Devinquest® Melbourne Entertainment

Reflections on the Australian Games Industry

2009-11-04T11:58:00.003+11:00

I wrote a little article for The Age's Screen Play blog about the Australian games industry. Check it out here.

UPDATE 2009/12/01 - My contribution was judged the best of the month, and I won a PS3. Thanks Jason Hill!

Machinima Artist Thuyen Nguyen Directs Cutscenes for Ubisoft's "Heroes Over Europe"

2009-08-26T14:40:00.003+10:00

Thuyen Nguyen (me!), writer and director of machinima films including "An Unfair War" and "The Most Powerful Person in the World," was enlisted to author and direct the in-game cinematic cutscenes for Ubisoft's upcoming World War II air combat game "Heroes Over Europe." Using the in-house authoring tool, Nguyen created over 100 real-time cutscenes for the game, helping tell the story of brave Allied pilots and their battle for air superiority against the forces of Axis Germany. The cutscenes took almost a year to complete, which included storyboard development, authoring, action choreography and effect passes.

Developed by Transmission Games in Melbourne, Australia, "Heroes Over Europe" is the sequel to the award-winning "Heroes of the Pacific," and sees players participating in fierce air battles in the skies of Europe. The game has 14 missions, over 40 authentic World War II aircraft, and has online multiplayer support for 16 players. It will be released in September 2009 for Xbox 360, PlayStation3 and PC.

Official Website: http://www.heroesovereurope.com/

A Question of Promise #8

2009-07-31T11:29:00.003+10:00

Production Date: July 31st 2009
Genre: Comedy
Story and Art by: Thuyen Nguyen
Format: 24 pages, B&W w/ colour covers
Synopsis: Eric wakes up to find Eve standing over him with a steel pipe. She's not here for him though - It's Dice that she wants...

Download PDF version (3MB)

Buy from Indy Planet
Buy from Lulu

Open publication - Free publishing - More graphic novel

A Question of Promise at Indy Planet

2009-06-07T00:07:00.004+10:00

A Question of Promise is now available for purchase at Indy Planet. It's far cheaper than Lulu too - even if you consider the US dollar exchange rate! So if you haven't already, help a brother out and buy an issue or two!

Issue #1
Issue #2
Issue #3
Issue #4
Issue #5
Issue #6
Issue #7

A Question of Promise at Issuu

2009-03-23T10:35:00.008+11:00

Issuu is an online publishing service that lets you read books, magazines and other print publications. I'm starting to upload every issue of A Question of Promise there so that anyone can read them online (though you can still download the PDF from here).

The first issue is here, and the rest will be up soon. Be a friend and check it out!

EDIT: The rest of them -
Second issue
Third issue
Fourth issue
Issue #5
Issue #6
Issue #7

Fresh off the Press

2009-01-10T16:04:00.004+11:00

I finally got around to buying some hard copies of all 7 issues of A Question of Promise from my Lulu store... and they look great! There's a nice feeling to be had when you can see and touch your work - writers will know what I mean. The print quality and binding is good, so I'm happy (except for the sad weakness of the Australian dollar which meant the comics cost 35% more than they should).

Anyway, please buy an issue or two and support a starving artist! :)

An Unfair War Wins Machinima Expo 2008 Jury Award

2008-11-11T10:15:00.003+11:00

At the Machinima Expo 2008, An Unfair War was selected as one of the 6 Jury Award winners, alongside Leo Lucien-Bay's "Beast", Ian Chisholm's "Clear Skies", Michelle Petit-Mee's "The Snow Witch", Kerria Seabrooke's "Tiny Nation" and J. Rojas' "Turbulence".

I woke up at 5:30am to attend the presentation ceremony at Jamville in Second Life. It was my first time in Second Life, and it was pretty cool. Here's some pics and commentary of the event. Unfortunately I didn't stay long - had to go to work, being a Monday morning and all. Damn American time zones!

Here I am at the Expo site in Jamville. I didn't bother too much with customizing my avatar, but did put on some sunglasses just in case there was someone else like me.

The outdoor screen. The ceremony started with the screening my The Most Powerful Person in the World. Only saw half of it though because I was busy trying to figure out how to get the video streaming properly.

A view of the audience. A good turn out for the ceremony. There were some technical issues with the voice chat, but ultimately resolved. I was sitting at the back, but moved to the front row to hear the stage better.

That's me as the ceremony continued on. Some hot girls behind me - hopefully they're girls in real life too!

A view from the stage. Note the oversized novelty-sized MachinExpo award on the left.

