Category Archives: Developer

Train2Game News: GallantCloud Blog – Week 11

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Gallant Cloud Train2Game – GallantCloud Blog
By Richard Hoffman

Microsoft Accelerator
Week 11

This week we had another good Pitching doctor session to refine our pitch for the demo day. With a few weeks left for the Demo day it is just hard to believe that the time in the Microsoft Accelerator program is almost up and amazing how much progress we are making every week with our game. Everyone we show our game seems to be quite excited and there is always more suggestions and positive feedback to expand the game itself.

I am still studying monetization strategies in games and got stuck in Candy Crush Level 23 for a few days. It is just me or does it seem that the same level is becoming easier over time? Interesting game mechanics for sure! I also start playing League of Legends and Clash Of Clans as they are other successful game it seems.

Clash of Clans reminds me a bit of the Browser game Travian I played around 7 years ago. It just shows that most games are not original really, but have better artwork than another game in the past and are now available on mobile devices.

We came up with some ideas how to implement a few strategies to our game. It is all coming together.

One highlight was the UX (User Experience) Workshop where we learnt more about retention and analytics in general which can also be applied to games. This is very important and useful for our game for sure.

On the business side we are finalizing our Business Plan at the moment and adding the financial figures. Not very exciting stuff compared to creating a game.

It is a lot of work to complete all the tasks and aspects of a game studio and to keep all team members in the loop.

Finally we had a great creative brainstorming session with our mentor again. It is really great to see how he enjoys playing our game and giving positive and constructive feedback to make our game better.

It is unbelievable how much value a mentor and advisers bring to the table and accelerate learning and how to apply it.

That’s all for now. Will keep you up to date about the next weeks.

Train2Game News: Young Modder fulfils his Destiny

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Alexander J. VelickyA young modder spent a year developing his mod for Skyrim just so that Bethesda would notice him and his hard work has paid off. He now has a job… at Bungie!

19 year-old burgeoning game developer, Alexander J. Velicky, created a mod for Skyrim called Falskaar that took him a year to develop. There’s over 25 hours of new gameplay to be found in Falskaar, with an entirely new land roughly a third the size of Skyrim’s Tamriel, new characters, dozens of new quests, new voice acting and even an original soundtrack.

Thanks to all his hard work and commitment he is now an associate designer for the people who bought you the Halo franchise, Bungie.

In a post on the Elder Scrolls forum, Velicky thanked the community for their support of his mods over the years.

“Modding has been 90% of my life for over four years now, and all throughout you were there to support me,” he said.

“From the bottom of my heart I want to thank every person who ever provided feedback on a mod, support, help, or something as simple as a ‘cant wait!’ or ‘great job.’ Every single one of you made this possible. From driving me to work throughout development, to providing astounding amounts of feedback and support to help learn and improve after releases. I owe it to all of you.

He also encourage fellow aspiring developers to chase their dreams: “Never be afraid to try”.

“I set my sights on a professional design job pretty early, I lowered my head, charged forward, and rarely looked back. Of course, I ensured what I was doing had a reasonable chance for success from time to time. But the most surprising of all, is who I’ve ended up with. I applied to many companies, and Bungie was in my, “Huge company that will completely ignore me.” category.

“Well, they didn’t and look what it got me. Bungie is an awesome company with an amazing team, and I’m very lucky that they’ve decided to give me a chance! Never be afraid to try. I spent the time it took to apply and the rewards are proving to be greater than I could have possible imagined.”

Alexander is an inspiration to all those wanting to get in to the games industry. He worked incredibly hard and is now most likely going to be working on the highly anticipated Sci-Fi adventure, Destiny.

A huge congratulations Alexander!

Train2Game News: Train2Game Radio revisits Muir Halleron

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Muir HalleronWe spoke to Muir a while ago when he had not long started the Train2Game course and now we have revisited him. Muir told us all about the work he does now with 22Cans forums.

You can listen to the interview here: https://audioboo.fm/boos/1755384-train2game-student-muir-halleron-talks-to-t2g-radio-again

Or read the transcript below:

Hello I’m Muir Halleron, I’m taking the Train2Game developer course and I’m from Widnes.

Hiya Muir, how you doing?

I’m just fine thanks

Excellent! So what have you been up to since we last spoke?

