IGDA Melbourne

June isn’t just about big stars from overseas, it’s also about our own stars-in-the-making here down under. It’s Open Mic night on the 12th of June and we have a bunch of our best presenting the latest news about what they’ve all be up to.

Everyone is encouraged to bring along playable prototypes and demos so we can show off our work to each other and get valuable feedback. So come along, bring your laptop / iPad / hover-jogging-buddy and join us for fun and feedback!

When: Tuesday 12 June, from 6.30pm – Open Mic starts around 7.

Where: 1000 Pound Bend (http://thousandpoundbend NULL.com NULL.au/)

Facebook RSVPs appreciated (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/234960473277213/) to get an idea on numbers.

What:

Playtesting will go throughout the evening, and the microphone will be powered up around 7pm for a variety of talks including:

Ben Britten with the latest update on Tin Man Games (http://tinmangames NULL.com NULL.au/) taking over the world, one gamebook adventure at a time.

LATE ADDITION: Maciej Sawitus, ex Blue Tongue and THQ programmer, will run through an analysis of the statistics collected from all of the Monstaaa (http://monstaaa NULL.pixelelephant NULL.com/)! players including:
- how many people successfully completed specific game levels
- how many times did people have to retry specific levels (aka “level of frustration”)
- popularity of certain iOS devices
- per-hour users and new users vs. New & Noteworthy in Australia

Trevor Dikes will introduce Soundplay Interactive (http://soundplayinteractive NULL.com/), talk about the development of their first title and the NEIS experience.

Harry Lee will talk about about Wanderlands (http://wanderlands NULL.org/main/)‘ rapid prototyping practices.

Ben Rejmer will share some user testing and user evaluation options for indies.

Andrew Brophy will have a few game demos to share.

Dan Clayton will introduce Dime Studios (http://www NULL.dimestudios NULL.com/)‘ latest game, and is on the lookout for testers.

David Thompson is back for a visit from Gameloft and will chat about that and his indie project, Tiberian Sun Rising (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/pages/Tiberian-Sun-Rising/164158993620119).

Nathan Antony, our resident chiptuner, will be showcasing some of his compositions.

Amongst all this there will also be demos of  ColourBlind, Scuttle, Tasty Fish, Love and Jetpacks and more!

Don’t miss out, brave the cold, grab a burger and a hat and join us!

IGDA Melbourne Podcast Tuesday 12 July 2011

Not only have Joel and the fabulous team at Mnemonic Audio (http://www NULL.mnemonicaudio NULL.com/) made IGDAM audible for the live audience, we now also have snippets for those who missed it.

Check em out out the twitterz (http://twitter NULL.com/mnemonicaudio)too

Hey everyone,

Have you got a game Idea you want to turn into reality?

Have you just released/about to release a game and want to show it off?

Looking for new team members?

Are you a freelance and want to advertise your services, or spread the word about your company?

Come along to our Open Mic Night in July for your chance to tell us all about it!

Time and places will be limited on the night, so you’ll have to register using the form below. Make sure you include a valid email address so we can contact you.

We’ll contact speakers before the night, and publish a running sheet for the evening closer to the date.

When: Tuesday 12 July 6.30pm, mic switches on at 7.30pm

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

5-10 minute timeslots – and a friendly, interested, supportive audience, so don’t be shy!

UPDATE: registrants have now closed. We’ll be in touch with speakers soon to confirm spots shortly.

It’s Open Mic time again at IGDAM and if you want a spot at the mic, please get in quick, because the line-up is already looking schweet, so this is the place to be on Tuesday (assuming you’re not at GDC).

When: Tuesday 1 March – presentations start at 7.30, so any time from 6pm is good.

Where: Cho Gao – Level 3 Melbourne Central

Who & What:

Christian McCrea – GEELab (Games & Experimental Entertainment Laboratory)

This as an exciting initiative by RMIT that’s gearing up this month and right up our alley.

