List of game dev related entities in SA [now with wiki]

Tuism

Hey guys

There is now a wiki for the purpose of getting people to know the magnitude of game dev as an industry in SA in totality.

Here is the link: http://www.makegamessa.com/wiki

We're looking for two things if you'd like to be a contributor:
1) Tell us of any game dev related entities in SA (companies, clubs, education, whatever).
2) Update the makegamessa wiki with that content (either from your knowledge or from the info below).

Thanks all :)

What we're looking for:

1) the studios, like qcf, free lives, etc. Big or small.

2) game dev media like dev mag

3) education stuff like the wits game course and I remember there was another one?

4) individuals are a bit trickier, artists and programmers and etc... As long as they have a site and seem legit.

5) games! Any locally released/developed game, let's get sell links.

6) games in development - like bladeslinger and desktop dungeons, and the few that have been mentioned here. If we could get promo links that'd be good.

7) people who can help on the legal side of game dev - tax, accounting, etc.

Tuism

This list below has been replaced by our wiki at
http://www.makegamessa.com/wiki

Please contribute by adding your info to the wiki, it's a community effort, so it'll be what we make it :)

Thanks all

Game developers:

Luma Arcade
www.lumaarcade.com

QCF
www.qcfdesign.com

Free Lives
http://www.freelives.net/

Tasty Poison
http://tastypoisongames.com/

Runestorm
http://www.runestorm.com/

RetroEpic
http://retroepic.com/

Bazooka Games
http://www.bazookagames.com/

ICE by @hermantulleken
(site?)

People

Diorgo
http://www.diorgo.com/ (not working)

Clint Sutton - Freelance Illustrator
clintsuttonart.com

Support Services

Michalsons Attorneys
www.michalsons.co.za

Tax Tim
www.taxtim.com

Games

Rooks Keep
http://www.runestorm.com/rook

STASIS by Chris Bischoff
http://www.stasisgame.com/ (not working)

Pure Fun Soccer
http://www.purefungames.com/

A Day in The Woods
http://retroepic.com/a-day-in-the-woods/

Pocket RPG
(site?)

Aero Flux by Pieter Visser
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=31663

ZX by @retroFuture
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=92997105&searchtext=

Save Jack
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20888

Fling Fu by @notsimon207
(site?)

Bush Pilot by @clintillo
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bush-pilot/id540889285?l=it&ls=1&mt=8

Broforce
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93927889

Events/festivals

AMAZE
http://www.amaze-festival.de/interact-2012/

Rigormortis

I guess you can add Free Lives, and Tasty Poison? Don't know much about them though, but I'm sure the guys in CT will have more info.

edg3

Lets revive this and get this going again. @Tuism what all information should be given?

(eg. Artist? Programmer? etc.)

Then when you have the info I will implement the display in the way that you envision it because you have a clear idea that seems well thought out already. :)

Tuism

Well anyone that has anything to do with game dec in SA. WITH LINKS! :)

First priority are the studios, like qcf, free lives, etc. Big or small.

2) game dev media like dev mag

3) education stuff like the wits game course and I remember there was another one?

4) individuals are a bit trickier, artists and programmers and etc... As long as they have a site and seem legit.

5) games! Any locally released/developed game, let's get sell links.

6) games in development - like bladeslinger and desktop dungeons, and the few that have been mentioned here. If we could get promo links that'd be good.

Have I left anything out? Please suggest :) we will also be curating through this stuff so Mgsa has no obligation to put up johnny-without-a-portfolio just cos he thinks he makes games.

It'll be good for the whole community to see all this! :)

LexAquillia

Don't know if it counts (and if it does it should be under something like 'support services') but Michalsons Attorneys for all your legal requirements.

Also the guys from Tax Tim have shown they are available to assist with accounting/tax needs.

ShadowBlade

Well, me and my bro's comprise the RuneStorm team.
We're working on Rooks Keep.

PS; working on fixing up the websites a little, but I think they show off what needs to be :)

Tuism

Updated OP to reflect the stuff we're looking for :)

Everyone please contribute what you know!

Luma arcade: http://www.lumaarcade.com/
QCF: www.qcfdesign.com/

Dev mag: devmag.org.za/

Karuji

Game wise STASIS by Chris Bischoff. I've never met the man, but the game seems really great!

There is @Dipso 's website and one for Pure Fun Soccer also

RetroEpic has released A Day In the Woods on Desura.

There is Tasty Poison who have released the magnificent Pocket RPG.

Pieter Visser's Aero Flux SHMUP lacks it's own website, but the game is rather fun, and was shown on IndieGames.com

I cannot remember what @retroFuture 's website is.

And I hope @hermantulleken could give us some information about ICE: a URL would be nice.

@bevis might fill us in on what became of Save Jack. It was an honourable mention for Dream Build Play 2008

Also I Imagine might still exist in some form, but I haven't heard anything about that in ages.

There are some guys from the UK who have a studio in George, but also haven't heard anything about that in a while.

And that's all I can think of right now.

