General Chat

Sounds great, but unfortunately, I'm way too busy with a few things I need to get done which will keep me busy for the next few months.

If you look at the Groups page on tsumea, you can see that I'm trying to make that page more useful for indies to collaborate together. I haven't actually announced it yet, but if you want to be a test guinee pig and try it out, you're more than welcomed to.

i really want to join in with this but ive only just started learning how to model using animation programs and only have a basic idea of how to code == maybe in 3 years time ^^

I might well be preparing an entry, though I need to look through my schedule and hear back regarding possible other commitments. Certainly good to see people with an interest though.

Anyone???? Only two months to go - I'm buying the models :)

If you haven't already, you could check out the fledgling Sydney chapter of the IGDA - http://www.igdasydney.com/ .

There's a facebook page as well - www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38132449086

Should have some like-minded people who'd be interested.

Regards,
Jarrod

Mainly FBX art assets and XNA Visual Studio C# games creation.

Maya 2011
Motion Builder 2011
Poser 2008
Daz 3D Studio
Daz 3D Assets under the new Game Developers Licensing at Daz
Daz 3D to FBX
Corel PaintShop

Just wanna say that this is a really good incentive for the australian game community. Great Job!

Spammed with popup ads... I won't be back until that's removed as spam drives me friggin nuts!

Yes,

I have nothing against the initiative, but the ads will clearly keep this from ever taking off. Spamming users with adds will have a pushing force on consumers, so you will need to have an opposing pulling force if you want to keep people coming back, let alone entice new people.

That pulling power doesn;t exist yet. To the OP; I would strongly reccomend dicking all the ads untill the website is set up. You are effectivley competing against websites like this and many others out there which do not spam users into submission, and at the moment offer nothign in return.

I too won't be going back.

Just had a look at the site, and I have to share the sentiments of the other posters about the ads. It's actually quite extraordinary how many kinds of ads you have on there! On my first visit, I've been hit with a full screen "click this button to skip this ad" ad, and then there's the standard cross banner ad, a side banner ad, a pop up banner that slides back down at the bottom of the page, a roll over ad which covers half the screen in the top right of the page. On other pages, there are word ads on your content, and if I click on the jobs button on the navigation bar, boom, I'm hit with 3 pop up windows of ads. And all of these ads have the subtlety of an elephant on crack, all flashing and vying for your attention.

It's simply way too overkill. It's just going to frustrate visitors and not make them want to come back. In my opinion, click-through ads are a waste of time anyway, unless you're pulling in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of unique visitors. On an initial launch of a site with an understandably small amount of content, it's too early for it.

I've never considered click-through ads on Sumea / tsumea in the 8 years we've been around (we never even had ads or sponsors for the first five or so years of existence either). The visitor numbers are simply not in the hundreds of thousands a day to make it worthwhile. Remember, games development is a VERY niche audience, and Australian games development is a very smaller part of that pie. If you're concentrating on Australian games jobs, that is a really, really, really tiny pie.

However, if you are intending to cover game related jobs world-wide, then boy, are you up against some *really* heavy hitters. If you want to compete with them, and you're thinking of replicating some of their services, I'd recommend something other than Joomla. Maybe it's much better since the two years since I last looked into Joomla (Sumea was hand written since 2001, and we made a major the switch to Drupal 2 years ago), but back then, it simply couldn't even cut it doing the stuff I had already done on Sumea.

The other thing about the site is that it seems more suited for gamers interested in games rather than developers. You've got game reviews, software reviews, playable games, games videos, games related blogs - it's hard to see if there's any focus on game jobs at all.

Anyway, it's always good to have more sites on the local industry, so all the best!

Hey guys. Thanks for the feedback. And yes I completely agree about the ads. The site is not being put out live yet and currently just the test one is up there at the moment, as such different advertising companies were being tried which seemed to overlap for a lot of people.

All of the pop up/pulldown/ annoying ads have all been removed now and they were never intended to stay there. I had written a few posts on the frontpage and in the forum explaining the ads so guess you guys didn't look in there. Sorry that you had to visit it while they were being tested.

And Souri thanks for your feedback also. I do have to agree that it is a small market for the Australian and New Zealand game industry but I think that it is something that needs as much help as it can get. And I know when I was attempting to get into the industry there is just very little help out there aside from the main training institutions which a lot of people can't afford to invest in straight up. This site is in no way going to be competing with the international websites and it is not going to even try. I am not trying to make a profit from this site as I simply began making it as a way to get more contacts in the industry and am hoping it will do the same for the members.

