A Long List Of Panels At PAX Aus 2022 That Are Too Good To Miss

PAX Aus weekend approaches, which means it’s time to plan your panel timetable! Below, we’ve laid out a heap of our favourite panel pitches happening this year (including a few that we, ourselves, are involved in!). From live D&D to Great Debates, custom controller workshops, and thoughtful discussions on gender and education in gaming, there’s a little something for everyone this year. Read on and get some inspo for your PAX weekend. An important note — this should not be considered a hard list of every panel you need to get to over the weekend. PAX is a fluid event and quite a few of these panels overlap! Pace yourself, make sure you arrive and line up for panels early enough to get in, have a drink of water every so often, and have fun! With that in mind, here’s the list!

Friday

GenerOZity XII

Writing the Monster Manual

Where: Kookaburra Theatre When: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM A team of biologists, taxonomists, and ecologists to attempt to identify creatures from iconic games. Help them figure out exactly how each monstrous creature evolved, and how it continues to survive, as the panel fills out an entirely new kind of D&D Monster Manual. Find out more here.  

Women in Esports: The Australian Women’s Rocket League Team

Where: Fruitbat Theatre When: 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM Find out more here.  

Storytime with Shuhei Yoshida

Where: Main Theatre When: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM The Women’s Rocket League team for Team Australia takes the stage at PAX to discuss their experience competiting at the Commonwealth Esports Championship in the UK this year. They’ll also be talking about the challenges women face in esports, and what the industry can do to bring more into the fold. Find out more here.  

Tell Us We’re Dreamin’: Making Games Driven By Values (And Spite)

Where: PAX Together Theatre When: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Fantastic panel name, I think you’ll agree. The team behind Wayward Strand deep dive the story of wholesome games, mindfulness, and how your values shape the kinds of games you’ll want to make and see in the world. This panel features live Auslan interpretation! Find out more here.

That’s not an AI! THAT’S an AI!

Where: Kookaburra Theatre When: 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM Would you like to see a bunch of very funny nerds create a real artificial intelligence live on stage? And then have that artificial intelligence do increasingly crazy things, while explaining how it all works and exactly what they did to create it? Boy, do we have the panel for you. I went to the last panel this crew put on in 2019, and it haunts me to this day. Unmissable stuff. Find out more here.

Pen Is Mightier Than The Joystick: Writing For & About Games

Where: NBN Theatre When: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Let’s talk about writing in, about, and for video games! A panel of experts from Narrative Designers to marketing professionals and even journos walk you through it all. Bonus: Ruby’s on this panel! Stop by and show her some love!! Find out more here.  

Gamifying Government

Where: Galah Theatre When: 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM A panel all about how games and game-based tech are informing the public services of the future, and how COVID-19 has changed the government’s relationship to games in public service policy. Find out more here.  

Health in Gaming: Maximise Your Health Bar

Where: Fruitbat Theatre When: 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM Something I think we’re going to run up against this weekend with all the walking and cardio — we haven’t been working out through the pandemic quite as much as we should have. This panel packed with health experts is going to look the good and bad that lies at the intersection of games and health, and how we can level up our routines to make us not just better players, but live healthier lives too. Find out more here.  

How to Pitch for Paid Work in Games Journalism

Where: NBN Theatre When: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM  

Lenovo Legion Presents: The Future of PC Gaming

Where: NBN Theatre When: 5:30PM – 6:30 PM A forward-looking panel all about the future of PC and video games tech, and where it could be headed next. Find out more here.  

Behind the Unlocked Doors of Escape Rooms

Where: Galah Theatre When: 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM Ever wanted to know how people design the intricate funhouse puzzles that are Escape Rooms? What makes players’ brains itch? What are the weirdest things players have ever done in rooms our panel has designed? You won’t want to miss this panel. Find out more here.  

Back Pocket Talent Show

Where: Logitech Quokka Theatre When: 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM Back Pocket is holding an honest to god talent show at PAX. Do not miss this. Madness to follow. Find out more here.  

Indie Showcase: Digital

Where: Kookaburra Theatre When: 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM Join ACMI’s Jini Maxwell as they host the 2022 Aus Indie Showcase Digital winners on a special panel! Find out more here.  

