Motley Pixels

I attended Level Up Tasmania 2024! Game developer showcases are quite common around the world, for example PAX Australia and The Game Expo and other larger ones such as GDC in the US.

It all started with The Liberal Party uncharacteristically giving the Arts Lots of Money to Screen Tas who then had the great idea of running a mini showcase, among other exciting plans. There is no doubt that video games are a big industry that’s ever-growing, and funding game makers in Tasmania is smart, because it encourages us to stay here in Tasmania and make said games. Thus boosting the economy in the long term. TV and film seem to be a struggling (but well established) market, especially internationally, however many Australian games have become big international hits, such as Hollow Knight, Jetpack Joyride, Untitled Goose Game, Golf With Your Friends and of course all the games from Giant Margarita. There have been “AAA” studios operating in Australia in the past as well, but many have sadly closed down. Maybe that will change, maybe they will come to Tas!

The event went from Friday the 27th September to Sunday the 29th September. I bumped in on the Thursday morning, I think I was the first person there at Princess Wharf shed number 1. Meeting with Oli from Screen Tas, the man running the show mostly. I brought all of my stuff in a sports bag, on foot of course. They provided 24″ monitors for the stalls, up to two each which was nice. Some feedback I have was that the monitors could have been bigger, but I guess it’s good that we got one at all, apparently you don’t get one at PAX, which is a big problem for those traveling outside of Melbourne. Of course everyone there was from Tas but still, I am a big fan of public transport, so it’s much appreciated.

The Friday was of course a working day, but a few did drop by, including my friend Paul from the office (Enterprize) to check things out. With a lower amount of numbers I could freely check out the other stalls a little and see what others had been working on! There certainly is a lot of talent here, not bad for the first year rounding up all the game makers in Tas. I am sure there are others out there who might come along next year. The main game I had on display was the game I release on Steam, Gravity Flux. I bought some USB retro SNES controllers, and installed Bazzite Linux on a refurbished HP small form factor PC I bought a while ago from Reboot IT. Being a 2D game, it can run on a lot of hardware, on Windows and Linux. It worked pretty well, just the same old bugs came up, which I have written down and plan to fix at some point. Friday ended with some beers and food at Manky Sally’s with some of the industry veterans and Ruby the Mini Chihuahua (not a veteran yet, but will be).

Saturday was the big day, starting at 11am, through to 3pm. It wasn’t long but did feel like a long time. I got there around 9am, early like before and the second person there, after Ben, who was showing Art For Snakes – a 2D game where you are a snake that has to eat artworks. Admittedly, his stall got a bit more activity than mine, which is fine I was just glad to be there! And mine on the bigger day Saturday, rarely had a quiet moment until later in the day. Over the two days, it was quite refreshing to see new people other than my closer friends play the game. Most enjoyed it, some struggled to get through the menus, but most once when in game picked it up pretty quickly and had a good time. Some said it was nice that it was one of the simplest games at the showcase, something that everyone could play, young and old. It was nice to see younger kids and their parents playing together. One kid said something like, this will be the first game I play next time! I did see some bugs, and some gave some feedback for new features. One issue with the game is that you do have to play on a PC with controllers connected. It’s not a common setup, unlike with consoles. Maybe one day I will port the game to Switch, Xbox, Playstation. It is possible via third party companies (Godot). But being so busy I will have to do it in the future. Not many, but some did play Wizards with Rockets I had on display, and I did some live code fixes to make it stop crashing. My parents dropped by, and my good friend Bruno who is a game developer for a living (living here in Tas). Several other people I knew dropped by. I understand not everyone could check it out, and some of my friends who wanted to go couldn’t make it sadly. Next year! I will sacrifice my energy levels for you again! Friday ended with beers and food at Hobart Brewing Co. More industry veterans and some visitors from the mainland were there (eg. Screen Australia). A big table outside in the decent weather. And Ruby the mini Chihuahua again. She apparently had a good sleep afterwards.

