The success of Train2Game student studio, Icey Monty, has been noticed by studio founder Nick Walker’s local paper, Newmarket News.
The article in the paper talks about the success the young studio have been having lately and their recent partnership with Strongbow.
You can read the article in the link below.
Train2Game Student News Icey Monty Newmarket
Well done guys! Keep up the good work.
I had the pleasure of talking to Richard Hoffman who has recently released his game, Man Alive on iOS and Android. Richard spoke to me about his career history and where the idea for the game came from.
You can listen to part one here: https://audioboo.fm/boos/1544558-train2game-student-richard-hoffman-talks-to-t2g-radio-part-1
and part two here: https://audioboo.fm/boos/1544556-train2game-student-richard-hoffman-talks-to-t2g-radio-part-2
Or you can read the transcript below:
Hello, my name is Richard Hoffman, I am an indie game developer and I am on theGame Designer course with the Train2Game programme. I have my own indie company and we are doing cool indie games, developing and publishing on different platforms including Apple’s iOS and the Google Play Store.
Hi Richard, how you doing mate?
I’m alright thank, yourself?
I’m good cheers buddy. So tell us a bit about yourself, what’ve you been up too lately?
We have just finalised our game Man Alive which is now out for two platforms, iOS and Android. We also intend to publish it on Windows 8, so that will be out quite soon with a little bit of help with Microsoft’s tech team.
Yeah and how was it working on Man Alive?
It took a long time actually because we are working full time and doing this in our spare time. We started two years ago at the Global Gamejam and we saw it’s a really cool game which emerged after those two days and we just continued working and getting it to the stage it’s at now and we are quite proud of it.
Yeah, I’ve had a bit of a play of it myself on my tablet and it is quite a good different idea. Where did the idea come from?
The idea came from the Global Gamejam that we were in two years ago where we had a theme set and we had to do something around an ancient symbol of a snake that eats its own tail. This round shaped form, I’ve forgotten the name of it.
The Ouroboros.
That’s the one! My Greek or Latin is a bit limited! So with that theme in mind, we just bounced a few ideas off of each other and that’s basically what came out of it. We thought, we like playing Mario Brothers and platform games like Limbo for instance and we saw that every game has the same pattern; it’s all about survival and you have your set lives and that’s it. We were kind of bored with this, I’ve played games for about thirty years now, and it’s always the same pattern so we thought we’d do something different. With this theme we just twisted the whole platform game paradigm on it’s head, so it’s not about surviving but you have to die at least once in each level to get to the next level or the next stage. It’s an encouragement to throw yourself in to a river and jump up over your corpses which is kind of fun because it has a cute quirky graphic style which doesn’t look too serious at all because if I explain it to people sometimes they kind of get a bit anxious about the subject but it is quite funny.
Yeah it is quite good. It’s along the same sort of line is Limbo where it doesn’t look so bad to die, it doesn’t shock you or anything, it’s just something that happens.
Exactly except that in Limbo, the first time I played it my friends didn’t tell me you could die so I had a kind of shock moment, I thought it was forever and my friends were just laughing at me for not knowing that!
So what is the company your working with to create Man Alive?
It’s my own company called Global Empire Soft which I created three years ago and just started creating apps and games during that time.
Yeah, is it all Train2Game people working with you now or have you got a mixture?
I have a mixture actually, I have people I know from other universities plus Train2Game students. We work on different game projects whenever they have time as well.
So do you work in one place or are you a virtual team?
We are a virtual team but we come together occasionally but mostly we do everything over Skype and organise everything over Skype.
So whilst you are doing that in your spare time, what do you do for a living?
I’m an apps and games developer so usually I work on projects whether it be contract or a permanent position. My last contract or my last employer was Penguin Books which is quite a big publisher. We worked on some games and did occasional apps as well.
Excellent. So you’ve had quite a lot of experience already then?
Yeah I’ve had fifteen years working in the IT industry and working on apps and games on all different platforms. So I probably know most programming languages and in the last thirty years I’ve played a lot of games on all platforms, whatever came out at the time, from home computers to consoles and PC’s, now Mac as well.
So what brought you to Train2Game?