At the GEElab, games will be understood as a cross-disciplinary function as well as the engine of entertainment media and Internet innovation. Practice oriented game and entertainment media research will be carried out by the way of cross-medial experimentation and an understanding of science as fiction, in the sense of not being afraid to think and design differently as welll as think and design speculatively. For example, GEElab members will investigate how to “gameify“ traditionally non-linear media such as TV, film, or radio, developing design strategies, narratives and service prototypes.

Next to these tasks, one of the major goals of the GEElab will be to inquire the potential of games and entertainment to positively influence and change behavior, seeking to suggest solutions for a more peaceful, sustainable, healthy and egalitarian – that is: playful – world. The GEElab will be working closely with people from across RMIT, as well as with international game research institutions and sponsors from the game and entertainment industry.

Peter Halasz – Because of Games (http://www NULL.becauseofgames NULL.com/) Subversive education through games.

Peter  started the indie studio “Because of Games” to subversively educate
the masses. That is, to create games where your brains benefits from
the seemingly mindless gaming activity we all love.

He’ll be talking about creating game-play mechanics which hinge on real-world skills
and knowledge and illustrating with some prototypes, ideas and

iterations, including a physics engine he “should never have made from
scratch.” Time permitting, he’ll demo the yet-to-be-released “Bubble
Physics” (previously named Magnoa), his current project, and give a
status update.

Caz Parker & Andrew Lamb – Automation (http://automationgame NULL.com/)update

Automation the Tycoon game is for people who live and breathe cars.  The lads will give us a quick show and tell of where they’re at and their upcoming small closed beta.

David Coen – Growing an iPhone app

David will be sharing his experiences in iPhone dev and is happy to receive feedback on it all

Aaron Charcoal Styles

Charcoal’s requested a few minutes at the mic to show off a project he’s been working on.

It’s a tool set that allows Flash developers to make stand-alone Windows versions of their games; allowing them to potentially make versions that can be sold through places like Steam.
It also has the ability to read Xbox 360 controllers and pass the information back to the flash game.

WinnitronAU

John Sietsma or James Rhodes (I’m sure one of them will let me know which) will give an update on their Winnitron plans.

Wishing the GDC pilgrims fruitful, fun and safe travels and the rest of us, well, we’ll have to manage the best we can at a licenced venue with our own talks!

Wireless and tech issues permitting (I like to think of it as delicious irony the troubles we have with tech!) the Level 3 (http://www NULL.level3 NULL.org NULL.au/) lads will be live-streaming the talks.

I think that’s everyone accounted for at this stage – if you’ve been in touch and aren’t included just email me a gentle reminder   If you are yet to put your hand up but want to, get in quick by email giselle@igdamelbourne.org

PS – but wait, there’s more, and it’s not steak knives it’s HEEEAAAPS better

Ryan Keable – Anomalous

48 hour gamemaking challenges
Ryan and Ryan from Anomalous will be talking about their 48 hour project again, where they are up to and what will be next.

They will also be talking about their first release for the iPhone, Homemade Shooter!

Whilst some of us watch with envy as others head to San Fran for GDC, we refuse to shut up about games, even if few will be listening on this side of the planet, sooo…..

The IGDAM meet up for March will be an Open Mic Night at Cho Gao.  We’ve already have a few people let us know they’re up for a yak (and this time I don’t mean the beer) so if you’d care for a spot at the mic to talk about your projects, plans, collaborative ambitions, whatever – if it’s games related we want to hear from you.

When: Tuesday 1 March

Where: Cho Gao, Level 3, Melbourne Central (our new home til the Manabar opens and we can work out if we’ll fit there)

The mic will be switched on 7.30 (8 latest, I promise) but you’re always welcome to head on down earlier so the catch up/networky part can happen before and after the open mic.

Here’s the facebook event (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/home NULL.php?#!/event NULL.php?eid=144580178936041) and we look forward to seeing you there, or hearing all about your GDC experiences in April.

