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Archive for September, 2011

October meet deets: Oh the games people play trivia night

30 Sep

When: Tuesday 11 October, 7pm-10pm

Where: 1000 Pound Bend, 361 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne

What:

Bring a team or form one on the night, come along and test your games knowledge and catch up with some great local dev’s.

It would be appreciated if you register before the night so we can have a good idea of numbers, and the facebook event is here (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/event NULL.php?eid=143804389048031).

If you have any questions (or would like to contribute a prize for the evening which would be gratefully appreciated and acknowledged) email info@igdamelbourne.org

Thanks!  Hope to see you there :)

 
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And here’s the trivia night registration form

26 Sep

 
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Update & October Trivia night details

22 Sep

Hi all

It’s been very busy over here, with last month’s meet being a great success thanks to the involvement of everyone there.  The big winners of the evening were Ninja and a great Danish clapping game, which last I checked called the Danish Clapping Game, locally anyway.  Thanks to Bernie for joining us all the way from Denmark to teach us this fun and involving game.  We’ll even forgive the many sore slapped thighs in the morning.

(To add to the international flavour, I’ve just been contacted by a Canadian dev who will be in town and is keen to drop by and say hi too!)

Then there was a bit of a downer,  which we’ll leave in the past, except to say thanks to the community for banding together to prove it was the exception, not the rule with their overwhelming support and generosity.

David May, lead programmer at Big Ant and play dough aficionado was amazing and paid the venue out of his own hard earned, leading the charge and ensuring others who offered to help out donated to the now  funded Christmas party, which I still encourage you all to kick in (http://www NULL.pozible NULL.com NULL.au/index NULL.php/archive/index/2993/description/0/0) for if you haven’t had a chance yet (go on, be part of the solution.)

To those of you who have donated, many many thanks it should be a ripper!  If we end up with too much money, then January’s bar is also looking fun – w (http://bigant NULL.com/)e’ll keep you posted on plans, particularly contributors.

And further props to the wonderful Big Ant Studios (http://bigant NULL.com/), creators of AFL Live, who have pledged $500 for what will be the third IGDAM Christmas party.

Game Jam plans are kicking along nicely and we hope to have announcements about that by the end of October.

To October:

Oh the games people play – Trivia Night

When: Tuesday 11 October, 7.00pm

Where: 1000 Pound Bend, 361 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne

What: it’s a trivia night, make and register your team beforehand or register individually and form teams on the night.  See below.  For added security we ask that all participants register, thanks.

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Melbourne games development scene pulls together again

21 Sep

Wow.

Just wow.

On Sunday night we launched a crowd funding campaign on Pozible (http://www NULL.pozible NULL.com NULL.au/index NULL.php/archive/index/2993/description/0/0) to support this year’s IGDAM Christmas party.  Within 2 days of asking  we’ve done it!

And I mean we.   Everyone’s been more generous than I had hoped or imagined, and we’ve reached our goal, a Ninja Clapping Christmas is happening in Melbourne games dev world!  And sometimes in these parts we need things to look forward to.

The planning of this, sadly coincided with the closure of Visceral by EA and the loss of 21 local jobs.  Never a good thing.  If we can to help out in any and you’ve been affected by the closure you welcome to get in touch,  via either info at igdamelbourne dot org or the myriad of ways we can all be contacted these days!

One of which is twitter, which has been another place there has been some great local responses and offers of assistance to, along with the sounds of plots afoot from the Visceral crew:

@sequal1 (http://twitter NULL.com/#%21/sequal1) David May
Sounds like some great things are being planned by a few ex EA Visceral peeps. Awesome Melbourne game devs FTW!
kevin_mcintosh (http://twitter NULL.com/#%21/kevin_mcintosh) Kevin McIntosh
Not good – Visceral Games closing doors. For anyone leaving there, get in touch about positions at Torus Games; bit.ly/nK99Ai (http://t NULL.co/HSJzLHQp)

Adam_Rudd (http://twitter NULL.com/#%21/Adam_Rudd) Adam Rudd
My condolences to the #EAvisceral (http://twitter NULL.com/#%21/search?q=%23EAvisceral) Melbourne staff. Programmers & Senior Animators, #BigAntStudios (http://twitter NULL.com/#%21/search?q=%23BigAntStudios) may have a position for you
but then back on the upside, it’s been a topsy turvy few days, with the generosity of the local community, Visceral staff should be able to dine at the Ninja Clapping Christmas for nix. (http://twitter NULL.com/#%21/sequal1/status/115982788255170561)

The Clapping Ninja Honour Roll
( a work in progress – you can be added up until early November)
The Voxel Agents – Creators of the Train Conductor series (http://www NULL.thevoxelagents NULL.com/)
Wicked Awesome – Creators of The Adventures of James Chimp (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/TheAdventuresofJamesChimp)
Kevin Powe – Voiceover Artist (http://kevinpowe NULL.voiceoverartist NULL.com NULL.au/)
Foolhardy Games (http://foolhardygames NULL.com/)
Twisted Shield Interactive (http://)
Special thanks to Jeremy Kool and his pozible quest, The Paper Fox (http://http://www NULL.pozible NULL.com NULL.au/index NULL.php/archive/index/2259/description/0/0).  Not only did Jez create our Clapping Christmas Ninja because I asked nicely (see, how wonderful is that?) his project inspired this one – so please check it out and continue with the generous spirit that we’ve seen recently.

