This site hasn't been updated for a long while now and it's not because it or VA are dead. In between finishing a Master of Arts by Research and getting a commercial project up and running, well, there wasn't a lot of time to do anything else.

Part of the problem is that this site is all coded in a text editor (Notepad++). It's all handwritten PHP, and that, is the problem. It was a fun exercise to build the site from scratch, but, I never planned on it being permanent as it's a pain to update and maintain. That's time I'd prefer to utilise working on DigiZen or posting media about it.

So, when I get the time in the coming months, I'll be switching over to a blogging framework. Hopefully this will make the site a bit more presentable and consistent cross browsers and operating systems -- I hate to imagine how bad it looks on Safari or Chrome.

For the time being I've moved the research/academic stuff on over to sELFiNDUCEDcOMA.com. This is to reflect that the site started off without a clear path, but over the past year, things have changed and a direction set upon.

I hope to have some news to do with DigiZen to share in the near future, especially, media.

Cheers,
Ivan

It's been a long while since the last update, and it's not like there hasn't been any news. My bad, sELFiNDUCEDcOMA.com is just easier to update, and simply, more fun to do so. I think I'll have to start a Facebook page or get a Twitter account for news updates. Easier and better that way.

Anyway, some interesting things have taken place. One was that I was a last minute addition for iFest in Sydney. It was all good until I fractured my ankle on the way home. I was dead tired from the last minute rush; not sure if that's some kind of cosmic karma thing sending me a message of sorts. Anyway, I'm out of the cast and walking around without crutches.

Good timing too, in that if you follow these things, you'll know that DigiZen was awarded funding from the NSW Department of Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure and Services (DTIRIS) via their Digital Media Initiative. This means that there is a contract coding role open to NSW based candidates. I'm also happy to hear from people that want to collaborate on the project, especially NSW based service providers interested in the indie space.

So, if you're interested in the role head on to the roles page and check out the details, or if you know someone who might be, point them here.

Finally got around to updating the site. I added a projects section for my Masters research and to introduce my indie game. Not that happy with that part, in that it's mostly 'back-story.' As I've told people: '...any jack-ass can come up with back-story, how about telling me about your gameplay?!'

I'll have to update it in the future to remedy that by taking my own advice... anyway, I've had my fill of 'doing things on my own for a while,' and happy to hear from people that want to collaborate on the project -- not that that's stopped people from getting in contact. Would be nice to hear from someone in particular who has stronger game coding skills than I have, though, help on the art front is always appreciated -- as well as audio. Just keep in mind that this is a low-budget sweat (tears and blood) equity affair for the time being.

Lastly, I've started a sister blog-site to VagabondArmy. So, head on to SelfInducedComa.com and check it out!

This will be the third time that I've been involved with the event and, I'm excited, in being able to finally talk about the research I'm doing for my Masters. I've been flying-under-the-radar for quite a while now, so I figure it's about time to make my presence felt and have another crack at the whole 'indie game developer' thing.

My session 'It Came From Software Development' is at 2pm on Sunday, 15th of August. Check out the program details found via: Freeplay.

Taking longer than hoped, but, not longer than expected; the site is finally up and running. Though web development has it's cross-browser -platform and security issues, most of the DHTML code I'd actually written years ago; even with implementing new Ajax features and utilising PHP, the real time-consumer, was coming up with a 'branding' concept for the site that I liked and learning more of Inkscape to create the final images with.

With this finally out of the way, I can get stuck into doing the 101 things left to do as my prep for the upcoming Freeplay conference...