Online Soccer Champions AKA Interzone Futebol

It looks like Big Collision Games aka Interzone Entertainment is launching Online Soccer Champions aka Interzone Futebol in "closed beta." So they claim anyway, knowing what I know about the state of the game when it was ripped from the servers at the Perth studio and what it takes to actually make a game, I have serious doubts they have anything worth playing actually running.

The video and screen shots they have released are really telling. The video is only kind of labeled Online Soccer Champions, as it clearly has the Interzone Futebol and Interzone games logo all over it with only some shots re-branded as "Online Soccer Champions." It actually appears to be the exact same video from last year just re-cut with some Photoshop work. Same goes for the screenshots they have on their site.

Nick Lowe, my friend and former college at the closed Interzone Games studio in Perth, has the latest news on his blog where you can read the latest, sad update on the nefarious Interzone saga. The links to the various sites where you can also find the video and screenshots I mentioned are also on his site for you to check out after reading the sad state of affairs that is going on.

No Fun at Interzone Games

Seems that things are hitting the fan with regards to Interzone Games back in Perth. The following news article went up on Kotaku yesterday. My heart goes out to all the great guys (and girls) in Perth who are stilled owed money and are still having to deal with all this a year after I resigned.

Kotaku Australia Link: "WA Dev Interzone Games Close To Liquidation"

I am getting some of the news as it is happening, but as its after midnight I can't keep up with it. I just wanted to put a quick post with the Autralian Kotaku link.

UPDATE 02/10/2010:
Here are two more links that went up last night:

Tsumea "Interzone Games (Perth studio) close to liquidation"

Giant Bomb: "A warning from a designer at Interzone Games"

UPDATE 02/11/2010:
Small news blurb in the West Australian newspaper today:

Workers have picketed the Bentley office of a state-backed computer game company which is being investigated by the Fair Work Ombudsman and pursued by the Australian Taxation Office.

Full Article: West Australian

The WA Business News put up this article today with a promise of a further in-depth article in next week's edition.
Front Page of the Western Australian Business News


UPDATE 02/120/2010:
Here is the news clip that ran yesterday:


Recap on Gamasutra

Article on Tsumea

And for those of you that asked, I was the Lead Designer/Creative Director at Interzone Perth from Feb 2008 till I resigned due to lack of pay in Feb 2009 when I was forced to return to the United States.

UPDATE 0280/2010:
I haven't been posting the daily blow by blows of the downward spiral of Interzone but there has been a few more stories posted. The Perth guys have documented much more than I have over at The Magic Pantry including video they took when the servers and IP were removed from Australia. You can find all the info here:

http://kranzky.rockethands.com/2010/02/13/interzone-the-downward-spiral/

Rocket Fuse

A number of the talented people I used to work with at Interzone Games in Perth, have managed to escape the long arm of the law long enough to get together and formed their own little indie game start-up called Rocket Hands.

On the left there, starting at 12:00 and going clock-wise is Jason, Anthony, Brad, Daniel, Jack, Robert and Simon.

They just released their first iPhone game called Rocket Fuse for the iPhone. If you're sensing a rocket theme going on, you're not alone.

I'd love to tell how great it is and all that, only I havn't played it. My iPhone was locked to the evil Telstra network in Australia so I had to have a violin duel out on some lonely crossroads to get out of it. Anyway the result of all that is that I no longer have my iPhone.

Here is the offical trailer video though, so you can take a look for yourself.

Do the guys a favor and pick it up.

My Point, and I Really Do Have One...

Now, my friend Nick just wrote me an email. Granted it was in response to one I had written him earlier in the day. But he ended it with a comment in regard to the previous blog post.

"Oh, and I meant to comment on your blog about this, but since I’m writing an email I may as well mention it now. Although mentioning the squid monster isn’t a spoiler for the movie, it *is* a spoiler for the graphic novel!"

Now, in answer to that postulation about the supposed spoiler in regards to the graphic novel, I must refer him to point 1a which would apply to the unfortunate soul who has yet to read the graphic novel.

1a. You don't know what the hell I am talking about with "giant, physic, squid" anyway

Saying something about the "giant, physic squid" no more ruins the graphic novel than if I were to talk about the remake of Star Wars, Episode IV, A New Hope by saying, "They added a ring to the explosion." It doesn't really tell you anything and to be truthful throwing out "giant, physic, squid" makes absolutely no sense until you actually get to the end of the graphic novel. It's not like anybody who hadn't read the graphic novel would read "giant, physic, squid" and even have a clue where I was going with that under any circumstance.

