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Dune's Island - A Free Video Learning Series

Hi everyone,

If you happen to have kids (or know someone who does) here's a brand new free resource that I hope is helpful. It's a website for my video learning series, “Dune’s Island,” which aims to teach kids environmental stewardship in a really fun way through stories and characters. Within the site you can freely access all the episodes, support documentaries and even tie-in curriculum (like vocabulary, math problems, writing prompts and more.)

In the coming weeks, I’ll be expanding the site with all kinds of activities and more cool documentaries, so please be sure to bookmark it. In the meantime, any and all feedback is welcome and very much appreciated. Enjoy and stay safe.

https://www.dunesisland.org/

Submitted by Eric Matyas on Wed, 29/04/20 - 1:12 AMPermalink

If anyone happens to wonder what I get up to when I’m not creating music for everyone, I write and direct films that hopefully help kids (and grownups) learn important things.

Here's a link to the page on my new site where you can freely access all of the "Dune's Island" episodes. I’ve enabled the download function on Vimeo so you don’t even have to be online to share it with your kiddos.

https://www.dunesisland.org/episodes

Enjoy…and please feel free to share with anyone who might find it useful.

Stay safe and healthy.

https://scontent.ftpa1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/s960x960/94883299_60184…

Submitted by Eric Matyas on Wed, 29/04/20 - 6:38 PMPermalink

I had always intended "Dune's Island" to be an immersive learning world. The idea was to produce films that teachers and home educators could actually pull lessons from to share with their students. After completing the episodes, a team of science teachers went through the films and created curriculum for grades K-5 that ties into the episodes.

Here's a link to it: https://www.dunesisland.org/curriculum

Please feel free to share it!

How do I get set up?

Hey Tsumea,

Trying to set up my Profile. I realise it may take some time before my profile pic and banner appear, however, I have no idea how to add posts to my journal.

In the screenshot I can't put anything in the section that looks like you should be able to type.

Very confused.

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

Reithierion

Submitted by souri on Mon, 26/06/17 - 12:21 PMPermalink

Click on dashboard on the top right and then "Post Journal"

Tell me about your gaming!

So, newbie here, from the land of Angry Birds and late Nokia, currently doing Psychology Master’s Thesis on game playing preferences. Hah. I have an online survey which contains questions like why do you play, how much, what type of games e.g, as well as questions from positive psychological view. What I mean by it is that we want to see the positive effects of gaming. The survey takes about 15 to 20 mins. I know this is long, but all the questions are well thought through and important. So use your time when filling it! Thanks!

https://www.webropolsurveys.com/S/D5F22C5C1626F81D.par
(webropol is a commonly used survey site. google it!)

Clear For Action

Hello from Agnes Water, Queensland,

I recently released a game called Clear For Action, which I developed solo. It was developed with Cocos2D-x. Description to follow:

Captain Redbeard is a pirate down on his luck. With his ship repossessed by his own sister and not a piece of gold to his name what is an ‘honest’ pirate to do? Help Redbeard reclaim his pride and build a fleet that will make his family proud. Create over 25 ships and sail the seas in search of fortune. Plot your course and visit one of many exotic locales. Upgrade your ships to make them faster and increase their range. Participate in trade missions to obtain precisions gold and jewels. Share your adventure with friends to gain prestige and in game rewards.

Clear For Action is a fleet building and pirate tycoon game. Transport booty around the seven seas and use your ill-gotten gains to produce bigger and badder ships. Captain Redbeard and his first mate Hawkins need your help to conquer the seas, will you accept the challenge? Clear For Action is free to play and available worldwide on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

App Store Link:- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clear-for-action/id904489987?ls=1&mt=8
Google Play Link:- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Lanyard.Pirateer

Visit http://www.prespondek.com for more information about Clear for Action, including videos and screenshots.

Competition for a game. Free entry, $10k prizepool, legal?

Hi guys,

We are thinking about promoting a competition to help launch our mobile game.
The prizepool will be ~$10,000 USD and it will be free to enter.
It will be available worldwide and the winner will be paid through PayPal.

The winners will be decided based on skill - how well they score in our game.
We will verify results through Apple's Game Center.

