Free Play 2007, Melbourne

monsharen

monsharen

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Free Play caters for independent and DIY game developers, creatively frustrated professionals, game development students, digital artists and new media academics.
This year's conference is on Saturday the 18th of August, from 9:30am to 8:30pm at ACMI, Federation Square, Melbourne.

Developed by the indie game community for the indie game community, Free Play provides the only forum for Australian independent game developers to share knowledge, showcase their work and initiate new projects.

Free Play is designed for independent voices, small budget creators, and those who don’t fit the pre-packaged sales strategies to come together, strategise and celebrate their creativity.

"It’s the game equivalent of hand-held, no budget, lo-fi, 4-track, DIY and it’s probably one of the best and most vibrant areas of Australian culture." Binh Nguyen, Free Play attendee
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The topics and speaker program can be fetched here.

and there is one topic that especially caught my eye

Playing with Pixels and Politics

What is the place of social commentary in gaming, and can games achieve social and artistic legitimacy? Indie games development brings new opportunities for audience interaction and debate, and in some cases offers a deeper level of interactivity. It may even inspire a culture of resistance. What are the possibilities for ‘serious' games as a learning tool and language for cultural expression? What is the potential for games to say something other than "BOOM!"
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There's a lot more interesting stuff in there so if you're into game making, check it out! I'm definitely going.

Links:
http://www.nextwave.org.au/
http://www.nextwavefreeplay.blogspot.com/
 
I'd go there. but since everything I know about Australia comes from the Simpsons... I'm worried about the bull frog epidemic.

Did that ever clear up?
 
generalissimofurioso said:
I'd go there. but since everything I know about Australia comes from the Simpsons... I'm worried about the bull frog epidemic.

Did that ever clear up?
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Cane Toads can be found in Queensland, which doesn't share any borders with Victoria, where Melbourne is.

Keep an eye on your valuables though, with us being convicts and all...

oop it's lunch time, i better take my kangaroo down to the vet and eat some baby dingos, g'day no worries shrimp barbies dundee crikey.
:mrgreen:
 
the4thlaw said:
Cane Toads can be found in Queensland, which doesn't share any borders with Victoria, where Melbourne is.

Keep an eye on your valuables though, with us being convicts and all...

oop it's lunch time, i better take my kangaroo down to the vet and eat some baby dingos, g'day no worries shrimp barbies dundee crikey.
:mrgreen:
Click to expand...

Cool, I'll have to get one of those giant beers while I'm down there...

That and get into a couple of rounds of knifey-spooney with the locals.
 
So how did this go? Did anyone actually go?

They could have had it in a REAL Australian city, like Sydney... Might have been a little more easier to get to :D
 
It was great. Some really nice speakers and projects. Missed some pretty important stuff because of a stomach on strike and bad hangover though but overall 8/10.

I must say the first lecture was the best one. He really covered most aspects of being creative the right way. Another quite amusing thing was the lawyer that taught us why the big boys can't be creative. There's a law that says they must increase the value of their shares (he was american but made a wild guess australia had it too ;) ), which might seem natural and good. The bad side is that they can't do anything that might decrease the value. He basically said proven concepts are the only way they can go (first person shooters anyone?).

...and that was kind of the point of the whole conference. The importance of indie developers that are able to take those chances, so that when they succeed can be made by the bigger companies.

They also told us how to become a successful games developer. Make games until the deal comes to you.
 
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