Monthly Archives: February 2012

Train2Game news: PlayStation 4 not coming “anytime soon” say Sony

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Train2Game students waiting for next-gen consoles might be disappointed by this, as Sony say they won’t be launching a PlayStation 4 “anytime soon.”

“In terms of when you talk about [the next generation] and when you announce it, it really depends on the health of the existing platform and the other things you have going on,” Sony Computer Entertainment of America CEO Jack Tretton told IGN

“And right now, we’re focused on PlayStation 3, and I’ve got another platform (PlayStation Vita) to get out the door in seven days, so I don’t want to be thinking about trying to launch new technology anytime soon. I want to focus all our energy on our console business, which is really just hitting its stride, and Vita, which really deserves a dedicated push from us.” he said.

And Tretton added that talking about a PlayStation 4 this year would be distracting.

“I, quite frankly, would be very distracted if I had to be talking about next generation hardware this year.” he concluded.

The Train2Game Blog has previously reported that rumours suggest a next-generation Xbox console will be released in 2013.

Keep reading The Train2Game Blog for the latest reports on next-gen consoles.

What do you make of Tretton’s comments? Do you believe the PlayStation 3 still has many years of life left in it?

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

Train2Game student studios Commando Kiwi, Derp Studios, Digital Mage and Indigo Jam launching 2012.

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Train2Game  students are launching four new development studios in 2012 as part of ‘Make Something Unreal Live,’ a competitive process designed to accelerate their careers by giving them the tools and resources needed to release games for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch this spring.

The studios are Commando Kiwi, Derp Studios, Digital Mage and Indigo Jam.

The first titles released by the studios will be based on the Fighting Fantasy series of books created by Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson.

Train2Game and Epic Games have created the ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ competition where students are challenged to create their own studios and develop games for the iOS platform using Epic Games’ Unreal Development Kit. The winning studio will receive a full source, commercial Unreal Engine 3 licence for iOS as well as gain invaluable professional experience in the games industry.

As part of the competition process, students competed in the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam last November. The Game Jam had teams facing off against each other to create full games to a set deadline and to a professional brief. Continuing this process, students have created four new studios from their original teams to launch games at this year’s The Gadget Show Live.

At this huge event, they will reveal their new projects to the world, each finalising a full game for distribution. Key industry icons will be on hand to aid and advise with game designs as the studios compete to win a full Unreal Engine licence and a holiday to Aquacity in Slovakia, www.aquacity.sk.

“Train2Game courses aim to teach students how to work professionally in the games industry. Helping them launch their first studio gives them invaluable, hands on, in the field experience of what it’s like to create and distribute their own games.” said Train2Game Course Director Tony Bickley.

The games are being developed using Epic Games’ UDK, the free edition of the award-winning Unreal Engine 3, helping students gain experience with tools used by leading studios around the world. During the process, students have their work reviewed, critiqued and mentored by a series of Train2Game tutors, current industry leaders and game specialists.

The final games will be distributed globally on the App Store and launched at this year’s The Gadget Show Live, the premier consumer show taking place from April 10-15, 2012 in Birmingham.

Train2Game news: Double Fine Adventure Game donators get exclusive beta access

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Train2Game students may have seen last week’s post about Double Fine reaching the $400,000 required to develop their Kickstarter funded project.

Well, a week later Adventure Game has raised over $1,850,000 and Double Fine’s Tim Schafer has released an update explaining what the studio can do with the extra cash.

Speaking in a video, Schafer thanks everyone for their support and reveals Adventure Game will be developed for PC, Mac and Linux as well as Android and Ios mobile operating systems.

The extra money also means that Double Fine’s Adventure game will have a full voice cast in the English version, with text translations into French, Italian, German and Spanish.

Schafer also reveals that all Kickstarter donators will have the exclusive opportunity to beta test the game through Steam, and that when the game is released, backers versions will be DRM free.

Watch a rather sleepy looking Tim Schafer give the first update about Double Fine Adventure Game in the video below.

There’s still time to lend your support to the project, and you can donate via the Double Fine Adventure Game Kickstarter page.

What do you make of the support for the project? Have you funded Double Fine Adventure Game?

