# Freeplay Independent Games Festival

The Freeplay Independent Games Festival is Australia's longest-running and largest independent games festival, first established in 2004. The Festival celebrates fringe artists and game makers, and highlights grassroots developers and art games. It gathers artists, designers, programmers, writers, gamers, creators, games critics, games academics and students to celebrate the art form of independent games and the culture around them.
Freeplay is funded primarily through arts grants. Past and present sponsors include Australia Council for the Arts, Film Victoria, Victoria State Government, City of Melbourne, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), and RMIT University.
With the aim of celebrating game making as arts practice, Freeplay has consistently aligned itself with the arts, and over the years has partnered with arts organisations such as Australian Centre for the Moving Image, State Library Victoria, Next Wave Festival, Wheeler Centre, Federation Square, Arts Centre Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, City of Melbourne, Arts House, National Young Writers' Festival, and more.
The current director of Freeplay is Chad Toprak (2017–). Previous directors have included Dan Golding (2014–2017), Katie Williams and Harry Lee Shang Lun (2013–2014), Paul Callaghan and Eve Penford-Dennis (2008–2012). The founding directors of Freeplay were Katherine Neil and Marcus Westbury.

## History

The Freeplay Independent Games Festival began in 2004 as Next Wave Festival's three-day-long Melbourne-based indie games conference 'Free Play', to celebrate independent game development and games culture. Since then, it has run in a variety of formats and venues across Melbourne.
In 2009, Freeplay hosted its first festival away from Next Wave, and rebranded itself from 'Free Play: The Next Wave Independent Game Developers Conference' into 'Freeplay Independent Games Festival'. Since 2009, Freeplay events have generally run annually.
In 2014, inspired by Venus Patrol's alternative E3 press conference Horizon, Freeplay introduced Parallels, a one-night event that serves as a counterpart to the main Freeplay festival. It takes place as part of Melbourne International Games Week, and highlights "unique, experimental, personal, and culturally significant games" made in the region. Parallels "is notable for providing the public first looks at games that would go on to be global gaming phenomena," including Untitled Goose Game, Necrobarista, Florence, Paperbark, Heavenly Bodies, the Frog Detective series, Unpacking, and Cult of the Lamb.
In 2015, Freeplay held, for the first time, both a multi-day Freeplay festival (10–19 April 2015) and a Parallels event (24 October 2015).
2020 and 2021 saw a virtual festival take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the online Parallels showcases, Freeplay created an online pixel art version of the event's in-person venue, The Capitol, called The Zone, described by Kotaku as "a pixel-art version of an art gallery, except its for video games and you're doing the whole thing through your browser."
In 2022, Parallels took place at RMIT, marking Freeplay's return to in-person events.

## Freeplay Festival

| Date | Theme | Keynote Speaker(s) | Venue |
| 21–23 May 2004 | (As part of Next Wave Festival: 'Unpopular Culture') | Harvey Smith | The World Wing Chun Kung Fu Association 3rd Floor, 96 Flinders Street, Melbourne |
| 15–17 July 2005 | | Greg Costikyan, Kieron Gillen | Australian Centre for the Moving Image |
| 18 August 2007 | | Jonathan Blow | Australian Centre for the Moving Image |
| 14–15 August 2009 | | Petri Purho | State Library Victoria |
| 14–15 August 2010 | Play Is Everywhere | Brandon Boyer, Adam Saltsman | State Library Victoria |
| 17–21 August 2011 | Handmade | No keynote | State Library Victoria |
| 19–23 September 2012 | Chaos and Grace | Mare Sheppard, Morgan Jaffit | State Library Victoria |
| 25–29 September 2013 | Volume of Revolution | Erin Robinson, Steve Swink | State Library Victoria |
| 10–19 April 2015 | | Austin Wintory | Australian Centre for the Moving Image |
| 22–27 May 2018 | Intersections | Zuraida Buter, Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn | Australian Centre for the Moving Image |
| 7–12 May 2019 | Introspection | Hannah Nicklin, Richard Lemarchand | RMIT University |
| 10-14 June 2020 | Belonging | Bahiyya Khan | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 8-13 June 2021 | Soft Voices, Loud Roars | Squinky, Zedeck Siew | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |

