Freeplay

Mr Michael Leighton MP, Member for Preston, will be representing the Minister for Information and Communication Tehnology. He will be introduced by Tony Sweeney, Director of ACMI

This discussion takes u p the threads of intellectual property as it extends to commercial games versus art games, modding and appropriation, and the marketing of the ‘chic geek’

Gamepunks everywhere are giving publishers a single finger salute and striking out on a new and unforged path.  In this panel we meet and hear about the experiences of a few of these pioneering types.  We’ll hear tips on self-publishing and keeping publishers honest, towards the ultimate question – how long until phblishers are obsolete?

Film sound and game sound design bear many.  Apart from being completely unappreciated, what are they?

Game industry veterans regale us with their war stories from bygone bit-deficient days.

Start-ups, indie developers, the rising cost of development – is it time we changed the way we make games>  Are there arlready alternatives out there?  Freelance, outsourcing, alternative distribution, the hollyood model – this discussion explores alternatives and dissects the existing system.

A strategy discussion on how we can address the challenges of poor working conditions in our industry.  Is crunch time avoidable through good project management?  Or does the balance of power within the games industry have to change?  In this session we hope to do the ultimate quality assurance test: on our lives.

Last year game grads told all.  This year, as well as proviing an opportunity for graduates to give the uncensored low-down on their courses, we attempt to get all pedagogical about the nature of game development education.  What whould it be, what should it do, and what is it good for anyway?

The keynote speech will be on the need for a parallel distribution channel for independently-created pc games; the creative, commercial, and audience pressures that make this viable; the obstacles faced; and possible ways forward.

Software artists collectives Beige and Radical Software Group have jouned forces to release this DVD which collects exampes of the nearly-forgotten genre of hacked video game intro screens of the 1980s.  In this quasi-anthropological context, the work amounts to a kind of electronic folk-art: beautifal for its obsolete formal properties, as well as its testament to a lost subculture.  In the words of Beige and RSG: “As long as video games have been sold, they’ve been cracked.  Crackers are the fearless geeks who remove a game’s copyright protection so that it can be copied for free.  Crackers often leave behind modified start-up screens, called intros, as evidence of their trade.  This special cracker graffitti voth documenbts the intrusion and provides a platform to showcase the cracker’s skills.  Low level all stars showcases our favourite intros picked from over 1,000 games avallable for the commodore 64 computer.”

Last year, we discussed the issues that concerned women game developers: family-friendly workplaces, sexual harassment and discrimination and workplace diversity.  This year, the emphasis shifts to developing strategies and taking action.

The innerlife project is a loose collaborative project to integrate sensors into the MMOE Second Life.  Demo the windows communication clients for the WildDivine Lightstone interface and some multiplayer events / minigames using at the team’s project area on an Island Sim Il Tavarua.  In addition to sending bio data to the game environment, the client also acts a sa sonifier of the player’s bio data by producing a real time ambient soundscape using a software synthesis engine.  Also workiong on standalone bio games / instruments.

Come for a free muffin and coffee and meet AIE staff and students

Panellists from both sides of the fence explore the differences between the two types of journalism and reviewing.  Do film reviews deserve the respectability they are often given?  Are game reviews really controlled by the marketing hype-machine?  Are these just prejudiced views, and each new medium undergoes the same old struggle for recognition?  Or is there something more here?

There are many ways to tell an interactive narrative – scripted sequence, ut scenes, emergent storlines, to name a few – our panel of experts will argue about when to use what to improve your story and whether you need one at all

Satirists who’ve chosen games as their medium for social satire tell us why and how

What is the future?  Many developers feel that the industry faces tough times ahead – small studios closing down, predicted spike in cost of developing next-gen titles, work-for-hire, reducing interest in original titles – is this forecast of gloom inevitable or will the sunshine of a prosperous development scene break through

Why are games still being banned in Australia?  Are games a form of free speech?  Don’t just be outraged, get informed

Back from E3 and a recent visit at Epic Games, and in the wake of Ritual’s announcement of an episodic “Sin 2″ to be distributed exclusively on Valve’s Steam Service, Damian will speak about the bright future of exclusve online digital distribution using robust, genre defying-AAA game engines and unique licensing agreements designed to get your game onto hard drives all over the world, and you payed for your efforts.  Daman will use the development of his current game “Kanonball 2137″ as a work-in-progress of such a business model.

