What's Cheese Up To These Days?

Day of the Tentacle Remastered

Involvement: May 2016 - July 2016

Status: Released

URL: http://dott.doublefine.com

URL: http://cheesetalks.net/porting_dott.php

In May 2016, I was contracted by Double Fine Productions to port Day of the Tentacle Remastered to Linux.

As part of this process, I also created a small "coming soon" application to take the place of the game's binary for which I was authorised to release source code.

I also released a retrospective article looking at the ins and outs of the porting process as well as my own relationship with the game.

  • Linux porting
  • Linux packaging
  • Promotional artwork
  • Assembled and coordinated testing team
  • Assisted with post-release customer support

Full Throttle Remastered

Involvement: May 2017 - July 2017

Status: Released

URL: http://fullthrottle.doublefine.com

In May 2017, I was contracted by Double Fine Productions to port Full Throttle Remastered to Linux.

  • Linux porting
  • Linux packaging
  • Promotional artwork
  • Assembled and coordinated testing team
  • Assisted with post-release customer support

Hand of Fate 2

Involvement: November 2017 - May 2018

Status: Released

URL: http://defiantdev.com/hof2.html

URL: http://store.steampowered.com/app/456670

Continuing an ongoing relationship with the studio and community, I was contracted by Defiant Development to assist with community support and QA in the lead up to and following Hand of Fate 2's release.

  • Worked with customers to identify and resolve support issues
  • Liaised with upstream engine developers to resolve platform specific issues
  • Assisted with QA
  • Put together and hosted a community modding wiki
  • Continued to help with community support and bugfixes after the studio shut down

Hand of Fate

Involvement: March 2014 - May 2014

Status: Released

URL: http://defiantdev.com/handoffate.php

URL: http://store.steampowered.com/app/266510

After backing Hand of Fate on Kickstarter, and assisting with some Linux specific support issues, I was contracted by Defiant Development to temporarily assist with community support.

  • Worked with customers to identify and resolve support issues
  • Liaised with upstream engine developers to resolve platform specific issues
  • Assisted with QA by organising and confirming bug reports
  • Assessed review requests and distributed game codes

Bad Golf: Community Edition

Involvement: February 2014 - May 2017

Status: Ongoing development

URL: http://www.doublefine.com/forums/viewthread/13136/

URL: https://github.com/Double-Fine-Game-Club/bad-golf-community-edition

Source Available: CC BY-NC

Following a second unsuccessful Bad Golf pitch for Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight and in light of community enthusiasm, I coordinated a fan project to bring the pitch to reality as a fan developed game.

Rather than contributing directly to development, I took on a project management role. Using GitHub, the Double Fine forums and the #BadGolf2 IRC channel on foonetic.net, I set up a project with an open contribution policy, where any members of the commmunity who wished to share their time and skills could collaborate on and create whatever interested them.

At the time of writing (one fortnight in), development has produced a prototype using Unity, consisting of networking, vehicle simulation, golf simulation and a range of community created assets, leaveraging the Double Fine community's impressive creative talent.

  • Configured development infrastructure
  • Solidified direction from initial design notes
  • Created and assigned tasks lists
  • Coordinated community contributors
  • Managed and deployed release builds
  • Actively engaged and engaged in development decision
  • Liaised with Double Fine regarding IP boundaries and project promotion

Above The Waves

Involvement: April 2015 - September 2021

Status: Released, enhanced version cancelled

URL: http://atw.twolofbees.com

URL: http://gamejolt.com/games/adventure/above-the-waves/58420/

URL: http://cheeseness.itch.io/above-the-waves

Above The Waves began as a game created for AdventureJam in April 2015, a fortnight long event in which I attempted to create a game from scratch with my partner Mim using the F/OSS SLUDGE engine.

Since AdventureJam, I have slowly been working on an expanded vision for the game with the aim of commencing production on an updated version in 2016. This was officially cancelled in 2021.

  • Created background art
  • Puzzle design
  • Programming
  • Packaging

Robin's Rescue

Involvement: June 2015 - July 2015

Status: Released

URL: http://robinsrescue.twolofbees.com

URL: https://github.com/Cheeseness/robins-rescue

Source Available: LGPL3

Following the development of Above The Waves, I created a second game in the SLUDGE engine with the intention of using its source as an example case in an article on the SLUDGE engine.

