Train2Game Artist Will Alexander has started 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 includes some information about the studio.
Read what he has to say about his Train2Game work placement here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game Scribd page.
Train2Game students will be aware that Peter Molyneux is one of the most respected figures in the industry…and he’s just announced he’s leaving Lionhead of Microsoft.
Despite leaving the studio he co-founded and parting ways with Microsoft, Molyneux will still finish his upcoming Kinect title Fable: Journey.
“It is with mixed emotions that I made the decision to leave Microsoft and Lionhead Studios, the company that I co-founded in 1997, at the conclusion of development of Fable: The Journey” Molyneux told Kotaku.
“I remain extremely passionate and proud of the people, products and experiences that we created from Black and White to Fable to our pioneering work with Milo and Kate for the Kinect platform.
“However, I felt the time was right to pursue a new independent venture. I’d like to thank the team at Lionhead, as well as our partners at Microsoft Studios for their support, dedication and incredible work over the years.” said the influential game developer.
Molyneux is to set up a new company, 22 Cans, alongside former Lionhead CTO Tim Rance. Lionhead will now be run by Molyneux’s fellow studio co-founder Mark Webley.
“As co-founder of Lionhead and an integral part of Microsoft Studios, Peter was the creative visionary behind the blockbuster Fable franchise, and one of our most passionate and influential developers for the Xbox 360 platform.” said a statement from Microsoft.
“He has made an indelible mark on the games industry and we wish him all the best of luck in his future endeavours.” it added.
The Train2Game Blog has previously reported that Peter Molyneux belives the industry should put more focus on up and coming talent. There’s more wisdom from the now former Lionhead man, right here.
So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Peter Molyneux leaving Lionhead and Microsoft? What are your favourite Molyneux moments?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game Art & Animation student Fee Stewart has been on a Train2Game work placement at Middlesbrough based game developer Radiation Burn. Here, you can read all of Fee’s industry placement diaries, written as she worked at Radiation Burn on Newton vs The Horde for Nintendo Wii.
Read what she has to say about her Train2Game work placement here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game Scribd page.
Train2Game students can get a first look at XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the reimagining of one of the most loved strategy titles out there that’s being developed by Firaxis, the studio famous for Civilization series.
XCOM gives you the task of commanding a special paramilitary force to defend the earth from an alien invasion.
The developer diary sees the Firaxis team discuss their reimagining of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, explain some of their game design choices and talk about how they’re making a turn based strategy game ‘sexy’
Watch the XCOM: Enemy Unknown developer diary below for an insight into life at Firaxis.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown from Firaxis and 2K Games is scheduled for release in Autumn this year.
So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on XCOM: Enemy Unknown? What insights have you gained from the behind the scenes video?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
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.
We caught up with Derp Studios’ Chris Ledger to find out how the road to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show has gone so far. Listen via Train2Game Radio or read it here on The Train2Game Blog.
Hi Chris, how did you come up with the name of your studio?
Well, we unnamed for our first few weeks, debating what to be called, and it turned out the most common phrase we were using was ‘Derp’ because we were making stupid mistakes and saying ‘Ah derp’ we ended up as Derp Studios from that.
How have you found working with the Fighting Fantasy IP, which particular book is your game going to be based on?
It’s based on The Citadel of Chaos, which is the second book in the Fighting Fantasy franchise. It’s been great fun to work with, we’ve had numerous playthroughs of it and we’ve bought some additional books to expand our knowledge about the lore of the franchise as well.
And how are you finding getting to grips with the Unreal Engine using UDK?
I really like UDK, it’s brilliant, absolutely fantastic. We had a few teething problems at the start with the mobile functions as it’s completely different to the PC version, almost. But we were gutted about the terrain, but we’ve worked our way around it by exporting an object and re-importing it, so we’ve overcome the teething problems and it’s going quite well at the moment.
How are you finding the work compared to pressured environment at the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam?
It’s probably equally as stressful sometimes, especially because of deadlines…and even though we’ve got more time to do things, our scope is a bit bigger than what we were doing at the game jam. I suppose it’s equally as stressful, but just as enjoyable.
What deadlines have you met recently, and what progress have you made with your game?
