Those brilliant folk from Wellycon are at it again, with a single day boardgame gathering in Lower Hutt this weekend.
Sam and I will be there... come on over for some gaming fun!
All the details after the jump...
Feb 012012
Jan 252012
Kuranui College is just down the road in Greytown, and they've been on an ambitious updating and modernisation program for some time now. A suite of seven Science and Mathematics classrooms were completed in 2011, and 2012 will see the construction of new Visual Art classrooms. They're also very focused on raising their educational standards and achievement levels, and the dedication over the last few years is showing dividends.
New Kuranui College website
Along with all their real world upgrades, Kuranui were also keen to update their online presence; their website was starting to show its age.
We've given it a shiny new look, added extra content, and brought more clarity and appeal to the interface. Over the next few months I'm really looking forward to working closely with Kuranui staff, expanding the site and showing off all the facets of college's exciting developments!
Jan 182012
Bit of a random tangent here, but while our projects often require technical elements, we're also big fans of simple solutions that work.
And that's why we love SoapNuts. They replace your washing machine powder, and you get clean clothes without chemicals.
SoapNuts are fruits that grow on trees. These fruits contain a natural substance called Saponin, which when dissolved in water, creates mild suds. Stick a few in the little cloth bag provided, and you've got a natural solution that's cheaper than powder.
My hacker tips: add a couple of nuts to the bag before each wash. Stick the bag in the bottom of a bucket and fill it with hot water... the heat seems to activate the nuts. Tip the resulting sudsy hot water and the bag into the top of your cold wash, and you're away. Every 20 washes or so, you'll empty the bag of the depleted nuts and start with about four new nuts. A kilo pack will last... for bloody ages! Continue reading »
Dec 262011
Just down the road from us, right on the bustling Main Street in Greytown, is a glorious haven for any artist: the Village Art Shop. It's a wonderland of paints and pastels, pencils and paper, brushes and bristles, frames and more!
The new owners, jewellery artist Richard Hassell and painter Janie Nott, have expanded on the fantastic range to include inspirational books and art products aimed at kids, which make for adorable gifts.
We headed down to help celebrate their success as they took on the business from long-time owner and art community supporter Vanessa, and then ran around taking pictures of both the fabulous, friendly staff and the glorious delights that abound within. What fun!
If you noodle over to the website, we're sure you'll find something to get your artistic juices flowing...
Dec 162011
We've been featured in the latest Carterton Street Scene! Ian came out and had a chat and took some great photos, and we're chuffed to be smiling away on the cover and in the centre spread.
The article covers our recent exploits in boardgame development along with some our website adventures, and rounded out with a little bit of bio.
So if you're in the area having a coffee, keep an eye out for a copy because what more could anyone want than a piece of our astonishing fame? Carterton today, Clareville tomorrow, Masterton by 2027!
Another pic and the full text of the article follow the jump...
Dec 052011
Gareth Farr is one of New Zealand's most prolific and respected composers. His recent works include the Rugby World Cup 2011 theme, the soundtrack to Vula, the NZ Ballet's "The Wedding", the music for the opening of Te Papa, composition for the 2000 Olympic games, and many more.
Farr’s music is particularly influenced by his extensive study of percussion, both Western and non-Western. Rhythmic elements of his compositions can be linked to the complex and exciting rhythms of Rarotongan log drum ensembles, Balinese gamelan and other percussion music of the Pacific Rim.
Gareth is a NZ Arts Laureate (2010), an Officer of the Order of New Zealand Merit (2006), and three-time Chapman Tripp Theatre Award winner.
We're big fans of the Suffusion theme for WordPress, and developer Sayontan has just released a new plug-in called Photonic. It's designed to extend WordPress Native Galleries, and give developers easy options to create image galleries and slideshows.
I've been meaning to have a play with it, and when some new garment photos from Taylor Boutique arrived, it seemed the perfect opportunity. A few of the images are below- click on any of them to begin the slideshow. (After that, they'll begin playing or you can click to the left or right of the image, or use your arrow keys, to skip through them).
So far, the plugin seems the usual kind of easy-to-use, well-supported and solid code we've come to expect from Sayontan!
By the way, if you want to see the glorious gorgeousness of the entire range, head on over to the Taylor site...
Sep 202011
Happy Sheep is our fast, fun game of memory, deduction and bluffing for 2-4 players! The website features an animated "How to play" section to get you playing in 60 seconds, downloadable rules, game contents and more!
Visit the Happy Sheep website.
Sep 202011
To support Five Men Standing, the official game of Rugby World Cup 2011, we've put together a WordPress site. It features an animated "How to play" section, a blog, downloadable rules, competitions and more!
Visit the Five Men Standing website.
This Saturday 17th of September, from 10.30 am to 1pm, I'll be at the fabulous Featherston game store All Aboard doing demos of Five Men Standing and other games in our range.
Do drop by and say hi- it's great meeting fellow gamers! And even if the astonishing prospect of meeting me in person somehow fails to inspire you, be assured that All Aboard is well worth a visit.
Owners Robyn and Graham are fantastic: knowledgeable, friendly and with a captivating passion for games. They're also great supporters of the local community, running the South Wairarapa Chess Tournament each year and having gaming afternoons and evenings amongst their many other activities.
So get your skates on, grab your wallet, purse or piggy bank, and come and down to see if you can beat me at Five Men Standing. There's a jelly baby in it for you if you do!
