Category Archives: Developer

Train2Game News: Get behind the scenes of Hitman Sniper Challenge in developer diary from IO Interactive

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Train2Game students can go behind the scenes of Hitman Sniper Challenge, discover how the pre-order incentive was created and find out how it fits in with Hitman: Absolution in a developer diary from IO Interactive.

Members of the Hitman development team including lead producer Hakan Abrak, game director Tore Blystad, gameplay director Christian Elverdam, level designer Dennis Brus-Hansen and art director Roberto Marchesi discuss Sniper Challenge moved from a test to a full mini-game with online leaderboards.

The video also shows off early concept footage of Sniper Challenge as the team discuss how they wanted to create a unique pre-order incentive for Hitman: Absolution.

Watch Hitman Sniper Challenge – Behind The Scenes below, right here on The Train2Game Blog.

Hitman: Sniper Challenge is available now when you pre-order Hitman: Absolution. Hitman: Absolution itself is scheduled for release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC in November 2012.

There are more developer diaries from a variety of studios here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on the process behind Hitman Sniper Challenge? Have you played it? Could a model like this be the future of pre-ordering?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: UK Charts – Ghost Recon: Future Soldier shoots to No.1

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Train2Game students see Ghost Recon: Future Soldier from Ubisoft take top spot of the UK Charts in the tactical shooters’ first week on sale, one of three new entries in the top five.

The fifth full game in the Ghost Recon series has had better week one sales than any of its predecessors.  Last month, The Train2Game Blog spoke to Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Creative Director Jean-Marc Geoffroy and Ubisoft Development Director Adrian Lacey, with the pair offering advice on getting into the industry.

The success of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier sees Max Payne 3 drop to No.2, while Capcom RPG Dragon’s Dogma and Codemasters’ DiRT Showdown are new entries at No.3 and No.4 respectively.  FIFA 12 is a non-mover at No.5.

Sniper Elite V2 from Oxford studio Rebellion slips to No.6, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 remaining at No.7 for the second week in a row. Prototype 2 drops two to No.8, while Diablo III is this week’s biggest loser slipping seven places from No.2 to No.9. FIFA Street completes the top ten.

Other new releases making the top 40 this week include Mario Open Tennis for 3DS at No.11, and Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock for PlayStation 3 at No. 34.

The UKIE Gfk Chart-Track All Formats Top 10 for the week ending 26th May is therefore as follows:

1. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (Ubisoft)
2. Max Payne 3 (Rockstar)
3. Dragon’s Dogma (Capcom)
4. DiRT Showdown (Codemasters)
5. FIFA 12 (EA)
6. Sniper Elite V2 (505 Games)
7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision)
8. Prototype 2 (Activision)
9. Diablo III (Blizzard)
10. FIFA Street (EA)

Releases for the coming week include Resistance: Burning Skies for PlayStation Vita.

What are your thoughts on Ghost Recon: Future Soldier taking No.1? And what about the success of a new IP in the form of Dragon’s Dogma at No.3? And which game do you think will take top spot next week?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: New DR Studios title ‘My Sea Park’ has huge Train2Game student input

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Train2Game students on work placement at DR Studios have played a big part in developing My Sea Park; the latest title from the Milton Keynes based game producers.

The upcoming free-to-play iOS title allows you to build your own sea park full of penguins, dolphins, killer whales, giant squids and more.  You can find out more by liking the My Sea Park Facebook page.

Find out more about Train2Game students on work placement at DR Studios in their industry experience diaries, right here on The Train2Game Blog.

As usual, leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: LittleBigPlanet PS Vita developer diary reveals community influence on game

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Train2Game students can get behind the scenes of development for LittleBigPlanet PlayStation Vita in a new developer diary from Sony PlayStation.

LittleBigPlanet for PlayStation Via is being developed jointly by Tarsier Studios and Double Eleven, with the latter previously taking Train2Game coder Darren Price on a work placement.

The Making of video sees LittleBigPlanet Media Molecule’s Alex Evans and Mark Healey discuss their confidence in the studios that are making the game, while Tarsier offer a look at development, which includes getting input from LittleBigPlanet community level designers.

Watch it below here on The Train2Game Blog.

There’s more on LittleBigPlanet here, while be sure to keep reading The Train2Game Blog for more PlayStation Vita news.

