Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Ben for filming  and letting use share our Melbourne meets further afield.

To launch and celebrate, Andrew and Ben will be adding to the amazing that is the GDC: Delayed Australian Release with a chance to meet the team, hear about the development and score a Steam code.

The rest of the night’s details are in the original post

For more info about the Curse, head over to the Brawsome website

After much ado, GDC’s delayed Australian release will be in Melbourne.

When: Tuesday 10 April 6:00pm onwards

Where: The Workers Club, cnr Brunswick and Gertrude Streets, Fitzroy

Harry Lee: While I’m sure meta-games will rate a mention, Harry will give the CA (Conference Associate) perspective, staying at indie hostels, and what happens when you try to illegally sneak into parties.

No doubt they’ll all be showing off the wonderful thing that is party networking, and hope you can make it along to live (or relive, if you made it this year) vicariously through their experiences.

Let us know if you’re coming along via the usual facebook event.

If you are looking for funding your next game project, Film Victoria has some great funding options, and applications close mid-April.

At The Boat Builders Yard from 6pm – 9pm (talks starting at 6:30) in South Wharf we are pleased to give you some inside info on what it takes to secure funding from people who have been there and done that.

Ben Britten: As part of Tin Man Games, Ben has written successful funding applications and is now one of the assessors for the fund (yes, he’s one of the people you’ll have to impress)

Chris Wright: The Chief Surprise Architect from Surprise Attack has been involved in three successful funding applications in collaboration with his indie clients, and can give tips on this too, as well as what it takes to be able to access even bigger pots of money.

Chris Watts: Chris’ company, Play Bit Entertainment, has also been on the receiving end of Film Victoria funding for his recently released Facebook game, Puzzle Treasure

And of course, Film Victoria’s own Brad Giblin will also be there to answer your questions.

As we are limited for space, this event is for those looking to secure funding in the next round of applications or the near future.  We will be looking into holding a more general ‘How to Secure Funding’ event later in the year to cover not only Film Victoria, but also Screen Australia and any other relevant funding bodies.

Please be sure to RSVP via the facebook event.

If you have any queries, email giselle@igdamelbourne.org

Thanks to everyone for pulling together to make the Play Party such a success. We will look to a better floor plan in the future so more people can play more games.

And huge thanks for your kindness and generosity which now means I’m a lost for words  lifetime IGDA member.

Thousand Pound Bend is once again unable to accommodate us in March, but The Order of Melbourne is happy to have us again, and this time the rooftop will be ours too.

So…

If you’re not stateside for GDC we have a ripper discussion with Chris Wright, Chief Surprise Architect at Surprise Attack, the indie games marketing specialists and Dan Golding, video games blogger at Crikey.com about how to market yourselves, your games and how to liaise with media to obtain the best possible outcomes.  We may have another games journalist dropping in to join the discussion, but that depends on when

When: Tuesday 13 March 6:30, talks start at 7:30pm

Where: The Order of Melbourne

RSVP via Facebook

So if you want to know the tricks to marketing your game, writing media releases and communicating with journo’s insights, don’t miss out.

If you have any queries email giselle / at/ igdamelbourne dot org

A selection of newly conserved games from the Melbourne Global Game Jam will be available for your sampling pleasure at the next IGDAM meet up.  Please note the unusual date (didn’t want to cramp Valentine’s plans) and venue (the bend was already booked).

When: Tuesday 21 February from 6pm

Where: The Order of Melbourne (think Freeplay afterparty venue and you’re set)

Some of the games for your tasting pleasure include:

Omelette Boris, Purgatory, Circle of Snake, Faia, Harmonize, Hairy Cat Holocaust (please play on mute), Deep and many, many more….

If you could let us know if you’re coming via the facebook event it’d be much appreciated.

Jammers, please register your game for display so we can save you a space and have someone set up by 6pm at The Order.

The jam was a massive success with over 100 jammers creating 28 games in just 48 hours. We couldn’t have achieved this without the generous support of our sponsors….We owe enormous thanks in particular to our Platinum Sponsor La Trobe Universityfor allowing us to use their campus grounds to host all of the jammers. They were generous in providing us with five computer labs and a workstation for every jammer, as well as internet access and use of their amenities. The Game Jam would not have been possible without this venue.All of the jammers were delighted to hear from Myles who explained Gold Sponsor Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, which is certainly of interest to all of these jammers. The generous financial support given by Microsoft also provided a solid meal and snacks that fueled the creative minds.We also owe significant thanks to our other Gold Sponsors the Academy of Interactive Entertainment and Immersive Technologiesfor their generous financial assistance. Their support allowed us to provide meals and some fun distractions to relieve the jammers from 48 hours of relentless development. The game jam would not have been possible without their early support.

All the jammers also owe many thanks to our Prize Sponsors EA Aus

tralia,Stephan Shutze’s Sound Librarian, Surprise Attack amd StormFX for their generous donation of prizes including a copy of the Stephan’s sound library, valued at $2000 for the best game audio, a half day branding and marketing workshop for the most surprising game, as well as JB giftcards and a terrific selection of EA games and merchandise.

