Category Archives: employment

Train2Game News: Game Launch Competition

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Train2GameAs part of the PR team’s ongoing support of students creating games, we’re offering you the chance to win a month’s worth of free PR.

The initiative will search for the most promising titles and give them support by taking the game to UK press for reviews and features. Your game will feature in blogs and on websites, getting you the much needed publicity that will result in your title getting in the hands of gamers. We’ll also introduce you to our business connections to get you further support in releasing your game.

What you will win:

• Creation and distribution of press release to announce the title.

• Approach to press for reviews and features.

• Placement in magazines, on the radio and in blogs associated with theTrain2Game.

• Media training where applicable

• Advice and consultation

• Business connections, we can put you in touch with organisations that can help get your game out there.

The criteria:

• Your game needs to be completely finished and ready to take to market.

• Teams and individuals qualify for the opportunity. If you are in a team the majority of the group need to be Train2Game students.

• A playable version of the game will need to be submitted to the judging panel.

• The games will be judged by the PR team who have many years of experience working in the Games Industry.

To enter or register your interest, email: advice@swanpr.co.uk

Train2Game News: Merkury Games looking for Artist

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merkurygames - CopyTrain2Game Student studio Merkury games is looking for new and experienced artists to join their studio.

Merkury games is built of several students of differing experience working as one to forward their respective careers. The studio specialises in retro style games with a twist which can be seen in their two previously released PC games.

The studio is looking for a voluntary artist to join the team who preferably has previous experience based on the retro games in the 8/16 bit drawing. The main requirements for the work will be around sprites, backdrops and concept art. They are looking for an individual who would be willing to take on this challenge. All serious applicants will be considered.

Lewis Gordon said about working at the studio “It’s an open, happy environment where any idea is welcomed and put to use. We are all about helping each other to learn and expand to get the most out of our career”

To be considered for the position please email your CV and an example of your work to recruitment@merkurygames.co.uk

To find out more about Merkury Games visit www.MerkuryGames.co.uk

Train2Game News: UKIE still campaigning for Games Tax Relief

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UKIE LogoUkie has again called for the planned games production credits for UK games businesses to be introduced as soon as possible.

The games trade body has cited new UK production statistics released today by the BFI, that show the new High-end Television Tax Relief has delivered over £233 million for the UK economy in its first nine months, as evidence of the benefits that a similar relief system would bring to the UK’s games sector.

Board member of film and TV body, Film London, and Chair of Ukie, Andy Payne said:

“Seeing the hard financial evidence that the production tax credits have worked for high end TV, and in such a short space of time, proves that the digital creative industries can drive exports, deliver growth and high value jobs as well as attract considerable inward investment.

“This will play a significant part in increasing the UK’s productivity which is so badly needed. The games industry looks forward to the games production tax credits coming into force very soon and having a very positive effect for the UK games industry and the creative industries for UKPLC.”

Ukie CEO, Dr Jo Twist said: “These figures show the massive benefits that tax credits could bring to the UK games industry, opening the door for big inward investment and helping small businesses to scale up. They would help the creative talent in this country to produce more and compete in a global marketplace with uniquely British or European flavoured games. We know that the UK government continues to be behind the games tax relief and remain positive that they will be introduced. We urge UK government and the European Commission to make sure that the new system is introduced as soon as possible so that UK games business can benefit in the same way that TV sector is.”

View the full BFI figures here http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-film-production-in-the-uk-full-year-2013-2014-01-30.pdf

Ukie will be focussing on working with the government and other creative industry agencies to ensure the games sector benefits from other inward investment activities, trade support programmes and industry promotion as part of the government’s wider ambition to sell the opportunity that the UK’s creative industries offer.

Train2Game News: 9 tips for getting a games industry job

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Miles JacobsonSports Interactive studio director Miles Jacobson offers advice in this blog on getting a foot in the game industry.

Here at SI the whole area of job applications is something which is very much at the front of our minds at the moment as we’ve just publicised roughly 20 new positions and we’ve been dealing with what can only be described as a torrent of applications ever since.

Here are some learnings we’ve had from this process.

1. Make sure you have both a covering letter and CV – or at least put some text into your email about why you want the role. I was very surprised how many people just sent a CV with a blank email. Which brings me nicely onto…

2. Stand out from the crowd

Getting a job in any business is difficult. Getting a job in a business that’s perceived to be as exciting and (dare I say it) glamorous as games is very difficult indeed. Before you can even think about getting a job, though, you have to get your face in front of the people who are doing the hiring, and to do this you’ll have to find a way to make yourself stand out from the crowd.

