Slashdot Mirror

Are there any other Dark Reign fans out there? Dark Reign doesn't look quite as good as Star Craft, but I like the gameplay and units better, and it definitely has a better soundtrack. DR has so many cool features: units that can morph into terrain or disguise themselves as the enemy and slip into the enemy base to steal technology, saboteurs that can dynamite buildings, decoy buildings and units, the water contaminator. What a fun game!

> So much local talent
Wrong. There's a reason why Linux has next to no presence in australia, although it does have some following at least.

done a whois on samba.org recently?
Game development company? www.auran.com

The Irony of Indy Games

Outside of the handheld ( PalmOS, PocketPC ) markets, or cell phones... many indy games are either crap... or sales pitches to publishers! Im not saying all... there are probrably dozens of exceptions, but on the whole this remains true. Its funny though, when you look at "past" indy games...

HomeWorld
Doom
FlashPoint

Really... by definition, an indy game is self financed, without a publisher in site. Its funny that that moment you have success in the indy market, you tend to get picked up by a publisher... then your no longer indy! ;) Than again, there are a few companies that are going from commerical projects to more of an indy style. Once you see the amount that publishers take... you start to see the value in online distro's!

For anyone really interested in learning more, check out:
Garage Games Misc resources, plus a licensable engine
FlipCode Great gaming related site
Gamedev.net Like flipcode, but less mature ( you'll see! )
Gamasutra The site for game developers! Must see
CrystalSpace LGPL 3d Engine. Very impressive
WildTangent Cheap game engine (web based), plus online publishing
Auran Jet Affordable 3d engine, flexible licensing
OpenGl The site for OpenGL info. Lots of useful links

From the above list, you should easily be able to find anything else your looking for! ;) Enjoy the world of game development for zero cash!

Acclaim Entertainment, Ark Angles, Auran (makersof the Aruan Jet Engine), Blue Tongue , Dragonlore, Electronic Arts Sports, Ellipse Studios, Energee Entertainment, Europress, Eyecon, Eyst, Gee Whiz Entertainment, Infogrames Melbourne House, Microforte(makers of the "Big World" Massivly Multiplayer Online technology ), Mind Mechanics, Mistkeep, Perception, R3 Interactive, Ratbag, Silver Lightning, Single Brain Cell, Spectrum Pacific Publishing, Strategic Studies Group, Tantalus Interactive, Torus Games , Twilight Software, Wildfire Studios, Zero Gravity Software , ZeroHour Studios

Links a Plenty. There is lots of stuff happening Game wise here in Australia

Another thing you might be interested in is the Academy of Interactive Entertaiment

I got into computers when Construction Set games were in their prime. Between my friends and myself we had almost all of them. (It's interesting to note that most of them were made by Electronic Arts, now one of the biggest gaming companies.)

The thing that all of them had in common was that they were SIMPLE! Look at Pinball Construction Set: Drag the pieces from the right side of the board to the left, and you're done! Anybody off the street could get a decent table up and running in 10 minutes.

Nowadays you practically need a degree to figure out what the hell you're supposed to be doing.

Editing a Quake level (hardly a construction set, but nevertheless) requires considerable artistic talent. I'm not able to think too well in 3D so I have a fantastically difficult time working with a Quake editor.

Visual Pinball (mentioned earlier) is great but you need to know how to program in VB to make the table work. Then you need to have nice graphics to overlay so the table doesn't look like a sterile piece of crap, because plainness just doesn't cut it nowadays.

My current favourity "software toy" is a Trainz, a Model Railroad "constructor". It's a great program that's as open-ended as any of the old constructors. Building a layout is not too hard but takes considerable time. Creating new locomotives requires great proficiency in 3D editing with a tool like gmax. And scripting a scenario (new with the latest service pack) requires programming proficiency in an OO language.

This is the price we pay for stunning graphics, real-life sound, and 3D immersive gameplay. Is it worth it? Well, that's a decision we each have to make for ourselves.

All I really want for Christmas is Trainz by Auran and Strategy First...

Oh the hours I will widdle away with that one recreating our local lines...