Monthly Archives: May 2012

Train2Game news: Designing games specifically for girls isn’t the way to encourage more into the industry says Jade Raymond

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Train2Game students are likely to be aware that the games industry is currently rather male dominated. And while that’s slowly changing – there are plenty of both male and female aspiring game developers on the Train2Game forum – some believe more needs to be done to redress the balance.

However, according to Ubisoft Toronto boss Jade Raymond, designing games with a female audience in mind isn’t the way to encourage girls into the industry. Rather, if games are good, people of both sexes will be interested in game development.

“It’s not a question of making games specifically for girls, you make a good game and it will be played regardless of gender. A good game is a good game.” she told Eurogamer.

“I come from a family of three girls and we would sit around and play tons of games for our NES. I mean, can you say that Super Mario Bros. 3 is made for girls or boys? No, it’s more about exposure.”

And Raymond says that exposure is changing, as more and more girls own consoles.

“The truth is that perhaps my sisters and I were the exception because we had a console. Now that’s not the case. Games are everywhere. Just as many girls have a Nintendo DS as boys do. That’s step one towards thinking about a career in games.”

“Because if you haven’t been experienced them growing up, then you don’t think that it might offer a career for you. That is changing.” she added.

The full interview is over on Eurogamer, and is a fascinating read.  You can also get some advice on getting into the industry from the Ubisoft Toronto head, here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on Raymond’s comments? What do you think is the answer?

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

Train2Game News: Tomb Raider delayed until 2013 to allow extra development time

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Tomb Raider reboot Train2Game blog image

Train2Game News listed Tomb Raider, the series reboot from Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix, as one of the most anticipated games of 2011. Obviously, it didn’t appear in 2011, and in fact, won’t be released until the first quarter of 2013.

The announcement came on the Eidos forum

“When Crystal Dynamics first set out to reboot the Tomb Raider franchise, there were two goals that we were extremely passionate about. The first was to create a modern Tomb Raider game that would surprise and excite gamers. The second was to make this the best game of our careers, something we would be really proud to be a part of. We truly believe that we have something very special on our hands and we can’t wait to share it with you.” said Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher

The reason behind the delay, much like that of Bioshock Infinite’s, is to allow the development team more time to take the best game possible.

“Our priority now is to make sure we fully deliver the very highest quality game. In order to do this, we have decided to move the game’s release date by a few months, from Fall 2012 to the first quarter of 2013.” Gallagher continued.

“We’re doing things that are completely new to Tomb Raider in this game and the additional development time will allow us to put the finishing touches into the game and polish it to a level that you deserve. We believe this is the right choice and I guarantee it will be worth the wait. The game is looking amazing and we can’t wait to show it to everyone at E3 in a few weeks.” he concluded.

There’s more Tomb Raider news on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on the Tomb Raider delay? Disappointed you won’t get to play it this year, or relieved you won’t be playing something that’s been rushed?

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

Train2Game student industry experience diaries: Lionel Adams at DR Studios – Weeks 3&4

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Train2Game game developer Lionel Adams has recently started a Train2Game student industry experience placement at DR Studios.

In his first update from the Milton Keynes studio, Lionel tells us about using Javascript, why he decided to take the Train2Game game developer course and working on a ‘real’ game.

Read Lionel’s first industry experience diary update on the Train2Game Scribd site, or here on the Train2Game Blog. Keep reading to keep up with the latest student diaries. 

Train2Game news: BioWare Associate Art Director on getting into the industry

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Train2Game students looking to make that critical first step into the games industry need to be creative and full of good ideas. That’s according to BioWare Associate Art Director David Lam.

“Like anything in this world, if you want to achieve anything it takes hard work and commitment.” he told BioWare blog, emphasising how you need a good portfolio too.

“Our field is highly competitive, so you have to know your stuff and be able to show it. If you want to be an artist, draw! If you want to be a programmer, code! Never underestimate the power of ideas.”

“Creativity and good ideas are what drives our business. If someone asks you what makes you better than somebody else, have an answer.” he added.

The full interview in which Lam describes his role as Associate Art Director and his life at BioWare is here.

There’s more advice from professional game developers on how to get into the industry, right here on the Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on the advice from the BioWare Associate Art Director? How is your own portfolio coming along?

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

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The Commando Kiwi Story (Video)

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Train2Game student team Commando Kiwi were one of four to take part in last month’s Make Something Unreal Contest at Gadget Show Live, with the task of building an iOS game based on the prestigious Fighting Fantasy series.

Indeed, they were the contest winners, walking away with a fully licensed Unreal Development Kit for iOS.

Now, you can see the progress they made through Make Something Unreal Live in a new video from Train2Game! It features industry figures including Cliff Bleszinski, Jon Hare, Peter Molyneux and Ian Livingstone providing advice to Commando Kiwi as they developed their game.

Watch it on the Train2Game YouTube channel, or here on The Train2Game Blog.