What are your thoughts on LittleBigPlanet for PS Vita? Will it give Sony’s handheld a shot in the arm?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game student industry experience diaries: Stuart Davison at AppCrowd – week 11

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Train2Game student Stuart Davison  is on a Train2Game work placement with AppCrowd. He returns with a new industry experience diary in which he discusses scripting and what he’s learned to appreciate about other disciplines.

Read it on The Train2Game Scribd page, or here on The Train2Game Blog. There are more Train2Game industry experience diaries here. 

Train2Game News: World of Warplanes closed beta begins 31st May

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Train2Game students can apply to take part in the World of Warplanes closed beta which begins on Thursday 31st May.

World of Warplanes is a flight combat MMO from Wargaming.net, the developer of the popular free-to-play title World of Tanks.

World of Warplanes”will feature a wide range of warbirds, each of them unique in their effectiveness and behavior. Virtual pilots will choose from three main warplane classes — single-engine light fighters capable of engaging enemies in close dogfights, heavy fighters with their deadly straight attacks, and ground-attack aircraft, the fearsome threat for ground targets.”

Train2Game students interested in applying to take part in the World of Warplanes closed beta can sign up on the official website.

Get a taste of World of Warplanes in the teaser trailer below.

For more on beta testing, how it’s useful for Train2Game students, and opportunities to get involved with it, keep reading the Train2Game blog.

Will you apply to take part in the World of Warplanes beta? Are you a fan of World of Tanks?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Develop Awards 2012 finalists announced

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Train2Game students see one of the most diverse arrays of finalists ever for this year’s Develop Industry Excellence Awards, with Develop Online unveiling 96 different games industry based organisations have received nominations.

The Develop Awards are there to reward game development studios both big and small for the work they’ve done in the last 12 months. Nominees range from larger studios like Rocksteady, Ubisoft and EA, to microstudios including Thechineseroom and ShortRound Games.

Of course, this is all on top of David Perry set to receive the Games Industry Legend accolade when the awards take place in Brighton on Wednesday 11th July during Develop Conference week.

The full list of Develop Awards 2012 nominations are below.

Who do you think deserves awards? Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

DEVELOP INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2012: THE FINALISTS

CATEGORY: CREATIVITY

NEW IP
Brink (Splash Damage)
Dear Esther (Thechineseroom)
Frozen Synapse (Mode 7 Games)
Monstermind (Bossa Studios)
My Horse (NaturalMotion Games)
Zombies, Run! (Six to Start)

USE OF A LICENCE
Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady Studios)
Battlestar Galactica Online (Bigpoint/Artplant)
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 (TT Games)
LEGO Life of George (LEGO Group Denmark)
Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers (Stainless Games)
Peppa Pig (Strawdog Studios)
Team Hot Wheels Apptivity (Big Bit)
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (Doublesix Games)

USE OF NARRATIVE
Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady Studios)
Dear Esther (Thechineseroom)
Driver: San Francisco (Ubisoft Reflections)
Misfits: Community Service (Mobile Pie)
Where is My Heart? (Die Gute Fabrik)
Zombies, Run! (Six to Start)

VISUAL ARTS
Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady Studios)
Battlefield 3 (EA Dice)
Dear Esther (Thechineseroom)
Rayman Origins (Ubsioft Montpellier)
Trine 2 (Frozenbyte)
Wonderputt (Damp Gnat)

AUDIO ACCOMPLISHMENT
Battlefield 3 (EA Dice)
Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady Studios)
Beat Sneak Beat (Simogo)
Driver: San Francisco (Ubisoft Reflections)
Okabu (Hand Circus)
Total War: Fall of the Samurai (The Creative Assembly)
Zombies, Run! (Six to Start)

PUBLISHING HERO
Connect2Media
IndieCity
Indie Fund
SCEE Xdev
Steam
Thumbstar

CATEGORY: TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES

TECHNICAL INNOVATION
Enlighten (Geomerics)
Kinect Sports: Season Two (Rare)
Monstermind (Bossa Studios)
MotorStorm RC (Evolution Studios)
My Horse (NaturalMotion Games)
Circus Challenge (Pitbull Studio)
Team Hot Wheels Apptivity (Big Bit)

USE OF ONLINE
Aurora (nDreams)
Eve Online (CCP)
Monstermind (Bossa Studios)
Minecraft 360 (4J Studios/Mojang Specifications)
PlayStation Home (SCE)
Trials Evolution (Red Lynx)
World of Tanks (Wargaming.net)

VISUAL OUTSOURCER
Atomhawk Design
Axis Animation
Cubic Motion
Dimensional Imaging
Imagination Studios
RealtimeUK
TrioViz

