FREE PLAY 2007_
Free Play is Next Wave's Independent Game Developers Conference
SATURDAY 18th AUGUST
9:30am to 8:30pm
Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI)
Federation Square, Flinders Street, Melbourne
ABOUT_
Free Play caters for independent and DIY game developers, creatively frustrated professionals, game development students, digital artists and new media academics. Developed by the indie game community for the indie game community, Free Play provides the only forum for Australian independent game developers to share knowledge, showcase their work and initiate new projects.
Free Play is designed for independent voices, small budget creators, and those who don?t fit the pre-packaged sales strategies to come together, strategise and celebrate their creativity.
TICKETS_
Via the ACMI Box Office : 03 8663 2583 info@acmi.net.au
PROGRAMS_
*Please note that more speakers will be announced in coming days
Lecture Program
9:30am Keynote Lecture Jonathan Blow (USA)
What does it mean to be an independent game artist? What are the practicalities of shaping an idea into a good prototype? Jonathan Blow discusses his landmark game Braid.
11am The Indie MBA
This session gives a comprehensive and practical overview of the business of running an indie shop. Topics include negotiating contracts with artists and programmers, outsourcing, funding opportunities, and legal considerations. Indie MBA will also feature a real life case study.
Amelia King (Film Victoria)
Nick Blackmore (Corrs Chambers Westgarth)
12:30pm Independent's Day
How can independents come up with earth-shattering ideas that change the face of gaming? What are the parameters of independent game making and who are the innovators outside of the big-publisher system? This session investigates innovation in independent gaming to date, and discusses where it might come from in the future.
Jonathan Blow (Braid)
Robert J Spencer (Interzone)
Paul Callaghan (AIE)
3pm Playing with Pixels and Politics
What is the place of social commentary in gaming, and can games achieve social and artistic legitimacy? Indie games development brings new opportunities for audience interaction and debate, and in some cases offers a deeper level of interactivity. It may even inspire a culture of resistance. What are the possibilities for 'serious' games as a learning tool and language for cultural expression? What is the potential for games to say something other than "BOOM!"
Justin Halliday (Escape from Woomera)
Damian Scott (Primal Clarity / Swinburne University)
4:30pm Why I Really Still Love You
Newbie game developers are everywhere, but their love of game development is often short lived; like puppy love it goes away real quick when the going gets rough. So how do great developers maintain the love through the tough times and, perhaps more importantly, why do they stick it out? Veteran insiders express the real reasons why they still love games development.
David Hewitt (Tantalus)
Eve Penford-Dennis (AIE)
Andrei Nadin (Tantalus)
6pm Keynote Australian Lecture Robert J Spencer (Interzone)
The paramount importance of independent games, and how they are crucial to games development as an art form.
Workshop Program
11am Can't Touch This
Move on from game pads, keyboards and mice and learn how to create sensor-driven games. This session looks at how you can use your body to control avatars with motion, distance and light sensors, and discusses the intriguing possibilities this offers.
Dr Seng Loke (Latrobe Uni)
Courtney O'Sullivan
Alistair Smith
12pm Take Advantage of the Big Boys
Learn the pros and cons of the free toys from the 'big boys'. Unreal Engine, development kits from Microsoft such as XNA, the XBOX 360 and others from Sony for the PS3 are giving more power to the little guys. Of course it is all part of a hidden agenda, but as long as you know the score there can be no harm in joining the conspiracy, can there?
Damian Scott (Primal Clarity / Swinburne University)
Tommy Mayer (IRGurus)
1pm Get Your Feet Wet
Create a game in eight easy steps, without programming. This session will get you started in game development. It will cover a well known middleware, 3D Game Studio, that's not yet widely commercially used but is gentle with beginners.
Binh Nguyen
2pm The Best Things in Life are Free
This session will provide an overview of the various open source technologies and engines available to developers. Tim Ansell of Thousand Parsec will look at the state of free open source software (FOSS) games in general, as well as specifically on Linux, and argue how this is one of the last bastions of the proprietary software world. The session will conclude with a discussion of Tim's experience at Worldforge and Thousand Parsec.
Tim Ansell (Thousand Parsec)
3pm Everyone Loves a Designer
Make your game stand out by giving it a great design. Speakers in this session will discuss design techniques from the point of view of narrative, level design and art direction.
Joe Velikovsky (Red Tribe, A-Rage)
4pm Mod Making 101
Good modifications, or 'mods', can improve a game and add an extra dimension of addictiveness and excitement. Mods increase the lifecycle and sales of games and return to both players and publishers more bang for their buck.
5pm Game Makers Soap Box
Open mic and demonstration session featuring six presenters speaking for 20-minutes each. Various topics.
7pm Networking & socialising
Please check the Free Play website for more details: www.nextwavefreeplay.blogspot.com
ABOUT NEXT WAVE_
Next Wave is a biennial festival and artist development organisation, presenting genre-busting new works by the next wave of Australian artists.
CONTACT NEXT WAVE_
03 9329 9422
nextwave@nextwave.org.au
www.nextwave.org.au
Whats up with Justin Halliday listed as working for Escape from Woomera, private joke? We all know he works for IR Gurus.
Take a look at the talk session he's part of "Playing with Pixels and Politics". It makes more sense to introduce him as a part of the Escape from Woomera team than IR Gurus.
Take a look at the talk session he's part of "Playing with Pixels and Politics". It makes more sense to introduce him as a part of the Escape from Woomera team than IR Gurus.