Exchanging Cultures Through Games: Australia x Philippines

We ran our second ever Games Exchange recently, an event where we trade games with other countries to showcase on both ends, sharing our respective cultures through the medium! This time around, we featured a total of 16 indie games from Australia and the Philippines, partnering with IGG Philippines and MEE Games to showcase them in Sydney and Manila.

To kick off the Games Exchange, both sides organised special opening videos, introducing ourselves and the games we had selected:

On the night, we featured a variety of Filipino games, alongside Aussie ones. Here’s the lineup:

Filipino Games

High Times by Yangyang Mobile
Potion Punch Rivals by Monstronauts
Fall Up by Unicellular Games
Keyboard Warrior RPG by Alex E Valdez
Fallen Tear: The Ascension by CMD Studios
Relic Abyss by Reverse Loop
Strange Seed by Chronicle Games
Until Then by Polychroma Games

Some players playing Fall Up and Fallen Tear: The Ascension.

Aussie Games

The Master’s Pupil by Pat Naoum
Which Way Up: Galaxy Games by Turtle Flip Studio
Isopod by Sbug Games
Catto’s Post Office by In Shambles Studio
Pie in the Sky by Monster Shop Games
The Last Werewolf by Unnatural Freaks Studio
Amarantus by ub4q
Letters to Arralla by Little Pink Clouds

An attendee playing Catto's Post Office.

In addition to games, we prepared various Aussie and Filipino snacks on both ends to share some of our local foods. On our end, we had an assortment of Filipino snacks, alongside some homemade Buko Pandan and Mango Float. These were delicious, and demolished by the crowd quickly. Thank you Christine for making them! Over in Manila, we had classic Tim Tams, pretzels and other assorted crisps. The events also featured a bingo game, a popular activity in the Philippines. In our version, attendees had to play the indie games and complete several other challenges to win!

Some Games Exchange attendees enjoying some Filipino snacks!

A photo of Buko Pandan, a Filipino drink consisting of coconut milk, coconut juice, pandan jelly, condensed milk and sugar.

Here's Ethan, the first person to win Bingo, with a full set of art supplies donated by Pat Naoum!
(Whose game was also involved!) He is standing with the art supplies in his hand, next to the Games Exchange pull up banner. — Here’s Ethan, the first person to win Bingo, with a full set of art supplies donated by Pat Naoum!
(Whose game was also involved!)

Indie games and their showcases are always full of heart and creativity, and we feel incredibly honoured to have hosted and made a space for indie devs from both countries. Thank you for letting us share your incredible games with everyone! Once again, we’d like to thank Screen Australia for funding our event with the Games Festivals and Events Fund, IGEA for providing us the venue, and MSI Australia for lending us the equipment to accommodate so many games! We look forward to doing more to support indie devs in the future!

If you’d like to submit your game in our future games exchanges, or follow along for updates on future events, check out our landing page for more info!