Dissecta Event: The Business of Games - Part 1

Dissecta and the State Library of Victoria present The Business of Games - Part

The Business of Games - Part 1 with Brad Giblin, Film Victoria and Grant Davies from Endgame Studios

Sponsored by the International Digital Entertainment Festival 2009 featuring eGames Expo and Freeplay Independent Games Festival

Wednesday 5th August 2009. A free event from 6:30pm to 8pm. At the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne.

Dissecta presents Brad Giblin, Manager of the Digital Media Fund, Film Victoria along with Grant Davies, CEO of Endgame Studios to talk about the Business of making Games.

Brad will talk about Film Victoria's funding options and how to access them and about the kinds of business structures and size our assessment panel expect for different funding levelsalong with a case study on some companies that have grown from 1 to 5 employees.

Grant Davies will present an insight into how Endgame Studios evolved and what levels of support were available to assist him in establishing a game development studio and some of the things he has been through along the way.

It will be a great session that will cover a range of information in the first of our Business of Games presentations.

Booking: this is a free event but booking is essential via the State Library Booking Link. For booking enquiries please call 03 8664 7099. Join us for coffee and nibbles after the presentation thanks to the State Library of Victoria and sponsor, Passion Pictures Australia.

Venue: Experimedia, State Library of Victoria, 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne.

Sponsor info
The International Digital Entertainment Festival (iDEF 2009) will be held this year at the Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton from 30 October to 1 November with an exciting program also running at the State Library of Victoria during iDEF. Featuring the eGames Expo, the Digital Lifestyle Show and the Develop ICT Skills and Careers Expo there will be plenty to do and see during iDEF. For more details go to www.idef.com.au

The Freeplay Independent Games Festival is taking place at the State Library of Victoria on August 14 & 15. Freeplay focuses on the creative and artistic side of making games, and in 2009 has sessions on Procedural Content, Team Management, iPhone development, Education & Development, Games and Screen Culture, and much more. For more information, visit our website at www.freeplay.net.au

A SPECIAL NOTE
As most of you will be aware the Founder and Convenor of Dissecta, Tim Richards passed away on the 21st of October 2008. Tim lost his battle with severe pulmonary hypertension due to congenital heart disease shortly after receiving a transplant but not without putting up a strong fight which was true testiment to his character. Tim will be sadly missed by his family, friends and the games industry as a whole.

Tim's vision and dedication to both Dissecta and GameNews.com.au and his belief in the local games industry were unparalled and it will be a massive task to continue this momentum. Our commitment to both Tim and his family is that we will keep going with what Tim has established with the ideals and principals he had set in place.

It is on this note that we ask for your continued support through donations to the Alfred Foundation which can be made during the Dissecta event or through the paypal account we have established on Tim's behalf. We are working to further establish facilities to recognise Tim Richard's extensive work in promoting and supporting the local games industry and his dedication to supporting the organ donar campaign. Please check back soon as we will be posting updates.

Submitted by designerwatts on Wed, 05/08/09 - 12:50 AMPermalink

I'll definitely be attending this event. :)

As it stands, the Aussie industry would benefit to expand and grow with more studios then we currently have. So an event with information on small studio start-ups would be beneficial to hear out.

Submitted by designerwatts on Fri, 07/08/09 - 3:59 PMPermalink

Well I'll give you a quick summery of the event.

A representative from Film-Victoria presented to elaborate on what kind of grants the government is funding Victorian studios, how someone applies for these grants and the strict requirements needed to be a part of that.

the bottom line is that per year the Victorian government allocates 1.7million dollars in grants per year to both existing studios and Indies who work in an established company structure [you need to own an office to get a grant pretty much.]

Personally I think it's fantastic these grants are being offered. If you make a profit then you pay the grant back + 10%. If the game fails then you pay nothing.

The second component was a dude from Endgame studios talking about his experiences with applying for grants, which was insightful and straight forward. Basically the end point of it was that you need to put forward a game pitch that's appropriate to the size of your operations and abilities.