Oh, loads of things! Since we last spoke; I’ve been to Eurogamer, I started making my own game but it’s very slow going. It’s basically an extreme in my spare time thing. I am also the forum moderators for not only Train2Game but also 22Cans on their steam forums.

Excellent. How did that come about?

Oh I backed GODUS on Kickstarter last December, became active in the forums and through that the community manager, Sam Van Tilburgh, approached me to become a moderator.

Excellent. So have you been enjoying it?

Yeah it’s fun! It can be a bit stressful at times and hectic, especially right after an update of the game, but yeah, I’m really enjoying it!

Very nice and do you get to hear some industry secrets that we’re not allowed to or anything?

Oh not really! I do get a bit of background information just pertaining to my moderator duties.

So have you always been a fan of 22Cans and Peter Molyneux?

I like Peter Molyneux’s Fable series. My first game of his that I actually played was Black & White, sadly I didn’t actually finish that game!

The important question is though, were you a good god or were you a bad god?

I was actually middle of the line!

Oh yeah? Tried to please everyone?

Yeah, straddle that fence!

So have you been finding that all this forum moderation will help you in the future with your career?

I’m hoping so yeah. It’s allowed me to see how things in the industry works a little bit and I’ve got a little bit of contact with a few of the devs on different social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Steam. They’ve been really nice and they answer questions that I have pertaining to the industry.

Excellent, that’s nice. Do you think you’ll perhaps get a job with them as well now that you’ve got contact with them?

That would be nice but they’re a little bit too far south for my tastes.

Oh yeah I forgot you live fairly north. So finally, what are you hoping for the future then?

Well in the future, I’m actually looking to relocate to Leeds because right now I live up near Liverpool but I’m wanting to move to Leeds because my boyfriends live there and with my Son being closer to my boyfriends would mean a bit more support with him so that I could actually get a job and not have to worry about being home to meet him after school.

Yeah that certainly would help a lot wouldn’t it.

Yeah. It’s my hope that once I move to Leeds and get settled in I’ll be able to get a job placement in a company over there.

Excellent well I wish you all the luck with that

Thank you

And I will talk to you again soon Muir!

Alright, thanks Mark.

Train2Game News: Shining Force MMO

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Shining ForceunFun Games, creator of the longest-running MMO series “First Star Online” is releasing Shining Force Online this Thursday evening.

This is a free fan-made MMO created because of a message board post lead developer R. Mulvany saw 8 months ago.

“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next”, says Mulvany. “I thought about doing a remake. I heard about the Sonic 2 fan remake being shut down and that was a shame – it looked fantastic. I was googling about and found a Shining Force fansite where – years ago, they tried to make a Shining Force MMO. This wasn’t the only attempt. Searching, I found 6 other tries that also never happened. Maybe it was cursed, I don’t know, but I wanted to take a crack at it.”

Shining Force Online will be one of the launch titles on Arcade County, a free gaming site from unFun Games which features some of the most unique web games around. You won’t find any tower defense or Angry Birds ripoffs there. It’s all about doing things no one has thought of before.

Shining Force Online will release this coming Thursday 28 November in beta form. The world will not be complete, but there will be 100+ maps and a good deal of quests. Mulvany warns that there will most likely be growing pains and a potential server wipe if exploits are discovered.

“This is a very story-driven game. You will play through a story complete with cutscenes, character that die, and twists along the way. We won’t have the entire game ready at launch. We’ll be in beta for a few months. The way the engine works – we’ll open up new worlds and content literally on a daily basis. Even if you don’t patch, it doesn’t mean we didn’t add tons of content while you were away.”

Players will only need to create an account on www.arcadecounty.com in order to play Shining Force Online. The game can be played on the web or via a downloadable game client for PC, with a Mac version coming in a few weeks.

To learn more about Shining Force Online, check out the game’s page at: http://www.arcadecounty.com/games/shiningforceonline

Train2Game News: BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode 1 Review

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BioShock Infinite Burial at Sea2K and Irrational games have recently released their first bit of story DLC for one of the biggest games of the year, BioShock Infinite, and I got to review it.

I am going to start off by saying their will be some spoilers for the main game here. Do not read on if you haven’t finished BioShock Infinite’s main story.

The DLC, Burial at Sea Episode 1, puts up back in the role of Booker DeWitt with Elizabeth as your companion. However this time you are in the underwater city of Rapture before it’s demise. The entire DLC was created using the same engine that created Columbia which gave brought Rapture up to date with the game.

