Discover the future of gaming in Sydney

Sydney-based animation producer with global experience across 2D, CG, VFX & eComm. From The LEGO Movie to 200% Wolf, Nanny McPhee & Disney - bringing global stories to life.

Amy McNickle is a Creative Director, Audio Designer, and Strategic Leader working across games, tech, and the cultural sector.

After 7 years working as a game designer at award-winning studios like Defiant Development and Ubisoft, Anna recently decided to test the limits of her anxiety by starting her own studio. The first IP of this studio is "Apothecary of City X".Her unique brand of heart-filled, nuanced game design can be seen in projects such as "Hand of Fate 2" where, as a senior game designer, she helped it take out the Australian Game of the Year.She hopes that she can leverage her experience and talent to bring a new heart-filled, diversely led studio to the Australian games scene.

Iím Bryce Szandro, Head of Studio at Paragon Interactive and Founder of Next-Gen Dreams. Over the past decade, Iíve led cross-disciplinary teams working on high-end productions for some of the worldís biggest names, including Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Ghost Story Games, Arkane Studios, Supermassive Games, and CI Games. Currently working to put Australia on the map as the go to hub for game development.

Ceri Hutton is a game designer, career mentor and management consultant who specialises in culture transformation and user-centred marketing strategy for game studios, tech start-ups and social enterprises.He has over 15 yearsí experience in the games industry, over 10 yearsí experience in project and team management, has been delivering lectures, talks and workshops at conferences and universities for over 5 years. He holds a Global Executive MBA from Monash University and is passionate about sharing his knowledge with creatives looking to build sustainable business practices, strengthen their commercial capabilities and become better leaders.Ceri is the director of the Smart Program, a specialised mentorship program that creates careers pathways for aspiring developers by providing them equitable access to professional development opportunities, a supportive creative community and engaged industry mentors.He is also the designer of Deficit: The ADHD RPG, a Screen Australia funded ëslice of lifeí roleplaying game that authentically replicates the lived ADHD experience. Previously, Ceri worked for the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA) and the Game Developers' Association of Australia (GDAA) where he managed the game development focused co-working space, The Arcade Melbourne and designed and directed programs that elevated and celebrated Australian game developers.

With over two decades of leadership in the entertainment industry, I've helped shape the gaming landscape in Australia and New Zealand by spearheading regional launches and ongoing live services for more than 25 iconic titles including Half-Life 2, World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Fortnite.While at Epic Games, I also facilitated groundbreaking collaborations with artists like Tones and I and The Kid Laroi, bridging the gap between gaming and music.My expertise spans the full spectrum of games publishing: product lifecycle management, digital and retail sales optimization, marketing communications, influencer partnerships, and esports development including leagues, events, sponsorship, and media rights.I'm passionate about sharing insights on innovation at the intersection of technology, entertainment, and community building.Come connect with me to discuss launching successful entertainment products, creating memorable marketing campaigns and exploring emerging opportunities in this dynamic industry.

Crash headfirst into this witch-tech open world, drifting and driving on the back of your new motorbroom. Make deliveries, trick out your broom, and race your new friends (and crushes) as the sun sets. Decorate your flat, sort your life out, and discover what it means to find home.

Cuauhtemoc Moreno is a Creative Developer and Game Designer with 15+ years of experience in a wide range of digital award-winning projects. From popular web browser games, to physical installations involving full-body motion; from virtual reality experiences to playful educational eBooks.Currently based in Sydney, Australia, he has served as the CTO of Sound Scouts since 2015, thriving at the intersection of art, technology, and social impact. He is also a founding member of Serenade, a collective dedicated to curating and organising artistic and experimental game events.Throughout the years, he has developed a particular interest and practice in exploring the fringes, niches, and frontiers of game development that fuel the creativity for the rest of the industry.

Director and lead facilitator at Playful Thinking, responsible for creating and delivering programs and workshops that develop the culture, strategy and capacity of modern organisations. General Manager and Festival Director of Games for Change Asia Pacific, a non-profit that supports games and game developers working to improve the world through games in education, health and social change.Daniel has worked as a comedy writer, producer and performer, an associate teacher of design and a radio broadcaster on 3RRR, SouthernFM and ABC774.Daniel studied Philosophy, Law and Theatre Studies at Monash University before helping to build The School of Life Australia as Head of Programs and Head of Content.Daniel has a Diploma in Community Governance from the Institute of Community Directors and is a practicing lawyer and registered mediator.

Danny founded the crowdfunded video game documentary channel Noclip in 2016 and since then has produced well over 100 documentaries about games development filmed in studios around the world. Born in Ireland, Danny entered games journalism through his work at GameSpot UK in London before moving to San Francisco to become lead host for GameSpot. During his time at the website he developed an interest in talking to developers about the realities of games development. A passion that would lead him to leaving his dream job to found Noclip, where he works to this day. He resides in rural Northern California with his wife, daughter, three cats, four goats, and an NBA Jam arcade machine.

