IGDA Melbourne

As most of you are aware, our most recent meetup was on the 6th of July. We hosted Tony Reed (Game Developers’ Association of Australia), Neil Rennison (Fraction  Studios, Tin Man Games) and Cameron Lee (EA Melbourne) as panel members for a night of industry and development dissection.

Apologies were accepted on behalf of Kevin Chan (Bluetongue) who unfortunately couldn’t make it due to impromptu overseas guests.

The night was kicked off by Paul Callaghan of Freeplay, who was very pleased to announce that the IGDA will be hosting the Freeplay after parties. This will in fact be counted as our next monthly meetup, so be sure to head along to Freeplay (it’s looking fantastic) and we’ll see you for drinks afterwards.

Now that the Freeplay program is out (link below), expect details on the after parties on August 14 & 15 very soon.

http://www.freeplay.net.au/2010-program/ (http://www NULL.freeplay NULL.net NULL.au/2010-program/)

The studio panel went well, with our three presenters covering a range of development and industry related topics, including… marketing, outsourcing, production and communication techniques, tips for startups, and much more. The end of the panel saw some great questions from the audience also.

On behalf of the committee and July’s attendees, a big thank you to our three panel members! Also, thanks to everyone who made it along on the night.

Stay tuned for more info on next month’s Freeplay after parties and other info bound to come out of the IGDA woodwork.

Earlier this week, the IGDA’s meetup for the month of June – a more relaxed coming together for networking and socialising – was another success! People showed up from many aspects of development, media, academia, and more. Many thoughts were shared as well as new meetings. It was a great time for those who’ve made friends and partnerships to solidify things in a relaxed atmosphere.

Due to the content of the night, there’s not much to report… except that a lot of scheming went on that paints an exciting picture for future IGDA initiatives and events.

Stay tuned for more! We’ll be sure to speak up when we can.

Look forward to seeing you all again at July’s event.

Much love, the IGDA Committee.

The trivia night went off with a bang on Tuesday the 4th of May (yes, there were some Star Wars related questions).

The game was host to over 100 players and it was roughly an hour and a half before the dust settled. The top ranking team was “The Fucking Volcano in Iceland”, those ever-tasteful fellows took away the grand prize of a PlayStation 3, generously donated by Big Ant Studios. The winners were followed closely by The Lavish Badgers (winners of a Wacom tablet, donated by Wacom) and then, coming in at third, was Colonel Mustard’s Lonely <3′s Club Band (winers of a copy of Expose 6 and also a membership to CG Society, all thanks to our friends at Ballistic Media).  A $100 drink card for the Mana Bar up in sunny Queensland was given to the team that finished last, who will remain anonymous (for obvious reasons). There were also three lucky winners, of the Heads and Tails games ran through the night, that received some fantastic GDC T-Shirts (thanks to Jenn Sandercock). The night was a huge success and a lot of fun was had by all, both in attendance and those participating.

Thanks to everyone who could make it, and a very special thanks to our wonderful sponsors, Big Ant Studios, Wacom, Ballistic Media, Jennifer Sandercock, The Mana Bar, and of course the BLVD Bar for being wonderful and giving the trivia night a home.

Stay tuned for news on next month’s event.