Nullarbor (demo party)
Encyclopedia
The Nullarbor demo party is a combined game development
and demoscene
event
in Australia
. The event takes place at the beginning of every year in Perth
, Western Australia
. It was named Nullarbor in reference to Perth's physical isolation from the rest of the Australia. Like other similar demo parties worldwide, it provides a platform for game developers and graphic artists to showcase their skills.
The event is supported by Edith Cowan University
, the Western Australian government
, Perth ACM
SIGGRAPH
, Perth IGDA, and many game developers
(eg :Microsoft
and Interzone Games), and is managed by Adrian Boeing and Martin Masek. The party is also supported internationally by demo scene groups from Europe and the USA.
Nullarbor differs from many other demoparties: it does not try to keep the demoscene underground, instead it tries to promote democulture to a wider audience. Nullarbor targets academia, government and industry to promote game development and democulture in order to legitimize the scene. As a result, some of the demo entries diverge from the standard demoscene expectations, for example "Landscape Visualization", which placed 2nd in the demo competition, which were poorley received by the European demoscene which still retains a hacker culture.
Nullarbor is sometimes also referred to as "notrees", which is a play on the name 'Nullarbor'. In 2007, the event was retitled to "Interzone nullarbor 2007", or iz null in a shortened form.
, including but not limited to:
Mount Lawley. Teams from Europe and Australia competed in the competitions, including a number of interstate entries. Nullarbor was a breakthrough for the Australian demoscene, as the last demo party in Western Australia was the C party in 1994, which was 12 years before Nullarbor. The last demo party in Australia was Coven 2001. Nullarbor broke a 5 year demo party drought in Australia. As a result, Nullarbor attracted a record number of first releases and new demo groups. Game Developers that were also formed in order to compete at the event and added a significant contribution to the Perth game development scene, including the formation of new digital content companies.
In 2007 nullarbor was officially renamed to "Interzone nullarbor", to reflect major sponsorship by Interzone games. It became one of the world's biggest demoparties with over 10,000 visitors, largely thanks to taking place as part of the GO3 electronic entertainment expo and conference in the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre
. Some sources report up to 30,000 visitors. The nullarbor competition expanded in 2007 to include animation, pixel art, and music competitions.
The 2008 competition saw a return to the traditional demoparty
style taking place at The Bakery art venue in Northbridge, Western Australia
. The competition was also extended to include a pitch competition and allow for machinima
entries.
Australia obtained a second demoparty in 2007, the Syntax Demoparty in Melbourne, and as of 2008 Perth has had a strong presence in the Local and Global Game Jam
events. Subsequently Nullarbor events have not been held since 2009.
Game development
Game development is the software development process by which a video game is developed. Development is undertaken by a game developer, which may range from a single person to a large business. Mainstream games are normally funded by a publisher and take several years to develop. Indie games can...
and demoscene
Demoscene
The demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes in producing demos, which are non-interactive audio-visual presentations that run in real-time on a computer...
event
Demoparty
A demoparty is an event that gathers demosceners and other computer enthusiasts to compete in competitions. A typical demoparty is a non-stop event lasting over a weekend, providing the visitors a lot of time to socialize. The competing works, at least those in the most important competitions, are...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The event takes place at the beginning of every year in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. It was named Nullarbor in reference to Perth's physical isolation from the rest of the Australia. Like other similar demo parties worldwide, it provides a platform for game developers and graphic artists to showcase their skills.
The event is supported by Edith Cowan University
Edith Cowan University
Edith Cowan University is located in Perth, Western Australia. It was named after the first woman to be elected to an Australian Parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman....
, the Western Australian government
Government of Western Australia
The formation of the Government of Western Australia is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1890, although it has been amended many times since then...
, Perth ACM
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
SIGGRAPH
SIGGRAPH
SIGGRAPH is the name of the annual conference on computer graphics convened by the ACM SIGGRAPH organization. The first SIGGRAPH conference was in 1974. The conference is attended by tens of thousands of computer professionals...
, Perth IGDA, and many game developers
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
(eg :Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
and Interzone Games), and is managed by Adrian Boeing and Martin Masek. The party is also supported internationally by demo scene groups from Europe and the USA.
