James Dixon, Author at Playup Perth

Playup Perth: Global Game Jam Special Edition #2

January 19, 2017 by James Dixon Leave a Comment

(Read about last year’s Playup Perth: Global Game Jam Edition from last year here.)

Friday, February 3rd 2017
6pm til late
The Nostalgia Box*, 3/16 Aberdeen St, Perth WA 6000 (100% wheelchair accessible)
$7 (FTI members) / $10 (regular)
Cheap drinks all night! (this event is 18+)
Buy tickets here.

Kickstarting 2017 into full throttle, FTI is hosting a Special Edition Playup event on Friday 3rd February @ Nostalgia Box for the games created at the annual Global Game Jam (GGJ) for 2017!

GGJ is an international event that simultaneously brings together talented individuals from all around the globe, challenging them to develop a game in 2 days around a central theme. The aim is to design, develop create, test and make a new game in the time span of 48 hours.

In Jan 2016, GGJ had over 600 locations in 93 countries create 6866 games in one weekend. The theme was ‘Ritual’, with Perth contributing 20 brand new and local prototypes, some of which went onto become fully realised games: ‘Symphony of the Machine‘ (Stirefire Studios) and ‘Banishment’ (Black Mirror Games), BOTH of which have been Playtested at Playup Perth previously.

2017’s Local GGJ, hosted by Let’s Make Games, will be held at SAE Northbridge (116-120 Roe St) from Fri 20th – Sun 22nd of Jan. All creatives are welcome to attend, including writers, artists and musicians (GGJ always needs more Musicians). Sign up for #GGJPerth here.

Games tested at this Playup:

1.) Grae Saunders’ Microwave-O-Rama –

Run a diner kitchen with the latest cooking tools. Order more stock and do it all again!

2.) Aaran Gicquel’s Mad Huey!! –

Huey the God of surf has flipped his lid. Now it’s time to surf to survive. Steer clear of obstacles & Huey’s “Waves of Fury” using your radical wave power. Achieve the “Most Excellent” respect status to impress Huey by creating waves on the beat!

3.) Colton Onderwater’s Call of Coolthulu: Makin’ Waves

Be a cool guy; summoned from the depths to bring good times, walk with the beat to the music to make sick waves and party down.

4.) Joshua Waring’s Pulse –

Pulse is a platformer set in darkness… Really… You can’t see anything besides your character. The only way to see is by releasing a pulse of light to detect what is around you.

5.) Studio Kraze‘s (Lee Kennedy) Cortex –

You find yourself in a dark abandoned facility, searching for life. What do you do next? Cortex is a cyberpunk first person explorer.

6.) Hien Pham’s Ravelength –

¸.•*¨*•Match the wavelength to max the ravelength!•*¨*•.¸

To be a successful DJ you need to play music that matches the vibes of the people on the dance floor. Match the sound of your tracks to the wavelengths of the three dancers!

7.) Liam Kinsella’s Irradiate My Heart –

Irradiate My Heart is an asymmetrical 2-player platformer about the ultimate battle of good versus evil! Play as a highly advanced nano-bot or a sentient tumour. Eradicate the cancer with your gamma radiation.

8.) Ashley Fraser’s Curse You Merciful Poseidon –

Play as your god and sink your opponent’s ship. (Local Multiplayer Arena)

9.) RAEZ’ Byzantine Prize –

Use your fleet of vessels to grab the byzantine treasure whilst avoiding the other opposing teams and the sentient waves trying to stop everyone from entering their territory.

10.) Bytesprite Games Pitch Imperfect –

Dodge obstacles by giving your vocal chords a workout. High pitch sends you up, low pitch down. Microphone input required!

11.) Paul Geronimo’s The Floor is Not Lava (Yet) –

King Dragon is jealous of your super slick jacket and is trying to ignite the volcano under you! bounce out the lava and prove that you’re way cooler than him!

12.) Jason Hutchens’ RockVomit –

Competitive Ragdoll Dance-off

13.) Jacob Kreck’s BattleBouncers –

Wave goodbye to your friends as you join the new wave of Extreme Trampoline Champions. Fight using such advanced techniques as the world renowned “Double bounce” to fling your enemies off the Polypropylene Pedestal as you fight to be the last man standing.

BUY YOUR TICKET

Organised and Presented by

Super Special Event Partners

Media Partner

End of Year Party: Play Up Perth + Let’s Make Games + Nostalgia Box

November 8, 2016 by James Dixon Leave a Comment

Date: Friday, December 9th 2016
6pm til late
The Nostalgia Box*, 3/16 Aberdeen St, Perth WA 6000 (100% wheelchair accessible)
$7 (FTI members)/ $10 (regular)
Cheap drinks all night! (yes this event is 18+)
Buy tickets here

Hey Playup Perth-ers!