Me on stage accepting my award, standing alongside the other recipients. I didn't have a mic, so I was unable to voice chat and so typed instead. Not sure if everyone in the audience heard my typing, but I made some good jokes :)

A group photo of the Jury Award recipients. A few of them work at BioWare, and if BioWare is reading this, if you're willing to hire me and ship me and my family to Canada, I'm willing to accept. I'm a machinima director and a game designer!

I wish I could've stayed longer, because it really was nice to virtually hang out with fellow machinima makers. To everyone who came, the organizers and the other filmmakers, thanks for a good Expo!

Buy My Stuff at Lulu!

2008-11-04T20:00:00.005+11:00

I've just opened a shop at lulu.com, so now the world can buy printed versions of A Question of Promise, plus anything else I plan to put there for digital prosperity. Come and visit it, won't you?

Devinquest by Thuyen Nguyen - http://stores.lulu.com/devinquest

Machinima Interview

2008-11-01T11:03:00.001+11:00

I was interviewed via Skype about machinima and my films. I think it came out very well. You can download and listen to it from machinima.com here.

An Unfair War at Machinima Expo 2008

2008-10-29T09:09:00.004+11:00

An Unfair War has been selected as a finalist at this year's Machinima Expo, which is happening on November 9th in Second Life. I'll hopefully be there, if work doesn't kill me first.

MachinExpo 2008 Finalist Announcement

Update: The Most Powerful Person in the World will also be shown (however not in competition). Here is the Second Life link for direct access to the expo site: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Jamville/151/214/23

Me on TV

2008-09-02T21:06:00.004+10:00

I was interviewed on ABC's Good Game TV program a few weeks ago, and the episode went to air yesterday. I talk about The Most Powerful Person in the World, sharing screen time with fellow CNF member Paul Callaghan. I'm on for only about 20 seconds, but any TV is good TV, eh?

Watch online here

A Question of Promise: Digital Comic

2008-05-12T18:57:00.004+10:00

A Question of Promise: Digital Comic is the DS homebrew adaption of the first issue; complete with music and sound effects! Now you can play and carry around A Question of Promise on your Nintendo DS (as long as you have a flash cart, such as a R4 Revolution).

Instructions: unzip the .NDS file, copy it to your flash cart, and load. You'll be reading the comic on two screens in no time!

Download game (9MB)

osh10 featuring A Lighter Shade of White - "Mr Sheen"

2008-04-22T21:18:00.003+10:00

Production Date: April 20th 2008
Genre: Animation / Music Video
Animated and Directed by: Thuyen Nguyen
Music by: osh10
Length: 4 minutes
Synopsis: To mark its 10th anniversary, the whole A Lighter Shade of White web comic series is summarized in three and a half minutes to a jazzy soundtrack.

A Question of Promise #7

2008-03-18T19:45:00.004+11:00

Production Date: March 18th 2008
Genre: Comedy
Story and Art by: Thuyen Nguyen
Format: 24 pages, B&W w/ colour covers
Synopsis: Eric returns safe and sound, but not before Eden enlists Erin to make a public appeal for information on national TV. They'll both have some explaining to do...

Download PDF version (4MB)

Buy from Indy Planet (Preferred - it's cheaper!)
Buy from Lulu (if you're desperate!)

Open publication - Free publishing - More graphic novel

I'm in The Age...

2008-03-14T14:58:00.001+11:00

... interviewed about "Same As It Ever Was."

http://blogs.theage.com.au/screenplay/archives//008837.html

Same As It Ever Was

2008-02-29T17:47:00.006+11:00

Production Date: February 29th 2008
Genre: Machinima
Written and Directed by: Thuyen Nguyen
Music by: Lackluster
Length: 3 minutes
Synopsis: Video game critics use the same arguments against gaming as they did for movies, television, music, comics, books...
As featured at: GameSetWatch, The Age, Sumea

Watch online at YouTube
Download high quality version from Archive.org

A Question of Promise #6

2008-02-13T19:54:00.004+11:00

Production Date: February 13th 2008
Genre: Comedy
Story and Art by: Thuyen Nguyen
Format: 24 pages, B&W w/ colour covers
Synopsis: Eric's disappearance has Eden and Dice worried. Alvin and McMahon know where he is, but the truth is rather unbelievable.

Download PDF version (3.5MB)

Buy from Indy Planet (Preferred - it's cheaper!)
Buy from Lulu (if you're desperate!)

