IGDA Melbourne

On Tuesday 5 April we will be hosting a special night for Transmedia Victoria, where you will be able to connect with potential partners in the gaming, TV, film, theatre and digital sectors; hear war stories and strategies on how to work with other industries and be inspired by wildly different creative processes.

We’re pleased and excited to announce the speakers for the evening.

Carl Nilsson-Polias (Artistic Associate, The Hayloft Project) will begin the night by sharing insights into the collaborative theatre-making process of award-winning theatre company The Hayloft Project.

Carl  is Artistic Associate at The Hayloft Project. He is an acting graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts working in theatre, radio and film. In 2010, he appeared in Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of Richard III, Casablanca for ABC Radio National and The Nest for The Hayloft Project. In 2009, he produced 3xSisters, Spring Awakening, The Only Child and B.C. for The Hayloft Project. He is the founding editor of Spark Online and his writings on theatre, dance and film have been appearing in RealTime Magazine since 2008. http://www.hayloftproject.com/ (http://www NULL.hayloftproject NULL.com/)

Jarrad Trudgen (Lead Designer, Iron Monkey) will then delve into the design issues, decisions and processes in creating iOS games for existing global franchises (EA games), such as Deadspace, Need for Speed, Mirror’s Edge, and The Sims.

Bio coming! http://www.ironmonkeystudios.com/ (http://www NULL.ironmonkeystudios NULL.com/)

When: Tuesday 5 April 6.30-10pm (talks start around 7.30pm)

Where: Cho Gao, Level 3 Melbourne Central

Facebook types, there’s an event here (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/event NULL.php?eid=192468130793099)

Props to Christy Dena for being awesome!

I tried for pretty pictures, but they got all squashed, so here’s the invite in black and white:

RMIT University Research & Innovation presents:

THE FUTURE OF GAMES & ENTERTAINMENT:
GEELAB LAUNCH & SYMPOSIUM

The GEElab is a new initiative from RMIT University destined to contribute design research
and innovation to the academic community and to the development of the games, entertainment
and media industry both in Melbourne and internationally.

Tuesday 15 March 2011, 5pm – 8pm

Venue:
RMIT University, City Campus
Storey Hall, Level 7 conference rooms
336 – 348 Swanston Street
Melbourne

To be launched by:
* Professor Daine Alcorn, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation and
Vice President, RMIT University
* Professor Stephanie Hemelryk-Donald, Dean, School of Media and Communication,
RMIT University

Speakers:
* Dr Steffen P Walz, Director, GEELab, How the Geelab May Help to Invent the Future
* Gabe Zichermann, Gamification Expert and Author, Chair of the Gamification Summit,
San Francisco, Mastering Gamification: The Future is Fun
* Professor Zhao Chen Ding, Director of New Media Research Centre, Beijing Institute
for Fashion Technology & Founder of the Milan/Beijing Digital Entertainment Jam,
Jamming Digital Entertainment
* Panel discussion—To Boldly Play, featuring Antony Reed (Game Developers’ Association
of Australia), Brad Giblin (Film Victoria), Dr Christy Dena (Cross/Transmedia Designer),
Giselle Rosman (IGDA Melbourne) and surprise guests.

RSVP:
By Thursday 10 March to
mediacommunication@rmit.edu.au (mediacommunication null@null rmit NULL.edu NULL.au)
Limited seating available

Further information:
info@geelab.rmit.edu.au (info null@null geelab NULL.rmit NULL.edu NULL.au)

In partnership with:
* Game Developers’ Association of Australia
* Film Victoria
* IGDA Melbourne (That’s us!)

Over 70 game makers are heading to La Trobe University’s Melbourne campus in Bundoora to get their game on next weekend as part of the Global Game Jam.

