Check out the other post in this series:

Adventures at MMU Games Showcase Part 1
Adventures at MMU Games Showcase Part 2

(Note: Part 2 of the series has been deleted by Slade because he didn’t find it interesting. But hey guys, I will tell you a secret; he just wants to hide some details I wrote in there.)

After lunch at Punchong, Slade and Leon head straight to their destination – the MDC Flagship Center. Leon was driving when he suddenly asked, “Why are you so quiet? Usually you would not stop talking.” Slade paused and twitched his jaw then struggled to reply with a quick question-answer, “Ya Meh?” The truth is, Slade has an ulcer on the right side of his mouth.

Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the MDC building at Cyberjaya. They entered the cozy and hi-tech looking hall. The hall was already filled with quite a lot of people. However most of them are inside separate room, also known as the presentation room. All the presenting students dressed formally (including Slade who dressed black).

Slade had the opportunity to meet many game industry professionals that were present. The first one he approached was the Off-World Spice-Station Commander, Tharone (Terrence Tan). Too bad Slade didn’t bring his camera. I told him to, he just didn’t (one of the exciting things we missed in the missing part 2). Tharone was awesome, but time didn’t permit them to discuss anything that meaningful. Slade wants to be someone like Tharone, you know journeying into the unknown regions with his spice freighter and all. I have a feeling that they were meet again one day. I know that Slade has so much to learn from this guy. I advised Slade to sit down with Tharone one day with some booze. I heard Tharone is into booze.

The showcase had five groups presenting, and lasted about two hours. There were five judges from the games industry - all of them leads of some respective discipline. Tharone (Terrence) - former Studio Head/Producer/Consultant, Mike - Lead Game Designer, May Ling - ex-MMU SEGD student/game writer/game designer, Kevin - Art Director, Hafiz - Lead Technologist. I felt that it was a pleasure for the students to be judged by such a stellar cast of talent and experience. The final verdict for most of the games were not that positive. However the criticism were constructive.

Some practical advices for Slade and his batch of SEGD students:

1) Innovate in Game Design - An Innovative and Interesting game design makes an Incredible playing experience.

2) Form the development team early.

3) Some sort of software engineering must creep into development to ensure the game can be FINISHED in time

4) Use tools/development platform/library that are most suitable for the game you want to make.

5) The bottom line is - do your real BEST. Don't show slip-shortness in your work.

Special Thanks to: the judges, bouya, mistaman, sherman, leon, leon, vincent, exiang, ferocious_bunny, etc...

¶ 2:00 PM