Australia is fast becoming one of the greatest places to develop your indie game. From valuable government grants to respected award showcases, new studios and individuals are appearing each year, eager to tell their stories and make their mark on the growing Aussie indie industry.
Acorn Games had the chance to attend Brisbane’s GameOn 423 event at the iconic Brisbane Powerhouse this Saturday, December 3rd. At the show, I was able to spend some time with some of the developers helping to shape Australia’s place within the global gaming space, and go hands-on with the games on which they have been working.
I spoke with Brendan Keogh, a hobbyist developer whose humorously entitled game Brendan Keogh’s Putting Challenge released recently on Steam. Brendan was encouraged by those in the industry to share the game for sale, despite the quantity of competition within the indie games marketplace on Steam in recent years.
Talking with Martin Binfield from Abandoned Sheep, the team working on Schrödinger’s Cat Burglar, I learned how the road towards release has seen that team grow from just a one-man show, to a small group of global members, each with their own focuses and expertise to lend to the game.
Lastly, I saw how a game previously released in the 1970s, The Oregon Trail, can be modernised for today’s modern appetites, and brought up to speed with more culturally accurate depictions of the characters within its story.