um, some. That's really interesting. Um, did you have any more details about the social games groups? Because that's, um, that's quite, um, intriguing as well. How long has that been going for and what sort of reception have you had over the years when it has been running?
Yeah. So it's only been going for about three years now, which is probably a long time in the space. But uh, certainly the program itself has had a great reception. So participants obviously a lot of them love video games, and there's a lot of people out there who love video games and are missing like a third space, what they call a third space, or a safer space where people can come together and not be at work or be at home like, yeah, so that allows them to actually connect.
A lot of them connect online. So it is actually done primarily through online, but it allows them to still enjoy that social aspect, no matter where they are, and have that community of people that they form genuine connections with and genuine friendships with. And, uh, yeah, we've had a lot of participants come back to us saying that they love the program and it's changed their life. It's become like an extension of their family for some of them.
Oh that's fantastic. And it certainly is a great time to jump back into the details around vibe coding. Now we've got a bit of that context and you know how it's become that offshoot of the social games groups. Why don't we jump into the details around vibe coding?
Yeah. So vibe coding as a concept has only been around for a couple of months now. It's very recently started to hit the mainstream of people who are interested in AI or interested in game development in some way. And so it's a, it's a, it's a form of, um, coding that's available now. People can just jump in and
actually start vibe coding today. They can connect up a large language model to their coding environment and then also and then from there, from just doing that, they can actually type and talk to the AI like the same as you would ask an AI about a particular topic or whatever. You would ask it to make a game using whatever parameters and whatever things you want to have in it, and it would go away and actually make
that game for you. And so when you first ask it to do it, it'll produce a bunch of code, and then you can test it out. And if you find anything you want to improve, or if you find any mistakes that you want it to fix, then you would have it be fixed through engaging in conversation with the AI and not actually typing a single line of code.
Are there any sort of details around where and when the vibe coding sessions will take place? Is that set in stone yet for people?
Yeah, so we've actually teed up our first live coding session for the last day of this month. So it should be the 30th of this month or Wednesday night. And that'll be the first, like official vibe coding session. It'll be done. Still in the social games development community that we have. That happens on a Wednesday night. And so participants will people can just come along and check out the program, at least before the actual Vibe Coding day, to just see if they find that they're a fit
for joining the community. They can come along for a free session, and then if they enjoy that free session and want to start coming along, then that would be the way that they could start coming along to these vibe coding sessions that we will be having at least fortnightly, if not weekly, based on the interest.
Well that's fantastic. There's a little sneak peek vibe coding session for people to dip their toe in and have a go. Check it out and see if it's the right thing for them. That's a great way to do it. And elfy, in terms of where the sessions are taking place, I understand it's mostly online, but have there been other in-person things that have happened and possibly coming up in the future?
Yeah, absolutely. So we do deliver it primarily online and it's to 99% of Australia. So basically if you have a broadband internet connection, you can join the program. And for those that want to progress to doing something in person, um, because often it takes a lot more confidence to come in and do it in face to face, and we prefer to actually meet our participants where they're at with
what they prefer to do. But we have done some in-person things in the past, and we're actually looking at doing some more events starting in Brisbane in the coming months as well. In person at a yeah, a studio location.
Oh, cool. And, um, you mentioned there that one of the initial vibe coding sessions is free, but what's the sort of structure for prices going forward with either the social games groups or the vibe coding sessions, if people would like to take part?
Sure. So if people want to participate in the social games community beyond the first discovery session, there is a nominal charge that we would have per session if they're doing it under a fee for service, but it is covered completely by services like the NDIS. There's there's no out of pocket for the participants at all if they happen to be on the NDIS and otherwise. Yeah, we have rather nominal charges for our services each week that
can come from other places if they wanted to fund it, but. Yeah.
All right. Cool. If people would like to find out more about the social games groups or vibe coding, or maybe they just want to find out a bit more about Nightmare Studios, what are the best ways for people to do that?