AUDIO OUTSOURCER
Nimrod Productions
Outsource Media UK
Richard Jacques Studios
Side
The Audio Guys
Wave Studios

SERVICES
Audiomotion
LocalizeDirect
Pinewood Studios
Testronic Labs
Universally Speaking
VMC Game Labs

TOOLS PROVIDER
Autodesk
Epic Games
Firelight Technologies
Hansoft
Havok
NaturalMotion
RAD Game Tools
Unity Technologies
Xaitment

ENGINE
BigWorld Client (BigWorld Technology)
CryEngine 3 (Crytek)
Havok Vision Engine (Havok)
HeroEngine (Simultroncs)
Marmalade (Ideaworks 3D)
Unity 3.5 (Unity Technologies)
Unreal Engine 3 (Epic Games)

RECRUITER
Aardvark Swift
Amiqus
Avatar Games
Datascope Recruitment
OPM Jobs
MPG Universal

CATEGORY: STUDIOS

NEW STUDIO
Thechineseroom
Big Bit
Bossa Studios
ShortRound Games
Six to Start
Toxic Games
We R Interactive

MICRO STUDIO
Thechineseroom
Dakko Dakko
Mobile Pie
ShortRound Games
Six to Start
Rodeo Games
Tanukii Studios/Room 4 Games

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Mind Candy
Zattika
Playground Games
NaturalMotion Games
Stainless Games
Rovio Entertainment
nDreams
Wargaming.net

INDEPENDENT STUDIO
Blitz Games Studios
Bossa Studios
CCP
Crytek
Frontier Developments
Mediatonic
Preloaded
Rovio Entertainment

IN-HOUSE STUDIO
The Creative Assembly
EA Dice
Rare
Red Lynx
Rocksteady Studios
TT Games
Ubisoft Montpelier
Bigpoint Hamburg

SPECIAL AWARDS

DEVELOPMENT LEGEND
As previously announced, the winner of this award in 2012 is David Perry, who will attend the gala ceremony to collect the honour.

GRAND PRIX
Our final prize is the ultimate accolade, decided solely by the Develop team and awarded to the European games studio that has made the biggest impact on the business in the last 12 months.

Train2Game News: Firefall developer diary reveals importance of community feedback to Red 5 Studios

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Train2Game students can get behind the scenes of free-to-play multiplayer third person shooter Firefall in a brand new developer diary from Red 5 Studios.

The developer diary sees VP of development James Macauley and lead designer Scott Youngblood discussing changes that’ve been made to Firefall after feedback from the community. These include getting rid of levelling, changes to gameplay and more.

Watch the Firefall developer diary below, right here on the Train2Game Blog.

Interested in Firefall? You can apply for access to the beta on the official website.

What are your thoughts on the Firefall development diary? How important do you think it is that Red 5 are listening to community feedback?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Play Sleeping Dogs and meet its producer at Square Enix on Thursday

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Train2Game students can get hands on with Sleeping Dogs and take part in a roundtable discussion with United Front Games producer Dan Sochan at a special event on Thursday 24th May.

Sleeping Dogs is an open world crime title in which you play an undercover Hong Kong cop. It was formerly known as True Crime: Hong Kong.

The free Sleeping Dogs community day takes place at the Square Enix headquarters in Wimbledon, South West London, with the opportunity to book a place in one of three timeslots that range from late afternoon to early evening.

Not only will it be great to see an upcoming game before everyone else, but the expertise of Sleeping Dogs producer Dan Sochan could be useful to any Train2Game students that manage to speak with him.

There are full details on how to book your place at the Sleeping Dogs community day on the Square Enix Blog.

Will you be attempting to go to this event? What are your thoughts on the upcoming Sleeping Dogs?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Trainn2Game forum.

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – All 4 documentary films (Updated)

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Train2Game student teams took last month’s Make Something Unreal Contest at Gadget Show Live, with the task of building an iOS game based on the prestigious Fighting Fantasy series.

Now, you can see the progress each of the four made through Make Something Unreal Live in a new video from Train2Game! It features industry figures including Cliff Bleszinski, Jon Hare, Peter Molyneux and Ian Livingstone providing advice to Train2Game students as they developed their game.

We have upgraded all the team videos on YouTube, so if you are linking to them you will need the new URLs which you can find below. 

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The Commando Kiwi Story 

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The Derp Studios Story

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The IndigoJam Story 

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The Digital Mage Story

They’re also all available, with much more, on the Train2Game YouTube channel.

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.