__NOTOC__ The Australian Game Developers Conference (AGDC) was an annual conference held from 1999 to 2005 that brought together Australian and overseas game developers, publishers, programmers, artists, production staff,

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great deal ...

companies, audio companies, software tool developers, buyers and suppliers to the game development industry. It was owned by the

Academy of Interactive Entertainment The Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) is an Australian video games and computer animation school. Founded in 1996, it was one of the world's first institutions to offer qualifications in these industries. The AIE provides courses cover ...

(AIE) and was run by Interactive Entertainment Events, a subsidiary of AIE.

History

The inaugural conference was held in Sydney,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, in 1999. Due to enormous financial support provided by Multimedia Victoria, the conference was held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, from 2000 to 2005. The conference program regularly featured: *Trade Exhibition *Schools & Computer Games Academic Summit *Pitch to Publishers Day *VIP and Delegate networking functions *Up to seven concurrent conference sessions *Keynote presentations *The Australian Game Developer Awards

Speakers

International keynote speakers included:Australian Game Developers Conference, Official Handbooks 2002, 2003, 2004 & 2005

Ian Livingstone Sir Ian Livingstone (born 29 December 1949) is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. Along with Steve Jackson, he is the co-founder of a series of role-playing gamebooks, ''Fighting Fantasy'', and the author of many books within that s ...

Eidos Eidos may refer to: * Eidos (philosophy), a Greek term meaning "form" "essence", "type" or "species". See Plato's theory of forms and Aristotle's theory of universals * Eidos plc, a British software company, which created video game publisher Eido ...

(UK);

Ray Muzyka Raymond Alexander Muzyka is a Canadian investor, entrepreneur and physician. Originally trained as a medical doctor and practicing as an emergency department and family physician after graduation, he is the co-founder of video game developer Bio ...

- Bioware Corp. (Canada); Rob Pardo -

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, ...

(USA) and Aaron Lieberman -

Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington. It is a studio owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones afte ...

(USA);

Jason Rubin Jason Rubin (born 1970) is an American video game director, writer, and comic book creator. He is best known for the '' Crash Bandicoot'' and ''Jak and Daxter'' series of games which were produced by Naughty Dog, the game development studio he co ...

, ex-President, Naughty Dog, Inc. (USA); Bill Roper –

Flagship Studios Flagship Studios was a computer game company founded by Bill Roper along with , , and David Brevik, former high level Blizzard North executives. The core personnel of Flagship Studios had been collaborating as a team since 1993 when they found ...

(USA), Laura Fryer, Microsoft Xbox (USA); Ian Fischer,

Ensemble Studios Ensemble Studios was an American video game developer. It was founded by Tony Goodman in 1994 and incorporated the following year. It borrowed the name of Ensemble Corporation, a consulting firm founded by Goodman in 1990. It was acquired by M ...

;

Seamus Blackley Jonathan "Seamus" Blackley (born 1968) is an American video game designer and former agent with Creative Artists Agency representing video game creators. He is best known for creating and designing the original Xbox in 2001. Career After enteri ...

, Capital Entertainment Group Inc.;

Phil Harrison Phil Harrison is a vice president and general manager for Google, and the former corporate vice president of Microsoft. Previously, Phil was the British corporate executive and a representative director of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. (SC ...

Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...

Europe; Dave Campbell,

Discreet Discreet may refer to: * Discreet Logic, a subsidiary of Autodesk Media and Entertainment * DiscReet Records DiscReet Records, self-identified simply as DiscReet, was a record label founded by Frank Zappa and his then business partner/manager He ...

; and Lars Gustavsson,

DICE Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing ...

2005: Final AGDC

On the last day of conference proceedings in December 2005, Founder of the Australian Game Developers Conference,

John De Margheriti John De Margheriti (born July 1962) is an Italian-born Australian electrical engineer, software developer and entrepreneur. De Margheriti is widely seen as a founding 'father' of Australia's video games industry and Australia's most experienced in ...

, issued a press release announcing that AIE would stop running the premier industry conference event to allow the industry association, the Game Developers Association of Australia (GDAA), to build a brand new industry conference.The 7th and final Australian Game Developers Conference
(2 December 2005), Press Release, AGDC

Other Australian industry conferences

Other Australian Industry conferences include: * GO3 Electronic & Entertainment Expo, which started in 2006 *

Australian Effects & Animation Festival __NOTOC__ The Australian Effects & Animation Festival (AEAF) is an annual international festival of visual effects (VFX), animation games and immersive media. The event, which includes an awards ceremony known as the AEAF Awards, a program of s ...

, which awards

AEAF Awards __NOTOC__ The Australian Effects & Animation Festival (AEAF) is an annual international festival of visual effects (VFX), animation games and immersive media. The event, which includes an awards ceremony known as the AEAF Awards, a program of ...

* The eGames & Entertainment EXPO, which started in 2006

References

External links

* {{Video Game Trade Shows Video game development Video game conferences Defunct gaming conventions Video gaming in Australia Trade fairs in Australia