Parramatta is home to the newest addition to the Australian games calendar, with Powerhouse Games announcing a new two-day festival to be held in the city next month.
Presented with City of Parramatta, Screen Australia, and Screen NSW, ALT: GAMES will feature digital showcases, sessions with industry leaders, and a large-scale interactive game installation.
Among those confirmed to attend are Canadian creator of Inscryption Daniel Mullins, Magic the Gathering American creator Richard Garfield, Sydney-based game developer Ally McLean-Hennessy, GamesHub Editor Steph Panecasio, and Melbourne’s Massive Monster’s JoJo Zhou.
The event will be held at PHIVE in Parramatta Town Hall and will feature a large-scale interactive game installation by Japanese and UK art collective Playfool in Parramatta Square.
Highlights include ALT: Play, a free public digital games showcase that invites audiences to discover and test upcoming Australian titles, local works-in-progress, and newly released games by independent Australian developers.
There is also ALT: Ex, a curated experience from NSW-based games collective Serenade (Cuauhtemoc Moreno, Duncan Corrigan, George Mak, Jae Stuart and Kaveh Tabar) that will showcase experimental work that represents the diversity of practice within the games industry; a First Nations game workshop facilitated by Melbourne-based studio GUCK; and a deep-dive into games practice led by Richard Garfield.
Powerhouse Chief Executive Lisa Havilah said her company was proud to support the Australian games industry through the festival.
“This newly imagined festival captures the undeniable level of engagement that our communities have with games and the distinctive voices that are emerging from across Australia,” she said.
Screen Australia head of games Joey Eggar said it was fantastic to see Western Sydney becoming a hub for games culture.
“With talent like AGDA Rising Star Chloe Appleby shaping the program, this festival is set to be a brilliant showcase of Australian independent games and the innovation driving our industry,” he said.
“Screen Australia is proud to support this initiative, which highlights the incredible diversity of local game makers and fosters a stronger, more connected community.”
ALT: GAMES will be held across April 12–13 at Parramatta Town Hall and Parramatta Square. Find more information here.