Monthly Archives: March 2016

Train2game News Marmalade at GDC

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Marmalade is at GDC 2016, showcasing Marmalade 2D Kit, available as part of the award-winning Marmalade Platform.

Marmalade 2D Kit offers a set of tools and APIs to make creating 2D content easier than ever before.

With a focus on user interfaces, Marmalade 2D Kit, can dramatically reduce the time and cost of producing a rich, dynamic and engaging UI experience for your game.

“Marmalade 2D Kit combines an editor and runtime that are purpose-built to cater for 2D content and offers a great alternative to Flash,” says Daniel Hall, Technical Marketing Manager at Marmalade. “It allows content creators to iterate fast and often, which is of high value in the mobile gaming market.”

A good in-game UI is crucial to the overall player experience and with built-in support for UI widgets and a powerful keyframe based animation system, Marmalade 2D Kit lets you take full advantage of this key factor.

By supplying a dedicated runtime as part of Marmalade 2D Kit, integrating the content you create with your existing pipeline and game code is quick and straightforward.

“We provide a lightweight playback component as part of Marmalade 2D Kit,” continues Hall. “This runtime can easily be integrated into any existing rendering pipelines, allowing you to create compelling UI experiences by combining both 2D and 3D content with the UI layout created using the editor.”

“Also, our solution has no Flash runtime overhead and the associated performance impact that often affects VM-based solutions, particularly on mobile.”

Marmalade 2D Kit uses an open format for content, allowing the possibility of integration into any codebase in whatever way you want.

Marmalade 2D Kit is available now as part of the latest Marmalade Platform release.

Train2game News Global game industry rapidly growing

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The Open Gaming Alliance (OGA), a non-profit trade association focused on the games industry business, will be presenting new research during this week’s Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) that forecast the global game software market to pass $100 billion in 2019.

An overview of these forecasts will be presented by DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole at a seminar on Monday, March 14th, at 3 PM at the OGA Networking Lounge located at SF Green Space at eefg.

DFC Intelligence is forecasting that in 2019 PC games will be the single largest platform at $36 billion. This is up 35% from the $28 billion generated in 2015.

“A major driver of industry growth is not just software but hardware,” said DFC analyst David Cole. “The emergence of eSports and virtual reality is driving consumers to buy high end PC systems to not only play games, but watch others playing games.”

OGA board of director member Matt Ployhar (Intel Corp) is also remaining very bullish on PC gaming:

“I’m very optimistic that 2016 will be the year that PC gaming finally breaks the $30 billion milestone in software revenues,” said Ployhar. “Not only was there a bumper crop of new PC game releases such as Fallout 4, Grand Theft Auto V, & Metal Gear Solid V performing really well on PC for 2015, but this year another incredible lineup of games is on deck with World of Warcraft Legion, Civilization VI, Doom 4, and Dishonored 2. Strong release schedules like this also tend to bode well for vendors on the hardware side of the business, too.”

DFC has been providing research reports to OGA members since 2008. The OGA will release its full market report this spring, free to all OGA members. Currently OGA members are eligible to download the new Game Market Analyzer app for iPad at no cost. The Game Market Analyzer is designed to allow developers to identify key markets for their products so they can better focus their efforts. The app was developed by LAI Global Game Services in conjunction with market research firm DFC Intelligence.

“We designed the Game Market Analyzer app with indie game developers in mind. Our objective was to create an easy-to-use tool that would help developers find the best opportunities for their games worldwide.” said David Lakritz, LAI’s president & CEO.

The research panel will take place Monday, March 14th from 3-4 pm at the OGA Networking Lounge at SF Green Space and is open to all journalists and attendees of the conference.

Train2game News UK Games Industry at GDC

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Biggest ever UK Industry contingent flies out to leading games developer conference

·         Ukie hosts the largest ever UK industry stand at GDC, with 40 UK games businesses exhibiting on their managed stand
·         2016 will see a new UK Growth and International Trade seminar, chaired by Ukie CEO
·         UK Industry Drinks reception returns, sponsored by Games London, UKTI, Wells Fargo and BAFTA

The world’s leading games developer conference, GDC, is set to feature the largest ever UK industry stand this year, managed and organised by games trade body, Ukie. Exhibiting businesses will demo new game releases and products on the official UK stand, as well as hosting meetings with international business partners.

