Screen AustraliaMike Cowap: Investment Manager

mike.cowap@screenaustralia.gov.au@mikecowap

Justin Halliday: Investment Managerjustin.halliday@screenaustralia.gov.au

Objectives

•Promote industry growth and sustainability

•Support the development of new intellectual property

•Encourage skills retention and renewal

•Maximise the creative opportunities of fast broadband

Objectives (cont.)•Prioritise creation, retention and exploitation of new IP

•Encourage business models that expand consumer reach and revenue, including the international marketplace

•Encourage new business partnerships and alliances

•Encourage mentorships, job creation, skills development

•Support a diversity of project types, styles and scale, focusing on a clear creative vision & target market

•Target strong creative teams with a diversity of experience and relevant track record

•Target online platforms as viable distribution mechanisms

Production Funding

•Up to $500k per project

•Funds are for production, not pre-production or prototyping

•$4-5 million per year

•Two funding rounds per year

•Successful applicants may get less than requested

Eligibility

•Meet Screen Australia’s general eligibility requirements

•Must be making a game for public release

•Creative team must include at least two experienced devs:

•Credits in a senior role on two released games

•Two years’ senior experience on a large game ($4m)

•Sole-developer with two released games

•Senior or Lead: Programmer, Artist, Producer, Designer

Applications

•Applications due Friday 12th July, 2013

•Must use the application form(s) on our website:

•www.screenaustralia.gov.au

Applications

•EPOC: Playable prototype and/or animated gameplay vid

•Game Design Document (20+ pages)

•Production Schedule (Gantt, Task/Sprint Breakdown, etc)

•Milestone Schedule

•Marketing and Publishing release plan

•Business Impact Statement

Applications•Statement of Success (KPIs, which must be measurable):

•10k sales

•100k downloads

•ARPDAU, ARPPU, etc

•Pitch video (less than 3 min Kickstarter style vid)

•Bios and resumes/CVs for key creative team

•Budget (from the SA website)

•Finance plan (from the SA website)

Applications•Game Design documents:

•20+ pages (depending on the complexity of the game)

•Overview (platforms, engine, genre, rating, etc)

•One page pitch describing the game and mechanics

•Game mechanics, player interaction/controls, front-end

•Game modes/features

•Story/Content/Levels

•Rewards/Retention strategy (if applicable)

Assessment

•Four assessors; two internal, two external

•Assessment will take ~10 weeks, announcement Sept-Oct

•Notify SA if you have a legitimate conflict with an assessor

•Assessed on:

•Strength of the proposal

•Project’s ability to enhance business sustainability

•Experience/expertise of the company and principals

Assessment

•What’s the game?

•Does it bring something new to the genre?

•Is it innovative?

Strength of the proposal:Entertainment value, level of creativity and innovation

Assessment

•Is there a market for the game?

•What is the business model of similar games?

•Is the market for this type of game over/under-supplied?

•Can you access the market (Steam/XBLA/PSN)?

Strength of the proposal:Market potential.

Assessment

•How realistic is the development plan (vs the GDD)

•Is the release date realistic?

•How do you plan to market the game (reviews, community)?

Strength of the proposal:Ongoing development/release plan, and appropriateness and viability of marketing strategies.

Assessment

•Where is the dev budget coming from?

•How much is provided by the applicant (possibly in-kind)?

•Any outside money (advances, grants, etc)?

Strength of the proposal:Portion of the overall budget provided through other/third party sources.

Assessment

•Are the devs all located in Australia/Australian?

•Outsourcing?

Strength of the proposal:Extent to which the development process is undertaken in Australia by Australians.

Assessment

•Are you making a new IP?

•Will you own the IP at the end of the project?

•Can the IP be developed in future projects?

The project’s ability to enhance business sustainability:Level of intellectual property retained by the developer.

Assessment

•Will the project create new jobs, or continue existing jobs?

•Are the devs going to learn something new?

•Will junior devs be mentored/develop new skills?

The project’s ability to enhance business sustainability: Opportunities offered for job creation, skills development and/or mentorship.

Assessment

•Demonstrated past ability to deliver games/projects

•Is the past experience translatable to the current project?

The experience, expertise and talents of the company and its key principals involved in the project:The relevance and quality of their track record.

Assessment

•Connections to recruit for the project?

•Connections to execute marketing/release plan?

The experience, expertise and talents of the company and its key principals involved in the project:Their creative and business networks.

Assessment

•Have the principals delivered a project like this before?

•Can we have confidence that they can deliver this project?

•Are there too many uncertainties/risks in the plan?

The experience, expertise and talents of the company and its key principals involved in the project:Their demonstrated capacity to deliver the plan.

Terms of Funding•No more than 75% of the total budget can come from SA

•Funding under $50k is a grant

•Funding over $50k is a recoupable investment

•1% share of the copyright (for projects funded over $100k)

•Funding is paid on milestones

•Approval over key elements:

•Changes to key creatives

•Changes to the game description

•Market attachments

Screen AustraliaMike Cowap: Investment Manager

mike.cowap@screenaustralia.gov.au

Justin Halliday: Investment Managerjustin.halliday@screenaustralia.gov.au

PROPS Department: 1800 507 901