Witch Beam

What Witch Beam is

Witch Beam is an independent game development studio based in Brisbane, Australia. The studio's own press kit gives its founding date as 15 May 2013 and describes it as a small indie studio committed to creating polished experiences for PC and console. The team page lists three studio members: Tim Dawson, Sanatana Mishra and Jeff van Dyck, alongside collaborators including Wren Brier, Seiji Tanaka and Angus Coolan. The studio's site is witchbeam.com.au.

The press kit explains how the group formed. Tim Dawson, Sanatana Mishra and Jeff van Dyck first worked together at Sega Studios Australia; Dawson and Mishra then left their jobs to pursue independent development and contacted van Dyck for advice on audio design, and he ended up joining the team. Wren Brier joined after the studio shipped its first game and was the original creator of its second project, Unpacking.

The team

Witch Beam's team page describes each member's role. Tim Dawson is credited as a multi-disciplined developer who spent his first nine years in games as an animator at Australian studios including Ratbag, Team Bondi, Pandemic and Sega Studios Australia, and is the Technical Director of Unpacking. Sanatana Mishra handled design and business responsibilities on the studio's first game and later led Tempopo. Jeff van Dyck is the studio's composer and sound designer and the Audio Director of Unpacking.

Collaborators on the same page include Wren Brier, the Creative Director of Unpacking, whose background includes pixel art work on Jetpack Joyride at Halfbrick Studios; programmer and animator Seiji Tanaka, who the page says lives in Tokyo; and artist Angus Coolan, described as a freelance pixel art generalist who worked on the game's art. No parent company, group ownership or investor is named on any of the studio's own pages.

Unpacking

Unpacking is the game our database lists under Witch Beam, and the studio's games page attributes it to the company, describing it as a zen puzzle game about unpacking a life and listing it for PC (Windows, Mac and Linux), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. The official game site, unpackinggame.com, describes it as part block-fitting puzzle and part home decoration across eight house moves, with no timers or scores.

Steam lists Unpacking under developer Witch Beam with a release date of 1 November 2021. The official game site lists the accolades the title collected, including EE Game of the Year and the Narrative award at the BAFTA Game Awards 2022, Game of the Year at the Australian Game Developer Awards 2021, Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game at the D.I.C.E. Awards 2022 and Game of the Year at Eurogamer in 2021. The soundtrack is credited there to Jeff van Dyck.

Other projects

Witch Beam's games page lists two further titles alongside Unpacking. Assault Android Cactus is described there as a manic twin-stick shooter for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, and was the studio's first release. Tempopo is listed as a contemplative puzzle game about planning and execution, in which the player restores a garden by rescuing musical flowers across sky islands. Our database lists only Unpacking under this entity, so neither title is treated as an entry here.

The press kit records the studio's project history with years: Assault Android Cactus in 2015, Unpacking in 2021 and Tempopo in 2025. It also records awards for the first game, including Technical Excellence at the Australian Game Developer Awards in 2016, Best International at BitSummit in 2015 and a PAX 10 selection at PAX Prime in 2015. The studio's site points press and creators to a separate press kit page for assets and contact details.

Games

• Unpacking

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