Light the Torch, Slay the Vampire: JMC Grad James Berkelmans Brings PITCHFORK to PAX  

Meet James and step into his world: dungeon crawlers, a dark labyrinth, a dangerous castle, puzzles, traps and a spooky vampire lurking in the shadows. Welcome to PITCHFORK, the game where that world comes to life.

And you can play it at PAX 2026. 

The world of PITCHFORK 

James Berkelmans is a JMC Academy Game Design alumnus and indie game developer with extensive experience, and PITCHFORK looks set to be his next big one. 

 
Grab a friend, because you’ll need one. PITCHFORK is a co-op game where James wanted players to work together to stay alive. The journey is built to feel oppressive, daunting and perilous, as players who embody medieval peasants with no discernable combat powers carry little more than primitive weapons - swords, hatchets and of course; pitchforks to band together to slay a vampire that was terrorizing their village. 

Here’s the twist: you won’t always be able to see what’s coming next. 

Light plays a bigger role than you might expect. James explains, ‘light is a core mechanic in PITCHFORK, not just an aesthetic choice. If you don’t have a torch, or there’s no lit brazier nearby, you cannot see anything.’ 

He continues ‘We provide players with a single torch at the start of their expedition, and they must work together to ensure it stays lit, or doesn’t get lost. Because we don’t allow players to hold a torch and a weapon at the same time, players often allocate someone to be the dedicated “torch bearer” – the person that leads the party, illuminating the way, but must rely on their friends to protect them.’ 

How did this game come about? 

‘PITCHFORK started as a small game jam for [James and his team] to work on simultaneously with [their] larger game SCAV.’ The game took shape over roughly four months. James and his team ‘wanted the game to facilitate opportunities for players to create their own emergent narratives and unique memorable experiences.’ 

James explains the thinking behind that decision: 

‘By creating a systemic game that relied on procedural generation, we could ensure that the game was naturally providing players with a variety tools at unpredictable rates to solve problems in their own way, forcing them to constantly improvise with what the game would provide them with...Expanding upon that - adding extra players to the mix felt like a no-brainer. People are naturally unpredictable, solving problems in their own ways, and when surrounded by friends, naturally create their own stories and fun. So, by combining these two elements, we could guarantee that no two expeditions into the castle played the same way, with each expedition becoming it’s own story...whether that be through strategic cooperation, quiet sabotage, or even by sacrificing a friend to work out if that corridor is safe – that’s up to them.’ 

James put the speed down to a few things. 

‘We’ve surprised ourselves with how quickly we’ve been able to put the game together and get it to a point where we’re having fun. We’ve worked on quite a few games now at different studios - from indie all the way to AAA, and this is perhaps the fastest development cycle we’ve had. 

‘The first step is to establish what your design goals are. What experience are you trying to create? What fantasy do you want to provide to players? I often write these down, treating them as north stars to assess any feature against. Then, as we’re assessing a problem... I try to separate personal bias from the equation as much as possible and treat the game as it’s own entity.  

‘If a mechanic isn’t aligning with those high-level design goals, or worse, actively working against them, it’s an easy call to make – we cut it. Nothing is sacred, the playable experience is all that matters.’ 

Putting PITCHFORK to the test 

Cutting out what doesn’t work is one thing. Knowing what to cut is another. 

‘We heavily rely on friends and family to test the game first. We try to get as broad of an opinion as possible... For PITCHFORK, that generally involves inviting people over to play in a LAN party, or sending builds out to friends and watching them play together over Discord with screensharing enabled.  

‘To eliminate bias, we also try to get external playtesters we don’t know to play the game when possible. We provide them with questions regarding how they perceive aspects of the game, and aggregate those answers to gauge if a system or mechanic is behaving the way we want it to.’ 

James admits: ‘We love watching our friends get sliced up by a trap they didn’t see, or falling off a narrow walkway because someone threw the torch away.’ 

Every journey starts somewhere

‘I knew I wanted to make games, but I wasn’t sure exactly what domain I wanted to specialize in. I was drawn to JMC as the Game Design course provided exposure to all facets of game development before allowing students to specialize further in a chosen field. 

‘As JMC’s Game Design course exposes students to all facets of a game’s creation, I was able to graduate having some experience in all domains. This was vital in being able get a job in the industry, effectively working within multi-disciplinary teams, whilst providing me with a broad enough skillset to feel like I could make my own games. 

‘Ultimately, games aim to provide interactable experiences that fulfil a fantasy. You can’t rely on any one discipline to achieve that in isolation - a good game requires all it’s elements to work towards the same goal in tandem.  

‘We constantly re-assess our own work to make sure that what we’re doing on the systems and mechanics front is being supported by how the game looks and sounds, and what we’re doing on the narrative front matches what the player’s doing in-game. The goal is for it to all feel cohesive and conducive of a singular vision.’ 

It’s a journey JMC is proud to have been part of. 

So, what’s James's advice for students starting out? 

For students studying game design right now, here’s what James wants you to know. 

‘Learn everything you possibly can whilst you’re in an environment to do so. You shouldn’t be aiming to just pass; you should be aiming to become as competent as you can be at as many domains as you possibly can. Leverage the resources available to you whilst they’re available and focus on making quality work that you’re genuinely proud of. Try everything you can and don’t settle for “good enough”.’ 

JMC and James, next stop: PAX 

And now, it’s time for PITCHFORK to meet its players. 

‘Showcasing the game at PAX is very exciting. It gives us a chance to interact with our players in-person, see how they play the game, listen to their feedback, and hopefully get them excited to purchase the game when it releases on Steam.’ 

‘I had hoped to one day exhibit my own game at PAX, but for a small indie team it’s hard to justify the cost. I’m extremely grateful that JMC reached out and am constantly impressed by how they support their current and past students.’ 

‘It’s very humbling to be able to have our game shown to the general public as well as other game developers. We have a great deal of respect for our peers and believe Australia has some of the best developers in the world.’