At GCAP 2026 in Melbourne, studio Beethoven & Dinosaur delivered a standout keynote talk, all about the creation of the AGDA award-winning Mixtape and the benefit of getting more experimental and creative during the game development process.
Rather than delivering a traditional keynote, the team had plenty of fun with the format, delivering insights through personal interviews – some delivered lying down on stage – and anecdotes about the value of creativity, being loosey-goosey and giving ideas time to breathe.
Through it all, the team shared so much about their experiences in game development and the lessons learned in making Mixtape that while the talk was fun and funny to watch, it was also filled with knowledge to take away.
Here’s everything we learned from Beethoven & Dinosaur’s GCAP 2026 keynote talk.
Mixtape’s development story – quick links
The music came first for Mixtape
Kicking off the talk, Beethoven & Dinosaur studio founder Johnny Galvatron explained that Mixtape came from a desire to tell a slice-of-life coming-of-age story defined by its soundtrack. The music was the most important element, as shaped by Galvaton’s personal tastes and his history as a musician.
Galvatron was formerly a touring musician and even got a record deal as part of rock band The Galvatrons, but hated touring and instead changed career paths to become a game developer with a focus on musical games. Beethoven & Dinosaur’s first game, The Artful Escape, was also about music and its power.
Mixtape leaned heavily into the desire to create a musical game that could inspire adults and underscore the transformative nature of music – how it can motivate people and change lives.
The music of Devo was the first touchpoint for the development of the game and its tone. Another unlikely inspiration was Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind because of how it integrated music with the narrative, lending the film an otherworldly quality.
While music came first, the game also needed to tell a story – and so, the soundtrack curation was approached with a core question: what stories do the songs tell?
Finding meaning through collaboration and experience
The folks of Beethoven & Dinosaur all come from different but related backgrounds.
Senior Programmer Geordie Hall arrived at the studio after a career spanning technology, art, UI and web development. Character Artist Mariska Harasymiw wanted to be an animator and eventually got into ZBrush, but also had experience as a makeup artist and in fashion editorial.
Animator Lily Pagalis-Jackson started by creating AMVs before joining Summerfall Studios for motion graphics, then moving onto Beethoven & Dinosaur. Artist Harry Truman (not the president, as the talk made clear) loved games and art. Principal Animator Joe Toole worked on movies before following his passion for animation to various game studios.
Beethoven & Dinosaur is a smorgasbord of talent, with each developer having unique experiences in the world of game development, but also sharing the desire to create something grand.
As Galvatron described, it was this mix of talents and world experience on the team that elevated Mixtape. There was a culture of experimentation and playing around, which helped the team refine the game’s meaning, its music and its sense of adventure. Galvatron also spoke about the need for developers to ‘amplify’ each other by sharing their skills and knowledge.
It was clear at GCAP 2026 that Beethoven & Dinosaur is a hard-working studio, but one buoyed by a shared love and passion for games, and brimming with ideas about game development.
As Galvatron says, the studio is a ‘kingdom of [his] friends’ where everyone ‘leaves the egos at the door’ and ‘everyone can have their word’.
The thread of humanity between each song
Working collaboratively, the team charted a narrative through a soundtrack shaped by taste (and a little bit by song rights). The aim was to ‘frame the mental state of the protagonist’ and let players feel what they feel.
It’s ‘awesome’ to collaborate with others and let them tell you what they think, per the team. It was this approach that allowed for each song in the game to have a deeper meaning, interpreted through various mini-games and cutscenes rich with character beats and artful story moments.
Of course, it wasn’t always smooth sailing and this process required having everyone on board, sharing opinions and ideas to keep momentum rolling.
The deeply meaningful ‘teenage freedom’ level, which sees the main trio of Mixtape flying across fields to evoke a sense of how youth feels, required 25 iterations to get right. That’s where the collaboration really came in handy, as the team worked together to figure out what felt right and was possible within their team.
‘Good art is difficult,’ Galvatron said.
But as he said during the talk, if you put in the extra effort and take time to collaborate with your peers, that difficulty can be resolved, creating a game that is allowed to reach its full potential.
Speaking at GCAP 2026, the Beethoven & Dinosaur team discussed Mixtape as a very creatively fulfilling project. One born of a dream to elevate the power of music, and shaped by the power of friendship and collaboration.
Art is hard, as the team says. But working alongside peers to create something great together makes it all worthwhile. Playing Mixtape, you can see this collaboration and passion clearly on show.
