Category Archives: Games QA Tester

Train2Game / Game Horizon Developer Drinks

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  • Opportunity for students to meet industry professionals and discuss course details
  • Developer drinks on Tuesday 19 July gives developers access to hot new industry talent

Train2Game, provider of games industry training courses, today announces details of its participation in the 2011 Develop Conference, including its first ever ‘Guru Bar’ on stand B12 – giving those interested in the games industry a forum to interact with key figures and ask questions about training, career development and the community at large.

For developers eager to wind down after a long day marching the floors of the show, Train2Game will also be teaming up with leading games business network, GameHorizon, to host an evening of drinks at Alfresco, a Brighton seafront bar. Here, developers are invited to meet future industry talent and rising stars of the course, as well as get more information on how to get involved with placement programmes.

Key facts of the placement schemes follow below:

  • The placement schemes operate across the all Train2Game courses – Artists, Animators, Developers, Designers and QA.
  • Developer placements programmes are subsidised by Train2Game and can range for periods of 2 – 6 months.
  • Developers can choose from the top performers to suit their needs

Tony Bickley, Course Director at Train2Game sees events like Develop as the perfect place for the present and future of the games industry to collide: “While it’s easier than ever to connect online, there’s no replacement for meeting your peers face to face, both when on the hunt for new talent or considering a route into the industry. It’s the same logic which fuels our courses – substantial relationships and interaction online supported by face time wherever possible.”

Train2Game is a blended-learning organisation designed to fast track the best, most ambitious and motivated students into the games industry through comprehensive, expert-supervised courses. A big part of this is co-ordinating with the best developers in the country and providing top tier talented graduates for placements in the workplace.

Train2Game Guru Bar Details
Date: Weds 20 – Thurs 21 July
Venue: Develop Expo, Stand B12
Hilton Metropole, Brighton
Attendance is free, please RSVP at the Develop 2011 front desk

Train2Game/ Game Horizon Developer Drinks
Date: Tuesday 19th July
Time: 17:00 – 19:00
Venue: Alfresco,
The Milkmaid Pavilion,
Kings Road Arches,
Brighton,
BN1 2LN

Train2Game Game Developers will be interested in this; Relentless Software on getting work in the industry

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Train2Game Game Developers will be especially interested in this, Lead Programmer at Relentless Software, Lizi Attwood has been speaking to GamesInustry.biz about what she looks for in a graduate programmer.

On the key skills a graduate programmer should have, Attwood said:

“Obviously, really strong C++ skills, on top of that really good de-bugging skills, some optimisation skills, knowing that you need to profile code before you start optimising it. Really good communication skills are important, some exposure to source control, I’m interested in that, and knowing why that’s good. And just really friendly, relaxed happy people.”

While when quizzed about whether programmers shold specialise in a certain area, she replied:

“Personally I look for generalist programmers. I don’t see any reason to be really specific but if you’re going to go for graphics then specialise in it, but you better be really good at it because it’s very competitive.”

“A lot of people see it as the most exciting part of the game and really try to go for that but there is so many people doing that so you have to be exceptional”

And when asked about how long before a graduate programmers becomes a productive member of a game development team, Attwood responded:

“At Headstrong I will throw you in the deep end but we will assign you a mentor to guide you – give a lifebelt – who will guide you towards doing something productive as soon as possible. We might say ‘Okay here’s your task’, something that might take an experienced programmer half a day to do but it might take you a week.”

“At the end of that week you’ll have produced real functionality that contributes to the project and you’ll have learnt so much about the code base. I think that good graduates can become productive and useful pretty quickly and that’s something that we encourage.”

Of course, some Train2Game programmers are already getting hands-on experience building games be they working as part of a student team, or on a Train2Game industry experience placement.

Nontheless, Attwood gives all Train2Game Game Developers a useful insight into what to expect in that first role in the games industry.

The full interview is available on GamesIndustry.biz.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Attwood’s advice? Is it useful to you if you’re a programmer?

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

[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]

Train2Game event in Brighton 19th July

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 Train2Game has teamed up with GameHorizon teamed up to promote the best Train2Game students to UK games companies in an effort to get more out on industry experience placements!

Train2Game and GameHorizon will hold a series of events around the UK throughout the year, and will kick off with an evening event in Brighton to coincide with the Develop Conference on Tuesday 19th July from 17.00-19.00. 

If you are in Brighton on 19th July why not come along to Alfesco’s on Brighton Beach (opposite the Hilton Hotel) to find out more about the Train2Game placement scheme and how developers can benefit from having one of the top Train2Game students in their team

The event will be a good opportunity to meet some of the students and find out more about how the placement scheme works over an ice cold beer! It’s also a good opportunity for Train2Game students to meet developers!

As reported by the Train2Game blog, Train2Game partnered with GameHorizon earlier this year.

If you would like to attend the event please email Carri Cunliffe on info@gamehorizon.net  or 07881 833 443.

Date: 19th July
Time: 17.00 -19.00
Venue: Alfresco,The Milkmaid Pavilion, Kings Road Arches, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 2LN
Cost: Free to attend but please RSVP

For more information see the GameHorizon website.

