Our Online Festival continued over the weekend with a bunch of insightful panels. If you missed any of them, fear not! They are all archived on YouTube and you can watch them whenever you want. All videos of the Online Festival can be access on the Online Festival webpage, and all upcoming panels can be watched live on our homepage.
Here is what went down this weekend:
Romance and Queer Representation in Games
Liam Esler (chair), Snow McNally, Alexander Ocias, Luke Miller, and Barbara Kerr discussed a range of fascinating subjects including why romance games have become so popular in recent years, just how explicit queer content should be, the importance of diverse representation, and whether its okay to depict revenge fantasies against bigots.
Watch This Game: Let’s Plays, Streaming, and the Future of Games
Prescription Pixel, Emma Graham, and Brendan Keogh discuss the exploding world of video content, including the rise of Let’s Play videos and livestreaming. They discussed topics including the relationship between Youtubers and games journalism, being an internet celebrity, and issues facing Australian video content producers directly.
Self-Care For Game Developers
Leena van Deventer, Natasha Katopodis, Francis Fitzgerald, and Laura Crawford talk about a range of ways that making games can be personally taxing, and explore ways to look after yourself and be both productive and healthy. Takeaways include take regular naps and put a whiteboard in the shower.
Games With Invisible Buttons
Designers Christy Dena, Kate Raynes-Goldie, and Holly Gramazio (UK) discuss their various works that straddle digital and non-digital forms. Topics include designing site-specific games, parallels with the re-emergence of local multiplayer videogames, and the challenges faced in designing games where a computer isn’t present to prevent players from cheating.
Games Around The World
Independent game festival organisers from around the world come together to discuss the particular personalities of each festival, and the challenges faced by everyone. Celia Pearce (IndieCade-USA), James Mielke (BitSummit – Japan), Sarah Schoemann and Mariam Asad (Difference Games – USA), Thorsten Wiedemann (A MAZE – Germany), Andrea Hasselager (Lyst Summit – Scandinavia), and our own Dan Golding talk about a vast range of topics including funding, curatorship, and award judging.