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Industry and Education

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If it's related to the games industry or education, it goes in here!

3D Studio Max lectures in Melbourne & Adelaide

Sourced from http://www.maxunderground.com/mu/news.php3?mode=read&key=3036

U.S. author and animator Michele Bousquet is coming to Adelaide and Melbourne, Australia in January 2003 to present a one-day class in each city in the essentials of low-poly modeling and animation. This class will focus on the tools you need to know to create and animate characters quickly and easily. Some models are easier to animate than others: this class will cover how to create models that are easy to skin and animate, avoiding difficulties with hips and shoulders that are so common with low-poly models. You'll also learn to model low-poly clothing, faces and hair with these same techniques.

Then Michele will demonstrate how to create a simple character rig for your model, which you'll use to make the character walk and move around. After that, she'll show you how to make a more complex rig that takes longer to set up, but makes character animation fast and easy.

This class will use Michele's book Little Book of Low Poly Modeling as the curriculum. This book is included in the cost of the class.

This is an advanced class that will move quickly. Some experience with 3ds max 4 or 5 is required. The class is taught with 3ds max 5. Most of the techniques you'll learn in the class can also be used with 3ds max 4.

Michele Bousquet is an experienced instructor with several years of 3ds max training behind her. She has authored several books on 3ds max, including Mastering the Art of Production with 3ds max 4 and Harnessing 3D Studio MAX R3. Students and readers have often commented on her clear, easy-to-follow style that teaches the essentials without confusing with complexities. Michele is currently a technical writer for Discreet.

ADELAIDE
Date of class: Tuesday, January 14, 2003, 9:00am - 5:30pm
Location: Mad Academy, Studio 1, Greater Union Centre, 128 Hindley Street
Cost: AUS $450
To Register: Contact Mad Academy, 08 8221 5816 or michael@truelife.com.au

MELBOURNE
Date of class: Saturday, January 18, 2003, 9:30am - 6:00pm
Location: Swinburne University, John St., Hawthorn
Cost: AUS $450
To Register: Contact Multi-CAD Magazine, 07 3801 2408 or info@multi-cad.com

Submitted by Daemin on Mon, 30/12/02 - 9:20 AMPermalink

Adelaide on my birthday, although I'm not even an artist... oh well.

Submitted by Caol on Mon, 13/01/03 - 4:40 AMPermalink

y is it $450????????
i dont have that kind of money... just get a good tutorial

Submitted by souri on Tue, 14/01/03 - 9:55 AMPermalink

You *DO* get a book with that.. [;)] Actually, I wonder what type of people would pay for an expensive tutorial like that too. Students are poor, and modellers in the industry would know their stuff already... maybe those level designers in the biz want to broaden their horizons, perhaps? [:)]

Small Grand Prix Challenge review

Ok, as I mentioned on the front page, I did manage to get a chance to play Infogrames Melbourne House's Grand Prix Challenge!! GPC is out already in Europe, and I think it comes out in Australia in March 2003.
First off, I had a fair few races in the 'quick race' mode, so unfortunately I can't tell you anything about the career or other game play modes (so yes, this can be hardly called a 'review' of what the game has to offer..). 'Quick race' lets you jump right into the game, and since I didn't want to totally get left behind by the AI drivers, I chose to play as a beginner as well. With these options chosen, I can bump off walls/other vehicles and not get any damage. [:)]
I played a fair few of the tracks (around half of them are locked), and if I were a grand prix freak, I would be able to vouch for their authenticity in terms of looks etc, but I can't because I'm not.. [:)] The first thing that struck me were the formula 1 vehicle models - they looked *GREAT*!!.. The GPC website mention that there are "more than 17,000 polygons per car", and seeing how rounded, smooth, and detailed they looked, it's hard to imagine if they would look any better if another 1000 polygons were available. There sure were a lot of them on screen at tims as well... the website also has the blurb which says "Uparalleled next-generation graphics running 22 cars at a constant 60 frames per second.", and I can certainly vouch for that. There were no slow downs at all, even when things were pretty hectic with the number of cars on screen, with rain, and on some of the more detailed tracks.
Ok, on my first turn, I went in too fast, and slided in the grass. (I come from a history of 8-bit and 16 bit racing games like Pitstop, and Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge, and Arcade games like Outrun, where game usually lets you do the turn without braking [:)]). After a fair few goes of some serious sliding and wall crashing, I got the hang of how to handle the car, and yes, once you get used to it, the game is extremely fun to play [:)].. I did think that the analog joystick option was too senstive (I'm not sure if you can change this in the settings or not), so I prefered to control the car with the buttons instead. Eventually, I won a few of the races and managed to unlock a few tracks, like Monaco..
Now, I wanted to tell you about Monaco. It's a street track with the city of Monaco as the backdrop, and it looks damn nice too. It's a very impressive looking track, with lots and lots of buildings and details, with no noticable slow downs either.
Overall, I thought the art in Grand Prix Challenge was very good. I know there are two other Grand Prix type games on the market - Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 4, and Electronic Art's F1 2002... Graphically, GPC floors F1 2002, and is up there or even better than Grand Prix 4 in terms of looks. There are few screenshots of the infamous Monaco u-turn from F1 2002 here... http://www.gamespy.com/asp/image.asp?platform=PC&genre=sports&image=/re… .. I'd love to find a screen shot of Melbourne House's game at the exact same turn so you can compare it, but I can tell you now that GPC looks a hundred times better. Incidently, for the rest of the screenshots and article on F1 2002, go here http://www.gamespy.com/reviews/december02/f12002pc/index2.shtml .
Oh, one final thing I can comment about were the rain effects.. GPC does them nicely. You get the barrage of rain falling on the track of course, and also rain drops appearing on your screen. It would have been nicer if the rain drops dripped down or something similar to Metal Gear Solid 2 where Snake submerges from water, but I guess you DO want to see where you're going. [;)] The vehicles bring up a spray of water, although someone mentioned they looked a bit too much like white clouds. Also when the cars are reflected on the road, it was also noted that sometimes the reflection seemed a bit lower than it should be - giving the impression that the car was floating a little.
When it isn't raining however, the road lightens upon reflection of the sun which most of you would have seen from games like Gran Turismo.. it's a nice effect.
Because I played only in beginners mode, I can't say anything about the AI (although I did manage to crash into a wall, with the other cars getting stuck into me from behind, so I was neither able to drive forward and out of the crash, or go in reverse), and I'm not sure what else to add, other than the art was very nice, and the game was very enjoyable to play.. I had fun! [:I]

Tantalus AGDC 2002 Press Release

Media Release: AGDC 6 December 2002
For Immediate Release:

Tantalus Announces Game Boy Advance Line-Up

Melbourne based video game developer Tantalus Interactive today announced an exciting line-up of four new titles for Nintendo?s Game Boy Advance (GBA). Established in 1994, Tantalus has released over fifteen games, and is regarded as one of Australia?s leading developers.

Tantalus CEO Tom Crago said today, ?we?re delighted to be able to confirm that early next year with our publishers Kemco we will be releasing Top Gear Rally on Game Boy Advance. The ?Top Gear? brand is well revered and it?s a great coup that we?ve landed this deal. Our aim is to make it the best game in its genre on the GBA? Last month Tantalus released another GBA title with Japan based Kemco. Woody Woodpecker in Crazy Castle 5, utilizing another high profile license, has sold strongly in both Europe and Japan. The game is released in America in the New Year and is notable for its massive scope and gameplay variety.

Along with Top Gear Rally, Tantalus also plans to ship The Flintstones: Dino to the Rescue some time early in 2003. A groundbreaking platformer, Dino will be published in partnership with German company Swing. Add to the list the 2002 GBA release of ATV Quad Power Racing, and it?s easy to see why Crago claims that Tantalus is one of Australia?s most prolific development studios.

?I really believe that our GBA technology is among the best in the world. Our CRIS 3D engine provides lifelike environments and an incredible feature set. What we?re seeing is PlayStation quality on a handheld. I don?t think anyone could have predicted this when the GBA was first launched, and to see such world class technology developed here in Australia is obviously fantastic stuff.?

Crago was particularly enthusiastic about two original Tantalus GBA games, slated for release late in 2003. Anaka and Trick-Star are titles wholly conceived and developed by Tantalus. ?Every developer wants to create their own intellectual property,? said Crago, ?and with these titles we hope to launch two major brands on a gaming audience we feel is ready and willing to embrace this kind of new content. We want to establish a name for ourselves as a developer of original titles of the highest quality.?

Tantalus has also recently completed Men in Black 2: Alien Escape on Game Cube, and is in development on Tread Marks on PlayStation2.

Contact Information:

Tantalus Interactive
Tom Crago
www.tantalus.com.au
tom@tantalus.com.au
Ph: +61 9 9674 5979

AIMIA -

Okay the question is up in the air.

does anybody in the games industry know we exist ?

www.aimia.com.au

Austalian Interactive Multimedia Industry Association

Founded in 1992, AIMIA represents the views and needs of Australia's interactive media industry.

The actions of governments and consumer organisations can have a tremendous positive or negative effect on the environment in which your business operates.

There is strength and credibility in numbers. By being part of your industry association you help to make AIMIA a strong and credible force, able to make a positive impact for members at Government and industry levels.

Our strength has resulted in AIMIA being invited to advise governments on industry needs, and we have seen substantial results in the form of programs to stimulate supply and demand for interactive multimedia in Australia.

These programs have included federal and state funding to put AIMIA executive officers on the ground in four states, AusTrade subsidies for members to attend overseas trade fairs, the establishment of Australian Multimedia Enterprise (AME) which has invested in Australian multimedia projects, and the establishment of Cooperative Multimedia Centres (CMC's) to support multimedia education, research, and sharing of resources in five states.
----------------------

____________________
Andrew Fitzsimon

Submitted by Meatex Salami on Wed, 18/12/02 - 7:06 PMPermalink

it depends what you mean by that exactly.
We do have a few members that works for houses like microforte and some others. (Souri would be able to answer this Q a lot better than me me)

It is infact ants who are the true rulers of this world!!!

Submitted by Blitz on Wed, 18/12/02 - 9:55 PMPermalink

This is the first i've heard.
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by souri on Thu, 19/12/02 - 12:10 AMPermalink

I've been a web designer/developer for years, and I have to admit that I didn't even know AIMIA existed [:)].. 'Interactive Multimedia' is a very, very broad term, and it yes, you can stretch game developement under that as well. However, looking at the AIMIA memberlist and website, it feels like the organisation is more focused towards design studios/internet developement and that industry.. There aren't any game studios in that memberlist either, except for Eyecon (who also do web developement), so I guess it would be a rather safe bet that not a lot of the students/developers/visitors on this site would know of AIMIA. A post at australianinfront.com.au is propbably more appropriate than a place like this, but if the AIMIA are planning to broaden their scope to cover game developement more, then I'd like to hear more [:)]

Submitted by Brain on Thu, 19/12/02 - 3:10 AMPermalink

Yep, know of AIMIA. Hosted a few conferences and such up Brisbane way (like the 3DSMAX 4 launch). Was considering joining up, but the rest of life took over.

