We are happy to hear that Black Lab Games‘ futurist turn-based strategy game is now available in Australia for Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable via the Playstation Network.

Black Lab Games have released a new game trailer to coincide with the launch:

It’s quite an achievement for a solo developer to release near simultaneously on three platforms. So Paul Turbett, our collective metaphorical hat goes off to you! Good work!

Here’s a blurb from the press release:

Star Hammer Tactics is an easy-to-learn game of tactical battles. Deploy your forces, engage your enemy and outwit them to achieve victory by blasting them to pieces! Along with the single-player campaign, Star Hammer Tactics features a choice of skirmish modes – single player against a devious AI, or the local multi-player mode in which gamers will compete for glory and bragging rights!

It’s fantastic to see a locally developed game readily available for download on a major console. Although, it’s a shame that it’s not readily available in Australia as Xbox LIVE Indie Games is yet to launch here!

Congratulations Paul!

Note: How does a local developer go about making games for the Xbox360? Why can’t we buy Xbox LIVE Indie Games here? Answers to all these questions and more when Paul Turbett talks about his experiences at our next Let’s Make Games technical session in August (or September).

Just a reminder that we are currently running three surveys:

1. Community (Scene): For everyone involved in games in Perth!
2. Developer: Former and current game developers, submit a profile!
3. Game: Provide us with information on games that you have worked on!

We hope that prolific local game developers will take some time to submit multiple responses to the developer and game surveys (assuming that they have worked at various companies and on various games, even if those companies are no longer around).

So how are the surveys going? Our estimates place the current response levels at:

All those responses and we still want more!

If you have yet to respond, please consider the following:

• If you previously experienced some technical issues (the dreaded “you have already completed this survey” bug), please give it another go. We’ve patched the server software and everything should be peachy now.
• Maybe you have worked on a game, but figure that someone else who worked on it will submit a profile (so you don’t have to). Well, they may be thinking the same thing! If we get multiple submissions for the same game, we will merge the results (resulting in an ever BETTER profile!)
• Maybe you feel that your game was: made a long time ago, not that great, unworthy of a listing… who cares anyway… sigh. Well, WE CARE! We want to know all about it and when you are a rich and famous game developer you’ll want to relive the old times!

By simply responding, you could join the ranks of these great local developers:

• Black Lab Games
• Kruger Heavy Industries
• Sandbox
• Gnomic Studios
• Binary Space
• Sam Zeid
• Sofia Varano
• Different Methods

Moreover, you could see your work featured alongside these great games:

• RocketFuse
• Star Hammer Tactics
• Eets: Hunger It’s Emotional (Mac)
• Interzone Futebol
• Adrenaline Snowboarding
• Square Off
• Halogen
• Zombie Outbreak Simulator
• Class 3 Outbreak
• Reveri.es Virtual World
• Codename – Edmonster (gosh, top secret project with no link!)

In summary: Every response we get helps us paint a more complete picture of game development here in Perth. Our past, present, and future becomes more clear with everyone bit of information you submit! So please, keep those responses coming!