Category Archives: job

Train2Game News Seaside Arcade needs a boost

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A new Arcade+Bar franchise needing help in the UK. 
First location to be set in a South East Seaside town, then spreading through to London and beyond, but it all depends on their Kickstarter campaign…

‘Ever since the Pier’s arcade burnt down in 2014, Eastbourne has been missing it’s fun side.’ This is how the KickStarter campaign for a new arcade in Eastbourne, a South East seaside town, named ‘Health Bar’ opens up, and it is so true!

The Pier may now have scattered arcade machines around it but it still doesn’t feel like an arcade, and still doesn’t fill that gap that the Pier’s original arcade filled in.

‘Health Bar’ wants to help Eastbourne out, with it’s original pitch and interesting ideas.

The idea is for this to be a split day arcade. In the day time it is to be an amusement cafe open to all, filled with 30+ machines, soft drinks, Nachos and, an Eastbourne exclusive, Crisp Sandwiches. In the evening the younger crowd are moved on, the adult drinks unveiled, and becomes a true “Barcade”.

The Highlights are to be…

·         30+ machines, on all day for your enjoyment

·         Console Corner – Old Retro Consoles for you to play

·         Cheap drinks and snacks while you play

·         Day and Night system for families to enjoy the arcade

·         Wednesday is Dice Night – Roll a 6 on our oversized dice and have your first drink free

·         Thursday is Competition Night – We choose a game every week that you can compete against each other on, winners win alcohol!

In the campaign ‘Health Bar’ go on to express the interest in reviving the arcade feel into Eastbourne, giving families, children and adults, a place to relax and hang out.

If you feel this would be an asset to Eastbourne you can help ‘Health Bar’ become a reality on there Kickstarter page..

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/healthbar/health-bar-arcade-bar-franchise-needing-you-to-pre

Train2Game News Crowdfest Gaming Workshop

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​Crowdfest will host an interactive Gaming workshop with some of the most influential leaders in the gaming industry, from Travis Winstanley Games Director at Kuju, to Thomas Bidaux, Co-Founder of ICO Partners and Tom Leigh from Crowdcube, 19-20th October in London.
The games industry has always been quick to embrace new trends, and so it’s no surprise that prior to 2012, video games developers were amongst the first to adopt crowdfunding as a method of raising finance.

In this interactive Gaming workshop, budding developers will discover what’s hot and what’s not in video games crowdfunding, how to structure campaigns to maximise changes of success, and hear top tips from game developers that have been successful in their efforts to utilise the crowd.

Speakers include Tom Leigh, Director at Crowdcube. Travis Winstanley, Games Investment Director at Kuju, Thomas Bidaux, Co-Founder of ICO Partners and James Gibbs Co-founder of F6S. 

Audience members will also have the opportunity to question a number of companies that have successfully crowdfunded their ideas including Alexis Kennedy of Failbetter Games, Jay Armstrong of Massive Monster and Moo Yu of Foam Sword.

Train2Game News GameFounders Investors

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Since 2012, GameFounders has invested into 60 fresh and talented game studios from 26 countries. 
All game studios around the world can apply at gamefounders.com until November 15, 2016. The main criteria of the evaluation are the team composition, their vision and the quality of work the team can produce.

If selected, the studio will have access to over 150 gaming mentors and partners from the best studios in the world. On top of that, GameFounders will provide a seed capital of 25,000 USD  in exchange for a moderate share of equity. 

The shortlisted teams are expected to have a beta version, prototype or slice of the game and absolutely be ready to set up a business. The upcoming 3-month cycle, the seventh for GameFounders, takes off in January 2017 in the gorgeous city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The top game mentors to be working with the teams are also the ones shortlisting the final lineup.

Gamefounders’ Success Stories:

●      Bad Seed Entertainment from Italy – Raised investment from Mind the Bridge and United Ventures.

●      IMGNATION Studio from Brazil – Raised investment from US based VR accelerator Boost VC and is now one of the pioneers of VR development in Brazil.

●      Tiny Lab Productions from Lithuania – Reached 10 million downloads for their game Tiny Kids Racing

●      Bitcake Studio from Brazil – Launched their game Holodrive and grew their players from 10k to a million and recently won “Best Technology” in SBGames 2016.

●      OY Games from Malaysia – Won the Audience Choice Award at Casual Connect 2016.

Train2Game News SimBin Studios in the UK

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SimBin Studios, renowned for their racing games is back in business with a brand new UK office in the North-West of England. 
The Studio is to be headed up by industry veteran, Allan Speed and in collaboration with Sector3 Studios. The focus will be on developing cross platform titles for the current and next gen platforms, primarily in the racing genre.

