Category Archives: Games Developer

Train2Game News GreenShoots Funding

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CE_Primary_RGB_OBCreative England and Microsoft have announced that our highly popular Greenshoots programme is set to run for a second year and it’s bigger and better than ever before.

Speaking at EGX Creative England’s Head of Games & Digital Jaspal Sohal announced that the next round of the programme is now open, which offers £250k (up to £25k each) to 10 indie studios across England.

In a change to the first iteration of Greenshoots, investors and publishers are now involved from day one which means the supported studios have the potential to receive additional investment from the start of their project. Applicants can now also apply to develop for Xbox One with the programme no longer limited to tablet and mobile development.

The games from Greenshoots Round 1 ranged from underwater shoot ‘em ups and robot-infested puzzle games, to futuristic galaxy battles and crazy golf. All of the games, now released2, were showcased back in July to a crowd of industry experts and investors.

Jaspal Sohal, Head of Games & Digital at Creative England, said:

“Round 1 of Greenshoots proved to be a phenomenal success, helping 9 new indie studios to launch some amazing titles.

“This year the programme is an even better opportunity for burgeoning games studios; we have potential investors involved from the very start and Microsoft have extended the programme to include PC and Xbox One titles. Greenshoots Round 2 is a fantastic opportunity for any indie studio looking to develop their first IP.”

Andrew Webber, UK Microsoft Marketing Lead, said:

“At Microsoft we believe that a game developer’s success is our success. With the brilliant results from last year’s Greenshoots and the impact it has made on the participating studios, we are delighted to partner, once again, with Creative England. What’s particularly exciting this year is that Greenshoots has evolved to put the participants in front of more investors and publishers than ever before from day one.”

Paul Norris, of Greenshoots Round 1 support studio Mad Fellows, said:

“Applying to Greenshoots has been the single most important and productive decision we’ve made since founding Mad Fellows. Creative England and Microsoft have raised our profile as developers, given us access to funding and follow-on funding, introduced us to invaluable contacts, provided master classes and offered numerous opportunities to speak and present our game at high profile events.

“The Greenshoots programme has been pivotal in ensuring we made it through our first year as a company and has set us on a path for continued success in the future.”

The Greenshoots programme helps developers to kick-start development of new intellectual property (IP) and reach a global audience, plus they’ll receive support, mentorship and expertise from Microsoft and industry partners. While developing their title, Greenshoots encourages developers to push their game out across all platforms. The programme is designed to inject the business with funds for development and marketing and studios only pay back the investment when they’re making money from the game.

Applications close 9am on October 20th, 2014. To download a full set of guidelines click here and to apply Click Here.

Train2Game News Soho Social

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SpaceApeLondon based games studio, Space Ape Games, are holding their second Soho Social event and this time they are sending out a challenge to other companies to come with their game face.

The event is being held at the Space Ape studios in Soho Square on Thursday 30th October from 6pm. If you come in fancy dress then you and your colleagues might be in the running for the “best dressed” crown, but you’ll have to beat the Space Ape team first! If dressing up isn’t your thing then just come and enjoy great food, great foosball and even better company @Soho_Social.

The previous Soho Social saw over 100 attendees with the likes of Apple, Google, King, Natural Motion and many more join together in a relaxed evening of World Cup football, food, drink and foosball. With an ever growing industry, Space Ape decided to create an event to bring like-minded local companies closer together in a laid back environment. Their aim is to grow the event to become a regular “go to” gathering for people in the tech and gaming industry.

Places are limited so get your name on the list now and enjoy Halloween early with a little help from those friendly fellows at Space Ape Games. For more information about Space Ape Games, as well as career opportunities at the studio, check out www.spaceapegames.com

Train2Game News Project Spark available now

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Project SparkAfter months of beta, Project Spark is now available for free on Xbox One for all to play and create.

