The weather held off there was a bit of clapping, a smattering of cricket, a lot of ninjas,  a heap of delicious food,  plenty of drinks and a Surprise Attack of Ice Cream.  As Mitch put it, The Ice Cream van that offers free ice cream: whatever you want! Exists only in dreams, cartoons, movie plots involving child baiting and IGDAMAS Parties!

Thanks to everyone who has made this year a great one for IGDAM, which is pretty much all of you, but special mentions for yesterday’s enjoyment goes to:

Lions share of funding thanks to:
Big Ant Studios
The Voxel Agents
Kevin Power – VoiceOver artist
This is Wicked Awesome – the chimps
Marshalls and Dent Lawyers
And all you other Pozible supporters

The magical ice cream truck of dreams was thanks to Surprise Attack – if you’re an indie looking for promo, start here.

Ninja Bread men baked by Mitch, in case ice cream, apple and pumpkin pie wasn’t enough.

Conga line and cricket thanks to the lovely Leena and filmed by the sensational Stephan Schutze.

Jeremy Kool for the pretty igdamas ninja

And final and personal thanks to everyone who lets me get my bossy on and pulled together to make it happen – Tom, Obe, David, Matt Lacey, Fiona, Anna, Jamie, Craig, Caswal, and if you’ve helped out and I haven’t included you then you’re even more super ace for being understanding!

All the best for the silly season; enjoy, stay safe and we’ll catch up in the New Year.

Now our thoughts turn to game jam….registrations are filling fast so make sure you’ve signed up if you’re keen for a weekend of creative, collaborative game creation.

If you would like to help out with the jam please email giselle at igdamelbourne dot org….even if you’ve already mentioned it to her (she’s a bit forgetful sometimes)

So, wanna see a conga line of gamedevs?

As we cruise into a long weekend in Melbourne, at the other end of it local game developers will gather to find out more about the development of AFL Live by Big Ant Studios and AFL (Wii) by Wicked Witch Software. Trent Kusters will be chairing the panel:

Ants:

Andy Symons – Lead Designer

Antony Marshall – AI Programmer

Ross Symons – CEO (assuming he’s in the country)

plus there have been murmurings of a mystery artist…

Witches:

Ray Clifton Dobing – Associate Producer

Jason Bakker – Programmer

Dan Visser – CEO (assuming he’s in the country)

Massive props to the twitter help this week in arranging audio, and huge thanks for ‘above and beyond’ help from Joel at Mnemonic Audio, so when we can all hear properly if it p…pelts with rain it’ll be thanks to him!

Enjoy your long weekend and we’ll see you on Tuesday!

When: Tuesday 14 June 6.30 onwards, panel starts at 7.30 – approx 9, networking afterwards

Where: 1000 Pound Bend 361 Little Lonsdale St Melbourne (you’ll find us out the back)

If you have any queries get in touch via facebook, twitter or email info@igdamelbourne.org

Developers from Big Ant Studios and Wicked Witch Software will be involved in a special panel to discuss the development of AFL Live for xBox and PS3 (Big Ant) and AFL for Wii (Wicked Witch)

The facebook event is live and already looking popular – we’ll be sending through updates on who’s panelling soon, so don’t miss out.

When: Tuesday 14 June 6.30-10.30 (panel starts at 7.30)
Where: 1000 £ Bend, 361 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne

Hey all,

Had another great night at last week’s IGDA Melbourne meeting, they just keep getting bigger and better! We had 180 last month, and it looked like it was over 200 for this month! We’ll have to work hard to keep up the momentum at this rate…

The topic for the May meeting was ‘Money, Marketing and You’. The focus was on the financial realities of running an independent game development business, and personal marketing for independents and students.

