Final Alert
The closing deadline is coming fast to join the latest Train2Game Microsoft competition.
Registration closes today, but worry not you have until mid-January to complete you entry.
Full details can be found on Student World – GOOD LUCK.
Category Archives: game
Train2Game News: UK Top 20 – 17.12.12
This is the last game chart that Train2Game will bring you in 2012. Not a lot has changed in the run up to Christmas. Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 is still at number 1, Hitman Absolution has risen up the ranks from number 6 to take the number 2 slot and Forza Horizon has revved back up into the top twenty this week.
Week ending 15 December 2012
| POS. | TITLE |
PUBLISHER |
LAST |
|
|
1 |
– |
CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II |
ACTIVISION |
1 |
|
2 |
|
HITMAN ABSOLUTION |
SQUARE ENIX |
6 |
|
3 |
– |
FIFA 13 |
EA SPORTS |
3 |
|
4 |
– |
JUST DANCE 4 |
UBISOFT |
4 |
|
5 |
|
FAR CRY 3 |
UBISOFT |
2 |
|
6 |
|
ASSASSIN’S CREED III |
UBISOFT |
5 |
|
7 |
– |
HALO 4 |
MICROSOFT |
7 |
|
8 |
– |
NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED |
EA GAMES |
8 |
|
9 |
– |
LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS |
WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE |
9 |
|
10 |
– |
WWE ’13 |
THQ |
10 |
|
11 |
– |
SKYLANDERS GIANTS |
SKYLANDERS |
11 |
|
12 |
|
THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM |
BETHESDA SOFTWORKS |
15 |
|
13 |
|
FOOTBALL MANAGER 2013 |
SEGA |
14 |
|
14 |
|
SONIC & ALL STARS RACING TRANSFORMED |
SEGA |
16 |
|
15 |
|
MOSHI MONSTERS: MOSHLINGS THEME PARK |
MIND CANDY |
12 |
|
16 |
|
MEDAL OF HONOR: WARFIGHTER |
EA GAMES |
13 |
|
17 |
|
LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES |
WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE |
18 |
|
18 |
|
FORZA HORIZON |
MICROSOFT |
– |
|
19 |
|
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. 2 |
NINTENDO |
17 |
|
20 |
– |
DISHONORED |
BETHESDA SOFTWORKS |
20 |
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2012 UKIE Ltd
Train2Game News: Train2Game Radio talks to Connor Adams
Train2Game spoke to Connor Adams this week about how I went from a Train2Game student to working at Atomhawk up in Newcastle.
Connor is a brilliant Artist you can check out his DeviantART page HERE or his portfolio HERE.
You can listen to Connors radio interview here – http://audioboo.fm/boos/1114244-train2game-studio-radio-with-mark-talks-to-connor-adams
or read the transcript below:
Hello I’m Connor, I live in Gateshead but I’m from Weymouth and I took the Art & Animation course.
Hi Connor, how you doing bud?
I’m not too bad man, how are you?
I’m excellent, thank you
Awesome, it’s lovely to hear your voice again.
Yours too! So tell me, what’s your story Connor? What are the past experiences that have shaped your life to make you who you are now?
Oh wow, that is a deep question. I suppose I started off by playing a lot of video games when I was young, like everyone. I took quite a weird path, I left school after finishing my GCSE’s and I just started painting and drawing all day because I wanted to design all these games but I didn’t really know what path to take. So I was painting and things like that and then I saw the Train2Game course and joined up on that and I attended a lot of Game Jams whilst studying everyday on my own time and getting all that down. Then I applied for the internship up here and here I am. I’m sure there is probably a lot more to it, but that’s all I can remember for now!
So where is it you applied for an internship for?
I applied up to Atomhawk. It’s based in the Northern Design Centre in Newcastle.
What kind of games do they make there?
The guys at the studio, all of us are concept artists and illustrators, so we have no programmers, we have no designers or anything like that. So people come to us and they out source us for concept art and illustration. We do a lot of stuff before games are released like we worked on Mortal Kombat. We are working on a lot of stuff right now but none of it I can say because it’s all under NDA, which is typical. It’s a lot of stuff like Sony and Warner Brothers, people like that. So it’s quite big clients but we don’t actually work on the games, we just make the concepts and illustrations.
What is the most dramatic or exciting thing you have done in your life previous to being at Atomhawk?
Oh god! All these questions Mark, I’m not sure I’m ready for them! I think the most scaring and exciting thing, was leaving school. Trying to take things in to my own hands. From leaving School and going straight to Train2Game that made things a lot easier. Going down that personal route was quite scary at first.
I know you were also part of Derp Studios as well. How was that experience?