Open publication - Free publishing - More graphic novel

Japan: Time Extension

2008-02-01T22:49:00.000+11:00

Got my visa extended for a year, even though I only asked for 6 months. That said, I don't plan to be here for that long if the wife's Australian visa gets finalized sooner.

Japan: Straight Sevens

2008-01-25T19:15:00.000+11:00

There's a vending machine near our house that is the only one that has 500ml cans of Calpis. It also happens to be the only one with the "numbers bonus game". It goes like this:

Buy any drink from the machine. In this case, 120 yen for Calpis Water.
After the drink is dispensed, the numbers bonus game starts. Like slots, four numbers shuffle randomly. If you get 7777, you win a free drink of your choice.
I got 7777! So for my free drink, I chose a 500ml can of Calpis Soda.

It was rather entertaining!

Japan: Yum Cha

2008-01-20T22:05:00.000+11:00

Yesterday, the family went to Rokko Island to have all-you-can-eat yum cha for the respectable price of 3000 yen each. The Chinese restaurant was located inside the Kobe Sheraton Hotel. The food was good, though restaurants here in Japan use mustard as a condiment as opposed to chili, and there's nothing better than shrimp dumplings drowning in chili sauce.

What wasn't good, however, was the price of the 190ml coke I ordered... 700 yen! That's almost $9! The wife said that I should have expected it, considering that we were in a hotel and hotels are expensive. Yes, but still, 700 yen! I could have bought 6 litres of coke from the supermarket for that much. Oh well.

A Question of Promise #5

2008-01-15T19:15:00.003+11:00

Production Date: January 13th 2008
Genre: Comedy
Story and Art by: Thuyen Nguyen
Format: 24 pages, B&W w/ colour covers
Synopsis: Erin has finally scored her big break as a stand-up comedian. Eden, Eric and Dice go and check out her first ever live gig.

Download PDF version (5MB)

Buy from Indy Planet (Preferred - it's cheaper!)
Buy from Lulu (if you're desperate!)

Open publication - Free publishing - More graphic novel

Japan: Show Me the Beef

2008-01-10T22:08:00.000+11:00

A couple of friends from Australia came to Kobe to visit. This gave the wife and I the perfect (and only) excuse to finally eat some Kobe Beef, which is known for its marble appearance and expensive cost.

We went down to a restaurant in Sannomiya and ordered 2x160g and 2x200g dinner sets. The taste... was very good. I don't know if it's worth the money (8000 and 10,000 yen respectively), but it was very tasty. The restaurant cooks the food in front of you, so it was also entertaining.

After leaving, the wife revealed that the restaurant had charged us the wrong amount. We ended up paying about 5000 yen less than we were supposed to. We kept walking, only to occasionally look over our shoulder. Lucky!

Pip'n Xbox

2008-01-08T01:20:00.000+11:00

Just a quick post - I made a parody of an Apple/Bandai Pippin promo video by replacing every reference from Apple to Microsoft. It's on Youtube, and it was mentioned at Destructoid.

Japan: New Year

2008-01-03T23:59:00.000+11:00

The new year in Japanese brings with it some traditions. On December 31st, the family came together to eat o-sechi, which is basically a box with lots of different small-portioned food in it. Actually not that great, but it is traditional and fairly expensive.

At around 11:30pm, after the annual NHK Kohaku Utagassen singing contest finished, we ate some new years Toshikoshi soba. Tradition has it that you eat the soba and drink the soup before midnight, but you must not leave anything behind in the bowl.

New year's day, and the kids in the house got packets of money (Otoshidama). I remember getting such when I was younger and, frankly, it was awesome. Too bad no money packets are given to adults. Had azuki and mochi for breakfast, and lunch was what was left of the night before's o-sechi. All nengajo (new year's cards) are delivered on this day, regardless of when you sent them before.

Today, the wife and I, along with her friends, made our way to Nishinomiya to a temple to get our new year's fortune (Hatsumoude). You shake a tube full of sticks and then pull one out. The stick has a number which corresponds to a fortune. I got the best one, while one of the wife's friends got the worse. I don't really believe it, but no harm in trying, eh?

Japan: Why is it the Opposite?

2007-12-30T21:58:00.000+11:00

Two of the wife's sisters are pregnant, so the family went to Nakayama Temple in Takarazuka today to pray for the upcoming babies. At the temple, the mother-to-be buys a haraobi, a long piece of cloth that has writing on it telling you the gender of the baby. As all good fortunes go, the gender of the baby is actually the opposite of what the haraobi says.

The haraobi said "girl."