‘We are extremely excited to announce the collaboration with newly formed SimBin Studios UK being headed up by Allan, his industry knowledge and talent network will provide the perfect spring board for our future strategy and let’s not forget the revival of the Simbin name which has a long, rich and successful heritage in delivering some of the best racing titles to date’ said Chris Speed, CEO of Sector3 Studios.

Sector3 Studios and Simbin Studios UK have also partnered up with racing driver Mathias Lauda to provide his expertise, insight and support for their up and coming racing projects.

Mathias Lauda is an Austrian race driver and is the son of three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda.

Sector3 Studios AB is a Swedish game developer currently working on RaceRoom Racing Experience, a F2P title available on Steam and committed to the creation of realistic championship experiences for motorsport series worldwide, including; DTM, ADAC GT Masters, and the WTCC.

For more information contact: www.simbin.com

Train2Game News VR Animation

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Limitless, Ltd. today announced a new cloud-based animation toolset that allows rapid prototyping of animated VR content inside a virtual reality world. For the first time ever, anyone working on VR content can intuitively animate characters in real time within the VR world itself – and accomplish this at least 16 times faster than with current animation software.  By making VR content faster and easier to create, developers can run more experiments and create more compelling content for VR, including games and films that involve interactive character’s.

The new animation toolset is the first-of-its-kind and does not require professional training.  Limitless CEO and Founder Tom Sanocki saw the need for great VR content, but was watching VR directors and animators spend countless hours going back and forth between computer software and the VR environment where the content lives. Putting VR content creation inside the actual VR world eliminates the time-consuming back-and-forth between the computer and the VR environment, and also allows those without professional training to become VR animators on the spot.

According to Sanocki, “We are all animators at heart – we learned at an early age by playing with our toys.  We just need to remove the barrier formed by our software so we can all create stories using the inspiration that we already have inside of us.”

“I’ve seen the future of VR animation, and Limitless is getting it right,” said Bobby Beck, CEO/Founder Artella and CEO/Founder Animation Mentor.  “They are paving the way in VR animation for both professionals and the masses.”

The animation editing tools in the Limitless Creative VR Environment are strong enough for developers to use for prototyping, yet easy enough for anyone to animate.  Using a VR headset and hand controllers in the Limitless Creative VR Environment enables rapid prototyping for newcomers that would otherwise require weeks of intensive professional training. Plus, Limitless has a tutorial character within the VR environment to help walk anyone through the animation process.  Film directors, for example, can change the way a character moves, looks or acts instantly in real time.

Professional animator Jon Collins, who has previously worked at Pixar, ILM, Blue Sky, Blizzard, and ToyTalk, currently leads UX and animation as the Creative Director at Limitless.  “As a layout tool, this dramatically increases the rate at which sequences can be assembled and iterated on in CG. What would have normally taken me an entire day to do,  I can now accomplish in less than an hour,” said Collins.

“It has always frustrated me that although I can visualize motion and timing quickly and easily, the process of replicating these movements in CG with traditional animation software is time consuming and non-intuitive,” Collins added. “With the Limitless Creative VR Environment, both of these restrictions can be overcome in a matter of hours by anyone. By connecting a person’s innate ability to move their own body in beautifully rhythmic ways directly to VR characters in real time, the process of animation becomes much more intuitive and enjoyable.”

The Limitless animation tools can be used with any VR environment and character that has been imported into this part of the Limitless Creative VR Environment platform.  In October, the company will be opening the platform and animation tools to a small group of studios and partners to make sure the company is solving the right VR problems while keeping content creation easy.

Sanocki concluded, “Right now the biggest need in VR is good content and that is largely driven by characters. Forming a deep emotional connection with the characters we care about hits the core of mainstream entertainment. Our platform solves the tricky task of creating interactive characters in VR, and now makes it easy for anyone to animate those characters in real time.”

Train2Game News Skyrim Music Concert

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Senbla, in association with Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax® Media company, is pleased to announce that Skyrim™ in Concert, the first ever orchestral concert dedicated to the music of The Elder Scrolls® V: Skyrim™, will premiere at the London Palladium on 16th November.
Based on the award winning score by Jeremy Soule, Skyrim in Concert takes concert goers on a nostalgic, musical journey through the landscape of one of The Elder Scrolls’ most popular instalments. Performed live by the Winterhold Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, attendees will enjoy brand new arrangements of some of Skyrim’s most epic and moving themes, including Far Horizons, The Streets of Whiterun and the rousing main theme, Dragonborn, as well as more surprises on the night.

