After the closure of THQ’s Australian studios, we follow the progress of ex-THQ Studio Australia Game Programmer Anthony Reddan, a young developer who recently left Australia to work overseas in Canada. Is his journey representative of a brain drain in the Australian games industry, or is the local indie development scene on the verge of a glorious rebirth?
That’s the view of Tom Crago, president of the Game Developers Association of Australia. Crago says it makes us the butt of a lot of jokes within the industry.
Melbourne will be getting its own games development conference with the Game Connect: Asia Pacific 2009 Conference and Expo coming to the city in December.
We gave you the chance to ask questions of Tom Crago, head of the Game Developers Association of Australia. After the jump, Tom chats about getting a job in game development, how Australia compares to the rest of the world, and the diea of “Made in Australia” stickers on locally developed games.
Question Time is where YOU get to interview some of the games industry’s leading figures. This week, we put Game Developers’ Association of Australia president Tom Crago in the chair. What would you ask him?
Question Time is the post where you get to ask the questions. This week, we put Game Developers’ Association of Australia president Tom Crago in the chair. What would you ask him?
Independent games need all the support they can get… as long as it’s not from a publisher. Kind of makes it dependent, really. But aside from publishers, you could always give your favourite indie game a leg-up, and nominate it for the GDAA’s 2008 Independent Game Awards. Heck, if you have a title on the boil, this could be your big chance.
Entries close on October 22, so you have over a month to get yourself sorted – just don’t leave it too long. The finalists will be announced and contacted in November, and must be prepared to make a trip to Brisbane for Game Connect 2008.
Press release with all the details, after the jump.
When your industry has the financial support of the Federal Government behind it, I’m sure it’s easy as hell to throw around snarky comments about other industries seeking similar compensation. Well, if this wasn’t the case, it’s been proven to be now after iTWire attributed the following prose to a film industry “insider”, talking about the game industry’s desire for film industry-like tax breaks:
The insider’s dismissal of this goal was somewhat cold. “The problem with the games industry in this country,” the insider said “is that it is full of many small studios that should be left on their own to see who survives”.
Obviously, GDAA prez and Tantalus CEO Tom Crago wasn’t going to have any of it:
“I’m a big fan of Australian films, and absolutely believe that our film industry should be supported by the Australian Government. It’s important to understand, though, that without that support, the industry would not exist in anything like the form that it exists today. To that end, it’s a bit rich for the film industry to say that games should go it alone.
I could quote a load of other insightful morsels, but you’re better off reading the original piece… if you can stomach the the view of the film “insider”.
Film Industry to Games Industry; “Stop whinging” [iTWire, via Tsumea]
