Submitted by Amelia King
FILM VICTORIA ANNOUNCES FUNDING FOR NEW MEDIA MARKETS
If you are planning to attend any of the following new media markets
Game Developers Conference, 20-24 March 2006
MILIA, 3-7 April 2006
E3 Expo or Conference, 9-12 May 2006
and would like to be considered for a Film Victoria International Travel Fund - Markets loan, you are encouraged to submit an application to the 9 January 2006 deadline.
Guidelines and application forms are available on the Film Victoria website www.film.vic.gov.au
The DMF is an absolute joke in Victoria. To think Victoria used to be #1 in games. They're clueless. They know nothing about what they are investing in but have the power to promote who ever they whish to make these critical decisions (supposedly independently). There are no consequences for bad decisions. If you know the right people you get the cash. The evidence speaks for itself. Its time for big changes at the DMF. Change = progress = a healthy game development environment in Victoria. In the end tho who really cares, it's only games right, there must be better stuff to spend tax payer money on ?
"If you know the right people you get the cash."
How is that different from any other industry on the planet? It's never what you know, only who you know. The same goes for just about everything.
Actually its the whole package. What you know and who you know. When one of those elements is missing then you end up with something like the DMF. These government jobs are really just work for the dole schemes. They wouldn't get jobs in the real world!
Yep, and it is almost impossible to fire them unlike all the other poor soles in the real wold. You could always join the ranks. The holiday and benefits are some of the best you can get. You'd have to be a top executive at a major firm to get those perks, and without any of the risks or hard work to boot. Its a shame our government programs are run by such morons. In Asia we really have some top notch people working in these organisations. People from industry that actually know what they are doing. The DMF is very corupt in my opinion. No wonder the Victorian games industry is in such a big mess.
Absolutely, I'm surprised soo many people already know all this about the DMF. They are supposed to have independent people to make the investment decisions. They hand pick these people themselves however. In some cases the individuals they pick for these roles have recieved funds from the DMF!. if you look at who they pick its always the same bunch of morons that know nothing about game development but recieve a great deal of benefit through various government programs. Its all very cosy but it can't last forever. The opposition is going to have a field day with this stuff :) For the industry it will be too little too late except for those companies that are doing really well.
Not to mention the press if they ever got wind of it. Opps they just did :)
at least vic does something, not like nsw...
Nah, they just collect their dole cheques and take expensive trips overseas on the tax payer. The sad part is their dole cheques are greater than most peoples hard earnt pay cheques in the industry. The DMF really only exists as a work for the dole scheme The funny part is they don't even like or play games. We would be better off if they didn't exist. While they exist they are a barrier to actually putting in place something that might be of benefit. A bit like the GDAA, it has ended up being a barrier to progress not a facilitator, but while its there nothing more is done and the status quo continues. Long live Anonymous Coward, long live sumea.
So how do we get rid of it then ?
I see we are censoring people's comments again in case the odd swear-word offends someone. Ok, fair enough. My censored post:
By not supporting the GDAA, by doing more with the IGDA, and making it more than a social club to b*tch to like minded people. Perhaps establish a union for the little-guys in game development.
As for the Victorian government's support for the industry, what f*cking support might that be? When they first started I believe they had a matched dollar-for-dollar funding scheme where you could match around a million, now they have around S250k that needs to be spread across a number of projects. They say they are aiming to help small startup developers, but this does not add up to what I have had heard so far - one more established developer recently got funding for a project that was not as innovative / original as another that was by a startup developer.
In my opinion the Victorian support will continue to diminish as it is abused by a number of developers down in Victoria that have created a monopoly on the funding source - and it is mismanaged by the government organisation. I do not see it disappearing as a bad thing, as I see it run by those that really have no clue when it comes to game development - locally or globally.
A new funding body that I hope takes off is the Electronic Game Investment Fund - http://www.egif.com.au/ - as it seems like a very promising funding source that can be used / sourced by any developer in Australia - once they move beyond handheld development that is.
