Category Archives: job

Train2game News Jamchester

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The UK’s biggest ever game jam for professionals is to take place in Manchester this May, bringing together more than 200 developers working within the industry across three days to create brand new games from the ground up.

The first major game jam of its kind to take place in Britain, ‘Jamchester’ is the brainchild of local games industry network Gameopolis and HackManchester, which has successfully hosted scores of 24 hour coding competitions over the last five years. Jamchester will also be supported by headline sponsors Microsoft, mobile publishing giant Chillingo and regional business accelerator Tech North.

Other sponsors lined up include PlayStation, Unreal, recruitment agency Amiqus, and local game development college SSR. Jamchester is designed to fly the flag for games development within the North West of England and the UK as a whole, highlighting its strength, diversity and, most importantly, its future.

“We’ve created Jamchester to have fun and to showcase Greater Manchester on the national stage as a great place to make games,” said Gameopolis chair Simon Smith of the event. “In the past year alone our local game jams have produced Titan Souls, Sublevel Zero, Unbox, and Super Rude Bear Resurrection with more on the way. We welcome everyone to come along and be inspired by the creative spirit of our fantastic city.”

Jamchester also has the support of UK trade association Ukie, with CEO Dr. Jo Twist claiming the body is “excited to support Jamchester as a new celebration of creative skills development in the UK.”

“Game jams are one of the best ways for devs to learn new skills, stretch their creative thinking, network within the industry, and ultimately have fun. We’d love to see as many Ukie members as possible taking part in this event, and I look forward to seeing some of the work that is produced!”

Teams of between one and four people will compete on a level playing field, with Jamchester’s defining theme set to be revealed at the start of the competition. Student teams will also be taking part, giving them the perfect opportunity to network with other studios and industry professionals in attendance.

Jamchester has also teamed up with Special Effect, with all ticket proceeds going to the charity to help gamers with disabilities. “We are honoured to have been chosen as the charity partner for Jamchester,” offered Nick Streeter of Special Effect. “It will raise vital funds and awareness of our work helping gamers with disabilities, both in the north west and across the UK. As demand grows for what we do, support from events like Jamchester really are a game changer for the charity.”

With a judges line-up that includes Gary Napper of PlayStation VR, Creative Assembly’s Catherine Wooley, Microsoft’s Technical Evangelist Lee Stott, local indie developer Alex Rose and PlayStation’s Claire Blackshaw, Jamchester will take place in The Studio, an events space right in the centre of Manchester’s Northern Quarter.

Prize categories will include (TBC) – Best Game, Best Audio, Best Graphics, Best Gameplay, Best Tech Achievement, Innovation Award, Best Company Game, Best Student Game.

You can find more information at www.Jamchester.org.uk , or contact jamchester@hackmanchester.com

Tickets are onsale at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jamchester-2016-tickets-21038079462?aff=es2

Train2game News Pocket Gamer Top 50 Finalists

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The complete Pocket Gamer Top 50 finalists have now been announced and the list is available to view on the PocketGamer.biz website.

Developers including: Rovio Entertainment, Space Ape Games, Next Games and Wargaming have used the opportunity to discuss why the accolades are so important and to thank Pocket Gamer.biz for the recognition.

PocketGamer.biz and Developers are available for comment.

The full list including the top ten can be viewed here
http://www.pocketgamer.biz/list/62773/top-50-mobile-game-developers-of-2016/

Or view the video of the Top 50 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZGrLovn2E4

The PocketGamer.biz Awards are in there 7th year and continue to demonstrate just how global and dynamic the mobile game industry is, with representatives in the top ten from the Nordics, Europe, Asia and the US. These awards are incredibly important in being visible in the global market place and to the wider games industry. Interestingly five in the top ten are Asian.

Some developers have found that they are appearing for the first time, showing how much can change in a year in the mobile games industry. But some are appearing for years running, demonstrating they’ve cracked this very challenging market.