The UK industry stand will host over 40 of the top UK games companies, including delegations from Wales, Northern Ireland and the Northern Powerhouse.

On Wednesday 16 March, Ukie CEO, Dr Jo Twist, will also be chairing a seminar at the British Consulate in San Francisco. The seminar, ‘UK Growth and International Trade’, will cover opportunities for international trade from the innovative games sector. The seminar will also include case studies of the financial incentives of developing games in the UK, such as the highly successful Video Games Tax Relief, which supported the development of 237 games in 2015. Companies speaking include transatlantic business experts Fitzgerald & Law and EKS&H, as well as a panel discussion with Edge Case Games and Silicon Valley Venture Capital.

Ukie will also host the annual UK Industry Drinks Reception on Wednesday 16 March, an evening of international networking, in partnership with Games London, Wells Fargo, BAFTA and UKTI.

Dr Jo Twist, CEO of Ukie, said, “It’s important that we continue to inform the global marketplace why the UK is such an attractive and important location for games businesses. GDC gives the UK industry a vital platform on which to showcase world-leading content and services to a global audience, attracting important investment and generating business with the brand new London Games Festival launching in April this year, part of Games London, we hope to see even more international attention to the sector in the UK.”

For more information on Games London visit www.games.london

Train2Game News Insomnia57 Twitter partnership

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Multiplay, organiser of the UK’s largest gaming festival, Insomnia, and a subsidiary of GAME Digital plc (“GAME Digital”), the UK’s leading video gaming specialist, today announced a new event partnership for Insomnia57, with Twitter, showcasing two apps throughout the event, as well as providing enhancements to broaden online conversations at Insomnia57.

Twitter, which reaches over 320 million monthly active users, is bringing two of its new, exclusive apps to the event: Q&A and Challenger. After a successful field test at Insomnia56, Twitter is returning to fully integrate the apps for the duration of the gaming event for the first time. The apps will help users to connect, share and engage with their favourite content across Insomnia57 through dedicated channels, so everyone can easily join the conversation.

Multiplay, which already sees Twitter as one of its main channels of communication to reach the Insomnia community, will be strengthening this connection throughout the festival.

As well as using the exclusive apps, Multiplay will be deepening the conversation on Twitter, using data visualisation to showcase and engage with their social audiences in real-time. Twitter will help bring to their attention live, branded and curated conversations, helping Multiplay amplify Insomnia57 through on-screen activation and audience participations from platforms.

Tapping into Twitter’s first-hand experience, Multiplay will ensure visitors, special guests and Insomnia staff will be able to effortlessly socialise with one another in a dedicated hub of online activity.

“Some of the biggest spikes in conversation on Twitter are driven by gaming – it’s the ultimate platform for people to connect on a global scale. Arming Insomnia57 with our talent apps is the perfect way to harness the conversation even more across that weekend of activity, and we can’t wait to see the results,” said Julia White, Media Partnerships, Twitter UK.

“Twitter is a huge platform for Insomnia visitors, with thousands of Tweets sent by visitors at the festival,” said Craig Fletcher, Founder and CEO of Multiplay. He continued: “With these apps introduced to the event by Twitter, content creators, publishers and developers will be closer to their fans than ever. This partnership will make the event easily visible online for fans in attendance and those around the world, showcasing Insomnia’s truly accessible and family friendly environment.”

Q&A App is exclusive to special guests, enabling YouTube and Twitch stars attending Insomnia to effortlessly keep in touch with their fans by answering their questions via the app. Available throughout the weekend of Insomnia57, people will be able to read the Q&A conversations on the @MultiplayEvents Twitter account as well as our special guest’s channel.

The Challenger App is created for visitors of Insomnia57, where people will be able to search and find members of the Insomnia team around the NEC Birmingham. Visitors will be encouraged to show off their ‘game face’, which will be shared and linked to the @MultiplayEvents Twitter account and stamped with #myi57.

Insomnia57 will take place at The NEC Birmingham, 25-28 March, 2016. Tickets for Insomnia57 are on sale now and can be purchased from the official website at https://insomniagamingfestival.com/tickets/.

Train2game News SDKBOX launches Amazon IAP

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SDKBOX today launched Amazon In-App Purchasing (IAP) within its revolutionary live game operations platform. Starting today, Cocos developers will be able to enable frictionless Amazon payment options such as in-game currency, expansion packs, upgrades, and more for purchase within apps.

