Sumea, the one and only developer portal for Australian and NZ developers, has just undergone a facelift.

Everything's been streamlined - the latest news links flow down the right-hand side while the sponsors and affiliates have been relocated to the left. Along the top is a navigation bar, providing easy access to Tsumea's job, gallery and forum pages.

I think it's a step in the right direction. With some formatting tweaks to tighten the layout of elements, I reckon it's a goer. There's a poll on the front page, so you can succinctly contribute your impressions.

Sumea Classic is still up and running, so you don't have to worry about your normal usage of the site being disrupted.

Sumea/Tsumea is a great resource for local developers, and if you can spare the time, I'd suggest providing some constructive criticism.

Tsumea [Official site, via Sumea]

Sumea caught up with Flagship Studios' David Glenn at last year's Game Connect event down in Melbourne. Instead of staring at him like some sort of Egyptian god or throwing underpants at him, an interview was requested instead.

Here's what Glenn had to say about starting up shop after the core team parted ways with Blizzard:

We only had nine of us. So our whole goal that first year was just to put together the basic foundation of the game and start the company and find a publisher and all that, so it really helped us in negotiations, because we didn’t need anybody’s money right away, we could work, and create the game we wanted to create and shop it around.

There's the secret to success folks. Work for a really big games developer, make lots of money, then decide to start your own studio. It's so simple!
Sumea Interviews David Glenn, Art Director with Flagship Studios [Sumea]

Crago's the current head of the Game Developers Association of Australia, the organisation that in 2005, took over from the Academy of Interactive Entertainment as host of the Australian Game Developers Conference.

The GDAA renamed the event to Game Connect: Asia Pacific, with the first such conference held last year. When I talked with the GDAA's previous president, Evelyn Richardson, at the final AGDC in '05, she made it clear that GC:AP would focus on expanding its presence beyond our continent, and garner support of publishers, rather than just developers.

This is just one topic Crago covers in his interview. He also discusses the implications of the fallout from the 40% rebate debacle, and comments on Phil Harrison of Sony's belief that local developers are slackers.

Sumea Interviews GDAA president Tom Crago [Sumea]

Independent games developers have it hard these days. 2K Australia/2K Boston (formerly Irrational) had to throw their hand in with 2K Games, and Bioware and Pandemic decided to join forces with backing from investment house Elevation Partners. Add in an out-of-the-way locale like Australia, where the Government seems oblivious to the existence of an entire industry, and the thought of firing up your own coding factory looks more insurmountable than two Everests piled on each other.

The best place to get advice? From someone who's done it.

Read More »

Looks like Team Bondi isn't the only Aussie developer after fresh blood. Pandemic today has posted new jobs on their website, if you think you have what it takes, or feel confident enough to trick them into thinking you have what it takes.

Keep in mind they're based in Brisbane, so unless you already live there, or are prepared to make the trip up for the interview (or even reside on that sunny, sunny coast), your dreams may be short-lived.

Pandemic Jobs - Brisbane [Pandemic, via Sumea]