To all those who attended the Freeplay 2010 event, it was a resounding success. Freeplay directors, Paul Callaghan and Eve Penford-Dennis are to be commended for their fantastic job organising the sell-out event, and it's hard to think of even more ways to drastically improve what was on for show this year.
I do, however, miss the social events that the first few Freeplays offered, although I highly doubt that the State Library of Victoria would allow beer there, even if supplied in plastic cups like at the first Freeplay. The Match Bar social event location was just way too loud to converse properly with anyone later in the night, and damnit, the beer was too expensive.
Also, it would've been great if the name tags for entrants included the start-up / company / educational institution / media outlet etc they were from, just to make approaching strangers a bit easier. I'm sure there were plenty of interesting people I had walked passed who I'd loved to have a chat with, but had no idea where they were from. It was probably pure luck that I managed to bump across a few of the indie developers I knew of.
Apart from those very, very minor details, Freeplay 2010 did an oustanding job at inspiring Freeplay patrons to simply go out there and just make a go of it. The two day event did all this and a whole lot more for a measley $25.
As great as Freeplay 2010 was, the organisers are still looking into getting some extra feedback via an online survey. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes, so please do spare some of your time to help them out for next year.
We're still recovering from last week's Freeplay, but we've been watching all of the positive things've been saying - and we're incredibly pleased to have had such an impact. It was a massive event for us, but seeing people respond so strongly to it puts all of that work into perspective.
During the weekend, we handed out feedback forms for sessions and the whole event to capture people's immediate reactions, but it'd be really helpful to get your impressions in a bit more detail (and with a little bit more distance :))
To that end, we've created an online survey, and we'd really appreciate it if you could take 10 minutes to let us know what you thought of Freeplay 2010 - and what we can do for Freeplay 2011.
Thanks.
Paul & Eve
Click here or the link at the end of this item to head on to the survey!
Freeplay 2010 Award Winners
The awards ceremony for Freeplay 2010 was a fantastic affair, and all winners recieved a nice, shiny glass trophy for their efforts. We'd like to give an additional congratulatory shout out to all those who were nominated as well as the winners of each category. Check these following peeps out:
Best Australian Game
Brawsome – Jolly Rover
Best International Game
Yellow Jam (Brazil) – Last Hope
Best Design in a Game
Sword Lady & The Viking – Up Down Ready
Best On-Paper Design
Timothy Ryan – iCrazy Man
Best Art in a Game
Farbs – Captain Forever (series)
Best Concept Art
Fiasco Studios – Exodus
Best Technical Innovation
Finn Morgan – Colourbind
Best Game Writing
PVI Collective – Transumer
Best Audio
The Voxel Agents – Train Conductor