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Our Blogs Open Sauce One Bush who has designs on LCA2009 | One Bush who has designs on LCA2009 |
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| by Sam Varghese | |
| Tuesday, 30 December 2008 | |
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Page 5 of 5 Bush feeds his programming itch by involvement in a project called Neverball, which is described as "part puzzle game, part action game, and entirely a test of skill". Featured Whitepaper
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"Neverball's my refuge when conference stuff gets too much and I need to clear my head," he says. "It's a small project that will be having its first community release soon. Up to 1.4.x, all the development was done by one fellow, Robert (Kooima), and he's taken a step back to let the rest of us run with it. It's been great to work with some fantastic people across the world on it. I've made a couple of code contributions and a bunch of in-game and other (icons, posters, website, etc.) art as well. We've got some great designers who're taking the game in some new directions in terms of the level of ball control and cerebral puzzles required to complete their levels, and it's all really exciting to be a part of it." Bush says the premise of Neverball is similar to those puzzles where the goal is to tilt a maze to guide a ball through it to the finish, except that one has to collect coins. "I'm a firm believer that open source software should be judged on its own merits. Neverball has deviated from whatever closed source projects might have inspired it to a point where the comparison is not really all that relevant anymore. It is one of those games that is easy to learn, and hard to master, which gives it a degree of replayability," he says "Robert set a very high standard for gameplay and art that we're working really hard to stay true to. On the surface the game is very simple, but Robert has polished it to a shine that is quite astounding for an open source project. I might be biased, but even before I was involved with development, I considered it to be one of, if not the most polished open source games around. We also have a community of players who upload replays and compete to get the fastest times, most coins and best freestyle runs." Tasmania is the most beautiful state in Australia and the green movement is alive and well there. Thus it is not surprising that some of it seems to have rubbed off on Bush. "I've been a cycle commuter for about three years, which can be difficult in Launceston (there is a lot of intolerance and aggression on our roads - I was knowingly struck by a vehicle carrying a trailer last week, which was very unfortunate) and a member of the local bicycle users group where we advocate cycle awareness, provide consulting for the city council on cycling infrastructure and try to organise a few rides where people can feel safe riding with the support of others," he says. "I really enjoy wildlife and landscape photography, which fits nicely with my enthusiasm for bushwalking (or hiking, depending upon where in the world I am). I had some casual work at a wildlife park when I was much, much younger, and that piqued my interest in Australia's native fauna. I'm really passionate about our animals and am absolutely over the moon that we are planning to donate merchandise proceeds and proceeds from the traditional LCA dinner auction to research and management of the Tasmanian Devil's facial tumour epidemic. Not only are we supporting the open source industry, but also conservation of one of our State and Nation's iconic animals who are currently facing extinction - that's two good causes in one!" At 26, Bush shares his life with Mr Squishy, his cat. "I'd like to be a Dad someday, but I'm not in any rush," he says. Which leads one to surmise that he may well have his eyes on some fair damsel somewhere. But for the moment, his attention is on the conference. |
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