Category Archives: education

Train2Game News: Etoo coming to London

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EtooNot making it to E3 this year? Fear not: London will be getting its own indie gaming alternative, which will coincide with the major LA-based gaming convention.

Taking place at the Loading Bar in Soho from June 10 – 13, the brilliantly named, EToo will feature over 30 game developers showing off their latest projects on big screen TVs around the venue. The event is being sponsored by PlayStation, with GameStick, the forthcoming Android console from British tech company PlayJam, as a partner sponsor.

Developers set to show off new titles at the event include New Star Games (with an unseen new build of New Star Soccer!), Hello Games (Joe Danger), Mediatonic (showing forthcoming title, Foul Play), Nyamyam Games (Tengami), Big Robot (Sir You Are Being Hunted), Simon Roth (Maia), Tom Francis (Gunpoint), Tiniest Shark (Redshirt), Alistair Aitcheson (Slamjet Stadium), Curves Studios and Projector Games (Fortress Craft). Capcom will also be in attendance, running playable demos of Lost Planet 3 and the new HD version of classic platformer Duck Tales. More mainstream publishers are to be announced.

As headline sponsor, PlayStation will be in attendance, with Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us playable, as well as innovative platform adventure Rain and perhaps some surprise extras. David Wilson, Head of PR for PlayStation UK said, “PlayStation is pretty excited about EToo. As well as giving attendees the chance to witness our E3 conference live, there’ll be loads of time to get hands on with a range of awesome games from the blockbuster, The Last Of Us, to the small but beautifully formed Rain”

PlayJam will be showing off its innovative Android console, GameStick, set for launch in July. Sameer R. Baroova, head of games at PlayJam commented, “What better way to celebrate the most exciting week in gaming than to spend it playing awesome games, meeting developers and gamers, and discussing all things gaming. We are  excited to show off GameStick at EToo, and are very glad to be a part of it. Cheers to Keith and Georg for putting this together.”

“This started off with me sulking on Twitter about not being able to go to E3,” says co-organiser Keith Stuart, the games commissioning editor at The Guardian. “Game developer Georg Backer replied and said we should do our own event. It probably should have ended there, but somehow it didn’t. The next thing is, Jimmy Dance, the owner of Loading Bar in Soho, was offering to host it. It was sort of like one of those Hollywood musicals – ‘hey, let’s put a show on right here’. But with less dancing.

“We’re hugely grateful to Sony and PlayJam for covering the costs of this crazy endeavour so I don’t have to explain to my wife why I’ve spent most of our life savings on hiring video equipment.”

Developers will demo their latest games throughout the day, as well as taking part in mini-talks and maybe even workshops. During the evenings, the event will also be running a live-streamed TV show from one corner of the bar, presented by Keith Stuart, Georg Backer and co-hosts including Rock Paper Shotgun writer Cara Ellison. Streamed via a dedicated YouTube channel and set to be embedded on the Guardian site, the programme will include E3 news and trailers, as well as developer interviews. Several guest stars are set to appear, including famed GoldenEye designer Martin Hollis. Popular gaming radio show OneLifeLeft will also stage a takeover event and mini-disco. More details soon!

EToo takes place from June 10-13. The daily developer event is free to attend for the public, but anyone interested needs to pre-register. The evening livestream show, taking place between 7pm and midnight every night, will cost £6 to attend. This includes a free drink. Tickets and pre-registrations are available at http://etoolondon.eventbrite.com.

For more information and regular updates, head to the official website  www.etoolondon.com and follow us on twitter @etoolondon

Train2Game News: Train2Game Radio – Ryan Mitchelson

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Rage Quit GamesI spoke to Ryan Mitchelson recently about his position with Train2Game, his new game and his feelings on the Unity engine.

The site mentioned in the interview is still under construction but does have links to their social media if you would like to learn more about the company.

You can listen to the interview here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1422444-train2game-radio-talk-to-ryan-mitchelson

Or read the following Transcript:

Hi I’m Ryan from Fife.

