Category Archives: Games Designer

Train2Game News: Games Industry Jobs – 31.10.12

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Art

2D Marketing Illustrator

Jagex Ltd, in Cambridge, a world leading independent Online Games Studio, is looking for a highly motivated illustrator to produce art work to help market our games, including Transformers Universe and RuneScape.

Working within a team of illustrators, you will be responsible for producing highly polished & large scale pieces of creative fantasy art. Working on a large variety of projects including wallpapers, posters, adverts and websites you would have the creative freedom & time to produce outstanding images you can be proud of.

This highly rewarding & creative role will suit an exceptional illustrator with at least 2-3 years experience looking for a new challenge. The successful candidate should have an exceptional online portfolio demonstrating a large variety of art styles.

Key Duties Include:

  • Producing very high quality illustrations
  • Working on the company’s products and painting art assets for websites, advertising & print.
  • Working from a brief, from concept to final launch.
  • Working closely with the Lead designer and product brand managers.

Essential Requirements:

  • Expert use of Photoshop and other advanced painting tools.
  • Excellent understanding of anatomy.
  • A good understanding of colour, light & composition.
  • A strong sense of vision.
  • Experience of preparing artwork for print & web
  • Ability to show good initiative, judgement and excellent attention to detail
  • Excellent communication skills

Desirable Requirements:

  • An interest in computer games
  • An interest in fantasy art
  • Experience of working within the computer games industry

You can apply HERE.

Design

Game Designer (RuneScape)

Jagex Ltd, in Cambridge, the UK’s largest developer and publisher of online games, is looking for an exceptional individual to play a major role in shaping its world renowned, Guinness World Record holding MMO, RuneScape.

Reporting to the Lead Designer & Design Manager, the successful candidate will be responsible for the design of key game features; guiding the production of their systems and content from original concept, to creation & prototyping, through final polish and community feedback.

This amazing opportunity to be a key contributor to a world class MMO from a successful and stable developer/publisher demands the highest levels of expertise, experience, passion and commitment.

Key Duties:

  • Channel the lead designer’s creative vision and management’s product strategy into everyday project development.
  • Design systems, features and game content. Create and maintain high quality documentation.
  • Set project aims, use collaborative design and feedback to ensure all projects achieve the best quality, stay within scope and are coherent with the wider game.
  • Coordinate across development disciplines to design and refine game features.
  • Be a champion of design practice, have a solid knowledge of RuneScape and maintain awareness of the games industry, the online games market and monetisation strategies.
  • Collaborate with the Lead Designer and Monetisation Manager in the creation and maintenance of RuneScape’s commercial strategy.

 Requirements:

  • Proven and demonstrable expertise in game systems design, including creativity, technical aptitude, commercial awareness and MMO genre knowledge.
  • Must have sound creative judgment and a solid understanding of broad design principles including social design, commercial design, economics, interface design, usability, balancing, monetisation and analytics.
  • An understanding of monetization principles and commercial dynamics.
  • Strong communication & people skills. Able to work effectively with a diverse team, to give insightful feedback, to be able to write design specifications to high standard and able to verbally articulate ideas with passion, clarity and confidence.
  • A good general technical proficiency with game construction. Experience in game scripting, coding or development tools is also very beneficial.
  • Driven, organized and reliable. A positive attitude, steady under pressure, adapts to constructive feedback. Works in a thorough, timely and considerate manner.
  • A love of games & design, a broad knowledge of gameplay styles and an expansive yet insightful understanding of game mechanics.

You can apply HERE.