In our most recent round of recruitment we had more than 500 applications for what were two relatively junior positions. These came from a massive variety of candidates, but one thing they had in common was that most kicked off by saying how much they loved our game/company and how it was their life’s ambition to work for us. That’s very nice to hear, of course, but you have to understand that if you’re saying it then everyone else is probably saying it too.

There’s simply no way that any employer can take the time to meet everyone that applies for a position, so try to find something that makes your application stand out from the crowd. This won’t get you the job, but it may just get you an interview.

3. Pay attention

All employers have their own methods for hiring new staff, but most will kick off the process in a similar fashion – by sifting through the initial applications in an attempt to reduce the list of candidates under consideration to a manageable number.

In other words, most employers will start off by looking for an excuse to remove as many candidates as they can from the ‘possible’ pile. One easy way to do this is to remove any candidates who didn’t read the job ad properly. So read it once, then read it again and make sure that you deliver everything that’s asked for – and that it’s appropriate for your current skill levels. A DBA is not someone who enters details about footballers into a database, for example.

4. And pay attention to detail

Another ‘easy win’ for employers looking to reduce their workload is a sloppily-presented CV. If your CV is riddled with spelling errors, missing vital information or just badly presented then you’ll be unlikely to make it past stage one.

On its own your CV is unlikely to get you a job… but it could very easily lose you one.

5. Don’t say it… show it

Modern technology offers job seekers so many ways to showcase their abilities that a well-written and well presented CV on its own may not be enough. If you’re really keen on getting into a creative industry, then take some of the opportunities that are open to you to demonstrate your creativity.

For programming positions, let us know where we can see a demo of some of your work – or detail of the kind of work you’ve been doing. Artists or animators need a link to a portfolio. QA roles should point out some issues with our last title, and potential solutions. We don’t have designer roles at the studio, but would expect the same as the QA roles would be a good way to get someone to take notice.

On the comms side of things (which more and more developers have in-house nowadays), write a blog, set up a YouTube channel or even just maintain an active Twitter account. It doesn’t matter what it is, just do something to show that you not only have ideas, but that you also have the initiative to express them

6. Do your research

The internet is a bonus to any employer as it allows them to do a little background research on any prospective candidate before they even meet. That, however, works both ways. If you do manage to make it past stage one and find yourself invited in for interview, make sure that you know every piece of publicly-available information on your prospective employer. If you don’t, one of your competitors will.

Also make sure that you’ve cleared your social networks of any idiocy. Or, even better, don’t be an idiot in the first place. Some of the applicants for our current open roles are people who have been banned from our forums or social networking platforms (which aren’t easy to get banned from) and when we’re looking for people to not interview, those come very high in that pile.

7. Be prepared

If applying for a programming position, it’s likely that you are going to have a programming test at some point. If the studio is advertising C++ positions, and you’ve been using C# for the last couple of years, brush up on your C++.

And always answer the way that you think is the right way to do it, not necessarily what you learnt at school/university. Often with the programming tests there is more than one answer, and they are more tests to find out how you approach issues.

8. Be yourself

When you do eventually find yourself face-to-face with a prospective employer, don’t try to be the person that you think they’re looking for… just be yourself. After all, it was you who impressed them enough to get you to the interviewee’s chair, so why be someone different now?

9. And finally….

Apply for roles at studios whose work you admire and want to be part of. Passion for what you’ll be working on (even if it’s the tech, and not the games) is very important – if you don’t have passion for the work, you may as well get a job doing programming outside of the game industry as you’ll likely make more money that way…

That’s probably enough to start with. Best of luck with your job hunt.

Source: Develop – written by Miles Jacobson

Train2Game News: Derp Studios release Spectrum style game

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DerpmanTrain2Game Student Studio, Derp Studios, has released a game on Windows 8! Derpman and the Code Monkey conundrum.

The game is an endless runner, similar to Temple Run and Subway Surfers, where you must run, jump, slide and attack the Code Monkeys that are attacking you to get as much score as you can get. It has a good nostalgia trip for those slightly older gamers among us who remember playing the ZX Spectrum as the graphics and soundtrack are made in that style.

The game was created in a single week for an online event known as a Speccy Jam. The rules of the jam were simple, create a game in the style of a ZX spectrum, simple yet different!

The studio has recently been creating a series of comics, in what little spare time they have, known as Derpman which is a parody series of your favourite superheroes. Following on from the comic series it seemed a logical step to create a game on the bumbling green clad hero.

Chris Ledger, CEO of Derp Studios said “The team really enjoyed Speccy Jam, one of the most fun jams we’ve participated in so we’ll definitely be up for the next one!  The time limit was a week and we worked virtually.  Everyone performed really well!  We’re hoping to get our candidate on all the major mobile stores as soon as possible for all to play!”

