Free Play

When: Saturday 24 September – Sunday 23 October
Where: National Gallery of Victoria, NGV Studio

The organisers of Freeplay are already on to their next project which will be a month-long fun mixture of art and games to be held at the new NGV Studio gallery space at the National Gallery of Victoria. They're making a call for people who can contribute the following:

Concept / Game Art for a curated wall of game-related art. Design sketches, level outlines, character studies, target renders, mood boards etc

Freeplay finished up yesterday, sounding off another successful independent games festival with over 1800 people making it along for the week long event this year for an excellent showcase of local indie games, talks, panels, workshop sessions, and much more.

The finalists and winners for the 2011 Freeplay Awards have also been announced. Director of Freeplay, Paul Callaghan, has had this to say about the Freeplay awards this year...

Freeplay is on this weekend!! It's a big one and there's a whole lot happening. For those of you not subscribed to the Freeplay newsletter or haven't been following the Freeplay updates, then please read below for the latest news and update from Freeplay! Just a reminder, if you haven't ordered your tickets online yet, please do it soon! Last year's event was completely sold out, so do hurry!

(From Freeplay)

The Freeplay Independent Games Festival today announced that the Freeplay Awards are open for submissions for the 2011 awards to once again celebrate the best in Australian independent, artistic, and creative development.

Categories for the 2011 Awards include:

Freeplay, the Australian independent games developer conference held in Melbourne, is making a call out for additional volunteers, support, and assistance as they ramp up for what looks to be an even bigger event coming this August. They are specifically after:

Speakers and Sessions
"We’re also very interested in alternative structures for presenting. Obviously we’re keeping lectures and panels and workshops, but we’d also like to incorporate playful sessions or microlectures or anything anyone else might pitch to us."

Freeplay announced today that the 2011 Freeplay Independent Games Festival will be held at the State Library of Victoria on 20-21 August 2011.

Like many who was at the Freeplay 2010 awards ceremony, I was more than curious to see the game that had took out the "Best Design in a Game" award which included finalists such as The Voxel Agents with Train Conductor.

Up Down Ready was submitted to the Freeplay committee by Sword Lady & The Viking, however, as they mentioned in their speech upon receiving the award, they had not released the game at the time.

To all those who attended the Freeplay 2010 event, it was a resounding success. Freeplay directors, Paul Callaghan and Eve Penford-Dennis are to be commended for their fantastic job organising the sell-out event, and it's hard to think of even more ways to drastically improve what was on for show this year.

Freeplay 2010 is shaping up to be the *biggest* Independent Games Festival in Australia yet! If you haven't booked your tickets or flights yet, be sure to do so soon as it's not too far off now! Head on to the Freeplay website for all the details, including the speakers who'll be there, the conference schedule, and a whole lot more! www.freeplay.net.au

Freeplay have launched the details of the programs, speakers, and ticketing information for their 2010 Independent Games Festival which commences on the 14th of August. Head on over to the Freeplay website for all the details!

Also, a reminder for independent game developers, today's the last day to sign up your entry for the inaugural Freeplay awards, so if you have something to submit, you'd better hurry up!