As for the jobs section it will be coming up fully once the site is released since obviously it involves the most work with outside companies. I am currently in discussions with many of the Australian game developers and educational facilities to set this up correctly and once it is completely finished users will be able to create their own web page/portfolio in the site with an unlimited amount of storage to put all your work in which the client will be able to view. The other pages are all set up for the community to enjoy and all the blogs, reviews etc are all written by members of the site who wish to be more involved.

I hope to see you all back on there once the site is live and once again sorry for the spamming of the ads, they were just there for testing and I had not expected to get 45 000 hits in the week that the ads were being tested.

I applaud you initiative.
It's refreshing to see this kind if thing being done. ( not that Souri hasn't been doing an awesome job, he really has)
Anything which can raise the profile of games development in Australia is worthwhile and deserves our support.

Hey, welcome to the site, Luke. Be sure to upload some of your art so we can all see :)

Hey, welcome to the site!

Keep your eye out on the jobs page (or follow us on twitter) for the latest job posts. It's well understood that QA jobs is the most common way to get in the industry, and every time I post one of them up, the page view hits it gets testify how extremely popular they are. I highly suggest having your CV handy to fire an application within a day of a QA related jobs post is posted.

Looking forward to seeing your mod!

Thanks for making me feel welcome!

I'm currently looking for an online portfolio website where I can host my CV, stuff about me, work, levels, etc.

Does anyone know of the industry standard in online portfolios?

Thanks!

Hi there, welcome to the site!

To upload stuff to the gallery, you just post something in your journal and add pics there. When you log in, go to "Create General Content" up the top bar there, then choose "Make Journal Entry"

Looking forward to seeing your stuff!

thank you!!!

I am going to upload right noW!!

HI!

I do not know if I did it well.....can you see my stuff in the concept art folder??

cheers

Ruben.

Hi Rubenart, looks like you got 2 posts in there, I would have though something should have appeared on the tsumea home page though! not sure why not...

some really nice work though.

edit: it is on the front page = look like you are in business.

Thank you!!!more uploads soon!

Cheers!

Ruben.

Krome let go a heap of QA staff earlier this month :(

hope it's not a sign of them feeling the pain of the recession and go belly up.

First of all, Steve Stamatiadis is an *awesome* artist. His anime inspired artwork seen in his comics is brilliant, and quite honestly, there are anime artists in the U.S who have a cult following / their own table at Comic Con etc that don't even match up to Steve, in my opinion. Man, I wish I could even draw anime even half as good as he does.

But translating that sort of style into an exciting 3D game is always going to be a tough task. The thing about the anime style in 3D is that it just doesn't impress as much as, say, realistic or styalised visuals in other games, and I think that if you're doing anime, you need a lot more to compensate (in the way of visual effects and just other bad ass stuff).

The first thing I thought needed improvement was the shader / renderer. The characters needed to be more vibrant and colourful, just like the comic.

The animation, which I think a lot of people have mentioned, is a bit stiff or mechanical in certain areas.

The character designs - that's a hard one. Steve's got the anime design and look down pat, it's exactly what you'd expect from that style.

I have issues with the octagon patterned screenwipes and blood spray effects from a design viewpoint, but that's a non issue really. The hand drawn artwork seen in the backgrounds etc are great, however.

I'm sure Krome won't mind some honest and constructive feedback - it's possible they'll be reading these threads anyway. It's best they iron out these concerns now than later when game reviewers have the chance to shred it apart.

I have to say, my first impressions of the trailer were probably the same as everyone elses - a bit underwhelmed. First impressions are vital, and if people are not terribly excited at this point, Krome need to step it up a notch.

However, I'm guessing that this is a *really* early teaser of the game (there are no game mechanics being shown whatsoever), and I'm sure they'll be refining many of the things people have criticizing already. There's not much else to comment on in regards to gameplay or story etc so I'll leave it at that...

Feedback:

Newly released video:

- Animation:
o The animation of the characters gives the impression of a rigid and mechanical movement. The fine touches that create the illusion of organic movement aren’t currently there.

o We only really get a look at two human characters in this trailer. But it’s surprising how little facial animation that’s being expressed. One of the most enjoyable aspects of cartoon western and anime animation is the extreme expressions that can be explored in both body and face movement. Some more work to make the character faces more emotive could go a long way if cut scenes are part of the downloadable package.