My question is:
[B]Is this legal and are there any fees/forms/certificates I need to attain to promote this competition?[/B]

Thanks!

Short survey on game development outsourcing

Hi everyone!

I've been browsing Tsumea for a while, just haven't had the need to un-lurk. Have enjoyed some the discussions here. =) I'm currently part of the Founder Institute program for tech entrepreneurs, and am looking into developing an idea that would facilitate outsourcing of game development.

Would you guys be so kind as to help me out by doing this short survey for me to understand more about games outsourcing? https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2FZFWYK

Thank you very much!

Are these forums dead?

Hello all,
Hope I'm wrong, but skimming over the last entry dates on all the forums.......well......it doesn't look healthy.
Is the pulse here slowing?
Cheers for input.

Submitted by Kezza on Tue, 16/07/13 - 1:19 AMPermalink

Pretty much.
Had them subscribed for ages via RSS and haven't heard a peep.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 16/07/13 - 8:06 PMPermalink

You could say we've had a pretty good run, though. I remember migrating the database over to a new CMS and seeing how frequent forum posts used to be in the site's heyday. It really was quite a lot more active. I'm sure some of the old regulars like Kezza can attest to that.

I think a lot of niche and small websites like tsumea have found their visitors slowly migrate over to social websites (Reddit) and services (Facebook, Twitter etc) over the years. I've been contemplating on what to do with the site - either shut it down or re-focus on a few specific core areas (I've chosen the latter and have been working on some things for what seems like ages now). If that doesn't really do much to provide usefulness to local games developers, however, it might be an idea to send this ship out to sea.

Submitted by bugfush on Wed, 17/07/13 - 12:45 PMPermalink

I don't think you should shut down the website down though, it's a good location in order to find news of what's going on with the Australian games industry scene, plus you see a lot more Australian specific games job listings that are more current and relevant than say on GDAA. Plus the database of developers does help a lot in terms of keeping track of who's around and who's doing what. Basically, don't shut the site down, it's good! :)

Submitted by MackDavi Studios on Wed, 17/07/13 - 4:22 PMPermalink

I like your idea of refocusing the scope of the forums to specific areas, and agree with bugfush on saying it is good having something more for australia/NZ around.
I'd love to see it grow into something more, what exactly I'm not sure tho.

Submitted by Angel on Tue, 06/08/13 - 2:10 AMPermalink

...wow, it's been forever since I poked my nose in around here.. but I really owe my beginnings to some of the people that frequented these forums 'back in the day' - I'm now working on the new Mirror's Edge at DICE in Sweden.. and it all started out with some very humble attempts to learn about the industry here :) I wish I could do something to give back and put some life back into this forum to encourage other aussies down the same path.

Submitted by Wolf (not verified) on Tue, 20/08/13 - 12:43 PMPermalink

It's sad to see the site go!

Tsumea was where I went to find a list of companies to apply to, after finishing at the AIE in Canberra 8 years ago, and has been a staple read from before and since then.
Obviously, the industry has been hit from all sides in Australia over the last 5 years or so, and that surely takes its toll.

Souri, good luck with future projects, thanks for all the hard work over the years, we all look forward to hearing more about your adventures in Unity!!

Submitted by souri on Tue, 20/08/13 - 3:13 PMPermalink

In the blog post that I made previously, I outlined my plans with the site so that it can continue without me spending my time on it all day, everyday. So, we're not exactly shutting down the site, but it is going on automatic mode where people can submit their own news and jobs etc. People should still be able to find jobs and our listing of developers and services here and hopefully find talent here for their projects, but the days of me doing all the daily news writing, continual site maintenance, upgrades, research and development, and in the last year building new features and applications, are over. Web development was never my passion and I'd rather be sinking my time and efforts on something I love (and miss) doing, just like all you guys. Art and games!

Submitted by AndrewTT (not verified) on Tue, 20/08/13 - 4:21 PMPermalink

Have you thought about handing the reigns to someone else?

Submitted by Wolf (not verified) on Fri, 23/08/13 - 12:49 PMPermalink

Ah, yes, actually I read that post, and still managed to make it sound like Tsumea was going to disappear, even though I know it isn't :P
Sorry about that!

