Monthly Archives: January 2012

Train2Game news: Star Trek Online is the latest MMO to go free-to-play

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Train2Game Blog readers may have read this piece earlier this week which argued that free-to-play games gives gamers a better experience than a subscription based MMO.

It’s timely then that now Star Trek Online from Cryptic Studios is the latest MMO to switch to the free-to-play model.

“We couldn’t be more excited,” said Cryptic Studios CEO “Anyone can download and play Star Trek Online at no cost. There’s no better way to see how sitting in the captain’s chair feels.”

Train2Game students who want to check out Star Treck Online now it’s free-to-play can do so here.

Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online and DC Universe Online are among a number of previously subscription based titles that have made a leap to free-to-play.

Last week, the Train2Game Blog reported that Ubisoft believe their upcoming free-to-play title Ghost Recon online will be AAA quality.

For the latest news about industry trends, including free-to-play, keep reading The Train2Game Blog.

So Train2Game, will you be giving Star Trek Online a go? Or are too many MMOs going free-to-play?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Mind Candy offer advice on writing a great CV

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Train2Game students looking for work in the industry, or applying for placement schemes, will know that a good CV is of the utmost importance.

They’ll therefore be highly interested in Develop’s latest ‘New Year, New Job’ feature in which Mind Candy’s Head of Recruitment Richard Chipchase gives advice on how to write a stand out CV.

Fast growing, East London based Mind Candy are the studio behind Moshi Monsters.

CV’s should be treated like a first interview. Get it wrong and you won’t be progressing to the next stage  Every recruiter, HR person or agency will have a different opinion on what’s good and what’s not so the best way to improve your CV is simply to go back to basics.” said Chipchase.

“ Ensure you have a Profile, Skills, Key Successes, Career History, Education and Hobbies/Interests section included in the content. Make sure the CV is no longer than two-pages – this differs from country to country – and make sure there are absolutely no spelling or grammatical mistakes whatsoever.”

The Mind Candy Head of Recruitment added that including a portfolio is essential, especially for artists.

“Bullet points are great, gaps in career history should be explained and never forget to include your contact details and link to your portfolio if you’re an artist.” he said.

“If you want to do something a bit crazy with your CV to stand out from the crowd, this is fine but research who will be receiving it and the type of company you are sending it to. It might be entirely wrong for a bank, but perfect for a creative. Again, do your research.” Chipchase added.

Read the feature in full here.

Train2Game students should keep an eye on Develop Online’s jobs feature for more excellent advice from industry professionals. Previous articles include PopCap on how to be a better game designer , and advice from Valve’s Gabe Newell on how to be a better developer.

So Train2Game, have you started to write a CV yet? If so, do you have any advice to share of your own?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Develop]

Train2Game news: Half-Life mod Dear Esther gets trailer ahead of full release

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Train2Game students should be interested in upcoming indie title Dear Esther for two reasons. First of all, it throws the rulebook for traditional game design out the window, and secondly it started life as a mod.

In terms of game design, Dear Esther is a first person ghost story in which you wander an island uncovering the reasons why you’re there and what’s going on as you explore the environment.  There are no guns, no weapons; Dear Esther is all about discovering the narrative, so it might prove to be an interesting experience for Train2Game students who  play it.

While Dear Esther is getting a full release, as mentioned above it started life as a mod built using Half Life-2’s Source engine and originally released in 2008 by Dan Pinchbeck, a researcher based at the University of Portsmouth. However, by 2010 the mod had been given support by Valve for a full, independent release, with a team of six people behind it.

Dear Esther is set for release on 14th February and Train2Game students can watch the trailer below.

You can find out more about Dear Esther on the game’s official website.

Dear Esther isn’t the first mod to get an official release. Heck, it isn’t even the first Valve mod to be officially released with huge titles such as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress starting life as mods.

And in an interview with The Train2Game Blog, Valve’s Chet Faliszek said modding is a great way to break into the games industry.

“It’s a really good way for someone to get noticed because it shows that you’re able” he said.

“Normally modders have to work as a team and that’s important, and they also have to be able to finish something and that’s really important. So those two things together are a really good way to demonstrate that you’re ready to work in the industry.” Faliszek added.

For all the latest news about modding, and how it can be a great benefit to you, keep reading The Train2Game Blog.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Dear Esther? What does it say about the potential of modding?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: League of Legends patch to help colour blind players

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Train2Game students may know someone who is colour blind, or indeed, may even colour blind themselves.

Unfortunately, most developers don’t cater for the one in 12 men and one in 100 women who suffer from the condition, meaning that those with colour vision deficiency may struggle to enjoy playing video games.