The concert celebrates the upcoming launch of Skyrim™ Special Edition. Developed by Bethesda Game Studios® and winner of more than 200 Game of the Year Awards, Skyrim Special Edition brings the epic fantasy to life in stunning detail. The Special Edition includes the critically acclaimed game and add-ons with all-new features like remastered art and effects, volumetric god rays, dynamic depth of field, screen-space reflections, and more.

Skyrim Special Edition releases on 28th October, 2016, on Xbox One, PlayStation® 4 computer entertainment system and PC. For more information on The Elder Scrolls and Skyrim Special Edition, visit http://www.elderscrolls.com

Tickets for the concert go on sale 10am, 4th October, with ticket prices starting from £26.50.

For more details and general ticket sales, visit http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/

Train2Game News Student working with indie studio

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Train2Game Student Tabi Polson (Fitsy) is working with an indie studio on its first game: Rocket Rumble
Studio Small Jelly is a new London based studio which is working on Rocket Rumble. The independent studio is using Train2Game student Tabi Poulson to provide insight into the current market and research the potential audience for the game.

Rocket Rumble is a multi-player turn based card game set on rocket propelled ships. It’s a game with a hard-core mechanic at its heart which caters for the casual audience. Players can drop in and play games for minutes at a time but still get there hard-core gaming fix. The artwork was created to be accessible while also being on trend. 

A great deal of passion has gone into the game. During testing the team often find themselves’ enjoying the game rather than testing its limits. The Small Jelly team are passionate games makers and hope the success of the game will let them create titles long into the future. The team plan to get Rocket Rumble into Beta at the end of the year.

The Small Jelly team spoke of Tabi’s contribution and how important it is as an Indie to have support. Resourcing as an indie is a challenge, but by working together they have overcome these challenges. Keeping control of the product and working with a great team has been the reward.

Train2Game students can help going into the future by joining the Beta and reaching out to the team to support. 

An a full interview with the studio founders is below

What’s your history in the games industry and job history?

Ben: I started my career in the games industry in Vancouver Canada about 10 years ago. I’ve worked on everything from PC RTS to educational games for kids.

Vicky: I spent about half my career as AI programmer for PC and console, then later moved to mobile where I’ve mostly had lead roles.

Where does the name come from?

Small Jelly is really just our surnames Vicky Smalley and Ben Geliher. Vicky’s is easy to see but mine comes from a mispronunciation of my name that kinda stuck as the nickname ‘Jellyhair’.

What are you currently working on?

We’re making our first game, Rocket Rumble. It’s a multiplayer CCG set in space. It’s a bit like Hearthstone meets FTL.

How did you come up with the concept?

Both of us are gamers and have been all our lives. We’re at that point in life where we don’t have as much time to play games as we used to but we still want the same thrill of playing hardcore games. 

Most casual games just aren’t exciting to play for gamers and hardcore games tend to need much more time commitment. We wanted to create games that scratched both itches – thrilling to play but easy to pick up and play in a 10 minute session.

The art is outstanding; can you tell us more about how it came together?

It’s mainly the work of our outstanding Art Director Graham Denny! I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for space games and they’ve been having resurgence recently but we knew we wanted to do space in a way that was fun and more accessible than the gunmetal greys and blacks you tend to get. When Graham came on board he got it straight away. 

It’s a unique idea; would you say there’s a lot of passion in this game?

There’s a ton of passion in this game; you can’t work in the games industry without it. It helps that we all actually find the game really fun. Sometimes that can cause problems though. When we’re supposed to be testing a new build people are actually just trying to beat each other rather than properly test it.

What’s next for the game in its lifecycle?

We are still in development at the moment but we’re working towards a closed beta at the end of the year. It’s a multiplayer game so we want to get people playing it as soon as possible so we can learn what to do.

What have been the challenges in being an indie?

A lot of the business side of things is difficult. Bigger companies have a lot of specialist departments to sort out every little thing but as an indie you kinda just have to jump in and do it yourself. Everyone’s been great chipping in where they can to bridge the gaps.

What are the rewards?

Working on a game where you are in control is highly motivating. The team is also a big plus. Working with people that are not only amazingly talented but also great fun to work with. 

How has Fitsy been helping out?

Fitsy has been amazing in helping us with market research and she’s going to help us going forward figuring out what players want from the game as we develop it. 

What are your ambitions for the game?

