Category Archives: Games Designer

Train2Game news: BAFTA announces new award categories for debut, online gaming and performing talent

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Train2Game students will be aware of the increasing popularity of online brower based games, which has seen industry giants attempt to grab a piece of the action.

Now BAFTA are set to recognise the importance of browser based games from next year, with Online – Browser one of four new categories for the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards.

The other categories new for 2012 are Debut and Performer and Online – Multiplayer.  Debut will reward the best game from a new game development studio that releases its first title in 2011, with the idea of rewarding the work of new studios. Perhaps a Train2Game student could potentially win this one in future?

The Performer award will recognise “excellence in performance featured in a game,” which could include anything from voice work to motion capture.  Meanwhile, Online – Multiplayer will be awarded to “the best online multiplayer games experience,”

“BAFTA annually reviews its Awards categories to ensure they remain relevant and valued within the industry,” said Chairman of BAFTA’s Video Games Committee, Ray Maguire.

“Over the last year, we have witnessed the increased sophistication and popularity of online gaming, and so our two new Online categories will ensure the scope of creative work in this area is being properly recognised.”

“We are equally delighted to begin recognising the performance aspect within games, as we do for film and television, which further demonstrates the common ground between the industries.”

“Debut Game is another important addition this year, which reflects the changing game-development landscape and the rise of new, independent studios.” he added.

The GAME British Academy Video Games Awards will take place on Friday 16 March 2012. As reported by the Train2Game blog, Heavy Rain was the big winner at this year’s ceremony, taking three awards.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the new categories? And who do you think currently deserves to be nominated?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Behind the scenes of Batman: Arkham City

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Train2Game may be aware that Batman: Arkham City is released later this month. If early reviews are to be believed, the follow up to the highly successful Arkham Asylum from British studio Rocksteady looks to even more impressive that it’s predecessor.

Of course, developing Arkham City was far from a simple process and Game Director Sefton Hill has discussed some of the challenges.

“Creating Arkham City has been a tremendous technical undertaking.” he told Eurogamer.

Hill described down developing the title required an immense effort from everyone at Rocksteady.

“Our engine teams, optimisation teams, art teams and design teams have had to do a phenomenal amount of work to get this game to run and optimise it and run at a solid 30 frames a second throughout, while creating such a richly detailed city. So it’s definitely not easy.” said the Batman: Arkham City Game Director.

He praised the technical team in particular for doing a great job, doing whatever the rest of the team needed.

“Huge credit to the technical team, who said, look, we’ll make it happen. You design the best game you can think of and we will work hard to make that happen.” said Hill.

“Those guys did a phenomenal job with that. All credit to them because there are a lot of technical achievements in there we’d never done before and taken on.” he added.

Train2Game students can get an insight into the game design process behind Batman: Arkham City here on the Train2Game blog.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the work behind Arkham City? Is a game that you’re looking forward to?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Eurogamer]

Train2Game news: Apple’s Steve Jobs dies age 56

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Apple founder Steve Jobs has died at the age of 56 after suffering from cancer.

Train2Game students will be very familiar with Apple products thanks to the emergence of the iPhone and iPad  as gaming platforms.

Both mobile devices have had a significant impact on the world of games and game development, with the Apple App store providing an effective way for small teams to publish games.

Indeed, in a recent interview with the Train2Game blog, indie studio Hogrocket told us the reasons why they’ve chosen to publish games on iPhone after leaving Triple A development.

But it isn’t just mobile gaming where Apple had an impact on the industry. In 1984, the release of Apple’s Macintosh saw the inclusion of something essential to PC gamers today, and that thing was the mouse. Before inclusion with the Macintosh came along, home computers were operated by text only interfaces. It’d be difficult to imagine PC gaming even existing without the mouse.

Meanwhile, iTunes and the idea of paying for digital data paved the way of Steam, Xbox Live, PSN and Online to set up their own digital distribution services.

Jobs only stepped down as Apple CEO a few weeks ago, his replacement paid tribute to the company founder in an email to staff.

“Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor,” said Cook. “Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.”

Cook also praised Steve Jobs as a ‘a visionary and creative genius.‘

U.S. President Barak Obama led tributes to the Apple founder, “Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.” he said.

Train2Game students can leave their own tributes to Steve Jobs on the Train2Game forum, or on the Train2Game Facebook page.

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

Train2Game news: Ninja Theory – Triple A doesn’t let developers take risks

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Train2Game blog readers may have seen a post last month in which Ninja Theory Creative Chief Tameem Antoniades praised the ‘digital revolution’ and the creativity it brings.

Perhaps understandably, he also believes that the traditional Triple-A retail model is in fact harming creativity in the games industry.

