Author Archives: Chris

Mayhem Intergalactic named as a finalist in the 2008 ATOM Awards

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The finalists for the ATOM Awards 2008 have been announced. Mayhem Intergalactic is a finalist in two categories; Best Interactive / Video Game (along with one other finalist) and Best Tertiary Interactive/Video Game (along with two other finalists). The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in Melbourne on the 24th of October. Wish me luck!

Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) is a professional organisation of media educators and industry professionals who are dedicated to the ongoing development of an innovative and diverse screen and media culture in Australia by providing: debate and analysis through its various publications, both print and online, the ATOM Film TV and Multimedia Awards and a broad range of professional development and training opportunities.

Game developer seeks paid beta testers for fun, games, bug reports

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Update: This beta call has ended, but see the beta testing page if you want to hear about future opportunities. Thanks!

This one’s pretty straightforward: First you get to beta test the new version of Mayhem Intergalactic; and then you get paid for it!

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If I had an accountant, he’d probably be hopping mad at me right now. I should probably be charging you to play the game! Y’know, like… I normally do. Ahem.

Vote for MI in the 2008 Indie Game Contest

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Voting is now open for the 2008 Indie Games Contest, in which Mayhem Intergalactic is an entrant. Please vote it up if you like it!

Just to clarify, the Indie Game Contest has nothing to do with the Independent Games Festival in which Mayhem Intergalactic was a student showcase winner (fancy way of saying “finalist”). I know, confusing, isn’t it? Still, I guess there’s only so many ways to name a contest for indie games…

In other news, the Game Developers Conference was a blast! Also, Mayhem Intergalactic and I were on TV. I should probably set up one of those fancy blog things so I have an excuse to go on and on about it! (That’s what blogs are for, right?)

(Update: Several months later… As you may have noticed, I now indeed have a blog! I’ve imported in all the old news content. - 7th June 2008)

(Update: Several more months later… voting for the Indie Games Contest has now closed. Thanks to everyone who voted! They’re announcing the results later this year. – 6th September 2008)

Mayhem Intergalactic v1.1 released

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Hooray! Mayhem Intergalactic v1.1 has finally been released (just in time for the GDC). This is a major upgrade, with the following improvements:

New/changed features

  • MAJOR! The audio has been completely revamped, with completely new and original music and sound effects by Duncan Watt. Features dynamic in-game music that adjusts depending on the game situation.
  • MAJOR! Great big graphical overhaul. (Thanks, spriteattack.com!) Check out the new screenshots!
  • Better keyboard control added; press Ctrl+arrow to select a planet in the indicated direction. This is still experimental; feedback welcome.
  • Mayhem Intergalactic now integrates nicely with Xfire, the gamers’ IM client. (It has already been detected by Xfire for some time, but the game now supplies more useful information to the Xfire client.)
  • Servers now log all chat messages, player connections/disconnections, and game starts/finishes in a log file in the user profile directory.
  • Rewrote networking backend. Some networking-related features should be smoother now.
  • In-game dialog boxes are now draggable.
  • Custom maps (the INI files in [install directory]\data\base\maps) have some special new features, like specifying custom production values and per-factory-level bonuses for planets. Updated the large Milky Way map to showcase these.
  • Note that v1.1 clients are not able to communicate with older clients, so everyone is encouraged to upgrade promptly.

Bugs fixed

  • Fixed: Convoys would occasionally fail to move. This was sometimes also causing a “multiple convoys at planet” error message.
  • Fixed: On some systems, the display would sometimes be continuously re-initialised in a loop after clicking OK on the Options screen (even after not changing any options). This was visible as a repeated flicker. As a consequence of this fix, the game window is no longer resizable in windowed mode (by default). Sorry!
  • Fixed: Rendering issues on some graphics cards.
  • Fixed: Occasional “No free channels available” error when sounds were played too fast.
  • Fixed UI glitch: Could open the send ships dialog box by selecting a planet that you didn’t own and right-clicking on another planet. This didn’t allow you to actually send the ships, of course.
  • Logs are now written to the profile directory instead of the game directory.
  • Fixed: If the game was left idle on a menu screen for a long time, all the stars would eventually scroll off and disappear.
  • Fixed: Text wrapping bugs after changing aspect ratio.
  • Fixed: Works with the internet game list again. This was broken for older clients after the recent server move.
  • Many other assorted fixes and tweaks.

Enjoy! I know I am.

As always, owners of previous versions can download their free update here. New customers will always get the latest version.