Hiya Ryan, how you doing mate?

I’m doing good, how about yourself Mark?

I’m not to bad ta muchly! So what have you been up to lately Ryan, what sort of things have you been doing?

Recently I’ve been working on getting prototypes put together for a game that I’m trying to establish, along side trying to set up a company for myself and the people that I work with.

What game is it that you’ve been working on? If you can say.

The game is called Bounce. The aim of the game is to keep a ball bouncing throughout the entire level. There’s going to be several different levels to the game with obviously getting more and more complex as they go by. Oh and it’s a physics based game as well so hopefully it will be an interesting game for people to play.

You said you were working with other people, who is it you’ve been working with?

Recently I’ve been working with Laurence Kinane.

Yeah he’s a Train2Game student isn’t he?

He’s currently a Train2Game student, at the moment he is trying to finish off his course so that we can work full time on games together.

So what’s your position now with Train2Game?

Well I decided to, after a while, not continue with the Train2Game course mainly due to financial reasons, but I have learned a lot from them and I’d like to say thank you for the knowledge I have gained from Train2Game, but at the moment I don’t really have any position with them, I am just trying to establish my own company.

Fair enough. Do you have a name for the company?

It’s called Rage Quit Games.

Something every nerd can get behind!

Oh yeah definitely! That’s why we decided to go with that name, we thought it would be appropriate.

Yeah we have all had a Rage Quit at some point or another!

Oh yeah, I think it happens daily for me to be honest.

So what is it you are making Bounce with at the minute?

We are using Unity.

You’re using Unity are you? How are you finding using that?

Using Unity is absolutely amazing! To be honest the thing I love most about Unity is being able to build extensions on top of it. One example being that I use Visual Scripting system, one of them called Playmaker which is an incredible powerful extension that allows me to essentially script the entire game just using little boxes that I connect together, each box has a certain amount of information in it.

Excellent! So yours is a coding background then I imagine?

Not so much, I am much more of a designer at heart. That’s why I decided to go with a visual scripting system because I did try to learn coding but I found it just wasn’t for me. I eventually just ended up really stressed out with it.

Yeah, I have tried learning code myself a couple of times and it does just look incredibly daunting whenever you look at it.

It is! I mean, it does make sense when you actually look at a sheet of code you can understand and edit it, well for me anyway I can edit things and make them work as I see fit, but writing code from scratch and remembering everything is the most difficult part for me personally.

Did you say you have a website in design at the minute or is out and about with people to see?

It’s almost out and about, I reckon by the time this interview goes up, it will probably be ready and available to the public to go and have a look.

Perfect then so if you’d like to give me a link so everyone can go and have a look at it?

It’s www.ragequitgames.co.uk

That’s perfect.

Is that ok?

That’s perfect and excellent so everyone can go and have a look see at that now.

Excellent

Well thank you very much for your time today Ryan and I will talk to you soon.

Not a problem, thank you for having me!

Train2Game News: Train2Game in The Guardian

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Train2Game and Icey Monty have been mentioned in an article in The Guardian news paper.

Under the Learn and Earn heading in the paper they talk about Nick Walker of Train2Game Student Studio Icey Monty. The article discusses how Nick runs his own app creating company at the age of nineteen and lives debt free, allowing him to enjoy a healthy social life, with never going to University.

Click to enlarge the image to read the article.

The Guardian 28 May 2013 T2G

Train2Game News: Games Industry Jobs – 21.05.13

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Train2Game wants you to work in the industry we all love and with that in mind it is time for another job posting!

DEVELOPER

Job Title Gameplay Programmer
Job Category Programming
Skills Required Programming
Location North West, North West
Job Description My client is a successful studio based in the North West, together with their partner studio they have been responsible for creating some of the most fun and original titles of the last few years.

They are seeking a gameplay programmer to work on a major next-gen project. It will involve a bit of everything on the gameplay front – game mechanics, AI, scripting, UI, effects etc. All based on a long established game engine. The role could possibly include working on the handheld version of the title at a later date.