This being a BioShock game the atmosphere and look of Rapture was breath taking. Every building and every view was a pleasure to look at. The underwater city at this time also lets you see some people and places in all their glory before the events of the first game.

The combat has been changed slightly in this DLC as you are once again battling splicers as oppose to the human forces you fight in the main story of Infinite. The focus is more on stealth this time, sneaking up behind enemies or setting traps with your plasmids.

In addition there is also the return of the weapon and plasmid wheel which made choosing which allowed you to take all the weapons you find. There is also a new plasmid for you to try which I personally quite enjoyed.

The story of this DLC is a good follow up to the main campaign and after the end of Infinite it is good to see some continuation of the idea. Much like the end of Infinite the ending of this story leaves you thinking for a while after finishing.

The biggest downfall for Burial at Sea: Episode 1 was that it was far too short. I am not one to race through games, I like exploring and searching as much as I can and still it took me just under three hours to complete.

I understand it is Episode 1 but just as I was really getting in to the game, it ended much to my disappointment. I can only hope that Episode 2 stays at this standard but just goes on longer.

Train2Game News: LEGO Marvel Super Heroes infographic

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Marvel LegoLEGO Marvel Super Heroes is the latest critically acclaimed LEGO adventure from TT Games, and the first to feature heroes from the Marvel universe.

To celebrate the game’s release, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is delighted to share this infographic, which highlights some incredible facts about the LEGO series and LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. Have you wondered how long it would take Iron Man to fly across LEGO Manhattan, or the time it would take Hulk to freefall from the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier?

You can find out these facts and more with the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes infographic at the bottom of this blog.

In LEGO Marvel Super Heroes players take on the role of their favourite Marvel characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Thor, Captain America and the Hulk, as they assemble to battle against some of the most menacing Marvel Super Villains, including dastardly Doctor Octopus, the ghastly Green Goblin, the ruthless Red Skull, the vicious Venom, Thor’s vexing brother, Loki, as well as the Devourer of Worlds, Galactus.

Players will unlock more than 100 playable characters, including Mystique, Elektra, Mandarin, Silver Samurai, Malekith, Aldrich Killain, Super-Skrull and more.  Players can also choose from a plethora of magnificent bonus hero characters, such as the heroic Guardians of the Galaxy, the Punisher, Captain Britain, Squirrel Girl and Deadpool.

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Train2Game News: Xbox One SmartGlass app available now

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Xbox One SmartGlassThe release of Xbox One is nearly upon us but before Xbox One arrives on Nov. 22, you can download the Xbox One SmartGlass app today.

The Xbox One Smartglass App is separate from the Xbox360 app that you may currently own on your smartdevice. You may remember from the Xbox One launch announcement that Microsoft are planning on making this app a lot more integral to your console experience.

Of course you may wonder what the point to getting the app would be before the console is even released. Until the console is released you may want to try these three things to wet your appetite for the next generation console:

  • Search for the perfect game. Don’t waste any time – search for new Xbox One games so you can jump right in when your console is ready. Xbox One SmartGlass also lets you view information such as game details, achievements and challenges so you’re ready to get going with your favorite games. You can even check out the Game DVR clips already uploaded by the community!
  • Keep up with friends. Connect with friends and the Xbox Live community even before you finish setting up your console. Use the app to see what your friends have been up to, check out their latest achievements, or read your messages while you’re waiting.
  • Personalize your dashboard. Pin your favorite games and apps to the Home screen so you jump into your favorite activities right when you finish setting up your console and log into Xbox Live.

Connecting Xbox One SmartGlass to your Xbox One is easy. Just use the same wireless network on your Xbox One SmartGlass-enabled device as your Xbox One and open the app to automatically connect to your console. Once synced, you can use Xbox One SmartGlass to fly through your console set-up by using gestures to navigate and your device’s keyboard to log in to Xbox Live.

Additionally, Microsoft have partnered with developers to deliver some amazing experiences for movies, games and apps available on day one and beyond worldwide. These include Star Trek Into Darkness, Fast & Furious 6, Dead Rising 3, Just Dance 2014, Battlefield 4, Internet Explorer and Machinima.

The Xbox One SmartGlass app is available for download now on all iOS, Android and Windows 8 smart devices.