Finally, cheers to our  Indie Sponsors Tin Man Games, The League of Geeks, and The Voxel Agents who provided some financial support and who were also incredibly generous with their time in helping organise, run, and judge the jam. Particular thanks are also due to Ben Britten-Smith of Tin Man Games who provided valuable mentorship to the jammers.

Hope to see you at The Order

Thanks to everyone for an amazing weekend.  Words fail for now, suffice to say I’ve had some great feedback already and am blown away by 28 Games 107 Jammers 2 Days.

Special mentions to the award winning teams:

Tasters’ Taste and Jammers’ Jam de Jam:

Omelette Boris: Very Bean’s Quest, a fun and engaging 2D platformer where you turn from chicken to egg to chicken. The level of finish and overall polish of both graphics and gameplay on this game amazed the judges. To quote one of them; “ship it”.

Tom Greenaway (programming), James Greenaway (art), Ivan Neeson (programming)

@kumobius

www.kumobius.com

Sean Affleck: (audio)

@clickclique

Matt Scorah: (art)

@scozdawg

The whole team worked on the game design created level designs.

Most Fun:

Streams: once it clicks with you, there’s no goingback, it’s like digital skipping

Hu Hu Chen, Edward Whitehead, Leonard Frankel, Andrew Maxwell and two other wonderful people who have used pseduonyms, I’ll update this bit when I have the info.

Most Surprising Spread:

Seasonal Sci-Flies by Aaron Cox, Matthew Dodd and Daniel Su

Tarty Art:

Whirlstrom by Shelley, Bianca Gibson, Alex Fraser and Campbell Barton

Farty Art:

Burn by Jarrod Lowery, Benn Lockyer and Sunny Koda

Smoothest Spread:

We had an amazing group with subgroups, and were tempted to choose the creators of Milk Blister (my first game credit, so proud!) which included all of us, but instead was awarded to The three-in-0ne team headed up by the design brilliance of Harry Lee.

Thanks to our media friends for visiting and sharing the jam love, it was an amazing weekend without major dramas, which may have disappointed some looking for an angle, but as an event manager is exactly what I look for.

More info and updates with all the games after a bit more sleep has been caught up on.

All the games can be downloaded to play from the GGJ12 website.

]]> http://igdamelbourne.org/2012/01/melbournes-global-game-jam-2012-is-set-and-the-tasters-verdict-is-in/feed/ 1 http://igdamelbourne.org/2012/01/tasters-are-polishing-their-spoons-game-jam-starts-this-friday/ http://igdamelbourne.org/2012/01/tasters-are-polishing-their-spoons-game-jam-starts-this-friday/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:55:13 +0000 giselle http://igdamelbourne.org/?p=1411

The Global Game Jam is  primarily collaborative, not competitive. The focus of the weekend is for everyone to make great games. However we’re game makers, so we can’t resist the urge to spice things up by making it a bit competitive and so in the interests of fun and of recognising excellence we do award prizes for several categories.

To reflect more accurately the role of the judging panel, we’ll be looking at them as a tasting panel after a long weekend in the game making kitchen.

Our “Jam Tasters” are

Simon Joslin, Creative Director at The Voxel Agents, and veteran 48 Hour jammer.

Ben Britten, Technical Director at Tin Man Games and international man of mystery.

Trent Kusters, ‘Creative Director’ at Divisive Media and ‘Founder & Director’ at  League of Geeks who always smells nice.

Craig Duturbure, Creative Director at Grapple Gun Games and an indie designer who looks for everlasting fun in games (but will settle for a satisfying shotgun effect)

Conor O’Kane, Game Development Lecturer at RMIT and jammer from last year about to release the jammed Last Flight of the Bumblebee for iPad on the App Store.

Katie Williams, freelance writer, Kotaku Australia, Hyper and PCPP and lover of inflatable strawberries.

Sam Mayo, Community Manager at Firemint and ace lemon jouster.

Unforunately Mark Serrels can’t stay for the whole jam but will be coming along.  (I couldn’t resist his bio), Editor of Kotaku Australia. He is a multi award-winning journalist and the inventor of the Serrels’ Stare ™. He has previously edited publications such as The Official Nintendo Magazine, The Official PlayStation Magazine, Australian 360 and PSM3. He once got 191,000 on Doodle Jump and totally has a man crush on Ryan Gosling. And, yes, he is painfully aware that he closely resembles Simon Pegg.

Awards Categories and Prizes

Tasters’ Toast: A $500 JB Voucher courtesy of Immersive Technologies

Jammers’ Jam de Jam: A $100 JB voucher

Tarty Art (best graphics): EA swag

Farty Art (best sound):  the complete Sound Librarian

Smoothest Jam  (best teamwork): More swag from  EA Australia  along with $100 JB Voucher

Most Surprising Spread :

We <3 our growing list of sponsors for all the brilliant support and prizes.

Tasters  will reconvene with the jam makers, media and guests, over a bbq and a beer at La Trobe’s Eagle Bar at about 6pm on Sunday 29 January where they will discuss their tasting notes.

Games sector and media are encouraged to email giselle@igdamelbourne.org for an invite to Sunday afternoon display, awards and BBQ.  If you miss out this time there will be information about a game jam expo soon <crosses fingers the plan comes together.>

We’ll try to keep you posted with updates, but if you have any questions, start at the facebook #igdamjam page and take it from there.

On Thursday 2 Feb 2012 Kumobius will release a major update that completes the Bean’s Quest game for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The free update almost doubles the content of the critically acclaimed platformer and introduces a final boss battle.

They will be holding a launch party to celebrate the completion of the game at our warehouse office:

• Thursday 2 Feb 2012, 5:30pm – 8:30pm
• 9 Little Oxford Street, Collingwood 3066, VIC

There will be free drinks, food and games to play, including; Super Street Fighter 4, Tetris The Grand Master and of course: Bean’s Quest. If you’re interested please join via the Facebook event so they know how many people are coming:

Kumobius is an indie game studio based in Melbourne. Bean’s Quest was first released in late July 2011 to much critical acclaim; the game was featured in the “New and Noteworthy” section on the App Store and received numerous favourable reviews. Since then, the game has been regularly updated with more content, culminating in the final update on 2 Feb 2012

Ingredients:

 101 juicey jammers

One secret theme ingredient

101 computers* see below for pre-made recipe

2 jamming labs

1 sleeping lab – be sure to overchill

5 special guest panelists

1 smattering of media

 Taste testers, creativity, pizza, curry, caffeine,toast, cereal, caffeine, drinks, caffeine, bbq, more caffeine…then finally alcohol

Method

Friday

Apply 101 juicey jammers to register at the Beth Gleeson Building, Science Drive, La Trobe University between  2pm and 3.30pm on Friday 27 January. 

Free parking is available in the white bays only of car parks 1 and 2 (Car Park 2 is closest to the jamsite)

Gently agitate in a lecture theatre, then softly fold in a  panel discussion at 4.00pm Agent Tom Killen (The Voxel Agents), Matt F Ditton (you name it), Trent Kusters (League of Geeks), Harry Lee (recent LudumDare Jam winner and all round amazing bloke), Tony Reed (Game Developers’ Association of Australia) about how to survive a game jam, and what makes a good game in a short time frame.

At 5:00 Friday add the secret theme ingredient.  THIS INGREDIENT MUST BE KEPT SECRET UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!

Shake, stir and then separate into teams.  Recommended size per team, 2-5 jammers.

It’s now it’s time to apply the heat.

Saturday

Blend teams with computers, food, friends and surprises until the games are simmering.

Add toast and cereal, juice, tea and coffee.

Combine with the rest of the world and register teams and games.

Add Subway and snacks.

Continue simmering throughout the night, slowly increasing the heat. Media may be added at any stage during the process.

Add Indian.

Add Red Bull

Add sleep – don’t forget this ingredient. Your game will not rise without it. Bring warm bedding, earplugs for the soft sleepers and snuggle down for a break, dreams make games, don’t ya know?

Sunday

Additional toast, cereal, juice tea and coffee to be liberally applied at this point

10:30-12:30  Add another secret ingredient – this adds to the local flavour of the global game jam

Make sure all games are in the oven by 3.00pm

3:30pm  Tasting panel arrives

5:00pm  Time to clean down all jam cooking areas

6:00pm Retire to The Eagle Bar for dinner and drinks to await the tasters’ verdicts.

6:30ish Final presentations and thanks and stuff, farewells, and more very well deserved drinks.

2012 will be just the second time this recipe is made with the Melbourne Method, and we’re looking forward to experiencing the cooking and tasting the jam

Computers

Computers will be precooked to include:

Hardware

Intel Core i7
4Gb of ram
Widescreen LCD 20” ish.
DVD usb etc
GTX 260
KB + Mouse

 Software

Win 7 x64
Visual Studio 2010
XNA 4.0
Blender
MS Office
Firefox
IE
Chrome
Maya
3D Studio max

We’re still investigating licencing options for Photoshop

Add to that whatever you BYO that you have access to and permission for.

Remember:

“It is ok to use any freely available software with free versions like Unity, Shiva, Unreal, etc. We even go so far as to say that it is ok to use software that is easily accessible but not free; an example is the Source engine which is not free to download, but comes with any Valve game.

If someone has built their own engine it is best left up to the organizers’ discretion. Source code is not necessary, but you do need to provide headers and libraries, so that someone downloading the game can built it again from scratch.”

And of course, this recipe just wouldn’t be possible without a hearty dose of sponsorship, thanks again to La Trobe University (Platinum Sponsor), AIE (Gold Sponsor), Immersive Technologies (Gold Sponsor), Microsoft Imagine Cup (Gold Sponsor),  Prize sponsors EA Australia and Sound Librarian, and Indie sponsors The Voxel Agents, League of Geeks and Tin Man Games.

All media and event enquiries can be emailed to giselle@igdamelbourne.org