- Sound:
o It’s personal preference but I really didn’t like the music track accompanying this video. The old-school Japanese style music is interesting but at times it sounds like it’s overpowering the music and made the whole thing sound like a mess. It was hard to decider a moldy, theme or tune from it. Every game, movie or franchise needs a recognizable tune.

o The lack of sound effects was noticed. Lack of voice work is completely understandable as voice talent may not be current available. But I feel the video could of benefited with an extra layer of sound effects that compliment the action of the video.

- Editing:
o Cuts to scenes via the hexagonal/sword transition didn’t feel right. If the sword is going to play such a major part in the video. Some explanation or reference as to why this is the case would help to sell its significance. The cuts feel like that they’re taken from someone else’s anime.

o Overall I didn’t think this video told a story. Which if your video isn’t showing gameplay then it should strive to explain a story or premise. It starts out well with the planet in the sky which is intriguing, but past that we’re treated to a number of scenes that don’t link together. After watching the video I’m still clueless as to the premise and story of Blade Kitten.

- Conclusion:
o Of the criticisms stated above, the one that strikes me as the most important to address is the lack of direction in the video. We aren’t given a story or a premise. Only a collection of scenes that tell us that the main character will battle sword-wielding robots. There might be an interesting story to explore with this game but as it stands at the moment I don’t know what that story is.

Website:

- Content:
o There is a severe lacking of content on the website and it does show. Primarily any sort of screenshot gallery of gameplay or cut scene footage and also a feature list of what the game has on offer. The game tab needs to be larger and the priority of the site. There needs to be screenshot and feature list created.

o A few of the pages like “Universe” is fluff pages. There’s nothing wrong with padding the website with such things like character bios. But if you do add things like that in. Implement them completely and comprehensively.

o Another piece of fluff that may do well for blade kitten is concept art. Also development video logs are also one of the most compelling pre-release efforts that a dev team can create. Bringing people on for a journey through the development of the game can be compelling.

Game:

- Overall feel:
o I’ve yet to see any gameplay videos or screenshots. Now there may be a few reasons for that. I’m hoping the core reason is that the team believes it’s currently not good enough to show. If that’s the case then that’s a great sign because it shows that they are keeping a level of quality control to it.

Impressions are very important. First impressions double. And while the nature of downloadable titles, which is the intended market for blade kitten may be slightly more forgiving then the retail market the level of quality needed to shine is still a very high roof to reach to, artistically more so with the beautiful indie efforts of games like Braid and Trine.

If it can be helped, don’t show it until the studio is comfortable with the games level of quality. Blade Kitten indeed represents someone’s pet project being created into a game, which is a heavy investment of time and money from multiple sources. A balance between the original creators’ vision and the ideas of the development team as a whole is needed to work together and to create a strong product.

be careful of the tone, you might be destroying your future industry prospects.

Our local industry is small, everyone knows everyone - don't project yourself as a 'know it all'

Nobody knows everything about everything.

Just a tip, you can take my advice or not :)

Marty

As someone who has worked at Krome I welcome any sort of feedback.

You've been the first to say in the forums Marty that the games in Australia need to be of a higher calibre, and you've setup your own company to try and step up the quality in Australian games.

This guys is just voicing his opinions on what could make this game in the calibre the international market expects. Krome have the same option to shove his advice or not, but the reality is I don't think many people were "trolling" when they said the game trailer videos that were presented recently were "underwhelming".

Krome's fault in my opinion hasn't been so much the tech, but always on the design side, trying to get that fun factor into their games. I think if Krome listen to community feedback (and they probably will) they will hopefully get a better game.

I agree with you 100% .. I am sure the guys at krome are aware of this forum and probably even themselves think that the trailer could be improved. They probably were tight on time and it needed more polish.

One thing I have learnt over the years with trailers is.. less is more. Just like a demo reel you just put your absolutely best work, even if it was just 10 seconds long. If I see quality, just give me one image or a few seconds.. it is enough to sell me. Behind closed doors with publishers, they could show them actual gameplay footage and a longer version. To me it is all about building expectation and then delivering.

Anyways enough of my rant. The krome guys have released some visually great games before and they are talented enough to know how to step the trailer up another notch.

i think designerwatts has summed up some of the problem areas fairly well..

i think a lot of the problems with the video are most likely due to allocated resources to the project.

kinda gives off that vibe- and definitely lacking a bit of polish.

still you can see the potential..

very 1990's ish though.. i dont really know how the genre survives these days, but realize that there still a strong fan base for this sort of stuff.

cant wait to see more :)

It's good to see someone pushing for their own IP, though I do agree with the comments about the animation. The visual style is good, in parts great, although it is let down by some very mechanical character movement in parts. More than mechanical though is the lack of "zip" in the movement which makes it all look like it's happening in space. A few small tweaks and it would look a lot more convincing.