There will be a Train2Game exhibition stand in the Develop Conference Expo area from Wed 20th – Thurs 21st July where you can also find more information.

A ‘Guru Bar’ will also be available for Train2Game students to get advice from, for more information about this, head to the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Free-to-play games generate 65% of App store revenue

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Train2Game students with plans to develop mobile games may be interested in the following statistic; free-to-play games now bring in 65% of the revenue in the iTunes App store.

That’s according to a report by Flurry Games GM Jeferson Valadares that tracked over 90,000 apps and showed that at the start of the year free-to-play games brought in just 39% of revenue.

It could encourage Train2Game students to develop free-to-play titles of their own.

“When you make your game free and add in-app purchases, two powerful things can happen: first, more people will likely try your game since you’ve made the ante zero,” writes Valadares.

“And second, you will likely take more total money, since different players can now spend different amounts depending on their engagement and preferences. It’s not unheard of for individual players to spend into the tens of thousands in a game they like,” he continues

“Although this means that more than 90% of players will not spend a single penny, it also means that players who love your game spend much more than the $0.99 you were considering charging for the app.”

Valadares adds that free-to-play is “here to stay” This evidence for this is significant, with the Train2Game blog even reporting that EA believe it can be as profitable as triple-a

In an interview with the Train2Game blog last year, games industry consultant and Gamesbrief founder, told us that free-to-play generates more revenue.

“The guys who are making more money are allowing people – if they like the game – to keep upgrading. And instead of the maximum amount of that money you can make from customer being 99c you can make $5, in some cases $30.” Lovell told the Train2Game blog.

“There’s a game called Pocket Frogs which has in app purchases of values of 99 cent, $4.99 & £29.99. Only 8% of people by the $29.99, but in revenue terms, more than half their revenue comes from those bigger packs.  And most businesses stop at the 99c level, they would make a tenth of the revenue of Pocket Frogs.”

Last week, the Train2Game blog reported that Smurfs’ Village is ‘changing the market’ for mobile games.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the growth of free-to-play? Is it here to stay?

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

[Source: Industry Gamers via GI.biz]

Train2Game Industry Experience Diaries – Johnny Robinson No.2

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

This is the second in a series of Train2Game student work placement diaries Johnny will be writing during his placement. Read it below or on the official Train2Game industry experience diaries website.

You can also watch Johnny’s second video diary here on the Train2Game blog.

Train2Game students could be among them? The Games Industry needs ‘a greater number of female graduates’ .

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There are plenty of women on Train2Game courses aspiring to work in the game industry, they may therefore be interested to hear that LucasArts creative Director Clint Hocking says the games industry needs more female employees.

In a column in Edge magazine – a useful publication for Train2Game students – Hocking criticised what he called the ‘Viking Culture’ of the game industry, and says that it needs to change.

“Game development studios and their teams are largely staffed in the same way that Viking longships were crewed. Consequently, the culture is overflowing with beer and pent-up aggression, and a very significant portion of our overall cultural output is fart jokes. I think we can do better.”

He adds that establishing a more balanced culture in the games industry would go a long way to games reaching a “truly mass market audience.”

Hocking believes the best way to do this is to encourage more women into the industry.

“This means that we need to better position the industry as a desirable workplace, one in which female artists, designers, programmers and project managers would want to be employed. It involves reaching out to universities and colleges to help them attract more female applicants to their programmes, enabling us to benefit from a greater number of female graduates.”

“Like the Viking expansion itself, this transformation probably needs to be driven from the bottom up. Like it or not, the culture onboard your ships is the culture you’re exporting. Fart jokes have their place in culture, but when fart jokes become your culture you have a problem.” he added.

There are plenty of women on Train2Game courses who definitely want to become part of the games industry, and there are certain organisations that could help them.

As reported by the Train2Game blog last month, the Women In Games Jobs event that takes place in September could be of great benefit to female Train2Game students.

And as posted by Train2Game Course Director Tony Bickley on the Train2Game forum, WIG will be holding networking event for women working, or planning to work in the games industry, during the Develop Conference later this month.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Hocking’s comments? Is there too big a male culture in the games industry? Do you think it needs to change?

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

[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]

Train2Game students do you agree? Two screens “is the future” say Nintendo

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As extensively reported by the Train2Game blog, Nintendo revealed the Wii U at E3 last month. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the new console is the controller which features a large touchscreen.

According to Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime a two screen set up for consoles is the future, and he believes that the company do have history setting industry trends.

“All I can say is that this is not the first time that Nintendo and our competitors have had dramatically different views on the future of gaming,” said Fils-Aime.

“When we launched the original DS everyone was saying the handheld competitor coming from Sony has more powerful graphics, that’s really the way to go. And we showed that no, two screens, a touch screen, a microphone, that actually led to better gaming experiences.” He continued.

“With the Wii, as well, Nintendo shunned the idea that a modern console needed high-resolution graphics. “We said we think that a motion-controlled experience could be more fun,”

“86 million units later around the world, I think people would say we got that one right as well.”

The Nintendo boss of America is confident the company have done it again with the Wii U.

“In this case we’re saying that this two-screen experience – either two screens playing the same game or two screens doing fundamentally different things – is the future,” he said.

And as reported by the Train2Game blog last month, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata sad that core gamers – which includes many Train2Game students – will be drawn to the Nintendo Wii U.

So Train2Game, do you think Nintendo are right? Is gaming on two screens the future of the industry? Or are Nintendo just pumping their own egos?

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

[Source: Beefjack]

Train2Game News, Smurfs’ Village ‘changing the market’ for mobile games

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It’s very likely that many Train2Game students are aware that Angry Birds is a hugely popular game. Indeed, it wasn’t so long ago that the Train2Game blog reported that it’s been downloaded over 200 million times.

The CEO of one developer however, believes that it isn’t Angry Birds that’s the most important mobile game, but Smurfs’ Village.

Unsurprisingly, the man singing its praises is Remi Racine, CEO of Smurfs’ Village developer Behaviour Interactive.

“Everybody is talking about Angry Birds, but the game, to me, that is changing the market is Smurfs’ Village,” he told GamesIndustry.biz “Smurfs’ Village is outstanding.”

“I’d be curious to see who is making the most money between Angry Birds and Smurfs’ Village.”

When you look at the charts it’s always among the top three of four grossing games of the last seven or eight months. It’s always there. Angry Birds is in the top ten, but Smurf is in the top three. It’s amazing.”

“About 30 or 40 percent of the top grossing games are freemium based,” Racine added. “It’s the new way.”

Smurfs’ Village is free to download, but allows players to increase progress by downloading the in-game Smurfberry currency, with real money in various sized bundles that cost between £2.99 and £59.99.

For more information about Smurf’s Village, and how free-to-play could be the way to go for Train2Game students, see the Train2Game blog.

And as reported by the Train2Game blog just last week, EA believe free-to-play titles can be as profitable as console games.

So Train2Game, do you agree that Smurfs’ Village is the most important mobile game? Is free-to-play a model a smurfy way of developing games?

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

[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]

Train2Game students will be happy, Over half of UK population plays games

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If Train2Game students ever needed something to remind them about what reach the games industry has, this is it; over 50% of people in the UK play games.

That’s according to a report from games market research firm Newzoo, which suggests estimates the 31million people in the UK, or 52% of the population, spend money on video games.

Train2Game students probably aren’t surprised to hear that its consoles that bring in the most money, with an estimated £1.6 billion to be spent on the various consoles and their games this year.

Other estimates suggest that £450 million will be spent on physical copies of PC & Mac games, £400 will go on casual games, with£350 million being spent on MMOS. Digital downloads of PC and Mac games through programmes such as Steam will see £330 million being spent on them, while Brit is will spend £300 million on mobile games.

The average person in the UK plays games on 3.9 of the above platforms, with casual gaming websites proving the most popular. Consoles are the second most popular means of playing video games. People spend an average of 43 minutes playing games everyday.

“Compared to the US, the UK shows a more traditional divide of money spent by consumers, with 56 per cent spent on console and boxed PC/Mac games, whereas in the US, this figure has dropped to 45 per cent,” Newzoo CEO and co-founder  Peter Warman said..

“No other country surveyed shows such a significant difference between time and money spent. For instance, in the UK, online and mobile gaming takes 60 per cent of time but only 35 per cent of money.

“We expect the free-to-play business models on all platforms, including consoles, to not only push the UK market back to growth but also decrease the current gap between time and money spent.”

Warman may be right when it comes to predicting that free-to-play model will expand, indeed, as reported by the Train2Game blog just last week, EA believe freemium can be as profitable as console games.

What’s certain is that with an ever increasing number of people playing games, partially thanks to the rise of casual and mobile games, it’s a good time to attempt to get into the games industry through completing a Train2Game course.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the figures? Does anything surprise you? Does it offer you encouragement about your choice of career path?

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

Train2Game News, Minecraft passes 10 million registered users

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The Train2Game blog has kept a close eye on the progress of indie sensation Minecraft, which as reported last month has reached over 2.5 million sales. Minecraft has long has a cult forum among Train2Game forum users.

The game has hit yet another milestone, with over 10 million people now having registered to play the free version of Minecraft. The free version doesn’t receive the regular updates the full-game does, such as the “adventure mode” as reported by the Train2Game blog.

Currently over 2.7 million people have bought the Beta version of Minecraft, with the full release coming later this year.  Imagine if the free-to-play Minecraft users all bought the full version, Notch would become even richer!

As reported by the Train2Game blog, we’ll also see an Xbox 360 version of Minecraft towards the end of this year. Minecraft is also heading to smartphones, there will be no escaping it!

Minecraft can act as a massive inspiration to Train2Game students as to how successful an indie game can now be thanks to digital distribution and word of mouth. Last week the Train2Game reported that Mojang’s next title, Scrolls, will follow the same release pattern.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the continued success of Minecraft? If you’re playing the free version, why are you sticking to it?

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

[Source: PC Gamer]