I was just curious to know more about game design because I never learnt it from Start to finish. I did a degree in Computer Science and before that I already was a programmer so it seems to be like I jumped in to the river and start swimming and then I am trying to understand where it starts and where it ends and what the whole spectrum of an education is. So because I am very passionate about game design and very creative and have a lot of ideas, I want to learn more about that the proper way and I thought the best way of doing that is with Train2Game.
So have you found Train2Game has helped you along in this then?
Definitely it’s a really good guide and has a good curriculum to starting from the simple mechanics of game design and platforms and game design and everything so I already got a good idea ready about the game design part. I am still in the middle of it but I am still keen to do the exercises at the end and just finish the TMA’s and just get to the next one.
Perfect. So finally then what are you working on next?
Next we are working on a few title, something called AVA which is an archaic flight simulator. So we are quite excited about that as we are all fans of Top Gun in our team and good old flight movies! We want to create something with a similar feel of the whole subject from landing, to starting from the Aircraft carrier and having all kinds of Airplanes and also using 3D instead of 2D. Our last game was quite an interesting and challenging approach.
Excellent, sounds like it’s going to be fun!
Definitely
Well I think that’s all we’ve got time for today Richard so thank you very much for your time!
You’re welcome, Thanks for having me.
My pleasure Richard, talk to you again
Train2Game are looking for a team or studio that might be suitable to take part in Microsoft’s pilot for their Accelerator programme, www.microsoftventures.com.
This is aimed at promising early-stage start ups. For 8 weeks the new studio would receive strong mentoring, technical guidance and connections to other start ups.
This is a highly sought after programme so your team (studio) would need to be already established and have collectively produced at least one game. The game may not have been published, but we will need to see at least one game that you’ve made.
The team should have between 2 and 5 members with at least one member of the team able to attend the Microsoft Accelerator offices in tech city, central London, Monday to Friday from 1st September for 8 weeks. Other members can work remotely but one member of the team must work from tech city.
Microsoft will work with the team to develop them into a fully fledged studio. The team, for example, may be one which has previously taken part in one of our game jams and has stayed together since, although this is just an example. All members of the team must be Train2Game students.
It is essential that all teams who wish to be considered apply to us through the correct route; please see Student World for more details of how to enter. Your entry must be in by 3pm on 14th August; entries received after this date cannot be considered.
We cannot guarantee that any team will be accepted into the Microsoft Accelerator programme but suitable teams will be put forward by us. Teams which we feel may be suitable will be contacted by us by 16th August 2013.
Good luck to all those who enter!
roll7 are hiring Train2Game students to be QA Testers at their London based studio. This could be the start of your career!
Due to the response and quality of the students that responded to the first roll7 request for student QA testers, the company are now offering two students an opportunity to get “proper hands on QA experience.”
roll7 are curently looking for candidates that:
The position will ideally be fully time between 19 August to 18 October. QA Testers please look out for more opportunities in August and September.
For full details of the positions, London based, please initially email recruiting@train2game.com including your contact and Train2game college details. Full details will be sent to you.
Don’t delay and apply today to start your journey deeper in to the games industry!
SpecialEffect have an exciting opportunity for a talented programmer from the Train2Game student pool.
SpecialEffect are working on a very exciting, helpful new project. The games charity is creating a fully accessible chess game for absolutely anyone to play, no matter what disability they may have.
The plan for the game is to be able to use any body part to play the game or even using the power of the mind thanks to technology such as the EPOC system. SpecialEffect specialise in creating hardware and software that is simple to use for people with all abilities.
The charity require a programmer to help finish off the work they have been doing on the project. This could be a once in a life time opportunity to work on an amazing project and really make a difference in the lives of so many people who may have trouble playing games in the fashion we are all so used to.
The charity are looking for a C++ programmer and the programmer who has developed the software so far will be available to give support.
This is an unpaid position but working on this project would be a brilliant addition to your CV as it will get some a lot of attention from the games industry media and possibly national media.
Dr Mick Donegan, Founder and CEO of SpecialEffect, said “Anyone who is potentially interested is welcome to get in touch and we’ll happily send the existing code for them to look at. We’ll also demo what we’ve got and talk them through what’s required to finish off the game.”
