Australia’s Office of the eSafety Commissioner has developed an online game for 11-14 year olds which is now available for free on the App Store, Google Play or on desktop.
The Lost summer immerses players in a futuristic environment where they need to exercise personal and social capabilities such as critical thinking, empathy, resilience, respect and responsibility to complete challenges and advance through the game.
Nic Watt, our Creative Director, was approached by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner to be the game’s Product and Experience Designer. We are delighted and proud that Nic’s vision has been realised in the launch of The Lost Summer.
Player One, a Melbourne-based gaming radio show, visited our booth at GX Australia to check out our games and carry out a few interviews. Click on the links below for the interviews.
We’re really excited to officially announce our new partnership with PlayStation First and the Academy of Interactive Entertainment. We’ll be working with talented student teams at AIE’s Sydney Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide campuses to help them bring their games to PlayStation consoles through the PlayStation First academic programme.
We’re already working with a number of student teams and we’re showcasing some of their games on the PlayStation stand at this weekend’s PAX Australia. If you’re heading to Melbourne for PAX be sure to drop by and check them out.
More great advice for aspiring game developers from our own Nic Watt, Leigh Harris from Sydney based Flat Earth Games and Josh Caratelli from Double Mercury Entertainment in Melbourne.
Some great advice for aspiring game developers from our own Nic Watt, Leigh Harris from Sydney based Flat Earth Games and Josh Caratelli from Double Mercury Entertainment in Melbourne.
Nic was invited to be part of a panel at Sydney’s annual Vivid Live event. The panel discussed lots of different aspects involved in the business of making video games.
Nic was recently interviewed by Nintendo Everything. He discusses Blast ‘Em Bunnies, escapeVektor’s future, eShop thoughts and more…
How did the concept for Blast ‘Em Bunnies come about?
Following on from Spirit Hunters Inc and escapeVektor which were both really well reviewed by most outlets and very well received by our fans we were looking for a game idea which could be a little more commercially focused.
We noticed that with escapeVektor it was getting a lot of great reviews and awards but for many players it was a hard sell due to its abstract nature. With Spirit Hunters Inc the video for the game went really high in the eShop charts but the transfer to sales was not at the same level. I came to the conclusion that both games were hard to market to players in a way that ensured they got the excitement and fun of the games. We knew if we could get people playing they would love them both but both concepts were perhaps a hard sell.
At the same time we had just come off two projects (escapeVektor and Spirit Hunters Inc) which had consumed several years of our lives so we wanted to do something shorter and more focused.
I’d had an idea for a target shooting game floating around in my head for a while and it was originally going to be an AR style game based in the Spirit Hunters universe. I really like the gameplay idea so it kept returning to me as something we should look at doing.
Ah the trusty Wii. Originally a game-changer (literally) and enjoyed by millions as a console to help them get into shape, did it really get the use it deserved? How many people dug deep into the range of Wii games on offer, and how many even knew they could download games for the console?
Now inhabiting dusty cupboards and basements, cast aside by those looking for new experiences and excited for the arrival of the Wii U, let’s not forget this great Nintendo invention. It led the way at its launch and its unique interactivity inspired Nintendo’s competition to raise the bar for their own consoles. Plenty of loving care and attention went into making Wii games from Nintendo and third party developers alike, including us indie devs. It’s only fair then that we should salute this great console and the games which made it so much fun to play.
Games Beat asked some key industry figures, including our own Nic Watt, which Wii experiences they think deserved a wider audience. Take a look at this great feature and see how many of these games you’ve played yourself. Who knows, it might be worth dusting down your Wii and firing it up again for some great new experiences. Remember, it’s not gone yet!
We’re featured in the May edition of Official Nintendo Magazine. Not once, but twice!
First of all, escapeVektor has a double spread in the magazine’s Select section, which details ONM’s pick of the latest Nintendo news. That in itself would have been great. But there’s more….. (more…)