Category Archives: Games Artist and Animator

Train2Game News: Ezekiel Morris student diary: Week 14

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I have been sketching up eight characters this week for the new project, sorting out colour palettes so that everyone knows which colours will suit the characters. In the back of my mind when I was first asked to draw eight characters in a week I didn’t think it wouldn’t be possible considering the time it can take creating the colour palettes, I thought it would take longer.

Sketching was quick and there have been times when I have to get the character just right before continuing, making sure that when I draw over the mannequin layout the character looks right with the mannequin. Once the project manager is happy with the sketches I continue on to the next character, the last couple of weeks have been very busy. I have been working late with the guys to get some work done but luckily enough I’ve done five concepts in the week with three more left to go. I’ve almost finished my sprints and now I’m just working on my last concept and I’m done.

I think my next sprint is animation, I feel confident using Maya but I’m not so sure when it comes to the technical side, if there’s a problem that I can’t solve I will let someone know, I think its best that I work on my strengths and improve what I know, I have said this before I won’t say no to a challenge and I’ll give it my best.

Train2Game News: Matty Wyett-Simmonds Student diary: Week 41

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Sorry for the lack of diaries lately! I’ve been so busy with the current project that I just didn’t have time to write them.

Everything is going swimmingly well now and we are in a position where we just have to keep churning assets out to make the game. I’m working mostly on the tech side of art rather than creation. This is how I like it though as I enjoy doing it, but I’m not the most creative person. The others are working on concepts for characters and buildings and everything is starting to look awesome.

We also now have a new student starting next week who some people may know, Amanda Blatch!

I know her from the gadget show as she was on my team for a good 6 months. She is again another artist and specializes in character art mainly. She’s also moving in with me Craig and Ezekiel so should be good to see another face around. Also my tortoise is now living with us (was with my girlfriend before but she’s going to Leeds to start her new PhD! Congratulations to her!) At the same time though Amanda is also bringing her pet snake so now we have a house with two reptiles in, which is awesome!

The tidal wave that was Sea Park is slowly calming now and there are regular users, so the game must not suck which is always good. We may go back to it to make updates and such for the people that are completing the game but for now we are concentrating completely on the new project which we are hoping will take half the time to make and release.

Game Jam starts tomorrow! I hope everyone else is excited, will hopefully meet a few people from Microsoft, last year it was Epic Games, two very big names indeed!

I have a new portfolio site now using HTML5 only, which is working very nicely; check it out if you can http://mattyws.wix.com/portfolio#!home/mainPage

Hope everyone enjoys their weekends; I certainly will at the game jam!

Best

Matty

Train2Game News: Another student in his local paper

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Train2Game Student, Joao Soares, has been featured in his local paper following the World record Game Jam.

The article can be read in the link below:

Games_Wickford_Today__Walthamstow_September_2012

Train2Game News: Students featured in local papers

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Train2Game Students Dan Hawkins, Richard Scott-Jones and Jason Teefey have been featured in their local papers. The students talk about their time at the World record breaking Game Jam.

You can read the articles in the links below:

Games Sudbury Mercury September 2012

Redhill games industry student

The Surrey Comet September 2012

Train2Game News: Train2Game talk to Pocket Gamer

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Choosing Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows 8 wasn’t the only notable aspect of Train2Game’s recent game jam at the University of Bedfordshire.
The event was also a world record breaker.
The 48 hour hack saw a total of 299 students come together to create a series of games fit for the platform’s Metro UI, with an adjudicator from Guinness giving the event his seal of approval when the coding was over.
But, according to Train2Game course director Myra Smallman, Train2Game’s hacks aren’t all about setting records – they’re also about helping newcomers gain exposure, and uniting them with the platform most suited to the kind of games jams deliver: mobile.
We caught up with Smallman for her take on Train2Game’s record breaking bash in Bedford.


Pocket Gamer: What makes Windows 8 a good platform for today’s students to familiarise themselves with?
Myra Smallman: On our courses we aim to give students training with a wide range of different development tools.
We see Windows 8 as a vital development tool for them to be able to use as we think it will be one of the main platforms for games design in the future. It also supports the native languages they are familiar and comfortable with.
The students have the chance to choose what is right for them – C++/DX, HTML5/JS, XAML, C#

Can you tell us some more about the event’s ‘best in show’ winner, Royal Rush? Will it be released on Windows Store?
Royal Rush was chosen as the winner because the judges could see so many positives about the game.
The team jelled well together, the game used an innovative gaming mechanic and was perfect as a mobile title, with drop in game play and it’s instantly addictive.
We hope to see it in the Windows Store for Windows 8 on 26 October.

