Last Online: 8/5/08

Simon Treloar

     
I run Thinkbox Games which I started in 2006 with Warrick Lancaster.

Long story short...Ive been a web designer/developer for 8 years. Im situated in Bendigo, Victoria and in recent times have been discovering the beauty of XNA!

My favourite game genres are RPGs and strategies (my favourite still remains Diablo 2 to date) but occasionally I get sucked into an FPS or a racer or something like that.

Systems I Own:    
Thinkbox Games - www.thinkboxgames.com.au
Here's a list of games I've been playing in recent times...
Tenchu Z is a truly brilliant game. At first sight...it's flat out gorey but hey this is a ninja game guys!! They have recreated the 'blood spray' element that people have almost come to expect in this genre of game perfectly. Stealth is key to success and be ready to be sprung occasionally and have to jump from roof to roof to find a temporary hiding spot. I have been hooked on this game for weeks and still find it impressive. Definately worth a look!
mmmm....MECH GAME! Ok so I'm one of those people who since the days of MechWarrior has been addicted to giant robots shooting lasers to blow up various other mechs. For a good part of the first half of the year, I spent hours and hours in Chromehounds which at the time (being 1 of only 3 games I owned on the 360) I thought was brilliant. 3 months down the track, and 600 points later with no sign of the rest being unlocked anytime soon, Chromehounds was dead to me and I was quickly losing interest in the mech genre. To be honest, that game was going well until the introduction of speedy base-killers in just about every open battle. Moving on...in recent weeks Armored Core 4 was released and it has resurrected the mech genre 110% for me. This game is fast paced and looks spectacular. Get it!
I'm not usually a racer fan but throw simluation into the equation and then I raise an eyebrow. This game drives like no other I've played but that's a good thing as this feels a lot more realistic. Then again I can't compare a sim to something like NFS but I haven't got a lot of racers that I've played to compare with. Anyone who likes customising their car is going to love the amount of details you can add in this. My mate told me you can have something like 8000 layers put on your car....I mean come on!!! There's definately a lot of hours worth of gameplay in Forza Motorsport 2 as you'll find yourself striving to gain access to new events and cars, sponsor discounts and a bunch of other unlockable stuff!
Argh! Stage 12! Why can't I defeat you!!!
Original geometry is fun to get out occasionally but nothing beats retro!
This game is so addictive!!

Career Summary

In December, 2000 I began work at Interactive Digital Constructions (Now known as Objectify Pty Ltd). My role ranged from web and graphic design to e-commerce and intranet product development. I was also trained on the job in many programming languages including HTML, SQL, ASP, Javascript, CSS and a bit of XML.

My time with Objectify motivated and inspired me to begin my first business Digital Nova, a web, print and media design firm in the city of Bendigo.

Over the four years that I managed Digital Nova, I developed a client base of over 50 companies, both regional and nationwide. In March 2006, Digital Nova merged with another local media firm called Image Investment Group Pty. Ltd.

The merger allowed me to move on from web development and establish Core Dynamic Studios with Warrick in August 2006 to begin some serious game development.

In June 2007, Core Dynamic Studios became Thinkbox Games. We have since begun work on two separate titles but don't expect too many details on either of them anytime soon! Right now we're more interested in launching our new website so keep an eye out for that in coming months!

GameDev.net

The site is now live and registration is open for GDC 2008 taking place February 18-22, 2008 at San Francisco's Moscone Center. ...

TexturePortal has released a seamlessly tileable textures for game development, 3d animation and other photo realistic artwork. It contains 430 high resolution (up to 2048x2048) textures with normal, bump and specular maps. ...

A recent Canadian study shows that playing video games improve spatial skills and - how strange - map reading skills of females. ...

Registration as an exhibitor for the Game Connection Europe 2007 which will take place in Lyon (France) at the beginning of December 2007 is still open until the end of the week (Friday, October 12). ...

Screen Digest - a trend analysis firm - released their first "Game Intelligence" bulletin which shows that publishers are massively targeting the Wii console on quarter 4. ...