We’ve done our pre-Alpha, so we’ve compiled a small build with most of our mechanics in, just fine-tuning that. What we’ve been doing lately is mostly getting the character models out the way. We’ve done the majority of the levels that we’re planning to have in the game, and now it’s just the character models and adding the code to them.
Tell us about the genre of game you’re working on for Make Something Unreal Live.
It’s a first person RPG. I haven’t seen anything like it on IOS devices at all, I’ve seen first person shooters, but nothing that’s first person melee and magic based, so it should be quite eye opening and interesting to see when it’s fully done.
Does the game have a bit of a Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim vibe to it then?
Yeah, we’ve obviously, often referenced Skyrim, Elder Scrolls and other famous first person melee games. We got a bit nervous at first as people might think it’s just a watered down version of Skyrim, but…they’ll love it!
And it fits in nicely with the Fighting Fantasy IP as well.
Yeah, we’ve taken extra care to fit it perfectly with the IP. Our game is in fact a sequel to The Citadel of Chaos game book.
Why is it a sequel rather than being based on the book itself?
Well, it’s based on the exact same settings, it’s just happening a week afterwards. In the game book, at the end, you kill the main bad guy, and we thought we could have a bit of a twist on it where events happen after his death, but it’s all related to him. So, it’s got a lot of twists that relate to the book.
How are you looking forward to going to The Gadget Show and making a game in that public setting?
I’m nervous and excited at the same time. Well, more excited. It’ll be great just to show off what our studio is doing. It’s eye opening for the public as well.
How can people who want to find out more about Derp Studios on Facebook and Twitter?
We’ve got a Facebook and a Twitter page. Facebook is www.facebook.com/derpstudios and Twitter is www.twitter.com/derpstudios
Great Chris, thanks for your time and good luck.
Thank you.
Keep up to date with the latest news from Make Something Unreal Live here on The Train2Game Blog.
Train2Game Game Designer Chris Robinson has started a Train2Game work placement at AppCrowd. In this industry experience diary, Chris details what he’s been up at the mobile and social game developer, and includes some information about the studio.
Read what he has to say about his Train2Game work placement here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game Scribd page.
Train2Game students based near Nottingham can an insight into the development of Dear Esther, as creator Dan Pinchbeck is set to offer a behind the scenes look at his work at GameCityNights later this month.
As recently reported by The Train2Game Blog, experimental indie title Dear Esther sold 50,000 copies through Steam in its first week on sale. It started out life as a mod for Half-Life 2.
Thechineseroom founder will cover of areas, including storytelling in games and turning a mod into a full-release, which will surely be useful for Train2Game students who can get to the GameCityNights event.
“I’ll cover the studio’s humble beginnings as a mod team working as part of a research project based at the University of Portsmouth and the philosophy behind the studio’s work, and how this led to this year’s cult indie hit, Dear Esther.” said Pinchbeck.
“I’m also excited to introduce the studio’s two current projects: Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, an open-world purestory game that takes Dear Esther’s explorations of storytelling and gameplay to a new level; and the recently announced Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, a sequel to Frictional Games’ indie horror classic.”
“Along the way, I’ll take in the relationship between academia and the games industry; managing an indie start-up; how to turn an experimental mod into a successful commercial release; and the central design principles of thechineseroom.
“Expect fear, despair, guilt, loss, death, emptiness and some insight into how you can make games fun even without the gameplay.” he concluded.
The GameCityNights event takes place in Nottingham at 18:00 on 29th March. For more information, and to buy a £4 ticket, visit GameCityNights website.
There’s more about Dear Esther here on The Train2Game Blog.
So Train2Game, will you be attending GameCityNights? And what are your thoughts on Dear Esther?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game student Matty Wyett-Simmonds 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 talks a bit about being part of Make Something Unreal Live team Derp Studios.
Read what Matty has to say about his Train2Game work placement here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game Scribd page.
Read previous updates from Matty here on The Train2Game Blog.
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.
We caught up with Commando Kiwi’s Jonny Robinson to find out how the road to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show has gone so far. Listen via Train2Game Radio or read it here on The Train2Game Blog.