While I am here @notsimon207 needs to make a website for Fling Fu ;)

clintillo

Ok, myself:

Freelance Illustrator http://www.clintsuttonart.com

First indie game Bush Pilot on iTunes
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bush-pilot/id540889285?l=it&ls=1&mt=8

francoisvn

Bazooka Games - http://www.bazookagames.com/

notsimon207

I'd love to put up a website for fling fu, but so far it seems like it involves kinda lotsa hard work. If anyone knows of a way to make a simple website with minimal effort and and time do let me know.

I did quick search and found a website for @retrofuture, but I'm not sure how up to date it is.
http://retrofuturearcade.wordpress.com/

GlitchM

@notsimon207 - Setting up a simple website is pretty easy. Depends if you're willing to pay like R30 a month for hosting and a payment for a domain name (eg. www.flingfu.com). Personally I've used SERV before and they're pretty cool with their packages. Otherwise you can use free sites like wordpress and moonfruit. If you'd like some help let me know. I'm not exactly a guru but I'll help if i can :D

Landman

@notsimon207, Super easy way to set up a site would be through www.wix.com Or Texo.co.za has some awesome packages too. They'll setup the site and all. Or, I'll be happy to help you out. :) Check out my porti

A friend of mine's an illustrator. He runs a studio called Blablabla Studios. His work is top notch.

duncanbellsa

I guess I could add myself onto this list:

Red Dot Lab:
http://www.reddotlab.com

First release was Blazin' Aces. At the moment busy upscaling and refining it for mobile platforms.

hanli

I am busy compiling a list of as many game educators/degrees/programs/courses/diplomas as I can find from various different disciplines in all forms of tertiary education. As soon as it is up to date I'll put it up here as well.

Tuism

So happy to see this picking up :) Can someone please compile the information we have at the moment into the categories that we've outlined? :D We can then work on how the page will/can/should look like :)

Tuism

Adding this learn3d.co.za thing to our list, they have this homegrown comp thing, so the place seems to cater for game making 3d artists:

http://www.learn3d.co.za

CorruptedHeart

@hanli, there is a "course" available at NMMU for game development. I use "course" because it is free and a part time course but comes with its own homework and such.

Tuism

Hmmm, for the uninitiated (like me), what is NMMU? Is this an online course? Is there a link? :)

Updated the second post as a compilation... Incomplete as yet. It already represent SA game dev in a more powerful light :)

dislekcia

NMMU = Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, in Limpopo (AFAIK)

AFAIK = As Far As I Know :P

Elyaradine

I do game art freelancing when I've got the time. Usually I don't, but if it's a damn good prototype that really excites me, I can make the time. :D Otherwise, I've also been called competent at code, though it's only art that really makes me happy. :)

My portfolio of old and out-dated work (newest work there is about a year old, but I'll have a couple of pieces more representative of what I can now do in there by the end of the year): http://pixofile.co.za/jonathan/

Also, for the list, Open Reset, the developer behind Bounty Arms has several people on their team. Their website's ridiculously outdated, but the studio's still active. http://www.open-reset.com/

hanli

@CorruptedHeart thanks! Do you know who teaches it? I'll get in touch with them too. I'm really trying to get all of us in games education to know each other. A lot of people want to study games but aren't up for a 3 or 4 year degree. I want to be able to advise them as to what is out there, and point people toward what is right for them.

@Tuism We only offer a Masters degree in animation, but our animation lecturer knows the whole scene in SA really well. I'll get some recommendations from him and post 3D schools to this list too.

mikegeyser

Slight correction, NMMU is in Port Elizabeth.

http://www.nmmu.ac.za

Sorry for pedantry.

dislekcia

@mikegeyser said:

Slight correction, NMMU is in Port Elizabeth.

http://www.nmmu.ac.za

Sorry for pedantry.

Thanks, I totally knew that I was getting something wrong when I wrote that. For some reason I kept thinking it was north, derp.

Tuism

Updated the list a bit more, and I'm gonna chill for now and eventually we'll get this into a format we're gonna build something for the site.

And get more of a management committee so that we can spread the updating workload :)

Elyaradine

Just a correction -- ICE is a game studio, not a game. :)

Tuism

Fix'd :)

xxGizmo404xx

Hey guys

For those interested in a solid foundation in both Programming and Computer Game Design I'd recommend taking a look at the University of Cape Town's (UCT) BSc Course

www.cs.uct.ac.za/about-us/gamesFlyer%20-%202010.pdf

(Link to the information pamphlet)

Thought it would be a nice addition to the game development resource list

EvanGreenwood

Awesome list! Could you add BROFORCE (and its Greenlight page for now while we sort out the website http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93927889 ) under games?

Also, should AMAZE festival be added? (I'm hoping it happens again and it'd be good to keep awareness up).

