Train2Game News: Student Diaries – 06.12.12

Amanda Blatch Week 11

Another diary, another week! Not really sure what there is to say. It was a very long  week full of hard work and more UI! Fortunately I have had my week mixed up a little by being given some new characters for additional game content to design, vector, cut and rig. They’re coming along very nicely now and I’m just about to finish work on my second of what I believe to be at least four new additions to the final game. Friday was very exciting though, we all had a big group meeting with everyone making the game to have their say about what we have achieved so far and how to improve on top of that, we did more work, went home then went out for a meal with everyone.

Unfortunately not much else on the in-studio stuff to talk about and I haven’t been working on too much in my spare time since I reignited the desperate need to get through Section 2 of my course so to remain on track and continue learning other game-making techniques that I may not see in the studio on a daily basis. But that’s it for now.. Maybe next week I’ll have something new to chat about. Tarra for now!

Craig Moore Week 54

It’s Friday, and everything is a bit of a blur!

Firstly work, it’s been an incredibly busy week; the pressure is really on to get the many aspects of the game finished and the time left to do them is getting ever so smaller.

We have had a really productive week bouncing between myself and two of the other guys to crack down a certain element of the game and get it well and truly finished. As with the way development goes, I guess, we just fell short but we did get a lot done and it is much better for it.

Next week the plan is to continue this three pronged approach and hit two more aspects of the game on the head. It really is at the stage where there are a few elements that just need tying together to really make it shine!

In other news I managed to snag myself a brand new Wii-U yesterday, a day before release; thanks to Shopto.net’s awesome pre-order service. I got the ZombiU special edition, but have only managed to play it for an hour or so. My Initial thoughts are positive, I’m certainly looking forward to what they come up with and the underlying potential is incredible! I read somewhere about Unity being a developer option and would love to take advantage of that somewhere down the line.

Craig

Matty WS Week 52

This week has been a bit mad, lots of things to do. I’m now going through all of the images in the game and “unifying” them, making them all the correct sizes and removing the background solid colour. We had a late night on Thursday and had some takeaway. Suffice to say there are a lot of images in the game so I’ve been kept busy. I still need to continue on Monday morning to get it all done.

In other news, I got hold of an iPad mini this week which is very nice indeed, it means I can play the games we make regardless of what devices I have or if they aren’t compatible, and it will help me see what competition is out there. So I am a happy Matty this week!

I went home to Southampton this weekend and played many games (including our own). The game we’re making as we speak is plodding along nicely and will be out very soon hopefully. I’m sure you’ll all be just as excited as we are when the game hits the metaphorical shelves. More next week!

MattyWS

Train2Game News: Games Industry Jobs – 5.12.12

The Train2Game blog has found more jobs for you to apply for to hopefully get that foot in the door.

Art

Job Title     Junior 3D Artist
Job Category     Art / Animation
Skills Required     Character Artist, Vehicle Artist, Environment Artist, 2D / Concept / Texture Artist, Technical Artist
Location     Brighton
Job Description     Come and join the Futur!

The team behind the critically acclaimed Velocity is looking for a talented Junior 3D Artist!

We are primarily looking for someone with demonstrable experience modeling and texturing of vehicles for use in a game engine such as Unity.

As Junior Artist you will be required to concept and model a number of vehicles as well as adopting the in house art style to create 2D game assets. You will therefore need to demonstrate a strong ability in both 3D asset creation and 2D illustration skills. The role will require closely working with all other members of the team to ensure high standards of presentation are maintained across each project.

This role is suited towards a highly motivated and talented recent graduate. While industry experience is not required, working knowledge of industry standard art creation software is.

Requirements include:

Excellent 3D modeling and texturing ability.
A strong interest in sci-fi and predominately vehicle design.
Strong 2D illustration skills a must.
Animation skills a plus.
General understanding of game design and development.
Ability to work both individually and in a small team.
Excellent communication skills with a friendly and positive demeanour.
Self motivating and diligent.

You must be excited about working in the sci-fi genre and have a strong portfolio that demonstrates both 3D vehicles and 2D illustrative skills. (Please note that if your portfolio does not contain examples of both then unfortunately, it will be automatically rejected without reply).

If you have the demonstrable skills, experience and passion for futuristic games then please get in touch as we’d love to hear from you! Please email your latest CV and a cover letter along with your portfolio to jobs@futurlab.co.uk. Please be aware that all suitable candidates will be asked to take an art test.

We’re a small and friendly team and we’re about to grow. This is a great opportunity for someone to be involved right at the beginning of the next exciting chapter of our story.