I’ll be mc’ing the night as Tom and Craig will be in San Fran, so if you’d like a bit of a chin wag about your project/plan/whatever just send me an email giselle@igdamelbourne.org

Time permitting, once I have a few happy volunteers I’ll get the word out about who’s talking about what.

Last night was a blast, it was great to have igdam old hands and new jam crew getting together.

On a sour note, a brown crumpler bag with, of course, a laptop inside, went missing.  As the second time this kind of thing has occurred recently all I can think to do is say two things.  Firstly, if you are the person responsible for the missing items, pardon the vernacular, but piss off, you’re not welcome.  Secondly, I’d like to encourage you all to keep your stuff with you during meet ups (which as a chronic bag misplacer I know can be hard) and only bring the tech you have to.

Ok, less sour notes, whilst we await the Mana Bar Melbourne to open and see if we can squeeze in there with some kind of multi-room projection equipment (sounds great in theory) we will be having a GDC Waifs and Strays open mic night at Cho Gao on Tuesday 1 March.

The facebook event (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/permalink NULL.php?story_fbid=176061255771300&id=1642427578#!/event NULL.php?eid=144580178936041) is up, and if you have something you’d like to chat about at the mic for 2-10 minutes please let me know giselle@igdamelbourne.org .  Tom and Craig will be living the high life at GDC so I guess it’s my turn to MC !  If you’re interested in presenting something more substantial, we’d love to chat to you about it.

We’re hoping to have some more info on the Geelab setting up in Melbourne in March and will endeavour to keep you posted on any exciting delicious morsels we’ll have to share.

Feel free to head on down to Cho Gao whenever suits, we’ll run the mic from around 7.30-8 for up to an hour and then it’ll back to the networking*

*networking,v,  the practice of making contact and exchanging information with other people, groups or institutions. Usually, networking occurs via the semi-liberal application of alcohol with other people who have interests in similar areas. The goal of the networking relationship may be to further your personal employment opportunities or to cultivate new clients or the expansion of business relationships.

It’s been a while since the last one, so now it’s time to try out the mic at our new home: 3 Degrees (3D for short!) in the QV Centre.

When: Tuesday 5 October from 7.30pm, the mic turns on at 8 8)

Where: 3 Degrees, QV Centre, cnr Swanston & Lonsdale Sts, Melbourne

Whether you want a turn at the mic or just to hear what others have to say and to catch up with like-minded game makers,  come along for what’s always a night of gamery goodness.

You don’t need to register your spot at the mic, but you can email info@igdamelbourne.org with your ideas or any questions you may have.  If we get details beforehand of some of the talks to expect we’ll send them out over the inter-tubes beforehand.

We’re hoping to encourage a few DLFers along again to join the fray.

Hope to see you there

The facebook event (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/event NULL.php?eid=104542746275873) is up and running….

The audio from the Open Mic Night that was held on Tuesday the 3rd of March 2010 is now available. Just listen below. Have comments on how audio should be available in the future? Please just leave a comment below.

Thanks to Jamie Galea from Level 3 (http://www NULL.level3 NULL.org NULL.au) games podcast for the recording.

Thanks for everyone who came along to Open Mic Night to help make it such a great success, especially to the presenters!

There have been some requests for speaker details.  We are in the process of gaining approval to publish them, and will continue to update any missing once once we get the all clear….

