In this video Train2Game pays a visit to Wired Productions where Train2Game student Kimberley Caseres now works as an Assistant Producer.
We talk to Wired Production’s, Productions and Operations Director, Jason Harman, about hiring Kimberly and hear his thoughts on Train2Game courses.
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game Artist Will Alexander is on a Train2Game work placement at AppCrowd. In this industry experience diary, Will details what he’s been up at the mobile and social game developer, and includuing creating assets, and describes what a Sprint Schedule involves.
Read what he has to say about his Train2Game work placement here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game Scribd page.
You can read his previous diaries here, while there are also plenty of industry experience diaries from other students on the Train2Game Blog.
Train2Game students have the chance to question members of The Witcher 2’s development team at a special BAFTA event next month.
The CD Projekt Red staff, in association with Official Xbox 360 Magazine, will be giving a live presentation of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings -Enhanced Edition followed by a live Q&A session which you can ask them anything about the game or game development.
CD Projekt lead QA Tester Bartek Ocham and lead combat designer Mariej Ocham will be there to “take you through the game’s intricate design, its artistic vision, and the overall development process by showing key areas of the gameplay during live demos and trailers.”
The Witcher 2 Q&A takes place at BAFTA, central London on Tuesday 11th April from 19:00. For more information, or to buy a ticket for £5, visit the BAFTA website.
As previously reported by The Train2Game Blog, CD Projekt believe that The Witcher 2 offers “The most complex and non-linear story ever told on Xbox 360.” There’s much more about The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings in The Train2Game Blog interview with Environment Artist Marek Ziemak.
Will you attend the BAFTA event? What would you like to ask The Witcher 2 development team?
As usual, leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
BAFTA’s public events and online resources bring you closer to the creative talent behind your favourite games, films, and TV shows. Find out more at www.bafta.org/newsletter,www.facebook.com/bafta or twitter.com/baftagames
Train2Game student Ben Stoneman is on a Train2Game work placement at Unity. In his first experience diary from the studio, he writes about how he’s been settling into his new role and what he’s already learned
Read what he has to say about his Train2Game work placement here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game Scribd page.
More Train2Game industry experience diaries are right here on The Train2Game Blog.
Train2Game students with ambitions to become a producer will certainly find this post interesting, as EA Play4Free group producer Eduard Roehrich offers advice on how to get into that specific role.
“I believe that the most important thing is probably to try developing an instinct about what kinds of games people like to play.” he said in the latest instalment of EA’s ‘Breaking into the Industry’ features.
“As a Producer you’re going to be asked to make a lot of decisions, and ideally you should make as many of them as you possibly can with the gamers’ interests in mind. This is just a small part of a big puzzle, but there is a lot of helpful advice out there and many puzzle pieces to be found.”
Roehrich added that to be a good producer, you need to have a simple grasp all elements of game development.
“You should get a basic insight into as many fields of game development as possible, like coding, art, game design, QA, project management, sound, etc.” he said.
“You’re never going to be an expert in any of them, but you’re expected to bring all of these people together to create something extraordinary, so you’ll have to understand what these highly talented people will be telling you in order to make informed decisions on what to do.” the EA producer added.
The full interview is available on the EA News website.
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.
There’s more advice from industry professionals on getting into the industry right here on The Train2Game Blog.
What are your thoughts on Roehrich’s advice?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game students who want to see the impact testing can have on a game in development need look no further than PlayStation 3 title Journey.
Why? Because in an interview with Siliconera, Thatgamecompany’s Robin Hunicke reveals Journey previously allowed more physical interaction between players, but it resulted in them trying to kill each other, something that left her ‘disappointed in mankind’
“We were doing play tests, where we invited players to come in and play the game. However, instead of cooperating and building a relationship each other, the players just kept attacking each other and pushing each other into the pit.” said Hunicke.
“At the time, I was very disappointed in mankind; we designed all the settings so they will help each other, but they still just kill each other, as if they don’t have any morality at all.”
The Journey produced added that she spoke to a child psychologist about the issue.
“When these guys enter the game, it’s a virtual space–reality does continue into it. When that happens, they become kids, and don’t know what they’re doing is bad. In that situation, the best way to handle that isn’t to shout or hit them, but to offer feedback.” she told her.
So Hunicke decided to remove physics from Journey to encourage players to co-operate rather than hinder each other.
“So when I went back to the prototype, we removed the physics so they couldn’t push each other into the pit.” she said.
The Train2Game Blog has previously reported on Thatgamecompany’s views that testing is an integral part of game development. You can also get an insight into life at the studio and the development of Journey in this developer diary.
So, what are your thoughts on the impact playtesting had on Journey? Is it something you often do with your own games?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game Game Designer Craig Moore is on a Train2Game work placement at DR Studios. In his latest industry experience diaries, he details what he’s been up at the Milton Keynes based game developer and how excited he is to be there.
Read what Craig has to say about his Train2Game work placement here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game Scribd page.
As usual, leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
More Train2Game industry experience diaries are right here on The Train2Game Blog.
Train2Game students have the opportunity to take part in the closed beta for Hybrid, the XBLA third person shooter from indie developer 5th Cell, the studio behind Scribblenauts.
To register your interest in becoming part of the Hybrid closed beta, visit the official site and enter your details. Those who are successful in getting a place on the Hybrid closed beta will receive a beta key in-time for the April test. Train2Game students looking to take part in the Hybrid closed beta need an Xbox 360 and an Xbox Live Gold account.
Hybrid from 5th Cell is set in the near future and will feature a ‘massive online world war’ and ‘intense 3v3 air and ground combat’
The Train2Game Blog has previously posted this piece in which 5th Cell discover what makes an indie studio indie.
Beta testing is an excellent way for Train2Game students, especially those on the Games QA Tester course to practice their bug hunting skills. 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.
For more on beta testing, how it’s useful for Train2Game students, and opportunities to get involved with it, keep reading the Train2Game blog.
Will you register to take part in the Hybrid closed beta?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game students have probably seen Epic Games’ impressive Samaritan tech demo by now, and with the quality graphics and animation, you’d be forgiven for thinking that a game like that could only be achieved with a next gen console.
But according to Epic vice president Mark Rein, Samaritan like graphics are available “right now” if you happen to have access to a high spec PC.
“In fact, Unreal Development Kit has all the features that powered Samaritan – every single graphics feature you can do. We could have shown another 30 videos,” he told CVG.
“We have guys doing stuff on high end PCs that are just outside of the gaming space that are really pushing the envelope there. So that to us is pretty exciting – and you can do that now.”
As previously reported by The Train2Game Blog, Unreal Engine 4 was shown to a select group of developers at GDC. But Rein added that there’s still plenty of life left in Unreal Engine 3.
“The UE4 stuff is very futuristic. UE3 is really the horse for this year.” he said.
Of course, Train2Game students are currently preparing to use Epic’s Unreal Engine for iOS to make games as part of Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show
For more about Epic Games, the Unreal Development Kit and that Samaritan tech demo,see The Train2Game Blog interview with Epic European Territory Manager Mike Gamble, who was speaking to us at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam.
What are your thoughts on Rein’s remarks on the graphical capibilities of the current and future Unreal Engine?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game student John Valle is on a Train2Game work placement at Attractive Games. In his latest diaries from the Croydon based studio, John discusses using Javascripts, UDK and more.
Read what he has to say about his Train2Game work placement here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game Scribd page.
More Train2Game industry experience diaries are right here on The Train2Game Blog.
As usual, leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
More Train2Game industry experience diaries are right here on The Train2Game Blog.
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