Our hope is that it is successful enough that we can keep making games. We’re in this because we love what we do for a living and we hope we can create a business that can keep us doing what we love.

How can Train2Game students help you out?

Follow us on Twitter, read our dev blog at smalljelly.com and get involved with the game. As I mentioned, we want to release as early as we can and build a community who can help us make the game better as we build it so if any of your readers are interested in the closed beta then they should get in touch at hello@smalljelly.com.

Website: Smalljelly.com

Twitter @smalljellygames

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Train2Game News UKIE Board Election Results

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Ukie formally announced the results of its 2016-17 Board election at the trade body’s AGM at EGX.
Veronique Lallier, VP European Publishing at High-Rez Studios, makers of eSports title Smite, joins the Board this year, along with six re-elected Directors.

Andy Payne, CEO of AppyNation, Rocket Lolly’s Ella Romanos, Ian Livingstone, Chair of Playmob, Sports Interactive’s Miles Jacobson and Curve Digital’s Stuart Dinsey will serve another two-year term and Noirin Carmody, Co-Founder and COO of Revolution Software, resumes her role as Chair of the Board for a second year.

It was also announced that Dave Gould, Senior Director of Sales UK & Export, Take Two Interactive, will take the Board Treasurer role.

Forty-two per cent of Ukie’s eligible voting membership voted in the election, which means the Board consists of 21 leading members of the games industry tasked with shaping Ukie’s strategy over the next two years. You can see the full list of the Ukie Board here.

Ukie also used the AGM to call for games companies to support the innovative Digital Schoolhouse programme, which launched nationwide last week, thanks to a new partnership with PlayStation.

The inspiring STEAM-driven computing education initiative is now active in 19 schools across the country, following a hugely successful pilot year in London. The first academic year of the national roll-out is expected to reach 15,000 school children with its unique play-based learning model that inspires children at a young age, especially girls, and equips teachers with creative computing resources and ways of teaching.

Warwick Light, MD & VP, UK & Ireland of lead Digital Schoolhouse partner, SIEE, called for more games companies across the UK to adopt their local schools to become Digital Schoolhouses, to strengthen bonds between industry and education and to help create new engaging ways to inspire children to learn digital skills.

If you are interested in hearing more about The Digital Schoolhouse, powered by PlayStation, or are interested in sponsoring your local secondary school, speak to programme director, Shahneila.

The AGM also saw the launch of The UK Games Map, a new interactive map platform created in partnership between Ukie and Nesta, the innovation foundation. The UK Games Map is the first complete dataset of the UK games industry, designed to chart the size, scale and geography of the sector using an automated Big Data approach.

Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of Ukie, said, “This has been a big year for Ukie, for the industry, and for the UK and we are proud to launch two key initiatives at our AGM – the UK Games Map and the call for games businesses to sponsor their local Digital Schoolhouse. These initiatives would not happen without the support of the Ukie Board who have the sector’s best interest at heart, and to the Ukie team, as well as our extensive network of members. I’m delighted to welcome back re-elected Board members and also welcome Veronique. I look forward to working with the Board and team to navigate big changes in the political landscape in the coming year, and making sure that the UK remains the best place to be making games.”

Noirin Carmody, Chair of Ukie, Co-Founder and COO of Revolution Software, said: “I’m pleased to welcome back familiar faces to the Board, and also to welcome Veronique to her new role. The announcement of the UK Games Map and the Digital Schoolhouse, powered by PlayStation, today, exemplify the hard work of the Ukie team and Board over the previous 12 months, and I am proud to be launching these in my first AGM as Chair. I am looking forward to another productive and successful year working with the new team.”

Train2Game News Playkey Cloud Gaming

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Gaming as we know it is about to change, as an exciting and new cloud gaming service, Playkey, has launched in the UK.
Turning gaming on its head, Playkey provides PC gamers with the technology they need to play the blockbuster titles they adore, but with the hardware they can all afford.

How? Well, Playkey delivers top quality video streaming through powerful gaming servers, allowing millions of PC owners across the UK to play the best-selling games on virtually any PC, Mac or laptop.

Whether you choose to explore the many kingdoms and cities as the witcher Geralt in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, or play as the Sole Survivor in Fallout 4, there is a game to suit the tastes of both MMO and hard-core gamers. With over 20 triple-A titles currently available and the site being updated each month, Playkey subscribers will be spoilt for choice.

Playkey is at the forefront of cloud gaming technology, utilising technology almost similar to services such as Gaikai. It provides players with digital download model and a cloud PC rent to suit their gaming needs and once registered you receive access to a handful of free-to-download games and can purchase the latest chart-topping games at retail price.