“If you’re paying 60 bucks for a game, you want it to give you everything under the sun,” Antoniades told Gamasutra.

“It seems like Hollywood’s got much more diversity than the games industry has. And I don’t know exactly why this is, but I suspect it’s the publishing, retail model of 40 pounds, 50, 60 bucks a game doesn’t allow players to take chances with their money.

“It doesn’t allow publishers or developers to take risks. And the only way you can be sure to sell to someone is to sell them something familiar.”

As previously reported by the Train2Game blog, Ninja Theory’s Enslaved: Odyssey to the West was critically well received, but failed to make the impact needed at retail. As a result, the game won’t be getting a sequel.

However, the Ninja Theory chief believes that innovative games do sell, but the current retail and publishing model makes it difficult.

“I think that ultimately innovation does sell, and messaging is needed,” he said.

“But somehow there’s not enough diversity, I think, in our business models to create interesting, alternative games. At least on the triple-A side of things, the top end market. You’re not seeing very high end innovation happening.” Antoniades concluded.

Yesterday, the Train2Game blog reported that Bioware believe mobile games do let game developers take risks.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Antoniades comments? Is the traditional retail model and the need to be successful stifling creativity in the games industry?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Gamasutra]

Train2Game Game Design student Jonny Robinson’s latest industry experience diaries.

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 Train2Game Game Designer Jonny Robinson is on a Train2Game work placement at DR Studios.

In his latest industry diaries, Jonny discusses what he considers the less positive aspects of working in the games industry, and reveals that his time at DR Studios has been extended.

The Train2Game Game Design student also writes about PR in the games industry and the Dead Island cinematic reveal trailer in particular.*

Read Jonny’s latest industry experience diary here on the Train2Game blog, on the Train2Game Scribd site, or on the official Train2Game industry experiences website.

*The Dead Island trailer contains graphic images not suitable for all viewers. Train2Game cannot beresponsible for the language contained in comments made about this trailer

Train2Game news: Ubisoft see a ‘bright future’ for Kinect

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Train2Game students may have mixed opinions on the future of Kinect, but Ubisoft believe it has a bright future.

The publisher is behind a variety of motion control titles including Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, Just Dance and Fighters Uncaged, and SVP of sales and marketing Tony Key believes the system will only continue to grow.

“Well, when the install base gets big, it becomes a more attractive business model for publishers to say all right, I can make money making a Kinect-only game.” he told Gamasutra.

“So I think you’ll see more and more Kinect titles coming next year, which is going to support more and more hardware sales. So I see a bright future for Kinect.”

Key also predicts that there will be a much higher number of Kinect titles released next year.

“What kinds of products, I can’t say. But I do think the system will continue to grow, and I also think that the amount of games coming out in 2012 will be much higher than the amount of games coming out in 2011.”

Ghost Recon: Future Solider is one of a number of Ubisoft titles scheduled for release next year that’ll be Kinect compatible, find out more in the Train2Game blog interview with the developers. 

The Ubisoft SVP of sales and marketing also told Gamasutra that Just Dance has been crucial to bringing women to Kinect.

“We think that Just Dance is a huge game changer for the Kinect system in terms of bringing more females into the Kinect space.” he said.

“Microsoft is spending a lot of time, resources and strategy around bringing more families in, bringing more females in. Because they have the male, they’ve got him nailed. So to really really grow they know they’ve got to get those people in there.”

“I think Just Dance 3 is an awesome opportunity where we could have a Kinect game with more females playing than males. And that would be a first for Kinect as far as we know.” Key added.

So Train2Game, what do you make of Ubisoft’s predictions? Will Kinect become more popular in 2012? Are they right to rely on the success of Just Dance?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Gamasutra]

Train2Game news: Hogrocket’s Tiny Invaders available for free

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Train2Game blog readers may recall our interview with Ben Ward of Hogrocket about life as an indie iPhone game developer.

The studio got a pleasant surprise when their debut game, Tiny Invaders, featured in front of millions of people during Apple’s iPhone 4S announcement to help showcase the new notification features of iOS 5.

To celebrate, Tiny Invaders will be available for free for a limited period of time. Train2Game students can download it from the iTunes App store here. It’s a great example to Train2Game students of how to produce a great mobile game with just a small team of game developers.

To find out more about Hogrocket, the development of Tiny Invaders and how you can get into developing iPhone games, read the full interview with Hogrocket’s Ben Ward here on the Train2Game blog.

The insightful interview is also available to read on the official Train2Game website, or you can listen to it via Train2Game radio.

