The name of the game

It's a cottage industry if ever there was one - a group of innovative New Zealand video game developers chipping away on their own creations with the dream of producing the next Grand Theft Auto or Age of Empires.

They generate an estimated $10 million in annual revenue combined, a drop in the ocean in the scheme of things. One only has to browse the shelves of gaming stores like Central Park and EB Games to realise how vast the video game market really is.

But the local video game industry is mobilising, representing itself under the banner of the New Zealand Game Developers Association.

In February the Association published its `Videogames 101' paper, which was designed to give Government and investors more information about the fledgling New Zealand industry. Games can take years and millions of dollars to produce, yet selling at $80 to $120 a copy, the pay-off can be great.

The worldwide demand for new Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo and PC games is fueling an industry that now dwarfs the movie business in value.

PricewaterhouseCooper expects the global video game market to expand in value to US$35.8 billion in 2007 from US$21.2 billion in 2004.

The figures don't account for internet-based games and mobile phone games, which are starting to take off as more people gain access to high-speed internet connections and third generation (3G) mobile phone services.

The good news for innovative New Zealand developers is that they sit within the world's largest game-playing region, Asia-Pacific. The region spent US$8.4 billion on video games in 2002, a figure set to jump to US$12.6 billion in 2007 according to PWC.

While the booming Japanese game market is generally supplied from within, demand is strong for original new games in other parts of Asia.

Just last month Wellington games developer Blue Boar Mobile won a distribution deal with Singapore games publisher Acme Mobile. Blue Boar specialises in games designed to be played on mobile phones - a burgeoning market in the era of "3G" high-speed mobile networks.

Its popular animated fish game Hoki Moki, which debuted through Telecom as a $5 mobile phone download last year, will be published across 11 countries in Asia and Europe.

Quality attracts business - Peter Jackson and his work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy proved that. Now the local video game market is waiting for the breakthrough success that will put it on the map as a hub for game development.

There have already been some major successes. The country's largest games developer exists in Wellington-based Sidhe Interactive, which scored a massive hit in 2003 with its Playstation 2, Xbox and PC title Rugby League.

It is developing Rugby League 2, which is due for release later this year and has other games on the cards.

Castles Music has developed a solid business providing the score and sound effects for video games such as World At War, which was released earlier this year on the PC.

Auckland animation company Flux contributed hand-drawn animation for the game Sprung, which is out on the new Nintendo DS mini-console.

Metia Interactive has contributed to games such as Cube and The Guardian, which is out on the Xbox and Playstation 2 consoles.

In Devonport, a determined team of developers are working away on an ambitious Post-apocalyptic action game, Homeland.

Binary Star has been building its complex game for four years and is funded by local private investors.

Last year Homeland won the best unsigned game award at the Australian Game Developers awards.
Revenue is flowing for some developers who are starting to work with the world's biggest game publishers.

And several others dabbling in game development have found themselves at that lucrative juncture where business applications and entertainment meet. Auckland-based software developer Right Hemisphere has made a name for itself making computer-aided design (CAD) software for the international market.

In February, Right Hemisphere sealed a major deal with software maker Adobe to incorporate its Deep View software into the widely used programmes Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader. The software effectively allows users to manipulate 3D content within PDF documents. With PDF documents the main format for business documentation, the potential is massive.

But it wasn't that long ago that Right Hemisphere's 3-D software was being used to add personality to the hugely successful computer game - The Sims.

In 2002, Right Hemisphere produced add-on software for The Sims which allowed players to meld the faces of family and friends onto the bodies of 3D characters for greater in-game realism.

The deal with The Sims owner Electronic Arts was a great profile boost for Right Hemisphere and the concept has since been adopted in various games, especially sport titles.

Dunedin-based Animation Research, headed by respected IT figure Ian Taylor, is a world-leader in animation, designing everything from air traffic control simulators to graphics for golf coverage. Taylor, who co-developed the TV and internet animation used by Virtual Spectator in past America's Cup tournaments, is now organising the TV animation for the next America's Cup campaign. His animation engine is similar to those used in sports simulation games.

Sidhe last year secured a $55,000 Government grant to develop games for the Sony PSP portable console which recently launched in the US.

But the industry is so new that its participants do not often attract Government funding.

Nevertheless, game development is on the Government's agenda falling into the creative and technology sectors, which the Government has vowed to nurture.

And if innovation springs from education, the game development industry is better placed than it used to be.

Auckland's Media Design School runs a 64-week game development graduate diploma where students specialise in game programming or game art. Since 2003, Otago University has been running a summer-school course in computer game design.

Unitec and Waikato University also explore game development in their courses.