Who We Are

Dr Taylor Hardwick is a postdoctoral research fellow at RMIT University. Her research examines games events and games production, communities and cultures, children's digital play, and safety and accessibility in digital spaces. Taylor is also on the board of DiGRAA, Australia's premier games research conference. She plays so, so, so much Minecraft.

Dr James Manning is an educator and researcher. He is a Lecturer in Game Design at RMIT University in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. His research explores the intersection of media fandom, play cultures, digital materiality, and digital cultural heritage. He is a Managing Editor of the Journal of Games Criticism and a Board member of the Digital Games Research Association Australia (DiGRAA). He strongly believes that videogames are a profound waste of time, which is why they are so culturally significant.

Pete Foley is an artist and storyteller. Throughout his career he has worked on an eclectic range of visual media, he has been an Animation Director Disney Junior, co-directed a theatre show at Queensland Theatre Company, and has hosted several solo drawing exhibitions.

Now, as half of indie games making duo, Fuzzy Ghost, he creates narrative-driven games that are bold, colourful, joyful, very Australian, and very queer.

Their first two games, Pebble Witch and Queer Man Peering Into A Rock Pool.jpg were AGDA nominated for Excellence in Emerging Games. In 2023 Queer Man Peering was acquired by Powerhouse Museum for their permanent collection, and it was nominated for the IGF Nuovo Award. It won the AGDA Excellence in Emerging Games in 2022 and the Freeplay Award in 2024.

Joel Davison is a Dunghutti and Gadigal technologist who currently works at Thoughtworks, in the First Nations Delivery Centre, leading Agile software delivery teams for clients. When they’re not consulting Joel writes poetry which is published through Red Room Poetry, and collaborated with Midnight Oil on the Makaratta Project as well as teaching Gadigal language classes throughout Sydney.

Travis Jordan floats around the government working in legal, media and strategy teams. He’s a governance and communications professional and – regrettably – a lawyer. He’s worked for MPs, political parties, governments and NGOs around Australia. Travis is a keen supporter of the arts, having worked on projects to bring together creative industries, academics, governments and civil society to help grow the sector. He brings a wealth of boards governance, campaign planning and policy advocacy experience to the Freeplay team.

Amelia is a videogame producer and writer from the Hunter Valley (Wonnarua and Awabakal Country), currently based in Melbourne/Naarm, Australia. She has worked in a diversity of gamemaking environments including indie studios Snowman (Alto’s Adventure), Tin Man Games (The Warlock of Firetop Mountain) and Hipster Whale (Crossy Road), as well as larger-scale organisations such as Nintendo. Amelia was the first games hire in over ten years to join Screen Australia, where she helped pioneer strategy to uplift Australian gamemakers, including the launch of the Emerging Gamemakers Fund and the Future Leaders Delegation. The federal government agency granted $12M+ to over 120 independent game projects during her tenure.

Amelia is a board member of Freeplay, a member of Screen Tasmania’s Expert Advisory Group and a regular consultant and speaker in the Australian videogames sphere. She speaks conversational Japanese, enjoys reading, hiking and music-making, and believes that playfulness is one of the few things in life worth taking seriously.

Andrea holds a Bachelor of Art History, a Bachelor of Laws, and a Master of Intellectual Property Law, grounding her work in a deep understanding of creative practice, cultural context, and the legal frameworks that shape emerging industries. Having lived in Sydney, Hobart, Auckland, Wellington, and now Melbourne, she brings a broad trans-Tasman perspective informed by diverse creative communities and their evolving needs. Andrea’s practice spans intellectual property, digital entertainment, and technology, advising independent creatives to government departments, and large-scale companies across Australia and New Zealand. Her work explores the intersection of creativity, rights, and innovation, with a particular interest in how legal structures can support and strengthen cultural production. New to the games sector, Andrea is actively expanding her expertise in the field, contributing a considered, cross-disciplinary approach to an industry undergoing rapid growth and transformation. She is currently an associate at Cam Rogers Legal, where she supports creators, studios, and innovators as they navigate the opportunities and challenges of an increasingly complex digital landscape.