The year that was and will be.
Disclaimer: I’m writing this on Christmas Eve as a mother of two, so it’s a casual post I’m in a first person mood, please be kind on any typos or grammatical errors. – giselle
First and foremost I’d like to wish all of the amazing IGDAM community; the organisers, speakers, regular Tuesday nighters, sometimes Tuesday nighters, jammers, GCAPers, online community, supporters and friends and their family and loved ones (phew! you’re all wonderful) a very happy and safe festive season. Thank you for making the local (and in some cases international) game development scene what it is. I hope your involvement will continue and strengthen into the future, just like prospects for making great games in Melbourne are.
It’s difficult to get reflective about another incredible year of IGDAM with Global Game Jam starting in one month, so that needs to be the first rant; and I’m going to have a bit of a yell;
GLOBAL GAME JAM – 25-27 JANUARY 2013 (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/)
AIE MELBOURNE (http://www NULL.aie NULL.edu NULL.au/)
FIND OUT ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT REGISTERING HERE.
“The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the world’s largest game jam event. Think of it as a hackathon focused on game development. It is the growth of an idea that in today’s heavily connected world, we could come together, be creative, share experiences and express ourselves in a multitude of ways using video games – it is very universal. The weekend stirs a global creative buzz in games… while at the same time exploring the process of development, be it programming, iterative design, narrative exploration or artistic expression. It is all condensed into a 48 hour development cycle.” – GGJ website
This will be our third Melbourne jam, with sites also running across 232 sites globally at time of writing, including Adelaide, Canberra, Perth and Sydney to name a few.
We’re in a new venue near town this year, and are grateful for the work AIE are putting in and the space their offering to continue the Melbourne jam, which is close to town for an Australia Day weekend jam! (I’d recommend a firework break be scheduled into plans.) Places are filling so please don’t miss out and don’t be shy – if you want to know more about it join our facebook group.
SPONSORS:
Site sponsor
(http://www NULL.aie NULL.edu NULL.au/)
Without sponsors, there’d be no showers, food or facilities and without AIE we’d be homeless.
Gold sponsor
(http://straightright NULL.net/)
Straight Right are Gold Sponsors and will also be giving the Rising Star award in the form of valuable industry feedback on how to take your game further in terms of art, code and promotion.
Silver sponsors
FMOD are again back and being wonderful again despite the fact that I’m having difficulty locating a logo in the right format or something (I mentioned informal about this post, yeah?)
(http://www NULL.redpointsoftware NULL.com NULL.au/)
Redpoint Software are backing up their BBQ sponsorship with a game jam sponsorship – thank you so much!
And everyone involved in the BBQ has also helped towards this event, so thanks all.
And finally, the dark horses at the moment include Autodesk who I’m still working on the final details and will update this post when they’re sorted (it doesn’t help I ‘work’ ridiculous hours and they tend for the office hours), but they’ve always been lovely in the past so I’m sure there will be thank you’s to be said.
There’s a few other sponsors I’m hoping to secure, mostly to cover security costs it seems, which is a little frustrating but it is what it is, and I’ll let you know who and what when I do. 
Oh my it’s almost Christmas and there’s still so much to say…I mean #gamesfund, and PAX Australia and GCAP and Freeplay and I haven’t even mentioned the actual next event yet which I’ve fondly named PRE – with Kumobius pre-launching Time Surfer and the pre-game jam meet on Tuesday 8 January at 1000 Pound Bend – I’ll try to post more comprehensively soon, but it’s the usual drill but with a game prelaunch, as Time Surfer is due for release Thursday 10 January.
Ok, Christmas has ticked over and Santa won’t be able to visit me while I’m awake, so I’d best call it a night.
Thanks again for making IGDAM what it is, I look forward to being involved and watching it grow and evolve into the future.
Cheers,
Giselle