Dean Walshe is an award winning digital artist with close to 20 years of experience.Currently the 3D Art Lead and Technical Artist for Blue Manchu, known for their distinctively bold strategic First Person Shooters with Void Bastards and Wild Bastards, each exploring different ideas on what a strategic FPS can be in gameplay and looks.Deanís career spans both indie and AAA games, with credits including Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and the notable DLC Claptastic Voyage, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars Republic Heroes. Outside of game development, Dean has spent time as a lecturer, worked as an urban planning artist and even created experimental projects such as gallery installations and AR theatre experiences.

Emerson is a award-winning Tech Designer and Founder who has consistently innovated at the forefront of game development since 2017.In particular, he is known for creating the world's first public co-location game in 2019 in TritonVR (allowing multiple people to battle in the same space at the same time), and the world-first "Real Life Mode" in 2024's TritonXR which utilises the Quest 3's tech to combine the real and virtual worlds like no other project before.Over 8 years, he has released nearly a dozen projects, with a combined total of 1.1 million views, 250k downloads, and a 4.6/5 star average.As founder of Tetra Studios, he leads teams of dedicated individuals to solve unique problems and create awesome experiences for their fans.No matter what he works on, from local party games to online shooters, he brings an attention to detail and quality that puts his work a cut above the rest.

FinlËy Cameron is the Coordinator for Games and The SQ Hub at Screen Queensland, where she plays a key role in supporting and delivering a range of strategic initiatives. Her work includes overseeing Games Grants, the Digital Games Incentive, internship programs, and the newly launched Sunshine Coast edition of the Season of the Dev Games Festival. FinlËy is also the Creator and Manager of Screen Queenslandís highly regarded Games Residency Program, now in its third year, which has supported 48 emerging and established developers through tailored mentorship, networking, and career development opportunities. Beyond her work at Screen Queensland, FinlËy is a guest lecturer in Video Game Design and Production at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Previously, she worked as a producer at Toast VR, the studio behind Richieís Plank Experience, contributing to their latest title, Max Mustard.Nominated for the 2025 Sunshine Coast Biosphere Community Young Citizen of the Year Award.

Is This Seat Taken? is a logic puzzle game where you play matchmaker for groups of hilariously particular people.

James Marshall is a producer and executive with over 20 years of experience in games, film, TV, animation, and mixed reality. He started his career in corporate Japan before shifting into media, working with companies such as Yahoo7!, Start VR, Technicolor, and CDW Studios, leading projects across a range of formats.His experience spans creative development, business strategy, and industry advocacy, including work in government and advisory roles. He has produced VR experiences, helped develop training programs, launched games, and contributed to initiatives like Australiaís games development rebate. He currently runs The International Games Group, an angel investor supporting independent video games.

John is a passionate and experienced animator who has been breathing life into gameplay and cinematic characters for over 20 years. With a long career as a digital artist, John has experience working on various large scale projects in numerous studios. John joined Gameloft Brisbane in 2014 and has worked on multiple AAA mobile titles, most recently, the critically acclaimed ìThe Oregon Trailî and ìCarmen Sandiegoî. When not animating for games, John has created 3D zoetropes exhibited at ACMI for Cuphead and Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, further demonstrating his love of games and animation.

Some videogames are art, a great many are commercial and some are both. I've made tiny indie games with my sister Elissa, personal games with an audience of one person as a gift, worked on massive Public Relations campaigns for Grant Theft Auto games, been a design lead on a massive new AAA IP, on Valorant for Riot Games, and am now nestled in my home as a design lead yet again on a from Uppercut Games. I've been a teacher, a journalist, but almost my whole career has been about game design - ask me anything!

Liz Ballantyne, Studio Art Director at Gameloft Brisbane and Women in Games Ambassador, is a leader driven to create work that promotes both meaningful change and positive disruption.Celebrating 20 years in games, Liz has collaborated with global brands such as, Netflix, Apple, Hasbro, Disney and SEGA. Leading the artistic vision behind beloved classics, Carmen Sandiegoô and the critically acclaimed The Oregon Trailô, celebrated for their striking visuals and inclusive representation.A mentor at heart, Liz empowers others through initiatives like Women in Games International, IGEA Mentors, and The Rookies. Recognized for her contributions to gender equality in the industry, Liz also serves on the QUT Industry Advisory Board and the Screen Queensland Equity and Diversity Taskforce, continually advocating for positive change.Leading with creativity, Liz is the disco dance to your roller skates, leaving a trail of glitter and joyóbuilding games that delight audiences and bring success to her teams.

