Category Archives: employment

Train2Game News: Craig Moore Student diaries: week 43

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Craig Moore

Student Diary

Week 43

So, I must apologise for the radio silence as of late. With the combination of the upcoming Game Jam, my heavy concentration on Train2Game coursework and a consistently frantic day at work, occasionally things will slip my mind.

I blame my age, since I am now the oh-so lofty age of 30! I collect my pension soon …

So last time I left you I was heavy in to UI work and really learning Unity and getting to grips with the tech. Not much has changed to be honest; there is simply so much UI work that needs to go into games of this type that it’s a lofty job for anyone. That being said it is coming along very well, elements of the game are fully implemented with just some polish required and it’s actually becoming a product!

I was able to get a build on my phone, which is one of my favourite moments, to see it actually on device and I was very pleased. Taking all I had learnt from my work on Sea Park and how I feel I have naturally grown; really shows. It has made a much cleaner UI and it just generally feels much more accomplished. Each little icon I have been doing has become a little art piece in its self, it makes me incredibly proud whenever I can see these little things and how they look in the game. It’s those moments that remind you why you are doing this in the first place and why you have made the decision to follow this path!

As the first submission draws ever closer there is no let down on the work that needs doing, as each task generally leads to more tasks it often balloons before it gets completed. I foresee a few late nights as we go forward but it should make for a much better game and something I am genuinely excited to play myself!.

Hopefully I should be back rolling with proper updates after this weekend’s Game Jam, without that on my plate and my recent submission of coursework for Train2Game I have a little extra free time so things won’t slip.

Until next time!

Craig

Train2Game News for students

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There are many notes on the forum with a number of views as to how to apply for a work placement. The reality is THIS is how the placement scheme is operated.

First you should visit student world and look at the openings available. The information within Student World explains you should apply in writing saying why you think you should be considered for the opening. Your application should include a CV.

More here on the Forum

GOOD LUCK

Train2Game News A Warm Welcome to Mark Kington

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Our very own Mark Kington is joining the Train2Game Online Team replacing Danny as our team blogger.

We would like to thank the amazing number of people that applied for the position. With so many GREAT candidates it was a really tough process, but after being grilled by three of us at the Luton Office. Mark, also a T2G Student, is the victor.

After a period of training, so don’t bug him for now, Mark will take charge of Train2Game News, Facebook and other social media, plus Train2Game Student Radio. Mark will also become an Admin of the T2G Forum and work with the Forum Admin Team.

If you fancy being one of his first victims, I mean guests, on Train2Game Student radio drop a note to suggestionbox@train2game.com giving a little detail about things you would like to talk about.

Again congrats to Mark and WELCOME aboard.

Train2Game Student Diaries Matty WS weeks 36 and 37

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Week 36
On week 36 of my diaries now! That’s a lot of weeks so far, and yet everything is still going swimmingly well. The new project is underway now and we are all working hard on it. My Sea Park is doing pretty well too. This week has been quiet though, since Jonny and Ben are no longer here and there are some people away too, making the office a lot more empty than normal. I’ve been quietly working away doing what I’ve needed to do. Not much of an eventful week really.
I have also been going through the course a little faster, currently verging on the end of section 2, so far the course has provided some insightful knowledge into my role as an artist, I look forward to seeing what section three will teach me, which I should be on very soon if I keep up the pace I am at. I have spoken to quite a few students on the artist course and none that I know of are on section 3, so I have no idea what it’s going to be like! Should be interesting
Week 37
This week so far has been a bit of a headache week, as I try to fix a problem we are having with axis translates vertex values, local and world pivot locations and parent/child objects,
since all of these values display differently from Maya to Unity or Max. This is probably the most confusing problem I’ve come across since I started modelling eight years ago. Other than that issue my week has been ok! We have started doing regular weekly sprint meetings again which is good, because it means I can be a little more organised with my work and it also means I always know what I am doing.
I’ve also now done the section 2 exam for the A&A course, which makes me on section 3 in five working days! This also means I am as far in to the course as Craig Moore is into the
designer course, he started the course about a week before I did so I’m not doing too badly I don’t think. That being said, how far people are into the course is not a rating for how good they are at their roles, there is a lot more information to learn that may not be on the courses that people can acquire through experience or looking up online for info or tutorials.
http://www.train2game.com

Train2Game Student Diaries Ezekiel Morris Week 11

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Jonny and Ben had a leaving do on Friday so went out with them for a drink.