Microsoft and Team Dakota’s fairytale-flavoured game editor, Project Spark, is finally ready for official release – the complete version can be downloaded now on Xbox One or Windows 8 PCs, free of charge, or bought in a box with some additional content and perks.

The game was announced when the Xbox One was at E3 and was one of the more innovative titles that was displayed. Project Spark is a complex yet user-friendly editing tool, which allows you to sculpt out terrain, choose behaviours for characters, fiddle with a world’s lighting or climate, set victory objectives and much more.

The game works on a free to play method where everything is playable and unlockable but to speed along your process you can use real word currency.

If you pay for the game then you will receive the following:

– Champions Quest: Void Storm Adventure
– Sir Haakon the Knight playable champion
– First Contact Sci-Fi theme pack
– Yeti’s Rage content pack
– Arctic Glaciers winter landscape
– Massive World Builder Pack expansion
– 1 Month of Project Spark Premium membership (earn credits twice as fast)

If you don’t fancy creating in the game then you can play one of the seventy thousand levels, which over a million creators spent four million hours creating.

Train2Game News UK Top 20 Games – 06.10.14

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Fifa 15Three big new games came out this week and none of them were enough to topple Fifa 15 from the number one spot. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor came in at number two, Forza Horizon came in at number three and Nintendo’s hit franchise Super Smash Bros. came in at number four.

All formats

Week ending 4 October 2014

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 – FIFA 15 EA SPORTS 1
2 MIDDLE EARTH: SHADOW OF MORDOR WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE –
3 FORZA HORIZON 2 MICROSOFT –
4 SUPER SMASH BROS. NINTENDO –
5 DESTINY ACTIVISION 2
6 MINECRAFT: PLAYSTATION EDITION SONY COMPUTER ENT. 9
7 DISNEY INFINITY 2.0 DISNEY INFINITY 3
8 MINECRAFT: XBOX EDITION MICROSOFT 4
9 CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS ACTIVISION 5
10 THE SIMS 4 EA GAMES 7
11 WATCH DOGS UBISOFT 6
12 – THE LEGO MOVIE VIDEOGAME WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 12
13 PLANTS VS ZOMBIES: GARDEN WARFARE EA GAMES 10
14 – GRAND THEFT AUTO V ROCKSTAR 14
15 THE LAST OF US: REMASTERED SONY COMPUTER ENT. 11
16 – TOMODACHI LIFE NINTENDO 16
17 LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 15
18 TERRARIA XBOX 360 CLASSICS 17
19 FANTASY LIFE NINTENDO 8
20 FROZEN: OLAF’S QUEST GSP/AVANQUEST 19
< previous week
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2014 UKIE Ltd

These charts cannot be reproduced either in print or online without obtaining permission from Ukie. If you wish to reproduce the charts in print or online, please contact david.smith@ukie.org.uk for the appropriate license.

Train2Game News Jagex support GameBlast 15

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SpecialEffectJagex Games Studio, makers of the multi-award winning fantasy MMORPG RuneScape and upcoming Transformers Universe, today announced its continuing corporate support of GameBlast, the annual charity games marathon weekend in aid of gamers’ charity SpecialEffect.

Jagex held its own 24-hour games marathon as part of the previous GameBlast weekend in February 2014, which was live-streamed online to 90,000 unique viewers over the course of the event. Both staff and selected members of the RuneScape community played RuneScape and Jagex’s Ace of Spades: Battle Builder throughout the 24 hour period, raising over £48,000 as a result.

Riaan Hodgson, chief operations officer at Jagex, was vocal about the company’s continued support of GameBlast: “It’s great to see our staff get behind such a worthy cause once again, especially one so suited to our core company principles. At Jagex, games are a way of life and if we can have fun while welcoming others into this medium, then that’s definitely a good use of our time and resources.”