To start things off, we had a quick update from Paul Callaghan on the preparations for this year’s Freeplay festival. The theme for Freeplay 2011 is ‘Handmade’, with a focus on the specific craft aspects of game development, as well as the individual’s place in the creative process and how games manifest as player constructed experiences. If you want to be part of Freeplay 2011, as a presenter, volunteer, expo presenter, or even assist in running the event as an Associate Producer or Board Member, check out the details at the website and get in touch with Paul to register your interest.

We kicked off the main event, and had the wonderful Neil Rennison from Tin Man Games there, to talk about the actual financials of his business, and the reality of running an indie dev business. This was incredibly valuable information, with him quoting his actual business financials, and describing how he runs his business, and what he learned while developing each of their titles. Huge thanks to Neil for being so open and honest with all of this information. Neil then broke the sad news that he will soon be leaving our sunny colonial shores to return to the motherland (UK). It’s a sad decision, but Tin Man Games will still operate as a Victorian business, Ben Britten will still be here and there are plenty of plans already in the works for future Gamebook Adventures titles. We wish Neil and his family all the best for the move and all look forward seeing him at GCAP. Neil’s been a prominent and valued member of the IGDA Melbourne community and our loss is England’s gain. With luck we’ll tempt him back in a few years.

After that, we had Trent Kusters and Stephan Schutze talking about personal marketing, branding, and job-seeking. At this point, the evening was already getting rather late, but Trent and Stephan managed to amazingly fit a huge amount of information into the time they had (and you could easily run a day-long session on this topic). There were guidelines and examples of how to write an effective CV and cover letter and how to build a personal brand, an online folio presence, and the Do’s and Don’ts of job applications and interviews.

Stephan put together a collection of information for people to access, and you can find it on his website.

It was an amazing night, with lots of valuable information for students, independents, and just about anyone really. We were also at a new venue, 1000£ Bend. They had a great open area in the gallery out the back where everyone had plenty of room for mingling and networking, and an upstairs presentation area with seating (not enough for everyone unfortunately, we were rather surprised by how many people came along), and while the rain drowned out the speakers a bit at times, it’s looking like a great venue for future events as well. If you have any comments on the venue or the evening, please let us know at info@igdamelbourne.org.

As announced on the night, our June event will be a developers ‘Post-Mortem’ of “AFL Live”, which was developed in Melbourne by Big Ant Studios (X360 and PS3) and Wicked Witch Software (Wii). We’ll have speakers from both companies there to spill the beans on what happened during the games development, and field questions from the audience. Further details about this soon…

Cheers all,
Craig.

Hi all

Wow! More than 180 games devs and transmedia enthusiastics came along to last night’s gathering we like to call Tim

What a fabulous night – we’d love to get your feedback in comments to this post, and a big welcome and thanks for coming along to all the new igdammers.

HUGE props to Jarrad and Karl for giving up their time and sharing their expertise  and insights into creative processes. Also thanks to the lovely Christy Dena for giving us the opportunity to mash it up and  the State Library of Victoria for allowing us to have the biggest and most AV fault free event ever!

I mentioned a few things, and forgot to mention a few others in all the excitement:

What I remembered:

• Firemint are still on the hunt for talent – particularly, and right now, QA Testers
• Big Ant Studios are advertising for a gameplay programmer
• Library Hack is going on – could win 6 grand and have fun with datasets!
• FimVic has some sweet plans for encouraging creative independent processes, and getting the chance to travel to London as part of the idea sharing – (more on this soon)
• WinnitronAU is ocming along – you should put your game on it!

What I forgot to mention:

• Next month’s plans…for the full details you’ll just have to wait a bit – it’s teaser time:

There’s this amazing bunch of blokes called fondly known as Tin Man Games, they make these sensational GameBook Adventures and somewhat of a doyenne of indies locally.

Well… they’re going to lift the tin lid on their financials – so if you want to know a bit more on the business side of what some call indie, some call prindie then this will also be a don’t miss event….and that’s not all (but it’s already a long teaser so I’ll save the rest for later)

Facebook event coming soon – please do reply there if you can as it really assists working out how many are coming along and who will fit!