Fortunately, League of Legends developer Riot Games are set to include a colour blind patch as part of their next update, which will allow those affected by red-green colour blindness to better-distinguish between friendly an enemy health bars during gameplay.  The news was revealed on the League of Legends website.

Train2Game students should be able to see the difference between what League of Legends currently looks like to colour blind players in the image below, with the image at the top of this post of how it’ll look when the update comes.

League of Legends has over 11 million players, so statistically, a large portion of them will benefit from this patch.

Riot Games aren’t the only developer to include options to help colour blind people, with the Train2Game Blog previously reporting that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be “colour blind friendly”

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on League of Legends colour blind patch. Should more developers take the condition into account? Is it something you’d consider?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.


Train2Game news: Gaikai bringing cloud gaming to Facebook

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Train2Game students may have already experienced gaming for themselves, thanks to being able to see it at The Eurogamer Expo.

But for those unfamiliar with it, the concept of cloud gaming is being able to stream games from the internet and play them on any TV, PC or even tablet computer without the need for a console.

Now, cloud streaming service Gaikai has confirmed that it’s going to make its service even more accessible, by bringing it to Facebook, offering users the chance to play high quality titles through their internet browser.

“Our next big launch is on Facebook and we’ve been working with them for some time. Facebook already owns the category of casual gaming, we’re going to help them own core games. A click and boom, you’re playing World of Warcraft,” said Gaikai Chief Executive David Perry, while speaking at the Cloud Gaming Europe conference

He argued that the fewer steps needed to access a game, the higher the chance of somebody playing it will be.

“Bring the game to the gamer, don’t move people, move games,” said the Gaikai Chief Exec, who praised social game developer Zynga.

“Zynga has figured out that you put the customer first, very aggressively. You click once and you get to play for free, you share it with your friends and then you pay Zynga if you love it.”

“It’s as pro-consumer as you can get and that why their valuation has skyrocketed,” Perry continued.

“Some of the traditional publishers who have ignored all of this are falling off a cliff. Look at their stock prices, it’s not good.” he added.

The Train2Game Blog has previously reported on how Gaikai are combating lag for games streamed using their service.

For more news and information about cloud gaming services including Gaikai, keep reading the Train2Game Blog.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on cloud gaming coming to Facebook? Can it compete with social games?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Gamasutra]

Train2Game news: LittleBigPlanet passes 6 million community created levels

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LittleBigPlanet 2Train2Game Blog readers may recall that we’re fond of LittleBigPlanet 2, particularly because it allows anyone to build and upload their own levels for other to play.

And as previously reported by The Train2Game Blog, there’s a huge range of creative levels that have been made by the LittleBigPlanet community.

Now Media Molecule has announced that across all of the LittleBigPlanet games, over 6 million levels have been created and uploaded by users.

“6 Million levels! A Year ago this week we launched LBP2, since then you guys have made 2.5m levels – you are amazing! <3” read the Tweet from Media Molecule.

The Train2Game Blog has previously reported that Media Molecule have hired game developers, after being impressed by the levels they’ve made using the community creation tools.

And in an interview with The Train2Game Blog last year, Volition’s Jameson Durrall recommended LittleBigPlanet  and LEGO games as a useful tool for anyone looking to be a game designer.

“But the thing I suggest for people first of all is grab one of the LEGO games, like LEGO Indiana Jones, it has a full level building system built right into it. And LittleBigPlanet, those are things you can get in there, learn to play and just recreate something you experienced to see what goes into that.” he said.

For more news about how creating user-generated content can be a great benefit to you, keep reading The Train2Game Blog.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts about there now being 6 million community created LittleBigPlanet levels? Have you tried making them yourself?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Beta testing “critical” to development says Planetside 2 Creative Director

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Train2Game students will be aware that developing video games can be a long and complicated  process, in which QA Testing is hugely important.

However, no matter how many QA Testers a game has, sometimes it’s a beta that’s really needed to eliminate bugs and problems. Indeed, it’s something that’s particularly important for MMOs and Planetside 2 developer Sony has label beta testing as critical for that genre in particular.

“For MMO games beta is critical. There is a lot we can do to test gameplay and mechanics in studio, but getting the massive scale needed to ensure the game really works requires getting real players in.” Sony Online Entertainment’s Creative Director Matt Higby told NowGamer.

“It’s also critical to determine if our player progression curves are too punishing or too lenient, find exploits, balance issues and so on. Beta for us as a company is an incredibly critical phase of development.”

Higby also told NowGamer that during the Planetside 2 beta, Sony will be keeping a close eye on player feedback and that big betas have great benefits to game developers.

