Speaking – 2012

Sep 09

Panel: Stories & Systems

Melbourne Writers' Festival, National Gallery of Victoria

Panel discussion on games and storytelling with Dan Golding, Christy Dena, and Alison Croggon.


Aug 31

Game Design and Culture

Hub Melbourne

A look at games, culture, and Melbourne, through the lens of the upcoming 2012 Freeplay Independent Games Festival


Aug 28

Careers in game development

Games Program, Melbourne Polytechnic


Aug 06

Why games in education is about more than just skills – and why gamification isn’t the answer

VITTA Conference

Videogames are an attractive addition to education practice, whether through serious games, development, or the emergence of gamification. However, all of these endeavours ignore the cultural value and resonsnce of games in favour of their superficially playful and persuasive properties. In this session, Paul Callaghan, designer of the game development strand of the recent DEECD game baed learning trials and the director of the Freeplay Independent Games Festival which explores the intersection of games, art, and culture will explore why there’s more to games than what they ask you to do.


Jun 29

Panel: Where to from here?

Game Masters Industry Forum, ACMI

Discussing the themes of the 2 day industry forum.


Jun 29

Flexing the Story Muscle

Game Masters Industry Forum, ACMI

Tim Schafer (Founder and Director of Double Fine Productions) will explore the importance of story in games, providing insights into his creative process and leadership. Facilitated by Paul Callaghan (Freeplay).


Jun 28

Panel: Games and Cultural Spaces

Game Masters Industry Forum, ACMI

Explore the challenges of creating a cultural framework for exhibiting and programming videogames, and the role of institutions and festivals in showcasing and defining the cannon of the gaming industry. Panel includes Conrad Bodman (ACMI), Paul Callaghan (Freeplay), Linda Pitt (State Library of QLD) and Ricardo Peach (Australia Council’s Inter-Arts). Chaired by freelance games writer, Leena van Deventer.


Jun 05

Games in Education

Victorian Personal Learning Network, Online

Presentation on games as tools for education, as well as teaching – and the need for – greater cultural and critical literacy of games.


May 23

Human Library

Balwyn Library

Students and the vocationally-curious are invited to come along to Balwyn Library on Wednesday 23 May and borrow the time of six individuals working in different industries.


May 10

Technology. Networks. People

Cengage Learning Innovation Event, State Library of Victoria

Presentation on three strands of evolution and innovation in game development.


Apr 16

Industry & Independent Development

Games Course, Swinburne University

Presentation on evolutions in industry and independent development.


Mar 03

Panel: On and Off the Page

Adelaide Writers Week

Increasingly our most compelling stories are being told on film, on television and in video games. Genre fiction rules in the bookshops, the cinemas, and, with L.A.Noire, in gameland. This session brings together novelist Megan Abbott (Die a Little), games designer Paul Callaghan and Robert Shearman (Doctor Who) to discuss the differences between writing for the page and the screen.


Mar 03

Books, Movies, TV, Games

Adelaide Writers' Week

We live in a world where our stories are increasingly found, not only in books, but on screens. Doctor Who and playwright Robert Shearman (UK) and games designer Paul Callaghan (UK/AUS) discuss narrative across platforms including books, movies, and games – some of the many places we see story in action