Design

Job Title     Game Designer – IEB Microsoft Studios Soho (818909) Job
Job Category     Game Design
Skills Required     Game Design
Division Interactive Entertainment Business
Location Soho, London

Role Purpose
Do you love designing fun high quality games and experiences?
We are looking for an enthusiastic and talented game designer to join our growing multi-disciplinary team. The game designer will have the opportunity to engage in the exciting process of creating and maintaining games (including new IP). The game designer will be a member of the creative team working with the creative director. The ideal candidate must have a full understanding of the design vision and business model, be able to communicate it to the team and be responsible for the creation and maintenance of all game design documents and their execution.

Team/Department Mission
This role is part of a Microsoft Studios team creating games and entertainment services influenced by changing consumer consumption and emerging business models. Part of its purpose will be to showcase functionality of Microsoft platforms but the primary goal is to establish new entertainment franchises. The ethos of this team is to be distinctive, deliberate and disruptive. It has large ambitions.

Key Accountabilities:
– Drive game design and communicate across the team. Know the game inside out.
– Communicate major design decisions and issues with the creative director and executive producer.
– Work with technical, art and audio leads to realize the game design vision.
– Produce and roll out prototypes and design documents.
– Review work as it is implemented to ensure that it fits the design vision and is of the quality desired.
– Assist with the development of design team systems and tools.
– Test the game to ensure it is playable and fun.
– Support user testing and data gathering to continually improve the game.

Key Success Criteria:
– Be a positive, active, and contributing team member.
– Create presentations that outline plans for game design.
– Be able to pitch/communicate new concepts, mechanics and business models.
– Liaise closely with other disciplines to realise a shared vision.
– Communicate complex dependencies falling out of design into art, tech, audio and UI.
– Continuously evaluate games in development and make tough decisions to focus on, iterate on or cut features in order to make the game better.
– Continuously familiarize yourself and the team with important developments in game design and production outside of the team/project.
– Work with gameplay developers to develop systems that support desired gameplay.
– Work with tools developers to develop tools and workflows that enable inspired creativity on the design team.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience
– Strong communication skills across all disciplines and at all levels.
– Design experience on shipped AAA console products and/or Mobile/F2P.
– Strong technical skills and a basic understanding of programming or scripting.
– Outstanding verbal and written communication skills.
– Strong relationship-management skills.
– Passion for gaming, with excellent design insights across genres.
– Ability to produce articulate design documentation detailing innovative gameplay mechanics, character biographies, control systems, interface design, story lines and asset inventories.
– Willing to accept and provide direction, work well under pressure, and handle multiple tasks.
– Ability to work closely with all core development functions, as well as supporting functions.
– Comfortable with Unity, MS Word, MS Visio, MS Power Point.

You can apply HERE.

Developer

Job Title     Games Programmer – iOS / Android
Job Category     Programming
Skills Required     AI / Artificial Intelligence, Tools, Gameplay, Mobile / iOS / Android, Graphics / Engine, Core Technology, UI / Front End, Graduate Programmer
Location     Brighton
Job Description     Boss Alien are a growing company working on exciting projects with small team sizes. We need programmers who are happy to work in whatever area is required of them – this could change on a daily basis!

We are looking for smart, energetic, friendly people to join us!

Required:

2.1 degree in Maths, Physics, Computer Science or related, or equivalent industry experience
Excellent knowledge of C# or C++
Excellent knowledge of algorithms and data structures
Experience of creating games on desktop or mobile platforms
Desire to make great games
Great communication skills (verbal and written)
Happy to work as part of a team
Demonstrable love for some area of game technology
A passion for playing games and solving problems
Flexible and keen to learn new skills
Great to have:

Knowledge of two or more other programming languages (for example Java, Python, PHP, Clojure)
1 or more years of games industry experience
1 or more shipped titles on console, desktop or mobile platforms
Strong knowledge of console, desktop and mobile architectures
Knowledge of asynchronous engineering techniques
Experience of Unity, Unreal or XNA
SQL
Experience using digital content creation tools (for example Max, Maya, Photoshop)

Find out more about us and apply at www.bossalien.com

Junior / Graduate Programmers with relevant demos and a positive attitude are encouraged to apply!

QA

Location: Edinburgh
Salary: Competitive
Company: Rockstar North

Rockstar North is looking for enthusiastic and self-motivated individuals to join our Games Test teams in Edinburgh. You will be expected to play through our latest games looking for problems and reporting errors, to ensure game quality before release.

Responsibilities
You will be finding and reproducing bugs, errors or problems in-game as directed. The role will require accurate, detailed and complete reporting to the required standards and subsequent revision of those errors or problems.

Qualifications
Successful applicants will have excellent written and verbal communication skills and enjoy working as part of a team. You will have good general computer skills and be a confident learner working with word processing, databases and spreadsheets. You will be able to show consistent attention to detail and have the ability to remain focussed when approaching repetitive tasks. We will be looking for flexibility regarding unsociable and extended working hours to meet the demands of the role.