For this role, the ideal candidate will need:
At least one product’s industry experience, or a stunning demo to show their ability/potential.
Solid knowledge of C/C++ with a strong maths background.
Good all round programming techniques.
It goes without saying that experience in any of the aforementioned gameplay tasks would be a major bonus.

In return the company offer an excellent Salary and Benefits.

More details are available by contacting Lisa Corbett via email: lisa@aswift.com

 

ARTIST

Job Title Artists
Job Category Art / Animation
Skills Required Art / Animation
Location UK & Europe
Job Description Videogame 3D Artists

We’re looking to recruit a number of experienced artists with a wide range of skills at our studio on the South Coast of England to work on high-profile projects.

We offer excellent conditions and a competitive package in a fun working environment.

As an artist at Stainless you will be working with a creative agile team to deliver high quality art assets in collaboration with designers and programmers.

Successful candidates will be passionate about making the best games and making them look damn fine at the same time!

Essential Requirements:
Passion for creating art for games.
Good sense of scale, composition and staging.
Professional attitude and work ethic.
Good written and verbal communication skills.
A desire to learn.
Self-motivated and organised.

We require artists with any or all of the following skills:
3D Environment creation
3D Vehicle creation

The following are desirable but not essential:
Experience working on games as an artist at any level.
Keen eye for detail and art style.
Skills in Adobe Flash / UI Design
Strong traditional art skills.
Understanding of open world/driving games.
Formal qualifications in related fields.
Knowledge of additional software and plugins

You can apply here, http://www.stainlessgames.com/careers/go/

QA

Area: South East
City: Horsham
Company: Creative Assembly

Position Overview
– The Games Tester position is a responsible job; reporting bugs and providing quality feedback for our titles in development.
– These fixed term contracts are for our new Alien IP title currently in development. Several additional positions are also needed for our established Total War team during the same period.
– Test games in development for software bugs
– Enter bugs clearly and accurately into our bug database
– Verify and recreate bugs as required
– Report additional balancing, design and accessibility problems
– Specific support and general roles available

Essential
– A clear understanding of QA process
– A keen enthusiasm for gaming
– Good communication and reporting skills
– Driven and flexible approach

Desirable
– A clear understanding of QA process
– A keen enthusiasm for gaming
– Good communication and reporting skills
– Driven and flexible approach
– Experience of testing one full shipped title
– A good understanding of Strategy games (Total War)
– A good knowledge of current generation consoles (Alien IP)
– Games industry related degree (e.g. audio, art, design, etc.) or expertise in a specific game area is an asset (e.g. audio, technical, PC hardware, design or scripting etc.)
– Fluent in one or more of the following languages: French, German, Italian or Spanish
– Strong technical knowledge/skills (e.g. programming, scripting)

You will need to be available to start between June and October 2012

You can apply here, http://www.creative-assembly.com/jobs/

Train2Game News: Unity goes free to develop for mobile

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unity-logoGood news for Train2Game students, the Unity engine is now free to use for development for iOS and Android.

In a move to further democratise game development, Unity is making its basic mobile tools free for independent developers and small studios.

Unity is a game development ecosystem: a powerful rendering engine fully integrated with a complete set of intuitive tools and rapid work flow to create interactive 3D content. It also has thousands of quality, ready-made assets in the Asset Store and a helpful knowledge-sharing Community.

Starting today, indies will be able to publish their games and apps to iOS and Android in the build menu. Publishing options for other mobile platforms, such as BlackBerry and Windows Phone 8 will also be included “at no additional cost” once they are released.

Unity CEO David Helgason said “We were able to make Unity free for the web and for desktop computers a while ago, but have been dreaming of doing the same for mobile for what seems like forever.

“Mobile games development is possibly the most dynamic and exciting industry in the world, and it’s an honour to be able to help so many developers be so successful in fulfilling their visions and in building their businesses.”