Lucy Mutimer is an illustrator and Game Developer based in Melbourne, Australia whose life has a killer soundtrack and too much caffeine.

Luke Ledwich is a grizzled engineer who has been making games since the last millennium.A generalist at heart, Luke has taken a winding road though their career, tackling whatever challenges have faced them at companies and studios across the world. Starting in Sydney with a degree in Mechatronics and a masters in computer vision, they worked through academia and five other industries before finding their way into games in Seattle working at Bungie on the Halo series. Since then they have worked across a wide variety of jobs in the game industry from tools and platform engineering to build AR experiences and game prototypes. Across their career they have built and crafted the systems that drive game franchises including Halo, Destiny, World of Tanks and VALORANT. Since returning to Sydney they have focused more heavily on networking and gameplay while embracing the reality of co-development across oceans and time zones. They are currently a staff engineer at Riot Games in Sydney working on building gameplay systems for VALORANT and driving the engineering processes that keep a AAA studio thriving.

Mark is an accomplished developer with extensive experience in game design and development, complemented by a proficiency in front-end web design and 3D modelling. They hold a Bachelor's degree in Game Design and Development from Macquarie University and have also worked for notable creatives such as Kopi Su Studio, Pat Naoum Games and Turtle Flip Studio, contributing to the development of popular titles such as The Masters Pupil and Which Way Up.

Marty is a seasoned game industry professional with over a decade of experience spanning indie development, AAA collaborations, and studio leadership. He began his career developing mobile indie games before transitioning to consulting with No Moss Studios (now Noble Steed Games), where he worked with a diverse range of studios worldwide, from solo developers to large-scale AAA teams.Following his tenure at Noble Steed Games, Marty took on the role of Lead Designer and Studio Lead at Raini Studios, where he spearheaded the launch and growth of the successful trading card game Raini: The Lords of Light. During this time, he also played a pivotal role in the rapid scale-up of Leonardo.Ai, contributing to its success leading up to its acquisition by Canva in 2024 for a nine-figure sum.In 2024, after helping facilitate Raini Studiosí acquisition, Marty co-founded Lightning Forge Games, a studio focused on leveraging AI and Blockchain technologies to drive innovation and disruption in the gaming industry.

Matt Schenkel is a Melbourne-based sound designer specialising in crafting and implementing audio for games. With almost a decade of experience in the Australian games industry, Matt has contributed to projects across many genres, engines, and platforms. Some recent notable projects include Moving Out 2 and Earn to Die Rogue.Matt is the co-founder and co-director of Sub-Zero Sound, a studio dedicated to bringing games to life with impactful audio. With multiple exciting projects always on the go, Matt enjoys the creative and technical challenges that come with wrangling audio for games at all different stages of production and collaborating with talented people.

Matthew has spent over 20 years making games. They started making mods in their bedroom, but have been part of AAA titles, delivered award winning experiences with major partners, helped lead and run teams and studios, all across 3 continents. But most importantly for Matthew, theyíve been the driver and deliverer of things that bring joy into the world and make a positive impact to folks. Thatís something really special.

Michela Ledwidge is a director and Internet pioneer who has been building and breaking game technology for creative projects for over 3 decades. She is co-founder of Sydney indie studio, Mod, focused on realtime and virtual production. She has been creative and technical lead on numerous projects and is an Epic Games Approved Service Partner for work with Unreal Engine. Recent projects include Australia's National Film & Sound Archive, an ARC R&D project using Digital Humans and Melbourne Museum's Antopia exhibition.

On their last night of high school, three friends embark on one more adventure together. Play through a mixtape of memories, set to the soundtrack of a generation.

Rachel Heleva is a producer with Strange Scaffold, a business developer with the Quantum Astrophycisists Guild, and a game scout for Spiral Up. She has worked in indie game publishing and development for years, guiding indie games from concept, funding, development, and release.

Rachel Kowert, Ph.D is a research psychologist, award winning author, and globally recognized leader in facilitating policy development for more than 15 years through data-driven research focused on mental health and trust and safety in digital games. She has spoken about her work to thousands of people across the globe, including the United States Congress, United Nations, and Department of Homeland Security. Dr. Kowert is the founder of Psychgeist, a multimedia content production studio for the intersection of science and games, which includes Psychgeist YouTube channel (200+ videos), Most Recent Save podcast, and The Psychgeist of Pop Culture book series (20-book deal) published by Play Story Press. She is currently a Visiting Researcher at the University of Cambridge and Research Fellow at the University of York and also serves as the seriesí editor of the Debates in Media Studies series (Routledge). To learn more about Rachel and her work, visit www.rkowert.com.

Ralph Panebianco (aka Skill Up) is the most watched independent game reviewer and commentator on YouTube. Combining a passion for the artform with a deep knowledge of industry commercials, Ralph's reviews, news coverage and podcast deliver thought provoking insight into the ever evolving world of videogames.

