Monthly Archives: January 2015

Train2Game News Free Developer Event in London

Posted on by

image

Amazon will be hosting an event for indie developers in London next week, offering a mixture of free drinks and info on developing for Amazon platforms.

The ‘free happy hour’ will be held at Loading Bar, located in Dalston, London on the evening of Monday, January 12th.

Attending will be Amazon Developer Evangelist Jesse Freeman, who is looking to meet indie developers and share information on how they can get their games onto Kindle devices, Fire TV and Amazon App Store. He is also footing the bill for the drinks all night!

Devs are invited to show off demos of their game – although you’re also welcome to keep your secrets, if it’s just info you’re after. There will also be giveaways on the night.

All you need to be eligible is have a game or something in development that you’d be tempted to port over to the Amazon Fire platform.

The event kicks off at 7pm at the bar with details at http://loadingonline.co.uk/

Train2Game News Outplay Entertainment Hiring

Posted on by

image

Outplay Entertainment, creators of some of the brightest and most addictive games on smartphones and tablets, is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting and fastest growing game developers in the world.

Venture-backed, the company recently announced over 20 million downloads and has more than doubled its family of employees throughout an unstoppably successful 2014, with six games currently live across multiple platforms – including the App Store Editors’ Choice and BAFTA nominated Monster Legacy and Best New Game Alien Creeps TD – and three more exciting titles in development.

Outplay HQ is based in right in the heart of Dundee’s beautiful £1 billion waterfront project, where the team of 75+ staff has attracted talent from all over the world, including team members from Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Iran, Bulgaria, Greece and Germany. As their plans get even bigger and better for 2015, they’re still on the look-out for gifted game-makers and team players the whole world over, to join their ranks. Outplay make some of the most addictive and enjoyable social games across all gaming platforms – and have a great time doing it.

To find out how you can become a part of Outplay Entertainment’s continuing success story, head on over to outplay.com/careers and get in touch – to be in the game, you just have to press ‘Start’…!

Train2Game News Versatile student finds home at T2G

Posted on by

image

Student who tried many careers finds Train2Game is the place where he can accomplish his life’s ambition to work in the Games Industry You name it, he’s tried it.

James Hardman has attempted many directions in his life: Seven years in Education, Franchise Manager, The Navy, Tattoo Artist, Events, Bank Employee and many more. But he’s finally found where he belongs, creating creatures and art in the Games Industry.

It has been an interesting journey for the 30 year old who has roots in Prussia and Egypt. James Hardman has tried everything to get a job and a career that he enjoys, but it took him a great deal of time and effort to find his ideal arena of employment.  Working in hotels, events and working in data processing in a bank. He tried work experience with Jenny Clarke Design Ltd as a Flash Tattoo artist and Aphelio Ltd as a Creature Designer (3 month unpaid internship). He tried to join the Navy and also trained as a franchise manager.

Since birth he’s loved gaming but struggled to make it his career. After many attempts in other directions it was when he joined Trai2Game that he rediscovered his love of gaming and found the passion to get into games.

“To enter the game industry is more than a job to me; it’s a sense of identity and my place in life. I noticed through each job role generates a certain type of person. I am specific type of individual needing to be a specific type of environment to really take off. I feel mis-understood in many job roles due to my style of thinking and how I approach subjects to produce solutions.

It is really important to me to around great people who support each other and understand each other without constant questioning of one’s self. I’ve had seven years in education and two at T2G. Proving it’s not just qualifications but you also need experience, that is why I am now looking to work and gain experience in art.”

“My experience with Train2Game has been the best course I’ve entered. The course not also teaches essential techniques but provides many opportunities of job placements. Also get your name out there. The course itself already has done so much for me, I am forever grateful. They have really improved my self-esteem and I can see hope finally. The content is up to date and explains all vital processes very clearly.”

James is now completing his studies with Train2Game and looking for an internship/employment at a games studio. James is a great conversation; ask him about his roots in a country that no longer exists or how he created an energy loop that he was going to build with a team of Belgian Nuclear Physicists.

You can find James on the Train2Game Forum or reach him through the Train2Game blog.

Train2Game News Yogscast 2014 Christmas Charity

Posted on by

image

Yogscast, the UK’s most watched family of YouTube channels announces today that its latest Christmas drive has raised $1,104,882.09 – just over £725,000 – for a mixture of international charities.