I was part of Derp Studios, yeah. That was really, really great. I mean the Game Jam and the meeting with people and going up to Luton and doing all that was just great. The whole experience was fun and these guys I still talk to a lot of them today, Me and Amanda are mostly talking a lot and it’s great. It was a great bonding experience. It was great for contacts, it was great for skills, great experiences. Well I met you up at The Gadget Show which was a lovely experience.
It was indeed! We have been firm friends ever since.
Yeah absolutely, it was really great.
We touched on it before, what is your reason for getting into the gaming industry particularly?
It’s just games you know? It’s like what kind of guy can say they go to work and draw men shooting aliens and you know, Zombies and Monsters! It’s all fun and games. It is serious at the same time but it’s all play. It’s hard work but it’s play. To get paid to do that is just fantastic.
When did you actually get the job at Atomhawk that you have now?
My internship was 3 months ago, so back in September, August was when I was applying and got the internship but a few weeks ago they offered me a junior position which is going to last 6 months which is fantastic.
So you get a nice job just in time for Christmas then?
Absolutely yeah which is a real relief as Christmas is a horrible time.
What is your greatest ambition?
Oh OK, well I guess just to be the best, like a Pokemon trainer! I gotta keep on going and hit the top of your field, maybe one day in the future I will have my own Graphic Novel and I’ll be working on some AAA games. I dunno the future is very unpredictable so it’s hard to say really.
Finally then, if you could work for any studio what so ever, what would you work for?
Actually, genuinely I would rather work for my self. I think I would rather get some of my closest friends and make my own studio and make the games that we love.
So we should probably start working on that soon then?
Absolutely!
Thank you very much buddy!
No worries, cheers mate.
Train2Game News: Microsoft launching more apps for 360
Train2Game has discovered that a number of new apps are coming to the Xbox 360 over the winter period.
More than 40 new applications are set to launch worldwide between now and spring 2013, Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb announced.
Some of the apps the UK are getting are a Sainsbury’s shopping app, a Napster app and a Karaoke app.
While free to download the Karaoke, you then pay per amount of singing time you “rent”. It’s 240 Microsoft Points for two hours, 400 Points for six hours or 800 Points for 24 hours. The service is expected to launch next week and I imagine would be quite a hit at social gatherings.
Microsoft have also launched a SkyDrive cloud-saving service on Xbox 360, allowing you to share your holiday snaps and videos and display them on your TV from your Google SkyDrive.
Some other applications that are being launched from now until the end of January are to the UK are gaming sites Machinima and GameTrailers, anime service CrunchyRoll, arty movie service IndieFlix and sports broadcaster Livesport.tv.
This announcement shows Microsoft’s further push into an all round entertainment platform allowing you to do most things from the comfort of your games console.
Train2Game News: Student Diaries – 13.12.11
There are a few Train2Game students on work placement at DR Studios. Below is some diaries of how they are getting on.
Amanda Blatch week 12
Soooooo…. Diary this week. You know.. I think it’s kind of slipped my mind what I did last week, it passed by so quickly! There was a lot of work to do and that got done as we are sticking more strictly to our deadlines of getting a new build out every Friday so we had a game to play over the weekend. With the latest build you can really tell the game is starting to come together and a couple of new features have been added into the game that helps move the game along at a speed that would be enjoyable for the player without being too easy. Overall, it’s looking very good atm with all the updates and changes to the game.
On top of that I have had more of a break in my usual UI making process, creating a couple new characters for the game which will form part of an exclusive content pack on release date. The splash screen itself has also had an almost completely new do-over and is much more polished and finalised, ready for promotion.
But apart from that there is not much more I can say, the game is close to being finished, we just need to keep pushing that little bit further to make the game the best we can make it! So, again, till next week.
Craig Moore Student Diary Week 55
What day is it?
It’s been a pretty intensive week here, trying to ensure that two builds go out a week while constantly improving and bug fixing is certainly akin to juggling cars. It’s been a smooth one though with very few hiccups and the build is going from strength to strength, I think our big focus next week will be to crush some of the gameplay blocking bugs that are really getting in the way of heavy play testing.
As with previous weeks I have been working closely with Tim to ensure new features get in to the game, it’s a really effective approach that ensures we are working on the same thing but each to our own abilities and insures rapid iteration and turnaround of features.
It feels like we have had this game under wraps for ages now, and in reality it is, it’s been a good six months and I cannot wait to show it to the world! I feel like we have taken everything that made My Sea Park cool and turned it up to 11 while adding some cool little features that I genuinely have never seen before in games of this genre.
Also don’t fret! This one is coming to both iOS and Android.
Getting this kind of experience and exposure is something I could never dreamed of getting 18 months ago, but here I am. It’s a lot of hard work but I would not change it for the world.