The game's sources as well as pre-built binaries were published alongside the article.

  • Created background art
  • Puzzle design
  • Programming
  • Writing
  • Packaging

Super Happy Fun Sun

Involvement: December 2015

Status: Released

URL: http://shfs.twolofbees.com

URL: http://cheeseness.itch.io/super-happy-fun-sun

With time set aside for a game jam that never happened, I spent a week in December prototyping a game focusing on exploration and movement challenges involving combinations of gravity, inertia and collision.

  • Project management
  • Game design
  • Level design
  • Programming
  • Background art

Tiny Chopper Raceway

Involvement: March 2016 - April 2016

Status: Released

URL: https://cheeseness.itch.io/tiny-chopper-raceway

URL: https://github.com/Cheeseness/tiny-chopper-raceway/

Source Available: LGPL3, CC0 Assets

For the March 2016 Tasmanian Linux User Group meeting, I gave a talk/demonstration on making games in a hurry with the Godot engine. During the talk, I created a top down drifting/racing game from scratch (with assets that I'd made the day before), and then spent another week or so tidying up the codebase before release.

  • Game design
  • Created game assets (excluding music)
  • Programming

Voices of the Past

Involvement: September 2015

Status: Released

URL: http://cheeseness.itch.io/voices-of-the-past

URL: https://www.patreon.com/posts/3742595

For the first TasJam game Jam, I created a short text oriented first person game using Icicle, the Winter's Wake engine. Voices of the Past explores the jam's themes of "voices" and "access" by pulling narrative threads through disparate memories of an elderly woman's life, with each memory unlocking another.

During the second TasJam event, Voices of the Past was awarded "Best use of Theme". Alongside this, we released an updated version of the game with additional audio, graphics and writing.

  • Project management
  • Game design
  • Engine programming
  • Packaging

The Fall

Involvement: May 2014 - December 2017

Status: Released

URL: http://overthemoongames.com

URL: http://store.steampowered.com/app/290770

After backing The Fall on Kickstarter, I eventually wound up contributing significant feedback during development, assisting with pre-rlease Linux specific issues, and setting up a simple issue tracking system for the game's release.

After release, I provided ongoing technical support and community engagement, and wrote input profiles for the game to resolve issues with several gamepads on Linux and Mac OS.

  • Assisted with post-release customer support
  • Helped plan Linux port
  • Debugged platform specific issues
  • Worked on additional gamepad support

Dance

Involvement: August 2013

Status: Released, ongoing development pending

URL: http://www.7dfps.org/?action=games&id=44

For the second 7 Day First Person Challenge, I created a first person puzzle game using Blender's built in game engine, in which players take on the role of a participant in a progressive dance and must strategically swap with their current partner to reach the end goal of being partnered with a specific NPC.

Detailed design intentions and development logs can be found on Dance's 7DFPS page.

At this stage I am considering migrating Dance to another engine and developing a more rounded experience.

  • Created game assets (excluding music)
  • Game design
  • Programming
  • Cross platform packaging

Unannounced Two Lof Bees JRPG

Status: Concept, cancelled

After supporting the crowdfunding campaign to open source Monster RPG 2, Mim and I have been discussing making use of the engine to create a Two Lof Bees themed JRPG.

Lead developer Trent Gamblin is currently adding SVG asset support to the engine, which will be an important part of our workflow.

In 2021, this project was officially cancelled.

Unannounced Two Lof Bees Platformer

Status: Unreleased, cancelled

During 2012, I began work on prototyping a Two Lof Bees themed non-aggressive multiplayer platformer.

In 2021, this project was officially cancelled.

Astronomusic Prototype

Involvement: March 2012

Status: Released, No longer developed

In March 2012, flibitijibibo asked if I'd be interested in providing some placeholder assets for an puzzle game prototype with audio processing elements that he was working on for the 2012 Intel Level Up Game Demo contest.

After some brief discussion, we settled on a stylised monochromatic space theme.

  • Created art assets for player ship, environment objects, and background elements
  • Contributed minor patches

Grenades, Snarks and Teleporters

Status: Released, hiatus

URL: http://www.moddb.com/mods/grenades-snarks-teleporters

Grenades, Snarks and Teleporters (G.S.T.), a deathmatch total conversion for Half-Life featuring silly weapons, hilarious gameplay and weird maps, was Valiant Systems' first released project. G.S.T. began life as a compilation of amusing bugs that we had created whilst developing our more serious total conversion, Guards vs Thieves. Eventually G.S.T. took over as a primary focus, and was released as "Public Beta 1.0" in February 2002 (all future versions of G.S.T. were intended to be "beta" releases).