Have you played Tiny Invaders, if so what are your thoughts? Is it a good example of iPhone game development?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Bioware exploring ‘experimental’ mobile market

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Train2Game students will know that iPhone gaming as a whole has become big business with a number of publishers plotting a long term mobile strategy.

And while the Train2Game blog has previously reported that EA has detailed plans for mobiles, Bioware, who publish the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series’ under the EA, don’t have any specific plans for mobile, but it’s something they’re looking into.

“We’re doing more stuff. EA as a whole is doing more mobile games, and at BioWare we’re looking at mobile extensions for our franchises as well,” BioWare founder Dr. Ray Muzyka told Industry Gamers.

“Nothing to announce specifically right now, but mobile’s going to be one of the dominant platforms going forward.” added co-founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk

And he believes mobile will become as strong as traditional consoles.

“It’s going to be right up there with anything else – it already is in a sense. In terms of dollar share, maybe not yet, but we’re just starting down the hill on free-to-play on mobile devices. That’s a big thing right now. So yeah, we take mobile pretty seriously.”

As previously reported by the Train2Game blog, free-to-play games generate a majority of App store revenue.  And Zeschuk believes the  free-to-play is a low risk environment to test out new ideas, with the prospect of failure not a catastrophe.

“One thing we’ve learned is that you need to lead with gameplay – making sure the core gameplay is really tight”

And another thing is just understanding the platform well enough that you really are state of the art in terms of what you’re delivering relative to what’s there.” said the Bioware co-founder.

“And sometimes it’s just experimental too, and on mobile with something of that scale it’s actually a lot safer to explore ideas,” he added.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Bioware looking into mobile? Is it a good area to experiment with?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or here on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Industry Gamers]

Train2Game news: Unreal Engine 3 comes to Flash

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Train2Game should find this very impressive; Unreal Engine 3 can now run in Flash.

The move was unveiled by Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeny with a demonstration of Unreal Tournament III running in flash during a keynote address at Adobe’s MAX 2011 event.

Unreal Tournament III was released in 2008 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. What it means for Train2Game students is they’ll be able to play games with current generation graphics in web browers, TV’s with internet connections and social networks.

With UE3 and Flash, games built for high-end consoles can now run on the web or as Facebook apps, reaching an enormous userbase,” said Sweeny.

“This totally changes the playing field for developers who want to widely deploy and monetise their games.”

Indeed, Unreal’s move to Flash provides another avenue for Train2Game students to potentially develop games for.

“We’re excited that Epic Games is tapping into the latest capabilities in Adobe Flash Player 11 to power its Unreal Engine 3.” added, group product manager at Adobe Gaming Solutions Emmy Huang.

“As the console of the web, Flash is delivering immersive gaming experiences across screens and we’re thrilled to have Epic Games using Flash Player to deliver its blockbuster, premier 3D games on the web.”

As reported by the Train2Game blog, the Unreal Development Kit has received only one million downloads since its release.

Train2Game students will also get the opportunity to work with UDK at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam next month. For more information, see the official Train2Game & Epic Game Jam website.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Unreal running in Flash? Is it an area you’d be tempted to work in? See Unreal running in Falsh for yourself below.

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or here on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Edge]

Train2Game students can get behind the scenes at Epic with ‘Unreal Insider’

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Train2Game students on all courses should be interested in this; Epic Games has set up a new blog that’ll give readers a behind the scenes look at the work that goes on at the studio.

The first ‘Unreal Insider’ blog post sees Vice President Mark Rein writing about their success with Gears of War 3 and a milestone number of Epic’s Unreal Development Kit.

“The Unreal Development Kit has been installed on over 1,000,000 unique machines. Yes, that’s ONE MILLION unique installs,” he said.

As reported by the Train2Game blog, it was only in June that the UDK passed 800,000 downloads.

“This isn’t a download count nor does it count users who installed a new version of UDK over an old version, or reinstalls” Rein continues. “This means there are more than one million different computers on to which the UDK has been installed”

“With this massive install base there are countless stories to tell about what those developers are doing with the technology.” the Epic Vice President added.

Of course, Train2Game students will get a chance to use the Unreal engine to create new stories at the Train2 Game & Epic Game Jam next month. For more information, see the official Train2Game & Epic Game Jam website.

Regular Train2Game blog readers will also be aware of the benefits of modding, perhaps using UDK, could bring.

At Eurogamer, Valve’s Chet Faliszek told the Train2Game blog that modding was a great way to get noticed, while  at Gamescom,  id Software’s Tim Willits also praised modding as a good way to get into the games industry.

Could Train2Game students find useful information on getting into the games industry on Epic’s blog in future? It’s a possibility…

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on this move by Epic? Will you be reading their blog?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Unreal Insider]