Good luck with the project!

i am simply being hoest here and stating my opinion so please don't bite my head off over this...

the animation is terribe, simply terrible. it is not a stylistic thing, it is just poorly animated plain and simple.

before i really make an animaiton i will "block out" the rough poses and timing of the animation- this is what the anims look like, rough blocked-out sketches of movements you will animate properly later on.

i am having a hard time imagining even a beginning animator doing such broken and basic work

I am an industry animator as well. The animation in the original teaser was woeful; you didn't need to be a preofessional to see that. The shot with the mech running down the hallway in particular suggested that the problem was more than rendering rough pose-to-pose blocked animation that needed a few passes for polish.

However, I imagine it was probably because of resource allocation issues (either they didn't have a spare animator and had to get an unsertrained artist to do it [personell], or they had a professional animator but wasn't given the time to create anything better [time]), rather than a deeper underlying talent issue at Krome.

From what I can gather form the trailer, it looks like the in-game animations will be polished, but the cut scenes are suggesting a similar, if not as dire lack of resources. But for a game like this, that is really to be expected and it shouldn't be held against it. Not by gamers, or by people in this forum.

The trailer was suprisingly good, considerng what was being shown a few months ago... Its personally not a game I would play, but I was excited to see that it looks like it could be pretty decent. I wish it success, and that Krome moves forward to bigger and better things. I think the industry as a whole need these two things to happen.

...they should make this game for 3D play! It would work really, really well.

Nah, it doesn't. I can implement one, but they tend to suck the server's resources like you wouldn't believe. Couple that with spammers hitting it all the time, and it gets problematic.

Your best bet is to just use google to search the pages here since they spider everything here fairly quickly.

Not sure about Dissecta, but Free Play is on at 14/08/2009 and 15/08/2009.

I should also add that all upcoming events that we know of are listed in the "what's on" box on the front page.

thanks souri.

im goin to free play, cant wait

dragging my gf along to it as well lol

wish melbourne wasnt so far away from sydney, i dunno if its worth driving or flying lol

I'd like to see more events in Sydney, like Game Connect =p I know it is hardly the game dev capitol of Australia though.

Honestly speaking, the speed at which information was released led me to believe it was always going to be a flop.

Also, never really liked the original series since it was just Doom with a man's-man avatar and strippers.

So I guess, I never had high expectations because Doom was a massive flop on itself anyway, so I expected Duke Nukem to do the same thing.

I liked Duke Nukem 3D because of it's level and weapon design. While other games like doom and quake where all about demonic/cyber gritty environments and demons. Duke was about going around cities, spaceships and the moon to kill some aliens. It was in comparison to everything else at the time, colourful and creative in it's level design and weapons. The first few city levels for Duke Nuken 3D where ahead of their time. especially the interactions with the environment like blowing by buildings, opening secret doors and playing pool.

As for forever, as a designer who seeks to create a quality product I think this project was doomed after 2001. If you let a project go for to long then it goes into a creeping limbo and the end result never meets expectations, Silicon Knights 'Too Human' fell prey to this as well. In all truth 5 years is the very maximum you should spend to make a game, and even then it better be one the most engaging games of the year when it's released.

I really feel sympathetic for the devs who have spent 12 years of their life on this project. But in all reason and logic why pursue it for so long?

I liked Duke Nukem before it got 3D. The original 2D platformer was great, and I still have it today. I played Duke3D a bit, but couldn't really see any appeal in it.

I always guessed that after such a long wait, I'd be surprised if anyone even cared about it once/if it got released. This game's just been a punchline for as long as I can remember...

and I meant 'punchline to a really bad joke' as well.

I enjoyed the earlier DN games, but I never really got DN3D. It was fun, but I never thought it was exceptional.

Most people seem to like his attitude and one liners the most, but I didn't understand why. Almost everything he said was quoted from somewhere else. Things like the "boomstick" quote from Evil Dead or "kick ass and chew bubblegum" from They Live.