At work we had a meeting talking about the characters and texture for the characters in our new project, commonly the characters are bill boarded. We also discussed the characters having eyes instead of no eyes which I thought that was the style we were going for so change of plan. So that will be my next task to do sketching up character eyes

Conveniently I’m getting use to using Maya  but I still prefer 3ds Max  but people do say Maya is best  for animation, if it does the job and it works for the game engine  then go for it, particularly it’s straight forward with 3ds Max but it’s still good to learn other programs as well.

The programs I’m learning are Unity and Maya and I’m getting better every time I use them. This week I’ve been animating so there’s hasn’t  be anything different from the last task, since doing this work placement I’ve learned so much,  it’s starts off complicated  for a while and then you get used to the work system, now it’s as easy as pie.

www.train2game.com

 

Train2Game Student Diaries Ben Collings 16 – 27 July

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Monday 16th July 2012 – So turns out what I was trying to do with the extra detail just wasn’t needed in the end so I was able to quickly add it into all the levels done up till now.  Just need the lead designer to implement all the changes and make sure there’s nothing wrong.  There shouldn’t be but you never know when exporting to FBX, miss one little tick box and it can all go to hell!

Unfortunately the lead designer was busy with other tasks today so to avoid me twiddling my thumbs I was moved onto the same project Rod had been moved onto the other week.

Tuesday 17th July 2012 – Spent the day drawing up concepts for scenery items, that and trying to get to grips with the visual style of the game.

Wednesday 18th July 2012  – More concepting done today, working hard towards getting a game pitch document done.  Exciting times.

Thursday 19th July 2012 – I’ve got a four day weekend starting tomorrow so had to work extra hard to get all my components drawn up today, got it done and the pitch document went down well.

Friday 20th July & Monday 23rd July – Day off.

Tuesday 24th July – More concepting work, drawing scenery items till the cows come home it seems.

Wednesday 25th July – More concepting but not any scenery items this time, today was accessories!  Don’t think I’ve ever spent so long just doodling random items!

Thursday 26th July – Had to make some final little tweaks to the levels I’d been working on for the previous game.  Ended up taking up most of the day fixing them just lots of little tweaks, making sure things weren’t too close to each other and other similar tasks.

Friday 27th July – My final day of work experience.  It’s been a blast I’ve learnt a lot and I’ve even got my name into a couple of games!

www.train2game.com

Train2Game Student Diaries James Bouckley EMPLOYED BY UNITY!

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Train2game student James Bouckley has been on the T2G Work Placement scheme and has now found FULL TIME EMPLOYMENT – Well Done James!!!

James picks up the story:

Week 20 w/e 20/7/12

Why leave the good news until the end, I got a full time job at Unity!

This means my diary entries will be coming to a close soon but I’ll keep anyone who reads them updated until the end.  So apart from the amazing news had a fairly good week in terms of work done too.

In the game there was a bug where if all the spawn points for the enemies were on the camera at once then it threw and exception.  I fixed this by, if all of them were on the screen at once, the enemies spawn from the one furthest from the player.

Previously we had a system where power packs needed to be put on a dispensing machine whilst you fought off enemies.  When the energy of the machine was full it would dispense items.  I’ve changed it now so that instead there are waves of enemies and the last one you kill dispenses items.  There was also a fairly major memory leak in the script that made items between you and the camera invisible which I have now fixed and also made it so that multiple things at once can become invisible.

Aside from the game Graham has asked me to write a beginners guide to asset bundles.  I finished the first draft on Friday but I am yet to hear people’s opinions on it.

To sum up: new job! YES!

www.train2game.com