Monthly Archives: April 2012

Train2Game news: Valve reveal how CS:GO beta heat maps influence design decisions

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Train2Game News readers should find this interesting; Valve has released data about the science of player actions during the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta, and how it ultimately effects their design decisions.

The developer has released heat maps of the map de_train showing where 6.5 million bullets have been fired during the beta. You can see it in full here.

“Recently we have discussed how we incorporate feedback into our design decisions. In addition to valuable feedback on the forums, another important form of feedback we receive is gameplay data.” read an update on the Counter-Strike blog.

“Our data collection is extensive. We track nearly every player action, from individual bullets fired to weapon purchases, and the resulting data can be used to help us evaluate game design decisions.”

The post added the heat map helps the Valve development team gain insights into player habits.

“A straightforward way to visualize the data we collect is through heat maps. Heat maps can reveal player preferences, choke-points in maps, sight-lines for snipers, and much more.”

In an interview with The Train2Game Blog , Valve’s Chet Faliszek said that beta testing is an important part of the game development process for CS:GO.

“It’s really important to us because we’re going to let that drive the release date,” he said.

“Because we’re really looking to get the feedback from the community over the changes we’ve made. We’ve brought over some stuff that was good from Counter-Strike: Source and we’ve brought over some stuff that was good from 1.6, so it’s going to be interesting to see how the communities react” Faliszek added.

There’s more Counter-Strike: Global Offensive news right here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on Valve using heat maps to help make design decisions? Are you taking part in the CS:GO beta?

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

Train2Game news: Impossible for devs “to not get attached” to work even if it’s “not good” say Darksiders II team

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Train2Game students will get attached to the work they produce during game development, and might find it difficult to let something go if it needs to be significantly changed or dropped all together.

That’s according to Darksiders II creative director Joe Madureira and Vigil studio general manager David Adams who were speaking in an extensive interview with Gamasutra.

“You totally get attached to stuff… It usually comes to a series of painful realizations, where you try to fix it, and it’s still not good, and you try to fix it, and it’s still not good.” said Adams on getting “precious” with assets produced during game development.”

“And on your third or fourth time trying to fix it, you’re like, “It’s just something we can’t do”. For whatever reason, we don’t have the time to commit to it, or we don’t have the right people… But yeah, I don’t think it’s possible to not get attached to stuff; we’re human beings.” he said.

Darksiders II Creative Director Joe Madureira agreed, adding that developers need to compare what they’re doing by playing other games, even if it means you drop the idea afterwards.

“You just have to be honest about it, too, and play other games, and see how you measure up. And if something’s not good, we all know it; you can see it. Even if you worked on it for two months, it doesn’t really change the fact that it’s just not very good.” he said.

Madureira argues that learning to let go of your work is something you need to do when working in the games industry.

“Sometimes you do get really attached to something, and you’re sad to see it change, but… And there’s morale hits — there’s all that stuff that you mentioned — but it’s just part of working in games. I think the longer you work in games, the more you’re just cool with it.”

“I think people that just are fresh out of school, and super excited, sometimes get crushed by how hard it actually is. And once you’ve been doing it for a while, you just expect that stuff’s going to change at any given moment, even after we’ve worked on it for a long, long time.” the Darksiders II creative director concluded.

The full, four page interview exploring development of Darksiders II is on Gamasutra.

The comments from the Darksiders II team are similar to some made by Bioshock Infinite boss Ken Levine, who as previously reported by The Train2Game Blog, said “Everybody has to get comfortable with throwing their stuff away”

What are your thoughts on the comments from the Darksiders II team? Is it possible to not get attached to your work? Have you struggled to throw a concept away?

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

Train2Game news: Family Guy Online enters open beta

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Train2Game students can now register to play Family Guy Online, which has now entered open beta.

The free-to-play, browser based MMO is based on the hit TV series, allows you to interact with Family Guy characters and other players in this game world version of Quahog.