Jon Jordan, PocketGamer.biz, said:
‘A number of factors go into the decision of winners: Financial is key, but the criteria also includes wider issues: is a company successfully operating in different global regions (or just one); across many – and/or different – platforms; running a single big title or experimenting with different genres and themes; and looking to expand?’

‘We also take into account a company’s soft power: how does it present itself to players and the industry at large and we love to reward ambitious startups who are attempting to innovate and shake up the entire market.’

‘But, let’s be clear. The lodestone running throughout our entire process is the quality of each developer’s game(s). For, not only is this list an attempt to gauge the top developers over the past 12 months, it’s also the attempt to highlight those who will be making the headlines over the year.’

‘And the quality of a company’s mobile games is – in my opinion – the best (if not the only) measure of this.’

Saara Bergström, CMO, Next Games
‘2015 was an awesome year for Next Games with our two first game launches. Our unique collaboration with AMC, The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land has been well-received among the TV show fans and has fared tremendously well on the store charts. We have plenty of big surprises in store for 2016 and can’t wait to get them out into our players’ hands!’

Chris Akhavan, Glu Mobile
‘We’re delighted Glu has made the PG.biz Top 50 2016 list! It’s great to see Pocket Gamer continuing to recognize talent across the industry. Our inclusion is a testament to the hard work of our studio teams over the past year.  We’d also like to congratulate the other Top 50 finalists.’

Wilhelm That, Rovio Entertainment
‘Fabulous to be recognised amongst the best of the best! Honoured!’

Simon Hade, Space Ape Games
‘Thanks Pocket Gamer! We are honored to be included in the Top 50; we are dedicated to keep making games we are passionate about.’

Antoine Morcos, Ketchapp
‘We’re very pleased to be included in the Top 50 list this year, and humbly accept this recognition, on behalf of the developers we work with, as a reflection of their beautiful work.’

Sean Lee, Wargaming
‘Wargaming is honored and delighted to be included on this year’s PG.biz Top 50 list. To make every Player happy is our vision as a company, and we promise to continue to deliver even more happiness to our Players around the world.’

Maxim Petrov, CPO, ZeptoLab
‘2015 was a really important year for us: we successfully launched our first free-to-play title outside Cut the Rope franchise — King of Thieves — and it became a real hit. This was a result of two years of hard work on searching an innovative core gameplay, but we finally proved that we are not a one-hit game studio. Moreover, we didn’t forget about Cut the Rope either: by releasing a new game called Cut the Rope: Magic, we grew the series’ installs up to 800 million. We are glad that PG.biz noticed all these facts and included us into its Top 50 rating.’

Tom van Dam, Head of Mobile Business Development, NetEase
‘We’re all enormously proud to have been included in the PocketGamer.biz Top 50 Developers List and honoured to be listed among such esteemed fellow developers. It’s a happy recognition of the hard work and dedication put in by a huge number of people across NetEase, all talented and creative individuals, as well as a reflection of our loyal gaming community the world over. With the massive success of Fantasy Westward Journey and other new mobile games, it’s been a hugely productive year for us. And there is much more to come!’

Ben Liu, Pocket Gems
‘We’re honored to be counted as one of the world’s top developers by Pocket Gamer. Mobile games have come a long way in recent years and we believe we can build on our pioneering history to make something truly great. With new advancements in technology, developers exploring different concepts, and greater player interest, there’s never been a more exciting time to be making mobile games.’

Train2game News London Games Festival shows New UK Made Games

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Special Showcase at London Games Festival to Champion New UK-Made Games.
 
Organisers of the new London Games Festival today announced a brand new session added to the schedule – a Games Showcase that will profile eight upcoming UK-made games, some of them unannounced. The games will demonstrate the variety of games produced in this country across a mix of genres and platforms.

The London Games Festival UK Games Showcase takes place on Monday, 4 April in BFI Southbank’s impressive NFT1 auditorium.

Tickets to the 90-minute session are FREE but are limited to just 250 (max two per order, session for ages 16 and over). To register, go to: www.universe.com/ukgamesshowcase .

