Category: General

I spent a fair amount of the last week helping to organise an end-of-year party for local game developers. (It was all worth it as the event was great!)

When we start organising events, we never quite know how they will turn out. Our biggest concerns are always attendance and finances. Most local developers are hobbyists or working at smaller companies, so people tend to have other aspects of their lives (competing for attention) and there isn’t really the sort of industry clout that ensures support and sponsorship.

As a result, we’re entirely dependant on enthusiasm and commitment overcoming apathy and disinterest. Fortunately, the local scene is composed of a lot of people who (for one reason or another) really want to make it in the games industry. Moreover, many want to do whatever they can to support an industry presence here in Perth.

A few years ago there appeared to be sudden explosive growth in the local industry. The most visible icons were probably Interzone establishing a local studio and the first GO3 (a local expo) managing to bring a bunch of big-name international game developers to Perth.

The problem with explosive growth is that’s it’s often difficult to sustain. In following years, GO3 became more of a general entertainment expo (free and more accessible) and local game development focus shifted from AAA titles to more casual games.

I think that initially a lot of people perceived these changes as a sort of failure, but that was only really because they were comparing what we had to what we were meant to have according to explosive forecasts (rather than consistent growth). Objectively, we have around three times as many companies and community groups when compared to 2006 – this is quite an achievement!

Slow organic growth is less sexy, but usually more practical and reliable (hence, more desirable). We’re taking it pretty easy with Let’s Make Games events – getting a feel for what the local community wants and aiming for consistency.

The events have been working out well and are slowly getting bigger and better – we’ll keep organising them provided people keep coming. 😉

It’s been a busy last few weeks. I went on a short trip to Thailand (during Loy Krathong festivities) with my sister and then moved out of the rental property that Heidi and I have been at for the last year. We’re living with Heidi’s parents for a while, then house-sitting, and then moving to Albany for six months.

I feel rather elated. I think it’s the togetherness of a full household (Heidi’s sister’s family is here as well, while their new house is being built) combined with the freedom of possibilities afforded by having no fixed address (and no home full of stuff… we got rid of a bunch of stuff).

Anyhow, here are some photos from the last few weeks:

There’s something intensely interesting (yet contradictorily ordinary) about the story of a Western fan of Japanese pop culture heading over to Japan to themselves become part of the culture (or subculture) they idolise.

Beckii Cruel seems to be the latest entrant into this group. She started by dancing to J-Pop and anime songs on YouTube and is now the new face of Lotti Fit’s Gum:

It’s heart-warming… although a little creepy at the same time. I’m sure that it’s a dream come true for her, but she’s likely a sexual fantasy for many adoring fans. I suppose it’s no different in the rest of the world though.

Her dancing videos for Fit’s gum are fun and cute… I’m probably just a sucker for accessible dancing and colourful costumes. 😉

There’s be a furore of negative comments over a level in Modern Warfare 2 in which the player is working as an undercover CIA agent who must participate (or at least be complicit) in the slaughter of civilians as part of a terrorist attack.

Although I’ve disagreed with The Reverend’s earlier rants, I have to agree with him on this one. The argument that this grotesque level is there to add realism (rather than sensationalism and hollow controversy) is pretty flaky when you effectively remove choice and culpability from the player.

As is often the case, The Onion is right on the money with their preview for Modern Warfare 3 (video via Aeropause):

Ultra-Realistic Modern Warfare Game Features Awaiting Orders, Repairing Trucks

Now that’s realism taken to another level entirely. (I should probably note that I find “realistic” war games, that glorify violence, rather distasteful.)

“Is the Catholic Church a force for good in the world?” was the topic for an interesting debate recently aired on BBC World.

The outcome was entirely unsurprising – not due to the unbalanced quality of the speakers, but because of the clearly unassailable position of the church. I honestly feel that it would be easier to argue that a large multinational corporation is a force for good. What does that say about the world?

Here’s the video playlist (it’s long, but worthwhile):

Here’s a summary from the YouTube page:

Aired 11-7-09 on BBC World

Is the Catholic church a force for good in the world?

“It stands up for the oppressed and offers spiritual succour to billions say the Church’s supporters. But what about the Church’s teachings on condoms, gays and women priests, ask the detractors.”

Speaking for the motion, Archbishop John Onaiyekan and Anne Widdencombe MP. Speaking against the motion, Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry.

via VideoSift.

I like taking photos of things that look like a face:

Anyone else have a “looks like a face” tag in their photo management software?

Unity3D Indie is now free! Man I’m glad that I held out on this purchase yesterday (when it was $200).

via TIGSource.

Update: Looks like it’s just called Unity now, rather than Unity Indie.
Update: Gah, unfortunately support for external version control is only included in Unity Pro.

I listed a bunch of stuff on eBay for the first time ever (click images to go to listings):

I’m a little apprehensive that anyone will be interested (Australia feels like a very small market), but I’ll see how it goes. In related news, buy my stuff!

I’ve been consolidating computer equipment in preparation for a move and I’ve put together a decent server machine that should work well as a NAS (straight media server, file server, or does-everything server).

Here’s a picture:

The specs are:

• 2.8GHz Celeron CPU
• 512MB 533Mhz DDR2 RAM
• 200GB IDE HDD
• 250GB IDE HDD
• 80GB SATA HDD
• 120GB SATA HDD
• 2x NICs (onboard and PCI card)
• 52x CDRW optical drive
• Inbuilt audio, video, and RAID on the mainboard

I’ve installed FreeNAS on it, which allows it to: appear as a network file share, act as a backup server, stream media to the Playstation 3 and Xbox360, and run a bittorrent client (so that you don’t have to leave your main computer running while downloading large files).

Of course you don’t have to use it as a NAS. It runs “normal” operating systems just fine, and would probably be good as a general purpose PC – or even as a low-end gaming PC with the addition of a video card (the mainboard has a PCI-Express slot) and more RAM.

If anyone is interested, I’m selling it for AU$120. The 15″ Samsung LCD monitor next to it is also available for AU$30 (with the computer, or $40 by itself). Pick-up only.

I’m a little sore from gymnastics last night; mostly where I overextended a few joints or muscles: my right shoulder, my right middle finder, my left thigh…

So how’d I end up like this? The other day I saw this video of Jack Black performing clap push-ups while in some crazy muscle suit (as part of his promotional work for Double Fine‘s Brütal Legend):

It made me wonder how difficult clap push-ups really are. I gave them a go; turns out not that hard since I can do them. I messaged Tone to let him know how awesome I am. He replied saying that I should go down to the gym the next day, and I replied “alright”.

The gym in this case is a casual gymnastic class held in a gymnasium kitted out with all sorts of trampolines, mats, ropes, springboards, and other fun stuff. It’s $10 per session, and the session lasted for a few hours.

When we arrived, a few dozen people were already there – taking turns jumping off a small trampoline onto a mat. After around 15 minutes, the equipment was cleared and we did a bunch of stretches and warm-up exercises. After around 20-30 minutes of that, it was basically “do whatever you want”.

My previous elation at being able to perform clap push-ups was quickly depleted after seeing someone perform crazy v-snap push-ups (push off and touch your toes, while keeping your arms and legs straight, between push-ups). However, it all just made me want to work harder!

I tried out most of the equipment with varying degrees of success. I almost managed a front-flip (off a trampoline), a wall-spin, and a one-handed cartwheel. Good enough for a first time I reckon, but I’ll try to be more bold next time. 🙂

Thanks to Rowan and Tone for inviting me. It was awesome!