Col’s Chat – Locals through my Lens – John Passfield

Col’s Chat –

Locals through my Lens

John Passfield

From the moment I sit down with John, there’s a problem.

The problem is – as it turns out – that we both grew up in the 1970s, with the same comic books, science fiction novels, Star Wars et al. There’s so much to chat about and it seems a real risk that this chat is never going to get to any sort of point.

When we do eventually get to the point, I realise that while John may not be a household name, if you have any connection with homegrown gaming over the last thirty years, it is most likely that he has been responsible for much of your enjoyment.

“When I was a kid, computer games were really in their infancy. Maybe Pong on an Atari. But those things were expensive, and we lived in a small country town. Then my mind was blown one day at the Lismore Show, where they had a Commodore PET computer and a game called, Adventure. There’d be an axe on the ground and you’d have to type in, “Pick up axe”. Then the screen would say, ‘You have the axe.’ It might seem incredibly archaic now, but at the time that was magic. That’s when I got interested in computers, and, at a time when shows were on TV like Dr Who and Star Trek, my interest in technology was piqued. We saw what it could offer.”

John’s Dad was an electrical technician, so with this broader household interest, the Passfield’s invested in a Dick Smith VZ200 (for tech heads out there, this came with 8 kilobytes of RAM!). By 1983, computers were appearing in schools, along with the rise of video arcades. John decided now was a good time to make his own game.

“Over the next two Christmas breaks, I created two games: Chilly Willy (which was a copy of Pengo) and Halloween Harry, where I was inspired by Ghostbusters.” John then headed to Brisbane to study computer science at university. Two years at Telecom after that did little but show him that he hated business computing, so inspired by a friend who had left Uni to pursue his dream, John started work on another game, a revised edition of Halloween Harry for PC. Soon came his departure from Telecom and thus began a lifelong career making video games.

“We only really started seeing a growth in Australian content in the early 2000s. By that time, I had formed the first of my small companies to produce content. Everything was going great. The industry was healthy and then the GFC hit!”

Much like the dinosaurs, the big companies died out and the independents took over. Consequently, the industry took on a new look. “Here in 2025 a lot of those indie companies have grown to great heights, and despite the return of some of the big players, the balance of game production is going well. Democratisation of game development also helped to make the whole process more accessible and affordable. Back in 2000, for example, if you wanted to make a game for the PlayStation 2, you had to buy Sony’s development kit at $20,000 per developer.”

I feel I have an obligation to ask John about AI. “I don’t like the idea of AI writing code. I love to do it, so why would I want to give that up? I think AI will plateau. There will be people who don’t mind how things are created, but there are others that will care about the proof of concept, or live music, or words from thought to paper. It’s important for a lot of people to know who is behind a creative piece of work.”

Queensland now has stacks of game developers and the industry is healthier than ever. “The industry in Australia is very good; we have lots of industry gatherings and idea sharing. For me this is a lifestyle, and I love nothing more than sitting in a coffee shop talking about it.”

You can learn more about John and his creations at www.redspritestudios.com

Author and photographer: Colin Bushell / Colin Bushell Photography