A night for Melbourne’s game developer community to meet, connect and play on the second Tuesday of each month (excluding October). Folks are welcome from all areas of game dev, with any level of experience. Chat with programmers, designers, producers and more over a pint or meal - and make new connections within the community.

✨THIS MONTH✨

We're back at Mission To Seafarers Victoria. For those who haven't been there before, directions are listed further down.
It'll be business as usual with devs sharing game projects in the Showcase, plenty of space to mingle and network, and a talk held in the Main Hall. (See schedule below)

Our ticket charge is to cover venue hire - and that's it! There's no need to show your ticket on arrival - thank you for helping to support monthly meetups.

A reminder that food is not available directly from the venue, but you can BYO meals!
There are also restaurants less than 2 minutes walk away, or you can order delivery to the space (eg. UberEats, local pizza)

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Talk: 'Artificial Indifference, or: How I learned to stop generating slop and love the art'

This month Ben Koder & Kay-Lynn Cavanagh will discuss how Generative AI has impacted our industry, drawing from personal experiences in software and art, along with current events. This talk is intended to drum up conversation about the future, as well as demystify the wider consequences of the mass-adoption of GenAI products - while providing more ethical alternatives.

Speakers:

Ben Koder (he/they) is a queer experimental games developer working at RMIT University and Weird Flex Studio. Their vision is to foster a more inclusive and innovative videogame landscape, where technology acts as a catalyst for creative empowerment. Their project, Beyond The Lens (featured at Freeplay Parallels 2023), was praised as 'the only good use of AI art,' and named one of SUPERJUMP's best games of 2022.

Kay-Lynn Cavanagh (she/they) is a queer artist, producer, and the creative director of Weird Flex Studio. They are passionate about cultivating events and works that feed community, promote connection with place and people, and evoke delight, humour and provocative story-telling.

If you are arriving after 7pm, please be respectful of making noise as you enter the main hall. If you are not attending the talk, we request that you move to one of the other spaces in the venue to talk.

🕒 DURATION / VENUE AREAS

Meetup schedule is as follows:

• 6.30pm - Meetup starts - bar is open, games are ready to play in the Celia Room (Left side of the Main Hall stage)
• 7.00pm - Talk begins! (Make sure you're in the Main Hall to hear it)
• 7.30pm - Talk & announcements conclude
• 8.30pm - Meetup ends, but mingling and bar service continues until the venue closes (between 9.30pm ~ 10.30pm)

For the evening we will have access to the Main Hall, Beer Garden (courtyard/rear garden) and Celia Room (showcase space) and Billiard Room, but please be respectful of any other patrons who are sharing the space.

Smokers/vapers please abide by any venue signage in place.

Accessible bathrooms can be found near the 'the Dome' area in the venue.

🍔 FOOD / DRINK

The MtSV bar has affordable beer, spirits, wine and non-alcoholic options - eg. $10 for a pint of Coopers.

Mission to Seafarers does not serve food, but you are welcome to bring food in with you. There are also restaurants under 2 mins walk away, and you can bring takeaway orders back to the bar (or order delivery to the venue).

Please be respectful and clear any takeaway containers/mess into a bin after you've finished.

🗺️ HOW TO GET THERE

Mission to Seafarers Victoria building.

Address: 717 Flinders Street, Docklands

Nearby Public Transport:

• Stop 124 - Batman Park/Spencer St - Tram Routes: 12, 96, 109 (Wheelchair accessible)
• Stop D5 - South Wharf/Wurundjeri Way - Trams Routes: 70, 75, 30 (Wheelchair accessible)
• Southern Cross Station/Collins St bus stop (route 235)

Walking options:

• 7 -10 minute walk from Southern Cross (via Collins St & Batman Hill Dr OR Spencer & Flinders Sts)
• 20 minute walk down Flinders St from Flinders Street station

Parking:

• Care Park (671 Siddeley St, Docklands) - $14 p/hr

Map view of a possible tram/walking route from Southern Cross station.

Map view of tram/walking route from Flinders Street station.

🚪 VENUE ENTRANCES

Front - Main entrance steps via Docklands Hwy / State Route 30

Side - Siddeley Street via side gate, past the garden.

Map view of the two entrances to Mission to Seafarers Victoria.

📝 SHOWCASE SIGNUP

Want to playtest your game project at the next meetup?
No matter what stage your game is: prototype, alpha, pretty polished or about to release, we'd love to see it!
The Showcase is a great way to get playtesting feedback and advice from other devs and practice sharing your game in a safe space.

We encourage you to use the time to ask for advice, solve problems, practice presenting or just stress-test your game!

Bookmark this form - we're using the same form for each month in 2025.
If you lose the form link, head to our website - it's available in the dropdown menu.

Note: Currently we are taking submissions only for each upcoming month. After each meetup the form will be updated to take requests for the next month. This is subject to change, while we adjust our system. Thanks so much for your patience!

If you have any questions, reach out to showcase@igdamelbourne.au, or in the general chat on the IGDAM Discord.

❓ QUESTIONS

If you have any questions or feedback feel free to reach out to us on the IGDAM Discord server, or if you have specific questions on the following, email us at:

hello@igdamelbourne.au - General enquiries
showcase@igdamelbourne.au - Showcase-related questions/feedback
venue@igdamelbourne.au - Venue-specific questions & meetup info

Or chat to one of the volunteers at the event!

We look forward to seeing you there. 💜

A friendly reminder, please do not attend the event if you feel unwell, and mask up where you can for the safety of other patrons.

Please respect the health and safety of our community.

Join our newsletter, check out our website or jump into the Discord server to stay updated on news and events.

Contact Event Organiser