It’s early March and it’s the eve of the 2025 AFL season. Like all supporters, I’m hopeful for the year ahead. But as a Carlton fan, I’m used to disappointment, and it seems that my only way to see the Blues successful these days is to deliver that success myself through video games. I don’t want a simulation experience where I play through a season though; sometimes I just want to pick up the controller and play. That’s where Footy Bash, an upcoming arcade-style Aussie Rules game from Melbourne’s Danger Thumbs, will be the perfect panacea for the quick Aussie Rules urge.
Danger Thumbs is primarily a two-man show, led by Mark ‘Barra’ Barraclough and Daniel Utkovic. While both of them are capable coders, Barraclough handles the art side of things, and Utkovic takes care of the marketing and business aspects.
As first-time devs, Barraclough and Utkovic say they’re learning to run a studio and make a game as they go – things like registering a business and a game with Steam have been great learning experiences. But it hasn’t been perfect, with the pair often finding new and better ways to work – “a few steps forward, a couple steps back,” Utkovic shares.
Barraclough and Utkovic’s introduction to each other was somewhat happenstance, with the two meeting at PAX Australia around 2013 thanks to a mutual friend. Before getting into game dev, the duo tried their hand at running a YouTube channel, but the algorithms are tough to master, and they realised that their creativity was better channelled into creating a game rather than content.
Before the creative itch needed scratching, both Barraclough and Utkovic spread their development wings in corporate offices developing apps for big businesses. Utkovic says that the idea for Danger Thumbs was born from playing games together during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Every Friday, we would jump on and pick a cheap or free game on Steam and play that, and then we were like we may as well just make one ourselves.”
Over the years, the pair have amassed a varied resume. Barraclough has worked at Hungry Jacks, a sports bar, and multiple retail companies, most recently Officeworks where he became more involved in dev work. Similarly, Utkovic did a big stint in retail and worked at McDonald’s before getting into corporate IT working for a lot of not-for-profits.
So how did they go from the corporate world to independent game devs?
Barraclough says that even from a young age drawing has been one of his passions, especially comic book art, but once he realised that making your own game was a possibility, he knew he wanted to give it a crack.
Utkovic sights playing games with his older brother as one of the catalysts for his desire to create them. But it wasn’t until a trip to Europe with his now wife that he decided to give IT a go, which would kickstart the creative juices. Before that, Utkovic had studied Kadashtrell engineering at university for a couple years, but a few distractions (namely a pub across the road) played their part in less than ideal results.
During that time, the pair were playing games together, and it was here that they asked the simple question: “If other people can do it, why can’t we?”
Danger Thumbs’ debut game Footy Bash
Footy Bash, as Barraclough describes, is “NBA Jam but with Aussie Rules,” and it’s a concept that works extremely well. Especially with its brutal nature bringing the biff back to footy, a notion that fans of a bygone footy era will appreciate. The fact that it works so well makes me wonder why no one has attempted to make a similar game previously. Perhaps it’s the sport’s limited global appeal that has made developers more risk averse in the past. However, while Barraclough and Utkovic admit that Aussie Rules is a niche sport, the pair have taken what they believe are the most fun parts of the national game and utilised them in Footy Bash. It’s this approach that they believe makes the game more accessible and fun.
“It’s like playing Mario Kart,” says Utkovic. “I don’t need to go to Le Mans to watch people race to figure out how to play Mario Kart, it’s just jump in.”
And that’s one of the main pillars of Footy Bash’s foundations – matches need to be simple enough that anybody can pick up a controller and play.
After only five months in development, the pair took the game to PAX Australia in 2023 (a build they say was a “buggy mess”) and credit the experience with giving them the motivation to finish development.
“It was fun and people loved it,” beams Barraclough.
“PAX is really good for player testing,” adds Utkovic.
Ultimately, the feedback they received helped shape the course of the project, with the team implementing a ton of changes after the event.
We all know about the cost of living pressures that people are facing these days, so it’s a brave move for any person, especially those with a family, to leave a secure job to chase a dream that won’t see any monetary return until the product is released.
Like most indie devs, Danger Thumbs and Footy Bash is funded by the blood, sweat and savings of those involved, as well as a ton of emotional support from their partners and families. Barraclough admits the team will need to see how Footy Bash performs as to whether Danger Thumbs continues to develop games. The studio did apply for funding through VicScreen but were unsuccessful, although they did assist with some of the costs associated with attending PAX Australia, and Utkovic says they haven’t gone down the route of chasing a publisher, nor do they intend to.
Despite being new kids on the block, Danger Thumbs still had the street smarts to know when publishers were trying to get them over a barrel.
“We’ve had some pretty good people come up to us and engage with us, and once they realise we’re not going to fork over 30% of what we make, they kind of go, ‘we’re no longer friends now,” laughs Utkovic.
Interestingly, the team did have conversations with the AFL about potential working partnerships. But given Footy Bash’s brutal gameplay and the AFL’s stance on such on-field incidents and the way its product is portrayed in terms of its brutality, it would have required Danger Thumbs to change its vision and tone down the aggression, something it understandably didn’t want to do. So the two parties agreed that it was best to continue working independently of one another.
