zerO.One

Dare to be Digital Ireland

zero.one give masterclass at Creative Industries Conference in Derry

		Thursday, 27 September 07 - 01:35 PM (GMT) By Patrick O Hanlon in General

The team gave a presentation in Derry today about Heaven2Ocean and our experiences at Dare to be Digital.  

We were invited to speak as part of a Creative Industries Conference held in Derry. 

The conference, entitled "Creative Inspiration- Making A Living in the Arts" is an Economic Development Initiative of Derry City Council in partnership with University of Ulster, Invest NI and NESTA.

The presentation went really well and the game was well received at a showcase held throughout the day.

zero.one showcase Heaven2Ocean at the World Cyber Games

		Tuesday, 25 September 07 - 11:24 AM (GMT) By Patrick O Hanlon in General

The Digital Hub in Dublin, home to a number of Irish and international Games companies, is also host this September to GAME: ON A Cyber Games Festival, the highlight of which is the Irish Final of World Cyber Games.

zero.one were invited to showcase Heaven2Ocean to the public.  The game was received really well and it was great to see the Heaven2Ocean fan base grow even more!

The finishing line is in sight

		Thursday, 02 August 07 - 11:27 AM (GMT) By Patrick O Hanlon in General

Dare has been epic, I think every team and everyone involved will agree. It's a once off experience, we've traveled and experienced life up in Belfast, gained and improved our technical/creative/production skills and we've gotten to know and meet so many people. It's been the largest and toughest project any of us here have worked on but easily the greatest and despite the ridiculously long hours, stress and anxiety that little bit of light marking the end is coming through, the work is paying off and every second has been worth that second spent and more. Thanks to everyone responsible for making this happen.

Our development is officially finished tomorrow and preparation for Protoplay and the final judging is priority, we'll be readying ourselves until our flight next Saturday. All our protoplay materials have arrived, issues with the AMDs have been resolved, design documents are bound and the web site is finished, with screenshots and a trailer. A prototype of our game has been available for download for the last two weeks for players to give feedback, the download is password protected for now to restrict distribution of the game but it will be available to the public at a future date.

We're actually going to be over in Scotland this Sunday 29th, if any of the Dundee teams are around and free. M&D's theme park have a deal with Stenaline, so a bit of a booze cruise and some rollercoasters and such are the order of the day, a small pre-protoplay treat for ourselves :)

I'm marking this as the final post in this blog. Presentation preparation isn't the most exciting subject to write about so best of luck to all the teams, I'm looking forward to meeting people and playing the games of course. It's going to be a bit surreal seeing people we recognise from the podcasts...

See you all at protoplay

Team | zerO.One :: Game | Heaven2ocean

		Thursday, 02 August 07 - 10:34 AM (GMT) By Patrick O Hanlon in General

We are zerO.One, the Republic of Ireland's entry for Dare to be digital 2007. Dare to be digital is the largest video games competition in the UK and Ireland, teams compete over a nine week period to develop a prototype game. This blog has been a more social account of our journey and experience during the competition. The official team diaries are available from the Dare site.

 Our game...

Heaven2Ocean, a water drop’s journey back home, is a 2D platform and puzzle game that will keep you hooked for hours. Testing reaction times and skills in logical thinking you must tilt the world in order to guide a body of water through levels filled with hazards and obstacles. To successfully navigate each level you need to dramatically alter the drop’s form, interchanging between liquid, ice and steam. Making use of devices such as fans and suction pipes you must interact with various objects in order to solve puzzles and unlock levels. Points are gained for not only completing each level in the fastest possible time, but also for maintaining the highest possible volume of water. H2O promises to be an addictive and fun experience that is both simple to play yet difficult to master.

H2O: Heaven 2 Ocean

		Thursday, 26 July 07 - 10:05 AM (GMT) By Patrick O Hanlon in General

This week the focus remains on sound with the environment sounds being normalised and tweaked and the soundtrack itself being polished off. Scott and Kieran are undertaking the bulk of that task while Darragh is ploughing on with the sound of the water/steam/ice itself. It's great to see the sound being implemented, it really lifts the whole game and adds so much personality to it.

Davey Sims from BBC Northern Ireland was in with us presenting on pitching. He had compiled hints and tips from people who both pitch and get pitched too so he had some very useful information for us.