Find out more about the London Games Festival at www.games.london

Train2game News Marmalade at Microsoft Developer Conference

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Marmalade Technologies Ltd is attending Build 2016, Microsoft’s annual developer conference.

Between March 30 and April 1, the team behind the award-winning game development platform will be on-hand in the Moscone Center, San Francisco, showcasing the latest version of the Marmalade Platform.

Marmalade is excited to demonstrate how the Marmalade Platform, Windows and Visual Studio work together to create innovative games for Windows 10 and more.

“Marmalade has worked closely with Microsoft to support both Windows 10 and Visual Studio 2015,” says Ryan Gilmour, Head of Product Management at Marmalade. “The Universal Windows Platform, at the heart of Windows 10, and Visual Studio 2015’s focus on cross-platform development are an ideal fit for our technology.”

The Marmalade Platform offers simple, direct integration with Visual Studio 2015, requiring only a single click to open your project in the IDE: it’s then ready to build, deploy and debug.

“Being able to offer Marmalade developers the ability to build, deploy and debug their games for iOS, Windows 10 and Android, with Windows and Visual Studio, is a great feature,” continues Gilmour. “And thanks to the built-in Visual Studio Emulator for both Windows and Android, you don’t even need to have a physical device on-hand to get going with debugging natively.”

Build 2016 delegates will also see how Marmalade 2D Kit reduces the time and cost of building a rich, dynamic and engaging UI experience for gaming apps. On top of this there will be an opportunity to glimpse the future of Marmalade 3D Kit, including Marmalade’s next generation graphics architecture, built to take full advantage of technologies such as DirectX 11 and DirectX 12.

Marmalade will be at booth #707 during Build 2016. All Windows developers attending the event are invited to visit us to see the Marmalade Platform and Visual Studio in action together.

Build 2016 visitors interested in speaking to Marmalade in person at the event can book a meeting via the Build 2016 event page on the Marmalade website.

Train2game News Train2game Student meet up at Rezzed

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Attendees heading to Rezzed this year have a great chance to meet and hang out with other students.

One of the biggest indie events on the UK calendar, EGX Rezzed takes place 7-9 April and Train2Game students are using the opportunity to hang out. Train2Game student Richard S is heading up plans to meet up and wants students to get in touch then join him at the event.

Gaming events are a great chance to meet other students; talk courses and games. Students can meet people in a similar situation and potentially work together. It’s great to meet people on the same course and on different courses to hear about their experiences.

There’s a number of amazing things to see at Rezzed, including: all things Indie and VR. It’s good inspiration to get into gaming and to strive forward in completing the course. Meeting up is a real positive and good for personal progression.

Events like Rezzed are a superb chance to interact with the industry and see what games are coming out. It’s a start at networking with the industry, a chance to build confidence.

Richard S spoke to Train2Game about why he is attending and why others should join him.

Richard S, Train2Game student: ‘I am very excited that Rezzed has come around again. I will take in what I can from the event and no doubt this event will give me a lot of drive with carrying on through my course, and even give me ideas with possible future projects I might be a part of.’

‘Since joining up with Train2Game on the Games Developer course I have tried to throw myself right into the industry. I believe that networking is a helpful component to finding work within the games industry. I want to meet Developers, publishers and industry bodies (like UKIE), also other fellow gamers.’

‘I feel that relating to people in a similar situation to myself is a positive: being on a long distance learning course and having a considerable interest for computer games. Meeting up would help me and my motivation for completing the course.’

‘If I meet with other programmers we can discuss how we are finding it and can discuss too possibly how we approach our studies. I feel I could even benefit I think from hearing how other people study even if they are on a different discipline like game design or arts or the QA course.’

‘I’m looking forward to Dead Pixels 2, Gang Beasts, Job Simulator, Orcs Must Dies Unchained, Overcooked (I do like a party game), Total War Warhammer, Warhammer The End Times Vermitide.’

