The RMIT Audience Lab – Showcasing The Future
The current day game development scene in Australia is looking pretty rosy, but the next-generation of creators are doing some pretty great things too. This past Saturday, November 27th, final year students from RMIT’s Bachelor of Design (Games) course showed off some of the best and brightest ideas coming from the next wave of game development talent. From First-Person Sci-fi physics sims, to striking narrative adventures, board games, and stunning fast-paced third-person action games; the games on show run the gambit, but each brings some fascinating elements to their respective genres/sub-genres. Thanks to it being in my backyard I dropped in to chat to the developers and try out some of the games.
In an upstairs hidey-hole in ACMI (the Australian Centre for the Moving Image), 11 games from 11 teams were on show. As previously mentioned they covered all parts of the gaming spectrum, but one thing was immediately clear – the belief in these ideas, and the potential they have, from each and every one of these students was incredibly apparent. The room, at least at the time I attended was pulsing with energy, an energy that I’ve certainly not felt since before COVID lockdowns gripped the world, with the creators, media sorts like myself, and the public all converging on ACMI to try out this next generation in gaming.
Each title is brining something truly fascinating to the table, and while many are still raw concepts, in need of further polish or refinement, the potential was immediately obvious. No matter the sort of games you’re into, there’s likely to be something for you amongst this group of 11. I was immediately taken by DreamLeaf, the first game I walked by as I entered the room, and Designer/Producer Nidula Geeganage sensed that, enticing me to come over and try the game out. An interesting concept, Nidula compared the title to Mario Party, but outside of the fact that characters move around a playing board, that’s where the comparisons ended. DreamLeaf feels a bit more traditional D&D than that. There are no mini-games between rounds, but a number of role-playing scenarios play out that liven the action up. Some of these elements, in their current state, may be a bit jarring translating to a video-game, but you can see the obvious potential in it. This is one such example of what was on show at the RMIT Audience Lab, but there are 10 other awesome projects to check out as well
To celebrate and acknowledge the incredible accomplishments of the various teams, we’ll be covering each and every one of these games through P2 Plays content, the first of which is already available for your enjoyment with more to come, so stay tuned for more.
If you too want to check out what the incredible RMIT students are doing you can visit the RMIT November Audience Lab page, download the demos and try them out for yourself!
Games On Show:
- Reject Island
- Sparks
- Quilla
- Butterfly Dollhouse
- Spark Drive
- Redacted
- DreamLeaf
- Susurrus Episode 1: Secrets Of The Sands
- my.desk
- Andreas VII
- Mythria