With subscriptions starting from £0.90 for 1 hour and £9 for 1 month of access, Playkey is the only service which offers a solution to launch games straight after their official PC-release. Furthermore, games previously owned can also be launched on Playkey, if the game is already available on the service.

Egor Gurjev, CEO at Playkey, said: “We’re incredibly excited to be launching Playkey in the UK and our goal is to bring high-quality gaming to everyone, not just those with high-specification PCs. The gaming industry is constantly evolving and growing. We want to provide gaming fans the games they love, without the worry of their technology letting them down.”

A launch demo period is currently available for free and all games are available “as is” with all of their specific features, including multiplayer, social features and achievements.

Playkey is available for Windows and MacOS and for more information please visit www.playkey.net

Train2Game News National Videogame Foundation

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​A pioneering new not-for-profit organisation has today been launched in Nottingham, UK.

The National Videogame Foundation exists to celebrate, preserve and interpret videogames for everyone. Through its pioneering work in curation, exhibition and public engagement, it rediscovers the past and creates a valuable legacy for the future.  The Foundation aims to inspire new people to make videogames, start new conversations about them, and find new ways in which they can contribute to culture, society and education.

Based at the acclaimed National Videogame Arcade in Nottingham’s Creative Quarter, the Foundation will work across four key areas : events, heritage, education and policy-making.

As well as delivering the annual  GameCity festival and operating the National Videogame Arcade, the new Foundation will also be concentrating on education and public advocacy work.

Later this year, in collaboration with the Times Educational Supplement, the Foundation is staging the first in a series of ‘subject summits’, bringing together educators with experts to explore ways in which videogames can be used to enhance  learning. These unique events will result in the creation of new teaching and learning resources to apply videogames to other curriculum areas in addition to the more expected STEM subjects.

In collaboration with Arts Council England, the foundation will be delivering further on the ‘Continue’ conference and network, launched earlier this year. This project brings together national arts and culture organisations with videogame creators, closing the gap of understanding between them.

“We’re tremendously excited to be able to finally announce the National Videogame Foundation to the World. It’s something we’re very passionate about, but we couldn’t have imagined being able to launch it with a stronger set of partners and activities,” said  Director, Iain Simons.

Iain continued, “We’ve got some of the most experienced names in the industry working with us right alongside some of the most exciting new ones. We’re going to ensure that the work we produce is truly reflective of the growing diversity of videogames, in terms of players, makers and content.”

Carl Cavers, CEO of Sumo Digital is a key investor in the new Foundation. He said, “One of the main reasons Sumo were attracted to Nottingham was the NVA and GameCity. It’s great to be able to play a part not just in securing its position as a unique destination in the City, but also to be helping to build its future plans and make it useful for the cultural future of games. It’s a great moment for the industry.”

The foundation launches with a stellar set of founding patrons already attached, helping the foundation to realise its ambitions.  Sumo Digital, Epic Games, Playground Games, Kevin Patterson, Boneloaf, William Pugh, Chucklefish and  Vlambeer have all invested at this founding stage.

Ian Livingstone CBE, games industry legend, Foundation investor and member of the non-executive board said, “I am tremendously excited to be involved in the creation of the National Videogame Foundation. Having watched videogames grow and flourish as an industry – and as an art form – this is a vital moment for videogames’ cultural confidence.

Nottingham has already shown itself to be the cultural capital of videogames with the GameCity festival and our very own ‘National Gallery’ in the form of the National Videogame Arcade. Given these achievements, it is only fitting that this new, not-for-profit organisation should grow out of the same soil and continue to spread this pioneering message to as many people as possible.  

What excites me most about the National Videogame Foundation is its commitment to taking its work out into the real world. Through its education programmes, gallery interpretation and cultural policy development, Iain Simons and his team will continue to work tirelessly to engage everyone in the value of this most vital of contemporary art forms. We’ve got an amazing set of founder-patrons on board already and I urge all my colleagues in the games industry, and frankly anyone who cares about the past, present and future of videogames, to support this landmark initiative.”

Rami Ismail of famed developer Vlambeer said, “Having been a regular attendee of the GameCity festival over the years, it was an easy decision to invest and become a patron of the new foundation. The festival is a phenomenally inclusive event, and brings creators from around the world together to showcase and experience pioneering cultural work. Vlambeer is excited to be part of the future of the event.”

You can find out more details about becoming a patron of the National Videogame Foundation along with many other opportunities to support or get involved, at www.thenationalvideogamefoundation.org