Category Archives: Games QA Tester

Train2Game News: 22Cans wants you for curious beta

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Peter Molyneux, CEO of 22Cans sent out a post on the company’s Facebook asking for beta testers for its mysterious new game.

This is the first game to be released by 22Cans and Mr Molyneux since he left Lionhead to create the company. Mr Molyneux attended this year’s Gadget Show Live and gave very valuable advice to those participating in the Make Something Unreal Live contest.

The game is on iOS devices and is called Curiosity – What’s inside the cube. It was previously known as just Curiosity until NASA had them change it for having the same name as the Mars Rover.

The social experiment game gets you to tap on a cube with other players causing it to fracture until it breaks open revealing, to the last person who tapped it, the unknown wonders inside.

The post asks for people to have an hour free between 4 and 5pm any day this week. You’re asked to give your name, email, location and device type, as well as your reason for participating when you sign up to the beta.

The site states “As we get nearer to releasing our first app “Curiosity – What’s inside the Cube”, we are looking for some feedback.

“We are asking for a few kind people to participate in trying out our first experiment. Hopefully these people will give honest feedback on what Curiosity is like, and spot some of the flaws in this totally unique experience.”

The game was scheduled for release in August but has been rescheduled to later this month.

You can register for the beta via the 22Cans Facebook page.

Train2Game News Calling all Budding Film Stars

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May we introduce an extra special lady who will be filming at the Gameathon, WELCOME Juliette.

Juliette’s credits include the Spirit of London Awards, YES Program (kids education) and even RARE, yes that RARE of Xbox fame. Her credits also span: Saatchi & Saatchi, San Miguel, Vivienne Westwood, Bloodhound (the car that goes 1000mph), Rimmel and Sky TV.

So if you would like to be considered so that Juliette can film your good side get in touch with Harry via BaseCamp.

For more about the Gameathon click here

Train2Game Gaming record attempt

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Gaming record attempt

The University of Bedfordshire will host a world record attempt next month when a computing giant and an online college try to hold the largest game jam held in a single location.

Experts from Microsoft will team up with students from Train2Game which runs from September 14-16 at the university’s three computer labs at the Park Street campus.

They will form development teams and create Metro style videogames in 48 hours for Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system, which is scheduled for release on October 26.

The world record will be set with a target of 301 or more participants and representatives from The Guinness Book of World Records will be present to adjudicate the event.

Games completed during the record attempt deemed suitable for release will be available through the Windows Store. A judging process will then take place with gaming industry representatives choosing the best game of the show.

Carsten Maple, the university’s Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise, said: “The university works closely with the games industry and is delighted to host this exciting, record breaking event.”

For more details GAMEATHON on FACEBOOK

Train2Game Gameathon Resources

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Train2Game Web Site FaceBook Train2Game Page

twitter.com/train2game  FaceBook Gameathon Page

More soon as we add them

Train2Game teams with Microsoft to set game jam world record

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The Guinness Book of World Records (for largest game jam in a single location) to be set at event organised by Microsoft and Train2Game

Luton, 01 August 2012: Microsoft Corp. will collaborate with online blended learning service Train2Game to set the world record for the largest game jam held in a single location, at the Microsoft and Train2Game Gameathon 2012.

Students on Train2Game courses will gather at the University of Bedfordshire from 14th September to 16th September 2012, forming development teams and creating Metro style videogames for Windows 8 in 48 hours. The world record will be set with a target of 301 or more participants. Representatives from The Guinness Book of World Records will adjudicate the event.

Microsoft experts will be on hand and the contestants will use Windows 8 software. Games completed during the record attempt deemed suitable for release will be available through the Windows Store. A judging process will take place with gaming industry representatives choosing a best game of the show.

“We’re teaming with Train2Game not only to set a world record, but also to support gaming development in the UK,” said John Richards, senior director, Windows Partners and Developers at Microsoft Corp.  “We’re working with the students developing for Windows 8, as they are the future of the industry.”

