Category Archives: Games QA Tester

Train2Game students: Want to develop an FPS? Sorry, that’ll make the Pokémon director sad…

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Many Train2Game students enjoy First Person Shooters such as Call of Duty or Halo, and may have desires to develop them in future.

With the FPS being arguably the most popular genre, it’s no surprise that Train2Game students may consider developing them. But be warned, by doing so you’ll be making Pokémon Black and Pokémon White director Junichi Masuda sad

Writing about E3 on his blog – in partially broken English – Masuda said:

“This year, FPS war games were trend!! A lot of splatter scenes!! Blood spread everywhere. Shooting a lot, killing a lot,”

“The game developer seems get used to ‘kill’ the target. Therefore, I felt ‘how to kill’ became a focus of developing game. For that reason, target become zombie and alien…” he continued.

“These targets’ savage attack and human counterattacks… It became savage contents and you never know. Mmm… It is the player who choose the game to play. As a game creator, it is little sad!”

Masuda concluded by lamenting the lack of originality in the games being shown at E3.

“Majority of the games look like a same game. There were little of original games. I felt a sense of crisis with above part.”

Train2Game Game Designers in particular will know that it’s quite important for games to be innovative and distinctive, and while the games on show at E3 were impressive to look at, some might agree with Masuda in them being a bit too similar to each other.

The Train2Game blog has previously reported that the team behind Pokémon are confident in their ability to design and create new, distinctive creatures for future games in the series.

The success of Pokémon, which as Train2Game students may remember, topped the UK Charts in March, demonstrates that there’s a base for various types of games out there!

So Train2Game, do you agree with Masuda? Are too many games are about killing? Is it a ‘crisis’ for game developers?

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

[Source:  Siliconera]

Train2Game Game Design student Jonathon Robinson speaking to Train2Game Radio at Develop

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 Train2Game  featured prominently at this year’s Develop Conference, with a stand promoting students on the courses. Jonathon Robinson is on the Train2Game Game Design course, and helped promote Train2Game and also got an insight into the games industry.

The Train2Game blog caught up with Jonathon at the event to find out what he gained from the experience. Listen to the interview at www.audioboo.fm/train2game  Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog or on the Train2Game forum.

 

 

Train2Game students can help indie devs and charity with Humble Indie Bundle 3

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Train2Game students have the opportunity to check out five great indie games and donate to charity at the same time with Humble Indie Bundle 3.

The scheme runs in exactly the same way as Humble Indie Bundle 2, as reported by the Train2Game blog in December last year.

The indie games available – which could all potentially provide inspiration for Train2Game students – are Crayon Physics Deluxe, Cogs, VVVVVV, Hammerfight and And Yet It Moves.  They’re available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

If the games were bought separately, it’d cost around $50 (or around £30) but you have the opportunity to get them for much less as you pay what you like. You can also choose how your payment is divided between the game developers and the two charities; Child’s Play and EFF.

At the time of writing Humble Indie Bundle 3 has raised over $400,000 after 90,000 purchases. The biggest contributor appears to be Notch, developer of Train2Game student favourite Minecraft who donated over $4000.

Train2Game students can check out Humble Indie Bundle 3 on its official website. The trailer is also available to watch below, here on the Train2Game blog.

So Train2Game, is this good cause a good way for indie developers to gain publicity? Would you use the ‘pay what you want’ model for your games?

As usual, leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Thanks to Vampire Duck on the Train2Game forum for the tip off]

Train2Game Art & Animation student William Alexander speaks to Train2Game Radio

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William Alexander is studying to become a Game Artist & Animator with Train2Game. Train2Game Radio caught up with him to find out why he chose to study with Train2Game, how he’s finding the course and how he balances it around the rest of his life.

Listen to the interview at http://audioboo.fm/train2game

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

Train2Game’s Clive Robert to speak at Edinburgh Interactive

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Train2Game‘s Clive Robert will be part of a panel discussion  about how to get into the games industry at Edinburgh Interactive next month.

The summary of the talk as stated on the Edinburgh Interactive website states:

“Whilst big UK teams producing huge ‘AAA’ games are most certainly in decline, the future is still incredibly bright;

Micro teams, new business models, new analytics, low barriers to entry and improving games education are all great news for graduates and whomever else that want to be a part of this great industry. Those who are driven and prepared to show a little entrepreneurial flair have many more options than just cutting, pasting, tweaking and mailing their cv’s.”

Clive Robert will be speaking alongside game industry legend Ian Livingstone and Ken Fee, MProf Programme Tutor and Lecturer at The University of Abertay Dundee. The session, Games Industry overview & How to get in to the Games Industry, takes place on Thursday 10th August.

It’s the first in a whole host of talks that could be very useful to any Train2Game students who can confidently get to the free, public event in Edinburgh.

“The Public programme will take place in the Great Scottish Hall at The Radisson Blu Hotel on the 11th & 12th August.  Seats are limited so we recommend getting to the venue early where seating will be on a first come, first served basis.” is the advice on the official website.

For more information visit the Edinburgh Interactive homepage.  More information about Clive is available on the Train2Game official website.

As usual, leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game students are probably sick of hearing this…Zumba Fitness No.1 again

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Train2Game students must be waiting for the summer lull to end,  but in the meantime Zumba Fitness continues to the dominate the UK charts with a sixth consecutive No.1. The dance game has spent a total of nine weeks in the top spot.

Call of Juarez: The Cartel enters at No.2, despite a plethora of negative reviews, while poor ratings also have no effect on Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part 2 which rises from No.7 to No. 3 in its second week in the charts.

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean moves up one to No.4, switching places with Call of Duty: Black Ops which drops to No.5. in its 35th week on sale. The Train2Game blog previously reported that Black Ops was the top selling game of last year, and more than six months on its still going strong.

Price cuts see Dungeon Siege III re-enter the top ten at No.6, while Dirt 3 drops  four spots to No.7. Movie tie-in Cars 2 debuts at No.8, FIFA 11 re-enters the top ten at No.8, while LEGO Star Wars III: The  Clone Wars drops to No.10.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon and former No.1 – as reported by the Train2Game blog – Brink, both leave the top ten.

The UKIE Gfk Chart-Track All Formats Top 10 for the week ending 23rd July 2011 is therefore as follows:

  1. Zumba Fitness (505 Games)
  2. Call of Juarez: The Cartel (Ubisoft)
  3. Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (EA)
  4. LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean (Disney)
  5. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision)
  6. Dungeon Siege III (Square Enix)
  7.  Dirt 3 (Codemasters)
  8. Cars 2 (Disney)
  9. FIFA 11 (EA)
  10. LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (LucasArts)

There are no major releases this week.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on this week’s chart? What does the fact games with low review scores are doing so well?

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

[Source: UKIE Games Charts©, compiled by GfK Chart-Track]

Train2Game Course Director Tony Bickley speaks to Train2Game Radio at the Develop Conference

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Train2Game featured prominently at this year’s Develop Conference, with a stand promoting students on the courses.

Towards the end of the show, the Train2Game blog caught up with Train2Game Course Directly Tony Bickley to find out how successful Train2Game’s time at Develop 2011 had been.

The interview is also available to listen to at www.audioboo.fm/train2game

 

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

Train2Game students could see L.A. Noire tech in Grand Theft Auto V

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Grand Theft Auto V could feature the extremely impressive facial art & animation techniques originally used in L.A. Noire. (Train2Game students can remind themselves about the motion capture here on the Train2Game blog)

That’s according to  Team Bondi co-founder Brendan McNamara in an interview with PSM3.

“Yeah, I think they’re looking at it for every game. As much as LA Noire is a huge game, Grand Theft Auto is incredibly huge, so you’ve got all the problems of how big the cast would be and how many lines would you have to record and all that kind of stuff.

“Obviously we’d like them to, and they’re more than welcome to use MotionScan, but if they decide it’s not right for that and want to use it for another game, then that’s fine too.

“I think it brings a level of humanity to the experience that means people will – in the first few minutes – start relating to the characters on screen. They don’t have to make that decision about ‘whether I like this guy’ or ‘do I actually believe them? – but they can make all the like or dislike decisions based on the actor’s performance.

“Rockstar will make those decisions. They generally make the right decisions in terms of what they do for their games.”

The prospect of motion capture in Grand Theft Auto V is no doubt an intriguing prospect, both to Train2Game Art & Animation students, and everyone else.

There has been no official announcement regarding Grand Theft Auto V, but increasing rumours suggest that we’ll glimpses of it in the not too distant future.

Indeed, as previously reported by the Train2Game blog, analysts believe Grand Theft Auto V will arrive next year.

So Train2Game, do you think GTA V could benefit from motion capture? Do you believe it’ll be in the game?

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

[Source:  Develop Online]

Train2Game Art & Animation student Piers Duplock from Leamington speaks to Train2Game Radio

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Piers Duplock is studying to become a Game Artist & Animator with Train2Game. Train2Game Radio caught up with him to find out why he chose to study with Train2Game, how he’s finding the course and how he balances it around a job at Codemasters.

Listen to the interview at http://audioboo.fm/train2game

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

Train2Game students read this! Valve on playtesting during game development

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 They're waiting for you Gordon, in the test chamber...

Train2Game students, particularly the QA Testers, will know of the importance of testing during a games development.

Now, in an interview with GameSpot, Valve has revealed that they believe playtesting to be the most important part of game development.

“For us, playtesting is the most important part of the game development process,” experimental psychologist and Valve’s playtesting lead Mike Ambinder told GameSpot.

“It’s not something we save for the end of the development, or use as a quality assessment or balancing tool. It is the dominant factor that shapes our decisions about what to release and when to release it.”

It’s a statement that Train2Game students who haven’t already been testing games throughout their development should really take on board.

Valve uses something called ‘bio-feedback metrics’ as part of the testing process. It features standard observed play sessions and surveys, but also involves tracking eye-movement with monitor-mounted cameras; monitoring heart rates; and even skin conductivity tests.

Valve use all of these to determine the players enjoyment of the game.

“We became interested in the use of biofeedback both as a playtesting methodology and as potential user input to gameplay because the idea of quantifying emotion or player sentiment seems to have utility,” said Ambinder.

“On the playtesting side, recording more objective measurements of player sentiment is always desired. People sometimes have a hard time explaining how they felt about various things, and memories of feelings and events can become conflated.

“Conversely, if you have a more objective measurement of arousal or engagement, you can get a clearer picture for how people are emotionally consuming your game.”

Last week, the Train2Game blog reported that Valve’s Steam service is ‘essential’ for indie developers.

So Train2Game, how important do you believe playtesting is to the game development process? How would you go about it?

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

[Source: GameSpot]