How to use and abuse the gaming press and how the gaming press wants to use and abuse you  — The games press is a ravaging monster.  It has hungers.  Mostly hungers that developers simply don’t understand.  By grasping their secret logic, a smart developer can manipulate journalists into getting as much ink as they want.  How to grasp them?  Well, Kieron Gillen kisses and tells on his fraternity.  Included will be useful tips for people who don’t want to take too many risks, and a few plans of attack for radical developers who figure they’ve nothing to lose but their dignity

Geek kids unite and indulge in audio-visual performances celebrating serious playaz of the bitcore and robivision movment.  Tunes composed with gameboys and commodore 64s, visuals generated through hacked nintendo entertainment systems … it’s time to party!

Examines the crossover between game artists and DJs/electronic musicians; the naturalness of the combination and the similarities of practice, but also the use of lo-fi and customised audio tools such as nanoloop and looper advance to furnish a wealth of electronic music

This session will share lessons learned with the indie community from our 18 months of part time effort and what we’ve achieverd with our 20+ team.  We will share some concept art, discuss the technology of using the Torque engine along with team selection, business planning, and financial aspects.

Thinking about stepping into the world of Machinima?  This workshop will introduce the process of creating your film using the sims 2 and unreal game engines.  Step-by-step tutorials to get you directing as quickly as possible

The place for game developers to get real onswers on things like how to negotiate employment contracts, what wages and conditions we’re entitled to under the IT professional’s award, and where we can go for advice and advocacy.

What implications does an interactive world have on the principles of cinematography?  Cameras are an integral part of most games, often controlled or influenced by the player’s actions.  How does this audience participation affect how we use cameras in games?

What are the popular new techniques in creating games graphics for those without eexpensive games engines or proprietry knowledge?  This workshop provides an overview of said new techniques via demonstrations, explanations and implementation.

Big sparkling eyes, kitty ears, and pastel hues, the characteristics of ‘cuteness’ are increasingly being articulated in the design of game characters and the evolution of new technologies.  This session examines the allure and consumpution of ‘kawaii’ across pixel art, character culture, animation and interactive games

Everyone has an idea for the best game ever, the most awesome combination of favourite game x plus sensational game y, but what is it really like to be a game designer?  These panellist talk about the experience of designing a game for the first time

So you’ve made a wicked game or you’ve got a wicked idea, and you need to approach a big scary publisher to help out your project.  On this panel we meet a few peopple who have done such a t hing, and suvived.  We take a business oriented approach and answer your deepest questions.

Game engines as VJ tools.  Put your glitch goggles on.  A presentation of the work of artists who are exploring MMORPGS to create online interactive realtime 3D audiovisual work, and modifiying game engines such as Unreal Tournament to fracture the architecture of game space resulting in abstracted bideo sequences.

Heroes of the Pacific – from demo to gold master looks at the game at a number of stages during its development and the major changes that shaped the game

This is our Australian Indie Answer to the GDC’s Burning down the house session.  Angry game developers vent their spleen.

Artist, programmer, and musician, Nullpointer’s work works extensively in the field of games production and modification and his output ranges from large-scale installations to downloadable artwork

Welcome to the ultimate handheld console design faceoff!  In the silver corner, wiehing in at 275g, the Nintendo DS has been reigning supreme for the few months since its release.  In the black corner, weighing in at 260g, the Sony PSP is storming into the ring with a slew of new features.

Luke Ilett will take you on the journey of circuit bending (electrically modifiying) a Nintendo Entertainment System to create a video game visual destruction device.  Examples of how it has been used as a video indstrument followed by Q&A time.

Have you ever wondered exactly what sorts of things that professional developers do (and don’t do) to imbue their game’s characters with the appearance of intelligence?  This talk outlines and discusses the procedures, pitfalls, issues and philosophy of artificial intelligence in the videogame experience.

Tired of RSI cramps and the muscular atrophy associated with too many hours of intensive gameplay?  How about battling quake monsters and ufos outdoors?  A presentation and discussion of gamining projects which blur the boundaries between real and virtual territories

This project is a modification of the UT2K4 engine using unreal script to create a custom gametype and mutator that alters the behaviours of the bots during the game.  Weapons and combat have been replaced with ‘emotions’ and bot performance.  Situated in a map created for the project, an alternative graphic tyle has been used to illustrate the new parameters and relationships in the AI.  The workshop will describe the existing AI model in the UT2K4 engine, the modifications made to this model, the graphics and sound modifications, and the ideas explored by the project – particularly in relation to the ‘posthuman’