Developer

Games Programmer

Dubit make Virtual Worlds, Casual MMOs and Games for kids.
We’ve created many successful titles built on our own Platform for Cartoon Network, BBC, Dorothy of Oz, Diesel, Monty Python and many more.
We are currently working on a number of exciting projects for 2012 and 2013 and we’re looking for team members with the drive, passion and ambition that will help us make those projects the best they can be.
The Role:
We have opportunities currently for talented Programmers with a passion for games. You will be proficient in object oriented programming and have an eye for detail with experience of working from game design and wireframe documentation and user interface designs. You will also be expected to work on associated gaming websites.
Essential Job Functions: (You should have experience in one of more of the following)

  • Action Script 3 and Flex.
  • Unity
  • Java and Java Script.
  • Node.js
  • RoR (HTML, CSS, PHP)
  • HTML5
  • C# / C++

Knowledge Requirements:

  • Experience in games or a strong desire to move into games after strong experience gained in another field.
  • Familiarity with concurrent programming standards.
  • Awareness of Open Source tools and developments around them.
  • Any familiarity with the Spring Framework would be exceedingly useful.
  • Understanding of MVC architecture.
  • Knowledge of OO design patterns and best practice techniques.
  • Working with game-ready assets for use in user interfaces, such as textures, icons, and fonts.
  • Working closely with Design direction to ensure clear communication of essential information to the player.
  • Working closely with UI designers to ensure correct functionality and visual fidelity.

Demonstrated Ability To:

  • Deliver highly creative Games and be able to demonstrate work from a variety of media and platforms.
  • Communicate ideas through unique and inspired ideas.
  • Harness a broad range of influences and think laterally to bring different perspectives to tackle a brief.
  • Show a ‘can do’ attitude and relish new technical and creative challenges.
  • Work to individual and team deadlines.
  • Effectively communicate within a large group/multiple project environment.
  • Be passionate about good programming techniques and have a love of computer games.

About Us:

We offer competitive salaries, excellent benefits and a generous holiday entitlement. The environment itself is relaxed, friendly and built upon the basis of every team member having ownership and a realisable input into the games we create.

We are located in Leeds, just off the M621.

If you have a passion for making and playing games, have excellent skills and experience, dedication and, most importantly, the talent we need – then we really want to hear from you.

You can apply HERE.

Train2Game News: Eurogamer reports on Game Jam

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With the release of Windows 8 and the student games being published on the Store, Eurogamer has done a story on the World Record Game Jam.
You can read the article below

The Microsoft-sponsored game jam

Train2Game News: Train2Game Radio talks to Jonny Robinson

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You can listen to the interview at

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1030916-train2game-student-talks-to-mark-kingdon-on-t2g-student-radio

or read the transcript below:

 

Hello, I am here with Jonny Robinson from Milton Keynes, how you doing Jonny?

I’m doing very well thanks how is yourself?

I’m very good thank you, Could you tell me what course you’re on?

I’m on the Games designer course.

What is the most dramatic or exciting thing you have done in your life?

Winning the Gadget Show, that was quite cool, the Make Something Unreal Live 2012. Pretty exciting times with Epic!

What is your reason for getting in to the gaming industry and how will the gaming industry, change your life?

I wanted to get in the gaming industry when I was very young, it’s one of those things that I explain a lot to my friends that when I was young I used to put the gaming industry on a pedestal. You know you kind of worship it, you want it so bad but then you realise, I don’t know if I can do that so you kind of dismiss it for years. I then saw this course advertised in the news paper and I thought, you know what – I’ll give it a shot, it’s an online course I can do it in my own spare time and when I actually did the course I felt a lot more confident in myself. I felt I should share my experience with people so I did a lot of Train2Game promoting for the design course because it helped me a lot with my confidence and so really I would say it is one of the best decisions I have ever made so far.

After you earn your Train2Game diploma, what would be your greatest ambition in the industry?

Obviously get a full time job. I am also working with my team, the Commando Kiwi team, on a new project. I’ll chuck that out there as well, it’s the first time I’ve mentioned it. We are going to put something up on our Facebook very soon. We made a game for the Gadget Show which was “The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain” on the iOS and now we are taking a further step into the industry with the Unreal Engine, as that’s what we won at the Gadget Show. I can’t really say to much but we are on the fronts of making this new game.