Kai Zhao, Head of Operations for SDKBOX, said: “We are continuing to expand our platform leadership with seamless access to key services such as Amazon’s In-App Purchasing API. Cocos developers will be able to enable fast, easy purchasing to increase engagement and monetization within their apps.”

SDKBOX supports industry-leading services for mobile game production and operations, including analytics, user acquisition, monetization, advertising, compliance and more. A recent 2.0 update brought new capabilities including receipt verification for in-app purchases, live ops controls, cloud-based game configuration management and more.

With the addition of Amazon IAP to the SDKBOX platform, Cocos developers can enable simple, secure, and trusted 1-click purchase experiences, resulting in increased engagement and conversion rates for purchases within apps.

Over 700,000 registered developers leverage the award-winning Cocos2d-x open-source game engine, which currently features over 50,000 published titles to date, including some of the world’s top grossing games like Clash of Kings, Puzzle & Dragons, Monster Strike, Fantasy Westward Journey Mobile, Big Fish Casino, The Legend of Mir 2, and The King of Fighters’ 98. SDKBOX is dedicated to enabling simple and easy to integrate services, like Amazon IAP, for Cocos developers worldwide.

For more information on Amazon IAP for SDKBOX, please visit www.sdkbox.com

Train2game News Insomnia Ireland

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Multiplay, organiser of the UK’s largest gaming festival, Insomnia, and a subsidiary of GAME Digital plc (“GAME Digital”), the UK’s leading video gaming specialist, is pleased to announce that tickets are available now to purchase for the very first in a series of Insomnia Gaming Ireland events taking place at INEC Killarney, 10-13 June.

Available now on Ticketmaster, Day tickets for Insomnia Gaming Ireland will start from €12 to €24 and €99 for the Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) LAN Hall. Also available are package deals which includes tickets and accommodation, these can be purchased through the venue. To not miss out on the Insomnia experience, all tickets can be purchased at https://insomniagamingfestival.com/ireland.

Visitors to Insomnia Gaming Ireland will be able to play a host of games, enjoy numerous activities and entertainment inside the INEC. Areas include the Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) LAN Hall; open for 72 hours, hosting 250 people playing multiplayer games with and against each other in a fun and social environment. The Exhibition Hall contains a variety of feature zones and games for all ages.  These include a Minecraft Zone, Over 18s area and the Main Stage, where Special Guests will be playing the latest games as well as Panel Talks and Q&A sessions. Special Guests will include ChooChoosGaming, AshDubh, NettyPlays, AmyLee, InTheLittlewood and MiniMuka.

BYOC ticket holders will be able to delve into the eSports scene with popular competitive tournaments occurring throughout the event such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rocket League, League of Legends and Hearthstone. Daily console tournaments will be taking place, as well as the BYOC LAN Hall hosting tournaments of its own.

“With an even busier year of Insomnia events, we‘re delighted to bring the Insomnia brand to Irish gamers,” says Craig Fletcher, Founder and CEO of Multiplay. He continued “Insomnia already reaches tens of thousands of gamers in the UK and we can’t wait to witness Irish gamers’ passion for all things gaming for the first time. The Irish gaming community is one we’ve looked to tap into for a while and we are excited to be able to offer the Insomnia experience in the region.”

Insomnia Ireland will take place at INEC Killarney, 10-13 June, 2016. For more information, please visit https://insomniagamingfestival.com/ireland

Train2game News Joystick App

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Coming soon to iOS and Android, Joystick is an incredible new app set to revolutionise the way gamers can consume news in the future!

Joystick is the World’s First one-stop destination where they can watch all live gaming tournaments across Youtube, Twitch & Azubu.

Joystick will also allow users to create a bespoke personalised news feeds in which they can follow their favourite pro-gamers across all social media and keep up with all different types of gaming news plus watch entertaining game shows.

The Joystick GUI is slick, intuitive and a bespoke news feed can be created in seconds. The user will select their choice of platform, genre and topic before being presented with their personally crafted news feed.