Craig
Matty WS week 53
This week has been quite busy again as usual; I’ve been remaking a few assets here and there and redoing some older animations that weren’t up to scratch. Over the weekends I’ve been playtesting the game as well as other games for ‘market research’. I’m finding Hayday pretty fun annoyingly. I’ve also been playing chess more lately because of Social Chess on the iPad, but before that I used to play a game a day or more sometimes, so now it’s just a case of playing multiple games each day over time. I also caved and bought things on the iPad, Red alert and LSAW (land sea air warfare, tis an RTS). The store is so expensive though! Everything on android is cheap or free, cannot see why it’s not the same for iDevices.
The next project (although still up in the air) is starting to sound pretty awesome now and I really cannot wait for it to start!
MattyWS
Train2Game News: Mid-week round up – 12.12.12
The Train2Game blog has once again been searching the internet and has found some of the biggest news from across the week.
The Rapid2D engine has gone live as of yesterday following its demonstration at the Evolve conference in London. Rapid2D is designed to help developers create apps for PC, tablet and Windows Phone 8 through the Windows 8 Marketplace. The engine uses C++ for scripting, and includes features such as physics, visual effects, sound particle systems, collision control and animated sprites. As well as the free version of Rapid2D, there will also be extra add-ons, upgrades and a pro-version available to developers.
Randy Pitchford, one of the developers behind Borderlands 2 has confirmed that there will be a new character class coming as DLC. Mr Pitchford previously said it was unlikely because of the amount of extra work the Mechromancer class took. The news was revealed after someone tweeted the developer saying “My mate says you won’t” to which Randy replied, “yes – we’re working on another character.” It’s as simple as that.
PopCap, the team behind hit casual games such as Plants v Zombies has announced that they are now working on a AAA title. The news comes following a tweet and job posting from PopCap. The game is a console game, inspired by Team Fortress 2. The job posting confirms that the game will use the Frostbite 2 engine, which is becoming more and more popular.
The final issues of PSM3 and Xbox World have gone on sale today. One of the many features in the last PSM3 magazine is a feature written by editor Dan Dawkins talking about the making of’ PSM3, office secrets, the highs and lows, how things have changed and how the future looks. Meanwhile Xbox World rounds up the biggest, loudest, saddest, funniest, most shocking moments in Xbox history and gives GTA5, arguably the biggest Xbox game of 2013, one final, epic preview.
Rovio has announced plans to release an Angry Birds feature film in the summer of 2016 and it will be in 3D so you can feel what those bad piggies go through. Despicable Me producer John Cohen has signed on as producer for the CG-animated movie, while David Maisel, former chairman of Marvel Studios and executive producer of Iron Man, will serve as executive producer. The movie will be produced and financed by Rovio outside of the studio system, allowing the Finnish company to retain full creative control of the project. Over 100 billion Angry Birds games have been downloaded since the games début in 2009.
Train2Game News: Games Industry Jobs – 11.12.12
Train2Game has searched around to find you some of the entry level jobs in Art, Design, Development and QA.
ART
| Job Title | Junior Artist |
|---|---|
| Job Category | Art / Animation |
| Skills Required | Graduate Artist |
| Location | Old Street, London, UK & Europe |
| Job Description | Sports Interactive (SI) is the world’s leading developer of football management simulations through its Football Manager series of games, in its twentieth anniversary year. With one of the lowest staff turnover rates in the industry, and regular appearances at the top of the PC, PSP and App Store charts around Europe, this is a chance to join a winning team.
Position Overview KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
DESIRABLE
|
You can apply HERE.
DEVELOPER
| Job Title | Games Programmer – iOS / Android |
|---|---|
| Job Category | Programming |
| Skills Required | AI / Artificial Intelligence, Tools, Gameplay, Mobile / iOS / Android, Graphics / Engine, Core Technology, UI / Front End, Graduate Programmer |
| Location | Brighton |
| Job Description | Boss Alien are a growing company working on exciting projects with small team sizes. We need programmers who are happy to work in whatever area is required of them – this could change on a daily basis!
We are looking for smart, energetic, friendly people to join us! Required:
Great to have:
|
DESIGN
| Job Title | MMO Game Designer – Celtic Heroes – Groundbreaking MMORPG ! |
|---|---|
| Job Category | Game Design |
| Skills Required | Games Designer, Level Designer, Graduate Game Designer |
| Location | Glasgow |
| Job Description | The team behind ‘Celtic Heroes’ are looking for a creative MMO Game Designer to join their team.