The incredible haul for the ‘Yogscast Jingle Jam’ beats last year’s total and brings the overall amount raised to over $2.6m since the Christmas events began in 2011.

Talent from across the Yogscast family of YouTube channels – plus some special guests – appeared on Twitch.tv every night during December playing games, taking on challenges and having fun.

The money will be shared between five charities: Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders/MSF, Fauna & Flora International, Special Effect, and End Polio Now.

Those who donated more than $25 got an amazing bundle of games and in-game items, including Thomas Was Alone, Magicka and Call of Juarez – delivered digitally via Humble Bundle and kindly supplied by generous game developers.

Those who gave more than $5 were able to leave messages for the livestreamers and received a unique accessory item in Team Fortress 2.

The month of donations clocked in at a total of $930,097 – with the other $175,000 being raised by the Yogscast directly, through a mixture of initiatives including the Christmas song ‘Does Santa Claus Visit Zombie Pig-men Kids in the Nether in Minecraft (At Christmas Time)?’ and from limited edition Christmas jumpers.

Yogscast co-founder Lewis Brindley said, “It blows our mind every year just how incredibly generous people are – I want to thank each and every person who donated to make the Jingle Jam so successful.”

“Once again we’ve had fantastic support from the UK and international video games industry supplying the games and items,” said Yogscast CEO Mark Turpin.

“We also have to thank the Yogscast family and other YouTubers who gave up their nights throughout December to broadcast live and raise so much money,” Turpin added.

Train2Game News Sounds of Peasants Revolt

Posted on by

SyrinscapeSyrinscape, developer of the app that creates custom, movie-like soundscapes, effects, and music for the tabletop gaming experience, today opens the worldwide call for game fans to contribute their own sounds to be included in the forthcoming Peasants Revolt SoundSet.

Syrinscape developer and Dicestormers co-host Benjamin Loomes asks fans to submit their own self-recorded sounds, including wooden crashes, shattering glass, screams, yells, group chanting, and other sounds players associate with the “peasants revolt” theme. Everyone who contributes a sound will receive the final Peasants Revolt SoundSet for free, as well as a name credit on the product page.

The sounds can be recorded via smart phone, a handheld recorder, or professional studio, and submitted directly to Loomes via email, via Facebook, or a file sharing service, such as Dropbox. Additional details on how and what to submit can be found on Syrinscape.com.

In celebration of the launch of Syrinscape’s SoundSet Creator later this month, Loomes will use the revolutionary new app to build a community-sourced Peasants Revolt SoundSet from the fan-submitted sounds. The process of turning the random sounds into a rich and engaging SoundSet will be documented via a series of YouTube videos, to serve as tutorials for players wanting to create their own environments.

The SoundSet Creator is an easy to use sound toolset, which gives the user the power to create and customize fantastic sound environments to be used in their tabletop games, and is slated for a January 28, 2015 release.

Syrinscape SoundPacks and SoundSets add a new dimension to the gaming table. In addition to creating the officially licensed SoundPacks for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Syrinscape creates general-purpose fantasy and sci-fi themed sounds that bring the soundtrack of gameplay to life.

The Syrinscape Fantasy and Sci-Fi Players are free to download, including two free SoundSets, and are compatible with a wide range of devices, including PC, Mac, Android Tablets, and iPads. For more information, the free download, or to subscribe, visit syrinscape.com.

Train2Game News Open Platform VR Gaming

Posted on by

osvr-logoA group of industry leaders, alongside with Razer, a leader in connected devices and software for gamers, and Sensics, a leader in high-performance VR, today announced the Open-Source Virtual Reality (OSVR) ecosystem, a new standard in VR gaming to push the VR gaming experience forward.

Razer will support the venture with the OSVR Hacker Dev Kit, a virtual reality device and open-source software that enables programming for any variety of VR technology.

OSVR provides both hardware and software support at every level of virtual reality gaming. Starting with some of the most popular game engines, including Unity and Unreal Engine 4, OSVR also works with device plugins from hardware market leaders like Bosch and Razer and the latest from Sixense and LeapMotion. Moreover, OSVR is designed to support all VR devices, including the Oculus DK 2 and Vrvana’s Totem headset.

