IGDA Melbourne

We’re pleased to announce that Screen Australia Investment Managers Justin Halliday and Mike Cowap will be at IGDAM in May.

Here’s your chance to get across the  Games Production program (http://www NULL.screenaustralia NULL.gov NULL.au/funding/games/games_production NULL.aspx), which is part of Screen Australia’s Australian Interactive Games Fund (http://www NULL.screenaustralia NULL.gov NULL.au/funding/games/default NULL.aspx). Applications for the Games Production program’s first round close on 12 July 2013.

Come along and meet Justin and Mike, get an overview of funding options and ask questions specific to your own plans and project. Whether you’re considering applying for funding  this round, or sometime in the future, we’re sure you’ll find this to be an invaluable talk.

Of course, don’t miss out on catching up with other game developers and feel free to bring along your latest build for a bit of playtesting action.

When: Tuesday 14 May from 6.30pm (talks scheduled to commence at 7.30)

Where: Thousand Pound Bend (http://thousandpoundbend NULL.com NULL.au/) (down the cobblestone alley way out the back), 361 Little Lonsdale St Melbourne

RSVP: Via our facebook event (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/128383574017164/).

Questions? email giselle@igdamelbourne.org

A few developers have been asking for more opportunities to test their games.  While we do this at our regular monthly meetings, we also want to have time there to network and have talks and discussions at Thousand Pound Bend, so the plan is to hit Federation Square and Beer De Luxe this Friday 22 February 5pm-8pm to play test amongst ourselves and hopefully with the odd passer by too.  If it all works out, it could become a regular event, if we don’t try it we won’t know if it’s a worthwhile thing to do – and worst case scenario we catch up of a Friday over a bevvie and a few games.

There’s a facebook event for it (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/420920254655824/) – feel free to add screen shots of whatever you plan to bring along.

If you’re not a developer but want to help out with testing some of the great indie games currently being created, swing by Beer De Luxe on Friday and check it out.

Thanks to Ben Weatherall for his screenshot of Lesbians vs The Reptoids.

Tuesday 12 February saw around 200 people gather at 1000 Pound Bend to play jammed games, catch up and find out who won this year’s awards.  It was a sensational night to celebrate the creation of games and friendships at Global Game Jam 2013. (photo courtesy of David Doe)

And the awards went to:

Best Game: You’ve got red on you (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/youve-got-red-you)

Runner Up,  Best Game: Moth Kidz (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/moth-kidz)

Most Original: Traffic Crisis 2040 (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/traffic-crisis-2040)

Runner Up, Most Original: Presenting Professor Lamarkridge’s Amazing Zoological Cardio-transplantotron!  (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/professor-lamarkridges-amazing-zoological-cardio-transplantotron)

Best Gameplay: Heart of Zarar (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/heart-zarar)

Runner Up, Best Gameplay: Heart on Your Sleeve (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/heart-your-sleeve)

Best Art: Endless Lovers (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/endless-lovers)

Runner Up, Best Art: Heart Strings (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/heart-strings)

Runner Up,  Best Art: World of Love (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/world-love)

Most Accessible:  WrongBot (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/wrongbot)

Runner Up, Most Accessible: Pump (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/pump)

Runner Up, Most Accessible: Samurai XX (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/samurai-xx)

Rising Star Award: Traffic Crisis 2040 (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/traffic-crisis-2040)

Best Audio: Doki Doki (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/doki-doki)

Runner Up,  Best Audio: Traffic Crisis 2040 (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/traffic-crisis-2040)

Runner Up, Best Audio: Little Red Riding Hood (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/little-red-hiding-hood)

Best New Talent:  Heart Strings (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/heart-strings)

Runner Up, Best New Talent: Bowie (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/bowie)

Runner Up, Best New Talent: Dark Organism (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/dark-organism)

Best Teamwork: We all win with Congratulations (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/congratulations)

Runner Up, Best Teamwork: U DED (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/u-ded)

Thanks to PAX Australia the winners of Best Game and Most Accessible Game, along with the first runner up for Accessible Game (Pump!) have scored themselves three day passes to PAX!

The Rising Star award includes written feedback from Straight Right as to how Traffic Crisis 2040 could be further developed and a variety of winners also took home iTunes gift cards.