What an incredible year we’ve had, with an amazing Perth Games Festival, Playup Perth turning 3 and testing 100+ games. It’s also The Nostalgia Box’s first birthday! It’s definitely time to celebrate, so along with our friends at Let’s Make Games and The Nostalgia Box we’re hosting an special end of year Playup Perth.

So come play some WA made games in development and help us celebrate all of our wins this year. Festive cosplay encouraged!

— Kate

We’ll be playtesting:

1.) 42 BYTES‘ Last DriverZ –

Run over zombies, get supplies, repeat. How far can you get? Endless driving game for mobiles.

Dive into the post-apocalyptic world of the DriverZ trying to make your way through beat up streets, threading through wreckages, running over zombies, and pillaging old warehouses and general stores trying to upgrade your vehicles and recruit more peope for your group of survivors!

2.) Drew FX‘s Burn –

“Burn”, a new car combat game from DrewFX is coming your way. Strap in, prime those missiles, light the flamer and fill that tank. Burn rubber!

3.) ByteSprite‘s Bramblelash –

BrambleLash is a spritely multiplayer co-op game with tactical team-and-swap action. Enchanted sprites work together to defeat slimy invaders in a whimsical setting full of glimmering shadows. Connect, cooperate or betray to win!

4.) Oscar Brittain‘s Desert Child –

Race on hover bikes in the desert, because what else are you going to do?

5.) Vault eSports’ Basketball Game –

Vault eSports’ first product is a player vs player real money basketball game. Players sign up and play basketball free-throw matches against family, friends or other platform players for real money. Players need to score more goals than their opponent in 60 seconds to win.

6.) Lost Isle Media‘s Pocket Troll –

A mini-board game with cards and dinky tokens, pitting 3 children against a marauding troll.

7.) Wes Lamont’s Rogue Blitz –

The world is under attack by a series over very powerful enemies that have defeated the world’s top air forces. The United Nations and governments are turning to a small group of Rogue Captains piloting experimental fighter planes to try to win the day. Players take on the roles or these Rogue Captains and their warplanes being sent on near impossible missions to defeat these nemeses and save the world.

Rogue Blitz is a board game inspired by the scrolling shoot-em-ups arcade games (SHMUPS) popular in the 1980s. Centred around the challenging boss battles the Rogue Captains need to use strategy, skill and coordination to succeed on each mission and overcome the enemy.

8.) Dark Mirror Games Banishment –

In Banishment, one player takes on the role of an accursed Demon, and the rest are Exorcists trying to banish them. This is a fast, highly interactive card game involving strategic thinking and eternal damnation.

At the beginning of the game, Rituals are pulled from the Ritual deck equal to the total number of players plus one. These have requirements written on them. When the Exorcists meet the requirements of a Ritual, it is resolved. When all are resolved, the Demon is cast back into the darkness from whence it came and the Exorcists win.

Wanna test your game at the next event? Drop a line to kate@fti.asn.au or tweet @oceanpark.

BUY YOUR TICKET

Organised and Presented by

Super Special Event Partners

Media Partner

Playup Perth: Perth Games Festival

September 14, 2016 by James Dixon Leave a Comment

Date: Saturday, October 1st 2016
10am to 5pm
Perth Town Hall, Corner of Hay St & Barrack St, Perth WA 6000
FREE

*This Playup Perth is in conjunction with the Perth Games Festival.

Hey Playup Perth-ers!

For the first time ever, we’re doing a Playup Perth as part of the annual Perth Games Festival on Saturday October 1. We’ll be there the whole day with brand new games in development for you to try and give feedback to the developers. We’ll also be joined by our friends from the Nostalgia Box, Perth’s video game console museum and our venue for our Friday night events, who will be bringing along some retro classics.

Best of all, entry to both the festival and Playup Perth will be FREE.

See you there!

— Kate

Games that’ll be there on the day (thus far):

1.) Oscar Brittain‘s – Desert Child

Race on hover bikes in the desert, because what else are you going to do?

2.) Darren Broad‘s – Monte Carlo Millionaire

Players compete to achieve poker hands from a common area to win money. First to $20million wins. Play cards or play chips to manipulate the card values.

3.) Darren Broad‘s – Road Rage Rampage

Players race around a track attacking each other while continually adding enhancements to their cars. The game is card driven and uses a deck building mechanism.

Wanna test your game at the next event? Drop a line to kate@fti.asn.au or tweet @oceanpark

Organised and Presented by

Super Special Event Partners

Media Partner

Playup Perth Friday: Hello Nostalgia Box!