Family Guy Online players create their own character, based on one of four classes influenced by the show’s central cast, as they take on quests to help the town’s residents. It’s written and voiced by the talent behind the TV series.

Train2Game students interesting in taking part in the Family Guy Online open beta can register on the game’s website.

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.

What are your initial thoughts about Family Guy Online? Will you be signing up to take part in the beta?

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

Train2Game news: Tickets for new PC and indie game expo Rezzed on sale now

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Train2Game students can now buy tickets for Rezzed, the new PC and indie games expo that’s hitting Brighton in July.

The event by Eurogamer.net and Rock, Paper, Shotgun will offer gamers their first chance to go hands-on with many upcoming PC games including Aliens: Colonial Marines from Gearbox Software. You’ll also be able to discover new indie titles in The Leftfield Collection, sponsored by SEGA.

Developers including Total War producers Creative Assembly and Project Zomboid creators The Indie Stone will also be on hand to show their work to the public and take questions in Developer Sessions, which are sure to be of interest to Train2Game students.

Rezzed takes place in Brighton on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th July with tickets on sale at http://www.rezzedgameshow.com/

“Following last year’s hugely successful fourth Eurogamer Expo, we’re broadening our horizons for 2012 by introducing a new summer event to highlight the best of PC and indie games,” said Rupert Loman, Managing Director of organiser Eurogamer Network Ltd.

“PC and indie games are enjoying huge success now after years in the ascendancy and we want to draw more attention to that fact and give people the opportunity to get up close to the biggest names and games before they’re released.”

More games, speakers and activities will be announced in the run up to the show, with more information available on the official Rezzed website.

Keep reading The Train2Game Blog for more news about Rezzed.

Will you be attending the Brighton event?

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

Train2Game news: Ghost Recon: Future soldier public developer Q&A at BAFTA next week

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Train2Game students have the opportunity to gain insights into the industry and development of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier at a special Q&A event at BAFTA next week.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Creative Director Jean-Marc Geoffroy, Ubisoft IP development director Adrian Lacey and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Alpha short film director François Alaux will all be speaking at the game developer Q&A. It takes place at BAFTA’s central London HQ on the evening of Tuesday 24th April.

The Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Q&A could potentially provide Train2Game students with the opportunity to get advice on getting into the industry from the Ubisoft team. Those Train2Game students interested in attending the BAFTA event can book their free student place here.

There’s more information about Game Developer Q&A on the BAFTA website.

The Train2Game Blog caught up with Ghost Recon: Future Soldier developers last year. In an extensive interview, Game Director Eric Couzian, Lead Game Designer Roman Campos Oriola and Associate Producer Thomas Leroux-Hugon told us about development of the game and offered advice on getting into the industry. Read it here on The Train2Game Blog.

Keep reading the Train2Game Blog for the latest news and events from BAFTA Games.

Will you attend the BAFTA event? What would you like to ask the Ghost Recon: Future Soldier development team?

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 news: “It’s time for our medium to grow up” says Ubisoft’s Jade Raymond

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Train2Game students will have become familiar with blockbusters such as Call of Duty or FIFA dominating sales charts, and comments on the Train2Game Facebook page find this to be a real shame when games with a deeper narrative don’t get the attention they deserve.

However, those with that opinion aren’t alone, as Ubisoft Toronto boss and Splinter Cell producer Jade Raymond believes its time game designers stopped relying on simple stories, and really started to explore narrative.

“I really do feel it’s time for our medium to grow up,” she told CVG in an extensive interview.

“I think we don’t need to make the equivalent to a Michael Bay flick in order to sell five million copies. I think things can be exciting, have meaning and hit important topics, and I’m not the only one that thinks that.”

Raymond pointed to film and TV having success with productions that have deeper narratives.

“I think every other entertainment medium or art form does manage to have commercial success and have the viewers or audience think or be inspired. Games, I think, have even more potential than that given that on top of the narrative side we do have all of the gameplay mechanics and we create rule sets from scratch which can have any kind of meaning embedded in them.” she said.