Thanks again to all our sponsors – please visit their sites and let them know their contributions are appreciated via twitter and stuff;

AIE (http://www NULL.aie NULL.edu NULL.au/)

Autodesk (http://www NULL.autodesk NULL.com NULL.au/)

Straight Right (http://straightright NULL.net/)

Windows Azure (http://www NULL.windowsazure NULL.com/en-us/)

FMOD (http://www NULL.fmod NULL.org/)

Redpoint Software (http://www NULL.redpointsoftware NULL.com NULL.au/)

Ruma Studios (http://www NULL.rumastudios NULL.com/)

Tin Man Games (http://tinmangames NULL.com NULL.au/blog/)

And last, but by no means least, so many people helped out in the planning and running of the event – you guys rock!

If you or your company are interested in supporting next year’s jam with a location, sponsorship or assistance we’d love to hear from you, you can email giselle@igdamelbourne.org to discuss possibilities.

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

First the tunes…

For the first time, Global Game Jam will have it’s own radio station. GGJ Radio will run from the start of the jam in New Zealand to the end of the jam in Hawaii.  If you’re interested in DJ’ing one of the 72 slots available you can register your interest by emailing radio@globalgamejam.org (radio null@null globalgamejam NULL.org). For further information visit the Global Game Jam website (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/news/2012/12/09/ggj-2013-call-djs).

Don’t forget there’s also the local logo competition closing Wednesday 26 December - now with bonus BBQ t-shirt! and registrations are open for jammers.

Then the visitors…

We love visitors!

If you’re interested in attending as media, would like to volunteer to help out for a bit but don’t plan on jamming, or are part of the local games sector  and would like to visit during the weekend please email giselle@igdamelbourne.org (giselle null@null igdamelbourne NULL.org).

And finally the jammers, never forget the jammers…

Registrations are open – to secure your spot visit the Eventbrite page (http://igdamjam13 NULL.eventbrite NULL.com NULL.au/) – we’ll have some sponsor announcements soon too, that are sure to sweeten the deal.

In case I don’t manage another update before Tuesday, all the best to you and yours for a fun, enjoyable, relaxing and safe holiday season. Thanks for being part of such an amazing community and I’m looking forward to the developments in development in 2013.

The world’s largest and craziest 48 hours of game development is rolling around again. On January 25-27 2013 (yes, it’s the long weekend but that means you can sleep it off on the Monday) the world will once again be making games everywhere.

As of now you can register to jam in Melbourne (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/sites/2013/igdamjam-melbourne#), Adelaide (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/sites/2013/jamalaide-adelaide), Canberra (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/sites/2013/aie-canberra) and Perth (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/sites/2013/lets-make-games-ggj-perth) (and many other sites globally). I’d expect Sydney and New Zealand will have sites soon too, and they’ll be updated here in due course.

For Melbourne jammers, we’ll have venue locations finalised soon and will let you know about that and local registration processes in due course. We’ve also got a facebook group just brimming with jam (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/groups/186036814823342/), it’s a great place to start team forming prior to the event, or just say hi and see what’s going on. We’re also still on the hunt for sponsors, so if you know of any lovely patrons please send them our way.

For further information head to the Global Game Jam website (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/).

Yours truly is the regional GGJ13 coordinator so if you have any specific questions, be it you want to run a site in Australia or New Zealand or you fancy jamming,  feel free to email giselle@globalgamejam.org

It’s not long now until our last 1000 Pound Bend meet up for 2012.  It’s a casual affair this month, with everyone invited to bring along their latest builds or favourite games, be them digital or traditional made by you or others, to share with others.

When: Tuesday 13 November 6.30-10.30pm

Where: 1000 Pound Bend, 361 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne

Bring yourself, your games and your game dev buddies for a night of play, testing and networking.  RSVP via Facebook (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/374854389258380/) is always appreciated.

Next month, we ZOMGWTFIGDAMBBQ! (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/262898597148404/) You should have booked your place via the Pozible campaign. If not you need to get in touch pronto! Tickets will be distributed in the coming weeks.