August 4, 2016 by James Dixon Leave a Comment

Date: Friday, 2nd September
6pm til late
The Nostalgia Box*, 3/16 Aberdeen St, Perth WA 6000
$7 (FTI members)/ $10 (regular)
Cheap drinks all night! (yes this event is 18+)
Buy tickets here

*This venue is 100% wheelchair accessible-friendly.

Hey Playup Perth-ers,

Have you checked out Perth’s first video game museum, The Nostalgia Box? You can check out all your favourite classic consoles, and even discover some you’ve never heard of, and play some old favourites.

It also just so happens that the Nostalgia Box is the new home for Playup Perth Friday! Join us as we celebrate this new partnership at the next Playup Perth, 2nd September, at the Nostalgia Box, of course! We’ll have some brand new games and new iterations of games you’ve tried at previous playups.

Don’t miss out, it’s going to be a big one.

See you on the 2nd,

— Kate

Games that’ll be there on the night (thus far):

1. ) Artisan Games‘s Collateral Damage –

An other-worldly hover-bot arena brawler, in which robots fight over the last remaining resources of their collapsing planet. This is a multiplayer game for people of all ages. Each robot has their own personality and combat style as they fight for a personal – and faction – oriented gain. Each robot is equipped with at least one melee and one ranged weapon, and have unique abilities. Collateral Damage is the first major game produced by Artisans Games. We know you will love it!

2.) Liz Haynes, Sam Foster & Dan Campbell’s Screen Fighters –

Two-player competitive split-screen. Push your opponent’s viewport out of existence before they do the same, as you both race to collect treasure chests while hurling bombs straight across the split-screen boundary.

3.) Stirfire Studio’s Symphony of the Machine –

A VR Puzzle game where you bend light to call forth storms. Using an ancient machine, restore life to a devastated world by influencing the weather.

4.) Michael Vatskalis’ Samurai Showdown –

A competitive, local-multiplayer game where players challenge one another to duels to the death (otherwise known as hitting six or more randomly selected buttons) where speed does not guarantee victory. Challenge your friends to five second duels and twenty second time trials, or compete with up to fifteen others in a series of 1V1 matches.

5.) Bob Hayden‘s Vectonic –

Vectonic is a fast paced multiplayer action game about vehicle combat. Out-manoeuvre your opponents and slam down on top of them to win. Party in a bright discoscape with a future funk soundtrack. Oh yeah! There are emoji too. Vectonic is solely designed around enjoyable couch multiplayer fun. With 5 unique game modes and every match having a new procedurally generated arena the game provides endless entertainment.

6.) RAEZ‘s Glitz –

Compete to build a tower of jewels by combining gems and out smarting your opponent in this strategic dexterity game.

7.) Grae Saunder‘s Little Bit Lost –

A PC-based, first person voxel game of the smallest proportions. (Look a the little guy go!!)

TICKETS HERE !!

Wanna test your game at the next event? Drop a line to kate@fti.asn.au or tweet @oceanpark

Organised and Presented by

Super Special Event Partner

Media Partner

Playup Perth #11

July 7, 2016 by James Dixon Leave a Comment

Playup Perth Saturday #11

30 July, 2016
1pm-4pm
Carpe Coffee (526 Murray Street)
Light snacks and drinks will be available for purchase from the cafe
All ages! (Players 12 and under will need to be accompanied by a guardian).
$7 (FTI members)/ $10 (regular)
Tickets available here

Hey Playup-ers!

It’s time for another Playup Perth Saturday at Carpe Coffee. We have a bunch of great chill tabletop games for you, with a few more to be announced. Is there a better way to spend a Winter Saturday afternoon than with a bunch of friends, a cuppa and some great games? Join us!

See you Saturday 30th July

So far we will be playtesting:

1.) RAEZ‘ Snakez, the board game where players control snakes around a board gaining size from eating power ups — but where larger snakes become more powerful and harder to control with small snakes more versatile!

2.) Eeshwar Rajagopalan‘s Blocaganda — a 2-4 player strategy game where you blast your message across all forms of media to influence the public to make you into the mayor!

3.) Darren Broad‘s Monte Carlo – Monte Carlo is a casino-themed card game for 2-5 players. Play cards in a common area & place chips to manipulate their values to achieve your goals and win money.

4.) Dan Campbell’s Screen Fighters – Collect enough piratey treasures before your split-screen opponent; treasures that squeeze your opponent’s viewport out of existence. Jump in and out of each other’s camera space or fire directly across the visual boundary; sail in the world but fight in the screen.

5.) Nathan Scott’s Untitled Prototype Thing – Use the arrows to run and the mouse to gun. Semplice!

Wanna test your game at the next event? Follow this link to apply!

Drop a line to kate@fti.asn.au or tweet @oceanpark

Organised and Presented by