Trent Kusters - Torus Games - trent@igdamelbourne.org (trent null@null igdamelbourne NULL.org)

Alexander Bruce - Hazard - alex@igdamelbourne.org ( alex null@null igdamelbourne NULL.org)

Craig Peebles - Cosmos Concerto, Moving Target Games – info@movingtargetgames.com (info null@null movingtargetgames NULL.com), www.movingtargetgames.com (http://movingtargetgames NULL.com)Twitter: @movingtargetgam

Chris Watts - Mole, Roo Games – designerwatts@gmail.com (designerwatts null@null gmail NULL.com) Twitter: @DesignerWatts

Neil Rennison - Gamebook Adventures, Tin Man Games – neilrennison@tinmangames.com.au (neilrennison null@null tinmangames NULL.com NULL.au)www.tinmangames.com.au (http://www NULL.tinmangames NULL.com NULL.au)Twitter: @TinManGames

Andrew Golding - Jolly Rover, Brawsome - andrew@brawsome.com.au (andrew null@null brawsome NULL.com NULL.au)
Jolly Rover website: http://www.brawsome.com.au/JollyRover
(http://www NULL.brawsome NULL.com NULL.au/JollyRover) http://www.brawsome.com.au
(http://www NULL.brawsome NULL.com NULL.au/)Twitter: @brawsome
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jolly-Rover/302892718921 (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/pages/Jolly-Rover/302892718921)

Matt Clark - Train Conductor, The Voxel Agents – mattclark@thevoxelagents.com (mattclark null@null thevoxelagents NULL.com), www.thevoxelagents.com, (http://www NULL.thevoxelagents NULL.com) Twitter: @TheVoxelAgents Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheVoxelAgents (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/TheVoxelAgents)

John Sietsma - Layar AR Games – john.sietsma@gmail.com (john NULL.sietsma null@null gmail NULL.com)

Paul Seidel – Voice over artist, Big Mouth Media – info@bigmouthmedia.com (info null@null bigmouthmedia NULL.com) mob: 0410 699 916

Adrian Lyons - TBC

Andrew Drage - brewin@hotmail.com (brewin null@null hotmail NULL.com) mob: 0425 726 136 www.infinitespiral.com.au (http://www NULL.infinitespiral NULL.com NULL.au/)

Alex Fraser - Cargo – alex@phatcore.com (alex null@null phatcore NULL.com) – you can download a demo of Cargo from http://phatcore.com/alex/?p=177 (http://phatcore NULL.com/alex/?p=177)

David Thompson - Tiberian Sun Rising - dthompson@cnc-source.com (dthompson null@null cnc-source NULL.com) mob: 0438 043 261 http://www.moddb.com/mods/tiberian-sun-rising (http://www NULL.moddb NULL.com/mods/tiberian-sun-rising)

Ian Stewart - http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/app-my-state.html (http://www NULL.premier NULL.vic NULL.gov NULL.au/app-my-state NULL.html)

Brad Giblin - FilmVic – brad.giblin@film.vic.gov.au (brad NULL.giblin null@null film NULL.vic NULL.gov NULL.au), http://www.film.vic.gov.au ( http://www NULL.film NULL.vic NULL.gov NULL.au)

And finally, the committee is always happy to receive feedback and suggestions, so feel free to email feedback@igdamelbourne.org (feedback null@null igdamelbourne NULL.org) with any thoughts or suggestions.

The Open Mic Night at the Embassy Club, 1 Queensbridge St, Southbank has finalised the speaker list, and it looks to be a cracker.

The evening starts at 7pm and the microphone will be switched on at 8pm. Each presenter has five minutes and the line up is:

Trent Kusters – Trent and Torus
Alexander Bruce – Hazard
Craig Peebles – Cosmos Concerto
Chris Watts – Roo Games and their next project
Neil Rennison – Tin Man Games and Gamebook Adventures
Andrew Goulding – Jolly Rover
Matt Clark – The Voxel Agents
John Sietsma – Making a game for the Layar AR Browser
Paul Seidel – Voice over artists for games
Adrian Lyons – Ray Trance: A real time ray tracer project
Andrew Drage – Operation Time Bomb
Ian Stewart – App My State

Due to the number of speakers we will save questions until after the presentations.

If anyone can assist with arranging recording the night for podcasting that would be great – please email info@igdamelbourne.org if you can help out