Whilst generally speaking a game jam takes around 48 hours, there’s plenty more that happens before that to make them inspiring, creative and enjoyable events (in that tired, over-caffeinated way).

“Global Game Jam is the premier annual game creation event that fosters the development of innovative game concepts and promotes international collaboration and teamwork. GGJ brings together thousands of game development enthusiasts participating through many local jams around the world on a single weekend. GGJ has proven itself to be an incubator for creative experiments and new start-ups. Some of the successes have included games being published and exciting collaboration opportunities for participants” – globalgamejam.org

Melbourne joined the Global Game Jam in 2011 we created 19 games (http://archive NULL.globalgamejam NULL.org/games/2011), in 2012 we grew to over 100 jammers and 30 games were created (http://archive NULL.globalgamejam NULL.org/og/games/16924/list). The Melbourne Global Game Jam organising committee are getting their organise on and would love to hear from people and companies interested in getting involved in and supporting the event.

We are looking for expressions of interest from:

• Site sponsors (yep, we’re looking for a new venue.)
• Financial sponsors
• Prize sponsors
• Volunteers

If you or your company would be interested in supporting the third Melbourne Global Game Jam we’d love to hear from you. Email giselle@igdamelbourne.org for further information or a sponsorship prospectus.

For those of you wanting to jam 25-27 January 2013, there will be more information available in November.

GCAP 2012: Inspire is less than two weeks away. The Game Developers’ Association of Australia have put together a fantastic program, which can now be accessed via their handy dandy GCAP app/mobile platform (http://eventmobi NULL.com/gcap2012/), including information on speakers, schedules, attendees and more. It’s well worth checking out.

Don’t forget to register this week for the best prices, and kudos to the organisers for keeping the price down whilst not skimping on the catering. For a great place to meet attendees and find out what’s on the menu before the event join up to the GCAP12 Facebook event (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/342374022523140/350583398368869/?notif_t=event_mall_reply) and get the latest news as all the planning comes together.

If you’re an IGDAM regular, you can also email giselle@igdamelbourne.org for an extra 10% discount.

Early bird + IGDAM discount = $261 for a full conference pass or $136.80 for a student. You can register at the GCAP site (http://gcap NULL.com NULL.au/wp/registration-2/). Early bird registration closes 14 October!

We’ll also be holding our October meet as the unofficial after party and invite regulars and visitors along – for more information see the previous post. Although it’s going to be hard to follow up from the aptly named EPIC Party (http://gcap NULL.com NULL.au/wp/social-events-2/) on the first night being held at Game Masters!

When: Tuesday 23 October from 7pm

Where: Thousand Pound Bend, 361 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne (https://maps NULL.google NULL.com/maps?q=361+Little+Lonsdale+St+Melbourne&hl=en&geocode=+&hnear=361+Little+Lonsdale+St,+Victoria+3000,+Australia&t=m&z=16)

What: Automating GCAP

Whilst it’s a different Tuesday than usual, and not an official GCAP event, we couldn’t resisit running IGDAM straight after GCAP 2012: Inspire so any interstate or international visitors could join our little gathering and experience IGDAM first hand.

Not only will you have the chance to meet and network with local developers, we’ve also got a great talk lined up.

Camshaft Software will talk about making Automation (http://automationgame NULL.com/), tapping into niche markets and how to make money as an indie. This will include an appearance from their Producer/Nuclear Physicist who’s travelled all the way from Germany.

So after GCAP, head down to The Bend grab a roo burger and a beer and join us for what’s sure to be another informative and enjoyable evening.

If you have any queries, email giselle@igdamelbourne.org (giselle null@null igdamelbourne NULL.org) or ask the folk on the facebook event page (http://facebook NULL.com/events/279308982183949).

See you there!

P.S. Thank you to everyone who’s supported the ZOMGWTFIGDAMBBQ Pozible campaign. We met our target today and also have the fabulous Big Ant Studios (http://bigant NULL.com) as gold sponsors, so it’s going to be a doozy! If you haven’t already booked your spot at the biggest game dev BBQ in town you have until 4 November to do so by supporting the crowdfunding campaign  (http://www NULL.pozible NULL.com/index NULL.php/archive/index/10150/description/0/0). The greater the amount raised, the greater the party!