10 reasons why the future of the Australian Game Development Industry is looking Awesome!

Feature from Yug - Friday, 25 February 2011 @ 8:15pm

I was recently quoted for an IGN.com article titled A Matter of Size: The State of Triple-A Game Development in Australia, regarding my opinions on the local game development industry. Unfortunately, my quotes painted quite a bleak and dire view of the past that didn’t really reflect my opinions on the future.

Then I realised, “hold on a second, I’m still theoretically part that video game website, I can just give my full account there! What’s it called again … something Gamer … AusGamer? No, that’s not it. It’s so hard to think when I quite literally LIVE in a bar these days”.

So let’s look to the future of the local game developers, and let me enlighten you as to why I think 2011 will be the most awesome year for the industry in almost a decade.

1. Small Independent Developers

I did a shout out last year asking for information on anyone developing a commercial game on any platform, and the responses I received showed that there are quite literally HUNDREDS of you out there. And quite a few have found success already.

I firmly believe Australia has some of the most creative and inspired talent in the world, and developing games on limited platforms where substance trumps style only confirms my opinion.

The Voxel Agents, a team of ex Pandemic, Krome, Halfbrick guys have released two Train Conductor games on the iPhone where I constantly find it ranking on the charts every time I go searching for new apps.

It’s been decades since a small talented group could create, develop, and market their own game to commercial and critical success, and the fact that so many are doing so much right now can only be a good sign.

2. Halfbrick Studios

If I could work at any studio in Australia, it would be Halfbrick Studios up in Brisbane. Regardless of their current fruity success, CEO Shaniel Deo runs a business where creativity and innovation are not just encouraged, but expected.

Humble beginnings led to licenced portable titles of games that were critically successful compared to their console counterparts. Thing is though, they constantly worked on their own I.P. in between licensed titles – from their unreleased Fuzz & Rocket game, to their Halfbrick Friday games (which would go on to become PSP Go launch titles), and the standout title at the Mana Bar last year – Raskulls on Xbox Live Arcade.

Of course it’s Fruit Ninja on the iPhone that they’ve become internationally famous for now, officially selling more than 6 million copies worldwide. Follow up titles including Monster Dash and Age of Zombies showcase their diverse talents as well. Thanks to savvy internal marketing (Phil Larsen, ex-AustralianGamer writer) they’re leading the charge to put Australia on the map and remind everyone that we’re a unique and creative force to be reckoned with.

3. Publisher Owned Studios

If there’s one thing that has scared all those students studying game specific degrees it’s the almost systematic closure of the big publisher owned studios over the last 5 years. With Krome Studios going completely bust last year, it’s understandable why a lot of industry pundits are waving their arms around and claiming the sky is falling (surely their arms must be getting tired by now).

The FACT though is that we still have some significant publisher owned studios that are working on what might be the best consoles games to come out of Australia in recent memory.

Sega Studios Australia (formerly Sega Creative Assembly) up in Brisbane has gone quiet after their debacle that was Stormrise (*sigh*), but that’s mainly due to the important project they're currently working on. I should know… I managed the pitch documentation for it. Regardless of the fact almost their entire upper management team has changed (talented Producer Kim Sellentin now works at Blizzard Entertainment – your loss SEGA) the game will most likely be announced at E3 and will be very important to SEGA’s lineup.

2K Marin in Canberra are creating a new XCOM game. If I need to explain why this is awesome, then consider yourself deleted from my friends list. Ignored. Status: It’s complicated. What’s nice is we’ll be able to claim this game as locally made, as opposed to the combined development between 2K Marin Canberra and Boston for Bioshock.

THQ studio Blue Tongue Entertainment in Melbourne have just released de Blob 2, spreading the colour splattered love to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The next few weeks will be interesting regarding sales, but the original was obviously successful enough to justify a sequel, so A for effort there.

And talking about studios in Melbourne, the most secret studio ever – EA Melbourne, who have been quietly porting big titles like Dead Space to PC are in the final stages of a big original I.P. game.

Heading back north again THQ Studio Australia is still kicking on after their Avatar and Megamind games, though one has to hope they’ve got something else on their development plate that isn’t … well, crap. And in the aftermath of the Krome Studios closure there are a small group working on titles for George Millers Studio, presumably Happy Feet 2.

So there are actually still quite a few big studios out there, which neatly leads us to perhaps both the biggest studio and the biggest gamble …

4. Team Bondi and L.A.Noire

Ignoring the exceptionally long development cycle and budget, it’s hard not to get excited by Team Bondi’s upcoming game L.A.Noire. Using state of the art technology to render character facial animations to a detail never seen before, it’s certainly one of my most anticipated games of the year.

I managed to get a gameplay preview at the Rockstar offices late last year, and the gameplay and setting seem perfectly up to scratch as well.