I can't help but feel slightly disappointed - even though I only played one demo level of Duke 3D back in the day! I have, however, been following up Duke Nukem Forever's progress ever since. To me, it's pretty damn sad to see it end this way, and I do feel for the developers who worked on this game for oh-so-many years, but this whole debacle has made the Daikatana situation look like development dream-time in comparison. And that game was a piece of shit, but hey, at least they got it released. I think I saw it in a garbage bin for $10, and I still didn't want to give it a go (Kenneth Scott art or not). It was those damn frogs from the playable demo, man.

I can recall the various demos in E3 (from 2001 I think) and the announcements from George B of its near release straight after. And while it was missing in action in the years after, things really have been looking up for a real and definite release. The first sign was that Prey actually got finished and was on shelves. That really came out of nowhere, and it wasn't too bad either. Other news of George mentioning the game was on the 'homestretch", with Take Two offering them a sizeable bonus if they released the game before Christmas (2007 or 08 I think) got people talking. With the tiny thumbnail piccies that 3D Realms had up with a job ad on Gamasutra caused a sizeable stir on gamesites everywhere, I think everyone really expected something this year.

There needs to be a documentary on DNF's development - it'll be bigger than Master's of Doom. I'd love to know how it was even possible to work on one game for more than 6 years, let alone 12.

Ah this is great. You gotta hand it to Shacknews on their coverage of the recent Duke Nukem Forever situation (including breaking the news on 3D Realms axing the DNF team). They've made a timeline / brief history of its decade-plus long development hell, outlining some of the public smack talk and internal dev decisions. The stuff about Wired's vapourware awards is hilarious.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/58581

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMMTFNFGLE_0.html

Age: D

Gender: Male

Origin: {0, 0, 0} err.. I mean Australia.

Favorite Genre: Action Adventure

Story Preference: Non-Linear (but few people have ever done this well)

Preferred Gender of Protagonist: Female (can't empathise with huge-no-neck angry beefcake space marines, yes gears of war... I mean you)

Preferred Ending: Happy (sad endings are awesome but very rarely have been pulled off well)

Moral Choice or Moral Meaning: I'd go with moral meaning, you give someone the moral choice card and you get "you can be good or evil! Yay!" as a feature. That said I want to see moral choices done well, but I'm more likley to enjoy a game without feeling typecast as an angel or demon.

Realistic or Not: Unrealistic (we have enough reality around us, I want to play something new)

It's all the craze nowdays.

1. Age:
d) 20 to 25 years old

2. Gender: Male

3. Country of origin: Australia

4. Favorite Game Genre:
i) Role Playing Game

5. Do you prefer a story that is:
b) Non-Linear?

6. Do you prefer dialog that is:
a) Recorded, Voiced? (only if properly done)

7. What gender do you prefer the protagonist to be?
a) Male (don't actually have a preference, so C really)

8. Which of these would have the most influence on your decision to purchase a game?
b) Gameplay

9. How long is your ideal game?
b) A multi-hour epic

10. A happy ending or a sad one?
a) Happy

11. Would you be interested in a game commentating on the environmental crisis?
a) Yes

12. Would you rather a game with moral choice or a game with moral meaning?
a) Choice

13. Would you play a game if it was used as a learning tool?
a) Yes

14. Do you prefer games that are:
b) Depart from reality

1. Age:

d) 20 to 25 years old

2. Gender: Male

3. Country of origin: AUS

4. Favorite Game Genre:

d) Action Adventure

There are an infinite number but try to pick one from this list.

5. Do you prefer a story that is:

b) Non-Linear?

6. Do you prefer dialog that is:

b) Text?

7. What gender do you prefer the protagonist to be?
a) Male
b) Female

8. Which of these would have the most influence on your decision to purchase a game?

b) Gameplay

9. How long is your ideal game?

b) A multi-hour epic

10. A happy ending or a sad one?

b) Sad

11. Would you be interested in a game commentating on the environmental crisis?
a) Yes

12. Would you rather a game with moral choice or a game with moral meaning?
a) Choice

13. Would you play a game if it was used as a learning tool?
a) Yes

14. Do you prefer games that are:

b) Depart from reality

1. Age:
d) 20 to 25 years old

2. Gender:
M

3. Country of origin:
Australia

4. Favorite Game Genre:
a) 3rd Person Action

5. Do you prefer a story that is:
a) Linear?

6. Do you prefer dialog that is:
a) Recorded, Voiced?

7. What gender do you prefer the protagonist to be?
a) Male
(I don't really care, I just had to pick one)

8. Which of these would have the most influence on your decision to purchase a game?
b) Gameplay

9. How long is your ideal game?
a) Short and sweet

10. A happy ending or a sad one?
a) Happy

11. Would you be interested in a game commentating on the environmental crisis?
a) Yes
(Only if it's a good game... I don't much care what the subject matter is if it's a great experience)

12. Would you rather a game with moral choice or a game with moral meaning?
b) Meaning
(Choice normally ends up being "Press the good button or the bad button", which seems a little pointless to me. You may as well just make your point and be done with it.)