And then there’s all the other individuals (http://www NULL.pozible NULL.com NULL.au/index NULL.php/archive/index/2993/supports/0/0#info) who have been so generous in their support of this project. Thank you all, let’s keep going, who know’s maybe Trent Kusters  will see Kamahl yet.

We’ll be announcing our October meet up shortly, and we hope to see you on the second Tuesday of the month (as long as you came with, aside from new game dev contacts and tasty, tasty information from people into what you are)

Super special sponsors get logos, so here the come, and you may have noticed the ninja chimp earlier – that’s the spirit!

kevin_mcintosh (http://twitter NULL.com/#%21/kevin_mcintosh) Kevin McIntosh

by IGDAMelbourne

Not good – Visceral Games closing doors. For anyone leaving there, get in touch about positions at Torus Games; bit.ly/nK99Ai (http://t NULL.co/HSJzLHQp)

13 hours ago (http://twitter NULL.com/#%21/kevin_mcintosh/status/115955854573961216) (http://twitter NULL.com/#) (http://twitter NULL.com/#) (http://twitter NULL.com/#) (http://twitter NULL.com/#)

 
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People Power Ninja Clapping Christmas

18 Sep

OK, I’ve gotten ahead of myself, and will one day (I promise) give you a bit of a rundown on last week’s shennanigans  – the good shennanigans, can I fit shennanigans into the sentence again?

But I digress…

Right now we’re excited to be trying the fabulous crowd funding model for the Christmas party this year.

Please help out by chipping in and spreading the word….all the information is available from the Pozible site (http://www NULL.pozible NULL.com NULL.au/index NULL.php/archive/index/2993/description/0/0), so pop on over and check it out.

Thanks also to Jeremy Kool for our ninja clapping chrismas dude – you should check out his Paper Fox Project (http://www NULL.pozible NULL.com NULL.au/index NULL.php/archive/index/2259/description/0/0) it’s so pretty and would rock all the more if it was animated and interactive

Cheers,

giselle

 
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Not the post I wanted to post

14 Sep

When I woke up this morning I was excited about updating the blog with words and pictures from the fabulous playtime run at Thousand Pound Bend last night.

Then I got an email.

It  made me sad, angry, and once again wondering why I, and the other lovely volunteers who put this stuff on for free and out of the goodness of their hearts, bother.

And now instead of fun pictures, words and memories of last night, I get to post this :(

There was a print stolen out of it’s frame last night from upstairs in Rancho Notorious.  We were the only people there last night and it was identified last night after everyone had left when the staff were packing up.

The print was a ”Star Wars Print Giclee Print” (edition of 30) Piece Unframed is worth $150.

Two choices thief: return the print or pay the $150 the artist is due for their work.

You can contact me on giselle@igdamelbourne.org if you want to clear your conscience and not put hardworking, unpaid volunteers off running such wonderful events.  I personally already spent money on supplies on top of the work done for nix, and I’m not the only one.

If anyone can help sort this out it would be greatly appreciated.  We like The Bend, and want them to have us back, assuming we’re not over this petty behaviour to the point of no longer wanting to offer such great events to the games dev community.

We may have to look at having roll calls and door charges just to discourage riff-raff.

 
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Playtime – Tuesday 13 September, 1000£ Bend

06 Sep

When: Tuesday 13 September

Where: Playtime – Tuesday 13 September, 1000£ Bend, 361 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne

If you’ve been watching this space at all,  it’s time to explore the elements of play through experience

September’s IGDAM has a playful Spring theme: playtime.

With drink in hand watch, or explore first hand, some of the basic elements of play. There’ll be opportunities to discuss your personal and group player experiences, and consider how that affects your own game design and creation process.

In line with the theme of ‘Playtime’, this event is all about trying your hand at some fun new experiences, in a group setting. It’s all friendly, so feel free to come along and contribute as much as you want, or stand back and watch the antics!

6.30: Back bar opens for IGDAM (The burgers are a bargain and delicious beforehand in the front bar).

7.30: Welcome, rules of each game explained briefly by the GM’s and how it’s a speed-gaming event depending on who wants to play (you may have noticed, there are a few of us)

7.45: Let playtime commence! Join in, watch, or continue doing what you where doing.  This is a chance to open up discussions around the development and limitations of a game, be it in scope, mechanics or interactivity.
8.30: Wrap up, thank yous and announcements, and of course you can keep on playing until the mood takes you, or the owners of the game take their bat and ball and go home.

So come along, join the fun and talk all things dev with likeminded souls.

 
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Watch this Space: September meet up

01 Sep

When: Tuesday 13 September. 6.30pm – 10.30pm

Where: 1000 Pound Bend, 361 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne (but round the back in the laneway, it is Melbourne after all)

Please respond on the facebook event (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/event NULL.php?eid=202968329766692#!/event NULL.php?eid=202968329766692) if you’re at all that way inclined, you may get in on the secret early that way!

This will be a great chance to catch up again after the creative inspiration that was #freeplay11, and find out what’s afoot with IGDA Melbourne in the coming months.

There’s murmurings of fun afoot, but never fear, you only have to get involved as far as you are comfortable.

If you’re interested in helping out a bit with future events, particularly with Christmas and Global Game Jams ahead, drop us a line at committee@igdamelbourne.org.

Cheers,

@jazzrozz

 
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