The fact that Rockstar are now publishing the game is a HUGE deal. First of all, consider that all Rockstar games are usually developed internally (State of Emergency was the last game I can remember that was outsourced), and if anyone can successfully market an open world game based on a niche setting (*cough* Red Dead Redemption *cough*) it’s Rockstar.

At its peak last year I swear there were hundreds of people in the Team Bondi studio, and although it looks like they're ramping things down as we sneak closer to launch, the fact remains that if L.A.Noire is a critical success, it will be the first AAA title to come out of Australia since … since … well, since ever.

5. Iron Monkey

Since getting bought by EA last year, Iron Monkey has been one of the most solid developers of EA properties on the iPhone. The guys behind the iPhone versions of the Sims 3 and Need for Speed Shift, they’re constantly pushing the limit of what the little Apples are capable of.

If the local independent developers are showcasing what we can do with limited technology, Iron Monkey are showing how far it can be pushed while not sacrificing solid gameplay mechanics.

6. GDAA (Game Developers Association of Australia)

The GDAA is an essential group that represents the game developers in Australia. Thing is, for the longest time I would ask the question ‘what exactly does the GDAA do?’, and the best response I could get was ‘they hold an awards night at the end of each year’.

OK, so that’s perhaps undermining a lot of the work that went on to get tax breaks and travel concessions, but it’s also the image the association had to deal with. It didn’t help that a bunch of larger studios weren’t members of the GDAA because … well, why should they be? There was no real benefit.

2010 saw a change in management, with the appointment of Antony Reed as the new Chief Executive Officer. Already the change in the air is palpable, with last year’s GCAP on the Gold Coast being one of the most positive, informative, and enlightening in recent years.

Perhaps most telling though is the raised interest from government parties and potential venture capitalists that could completely change the Australian development landscape this year. Just having so many government departments and councils from QLD, VIC, and NSW at GCAP last year experiencing the games industry first hand is a huge step in the right direction.

7. Government Support

There is the aforementioned potential federal government investment of course; however more immediately accessible options are already available to fund the growing sectors.

Game Plan is a newly funded government project from Skills Victoria to offer skills development and training specifically to the Games and Interactive Media industry.

NSW Digital Media Initiative is providing development grants of up to $50,000 for early stage development and up to $250,000 for advanced projects. It’s a new $4.5 million fund from Industry & Investment NSW to support innovative digital media content projects.

It’s also important to note the funding that comes from the Queensland and Victorian government to get developers over to important networking events such as GDC. If you’re curious to find out more information, your best bet would be to contact the GDAA.

8. 3 Blokes Studios

It’s easy to hate Facebook games, it really is. To most of us they seem like nothing more than simple addictive time and money sinks, and summon up the image of the stay-at-home mum playing Farmville and innocently spending ‘just a few dollars’ to buy more unnecessary objects to populate her virtual world with.

That was, until I started playing Galactic Trader, a facebook game created by Brisbane developer 3 Blokes Studios. Now, I’m not saying it’s any more noble than Farmville but the graphics, setting, and gamplay more closely resemble the Star Control games of old than just another resource management game.

3 Blokes has grown significantly from just … well, 3 blokes … into a much larger collective that includes such industry heavyweights as John Passfield (ex-Krome founder, ex-Pandemic Creative Director) and George Fidler (ex-Creative Assembly MD, ex-EA). I have such a huge amount of respect for these guys, and by putting together the traditional console development skillsets alongside the emerging Facebook platform they are working towards some very unique and distinctive stuff!

9. Firemint

Flight Control is on your iPhone, iPad, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3, Windows 7 Phones, Mac, Steam, TV, Calculators, Fridges … you get the idea. This game was one of the first on the iPhone to become truly virally successful, hitting number one on the app store in 19 countries right of the bat.

Firemint themselves have been around long before Flight Control however, developing impressive mobile based games for EA and other publishers for years. However, their success with Flight Control paved the way for many other studios to sit up and take notice of the iPhone platform as a viable market, not just in Australia but internationally as well.

With their acquisition of Infinite Interactive, it’s going to be exceptionally exciting to see where ‘Firemint Interactive’ go next, with other franchises such as Real Racing and Puzzle Quest now under the same roof.

10. Local Communities

I’ve not seen so much dedication from local associations and groups since I created AustralianGamer.com in 2005. The IGDA (Independent Game Developer Association) groups in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth are active now more than ever.

Events like the Global Game Jam, 48 hr Game Making Competition, regular sessions, lectures and workshops from industry professionals have become common place. There are so many ways for you to connect with fellow peers and combine resources that you would be crazy not to.

Other events such as the Freeplay Independent Games Festival, the Computer Games Boot Camp, and a whole smattering of collectives that meetup around the place makes the games industry a very social one to be a part of at the moment.

What do you think? It's an exciting time at the moment, and with around 30 Aussie studios heading over to GDC next week, I can only wish them the best of luck and hope that 2011 truly will be the year in which we remember when things started to change for the better.