IGDA Melbourne

If you are wondering what is happening this month with the IGDA, we are swapping our first Tuesday get together for two nights of partying and networking in association with the Freeplay (http://freeplay NULL.net NULL.au/)event on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th of August.

These events will be held at the Match Bar (http://www NULL.matchbar NULL.com/match_bar_melbourne NULL.php), in the QV building, overlooking the State Library, venue for Freeplay.
The fun begins as the lectures and workshops wind down, (around 6:00pm), and will continue until late.

On Saturday we have a dedicated space until 10:00, and on Sunday we have the whole place to ourselves! Food will be available both nights, with the full menu on the first night, and snacks on the second.

Even if you can’t make it to the conference, feel free to drop by the after parties, share a drink and swap stories with the cream of Australian game development talent.

We look forward to seeing you there, and are thrilled to be able to support Freeplay, which is shaping up to be one of the most important events of the year.

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.

Gathering from 7 for catch up social shop talk.

8pm – Trivia starts

Teams include:

SARQAT
Touch my Pixels
The Voxel Agents
Colonel Mustard’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
*My Epeen is over 9000*
The Billionaire Skeletons
The Lavish Badgers
Tin Man Games
Team Rocket
Team 3
Tuckshop Lady Headbutt
The Red Barrels,
Team Rocket’s Blasting off again
Team Andromeda

More teams will be formed tomorrow night and anyone not wanting to play is welcome to hang about

It’s at the BLVD Bar in Southbank, just around the corner from The Embassy near the Macca’s. If all else fails The Embassy folk will help you with directions.

Great prizes, and also the possibility of a gold coin donation from trivia players towards a decent drink card for the winn ing team.

Also up for grabs are:

A PS3 thanks to Big Ant Studios (who have two teams vying for the prizes)

A Wacom tablet thanks to Wacom

A Ballistic book and online membership to the CGSociety

A $100 Drink card for the Mana Bar – save it up for GCAP!

Three GDC ‘collectors’ tee-shirts

Along with much revelry and merriment…

It’s time to make plans for how you’d like to be involved in Freeplay this year – be it as a speaker, volunteer or participant.

Paul Callaghan, Co-director of Freeplay, will be about before Tuesday’s  Trivia Night at the BLVD Bar in Southbank from 6.30, if you want to chat to him about how you’d like to contribute.

Information about the call for speakers and volunteers is available from the Freeplay website (http://www NULL.freeplay NULL.net NULL.au/2010/05/speakers-volunteers-exhibitors-oh-my/)

As taught by Freeplay Co-director and IGDA bloke, Paul Callaghan

INTRO TO WRITING FOR GAMES
Monday May 3
9.30-5pm

The games market is growing and stories are getting more sophisticated. This games workshop will cover the fundamentals of story and structure and how they apply to games. It will explore the key interactive strengths of the games medium, and present the avenues and technology available for working in the form. This workshop is for all those interested in writing for games but not sure how to get started.

By the end of this workshop, participants should be able to:
Outline stories for games using traditional storytelling and structural techniques
Understand how games integrate mechanics, rewards, and non-linear elements
Write game-specific scenes, including conversations and characters
Deconstruct existing games to better understand their storytelling techniques, including plot, character, dialogue, and theme
Use available technology to write for specific game engines

Further information is available here (http://www NULL.aftrs NULL.edu NULL.au/courses/course-search/open-course-detail NULL.aspx?id=4084)