Yeah, the best way would be to hop on to social Dot nightmare and it's spelled l I g h t m a r e. So like nightmare but with light. So that's social.nightmare.com.au. And that has a page about the social games community in general. And then as far as the vibe coding part, they would need to maybe just when they express interest on the on the form, mention the vibe coding as an interest, and we'll try and get them in for an earlier session so that they
can still join that session. The first session coming up on the 30th. Obviously, we're going to have more than just the one session, so there's no real urgency. But if they want to be one of the very founding people in the vibe coding group, then that would be the best way to do that. Just go to social. social.com. Fill out the form and then we can coordinate for them to have a free discovery session to see if
they like it. And then the other thing to mention as well is, um, you know, those who have vision impairment, there's also means and tools that we can connect the participant to so that they can actually start to vibe code without touching a keyboard, and they can create something auditory or whatever they want to create. Again, just through vocal conversation, instead of having to type, they can just talk to the AI and the AI talks to the Mac.
So that's another thing we'll be setting up with those who have, you know, some form of inability to type, or they'd prefer to just do it through voice.
Oh that's incredible. No, that sounds fantastic. Well, I'm really looking forward to seeing how the Vibe coding initiative goes. Let's possibly catch up in a few months, and we can get a little bit of a progress report and tell us a bit about how the first six months have gone. So that's very exciting. Looking forward to catching
up with you then. I've been speaking today with Elfie Coyle, founder and creative director of Lightmass Studios, in charge of game development and a training academy for people with disabilities to get involved in social gaming and more recently, the Vibe coding initiative coming up very shortly. Elfie, thank you so much for your time today. It was great to catch up with you and chat about all the things Lightmass Studios has been up to.
It's been fantastic chatting with you Sam, and I'm looking forward to potentially coming back with some of the, you know, maybe some of the projects that some of the participants have worked on would be really cool to check out as well.
I'm Sam Corley and you're listening to Talking Vision on Vision Australia Radio, Associated Stations of Reading Radio and the Community Radio Network. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Alfie Coyle there. If you missed any part of that conversation with Alfie or you'd love to hear it again. Talking vision is available on the podcast app of your choice or through the Vision Australia library. You can also find the podcast of the show on the Vision Australia
Radio website. Simply head to RVA radio Dot. That's RVA radio Dot. And now it's time for some Easter news and information. The Vision Australia Easter Egg Hunt is back in Bendigo. Coming up this good. Friday, April 18th, 2025 from 9:40 a.m. to 5 p.m. it costs $18 each and it's located, as always, at Rosalind Park in Bendigo. Join the exciting search for 85,000 Easter eggs in Rosalind Park on Good Friday. The chocolate eggs will be hidden in straw at the beautiful Rosalind Park for more than
4000 children to find. Easter egg hunts are organised for separate age groups over various time slots throughout the day. See the below table on the website, which I'll give at the end. Come and say hello to Vision Australia's Seeing Eye Dogs, who will be part of the Easter action too. They've had to make a change to the product used in their Easter egg hunt due to supply issues. No, the Easter eggs are unaffected, but this year they'll be
using straw and hay instead of wooden wool. They appreciate your understanding and can assure you that the change will not impact the fun and excitement of the event. In regards to tickets, tickets will be available for purchase prior to the event. Tickets will be available to purchase via the Bendigo Visitor Centre by visiting the website, or calling 1800 813 153. That's 1800 813 153. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the Bendigo Visitor Centre at 51 to 67 Pall Mall,
Bendigo Limited. Tickets may be available on the day, subject to availability. They've added an extra, all accessible hunt for children who need a little extra support. This hunt will have a much smaller amount of participants and be held at 9:40 a.m., before the park becomes too busy. Spaces are limited. All proceeds go towards supporting the local services. Vision Australia provides to people who are blind or have
low vision living in the Bendigo region. To find out more, visit the Bendigo Easter Festival website at Bendigo Easter Festival. That's Bendigo Easter festival. And search for Vision Australia. Easter egg hunt. You can also visit the Bendigo Visitors Centre website at Bendigo region. That's Bendigo. And in some other Easter news, the hundred K team has released ten fun, long weekend ideas to go 100 K your way. So here's ten long weekend KM boosters with a four day
weekend in sight. There's a great opportunity to plan a power up on your 100 Koa efforts. Whether you're taking it slow and enjoying time with loved ones, or blazing your case with a four day fitness frenzy, here are ten ideas to boost your kilometres this weekend. Take a hike in a place you've never visited before. Check out this list of inclusive all abilities trials for inspiration, which you can find at trial. Hiking. That's trial hiking. And
search all inclusive. Trials. Australia. Enjoy some screen free time with a family bike ride. Visit the local pool and get in some extra laps before winter sets in. Play backyard sports after lunch. Explore new towns by foot on a day trip or holiday. Take the kids to the local zoo. Spend a day at your local botanic gardens. Take your dog to the beach for a long walk and play. Play tag with the kids for a fun. Run around and rollerblade your local beach or river boardwalk.