## Freeplay Parallels

| Date | Game | Creator | Venue |
| 2014 ||||
| 18 October 2014 | Push Me Pull You | House House | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 18 October 2014 | Gonubie Hotel Booot Action Painting Pro | Ian MacLarty | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 18 October 2014 | Magister Ludi | Christy Dena, Marigold Bartlett, Trevor Dikes, Cameron Owen | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 18 October 2014 | Movement Study 1 | Sam Crisp, Marigold Bartlett, Jamie Anderson, Adrienne Owen, Alexander Perrin | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 18 October 2014 | FUTUREVOXIMAGINARIUMDOTEXE | Ben Weatherall, Jason Bakker | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 18 October 2014 | Magenta Sunset Spacething | Impromptu Games | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 18 October 2014 | Provision Supply Cat | Alexander Perrin | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 18 October 2014 | Bush Bash | SK Games | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 18 October 2014 | CTRL_CODA | Josh Cousins, Maize Wallin, Sine Morris, Amani Naseem | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 2015 ||||
| 24 October 2015 | Knuckle Sandwich | Andrew Brophy | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 24 October 2015 | Undercity_Discotech | Chalk in Rain | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 24 October 2015 | Vertex Meadow | Ian MacLarty | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 24 October 2015 | Project Ven (later renamed Necrobarista) | Joe Liu, Ngoc Vu, Kevin Chen | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 24 October 2015 | Broken Sounds | Lee Shang Lun, Amani Naseem, Harrison Smith | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 24 October 2015 | Untitled Project | Marigold Bartlett, Lizzie Bartlett | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 24 October 2015 | Intergalactic Space Princess | Izzy Gramp, Laura Stokes | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 24 October 2015 | Polymodal Arcade | Andrew Trevillian | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 24 October 2015 | Paperbark | Nina Bennett, Kael Jessup, Terry Burdak, Ryan Boulton | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 2017 ||||
| 26 October 2017 | Wayward Strand | Ghost Pattern | RMIT University |
| 26 October 2017 | Totem Teller | Grinning Pickle | RMIT University |
| 26 October 2017 | Putty Pals | Harmonious Games | RMIT University |
| 26 October 2017 | OfficeBots: Reality Bytes | FutureStateMachine | RMIT University |
| 26 October 2017 | Road Trip Do You Remember | Joanna Tran | RMIT University |
| 26 October 2017 | A Moment Between Us | Ruby Simpson, Aaron Williams | RMIT University |
| 26 October 2017 | Sandstorm Reap Planetarium | Daniel Linssen | RMIT University |
| 26 October 2017 | It Will Be Hard | Hien Pham | RMIT University |
| 26 October 2017 | Florence | Mountains | RMIT University |
| 26 October 2017 | Action Loop | PlayReactive | RMIT University |
| 26 October 2017 | Untitled Goose Game | House House | RMIT University |
| 2018 ||||
| 25 October 2018 | Rise | Dakoda Barker | RMIT University |
| 25 October 2018 | Unpacking | Wren Brier, Tim Dawson | RMIT University |
| 25 October 2018 | Pigeon Game | Leura Smith | RMIT University |
| 25 October 2018 | if not us | Ruqiyah Patel | RMIT University |
| 25 October 2018 | Sign In / Sign Out | Tegan Webb | RMIT University |
| 25 October 2018 | Novena Touch Melbourne | Cecile Richard, Andrew Gleeson | RMIT University |
| 25 October 2018 | Desert Child | Oscar Brittain | RMIT University |
| 25 October 2018 | SIMULACRA | LeeYing Foo | RMIT University |
| 25 October 2018 | Dead Static Drive | Mike Blackney | RMIT University |
| 25 October 2018 | Vignettes | Pol Clarissou | RMIT University |
| 2019 ||||
| 10 October 2019 | Paint Game | Max Myers | The Capitol Theatre |
| 10 October 2019 | Dollhouse | Olivia Haines | The Capitol Theatre |
| 10 October 2019 | I Must Reach the Top Every Brick Laid | Fenreliania | The Capitol Theatre |
| 10 October 2019 | Need 4e+9 Speed | Kalonica Quigley, Jason Bakker | The Capitol Theatre |
| 10 October 2019 | Heavenly Bodies | 2pt Interactive | The Capitol Theatre |
| 10 October 2019 | The Library of Babble | Demi Schänzel | The Capitol Theatre |
| 10 October 2019 | سايبر تصوف Cyber Tasawwuf | Mohamed Chamas | The Capitol Theatre |
| 10 October 2019 | Acrylic | Lucy Morris | The Capitol Theatre |
| 10 October 2019 | Mutazione | Die Gute Fabrik | The Capitol Theatre |
| 10 October 2019 | Way to the Woods | Anthony Tan | The Capitol Theatre |
| 10 October 2019 | Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard | Worm Club | The Capitol Theatre |
| 2020 ||||
| 8 October 2020 | Dap | Melting Parrot | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 8 October 2020 | Umurangi Generation | ORIGAME DIGITAL | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 8 October 2020 | Street Tape Games | Helen Kwok | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 8 October 2020 | Spiritwell | David Chen | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 8 October 2020 | Completely Stretchy and Uncomfortably Sticky | Daniel Ferguson | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 8 October 2020 | Webbed | Riley Neville | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 8 October 2020 | variations on the word ghost | Shastra Deo | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 8 October 2020 | The Stranger Next Door | Fae Daunt | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 8 October 2020 | Short Creepy Tales: 7PM | Cellar Vault Games | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 2021 ||||
| 7 October 2021 | A Long Goodbye | Dana McKay | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 7 October 2021 | Monomyth | Billy Dent | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 7 October 2021 | Blueberry | Mellow Games | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 7 October 2021 | An Altogether Different River | Aaron Lim | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 7 October 2021 | Soup Pot | Chikon Club | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 7 October 2021 | Where the Snow Settles | Myriad Games Studio | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 7 October 2021 | Cult of the Lamb | Massive Monster | Online (due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 2022 ||||
| 6 October 2022 | Mars First Logistics | Shape Shop | RMIT University |
| 6 October 2022 | Future Folklore | Guck | RMIT University |
| 6 October 2022 | Gubbins | Studio Folly | RMIT University |
| 6 October 2022 | Wizard Chess Song of the Fae | TWO PM | RMIT University |
| 6 October 2022 | Letters to Arralla | Pink Clouds | RMIT University |
| 6 October 2022 | Isopod: A Webbed Story | Sbug | RMIT University |
| 6 October 2022 | Bits and Bops | Tempo Labs | RMIT University |
| 6 October 2022 | Conscript | Catchweight Studio | RMIT University |
| 6 October 2022 | Frog Detective 3: Corruption at Cowboy County | Worm Club | RMIT University |
| 2023 ||||
| 5 October 2023 | Moss Island | Iris Anstey | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 5 October 2023 | Beyond the Lens | Ben Koder | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 5 October 2023 | Knuckle Sandwich | Andrew Brophy | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 5 October 2023 | Bell's Beach | Chloe Kilroy, Billy Dent | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 5 October 2023 | Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (and a Witch) | Pete Foley, Scott Ford | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 5 October 2023 | The Dungeon Experience | Jacob Janerka | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 5 October 2023 | Video Shop Algorithm | Jessie Scott | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 5 October 2023 | Mystiques: Haunted Antiques | Ally McLean Hennessey | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |
| 5 October 2023 | Proximate | Cain Maddox | Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) |