Now granted, there are clues leading up to the ending, but honestly, they don't really make sense until your second read.

However, I had told my friend Paul that I was going to see "The Crying Game" years ago and he mentioned there is a twist at the end and I should be careful not to let anybody spoil it for me. I said I had heard there was a twist ending because one of the actors was on The Tonight Show the night before. He suddenly got concerned asking which actor. I didn't know which actor because I can't ever remember names if my life depended on it. I started to describe either Forest Whitaker or Stephen Rea, I forget which as it was a long time ago. Paul was relieved upon hearing it was a guy. From that, I guessed the secret of the crying game as soon as she was introduced on-screen. So maybe he is right and I should leave open the possibility that it is a spoiler.

All of that is besides the point though. The point is that he didn't comment. He instead mentioned what he was going to say in email. Do you know how often that happens? Do you know how many people email me with responses to my blog posts instead of using the provided comment section? Don't bother guessing, I'll just spoil it for you and say, "A lot!"

The problem with this is that it would appear to all other readers that there is, in fact, nobody reading my blog except Bug Hunter and Cap'n John, two individuals who I have never meet but; however, on top of appearing to be quite nice and friendly, at least post comments. For this I thank them, post comments occasionally on their blogs, and now that I am back in the U.S. hope to one day meet them over, say, pancakes.

We shouldn't be too hard on Nick though. I was just using him because he is the latest example of this problem that I am having. Nick did write me a wonderful letter of recommendation for my time at Interzone which you can read if you go dig for it under the resume link on the right-hand menu.

Who Watches the Nachos?

Look what Tim drew for me!

The story behind the nachos is that when Tim was first switching over to being a Content Designer, Ellen had asked if he should be invited to the design meeting.

I said, "Sure, but he has to bring the nachos."

Tim failed to bring any nachos.

The next design meeting, I had this sambrao that I bought for one of Interzone's theme days, this one being "Mexican day" which may have also been Cinco de Mayo but probably not. I filled the rim of the hat with corn chips and brought along some salsa to show Tim that a proper design meeting has to nachos.

Synthtube and the Tech Vixen

I’m putting up two new sidebar links. Celebrate as much as you deem appropriate and can handle under such conditions.

First for Alex Ringis, the sound designer at Interzone, we have SynthTube.

"SynthTube is a site that collates and reviews the best Synthesizer-related videos from YouTube and around the web, and reviews them, with a specific focus on highlighting the gear and performers involved in their creation"

Alex was recently BoingBoinged for his video of the naked baby playing a synthesizer. You can relax while watching it, at no time does the baby pee on the keyboard. I was so tense the whole way through, because I was just waiting for the little tike to let go.

Second up, we Liza of the many blogs/projects/hobbies, who may have something this time if she sticks with it (poke poke). As you may know from comments on other recent blog posts here, Tech Vixen just went up this weekend

Tech Vixen is a network of blogs all about technology, written from a woman's perspective. We are currently running four blogs in total - the main blog with news and links to the sub-blogs as well as "Gaming Vixen", "Comp Vixen", and "Gadget Vixen".

As we are just starting out, we are on the lookout for interested women (17 years or older) who are interested in running one of our sub-blogs (the gaming slot is already filled, but "Gadget Vixen" and "Comp Vixen" are still open). We are also looking to start new blogs regarding web development/blogging and other techy topics. Bloggers are able to monetize their sites by including ads in the content of their posts on the sub-blogs.

Head on over to the site for more information.

Liza also just put up a post about me leaving on her site. Now I'm all sad and mopey.

Goodbye Interzone

I just got back from my Interzone going away dinner. I was bit overwhelmed by it all and I had this lump in my throat the whole time. I think I was hit more by this than when Westwood closed which is saying quite a lot.

It was great to see everybody. I think the attendance was more a credit to the good Italian food rather than my presence. Not that they served cannoli though, what was up with that? How can you call yourself a real Italian restaurant without good cannoli?

The crew at Interzone are amazing, so many people so bought in on the project. There was some very nice things said about me and what I've done, but to be completely honest, I was standing on the shoulders of some really talented people. I also have to thank everybody for having faith in me and giving me the opportunity. Thanks again.

I do feel like I have let everybody down by leaving. I really didn't want to go. I really wanted to see this out. But too many thing have piled up and I have to take care of things with family back in the U.S.

I do want to express my anger at Liza and Jeremy though. The picture on that card will haunt me forever! You have not heard the last of me! Vengeance shall be mine!

