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Archive for December, 2011

Local Indies represent at #igdamjam

19 Dec

The Melbourne Global Game Jam, running at La Trobe University Bundoora 27-29 January 2012, is stoked to have the support of  The Voxel Agents (http://thevoxelagents NULL.com) and Tin Man Games (http://tinmangames NULL.com NULL.au/blog/).

Tin Man Games, the creators of the compelling Gamebook Adventures series (http://gamebookadventures NULL.com/) are stalwarts for the IGDAM community. Neil’s no holds barred expose on the business life and financials of being indie was a memorable evening for it’s candour, humour and stark reality of indie dev life.

Ben Britten, Technical Director of Tin Man Games is a regular at IGDAM events.  ”The Melbourne indie-dev community has always been incredibly supportive of Tin Man Games.  Even though we are still small we feel like it is important to make sure we try to give back whenever we can.

“Also, game jams are awesome.”  Added Ben.

The Voxel Agents have recently ported their hit game Train Conductor 2

to Android, with a lot of bug testing QA supported by the IGDAM community and are continuing their involvement in game jams. Agent Tom Killen was part of the winning team at the Fabulous 48 Hour in Brisbane earlier in the year, heading up there especially for the jam.  Never one to miss a jamming opportunity, Agent Tom will be getting his jam on come Australia Day weekend.

Registrations of interest in jamming close on New Year’s Eve and it’s looking to be a great jam, with an exciting range or skills and experience signing up.  If you’re keen, and you haven’t already REGISTER INTEREST HERE.  Once you’ve done that we’ll be in touch by email with just a few more questions.  Jammers will be notified at the start of January once the head’s cleared from celebrations.

Have a safe and happy Christmas and New Year, bring on 2012, it’s exciting!

 
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Posted in Game Jam, Other

 

Jamming in January: Global Game Jam returns to Melbourne

15 Dec

Melbourne game makers are preparing to show the world the talent we have here down under by locking themselves up for 48 hours and rapidly prototyping some game designs to share their great ideas with the world. More than 80 game developers are expected to jam at La Trobe University in Bundoora on the Australia Day weekend to be part of this global event.

The IGDA Global Game Jam is an annual international game development weekend.  The 2012 Global Game Jam runs 27-29 January and starts at 5pm in each time zone.  More locally there could be as many as ten public jam sites in Australia and New Zealand, including Sydney and Wellington and Wollongong.  Game Developers of varying skill levels get together for 48 hours and make a game from start to finish. The focus is on having fun, being creative, and improving their ability to make the games that everyone loves.

At the time of writing 47 locations & 1204 jammers registered worldwide for Global Game Jam 2012.  In 2011 over 1500 games were made in 174 locations spanning 44 countries in a truly global event.

Game Developers of varying skill levels get together for 48 hours and make a game from start to finish. The focus is on having fun, being creative, and improving our ability to make the games that everyone loves.

Registrations of interest are being accepted for the Melbourne Global Game Jam hosted by IGDAM and La Trobe University, until the end of 2011 at http://igdamelbourne.org/2011/12/game-jam-returns-january-27-19-2012-thanks-to/ so if you make games and love a challenge in a fun and supportive environment you can register as a team or individual.

Giselle Rosman, Coordinator of IGDAM says “The game jam is a weekend of crazy, creative, sleep deprived games development.  I’d encourage novices and studio veterans alike to get their jam on.   Thanks to La Trobe University (http://www NULL.latrobe NULL.edu NULL.au/), AIE (http://www NULL.aie NULL.edu NULL.au/)and Immersive Technologies (http://www NULL.immersivetechnologies NULL.com/) we will be doing it all again from 27th to the 29th January 2012. We had a lot to learn in our first year so I’m looking forward to the amazing displays of team work, creativity and sheer guts and determination involved in the experience that is Jamming.”

What happened at last year’s Melbourne Jam?

At Melbourne’s inaugural Global Game Jam, all 73 participants were guests of La Trobe University. It was a magnificent turnout, one of the largest in the world which just goes to show the depth of talent and creative flair and enthusiasm that we have available here in Melbourne. Participants formed into teams on the first day and came up with a large number of creative game ideas. Each team created their concept and worked through the night rapidly creating playable versions of their games.

For the first time ever, Melbourne participated in the Global Game Jam in January of this year. 18 games were made by 73 participants, including “Ultra Happy Death Virus” which was voted by the panel of industry experts to be the best game made at that jam. UHDV can be played on the WinnitronAu at the Mana Bar in Melbourne and  other prototypes created over a creatively gruelling two days have been also been developed further.

Global Game Jam announces a theme and constraints and each team creates a game from start to finish in just a weekend.  Some jammers come in teams, and other teams are formed at the jam.  It is a great opportunity for game makers to expand their skills, meet likeminded developers, and have a fun time. Designers, artists, and coders are all welcome!

