Whether you’re a seasoned gamer, industry veteran, or somewhere in between, SXSW Sydney 2024’s Games Festival delivered and injected sweet fuel and fire into the Australian and Sydney side of our beloved games industry. With the dust now settled, here are some of our personal highlights and standout moments from the week that was.
3 Aussie streamers and the Twitch CEO walk into a bar…
We kicked things off by listening to the CEO of Twitch himself, Dan Clancy, interview three of Australia’s streaming superstars: Jackhuddo, Kwoli, and Hayzee. A vibrant and intimate fireside chat would be a lovely way to put it. The diverse, eclectic yet all the more fun and personable personas of our streamers spoke in humble down-to-earth manners on how they all forged their own contents and audiences over time.
Being authentic, open-minded and engaging with your community all seemed like prevalent themes throughout their inspiring journeys, which were further sprinkled with plenty of unique and fun anecdotes and personal values from each dynamite streamer personality on how they achieve their success for both themselves and their audiences.
A masterclass on game mechanics
If you want to put your money where your mouth is in knowing how your games actually play, this session with a games coordinator and industry insiders was enlightening. Here are some of the highlights about the game mechanics and the personal philosophies of the panellists.
- Scope Creep – The ultimate compromise of resources on the developer’s backend. What’s the reveal and hook for the player? It needs to happen as soon as possible.
- Negative Reinforcement – People may enjoy overcoming difficult odds but punishment is still brutal. However, you can add many things into your design and gameplay to make things more tolerable in order to avoid the player suffering the repetition of wasting time instead of new experiences.
- Jeopardy – Heightens engagement where plays have a reason to care about outcomes and heightens replayability. But needs more testing and iteration demands.
- Tropes – Tend to be overused because game developers know that players understand the theme and bring their own pre-existing knowledge leading to lost opportunities for innovation.
Navigating the game industry’s economic challenges
Layoffs, unsustainable shifts, economic downtown coupled with risk-aversion and deep uncertainty? That sounds exactly like the games industry, both across the world and down under, in a cultural and industry overview on games moderated by the powerhouse programs curator Chloe Appleby, with panellists Dr Jaime Garcia, Ben Armstrong, Ally Mclean-Hennesy, and Laauren Szmandiuk.
As someone that was recently made redundant, it was nourishing for the soul to hear how certain panellists became kindred spirits, sharing their personal stories in what seems to be a very perilous state for the industry of late. However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. The dark is darkest right before the dawn, and the dawn is coming – just got to keep fighting that good fight!
The media side of this industry is no cakewalk either
Games media is an integral part of how our games, from the top-tier titles to beloved indie gems, get exposed to our eyes and ears. There’s been plenty of layoffs and economic downturn in the journalism, broadcasting, and even game guides space, which made listening to creators and journalists from the sector (Edmond Tran, Ruby Innes, Gemma Driscoll and Ryan Stanton) talking about finding their community and sharing their work all the more reinforcing that writing about games is still one of the most magical things in the world.
With a generational shift developing from the big media outlets as to how games are perceived, the gaming industry still needs games media in its business, even just for the sheer marketing they can provide for their games. Change is coming, and people are still looking for awesome writers and creators for the media of gamers and game makers.
Cathartic games make you cry in the club
Developers of the most emotionally poignant story-driven cat game of 2024, Copycat, Samantha Cable and Kostia Liakhov gave a talk on all the feels to be had in their craft of vulnerability and forming their own game mechanic being a ‘catharsis wheel’ of euphoria, pride, emptiness, sentimentality and heartbreak.
Drawing on Aristotle’s concept of catharsis, the duo highlighted its relevance in modern video game narratives, providing practical insights on how to evoke emotions like euphoria, pride, emptiness, sentimentality, and heartbreak through storytelling, direction, and music. They emphasised the growing demand for cathartic games in a saturated market, encouraging developers to embrace these themes to create meaningful player experiences.
Copycat is now available on Steam for PC!
SXSW Sydney 2024: Games Festival Showcase
The energy and people there were palpable. There were hundreds of games, some of which only had a day at their booth before it went out of rotation. Here are some highlights we managed to find and play:
The Many Pieces of Mr.Coo – The most charming art style with gameplay to match!
Mystiques: Haunted Antiques – Love, detail, craftsmanship, lore, charm and so much more packed into this upcoming innovative mystery adventure game.
My Arms Are Longer Now – Don’t you just hate it when a massive ever-stretching hand comes and takes your money and possessions in the subway?
420BLAZEIT 2: GAME OF THE YEAR – A fairly intuitive FPS with mechanics reminiscent of F.E.A.R. with an added ‘rambunctious’ philosophy.
Crabgod – Look after your fellow crabs and they’ll look after you.
Death of a Partisan – Experience narrative-driven survival on the Eastern Front of World War 2 all on your lonesome.
Death of the Reprobate – Experience REAL Renaissance paintings except with scandalous and saucy story developments that are anything but classy.
Off-Score: A Game of Songs – A music-driven game that is far from a rhythm game.
The Palace on the Hill – The charming intimate art style will melt your heart.
SXSW Sydney 2024: Games Awards
Incredible vibes were had inside the Alienware arena theatre where film and game makers united for the celebration of so many people’s hard work. Below are the full list of winners from the night:
Best International Game – 1000xRESIST, Sunset Visitor 斜陽過客
Discovery Award – No Case Should Remain Unsolved, Somi
Best Student Game – MMMMMM: Multi-Merge Mix & Match Minigame Mayhem, Team Partybomb
WINGS Award – Fishbowl, imissmyfriends.studio
Tabletop Award – Fight with Spirit, Storybrewers Roleplaying
People’s Choice Award – Mystiques: Haunted Antiques, Lemonade Games –
SXSW Sydney 2024 Game of the Year – The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo, Nacho Rodríguez
Mark your calendars for SXSW Sydney 2025—it’s sure to bring even more creative sparks and fresh releases. Stay tuned for more content exploring more of the games and topics mentioned in this article.