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

Train2Game: Minecraft developer Mojang streaming 60 hour Game Jam this weekend

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Train2Game students can get an insight into how Mojang develop games this weekend, when the Minecraft developer live streams their 60 hour “Mojam”

Starting this Friday, Mojang will be making a brand new game, with the theme and genre being decided through a public vote which you can take part in at www.mojang.com

And not only are Mojang making a brand new game, they’ve also teamed up with Humble Bundle to raise money for charity. The team will be offering incentives for you to donate to the 60 hour project, while there will also be opportunities to get involved in Q&A sessions with Mojang developers, something that would sure to be useful to Train2Game students.

For more information, check out the Humble Bundle Mojam video below.

We’ve previously shown you Bethesda’s Skyrim Game Jam, which saw Bethesda developers given a week to be creative.

Train2Game students know all about Game Jams, as Train2Game has held two 48 hour long Game Jams, with the four winning teams at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, moving onto a Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show Live, where they have the opportunity to win a fully licensed UDK Ios development kit.

For previous news from Mojang, see The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on Mojam? Will you be tuning into the live streams? What would you ask the team?

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

Train2Game news: Dear Esther recoups Indie Fund investment in under 6 hours

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Train2Game students may be interested to hear that experimental indie title Dear Esther has recouped its Indie Fund investment just hours after being released.

The project which started life as a Half-Life mod sold 16,000 copies in its first 24 hours on Steam, making back its Indie Fund investment in just five and a half hours, meaning Dear Esther is now profitable.

Indie Fund was founded in 2010, with the aim of supporting the next generation of game developers.

More information about Dear Esther’s Indie Fund deal is available on the official website, while you can find out more about the experimental game right here on The Train2Game Blog. It’s available to download for £6.99 via Steam.

Dear Esther isn’t the first Indie Fund game to turn a profit, with puzzler Q.U.B.E returning its investment in four days.

Both titles show that creating an indie game could potentially provide Train2Game students with success.

So, what are your thoughts on Dear Esther becoming profitable so quickly?

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

Train2Game news: EA Creative Director offers advice on getting ahead in the industry

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Train2Game Blog readers may be familiar with our coverage of EA’s Breaking Into The Industry series, which sees experienced, established names talking about the job they do and offering advice on getting into the industry.

The latest in the EA series sees EA Partners Creative Director David Luoto – who has worked on titles including Road Rash and James Bond games – take the spotlight, as he offers advice on how to get ahead in the industry. 

He’s specifically talking about how to become a Creative Director, but Luoto’s advice also provides hints on how to become a great member of any game development team.

“Some practical advice – any design role is about mediating between fundamentally opposed goals. It’s all too easy for an aspiring designer to think, “The designer is the one who gets to say what the game is!” While it’s trivially true that the designer is responsible for planning, the challenge of the role is to successfully moderate among many competing interests.” said Luoto

“To use an analogy… An architect may have a great vision, but the project is built within the context of many conflicting goals: the intended use of the building, the amount of money to be invested, the materials used, structural engineering limits, the image the client wants to project, etc. So my advice is to cultivate your ability to listen and moderate, because it’s one big balancing act.” he continued, before adding that it’s a great time to be a game developer.

“I’ll also add this: Interactive entertainment is an incredibly interesting art form that is continuing to evolve. It’s a great time to be in the industry, and there are all sorts of ways to be involved in this business if you have the drive and aptitude. Dream big.” Luoto concluded.

Kingdoms of Amular: Reckoning Producer Benjamin Smith, Dead Space 2 game designer Brian Bartram, and EA Environment Artist Phillip Simmons are among those that have previously spoken to The EA blog, providing advice on how to get into the industry. 

EA are keen to hear from you if you’ve got a specific video game job you’d like to hear more about, so if you’re interested, leave a comment at the bottom of their latest post.

As usual, leave your thoughts here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Auto Club Revolution beta keys up for grabs

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Train2Game students have the opportunity to beta test Auto Club Revolution, the online racing game from Gateshead based studio Eutechnyx.

The Train2Game Blog published a video interview with Eutechnyx Lead Programmer Dave Hawes in November last year.

