In this talk, Rena will cover her experience as a game developer and an illustrator in Indonesia. She will share the process behind her works When The Past Was Around and She and The Light Bearer.
Breaking down how she takes stories and cultural details from her beloved country and translate it into video games.
Talk: Accessibility as a primary design consideration: the early journey of Blind Sparrow Interactive
Speaker: Drew Taylor
By now, most of us know the importance of accessibility and its numerous benefits. But what does it really mean to the development of your game when you decide to factor in accessibility as a primary design consideration? (Especially if you’ve never done so before, or, more frighteningly, you’re new to game development.) This is exactly the situation that faced Blind Sparrow Interactive, a small indie development studio that was founded on principles of accessibility and inclusion. Through numerous practical examples, the studio will open the doors on it’s journey and the development of its current project, offering suggestions on how you can start to think about - and apply - accessibility features right from your game’s initial design stages.
Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way
Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.
Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.
Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.
Talk: Sonar Solutions For Accessible Gaming
Speaker: Zander Hulme
A lot of UX design focuses on visual clarity, but what if you can’t see the video in video games? This talk will cover a few of the ways in which indie developers can use sound and music to make games more accessible to players with reduced vision, and improve player immersion overall. When games sound better, everybody wins!
Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way
Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.
Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.
Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.
Talk: Designing from the Heart: Putting yourselves in your games.
Speaker: Osama Dorias
Working in the games industry can be hard enough as is. Add to that our daily life struggles and it can sometimes feel like an impossible feat. So how can we use game development as a way to explore our identities and struggles? And how can we turn these struggles into a strength?
This presentation will draw from the experiences of the speaker as a Muslim and a person of color working in the games industry for over a decade. The speaker will explain how his personal life journey has inspired his creative works and he will share the stories and experiences of other notable video game professionals who have done the same.
Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way
Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.
Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.
Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.
Talk: On Your Left: Survival, Support and Growth of our Industry
Speaker: Stephan Schutze
The geeks among us may recognise the title of this session and its significance in coming together to overcome adversity. Creative work often leaves us vulnerable, that vulnerability is not a weakness, it is a core aspect of reaching within ourselves to create art, and it also allows us to communicate with our peers.
I have been surprised on many occasions at how being prepared to be publicly vulnerable can be hugely beneficial to others in my industry. By sharing, we allow others to understand that their struggles are not unique.
This session will explore how there are many challenges that we unknowingly share and that we do not diminish ourselves be speaking about our issues, instead we often raise up our colleagues by letting them know, they are not alone.
Mental and emotional stress are key issues that drive many from our industry and prevents others from achieving their desired goals
Those of us with experience and established careers can provide incredible support for others around us simply be being prepared to share honestly.
This session is designed to support all levels of industry practitioner. Those of us with established careers can support both our peers as well as newcomers, and those new to the industry are a constant reminder of the dreams we may have lost sight of.
We all need heroes to lift us up and to show us the way, many of us do not realise that our heroes are already among us.
Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way
Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.
Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.
Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.
Talk: Indigenous Culture in Video Games
Speaker: Phoebe Watson
The sensitive presentation of culture in video games is a relatively new concept to the medium. It has continually been able to reach wider audiences over the years. With this ability to create and share stories and experiences, we can make a seriously positive impact.
In this talk, Phoebe will speak to her experiences working with the Indigenous community in videogames and the processes that were taken to involve them in the production of Chaos Tavern by DragonBear Studios. Following, she will express her opinion on the importance of including Indigenous culture into videogames; Highlighting how it can preserve one of the oldest living cultures on the planet and aid in closing the gap between non-Indigenous and Indigenous people.
Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way
Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.
Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.
Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.
Talk: Who Are You Helping And How?
Speaker: Shane Trewartha
Over all the years I’ve worked in games, especially since also working in games education, the one universal truth that I have noticed that seems to plague our industry, even through all our ups and downs, is that it is “hard to get into”, often opaque, and sometimes outright hostile to newcomers.
What if we changed the way we thought about growing the industry? What if we realised that creating art/entertainment/media/all of the other great things games can be is not a zero sum game? What if we realised that anyone can do it, most people just need to be pointed in the right direction?
So I started a studio with these exact goals in mind, Mana Tea. I had seen year after year, dozens and dozens of talented, enthusiastic, versatile and valuable graduates bounce off our industry because there “wasn’t enough room” for all of them. The thing is, they had everything they needed right there between them. With the right guidance, they could have been making their own games rather than someone else’s.
As well as telling my own story, this talk is going to be a thought provoking call to action to everyone in the audience to get out there and help the newbies. Our industry has the potential to be so much broader, richer and more diverse, but for a little bit of effort on our part to stop accidentally keeping people out.
Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way
Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.
Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.
Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.
www.gcap.com.au
Talk: Championing Others Starts With Championing Yourself
Speaker: Pritika Sachdev
When we’re given the task of managing others, often our own wellbeing falls by the wayside. Suddenly we’re in charge of humans, and that can be really daunting! So how can we make sure that we’re creating the absolute best workspace for everyone including ourselves?
Pritika has been the community manager at CheckPoint for over 2 years now, and in that time has gone from managing an online community, to a team of passionate volunteers and now her coworkers. She’s the first to admit that she’s made some bad decisions regarding her own self care and implores you not to make the same mistakes. This talk will explore the benefits of self care, and how looking after yourself can help you light the way for others.
Game Connect Asia Pacific 2019: Lighting The Way
Game Connect Asia Pacific is Australia's premier games development conference and a part of Melbourne International Games Week.
Situated in Melbourne, Australia during October, GCAP is world-renowned for its talks, collaboration, expression, networking and inclusive environment.
Video courtesy of GCAP and the Game Developers' Association of Australia.