Good luck with everything, games development is the best :)

Submitted by Darksai13 on Fri, 09/09/16 - 10:47 AMPermalink

People may still check out the site some time later so it wouldn't hurt to keep using it passively and see who may be interested in utilising it for a small community or users.

Can someone please help me to make my first propper game?

hi im new to game designing, ive worked with simple game making software like gamemaker but thats it, could somebody please help me out?

Submitted by pgiang on Thu, 20/06/13 - 3:26 PMPermalink

Hi siir65,

There are many game engines out there for you to get started, but I'll just name two that I really know well. If you want to make mobile games, Unity or Unity3d are good programs for that. The main difference is that Unity is for free and Unity 3d charges a fee. If you want to build a Console/PC game, Unreal Development kit (UDK) is a good tool for that, however you can still build it for mobile devices.

My advice to you is, if you want to build your "first proper game" have a lot of patience. When I first got my hands on these game programs, I got so excited to build my first game that I rushed it so I can play it. I can tell you that I never finished it because I skipped some tutorials I thought weren't necessary and I thought it was wasting my time, later on it was hard for me to move onto the advance stuff.

Learning how to program can unlock UDK's and Unity's full potential, so go pick up a C# book(for Unity) or watch/read internet resources about unreal Script. Making your first game can be your biggest hurdle, but once you get over it the ride becomes much smoother.

Good luck

Submitted by souri on Thu, 20/06/13 - 4:35 PMPermalink

If you haven't read it already, I do highly recommend reading our article on making games without programming:

http://www.tsumea.com/articles/150413/making-games-without-programming

So if you want to make games without investing some serious time and jumping head-in into c# programming / UnrealScripting, then some of the programs/add-ons mentioned in that article will make your games-making progress much, much easier.

Submitted by Twisted Shield… on Wed, 13/11/13 - 6:30 PMPermalink

Hey siir65,

Firstly, it's great to see that you want to get into games development!

If you've had experience with Game Maker then you're already on your way to making your first game! Although some people tend to look down on Game Maker, I think it's a great place to start. I've heard 100 times that "your first 10 games will suck, so get them out of the way quickly". Although this might not be entirely true for everyone, making a handful of small, simple games will really teach you a lot about the processes of making a game, all the small details that can often be overlooked or taken for granted, and the importance of scope. You won't be able to build your dream game as your first project, but that doesn't mean you can't spend some time making a small 5-minute game the best it can be. You'll have a quick turn around time, and a solid base to start building your portfolio and collaborating with other developers. If Unity/UDK seem a little intimidating, stick with Game Maker until you feel comfortable making the switch, and once you understand more about what it takes to build a game (other than just art and code), you'll be on your way to start moving up to bigger projects.

Oh, and if you ever get stuck on a project, never be afraid to ask the community for help! We have an awesome game dev community here in Australia, and you'll quickly find that a lot of people are happy to give you a few minutes of their time to help you overcome problems that we've probably all faced in the past! :)

Edit: I just noticed that this thread is about 5 months old, haha! Hopefully the new changes to Tsumea will awaken the forums again! :)

Indie Developers

Hi all,

Seems very quiet here but hopefully I will get a response. I am wondering if there are any active Indie developers situated on the Gold Coast QLD? I've found some in Brisbane but none on the GC. Thanks in advance for any replies.

Rhino.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 12/03/13 - 1:40 PMPermalink

The Binary Mill (developers behind the awesome Mini Motor Racing) are located on the Gold Coast.

http://www.thebinarymill.com

There's also N3V Games who are doing some cool stuff on mobile...

http://n3vgames.com

Bitfrost Studios are said to have set up on the Gold Coast from mid 2012...

http://www.valhallastudiosbifrost.com.au/learn/valhalla-overview

There's also 2 Dudez, although they've been fairly quiet lately.

http://www.2dudezstudios.com

Submitted by rhinotones on Tue, 12/03/13 - 3:52 PMPermalink

Thank you souri for the links , they are very much appreciated.

Also thank you Paul for the link to your business site also.