If you are interested in the job get in contact with at mick@specialeffect.org.uk
SpecialEffect is asking for the help of Train2Game students who use Valve’s Steam system! The charity who provide video gaming equipment to people with disabilities need your votes.
A few select artists from the Steam community have created SpecialEffect themed items for the game Team Fortress 2 and with your votes they can be in game this summer! The items that have been designer are: a viewfinder, cabinet and belt pack. 99% of the profits from these items will go to help disabled players enjoy games to the best of their abilities thanks to the work done by SpecialEffect.
This idea is the brainchild of James Schall, SEGA’s Director of Digital Distribution.
“Demand for SpecialEffect‘s help is rocketing,” said James. “And I’m excited about the potential of these generous artwork donations to kickstart a big-hearted response from the TF2 community to help meet that demand.”
“It’s a fantastic gesture,” said charity CEO Mick Donegan. “Gamers get what we’re trying to do, and to get that support from artists within the community is a real endorsement of our work.”
“We need £750k this year to give people a fighting chance through specialised games control equipment. We’re bringing this technology directly into the homes and hospitals of the people who need it most, and transforming the lives of people with the most severe disabilities through cutting-edge equipment like eye control and brain control.”
You can vote for the items to be in Team Fortress 2 by going to the link below:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=156361911
You can also find the items from within Steam itself by selecting Workshops from the Community menu. Hit the link in the grey text below the main ‘Create, Discover…’ heading, and on the next page type ‘special effect’ in the search box (note the space between the two words!). Then hit the Rate button.
If you would like to check out the pages of the artists who created the items for SpecialEffect you can view them in the links below:
I got the pleasure of talking to Domm Young who is Icey Montys new developer. You can hear how Domm started coding and how he got involved with Icey Monty.
You can listen to the interview here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1475212-train2game-radio-talks-to-student-domm-young
Or read the transcript below:
Hi I’m Domm Young, I live in Portsmouth and I’m on the Developer course with Train2Game.
Hiya Domm, how you doing mate?
I’m not bad thank you. Yourself?
I’m alright cheers bud. So tell me a bit about yourself then?
I came out of college when I was 19. I’ve always wanted to be a Developer. I worked on a lot of stuff during my college time. I did Visual Basic to start with, it’s not the language I had in mind but it’s the only one they taught there at the time. From then onwards I’ve just been doing jobs that I didn’t really want to do and in my own time I’ve just been working on my own thing, but about a year ago or so I decided to join the Train2Game course because I needed a little bit more structure and discipline in my learning and that’s basically what’s brought me to here, really.
What started off your want for coding and stuff like that?
It was basically all down to the fact that when I was younger and playing games and stuff, I always thought it would be cool to implement my own things and I always had an imaginative way of thinking. So when it come to the PC I started playing a game called Vice City at the time, I’m sure everyone knows that!
Indeed.
There was stuff you could do by changing some of the scripts like replacing some of the models in the game but you could also add predefined scripts that were already done, you could put them in to the game and see how they worked. I thought that was pretty cool. From then onwards it was just basically researching and seeing how that all worked.
So were you doing a lot of Game Mods and stuff like that during your college years?
A little bit. When I started learning Visual Basic I thought, I’m going to be learning Visual Basic through the three years I’m at college I might as well get comfortable with using that. Obviously it got constraints when it comes to making games like the fact you can’t, you know, it misses an API basically. I was playing around with that and making little games on screen. When I left college, I started learning C++ as a full time thing and then obviously I found out that the Train2Game course also teaches C++ so it works out really well.
Now you’re with Train2Game you said you were working on other projects. What are you working on now?
I joined a company called Icey Monty. I found Nick on the Train2Game forum and then through Nick I met John. Within that company we do a lot of client work, primarily, that’s mainly our focus. We put our clients first and then we work on our own thing during the evenings or at weekends. Most of the time it’s just ideas we throw about, we get together in a call, we write a few documents and then we see if we can implement it and then if it actually works out, we’ll go ahead and do it. If it seems like it’s going to be boring or it’s not going to work out we decide not to bother with it any more. We’ve got a few projects we are playing around with it at the moment, one being a sort of racing game where you start off and you’ve got to see how far you can get whilst being obstructed by various types of Zombies, it’s just an idea we are throwing out there but at the moment it’s all in the works.