Train2Game News: Unity partners with GameAnalytics

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unity-logoGameAnalytics, a fast-growing free analytics provider, and Unity Technologies have partnered in order to bring the powerful GameAnalytics tools into the Unity Asset Store Online Services Strategic Partner program.

“During the last nine years, Unity has truly managed to democratize game development for the creative teams. GameAnalytics is on a mission to follow up from where the Unity engine ends and enable game developers of all sizes to monitor and optimize everything easily, from user acquisition to game design based on hard facts,” explained Morten E. Wulff, CEO of GameAnalytics. He continued: “Improvements based on performance metrics are essential to success in today’s free-to-play marketplace.”

GameAnalytics was founded in 2012 with $2.5m in funding from notable investors such as the CEO of Huffington Post, Jimmy Maymann, and TechCruch’s founder, Michael Arrington. Like Unity, GameAnalytics is a Danish company. It now supports almost 4,000 games and tracks more than 30 million new players each month.

One of the secrets behind GameAnalytics’ explosive growth is how easy it is for Unity developers to get started. As the CEO of Roadhouse, James Hursthouse, explained: “For us, the deep integration between GameAnalytics and Unity meant that we were up and running with 45+ important metrics in a few hours of development time.” James continued: “Today, more than 15 people from our company log in to GameAnalytics every day as one of the tools we use to check KPIs on everything from player acquisition and engagement to in-game monetization.”

“GameAnalytics has been committed to bringing analytics to the Unity community from the day they started the company,” stated David Helgason, CEO, Unity Technologies. “Analytics is an important part of launching a successful game and with GameAnalytics working with us in the Unity Asset Store Online Services Program, that will be easier than ever for development studios of all sizes.”

This could be a very helpful tool for Train2Game students and student studios using Unity to create their games.

Train2Game News: EGX Rezzed 2014 tickets now on sale!

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Rezzed 2014Tickets are now on sale for EGX Rezzed 2014! Next year’s event will take place between the 28 and 30 March at The NEC, Birmingham.

For those of you who haven’t experienced EGX Rezzed before, it’s an event brought to you by the team behind EGX London, formerly Eurogamer Expo. EGX Rezzed will boast many of the features that visitors to EGX London will recognise, with hundreds of next gen consoles and PCs packed onto our huge show floor. It’s a great opportunity for you, the gamers, to get hands-on with the hottest titles before they hit the shops.

In addition to playable games the organisers are planning a host of features including the return of the developer sessions which will see famous game designers presenting their latest projects directly to you in the dedicated auditorium. Meanwhile, the Leftfield Collection will showcase the latest and greatest from the world of indie games.

Plus, there will be an extensive board games area complete with demonstrators to give you a guiding hand, a Minecraft hunger games tournament stage and stands selling all manner of gaming merchandise including t-shirts, figurines, posters and more.

Tickets are available now and if you book before January you can take advantage of a 20% early bird discount. Day tickets are currently £9.60 while those of you looking to get the most for your money can pick up a three day pass for £21.60. Saturday and Sunday early entry tickets are £12.80, with afternoon tickets coming in at £7.20 each. Group discounts are also available.

Information on the playable games, the developer sessions and the rest of the EGX Rezzed features will be revealed over the course of the next few months.

To purchase tickets, see more about the event and look at what happened last year, visit http://www.egxrezzed.net/

Train2Game News: Call of Duty: Ghosts for £9.99

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Call of Duty GhostsIf you are a Call of Duty: Ghosts fan who is upgrading to one of the next gen consoles then good news! You don’t have to buy the game again at full price.

Activision have made it nice and simple for you to get your current generation copy of Call of Duty: Ghosts on the next generation console. For just £9.99 you can download the next generation version straight to your console. This offer obviously only applies to people who already own the game on Xbox360 or PS3.

You will even get to keep hold of your season pass and gamer profile so you won’t lose all the hard work you have put in to the game already and you will still be able to get all the future DLC that will come out for the game.

To upgrade your game from Xbox360 to Xbox One it can be done through Xbox Live. To upgrade from PS3 to PS4 there is a unique code with the game you will be able to use.

If you have held out on getting the game with your next generation console it will be available for £64.99 from selected retailers.

The Xbox One is out this Friday for £430 and the PlayStation 4 is out 29 November for £349.