Engineering teams from all over the world developed a standardized interface for virtual reality gaming. The open platform will allow third parties to design and build their own apps and hardware across any operating systems, including Windows, Android and Linux.

“Gaming is moving towards the virtual reality platform and this poses huge benefits and challenges to gamers at every level,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO. “OSVR brings game developers, gamers and hardware manufacturers together to solve those challenges and make virtual reality gaming a reality for the masses.”

Says Sensics CEO Yuval Boger: “OSVR’s open-platform approach accelerates innovation and provides consumers the freedom of choosing the best combination of hardware and software components. We are excited to partner with Razer and other industry leaders to build OSVR together.”

In line with the OSVR vision, the OSVR Hacker Dev Kit hardware design is both affordable and open source to encourage developers to take advantage of the program. To make software development even easier, the OSVR HDK includes high-quality, low-distortion optics that practically eliminate the need for color and distortion correction, thus minimizing the amount of additional development work required for OSVR compared to other VR devices. Anyone can download 3D files and create their own set of VR-Glasses. For more information on how that works, visit www.osvr.com.

“The OGA is committed to an open ecosystem for the gaming industry, and is pleased to support the efforts of the OSVR,” said Drew Johnston, president of the Open Gaming Alliance. “A free, open source VR development solution supporting multiple headset manufacturers, diverse game engines, and multiple platforms is exactly what game developers and publishers need to accelerate VR gaming adoption.”

Train2Game News Xbox One CPU Increase

Posted on by

Xbox OneAs I am sure you are all well aware some irritating people hacked Xbox Live and PSN however some good has come from it.

Whilst the Xbox One was being hacked a number of development tools to be used by game studios were revealed, including Microsoft’s generous gift to developers – the use of an extra CPU core.

There are eight in total within the Xbox One’s case, two of which have so far been reserved for running the background operating system. Now Microsoft has opened up the use of 50 to 80% of the seventh CPU, meaning that games will run faster and smoother.

The use of this seventh CPU will necessitate the ditching of Kinect – custom, game-specific voice commands, the infrared and depth sensors won’t work. Even worse, basic console commands – “Xbox Go Home”, “Xbox Go To…” will snatch back 50% of the CPU usage.

Microsoft have recognised the flaws and limitations of their seventh CPU in the documentation that goes alongside the development tools, and they are aiming to fix it at some point in the future.

Train2Game News UK Top 20 Games – 05.01.15

Posted on by

Call of Duty Advanced WarfighterA brand new and the first charts to get us going! Unsurprisingly it is the usual suspects at the top awaiting the next big game to knock them down. The only new game in this weeks charts is Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker from Nintendo at number sixteen.

All formats

Week ending 3 January 2015

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 – CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE ACTIVISION 1
2 – GRAND THEFT AUTO V ROCKSTAR 2
3 – FIFA 15 EA SPORTS 3
4 FAR CRY 4 UBISOFT 5
5 ASSASSIN’S CREED: UNITY UBISOFT 4
6 – THE CREW UBISOFT 6
7 DESTINY ACTIVISION 11
8 WWE 2K15 2K SPORTS 12
9 DRIVECLUB SONY COMPUTER ENT. 7
10 MINECRAFT: XBOX EDITION MICROSOFT 8
11 MINECRAFT: PLAYSTATION EDITION SONY COMPUTER ENT. 9
12 LEGO BATMAN 3: BEYOND GOTHAM WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 10
13 MIDDLE EARTH: SHADOW OF MORDOR WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 16
14 FORZA HORIZON 2 MICROSOFT 18
15 THE EVIL WITHIN BETHESDA SOFTWORKS 14
16 CAPTAIN TOAD: TREASURE TRACKER NINTENDO –
17 LITTLEBIGPLANET 3 SONY COMPUTER ENT. 13
18 HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION MICROSOFT 19
19 ASSASSIN’S CREED: ROGUE UBISOFT 17
20 – SUPER SMASH BROS. NINTENDO 20
< previous week
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2015 UKIE Ltd

These charts cannot be reproduced either in print or online without obtaining permission from Ukie. If you wish to reproduce the charts in print or online, please contact david.smith@ukie.org.uk for the appropriate license.