Perth, WA, 2013-2015.
Games Studio.
Staff: 5 full time, various contractors.

I founded SK Games in 2013 with the idea of creating small, simple games for public spaces. I hired an old friend, Sofie Mather, to help me run an office in Northbridge, recruiting developers Chris Wearing, Megan Campbell, Blake Simpson and Kai Ashford-Hatherly. Between the six of us, we developed over a dozen games, including Catnips (Fantastic Arcade Selection 2015 & Indiecade Selection 2015) and Bush Bash (Exhibited at the V&A museum of design, London, 2019).

My design goals were accessibility and ease of understanding, with the goal of creating games that non-gamers would have no trouble playing at festivals, galleries or venues. It was also important that the play be understood by spectators, allowing crowds to form and become invested in the outcome. These goals were assisted by the custom hardware I created for each game, mixing durable arcade buttons and joysticks with components such as fur, sand, latex, and in one case the front half of a 2000's Mitsubishi Magna sedan.

Despite our games and parties gaining a wonderful cult following, I couldn't find a sustainable income through festivals and events. in 2015 I disbanded SK Games and took some time to visit friends around the globe, exploring other options for sustainable games exhibitions. I returned with the view to open my own venue, deciding to move to Melbourne to harness the amazing games scene that consistently welcomed me.

Online, 2015.
Digital/physical games storefront.
Staff: 2 full time.

One of our most popular events as SK Games were the LMPO series, where we would organise a lineup of local bands to play alongside a display of local games. This highlighted the grass roots community around games and the artistic expression inherent in both mediums. It also highlighted that indie musicians are just as broke as indie developers!

Taking inspiration from music, we developed a selection of interesting merchandise; shirts, game CDs, painted game controllers, stickers, etc. We sold our merch at our shows, and began an online storefront called Backyard.sk, named after our backyard office parties. This was also planned as a sort of record label for indie games, as we exhibited more games from external developers and collaborated on merch.

Even after a sucessful kickstarter, the storefront still didn't generate enough interest to warrant the work going into it. We learnt a lot from the experiment, however we closed the store at the end of the year when the studio closed.

Collingwood, Melbourne, 2016-2020.
A bar and exhibition space for local beers and games.
Staff: 2 full time, many casual bar staff, many contract developers.

As I closed the studio in 2015 I began planning the next phase of my business. I believe in games for public spaces, I believe it's important to the growth of the meduim, and I believe there's a way to show them in a sustaible, inteligent business. My best guess was to open a venue, taking what I had learnt from the parties and exhibtions at our Perth studio and transplanting it to the heart of Melbournes cultural district.

I quickly found the local games community was incredibly welcoming and embracing, using the space as a hub for developer meetups and social gatherings. I also found like-minded passionate creators in the local craft beer scene, leading the space to become an oasis of small batch and rare brews, with an emphasis on independence and freshness. This would later culminate in the 2019 series, where local breweries sponsored the venue for a month, allowing me to commission local artists to create games for the space, often influenced by the brewery sponsor in a great mix of mediums.

I continued to create custom controllers and installations using components such as concrete, inflatable sex toys, food and in one case I grew sprouts around buttons to create an interactive garden bed in the front window. I commissioned amazing artists, collaborated on experiences and created whole new event formats such as Delete, which grew into a sold out 400 person event in San Francisco at GDC 2019.

The community we grew in the four years on Smith street was unlike anything I ever hoped for. I had the most wonderful customers, diverse events, and lovely feedback. I was consistently told the space felt comfortable and safe for everyone.

With the immense help of my good friend Dayv, we were able to create a semi-sustainable venue. However, the continued toll of long hours and late nights brought us to realise we would never turn over enough to hire more full time staff, leving us with a dilema that was answered by the global pandemic of 2020.

Wherever I am.
My ongoing curation, hardware hacking and consulting work.
Staff: me!

While SK Games has left Perth and Bar SK has closed it's doors, I'm still creating and designing events, games and experiences. If you'd like to see my portfolio you're in luck! You're actually looking at it right now!

But I'm not just talking about events like the ACMI x Bar SK pop up in 2022, although that was really fun, I'm still doing things like advising the national gallery in Canberra on showing confronting VR work, creating interactive exhibits for kids science exhibitions, and helping friends run their games gallery Sabattical in Collingwood.

If you'd like to get in touch regarding upcoming work, check out the "about me" tab above. And if you're just curious about what I'm doing, don't worry, it's probably ridiculous.