Gayming 2019

When: June 29th, from 2pm – 7pm

Where: Brisbane Powerhouse

Non-digital spaces give queer folks space to explore their sexuality and gender in ways that the restrictive systems of videogames sometimes can’t (or historically haven’t). People have been queering systems like Dungeons and Dragons for decades—not because the game books said you could, but because no programming was in place to tell you that you couldn’t. Join a team of people who love tabletop roleplaying games, boardgames, and other alternative means of play, and find out more about their experiences making and playing non-digital games as queer creators.

Moderator
Jess Zammit
Jess is a Director at Represent Me, working with the company as a data analyst and content producer since 2016. In addition to writing for QRM, she is a freelance games journalist and researcher in the field of psychology, and has spoken at numerous conferences on the subject of diversity. She is passionate in her fight for improving representation in games, particularly of bisexuality and mental health.

Ash McAllan
Ash is a Game Designer, GM, and streamer from South Australia. Her work explores our relationships to machines, radical intersectional queerness, and existence within a haunted landscape. She is also secretly a trash goblin in an elaborate human disguise.

Pewka Zilla
Pewka is a cross-disciplinary artist who uses video games to explore art as a medium of expression and post-modern accessibility. In creating media for a virtual audience, she tries to bypass the institutions of the art world that often act as gatekeepers.

Mike Smith
Mike is a Serious Games student at the University of the Sunshine Coast. He has been playing Dungeons and Dragons regularly for four years, and is an excellent dungeon master in his own right (or so his friends say). He is passionate about the way games can bring people together, and always has an overflowing pile of boardgames in the back of his car.

With game engines starting to be more accessible, it’s becoming more possible for anyone to design games exploring their experiences. We are starting to see games that resemble journals, hand-printed ‘zines’, or handheld camera videos, the same way that we have seen other mediums become more personal as they become more accessible. Join our panel of game developers who have a knack for sharing their personal stories through the medium of games to find out why it works for them, and how you can do it too.

Moderator
Jess Zammit
Jess is a Director at Represent Me, working with the company as a data analyst and content producer since 2016. In addition to writing for QRM, she is a freelance games journalist and researcher in the field of psychology, and has spoken at numerous conferences on the subject of diversity. She is passionate in her fight for improving representation in games, particularly of bisexuality and mental health.

Charlie Francis Cassidy
A self proclaimed queer (cyber)punk with ever changing hair and 30 piercings, Charlie is a queer non-binary trans masc programmer and game developer with bipolar. Charlie currently works for Mighty Games in Melbourne across a number of super cute titles. They also spend their spare time working on games that cover and promote mental health, queer and trans experiences.

Maize Wallin
Maize is a Melbourne based composer, sound designer, and audio programmer. Their focus is in 3D spatialised audio, and dynamic music, using cutting edge techniques. Maize consults in Australia and around the world on these topics, and is heavily engaged in the game development community, and in activism and representation within it. Maize has recently been appointed to the Widget board of directors, representing the field of audio in videogames, and also drawing on their non-binary community. Maize also co-runs Nonbinary.zone an online community of nonbinary people, doing advocacy work and creating resources.

Alexander Swords
Alexander is a narrative designer with a background in audience development and arts management. He has worked for indies in Berlin, AAA in Sweden, and is now based in Australia helping studios forge strong relationships with their audiences through narrative systems and player care. Along the way, he’s reengineered the sequence method for screenplay writing to develop a narrative design framework that allows developers to discover the power of their own stories away from Western conventions and pushed for better ways of understanding player motivation beyond demographics and traditional models.

Represent Me / IGDA LGBTQ+ SIG
Welcome to Gayming! Here you can get a rainbow lanyard, customise a name tag, and find out about the event. The booth is organised by Represent Me and the IGDA LGBTQ+ SIG, who partnered with the Brisbane Powerhouse to organise MELT Gayming in 2019. We’re excited to share our work with you! We consult with companies on their games, events, and studio culture, and use proceeds from these contracts to provide free resources and services to the wider community, particularly to give a voice to queer developers and support the creation of queer content… for events like this!

Princesses vs Dragons
Princesses vs Dragons is a cute, playful multiplayer arena for all ages where players compete against each other as a determined princess to catch dragons (or other princesses too in free for all mode!) with their nets, or as a cute little dragon to bedazzle princesses with their glittery breath. Players collect fairies to fuel their abilities and compete in a variety of game modes. (Not all game modes will be available in this version).

Problems, Pumpkins, and Personalised Portraits
For our mobile match-3 game, Problems and Pumpkins, we made a random character generator to create all sorts of diverse characters, and we’re pretty proud of it! We'd love you to try it out by using it to make an illustrated portrait of yourself, and if it can’t make a little digital you, because it doesn’t have the right nose, or hair, or birthmark, our artist, Annie Partick, will be on hand to add some new art straight into the system!

Ten Thousand Word Story
A collaborative interactive story writing adventure for everyone to enjoy! Contribute one word, ten words, or a thousand, or take the story on a creative twist with an interactive choice or alternate pathway. Whatever your way of telling stories is, come share it with us.

NoiseDrawers
Noise Drawers is a VR game in which you play a totally new form of instrument. Surrounded by panels of drawers, each of which has a different, unique sound, you reach and interact with them, opening and closing them in various expressive ways to create music.

Cursedom
You have been tricked by the nefarious psychopomp Pewkashell! Attempt to escape or embrace fate and wander the halls of the Cursedom forever!

Micro Trans Actions
After happily ever after, the "Princess" is actually a Prince. Going on a journey of kindness and self discovery, he seeks to work out who he is and if he can be king. A visual novel made entirely on cardboard, Micro Trans Actions is born from our terrible need to make a lot of puns about being trans.

Raven Stark’s Character Commissions
Custom illustrations of your tabletop roleplaying characters by a local artist and game developer.

Roll+Heart
Roll+Heart is a visual novel game where the player meets a group of characters through a mutual interest in tabletop roleplaying games. It encompasses two worlds with overlapping characters, who all have unique story arcs. The player progresses the story through dialogue choices and decisions in-game, and the choices made impact how the conclusion of the game plays out

Unpacking
Unpacking is a zen puzzle game about the familiar experience of pulling possessions out of boxes and fitting them into a new home. Part “item Tetris”, part home decoration, you are invited to create a satisfying living space while learning clues about the life you’re unpacking. Over the course of eight house moves, you are given a chance to experience a sense of intimacy with a character you never see and a story you’re never told.

The Republic (TTRPG with Ash McAllan, the game designer)
The Republic is a tabletop roleplaying game where players portray the marginalised members of an oppressive society who have gained access to the secrets of elemental manipulation. Such powers are forbidden to all except the privileged Citizens of the Republic and so, through play, we explore how these few characters can change their world.

Rainbow Rebellion (TTRPG with Mike Smith, the campaign creator)
The city of Greyport is a dull and dreary place, devoid of celebration. Here, being ‘different’ is not tolerated. But recently, a group has emerged with the goal of shining a light of hope and pride for those who struggle within the city’s restrictions. Will you join the Rainbow Rebellion and allow Mike to guide you on an expedition through a simplified Dungeons and Dragons tabletop game? No prior experience required.