GameBlast is the UK’s biggest charity gaming marathon event, and is next scheduled for the weekend of 20-22 February 2015. Hoping to improve on last year’s total of £70,000, SpecialEffect is targeting a figure of £100,000 and is calling upon other games companies to join in and help people with disabilities benefit from the fun, friendship and inclusion of video games. The charity is hoping that other studios recognise the huge internal and external corporate social responsibility benefits from taking part, as well as the ability to directly benefit gamers in the best way possible.

“Jagex’s support was a major part of the success of GameBlast14,” said Dr Mick Donegan, founder and director of SpecialEffect. “We’re incredibly grateful for the generosity of its staff and communities, and we’re delighted that they’ll be participating again in 2015. The money they raise will enable even more people, whatever their age or physical disability, to enjoy video games and leisure technology.”

Donegan continued: “We know we can achieve so much more if the rest of the UK games industry follows Jagex’s lead and pledges their support for GameBlast15. There’s a warm welcome awaiting any developers, publishers or gaming communities who want to get involved, whether that’s at a small scale stream or at industry partner level.”

More information about next year’s GameBlast can be found at http://www.specialeffect.org.uk/gameblast

Train2Game News EGX in 2015

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Eurogamer ExpoEGX – the UK’s biggest games event – has struck a multi-year deal to move to Birmingham’s NEC. Next year’s event will be the biggest EGX ever and takes place at the NEC from September 24th-27th 2015.

This announcement comes hot on the heels of the most successful event in EGX’s seven-year history that saw a record 75,000 attendees visit the show over its four days. The show featured over 100 unreleased videogames, presentations from some of the world’s most prestigious game developers and lots more.

EGX is also pleased to confirm that tickets for 2015 will remain frozen at this year’s prices and that it is already working with travel companies to deliver discounted train and coach packages for visitors to the show.

Furthermore, attendees will be able to take advantage of the host of new facilities and attractions currently being built on-site. Opening in spring 2015 and part of the NEC campus, Resorts World Birmingham will be the UK’s first integrated destination leisure and entertainment complex, comprising of a four star hotel, restaurants and bars, multi-screen cinema and casino.

“EGX has experienced amazing growth during our four years at Earl’s Court,” commented co-founder and CEO of Gamer Network, Rupert Loman. “And while we are sad to leave, we see the move to the NEC not only as a real opportunity to continue its success, but also to evolve and improve the experience we offer both attendees and exhibitors.”

Gamer Network’s growth plans for EGX events have already begun with the recent announcement of a partnership between the acclaimed indie, PC and developer-focused show, EGX Rezzed and the prestigious BAFTA Games Awards. EGX Rezzed will take place from March 12th-14th, 2015 at London’s Tobacco Dock, with the BAFTA Games Awards will be held at the venue on the first evening. Tickets for EGX Rezzed go on sale tomorrow morning.

More info on both events can be found at www.egx.net

Train2Game News Ms PAC-MAN Pink Ribbon Campaign

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BANDAI NAMCO Games America Inc. has joined forces with the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) in the fight against the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women with the launch today of its Ms. PAC-MAN Pink Ribbon Campaign.

Headlined by BANDAI NAMCO’s iconic Ms. PAC-MAN mascot and anchored with new gameplay incentives across the video game publisher’s range of mobile titles, this new effort will raise funds for NBCF to help women now and inspire hope to those affected by breast cancer through early detection, education and support services.

“Awareness and early diagnosis are critical in the fight against breast cancer,” said James Kucera, head of Mobile at BANDAI NAMCO Games America Inc. “We are proud to lend our voice to the fight with Ms. PAC-MAN and BANDAI NAMCO’s Pink Ribbon Campaign.”

“While video games often bring amusement and joy to our lives, this is a chance to bring hope as well.” Senior Producer Ben Acevedo said. “Breast cancer has directly affected my immediate family and it’s a fantastic opportunity for gamers and the industry to get involved. While the mazes we are offering in October are fun, the real challenge is to raise awareness and get players, producers, artists, programmers across the mobile industry to join us and Join the Pac.”