Hi Jonny. Your team for Make Something Unreal Live is called Commando Kiwi, what made you decide on that name?
There wasn’t really any decision on the name, it was just a case of asking ourselves what sounded cool, what sounded indie and we just chose Commando Kiwi. Someone on the team just said ‘Commando Kiwi sounds cool’ so we decided to roll with it. It wasn’t a real decision, because we didn’t want to take ourselves too seriously as a team, we just want to have as much fun as possible.
And you had a bit of fun making the Commando Kiwi logo as well.
Oh yes. If you didn’t know, we hosted a little competition, a little social media pump if anything. We asked our Facebook fans to make us a logo, and the best one, a team decision, was made our actual logo, and thanks to Dave Higgins, we have a cool little logo. So that’s going to be representing us for the Make Something Unreal Live event.
You’ll be working with the prestigious Fighting Fantasy IP, which book in particular is your game going to be based on?
We’ve got The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the iconic one…unfortunately. Well, it’s not unfortunate but it’s just more pressure compared, I think, to the other teams.
And which genre of game have you been assigned to make?
We were given the third person style. At the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam, I read out ‘third’ at the presentation, so we’ve taken on the assumption of third person.
Does that mean the game is Fable-esque, perhaps?
No…I’d like to think our game has taken the course of Final Fantasy meets Infinity Blade. We’d like to say it’s a good looking game, really lush, with this kind of strategy element, making sure you pick the right moves at the right time like you’d see in a normal Final Fantasy. We’ve designed it that way so it has simple controls and not too thumbs heavy; it’s the same as another touch and play game.
How have you found working with UDK in the run up to Make Something Unreal Live?
It’s a great piece of kit. It’s been stressful at times, but it’s just like with any piece of software, there have been builds that have gone down and we’ve had to rebuild, luckily I’ve got an amazing team. We’ve tackled some hard problems on the UDK, we’ve bent the engine to our will, but it’s looking really cool and hopefully we’ll be delivering an awesome game.
And how have you found the transition from being a team at the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam, to being a fully functioning team going forward to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show?
One word? Nervous, just so nervous; the pressure is on, especially if you’ve got a big name like The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. I’ve read about it, I’ve read the books. I only first read the books two years back, but what I read was really cool because Train2Game actually talked about it (in the course books) which is why I was surprised when we got the IP of it! This is big.
How much are you looking forward to taking part in the event? How does the prospect of being there in Birmingham at the NEC while making a game make you feel?
Er, scared…Don’t get me wrong, it’s going to be an amazing experience. The reason I’m so scared is because it could change our life, and if anything there’s more pressure to get it right. If anything, these shots don’t happen very often, and we want to deliver as best as we can for this opportunity we’ve been given.
But the skills you’ve learned through the Train2Game course will help you throughout the process.
Oh yes, they’ve helped tremendously, especially for team management and project management for game design. It’s really opened a lot of the team’s eyes for what we’ve had to do. If anything, we’ve learned a lot more for this little development, and the Train2Game course helped.
What are the contact details of the Commando Kiwi social media pages?
It’s www.facebook.com/comkiwi and for Twitter it’s @CommandoKiwi We’re more than happy to engage with our fans.
Thanks for your time Jonny, and good luck.
Thanks Danny.
Keep up to date with the latest news from Make Something Unreal Live here on The Train2Game Blog.
Train2Game students can get a first look at Halo 4 in a newly released developer diary from 343 Studios.
The video sees the team discussing how they’re going about developing the game, the first brand new Halo title since the series since creators Bungie stepped away from the Xbox exclusive FPS.
This Halo 4 behind the scenes diary also reveals how 343 studios are reworking the multiplayer modes, gives a sneak peek into improved graphics and shows how Halo 4 is incorporating motion capture technology.
Watch the Halo 4 developer diary below, right here on The Train2Game Blog.
However, Halo 4 isn’t the first title in the series from 343, who produced last year’s Halo: Anniversary, which you can find out about the development of which you can read more about in this Train2Game Blog interview with producers Dan Ayoub and Dennis Ries.
Halo 4 is scheduled for release later this year.
So, what are your thoughts on the first look at Halo 4? Does anything in the developer diary interest you in particular?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
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