Paul Callaghan is a freelance writer and independent game developer. Over the past 10 years, he’s worked as a programmer, designer, writer, and teacher in the games industry both here and overseas. His credits include Men In Black 2, Heroes of the Pacific, and a, sadly cancelled, game based on a long-running BBC science-fiction series. His cross-disciplinary experience has led him to an interest in linguistics, games as learning tools, meshing narrative with gameplay, character and story development, literacy and numeracy, and the philosophical underpinnings of how games work and what they can teach us about ourselves.
An active member of both the development and education community, Paul has presented on topics such as writing for games, the fundamentals of play, what education can learn from game development, and the fundamentals of game design at the National Screenwriters’ Conference, GCAP, VITTA, the Emerging Writers’ Festival, the State Library of Victoria, Screen Australia, ACMI, CAE, and RMIT.
Paul is also the co-director of the Freeplay Independent Games Festival, an annual event that focuses on the creative side of games and the intersection between art, games, education, and the broader digital culture.
An award winning short story writer, Paul has also written short films, comics, and is working on his second novel.