‘These games catch my eye. I would like to see every game on show however and if anyone catches my interest I will hope to try and have a play on it even if a short go. I am keen to see what might be on offer in the Leftfield Collection also which are games that may be a little different from the norm.’

‘I am incredibly keen to have some time with the VR headsets this event as well. I’ve had a few tries with VR before from events. I am incredibly keen to have more time on these again. I find VR to be incredibly exciting as a gamer two fold.’

‘Rezzed is a big deal because this is a video games event from the people behind at Eurogamer.net. They have playable pre-release games for PC and console. A focus on indie titles particularly, developer sessions from people within the industry and The Gamesindustry.biz career fair where you can acquire advice relating to getting into the industry. Also the Rezzed sessions I am a fan of where you can get insight into games making, advice for developers and for people looking to get into development.’

‘It’s a chance to find out about the courses other students are studying and what they enjoy about it personally. Talk games, games and possibly a bit more games. Find out if anything in particular has attracted them to Rezzed this year. Get to know each other on a non-course related level too.’

‘I hope to see any other students that are planning on going this year. I have actually made a thread in the forums to try and help us meetup over the three days so feel free to post your interest in there. I hope everyone is doing alright on their courses too. Keep at it and best of luck.’

For more information contact: mark@train2game.com
Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry
Read the Train2Game blog at www.train2game-news.co.uk Train2Game is a proud supporter of  www.gamatier.com

Train2game News Resident Evil 20th anniversary

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20 years ago today with the debut of the first Resident Evil game, the doors to the infamous mansion first opened and ushered in fans to a whole new world of survival horror.

Dark hallways and ominous corners led to thrills and chills that would leave a lasting imprint on everyone who dared to see what was behind each new door. Who could forget the creepy turn of the first zombie’s head as it looked up from its feast, the startling surprise of a Cerberus zombie dog crashing through the window of an eerie hallway, the almost Jill Sandwich, or the miracles of typewriter tape and potted herbs?

Since the birth of the series on March 22, 1996, Resident Evil has gone on to become one of the most iconic and successful gaming franchises of all time. With game sales topping 66 million copies worldwide and its expansion into successful Hollywood feature films, merchandise, attractions and events across the globe, the series continues to infect the hearts of survival horror fans everywhere.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series, Capcom will be releasing a series of developer interviews featuring commentary from some of the team members who have played a vital role in developing the brand into what it is today. Hear from the team as they go back through the mansion doors to look at how the survival horror phenomenon began and its epic rise over the years. The first video with producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi is available for download from the press site now.

The anniversary celebrations will continue over the next year and the team is already hard at work to deliver some amazing new surprises. Stay tuned to our channels throughout the year for more news on what the team has in store.

Capcom would also like to take this opportunity to thank our media partners, gamers and the fans that have shown their passion and support for the Resident Evil titles over the last 20 years. There’s no doubt that the continued success of the series is all because of you.

Train2game News Museum of London exhibits London Gaming

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From 18 March – 28 April 2016, the Museum of London will be examining London’s place in gaming culture with a new temporary display and offering visitors the chance to play four classic video games from the 1980s and 1990s.

The display will trace the city’s journey from the early text-based adventure games where everything was described in words and gamers used their imagination and experience to navigate the virtual world, to its first graphic representations, and finally its more modern and accurate representations in games such as Sim City 3000 and London Racer which offer an almost cinematic experience to the player.

The four games, played on specially emulated computers, will be the 1982’s text-based Streets of London (the very first video game to depict London), 1984’s cult classic Hampstead, 1989’s Werewolves in London (one of the earliest visual depictions of London in a video game) and 1996’s Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror (the first video game with actual interaction with a London landmark).

By playing these games visitors will be able to see not only how video games have advanced in the past 35 years but also how basic representations of London in text-based games on consoles such as the Commodore 64 and Spectrum ZX evolved into more recognisable depictions of the city by the 1990s on more modern platforms like Windows 9x.