What Kind of Day It Has Been

I guess the major update is that I resigned as Creative Director of Interzone yesterday. It was a result of a lot of things accumulating at once. You many already know that I’m not big on the sharing of personal details, so I'll just say it was a very amicable break and the door is still open for me possibly returning in the future. I want to say that the team at Interzone was one of the best I have ever worked with. I honestly have never seen such a high percentage of the team be so bought into the product and willing to do what ever it takes to make it work. Nick, my boss, also had some very nice things to say in my ‘I leaving’ email thread about how I transformed the game from where it was to something both development and corporate could buy off on. It was very mushy and I’m expecting an excellent letter of recommendation.

At the moment I’m sitting here trying to enjoy my last day of relative normality before I have to actually put some sort of plan in motion to move back to the United States. There is all sorts of stuff that I'll have work out such as selling the car, furniture, white goods (what they call major appliances here in Australia), etc. I even splurged and had an ice-cream (pralines and cream in a waffle cone of course) to help cushion the chaos that will start in the next few days.

Currently though, I am going a little nuts trying to find some reference in this episode of the Gilmore Girls (Christopher Returns) of when Lorelai made plans to meet Luke. In going through the episode several times I have found all sorts of mistakes. Reflections of the crew in the window, shadow of the mic, and one scene where Christopher says that tomorrow is Saturday making it Friday night, which is when they should be having the weekly dinner at her parent’s house. This is also the second time that Dean mentions that he has a motorcycle though he told Lorelai that he didn’t have one when she first grilled him about dating Rory. And this whole thing about what was said the previous night at the dinner table, they never made it to dinner. I also think it’s raining in the baseball game scene in the beginning and that they are filming under tents or something. You can hear the rain and occasionally see some heavy raindrops. Anyway, I have finally figured out that the plan with Luke was set up from the previous episode and that is the night she is supposed to help him paint the diner. I probably would have figured out that faster, if I had let the episode finish instead of stopping it and going back to the beginning. Oh I am so going to write a nasty email to Bendis for doing this to me!

I have also decided to take a break from my current audio book, “Of Fire and Night” the fifth of seven books in the Saga of Seven Suns series by Kevin J. Anderson, to listen to “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman. It is written in classic Gaiman style and I give it a thumbs up. You'll probably find it in the “Young Adult” section of the book store but don't let that fool put you off.

One thing that I have been wondering about is why they aren’t pimping Gaiman more on his movies? There was no mention of his name in the advertising of any of his movies so far including the upcoming “Coraline”. He is a best selling author with a rabid fan base. Why wouldn’t they at least toss out a “Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman” in the ad? Granted, the fan base being as rabid as we are, most of us knew about each movie long before it was presented to the unwashed masses.

Edit: I accidentally clicked the wrong thing and added Gaimen instead of Gaiman to my dictionary and didn't notice Neil's name was misspelled all over the place. Fixed.

Resume & History

Although my Internet connection appears to be working, I can't connect to WoW. I can't even get to their homepage. Well that isn't completely true, I can kinda connect but both the game and the web page take forever to load and I get disconnected soon after.

I spent the day updated my resume and history pages and getting them up on Google Sites. The Resume and History links over the right now link to the updated version. The resume is pretty much the same except I am now Creative Director at Interzone. The history page was just updated to talk about Fury's shipping and me going from Auran to Interzone.

All I have left to do now is get this blog's graphics files up onto Google Sites and I won't have to worry about Hostopia, the actually people who ruined joseph.hewitt.org, not NetIdentity, whose email hosting I will still try to keep.

Anyway, I'll do that later. I think I am going to play some more Left 4 Dead, because Zombies aren't going to kill themselves.

Interzone has been Nerfed

Game software development follows along the same path as the rise of a civilization. At first you have primordial ooze, followed by some signs of intelligent life which then start to form distinct groupings such as Art, Design and Programming. Soon after this they then begin to war against each other with escalating weapons of mass destruction.

Interzone is no exception, luckily in game development our destruction power has been Nerfed. Dan's "Hulk Abomination Blaster" not pictured.

Showing off to Petroglyph

A bunch of ex-Westwood people that now work at Petroglyph were at the Austin Game Developer's Conference which finished today.

Marty, the CEO of the company I work for, Interzone, had called a car but then didn't need it, so he had Allan, da man, cancel it. Except when he called to do so, they told him that they were still going to charge half price for canceling at the last minute. He asked if any of use were going to the airport, and I said that I was so he told them to come pick me up instead.

