Yes, I've been hunting around for some news on the Australian Game Developers Conference for this year and have been receiving some info here and there. I'll be updating this news item whenever I find more articles or snippets, so consider this the AGDC aftermath news item.
10/12/2005
Tektime Radio has some very nice coverage of the Australian Game Developers Conference 2005 which was held just last week...
John De Margheriti, founder of the Australian Games Developer Conference talks about the upcoming Gala event at Federation Square in December. A must for all people interested in Gaming. AGDC Podcast Interview...
Cameron gives a live feed from the conference. He gives an insight about what has been going on at this Gala event. AGDC Live Podcast...
Also, a chap named slayer.faith has posted in the Tektime Rado forum with a summary of all the lectures he attended at the conference, so if you missed out, you can get a nice run down of what was for show... Day One, Day Two, Day Three.
Killgaming has a daily report of the AGDC 2005 as well, check it out... Day one, Day Two, Day Three...
6/12/2005
Congratulations to Steve Stamatiadis for the Career Achievement award. You can read his comments on being the recipient of such an award on his blog...
"I have to admit I was/am pretty stunned to get that. I let work nominate me just to fill out the slots. I didn't think anyone actually thought that I'd actually achieved anything in my career. I doubt that many people in the Australian industry even know who I am. Maybe they do. Hell I'm not complaining. I've been making games for 15 years now. It's fun."
Gaffer, senior gameplay programmer at Team Bondi, has written his impressions of this years AGDC in his blog at www.gaffer.org...
"For now some general observations about AGDC and the game industry in Australia as it exists right now.NextGen is dominating the conference. Lips are tight and the programming track is bare. Techniques are either already done or so secret at this point so there seems to be little that people are willing or able to share. This is understandable given the transition period that we are currently in but it makes for quite an ?interesting? tone when catching up with old workmates and literally not being able to say anything at all about the project you are currently working on."
Gaffer's done a great job at covering the AGDC and the talks he attended, so jump on over and give it a read...
There's a new outfit in Perth called White Knight Games who have showcased their christian related game called "Timothy & Titu"s at the conference...
"The PC game, 'Timothy and Titus: Saints, Martyrs, Heroes' is the first effort of Australian niche computer games developer White Knight Games in the growing Christian computer game industry. Based on St Paul's disciples St Timothy and St Titus, the game follows their adventures in a fictional tale of fun, mystery, and adventure as they spread the Gospel message across the lands of early Christianity."
You can find more about this at GamesIndustry.biz!
Control Freaks has some video coverage of the conference with segments on Sidhe Interactive with Mario Wynards, Ian Livingstone from Eidos, the unsigned games area of the AGDC which includes talks with New Zealand's Metia Interactive, iContent Promotions, and Gridwerx. Check it out!..
There have been rumours about this being the last AGDC ever. From the current vote comments..
"After seven successful years of helping to grow the Australian games industry from a handful of game development companies to over 30 production companies, The Academy of Interactive Entertainment Ltd (AIE), owner of the Australian Game Developers Conference (AGDC) announced yesterday that it will stop running the premier industry conference event to allow the industry association to build a brand new industry conference.
I'm not sure where this is from, but jump on over to comment 111 for more of the entry. You can read from Gaffer's blog that John De Margheriti started the conference off with the announcement that this is the last AGDC ever, making way for the new Games Developer Association of Australia conference next year...
Some kind person has submitted a partial list of the AGDC award winners on Sumea, but if anyone has the full list of the AGDC 2005 Awards nominations and results, please do send it in!