Want to know more? Here’s a bit more background for you

Here is some more background information:

http://pc.mmgn.com/Articles/Global-Game-Jam-Melbourne-Repo (http://pc NULL.mmgn NULL.com/Articles/Global-Game-Jam-Melbourne-Repo)

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/blogs/screenplay/melbourne-game-makers-get-jammin-20110127-1a65b.html (http://www NULL.smh NULL.com NULL.au/digital-life/games/blogs/screenplay/melbourne-game-makers-get-jammin-20110127-1a65b NULL.html)

http://palgn.com.au/18063/igda-global-game-jam-melbourne-winners-announced/ (http://palgn NULL.com NULL.au/18063/igda-global-game-jam-melbourne-winners-announced/)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Game_Jam (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Global_Game_Jam)

 
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There was Igdamas, ice cream, ninjas and congas!

12 Dec

The weather held off there was a bit of clapping, a smattering of cricket, a lot of ninjas,  a heap of delicious food,  plenty of drinks and a Surprise Attack (http://surpriseattack NULL.com NULL.au/) of Ice Cream.  As Mitch put it, The Ice Cream van that offers free ice cream: whatever you want! Exists only in dreams, cartoons, movie plots involving child baiting and IGDAMAS Parties!

Thanks to everyone who has made this year a great one for IGDAM, which is pretty much all of you, but special mentions for yesterday’s enjoyment goes to:

Lions share of funding thanks to:
Big Ant Studios (http://www NULL.bigant NULL.com/)
The Voxel Agents (http://www NULL.thevoxelagents NULL.com/)
Kevin Power – VoiceOver artist (http://kevinpowe NULL.voiceoverartist NULL.com NULL.au/)
This is Wicked Awesome – the chimps (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/TheAdventuresofJamesChimp)
Marshalls and Dent Lawyers (http://www NULL.mdlaw NULL.com NULL.au/)
And all you other Pozible supporters

The magical ice cream truck of dreams was thanks to Surprise Attack (http://surpriseattack NULL.com NULL.au/) – if you’re an indie looking for promo, start here.

Ninja Bread men baked by Mitch, in case ice cream, apple and pumpkin pie wasn’t enough.

Conga line and cricket thanks to the lovely Leena and filmed by the sensational Stephan Schutze.

Jeremy Kool (http://thepaperfox NULL.blogspot NULL.com/) for the pretty igdamas ninja

And final and personal thanks to everyone who lets me get my bossy on and pulled together to make it happen – Tom, Obe, David, Matt Lacey, Fiona, Anna, Jamie, Craig, Caswal, and if you’ve helped out and I haven’t included you then you’re even more super ace for being understanding!

All the best for the silly season; enjoy, stay safe and we’ll catch up in the New Year.

Now our thoughts turn to game jam….registrations are filling fast so make sure you’ve signed up if you’re keen for a weekend of creative, collaborative game creation.

If you would like to help out with the jam please email giselle at igdamelbourne dot org….even if you’ve already mentioned it to her (she’s a bit forgetful sometimes)

So, wanna see a conga line of gamedevs?

 
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Posted in Other

 

Game Jam returns: January 27-19 2012 thanks to…

06 Dec

It’s been in the works for a while, but thanks to La Trobe University (http://latrobe NULL.edu NULL.au), The Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) (http://aie NULL.edu NULL.au) and Immersive Technologies (http://www NULL.immersivetechnologies NULL.com/), Global Game Jam (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/) returns to Melbourne in 2012.

La Trobe Uni are on board again to be venue sponsors as they host us amongst the moats, ducks and well air conditioned labs.

We are pleased to announce AIE and Immersive Technologies have pledged Gold sponsorship and ensured the #igdamjam’s living to jam another year.

For 48 hours over the weekend of Jan 27-29 a group of around 80 game designers, developers and artists – both amateur and professional – will come together for an intensive Jam Session, forming small creative teams to design and prototype innovative game ideas. We provide the space, the tools you need and even catering. You make the games, and the IP stays with you!

It’s going be a fun weekend, but we also hope it can be something more. We want to stimulate the game development scene in Australia. We have the talent, the creativity and the resources to create a truly Australian games industry, we just need the initiative to give it a go.

After the inaugral Melbourne Jam held at La Trobe in Bundoora, we are looking forward to a slicker, smoother weekend still full of all the crazy creative energy of 2011.

We’re still on the lookout for sponsors – that would ensure less noodles, more nom :) get in touch and spread the word if you can help out.  All sponsorship is used for catering and equipment.

Updates to come, but spots are filling fast so don’t miss out registering your interest.

All media and other enquiries should be directed to info@igdamelbourne.org

We’ll be busy on twitter and we’ve even got a game jam specific facebook group

 
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Posted in Events, Game Jam

 

IGDAM Jam @ La Trobe 2012: register here

04 Dec

 
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Posted in Other