Developing the Game Down under follow up

A couple days late, but better late then never to show off the rare occasions in which I nab software in its intial launch period. Review should be written up in a day or two after I spend some more time with the game, but since Eco Gamer reviews only go up at a rate of one per week it may be a while. Outside of the game itself I did have a couple of little annoyances that I just need to get out of me now instead of surpressing them like my inner carnal desires.

In a sort of followup to my 'Developing the game Down Under' piece published in The Box I feel the urge to talk more about the Australian made game. Back when folks from Krome were in Melbourne showing off Hellboy and Star Wars at the ACMI center I discussed with them if they felt their game was identifiable as Australian (or even just Krome itself) made. Sure enough they were confident with the hype they had been generating for the Wii game thanks to their exclusive content and multiplayer modes, even making it sound like the 360/PS3 devs were trying to play catchup. Now quality of the games aside, after nabbing my copy of TFU I couldn't help but notice how easy it was to miss the Krome logo on the back of the box while Lucasarts was plastered right on the front.

While the name Krome doesn't generate as much hype (or even casual acknowledgement) as something like Lucasarts, I can't shake the feeling that this is just a dick move in advertising the brand over the artists who put time and effort into this game. Sure in retrospect the Wii game was always going to be sitting in the shadows of its tech heavy bigger brothers, but the point is why do the developers get pushed to the back of the box while someone else takes their credit away. The people at Krome were doing more than porting a PS2 engine to the Wii, they were making an entirely new game seperate to the 360/PS3 showoffs with their own talents. Ranting here wont get Krome front page of Hyper magazine and an appology from Georgey boy himself; thats what hitmen and big bags of money are for. The point is unless you are 'in the know' about the scene, Australians will once again let another locally developed title slip away from their graps while the government continues to ignore the countries potential in the industry. 

Moogle at work Down Under

Been a few days since the last post, kinda makes me feel like I've started neglecting my own child when I realize how little attention I show this blog. Probably a good thing that I changed my mind about getting a dog last year, lord knows what would happen to it now under my care. Anyways, onto the bragging part of this post. New issue of The Box is now available at Box Hill TAFE campuses, complete with my own contribution. A tad disappointed that two of the four original people who jumped on this idea have disappeared, with the other guy potentially not caring about this anymore. But then I remember that people are vile creatures never to be trusted. For anyone who stumbles across this post and has no access to The Box magazine, here is the article in raw text form.

Developing the game Down Under

It’s easy to ignore that little land mass down under if you are a gamer. After all, it’s not exactly clear what Australia has contributed to the gaming community. Even today, the market in Australia for publishers is still undersized compared to other regions. However, the truth is Australia has grown from small groups porting software into a considerable region for developer talent.

Going back to the early 80s with games such as The Hobbit developed by Melbourne House up to the recent award winning Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords by Interactive Studios, people would not realize many of their favourite games come from Australian developer studios. Many of our industry greats can go unnoticed even in their own homeland, with the exception of a few games.

Titles such as Ty the Tasmanian Tiger take a somewhat satirical view of Australian culture, featuring an Australian figure as the protagonist with almost insulting Aussie accents. With the addition of our Australian Rules football games (which do not see international releases) these are the most identifiable Australian games. While we can take obvious credit for these accomplishments, many would be shocked to learn that 1985 fighting game Way of the Exploding Fist was Australian made.

What would it take to make games truly identifiable as Australian? An Underbelly themed sandbox game? Okami redone with Aboriginal styled art? Or maybe an Australian themed Mario game with mushrooms replaced by meat pies, bloopers replaced by sharks and princess peach replaced with a true Aussie Sheila living off her 3 baby bonus payments?

Maybe if developers find a way to represent the Australian lifestyle in video games, we won't have to point to a talking extinct animal as our representative. We may not be ready for Fat Pizza: The Game but it would be a step in the right direction in identifying Australian games.