Nullarbor differs from many other demoparties: it does not try to keep the demoscene underground, instead it tries to promote democulture to a wider audience. Nullarbor targets academia, government and industry to promote game development and democulture in order to legitimize the scene. As a result, some of the demo entries diverge from the standard demoscene expectations, for example "Landscape Visualization", which placed 2nd in the demo competition, which were poorley received by the European demoscene which still retains a hacker culture.
Nullarbor is sometimes also referred to as "notrees", which is a play on the name 'Nullarbor'. In 2007, the event was retitled to "Interzone nullarbor 2007", or iz null in a shortened form.
Competitions
The party includes multiple competitionsCompo
Compo may refer to:*A slang word in the demoscene for "competition".*A character from the British TV series Last of the Summer Wine named Compo Simmonite, played by Bill Owen.*British army field rations....
, including but not limited to:
- video game development
- combined demoDemo (computer programming)A demo is a non-interactive multimedia presentation made within the computer subculture known as the demoscene. Demogroups create demos to demonstrate their abilities in programming, music, drawing, and 3D modeling...
- 64kKilobyteThe kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
introDemo (computer programming)A demo is a non-interactive multimedia presentation made within the computer subculture known as the demoscene. Demogroups create demos to demonstrate their abilities in programming, music, drawing, and 3D modeling... - machinimaMachinimaMachinima is the use of real-time 3D computer graphics rendering engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation...
- music
- graphicsPixel artPixel art is a form of digital art, created through the use of raster graphics software, where images are edited on the pixel level. Graphics in most old computer and video games, graphing calculator games, and many mobile phone games are mostly pixel art.- History :The term pixel art was first...
- short film ("wild") / animationComputer animationComputer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
History
The first Nullarbor was held in February 2006. It attracted hundreds of visitors. It included only a demo, intro and game development competition, which was held at ECUEdith Cowan University
Edith Cowan University is located in Perth, Western Australia. It was named after the first woman to be elected to an Australian Parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman....
Mount Lawley. Teams from Europe and Australia competed in the competitions, including a number of interstate entries. Nullarbor was a breakthrough for the Australian demoscene, as the last demo party in Western Australia was the C party in 1994, which was 12 years before Nullarbor. The last demo party in Australia was Coven 2001. Nullarbor broke a 5 year demo party drought in Australia. As a result, Nullarbor attracted a record number of first releases and new demo groups. Game Developers that were also formed in order to compete at the event and added a significant contribution to the Perth game development scene, including the formation of new digital content companies.
In 2007 nullarbor was officially renamed to "Interzone nullarbor", to reflect major sponsorship by Interzone games. It became one of the world's biggest demoparties with over 10,000 visitors, largely thanks to taking place as part of the GO3 electronic entertainment expo and conference in the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre
Perth Convention Exhibition Centre
The Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre is a convention centre located in Perth, Western Australia. It was opened in August 2004.-History:The Centre was built by Multiplex and it opened on the 24th August 2004....
. Some sources report up to 30,000 visitors. The nullarbor competition expanded in 2007 to include animation, pixel art, and music competitions.
The 2008 competition saw a return to the traditional demoparty
Demoparty
A demoparty is an event that gathers demosceners and other computer enthusiasts to compete in competitions. A typical demoparty is a non-stop event lasting over a weekend, providing the visitors a lot of time to socialize. The competing works, at least those in the most important competitions, are...
style taking place at The Bakery art venue in Northbridge, Western Australia
Northbridge, Western Australia
Northbridge is an inner city suburb of Perth, Western Australia, separated from Perth's central business district by the Fremantle and Joondalup railway lines...
. The competition was also extended to include a pitch competition and allow for machinima
Machinima
Machinima is the use of real-time 3D computer graphics rendering engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation...
entries.
Australia obtained a second demoparty in 2007, the Syntax Demoparty in Melbourne, and as of 2008 Perth has had a strong presence in the Local and Global Game Jam
Global Game Jam
The Global Game Jam is an annual event in which participants design and create digital and non-digital games over the course of one weekend. Inspired by the Nordic Game Jam, and organized by the International Game Developers Association...
events. Subsequently Nullarbor events have not been held since 2009.
Events
- nullarbor 2006 (23 February 2006)
- Interzone nullarbor 2007 (30 March 2007 – 31 March 2007)
- nullarbor 2008 (15 August 2008 – 16 August 2008)