Queensland Games Fest Returns To Brisbane This Saturday

Queensland Games Festival (the show formerly known as Game On Festival) will return to Brisbane this weekend.

The event will be held on Saturday, July 22, within the Turbine Platform at the Brisbane Powerhouse, and entry is completely free. Queensland Games Festival hosts some of the biggest names in the state’s rapidly burgeoning games development scene. The event has already confirmed the attendance of TTRPG Fighting Fantasy Adventures, with original creators Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. These are pen-and-paper RPGs for people who prefer a game with modern RPG sensibilities that still feels like the dangerous TTRPGs of old. Live games will be running throughout the show.

Further, local developers Prideful Sloth (Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles, Grow: Song of the Evertree) will bring its new town builder Go-Go Town to the show floor.

The list of games confirmed for the show floor is already quite large, and includes:

• Sumorbit (Tournameta)
• Frogreign (ArkanPixel Games)
• Crash Course Builder (Wombat Brawler)
• Fire Noodle Eating Champs: The Dice Game (ToToTam)
• Isle of Feathers (Daniel Galbraith & Juno Schaaffhausen Te’o)
• My Little Pony: Mane Merge (Gameloft)
• Verbal Void: Neurodiverse Adventure (EnderLost Studios)
• Bears in Space! (Broadside Games)
• Ribbet
• Knight RPG

(If you are the developer of Knight or Ribbet — or you know who is working on them — please reach out to me directly via email or my Twitter! I searched high and low for your details but CANNOT find them anywhere and I’d love to credit you!)

Here’s the full event run down, per Brisbane Powerhouse:

The Exhibition

10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Turbine Platform

This is the show’s expo hall and where you’ll find all the developers and studios who’ve brought playable builds of their games.

Emerging Developers Room

11:00 AM – 1:00 PM

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

The Emerging Developers Room is where young devs, students or those interested in a career in games design can get face time with local industry mentors and leaders. Bring questions! They’ll be answered by a who’s who of Queensland game development talent.

Workshop 1: Gameloft Creative Kids

10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

A session just for younger kids and families. This session is all about creative, hands-on activities created by the team at Gameloft, including personalised game art and a chance to meet the teams behind My Little Pony: Mane Merge and The Oregon Trail. (If you’d like to attend this workshop, make sure you register via the Powerhouse website).

Workshop 2: IGEA AMA

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

A presentation from the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association. The IGEA is Australia’s peak industry association, meaning they’re ones that argue with politicians for better funding on the Australian games industry’s behalf — a tough gig, but someone’s gotta do it. But what does that actually entail? What does the day-to-day of the IGEA actually look like? How does the policy sausage get made? Come along and find out. This workshop will be hosted by IGEA CEO Ron Curry and IGEA Director of Industry and Member Media Relations Dr. Jens Shroeder. Again, make sure you register via the Powerhouse website beforehand.

Finale

Presenting Screen Queensland Opportunities

A quick chat with Screen Queensland’s Games specialists Jed Dawson and Finlay Cameron about the state of local games funding in Queesland.

Endgame

5:00 PM 6:00 PM

It’s trivia time.

Networking

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Bring business cards and make a friend! Get a drink and introduce yourself to others in the Queensland games development space. You never know who you’ll meet in the crowd.