I heard of it via QANTM. If I remember correctly, we had a fair few employment opportunities passed on to us via you.

Chris Bowden
http://brain.gamekey.com/

Submitted by AndyFitz on Thu, 19/12/02 - 7:38 AMPermalink

I agree with you interactive multimedia is a broad term, In-fact at one stage there were considerations to shift AIMIA?s approach to solely web developers.

However most of the members and industry authorities within AIMIA work with as many, if not more software development companies than they do animation and graphic design studios.

Krome and Auran are a long standing corporate members of AIMIA and continue to work with AIMIA to cross promote their work as well as the industry itself.

I wouldn?t say AIMIA is totally game focused due to the majority of its members being in e-commerce e-learning etc.

The closest buzz is our interest in web based gaming. ( director, flash, java etc )
That?s something I?d like to keep an eye on because of its potential to be one of the only game?orientated platforms that will produce reasonable returns independently within the Australian economy

____________________
Andrew Fitzsimon

Award for Outstanding Industry Contribution

So who exactly is Camille Wall, the person who won this award at the Australian Games Developer Conference? I know she's the Executive Assistant at Infogrames Melbourne House, but what things has she done? (I'm not debating her winning the category, I'm just very curious to find out more [:)])

Submitted by myrddian on Wed, 18/12/02 - 2:09 AMPermalink

She organised the PS2 devkit program, among one of the first things that came to my mind. I think she does another thing as well, her major stuff has been mostly the aid of several programs organised by the GDAA/V

I played poker with a Tarot deck the other night. I got a full house and four people died.

--Steven Wright.

Submitted by Gazunta on Wed, 18/12/02 - 9:41 AMPermalink

She also worked at Melbourne House / Beam Software well before it got bought out by Infogrames. Nice person by all accounts (she worked in the same office as the one I telecommuted to every day) :)

The Business of Being a Startup

Responses and thoughts about this article here! http://www.sumea.com.au/sart2StartupAGDC.asp

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Tue, 17/12/02 - 11:35 PMPermalink

That article was a good read. It seems a rather daunting task to start your own dev company, but if thats what you want to do its certainly helpful to know what youll be getting yourself into. Its good to know you can get support from the government.

Lead paint: delicious but deadly!

GDAA Student Membership

Just to let everyone know that the GDAA is now taking student members.
It's $11 a year for students. An application came in each bag at the GDC. I have looked at their website and can not find an application form. Might be worth an email if your interested.

http://www.gdaa.asn.au/

"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002

Submitted by souri on Thu, 12/12/02 - 7:27 AMPermalink

Can you type up some more info about this from the application? I'd like to post this on the main page (or you can do it if you like).. the GDAA website has nothing on it, unfortunately..

Submitted by Jacana on Thu, 12/12/02 - 7:50 AMPermalink

I would... but I sent off my application *grin*
I couldn't pass up the $11 membership fee.

I know there are a few others out there who might be able to supply you with more details.

"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002

Submitted by Daemin on Thu, 12/12/02 - 9:00 AMPermalink

I think you can always join the GDAA, its just that they put in the applications into each satchel just in case. Somehow I don't think the GDAA website is very well updated / maintained.

Damnit I need more cash to join all these organisations etc.

Submitted by Jacana on Thu, 12/12/02 - 9:13 AMPermalink

AFAIK the student membership is fairly new.

My understanding what that IGDA was trying to pull in some of the Aussie studios but they were not keen on jumping into the IGDA. So there was talks earlier this year about trying to open up the GDAA to students.

It is good to see that they have. Now to find out what it is that they can help students with :)

"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002

Submitted by Daemin on Thu, 12/12/02 - 9:29 AMPermalink

Let's hope it makes us more employable :-)

That would almost be enough, and if not that then to allow us to start another indie studio, as that would give back to them when we have to pay the full price :-)

Tito at AGDC 2002

I noticed in one of the pictures it has David Coen in it :)

"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002

Submitted by souri on Thu, 12/12/02 - 1:03 AMPermalink

Which one was he in? [:)]

Submitted by Jacana on Thu, 12/12/02 - 1:50 AMPermalink

Its the third picture down - ADGC Best Unsigned Games
Facing toward the camera - he's on the left at the front pc

"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002

Chat about the AGDC here

Just a sticky thread for those who have been to the AGDC to chat and tell us all about it!!

Submitted by souri on Fri, 06/12/02 - 12:04 PMPermalink

Oh, and I'm curious as to what Auran's announcement is as well, so if any of you find out, post it in here too please. [8D]

Submitted by Jacana on Sat, 07/12/02 - 9:45 AMPermalink

Hey :)

Day one has finished and what a blast! Managed to meet up with some of the Sumea people today!
So far we all look to be having a great time. The talks have been wonderful.
Ray Muzyka had a great presentation for NWN as well as Adam Lancman with "Lessons I have Learnt"

The party went well - too bad the weather did not decide to follow.

-Jacana

"I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear"

Submitted by Jacana on Sun, 08/12/02 - 7:40 AMPermalink

Today was a blast :) Too bad most people were hungover from last night and missed the first talk of the morning. Battlefield 1942. Today seemed to spread people out a bit more then yesterday (interest areas).

We caught up with Blitz today - and I didn't get a picture! Sorry Blitz!

Today was a great learning day for me. Talking with people and asking questions about what they look for in hiring people, about how to approach people, and other little tidbits.

"I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear"

Submitted by Blitz on Sun, 08/12/02 - 10:19 AMPermalink

Today (the only day i can afford) was great. Starting with the talk about how refraction games and then DICE have evolved, and some of the issues getting a publisher, meeting milestones, etc. was great. There was some very fun movies in there that had most of the audience laughing heartily.

Afterwards i went to the "How to get into the game industry" talk, which ended up being pretty much a promotional for the AIE's Cert4 3D/animation course. Talked about the assignments completed throughout the year, goals of the course etc. Not so interesting for me from a programming POV :)

After that i meant to go to the MMOG design talk, but got my numbers mixed up and wandered into the Flexible Game Engine talk instead, which was quite packed. It was a really good overview of whys, and a few hows, you should implement an engine that will be easily exchangeable between various platforms (he mainly compared consoles). Also talked about certain differences/constraints between consoles that have affected their development.

Lunch time, wandered round the expo, checked out some of the unsigned games although didn't really get a chance to play them. Wandered over to the auran booth to find out what their "big announcement" was. Check http://www.nextyearsgame.com for the answer. Played some xbox, then back to the talks.

Tales from the frontline was changed to Designing for a License at the last minute, quite interesting, advantages and disadvantages of designing for a license. Oh, and we got minties!

Lastly i went to the making of hail. Reasonable presentation on what went into the game, although it was a bit unorganised :) (Due to spending time on Hail instead of the presentation). Well done to the guys and girls who worked on that.

The arvo keynote was interestingly a rallying cry to the world of game development. It's hard to expand on that, but basically the talk was about differences between games and other entertainment media, why games aren't as popular etc.

All in all a great day. Hope to be there again next year!
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Jacana on Mon, 09/12/02 - 12:59 PMPermalink

I did not keep a list so I am going off memory!

Career Achievement Award -
Adam Lancman

Award for Outstanding Innovation -
Micro Forte Big World Technology

Award for Best New Start-Up -
Evolution Games (released Rocket Power: Beach Bandits for the Gamecube - Sept 02)

Award for Outstanding Industry Contribution -
Camille Wall

Award for Best Game of 2002 -
Grand Prix Challenge (Infogrames Melbourne House)

Award for Best Game for PC -
Freedom Force (Irrational Games)

Award for Best Game for Next Generation Consoles -
Grand Prix Challenge (Infogrames Melbourne House)

Award for Best Game for Game Boy Advance -
Duke Nukem Advance (Torus)

Award for Best Character Design -
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger (Krome Studios)

Award for Best Game Audio -
Grand Prix Challenge (Infogrames Melbourne House)

Award for Best Game Design -
Freedom Force (Irrational Games)

Award for Best Level Design -
Hotwheels Bash Arena (Micro Forte)

Award for Best Unsigned Game -
Wicked Witch (did not get game title)

"I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear"

Submitted by Daemin on Mon, 09/12/02 - 8:21 PMPermalink

Erg, its too early in the morning to talk about how good the conference was, I am just back in Adelaide now and trying to recover after 5 days of very little sleep.

Jacana should be able to post some interesting pictures of the people that we met, and when I get the roll of film finished I will travel up to a friends place and get them scanned in as well.

Meanwhile I'll just sit here idly thinking about stuff, trying to remmeber more stuff, and thinking about what kind of articles I should write. I've already written up a summary on paper of the stuff that I did during the three days, but I don't know if that interesting enough to put up here. What do you think Souri and Jacana (Or should I call you Cheryl ?)

Submitted by Jacana on Mon, 09/12/02 - 8:43 PMPermalink

Actually a fair amount of my pics came out blurry :(
I was told that I should not need the flash inside the lighted areas but really needed it.

Most of the keynote speaches were over exposed and blurry :( As well as a few "fun" pictures.

One of the two pics I took of the group with Lars and Ray came out while the pics of me with them did not.

We need to work out how to consolidate all the pictures :)

"I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear"

Submitted by Daemin on Mon, 09/12/02 - 10:13 PMPermalink

Heh, let's hope we can use enough of the Photoshop "Sharpen" filter to fix those pictures. And I hope mine did not turn out blurry either.

Hrm, need sleep...

Also just like to mention the people that I saw there on at least one day from the site at least:

Me(Daemin)
Jacana
Blitz
BradB (Tycom)
AndrewM (Tycom)
David Coen

Also a bunch of guys from Melbourne Uni, and also a bunch of Guiys from the AIE.

BTW Congrats Jacana and (possibly) Blitz on getting into 2nd year of the AIE course next year :-), there's better be some damn cool games created.

Submitted by Jacana on Tue, 10/12/02 - 1:51 AMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Daemin

Heh, let's hope we can use enough of the Photoshop "Sharpen" filter to fix those pictures. And I hope mine did not turn out blurry either.

BTW Congrats Jacana and (possibly) Blitz on getting into 2nd year of the AIE course next year :-), there's better be some damn cool games created.

I will get the photos up soon. I have been a total bum today! Sleep is good :)

I was actually accepted into 1st year of the course (not 2nd). I have only programming with C++ for about two weeks now, so there is still a lot left to learn.

*update* Here are some photos:
http://au.photos.yahoo.com/jacana_s

Those were the best looking ones of the lot :) Most were blurry!!

"Yes I Code"

Submitted by Daemin on Tue, 10/12/02 - 3:43 AMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Jacana
"Yes I Code"

That's a classic :-)

Yeah, I've just woken up again for the second time today (not counting the numerous times on the train).

quote:Originally posted by Jacana
I was actually accepted into 1st year of the course (not 2nd). I have only programming with C++ for about two weeks now, so there is still a lot left to learn.

Ahh, well then, we may see each other again in another year's time if I end up going to the AIE. Still, you got in, and that's what counts in a way.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 10/12/02 - 5:51 AMPermalink

Actually, Jacana, were you the female programmer who requested a journal a while ago?.. I've had a couple of requests for a Programmer section (like the modeller, 2d artist, mapper sections), so I might put one up if there is a demand for it.

Submitted by Jacana on Tue, 10/12/02 - 6:43 AMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Souri

Actually, Jacana, were you the female programmer who requested a journal a while ago?.. I've had a couple of requests for a Programmer section (like the modeller, 2d artist, mapper sections), so I might put one up if there is a demand for it.

Yup :) That was me. I totally forgot about that.... :) I think it was more that I thought maybe there was super special "hidden" areas of the site that I needed to login to view...

A side note - The shirt I picked up on Sunday was just fine :) (you'll know what I mean)

"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002

Submitted by Daemin on Tue, 10/12/02 - 9:22 AMPermalink

Hrm, yeah, I would also like to see a programmer section to be added to the existing Art-Heavy secitons. I'm sure some of us can contribute articles and such to it.

(Jacana - hehe now you can just walk into their offices and into the lead programmers room and ask for a job :-)

Submitted by Blitz on Tue, 10/12/02 - 12:09 PMPermalink

I wouldn't mind seeing a section where programmers could post .plan files and stuff like that...
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by souri on Tue, 10/12/02 - 12:36 PMPermalink

Ok, I'll put up a programmers section in a couple of days.. I hope some of you guys will help out with the links and programmer related news there sometimes.. [:)]
Curious - what were Ratbag up to? Did anyone get to see anything of Ikon or Ratbags other secret titles? (they're very quiet!).. thanks for the AGDC awards results Jacana.. I've chucked them up on the Sumea Developer Awards page... if anyone knows what the Wicked Witch game was, let me know!... and hey, didn't Grand Prix Challenge really clean up there [:)]...

I found this comment at Slashdot from the AGDC topic.. http://slashdot.org/articles/02/12/09/0126222.shtml?tid=127 .. pretty interesting.. [:)]

quote:The most striking fact from the conference was examining the behaviour of different programming houses. Infogrammes (Melbourne House) were so big, that they didn't care about anyone else, so they always clustered together. It took a bit of effort to isolate a few of their developers to have a serious 1-1 talk. Ratbag developers seemed like the most compotent of the lot - they know their stuff, and are hungry for success. Watch out for these guys. MicroForte were the loudest at the party, they know how to have a good time. I felt sorry for one of the houses (who I will not name), they were like 'we will code games for food, give us a project, any project'.
Submitted by Jacana on Tue, 10/12/02 - 8:15 PMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Souri

Ok, I'll put up a programmers section in a couple of days.. I hope some of you guys will help out with the links and programmer related news there sometimes.. [:)]

I have a fair few links :) Would be happy to supply you with a very long list.

quote: Curious - what were Ratbag up to? Did anyone get to see anything of Ikon or Ratbags other secret titles? (they're very quiet!)..

I did not talk to too many local devs (see response later) but I know Dave talked with Ratbag and sat with them for the Alien Infestation dinner.

quote:thanks for the AGDC awards results Jacana.. I've chucked them up on the Sumea Developer Awards page... if anyone knows what the Wicked Witch game was, let me know!... and hey, didn't Grand Prix Challenge really clean up there [:)]...

No problem :) I hope I got them all correct *grin* Infogrames did very well this year. There was a short demo of the game in one of the talks and it looked good. They have a title to be proud of.

quote:I found this comment at Slashdot from the AGDC topic.. http://slashdot.org/articles/02/12/09/0126222.shtml?tid=127 .. pretty interesting.. [:)]

Interesting you should notice that Souri. I made a similar comment in an email to you.
I honestly found most of the international speakers easier to talk to the those already involved in the Australian community. I found a fair few studios were keeping into groups of their own house - and that?s a bit intimidating to break into a group of six or so people.

When you keep to your own you miss a lot. There was a wealth of knowledge there over the weekend and I tried to take in as much of it as I could. Not just from the talks but from the people. I really apprecaited that after the last talk of the conference Derek from Mirco Forte (Xbox project) talked with a few of us for good hour. He missed the closing keynote as did we. But in that hour there was a lot of knowledge to be had.

Also when you keep to your own you can miss out on a lot of experiences. I ended up in a talk sitting next to Lars Gustavsson. I had talked to him earlier that day about a few topics and I guess that made me a familiar face in the crowd. So when he walked into the room he then saw a familiar face. While that may not be a big thing to others as a student I apprecaited that. I took that as a sign that I had not made a total fool out of myself :)

With the experience I had this year I would be more inclined to talk with international dev's and give them my work. The down side of this would mean that local talent would then be going overseas to work.

"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002

Submitted by Daemin on Tue, 10/12/02 - 10:51 PMPermalink

Erm, well from what I know only a small contingent from Ratbag were at the conference, and that was due to the other team (s?) having a milestone that they had to get done. Ikon as so far as I know is a game where you drive around and shoot things, sor of in that Genre, but they have not released anything yet. (Maybe they don't want to pull something like Duke Nukem Forever has done). Also the Ratbag guys were the most drunk on the friday night party I'd say, they partied a lot, I heard that they were at the Barcode club till 2am on saturday night after the dinner. ;-)

As for the Indie Game that won it was "Melodie Mars", a music shooter I believe it was described. So you could score points by shooting, and also by doing something with music (although I didn't have my headphones on etc), you could also walk on any surface and fly etc so it was quite innovative. There were some other interesting games there, I think Pax Galactica has some merit, and could be a great game but it still needs some work on it to get the interface and the "World" integrated into one application. Pyzzle was a myst clone using python as the programming language, which I think is a good idea instead of just using C/C++ constantly, since it didn't need super fast anything it was a good use of available resources by that team.

With the programming site I'm sure we can provide enough links for you, I would also like ot request a plan file thingo too.

Submitted by Zaph on Wed, 11/12/02 - 6:18 AMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Jacana

I honestly found most of the international speakers easier to talk to the those already involved in the Australian community. I found a fair few studios were keeping into groups of their own house - and that?s a bit intimidating to break into a group of six or so people.

I agree, but I think it can be addressed to some degree. At the GDC in the USA they usually have very large round tables around the conference (for sitting at between sessions and while eating lunch). These seat 12 people (approx) which means that you end up with a mix of people from multiple studios (and students, etc)
Perhaps the organisers need to do more to encourage mingling - some three-legged races [:D] or maybe the cocktail party should encourage more mixing?

I had the chance to speak to some great people at the conference from all over the place (Sony/Xbox/AIE/Students/etc) but I could see the problems with the larger studios grouping together (technically it was probably friends grouping together, but its the same thing). IMH suffered from the problem that it accounted for more than 10% of the crowd (probably closer to 20% if you include all the people who had worked there at some time in the past!)

I'm really impressed that they keep getting big names to come in from overseas, I had a chance to talk to Ray Muyzka which was very cool, and I loved the guy from Sweden (or somewhere like that) who talked about the game experiment crossed with reality that he ran at his Uni.
Unfortunately I missed the BF1942 talk - as did many others... holding a cool keynote at 9am isn't going to work [|)]

Zaph

Submitted by Jacana on Wed, 11/12/02 - 6:55 AMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Zaph
I'm really impressed that they keep getting big names to come in from overseas, I had a chance to talk to Ray Muyzka which was very cool, and I loved the guy from Sweden (or somewhere like that) who talked about the game experiment crossed with reality that he ran at his Uni.
Unfortunately I missed the BF1942 talk - as did many others... holding a cool keynote at 9am isn't going to work [|)]

LOL! Most people were nursing hangovers at 9am.

The guy your talking about was Steffen from Playbe - German company. I had a talk with him during one of the breaks. I was very interested in that talk but it was too full to get in. He did mention that most of the information he gave on the speach can be found on their website.

I might be worth a suggestion to Pon about trying to mix up the attendes a bit more.

I am very interested in IMH as I am in the Melbourne area. There was a great talk about creating licenced content from one of the guys there.

"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002

Submitted by Zaph on Wed, 11/12/02 - 7:42 AMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Jacana

The guy your talking about was Steffen from Playbe - German company. I had a talk with him during one of the breaks. I was very interested in that talk but it was too full to get in. He did mention that most of the information he gave on the speach can be found on their website.

Ahh, my notebook! (paper that is):
MadCountdown: http://www.madcountdown.com

and the Aussie link he mentioned:
ARQuake: http://wearables.unisa.edu.au/arquake/

quote:
I am very interested in IMH as I am in the Melbourne area. There was a great talk about creating licenced content from one of the guys there.

That was Mark Morrison - an excellent public speaker (and he had free minties!). I felt sorry for the guy in the audience who had actually shipped a Barbie(tm) game [:p]

Submitted by Jacana on Wed, 11/12/02 - 7:50 AMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Zaph
That was Mark Morrison - an excellent public speaker (and he had free minties!). I felt sorry for the guy in the audience who had actually shipped a Barbie(tm) game [:p]

Thanks for the links! :)

Free minties is always a bonus! The guy who shipped the Barbie game works from Krome. I am sure he was very happy about that talk.

*edit*
Just had a look at your site. I went to the pictures page - are you the guy from IMH that had the big dreads?

"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002

Submitted by souri on Wed, 11/12/02 - 8:11 AMPermalink

You know, Lars Gustavsson (Battlefild 1942) from DICE (which stands for Digital Illusions DC) ..

Some of us may remember Digital Illusions for their *INCREDIBLE* Pinball games on the Amiga.. Pinball Illusions, and my all time favourite, Pinball Fantasies!!! Lars wasn't on the team, (his AGDC details say he joined Refraction Games back in 1999 which later merged into Digital Illusions), but those games were *unreal*.. full screen, fast/smooth scrolling graphics on a crusty 7mhz Amiga 500.

Just a little trivia, I think Digital Illusions were started by a bunch of The Silents demo group people.. demo groups were like what mod groups of today, except the programmers did all of the code, and the 'product' was something akin to a video clip - with music, special effects, and art.

Anyway, Jacana if you're interviewing Lars later on, I have a few questions for him [;)]

Submitted by Zaph on Wed, 11/12/02 - 8:19 AMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Jacana
Just had a look at your site. I went to the pictures page - are you the guy from IMH that had the big dreads?

No [:D] I can see the connection there though (I shaved the beard many years ago...) I do have long hair, but not in dreads, and Alex (the Dreads guy) is about a foot taller than me (well, it feels that way!)

Submitted by Blitz on Wed, 11/12/02 - 9:26 AMPermalink

actually, lars showed off some very, very cool video's during his sat morning keynote, which included one that was like a video biography of refraction/DICE. I wonder if those vids are available on the net somewhere, they're definately worth watching :)
One thing i WOULD like to see at next years AGDC is more Game Dev's showing off the games they've released. Auran was the only Dev with a booth, and i'm guessing they had the booth mainly to show off Jet and nextyearsgame thing, rather than their actual games.
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by davidcoen on Wed, 11/12/02 - 11:12 AMPermalink

some random quotes not in full context

John Passfield (krome) denied that they will be making a game called 'chooka the occa chook'

Graham Edelsten (CEO Auran) regets not getting to make darkreign2

Raymond Muzyka (bioware) is enjoying australia and does read www.megatokyo.com

John De Margheriti (Microforte) is very happy with 'bigworld' tech, and listed some interesting korean online games ;_;

and 'melodie mars' won the unsigned games (Wicked witch software). a music based FPS which also had surface dependant gravity (fly close enough to a wall and you would turn around to stand on it, makes for interesting levels)

_what, i should not have sugested the 'barbie game' in Mark Morrison talk? >:)

Submitted by Daemin on Wed, 11/12/02 - 11:38 AMPermalink

I think I read it off a the Gamespy site, but Ray Muzyka is actually doing a driving holiday in Australia, and probably around South Australia by now.

Anyway, good quotes IMO :-)

Submitted by Jacana on Wed, 11/12/02 - 8:45 PMPermalink

One lesson I learned over the weekend:
Have business cards! Even as a student.

You can get 100 of them made up very cheap - besides being a student I am not sure people expect amazing cards.

"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002

Submitted by Daemin on Wed, 11/12/02 - 10:45 PMPermalink

Yeah, that would be one of the things i'd prepare for next years conference - if I don't already have a job - the other thing would be to try and buy and bring the cd's of games that the international and national people have made for them to autograph them. (Like someone did this year :-)

Submitted by souri on Wed, 11/12/02 - 11:22 PMPermalink

Auran was the only Australian developer showing off their game ?? Are you serious? There were so many Australian games released last year, I would have thought they'd all have a few computers/consoles in each of their booths running their games.. I know I would have loved to actually check out Ty, and Grand Prix Challenge and other titles myself..

Submitted by Daemin on Wed, 11/12/02 - 11:52 PMPermalink

Well technically Auran weren't there to primarily show off their game, they got the booth to announce the "Next Years Game" competition thing. The independent games booth actually took up #6 and #7 which made it the largest booth there, and yeah. They had a few games showing off in the "viewing area" of the lanfest, which were the xbox titles.

Personally I don't think its worth it showing off a game at the expo, since there are demo's that you can make, and its rather expensive and there aren't that many publishers around either. We'll see how it goes next year.

New locally made game - Ryan Starr is Abducted !

Hey guys -

I haven't had a chance to post on the Sumea boards for a while...but now you know why :)

Introducing 'Ryan Starr Is Abducted', the first game from Brisbane games and animation group Insert Coin! We officially unvieled it at QANTM's Industry Night on Friday but now it's being released to the web.

http://gazunta.gadgetlife.com/ryan/RyanStarrAbducted.exe is where you'll find the game and http://www.insertcoin.iscool.net is where you'll find the team's web site!

The game as it stands now is a fully complete one level demo. I hope you like it! We'd be interested in hearing your feedback (just hit reply on the board). For the record I did the game design document and character animation for the main character (except his walk cycle) and the monkey. We had 4 animators and 1 very stressed programmer put this together in 4 months.

So...any publishers out there interested? Any game development companies interested in hiring? :)

- Gazunta :)

Australian XBox Massive Bundle - $459

Massive Entertainment Pack
The Xbox Massive Entertainment Pack, which goes on sale on November 14, 2002 contains:

An Xbox, valued at $399
An Xbox DVD Remote Control, valued at $49.95
A copy of the award winning game, Halo?
A copy of the hottest racing title this Christmas, Sega GT 2002?
A copy of the popular inline-skating title, Jet Set Radio Future? (games all valued at $99.95 each)
All this for only $459 (inc. GST)

Pretty frickin' good deal if you ask me. I'll be picking one up when I come over next month for AGDC.

Speaking of AGDC, how is everyone's portfolios coming along. Mines gone a bit pear shaped with not having the stuff I was hoping for. Still, I hope to run into you all and looking forward to having a good time.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 12/11/02 - 9:35 PMPermalink

That is a pretty good deal. How much did an Xbox cost when it came out a year ago? about $700! What a difference a year of healthy competition makes! Unfortunately, I'm more of a PC nut, and any future purchase that I make would have to include a Geforce4 and a new CPU.. Doom 3, Silent Hill 2, and (hopefully real soon) Vice City have swayed me into upgrading my PC instead of buying a console - although I'm tempted to hire Vice City for the PS2 if I can get my hands on it at the video store.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 12/11/02 - 10:36 PMPermalink

Just to add to this, I think PC games are really starting to advance further away from the latest generation consoles in terms of eye candy / technology.. I know it's the gameplay that counts, but damnit, I wonder what those Geforce 5's are going to be able to do! 2x the speed of the 4ti was the blurb that was splashed about.. [8]

No R rating for games in Australia

So what does everyone think about the lack of an R rating in Australia? Do you mind that games rated higher than a MA15+ will remain banned here?

Submitted by Daemin on Tue, 12/11/02 - 2:07 AMPermalink

There's always the grey market, and imports.

Well what I mean by that is if the game gets released anywhere at all it will find its way into Australia, either by people buying it overseas, or getting the Warez version, or by importing it in.

IMO refusing the R18 rating is a good idea because it will limit the potential risk of exposure to minors. Plus there's already enough p0rn on the net, and anything is acessible if you try hard enough.

"where there's a will, there's a way"

Submitted by Blitz on Tue, 12/11/02 - 5:27 AMPermalink

I think refusing the R rating is immature and just goes to show the lack of attention that the ministers etc. pay to the gaming industry. It's also a violation of the freedom we should have to view what we want.
It's also interesting to note the reasons why games are given an R rating (or censored/banned). In the case of bmx xxx it was apparently the topless bike riders (and not the stripper cutscenes etc.) that caused the problem. And if i remember, GTA3 was censored because it had prostitutes in the game. So, minimal sex (the sort of thing that would be probably OK in a M or MA rated movie) is considered R material in a game just because it's an interactive medium. On the other hand, games continue to become more violent, and, as graphics technology improves, are able to convey the violence much more realistically, yet these games receive an MA rating with no censorship. This sends either the message that sex is an inherently much worse thing than violence, or, using Daemin's theory "refusing the R18 rating is a good idea because it will limit the potential risk of exposure to minors" that if minors are more likely to be exposed to legal content, it is better for them to be exposed to extreme violence, than to some topless girl riding a bmx bike.

Of course, ultimately it comes down to parenting. If you're worried about your children being exposed to certain games, then simply supervise what games they do play etc.

Finally, i agree with what the game companies have said. The gaming industry has matured, and these ministers (or whatever) that opposed the change to an R rating are behind the times.
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Daemin on Tue, 12/11/02 - 8:35 AMPermalink

Still as game developers we need to show some respect and restraint, in addition to some common sense. Maybe if we have a game where there's mature R18 content but in a tasteful way, much like some european films, "tasteful artistic" films, then the games industry might get an R18 rating and be even more respected.

Submitted by Gazunta on Tue, 12/11/02 - 9:50 PMPermalink

The reason GTA3 was censored wasn't just that it had prostitutes - it was the fact that you could hit / kill them, too. Sex and violence by themselves are fine, but you can't combine the two in Australia. Hence the "Non-violent erotica" label on Australian porn nowdays (um, apparently).

The OFLC web site has a detailed explaination of why they ruled against GTA 3, and even includes a call for a R18 rating to be established. Very interesting reading.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 12/11/02 - 9:53 PMPermalink

An R classification for games in Australia is never going to happen when you get the people who make the decisions giving out comments like these..

quote:Mr. Williams? spokeswoman continued; ?It?s appropriate to have a stricter regime in relation to this area ? [as] the likelihood of children gaining access to adult computer games increases if the material is legally available.?

I can't begin to tell you how naive and backward a comment like that is. And it's a shame that people will have to resort to importing or piracy, as ultimately, it's the local game stores, and game developers that lose out.

And all this news comes on the heels of a stricter labelling system for music CD's - before hand, anyone could buy music, as long there was warning on the cover if the lyrics were deemed course, or sexually explicit. Now there is an R rated classification, so no under 18s can buy that stuff. Personally, I don't mind that at all, but I fail to see why games are so different. They claim that because it's interactive, it could cause greater harm - but I fail to see any studies or evidence of such.

At this moment, you could say it's not a big deal, but I'm sure when some great new game that DEPENDS on mature content (Duke Nukem Forever?), it'll be more trouble than its worth disabling the offensive material.. The trend seems to be heading towards mature content (although some of these developers tacking on nudy bits to sell more titles like BMX XXX will hopefully be a minority), and it kind of peeves me a bit when something like GTA3, and Vice City have to be changed to suit our crummy laws.

Submitted by Blitz on Wed, 13/11/02 - 10:23 AMPermalink

If they censor or anything DOAXBV at all, theres gonna be hell to pay!
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Daemin on Wed, 13/11/02 - 11:41 AMPermalink

I don't think there's any sex in that, only implied nudity. So it'll pass, M15+.

Submitted by Meatex Salami on Wed, 13/11/02 - 11:50 PMPermalink

Well games are the current scape-goat for everything thats wrong with young kids so obviously they are going to be overly stict with cencorship.
It doesn't really matter that much cause like Daemin says, ppl will get it off the net.
Either an R rating or rating guys who aren't as closed minded about video games. We need ppl who understand games to rate them.

Bloody hell its a giant harmonica!

Submitted by souri on Thu, 14/11/02 - 3:01 PMPermalink

It's strange that violence isn't as censored as much.. you can see gibs and people writhing in agony in games like Soldier of Fortune in stores, but the minute some game shows topless nudity, it's an instant ban. That's all BMX XXX had, right? Topless nudity, and course language. I guess we're lucky somewhat that violent games aren't censored as much - I'd hate to play a modified game where the blood had to be changed to green and enemies were referred to as cyborgs. I think this happens in Germany with certain titles ?

Submitted by Blitz on Thu, 14/11/02 - 11:36 PMPermalink

BMX XXX features female bike riders with no tops, dogs having sex, and cut scenes featuring strippers, as well as the coarse language, but apparently it was the topless bike riders that caused them to ban it...which is just insane.
Germany also has the unfortunate problem of banning/censoring any game with any nazi related stuff in it. So they don't get RTCW, or a lot of WW2 based games.
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 15/11/02 - 8:28 AMPermalink

And they had the wolfenstein logos instead of swastikas if I read correctly.

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Mon, 18/11/02 - 9:45 AMPermalink

I dont necessarily mind the "no sexual violence" rule, the minute that gets lifted somones going to make a game with rape in it that would be done for the sake of violence, not as say part of character development and story. Since a moronic friend of mine said that redfaction needs a rape button when you come across a cowering nurse it makes me worry that somone would actually try somthing pathetic like that. An R rating should have been out years ago though. Adults should be allowed to make their own decisions on what they want not what somone else thinks is best for the majority. I think a reason that this rating hasnt been made is because video games are still considered childish. People who dont play them assume that only kids and teenagers are into gaming, Which is miles from the truth.
I also believe bringing in an R rating will allow the developers a bit more room for creativity, it must be annoying to have to alter the project you worked so hard on just to meet some stupid guide line.

Lead paint: delicious but deadly!

Submitted by souri on Wed, 27/11/02 - 11:16 AMPermalink

quote:If they censor or anything DOAXBV at all, theres gonna be hell to pay!
CYer, Blitz

That game's just had a R18+ rating in Japan.. they don't show nudity in it at all, but I've read some of the posings may be a little too much. It would be a shame if a game like that is banned, as a few of the reviews I've read have given it a favourable thumbs up.

Submitted by Blitz on Sun, 01/12/02 - 10:00 AMPermalink

If they ban it they're gonna have a revolution on their hands!!!! :)
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by DG Music on Sun, 22/12/02 - 6:24 AMPermalink

*sigh* and i thought that i might actually get to buy postal 2 at a store next year, not gonna happen now. I guess i'll have to break the law and get it imported, the upside of that is more of my money goes right to the developer.

As an adult, i refuse to be told by the government what videogames i can and cannot play. I'm all for the R rating. Had there been an R rating when GTA3 was brought out it wouldn't have been nuetered, it would have been given an R rating and the 15 and over who are able to purchase and play it now wouldn't be able to.

Tito, Jaruu Tenk, and Halloween Spirit Board

Just posting my thoughts on some games that are available for download recently.

I've always been curious to what Dimsdale and Kreozot were doing with their Tito, the bouncing Alien title, so I was eager to have a look at the demo. The one playable level was very well designed, and whilst the gameplay is very simple, it's still quite fun to play. It's not going to break new grounds in any area, but it definately has a certain charm to it. I can imagine my nieces and nephews absolutely loving this game, so I can see it doing well for the 6 - 12yr old market.. and hey, it's fun for us older kids as well.

Also on the main news page, John Passfield made available two games on his website - Chronicles of Jaruu Tenk, and Halloween Spirit Board, both were made with art from Steve Stamatiadis.

Jaruu Tenk was influenced by Little Computer People on the Commodore 64 - it was a unique title where you had a view of your computer person perform daily tasks in his house.. he'd go watch tv, play piano, eat dinner, answer phones etc.. you were sorta like Big Brother. You could interact with him in certain ways such as writing him a letter. Anyway, Jaruu Tenk follows on that kind of idea. Jaruu is one of the characters you can focus on while he does his daily activities around his island. Some really fast and smooth 3d can be expected (this title was done in '99), and the camera angles were very cool. I really dig the music too [:)].. The 3d characters were very low polygon'd, but were created and animated very nicely by Steve. There are a few things you can do while Jaruu is doing his stuff, like water plants. I'm still trying to figure out some more things to do though. Definately worth checking out - I have it set as my screensaver. [:)]

Halloween Spirit Board is a program where you can type in questions, and the ouiji board will spell out answers for you. Something to freak out your younger sisters and brothers since it's Halloween and all [:)]

Jaruu, and Halloween Spirt Board can be downloaded at John Passfield's website at http://www.users.bigpond.com/jaruu/games .. Tito, the Bouncing Alien demo can be downloaded here at http://www.sumea.com.au/demos/Tito_Publisher_Wanted_Demo.exe

Submitted by Obsolete 386 on Thu, 07/11/02 - 1:28 AMPermalink

All sounds good [:)], but i bet [8D] you could have put more [:p] smileys in your post [:D] then you actually managed to[xx(]. But don't worry [;)], i'm sure most people have fallen [|)] after the first line of this post [:0]

100% chance of PAIN, in the GLAVEN

Submitted by souri on Thu, 07/11/02 - 6:41 PMPermalink

And I bet if a lot of people abuse the smiley system, I'll just disable it. [:)]

AEAF final program is up

AUSTRALIAN EFFECTS & ANIMATION FESTIVAL
December 1 - 4, 2002
Sydney Convention Centre
Darling Harbour

Program at http://www.dmw.com.au/html/aeaf/program.htm

The AEAF final program is now online at www.dmw.com.au

Don't delay, places are strictly limited so book your place now! Tel (02) 9319 4277, Fax (02) 9319 2677
or www.dmw.com.au

The Festival includes a special opening night party on December 1, where you can meet the speakers and other industry dignitaries, followed by a packed 3-day conference program, including the Alias/Wavefront party and AEAF Awards presentation, on the evening of December 3.

We have dedicated a full day to the making of the digital cast of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Rob Coleman, Animation Director at Industrial Light & Magic and Oscar nominee, will be headlining this special day. ILM Model Shop Supervisor Brian Gernand, Technical Directors Daryl Munton and Indira Guerrieri will take you behind the scenes of this landmark film. Also, ILM Vice President of Creative Operations Jeff Mann will give an overview of the character design and production process for ILM's other 2002 hits including Men in Black II and Minority Report.

We're very proud to have a number of VIPs attending the festival. Jim Rygiel and Randy Cook, Academy Award winners for Visual Effects on Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring join us from New Zealand and Mike Milne, Emmy Award winner for Walking with Beasts joins us from the UK. Other notable speakers include Anthony LaMolinara, Animation Supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks (USA); Guillaume Hellouin, CEO and co-founder of digital animation and effects house Sparx* (France).

Bill Coleman, the Director of Global & Industry Marketing at Alias|Wavefront, will share his views on global trends and new markets for 3D Animation, while experts will deliver insights into cutting edge technology such as Apple's Shake, Discreet 3ds max 5 & Character Studio 4, Black Magic Design, Maxon 3D, ToonBoom Studio & Boris RED.

So don?t delay book today on Tel (02) 9319 4277, Fax (02) 9319 2677

Download "Idle Time" - locally developed game

Idletime has been developed for about 9 months on and off (work and study take a bit of time). Coded with visual c, idletime uses an oct tree engine, the models can be created in virtually any 3d product (eg. lightwave, 3ds max, maya, milkshape, etc.), maps are created in the worldcraft/hammer editor. It has limited physics and collision detection at the moment.
Rendered with OpenGL
Octree engine
Light maps for the world geomtry
Stencil buffer shadows for the cars
Sphircal environment mapping for cars and world
Motion blur
Quake style console
FMOD for sound and mp3 player
Crappy physics (physics coding was a lot harder then we thought)
6 real cars
3 maps
Game and tools written in VC6
Maps are made with worldcraft/hammer, then lightmap and octree are made with our map compiler
Cars can be made with almost any 3D modeller, then scaled with our "magic" :) car making tool.
Writing a flip code blurb was probably one of the hardest things ;)
There are still a few things to be completed/updated, these include such things as:
Texturing of cars/maps
Map finalisation
Network code
Updated physics/collision detection
Network coding
AI pathing
Car details
Level of detail modelling/code
Normal Mapping
Real Time Cubic Environment mapping
Download in the downloads section (funnily enough) at www.lphpnl.com

Idletime is still a work in progress. One thing we are always having trouble with is textures. Our team only has two modelers and one coder (with some help from our friends). We all hate it when there is a cool IOTD and you can't download it and play with it your self. So you can all come to our site and download it. You can even drop into our forum and tell us what you think or don't think

Please feel free to email us with ANY questions or critisisms, we want as much feedback as possible If you would like to bag the artwork, get onto lucas_wallis@hotmail.com or blackmans@ncable.net.au, If you feel that the programming could do with a bit of a beefing up then email mick at myoung@qonline.com.au

Submitted by Daemin on Thu, 31/10/02 - 3:25 AMPermalink

Did you grab this from Flipcode.com Image Of The Day Gallery by any chance?

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 01/11/02 - 8:26 AMPermalink

Cool, well I think they submitted it to flipcode too.

Well done I say to them, I know how hard it is to make something decent as a hobby.

Also are they entering it for the AGDC award for Best Unsigned Game or not?

Submitted by noreha on Fri, 01/11/02 - 8:06 PMPermalink

no we re not putting it in for the best unsigned game at the agdc...would like to, but it really isn't anywhere near completion yet, and only a month to go until the conference, we would be struggling. two guys on the team are about to start their uni exams, so the amount of time required is greater than the amount of time allowed. phew a long sentence there! i would like to thank souri for putting the "news" up on the page, it was a shock to see it as the lead news item the other day, very cool stuff.

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 01/11/02 - 10:41 PMPermalink

Erg, well I'm doing a game for that conference, only started a month ago, and I got exams in a week. Ahh the joys of a game developers crunch time schedule :)

IMO you guys should try and enter, even if its a playable demo then its still cool enough.

Oh well, maybe next year I take it?

Submitted by souri on Sat, 02/11/02 - 11:31 AMPermalink

Cool demo.. there's some bugs in there, but I'm sure you're aware of them. The car always turns on a dime, no matter how fast you're going, so that kinda affects the gameplay a bit. I'm in the middle of trying to get sponsorships for more webspace, so if that turns out ok, you're free to have the demo mirrored on Sumea if you like.

Submitted by Blitz on Sat, 02/11/02 - 2:01 PMPermalink

The way i understand it you can keep submitting a game for the unsigned game award every year if you want until it gets signed :) So it's probably worth submitting it even if it is far from complete. However, i think you'd be too late now, nominations closed yesterday.
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Daemin on Sun, 03/11/02 - 12:25 AMPermalink

Well there's nothing stopping you's from submitting it anyways, at least you'll get a reply back saying that its too late, at most you'll be allowed in the nominations.

Submitted by noreha on Sun, 03/11/02 - 9:39 AMPermalink

it would be cool to have it mirrored here...i'll talk to the other fellas aboot it...i did chuck it in the nominations, got it in, doubt we will win but it's there. good luck to all involved, hope to see you at the agdc, might be there all 3 days, don't know yet. yeah we know aboot the physics, kinda the hardest thing for us to get done, none of us are particularly strong in regards to physics. we are looking for some help with it, so if you know anyone that would be fantastic. thanks again

Submitted by noreha on Thu, 05/12/02 - 10:26 AMPermalink

oh yeah idletime did get shortlisted...we won't win but we will be painting melbourne RED, RED I tells ya!!! Hope to see everyone there, and good luck to all invloved

Interview with Jonathan Chey, Irrational Games

I'm planning to send off a few questions to Jonathan Chey of Irrational Games (project manager from System Shock 2, programmer on Thief and other titles), which hopefully he'll be kind enough to answer.. I have my own set of questions in mind, but if you have anything that you'd like him to answer (about Freedom Force, The Lost, or anything else), then let me know here! [B)]

Freedom Force main characters name?

Whats the main characters name for Freedom Force?? I can't find it - this is for the Sumea awards list.

Submitted by Blitz on Sun, 27/10/02 - 11:14 PMPermalink

This is kind of a guess from reading reviews etc. (haven't actually played the game), but is the characters name "Minuteman" ?
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by souri on Mon, 28/10/02 - 9:21 AMPermalink

Yes, that sounds right.. thanks. [:)]

Anyone else got an Unsigned Game?

Heya

Just wondering if any of you guys out there are working on a game at the moment aiming to submit it to try and win the Award for Best Unsigned Game at the AGDC this year. I'm kinda looking to see what competition is out there ;)

I know there's at least a team out there, using the Garage Games's Torque engine, and they're Australian. So who else is out there?

-Dom

Submitted by davidcoen on Thu, 24/10/02 - 8:29 AMPermalink

was going to try and get the little wrestling game i was working on with a programmer in canada (unless it has to be all australian) but the programmer guy is dragiong his heals about releasing anything to the puublic....

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Thu, 24/10/02 - 8:37 AMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Daemin

Heya

Just wondering if any of you guys out there are working on a game at the moment aiming to submit it to try and win the Award for Best Unsigned Game at the AGDC this year. I'm kinda looking to see what competition is out there ;)

I know there's at least a team out there, using the Garage Games's Torque engine, and they're Australian. So who else is out there?

-Dom

The AIE Dip II team has a game - "Hail" it's called. http://www.aie.act.edu.au/hail/index.html - I assume that they'll be going for the award as well. Some really talented guys on that team.

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Thu, 24/10/02 - 8:45 AMPermalink

Hail looks pretty cool, I hope they do well.

Lead paint: delicious but deadly!

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 25/10/02 - 2:05 AMPermalink

I've seen Hail a few months ago - on the site at least. I don't know if they could submit it, as they could be getting help / funding, or something from a real Game Dev studio, but yeah somebody prove me wrong.

Hopefully we'll release some screenshots soon.

Blue Tongue - Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis

Hi!! Just asking if ANYONE has a clue as to when Blue Tongue software is releasing their next game, Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis? If anyone knows the exact ( or close to exact) release date it would be greatly appreciated!! Also, will Australia get it first or will it be released overseas before it's released here? [?]

Thanks,

Adam.

Coops

Submitted by souri on Sat, 19/10/02 - 8:48 AMPermalink

On http://www.sumea.com.au/sdevelopersprofile.asp?developer=15&game=48 I have the release down as 22/10/02 (in four days!).. I can't remember where I got that date from, but I wouldn't make it up or anything.. [:)] Blue Tongue certainly have been pretty quiet... You could fire an email off to Muzboz as he works there, and see if he's kind enough to tell you.. look for him in the memberslist.

Oh, I just had a look at your jurassic park site.. looks like you know much more on that game than we do. [B)]

Submitted by Blitz on Sat, 19/10/02 - 7:41 PMPermalink

XBox magazine gives it a release date of november.
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Cooper4110 on Sat, 19/10/02 - 10:16 PMPermalink

Thanks guys! Just wish they would release a permanent release date! Looking forward to it though!! [;)]

Coops

Submitted by souri on Wed, 23/10/02 - 8:23 AMPermalink

If you find any new details, let us know, ok! [:)]

Submitted by Cooper4110 on Wed, 23/10/02 - 11:11 PMPermalink

OK. Tiny bit: Charles "Bud" Tingwell is playing the voice of "John Hammond" in the game ( for those of you who have seen the Jurassic Park movies)![;)]

Coops

Submitted by MrEdd on Tue, 29/10/02 - 5:54 PMPermalink

JP is now slated for 1st Qtr 2003.

MrEdd.

Submitted by Obsolete 386 on Tue, 29/10/02 - 8:17 PMPermalink

It would be great to get it here in Australia first, but that never happens with anything decent. The Americans usually get things at least 3-6 months prior to us. I hate it too but what can you do.

The universe is big so don't complain

Submitted by Daemin on Tue, 29/10/02 - 11:59 PMPermalink

I believe Warcraft 3 came out at almost the same time, and also a few other games hit the stores here just like 1 day after, or even before they hit the store shelves in America. The popular games at least, I'm sorry if you were expecting something not top of the line though.

game design-how to start

Hi guys, a newbie type question i'm afraid.

I have what I think is a pretty good space strategy game concept. I have designed the data structures and made a functioning demo using VB. The intefaces are all simple text forms, and the AIs are still a bit moronic; there is no art.

My artistic skills are nominal. How should I proceed I wonder in making something of this, by spending years developing a broad range of implementation skills, or by producing a rough demo and selling it to those that can produce the product?

Thanks. Andrew

Submitted by Brain on Fri, 18/10/02 - 12:50 AMPermalink

If your skill is programming, then keep it as your main area of expertise. If you want to branch out into art and such, go right ahead. It's your project, do what you wish.

You could get a mate or few that are artist's to help you out, or recruit via places like Sumea.

Hmm... unsure if that was useful at all... @:-p

Chris Bowden
http://brain.gamekey.com/

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 18/10/02 - 8:00 AMPermalink

If you want to know about design I would suggest looking at sites such as GameDev.net and Gamasutra.com, since they have some very interesting articles. And I would suggest you get the book "Game Architecture and Deisgn" by Coriolis Press, they've gone bust now, but if you can find a copy, get it since its a damn good book.

As for the art I would suggest just using simple coloured squares (if in VB) as a start in the art, or smiley faces taken from an Intant Messaging Program for your units etc, until you either get someone else to do the art, or you learn an art program and make more programmer art yourself.

As for the skills set, I'm saying that everyone that develops games should have a broad understanding of all the necessary topics involved, but then concentrate on one particular field and get really good at that. By this I mean for the programmers to learn to use the artist's tools like image editing software, 3D modelling tools etc, but to then just program a lot and get really good at programming, while still being able to resize, adjust brightness / contrast, for the odd image.

As for the game that you have made a functioning VB demo for, I would suggest that you build up on the demo a bit to get a nice prototype done, and then try and get a few mates to do the art for it while you start programming the real game (in another language, C or C++ preferable, although Java is acceptable now also). Then this little demo and project might turn into something cool, and if the source is good enough it might land you a job at a *real* game company. And if it doesn't then you can always try to sell it yourself, or distribute it for free.

Anyways that's my long winded response to this.

Submitted by max torq on Mon, 21/10/02 - 8:50 PMPermalink

I found the AIE it is a few blocks from me, so I am thinking I will do the intro to 3d animation and see how it goes from there. Thanks for your replies, I am trying to hassle my friends into upskilling in digital art ... so far no takers.

Submitted by Brain on Tue, 22/10/02 - 4:10 AMPermalink

I really need to visit AIE sometime. I've been driven past it and went "OOooooo" but haven't actually been in there and checked it out...

Chris Bowden
http://brain.gamekey.com/

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Thu, 24/10/02 - 9:28 AMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Brain

I really need to visit AIE sometime. I've been driven past it and went "OOooooo" but haven't actually been in there and checked it out...

Chris Bowden
http://brain.gamekey.com/

It's not much to look at from the outside. It has the same tan/brown bricking that Australian buildings seem so fond of [:p]

Submitted by max torq on Fri, 25/10/02 - 12:12 AMPermalink

It's the old Watson High building; going there is like going back through a time warp.

AGDC website update, schedule + more

Schedule has finally been added!
Also a new keynote speaker and some other little bits and pieces.
Which discussions etc. is everyone looking forward to?
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Thu, 17/10/02 - 6:41 AMPermalink

I'm looking forward to Daz's texture talk and the Xbox one as well. It's a no brainer that the keynote speakers will be ones to watch. Xbox Live and the game design ones appeal to me.

Does anyone know what the conference dinners are like?? Alien Infeastation?

Jono

Submitted by Daemin on Thu, 17/10/02 - 10:21 AMPermalink

I'm more interested to go and see the non-console talks, especially the one's in the business track that deal with startups (not getting into the industry, but once you're started). I feel that we should actually have that console development kit, or at least that console in order to fully appreciate those talks. Now I gotta get the cash together to attend the damn thing. *sigh*

Submitted by souri on Thu, 17/10/02 - 12:59 PMPermalink

If I were attending (and I wish I could!), I'd pretty much be seeing as much of the lectures as I could.. some very, very interesting talks there! I would love to sit at the PS2 Character Animation (by Gareth White/Ratbag Games.. I'm guessing that he'll be talking about Ikon or one of the new projects, since it's about character animation), John Passfield's talk, The Making of Neverwinter Nights, The Art of Directing & Creating Cinematics - I'd definately be in for this one. Oh, and Cruelness Under Fire: Tales From the Frontline of Game Design (Mark Angeli - Infogrames Melbourne House).. that definately sounds interesting.. Romero on the future of mobile gaming - I'd prefer to hear him talk about Doom, Daikatana, and game design related issues instead.. [:)] ..And with the dinners and parties, it certainly is something worth going to!

AGDC 2002 Australian Game Developer Awards

A new page has been added to the AGDC website today, outlining a series of awards for aussie game development. There is a link to add nominations but it doesn't seem to be working yet (at time of typing :)). Anyway, check it out!
http://www.agdc.com.au/awards.html
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Daemin on Sat, 05/10/02 - 11:21 PMPermalink

Hrmf, looks like we might just make it for the "Best Unsigned Game" if we hurry and do some heavy programming Blitz ;)

It would be interesting to say the least.

Submitted by souri on Sun, 06/10/02 - 10:06 AMPermalink

Hey, that looks pretty interesting.. I'm pretty eager to see what the developers vote on. Did they have this last year? Sumea's already got it's own record of Australian games released in the last 12 months, so having a look at that, I'm guessing Ty will get a lot of nominations.. along with Freedom Force.

My votes would go to:
Career Achievement Award - Touugh one..Could be any of the Krome co-owners. I'd vote for Gregg Barnett though! C'mon, he's responsible for many huge titles for Beam! [:)]
Award for Outstanding Innovation - Irrational Games.. definately no cookie cutter game
Award for Best New Start-Up - No idea
Award for Outstanding Industry Contribution - John De Margheriti, responsible for the Academy of Interactive Entertainment, Game Developers Association of Australia
Award for Best Game of 2002 - Toss up between Ty and Freedom Force
Award for Best Game for PC - Freedom Force, definately..
Award for Best Game for Next Generation Consoles - Ty, for certain
Award for Best Game for Game Boy Advance - Duke Nukem Advance
Award for Best Original Character Design - Ty, that's a sure bet
Award for Best Game Audio - Dunno, although Ty is supposed to be really good in that area
Award for Best Game Design - Freedom Force I'd say, since Ty isn't quite out yet to judge [:)]
Award for Programming Excellence - No idea
Award for Outstanding Visual Arts - Ty
Award for Best Unsigned Game - Dunno

Submitted by Blitz on Mon, 07/10/02 - 7:12 AMPermalink

Hmm, i think Auran could be in with a chance for innovation with Trainz...
I think you'd have to be spot on with the outstanding industry contribution...unless he's already won it before, or something else making him ineligible...As far as all the things he's done, i believe it was also his fault that the AGDC exists too?? :)
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Daemin on Mon, 07/10/02 - 10:12 PMPermalink

Award for Best Unsigned Game - Ours (Me and Blitz), Hopefully.

I don't even think any new companies started up / released their first game this year, so I don't know if that award is valid this year?

Award for Programming excellence - I think that would go to one of the Trainz or Auran jet people, simply because its a good piece of software engineering / programming IMO. And because I haven't seen any other industry type code that has been coded in Autralia.

Career Achievement Award - I'd put one of the Ratbag founders, simply because they've started small in Adelaide (like me), have gotten big and stayed big still all in a small town such as Adelaide. And they've also produced some decent games.

That's about it.

Submitted by Blitz on Mon, 07/10/02 - 11:20 PMPermalink

Programming excellence could also go to MF for Bigworld tech...
Maybe... :P
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by souri on Sun, 13/10/02 - 9:33 AMPermalink

Nah, it's not released yet. [:)] But yeh, Trainz certainly sounds like a good candidate for that award [:)]

Submitted by Blitz on Wed, 16/10/02 - 12:51 AMPermalink

Actually i believe the Bigworld Tech V1.0 has actually been released. There may not be any games built upon it yet however! :)
CYer, Blitz

Deadline for AEAF Awards approaching !

The deadline for the AEAF Awards is approaching (October 28) but there's still time to get your entries in!
We'd love to receive something from you and there are 12 categories you can enter.
Be in it to win it...enter online at http://www.dmw.com.au/html/aeaf/entry.htm

Best regards,
Anna Coughlan
Festival Producer

**************
CALL FOR ENTRIES
AEAF AWARDS 2002

Organisers of the Australian Effects and Animation Festival are now accepting entries into the AEAF Awards to coincide with the December conference in Sydney, Australia.

The AEAF Awards are designed to reward innovation and expertise in digital content creation for film, television, games and the web. You can enter as many individual entries as you wish, as long as they've been completed between July 1, 2001 and October 27, 2002. Entry into the AEAF Awards is free.

Finalists' entries will be screened before an audience at the AEAF Awards presentation night, December 3, 2002 at the Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour.

There are 12 categories into which you can enter:

* Commercials: Animation
* Commercials: VFX
* Feature Film: Animation
* Feature Film: VFX
* Music video
* Short Film
* TV Series
* Titles, Idents & Stings
* Web Animation
* Student
* Games
* Education & Training

To enter, visit the web site at http://www.dmw.com.au and follow the links to the AEAF and the Awards entry form. Fill it out online or print it, and send entries to AEAF: PO Box 369, Strawberry Hills NSW 2012 no later than 5pm Monday October 28, 2002. Your entry must be PAL formatted and supplied on Beta SP or Digital Beta and be accompanied by a document of no more than 100 words explaining its special features. For further information, contact aeaf@dmw.com.au. To view the terms and conditions of entry, go to http://www.dmw.com.au/html/aeaf/entry.htm#terms

And Good Luck!

Portfolio advice?

Has anyone got some portfolio advice that they want to share with us here? I'm working on mine at the moment, although I'm not sure of how much is considered a good amount. I am aware, that 30 seconds of good stuff is better than 3 minutes of average stuff...

However, a fair portion of my work is 2d as I'm looking at concept art and texture art. From the advice I've been given I've been told to have:

- Environments
- Characters
- Machinery

I'm also doing some 3d stuff to show my textures off - that will be on the reel. How many models/textures are considered a good number? What about for concept sketches? 20? 40? 10 of each? Is it a good idea to have an accompanying sketchbook?

Any helpful hints - I'm mainly interested in how much work to show. Assume that the stuff I'm showing is of very good quality (just so no one says the old "it's better to have 30 secs of greatness than 3 mins of average" chestnut ).

Submitted by Bunny on Wed, 02/10/02 - 8:00 PMPermalink

NO lens flares, flying logos, school projects or anything that doesn't show off your potential. If it's short don't try to fill it out, just stick to your best stuff. There's no magic number of items, but too short is probably better than too long. A demoreel with 40 pieces is definitely too long. 10 is probably good but go with what feels right. That "30 seconds of greatness" chestnut can't be said enough. Make sure every piece has a purpose and demonstrates some skill. Even if all of your stuff is great some will be better, so put it on a looping .wav and listen to it while you decide what to use. :p

If you're focussing on texturing and 2D maybe lots of slow pans, wipes from concept art to finished project, that kind of thing. Show off what you're good at and hide your crappy bits. Slideshows are good for 2D stuff too. The sketchbook is a good idea to carry around and show off but you need something they can take away with them.

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Wed, 02/10/02 - 9:03 PMPermalink

Cheers.

What I've got is 2 (or more) folios.

One is for:
- Print Based media. ie - illustrations, concept, designs. This is in an originally designed folder all done up nicely. Any sketches that I feel are worth including are in here (scanned and some coloured).

- The reel itself - home for the 3d stuff and now some of those pan/wipes you mentioned. I don't have Adobe Premiere but I assume the wipes/pans can be done in Video Post in Max? Admittedly, my post production skills are a tad rusty.... hmm

Now my only prob is what to do with my sketchbooks. I'm into my second A3 Bockingford so I'll show my fancy folder first, and if they want to see the skody sketchbook, they'll be on hand, I guess.

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Thu, 31/10/02 - 12:22 PMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Bunny

Slideshows are good for 2D stuff too. The sketchbook is a good idea to carry around and show off but you need something they can take away with them.

What I'd like to know now is: how to present the print based stuff.

I've got this idea for how I'm going to present my folio and reel (but I'm not telling you guys yet ;) ) but do people want to be able to look at (say) mounted boards and be able to arrange them on a desk in any way they like OR would they prefer a booklet that they can leaf through. The mounted boards/booklet would be secure in the packaging that I'm designing, but it's how they are presented OUT of the packaging that interests me.

Anyone?

So basically it's 'bound' vs 'free'.

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 01/11/02 - 8:28 AMPermalink

Also I am pretty sure that there should be no SpaceShips, or simple space scenes, because anyone can create spaceships really.

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Fri, 01/11/02 - 10:09 AMPermalink

Can anyone help me out with the Free vs Bound possibilities? I kinda need to know as it will partly determine the costs of printing and the layout of the designs and pages.

Thanks to those who've replied so far.

Jono

Got any questions for Krome?

I have an opportunity to send off some questions to John Passfield (co-owner of Krome), so if any of you have any interesting questions that you're dying to know, post them here and I'll add them to my list [:)] I'm gonna be sending it off on Friday, so go nuts!!

Submitted by Daemin on Wed, 02/10/02 - 12:44 AMPermalink

How about:

1) Would you guys (Krome) be more likely to hire an Australian, or some other foreigner if everything else is equal between them?

2) Is there a limit to the number of figurines that a programmer is allwoed to have on their desktop (and monitor etc)?

3) How important / good (can't think of a better word atm) is the AGDC with respect to making contacts and hiring of staff to you?

4) What are your usual hours working, I know some developers stay from about 2pm till 4am, some stay business hours, some a bit longer, so what are your usual hours working at Krome?

5) Do you guys get Mountain Dew imported from the States, where there's actually caffine in it?

Erm, I think that's about it for now... Although you don't have to ask him every question here :)

Submitted by Gazunta on Wed, 02/10/02 - 11:27 AMPermalink

No offence Daemin, but I think that's getting a bit ahead of things...:)

It's like starting in golf and then asking Tiger Woods what's the best airline to use for travelling between tournaments, y'know?

And to hell with Mountain Dew, it's Coke that's important ;)

(Though I do think the number of toys you can have is pretty important...I cant go anywhere without my Ape Escape monkeys) :)

From what I remember from my visits to Krome most artists have their area pretty much covered with doodads and whatsits. Yay!

What I would ask...

What are Krome looking for from their artists? Do they value technical skills over artistic flair (ie: knowledge of how to rig a model in max versus being able to make it look pretty)?

What makes a showreel stand out from the crowd?

What type of people are Krome looking for? What are character traits that are a benefit? (ie: not needing sleep or sunlight)

Are there any particular styles that aspiring Kromers should focus on? (ie: cartoony style of Ty, or the Manga look of Blade Kitten...or reaslitic look of Surf Boarding...)

What is the one thing that you wish potential artists would stop putting in their showreel? (ie: exploding teapots...heheh)

2D skills - essential, totally essential or Oh My God You Wouldnt Believe How Essential?

And finally...

What do I have to do for you to hire my fat ass and save me from this journalistic hell?! :)

Submitted by Daemin on Thu, 03/10/02 - 10:29 AMPermalink

Hey Gazunta, these are just questions of the top of my head at the time, and I was kinda trying to ask humorous / importatn questions too. Maybe the Question about the toys could be for all people, not just programmers. But yeah...

And the deal with mountain dew is that here in Australia it doesn't contain any caffine in it, that's why it sucks, and in the states it contains a heck of a lot of caffine that's why it rules over there. Coke is good too but only because its got caffine everywhere.

Plus I think Souri will ask all the important questions anyways, I'm just putting in some humourous questions that I think are appropriate. Still if you feel that way...

Submitted by souri on Sat, 05/10/02 - 8:47 AMPermalink

Ok, questions done and sent.. looking forward to John's reply! (He's currently over at the states right now doing press for Ty)

Submitted by souri on Fri, 11/10/02 - 9:46 PMPermalink

I have the responses to the questions sent to John, so make sure you check back here real soon when I put them up, ok! [:)]

Submitted by souri on Sat, 12/10/02 - 9:05 AMPermalink

Ok, the interview answers are up, so if you have any thoughts and responses about it, write about it here [:)]
One thing I have to say is *wow*.. The art for Flight of the Amazon Queen was done by *1* person! Backgrounds, AND animation - everything! That's quite an unbelievable amount of work there (I'll post a follow up letter to John to ask how many screens of backgrounds that that game had, but I'm sure it's well over 40.. I can remember walking in a jungle in the beginning of that game, and there were so many screens..).. Just to put this in perspective, think of a game like Street Fighter 2.. that had about 12 backgrounds, and 12 animated characters, and required a team of a dozen artists..

Massive respect to Steve Stamatiadis. [:)]

Submitted by spacecaptsteve on Sun, 13/10/02 - 12:34 AMPermalink

If I remember right there was about 120 backgrounds in the final game with another 10 or so that got dumped. There were 40 or so characters and I don't know how many frames of animation but I never want to do that again. Don't forget to double the amount for the 2 versions.

Young + insane = graphic adventure.

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Sun, 13/10/02 - 1:38 AMPermalink

It's a shame that the number of graphic adventures have fallen in recent years. Some of my fave games are graphic adventures - Grim Fandango, Monkey Island etc..

Submitted by Daemin on Sun, 13/10/02 - 2:02 AMPermalink

Whicked :D My questions got answered too :)

Erg, this begs the question what is the average / usual amount of figurines on one's monitor?

hehe, Maybe i'll save that one for a survey or something at the AGDC :)

Submitted by souri on Sun, 13/10/02 - 8:58 AMPermalink

Or you could just rock up at Krome Studios and pretend to work there, then you could see for yourself. Hey, with a 50+ number of staff, who'd find out? [:)] .. That reminds me of an article on Slashdot on how someone just went into some company's office, sat down in a cubicle and pretended to work.. I can't remember exactly, but he may have managed a few weeks/month(s).. [:)]
Steve, 120 backgrounds + 40 character animations - that's just plain nutty. I would've went nuts [:)].. I'm guessing you did all those in Deluxe Paint on the Amiga, and in those days you had to do all your anti-aliasing, and dithering by hand (unless an eclipse/box gradiant fill would suffice).. very time consuming stuff.. I remember I did a hi-res picture (which was like 640x512) of Robert Smith of The Cure with Deluxe Paint, and that took me a total of 21 hours..

Submitted by Brain on Mon, 14/10/02 - 12:45 AMPermalink

Ahhh, DPaint. Let me count the ways... wish I never sold my copy of it.

Faboo interview by the by. And here's hoping Steve drops by regularly (Hi Steve! @:-)

Chris Bowden
http://brain.gamekey.com/

Submitted by bouncy roo on Tue, 22/10/02 - 7:24 AMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Souri

Or you could just rock up at Krome Studios and pretend to work there, then you could see for yourself. Hey, with a 50+ number of staff, who'd find out? [:)] .. That reminds me of an article on Slashdot on how someone just went into some company's office, sat down in a cubicle and pretended to work.. I can't remember exactly, but he may have managed a few weeks/month(s).. [:)]
Steve, 120 backgrounds + 40 character animations - that's just plain nutty. I would've went nuts [:)].. I'm guessing you did all those in Deluxe Paint on the Amiga, and in those days you had to do all your anti-aliasing, and dithering by hand (unless an eclipse/box gradiant fill would suffice).. very time consuming stuff.. I remember I did a hi-res picture (which was like 640x512) of Robert Smith of The Cure with Deluxe Paint, and that took me a total of 21 hours..

lol like what I did, rock up to Krome have the Lead artist love my work and then finding out I forgot my CV [xx(], hehehe I'm just happy I got past the secretary![:)]

//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Wed, 23/10/02 - 8:15 AMPermalink

quote:

lol like what I did, rock up to Krome have the Lead artist love my work and then finding out I forgot my CV [xx(], hehehe I'm just happy I got past the secretary![:)]

//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)

How long ago was this? You musta been pissed (off).

I'm thinking of testing the waters by sending an email to PR depts at Aussie game companies and sending my profile link. Only to see what they're after and then show a proper portfolio in a couple of months.

Is this a good idea? I don't really want to type a cv up yet.

Submitted by souri on Wed, 23/10/02 - 8:19 AMPermalink

Bouncy, was that with Steve Stamatiadis, btw ?

Submitted by bouncy roo on Wed, 23/10/02 - 11:38 AMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Souri

Bouncy, was that with Steve Stamatiadis, btw ?

It could have been. He wrote his name down for me on a piece of paper and told me to get ready for a proper interview and mention that this dude had liked and seen my folio, It was while Jason Dalton was on holiday when I went in. I should have gone back but I got nervous, which is pretty silly. [:I]

Sorry not sure of his name, I think I was overwhelmed by the secretary wanting to shoot me for barging in hehehe that was funny, you should see their place it's like home away from home! and the majority of people were down stairs playing ps2 it was cool just to be in there [:D]

//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)

Submitted by bouncy roo on Wed, 23/10/02 - 11:45 AMPermalink

[/quote]

How long ago was this? You musta been pissed (off).

I'm thinking of testing the waters by sending an email to PR depts at Aussie game companies and sending my profile link. Only to see what they're after and then show a proper portfolio in a couple of months.

Is this a good idea? I don't really want to type a cv up yet.
[/quote]

From my experience so far, it seems that it's better to go in person. Some companies don't like resumes sent through email, I guess It's too impersonal. Although what you could do is send an email of the link and a resume through and the day after you could rock up to the company and put the folio under their nose so they can smell the scent. [;)] But It's probably a good idea to type up a cv for back-up, most places will want cvs. But eitherway I guess :)

Good Luck for whatever you're going for my friend! [;)] Hope you rock their socks off!

//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Wed, 23/10/02 - 6:29 PMPermalink

quote:

From my experience so far, it seems that it's better to go in person. Some companies don't like resumes sent through email, I guess It's too impersonal. Although what you could do is send an email of the link and a resume through and the day after you could rock up to the company and put the folio under their nose so they can smell the scent. [;)] But It's probably a good idea to type up a cv for back-up, most places will want cvs. But eitherway I guess :)

Good Luck for whatever you're going for my friend! [;)] Hope you rock their socks off!

The main problem with that is that I'm in NZ at the moment. So it's a fair walk not to mention a fair swim. I've only got NSW in my profile because there is no NZ option :)

Submitted by bouncy roo on Thu, 24/10/02 - 3:43 AMPermalink

[/quote]

The main problem with that is that I'm in NZ at the moment. So it's a fair walk not to mention a fair swim. I've only got NSW in my profile because there is no NZ option :)
[/quote]

you could always send your folio through email to them and then ring them the next day to make sure they got it okay, then perhaps you might want to give them some more information about yourself over a phone interview, but be prepared for the phone bill hehe :) Try sending it to them through email and see how that goes, wish you the best and hope it works out for you! remember persistence is the key [;)]

//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Thu, 24/10/02 - 6:14 AMPermalink

quote:
you could always send your folio through email to them and then ring them the next day to make sure they got it okay, then perhaps you might want to give them some more information about yourself over a phone interview, but be prepared for the phone bill hehe :) Try sending it to them through email and see how that goes, wish you the best and hope it works out for you! remember persistence is the key [;)]

Cool, thanks for that. I'm gonna wait til I have a few more finished pieces in there and some better stuff. This is mainly because if you were to click on my profile now, you'd see the Elephant, Monkey and Boy sketches and it won't make the best first impression. I don't think anyone can be bothered sifting through the dross to find the diamonds.

Submitted by souri on Thu, 24/10/02 - 10:16 AMPermalink

If he had a pony tail, it might be Steve. [:)]

Submitted by spacecaptsteve on Fri, 25/10/02 - 4:47 AMPermalink

Nope it wasn't me. But one of my Art leads did mention something along those lines. If you want to show stuff to Krome I recommend sending in a showreel. If the art leads like it I'll call you in for a chat. If I like you, you may get a job. We don't go in for big corporate crap, that's why the place works so well.

Submitted by bouncy roo on Fri, 25/10/02 - 11:05 AMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by spacecaptsteve

Nope it wasn't me. But one of my Art leads did mention something along those lines. If you want to show stuff to Krome I recommend sending in a showreel. If the art leads like it I'll call you in for a chat. If I like you, you may get a job. We don't go in for big corporate crap, that's why the place works so well.

Hey Steve! I'd love to work at places like Krome, these next few weeks are allocated to lots of coffee and cramming for exams at uni, but I'm also tutoring a lecturer and some students in max at the moment which is pretty fun because I really love getting into 3dmax stuff, I think I'm obsessed with the program! every assignment I get I try to somehow incorporate writing about 3D or even talking about it heheh. In about two weeks time I'm going to start hunting for some work in the industry again, I hope I didn't make an arse of myself when I met one of the lead artists, I'm a down to earth kind of person so I'll pretty much say what's on my mind especially if I'm nervous. [:I] I should do some more sketches of lifedrawing in my folio.. there is only old drawings so I'd have to put some new ones in. :)~

Sorry I blabbed on a bit ! I'll send in some stuff to Krome soon, I'll also hunt around everywhere else as well. Best of luck to you in your current and future developments at Krome! hmm i should sleep now, I just finished and gave a flash presentation for marketing oral tonight, I did EBGAMES and made a flash animation to go with popcorn music, of course nobody opened their eyes to see what was behind the animated piece, I had a robotical T4 Virus opening and closing it's claws whilst injecting dna squares on screen, I was trying to go for the idea of gameplay being an infectious addiction. first of i had a weird intro then i had all this other cool stuff along with an animation of a conveyor belt being built on screen and then rolling out all EB products etc. I think I blinded everyone in the hall because the lights where off and I used a red simple background it was effective visually and physically for waking them up before the oral!

//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)

Submitted by davidcoen on Sat, 26/10/02 - 10:00 AMPermalink

crystalmesh crystalmesh crystalmesh

thrice say his name, thrice may it bind hime, and to begorn, thrice say it again

crystalmesh crystalmesh crystalmesh

// hmmn, need sleep

Submitted by bouncy roo on Sat, 26/10/02 - 10:51 AMPermalink

quote:Originally posted by Crystalmesh

/me pokes head in....

Did someone mention my name? [8)]

http://www.jasondalton.com

Sure did!, I emailed you ages ago asking how I'd go about getting into the industry and whilst you were on Holidays I rocked up to Krome to have a go, but then realised I'd forgotten to bring my CV , lol [:I] *grin* rwoar a classic kirsten flaw

//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)