Taking to Twitter, Unity rendering architect Aras Pranckevičius said that there will be some compensation for developers who had already paid for their licence but he is unsure of how the compensation scheme will work.

This is obviously amazing news for Train2Game students and student studios as it is one less boundary stopping you from developing games. You can download the engine and start developing today from here, http://unity3d.com/

Train2Game News: Icey Monty require staff

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Icey MontyTrain2Game Student studio, Icey Monty have been so successful over the past few months that they need a new member of staff!

If you are unaware of who they are, Icey Monty Ltd. is an app and games development start-up targeting PC and Mobile markets, headed-up by Train2Game students John Esslemont and Nick Walker. The young developers didn’t anticipate the acceleration of business and in the next few months are looking to hire an additional developer on a full time basis.

Due to the nature of freelance work, the length of the employment cannot be guaranteed. Similarly, Icey Monty cannot give any exact figures about wages, work hours or job demand. Given the studios current rate of work, you can expect a junior designer’s salary, this is likely to fluctuate however.

The chosen candidate will likely be hired on a per job basis, as this is how the team currently pay themselves, with a schedule based work flow on a semi-consistent hourly rate. Icey Monty is looking exclusively for a Unity3D developer, who is able to work from home.

The ideal candidate would have the following:

  • Ability to code to a moderate standard in any object-orientated language, although proficiency in C# is preferable.
  • A good understanding of Unity’s IDE, including its non-scripting features.
  • Coding skills in the context of Unity’s engine; Abstraction, Inheritance, Serialization, 3D math, generics, reflection, modularity, logic, events & delegates, procedural, state machines, commenting. Most importantly, the desire to be consistently improving and the ability to teach oneself.
  • General skills, including; time management, mathematics, cooperation, commercial business software, communication, composure, literacy, dedication, stress management, commitment, confidence, respect, ambition and drive.
  • Skype and mobile availability.
  • A passion for games development, design, and quality.

The Icey Monty team are hoping that you can expect an average of forty hours per week. Usually 9-5 Monday to Friday, although there will be fluctuations and quiet days on almost every project. Bonuses may be available for these periods, depending on the client.

Those forty hours will be used doing the following:

  • Creating entire games and apps to client’s specifications in a given time frame.
  • Working with SVN software on team based projects.
  • Scripting key components on top of existing frameworks.
  • Suggesting and incorporating new game and level design to clients in parallel with their ideas and direction.
  • Working with the Icey Monty team; handling clients, organising prices, features and meetings.

The team will ease you into all of the above, especially regarding finances and client interaction. Icey Monty is relatively new to operating as a studio and learning through experiences what works best.

If you think you would like to work with Icey Monty, you can send your CV and application to them at nick@iceymonty.com. Icey Monty also require you to CC them to nickwalker12@googlemail.com

Train2Game News: The future’s a game as Nicola’s incredible journey across Europe pays off

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Nicola When Nicola Valcasara faced nothing but dead-end jobs in his home-town of Verona, he went on an incredible journey which ended on the doorstep of one of the world’s biggest companies.

The ambitious Italian rode almost 2000 miles through Italy, France and the UK on his Honda motorbike to seek his fortune.

Nicola, aged 26, of Lowerstoft Close, south east London, said: “I was delivering pizzas in Italy and working in an amusement park, anything to get by really, but then I found myself out of work for a year…

“I’d always had the ambition to work in the games industry but there are no real opportunities anywhere in Italy. I’d spent months applying to companies but got no response.

“I couldn’t see any future at home and one day I just jumped on my motorbike and rode off into the night with my heart set on finding work.”

After five days of travelling across Europe Nicola finally arrived in London. “It wasn’t that I believed the streets were paved with gold but I knew it was a major centre for the games industry and that’s all I wanted to get in to.”

David Cameron has made the video games and apps industry one of his main focuses of the UK’s economic recovery offering major tax breaks to companies offering new jobs and opportunities to talented people and financial support to major organisations. But Nicola’s arrival in the capital was a nightmare – within 24 hours a gang tried to steal his motorbike and a few days later he was conned out of £300 by a company which promised to get him into the games industry.