The Joystick trailer is available to watch: https://youtu.be/4ej77ZESa-4

Joystick You’re In Control…

Train2game News GAME Stores raise big money for SpecialEffect

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Marathon month at GAME smashes records in aid of GameBlast16

GAME today announces their partnership with SpecialEffect is going from strength to strength on the back of raising a record-breaking £37,000 for SpecialEffect’s GameBlast16. Thousands of UK gamers took to consoles throughout the month of February to support the charity, which enables anyone, whatever their physical disability, to enjoy video games and leisure technology.

With hundreds of GAME stores around the UK joining in the fun, a series of epic gaming challenges and competitions were on offer for gamers of all levels during February, including events like the Street Fighter V GAME OFF, GAME Loves and Drawlanders.

Culminating on 27th February, GAME HQ hosted a 24 hour livestream with over 70,000 tuning in to watch guests including Wheelchair Basketball European gold-medallist Mark Fosbrook, Microsoft’s Graeme Boyd, Lauran Carter from Lionhead and comedian John Robertson.

Gamers also had the chance to get their hands on exclusive gaming gear donated by GAME through SpecialEffect eBay auctions. Up for grabs were fifty life-size Vault Boys courtesy of Bethesda and signed gaming items. Microsoft also donated two exclusive custom-made Titanfall and Gears of War Xbox one consoles, in addition to a very rare Fable Legends Xbox One console donated by Lionhead Studio and previously unavailable to the public. The console fetched over £3,000 at auction.

GAME will continue to work closely with SpecialEffect going forward. Customers can get involved from today by donating in all 319 stores or even trading in old games and donating their value to SpecialEffect. Over the next 12 months, GAME will also be running various fundraising events in stores and is now working with SpecialEffect in ensuring they have all the latest gaming equipment and games.

Fred Prego, Marketing Director at GAME said:

“We are overwhelmed by the incredible response from our GAME community to GameBlast16. Their involvement has helped us support SpecialEffect in not only making GameBlast16 a fun and successful event, but also in helping us to raise five times more than we did last year which will contribute to the fantastic work that the charity does all year round.

“With most of our staff being dedicated gamers, we recognise the responsibility we have to help make gaming a hobby that is accessible to everyone. We are committed to continuing our support of SpecialEffect and there are exciting plans in place to work together over the year, so watch this space.

Train2game News Train2Game students creating own Game Jam

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Free Game Jam organised by Train2Game students, for Train2Game students will take place 27th May. Train2Game also helping to create and support the event.

Students looking to improve their skills and network have created their own game jam. Train2Game is helping the initiative with advice and publicising the event on its channels. The game jam will be remote, with participants getting involved over the web from any location.

Participants can create their own teams or sign up via the Team Speak channel and form teams on the group. Those taking part can suggest a theme that will then be selected at the beginning of the event. Judges for the competition will be made of students past and present. All entries will be visible on the forum, where students can vote on their favourite.

Students can use their entries to gain experience and for use in their portfolios. They will also find a network of friends that could become professional contacts in the future. Train2Game is also offering a gaming laptop to the winning team.

Train2Game student and head of Game Marmalade, Slinks said: ‘I decided to do a Game Jam because I was egged on by my fellow students, late at night in my Teamspeak channel. There is a slightly selfish element to putting this event on as well, as I’m also looking out for my future. If I can’t get a new future in game art, I might be able to get a new future in online event organisation. It’s another string to my bow.’

‘Obviously everyone in the Teamspeak channel is interested and I’ve got a team together. But I think this is going to be a slow burner. People are only just learning more about the event as the post I put up this evening has much more information, answers many more questions and gives a better structure for the event. Once people have read and digested the post, I’m hoping it’ll kick things off.’

‘There are many benefits for students such as, learning to work as a team, experience working to a deadline, improving communication skills, discovering your strengths and weaknesses, learning to work under pressure, problem solving, learning how you cope with stress, the sense of achievement when you complete the project, new friendships, new teams, a potential studio, the possibilities are endless. But by forging some strong alliances through events like this now, we give ourselves the best opportunity to be successful in the future as this is how studios are formed.’

‘Not only will you have examples of your own work to show prospective employers, you’ll also have an example or that work in action. Being involved in a team project also demonstrates you are capable of being a team player and possess some of the qualities listed above. So I believe getting involved in Game Marmalade with be good for a student’s portfolio’s and their C.V.’

‘People can help by getting their own teams together and registering them with me as soon as possible. Also if there are any students out there who would like to be involved but can’t make the event, I’m looking for judges so I need to hear from these people as soon as possible as well.’