Again, feel free to offer feedback on and igdam events, either comment here or email giselle@igdamelbourne.org

Thanks for coming

A big thanks to Autodesk and FMOD for catering, and Mnemonic Audio for coming to the party with a sound system -  bring your iPod stacked with tunes, and Big Ant for the roof.

Don’t forget your invite and ID, the weather’s looking heaps better than pouring rain or scorching heat so all good Melbourne style! So don’t forget sunscreen and a brolly.

So the details again:

3-8pm at the Big Ant

Level 10, 271 Collins St Melbourne

Enter via the main lifts – look for signs if no-one’s about (the secure lift system and all)

We’ve gone a tad overbudget so donations upon arrival are encouraged

See you on the roof!

If you registered (correctly) for the IGDAM Christmas party on Big Ant’s roof top thanks to Autodesk and FMOD you should have received your invitation via email.

It looks like there’ll be people from a pretty even spread of indies, prindies, wage devs, students and educators from, well, Big Ant,  Autodesk and FMOD of course along with

• AIE
• Blue Tongue
• Brawsome
• CATC
• Deakin
• Demruth (jetlag permitting)
• Drop Spider
• EA
• Ex-Krome
• Ex-Transmission
• Firelight Technologies
• Firemint
• Infinite Interactive
• Iron Monkey
• Katanco
• La Trobe University
• Level 3
• Mishme
• Mnemonic Audio (who have offered to kick in $100 for the bar tab, so yay! More of that!)
• Pilkington Street Studio
• Play-Bit Entertainment
• Qantm
• RMIT
• Ryan Bros & Assoc
• The Voxel Agents
• Tin Man Games
• Universe Creation 101
• Visceral
• Wicked Witch Software
• Zoomorphix Systems

So yeah, should be a top day!  It’s strictly invitation, over 18 and entry via gold coin donation – so if you’re registered, your  name’s on the door!

If you can provide a sound system and tunes please get in touch via giselle@igdamelbourne.org

PS – I need a break before tagging, this post, but I’ll get there!

See ya on the rooftop!

The plans for the party are underway – and numbers are filling fast.

We’ve got the location – Big Ant Studios right in the middle of town – thanks! *waves* – and this also means we’ve got the list at the door, and if you’ve not on it with invite in hand then you miss out. And that would make us sad. So please make sure you register

We’ve got the food – HUUUUUGE shoutout to AUTODESK for sponsoring the tucker and who also have some super-amazing deals for ‘lil ‘ole IGDA Melbourne folk – so get in touch with Paul Hellyer if you’re looking to upgrade by Jan 18

We’ve got hmmm, a few drinks I guess – so if you feel like sponsoring the bar of what is sure to be a memorable party, please , contact giselle@igdamelbourne.org – I’d love to hear from you and make it that a top arvo is had by all.

Have no fear, it’ll all happen – but any and all support is welcome.

If you work for any of the tagged companies which we do our best to support we’d love your involvement – and it seems from the rsvp’s we’ll see some of most of you there.

Bring on the rooftop!!

There’s a few exciting events coming up, and if you’re interested in lending a hand we’d love to hear from you!

We’ve got a planning meeting tomorrow night, and all assistance is appreciated. Whether you just want to bring along an esky to keep the bevvies cold, want to get the AV sorted, like making pretty pictures or have an organising itch that needs scratching, all levels of assistance are appreciated.

Many hands and all that….

If you can help out please get in touch via info@igdamelbourne.org and let us know how you’d like to get more involved.

For the most regular updates for what’s going on with IGDA Melbourne visit igdamelbourne.org – so if this is the first you’ve heard of anything, there’s the place to go.

And much love to Autodesk (get in touch with Paul Hellyer for IGDA Melbourne specials) for sponsoring the Christmas Party and Big Ant for hosting

Thanks,