The game is out now on the Windows 8 mobile store and downloadable for your PC. If you wish to find out more about the studio or read the comics that lead to this game you can visit www.derpstudios.com

Congratulations on the games release guys.

Train2Game News: Train2Game Winners Facebook page

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For all of those who asked, Train2Game Winners now has it’s own Facebook page! You can follow the page and get updated with all the new students that are updated.

If you want to see what your fellow students have accomplished head over to the Facebook page and give it a like!

The link for the page is here.

Train2Game News: OlliOlli coming to PSVita this month

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OlliOlli LogoSkateboarding game OlliOlli, developed by Roll7 – who employed some Train2Game students, is coming to PlayStation Vita on January 22 in Europe.

OlliOlli is a 2d skateboarding game that mixes addictive one-life gameplay with over 120 tricks and grinds with 100 deviously crafted levels & 250 challenges across four gameplay modes.

OlliOlli rewards the most skilful and riskiest of players, always tempting you to go for that massive 360 Inward Heelflip and ludicrous chain of combos. Leaving you to time your landing to perfection – or risk losing your score!

The whole game is hand-drawn in pixelly loveliness, which is no mean feat considering the number of tricks, grinds, slams and stages.

“At PlayStation, we’re delighted to be working with the talented Roll7 to bring the savagely addictive genius of OlliOlli to the PS Vita” said Shahid Ahmad, Senior Business Development Manager, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE). “We loved OlliOlli from the first prototype and can’t wait for PlayStation fans to play this beautifully crafted game on their PS Vitas”

OlliOlli is developed and self-published by Roll7 and was QA tested by a couple of our very own Train2Game students! This is a big triumph for them and will do wonders for their CV’s

You can enjoy the trailer for OlliOlli below:

Train2Game News: Train2Game Winners Launched

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T2G WinnersTrain2Game is supporting its students with new website which shows of the achievements of its student body.

The website is a chance to celebrate the achievements of Train2Game students, highlighting the positive work of the people that make up the student community and showing off some of the work it has done. It’s an opportunity for students to describe their achievements in their own words and for Train2Game to show off some of the projects students have been a part of. It’s also a portal for the wider gaming community to see what some of the best and brightest students studying with Train2Game are working on in the games industry.

Follow this link to visit the site http://train2gamewinners.co.uk/

Train2Game News: A Game Changer – Guest Blog by John Esslemont

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Icey MontyI think games need to change and take a new direction very soon and with the new generation of consoles hopefully that will happen.

Lately I have been getting very bored with games because, in my eyes. it is the same games over and over with the same story but different art and this just plain annoys me as I know what is coming. There are games out there that are pushing the boundaries and I wish everyone would jump on this bandwagon as it can only help the development of games as a medium.

Everyone knows the new COD and BF4 are now out and after playing them they still have their addictiveness with you wanting to beat your friends, but the game is the exact same as every other before it. What happened with the stories as well? In the first call of duty the story was awesome, it was real events and you saw/felt the realities of war, now it is the biggest joke I have ever seen. In most games now this isn’t the case they are coming out with more and more ways to make it fun which I understand but why not keep things a bit more realistic and take things from history or at least some forms of history, in my opinion this would make these games a lot better as you can actually relate to these events.

I have recently been playing KSP(Kerbal Space Programme) and this game is just awesome, it is truly unique. I have never seen a game like this before and this is where I think games need to head. We all need to be unique and different in many ways to create new kinds of games to keep things fresh. This is why I love some of the things indies are doing.

Very recently I have been thinking about war and the realistic cases of it, I watched a documentary called “This Is War” and this truly opened my eyes to what is going on in the middle east and what is even more scary are the predator drones, these things are fire and forget. I found out that most of these are controller with a 360 controller which is freaking awesome BUT I think this makes it more like a game and pulls people away from the reality of what they are doing. If the people controlling these machines, which are designed to kill people, are behind a screen do they actually see what they are doing to people? Do they actually see a weapon or is it a spade?

I have decided to create a game based on these facts where you control either a predator, AC130, or an Apache and you get given a target (normal game scenario) and you must take him out. I don’t want the players to think about collateral damage at all then at some point in the game I want to show them what they done with looking through a screen and not actually seeing what the people they killed where doing or who they were. I hope this game will be a shock and awe type of game that will open people’s eyes to what is actually happening. I hope to release this in around 3-6 months as I want it to feel as close as possible to a real world scenario.

Train2Game News: Games Industry Lessons – Guest Blog by Chris Ledger

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Chris LedgerWow, I must say its been a busy year! A lot of events both good and bad have gone down.