“It’s not easy to do that, because it requires breaking our recipe and trying to find new recipes, but I think it’s an important thing for us to strive for.” The Ubisoft Toronto boss added, referring to her time as Assassin’s Creed producer.

Jade Raymond has previously offered advice on getting into the games industry, which you can see right here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on Raymond’s comments? Do you think the games industry needs to grow up?

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

Train2Game Gadget Show Live interview: Overclockers UK on how to build gaming PC and more

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Train2Game News visited Overclockers UK stand at The Gadget Show Live in the Birmingham NEC. While there, we spoke to Overclockers UK’s Mark Purdy, who told us a bit about what the company do, how to build your own PC and much more.  As usual, leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum. 

First of all, tell us a bit about Overclockers UK?

We are a high end gaming components and computer seller, an online retailer based in Newcastle-Under-Lyme. Visit us at www.overclockers.co.uk. At The Gadget Show we’re showcasing a range of gaming systems that you can come and try, we’ve got one that’s running Batman: Arkham City, one that’s running the Diablo 3 beta, and two that are running Battlefield 3. We also have a racing simulator with our own branded racing seat running Project Cars, and we have a flight simulator running Microsoft Flight. We have our show system, Ultimate Mammoth, which is a £6000 machine featuring brand new NVIDIA GTX 680 graphics cards.

We have stock for sale, which you can come and purchase. We also have a free shipping code on flyers that you can come along and grab. We are running daily competitions, doing build demos so you can learn to build your own computer, and also have our time on the main stage where we’re giving out bags full of goodies.

Building a computer is something many people will look at and think of as a tough task, but is it actually relatively simple to do?

I’m going to compare it to building Lego; putting in each component in the right place is just like slotting in pieces of Lego, as long as you know where it goes and can connect it up properly, and test it.  That’s what we’re going to be showing.

So, if someone wanted to build a high-end PC, what would you recommend they start with? What are the key parts they’ll need?

Look at the games you’re going to be playing, and make sure you build a system that’ll run the games nicely. There’s no point spending too much money on a system you’ll never use all of the full potential of the power.  Always get a system which you’re comfortable with, which will run the games nice and smoothly and won’t cost you too much. There are so many people who’ll go out and buy a few thousand pound machine and never actually use the full potential of it. You could spend £700 to £800 on a machine that’ll do your games running at high definition, while you play it nice and smoothly.

Where can people get more information about this, or Overclockers?

We have a Facebook page which people can go on to, which we update every day. We have a Twitter account where people can ask questions on. We have one of the UK’s largest forums as well, with over 100,000 members, where people can ask questions about hardware. If they’re not sure what to buy they can just go on and talk to our members and get information; if they have a budget and they’re not sure what to spend it on they’ll get recommendations.  And it’s just for general chit-chat, so we have a general discussion area where anything can go, a PC games section where people talk about the latest releases, and latest news and deals where we o do special deals just for the forum.

The forums are a key part of a good community then?

Yes, a very key part of the community. The business is built almost around the forums, the forums really helped the business take off back in 1999. So it was one of the best additions it could’ve had for marketing, especially for new products, it’s absolutely fantastic.

Thanks for your time.

Visit OverClockers UK  http://www.overclockers.co.uk/. As usual, leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum. 

Train2Game news: UK Charts – FIFA Street returns to top spot

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Train2Game students see FIFA Street claim its fourth No.1 this week, as EA continue to dominate the UK charts.

FIFA Street reclaims top spot, after previously holding the position for three consecutive weeks before it was dislodged by Kinect Star Wars. EA’s Mass Effect 3 rises one to No.2, while FIFA 12 is No.3 in its 29th week on sale.

Kinect Star Wars drops to No.4 after debuting in top spot last week, while Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 – another EA Sports title – is a non-mover at No.5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is another non-mover, taking No.6 in its 23rd week in the charts.

Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim moves up three to No.7, sitting one spot ahead of EA’s Battlefield 3, which rises one to No.8. Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games slips to No.9, with the majority of its sales for Nintendo Wii, while former No.1 SSX completes the top ten.

Nintendo’s Pandora’s Tower is the only new entry into the top 40, debuting at No. 38.

The UKIE Gfk Chart-Track All Formats Top 10 for the week ending 14th April 2012 is therefore as follows:

1. FIFA Street (EA)
2. Mass Effect 3 (EA)
3. FIFA 12 (EA)
4. Kinect Star Wars (Microsoft)
5. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 (EA)
6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision)
7. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda)
8. Battlefield 3 (EA)
9. Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Sega)
10. SSX (EA)

New releases this week include The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings for Xbox 360 from CD Projekt. Read an interview with The Witcher 2 Environment Artist Marek Ziemak here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on EA’s continued dominance of the UK Charts top ten? Will it be broken by the release of The Witcher 2 this week?

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

Train2Game news: Commando Kiwi win Make Something Unreal Live with Fighting Fantasy Warlock of Firetop Mountain game

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Train2Game student team Commando Kiwi is the winner of Epic Games and Train2Game’s Make Something Unreal Live, an unprecedented game development competition that took place at the Gadget Show Live.

Four teams presented their new iOS games based on individual books in the “Fighting Fantasy” series to the franchise’s esteemed creators, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone OBE, and the duo determined that Commando Kiwi’s fresh twist on the third-person adventure genre makes the best use of the property and exhibits the most outstanding commercial potential.

The studio’s winnings include a full source Unreal Engine 3 license for iOS that may be applied to a future project as well as a holiday at the luxurious AquaCity water park and resort in Poprad, Slovakia.

All four iOS games were publicly debuted this week and are primed for release on the App Store in the coming weeks through a new publishing deal with AppyNation.

Teams competing in Make Something Unreal Live have been developing their games since winning the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam last November. Five months of development went into overdrive this week at the Gadget Show Live, where students presented projects twice daily to industry legends, implemented changes based on expert critiques at a rapid pace and submitted their near-final games for today’s judging.

By using the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of Epic’s award-winning Unreal Engine 3 technology, all four teams, whose members are enrolled in Train2Game’s blended learning courses, are poised to publish their games on the App Store under standard UDK licensing terms. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to The Prince’s Trust.

“Commando Kiwi really captured the essence of ‘The Warlock of Firetop Mountain’ with great gameplay and visuals,” said “Fighting Fantasy” author and co-creator, Ian Livingstone.

“It’s remarkable what these student teams were able to produce working remotely for such a short period of time using UDK. Although only one of the teams has won this amazing prize, the experience students have gained is invaluable and I fully expect to see many of them working in the video games industry.

“We look forward to playing these games, and Steve and I are sure that Fighting Fantasy fans everywhere will really enjoy these new interactive experiences based on the books.” he added,

“I’m just dead proud of my team. They’ve worked really hard and this competition has changed our lives forever,” said Jonny Robinson, producer of Commando Kiwi and team captain for Make Something Unreal Live.

“The quality of the games produced for the Make Something Unreal Live competition at Gadget Show Live is a testament to the teaching that the students have received on Train2Game courses,” said Myra Smallman, course director, Train2Game.

“The competitive process that they have been through should give them a glimpse of what it’s like to work in a professional studio and the experience should go towards giving them the skills to gain employment in the games industry.”

Epic Games European Territory Manager and Make Something Unreal Live mentor Mike Gamble summed up the dramatic conclusion to the competition. “Priming the next generation of game developers benefits the industry as a whole. This competition may be over but the journey for four new studios has only begun.”

There’s more information on Make Something Unreal Live here on The Train2Game Blog, while we’ll keep you up to date on the future progress of Commando Kiwi.

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

Look Who doctored a visit from a Dalek at the Train2Game stand at GSL?

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Train2Game at Gadget Show Live gets a surprise visit from a Dr Who Dalek