I'm trying to find out what's a smart way to get into the gaming industry. I've a huge passion for games and have created a couple of board game concepts as well as currently designing a MMORPG (on paper). I have no qualifications though and was hoping for some suggestions from industry experts on a good path to follow. I'm currently looking into courses and have downloaded a few programs to get familiar with including Blender, Unity, and Visual C# 2010

Cheers all.

Rhino.

New forum for Aussie indie game developers to share and collaborate

Hey guys, I've recently setup a simple forum for aussie indie developers to share and collaborate on development projects. I've been testing it with a small group of uni graduates from QUT and would now like to open it up to everyone. I'd love for you to join us and post what your working on, and see what others are working on. www.agdforum.com

Coder wanted for game dev fun!!!

Hey, I am a games artist looking for a coder for some side project game dev fun! I have a few game ideas in mind but I am also open to game ideas.

I work fulltime at a small games company but would like to focus my spare time on a side project (something I am more passionate about)

I am competent in both 2d and 3d but I am definitely a retro fan and would prefer to do a 2D game.

I'd like to work with some one fun, cool and easy going, not too easy going as I want to see this game done :)

Also I would prefer to work with someone on the Gold Coast as this would make it a lot easier to discuss and exchange ideas, however if I am convinced that we can maintain good communication via correspondence then I dont mind.

Hit me up if you're keen!

jonathan.j.chua@gmail.com

Masaya Matsuura at the Sydney Opera House for Graphic August 2012

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to let you know about an event that is happening in August at the Opera House. I'm going to be doing a session with legendary games designer Masaya Matsuura as part of the Graphic Festival 2011. He is going to be showing brand new games and talking about his classic titles, such as Parappa the Rapper, Vib Ribbon and more. If you could get the word out to your members, that would be great. We really want to make Matsuura-san feel welcome, as this is his first time in Australia! You can find the details of the event here: http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/whatson/good_game.aspx?start=yes

If you have any idea about other people in Sydney I might be able to contact to raise awareness about the event, I'd love to hear about them.

-David

Iron Helmet Games looking for 2d Art

Hi all,

We are looking for some local Australian artists to help illustrate our next online web strategy game. We have used overseas freelance artists in the past but would really like to work with locals.

For those of you who have never heard of us, we launched our first game Neptune's Pride a little over a year ago and recently won several awards. PC Gamer UK named it Web game of the year and EDGE magazine awarded us runner up to Indie Game of the Year. (How can you compete with Minecraft!) We also received and honorable mention in the IGF at GDC this year.

Our second game Blight of the Immortals is nearly done and we have started doing some early planning on our third.

If you're interested, or have any mates your think might be interested, please get in touch.

jay@jaykyburz.com

The 48 Hour Project

Hey Everybody,

I've come to tell you about our project, the 48 Hour Project and how we want YOU to get involved

The 48 Hour Game project is an experimental development project that has been started by Anomalous Interactive in Melbourne. We will be creating a full release iOS game over a series of 48 hour challenges. So if you know what goes on with the 48 hour game competitions, we are taking that concept of being shut up in a room for 48 hour straight hours developing and using that as a development cycle for our major project of the year.

We've formed a team of IGDA Melbourne members who will be working directly on the project with us but we want as many people to get involved as possible!

We have a website up at www.anomalousinteractive.com/48hour.html that will soon become a hub for our project's community. We will have forums set up soon where we want YOU to get involved and tell us EXACTLY what you want to see us develop.

So if you think of the competitions, where at the start all the contestants begin with a given theme, well we want anyone whos interested in what we are doing to help us work out our theme.

So check the website out and stay tuned for updates.

You can also follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/48hoursProject or Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-48-Hour-Project/191610540870585

or shoot us an email at 48hours@anomalousinteractive.com

Cheers!

~ Ryan Keable

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 10/03/11 - 2:55 PMPermalink

Because the website isn't fully operational yet, we can start to post our own ideas and themes here in this thread for discussion.

Currently, on an overall level I think we should keep the scale small and make the game work on a 2D level. 2D plane and interactions; side scrolling or top down.

We can still use 3D art we will just export 3D models out as single images or multiple to make animations.