Myra Smallman, Course Director, Train2Game: “This is a tremendous opportunity for our students to work with one of the most respected technology companies in the world. Microsoft is a major player in the video games industry globally and being part of this relationship will be incredibly positive for Train2Game students when they look for employment in the future. The students taking part will also be world record holders, a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Train2Game News: Torchlight II delayed due to post-beta game balancing

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Torchlight II is delayed due to the amount of balancing Runic Games are doing following the beta test, and to allow time to make changes to other parts of the dungeon crawler.

“Immediately after the Beta we spent a good bit of time doing the last big changes that we were comfortable doing.” explained founder Travis Baldree on the Runic Games forum.

“We didn’t know how long these would take at the outset, because, well, we hadn’t done the Beta yet. Most of these changes were in response to feedback we received during the Beta and our own observations. The biggest of these had to do with our skill system.”

“It’s hard work to balance the acts of a dungeon crawler” Baldree added. The full post is available to see on the Runic Games forum.

It emphasises the importance of beta testing to game development, with much more about this available on The Train2Game Blog. Fellow dungeon crawler Diablo III also went through beta testing before release.

What are your thoughts on Runic taking time to balance Torchlight II? Are you encouraged by the fact they listened to player feedback from the beta?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: EA announce Battlefield 4 beta spots for Medal of Honor: Warfighter pre-orders

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Battlefield 4 will enter beta in autumn 2013 with exclusive places for those who pre-order Medal of Honor: Warfighter, which is set for release in October this year.

The official announcement of Battlefield 4 comes from EA and DICE following news of the beta leaking on EA’s Origin store. Both games are powered by EA’s Frostbite 2 engine.

“Though Battlefield and Medal of Honor Warfighter each offer players a completely unique experience, they are united by their underlying technology base – Frostbite.” said EA Labels president Frank Gibeau 

“These are two of the hottest shooters, coming together to deliver a one-two punch of action, intensity and shooter entertainment.”

Battlefield 3 went through open beta ahead of its release last year, with DICE making changes to the shooter as a result of testing.

There’s more about Battlefield here on The Train2Game Blog, while there’s plenty of information about the importance of beta testing, and opportunities to get involved, here.

What are your thoughts on EA’s decision to announce a the Battlefield 4 beta over a year before it begins?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game Interview: Cheat Mode author and QA veteren Dan Jacobs – all three parts in one place

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Cheat Mode by Dan Jacobs is a recently released book about getting into and surviving the games industry. Written by an industry veteran, this book contains interviews with industry professionals who make games every day. From programmers to designers, journalists to community Managers, it offers advice from staff working at companies including BioWare, Codemasters, Rockstar and more.

The Train2Game Blog recently caught up with Cheat Mode author and experienced QA Tester Dan Jacobs to discuss his book, getting into the industry, what makes a good QA Tester and more in a huge interview which is spread out over three parts.

For the sake of convince, all three parts of our interview with Dan Jacobs can now see accessed in one place thanks to this blog post.  Be sure to read the whole thing for an excellent insight into the games industry.

Interview Part 1 – Inspiration for writing Cheat Mode, his involvement on the Train2Game forum, and how he broke into the games industry.

Interview Part 2 – Researching Cheat Mode, the importance of QA and its place in development.

Interview Part 3 – mistakes when QA testing, advice on becoming a tester, and the importance of networking.

Cheat Mode The definitive guide to getting into and surviving the games industry is out now and costs £10.99.

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

Train2Game student Diaries of Jonny Robinson with some advice

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Jonny Robinson

After many hours of game development and laughter making My Sea Park, it’s now live on the app store. I’m just blown away with how fast it has shot up the UK app charts and it is getting nothing but praise on the reviews section.

It really has opened my eyes to a monetisation model as a whole, which is vital for me to know as a designer since as the gaming economy is changing exponentially.