The game jam produced some 20 games, which have apparently been submitted for review to the Windows Store. How many of these will make it to market, and what slice of the profits would students see if so?
The plan is for all the games to be free to download, so there’s no revenue to share, but this is a great promotional opportunity for the students and their games.
Some would say there’s more value in them showcasing their work at this point in their careers, rather than making a quick buck.

Microsoft’s Andrew Webber, Guinness World Records’ Gaz Deaves and Myra Smallman


One thing we try to communicate to the students is the that gaming is a business, publishing and marketing are going to be vital to their future in the games industry. This experience is part of our whole ethos of getting students ready for work.
We hope to see the vast majority of the games in the Windows Store as long as they meet the required quality measures for successful submission.

Is a 48 hour game jam actually a good way of developing games intended for release??
Primarily, game jams are fun, but we also like to think that they teach our students how to work as a team and how to work under pressure.
We are very proud that our students have a level of dedication and talent that has allowed them to produce playable games within 48 hours.
In terms of quality of a release, it’s unlikely that all the titles completed in this way will be up to the standard of a game built over months or even years, but what it can produce is innovation.
Many mobile titles are based around a simple and addictive gaming mechanic, and the game jam environment is ideal to produce this simplistic game play that demonstrates a clever idea. Should one of the games prove particularly popular it could be further developed in the future by the students that created it.

Do you imagine you will work together with Microsoft on a similar sort of event in the future?
Hopefully. At the moment we are all exhausted, but we very much enjoyed working with Microsoft.
Those at Microsoft involved provided tremendous support to our students and given the opportunity we would very much like to work with them again.
Thanks to Myra for her time.

Train2Game News: Ezekiel Morris Student diaries: Week 13

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Ezekiel Morris week 13

First of all I had a weeks holiday to catch up with stuff but in my spare time while I was away for the week and over the weekend I have been sculpting using Zbrush and Mudbox.

I was experimenting with both sculpting programs, I do like both programs but the ZBrush I find more useful. When I’m sculpting in Zbrush I sometimes don’t think what I’m creating, I just go with the flow. It’s the same with Mud box but I do prefer the ZBrush tools. You start off sculpting some random model then, in a couple hours it starts to morph into something else.

I always start off with a concept before creating something but I was in the flow. I didn’t know the short-cut keys in Zbrush or the sculpting tools but you can tell by looking at the small picture icons on the sculpt tools column, for example move, sculpt, smooth, flatten etc.

I’ve been watching some ZBrush tutorial videos and it has helped me a lot. I’ve been diligently working through my T2G course work, creating a concept sea creature, quick thumb nails sketches with silhouette pose and then filling the detail later.

OK back at Dr Studios, finishing off robot animation in flash, creating tick boxes using vectors and placing text in speech bubbles.

Train2Game News: Students talking about the Game Jam

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This is a video of students talking about Train2Game and the Game Jam from the weekend!

 

Train2Game News: Mid-week Round up

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Train2Game student Fiona Stewart has been featured in The Sun. She talks about how she moved from traditional art to digital art and how it has affected her life. The Sun also featured an article about Daniel Gent, a disabled student of Train2Game who uses a voice activated computer.

Microsoft are bringing Atari’s extensive back catalogue to tablets and browsers. The new portal is called Atari Arcade and it’s opening with eight titles: Asteroids, Combat, Centipede, Lunar Lander, Missile Command, Pong, Super Breakout and Yar’s Revenge. The rest of the games are set to be released over the next few months.

343 Industries and Microsoft are releasing eight different pre-order incentives for Halo 4. Depending on where you order the game from you get a different in game item. The in game items include: Different Armour sets, Avatar Items and multi-player Emblems.

Humble Bundle Six has been released. The Humble Bundles are great for picking up some of the top indie games whilst helping charity at the same time. You pay what you want for the bundle but need to pay a minimum amount to get the game Dustforce. Other games included are: Rochard, Shatter, S.P.A.Z, Torchlight and Vessel.

Sony are releasing two new thinner PlayStation 3s. These new consoles are 25% slimmer than the current models and one boasts a 500GB hard drive the other is a 12GB flash memory model but a 250GB hard drive will be available.

Sony are also launching PlayStation Mobile in October. It is a new store for games to be released for mobile devices. An SDK for the store will be released in November opening up a new market for games developers.