They seem to have far more realistic notions of game development and how to approach investing in the industry. It also appears to be a more "private" funding source not a government funding source, so you don't have to deal with their short-sighted incompetence and politics - bullsh*t!
I think a move to more private sources of funding bodies being established by the industry as being a solution to our funding issues, and in particular for small startup studios. Really, if you are an "established" studio and you are still reliant on funding welfare to keep you a float then I don't think you deserve funding at all. Period.
Evelyn- 'boss' at gdaa- used to work for multimedia victoria. Nuff said.
Looks like it might be best to give Ben the boot from the IGDA before supporting it too much though.
How about a sumea questionaire to find out what the overal feelings are towards the DMF in Vic. That would be a way forwards perhaps. Certainly a good starting point to get the industry perspective.
Regarding the egif fund mentioned in 11 - I am confident that you will find the same people on this board as mentioned in 12 and other comments - give you a hint one of the board member of the EGIF fund is in line for the first allocation of funds from the EGIF fund - you would question how ethical this is.
A very large chunk of DMF money went to Ben & Co. I read on a post (that mysteriously dissapeared) Ben & Co also got S1.5M or something to make AFL games from the Film guys.
Facts are stupid things, aren't they...
The S1.5m (or however much it was) was Cash Flow Facility loan to cover the development budget of the project. The money had to be paid back (with interest and legal fees), so it's not a grant...
You can apply for it yourself here:
http://www.film.vic.gov.au/programs/Program_Pages/IDI_CFF.shtml
They also got a large chunk of money from the DMF as grants. This is seperate to the loan facility.
What's your point? That the grants weren't deserved and should have been given to someone else?
Yep. There wasn't much money to start with and a very large chunk ended up going to one company.
Given it's well known Ben and I don't get on (and that I called the DMF an "extension to the corporate dole queue" at freeplay when Ben was in the audience- I didn't realise he was there) I suspect he'll be trying to pin this on me.
Sorry Ben, it isn't me. You've made lots of friends it seems.
Here's the funding from the DMF over the last few years:
Title: Blacktop Kings
Principal: Iron Monkey Studios
Category: Game Prototype Development Investment
Funding Decision Date: 23 November 2005
Title: Avoca - DVD Board Game Software
Principal: Avoca Media Holdings Pty Ltd
Category: Game Prototype Development Investment
Funding Decision Date: 1 September 2005
Title: PK Daredevils / Parkour
Principal: Torus Games
Category: Game Prototype Development Investment
Funding Decision Date: 1 September 2005
Title: Dr. Who
Principal: IR Gurus Interactive Australia Pty Ltd
Category: Game Prototype Development Investment
Amount approved: S152,607
Funding Decision Date: 22 November 2004
Title: Darkenlight
Principal: Iron Monkey Studios
Category: Game Prototype Development Investment
Amount approved: S195,393
Funding Decision Date: 22 November 2004
Project Anaka
Applicant Tantalus Interactive
Investment Amount S104,856
Funding Decision Date 10th June 2004
Project Dark Nova
Applicant Infinite Interactive Pty Ltd
Investment Amount S108,000
Funding Decision Date 10th June 2004
Project Gothic Horror
Applicant Torus Games Pty Ltd
Investment Amount S77,622
Funding Decision Date 19th December 2003
Project Beyond Elite
Applicant thatgame Pty Ltd
Investment Amount S84,522
Funding Decision Date 19th December 2003
Ben's involved with ThatGame and IRGurus for those who don't know.
And I'll add that selectparks http://selectparks.net received DMF funding to make acmipark before the DMF became so commercial.
I'm not a selectparks representative in any way.
According to the DMF website all funding for game development has been expended for the 05/06 financial year. There's nothing left, nadda, zip, zero, not a bickie in the barrel, not a square to spare. The morons at the DMF have been taken for a ride, again!
All that cash into game prototype devopment for what? At least selectpaks did something lasting with the taxpayers SSS
To make games silly ...