Free Play: The Next Wave Independent Game Developers Conference
15 - 17 July 2005
Presented by the Next Wave Festival and the Australian Centre Moving Image with support from Multimedia Victoria and the Australian Film Television and Radio School
Free Play is not far away so here are a few little updates before the weekend.
INTERNATIONAL GUESTS
We are proud to announce our 3 international speakers, who will be delivering keynote speeches as well as participating in a range of panels and discussions over the conference. They are:
Greg Costikyan www.costik.com/weblog
Inducted into the Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame for a lifetime of accomplishment in the field, Greg Costikyan has designed more than 30 commercially published board, roleplaying, computer, online, and mobile games over a 30 year career. He has won five Origins Awards and his games have been selected on more than a dozen occasions for the Games 100, Games magazine's annual roundup of the best 100 games in print.
A prolific writer on games, game design, and game industry business issues for publications including Wall Street Journal Interactive, the New York Times, Salon, and Game Developer magazine, Costikyan is the author of two analyst's reports on online games. Currently, he is a games researcher for Nokia Research Center, Nokia's research arm.
Kieron Gillen www.kierongillen.com
Inspired equally by the irreverent anarchism of Amiga Power and prime-cut Melody Maker, Kiron wrote Hatezine Darcy's On The Pull. As part of the International Pop Underground his work resulted in him being slapped around the chops by some of the leading figures in post-Bis Glitterpop. He soon found gainful employ in Britain's leading PC videogame magazine, PC Gamer. Eventually he went freelance, a situation where he finds himself today. Let's just say his writings have appeared in every respectable videogame magazine in the land and most of the disrespectable ones too.
Null Pointer
Check out his work at www.nullpointer.co.uk
SESSIONS TO GET EXCITED ABOUT
We know you're all waiting for the full conference schedule, so just to tease you, here are the titles of four of the sessions:
Back to the 80s: What we can learn from the halcyon days of indie game development
Making a Living from Modding - the new Valve and Unreal licencing rules
Is my game degree worth the paper its printed on? Students evaluate and compare game dev courses
PSP Hacking Workshop
The full program will be on the Free Play website next week, and we promise its jam packed full of great panels, debates, workshops, and more, not to mention the social functions!
CONFERENCE DETAILS
Tickets are selling fast, and last year Free Play sold out, so don't forget to book your tickets in advance.
If you're interested in being part of the conference or if the tickets are just too expensive we're also still looking for volunteers. Email alex@nextwave.org.au to sign up for a shift and you'll get a complementary Free Play pass.
Please pass this information on to any indy gamer pals and ask them to subscribe by emailing gamers@nextwave.org.au
More news soon, have a great weekend,
From the Free Play team
Free Play: The Next Wave Independent Game Developers Conference
15 - 17 July 2005
Presented by the Next Wave Festival and the Australian Centre Moving Image with support from Multimedia Victoria and the Australian Film Television and Radio School
What: Free Play: The Next Wave Independent Game Developers' Conference
Where: ACMI , Federation Square, Flinders Street, Melbourne.
When: 15 - 17 July, 10am - 7pm
Admission: 3-day passes: $50 full, $35 concession
1-day pass $20 full, $15 concession
Bookings: Ph: (03) 8663 2583, http://www.acmi.net.au/ticketing.htm
For more information on Free Play contact Jane Hindson on 03 9662 1099, gamers@nextwave.org.au or visit www.free-play.org