Creators in Sydney burn bright together in the second event celebrating the fragile, miraculous craft of making video games
I agree with Brendan Keogh; the videogame ‘industry’ does not exist. Yet, if this carefully argued claim is true, how can we more accurately describe local game making activity?
Ryan Penning calls the game scene in New South Wales, “very quiet but immensely talented”. When devising the game developer networking hub Waypoint, Penning , along with Eric Tahiri and Liezel Ronquillo, wanted to “create something that cherishes the developers as much as it cherishes the games; a place from which people can connect and build”.
In 2024, an ambitious event arose from Waypoint, a collaboration between games art collective Serenade and local development studio Noble Steed Games, called Constellations, the name derived from the interconnected stars at the top of Waypoint’s lighthouse logo, an event that celebrates the creative developers of Sydney who as they described it ‘faded into the TV static of the rest of the world.’
This year I went to my second Waypoint Constellations, an event that really feels more vibrant, more empowering and more interesting than any kind of ‘industry’ anyway.
After descending the stairs into the Oxford Art Factory, I immediately ran into Dan Hindes, who I’d worked with at PC Powerplay, and on Wildfire, which he was showcasing at the event. We shared news of Luke Webster (the artist on Wildfire) and his new game, Obliterator-X. I introduced myself to the Cow Chess developer, by reminding them of the cow I’d won from them the prior weekend, at PAX Australia. Then Dave Ashby smiled at me and I was like, “Footy … Bash?” and he was like, “Pro Jank,” so I was close. It was the other one.
My goal had not been to run into people, although I have a growing appreciation for quite how convincingly ‘developers are cherished’ and centred at Constellations. I had actually wanted to see the games, and read the beautifully presented words about their developers, but the games were very popular. I noticed Enfant and recalled the developer recently telling me that they liked that the word ‘enfant’ means ‘infant’ but sounds like ‘elephant’; a portmanteau for the game's protagonist. Mystiques: Haunted Antiques was also in attendance, and their composer’s fantastic talk at High Score, mere weeks before, was still on my mind.
I believe I saw the Zero Point Games collection, but what I saw is hard to describe. Psychedelic maths puzzles which you answer via the interface of a TV remote control? Loved it, do yourself a favour and just take a look. Dan Hindes, who really does know me very well, is now working on Chained Beasts and he suggested it might not be the kind of genre I’d usually enjoy, but the chains and how much fun the audience were having reminded me too much of Push Me, Pull You to not be immediately endearing. I did not get anywhere close to the extremely popular Management in Space, but I have since stared at every screenshot, video and word on their Steam page. It looks amazing.
In addition to all of the people, and all of the games, nine developers gave short, inspiring, insightful talks. And, some of them did use the word, ‘industry’. Generally, however, it was people who had been making games when Australia actually did have an industry, or had worked on AAA titles, like Saxon Dixon and Dan Graf. Although the personal, and honest, nature of the talks means that I won’t share too much detail, I appreciated learning the unexpected origin stories of those very familiar Sydney made games.
There was a neat mix of experience reflected among the speakers too. Morgan Ainsley gave an entertaining account of being an early career game composer via the metaphor of learning to play open world games, and the Queebly Software team caused me some genuine pause on the question of ‘are art and politics inextricably intertwined’, which is something I’ve reflected on for many years, and probably needed a fresh perspective on.
After the talks, I ran into Jared Underwood, who mentioned his soundtrack for Risk: Global Domination. Then, Rory O’Connor and Aleyna Baran told me that they had contributed to a Snake Jam game featured at the SXSW showcase, and I noticed O’Connor also showing his game, CRABS!, on his phone. I spoke briefly with Malcolm Ryan and Jaime Garcia, who are thoughtfully preparing the next generation of gamemakers at Macquarie University and UTS respectively. Pat Naoum, who I know from reviewing The Master’s Pupil, told me (some possibly secret details) about his ambitious new game. I wanted to say ‘hi’ to Michela Ledwidge of Mod Studios, but she was on the far side of the tightly packed, but endlessly cheerful, crowd. I’ll find her next time.
If Ryan Penning’s original goal was for Sydney’s game community to ‘connect’, the speakers and their willingness to share, did not let him down.
And so, as I eventually wandered back down Oxford Street, I couldn’t shake the idea that Sydney’s game scene is less ‘constellations’ and more a whole galaxy of stars; bright, expansive, connected and enduring. I hope to see whatever light you are shining at Waypoint Constellations next year.