Tuism

Done :)

We'll be getting together some kind of infrastructure where people can update the stuff themselves... With curatorship. A stickied post simply isn't good enough... We're looking into a site revamp/wiki :)

hanli

Two more SA games that should be here:

Justin Southey: "The Most Addicting Sheep Game" (xbox live and Apple app)
Video here:

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/The-Most-Addicting-Sheep-Game/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550822
http://itunes.apple.com/app/id550921301

Ernst Van Biljon: "Falling Sky" (Apple app)
http://itunes.apple.com/tw/app/falling-sky!/id515064930?mt=8
http://www.fallingskygame.co.za/

hermantulleken

Hey everyone... ICE is not really "real" until our first game is in the store... (which will be soon!)... in the meantime here is the site: http://icegreengames.com/

[Deleted User]

Hey guys,Here is a little Game I made alone last year for the rAge expo, please Take a look

Here is a link to download it, give it a try,let me know what you think. http://www.mediafire.com/?iaailk6hqmfmcn1

[Deleted User]

After taking part in the Entelect Challenge (http://challenge.entelect.co.za/), I have started to look around at various opportunities.
NWU Vaal Triangle Campus look like they are getting into it with their "Serious Game Institute (SGI):
http://www.nwu.ac.za/sgi/welcome.html

Nandrew

@Cocomelts I only saw this now. If you want meaningful feedback on your a game, you'd be better off posting a new thread under Projects and Portfolios. People offering commentary on games aren't going to prioritise this topic.

Shane

Shane Turner
http://www.myrootstudios.com

Smash Ninja app:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smash-ninja/id551630966

Smash Ninja Gameplay Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NrNjM_S2d0

Thanks!

Tuism

Hey guys

There is now a wiki for this list.

Here is the link: http://www.makegamessa.com/wiki

We're looking for two things if you'd like to be a contributor:
1) Tell us of any game dev related entities in SA (companies, clubs, education, whatever).
2) Update the makegamessa wiki with that content (either from your knowledge or from the info below).

Thanks all :)

(also edited OP to reflect this)

edg3

Im unstickying this as hopefully the wiki can cover the contents of this? (If your data isnt on the wiki yet you can go and add it)

Tuism

The wiki can cover the content of this but without a prominent link to the wiki that explains what it is on the site somewhere upfront it'll be missed by people.

Also, the bit where it says "(Discussion about the page content is underway)" on the wiki, should we put a link there about where it is underway? (here? Change the title? If we make a new thread about this it might be overkill, but this thread might not get traction cos it's not new)

edg3

There's a discussion tab at the top or every wiki page?

Oh, and im waiting for you guys to decide what design you guys agree on in the emails. Though after the meeting I will just pick one...

tbulford

Hey @Tuism should I be able to log into the wiki with the same user name I use for MakeGamesSA?

I cant so and I cant find anything to indicate that I should not be able to.

Just want to add Celestial to the games developers list.

Thanks

edg3

Hi @tbulford, the logins are separate for the wiki and the forum.

tbulford

Thanks @edg3

EvanGreenwood

If this is unstickied, could we have a wiki stickied link that goes to the list on the wiki?

Actually, I'd rather this be stickied... or the welcome thread be stickied... something that encourages new developers to say "hi" in a place that they are guaranteed to see. (because the last thing we want is them to pitch up and leave without posting anything... adding their name to a list of (prestigious) South African developers is probably the easiest thing to get them to do.

(Ack! Could this discussion about the list of Dev Related Entities and the wiki be split off? This thread should just be a "List of game dev related entities in SA").

Tuism

I agree there should be some kind of prominent presence here to get people to say hi. The point of having people leave their details in a list of SA devs is a great idea for that, BUT -

The intention for having this directly linked to the wiki is so that people will be encouraged to go and contribute to the wiki themselves instead of leaving the info here waiting for someone to pick up the slack - which will typically end in people not adding it to the wiki... Then the people who thought someone else would would be annoyed and the people who everyone is lumping the job to update the wiki will be annoyed.

So - in an effort to achieve both - should we not
1) bring back the "introduce yourself" thread in some form, change the title to something that is just as attractive as "add your name to the list of SA game dev entities"
2) Put the wiki as a link somewhere else so that it's prominent (link along the top or front page if possible)

Tuism

Pretty much exactly what you said yeah, agreed 100%.

Wiki needs to be accessible, both to contributors and browsers. And that means making it as loud as we can.

If we can use unified login then super bonus.

mattbenic

+1 for adding a link to the wiki in the top nav, it really doesn't make sense having it hidden away in a discussion :)

[Deleted User]

Hi guys! Thanks for starting this thread very awesome indeed ;)

Can you please add us to the list of local game developers.

Orange Moon we are based in Cape Town.

website: http://www.orangemoon.co/

You guys can also check out our first game releasing "soon" ;) on iOS devices - iPads and iPhones.

Tank Arena on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tank-Arena/160370650697346?ref=ts&fref=ts

atomicdomb

Was wondering if you guys could add Giant Box Games to the list.

We are a small company, based in SA (Moving to Cape Town in literally a few days haha!)
Hopefully I will be meeting most of the CT Devs on the 30th :)

Thanks!

Relevant Links
========================
Website: http://pixelboygame.com/
Game Review (Of the Alpha):
Dev Blog: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/143025-Pixel-Boy-Pre-Beta-(WIP)
Green Light Page: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93144574
Trailer: