Category Archives: Developer

Train2Game News Another great success for SpecialEffect

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MaxA few days ago games charity, SpecialEffect, had the real privilege of helping five year-old Max to master his games.

“Max has cerebral palsy and loves playing Xbox,” said Theresa, his mother. “He can use his left hand but doesn’t have any fine motor skills in his left side. Up until he started school this hasn’t been a problem, but now he plays with his friends he’s more aware that his limited function affects his ability to play the games his friends play.”

The charity visited Max to see if they could help. His Dad Alan explained that Max loves racing games, but because of his limited function, he’d often have to just steer while his Dad pressed the buttons or vice versa. He also likes Toy Story, but couldn’t make his character move and jump at the same time.

There was various challenges to overcome, but the switch-based setup SpecialEffect have ended up with gives the flexibility to position the switches wherever they need to be. They can also be mapped to any controller button. It was agreed the best thing would be for Max to use different switch arrangements for different games.

Max has a great relationship with his dad and will still enjoy playing games with him, but Max can now play independently if he wants to. At one point he even shouted, “Look Daddy, I’m playing by myself!”

Now he can play the games his friends play, ensuring he’s included. And if you’re a five year-old, THAT’S what matters!

Train2Game News Derp Studios demo on Android

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Two SoulsIntroducing one of the most challenging games to grace the Google Store; Two Souls. In the game you take control of two little androids on their journey through the stars. Although their goal is the same, their paths are very different. Using the analog sticks guide your two little soul mates towards the end zone of each level in the best time you can achieve!

  • 10 levels, each more challenging than the last
  • Challenge mode, a true test of dexterity!
  • Achievements; beat the challenges set by the developers and earn achievements via Swarm.
  • Leader- boards: Attain bragging rights and post high score on; Swarm, Facebook and social media. Show the world you have what it takes to be the best!
  • Beautifully composed soundtrack.

Two Souls is Train2Game student studio; Derp Studio’s, award winning game from the Swan PR competition. Derp Studios would like to thank all those who helped get Two Souls where it is and a very special thanks to Train2game for allowing it to use their iconic robot as the in game character.

Click here to visit Derp Studios. Download the game for free on Android devices here!

Found a bug or want to give your thoughts on the game? Contribute to the game’s development by taking part in QA here.

Train2Game News Develop looking for Indies

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DevelopDevelop in Brighton’s annual search for the next big thing in independent games development is underway again as submissions open for its fourth Indie Showcase at www.developconference.com.

The conference’s Indie Showcase celebrates the very best of indie game development with an exhibition featuring the ten best entries as chosen by a panel of experts led by Assyria Games’ Adam Green. One of these 10 games will be judged overall Indie Showcase Winner by the judging panel, one will be selected by journalists in the Editors Choice Award and there will also be the chance for all delegates to vote for their favourite game during the event in the People’s Choice Award.

All 10 finalists receive two free Indie Dev Day conference passes, up to five Expo passes, pre-event publicity and a profile on the event website, plus the opportunity to show off their games to around 1,600 developers and publishers at the event.

Last year, a record number of indie developers submitted their games to the judging panel. Winners included People’s Choice award That Dragon, Cancer, a game created to help developer Ryan’s four year old son in his battle against cancer and financed by OUYA to launch this year; Editors’ Choice award Gunpoint, out on Steam which received an 83 metacritic score on launch and Indie Showcase overall winner Ibb and Obb which launched in Europe and America on the PlayStation Store a month after winning the award.

“It is fantastic that The Indie Showcase is back for a fourth year. Last year produced a record number of submissions and I think it is safe to say we are in a golden age for indie developers. I have high hopes there will be even more amazing games submitted this year and I can’t wait to check them all out,” said Adam Green, managing director Assyria Games.

“The showcase remains an excellent opportunity for indies to put their game in the spotlight at the Develop in Brighton Conference and get in front of publishers, the press and over 1600 delegates.”

Andy Lane, managing director of conference organiser Tandem Events, added: “For the last four years, we’ve been fully committed to giving a platform to the very best indie talent that’s out there. It’s completely free for indies to enter and the top ten games not only get the great opportunity to be showcased to the wider development community who come to be part of Develop in Brighton each year, but the shortlisted Indies will get direct feedback on their games from other developers playing them.”

Entry to the Indie Showcase is open to the following at www.developconference.com:
– Studios with no more than 15 people
– Studios – and games – that are non-publisher funded
– Games which are not published by a third party at the time of submission
– Games that have a development budget of less than £1million
– Games that are created in the “indie spirit”

The deadline to enter is 12 May 2014 and the Indie Showcase, Editors’ Choice and People’s Choice winners will be announced to press and delegates at the Develop in Brighton Conference on Thursday 10 July 2014.

Train2Game News Gamonaut hits big numbers

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GamonautOnline gaming website Gamonaut is flying high just a month after the site went live, reaching over half a MILLION plays in March 2014.

The team behind this winning formula are Train2Game student studio Icey Monty. They release at least an exclusive title per week. Popular titles on the site include the park it 3D series: Drunk Parking and Ambulance.

The Gamonaut team is made up of three Directors with Development support. John Esslemont (24) and Nick Walker (20) are based in the UK and Romano Zagoršćak (30) is based in Croatia. The international team have an average age of around just 25. Nick and John are actually still studying with distance learning provider Train2Game which is how they met.

John Esslemont, Director, said: “I thought about creating Gamonaut after working on a client’s game, I was wondering how they’re able to support themselves and started talking with the client. It was Romano who came forward with the idea of a joint venture, Game development + Web portal just made sense.”

Nick Walker, Director, said: “I think the combination of our skillsets has allowed us to drive the site forward. Romano’s expertise in everything related to games portals and publishing, combined with the skills we’ve learned doing client work over the past couple of years allows us to make quality games that brand a genuinely good site. There is fierce competition, but we work extremely hard to get our standard of quality up to the high levels.”

Director Romano Zagoršćak, said:  “We definitely have a bunch of plans for the future. First of all we’ll continue making even better games. We plan to expand to mobile markets and further build up website audience. There’s always room for improvement and we strive towards that in our work – site, strategy, game ideas, development practices and basically everything.”

Play the latest and best free 3D games available at http://www.gamonaut.com/

Train2Game News Port iOS Games to Android

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MarmaladeCross-platform game development SDK  Marmalade Technologies Ltd announced today that all iOS game developers can now use the Marmalade SDK to bring their games to a market of over 1 billion additional devices worldwide.

Marmalade Juice, the new iOS to Android porting tool, will be included in all Marmalade licenses and from today, for a limited time, the annual Community license is free.

The full release of Marmalade Juice will be welcome news to millions of game developers who, until now, have taken a single platform approach, finding themselves locked into the iOS ecosystem and unable to maximize the wider market opportunity for their app. Now, using Marmalade Juice, developers have the ability to recompile their Objective-C code for Android, providing a clear and cost-effective route to stores including Google Play and the Amazon App Store. Once their games are compiled into Marmalade, developers have many of the benefits of working within the cross-platform SDK such as maintaining a single codebase and the option to target further platforms in the future.

Justin Ng, Engineering Manager, Storm8: “Working with Marmalade Juice has made the process of bringing games to Android almost invisible. The Marmalade toolset integrates well into our process and because everything is still developed in Xcode, there was a minimal learning curve. Using Marmalade Juice was incredibly easy and allowed us to focus on what we love – building hit games for our more than 50 million monthly active users”.

Harvey Elliott, CEO, Marmalade Technologies Ltd: “Adding Marmalade Juice to our powerful SDK means that at last developers have an easy way to extend from iOS to the now dominant Android market, using technology from a company that has grown up with mobile gaming. The release of Marmalade Juice underlines the long established aims of Marmalade in ensuring that operating across platforms can be a sustainable strategy for the developer and the industry as a whole.”

Marmalade Juice now comes included with all Marmalade SDK seats at no additional cost. To celebrate GDC 2014, Marmalade Community licenses will be free for a limited time, so all qualifying iOS developers can unlock their games to Android for free. Developers should use code: GDCFREE here: www.madewithmarmalade.com/free.

Train2Game News Survey on Freemium

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EA logoAn EA-backed survey brings in a whole lot of new math to support the “freemium” business model and integrating advertising in games.

New data offers some pretty shocking predictions on the purchasing trends of the gamer population over the next few years. A study conducted among 500 gamers by IHS Technology found that 86 percent of players would rather have a free game, supported by ads and in-game transaction, than pay full price for the game itself.

IHS also predicted that micotransactions spent on “freemium” games will account for 39 percent of the total money spent on video games in North America by 2017. Likewise, mobile, tablet and PC gaming, where the majority of games using freemium business model are found, will account for 54 percent of the spending on games content by 2017.

IHS also forecasted that by 2017 only 10 percent of mobile and tablet games will earn their revenue through a paid download, reflecting how prevalent the freemium model will become at that time.

The study was conducted on behalf of Electronic Arts and WildTangent, a company that powers game services for different companies, including PC gaming sites used by EA. The games tracked in the study were EA freemium titles using “EA2/BrandBoost” technology, which featured in-game ads such as long form video, custom mini-games, and branded in-game content.

If a player chooses to interact with an in-game ad, they will usually be rewarded with a game item or, for games that only let you play for so long each day, additional playtime. The survey also found that gamers were more likely to play longer after experiencing an ad that gave them an in-game item.

