future of gaming: magpie launch
Engage with the forefront of gaming research and innovation at the launch of MAGPIE (Melbourne Academic Games, Play, and Interactive Entertainment), a new interdisciplinary research initiative at The University of Melbourne. Discover MAGPIE's cutting-edge games research through poster presentations by researchers and postgraduate students, offering insights into the future of gaming.
Network with games experts, industry professionals, and government officials to foster collaborations. Enjoy fireside talks and Q&A sessions with leading industry figures, and experience a variety of special showcases, including bespoke arcade machines, local indie games, and board games.
DATE
06/09/24
TIME
5.30PM - 7.30PM
THE FORUM, MELBOURNE CONNECT
WHERE
MEET THE PANEL
Paul Callaghan is the Head of Games and Interactive at VicScreen, the Victorian Government’s creative and economic development agency for screen. He has worked in and around games since 1998 as a developer, creative producer, writer, and educator with and for organisations including British Council, ACMI, BAFTA, the BFI, ABC, State Library Victoria, and others.
Lisy Kane is a videogames producer and co-founder of Girl Geek Academy. She is a Senior Operations & Grown Manager for Kepler Interactive, advisor for the Kowloon Nights games fund, and board member of VicScreen. Before this, she formed her production career at League of Geeks, a Melbourne independent games studio. Her previous role there was as Production Director, which saw her shaping the production department and broader team.
Jini Maxwell is a curator and an award-winning videogame journalist. They work at ACMI, Australia’s museum of screen culture, where they recently curated Out of Bounds: Exploring the Limits of Videogames. They work as lead curator on ACMI’s centrepiece exhibition, the Story of the Moving Image, work on games exhibitions in the gallery, and commission work for ACMI’s digital gallery.
Dakoda Barker is an educator, writer, consultant, and game developer. His doctoral thesis focused on representations of chronic health conditions in videogames and included a three-game creative artefact. In 2020, he co-authored Games as Texts, an introductory guide to examining videogames through common textual analysis lenses. Dakoda is a former director of Represent Me, a not-for-profit that championed intersectionality in the games industry, advocated for and supported marginalised game developers, and provided a diverse slate of consulting services.
Chad Toprak is an experimental game designer and independent curator based in Naarm. Currently, he is Games Investment Manager at Screen Australia, funding and supporting independent games across Australia. Chad's creative practice revolves around making playful installations, public art, and experimental games while championing and advocating for gamemaking as arts practice. He was named in Develop Pacific’s inaugural 30 Under Thirty list for 2018 and was awarded a 2021 Australian Game Developer Award. His works have been exhibited at festivals and galleries across Australia and around the world.
Dr Mahli-Ann Butt is a Co-Director of MAGPIE and Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne. She is an ethnographer of digital cultures, researching questions of diversity in the cultures and industries of videogames. Mahli-Ann is the chief investigator of the “AI Ally” project funded by the eSafety Commissioner, lead editor on the forthcoming anthology "The Post-Gamer Turn", and co-author of the forthcoming book “Game Studies” contracted with Polity.