As part of the London Games Festival (1-10 April), the Museum of London will also be hosting the Games Culture Summit at 3pm on Friday 8 April. The Summit will bring together leading cultural institutions and creative leaders to look at a variety of issues including how galleries and museums curate, collect and archive games.

Train2game News UKIE on the 2016 Budget

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Chancellor George Osborne announced the 2016 Budget yesterday, setting out the government’s tax and spending plans for the next year and beyond.

95% of games companies are micro, small or medium sized enterprises, and 64% of firms were incorporated in the last 5 years. The Budget introduces a number of measures which will have a positive impact on small and micro games firms. Chief among these are cuts to business rates and stamp duty for lower-value properties, as well as some targeted support for the digital economy.

Responding to the announcements, Ukie CEO Dr Jo Twist said:

“It’s good news for small studios.  The overwhelming majority of games firms are small or micro studios, most of which have emerged in the last five years.  Cuts to business rates and stamp duty will reduce the tax burden for these firms and boost growth and so will be welcomed by the UK games industry.

Looking to the future we will continue to call for public support for innovative games content through National Lottery funds, just like Film and TV have at the moment.  We also want to see long-term investment in talent and await further details in the Education White Paper tomorrow.”

More detail will follow once the Treasury and other Departments follow up on the speech.

Taxation
·         Cuts to business rates totalling £6.7 billion over five years, targeted at small businesses. 600,000 small businesses, including games companies, will pay no business rates at all.
·         Stamp Duty on commercial properties will be changed to a marginal system, reducing the large jumps in taxation between different property values, and rates will be cut for lower-value properties. As a result, 90% of non-residential properties will be taxed less or the same.
·         A new Museums and Galleries Tax Relief from April 2017, supporting the development and touring of new creative exhibitions
·         Corporation tax will be cut further to 17% in 2020
·         Capital gains tax will be cut from 28% to 20%, and from 18% to 10% for basic-rate payers
·         Self-employed people will see class 2 National Insurance Contributions abolished from April 2018, representing an average tax cut of £134 each.
·         A new sharing economy tax allowance of £1,000 each for property and trading income – removing taxes from income made through online platforms such as AirBnB.
·         Tax-free personal allowance and higher-rate threshold both to be raised. The personal allowance will go up to £11,500 in 2017-18. Higher-rate income tax will be incurred from £45,000, rather than £42,500.

Apprenticeships
·         Some new detail on the Apprenticeship Levy: from April 2017, employers will receive a 10% top-up to their monthly levy contributions in England and this will be available for them to spend on apprenticeship training through their digital account. The government will set out further details on the operating model in April and draft funding rates will be published in June.

Digital Economy
·         A new Broadband Investment Fund, in partnership with private sector investors, to support the growth of alternative broadband networks by providing greater access to finance
·         A 5G strategy in 2017, based on an assessment by the National Infrastructure Commission of how the UK can become a world leader in 5G
·         Establish a panel of leading experts, chaired by Kathryn Parsons, to shape the £20 million Institute for Coding competition

Measuring the Industry
The government has accepted all the recommendations from the Bean Review of Economic Statistics, including:
·         Invest over £10 million in a new ONS hub for data science: “The centre for excellence will improve the Office for National Statistics’ capability to measure the changes in the UK’s digital economy and to push the frontiers of economic measurement.”

Ukie will continue to make the case to the government, setting out how the UK can be the best place in the world to make and sell games, as demonstrated in our Blueprint for Growth report.

Train2game News Games Finance Market

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Dan Pinchbeck, founder of The Chinese Room and co-creator of Everybody’s Gone To the Rapture – last week nominated for 10 BAFTA Video Games Awards – will deliver the opening keynote address at the very first Games Finance Market in April.

The Games Finance Market is a first-of-its-kind event for games developers in London and the UK, matching 30 qualifying games companies with 30 investors. The Games Finance Market will take place 5 April to 7 April at The Grange City Hotel, part of the London Games Festival.

