BETA | AUSTRALIAN GAMES DEVELOPMENT
much what you could call a control duopoly. Everything’s expensive, for the consumers using games and downloading content to the developers using new SaaS stuff. It’s going to be hard developing in those environments when connectivity is an issue. Peters: There is in fact a massive infrastructure project that’s just getting started, to establish a national broadband network, which I think is the biggest infrastructure project that the country has eever seen. We’re all really waiting for that to happen.
Above: The full Firemint team, who create big games for small devices
experience, we don’t really have to worry about NDAs when we talk to other Australian developers. We usually just chat openly because like Phil said, people here have enough of their own ideas. They just don’t need your ideas. I can’t say there’s any precedent for this, but I’ve never known there to be any issue with IP stealing. It’s mostly just employee stealing [laughter]. Joslin: The positive side of the games industry is a relatively new thing in some ways. I’ve only three years experience, but it does feel like there’s been a huge pendulum swing of attitude in the industry here in the past year. There’s been an indie revival here, and combined with the other things happening, there’s a new atmosphere – a new drive. Peters: Yes. There’s indies everywhere in Australia. It’s so amazingly thriving, dynamic and exciting. It’s a great place to be right now. Larsen: There’s been so many breakout
successes from here too, like Flight Control and Real Racing – and hopefully some in the future – that it’s really helping us all. Once we get a good portfolio of hits that succeed across the industry and internationally, that’s
We have grads that have been with us for ages, who have gone on to senior positions. We look at the individual, and we’re not just about what course they did. It’s down to quality of their work and what they can do. Alexandra Peters, Firemint when the good studios will start to have more motivation and opportunities. That’s good for us all, and that’s what the community can bring us. Does your geographical isolation make access to tech any harder than normal? Peters: If you’ve got good relationships with the tech guys, I don’t think distance or location is a factor at all. If you do good work, the hardware manufacturers will notice. Seed: One limitation, though, is broadband in Australia. The hosting fees and whole infrastructure cost is extremely high in Australia in comparison with anywhere else in the world. You’ve also got latency issues. The tyranny of distance affects so much in Australia. There’s only a couple of internet pipes that come into Australia, so it’s pretty
34 | MAY 2010
How is Australia’s games industry supported by educational courses? Is there a good supply of suitably trained graduates? Larsen: I can’t speak for the quality of the courses themselves, because I never did one in Brisbane, but with the Queensland University of Technology we have a great relationship that’s been very useful. Just a few weeks ago they let us use their filming studios to do some videos for nothing really. They just suggested we do a guest lecture. They always have interns that are keen to come by and learn, and it is brilliant to be part of that. Peters: We love graduates and we hire loads of them. We have grads that have been with us for ages, who have gone on to quite senior positions. We always look at the individual, and we’re not just about what course they did, but for programming in particular we get a lot of people that are really well trained in the ‘hard’ degrees such as engineering. But at the end of the day, it’s down to the quality of their work and what they can do. Zwierzchaczewski: The other thing I found is that a lot of the lecturers are very active in engaging with us, and finding out what we want from their students, and what they should be teaching them. That’s really handy, and quite refreshing. It’s so much better than having a set, rigid syllabus, that ends up being of no use to the students or to the industry at the end of the day. Goulding: The one downside to having all these superb games and game-related courses is that they are producing far more graduates than we can hope to employ. There is an over-supply issue for certain. Peters: They have to work hard to stand-out from the crowd though, which can be great for the industry in Australia. It’s tough, and it can sometimes be to see the talent of an individual when they show group work, but for this country it has been very good having so many graduates.