Doomcutie is a passionate advocate for women in gaming, known for her engaging presence as a speaker, educator, and content creator. As the host of Confessions of a Gamer Girl, she has led insightful discussions on gaming culture, industry trends, and the experiences of women in the gaming space. Her ability to connect with audiences through storytelling and expert analysis has made her a sought-after voice in the gaming community.

Rick Salter is the co-founder and creative director of Hojo Studio.He is a seasoned, multi award-winning digital creative with over 20 yearsí experience in product design, animation, sound, music and video production and game development.From beginnings in computer-based training and advertising, he expanded to the music and games industry, as well as leading product design for the NSW Department of Education.He co-founded Hojo Studio in 2008 with Jola Szymanska which has self-published four games- Puffington, Nippy Cats, Inflatality and The Godfeather: A Mafia Pigeon Saga which has featured at multiple gaming events, including the Game Developerís Conference in San Francisco as well as Apple's Game of the Day worldwide.Rick has also been a popular guest speaker at a wide range of digital creative and gaming events, including GCAP, PAX and SXSW Sydney. He has also released two albums as The People Downstairs and The Whiskey Stone.

Roots Devour is a Lovecraftian adventure exploration card game developed by Rewinding Games. Players will summon new eldritch abilities by opening card packs brimming with enigmatic energy. Track down powerful creatures by skillfully cultivating organ cards and establishing a thriving blood system.

Rose is a creative professional based in Sydney, Australia. She works as art director, game designer and head of marketing for indie game company Tempo Lab Games, and also as a 2D animator at animation studio Flying Bark Productions.Rose specialises in illustration and 2D animation, but her highly adaptive skillset spans game development, story writing, character and concept art, graphic and web design; and visual arts such as painting, drawing and sculpting.

Ryan is a Tech Audio Supervisor working as part of the Warner Brothers Discovery Game Audio department. With over 12 years experience in the games industry and 4+ years leadership experience across AAA and indie titles.He has worked on games including Fortnite and various UEFN projects, Diablo 4, Hitman, Destruction AllStars, Until Dawn, and many more, creating soundscapes for all different game genres and project platforms.Additionality to this he has spent a lot of free time providing Mentorship, Mock interviews, Reel and Resume feedback, alongside helping host Sound Design challenges to further grow and help the Game Audio Industry.

Serge Zebian is a financial strategist with over 10 yearsí experience helping game studios maximise funding and scale sustainably. With deep expertise in government programs, innovation and corporate finance, Serge has become a trusted advisor to Australiaís creative tech sector.He spent 5 years at PwC consulting on R&D, grants and corporate transactions. Serge then joined publicly listed game developer Mighty Kingdom, where he worked for 3 years in the finance team during a key period of growth.Now running his own consultancy, Serge works closely with studios to help them access funding like government rebates, get their finances in order and set up for long-term success.

From the talent pool of Dinosaur Polo Club (Mini Metro, Mini Motorways) comes Dead Teapot, a studio of skilled game developers based in Aoteroa / New Zealand. Their debut title Shape Sender Deluxe takes the skillset from their previous work in a new direction, taking the fun and feelings of simulation games into a weird and contemplative narrative physics puzzle game.

Stef Stivala is an innovative digital producer and creative technologist with over 20 years of experience crafting cutting-edge digital experiences across game development, experiential marketing, and interactive media. With a passion for emerging technologies, Stef has consistently demonstrated the ability to navigate complex technical landscapes while maintaining a laser focus on creating exceptional player and user experiences.Stef's expertise spans the full game development lifecycleófrom concept ideation and creative direction through technical implementation, testing, and launch. A specialist in creating immersive interactive experiences, Stef has championed the integration of engaging gameplay mechanics, compelling narratives, and innovative technologies into both entertainment products and branded experiences.A skilled cross-functional leader, Stef excels at building and guiding multidisciplinary teams across design, engineering, art, and production disciplines, fostering effective collaboration and maintaining forward momentum to deliver polished digital products that balance creative vision with technical feasibility.An award-winning professional with multiple industry recognitions for interactive content and multimedia execution, Stef brings game development expertise, technical knowledge, and collaborative leadership to mentorship roles, ready to guide the next generation of industry talent through the challenges and opportunities of today's evolving gaming landscape.

Fly, harvest, grow crops & whack enemies with your one-button superpowers as you seek revenge from your evil nemesis, KORPOÆ©ô, who has CAPTURED your MOM & FRIENDS! An innovative action-puzzle farming sim featuring chain reactions and combos.

Vicky is the Head of Finance at Akupara Games overseeing internal and external resourcing for upcoming and back catalog initiatives. This includes areas of the business including game financing, resourcing, legal, forecasting and reporting.