What platform is the game going to be on?

At the moment we are going to stick to our current market and go with iOS but there has been hints with the team for Steam as well.

What genre is it going to be?

That’s stuff I am keeping reserved, I will let you know the scoop when I am ready to release the information.

What is your story, what are the past experiences that have shaped your life to who you are today?

Being where I am at the right time I suppose and just keep on striving for success, keep your head up and just keep going. I wouldn’t say anything has altered me, I would just say it’s the path I have been led on, you know, by destiny or whatever you want to call it but so far, if it is so called destiny, it has led me down a fine route, I have met some really interesting people.

I also know you have a blog to help fledgling designers get in to the industry, what inspired you to start that?

I have been doing video diaries for a long time and I know there are a lot of blogs out there like Gamasutra, they make some really incredible articles. I realised that there are not many from a student point of view that’s actually been in the industry and tasted that addiction as I like to call it. You know once your in the industry you kind of feel like an over whelming sense of adrenaline and I just feel like if I need to keep blurting my mind out there to people saying you need to get in this industry, it’s amazing! I’m doing whatever I can as it’s not programming or art its more design and it is a very niche market. I can guarantee you, you ask any designer and you say, what does it mean to be a game designer? What skill sets do you have? Every designer will tell you something completely different and that’s what I am trying to get across in my blogs. You have to be really open minded to be a designer and really blend your key skills to the actual studio themselves.

That leads me quite nicely on to my last point, what advice would you give to someone looking to get in to the games industry?

First of all, attend Game Jams, that’s the first one. I know Train2Game just did one with Microsoft and I attended one last year that was with Epic. The second I would recommend is trying to talk to people in the community, go on the Train2Game Forums and just generally create games. No one ever says in the industry who have you worked for, they say what experience have you got?

If people want to read more about it, where can people find your blog?

My website is www.ironcore1.wordpress,com

Thank you very much Jonny and keep us updated on all things Commando Kiwi

No problem, thank you very much for your time Mark, Ta-ra!

Train2Game News: DR Student Diaries – 22.10.12

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The latest student diaries from Craig Moore, Matty Wyett-Simmonds, Ezekiel Morris and Amanda Blatch can be found in the link below.There has been more hard work and the return of an old friend.

Train2Game Student Diaries Dateline 22 October 2012

Train2Game News: Dan Gent on BBC Radio

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A teenager from Alferton who is paralysed from the shoulders down after a car accident is now fulfilling his dream to be a games designer. 17 year old Daniel Gent has been Tetraplegic for nearly 3 years but with a lot of determination and the help of voice recognition technology he is following a distance learning programme through Train2Game and is already making his own games.

BBC Radio Derby’s Emma Wotts went to meet Daniel and he told her how difficult life was after the accident.

Daniel: My thoughts in my head for the first 6 months weren’t that great. I wasn’t myself, I didn’t know what my future was. It was hard to decide after my accident. I could feel more now than I could before but at the time I didn’t really see a future. Breaking my neck in three places made me think it would be impossible. Meeting people with similar injuries and how they carried on and how they were getting on with their life made me want to push towards something and carry on with my family. Not living off the Government but supply, supporting and giving my family what they need.

 

Emma: What do you think that turning point was? What was that moment when you thought, I need to do something?

Daniel: It was more when I was first introduced to my daughter at the time when my partner was pregnant I didn’t really see a future, I couldn’t see myself as being a father. I didn’t really want her to have a Dad that was, as I am paralysed from the neck down. When I first met her it kinda changed everything, I wanted to be the dad that every dad wants to be.

 

Emma: And hopefully now you will be able to earn money or be able to provide for your family. How important is this to you?

Daniel: It’s going to change a lot of things, I get quite a lot of depression and feeling down but when these things happen such as the game jam when I went to that it changes a lot of your perspectives on life and it just made me want to carry on doing what I am doing. I just see it as a dream working with certain people such as Microsoft and meeting the people I did. It never would of happened without Train2Game.