The Global Game Jam takes place on January 28-30 and sees volunteer teams of video game designers across over 174 venues and 44 countries working together for two days and nights to create games from scratch.  This Melbourne event is organised by the International Game Developers’ Association (IGDA) Melbourne chapter, and includes nearly 80 professional developers, indies and students in the eclectic mix of participants ready to fuel up and create. One of the big players in the local games development scene Firemint (http://firemint NULL.com/), the Melbourne based developer best known for worldwide hits Flight Control and Real Racing on iPhone and iPad, sees the benefit of such events and are pleased to be sponsoring.

Rob Murray, Firemint’s CEO says “Firemint is very happy to feed the hard-working teams at this year’s Melbourne Game Jam. We’re big believers in prototyping games in a short amount of time as there’s no better way to see whether a concept is actually fun. As well as the “Game Days” we run internally at Firemint, Steve and I each prototyped a game in just a few days – Puzzle Quest and Flight Control – so you never know whether Game Jam might see the next great Aussie game emerge!”

Infinite Interactive, the talent behind Puzzle Quest led by Steve Fawkner, was recently acquired by Firemint. “There is a heap of creativity in the local development community,” Mr Fawkner said, “so we’re excited to be supporting that. Rob and I are looking forward to heading to Game Jam on Friday and chatting to the teams!”

The judging panel for the local competition is as diverse as the participants and includes Tassos Stevens, Co-Director of Coney (http://youhavefoundconey NULL.net/) (UK), Sam Mayo, the Community Support Coordinator from  Firemint; Neil Rennison , Co-founder and Creative Director of Gamebook Adventures creator Tin Man Games (http://tinmangames NULL.com NULL.au/blog/);  Leena van Deventer, Indie Games Section Editor over at Resolution Magazine (http://resolution-magazine NULL.co NULL.uk/content/),  and Donald Duong, co-host  and reviewer for Channel 31’s Level 3 (http://www NULL.level3 NULL.org NULL.au/).

Participants of the Global Game Jam will find out this year’s mystery theme at 5 p.m. on Friday 28 January before breaking into teams and starting the long 2 days of making code, art, music and gameplay.  Finished games will be uploaded to the Global Game Jam web site (http://www NULL.globalgamejam NULL.org/) on Sunday 30 January.

If you are part of the local games industry or media and would like to come along and check it out, please email committee@igdamelbourne.org

Imagine conversing with a character online before attending a play in which you end up being part of a fictional town. Imagine being taken by bus to a secret venue to hear your favourite band, and then be thrown out by a fake SWAT team. Imagine continuing your film or theatre experience after the event, with phone conversations with characters and online escapades.

This is transmedia and the possibilities are endless.

The Transmedia Victoria Conference and Workshops invites writers, designers, artistic directors, directors, producers, project managers from film, TV, theatre, gaming, digital, music and literature to attend the Conference and Workshops. This one-off event represents a unique opportunity to learn, network and develop an understanding of, and appreciation for transmedia practice.

Transmedia experts from around the world will converge on Melbourne to inspire, educate and connect at the Transmedia Victoria Conference & Workshops, held over two days at ACMI and the State Library of Victoria. Speakers include USA writer and producer Flint Dille, Steve Peters, also from the USA, who will be sharing his processes on developing transmedia ideas. Award-winning theatre director, producer and writer Tassos Stevens will be here from the UK; from France, the Executive Director of Arte France Cinema, Michel Reilhac, and Andra Sheffer (Canada) will be sharing lessons learned and strategies for funding and developing quality transmedia projects. Award-winning locals, such as producer Sue Maslin and Jackie Turnure will be divulging their lessons learned in creating transmedia projects.

This event is free to attend, but places are limited, so apply early to avoid disappointment!

Application forms can be found on the website at http://transmediavictoria.net.au/apply/

Details:

27th January 2011 -Conference at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne 28th January 2011 – Workshops at the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne

Cost: Free

Apply: http://transmediavictoria.net.au/apply/

Sponsored by: Australia Council for the Arts, Screen Australia, Arts Victoria, Multimedia Victoria, ABC

Venue Partners: ACMI, State Library of Victoria

Supporters: Game Developers Association of Australia, Australian Interactive Media Industry Association