Sunday was the Industry Day. At the Theatre Royal. It is a pretty lovely old building, I’ve been to a few times in the past, such as earlier in the year for TEDx Hobart. Talks from the game developers, Secret Lab and Radiobush. Secret lab discussing their origin story, on how they were lucky to be one of the first game developers for iOS, being flown over to the US for free and meeting lots of interesting people. Transitioning from little indie games, to book publishing, to making Yarn Spinner, and now helping with making bigger games. Secret Lab are a force of nature down here who have major connections, but also contribute to open source which is very wholesome. Really, choosing to live here in Tas as opposed to the US is very wholesome, turning down fame and money for the quiet lifestyle in Tasmania with friends and of course the impressive Tasmanian wilderness. Then Radiobush, who discussed their origin story, coming from being a miner in rural Queensland, having an accident and deciding to pivot to game making. I can kinda relate, having a health issue in the past that lead me to setting some goals in life to achieve, like working for myself and making games. Radiobush are a bunch of three, notably Anthony the guy who I’ve seen from the Internet. His talk was quite inspirational, and subtly hinted at suggesting people to add more of Tasmania in their games. Okay! I’ll try to. Then talks from Screen Australia, who talked about all the grants and who was applicable. Basically it sounds like they’re looking for original ideas over more mainstream commercially viable ones. The weird stuff. Which is cool because I don’t think I will be (very) commercially viable for a long time. And coming up with original ideas is more fun. Summerfall gave a talk about their game Stray Gods, about the challenges to get the game funded, having to reduce the technical scope of the game then luck out with a particular publisher who believed in them. It was a privilege to have Jacob Janerka and Josie Fletcher talk comedy in games. Jacob talked about how he can never make a serious game again, how his friends didn’t find his games funny (but the Internet did). Josie talked about the experiences being a social media manager for Cult of the Lamb and dealing with Internet fame/infamy. Being funny and viral on the Internet is certainly a good way to promote your game.

At the end of the talks we gathered around for free drinks and some good networking. I was a bit stuffed by then and my social battery was low of course but I did chat a bit with Anthony from Radiobush which was nice to meet him in person after some interactions online. Jason Imms won the T-Posie award for Leadership and Excellence in the Tasmanian Video Game Industry. Which is pretty much the most significant award to be given to someone in the games industry here in Tasmania, from within Tasmania. He was quite emotional, understandably. Nice to see him recognised. Being one of the main people behind starting Tas Game Makers (previously Tas Game Developers Society), he deserves an award. Bringing the community together here has been quite beneficial and for me at least, gives me motivation to keep working on games. I might have given up by now if not for Tas Game Makers (says thepreachers board member I am).

Then we walked (and I rode my e-bike) to and had more beers and food, for the 3rd day in a row. I was really feeling a bit weary and socially empty but I have this weird habit of persisting despite that. I got to talk to Jacob Janerka! And a little with the board about upcoming events. It’s quite possible I will be either Vice President or President of Tas Game Makers.. Nothing concrete but it’s possible. Being on a board is always a challenge, as it is voluntary most of the time, and having responsibilities of sorts is difficult to try to do your best but also not do too much while you have other life responsibilities (in my case, job, hobbies, projects, social life and looking after myself). But I think I have more flexibility than most people.

Overall the 3 days was exhausting, fun, inspiring, motivational, social, friendly, supportive, and a very healthy thing to happen for us game makers here in Tasmania. It’s always difficult for governments to decide where to spend money, and I could understand the lack of funding with other areas of society needing support. My feeling is that they want to see another industry being built, supporting jobs and employment. This has been thanks to the efforts from Secret Lab, Screen Tasmania, Jason Imms, and likely others I don’t know about. Campaigning hard to gain support. We’re not sure how long this support will last for. To really help build the industry/community here, we will need support in the long term. It takes time to make games, and there are currently not many major studios down here. But, regardless of government support I believe it’s always possible to gain some success, which is something I am working towards.