Auto Club Revolution will let players race online, complete single player challenges and own, customise and upgrade their own officially licensed cars.

Those interesting in receiving an Auto Club Revolution beta key should visit autoclubrevolution.com and follow the instructions. Eutechnyx will be sending out a batch of beta keys in the near future.

Earlier this month, The Train2Game Blog reported that Eutechnyx are teaming up with fellow racing studio Brain in a Jar to work on an as of yet unannounced project.

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.

And in a recent interview with The Train2Game Blog, Brawl Busters developers Rock Hippo told us that beta testing is “crucial” to the game development process.

What are your initial thoughts on Auto Club Revolution? Will you be registering for an Auto Club Revolution beta key?

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

Train2Game news: Over two million Skyrim mods downloaded since creation tools launched

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Train2Game Blog readers are likely to be aware that modding tools for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim were launched last week, and the Skyrim Workshop has proved to be very popular.

Over two million Skyrim mods were downloaded in the first three days the Bethesda Creation Kit was made available to the public, with more than 2,500 mods published on Steam by the community.

Train2Game students who want to get involved with the Skyrim modding scene, but are unsure where to start, can watch this helpful Skyrim Creation Kit tutorial video from Bethesda. You can also look at this thread on the Train2Game forum in which students are sharing their own Skyrim mods.

The Train2Game Blog has previously shown you some of the stranger Skyrim mods, including ones that let you turn Dragons into My Little Pony or “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and a mod that turns Mudcrabs into Futurama’s Doctor Zoidberg.

Meanwhile, Bethesda held their own internal game jam using the Creation Kit, you can see what possibly could be extra content for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim here.

Keep reading The Train2Game Blog for the latest news about modding and how it could benefit you.

If you’ve made a Skyrim mod, let us know!

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

Train2Game news: Grand Theft Auto IV iCEnhancer mod looks very impressive

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Grand Theft Auto IVTrain2Game Blog readers will know what we’re big fans of mods, which can be used to make subtle changes to PC games, or alter them entirely.

This post is about an example of the latter. The Grand Theft Auto IV iCEnhancer 2.0 mod is available for free and transforms the environment into a superb looking, almost fully realistic looking version of Liberty City.

Of course, you’ll need a hefty PC to be able to run iCEnhancer 2.0, but you can see it in action in the video below.

There’s much more about modding, and the benefits it could have for Train2Game students, right here on The Train2Game Blog.

Grand Theft Auto V was officially announced last year, with the trailer available to watch here. There’s no launch window for GTA V as of yet, but as reported by The Train2Game Blog, Rockstar say it’s their “largest and most ambitious game so far”

The Train2Game Blog will be sure to keep you up to date with the latest news about Grand Theft Auto V.

What are your thoughts on the iCEnhancer 2.0 mod for GTA IV? What does it say about the power of modding?

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

Train2Game news: The Witcher 2 dev diary on writing “The most complex and non-linear story ever told on Xbox 360”

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Train2Game students interested in story writing in games, RPGs in particular are likely to find this The Witcher 2 Xbox 360 developer diary rather fascinating.

CD Projekt diary provide some great insights into how The Witcher 2 was written, and they make the bold claim that it’ll offer “The most complex and non-linear story ever told on Xbox 360,” a statement backed up by four possible game openings and sixteen endings.

The Witcher 2 Xbox 360 developer diary also explains how the CD Projekt  game designers plan and write such an open narrative.

“We had to produce complicated flowcharts illustrating all the possible connections between different events and different characters, as well as the links between different questions in various circumstances.” said game designer Arkadiusz Borowik.

“Because before sitting down to work on the game itself, we had to know just how complex its structure would be and how much effort it would take.”  he added

Watch The Witcher 2 Xbox 360 developer diary below, right here on The Train2Game Blog.

For more about the development of The Witcher 2, read The Train2Game Blog interview with CD Projekt Environment Artist Marek Ziemak, in which he also reveals he started his career in the games industry as a QA Tester.

The Witcher 2 Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition is released April 17th for Xbox 360. The PC version is available now.

What are your thoughts on the claim that The Witcher 2 being the most complex story ever told for Xbox 360? And what insights did you get from the developer diary?

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