13. Would you play a game if it was used as a learning tool?
a) Yes
(If it was a good game)

14. Do you prefer games that are:
b) Depart from reality

This looks quick and simple to do!

1. Age:
e) 26 to 35 years old

2. Gender: M

3. Country of origin: Laos

4. Favorite Game Genre:
b) First Person Shooter

5. Do you prefer a story that is:
a) Linear?

6. Do you prefer dialog that is:
a) Recorded, Voiced?

7. What gender do you prefer the protagonist to be?
a) Male

8. Which of these would have the most influence on your decision to purchase a game?
b) Gameplay

9. How long is your ideal game?
b) A multi-hour epic

10. A happy ending or a sad one?
a) Happy

11. Would you be interested in a game commentating on the environmental crisis?
b) No

12. Would you rather a game with moral choice or a game with moral meaning?
a) Choice

13. Would you play a game if it was used as a learning tool?
a) Yes

14. Do you prefer games that are:
b) Depart from reality

You could talk to Team A(wesome) here on Tsumea.

Either that or speak to me (on behalf of Roket-Productions).

I don't think we have much to say only 6 weeks in =P

Try catch some of the guys who were at GCAP 08 (the team of De-Bug would be my suggestion if you can find them, since they were the winners).

Looks like the same format, I'm guessing the same project from the same uni. Whatever, I'll help out.

Age: 22
Gender: Male

1. Do you prefer pc games or console games?
pc (pretty much equal though)

2. What is your prefered game genre?
RPG

3. Do you prefer games with a linear story or one that branches?
not linear (everyone prefers playing them, no-one prefers making them)

4. Do you prefer 2d or 3d worlds/graphics?
worlds - 3d
graphics - 3d
(Again close to equal, but whatever)

5. Do you prefer games where you mindlessly shoot down
opponents or ones where you have to skilfully avoid enemies?
avoid (skill > forward + shoot)

6. Do you prefer having a help character or a hint system?
hint system (unless you can be the first to develop a help character that isn't annoying)

7. Do you prefer games that are quick and easy
or games with hours of game play?
long (and quick doesn't necessarily mean easy)

8. Do you like the idea of saving, passwords, or neither?
saving (oh god, I thought passwords were dead)

9. Do you like games where you are competing for a high score?
no (because I assume you're not making an MMO where my motivation is typically high score)

10. Would you be interested in playing a 2d platform game -
in which you are chased by a demonic children-eating clown?
yes (only because it sounds hilarious)

Age: 23
Gender: Male

1. Do you prefer pc games or console games?
console (I guess, but basically equal)

2. What is your preferred game genre?
Action Adventure

3. Do you prefer games with a linear story or one that branches?
linear / not linear
Seems like a no brainer, non-linear. This is assuming it is done properly though.

4. Do you prefer 2d or 3d worlds/graphics?
It doesn't matter, both can be great

5. Do you prefer games where you mindlessly shoot down
opponents or ones where you have to skilfully avoid enemies?
Avoid

6. Do you prefer having a help character or a hint system?
Depends, I guess a character if they are interesting and not too obtrusive.

7. Do you prefer games that are quick and easy
or games with hours of game play?
Longish, assuming it is engaging the whole way through.

8. Do you like the idea of saving, passwords, or neither?
Saving, checkpoints are ok too

9. Do you like games where you are competing for a high score?
Sometimes, probably not that much though

10. Would you be interested in playing a 2d platform game -
in which you are chased by a demonic children-eating clown?
Could be good, sure ;)

Yeah, we're in the same class :)

I don't mind helping out, seeing as it's for a major project and all!

