Freeplay 2019 Online Sessions

Freeplay is Australia’s longest-running and largest independent games festival.

As part of 2019’s festival, we have two days of online talks and panels on Tuesday 7th & Wednesday 8th May.

Tuesday 7th

Online Sessions – Day One

12pm - Freeplay 2019 Fireside Chat

Pritika Sachdev & Chad Toprak

Our first online session will be hosted by Pritika & Chad, who will guide the viewers through the festival, and have a self-reflective fireside chat.

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3pm - Jamming Without Cramming

Alison Huang

When people think of game jams, short jams like Ludum Dare and Global Game Jam probably come to mind. Such game jams are often criticised for encouraging crunch; a problem that is becoming increasingly more predominant in the industry. But game jams can be more than a sprint to create a game in 48 hours.



Drawing on her experiences from various game jams, Alison will explain how longer game jams can be used as a healthier method of making games in shorter time frames.

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5pm - Charlie Yells About Cats

Charlie Francis Cassidy

Do you like cats? Do you like video games? Do you like cats to be in your video games? Well come along to Charlie’s roundup of the best cats video games have to offer.

There is nothing Charlie loves more than talking about cats, except maybe for the colour red.

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7pm - A State of Games in South-East Asia

LeeYing Foo, Brigitta Rena, Javi Almirante, Muhammad Hanif Bin Ghazali

Following our session in 2018, we check up on our lovely neighbours and dive deep into some of the exciting things happening in the region.

Our panel of four from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines will discuss some of the strengths, challenges, opportunities, and struggles indies in South-East Asia face. Also there will be food talk.

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Wednesday 8th

Online Sessions – Day Two

12pm - Co-ops & Small Businesses

Saleem Dabbous & Mateja Simovic

Join the delightful Saleem from KO_OP and the wonderful Mateja as they discuss the co-op business structure and dive deep into its importance, its strengths and challenges, and reflect upon their own journeys.

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3pm - [Self Insert Here]: Symbolisation of Self

Jennifer Reuter

From online illustrated personas, to fan-fiction, to roleplaying games; the modern era of storytelling provides us with many ways to represent ourselves in narratives we see or create. At times we cringe at the memory of envisioning characters (that were totally not perfect versions of ourselves, what are you talking about) based off our favourite franchises. And other times, people embody narcissistic obsession when hiding behind their in-game avatars. But self-inserts are also a critical outlet for many creators as a means of self-actualisation and exploration.

This talk will look into the varieties of self-inserts, framed through the illustration, comic, fan and game communities that the speaker frequented, and how this often misconstrued tool can be used in either your own self-exploration, or in works where you promote healthy introspection. Or… just come to revisit your first- and third-person nostalgic embarrassments, one more time.

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5pm - To Be Honest: Lessons From 300 Pages of Journal Games & Comics

Hien Pham

To Be Honest is a look into Hien’s approach to healthy introspective works, both for personal purposes and public eyes. With behind-the-scene materials from personal games such as I’m Shirtless In This One, the award-winning It Will Be Hard, and over 300 pages of emotionally raw comics, the talk shows an example of practicing vulnerability as a skill and applying that sensibility to creative works.

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7pm - Why Your Game Needs a Dramaturge

David Harris

It takes a community to make a game, artists, designers, creatives, programmers, but there might be room for a few more roles if we look at other artistic fields. Let’s begin by introducing the dramaturge; the strangest, most secretive, reflective and one of the most important aspects of theatrical design that you’ve never heard of. David Harris will reveal what the heck a dramaturge is, how they can help you create a solid and well thought out experience, when a dramaturge is needed and what aspects of design can they help with, what kind of tea is best for them and how many walks they’ll need per day.

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Freeplay acknowledges the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Custodians of the Lands upon which the festival takes place.
We pay respect to their Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the wider community and beyond.
Sovereignty was never ceded, and this always was and always will be Aboriginal land.