Queensland Games Festival

Queensland Games Festival 2025 Round-Up
Thank you to everyone who helped make the 2025 festival a wonderful event! Thank you to the Brisbane Powerhouse for the venue and production support; our funding bodies – Screen Queensland and Screen Australia; to our wonderful sponsors: Wrenegade, Cam Rogers Legal, Gameloft Brisbane, Supaglu, Xsolla, Witch Beam and Earthwork Games! Especial thanks to all the people who contributed time, energy, passion and creativity to making the program as successful as it was – our Queensland Games Festival organising team, our events and workshop facilitators, the amazing volunteers, and, of course, the awesome local studios who volunteered to bring their work into the exhibition so that everyone could enjoy it!

Our ever amazing videographer has all the interviews ready for you to relive some of the wonderful games – follow to Iain Anderson’s vimeo site for links.

Festival Stories
We were lucky enough to have a few people collecting stories about the festival. Qualbert wrote two pieces: The Queensland Games Festival 2025 | Board Game and TTRPG Showcase, and the Queensland Games Festival 2025 | Indie Games Showcase. The wonderful folk from Zed Games ran a special during their usual 4ZZZ spot and have many podcasts about the locally made games for you, Seb made a great little video – posted over on Base Code: Games Showcase – 2025 Queensland Games Festival, we made a Steam Wishlist of all the games that have Steam pages, and posted a number of happy snaps over on our Flickr pages.

You can find all this and more over on our Queensland Games Festival fb page.

Queensland Game Festival Awards 2025
Our very prestigious Renegade Award for Innovation (proudly supported by Wrenagade) went to Sporktank for their cosy adventure puzzle game, Rita! Screen Queensland’s Best in Show was awarded to Broadside Games for their new game, Chunk; and the Screen Queensland Best Emerging went to Jett Williams and Moonbrella. The Queensland Games Festival People’s Choice was won by Owl Machine for the second year running with Key Fairy! It was a really close competition for People’s Choice with so many gorgeous games in the exhibition. Our two People’s Choice runners-up were Rockalot‘s Bumper Bout and Bang Bang Interactive‘s Lone Pine.

Great job everyone – you are awesome!

The Queensland Games Festival is our own unique celebration of Queensland’s vibrant game making community. Hosted at the iconic Brisbane Powerhouse, the festival is an opportunity to come and discover our rich variety of locally made games, all presented by the studios that created them. Enjoy playing games, chatting to the developers, and getting creative in our free public workshops. From digital games to board games, there is something for everyone to play from our local game makers.

Want something even more interactive? We’re launching a new Amplify Game Space for more experimental and works-in-progress games! Or if you’re interested in working in the games industry, join us in the Emerging Developers Room to chat with a game dev about life in the industry!

Free public program – all ages welcome! Join us at the Brisbane Powerhouse on June 14th – open from 10am-5pm.

Check out our program below. All events are free but we recommend registering for workshops as space is limited.

Queensland Games Festival June 14, 2025 Brisbane Powerhouse

Queensland Games Festival Exhibition (10.00am – 5.00pm)

The Queensland Games Festival exhibition presents locally made games – all presented by their creators and studios. From VR to table-top, PC and console, and mobile. Come and play and meet the developers. The exhibition is free public entry and open all day from 10.00am – 5.00pm. Get to know the people who make the games as they share their stories, ideas and ambitions and chat about the process of game development.

Eventbrite RSVP

Amplify Games – Exhibition (11.00am-4.00pm)

This year we are proud to host a very special event for early emerging and more experimental work – experimental, funky concepts and work-in-progress. This will be held during the main festival in the Powerhouse Underground Studio and hosted by 4ZZZ Zed Games.

Amplify Games Schedule

Emerging Developers Room (11.00am-1.00pm | 2.00pm – 4.00pm)

Are you an emerging developer, game design student, or solo dev who would love to chat with an industry mentor? Do you have a portfolio or resume, but you have no idea whether it would get you work in the industry? Come along to the Emerging Developer Room to meet some of our local experienced game developers, receive answers to your questions, and chat with our awesome Queensland game makers.

The Emerging Developers Room is supported by Gameloft Brisbane

Gameloft Creative Workshop (10.00am – 12.00pm)

Join Gameloft Brisbane’s very own Gamelofters in the Graffiti Room for creative hands-on activities created by the studio’s Art team for kids of all ages. Meet and chat with the artists behind the multi-award-winning titles; My Little Pony: Mane Merge, The Oregon Trail, and Carmen Sandiego!

Ages: ALL

Registration via Evenbrite

Mini Mobile Game Development: From Idea to App (2.00pm – 4.00pm)

Join Vipin Dhunnoo, game design and XR expert, for an interactive session to design and make a simple game in just two hours, using your mobile device! Perfect for beginners and aspiring devs!

In this Free, Open to the public, hands-on workshop, designed for High School students, you’ll go from concept to working prototype as we guide you through the essentials of mini mobile game creation. Using only your smart devices (phones or tablets), you’ll design a small game, create basic visuals, and get your game running on a smart device. Whether you’re a student, indie dev, or just curious about game design, this session will give you practical skills and a game you can take home.

No prior coding experience required, just bring your curiosity and creativity!

Outcomes of the session include:

Understand the basic steps involved in mobile game development, from concept to build.
Create a simple playable mini game (e.g., tap-based, endless runner, or puzzle loop).
Gain hands-on experience with a beginner-friendly game engine.
Take home a game prototype they can continue to develop or share.

Requirements:

*Bring your smart device(s) ideally with your own data connection.

This session will be led by Vipin, founder of the indie game and immersive experience studio Generative Arts, and Dirsha, head of marketing. At Generative Arts, we focus on blending local storytelling into creative development when designing our games.

Ages: 11 – 17

Registration via Eventbrite