As MMO Game Designer you will have the responsibility of designing and evolving the very experiences our players engage in. You must have massive passion in the MMORPG genre and fully understand the successful game mechanics and quest design that equally challenges and rewards the player. You must be a creative thinker with the ability to rationalise your ideas into practical game play experiences. You must be a strong communicator at ease working within a development team. A strong portfolio of game design examples in the same genre of ‘Celtic Heroes’ is a MUST! If you have the skills, qualifications, experience and a passion for playing our kind of games, we would love to hear from you. To APPLY direct online simply follow this link http://bit.ly/joinourclan Set in an exciting medieval Celtic world of combat, magic and mythology, ‘Celtic Heroes’ is a fully 3D MMORPG available for iPhone, iPod and iPad. Play as a customisable warrior, mage, rogue, ranger or druid. Gain powerful new weapons, armour and items as you explore the vast world of castles, dungeons and outdoor environments. Battle fearsome enemies and complete heroic quests! NOTE: Must be able to demonstrate eligibility and VALID WORKING VISA to work in the United Kingdom and be willing to relocate / commute to the Glasgow area |
QA
| Job Title | Games Tester |
|---|---|
| Job Category | QA / Localisation |
| Skills Required | QA Tester |
| Location | UK & Europe |
| Job Description | 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 established Total Warteam, testing our project currently in development.
Essential
Desirable
You will need to be available to start by December 2012. |
You can apply HERE.
Train2Game News: Valve gaming PC in the works
After some research Train2Game has found that Valve Software are working on their own proprietary hardware, optimised for gaming.
The recently released Steam Big Picture mode was a first step in this process. The next step is incorporating Linux and making all of that work towards developing a PC package of their own. That means a ready-made PC that comes with Steam and can be hooked up to your television set.
Gabe Newell has shed some more light on his company’s plans. Newell said “I think in general that most customers and most developers are going to find that the PC is a better environment for them because they won’t have to split the world into thinking about ‘why are my friends in the living room, why are my video sources in the living room different from everyone else?’ So in a sense we hopefully are going to unify those environments.
“Certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment. If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC. For people who want a more turnkey solution, that’s what some people are really going to want for their living rooms.
“We’ll do it but we also think other people will as well.”
This last sentence indicates that Mr Newell believes this may be the next big move in the games industry. A move like this could truly revitalise living room gaming.
Train2Game News: UK Top 20 – 10.12.12
Only one new entry breached the top 20 this week and that was Sonic & All Star Racing Transformed which came in at number 16. Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 is still sitting high at the number 1 slot. The biggest change this week is that THQ’s WWE ’13 rose from 15 up to number 10.
Week ending 8 December 2012
| POS. | TITLE |
PUBLISHER |
LAST |
|
|
1 |
– |
CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II |
ACTIVISION |
1 |
|
2 |
– |
FAR CRY 3 |
UBISOFT |
2 |
|
3 |
– |
FIFA 13 |
EA SPORTS |
3 |
|
4 |
|
JUST DANCE 4 |
UBISOFT |
6 |
|
5 |
– |
ASSASSIN’S CREED III |
UBISOFT |
5 |
|
6 |
|
HITMAN ABSOLUTION |
SQUARE ENIX |
4 |
|
7 |
|
HALO 4 |
MICROSOFT |
8 |
|
8 |
|
NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED |
EA GAMES |
10 |
|
9 |
|
LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS |
WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE |
7 |
|
10 |
|
WWE ’13 |
THQ |
15 |
|
11 |
|
SKYLANDERS GIANTS |
SKYLANDERS |
9 |
|
12 |
|
MOSHI MONSTERS: MOSHLINGS THEME PARK |
MIND CANDY |
16 |
|
13 |
|
MEDAL OF HONOR: WARFIGHTER |
EA GAMES |
18 |
|
14 |
|
FOOTBALL MANAGER 2013 |
SEGA |
13 |
|
15 |
|
THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM |
BETHESDA SOFTWORKS |
– |
|
16 |
|
SONIC & ALL STARS RACING TRANSFORMED |
SEGA |
– |
|
17 |
|
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. 2 |
NINTENDO |
19 |
|
18 |
|
LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES |
WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE |
– |
|
19 |
|
F1 2012 |
CODEMASTERS |
– |
|
20 |
|
DISHONORED |
BETHESDA SOFTWORKS |
12 |
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2012 UKIE Ltd
Train2Game News: Trailers from the Video Game Awards
The Video Game Awards were held over the weekend and a number of new trailers were shown for some of the big games coming next year. The Train2Game blog has rounded them all up for you here.
The first one is for the new South Park game, The Stick of Truth. This game looks stunning and it is going to make a lot of South Park fans very happy. It looks so like an episode it is hard to see where the cut scenes end and the game play begins.
This trailer is obviously 18+. Do Not Watch if easily offended.
Next up is the trailer from Tomb Raider: Survivor. This game is again stunning to look at and looks to be action packed and innovative in it’s adventure. You get to see Lara Croft grow up from a girl fresh out of school to the Archaeologist we are familiar with. I haven’t played many Tomb Raider games personally but I am looking forward to this one, even more so following this trailer.
Finally it was revealed last night that a sequel is coming for one of the most brutally difficutly games their has been in recent years. Dark Souls 2 is coming and it is going to be as ruthless as ever