The study also notes that gamer’s are more positively disposed towards an ad if it happens at the beginning of a game or during a natural pause in the action.

Train2Game News UK Top 20 Games – 31.03.14

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inFamousSecondSon-1InFamous Second Son has had a second week at the top of the charts with the highest new debut game this week being the expansion to Diablo III, Reaper of Souls reaching number six. Further down the charts the new Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright cross over game has entered at number fifteen and MXGP: The Official Motocross Video Game has just squeezed in at number nineteen.

All formats

Week ending 29 March 2014

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 – INFAMOUS: SECOND SON SONY COMPUTER ENT. 1
2 – METAL GEAR SOLID V: GROUND ZEROES KONAMI 2
3 – TITANFALL EA GAMES 3
4 FIFA 14 EA SPORTS 6
5 THE LEGO MOVIE VIDEOGAME WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 8
6 DIABLO III: REAPER OF SOULS BLIZZARD –
7 SOUTH PARK: THE STICK OF TRUTH UBISOFT 5
8 CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS ACTIVISION 12
9 MINECRAFT: XBOX 360 EDITION MICROSOFT 10
10 FINAL FANTASY X/X-2 HD REMASTER SQUARE ENIX 4
11 PLANTS VS ZOMBIES: GARDEN WARFARE EA GAMES 9
12 DARK SOULS II BANDAI NAMCO GAMES 7
13 – BATTLEFIELD 4 EA GAMES 13
14 THIEF SQUARE ENIX 11
15 PROFESSOR LAYTON VS PHOENIX WRIGHT CAPCOM –
16 LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 15
17 ASSASSIN’S CREED IV: BLACK FLAG UBISOFT 14
18 GRAND THEFT AUTO V ROCKSTAR 17
19 MXGP: THE OFFICIAL MOTOCROSS VIDEOGAME MILESTONE –
20 NEED FOR SPEED: RIVALS EA GAMES 19
< previous week
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2014 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.

Train2Game News Pixel Shirts

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Pixel ShirtsTrain2Game Student Studio, Merkury Games, have started a new business venture to help aid the company financially.

The studio are now selling a range of different merchandise with pixel designs of yourself or pre designed amusing gaming related images. The images can be put on merchandise ranging from Key Chains, T Shirts, Hoodies and even Clocks.

It is a nice idea and shows that the studio is able to think outside of the box to gain funding to aid their studios and furthering their careers.

If you are interested in buying any of the products from Merkury Games for either yourself or a brilliant nerdy gift for your loved ones, visit Merkury Games website at www.merkurygames.co.uk 

Train2Game News 100 most influential games industry Executives

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gamerLeading games business publication MCV (The Market for Computer & Video Games) has named the 100 most influential games industry executives – those reshaping the business in the UK and beyond.

The inaugural MCV Brit List features men and women from all different disciplines supporting UK video game businesses. It also names a handful of the famous Brits flying the flag for UK creativity and intelligence on the global stage.

From Twitch to Mind Candy, and Xbox to Apple, the Brit List is a definitive guide to the creative and commercial British brains working in video games.

The list was collated after an extensive entry and lobbying period, and then voted for by a judging panel featuring some of the industry’s most high-profile experts.

Both legends and rising stars feature, with hugely respected leaders such as Rockstar Games founders Dan and Sam Houser, Ukie CEO Dr Jo Twist, and PlayStation CEO Andrew House sat alongside the likes of Tomb Raider writer Rhianna Pratchett, the creators of Yogscast (the UK’s most popular YouTube channel) and Roberta Lucca, co-founder of Bossa Studios.

The full list, featuring interviews and profiles of the 100, is available to download on iPad or view in your browser at: http://www.mcvuk.com/digital-edition. And it’s absolutely free. Featured content will also be posted on www.mcvuk.com over the next seven days.

“The Brit List is a toast to those men and women transforming the games business in the UK – and those flying the flag for British excellence abroad” said Michael French, Publisher of Games at Intent Media.

“The power of UK creativity really means this list could comfortably have been much longer. Congratulations to those that made the list.”

Train2Game News PlayStation 4 one handed controller

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benheckonehandedps4_1Ben Heck, who makes some great projects for element14 and Farnell has created a one handed PS4 controller, to make gaming accessible for players with disabilities.

By moving the left analogue stick to the rear of the controller, the player is able to use their leg to manoeuvre the controller. The shoulder buttons and D-pad have also be rewired to the right side of the controller.

This is a great project that allows more people to experience the world of gaming that has helped a lot of us through our lives.

You can enjoy the video of the controller being built below thanks to http://uk.farnell.com/: