Category Archives: job

Train2Game News Amazon Game Engine

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Amazon Web Services Announces Amazon Lumberyard — a Free, Cross-Platform, 3D Game Engine Integrated with AWS and Twitch.

Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), today announced Amazon Lumberyard, a free, cross-platform, 3D game engine for developers to create the highest-quality games, connect their games to the vast compute and storage of the AWS Cloud, and engage fans on Twitch. Amazon Lumberyard helps developers build beautiful worlds, make realistic characters, and create stunning real-time effects. With Amazon Lumberyard’s visual scripting tool, even non-technical game developers can add cloud-connected features to a game in minutes (such as a community news feed, daily gifts, or server-side combat resolution) through a drag-and-drop graphical user interface.

AWS is also announcing Amazon GameLift, a new service for deploying, operating, and scaling session-based multiplayer games. With Amazon GameLift, Amazon Lumberyard developers can quickly scale high-performance game servers up and down to meet player demand, without any additional engineering effort or upfront costs.

Amazon Lumberyard is free, and available today in beta for developers building PC and console games, with mobile and virtual reality (VR) platforms coming soon. Amazon GameLift has a small per-player fee, plus for both Amazon GameLift and Amazon Lumberyard, developers pay standard AWS fees for AWS services used. To learn more about Amazon Lumberyard, visit http://aws.amazon.com/lumberyard.  To learn more about Amazon GameLift, visit http://aws.amazon.com/gamelift.

Building technology capable of making the highest-quality games is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Game developers either have to spend several years creating the more than 20 significant technology components that are needed to build the highest-quality games (such as real-time graphics rendering, world and character editors, animation systems, physics simulation, low-latency networking, particle systems, scripting systems, terrain generation, and more), or they have to invest in commercial game engines that are expensive and do not include native integrations with Twitch or cloud back-end technologies (like AWS). And, as live, multiplayer games have risen in popularity, game developers have also had to invest thousands of hours to build and manage the back-end infrastructure needed to connect their games to the cloud and support high volumes of fluctuating player traffic. Amazon Lumberyard is the only game engine that gives developers a combination of free, feature-rich development technology, native integration with the AWS Cloud to make it easier for developers to create live and multiplayer online games, and native integration of Twitch features that help developers connect their games to the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers. By starting game projects with Amazon Lumberyard, developers are able to spend more of their time creating differentiated gameplay and building communities of fans, and less time on the undifferentiated heavy lifting of building game engine components and managing server infrastructure. And, with Amazon GameLift, developers can be sure that on day one, their live, multiplayer games can scale to support millions of players, while maintaining the high performance gamers expect.

“Many of the world’s most popular games are powered by AWS’s technology infrastructure platform,” said Mike Frazzini, Vice President of Amazon Games. “When we’ve talked to game developers, they’ve asked for a game engine with the power and capability of leading commercial engines, but that’s significantly less expensive, and deeply integrated with AWS for the back-end and Twitch for the gamer community. We’re excited to deliver that for our game developers today with the launch of Amazon Lumberyard and Amazon GameLift.”

With Amazon Lumberyard, game developers can:

·         Create the highest-quality games—Amazon Lumberyard helps developers build rich, engaging, world-class games—from a full-featured editor, to native code performance and stunning visuals, and hundreds of other features like performant networking, cloth physics, character and animation editors, particle editor, UI editor, audio tools, weather effects, vehicle systems, flocking AI, perception handling, camera frameworks, path finding, and more. Developers also have full access to Amazon Lumberyard source code, making it easy to customize the technology to create differentiated gameplay.

·         Build live, online features in minutes— Live, online games enjoy higher engagement and retention than offline games. Amazon Lumberyard’s visual scripting tool, with its drag-and-drop graphical user interface, makes it easy to build connected game features that access AWS services, such as DynamoDB, Lambda, and S3. In minutes, game designers can create features such as granting a daily gift or sending in-game notifications without having to write a single line of code. Amazon Lumberyard also comes integrated with AWS’s C++ SDK to provide developers access to dozens of AWS services through native C++ code, the most common language used to make games.

·         Reach and engage fans on Twitch— Amazon Lumberyard is integrated with Twitch so that developers can build gameplay features that engage the more than 1.7 million monthly broadcasters, and more than 100 million monthly viewers on Twitch. With Amazon Lumberyard’s Twitch ChatPlay, developers can use a drag-and-drop visual scripting interface to create gameplay features that let Twitch viewers use chat to directly impact the game they are watching in real-time. For example, with Twitch ChatPlay within Amazon Lumberyard, a developer could build a game that lets viewers on Twitch control a character or vote on game outcomes using chat commands like “up,” “down,” “live,” or “die.” And, the Twitch JoinIn feature within Amazon Lumberyard helps developers build games that allow Twitch broadcasters to instantly invite their live audiences to join them side-by-side in the game, with a single click, while others continue to watch.

Amazon GameLift, a new managed service for deploying, operating, and scaling session-based multiplayer games, reduces the time required to create multiplayer back-ends from thousands of hours to just minutes. With a few quick steps in the AWS Management Console, developers can deploy game servers across the AWS Cloud, start connecting players to games, and scale capacity up and down to meet player demand. Developers can also identify operational issues using Amazon GameLift’s real-time reporting of game server capacity and player demand.  With Amazon GameLift and Amazon Lumberyard, developers can create multiplayer back-ends with less effort, technical risk, and time delays that often cause developers to cut multiplayer features from their games.

“Amazon has been a great partner and we are deeply excited about both Amazon Lumberyard and Amazon GameLift,” said Josh Atkins, Vice President of Creative Development, 2K Games. “The integration of a fantastic game engine with amazing cloud services presents a wonderful opportunity for both independent developers and established publishers.”
          
“Developing and maintaining a back-end infrastructure for multiplayer games requires a lot of time, resources, and expertise that are beyond the reach of many developers,” said Chris Jones, Chief Technology Officer, Obsidian Entertainment. “Amazon GameLift removes much of that burden from the developer, allowing them to focus their energy on bringing their great game ideas to life.”
                                  
Amazon Lumberyard is available for download in beta for PC and console game developers. The Amazon Lumberyard engine is free to use, including source. There are no seat fees, subscription fees, or requirements to share revenue. Standard AWS fees apply should developers choose to use other AWS services.

Amazon GameLift is available at launch in the AWS US East (N. Virginia) and US West (Oregon) Regions, with additional Regions coming soon.  Amazon GameLift costs $1.50 per 1,000 Daily Active Users plus the standard AWS fees for AWS services they consume.

Train2Game News Ukie Careers Bar Returning

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Ukie Careers Bar returns as part of the GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair at EGX Rezzed in April 2016

Ukie and GamesIndustry.biz, the world’s leading games trade website, are teaming up once again to bring the Ukie Careers Bar to the GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair. The long-running partnership will return to EGX Rezzed on 7-9 April 2016 at London’s Tobacco Dock to provide the future generations of games industry talent a valuable insight into how to break into this competitive industry.

Ukie’s popular Careers Bar will feature talks from some of the biggest names in the games industry from their Video Games Ambassador Scheme. The talks will provide expert insight from all areas of the games industry, from games art, programming and design, to publishing careers in PR, marketing and community management. The speaker schedule for the Careers Bar will be announced soon here.

Ukie’s expert Video Games Ambassadors will also be present throughout the Career Fair to provide one-to-one career and portfolio advice on a casual drop-in basis.

The GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair is the unique careers and education area at EGX Rezzed. Featuring a range of careers and education exhibitors, accessible advice from developers and educators, and unique networking opportunities, the Career Fair gives everyone a chance to get closer to the games industry.

EGX Rezzed, and the GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair and Ukie Careers Bar within it, feature as part of the London Games Festiva l, a new international celebration of UK games between 1-10 April 2016.

CEO of Ukie, Dr Jo Twist, said: “The Ukie Careers Bar is the best way for the next generation of games talent to explore what options they have to break into this competitive industry. The unique chance to gain personalised one-to-one career guidance from the biggest names already working in the games industry is an opportunity that we’re really proud to be able offer people who want to enter the industry. The games industry in the UK is a hotbed of creative and technical talent and we’re looking forward to meeting some more of this untapped, diverse talent and finding them their place in this great sector.”

European Editor of GamesIndustry.biz, Dan Pearson, said: “GamesIndustry.biz has really valued the contribution Ukie has made over the last 3 years by running their popular Careers Bar at our GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair. The Careers Bar has proved itself to be a core feature of the Career Fair, and it is great to see it back for another show. Also, the fact EGX Rezzed is set to play a role in the wider London Games Festival this year is a tribute to our longstanding focus on supporting careers and education within the games industry.”

Tickets for EGX Rezzed are available now.

Train2Game News First Year Games Tax Relief

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237 games approved for Video Games Tax Relief in 2015, BFI stats show

Stats released today by the BFI show that 237 games were approved for Video Games Tax Relief in 2015 with a total EEA/UK spend of £728.9m. 2015 is the first full year since their launch in April 2014.

A breakdown of these figures in Interim and Final certification is as follows:

Final – 116 games, EEA/UK spend £180.9m, Total budget £265.6m, EEA/UK is 68.1% of total budget

Interim – 121 games, EEA/UK spend £548m, Total budget £603.6m, EEA/UK is 90.8% of total budget

Ukie CEO, Dr Jo Twist responded to the stats, saying: “These figures show that the Video Games Tax relief is working to encourage strong growth in our sector. The high interim figures also indicate that this is only expected to show more growth in the coming months and years, with more culturally British games being created in the UK with a wider range of budgets.”

“Now that we have a clearer picture of the impact, with the full first year’s figures, Ukie would like further detail to be provided, starting with a regional breakdown of the numbers to show how VGTR is helping across the country. We are now undeniably in a stronger place thanks to VGTR. We have a level playing field with the rest of the world, and now we need to capitalise on that opportunity. Initiatives such as the Mayor-funded Games London plan and the London Games Festival, which will showcase why the UK is games capital of the world, are showing what we can achieve with the right support in place .”

The full report can be found here http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-british-film-other-screen-sector-certification-2015-2016-03-02.pdf with the stats for games on p.15.

Train2Game News Insomnia 57

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Multiplay, organiser of the UK’s largest gaming festival, Insomnia, and subsidiary of GAME Digital plc (“GAME Digital”), the UK’s leading video gaming specialist, is expecting the largest attendance at a Spring Insomnia Gaming Festival, with over 40,000 people looking to head down to the NEC Birmingham on Easter bank holiday weekend, 25-28 March.

Insomnia57 announces the very first host of special guests in the form of YouTube’s biggest gaming personalities, as TheSyndicateProject, AmyLee33, TheDiamondMinecart (DanTDM), Netty Plays, ECKOSOLDIER, The Gaming Terroriser, NoughtPointFour and Champwan are all present to participate on stage, either in panel discussions or live gameplay sessions, playing their favourite games.

“We’re delighted to welcome the return of YouTube’s biggest gaming stars to Insomnia, as they form a key cornerstone of the event with so many fans looking forward to seeing their heroes,” said Craig Fletcher Founder and CEO of Multiplay. “With the anticipation of Insomnia’s largest ever attendance, we’ll be seeing an even more fun and vibrant atmosphere, and we look to continue to deliver an enjoyable gaming experience for all attending across the event.”

More event information will be revealed in the weeks leading up to Insomnia57, from special guests with YouTube’s biggest stars, eSports tournaments, video games line-up in the exhibition hall, cosplay competition, goodies in the retail zone and much more.

Tickets for Insomnia57 are now on sale and can be purchased from the official website at https://insomniagamingfestival.com/tickets/.

Insomnia57 will take place at The NEC, Birmingham, 25-28 March, 2016. For more information, please visit the Insomnia Gaming Festival website https://insomniagamingfestival.com/

Train2Game News Exhibition places available at PLAY Expo Blackpool

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This April, the UK’s favourite Arcade, Indie & Retro video gaming expo will be returning to the Norbreck Castle Exhibition Centre in Blackpool for it’s fifth year.

Proud supporters of the UK indie scene, Replay Events are offering indie developers and studios special low rates for space and power on the main show floor – but space is limited so if you want to get involved you’ll need to act fast!

Located at the Norbreck Castle Exhibition Centre, PLAY Expo Blackpool attracts over 5000 attendees from all over the UK during the two day event. The expo draws a diverse crowd due to the variety of systems, exhibitions and activities on offer – some people come for the coin-ops, pinball and retro stuff, some for the current gen and indie games, others for cosplay, highscore tournaments or talks from game industry legends – but the majority embrace the entire spectrum of video gaming culture as a whole.

Unlike some other expos, the indie section at PLAY Expo Blackpool won’t be hidden away in a separate hall away from the main ruckus.
Indies will be centrally located within the main exhibition space, i.e. where the people are. Prices for exhibiting are extremely
reasonable:

    -£180 Standard booth (1x table, 6ft backing board, space and power for 2x PC/Console set-ups, 2x Exhibitor passes)

    -£300 Large booth (2x tables, 6ft backing board, space and power for 4x PC/Console set-ups, 4x Exhibitor passes)

(Note that wired internet, PC hire and additional exhibitor passes are also available at an additional cost. Please contact us for further information and prices).

In addition to this, exhibiting indies will have their own dedicated liaison in the form of RGCD.DEV/RGCD.CO.UK’s James Monkman, who’ll be on hand before, during and after the event to help ensure exhibitors requirements over the weekend are fully accommodated.

For further information on the event visit the PLAY Expo Blackpool website (www.playexpoblackpool.com ). You can either register your interest in exhibiting online via the contact page, or request an information pack from James direct via email (james.monkman@replayevents.com ) or Twitter (@James_Monkman).

Train2Game News Train2Game student creating Harry Potter character

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Murthy Upadhyayula has designed his own Dobby the House Elf for his wife.

Former student from India who studied the Art and Animation course with Train2Game is working on his portfolio and creating his favourite characters to show off his work.

Murthy enjoyed the course and said it gave him a base of knowledge to build upon.  He studied alongside both of his brothers and they have created games together. His brother Srinath is now studying at a prestigious university in the US. Murthy is currently working in customer services but gaming is still his dream.

Murthy is working on the VFX Model of Dobby the House Elf from the Harry Potter films,  he’s also creating other pieces for a demo reel. Murthy’s dream is to work in the games industry and he says a strong portfolio is essential in getting recognised.

He told Train2Game that he created the character as it is a favourite of his and his wife told him to! When we asked if he wanted his own house elf, he said ‘A that is really handy but unethical. I’d rather have a house-elf as a friend.’ Which we agree with and we promised EA and JK Rowling about his project.

Murthy Upadhyayula , Train2Game student: ‘My Name is Murthy Upadhyayula (Rambo 85 on the forums). I am from India, currently living in Luton. I am studying the art and animation course.’

‘The course is quite good for beginners trying to understand how the game pipleline works. It gives students a solid foundation which they can use to build upon. I have discontinued the course half-way through. But it must be noted that I had to do it because of reasons beyond my control. After a long gap, I am now back into the scheme of things, and somewhere down the line I may try and finish the course if the opportunity presents itself.’

‘The knowledge I gained from the first two sections of the course proved to be very useful in some of my personal projects as well as making an android games with my brothers titled “Chimping”.’

‘Both my Bros (Bhanu and Srinath) had signed up for the developer course. Srinath was forced to leave the country mid-way through his course as his Visa expired, and he didn’t have enough investment to apply for a Business Visa which was the only option given to him at the time. Thankfully, he got accepted in a prestigious university in United States (Texas), and his experience with Train2Game had played a big part in it. Bhanu continues to study at his own pace.’

‘For the past couple of months I have been working on a VFX model, Dobby from the Harry Potter films. I am also doing some motion graphics, and character animations, all to be compiled into a demo reel.’

‘I simply wanted to create a VFX character that would fit well into modern games as well as film and TV. I thought it is best to show as many skills as I can in one project rather than creating separate portfolios for Games and Film/TV. This way, I can diversify my portfolio.’

‘When I said I was going to create an elf-like character, my wife suggested Dobby as its one of her favourite characters. I jumped on the idea, as I too love the character in the books and in the movies. Besides, anyone who’s married knows that you never say no to your missus.’

‘I have learnt a great deal with this one project. I have been able touch several aspects of the pipeline: sculpting, re-topologising, texturing, shading, compositing, rigging, posing, storytelling, and animation.  I have also researched and came across some useful shortcuts that speed up the creation workflow.’

‘A strong portfolio is the single most important thing according to many of the experts in the industry. I have never heard anyone saying they got a job because a great reading CV. As an artist you are judged based on your portfolio and if you have one that stands out, nothing else really matters.’

‘I would love a full-time position at a games studio. I have tried and failed a lot in the past couple of years, but I am looking forward to another push this year, and hopefully someone notices my latest demo reel and offers me a position. Fingers crossed. I will be updating the website with Dobby images and latest demo reel once it’s ready.’

