Read on for more information about the event…

Imagine conversing with a character online before attending a play in which you are 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 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 the film, TV, theatre, gaming, digital, music and literature sectors to attend an event to educate, inspire and develop skills for working in Transmedia. The event is jointly funded by both state and federal agencies, and represents a unique opportunity to learn, network and develop an understanding of, and appreciation for transmedia practice.

The Transmedia Victoria Conference will take place at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image on the 27th of January, while the Transmedia Victoria Workshops will be held at the State Library of Victoria on the 28th January.

Christy Dena, curator for Transmedia Victoria is very excited about the line-up for the conference and workshops:  ”I am thrilled to be able to bring such a diverse and rich collection of transmedia professionals from around the world and Australia to share their hard-won experience and vision. Professionals from film, TV, theatre, gaming, and digital sectors will be coming together to share knowledge and forge strong partnerships. Victoria has much to look forward to artistically and industrially.”

Speakers include USA writer and producer Flint Dille who has worked on franchises such as Batman, James Bond, Mission Impossible, and Riddick. The USA experience designer of key online experiences for The Dark Knight, Nine Inch Nails, Pirates of the Caribbean, Steve Peters, will be sharing his processes on developing transmedia ideas. Award-winning UK theatre director, producer and writer Tassos Stevens will be sharing his techniques for exploring new forms of theatre and play. The Executive Director of Arte France Cinema, Michel Reilhac, and the Executive Director of three Canadian media funds, Andra Sheffer, 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. There are many more.

Entry is free, but places are limited. To apply, please click this link. Applications are due by 23rd December 2010.

Our heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who submitted a game, design or piece of art – we had an astonishing number of entries, representing an enormous amount of work put in by indie developers, writers and artists from all over the world.

So… we are very pleased to announce the finalists for the Inaugural Freeplay Awards!

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Best Australian Game

• Sword Lady & The Viking – Up Down Ready
• Brawsome – Jolly Rover
• Finn Morgan – Colourbind

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Best International Game

• Mahdi Bahrami (Iran) – Bo
• Anders Højsted (Denmark)  - TryFail
• Yellow Jam (Brazil) – Last Hope

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Best Design in a Game

• Sword Lady & The Viking – Up Down Ready
• Alexander Bruce  -  Hazard: The Journey Of Life
• The Voxel Agents –  Train Conductor

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Best On-Paper Design

• Tobye Ryan – Epic Adventure
• Timothy Ryan – iCrazy Man
• Katie Murphy – Galaqua

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Best Art in a Game

• Farbs – Captain Forever (series)
• Alexander Bruce – Hazard: The Journey Of Life
• KlickTock – Doodle Find

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Best Concept Art

• Fiasco Studios – Exodus
• Evan Raynor – City Ruins
• CatBus Interactive – Speed Demon

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Best Technical Innovation

• Farbs – Captain Forever (series)
• Finn Morgan – Colourbind
• Sword Lady & The Viking – Up Down Ready

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Best Game Writing

• Farbs – Captain Forever (series)
• Alexander Bruce – Hazard: The Journey Of Life
• PVI Collective – Transumer

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Best Audio

• The Voxel Agents – Train Conductor
• Tin Man Games – Gamebook Adventures 1: An Assassin in Orlandes
• Brawsome – Jolly Rover

While we all wait for the finalists to be announced, please take some time out, hum “Girl from Ipanema”, and get to know the judges here.

One thing that has been decided though, is to split the Best Game award into two – Best International Game and Best Australian Game. With so many entries from so many different countries, we thought that this would be more fitting, and allows us to celebrate the work of two teams/developers, rather than one. Stay tuned – we’ll announce the finalists soon!

There’s been some really amazing things happening in the indie games scene and we want to celebrate that. Not only will be be looking at completed games, but we’ll also have categories for best concept art and best on-paper design, which opens the awards up to those creative people who aren’t currently working on a game project, or those people who are at the prototyping stage.

There are up to eight categories – Best Game, Best Design in a Game, Best On-Paper Design, Best Art in a Game, Best Concept Art, Best Technical Innovation, Best Game Writing and Best Audio.

To apply, read through the submission guidelines and rules, and enter using our online application form. Files and links can be emailed to us, and CDs or DVDs can be posted.

You have until 19th July 2010 to enter, and the winners will be announced at the Freeplay Independent Games Festival on the 15th August.

We’re looking forward to seeing all your entries – good luck!

What are you working on right now?
Currently, we’re getting all the stuff ready for the Freeplay Independent Games Festival. It’s coming together really well and we’re hoping to make some very interesting announcements soon!
What game do you wish you’d worked on, and why?
Abe’s Oddysee. It wasn’t just an environment, it was a fully designed world, and I love that sense of completeness. I was already working in games when it was released, and I think that was the first time I realised there were other people out there who liked their game universes as well rounded as I did.
If you weren’t involved in games how would you be paying the rent?
I’ve been watching spooks at the moment, so I’ve got to say a spy. I applied to MI5 when they first started accepting applications.
What do you think will be the next big thing?
Ooh. I know what I’d like to be the next big thing. I’ve been getting into geo-caching, and I’d like to see more pervasive games and transmedia, or alternate reality games.
What’s getting you all giddy about games at the moment?
Freeplay!
Eve Penford-Dennis is co-director of Freeplay Inc, bakes a mean lemon tart, and is stuck on Intermediate Level 507 526 571 of Unblock Me.

If you have quick-draw question answering skills, and would like to take part, or if you want to drop a beady-eyed friend in it and nominate them for Fast Five, drop us a line.

Tickets are $20 + booking fee, and are valid for both days of the festival. There are a limited number of tickets so get in quick!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Festivals, however, don’t fund themselves, and having taken on the commitment to do Freeplay, we set about making sure that ours would have a roof over its head, and that we could afford to print programs, publicise it, and generally make Freeplay the event we wanted it to be.

Luckily, we’ve found brilliant partners in Next Wave, who previously ran Freeplay and have been excellent and generous mentors, in the Victorian Government, who are very focused on growing the Victorian game industry, and last but by no means least, the State Library of Victoria, who have really embraced game culture, and are keen to explore video games as an artistic and cultural medium.  (And gave Freeplay a roof over its head.)

We’ll keep saying this, but our thanks go out to our partners for helping Freeplay play on. You can check them on our Partners page.