Kotaku Australia » feedback

You Came, You Saw, You Critiqued

Stephen Totilo — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:00:50 +0000

Last week I mentioned that Kotaku readers in New York City would have the opportunity to go to a local game development studio, play a new game and tell the developers what you thought. Some of you did that.

I didn’t give you all enough time. Only a couple of hours’ notice. And it was the night the Yankees would win the World Series, a feat that tends to distract New Yorkers. But I did mention free pizza and free beer.

I spoke to Muse Games creative director Austin Lane today to find out how it went, and to discover if he’d recovered from whatever you may have done to him a week earlier.

As a refresher. the event was one of Muse Games’ monthly game nights, and the company’s new browser game, Guns of Icarus, was available for people to play — as were Wii games, Street Fighter IV and some tabletop games.

Lane told me that about 100 people showed up, including a young guy who showed up with the 45-year-old man he was teaching English (the man would tell Lane the game was funny; the teacher would correct him and say he meant “fun”). Also attending was a woman who Lane said made sexual moans whenever she threw punches in Wii Sports boxing. Most gratifying for him, a group of girls showed up early, and one of them became hooked on the game. She’d never played a shooter before, she said, but stayed on Guns long after her friends wandered away.

Ah, but none of those fine people was from Kotaku.

“A few Kotaku people came and they were pretty normal and enjoyed the game,” Lane said. But not all, it seems. “This one kid came over and said, ‘Oh, I saw the Kotaku post. Yeah, so I’m here to give you my feedback.”

Lane grabbed a pen and jotted a few things down, a little sheepishly, it sounds, because the game is complete and he isn’t sure he can incorporate the feedback.

“The two things i wrote down is he wanted to see my more motion in our sky effects,” Lane said. “Our sky box doesn’t change enough, and he’s right about that…. And he said our rain effect is not particularly believable.”

Lane said he’d love to make those changes but time constraints prevent him and his small team. That said, he was able to show some other attendees the results of some of their feedback, including an option to let players move with the WASD keys instead of just the arrow keys.

The game has been played about 8000 times online in the last week — it’s free here — and the full version is selling “better than expected,” according to Lane.

Game Nights at Muse happen the first Wednesday of the month. Thanks, for not wrecking the place, Kotaku.

3rd Space Pain Vest Compatible With World of Warcraft

Seamus Byrne — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:35:19 +0000

For those keen on a more visceral gaming experience, there is the 3rd Space FPS Vest. The vest features pneumatic cells that deliver a body impact when you take shots in a game. Compatibility has so far been focused on FPS titles, like Crysis, Quake 4, Quake Wars, Doom 3, and Half-Life 2 Episodes. But now word has emerged that the vest is compatible with the world’s favourite MMO, World of Warcraft. So if you want to add some sting to your arena efforts, you might want to order one of these vests — though they’re currently listed out of stock. Just don’t pretend that physical force feedback equates to physical exercise.

3rd Space Vest works with World of Warcraft [Ubergizmo]

Make Your Own Guitar Hero Songs With Aussie-Made Editor

Logan Booker — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 02:30:00 +0000

Update: Fixed a few broken links.

The program, called “Feedback”, is a chart editor for Activision’s Guitar Hero series. With it, you can add your own songs to the finger-flexing music title, like Master of Puppets demonstrated here.

Now, you may have heard of Feedback before. But what you probably didn’t know is that it’s made by two Aussie developers – one from Pandemic and the other Krome Studios. The pair has just released to the tool for free, and you can download it from the official website.

The site also has comprehensive instructions on how to use the utility, which requires a PC running Windows 2000, XP or Vista. The latest version of DirectX 9 is a must as well.

There’s a press release and a screenshot after the jump, if you feel like taking a squiz.

GUITAR HERO EDITOR NOW FREE ONLINE

Popular guitar hero editor now free at http://www.dotblip.com/feedback/downloads.htm

Brisbane, February 14, 2008:

Fans of Guitar Hero now have the power to create, edit and upload their own tracks to Guitar Hero.

The editor has proved a huge hit with over 50 000 users already taking Guitar Hero into their own hands, creating literally thousands of custom songs.

The Feedback Editor includes a simple note syncing interface, customisable Multiplayer, support for both ps2 and 360 controllers, Animation and lighting events, and even multi language support.

Created solely by a Senior Engine programmer at Brisbane’s Krome Studios (Developers of Viva Piniata Party Animals and upcoming title Star Wars: The Force Unleashed) Feedback was created when the designer couldn’t find Metallica- Master of Puppets in the retail version but still found a way to make his favourite track playable.
br/>The Editor is now available absolutely free at http://www.dotblip.com/feedback/downloads.htm and we hope that you take the chance to create that guitar hero experience that you have been dreaming about.