Nintendo has come to an agreement with Unity. Developers can use the engine to create games for the Wii U. Unity users will have to pay for a license to develop for the Wii U, just like with the other platforms.

EA will support the very first GaymerCon. The convention is for the LGBT community to come together through their love of gaming. Their website says its purpose is to educate and inform “the gaming community of the presence of sexuality in our digital lives and promoting acceptance and social change through gaming.”

Finally a big congratulations to the winning team at the weekends world record winning Game Jam. RetroMetro won with their game, Royal Rush. I hope you enjoy your prizes and I hope everyone who attended the Game Jam had an excellent time!

Train2Game students on top of the world

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THEY trained, they gamed and they conquered the world!

More than 295 students stayed awake for 48 hours over the weekend in a bid to create video games from scratch with a pledge from one of the world’s biggest software company, Microsoft, to publish them.

Microsoft has teamed up with the UK’s leading distance-learning college in an attempt to get into the Guinness Book of World Records with the biggest Games Jam held at the University of Bedfordshire in Luton.

Dr Jan Telensky, majority owner of Train2Game, said: “It’s a gruelling 48 hours for the students, most of them stay awake but if they need to sleep they catch a nap at their desks or even under them.

“But the dedication and determination they show at creating brand new and exciting games from nothing is impressive – they work as teams under tremendous pressure often with team-mates they’ve never met before. For a student it is an incredible experience they have and it stands them in good stead for getting jobs in the industry in the future.”

Microsoft came up with the theme for the Games – Pride of London after the success of the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics in the UK.

The teams had a field-day creating games using cartoons of Boris Johnson, London buses and all sorts of iconic images from the capital.

As the gamers worked through the night local MPs Gavin Shuker and Kelvin Hopkins paid a visit.

Mr Hopkins said: “Going for a world record attempt in Luton, particularly when it is to do with the burgeoning games industry, it will really help to put the area on the map.”

Mr Shuker agreed with him saying that “Train2Game was making a major contribution in the battle to get Britain back to work.”

And work was the name of the game as the students huddled in classrooms and labs at the university to create their games which ultimately could be released as apps world-wide by Microsoft.

Craig Moore, aged 30, from Milton Keynes, a member of team 32, said: “This was a massive learning curve but we hit the floor running. It’s been a fantastic experience.”

Chris Ledger, in his mid-twenties, from Cheltenham, said: “I was getting texts from my family and girlfriend – and my mates – in the middle of the night, it was great to have their support. I’m a wreck now but it was all worth it.”

Microsoft representatives at the ‘jam’ were impressed by the dedication shown by the gamers. Scott Henson, Senior director of Microsoft studios said “These students are going to be the heart beat of the industry in a few years. Events like this are incredibly helpful for young developers to flex their creative muscles.”

Train2Game News: Students sleepless thoughts so far

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This is a round up of some of the thoughts, messages and quotes from the students at Train2Game Game Jam. As sleep deprivation sets in, anything could be said.

For example as I started writing this I heard an interesting conversation from Team 14 questioning “how a dinosaur can scratch himself if he has an itch.”

Neil Gorman of Team 33 said “The team is really jelling well for only meeting yesterday and they haven’t stopped laughing yet”

Chris Ledger of Team 3 said “The theme was a bit of a shocker. Its been a good laugh to work with though. I haven’t had much sleep but I am proud of myself as I did some good work in Blend and Visual Studios, being a designer that’s not my speciality. Getting texts from my friends, family and girlfriend is a massive support and keeps me going through the sleepless nights.”

Dan Rutter also of Team 3 said “We had a lot of ideas using the Pride Of London theme. Ideas such as Boris Johnson being a secret agent protecting the crown jewels were thrown around early on. Compared to last years Game Jam using UDK it is a bit of a challenge. This is the first 2D game I have ever worked on.”

Matty Wyett-Simmonds of Team 1 said in a very sleep deprived fashion “It’s been a good weekend. It’s been fun meeting new people to work with. The Microsoft lecture was interesting as we got to ask plenty of questions I am pretty sure my future assassin is here somewhere” It seems lack of sleep is definitely setting.

Dimitri Michael also of Team 1 said “Our game kicks ass!” He went on to solidify the point repeating how kick ass it was. It is probably worth mentioning he has only had a few hours sleep.

Craig Moore of Team 32 said “I have had a really good team. There have been a few stumbling blocks along the way. We are banking on some little bugs being fixed and we should have a really good game. There was a massive learning curve, but thanks to the help Train2Game have given us we were able to hit the floor running! Thanks Train2Game!”