“We are very excited about our new partnership with Bandai Namco and the Ms. PAC-MAN Pink Ribbon Campaign,” says NBCF Founder & CEO, Janelle Hail. “By encouraging their gamers to Join the Pac, we can reach more women than ever with our message of hope. The funds they raise will allow us to provide early detection services for women in need.”

The heart of the Ms. PAC-MAN Pink Ribbon Campaign is an exclusive new maze for sale across a multitude of Ms. PAC-MAN and PAC-MAN iOS and Android titles for $0.99 through October. All proceeds from purchases of this new level will go directly to support the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The in-game user interface and artwork for these products will change to a new pink ribbon theme for October alongside this new content. In addition, players can share their scores via Facebook and Twitter, inviting friends to meet the challenge with a donation and high score of their own.

The full list of titles the new Ms. PAC-MAN Pink Ribbon Campaign content can be downloaded on includes:

iOS

    PAC-MAN/Ms. PAC-MAN
    PAC-MAN Lite/Ms. PAC-MAN Lite
    Ms. PAC-MAN for iPad/Ms.PAC-MAN for iPad Lite

Android

    Ms. PAC-MAN
    PAC-MAN + Tournaments

Ms. PAC-MAN and PAC-MAN are two of gaming’s most historic characters, the stars of a long series of high score-fueled retro arcade experiences. Players navigate either character through labyrinths of tight corridors, dodging dangerous ghosts while gobbling up points, fruits, power-ups and extra lives.

The Ms. PAC-MAN Pink Ribbon Campaign will run from now until October 31.

Train2Game News Pokémon TCG on iOS

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Pokemon TcgThe Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) Online app has launched on the Apple App Store in select markets around the world.

Bringing the online version of the popular trading card game to iPad and iPad mini devices with Retina display, starting with the third generation, in Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The Pokémon TCG Online, available as a downloadable client for PC and Mac and now as an app, allows fans with an Internet connection to play the game whenever they like, wherever Wi-Fi access is available or by using the device’s data plan.

Players can begin downloading the free-to-play Pokémon TCG Online app at www.appstore.com/pokemontcgo for iPad and iPad mini devices. They will also be able to search for the official Pokémon TCG Online app in the Apple App Store. The app launches in additional markets in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America later this week.

The Pokémon TCG Online app provides iPad and iPad mini users with a similar experience to the one PC and Mac players have enjoyed, and ensures that their digital card collection and game progress follows them across any device they’re playing on. Game features are identical as well, including both player-versus-computer and player-versus-player online battles, deck building, card trading, avatar customisation, a Pokémon TCG tutorial, and more.

All Pokémon TCG Online players receive several free digital Pokémon TCG decks to get started right away and can earn additional cards through both player-versus-computer and online battles. Players who purchase physical theme decks, booster packs, and other Pokémon TCG products will also receive a code card that unlocks digital cards for their Pokémon TCG Online game, enhancing decks and adding cards to their online collection for play or trading.

“The iPad version of the Pokémon TCG Online makes it even easier for fans to pick up the game and begin playing immediately,” said J.C. Smith, director of Consumer Marketing at The Pokémon Company International. “We want to provide players with various access points to play and enjoy the Pokémon TCG, whether it’s the traditional tabletop game, PC and Mac version, or the iPad and iPad mini app.”

For more information about the Pokémon TCG Online, please visit www.Pokemon.co.uk/TCGO. The free-to-play iPad and iPad mini version of the game can be downloaded at www.appstore.com/pokemontcgo.

Train2Game News Fishinabottle looking for Junior Web Developer

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fishinabottleLeamington Spa based Games Developer on the hunt for Junior team member.
Details of the position copied from the Developer’s website below.

Junior App/Web Developer – Leamington Spa
Position type: Permanent
We’re on the lookout for an enthusiastic and ambitious Junior Web Developer
to join us.