Yeah. So is it a few time job for you now working with Icey Monty?
It is now, yeah. I worked in retail, prior and then I got the chance to join Icey Monty, doing something I really like doing and no one would turn that down.
That’s gotta be a bit of a relief hasn’t it!
Yeah exactly. I’ve been working in jobs I hate for most of my life, since I left college. I’ve worked in stuff like Warehouses and Call Centers and Retail and all that sort of stuff. As soon as I heard Icey Monty were interviewing, I inquired more about it and managed to get hooked up with an interview, that’s where I met John, and it happened straight away. He asked within a couple of days if I wanted to start and I handed in my notice at work.
Excellent. So what was it you think they liked about you so much then?
It was more the drive. I didn’t care how much it was more the fact I wanted to do what I like doing and that’s all I really cared about. As soon as Nick told me they were looking for someone to be a developer for them, he told me what they were using like Unity and C# and stuff. Straight away I started getting straight on to it, started learning Unity, obviously told him about it and both of them were quite shocked about the drive that I had. So I think that played a big part in the reason why I got the job.
Excellent so with this full time job then you can pay the bills alright then?
Yeah, it’s fine. I am happy as long as I can make ends meet and do what I love doing really.
You sound like you’ve got a real love of all things code.
Yeah, that’s right, yeah. Like I said, it’s the only thing I ever wanted to do and I’m sure it’s the only thing I’ll ever want to do.
Excellent. So what are your ambitions to move on to or go forward to in the future?
Icey Monty is my first ever game industry job, working with programmers full time so I hope to stick with those guys. Working with John and Nick is really laid back, you couldn’t ask for a better set of managers to be honest with you.
Excellent! So I think that’s all we’ve got time for today Domm. So thank you very much for your time.
Not a problem at all. Thanks for having me!
My pleasure.
roll7 are hiring and Train2Game Students have first opportunity at the positions available.
roll7 are a small indie games developer in New Cross, London. They have previously worked on titles such as the upcoming skate game for PS Vita – OlliOlli, Mobile Adventure game – Get to the exit and Focus Pocus – which was developed to help change the behavior of some seven to thirteen year olds.
They are doing testing of one of their upcoming Indie titles and they need Testers ASAP!
– Testers are needed for individual slots of 4 hours
– Testers need to be gamers and ideally own a PS Vita
– Testers need to be able to get to our offices in New Cross
– Testing will be in the form of a game play though, no repetitive gaming or bug searching!
AND YES YOU GET PAID!!!
This would serve as a great addition to the CV for anyone looking to get into the games industry.
Slots are open from July 3 until Mid-August and are set at 10-2 / 2-6 / 6-10
Simon Bennett, who works in production at roll7 said that good work on these titles could lead to even more opportunities for the right person.
If you want to take part, please contact simon@roll7.co.uk
I got the pleasure of talking to Train2Game student, Tarnya Smith, who already has a years experience in the games industry after leaving university and she now works at Distinctive Games who have just released the popular Rugby Nations ’13. You can find out what she has worked on and how she got to where she is now in the interview.
You can listen to the interview here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1473120-train2game-student-radio-talks-to-tarnya-smith
Or read the transcript below
My name’s Tarnya Smith, I live in Sheffield and I’m doing the Designer course.
Hiya Tarnya, how you doing?
I’m good thank you, how are you?
I’m alright thank you very muchly. So tell me a bit about yourself then?
I started off playing games when I was a kid, with my brother, that’s how I got in to it. I did creative kind of stuff through university and things like that and when I finished university last year I was given the chance to work as a tester for Sega in London, so I kinda took that with both hands and that’s where it started really. Then I got the opportunity to come up to Sheffield, up here, to work for Sumo, which was doing the Sonic game at the time and I got a job here at Distinctive, as a tester as well, and I moved up here permanently because I was living in London at the time.
You’ve had quite a wealth of experience already then?
