Interzone Futebol Closed Beta
Posted under: As part of my work at the now-closed Interzone Games studio in Perth, I was required to develop the web presence for the closed beta test that we would be conducting. There would be two components to this: a signup page, designed to entice members of the public to join the test as well as gather their information, and a developer blog where articles could be posted by members of the Interzone Futebol development team.
Click to see the signup page in action
To ensure unified branding, I worked closely with members of the art team and the interface team while developing the site’s aesthetics, using assets taken directly from the game where possible. The end result was a site that reflected the same visual elements as those of the game, while remaining usable in a web browser environment. The developer blog (which you can see below) was designed as a WordPress theme.
Click to see the developer blog in action
It saddens me to report that Interzone Futebol will never be released, as the company’s American-based managers (Marty Brickey, Greg Chadwell and Mike Turner) decided to shut Interzone down in early 2010, despite owing millions of dollars in unpaid wages and taxes to former employees (myself included) and to various government bodies such as the Australian Taxation Office. The intellectual property for the game was forcibly removed from the Perth studio by these men and taken to the United States, where development now continues on the game and it is set to be published as “Online Soccer Champions”. See interzowned.com for more information on how myself and over a hundred other ex-Interzone employees across the world are fighting for the lost wages and recognition we deserve.