Clive Robert (CEO of DR Studios) very kindly took out all the member of staff for a meal which was a great laugh. We were like kids at Christmas, just wondering how many downloads we would get and continuously hoping it will make it to the top. Well it’s in the top 25 downloads at the moment and it is still climbing just like the smile on my face.

I need to take my hat off to development DR team and Fuse for doing such a great job!

As a little bonus, this will look great on my portfolio! 😉

Until next time peace!

www.train2game.com

 Jonny Robinson 48

Another week another gigantic lesson learned. Doing what I do, I have to keep a lot of things close to my chest as I don’t want to be legally done by NDA or anything else of that matter. All I can say is that I went for a job interview for a position in the game industry. The person who interviewed me passed on some fantastic advice that I want to share with you as he is very experienced in what he does.

Anonymous game industry advice:

1) When you first walk into an interview; make sure you always introduce yourself, pass your CV to the interviewer (just in case) and tell them what position you are applying for.

2) Make sure before the interview you email the interviewer a link to your portfolio and CV; so they can do a little homework on you before the interview. This is so the interviewers are not focusing on the portfolio so much and instead are paying more attention to you, the interviewee.

3) Show passion if you are new to the industry, this will go a long way if you are less experienced as this will state that you are willing to go the whole nine yards and back to get the job done.

4) This last one is my own advice, if this is your first interview for a game industry position, say so. This may make you look less professional but it will give you some leeway as the interviewer knows you new to this whole experience.

This is just a snippet of information I’m willing to share with you, as we Train2Game members need to stick together and plus, I’m nice like that.

So how did my interview go? It went as well as it could have done, to be honest, but I have been asked to come back for another interview which is fantastic news.

So I hope this information helps you as much as it helped me.

There is so much more that I could talk about, but I will leave that one for my next diary, so stay tuned.

Until then… peace!

www.train2game.com

Train2Game student Diaries James Bouckley week 15 and 16

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Week 15

This week we discussed targets for the game.  When should it be finished by and when would we have a demo ready.  We tried to have a demo ready by Friday but unfortunately we failed.  Despite the game being interesting and very fun to develop, the support cases have to come first and a surprising abundance of them this week and Rob still being on holiday meant we just didn’t have enough time to work on it.  It came as a bit of surprise to me this week when I discovered we needed desktop controls because the game was going to be multi-platform and the dual-joystick imitation controls for keyboard I had made (purely for testing purposes), weren’t going to cut it.  After a bit of stressful week, I have to admit that being told this didn’t find me well.  Ben spent some time going around the office with the iOS version of the game, which was finished, getting as many opinions as possible so we could polish the demo.  Meanwhile I struggled to finish the PC controls and failed.  Not a great week in all, but still a fair margin better than any week I’ve ever had in any other job… ever.

Week 16

Unity 4.0 has been announced!  It was announced this Monday and boy does that make for a lot of support cases!  Rob is now back with us and good job too because I think without him Ben and I would have struggled.  This again meant another week with not as much work done on the game as I would have liked.  The desktop controls are finished now, but buggy and I’m not happy with them.  Also, one of the major things that people noted about the game when Ben showed them last Friday was that they didn’t like the linear mapping between finger-joystick position and player speed.  What that means is that there is linear dependence between the distance of your finger and the centre of the joystick and the speed the player moves at.  People would have preferred a relationship that meant when you’re near the centre you move slower but then you accelerate faster as you move further away.  When I heard this my reaction was “Okay, that’s doable but it’s going to be expensive.  We’ll have to do a square-root operation every frame.”  God bless Unity though because they have already thought about it.  Mark showed me how to sample a curve and apply it to a script and the iOS controls are now far more user-friendly.  Another thing that came up is what happens when the player moves behind something.  Currently we have a shader that highlights the player so you can still see him.  This however sometimes makes it look like the player is on top of the object instead of behind it.  So instead I have started to implement a script that will make the objects see-through instead of the player being highlighted.  I was having some difficulty with this and with some help from Cat, we nearly got their.  I’m confident I can finish this myself early next week.

www.train2game.com