You can download a free KM planner by heading to Vision Australia's fundraising page at Fundraising Vision Australia. That's Fundraiser Australia and search under Planners and Tallies, where you'll see an activity conversion chart. And lots of teams really went the distance in kilometers and fundraising last week. You can check out the 100 K Your Way leaderboard to see the latest rankings for teams and individuals. Again, to check
out everyone's progress. You can head to fundraiser dot. That's fundraiser Dot to check out how everyone's 100 K is going. Or if you'd like to particularly check out how your Vision Australia radio favorites are tracking along, you can head to the Vision Australia Radio website, of course at radio Dot. That's VA radio dot and click the link on the front page to head to the Vision Australia Radio 100 K pages featuring all teams from Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and
regional Victoria. And now here's Frances Kelland with her radar recommended.
Thank you Sam. Now today's reader recommended is a timely one because sadly, we saw the passing of father Bob Maguire and this book is one we've had in the library collection for a little while. Its father, Bob the Larrikin Priest by Sue Williams. This is the life story of father Bob Maguire. A rare behind the scenes look
at the much loved people's priest. The enigmatic champion of the down and out was shaped by a lonely childhood in poor circumstances, an early priesthood that collided with the upheaval of Vatican Two and working with the army during the Vietnam War. This is a lively portrait of the man behind the resilient social activist and popular media performer, who refuses to be defeated by enforced retirement from the
parish over which he presided for nearly 40 years. Let's hear a sample of father Bob, the Larrikin Priest by Sue Williams. It's narrated by Richard Bligh.
The most chilling sound of young Bob Maguire's childhood was his father's heavy footfall on the front doorstep, followed by the scratch of a fumbled key in the lock as he stumbled home from yet another drunken evening at the pub, the family would hold their breath in fear, waiting to see just what would walk in. Sometimes it would be his dad, in a genial mood, animated with ale and conversation, telling jokes, singing songs, reciting passages from Shakespeare and recounting
funny anecdotes from his years spent at sea. More often, it would be a dark, smoldering stranger who didn't want to know his kids and could, with his temper on a hair trigger, explode into violence at any moment. It was their mum who was his usual target, and she regularly endured savage beatings. The four children would cower in terror as their father lashed out in an alcoholic rage,
frequently leaving his wife cut, bloodied and bruised. Even today, three quarters of a century later, Bobby's older brother Jim can still picture the handprints of blood left smeared on the walls as she struggled to get away from him and out of the sight of the children. At other times, their eldest sibling, Eileen, found herself on the wrong side of his fists. But Bobby, the baby of the family, has few memories of any of that. I think I
probably just blocked it out, he says now. But I do remember the only time my father communicated with me. He'd been away, and when he came home, he beat me with his belt. He was always a bad drunk. And that's the only time I can ever remember him taking any notice of me.
And that was a sample of father Bob by Sue Williams. If you would like to borrow that book, if you would like to join the library and find out about other wonderful books they have, you can always call 1300 654 656. That's 1300 654 656. Or you can email the library at Library at Vision Australia. That's library at Vision In Australia.
And that's all the time we have for today. You've been listening to Talking Vision. Talking vision is a Vision Australia radio production. Thanks to all involved with putting the show together every week. And remember, we love hearing from you. So please get in touch anytime on our email at Talking at Vision Australia. That's talking vision all. One word at Vision Australia. But until next week. It's Sam Culley saying bye for now.
You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during business hours on 130084746. That's one 384 74 six. Or by visiting Vision Australia. That's Vision Australia.