Iain Gilfeather, Lead Gameplay programmer, from Black Rock was in yesterday. He presented on the production side of things and talked about good programming practice, especially to do with collaboration and management of different programmers and their code. In the evening we popped over to the Botanic for a chat and a pint before he headed off.

Today we press on, getting closer and closer to our flight to Scotland. A few of our assets for Protoplay have arrived this week, they've so we're all excited about them. More feedback has come back to us as well so we're continue to improve and polish up... The end is in sight!

Finally a small recap on our game for those unaware...

Heaven2Ocean, a water drop’s journey back home, is a 2D platform and puzzle game that will keep you hooked for hours. Testing reaction times and skills in logical thinking you must tilt the world in order to guide a body of water through levels filled with hazards and obstacles. To successfully navigate each level you need to dramatically alter the drop’s form, interchanging between liquid, ice and steam. Making use of devices such as fans and suction pipes you must interact with various objects in order to solve puzzles and unlock levels. Points are gained for not only completing each level in the fastest possible time, but also for maintaining the highest possible volume of water. H2O promises to be an addictive and fun experience that is both simple to play yet difficult to master.

Guinness time

		Monday, 23 July 07 - 11:04 AM (GMT) By Patrick O Hanlon in General

 Our new podcast is up... We headed to the pub for a few pints with Ewan, turned out to be a great night.. :)

Soundification...

		Friday, 20 July 07 - 09:28 AM (GMT) By Patrick O Hanlon in General

 Cavan, our sound mentor was in with us yesterday and spent the day giving advice and help with our audio ideas in general and Qubase and Reason. The time was very well spent and we're making excellent progress with our in game sfx and soundtrack. The soundtrack is based on a samba rhythm which we're overlaying with ambient sounds from a building site.

Ewan, Scottish camera man, is over with us as well. He came over yesterday to start getting footage for our podcast this week as well as the documentary which is being put together. We popped over to the Bot yesterday evening for a few scoops and a change of scenery to get some R & R and footage.

Despite our potential house party turning out to be not such a party, a great night was had.. We retired to the flat for some battlestar gallactica and a good nights sleep...

Back in the studio today, we've had a lot of people in focus testing our game, the feedback has been invaluable. Compiling information from different people we can look at areas which players are enjoying or not liking/being frustrated by and make adjustments accordingly. The feedback has also proved very helpful in balancing the difficulty of the level.

New podcast if finally up!

		Wednesday, 18 July 07 - 11:49 AM (GMT) By Patrick O Hanlon in General

 

Podcast - Week 5

		Monday, 16 July 07 - 08:42 PM (GMT) By Patrick O Hanlon in General

Podcast from last week... hadn't got 2 mins to put it up last week.. New podcast is due today or tomorrow.

 

Pizza and beers...

		Wednesday, 11 July 07 - 05:41 PM (GMT) By Patrick O Hanlon in General

So far it's proven a socially busy week for both of the Irish teams. Monday saw Mark Stacey, From EA, deliver his presentation. The information that came across was exceptionally useful and the time he spent with us in the labs has proved invaluable.

Monday evening, the teams headed up to the Cinemagic office for pizza and drinks. All the Cinemagic crew were present, Mark, our mentors, Phil and John, and Steven McGowen from Queens made an appearance also. The craic was excellent and it was a great chance to meet with everyone again half way through the competition. Thanks a million to Cinemagic for having us.

Both Irish teams headed out for a meal on Tuesday, courtesy of the University of Ulster, Jordanstown. We headed out to Indie, a great Indian place close to our studio. Some lan gaming took place down in pong before retiring to the apartment. That day we also had a suprise visit from Paul Durrent, Dare Director, who had a look at what we were up to and making sure we're all being looked after.

Wednesday, Mark Stacey paid spent the day with us again, and again the support and advice was amazing... We had a farwell pint in the Botanic pub before heading back to the studio.

Our labs have been closed since the 12th, so we had the option to either take 4 whole days off or borrow a pc from the labs, we opted for the latter. We looked dodgey as hell walking out of the SARC building with the computer but no one said a word (we had permission of course :) ) . With the labs locked up we set up in the kitchen in our apartment and have made excellent progress in our make shift studio. Back to the labs tomorrow though..

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