This is a role with involvement in the technical design, development and
delivery of app, websites and server applications. You will enjoy working
with an interesting range of technologies deployed over a wide variety of
innovative projects, from apps through to on demand application and social
media platforms, for our high profile clients including Disney, the BBC and
Channel 4.

Expected technical skills:

. HTML5/Javascript/CSS3
. Apache/PHP/MySQL
. Popular web and mobile frameworks
. Knowledge of iOS or Android app development is an advantage

The ideal applicant will be enthusiastic, efficient, highly organised and
motivated with a solid digital understanding. You will work simultaneously
across a range of projects, many of them fast paced, delivering world class
products.

As an individual you will be solutions-driven, with an eye for detail and
have a natural interest in the latest digital innovations.

We’re one of the UK’s original and most successful digital production
studios that is structured in a way that’s designed to bring out the very
best in the people who work here.

You’ll be working in a relaxed, creative studio environment (a converted
chapel!) with perks including flexible working hours, free drinks and plenty
of social events.

What else can we offer you?

. You can manage your own working hours with our flexitime system
. The Fridge of Dreams provides free drinks – currently Peroni,
various wines, Coke, Diet Coke, Pepsi Max, Dr Pepper and fruit juices
. Free and unlimited posh coffee (Lavazza right now) as well as
speciality coffees and a range of fancy teas
. Personal Development Time and unlimited access to Lynda.com
. Membership to our cinema club in our own cinema with free popcorn
and drinks
. A range of funded social events – theme parks, go karting, superhero
days, bake offs and curry and beer nights etc
. Free fruit
. A cake on your Birthday

We offer a competitive package and a friendly, supportive working
environment.

To apply for this role please click APPLY to submit your CV and covering
letter. Please include links to live examples of your work, without these we
cannot progress your application.

This job is located at a Leamington Spa studio, please consider your ability
to commute or relocate when applying.

We are only able to process applications from candidates who are eligible to
work in the UK

For details of how to apply, visit:
http://www.fishinabottle.com/jobs/junior-appweb-developer

Train2Game News GameLoading Rise of the Indies

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GameLoadingGameLoading: Rise of the Indies is a feature documentary exploring the world of indie game developers – their craft, their games, their dreams, and how they have forever changed the landscape of games culture. The project is currently crowdfunding through Kickstarter to help complete post-production.

Filmmakers Lester Francois and Anna Brady have clocked over 100 hours of interviews with both high-profile and up-and-coming indie developers and industry figures from all over the world. The stories that feature in the documentary are only the tip of the iceberg, with the team currently offering an additional 23 videos on youtube, with more scheduled to be released regularly over the next few months. Popular videos include BitSummit in Kyoto, Dutch Game Garden and Mike Bithell – ‘Story and Gameplay’

The exclusive Member’s Section on their website features longer more in-depth interviews available to Backers. The member’s section is a great resource for indie devs and fans. Those wanting to be a member can do so by backing the kickstarter The Final Push.

GameLoading’s Kickstarter, which launched last week is on track to raise the $50,000 needed to fund post production. Featured on the kickstarter page is the new GameLoading trailer, which has been touching the hearts of audiences across the community. It offers a heartwarming and positive message about developer culture, despite the recent negativity in the industry.

GameLoading features interviews with Davey Wreden (The Stanley Parable), John Romero (Doom), Rami Ismail (Vlambeer), Alexander Bruce (Antichamber), Lucas Pope (Papers, Please), Richard Hofmeier (Cart Life), Phil Tibitoski (Octodad), Zoe Quinn (Depression Quest), Steve Gaynor (Gone Home), Christine Love (Analogue), Mike Bithell (Thomas Was Alone) and dozens more.

The film will demystify what goes into making a game, examine the processes of different studios and individuals, capture the excitement of industry events like PAX and GDC, ponder why we play and what success means, and explore where this art form has come from and where it may be going.