Organizers of Freeplay — a yearly festival that brings together game devevelopers indie and otherwise both Melbourne local and from around the world — have just announced their 2012 lineup, a program that most notably brings Rez & Child of Eden creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi in for a panel on tension & balance in games, following an appearance at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image that will “explore how his vision has evolved over his career, and demonstrate his pioneering application of music and visuals through live gameplay.”

The guest list this year will include Emily Ridgway, audio director on games like BioShock and Double Fine’s Brutal Legend, Stacking & Costume Quest, as well as Bryan Ma, former 2K developer now behind indie initiatives like the Shanghai Winnitron and curator of the most recent Lunarcade Sydney exhibition (also brother of FTL creator Justin & editor of a pretty wicked mostly-games-related tumblr), and an arcade that will include perennial indie faves like Nidhogg, Proteus, GIRP & Johann Sebastian Joust.

Check the Freeplay website for more information, including more of the above super amazing artwork by Pachinko Pictures (they of the recent Passion Pit Pitchfork game & secretly awesome Chupa Chups advergame Lol-a-Coaster).