Hundreds Head to Free Play

21 August, 2007

Last Saturday’s successful Free Play conference attracted more than 350 people, including a significant number of grass-roots independent and emerging game makers and developers.

Free Play, held over two spaces at the Australia Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), featured more than 15 lectures and workshops and involved more than 30 presenters. Respected international and local speakers addressed topics ranging from making a start as a game developer, to tackling political issues through gaming.

International keynote speaker, Jonathan Blow (picture above), award-winning creator of Braid attracted keen interest from all the delegates. He spoke about strategic ways to break into the gaming industry and offered practical advice on how independent game developers can gain enough confidence to pitch their work.

“You want to be the person where your game is so awesome that the publisher calls you without you ever having pitched it to them. That’s what you’re aiming for. If your game is that compelling then you’ll get a deal because you’ve differentiated from everyone else,” Jonathan said.

Jonathan Blow also featured examples of his game prototypes and took the audience through the intriguing journey as to home he came to develop Braid. (Examples can be seen HERE)

(For a comprehensive analysis, and discussion, about Jonathan’s presentations at Free Play visit Jason Hill’s Screen Play blog at the Age Online, HERE.)

Australian keynote, Robert J Spencer, spoke about the importance of independence in game-making and drew from his extensive knowledge and experience in the Australian games publication industry.

The popular workshop sessions enabled a wide selection of local game developers to discuss and demonstrate games they have worked on. Some examples included sessions that explored motion controllers, free development tools and open-source technology.

Free Play 2007 was supported by Film Victoria, Arts Victoria, ACMI and Crumpler.