I'm waiting on the corner when a few of the Petroglyph people walk up. They asked if I was waiting for a cab and I said, "No, my company had called for a car."

Just as somebody asked how things were going at Interzone, a shiny, brand new, Cadillac pulls up and the uniformed driver jumps out to take care of my bags.

"Yeah, things are going quite well. Thanks for asking."

I did fess up when I saw them at the airport. We were all flying to Vegas on the same plane and it is hard to put on airs when flying Southwest.

Granted, I was only flying Southwest because I was paying for that flight. The other flights I've been on this trip that were actually work related have been a few steps up the ladder including some upgrades to first class. I had an awesome bay view hotel room at the Marriott in San Diego. So yeah, things are going quite well at Interzone. Thanks for asking.

Interzone Futebol Announced!

Hey! Look what I am working on! That's right I can finally say what I have been up to here in Perth. It's an online multi-player Futebol game.

Futebol? Don't you mean soccer?

No, we are releasing in Brazil first, where Futebol is Life. So in Portuguese it's Futebol! Say it with me, "Futebol! Get that Uuh and Oo sound in there. FUuhTEBOoL! Very good. Keep this up and you'll be attracting hot Brazilian chicks in no time."

The Interzone corporate website just went online this morning and there will be more information coming out soon so stay tuned.

Dear THQ

April 02, 2008
Dear Joseph,

We are complimented by your recent application for the Senior Designer (23684) position with THQ. Although we are impressed by your skills, we are unable to offer you an interview at this time. This job has been filled by another candidate who more closely meets the position requirements.

Your resume is on file with us for future consideration. Should an applicable position come available, you will be contacted.

Your interest in our company is greatly appreciated. Please accept our best wishes for your future successes.

Sincerely,
Recruiting Department
THQ

Dear THQ,

Thank you for getting back to me regarding my application for the Senior Designer (23684) position at your company; though I have to take issue with your use of the word "recent". Although I was impressed enough with your company to send you an application, I much less so now. That fact that it has taken you over four months to respond to a serious application for a position of this level leads me to believe that I would not find success in working for you.

Please accept my best wishes that you develop better business practices in the future.

P.S. I got a promotion today. I am now the Lead Game Designer of my current project. Please send Amazon.com gift certificates in lieu of congratulations.

Sincerely,
Joseph B. Hewitt IV
Lead Game Designer
Interzone Games - Perth

Interzone in Perth

So here I am in Perth. I started at Interzone today. The details about our current project haven’t been released yet so I can’t give out any more details about it. Connie stayed behind in Brisbane to deal with the majority of packing, the movers and all that. She will be coming over next week on the 11th.

How did my first day go? Well it turns out today is the day that we are moving offices. Not far, just across the parking lot to another building in the same complex. My day was basically getting my computer set up, reading a bunch of design documents and wiki pages, putting up a Watchmen Windows background, having lunch and then helping move a bunch of crap in the burning Australian summer heat. Well at least Perth’s heat isn’t like Brisbane heat with the God awful humidity. I hate humidity. Perth heat is more like Vegas heat, still sucks but at least you don’t have to peal your cloths off with a butter knife at the end of the day.

I finally figured out my iPod radio adapter doesn’t work in the rental car’s cigarette lighter. It was hard to tell at first because after sitting in the hot car for over a year the digital display that shows what station it is broadcasting on has fried. The display is now always blank. So you have to step through the stations slowly while it is hooked up to find the iPod’s broadcast. I finally noticed that the battery on the iPod wasn’t charging. Luckily I also brought the last Harry Potter book on CD so I am finally getting to listen to that while driving around looking for an apartment or house to rent.

Speaking of which, I’m not having much luck with finding a place. It isn’t like the states where you just grab a For Rent magazine and cruise by the various apartment complexes over the weekend. No here you have to contact which ever real estate agent has the listing, find out what day the 15-30 minute window they are showing the apartment is on, fill out an application and then hope the owner picks yours. Every apartment is individually owned by somebody or a investment company. There aren’t any evil giant corporations that own entire apartment complexes. (As we all know all corporations are evil and 9 out of 10 corporate CEO have murdered at least one person. Really, Hollywood wouldn’t lie to us.) Even the brand new giant skyscraper apartment complexes have each unit individually owned. Anyway on top of all that I don’t really know the city so I don’t know where the good and bad neighborhoods are.

Oh well, at least I got the internet connection working in my room.