According to Barraclough, what’s worked in their favour is the fact that the two of them cover the majority of the skillset needed. Their only real contract work has been some promo art that was done by a third-year uni student.
We’ve never looked at potential numbers or sales we’re going to make, it’s just making a fun game, and what comes of it comes of it
There’s a clear level of mutual respect between the two, and it’s allowed them to go at their own pace.
“We know how we work,” says Barraclough
“I’ll tend to go off on a bit of a vision quest and come back with features, and then throw it in there and see if it bugs out.”
Interestingly, Utkovic admits that he reached out to most of the universities in Australia but only heard back from Griffiths, which supplied around 40 third-year or recently graduated students to help with artwork.
When working with contractors, the duo share that they prefer to utilise local talent because they’re easier to work with and there’s such a rich volume of talent available.
“Our games industry is underrated,” says Barraclough.
“When you go to events like IGDAM (International Game Developers Association Melbourne Meetup) and places like that you just meet tons of clever perks who are more than happy to give you their time.”
In fact, the team’s latest contractor was hired off the back of a visit to IGDAM, a much more fruitful endeavour than their experience with freelance marketplace Fiverr.
“Because we’re the only devs there’s a lot of work to do,” Barraclough proclaims.
“It’d be sick if I could do some basic art and give it to Fiverr to see what they could do.
“Now if something is pixelated, it is not pixel art. We were looking for some pixel art and they would draw a really cool picture and then down-res it to the point of being really blurry.”
An early Footy Bash build screenshot
Despite not being what they were looking for, the creator made them pay for the artwork, with the team chalking it up as a learning experience.”
But what about AI and game dev? Barraclough says that AI is a great tool but would never use it for code completion.
“It’s like Chat GPT for coding,” Utkovic says.
“You wouldn’t use it, but it’s a good throw your ball against the wall and think tool.”
Despite the growing influence and usage of AI, both Barraclough and Utkovic believe that jobs aren’t at risk of being made redundant as a result, even if they think it’ll continue to be widely accepted as time goes on.
“I don’t think AI is a threat to the art industry – hot take maybe – but the art is not good,” proclaims Utkovic.
“AI has been such an interesting cat to watch over the years, and the biggest issue now is how they’re training their data,” adds Barraclough.
“I don’t think anyone is going to be angry at people for using AI – I think we’ll get to the point where people just accept it. But I think it’s how they’re fetching their source data that’s the only issue I think artists have.”
As a team developing its first game, they’ve learnt a lot about running a studio and managing the challenges that come with that. Networking and marketing were two of the biggest areas that the duo underestimated the importance of, with Utkovic sharing that it took a while to get a good collection of contacts.
“No one will see your game if you don’t talk about it,” says Barraclough when stressing the importance of marketing.
I don’t think AI is a threat to the art industry – hot take maybe – but the art is not good
The team’s initial focus was simply to make a fun game. But as they’ve come to realise, ensuring that the game runs well is just as crucial as having an addictive gameplay loop. This is something that has seen the team remake the game three times, but Barraclough excitedly shares that they now have the game running at 60fps.
“If we just kept going in a linear progression and went straight from start to finish the game would have been done already, and it would have been shit,” reveals Utkovic.
Like most independent creatives, anytime spent working on the game brings it closer to release and to seeing a return on investment. Utkovic states that the hours they’re putting into Danger Thumbs are not too dissimilar to working in corporate IT, and hours are not structured like a typical work day or week.
“It’s how much time you want to give it.”
It’s a sentiment that makes perfect sense. But as people with families, they do have some rules, such as no working on weekends (unless an important event like PAX is coming up), and when it hits 5pm they’ll wait until the kids are in bed asleep before jumping back into it.
Barraclough says the goal for Danger Thumbs is to make more games in the future, and for that to happen, Footy Bash needs to be the best that it can be.
“We want this game to be an absolute boon to Aussie Rules and Australia.”
Utkovic continues by saying that they’ve never worried about the ceiling that developing an Aussie Rules game might have.
“We’ve never looked at potential numbers or sales we’re going to make, it’s just making a fun game, and what comes of it comes of it. It’s our first foray into this space and it’s been a huge learning experience for us. If we can have some people playing it on Nintendo one day that would be great.”
The famous Footy Bash arcade can be found at expos
That hope is closer to reality, with the team revealing that they’ve been approved for Switch. Not only that, but the game is in development for mobile as well, although the PC version is the primary focus for now.
But when can people play it? When asked, Barraclough commits to a September release during the AFL finals. There are plans to have some open betas between now and then, so those who want to check it out before it launches can do so.
I’m sure I can speak for all Aussie Rules fans when I say that the more video game adaptations the better, and Footy Bash is offering a take on the sport that players haven’t seen. But even if you’re not a sports fan, you can’t help but admire Barraclough and Utkovic’s passion and determination with Footy Bash. To use a footy term, they’ve put their ‘head over the ball’ – putting everything on the line to give themselves the best chance of success.
