Meet the 2023 Victorian Games Development Interns

Left to right: Memia Lin and Phoebe Watson. Credit: ACMI Games Lab - Presented by Big Ant Studios. Photography by Sarah Chavdaroska. 

Robot Circus, Slegehammer Games and VicScreen have joined forces to deliver the second year of the Victorian Games Development Internships, announcing Phoebe Watson and Memia Lin as the successful recipients. 

Phoebe and Memia have officially began their paid internships, beginning their 6-month placement at VicScreen before heading to Robot Circus and Sledgehammer Games. 

The internship program is designed to overcome traditional barriers to entering the digital games sector, backing emerging developers to effectively accelerate their careers. 

Phoebe and Memia's internships will see them gain hands-on experience working on a major studio project, follow the production phase of a project's lifecycle, and learn how games funding and the production environment operates across Victoria and Australia.

Ever since leaving high school to study game development, Memia Lin has been passionate about production, game art and programming. She was part of the winning team for the NSI TAFE's 48hr Game Jam with the game Super Rolla Bird, and went on to graduate from RMIT with distinction for Bachelor in Games Design. Memia is passionate about creating innovative games that bring people together. 

Memia Lin said, "I'm excited for this opportunity, there's a lot of potential bubbling around games right now. I'm passionate about finding ways to encourage players to connect with one another through new ways of gameplay and producing diverse environments to champion that work. I'm confident the internship will equip me with the skillset to realise my goals." 

Phoebe Watson is a proud Yarrer Gunditj woman from the Maar Nation in south-west Victoria. She is driven to educate people about cultural safety for Aboriginal people working on games and strives to create processes that protect Indigenous people and their culture. Since graduating from RMIT with a Bachelor Degree in Games Design, Phoebe has worked both locally and internationally, and is currently a game designer on Guck's highly-anticipated Future Folklore.

Phoebe Watson said, "The Games Internship is such an awesome opportunity to gain experience in the many different environment of the industry. I'm eager to shadow some of the talented creatives in games and bring a unique First Nations perspective to the various projects that I'll get to be part of, and hopefully, begin to pave a culturally safe path for other Indigenous creatives."

CEO of VicScreen, Caroline Pitcher said, "The inaugural Victorian Games Development Internship was a great success, and we are excited to grow this program, offering two participants the opportunity to fast-track their careers. We are proud to partner with both Robot Circus and Sledgehammer Games and look forward to working with Phoebe and Memia to build their careers."

The Robot Circus team said, "New voices and ideas lift games to exciting, unexplored territory, so we're thrilled to have Memia and Phoebe work with us. Being a small independent team, we're very grateful to be part of this program, and have the opportunity to work with talented developers entering the games industry."

The Sledgehammer Games team said, "At Sledgehammer Games, we believe that internships provide a unique opportunity for aspiring game developers to gain hands-on experience and bring their passion for gaming to life. We are committed to providing our interns with mentorship, resources, and projects that will help them grow both personally and professionally to one day make a real impact in the Australian games industry.

To find out more about VicScreen's Skills and Development opportunities visit: vicscreen.vic.gov.au/funding/skills-development. 

Media Contact

Emma Mackenzie | VicScreen Senior Publicist 

emma.mackenzie@vicscreen.vic.gov.au