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

Train2Game news: Game of Thrones RPG developer diary takes you “Behind the Wall”

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Train2Game students can get behind the scenes of the upcoming Game of Thrones RPG in a new developer diary from Focus Interactive and Cyanide Studio.

“Behind the Wall” sees Project Director Thomas Veauclin and Lead Game Designer Sylvain Sechi discuss adapting George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire into a video game, revealing they first contacted the author 7 years ago, and that his feedback has been extremely valuable.

Veauclin and Sechi also detail how the Game of Thrones RPG runs parallel to the first book in the series, with a focus on new characters. They are Mors, a ranger of the Night’s Watch and Alistair Sarwyck, a Red Priest. Both will have to make choices as they go through the story.

Watch the Game of Thrones RPG developer diary, below, right here on The Train2Game Blog.

Game of Thrones is released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC next month.

What are your thoughts on the Game of Thrones RPG? If you’re a fan of the books, do you feel it’ll do the series justice?

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

Train2Game student industry experience diaries: Rudi Will at DR Studios – week 10

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Train2Game student  Rudi Will is on a Train2Game work placement. In this industry experience diary, Rudi describes switching to art, and making sound for a video game.

Read what he has to say about his Train2Game work placement  here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game Scribd page.

Read more Train2Game student industry experience diaries here on The Train2Game Blog.

Train2Game news: ‘Learn by making mistakes’ says Black Mesa mod project lead

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Train2Game Blog readers are likely to have seen one of our posts about the benefits of modding, but the benefit of building your own games or levels isn’t just that it’s good for your portfolio, you’ll also learn a lot while doing it.

That’s what happened for the guys behind Black Mesa, the much anticipated but rather delayed mod that’s bringing the original Half-Life into the source engine.  Project Lead Carlos Montero told Rock, Paper, Shotgun that, if anything, there are delays because the team are learning how to build a game, often by making then fixing mistakes.

“This hasn’t been about polish for polish’s sake; it’s been about learning all there is to know about how to make great games, and using it to make a great game. There aren’t any shortcuts there. We just had to learn by doing, by making mistakes, by screwing things up and starting them over again.”  said Montero.

“Sometimes along the way we have learned things that fundamentally changed our way of thinking, and sometimes we have gone back and fundamentally changed parts of the game to reflect that.”

The Black Mesa project lead added that, the team are very eager to release the game, but only when they’re totally happy that it’s good enough.

“So no, I don’t think it is tempting to over-polish at all. We are all eager to get the game out. We are dying to get this game out and show everyone what we’ve been working on, but we aren’t so eager that we would sacrifice our values and what we believe will make this game great. We aren’t going to put out something that isn’t good enough for us.” Montero said.

Read the full, fascinating, interview over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

In an interview with The Train2Game Blog, Valve’s own Chet Faliszek told us modding s a great way for aspiring game developers to  practice and show off their skills.

There’s more modding news on The Train2Game Blog, while the latest from Valve is here.

What are your thoughts on the comments from the Black Mesa project lead? Have you found modding to be a great learning experience? And are you looking forward to the mod eventually being released?

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

Train2Game student developed Fighting Fantasy games hailed as “unbelievable” by series co-author Steve Jackson

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Train2Game student produced games based on the Fighting Fantasy books have been hailed as “unbelievable” by series co-author Steve Jackson.

He was speaking to us at Train2Game and Epic Games’ Make Something Unreal Live, where four teams competed to build games based on Fighting Fantasy books for iPhone and iPad. Commando Kiwi’s Warlock of Firetop Mountain was judged as the winner.

“It was a really hard decision because the four groups who had also passed through several other barriers and competitions on the way here.” Jackson told Train2Game.

“They were all very talented and the standard of games that came out were unbelievable. It would’ve been very easy to pick four winners out of the four of them.” he added.

Watch the full video interview with Fighting Fantasy co-author Steve Jackson below.  You can also see our interview with fellow co-author Ian Livingstone here on The Train2Game Blog. There’s more on Make Something Unreal Live here.

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

Train2Game News: Wolfenstein 3D celebrates 20th anniversary with free browser version and director’s commentary

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Train2Game students will no doubt know about the legacy Wolfenstein 3D,  the id Software title that arguably helped kick-start the popularity of PC first person shooters in the early 1990s.

Of course, the FPS is now one of the most popular genre’s in gaming, but Train2Game students can take a look at Wolfenstein 3D, perhaps for the first time, thanks to Id Software and Bethesda releasing a free-to-play browser version of the game to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

Visit http://wolfenstein.bethsoft.com/ to play the classic FPS using your browser.

You can also get a fascinating insight into development of Wolfenstein 3D in a director’s commentary from lead programmer John Carmack as he discusses the difficulty of making a game in 3D in the early 90s. Watch it below, here on The Train2Game Blog.

There’s more from id Software here on The Train2Game Blog, including our interview with Creative Director Tim Willits.

Do you have fond memories of Wolfenstein 3D? Or have you not experienced it before? Either way, will you be giving the browser version a go?

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