 

Emma: How do you feel now about the future?

Daniel: Now I see it being a lot brighter and a lot more doors are opening from all wider areas, it’s going to change a lot of things. I can see my future well worth staying around for. I can just say it has given me a reason to carry on.

 

Emma: What would you say to anyone else who has been through what you have who thought they wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything in the future. Someone who’s really down about their life as you did just 3 years ago. What would you say to them?

Daniel: Whether you are disabled or if you suffer from depression you are going to go through a lot of doors and sometimes it isn’t going to be what you want but you will find that right door and everything is going to open up and you’ll see the future is a lot different. It’s not going to come to you naturally. You aren’t going to wake up in the morning and it’s going to be there. You’ve got to go out there and grab it as you can. I would say volunteering for anything you can just to get yourself motivated and take your mind off things. I found that a lot more useful, being active and going out more. If you are inside then that is where it is mostly going to depress you. Life is not going to be easy but you can make it easy.

Broadcast on BBC Radio Derby 18 October 2012 – audio available via http://audioboo.fm/train2game

www.train2game.com

 

Train2Game News: Craig Moore student diary – week 47

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We now have a date for when this next title is due to be available, and we have a lot of work that needs doing. I’m not going to let it slip yet, but it’s still coming on in leaps and bounds edging closer and closer to a releasable game.

Due to the nature of the title release will be a minor milestone. We are looking to further support it after release and add content, modifications and updates as we go.

I keep saying it but work is still incredibly busy, I would never lie to anyone and say this job is easy because it simply isn’t. There is no slacking, no twiddling of thumbs, if work isn’t done it is your fault and everyone is responsible for their own work and workload. It’s great as long as everyone knows this, thankfully everyone here does and it seems to flow pretty well.

Next week we have more work to do, polishing, fixing, tweaking, updating, and balancing. All the fun of the fair!

Craig

Train2Game News: Kickstarter rides in to the UK

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The popular business model, Kickstarter is coming to the United Kingdom on October 31.

Kickstarter is the service that allows developers to show their plans and ideas to the public and, if it is liked, people can donate money to the development of the project. It lets consumers decide what gets created.

Kickstarter has announced that it will be opening to projects in the UK on October 31, 2012. Users can begin building their projects today.

The Kickstarter team said “We thought the three-week gap would give everyone plenty of time to build and tweak their projects before launching. Beginning October 31, they can launch and share their projects with the world.”

Kickstarter really flexed its muscles in February earlier this year with Tim Schafer’s Double Fine. Their latest project earned record breaking funding. It has seen many high profile developers creating new interesting projects, which some publishers may not of allowed them to do.

UK campaign amounts will be listed in pounds sterling but international parties that attribute will see their donations in the approximate equivalent of dollars.

Other localised changes see UK backers not being redirected to Amazon for payment, international shipping has been streamlined, and new options are available to campaign organisers to alter reward tiers for international backers.

Train2Game News: Jonny Robinson’s Blog

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Train2Game Student Jonny Robinson has been writing his own blog. He talks about his experiences on being a fledgling games designer. He covers subject such as his time at DR Studios and his work with Commando Kiwi, the winning team of the Make Something Unreal Live at the Gadget Show Live earlier this year.

You can read Jonny’s blog below:

http://ironcore1.wordpress.com/

Train2Game News: Game Jam on the Guinness World record site

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Train2Game’s World record Game Jam has a story on the Guinness World Record official website.

There are some great pictures from the weekend in the story.

You can read the story in the link below:

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2012/10/games-development-students-lose-sleep-but-win-game-jam-record-45209/

Train2Game News: World Record Certificate

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We have been sent our Guiness  world record certificate! The certificate was awarded for most participants at a 48 hour Game Jam. Well done everyone once again! It is a huge achievement.