PAX AUS is one of the largest gaming conventions in Oceania, celebrating both local and global gaming talent. This year, PAX AUS will take place from October 11th to 13th. For the third consecutive year, the New Zealand Centre of Digital Excellence (CODE) will support New Zealand developers, with some teams showcasing their games for the very first time!
CODE has been doing great things for the game development industry in New Zealand. Their initiatives focus on helping new studios, enhancing skills, and helping these teams reach a wider audience.
“We’re helping build a sustainable game development ecosystem in Aotearoa – New Zealand, nurturing studios and people, improving skills and pathways, supporting diversity and equity.”
– CODE (New Zealand Centre Of Digital Excellence Ltd)
Featured New Zealand Developers at PAX AUS 2024
Here’s a list of games from New Zealand developers that will be showcased at PAX AUS!
Adaptory – Stormcloak Games
A base-building exploration & survival game, combining deep simulations with a diverse crew and story-rich world. Keep your crew alive, explore your surroundings, rebuild your ship, adapt to challenges, and ultimately get home.
Beyond These Stars – Balancing Monkey Games
Build a city on the back of a Space Whale and learn to coexist as you journey through the stars. Manage intricate supply chains and the needs of your people as you build outposts, meet aliens, and uncover the mysteries of the universe
Burger Bois – Mischief Makers Studio
A food truck simulator game about flavor, not labor. Operate the world’s first designer burger truck, turning your customers’ most vague requests into culinary masterpieces (or disasterpieces). There’s no recipe and no one right answer: just follow your tongue to flavor heaven.
Chrono Moth – Coaf Research
A Time and Colour manipulation based Voxel Bullet Hell. You are a time travelling moth. The prophecies have predicted you for thousands of (moth) years. Your purpose is to fulfill the prophecies of your moth ancestors.
CORPOREAL – COLD OUT
A paranormal-mystery narrative puzzle game where you piece together a haunted family photo album. As the sole survivor of unexplained events in the mid-90s, you search for answers in an archive of photographs rescued from the ruins of your childhood home.
Doomtide – Death Limited
A turn-based RPG with city-builder elements set in a flooded world of
monsters and ancient horrors. Construct an island town, recruit heroes with their own
unique abilities, and venture forth across the seas in search of wealth, knowledge, and power.
Denari – Astronaut Dairies
A narrative-driven hack and slasher with a telekinetic twist. It tells the story of a boy who is granted powers by a deity to to save his people from an invading empire.
Design & Conjure – Tiny Kiwi
A cozy room decoration game where you play as Dalia, a young witch returning home after university. In the game you can meet whimsical characters as you decorate magical-themed rooms and help Dalia find her path in life.
Dream Team Supreme – Big Adventure
A 2D roguelike deckbuilder where you pilot the giant robot Super Supreme against a horde of monsters of the week. Whether solo or online coop, you discover the cartridges that command Super Supreme and make strategic decisions that mod your robot.
Guardian Maia – Metia Interactive
A 3rd person action-packed adventure game where science fiction and traditional Indigenous Māori culture collide. Save your people from a mutant tyrant as you journey across the unforgiving post-apocalyptic landscape of New Zealand’s South Island in a game where your choices matter.
Match & Mastery – Four Fox Interactive
A roguelike, turn-based tactics game with a match-3 twist, that transports players into the hallowed halls of a supernatural school teeming with Wizards, Werewolves, Vampires, Ghouls and Ghosts.
Project Storm – Transformative Games
In this solo/co-op action-adventure sim, you must conquer nature’s most dangerous and exhilarating displays, including tornadoes, hurricanes, and electrical storms. Rise through the ranks to become a legendary storm chaser..
Red Echo – Pacen Life Games
This far-from-home story-driven third-person shooter blends combat, stealth, survival, and deep meaningful dialogue choices, allowing you to shape a thrilling narrative that determines the fate of humanity on the brink of extinction.
Rose & Locket – Whistling Wizard
A run-and-gun action platformer with handcrafted scenes and an atmospheric experience. Full voice acting weaves a narrative as you navigate the action-packed world of the Underwest.
Shape Sender Deluxe – Dead Teapot
A narrative puzzle game exploring the relationship between developers and players. Using physics puzzles, it features a fun, slightly concerning best-friend character named Sendy.
ShelfLife: Art School Detective – Fnife Games
A mystery adventure game featuring a cast of quirky characters. Use psychic powers to astral project into artwork and uncover secrets to unmask the mysterious ART KILLER on campus.
Ten Thousand Coins – Thousand Tonic
A strategy trading game rich in story, where you trade goods and collect coins while unraveling an intriguing narrative across two timelines as a fox merchant searching for her missing mentor.
Tunnel Tactics – Wildboy Studios
No info on this one just yet but stay tuned!
An exciting list of games from New Zealand developers, highlighting New Zealand’s growing gaming industry. With titles ranging from simulation and RPGs to narrative-driven adventures! Be sure to wishlist these games on Steam, as it greatly supports the developers!
Game descriptions as quoted by developers on their respective store/game pages.
