I’m here to report a takeover. Digital media has saturated Australia. 11.5 million Australians use or visit YouTube, we use mobile internet 4.3 hours per week on average, and 93% of our households have a device for playing video games. Australia doesn’t lack technology, we have an abundance of it. What Australia does lack, however, is the dialogue and initiatives to help us take advantage of these tools as more than

Whether formally or informally, all game projects begin with idea generation. This creative process is the starting point for concepts and designs which will then continue through the development phase. Naturally, project teams will encounter some hurdles and bumps through this process. While there are challenges that creators will no doubt come across along the way, there are a few ways to deal with these effectivel

2and2 have done it again. Zoom, an educational game created for ABC Splash, has won an award from the 2013 Interactive Media Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Science/Technology category. The Outstanding Achievement award recognises excellence in planning, execution and overall professionalism. With over 75 entries in this category, Zoom was one of only seven entries to win the award and one of only 11 overal

Since the kickoff of our PowerPlay project for Skillset, we’ve seen the game evolve from cardboard cutouts on an office table to a beautifully illustrated game-in-the-making. The interface is coming to life, the town is being designed, and the gameplay mechanics are being refined every week. However, at 2and2 it’s never just about the game. While we absolutely love creating beautiful, fun games (really, i

Here at 2and2, we’ve had a fabulous start to 2014 and we hope you have too! Not only have we been working on some great projects (Skillset Power Play and Headspace SAFEMinds are just two of many), but we’re also finalists in the 20th AIMIA Awards! Two of our projects are finalists in their respective categories: CanUHanyu in the Best of Smartphone: Learning & Education category and Birth Choices in th

They say that if you remember what it feels like to be a teenager or young adult, you will understand the decisions that many youth make. You’ll understand what it’s like to feel left out sometimes. You’ll know that, often, it feels like nobody understands. You’ll see why many teens turn to alcohol or substance abuse either as a way to fit in or to cope with other issues. You’ll remember that feeling where it just. S

Here at 2and2, we find some interesting things on the internet. No, really. Emails are always flying back and forth about the most interesting concepts that have been created in the gaming industry, or updates on the status of education and technology in the world. We truly believe that games can be powerful as tools for change and development, and we talk about it a lot. We share videos, photos, articles, products,

Even at our best, most of us are pretty ghastly at managing time. We’re late to meet friends or miss the train to work. We constantly procrastinate, then we spend time stressing about procrastination. We spend four hours battling enemies in a game and forget that we had to do the dishes, clean the house, feed the cat, or eat (guilty as charged). Simply put: time management is an art form that most of us struggle to m

Six people, two days, one game. We’re glad to say that we did it (but you never really doubted us, did you?) After day one of our PowerPlay sprint, the team had the workings of a game but were grappling with the issue of game difficulty – namely: how can we make the game challenging, yet not too challenging that its players lose motivation? Initially, the game started out like so: players begin at their &

At the end of day one of the PowerPlay sprint, we have discovered a couple of things: 1. Almonds make for fantastic player tokens that you can eat afterwards 2. While technology is amazing, sometimes there’s nothing better or more productive than sitting down in a room with a team, a few pieces of card, and some black felt markers. James, Marcus, Marianne, Cam, Glen and Derek have been hard at work today coming

Every once in a while, a few of our developers and designers huddle into a corner of the office and get ready to sprint. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean they go outside and do running drills for days at a time (although that would make for some very entertaining videos). A sprint gives developers and designers the chance to knuckle down on one project and create a prototype in a short period of time. We’ve done a fe

Pure Rush, a game we are producing with the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, features a teenager running to a music festival and aims to show players the effects drugs can have on those who choose to take them. Throughout this design process, there have been some interesting challenges we have faced and decisions we’ve had to make – a few of which we’d like to share with you here today. Fi