‘People can sign up with me by sending all the details of their team and a theme to me and I’m holding regular meets in my channel every Friday. People can come to the channel on any other evening as well, I try to be in there most evening around 7pm but people pop in and out at all hours so apart from Friday it’s a case of drop by and see who’s about.’

A spokesman for Train2Game added, ‘This initiative demonstrates a key part of developing students into team players for the modern games industry. Train2Game will be offering a magnificent gamers laptop as the top prize for this Game Jam.’

Email event organiser: slinky.dink68@outlook.com

Find out more about the event on the Train2Game forum: http://forum.train2game.com/showthread.php/22512-Game-Marmalade-A-Game-Jam-by-students-for-students-May-Bank-Holiday

For more information contact: mark@train2game.com

Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry

Read the Train2Game blog at www.train2game-news.co.uk Train2Game is a proud supporter of www.gamatier.com

Train2game News Iron Maiden Legacy of the Beast Founders Packs

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Nodding Frog, Roadhouse Interactive and 50cc Games are pleased to announce that the  Founders Packs for their  Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast  mobile game are now available direct from  www.ironmaidenlegacy.com/founders 

Founders Packs and Collector’s Editions are relatively commonplace in PC and console gaming circles, but something new in mobile gaming. In keeping with the spirit of innovation prevalent throughout Iron Maiden’s career, Legacy of the Beast Founders Packs will offer fans and players limited edition collectibles, exclusive insider access to game-design forums, rare in-game Eddies and boatloads of ‘Ferryman’s Gold’ (in-game currency) to commemorate the launch of the game.

“There are tons of Maiden fans at Roadhouse, and rock, metal and punk is a big part of our studio culture with lots of the team wearing band shirts at any given time. We decided to create some exclusive apparel to celebrate the launch of the game and show off the many iterations of Eddie that appear in it. It’s been fantastic to see the band’s fan base show their support for the project online, engaging with our social channels and sharing their views on what we’re up to. Alongside the T-shirts, Hoodies, and other cool swag, we’ve created a new opportunity for fans, gamers, and newcomers alike to have an even greater role in the creation and direction of the game with the Founders Forum” says James Hursthouse, CEO, Roadhouse Interactive. 

Llexi Leon, Creative Director, Phantom Music Management, added “With the Founders campaign we’re offering exclusive access, awesome in-game items, and some killer custom-designed Iron Maiden gear. As a video games Collector’s Edition addict I’ve been particularly thrilled to curate this range, and we’re all excited to be pioneering this approach in the mobile space. We’ve combined items you might expect like T-shirts and Hoodies with totally new offerings, such as exclusive character art cells, a gorgeous giclee on canvas print, and a beautiful digital art book.”

“We’re offering incredible value in every pack, working with our partners at Global Merchandise and Dark Ink Art to ensure the same top quality products our fans expect, but at an unprecedented discount to celebrate this amazing game and the expansion of the Iron Maiden universe. Our friends at Onkyo have even provided a limited number of the remarkable hand-wired Japanese made Ed-Ph0n3s as part of our top tier Eternity pack, a jaw dropping collection that’s limited to 666 units on a first come first serve basis.”

All those who order a Founders Pack will get to participate in online discussions with the development team, be granted access to exclusive community forum content, and have the opportunity to vote on the direction of the game and proposed content.

Seven packs have been created, five of them themed to in-game iterations of the band’s iconic mascot, Eddie, in a variety of character classes. The Packs range from the digital only Part of the Legacy Pack, right up to the strictly limited Eternity Pack that contains all the character class Eddie T-Shirts and art cells from previous tiers, a pair of extremely limited items including an archival quality print on canvas and a premium embroidered hoodie, topped off with a set of Onkyo’s Maiden Audio Ed-Ph0n3s, representing amazing value across the board.

Priced in Canadian Dollars and shipping worldwide, the packs are available for a limited time only and will be dispatched throughout June / July 2016, to coincide with the game’s global launch.

At the time of going to press, the in-game digital add-on packs will be an option only applicable for Android users.

Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast, is an action-packed, free-to-play epic mobile RPG steeped in Iron Maiden mythology, and launches on both iOS and Android platforms in June 2016. “Maiden Vancouver, Played Everywhere!”