Train2Game Game Designer Craig Moore is on a Train2Game work placement at DR Studios. In his latest industry experience diaries, he details what he’s been up at the Milton Keynes based game developer, including feeling the pressure of deadlines.
Read what Craig has to say about his Train2Game work placement here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game Scribd page.
Craig’s previous Train2Game industry experience diaries are here on The Train2Game Blog.
Train2Game students who have already developed their own games may have perhaps found building something completely from scratch a challenging affair.
However, they’re not alone, far from it, as Insomniac CEO Ted Price has told Gamasutra building new IP is challenging, but immensely satisfying.
“It’s always a difficult moment, too, when you’re trying to find out what your new IP is. That’s the challenge we’ve set for ourselves over the year,” said Price.
“We want to continue to create new IP, and going through that process at the very beginning can be gut-wrenching, because you’re making big bets on new stories, new characters and new game mechanics that may be unproven.”
The Insomniac CEO added that development team which features a mix of experience levels can help produce interesting new games.
“We have designers who have made a lot of games and know what good game mechanics are,” he said
“And when you have less-experienced members of the team who may not be as well-versed in basic mechanics, but know what the audience is playing and know where culture is today, it’s a good combination.” Price concluded.
Train2Game students can read the full interview over at Gamasutra.
Insomniac Games are the studio behind Spyro, Ratchet & Clank and Resistance. The Train2Game Blog has previously reported that they’re letting social games influence the development of their other titles.
So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Price’s comments? Have you experienced the satisfaction of creating your own, unique, games?
Leave your comments on The Train2Game Blog, or here on The Train2Game forum.
Train2Game students should find the contents of this post rather interesting. It’s a video featuring Double Fine’s Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert in discussion about adventure games.
In the 35 minute long video, the creators of the Monkey Island series talk about the adventure genre as a whole, look at what they did right and what they did wrong, and dissect game design as a whole.
The video from Two Player Productions should give Train2Game students a fascinating insight into the minds of two legendary figures in the games industry. You can watch it below.
The Train2Game Blog recently posted about Double Fine’s Kickstarter project, which is now backed with $2.24 million. Those who pledge $15 or more to the Adventure Game project will gain access to the beta.
We’ll be sure to bring you all the latest news from Tim Schafer and Double Fine.
What are your thoughts on Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert’s discussion? Has it given you anything to think about?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game students have the chance to get behind the scenes at Burnout and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit developers Criterion thanks to a competition from the studio.
30 lucky winners will to find out what it’s like to work for the Guildford based game developer, and with activities including interactive sessions and a proto-type competition, the winners of which will be awarded with work experience placements.
Anyone who gets to visit Criterion will surely find it extremely interesting, and potentially useful for securing that all important first job in the industry.
To enter the Criterion Games open day competition, visit their official website and answer the questions explaining why you want a work experience placement at the Burnout studio.
The competition closes 9th March, with winners attending the open day on Thursday 12th April.
Good luck to any Train2Game students who enter!
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game students may have seen last week’s post about Double Fine reaching the $400,000 required to develop their Kickstarter funded project.
Well, a week later Adventure Game has raised over $1,850,000 and Double Fine’s Tim Schafer has released an update explaining what the studio can do with the extra cash.
Speaking in a video, Schafer thanks everyone for their support and reveals Adventure Game will be developed for PC, Mac and Linux as well as Android and Ios mobile operating systems.
The extra money also means that Double Fine’s Adventure game will have a full voice cast in the English version, with text translations into French, Italian, German and Spanish.
Schafer also reveals that all Kickstarter donators will have the exclusive opportunity to beta test the game through Steam, and that when the game is released, backers versions will be DRM free.
Watch a rather sleepy looking Tim Schafer give the first update about Double Fine Adventure Game in the video below.
There’s still time to lend your support to the project, and you can donate via the Double Fine Adventure Game Kickstarter page.
What do you make of the support for the project? Have you funded Double Fine Adventure Game?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game students can get an insight into how Mojang develop games this weekend, when the Minecraft developer live streams their 60 hour “Mojam”
Starting this Friday, Mojang will be making a brand new game, with the theme and genre being decided through a public vote which you can take part in at www.mojang.com
And not only are Mojang making a brand new game, they’ve also teamed up with Humble Bundle to raise money for charity. The team will be offering incentives for you to donate to the 60 hour project, while there will also be opportunities to get involved in Q&A sessions with Mojang developers, something that would sure to be useful to Train2Game students.
For more information, check out the Humble Bundle Mojam video below.
We’ve previously shown you Bethesda’s Skyrim Game Jam, which saw Bethesda developers given a week to be creative.
Train2Game students know all about Game Jams, as Train2Game has held two 48 hour long Game Jams, with the four winning teams at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, moving onto a Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show Live, where they have the opportunity to win a fully licensed UDK Ios development kit.
For previous news from Mojang, see The Train2Game Blog.