In an on-stage interview Pinchbeck will offer the 120+ delegates and industry guests an insight into working as a successful developer using different funding sources and partners. The Chinese Room has created a number of famed mods and the acclaimed games Dear Esther, Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs and Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture, working with a diverse mix of partners such as the Arts & Humanities Research Council, Frictional Games, Creative Europe and PlayStation.

Michael French, senior games programme executive of Games London, organiser of the Games Finance Market and the London Games Festival said: “The opening keynote for our inaugural event will set the tone not just for the day ahead but the years to follow. There’s no one better than Dan and The Chinese Room to inspire our delegates with their experiences in using key funding and financial support to create powerful, provocative and also lucrative digital experiences. Games Finance Market is all about connecting great ideas to funding, so hearing Dan’s experiences will be a perfect opening for us.”

Taking place over two days (6 and 7 April), the Games Finance Market will see 30 games studios and 30 investors meet for over 450 pre-arranged meetings. Representatives from leading private equity firms, tax-structured financiers, banks, international sale companies, publishers, games platforms and distributors will be amongst the accredited delegates.

The day prior, April 5, includes the Games Finance Summit – a special conference and training event dedicated to helping games studios understand games financing and investments – plus the Finance Market’s evening icebreaker drinks. 

The Games Finance Market and Games Finance Summit are sponsored by UK Games Fund and Pollen VC.

The Games Finance Market is part of the new London Games Festival which runs April 1 to 10. London Games Festival is organised by Games London, an initiative delivered jointly by Film London, the capital’s screen industries agency, and games trade body Ukie.

Backed by the Mayor of London, with funding worth £1.2m from the London Enterprise Panel, Games London is a new three-year programme to promote the UK’s wider games sector and make London the games capital of the world. Other key events in the LGF schedule include Now Play This at Somerset House (1 – 3 April), a special series of summits, the BAFTA Game Awards (7 April) and EGX Rezzed (7 – 9 April), plus a Fringe of 20 alternative events.
 
Follow @londongamesfest on Twitter or head to www.games.london for more updates.

Train2game News Global game industry rapidly growing

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The Open Gaming Alliance (OGA), a non-profit trade association focused on the games industry business, will be presenting new research during this week’s Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) that forecast the global game software market to pass $100 billion in 2019.

An overview of these forecasts will be presented by DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole at a seminar on Monday, March 14th, at 3 PM at the OGA Networking Lounge located at SF Green Space at eefg.

DFC Intelligence is forecasting that in 2019 PC games will be the single largest platform at $36 billion. This is up 35% from the $28 billion generated in 2015.

“A major driver of industry growth is not just software but hardware,” said DFC analyst David Cole. “The emergence of eSports and virtual reality is driving consumers to buy high end PC systems to not only play games, but watch others playing games.”

OGA board of director member Matt Ployhar (Intel Corp) is also remaining very bullish on PC gaming:

“I’m very optimistic that 2016 will be the year that PC gaming finally breaks the $30 billion milestone in software revenues,” said Ployhar. “Not only was there a bumper crop of new PC game releases such as Fallout 4, Grand Theft Auto V, & Metal Gear Solid V performing really well on PC for 2015, but this year another incredible lineup of games is on deck with World of Warcraft Legion, Civilization VI, Doom 4, and Dishonored 2. Strong release schedules like this also tend to bode well for vendors on the hardware side of the business, too.”

DFC has been providing research reports to OGA members since 2008. The OGA will release its full market report this spring, free to all OGA members. Currently OGA members are eligible to download the new Game Market Analyzer app for iPad at no cost. The Game Market Analyzer is designed to allow developers to identify key markets for their products so they can better focus their efforts. The app was developed by LAI Global Game Services in conjunction with market research firm DFC Intelligence.

“We designed the Game Market Analyzer app with indie game developers in mind. Our objective was to create an easy-to-use tool that would help developers find the best opportunities for their games worldwide.” said David Lakritz, LAI’s president & CEO.

The research panel will take place Monday, March 14th from 3-4 pm at the OGA Networking Lounge at SF Green Space and is open to all journalists and attendees of the conference.