Yeah, I’ve been very lucky. I’ve had a years experience straight off the bat, which is quite hard to come by but I work hard so I think that shows and I’ve always wanted to do, creative stuff. I didn’t really want to go back to university because I didn’t really enjoy it the first time around and I’ve always wanted to be a games designer so I thought I would do the Train2Game thing and see how that went.
Did you finish your university course then or did you just think that’s enough once you got the job opportunities?
No I finished, I finished back in May, but the testing job came straight up. I got given that at the end of July so I went straight into that after university.
Is that one you applied for or did they come and seek you out?
No, I know quite a lot of friends who work there and I never really thought about it before but then they started taking on a big bunch of testers so I went for it and got the job.
Very nice. What Sonic game was it you worked on?
Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed.
Oh was it? I do like that game, it is fun!
Well I’m glad because we worked hard on it! Yeah I really enjoyed working on it, it was great fun and I still play it from time to time.
Excellent. It does certainly have replayability a lot.
Oh god yeah!
So, you said you’re at Distinctive Games now. What are you working on there?
We’ve just completed the Rugby Nations ’13 that’s just come out. At the minute I’m just working on patches for old games that need updating for the new iOS and so on, but there are some projects coming out in the future that obviously, I can’t talk about but there good, I’m enjoying it.
Excellent, so are you a fan of Rugby then or is that just something you ended up working on anyway?
I was actually a big fan. I used to live near Twickenham, so I used to go to Twickenham Stadium when I got the chance but I’m not really a big fan of Sports all round but it’s fine!
Just what ever you can get your hands on really?
Yeah pretty much, it’s all good!
Are you a tester at Distinctive now?
Yeah, I’m a tester, yeah.
So do you think they’ll be an opportunity for you to move up to a designer instead soon?
Well I hope so, at some point.
Is that the main aim? I assume
Well, I’m quite happy to be a tester for a while, it’s not that it’s a problem but obviously my aim long term is to be a designer somewhere. So if I can get in here that’ll be awesome but you know, where ever life takes you.
You seem very relaxed with it all
Yeah, I just think I’m really lucky to get into something I’m really passionate about so I am just enjoying whatever I can get out of it, I’m not going to start stressing that I’m not getting the job I want straight away because that never happens.
That is a very good attitude to have
Yeah, so I am enjoying it and I am just going to try and enjoy it for as long as possible.
Excellent. So it sounds like you’ve had quite a good life already then!
I just think, the last year or so, I’ve been quite lucky and I’ve got to know some people that know people. It’s who you are that opens paths for you. I’ve been in the community a few years now and you do get to know people.
Perfect, well I think that’s all we’ve got time for today
Awesome.
So thanks very much for talking to us!
You’re very welcome!
On Big Brother tonight you will get to see the artistic skills of Train2Game student, Cat Forsyth, who has helped turned people into Zombies for the show.
This series of Big Brother started almost two weeks ago and this week has seen the house mates in quarantine for the weekly shopping task.
If the house-mates thought the morning wake up alarm they normally get was bad, they sure were in for a shock as this morning they had zombies banging on the bedroom windows.
They were hastily gathered in the living room and played an emergency news bulletin showing the virus wreaking havoc on the Big Brother studios, before green smoke poured from the ceiling indicating the virus had hit the House.
With only six gas masks between them they had to decide who would get one and they chose Hazel, Charlie, Wolfy, Joe, Daley and Callum. The rest became infected and were sent to quarantine (the large task room).
In order to return to the House those in quarantine must be cured through ‘treatments’ or remain until the end of the task. Those who are virus free need to cure them so they can help in the task and earn luxury shopping items.
The quarantined house-mates will only be fed liquid food, be sprayed down by the other house-mates from time to time and have to crawl through a tunnel if they want a cigarette break.
The “Zombies” make up was applied by Train2Game Art & Animation student, Cat Forsyth and the company she works for, Silent Studios. She has been using her Art skills to make these people very “Un-life” like and utterly terrifying, you can enjoy Cat’s handy work below.
Be sure to tune in to Big Brother tonight on Channel 5 at 10pm to see the horrific action unfold!
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