What are your thoughts on Mojam? Will you be tuning into the live streams? What would you ask the team?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game Blog readers are likely to be aware that modding tools for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim were launched last week, and the Skyrim Workshop has proved to be very popular.
Over two million Skyrim mods were downloaded in the first three days the Bethesda Creation Kit was made available to the public, with more than 2,500 mods published on Steam by the community.
Train2Game students who want to get involved with the Skyrim modding scene, but are unsure where to start, can watch this helpful Skyrim Creation Kit tutorial video from Bethesda. You can also look at this thread on the Train2Game forum in which students are sharing their own Skyrim mods.
The Train2Game Blog has previously shown you some of the stranger Skyrim mods, including ones that let you turn Dragons into My Little Pony or “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and a mod that turns Mudcrabs into Futurama’s Doctor Zoidberg.
Meanwhile, Bethesda held their own internal game jam using the Creation Kit, you can see what possibly could be extra content for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim here.
Keep reading The Train2Game Blog for the latest news about modding and how it could benefit you.
If you’ve made a Skyrim mod, let us know!
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game students interested in story writing in games, RPGs in particular are likely to find this The Witcher 2 Xbox 360 developer diary rather fascinating.
CD Projekt diary provide some great insights into how The Witcher 2 was written, and they make the bold claim that it’ll offer “The most complex and non-linear story ever told on Xbox 360,” a statement backed up by four possible game openings and sixteen endings.
The Witcher 2 Xbox 360 developer diary also explains how the CD Projekt game designers plan and write such an open narrative.
“We had to produce complicated flowcharts illustrating all the possible connections between different events and different characters, as well as the links between different questions in various circumstances.” said game designer Arkadiusz Borowik.
“Because before sitting down to work on the game itself, we had to know just how complex its structure would be and how much effort it would take.” he added
Watch The Witcher 2 Xbox 360 developer diary below, right here on The Train2Game Blog.
For more about the development of The Witcher 2, read The Train2Game Blog interview with CD Projekt Environment Artist Marek Ziemak, in which he also reveals he started his career in the games industry as a QA Tester.
The Witcher 2 Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition is released April 17th for Xbox 360. The PC version is available now.
What are your thoughts on the claim that The Witcher 2 being the most complex story ever told for Xbox 360? And what insights did you get from the developer diary?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game students who want the best chance of finding a job in the games industry should create their own games. That’s the advice from BioWare writer Sylvia Feketekuty, who is responsible for dialogue in Mass Effect 3.
“Try creating a game of your own. There’s a lot of community-supported game-making software out there.” she told the BioWare Blog in an interview about her role as writer for Mass Effect 3.
“Even if what you put together ends up small and basic, you’ll learn a lot about working in an interactive medium. It’ll really help you figure out where your strengths and interests lie. You’ll also have a lot of fun, too, between the bouts of frustration. Adjust what you have to, and don’t give up!”
Feketekuty also believes that game designers should read as much as possible, as it helps with creativity.
“I’d also encourage people to read as much as possible. Research topics you find interesting. Pick up a classic. Open up a play, or a movie script, or a travelogue if you’ve never checked one out before.” she said.
“Reading widely helps you become more creatively well-rounded, and that’s a trait developers always love to see.” the Mass Effect 3 writer added.
Train2Game students might find the BioWare Blog interview with Sylvia Feketekuty rather interesting, as she gives an insight into what it’s like working for the Mass Effect 3 studio.
Train2Game spoke to BioWare co-founders Dr. Ray Muzyka & Dr. Greg Zeschuk in November last year. You can see their advice, and find out how they got into game development, here on The Train2Game Blog.
What are your thoughts on the advice from the Mass Effect 3 writer? Are you making your own games? And if you’re a game designer, do you read a lot?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on The Train2Game Forum.
[Source: BioWare Blog]
Train2Game Blog readers may have seen this post last week about official mod tools for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, finally being released.
While there are number of Train2Game forum users that are already trying their hands at making mods for Skyrim using the Bethesda Creation Kit, there may be those among you that have no idea where to begin with using the tools.
Fortunately, Bethesda has released tutorial videos for absolute beginners that provide help with using the Skyrim mod tools. There are three so far, with part one available to watch below.
The Skyrim Creation Kit Tutorial series is designed for modders, but it’s sure to be an interesting watch for anyone interested in how Bethesda made the latest Elder Scrolls title.
The Train2Game Blog has previously shown you some of the stranger Skyrim mods, including ones that let you turn Dragons into My Little Pony or “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and a mod that turns Mudcrabs into Futurama’s Doctor Zoidberg.
Keep reading The Train2Game Blog for the latest news about modding and how it could benefit you.
And for those interested in what goes on behind the scenes at Bethesda, see this post featuring a video that shows what the team did with their internal week long game jam.
So, what do you make of the Creation Kit tutorials? Or have you already begun to make mods?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
The Train2Game Blog 