Age: 33
Gender: Male

1. Do you prefer pc games or console games?
pc

2. What is your prefered game genre? First person shooter

3. Do you prefer games with a linear story or one that branches?
linear

4. Do you prefer 2d or 3d worlds/graphics?
worlds - 3d
graphics - 3d

5. Do you prefer games where you mindlessly shoot down
opponents or ones where you have to skilfully avoid enemies?
attack

6. Do you prefer having a help character or a hint system?
hint system

7. Do you prefer games that are quick and easy
or games with hours of game play?
long

8. Do you like the idea of saving, passwords, or neither?
saving

9. Do you like games where you are competing for a high score?
no

10. Would you be interested in playing a 2d platform game -
in which you are chased by a demonic children-eating clown?
yes XD

Don't know if it's too late for you, but here you go:

Age: 24
Gender: Male

1. Do you prefer pc games or console games?
pc

2. What is your prefered game genre?
3rd Person Action

3. Do you prefer games with a linear story or one that branches?
linear

4. Do you prefer 2d or 3d worlds/graphics?
worlds - 3d
graphics - 3d
(It doesn't really matter, an exceptional 2D game is just as appealing to me as an exceptional 3D game)

5. Do you prefer games where you mindlessly shoot down
opponents or ones where you have to skilfully avoid enemies?
attack

6. Do you prefer having a help character or a hint system?
help character
(As long as I can disable them/not have them harp on all the time when I'm just exploring or trying things out)

7. Do you prefer games that are quick and easy
or games with hours of game play?
short

8. Do you like the idea of saving, passwords, or neither?
saving

9. Do you like games where you are competing for a high score?
no

10. Would you be interested in playing a 2d platform game -
in which you are chased by a demonic children-eating clown?
yes
(The game concept really doesn't matter as much as the execution... if it's a good game I'll play it)

Age: 17

Gender: M

Average time spent playing a game?
1. Less then 5 hours a week
2. Between 5 and 10 hours a week (per game)
3. Between 10 and 15 hours a week
4. Between 15 and 20 hours a week
5. Over 20 hours a week (overall)

Do you prefer 2d top down games or sidescrollers? sidescrollers

Favourite health system:
1. Valued health (specific damage amounts) - For RPG games and firstperson shooters
2. Lives (one hit = 1 less health) - For platformers, arcade style games and platformers
3. Continues (you die you lose and must restart the stage) - Some arcade games

Favourite graphic style:
1. Western cute cartoons
2. Western detailed cartoons (i.e. Marvel)
3. Eastern detailed manga - Best of a worst bunch
4. Eastern cute cartoons (chibi/Super deformed)

Preferred (most likely will play) number of Co-op players:
1. 2
2. 3
3. 4 - I play with my 3 best friends
4. 5
5. 6
6. 8

Favourite Puzzle game:
1. Lemmings
2. Lost Vikings
3. Humans
4. Other (please specify) Puzzle Quest (either)

Out of the above listed, what was the feature(s) you enjoyed the most? Addicting, lemmings was also challenging.

Out of the above listed, what was the feature(s) you disliked the most? Repetitive, not good for long play durations.

Favourite stealth based fighter:
1. Ninja
2. Ranger (woodland archer/Robin Hood type)
3. Sniper
4. Other (please specify) - Invisibility, elites out of Halo

Favourite weapon:
1. Dagger
2. Shuriken/ kunai/throwing knifes
3. Bow and arrow
4. Sniper rifle
5. Magic
6. Sword (still depends on the game style)
7. Other (please specify) ________________________

Preferred controller type:
1. Keyboard and mouse - Only one I bother using
2. Joystick
3. 360 controller
4. PS2/PS3 controller

Spot the odd one out :P

Favourite weapon:
1. Dagger
2. Shuriken/ kunai/throwing knifes
3. Bow and arrow
4. Sniper rifle
5. Magic
6. Sword
7. Other (please specify) ________________________

7. Other:

The power of love! :)

Hey, these questions are a bit odd, but here are my answers...

Survey Questions
Age: 33

Gender: Male

Average time spent playing a game?
1. Less then 5 hours a week

Do you prefer 2d top down games or sidescrollers? Sidescrollers

Favourite health system:
1. Valued health (specific damage amounts)

Favourite graphic style:
4. Eastern cute cartoons (chibi/Super deformed)

Preferred (most likely will play) number of Co-op players:
6. 8 (would prefer more though!)

Favourite Puzzle game:
4. Other (please specify) Tetris, of course!

Out of the above listed, what was the feature(s) you enjoyed the most?
Challenging, time restrictions

Out of the above listed, what was the feature(s) you disliked the most?
Repetitiveness

Favourite stealth based fighter:
1. Ninja

Favourite weapon:
7. Other (please specify) M4 Carbine

Preferred controller type:
1. Keyboard and mouse

Might as well help out a fellow Team A homie.

