PlayIT is a chance to interact in our learning and entertainment IT playground for kids aged 10 to 100.
Workshops
Games & Games Design
Where do game designers start when /they design a game? What is so special about designing a game for someone else to play and why don’t classic books make good games easily? This talk looks at the shape of games we play and offers you an opportunity to try out some design techniques for yourselves.
Games & Writing
Game writing has progressed in an extraordinary way since the days when all a writer had to do was prepare a few repeatable sentences for single dimensional non player characters. This workshop offers writers and game players alike insights into the business of writing for games.
Games & Art
Even the most abstract games exploit visuals and there are many discussions about art games, however, most of these discussions ignore the industry business of art behind the games, the concept artists whose visions produce the worlds we play in and the animators who breathe life into the work. This workshop offers you the opportunity to explore the way of the games artist.
Games & Audio
When we make games, we carefully exploit the emotional aspects of audio, from those small sounds in the dark to rousing rhythms of success when a player achieves something in the game. This workshop offers you the opportunity to explore the powerful nature of game audio.
Associated Conferences
Industry Speakers
| Name | Job Title | Organisation | Abstract Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ross Brown | Senior Lecturer | Faculty of Science and Technology, Queensland University of Technology | Business Process Simulation In Virtual Worlds |
| George Fidler | Consultant | Game Development Studio Start-Ups: A Practical Guide | |
| Mick Gordon | Game Audio Australia | The Perpetual Song | |
| Morgan Jaffitt | Consultant | Impossible Changing Brain Foundation | The changing face of games and game development |
| Peter Neate | Consultant | Myself as a Professional Gamer | |
| John Passfield | Chief Creative Bloke | 3 Blokes Studios | Social Games 101 |
| Eve Penford-Dennis | Co-Director | FreePlay | Creativity in the Game Industry |
Abstracts and biographies
Millions of dollars has been invested in 3D virtual worlds in the military, mining, health and emergency service domains, to simulate and practice dangerous and expensive scenarios. Business processes are typically not so dangerous, however, their incorrect execution can incur expensive losses for a company, and so simulation of business processes for validation and education has a strong business case via cost savings, increases in process conformance standards and other related productivity increases. This talk will present the results of research at QUT into assisting business process management life cycle tasks via the use of 3D Virtual Worlds.
Ross Brown is a Senior Lecturer within the Faculty of Science and Technology, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, where he is the software technologies coordinator for the Bachelor of Games and Interactive Entertainment. He is also a member of the QUT Business Process Management (BPM) research group, an internationally leading research concentration in BPM. His main research interests are in the application of games and simulation technology to other domains. His latest research is in developing novel 3D virtual world technology for the simulation of business processes. He regularly blogs on this topic at www.bpmve.org.
The interactive entertainment industry has been in turmoil over the past couple of years with many major publishers experiencing record losses and significant downsizing. Is now a good time to consider a start up in this volatile economic climate? Despite the turmoil, George Fidler identifies the opportunities that exist for smart innovative entrepreneurs and gives a practical guide to managing start-ups in a difficult climate.
George has has spent the past 20 years working in almost every facet of the video games industry, from General Manager & COO of Electronic Arts Publishing and development business in Asia Pacific to Studio Director of The Creative Assembly / Sega Studios in Brisbane. He has just left Sega to look at the new and exciting areas of social games and E-Learning. Specialising in business startups, George has a Bachelors Degree in Economics and started his working career as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG, before moving into industry.
The interactive nature of video games is changing the way we hear and enjoy music. With players expecting a musical score that reflects a big-budget Hollywood movie, what challenges are facing the modern video game composer and how are they achieving this goal? In this talk, audience members gain an insight into some of the techniques that go into creating an interactive video game score and how this is affecting the end-user experience. Mick will also demonstrate various technologies that Game Audio Australia is developing for the future of adaptive video game music.
Mick Gordon is an award-winning video game Composer, Sound Designer and Audio Director who runs Australia's largest game audio production house, Game Audio Australia. The organisation works with many of the world's leading game developers including Electronic Arts, Sony Entertainment, THQ, Marvel, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Apple, Ubisoft, Warner Bros and many other s.
Mick's work has also won many prestigious awards and nominations, including an M.P.S.E. Golden Reel, four Game Audio Network Guild awards, one IGF Mobile Award, and four G.D.A.A. awards. He has also been asked to speak at GDC in San Francisco twice, Game Connect: Asia Pacific twice as well as giving many guest lectures and master classes at various universities.
Games now covers a huge range of interactive media, from serious games, social games and ARGs (Alternative Reality Games) through to cinematic blockbusters, motion based play (Kinect, Move, and Wii), and augmented reality. Morgan will discuss the many ways in which games and game technology are changing the shape of the world we live in.
Morgan Jaffit is one of Australia's leading game developers, having worked both locally and internationally on a large variety of projects. He is currently the founder (along with partner Dan Treble) of Defiant Development, an independent developer focused on high end interactive experiences with a strong narrative focus. Morgan has been involved with developing games for the world's biggest publishers, including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and THQ. He's a regular speaker on creative process, game development, and the many ways in which interactive media are becoming an essential part of our day to day lives.
The presentation will provide an overview of the StarCraft phenomenon and the Korean e-sports industry. It will also touch on the growth of amateur gaming with spectators into the profession e-sports industry of today. As well as providing an insight into the current professional nature of the gamers, their training, the broadcasting setup, and details on the televised matches that are broadcast daily to millions of adoring fans.
Peter Neate, aka "Legionnaire" is one of the most renowned players in the StarCraft gaming scene. His professional career saw him spend 3 years in Korea, the e-sports Mecca of the world. During his time on the world stage, he represented Australia on 4 separate occasions, which included winning the Bronze medal at the 2005 World Cyber Games in Singapore.
The recent Disney acquisition of social games company Playdom for over $700 million marks the arrival of social games as big business and signals a new gold rush for games developers. However developing social games has a very different set of challenges to developing traditional core or casual games. John will discuss these challenges and how they impact on the process of building games that can stand out from the crowd.
John Passfield has been making games for over 20 years. His successes include the classic shareware hit Halloween Harry, the point and click adventure game Flight of the Amazon Queen, and the uniquely Australian TY the Tasmanian Tiger.
John has founded a number of computer game companies including Red Sprite Studios, Gee Whiz! Entertainment and Krome Studios, where he was the design director on many projects. John also worked at Pandemic Studios as the Creative Director on Destroy All Humans! 2 and is now the Creative Director and co-owner of 3 Blokes Studios, Australia's leading social game developer.
With fewer barriers to entry, there's a huge increase in the number of people making video games. And with an increase in the number of games reaching the market, there are new challenges to creating a game that will capture the attention of the game-playing public. Eve Penford-Dennis explores what makes games stand out from the crowd, and the concept of creativity in the game industry.
Eve Penford-Dennis has nearly two decades experience in game development both in Victoria and overseas as an artist, outsourcing manager, and teacher. In addition to her extensive development experience, Eve has been instrumental in spearheading a number of initiatives aimed at improving conditions within the industry. She runs the Australian Women in Games site & groups; has spoken at the Australian Game Developers Conference; has taken part in the Game Connect Asia Pacific Skills Forum; is a member of numerous advisory boards for Deakin University, Verve, and Multimedia Victoria; and is a mentor with VIC ICT for women. Eve was also an active member of the Freeplay 2007 steering committee and responsible for the highly successful Game Girls event, held at ACMI in March 2008, one of the first targeted public events to encourage women into the games industry. Currently Eve co-directs the Freeplay Independent Games Festival, held every August in Melbourne, which focuses on the creative, artistic and innovative side of making games.