Development of G.S.T. Beta 2.0 continued until 2004 when resources were reassigned to another project.

  • Project management
  • Game and level design
  • Created 3D and 2D assets and animations

Guards vs Thieves

Status: Unreleased, hiatus

Guards vs Thieves (GvT) was initially conceived as a class/team based multiplayer Half-Life 1 total conversion inspired by Looking Glass Studios' Thief: The Dark Project and its sequel Thief: The Metal Age, and developed by Valiant Systems.

We had that GvT would be be released in 9 level packs which progressively revealed the tale of Ruik and his band of thieves and their strugle against Sherrif Whatsisname's guards through story chapters, FMV cutscenes and in-game sequences.

GvT was relegated to a secondary project as Grenades, Snarks and Teleporters neared its release, and was eventually suspended in 2004 resources were reassigned to another project.

  • Project and team management
  • Game and level design
  • Created 3D and 2D assets and animations
  • Wrote novelisation of game plot, cutscene treatment for FMVs and scripts for in-game voice acting
  • Voiced in-game character Ruik
  • Co-scored music tracks

Misdirected Hostility

Status: Unreleased, hiatus

Misdirected Hostility was conceived as a Serious Sam: Second Encounter total conversion focused around team based gameplay.

Set in a dystopian future where five factions with unique abilities are vying for control over mysterious alien artifacts, Misdirected Hostility forces players to balance their choice of faction against map objectives and the factions that they may be up against.

I was originally brought in to develop Misdirected Hostility's story, and over time my role evolved to include game design, web development, concept art and asset creation.

Misdirected Hostility is a special project that I hope to return to some day.

  • Game design
  • Developed website
  • Created concept art
  • Created game assets
  • Wrote story treatment and faction bios

Neverball

Involvement: June 2006 - May 2014

Status: Released, ongoing development

URL: http://neverball.org

URL: https://github.com/Neverball/neverball

Source Available: GPL2

I first joined the Neverball community in 2006, three years before 1.5.0, (the first 'community' release) was unleashed upon the world. In the time leading up to and following release, I participated as an active member of the Neverball developer community, taking part in game design and project management decisions. I also coordinated a 'thank-you' project where key community contributors in seven countries signed a t-shirt, which was then sent on to the game's original creator. In 2009, Neverball won Silver in the Hobbies category of Les Trophées du Libre.

I committed patches in C, adding teleporter particle effects and improved internal screenshot management.

In addition to participating in visual design discussions, I contributed graphics for teleporter pads, teleporter particles, custom balls and created the 'Volcano' environment background. I also worked on SVG program icons for Neverball and its sister project Neverputt. I created the design and graphics for the official Neverball website (2009-onwards), and created smilies for the official forums based on the in-game 'thwomp' characters.

Additionally, I have been working on content creation tutorials to help make Neverball contribution more accessible.

Following the release of Neverball 1.6.0 in May 2014, I stepped back from the Neverball community.

  • Organised community building activities
  • Created website design
  • Created forum smilies
  • Created background assets
  • Created SVG version of the Neverball and Neverputt logos
  • Created additional bonus balls
  • Worked on teleporter effects
  • Contributed minor code patches
  • Packaged Desura builds
  • Ongoing management of Neverball and Neverputt's Desura profiles
  • Developed tutorials for creating in-game assets

OpenParsec

Involvement: 2013

Status: Unreleased, ongoing development

URL: http://openparsec.sourceforge.net

Source Available: GPL2

I was delighted to discover in 2012 that some enthusiastic community members were reviving OpenParsec, and even more delighted when I was invited to contribute background art assets and misc imagery (icons, banners, etc.) and give back to a game that I spent many happy hours playing.

Unannounced Platformer

Status: Unreleased, no longer involved

Involvement: 2012

In 2012, I was invited to create art assets for a small scope platformer.

Unannounced Sidescrolling Shooter

Status: Unreleased, no longer involved

Involvement: 2012

In 2012, I began collaborating with another indie developer on a side scrolling shooter.

  • Concept art
  • Preliminary 3D assets

@Cheeseness