10 years of parallels
10/10/24 @ Melbourne town hall 6pm – late
Presentations, Playable Showcase and DJs
Parallels is a celebration of creativity in playful media, highlighting curious projects and the humans behind them. Join us as we celebrate 10 years of Parallels with 10 talks and 10 playable games in this new expanded format!
Taking over the Melbourne Town Hall, we’re continuing the vibes of the presentations through the night with custom game installations, chill DJs, plant based finger food and a drink selection by the local legends at Molly Rose. Our lovely friends at Paperhouse will be behind the merch table all night serving up fresh Parallels merch as well as a selection from their store.
Huge thanks to our major government partner; Screen Australia. This year Freeplay are proud to work with Creative Victoria to help top up every concession ticket purchased by those who need it. We’re aware it’s a difficult year for many of our friends, and we’re stoked that Creative Victoria are helping us be proactive in providing access for all members of our community. Concession tickets are available for all who need it.
MADE POSSIBLE BY THESE PALS
SUPPORTED BY THESE FRIENDS
PRESENTATIONS
Lisa Blakie
Lisa is Māori game developer based in Ōtepoti, Aotearoa (Dunedin, New Zealand). She teaches game writing at Otago University and is the writer and narrative designer for Toroa: Skycall, an atmospheric flight game grounded in te ao Māori.
Jane Fiona Kennington
Jane Fiona Kennington is a Game Director and 3D generalist working on the first-person shooter Incolatus, a dripping pink Y2K girly-pop arena-style movement FPS. She is also Vice Chair of the WA Games Industry Council (WAGIC). Jane Fiona, 19 years old, creates projects informed by her shuffled-around upbringing spanning from regional to metro areas Western Australia. She secured a Screen Australia Expansion Pack grant straight out of high school and would go on to receive a Screenwest Business Development grant for her Incolatus project started at school in year 10.
T-Dog eXtreme
T-Dog eXtreme is a game developer from Melbourne whose previous projects have involved crying ghosts, bin chicken detectives, and Aston Martins. These masterpieces have culminated into ‘Clownbaby,’ a dating SIM / deck builder where you are an actual clown looking for love. T-Dog enjoys taking inspiration from real-life in their works.
David Harris & Josiah Lulham
A Dance of Ribbons is a larp created by theatre makers and game designers in response to the feeling of a rapidly de-ritualising modern world. This immersive experience invites participants to forge new rituals together. David and Josiah, both passionate academics and PhD students, revel in the joy of costumes, silly voices, and the magic of interactive, immersive worlds. Their love for creating these experiences is at the heart of everything they do.
Olivia Haines & Andy Brophy
Dinko is a new videogame label by Olivia Haines and Andy Brophy. They are creators of the Melbourne JRPG, Knuckle Sandwich, and are now developing the Queensland adventure game: Surf Club. They are also the creators of Electric Fairyland – a bite-sized collectathon commissioned by Sokpop Collective – and several small itch.io projects that all capture their sense of whimsy and wonder.
Xavier Bell
Xavier Bell is a writer with an obsession for trains and the apocalypse. His most recent game, Rodeo Clown, is a long-winded breakdown of what it means to be terrible at life, told through the lens of a divorced nobody with a heart of gold and a dream.
Duncan Corrigan
Duncan is an artist and experimental game designer exploring what it means to play and how we inspire playfulness in each other. He’s also a co-founder of the Sydney-focused collective Serenade, where he helps curate experimental game exhibits and other events to support the art-game making community in Sydney.
Kurt Tikoft
Kurt Tikoft (he/him) is an indie game developer known as ‘i will bite raw coffee beans’. His first project is the currently in-development role-playing game Your Holy & Virtuous Heretic, in collaboration with composer LORESPINNER. It explores the relationship between humans and the occult through the medium of unconventional role-playing mechanics and psychedelic visuals, inspired by mid-90s dungeon crawlers. Kurt is based on Wallumattagal land, and studies Game Design and Development at Macquarie University, graduating at the end of 2024.
Liezl Ronquillo
Liezl Ronquillo is the Studio Lead for Vivink Studios. Liezl and her team are working on a little game called Ailuri, a hand drawn, 2D platformer about rescuing endangered animals.
She spends almost all of her time developing Ailuri, and the rest of the time organizing events with Waypoint, a Sydney based networking event, or drawing things like funny little critters or monsters.
Isobel Knowles & Van Sowerwine
Isobel and Van are Melbourne artists and animators working with interactive and immersive media. Their work focuses on personal stories and small moments to reveal bigger issues and ideas. They love mixing handcrafted aesthetic with new technologies to create organic digital worlds. Their films and interactive artworks have premiered at Cannes, Venice and Rotterdam and screened at festivals across the globe.
PLAYABLE EXHIBIT
Wizard Fuckers!!!
Wizard fuckers is a fast-paced, spell-slinging wizard-combat party game. Combine elements to make funky yet deadly spells, and then antagonise your friends with them! Only the true wizard fuckers will be victorious, after all.
Notice
NOTICE is a game about presence. Every object here has something to say. Notice familiar things and notice how they make you feel.
WHISKEY.ST2007S
WHISKEY.ST2007S is a psychedelic 3D platformer where you must run, drift and fly with a shopping cart through a collapsing dimension to get your relatives as many christmas presents as possible.
Fleeting Friends
Hatch your very own adorable, ephemeral companion with Fleeting Friends! Printed on real receipt paper, your new friend will inevitably fade with time, so cherish the memories you make together!
My Arms Are Longer Now
My Arms Are Longer Now is a grotty 2D comedy, where you play as are a long-armed thief. Snake through levels, retract like a vacuum cord, or put on a sock to seduce a lonely guard — whatever it takes to pull off the perfect heist!
River Scene Zine
A gay old time outdoors. Look, see, and touch your bros.
Key Fairy
Key Fairy, a hand-drawn, pacifist, folkloric, bullet-hell. Grapple and dance around lost monsters to collect their shattered stars, weave your way through twisting forest paths, encounter strange folk, uncover ancient magic, and evade forgotten gods in this frenetic 2D action-adventure.
Cyber Paradise
ACTION. DOGS. CAFE.
Bring Mini the Dog back to life digitally in a 2D atmospheric action adventure. Craft her cyber paradise with moments like sniffing dog butts. Discover a deeper dystopian story and build friendships in cozy cafe chats—A blend of adrenaline and solace.
Screen Saviour
Georgia Symons & Duncan Corrigan
Screen Savour is a sensual and/or sexy video game that transforms your relationship with your computer. Engage in intimate, ritualistic interactions with the computer, exploring touch, breath, and physical connection. The game encourages a deeper connection with the devices we use every day.
Split Signal
Traverse a vast landscape filled with hundreds of tetromino inspired puzzles and fix something that has broken.
Split Signal is a new puzzle game from LYNE creator Thomas Bowker with visual design by Peter Bentley.
MUSIC
File Explorer
Designed for the dancefloor but written for your Airpods, File Explorer’s music is nostalgic, emotive and always danceable. Landing somewhere in between Herbie Hancock and Machine Girl, he twists together distinct influences to create what he describes as ‘Prog EDM’.
Rex The Bard
cute dnb & concommittal rave music ✨
footwork, jungle and breakbeats