However many lessons have been learned and you know what? I’m going to list off a few of these lessons, as I’ve had to find out the hard way!

1: Don’t aim too high

It may sound simple but it really isn’t. Even the most simplest of ideas can spiral into something a lot bigger.

As a start-up you want to aim small, create some stepping stones that can lead you onto bigger things. Even create some tech demo’s!!

If you create massive projects, you risk never finishing or having to cut them short (depending on your team structure, finances and time in general).

Whilst big projects are achievable, it usually means you’re developing one big title instead of several small ones. This isn’t to say that you should reskin everything, it’s being creative inside boundaries and restrictions. I swear it’s companies that reskin everything which crash the video games industry!!

I find that doing game jams are a great way to make a quick qwerky title that you can blast out in no time. Slap on some ad support and post it on any store you can!

2: Log your finances!

Always keep track of what goes in and out of your company financially. Know your profit, know your overheads because you can make a decent amount by selling a game and because you haven’t been logging your companies income and expenditure properly, you realise you’ve made a loss.

So my advice is that you log everything when it happens and don’t rely on bank statements and PayPal to record everything!

Always work out a cash flow forecast as well. It’s very important to show publishers, the government and other important people who could help you out.

3: Dont work for free!!!

Okay if it’s a self funded project then there are exceptions, however if a company wants to utilise your skill sets, make sure you whack a price tag on them.

When doing this, make sure you aren’t pricing yourself out of the market. You want to be affordable and reliable. Always draw up contracts of terms and conditions and ALWAYS GET A BRIEF.

Always stick to the brief and deliver, if clients want anything else they will have to draw up a new brief and pay extra. Don’t let people push you around.

If you work for free, people will take advantage of you and make you work to ridiculous extremes.

Not everyone is like that though, there are some genuinely fair people out there but they are far and few between when it comes to working for free.

So put a price tag on those skills and make sure you have a decent portfolio to back up your price tag!

4: You’re already in the games industry.

That’s right, as soon as you start making a game, you’re pretty much in the industry. So man people work on their own projects and say they want to be in the games industry, however what they don’t realise is that they already are.

Just because you’re not in a AAA studio and are coding in your bedroom does not make you any less professional and legitimate than someone with a £30,000+ a year salary at Square-Enix.

5: DOCUMENT EVERYTHING

This should of been number one as its my pet hate in this line of work.

No matter what role you have in a team DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. That’s right, I can’t stress that enough.

If you’re ill and can’t work and someone has to pick up the slack, they will need guidance. They will need to look at what you’ve done and what needs to be done.

As your projects grow you will need to log everything because your idea may not be communicated properly and your Elephant Gun weapon, for example, may end up being an Elephant with a gun as the player character.

Designers, make sure you have concepts, high concepts, pitches, game design docs, story bibles and level design docs as your raw minimum.

Coders, make sure you comment your code appropriately and professionally, comments really help others out especially if a designer needs to adjust a variable or two for some balancing.

Get a Technical design document sorted out so you have a clear blueprint of how your code works so that whoever picks up the slack during illness or your departure to can carry on. It also means that people with the clearance to alter bits of code can do so with ease.

Artists, remember that your first attempt probably won’t be your best and don’t expect to get it right first time. Always iterate and try different things. Create a concept diary and aid the designers and coders the best you can. Create character sheets, bestiary’s and make sure you log down the poly and vert count of a model and document what maps and textures models require in their own specific documents.

It sounds like a lot of work and it is. Not everything in the games industry is fun and glamorous. You’ll have your good and bad days like any other job. Trust me, I love my job, but there are some days I would rather just stay in bed instead of modifying the game design doc or using UDK.

6: Prepare to be let down

People will let you down no matter what, it’s in our nature. Staff will come and go so always be prepared to call in a replacement.

It’s not the end of the world, even though it is fairly gutting and stressful. I had 3 staff leave in the space of a week but in the end I found some replacements. As harsh as it sounds, everyone can be replaced.

People will also tear apart your ideas, especially clients. You will also find yourself tearing other people’s ideas apart in order to get something working and to make the project feasible, even as the boss my ideas are torn to shreds as well!

It’s tough out there but don’t give in. No one is doing it to personally spite you and if they are then they aren’t worth working for.

So keep it pro and be a bro about it. As a team you’re there to support each other and make great titles with whatever resources you have!

I hope this helps you guys and girls out. Obviously these aren’t set in stone rules, just my experiences that I thought I’d share with everyone and I hope they are of benefit to people.

Season Greetings,
Chris Ledger
 CEO/Lead Designer
Derp Studios