What would you guys like to see done?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 10/03/11 - 3:17 PMPermalink

I recently did a 24 hour game jam set up by Harry Lee who was at the global game jam as well. We came up with this unity game I'm pretty proud of, Carniverse, which of course was in 3d.
http://toeofdoom.com/carnivale/

So theres no reason to get attached to doing a 2d style game at this point, unity and a number of other engines support quick prototyping for 3d gameplay.

That said, theres nothing to say we can't use 2d style either, though I'm going to recommend against using a 2d style with sprites exported from 3d programs. If you have the geometry, use it.

Theres so many good ways of using lighting and economic re-texturing with 3d that unless we're using a dedicated 2d engine and art-style (which I'm all for, 2d fighters are one of my favorites) that theres really no point in not using 3d geometry in engine, if your going to go to the trouble of making it.

~Kai

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 11/03/11 - 11:08 AMPermalink

Well currently we are looking at using the Shiva 3D engine because it is far more cheaper for iOS dev than unity. It will also enable us to make 2D games the same way Unity does.

the main problem I for-see with 3D dev is that so much more work will be needed in order to get it to operate functionally, especially given that rendering any sort of 3D game on an iOS platform has a lot of frame rate restrictions. And we also don't yet know just how capable Shiva is.

Going for a 2D style with 3D sprites simply enables some of the artists involved on the project to exercise their 3D skills, not because its the most optimal way haha.

However with a theme and game concept we should have a better idea as to which technical direction we will take the project.

heres one of my theme words: lost socks.

your objective in the game is to match lost socks lost in a space vacuum at the back of a drier/washing machine.

~ RyanK

Gnomon third annual online Master Class event

Hi Every body Gnomon will be holding there third master class for there online workshop.I put together the line-up in the fall and I honestly can't wait to watch the lectures that the artists will be putting together! This is a wonderful opportunity for us all to learn from some exceptionally talented and experienced artists including Vitaly Bulgarov (Blizzard), Jeremy Engleman (Dreamworks), Neil Huxley (Digital Domain), artists from Weta Workshop (Scott, David and Paul), ILM (Grzegorz Jonkajtys), and many more. Just too cool. There is so much to learn from their collective creativity, work experience and technique!.So check it out at http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/.

Ta

Looking for some zombie art

Ok, so I'm not sure if I'm allowed post this here, am I? I guess you'll tell me.

I've made a zombie game, it's pretty basic, turn based, small hexes, they contain either some background, a wall, the player, a zombie or the exit.

I'm pretty pov at art (the game currently operates on flat colours), so I'm trying to find someone who doesn't mind pointing me at some nice looking zombies / backgrounds that will fit (tile) in hexes

It's an open source, free game which I'm currently porting to android, so I don't have a budget or anything, but I'd be more than happy to make a credits screen and put whatever you want there

vgprices.com - The new gamer website to find the best game prices

Hi everyone!

We are unofficially launching our new website this saturday.
You can visit us here: www.vgprices.com

The goal of our website is simple: to provide all gamers with a tool to find the best prices for their games.
We are tired of people paying too much for their games, and we are tired of casual gamers and parents being unaware of where to shop.

We are contacting Kotaku AU and IGN AU and hopefully they run a story on us soon.

As time goes on, we will add new features to the site to save you even more money.

If you like what you see, please tell anyone you think would be interested.
The more support we get, the more savings everyone will have.

See you online!
VGPrices.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 17/12/10 - 10:49 PMPermalink

Hey again everyone.

We have updated the site, and added new features.

The last Top Ten of the year has the coolest 10 games of 2010.
Our new feature is Specials. You can now browse through the specials on offer from 11 different game retailers.

Don't forget to spread the word of the site, the more support we get means the cheaper prices for you!

Cheers,
VGP

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 21/12/10 - 11:43 AMPermalink

great idea. I generally use cdwow.com.au for most games or import from the uk. A quick test for alan wake on xbox 360 was marked $59.94 as the cheapest on your site but was $29.95 on cdwow maybe you would think of adding it and other smaller online retailers to your site eventually

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 26/12/10 - 4:27 PMPermalink

Thanks for the tip, we will add cdwow to our list of retailers.

Don't forget that we list in-store and online prices, so the $59.94 price you saw was the in-store price.

Cheers,
VGP