Aug 312011
I've just written a post on the Five Men Standing website about our weekend at the Made in Wairarapa expo, where a good time was had by all! Wander over here to have a read and see a couple of photos.
Aug 252011
Happy Sheep's a fast, fun game of memory, deduction and bluffing. It's a fabulous family game, but it's also got enough calculation and deception to make it a great light filler for serious gamers.
The lovely thing about it is that is seems very simple: lay out the lovely wooden tiles in a grid, start peeking at them and moving them around, and yell "Happy Sheep" when you think you know where four tiles in a group that are all black or all white.
Except it's astonishing how you can be wrong and there's lots of laughter and good-natured ribbing! It's a deadly game to play with kids: somehow the little munchkins seem to cope with the memory side so well. But that's when you start bluffing and putting tiles into a group as if you're trying to create 4 similar ones, but really you're trying to get them to jump the gun and get it wrong!
So as I said, lovely game, simple to learn but hard to master, surprising amount of strategy, and it plays so quickly that you tend to have quite a few games in a row.
For 2-4 players and aimed at 6 to adult, it also comes with rules for a very basic game for 3 and ups.
Aug 182011
The Wairarapa is an intriguing place, full of interesting people doing fascinating things if you spend the time tracking them down.
For instance, I stayed away from Stonehenge Aotearoa for a while, worried it'd be some twee embarrassing facsimile of the original Stonehenge. I was an idiot. It's brilliant, and the people who run it are fabulous at giving insights into how our ongoing understanding of measurement and time and the heavens has shaped civilisation. In short, it was a revelation, and one I've happily taken other visitors to.
With that in mind, I'm looking forward to participating in the Made In Wairarapa exhibition, which kicks off Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th of August at the Genesis Centre in Masterton. I'm keen to find out more about what's going on in my backyard, and meet the folk who make their living in all sorts of interesting ways.
We will, of course, also be there showing off our web, design and boardgame work, including Five Men Standing, the official game of Rugby World Cup 2011.
If you pop by and have a play, you'll score a voucher for $5 off the game itself or $2 off a Country Team Pack.
Hope to catch you there!
Another astonishing array of garments are in-store at Taylor Boutique with the launch of their Summer 2011/2012 Diffusion collection.
You can view the range on their site, and if you're not in Auckland or Wellington, grab yourself some beautiful and practical Taylor kit at the Taylor Online Shop.
Aug 152011
I've written before about what an interesting place the small town of Carterton is. It's full of lovely treats like the amazing French cuisine of Mirabelle, the joys of stone-oven pizza in the hills at Bolle and Gerlinda's rustic Swiss lodge, and a proliferation of artists whose work is wondrous.
Living right on Carrington Park in the middle of town has transformed our first-floor office windows into a giant TV: we get all sorts of sports events happening right on our doorstep, and even the occasional hovercraft.
Before heading to the fair shores of Aotearoa, we ran a multimedia and web business in Melbourne for over a decade, so it's not unusual to get a call from across the ditch about work!
In this case, it was Newcastle City Council; they were embarking on a water safety education programme, and wanted some online games to support the project. We chatted about their key messages and then Bek and I suggested four game concepts built around those themes, which they happily agreed to.
Bek worked her graphic magic and I added some ninja code skills, and soon four shiny games appeared, using our favoured blend of fun, humour and animation while also delivered a vital safety message. Have a play!
Aug 052011
The lovely people at Taylor Boutique continue to create amazingly stylish and yet incredibly practical garments, and recently decided to make the jump to an online shop.
We used the NZ-designed Instinct WordPress Ecommerce plug-in to integrate the shop into their existing blog. Because it uses a similar interface to blog posting for creating and altering items in the shop, we were able to hand off some of the updating to the Taylor people to do themselves.
This proved very useful when they launched their Summmer 2011-2012 range - just after we'd headed to Fiji to escape the depths of Carterton's winter! Rather than have to chase us, designer Vicki Taylor added garment images and sent products live herself.
So if you're looking for a tasty serving of superbly stylish and functional clothing, be sure to check out the ridiculously versatile Circle Dress, prepare for some summer colour with the Oblique Tunic, and drool over the Tracey Nuels TN_29 shoes and the Kohl and Cochineal bags!
You'll feel even better knowing it's all NZ designed and manufactured!
Taylor Boutique online shop
We also maintain their blog and website, so to see some luscious full-screen images of the Summer 2011-2012 range, head over here.
Jul 112011
Chiropractor Stefan Pallister has over 40 years experience in clinical practice and chiropractic education, which he puts to great use at his Carterton Chiropractic Clinic!
And sometimes, all you need to get started on the web is a single page. Nothing astonishingly fancy here, but it's lovely to whip up a quick, simple online presence to help local businesses flourish!
Carterton Chiropractic Clinic website
May 202011
Wellycon, the astonishing weekend of boardgame fun, is back again for 2011. With a new venue and an expanded program, it's going to be amazing! If you love games, you need to be there. Here's the spiel, directly from the Wellcon folk themselves:
This year we are located at:
Apr 132011
Almost a decade ago, when we were based in Melbourne, we created an online Flash game called "Tork".
I was stumbling around the internet yesterday and came across more people talking about it, which is fairly pleasing for something that we made in the Neolithic period (at least as far as Internet time is measured...) Continue reading »