“Once we get to beta, we’ll be looking both at players’ direct feedback via bugs and message boards, as well as analyzing data that will be collected and aggregated.” he said

“The biggest benefits to a big beta are load and stress testing, testing across a diverse collection of hardware configurations, getting large sample sizes to determine if weapons and vehicles are balanced, and so on. We won’t be shipping anything until we’re all proud of it.” he added.

Train2Game students can apply for a place in the Planetside 2 beta here.

The Train2Game Blog has previously posted about the importance of beta testing, with Star Wars: The Old Republic developer Bioware stating that beta testers can really help with game development.

Beta testing is an excellent way for Train2Game students, especially those on the Games QA Tester course to practice their bug hunting skills. Not only that, but in an interview with the Train2Game blog, Trion Worlds Senior QA Tester Karl Tars said that beta testing is potentially a way to get into the industry.

Stay tuned to The Train2Game Blog, for the latest beta testing opportunities.

So Train2Game, are you looking forward to Planetside 2? Do you agree that beta testing is critical to the game development process?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Q.U.B.E makes enough to return Indie Fund investment in just four days

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Train2Game students who attended last last year’s Develop Conference may have seen the talk by Toxic Games Daniel Da Rocha about how their game Q.U.B.E went from a student project to an indie title.

Q.U.B.E was received sponsorship thanks to Indie Fund, which as reported by the Train2Game Blog all the way back in 2010, is a project that aims to encourage the next generation of independent game developers.

The good news is that Q.U.B.E was released via Steam on 6th January, and  Indie Fund has announced it only took Toxic Games four days to recoup the $90,000 of investment they received to fund their puzzler. 12,000 copies of Q.U.B.E. have been sold so far.

“Indie Fund recouped its investment in Q.U.B.E., and now we’re looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Toxic Games.” read the announcement on Indie Fund.

“Our goal is to help developers get and stay independent and it will take some time to see if we’ve achieved it. With the investment already paid off and discussions in progress about bringing Q.U.B.E beyond PC, we’re feeling pretty hopeful.”

“Our heartfelt congratulations to Toxic Games. We’re proud to have played a small role in what has already been a great success.” they added.

To find out more about Indie Fund, and even how to apply for funding, Train2Game students should see their official website.

The news of Q.U.B.E’s success can surely act as encouragement to Train2Game students looking to produce their own games.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Q.U.B.E and Indie Fund? Does it give you confidence in your own future projects?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Free-to-play can “give your consumers a better experience”

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Train2Game students will have noticed the increasing trend for developers to use a free-to-play model in games.

Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online and DC Universe Online are among a number of previously subscription based titles that have made a leap to free-to-play.

And in his latest column for Gamasutra, games industry analyst Nicholas Lovell argues that this free-to-play model is better both for both consumers and developers.

“By enabling free-to-play games that allow people to play cool games for free, forever and choose – flexibly, with no commitment – to spend a little money or a lot of money on things that they value in the game, I believe that you give your consumers a better experience and make more money than you would with subscriptions.” said Lovell, who has previously spoken to The Train2Game Blog about industry trends including the free-to-play model.

He also did a video interview with Train2Game at The Eurogamer Expo, which can be seen here.

Lovell added that the rise of free-to-play means Star Wars: The Old Republic will be the last big subscription based MMO.

“I think that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be the last, massive, subscription MMO because new models have been proven to be better business, especially for games with a niche audience.” he said.

Last week, the Train2Game Blog reported that Ubisoft believe their upcoming free-to-play title Ghost Recon online will be AAA quality.

For the latest news about industry trends, including free-to-play, keep reading The Train2Game Blog.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts? Is free-to-play better for both game developers and consumers? Is it a model you’d use?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Gamasutra]

Train2Game news: Your chance to join the StarHawk public beta

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Train2Game students have the opportunity to get involved with the StarHawk multiplayer public beta from Wednesday, as long as they’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber.

Those without a PlayStation Plus account, will need to wait another month before they can test out the PlayStation 3 exclusive third person shooter from Lightbox. Alternatively, if you purchased Uncharted 3, you’ll be able to get involved with the StarHawk beta from 1st February.

Train2Game students can find out more about how to sign up for the StarHawk beta here.

Lightbox describe the beta as a “crucial step” as they test game balance, server traffic and general bugs.

Train2Game students can see more about the PlayStation 3 exclusive StarHawk by watching the developer diary below.

Beta testing is an excellent way for Train2Game students, especially those on the Games QA Tester course to practice their bug hunting skills. Not only that, but in an interview with the Train2Game blog, Trion Worlds Senior QA Tester Karl Tars said that beta testing is potentially a way to get into the industry.

The Train2Game Blog will be sure to keep you up to date with the latest beta testing opportunities.

So Train2Game, will you be getting involved with the StarHawk public beta?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: PlayStation Blog]