## Freeplay Awards

| Year | Awards |
| 2010 | Best Australian Game: Jolly Rover Best Design in a Game: Up Down Ready Best On-Paper Design: iCrazy Man Best Art in a Game: Captain Forever (Series) Best Concept Art: Exodus Best Technical Innovation: Colourbind Best Game Writing: Transumer Best Audio: Train Conductor Best International Game: Last Hope |
| 2011 | Best Australian Game: Antichamber Best International Game: The Swapper Best Design: Antichamber Best On-Paper Design: Dead Eye Best Art: Warco Best Concept Art: Firo Best Technical Innovation: Kingspray Best Game Writing: MacGuffin's Curse Best Audio: Solar 2 |
| 2012 | Best Australian Game: Stickets Best Design in a Game: They Love You Best International Game: Splice Best Art in a Game: Toybox Best Concept Art: Peleda Best Audio in a Game: Lunar Flight Best Technical Innovation: Automation Best Writing in a Game: Flatland: Fallen Angle |
| 2013 | Best Game: Framed Design: Framed Visual Art: The Paper Fox Audio Design: Particulars Narrative: Particulars Technical Innovation: Turnover Non-Digital: Outside These City Walls People's Choice: Turnover |
| 2015 | The Freeplay Award: Push Me Pull You Best Design: Push Me Pull You Best Visual Art: Movement Study 1 Best Audio: Submerged Best Narrative: Project Ven Best Tech: Space Dust Racers Best Non-Digital: Rise to Power |
| 2018 | The Freeplay Award: The Catacombs of Solaris Excellence in Design: Dissembler Excellence in Visual Art: Paperbark Excellence in Audio: Florence Excellence in Narrative: Bound By Blood Non-Digital Game Award: {<>} Micro-Game Award: Rise Experimental Game Award: Thomas Bowker's Draw Student Game Award: Lacuna Across The Ditch Award: Echo Grotto |
| 2019 | The Freeplay Award: New Ice York Excellence in Design: JUMPGRID Excellence in Visual Art: Necrobarista Excellence in Audio: Skyward Journey Excellence in Narrative: The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game Non-Digital Game Award: Edible Games Cookbook Micro-Game Award: Novena Experimental Game Award: The Common Campfire Student Game Award: Pigeon Game Across The Ditch Award: Toripon 鳥ポン |
| 2020 | The Freeplay Award: A Hand with Many Fingers Excellence in Design: Colestia Excellence in Visual Art: Endless Scroll Excellence in Audio: Unfamiliar Excellence in Narrative: Life Tastes Like Cardboard Non-Digital Game Award: The Outer Whorls Micro-Game Award: Something Looks Weird Experimental Game Award: If We Were Allowed to Visit Student Game Award: Ascent of Grob's Domain Across The Ditch Award: Leap of Leaf |
| 2021 | The Freeplay Award: Umurangi Generation Excellence in Design: Webbed Excellence in Visual Art: Completely Stretchy and Uncomfortably Sticky Excellence in Audio: Mealmates Excellence in Narrative: A Long Goodbye Non-Digital Game Award: The Lighthouse at the Edge of the Universe Micro-Game Award: Under a Star Called Sun Experimental Game Award: Neon Cyborg Cat Club Student Game Award: The Snowgardens Across The Ditch Award: Before We Leave |