Perth Voice Interactive

PERTH computer game developers are down to their last token after the Abbott government cut Screen Australia funding by $25 million in the federal budget.

SA has since announced it will shut down its $20m interactive games fund a year early and will not accept any more applications for games funding.

Let’s Make Games general manager Anthony Sweet says federal funding was crucial for local indie developers because, unlike eastern states developers, they cannot apply for funding through their state body (Screen West).

“The grant let indie developers fill the gaps in their expertise,” he says.

“Games are usually created by coders, who need designers to add visuals, or designers who need coders to provide the back end.

“Without the grants, it will be harder for top quality games to be made, that’s for sure.”

Binary Space founder Saxon Druce says he received $30,000 in federal funding to make an Android version of his iOS game Zombie Outbreak Simulator.

It earned $40,000 from 250,000 downloads.

“Developers will have to rely on their own resources, meaning that time that could be spent on developing games will instead be spent doing other work. 

“I have been able to spend the bulk of the funding on hiring another programmer and an artist to help me out,” he says.

“Without their help I would have had to do all of the programming myself, which would have taken much longer, and I would have had to settle for lower-quality artwork.

“Also, about a third of the budget is set aside for marketing, which should help promote the game on release beyond what I would have been able to achieve otherwise.”

Black Lab Games founder Paul Turbett says his outfit uses federal funds to release a sequel to the successful sci-fi strategy game Star Hammer Tactics.

“The grant has meant that five developers can work on the new title, where the original game was mostly just me, with a small amount of assistance from two or three people,” he says. “The impact is that it will now be much harder for talented developers to create commercially viable games products.

“Developers will have to rely on their own resources, meaning that time that could be spent on developing games will instead be spent doing other work.

“The flow-on effect is that the quality of games will suffer to meet deadlines, or releases will be less frequent.”

In late 2012 Screen Australia came under fire from Perth game developers when it held funding consultation sessions in Victoria, NSW, SA and Queensland—but not in WA. WA gamers had to settle for a webinar and phone calls.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK