The writing was on the wall when EA signalled staff cuts from various studios just last week, with "substantial" staff lay-offs from various studios including Pandemic Studios (L.A). The latest report that has been circulating on numerous websites is that all staff from Pandemic Studios L.A (some 200 employees, including the former studio CEO, president, and vice president of product development) have been let go today, with some core developers being relocated to other EA offices, thus finally…
Have art / audio / coding / design skills?
Love playing and making video games?
Bring your mates. Form a team.
Create a game from scratch in 14 hours!
WHERE:
AFTRS (Australian Film TV & Radio School) Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park.
- At the top of the pedestrian mall, past the Hoyts cinemas.
WHEN:
- Team setup & design brief:
- Fri 20 Nov 7pm-9pm
- Dev battle start:
- Sat 21 Nov 9am-4pm
- Dev battle end:
- Sun 22 Nov 9am-2pm
- Judgement & drinks
- Sun 22 Nov 3pm+
Computers…
From time to time, we're privy to news about the latest round of staff redundancies from local game studios, and while I'm rather hesitant to post a news item every time that happens (which would be have been quite frequently lately), I'm certain this sort of information is helpful for those who are still actively approaching companies for game positions, particularly to others who have just been let go.
Feel free to use the comments section of this news item, and this news item alone, to post…
For those who missed out on the presentation Paul Callaghan (Freeplay) gave at the huge IGDA Melbourne meetup earlier this week, check out Paul's blog for the slide of used for the presentation, including all the interesting stats collected on Melbourne developers and the kind of games they've released, their metracritic scores, and the platforms they were released on. It's pretty interesting to see the general trends and scores over the years from Melbourne game developers. From Paul's blog…
Chris Watts has written up his seven rules for those heading into the foray of independent game development. Having been in the neck of indie development with Mole and other projects this year, Chris is certain to have some valuable advice and tips worth adhering to, considering he's likely to have learnt them all the hard way.
Hi everyone,
I wanted to take the time to write out my experiences and lessons learned with the projects I've been working on for the better part of this year as an…
[Note: This post is quite long. Just wanted to establish that so no one tells me to shorten it. :D ]
Designerwatts' 7 rules of making your first team-based indie game.
Hi everyone,
I wanted to take the time to write out my experiences and lessons learned with the projects I've been working on for the better part of this year as an aspiring designer and indie developer.
Most of these rules have come from lessons that either I've had to learn through my own errors or by the nature of the projects…
Firemint CEO, Rob Murray, is giving a presentation at the Game Connect: Asia Pacific 2009 conference next month in Melbourne and is opening up the session for some questions before hand. Who better to gain some valuable insights from than one of the "50 Important People in Game Development" (Game Developer magazine, November 2009 issue), and the company behind the 2 million downloaded Real Racing GTi, the mega-hit Flight Control, and the recent recipient of the Governor's Export Award in the…
Electronic Arts have let go 1,500 staff and dropped a dozen unannounced titles recently in a major cost-cutting and restructuring plan, but it has many pondering on what this means for the games industry in general.
The cost-reduction plan has come shortly after EA's acquisition of game developer, Playfish, for a total of $400 million (US). It has signified to many about EA's shift from disc-based retail store games to social and online games and their new direction in that space. Their press…
Screen Australia and ABC-TV have announced that the Serious Game, 'Alternator', - a full-throttle car race in wild and whacky green-powered vehicles - will receive $325,000 and go into full production immediately.
The announcement of Alternator marks a key milestone in the Serious Games Initiative - a partnership between Screen Australia and ABC-TV to support the production of a computer game designed to have an educative message.
Alternator is a world where the harsh impacts of encroaching…