Acquisitions Incorporated

Where: Main Theatre When: 8:30 PM – 11:00PM Hey you. You look like you enjoy a good live game of Dungeons & Dragons. Acq Inc’s the biggest (and funniest) in town. A fixture of the US versions of PAX, we’ve only gotten live Acq Inc games at PAX Aus for a few years. Head along, show some support, let ’em know we want more of this kind of thing. Find out more here.  

Saturday

Game Designers Hate Cosplayers and We Can Prove It

Where: Kookaburra Theare When: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM A panel of cosplayers discuss the many challenges of recreating costumes never meant to be worn on a real human body in a world rife with physics and gravity. Find out more here.  

How to Pitch Devolver

Where: Fruitbat Theatre When: 12:30PM – 1:30PM Pitching your game to a publisher is the first step in a lengthy and complex business transaction. But what if the publisher you’re pitching to is insane? It’s still a business transaction, but it might be slightly stranger than usual. Find out exactly how much in this panel about pitching to Devolver Digital. Find out more here.  

PlayStation Indies – Innovation and Creative Processes

Where: Main Theatre When: 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM A conversation with Greg Rice, Head of PlayStation Creators, with the developers behind games like Heavenly Bodies, Unpacking, Kepler, and Wayward Strand. Find out more here.  

Shareware Downunder

Where: Kookaburra Theatre When: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Let us all return to a simpler time, an era when shareware games and demos ruled the PC gaming landscape. Find out more here.  

Transgender Victoria: Gender Exploration Through Gaming

Where: PAX Together Theatre When: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM If I see any sass in the comments, I’m going to find you at the show and kick you in the pants. This panel will be an exploration of gender and trans expression in games. Ever played a character of a different gender in a game and felt it stir something in you? Tentatively experimented with gender and sexual expression in a TTRPG because it presented a safe and comfortable setting to do so? This is the panel for you. Find out more here.  

Game Writing Challenge!

Where: Kookaburra Theatre When: 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM Homework, but make it fun! This panel will be handing out hilarious, timed writing assignments to the crowd, all based on real industry challenges, and collating the best and funniest responses. We’re learning and we’re having a nice time! Find out more here.  

How to Start a Cult: Designing Mechanics Around an Idea

Where: Fruitbat Theatre When: 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM Come all ye faithful to the official Cult of the Lamb PAX Aus panel. Follow the flock to the Fruitbat Theatre at 3:30pm on Saturday to be sacrificed/informed. Find out more here.  

XR Games – How to Start a Studio

Where: NBN Theatre When: 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM Another great panel for those who are interested in the business of games. XR Games’ Bobby Thandi on creating and building one of the UK’s fastest growing games studios from the ground up. Find out more here.  

Can Swords Really Do That: Swordfighters Discuss Game Combat

Where: Galah Theatre When: 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM If there’s one thing gamers love doing, its debating the “realism” of certain mechanics. Here, at last, is a panel that will do exactly that — join a group of IRL swordfighters as they discuss the games that studied the blade and got it right, and those that left themselves open to attack. Find out more here.  

Indie Showcase Showcase: Tabletop

Where: Fruitbat Theatre When: 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM Join your, my, our beloved mate Leah Williams from GamesHub as she talks to the developers behind the latest and greatest indie tabletop games to emerge in Australia. Find out more here.  

Press Start’s What The Wiki Game Show Extravaganza

Where: NBN Theatre When: 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM The kings from Press Start are putting on their very own game show this year, with big prizes for those who want to get involved. This promises to be an extremely good time, and I’m pretty sure you know more trivia than Kieron and Ewan, dear reader, so get along and win some stuff. Find out more here.  

The Great Debate: Remakes and Reboots are Killing New Ideas

Where: Main Theatre When: 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM Are you looking at your Saturday night and thinking “this is good, but isn’t fucking insane enough?” Good news: the Great Debate returns to PAX Aus for another and this year, you’re all in deep shit. Why? Because they asked our very own Ruby Innes to get involved. That’s right, your favourite goblin girl is being asked to argue the case for/against remakes and reboots in the video games industry. Will she stay on point? Will she form a coherent argument? I asked Ruby what her plan was and she said “lol. lmao.” Head along on Saturday to cheer her on! Find out more here.  

The Art and Science of Teaching and Video Games

Where: Kookaburra Theatre When: 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM Video games in schools: should we have them? (Yes, obvi.) Let’s talk it out together! Find out more here.  

Sea Shanties You Say? Yahaarghh!

