In episode 5, Susan talks with Pablo Quarta, an Argentine writer, narrative designer, and game producer whose work sits at the intersection of games, politics, and queerness. From co‑founding "Matajuegos", Argentina’s first video game workers’ co‑op, to producing the award‑winning surreal documentary game "Atuel", Pablo’s journey is about using games to talk honestly about labor, climate justice, identity, and Latin American realities.

Throughout the conversation, Pablo discusses "Matajuegos’" origins as a bilingual blog and dev collective formed to push Argentine indie games toward real-world, Latin American perspectives and more inclusive community conversations, later becoming Argentina’s first video game workers’ co-op in 2021. They describe co-op operations, benefits, challenges, and explains why and how "Matajuegos" came to an amicable end in March 2024. Then, Pablo talks about "Atuel, "a 20–30 minute surreal documentary game where players embody Argentina's Atuel river and its ecosystem. He narrates how the game is contextualized amid climate crisis themes, was created alongside the 12.01 Project’s film, and has been shown widely at festivals and museums around the world. Finally, Pablo outlines hyperlocal storytelling and his enduring interest in queerness and feminist issues, climate justice and neocolonial extractivism.

• (00:00) - Intro
• (00:48) - Partners & Sponsors
• (01:28) - Meet Pablo Quatra
• (04:40) - Matajuegos
• (09:01) - The Co-op Model & Video Game Development
• (20:21) - Making Atuel Documentary Game
• (26:09) - Hyperlocal Games
• (28:04) - A Museum Piece
• (31:31) - The Issues at Hand
• (36:36) - What the Future Holds
• (40:38) - The Throughline
• (41:59) - Where to find Pablo
• (45:39) - Outro

Where to find Pablo:
LinkedIn
BlueSky

Check out Atuel and Matajuego's other games on itch.io

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This Episode was Sponsored by the University of Miami's School of Communications & the Knight Foundation