“It was terrible, I’d parked my bike in the street and five men tried to steal it – the police woke me up at 3am. The next blow was meeting up with a man who convinced me that his firm could teach me what I needed to know to realise my techy ambitions. They ripped me off. I was pretty despondent.”

Nicola and chefs

“I didn’t know he was in the competition. When he told us he had won we were in shock. He’s a very quiet guy, then out of nowhere he told us he had won £10,000”, head chef Sandro Jaupi

But within ten days Nicola had found himself a job as a chef in one of London’s top restaurants.

“Things were looking up and I have always enjoyed cooking – but it still wasn’t what I was looking for. I knew Microsoft’s London offices weren’t far from where I was working and I’d always wanted the chance to prove my abilities to them in particular. It was like I was standing on the doorstep of a dream.”

Nicola started burning the midnight oil in a bid to break in to the games industry. “I used my wages to pay for aTrain2Game course, one of the biggest training colleges in the UK, and right away I began making games and apps.”

It was then he entered the national Rapid2D development competition to find the best apps created for Microsoft’s Windows 8. Nicola was amazed to hear he’d won the top prize of £10,000. Part of the prize was to see his work go up on line, a visit to Microsoft’s new centre in London and to receive mentoring from Gurus.

Myra and Andrew presenting the cheque

“I can’t believe it – it was worth that incredible journey through the nights on a motorbike from Italy. Now I have money in the bank, I’m learning to build games which is my real ambition and I’ve got an introduction to Microsoft. I feel like I’m really on top of life.”

Dr. Jan Telensky senior JV of Train2Game where Nicola is learning said: “We think Nicola has done really well and what a journey he went on to get here. We wish him all the best. This really is an exciting time to get into the industry, particularly with the Government tax breaks and the support of major organisations. Our students are becoming main players in games design.”

Nicola coaching Andrew

Nicola coaching Andrew Weber, Microsoft at Le Mercury {deuxiéme}

Nicola chefs and cheque

Sandro Jaupi, head chef (Nicola’s boss)

How do you feel about Nicola winning?

Absolutely amazing,

He has worked for us for around 5 months.

He really likes gaming; all he talks about is gaming in the kitchen.

He works in the kitchen for a job but his heart is set on making games, this is like a dream come true for him.

Nicolas cheque

Train2Game News: Train2Game Students helping Help for Heroes

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Help for HeroesA few of our Train2Game Students have taken it upon themselves to help out Help For Heroes. They will be attempting to break the world record for a gaming marathon.

Christopher Edwards and his friends contacted me a while ago with their plan and they have since got in touch with Guinness. They have had their record accepted and they have the support of Help For Heroes.

They are planning on playing Battlefield 3 for a total of 150 hours, beating the current record of 135 hours. In total, there will be five people competing to beat the time, the game will be played online so other members of the public can join and play with them.

They will rent a server where they will place a banner and a friendly message for players to see before they enter the game, mentioning their pledge to Help for Heroes and the fact it is a Guinness World Records attempt.

The Guinness World Records rules state that the group are allowed a 10 minute break every hour which can be saved up to use when they choose. The location is not yet decided, however, where ever it is staged the attempt is going to be live streamed online and will include a link to make donations.

Chris said “I hope that you find my cause a worthy one and that myself and my friend’s can count on your support and sponsorship. We hope to make a lot of money for charity, if not we may just make it over the hundreds, however we believe any amount could be a great asset to Help for Heroes.”

If you wish to support Chris and his friends you can do so by visiting http://www.bmycharity.com/150hoursgaming4charity

You can also like and follow their progress at https://www.facebook.com/150HoursOfGaming4Charity

I wish Chris and his friends the best of luck!

Train2Game News: Train2Game Radio – Muir Halleron

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Muir HalleronI got the pleasure of interviewing a young man named Muir recently who is just coming to the end of section 1 of his course. You may have seen Muir on Twitter or the Train2Game Forum as he is always very active on there. Now you can find out more about him!