Where: GenerOZity Wombat Theatre When: 9:30 PM – 11:30 PM There once was a panel that put to sea, and the name of that panel was the Billy o’ Tea. This is literally just a panel for people to gather round and sing shanties. I love PAX. Find out more here.  

Secret Games Panel Do Not Publish

Where: Kookaburra Theatre When: 9:30 PM – 10:30PM The official description for this panel reads “This is definitely not Muppet Treasure Island Trivia,” so who knows what this panel could be about (Muppet Treasure Island trivia). It is a secret (the secret is Muppet Treasure Island trivia). Find out more here.  

Sunday

Game Development: Industry Pathways

Where: NBN Theatre When: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Finally ready to make the leap from playing games to making them? Hear from the experts on taking your first steps in a highly competitive industry. Find out more here.  

Authoring Adventures: Writing for the Tabletop RPG Industry

Where: Kookaburra Theatre When: 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM A panel of experts from Ghostfire Games walks you through the particulars of writing TTRPG content for fun and profit! Learn from the pro’s on how to build modules, gear and settings that will entice publishers and thrill players and GMs alike. Find out more here.  

Dungeon Masters and Dragons: Rotation Royale!

Where: GenerOZity Wombat Theatre When: 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM A game of Dungeons & Dragons, played entire by dungeon masters, where the role of DM is rotated at random. This promises to be extremely chaotic. Find out more here.  

One Big Union: The Game Union Movement From Around The Globe

Where: Galah Theatre When: 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Tim Colwill from Game Workers Australia leads a panel on the growing union movement among game dev professionals in Australia. Hear about the early wins, and where the movement is going next. Come along and see how the industry can be better and stronger when it stands together. Find out more here.  

This One Time, at Band Camp, When I Worked with a Grammy Winner: The Middle Eastern Music of Old World

Where: PAX Together Theatre When: 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Another contender for Panel Title Of The Year. Join Meena Shamalay to hear the incredible story of how he found himself working with Grammy Award winning composer Christopher Tin to create the Middle Eastern sound of Old World‘s soundtrack. Find out more here.  

Cow Cults and Alien Plants: The Dark Underbelly of The Sims

Where: Kookaburra Theatre: When: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Your mates and mine Leah Williams and Edmond Tran from GamesHub have pitched a whole panel designed to give Leah what she truly wants — an excuse to yell about all the weird shit in The Sims in a public forum. Please get along to this panel, you will not regret it. Find out more here.  

People behind the Programmers – ‘The Gaming X Factor’

Where: NBN Theatre When: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Programming is an important component game development, this is true, but game dev is far more multifaceted than just code. Hear from people involved in every part of the game dev process, from writing to music, art, and even business development to discover what really goes into game dev beyond the code. Find out more here.  

2023 – What’s Next for VR Games and Immersive Media?

Where: Galah Theatre When: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM With the PSVR 2 just around the corner, and VR tech getting more impressive all the time, let’s chat about the future of VR and AR in video games. Find out more here.  

How to Mod your Controller: A Workshop

Where: Fruitbat Theatre When: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM Join the team from We Are Robots as they explain the finer points of controller modding for fun and profit. And they’ll even build a fresh custom controller live on stage to show you how it’s done! Find out more here.  

Sailing the Stars! An Aetherial Sea Adventure

Where: Logitech Quokka Theatre When: 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM I know you’re not sick of live D&D yet. Come along for a Spelljammer adventure with the team from Arkenforge and Ghostfire Gaming, including Tal’Dorei Campaign Guide Reborn writer James Haeck! Find out more here.  

Still Standing (Documentary) Special Preview

Where: Kookaburra Theatre When: 3:30 PM – 4:30PM A preview screening of Still Standing, a documentary film about the history and current state of the Pinball and Acrade scene here in Australia and the everyday people keeping them alive today. Find out more here.  

The Best Worst Games in History: Balan Wonderworld

Where: Galah Theatre When: 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM Best Worst Games in History returns for another year, and this time we’re discussing Balan Wonderworld! Find out more here.  

ABC Gamer Trivia – What’s the Worst That Could Happen?

Where: Kookaburra Theatre When: 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM Why not close out your PAX Aus experience with a bit of trivia from the team at ABC Gamer, including Angharad Yeo, Gemma Driscoll, Dan Crowd, Harry Jun and a special guest shaped like a friend. We’re winking and nudging because we know who it is. Find out more here.

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