Country Always

Caring for Country

A Corner of the Empire

The Garden Palace

The Holding Pen

The Agricultural Hall

Regional Networks

Across New South Wales

A Museum of Doing

Technological Museum

Expanding Stories

Evolution of the Castle Hill site from botanical research station to Museum Discovery Centre

Transforming the Tramsheds

Powerhouse Stage 1 and the Harwood Building

A Symbol in Time

Sydney Observatory

Ongoing Transformations

Powerhouse Ultimo

Applied Arts and Sciences

Defining the terms in the 21st century

Powerhouse Renewal

A transformative renewal program across four sites

We Rise

Blak Powerhouse

Powerhouse-1 Mission Launch to the ISS

An initiative of the Powerhouse: Future Space program

2024

Exoskeleton

Powerhouse Parramatta

Powerhouse Parramatta Topping Out

Major construction milestone achieved for the new museum

2025

Country Always

Caring for Country

A Corner of the Empire

The Garden Palace

The Holding Pen

The Agricultural Hall

Regional Networks

Across New South Wales

A Museum of Doing

Technological Museum

Expanding Stories

Evolution of the Castle Hill site from botanical research station to Museum Discovery Centre

Transforming the Tramsheds

Powerhouse Stage 1 and the Harwood Building

A Symbol in Time

Sydney Observatory

Ongoing Transformations

Powerhouse Ultimo

Applied Arts and Sciences

Defining the terms in the 21st century

Powerhouse Renewal

A transformative renewal program across four sites

We Rise

Blak Powerhouse

Powerhouse-1 Mission Launch to the ISS

An initiative of the Powerhouse: Future Space program

2024

Exoskeleton

Powerhouse Parramatta

Powerhouse Parramatta Topping Out

Major construction milestone achieved for the new museum

2025

Media Release

6 March 2025

ALT: GAMES, a new games festival for Sydney

Powerhouse today announced a major new Australian games festival for Sydney, presented at Parramatta this April 12–13. ALT: GAMES brings together the Australian games industry and community, featuring digital showcases, sessions with industry leaders and a large-scale interactive game installation.

A Powerhouse initiative, presented in partnership with City of Parramatta, Screen Australia and Screen NSW, ALT: GAMES is a celebration of the Australian games industry and is the first of its kind in Sydney.

Created for all levels of gamers, game developers, design studios and artists, the two-day festival will be headlined by industry leaders including award-winning Canadian creator of , American creator , Sydney-based game developer , GamesHub Editor , and Melbourne’s Massive Monster’s .

About Powerhouse

Powerhouse sits at the intersection of arts, design, science and technology and plays a critical role in engaging communities with contemporary ideas and issues. We are undertaking a landmark $1.2 billion infrastructure renewal program, spearheaded by the creation of the new museum, Powerhouse Parramatta; expanded research and public facilities at Powerhouse Castle Hill; the renewal of the iconic Powerhouse Ultimo; and the ongoing operation of Sydney Observatory. The museum is custodian to over half a million objects of national and international significance and is considered one of the finest and most diverse collections in Australia. We are also undertaking an expansive digitisation project that will provide new levels of access to the Powerhouse Collection.

About Ally McLean-Hennessy

Ally McLean-Hennessy is an artist, game developer and writer from Sydney. Her recent projects include Mystiques Haunted Antiques, which won the SXSW Sydney People’s Choice award; Solium Infernum with League of Geeks, which was crowned one of the best games globally of 2024; and the FREAKON Short Film Festival. McLean-Hennessy’s games have been shown in museums and festivals around the world, and she has spoken at conferences globally about game making.

About Daniel Coppen

Daniel Coppen is, alongside Maruyama Saki, one of the leaders of Playfool — a UK-based design and art unit whose work explores the nature of relationships between society and technology through the medium of play. Playfool’s multidisciplinary and experimental practice comprises objects, installations and multimedia productions that emphasise play’s experimental, reflective and intimate qualities. Playfool’s works have been widely exhibited at institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the MAK in Vienna.

About JoJo Zhou

JoJo Zhou is the Head of Narrative at Melbourne-based games studio Massive Monster. A writer and dramaturg, she is passionate about the mechanics of storytelling, and how can they be transformed across the mediums of games, performance, prose, and more. Her work seeks to facilitate artists creative processes while creating powerful and unique experiences for players, audiences, and artists alike.

About Richard Garfield

Richard Garfield is a US-born mathematician, inventor and game designer who created Magic: The Gathering, considered the first trading card game. Soon after it was published, he left academia to design and study games full time. Since then, he has designed many games, consulted widely on game design and coauthored a textbook used in many game design courses: The Characteristics of Games. Game design remains a passion and he considers himself a lifelong student of games.

About Tomo Kihara

Tomo Kihara creates ‘toys for thought’ which are games and experimental software that bring new perspectives to society through play. After graduating from Japan’s Keio University Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, he completed a Masters of Science in interaction design at TU Delft in the Netherlands. Kihara later worked for the Amsterdam-based research institute Waag, where he undertook research at AI Culture Lab on the social impact of artificial intelligence. His projects have been exhibited at Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria, and the Design Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Media Release

ALT: GAMES, a new games festival for Sydney

Media Contacts

Erin Finn

Cara Lopez

About Powerhouse

About Ally McLean-Hennessy

About Daniel Coppen

About Daniel Mullins

About GUCK

About JoJo Zhou

About Richard Garfield

About Steph Panecasio

About Tomo Kihara