This year we also decided to have a judges prize, which we awarded to Jack Casey (aka Beetlefeet) for his outstanding game “LadyBug” (video, game). I’m sure his prize — a copy of Maya Unlimited from Autodesk — will be very helpful in crafting next year’s entry!

The music prize was also very close, with fewer entries but all of them very nigh quality. Congratulations and $250 narrowly went to Simon Whitber (Nxus7) for his winning entry, beating out the competition by just 1 point. The final results were:

As I mentioned, the people’s choice voting was the closest it has ever been, with only 3 points (potentially just one vote) separating the top 3 games.

Nullarbor Game Prize Results
Position	Screenshot	Title/Developer	Points	Links
1		Buttons’ Grand Adventures ECU ML Red Team ’08	43	Game Video
2		The War of Art AH,MD,SM	42	Game Video
3		Morning Star Peter Alexander	40	Game Video
4		Ladybug Beetlefeet	38	Game Video
5		Thrust Harder Kransky Bros	24	Game
6		The Things NoTime	20	Game Video
7		Super Jesus Twelve Productions	19	Game Video
8		Space Pirates First Empire	19	Game Video
9		Retrovector Brad Power	18	Game
10		Column Breaker OneTwentyThree	11	Video

• The Community,
• The Profession and
• The Industry.

Obviously, just building the community was the first step and we need to continue to consolidate the gains we have made on that front. All of us getting together every month to talk a bit about what we’re all doing, with both the formal presentations as well as informally over a few drinks, is a really good thing. It’s incredibly important that this regular forum exists and continues to grow, that the IGDA remains relevant to all of the developers in Perth and actively welcomes new members.

As the community develops I think it would be great if we can also start to do a little bit more professional development as well. I’m keen to hear what interest there might be in a series of more technical seminars that are designed to develop and expand skills in a more specific manner than we are doing at the moment. This would be entirely separate from the existing meetings, which I don’t think should change in any substantial manner. I imagine these technical seminars being conducted on a range of topics but each presentation would dig deeper, assume a more specialised interest, last longer and might feature international or interstate speakers via video conference.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my thoughts on what the IGDA meant to me. I’m more than happy to answer any specific questions that people might have, in the comments or by email.