Additional Information
Candidates must be 18 years of age and above and provide two references. The position will be a full-time short term contract. Applicants will preferably be educated to further or higher education standards.

This is a two stage application process. You will first be asked to complete an application pack from which you may be asked to attend an interview.

PLEASE APPLY ONLINE VIA www.rockstargames.com/jobs

Train2Game News: Zeptolab’s Pudding Monsters slides to iOS

Pudding MonstersThe developers of the hit mobile game, Cut the Rope have announced their next project.

Zeptolab is attempting to recreate the popularity of their debut game with the new project, Pudding Monsters which is due out later this month on iOS.

The game retains the same cheerful style and physics-based game-play that made Cut the Rope a mega-hit. It also utilises the swipe based game play which made Cut the Rope so simple and accessible.

To rescue their friend from being eaten, the Pudding Monsters in each stage must stick to one another to form the “Ultimate Mega Monster.” The Pudding Monsters start each stage separated, and it’s up to gamers to reassemble them into a single massive pudding mass using simple swipe controls. Each monster has its own properties and gameplay wrinkles, introducing plenty of puzzle complexity as the adventure progresses

Cut the Rope got its popularity from its perfect combination of snacky, bite-sized levels and genuinely brain-bending three-star puzzles. Consumers responded by downloading Cut the Rope titles more than 250 million times to date.

You can enjoy a little teaser trailer below which reminds me of the Cut the Rope animations.

 

Train2Game News: OUYA developer consoles being released this month

OUYA ConsoleThe kick started, Android console, OUYA inches ever closer to release as developer units are being shipped by the end of the month.

The team behind the Android-powered console has announced that they will be shipping the OUYA to anyone who pledged over $699 dollars to the $8.5 million kickstart goal that was reached back in August. The console will be sent out for developers to start testing on December 28.

The idea behind the console is that it will be a $99 console, built on Android, where all the games are free to play.

OUYA was created in 2012 by Julie Uhrman, a video game industry veteran who saw an opportunity to open up the last closed game platform — the TV. Julie and an initial team of game developers and advisors brought the concept to life, with the help of Yves Behar and fuseproject, and took OUYA to Kickstarter in July of 2012. OUYA’s first consoles will ship in early 2013.

“Yes, we are shipping these to you on time, as promised,” the company said in a recent update. “The dev consoles are an early version of the OUYA console and controller designed for developers to test their games on OUYA. Our Kickstarter developers are the first to get a crack at ’em! We’re psyched to have you on board, and we can’t wait to see what pours from your brain!”

For backers of any tier of the Kickstarter, OUYA chief executive officer Julie Uhrman also announced that usernames can be claimed on December 25.

“By December 25, we’ll email each of you a link to activate your account. For those of you who responded to our survey about preferred usernames, you’ll be able to confirm your choice. For the handful of popular names that had conflicts, we broke the tie(s) by honoring whomever backed OUYA first on Kickstarter. And, if any of you didn’t respond-or didn’t get your preferred username, you can choose a name when December 25 rolls around,” said Uhrman in the announcement.

You can read a basic fact sheet about what the OUYA is and what is designed for in the document below. It looks to be good for developers and gamers a like.

OUYA Basic Facts

Train2Game News: UK Top 20 – 3.12.11

Far Cry 3 enters the charts at number 2 this week not able to topple Call Of Duty from its throne. The other new entries this week are Wii U titles. Nintendoland, the Wii U’s mini game compilation comes in at number 11 where as the more adult, survival horror, Zombi U shuffles in to the charts at 17.

Week ending 1 December 2012

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 –  CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II ACTIVISION 1
2 FAR CRY 3 UBISOFT
3 –  FIFA 13 EA SPORTS 3
4 HITMAN ABSOLUTION SQUARE ENIX 2
5 ASSASSIN’S CREED III UBISOFT 4
6 JUST DANCE 4 UBISOFT 7
7 LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 6
8 HALO 4 MICROSOFT 5
9 SKYLANDERS GIANTS SKYLANDERS 8
10 NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED EA GAMES 9
11 NINTENDO LAND NINTENDO
12 DISHONORED BETHESDA SOFTWORKS 10
13 FOOTBALL MANAGER 2013 SEGA 15
14 NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. U NINTENDO
15 WWE ’13 THQ 11
16 MOSHI MONSTERS: MOSHLINGS THEME PARK MIND CANDY 12
17 ZOMBI U UBISOFT
18 –  MEDAL OF HONOR: WARFIGHTER EA GAMES 18
19 NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. 2 NINTENDO 16
20 FORZA HORIZON MICROSOFT

Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2012 UKIE Ltd