You can here the interview here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1391947-train2game-student-muir-halleron-talks-to-t2g-radio

Or read the transcript below:

Hi my name is Muir, I’m a Games Development student with Train2Game and I live in Widnes, Cheshire.

Hi Muir, how you doing mate?

I’m alright thanks Mark, how are you?

I’m good cheers buddy. So tell me, how did you get into Games Development?

Well, I’ve always loved games. My first games console was when I was like four years old and it was an Odyssey 2, if you can remember back that far! Showing my age. I’ve just been really interested in games going all the way up to Nintendo, Xbox360 and PlayStation. When I saw the Train2Game thing online I went on the website, filled out a form and didn’t think twice about it really.

Was there any particular game that made you want to get in to development its self?

Probably the Elder Scrolls series. I had a play with the Elder Scrolls, Skrim it was, there game engine that they use that they have opened up to allow people to mod the game. I was just absolutely gob smacked by it and everything that goes in to making a game. I’d say that’s probably the biggest series that’s worked.

Yeah. Were you into coding before that or is it something you have learnt through Train2Game entirely?

It’s pretty much something I am learning just through Train2Game. I remember when I was really little, about five or six years old, my Dad bought a home computer and I actually had a go at learning BASIC on that. It got to the point where I could make a really, really simple game on BASIC and that was about it.

So what have you been up to with your games development at the minute?

Well right now I’m nearly finished with Section one in the course and I’ve lately been doing the one game a month challenge that’s online. That’s www.onegameamonth.com

Oh yeah? How’s that going?

It’s going pretty good, this month has been pretty slow, I’ve had a mental block with coding for some reason this month but the last 3 months I’ve made one game a month. The first one was something based on one of the Game Maker tutorials in the intro booklet for the Train2Game course and the other two were ones I came up with, on myself. The last one being completely done in C++. I’m actually really proud of that one!

Nice, so it sounds like you are progressing quite well then?

Yeah and I just recently I’ve also been accepted with Road Hog Games. Doing there student initiative.

Ah very nice and what are you doing with them?

Well right now it’s a group of two developers, two designers and two artists I believe. We are in the process of making a game under the tutelage and support of Road Hog Games.

Finally, What is your greatest ambition for your career?

Well I am hoping eventually to be able to get to a point where I can either work for a well developed gaming company as a developer or go in as an indie dev and make my own games.

Is there any company in particular that you’d want to work for?

Well in this area, just in Widnes, there’s actually Sony Evolution Studios is in Runcorn which is real close to where I live. So I’ve been feeling the waters with them a bit and there’s a few other small gaming companies in Liverpool and Manchester as well.

Excellent. Well thank you very much Muir!

Thank you Mark!

Train2Game News: Sony waiving publishing fee for PlayStation Mobile

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PlayStation MobileThis was brought to my attention yesterday and it is amazing news for Train2Game students creating mobile games. Sony have announced they are waiving the publishing fee for PlayStation Mobile.

Those who are developing mobile titles now have a new strong market to publish for, including the hand held Sony device, the PS Vita. The PS Vita has new interesting control functions which opens up a whole new way of thinking of game mechanics using the touch pads on the front and back of the device.

Sony already have a number of popular mobile titles such as Haunt the House: Switch Galaxy and Beats Trellis. A game you are creating can now sit along side these and other great titles.

PS Vita owners can download these games and the new games soon to be arriving from amateur developers from the PlayStation Mobile section of PlayStation Store. Owners of PlayStation certified devices can obtain them through the PlayStation Mobile Store – click here for full instructions.

You can see everything you need to know about PlayStation Mobile on the PlayStation Mobile website which has a key game highlights, a direct link to the Dev Portal, and a link to download the PlayStation Mobile application for Android to your PlayStation certified device.

Sony seem to be strongly embracing the indie market with this and the introduction of an Indie store on the PlayStation 3.

This is a great time to start developing titles and to be a Train2Game student.