Survey Questions
Age: 22

Gender: Male

Average time spent playing a game?
2. Between 5 and 10 hours a week

Do you prefer 2d top down games or sidescrollers? Sidescrollers

Favourite health system:
1. Valued health (specific damage amounts)

Favourite graphic style:
3. Eastern detailed manga

Preferred (most likely will play) number of Co-op players:
6. 8

Favourite Puzzle game:
4. Other (please specify) : At the moment, World of Goo

Out of the above listed, what was the feature(s) you enjoyed the most?
Unique, good level design and difficulty curve

Out of the above listed, what was the feature(s) you disliked the most?
Like most puzzle games, there always comes a point where things get repetitive

Favourite stealth based fighter:
4. Other (please specify) Spy (James Bond) only because I'm over ninjas

Favourite weapon:
5. Magic

Preferred controller type:
1. Keyboard and mouse

Like I said, I have other answers, but I know you already have some sort of ideas on where you're heading and this is just to narrow things down with a bit of a survey (though it's kinda obvious the survey is forced by your uni). I want to see what you make in the end btw Argirios, don't disappoint me =P

Hey Logan,
I'd recommend looking online for a place to purchase this, not only will it be cheaper but I'm quite sure it will also be a lot easier to find.

The other alternative is to check university supply bookshops, they often have various edu versions of many software packages.

Computer Swap Meet.

For a legit version you can try stormfx i got a copy a few years ago when i started doing a course

Thanks guys for your help

Haha icebreaker is really cool :D i liked the swinging hammers

http://www.playauditorium.com/

You direct light beams with arrows and to fill up a bar and complete the level :D
its very simple and pretty

And: http://2dboy.com/games.php - World of Goo. Really hard to go past that one.

Yeh, it would be perfect if you could use the mini map as a fast way to get around the level. Moving around the map slowly by putting the cursor at the edge of the screen gets a bit cumbersome. Oh, and the sexual moans every time you save a Viking could I could probably do without XD.

That Auditorium game is *awesome*! Not an original idea by any stretch (there are plenty of physics based ones - there's one on the iPhone), but it's executed really well.

Damn world of goo, i wasted 2 full nights of work cause i got addicted to that game :D

wasd moves the screen around, not quite fast enough for my liking though.

Icebreaker was really good. I hope the tsumea teams will be making some things of the same calibre. It looks like that sort of game would be achiveable by a small team within a reasonable time scale, I expect the hardest part would be getting a worthy idea and addictive game play sorted out.

Heres my submission.

Here's a great one.

See?
It has everything.

I think most game designers could learn a lot about storytelling from this one.

(poo is funny)

Hey, check this game out. It's simple, fairly fun, but the music really makes it. I like how the patterns are synchronised to it as well.

http://www.hiddenninjagames.com/flash-arcade-game.php?gameid=250&gamena…

The highest I got the cursor to was 160x (and 87% collected).

I think we'll have this subthread for the funny / peculiar games :)

Shopping cart hero!!
http://www.leetflashgames.com/index.php?task=view&id=6

Damn, forgot about this thread.

Came across these yesterday

Death vs Monstars
http://www.mochiads.com/games/death-vs-monstars

Mofuya Defence
http://mofuya.com/flash/md/

Ok, this isn't a flash game, but it's browser based!

This guy has managed to convert the old Sierra adventure games (Leisure Suit Larry, Space / Police Quest etc) in javascript for the web. While this is pretty cool in itself, he's done something extra, extra special. As you play online, you can see what others are doing as well! It's actually bizarre and pretty bloody hilarious as well to see dozens of other people using the same character and walking around, trying to figure out the adventure puzzles.

Whole heartedly worth a try :)

http://www.sarien.net/

Check this out: Neuroarena
It's the best flash game made so far!

Check this out, this is brilliant! Looks like a whole lot of fun, and I totally dig the art style. Who said you can't have pleasing aesthetics with absolutely minimal art?

It's excellent in it's simplicity.

This is awesome..

http://armorgames.com/play/3953/little-wheel

It's called Little Wheel. Initially, I thought "looks great, but yet another platformer with black silhouette artstyle?". Thankfully, it's not a platformer. There are some simple (initiatively) puzzles in there that really help tell the story, and it really is perfect for something like the iPhone (if they haven't made it for it already).

Hehe check out this cute little game. Keep playing, because it gets cooler as you progress.

http://jayisgames.com/cgdc6/?gameID=9