You will find some of Murthy’s work at http://murthy85.wix.com/artbymurthy

For more information contact mark@train2game.com

Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry

Train2Game is a proud supporter of www.plasisgamesportal.com and www.gamatier.com

Train2Game News UKIE teaming with Player Research

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UK games trade body agrees deal with leading user research company to provide new player experience reports

Industry-leading playtesting and user research specialists Player Research are introducing a series of new reports focussing on usability and player experience. Ukie have been appointed exclusive seller and distributor of these reports.

The reports, collated by Player Research using their expert knowledge and practical experience from watching and analysing real players, gives unrivalled insight and guidance to games companies to help understand how games are actually being played.

Dr Graham McAllister, Director of Player Research, said, “Competing with, and surpassing, the most successful games in the world to deliver an engaging and accessible player experience is difficult, but can be achieved. Our first report on the base builder genre will help studios assess how the UX of their game compares to the industry leaders, and detail how to deliver a best-in-class experience”.

The reports are both extensive and highly detailed and yet also published in an easily digestible way for games designers, programmers, producers, UI artists and the game development community at large.

The first report is for Base Builder games, focusing on four leading games in the genre; Clash of Clans, Star Wars Commander, Boom Beach, and Game of War: Fire Age.

The report is a result of hundreds of man-hours of expert analysis covering all aspects of game design, including user experience, usability, and social features and will be vital for any company working in this genre or considering entering it.

Dr Jo Twist, CEO of Ukie, said, “Understanding a player’s experiences and motivations is vital for any games business. If you truly understand your consumer you can grow your own games community and support your business growth. We’re proud to be able to deliver such high quality and robust reports from such a well-respected research company.”

Train2Game News GDC Industry Survey Results

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The Game Developers Conference® (GDC) has released the fourth annual State of the Industry Survey, revealing trends in the games industry based on the feedback of more than 2,000 North American game developers ahead of GDC 2016 in March.

The survey has revealed that development of Virtual Reality (VR) titles has more than doubled among participating developers with 16 percent currently developing for VR, up from the 7 percent of developers were working on VR projects in last year’s survey.

The 2016 State of the Industry Survey marks the fourth entry in the ongoing series of yearly reports and serves as a snapshot of the games industry and illustrates industry trends ahead of GDC 2016 in San Francisco. Organized by the UBM Tech Game Network, GDC 2016 takes place March 14th-18th at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California.

VR’s popularity is growing fast, but PC and mobile are still the top platforms among developers

The emergence of upcoming Virtual Reality (VR) devices like Oculus Rift, Sony’s PlayStation VR and Samsung’s Gear VR, among others, has proven to be alluring for developers on the bleeding edge, with the survey revealing that development of VR titles has more than doubled among participating developers. This year’s survey has shown that 16 percent of developers are currently creating titles for VR, up from the 7 percent of developers who replied in the affirmative in last year’s survey. Projecting further into the future, 15 percent of participating developers have affirmed that their next game will incorporate VR, up from the 6 percent who affirmed their VR ambitions last year.

The platform wars continue unabated, with 52 percent of developers currently working on a game for PC, down from 56 percent from last year. 44 percent of developers are currently working on smartphone and tablet games, down from the 50 percent of developers working on these titles last year.

The consoles continue to be popular platforms for developers, with 27 percent of respondents affirming ongoing work on a title for PlayStation 4, compared to 26 percent last year. The Xbox One has revealed a similarly consistent level of development, with 23 percent of developers working on Xbox One, up from 22 percent last year.  Developer interest in Nintendo platforms have dipped slightly since last year, with 5 percent of respondents affirming that they are working on Wii U projects, down from 6 percent last year. 2 percent of developers have stated that they are working on titles for 3DS, compared to 3 percent in the previous year.

Most game makers believe VR/AR is a sustainable business, but 27 percent don’t believe VR/AR device adoption will ever match current console install-base

Still in its infancy, the current generation of VR/AR platforms has garnered strong developer confidence, with 75% of respondents agreeing that VR/AR is a long-term sustainable business to be in.

Despite this growing confidence, developers disagree on the future sales rates for these devices. When asked when they believe VR/AR devices will exceed the adoption rate (roughly 40 percent) of game consoles in the U.S. in 2015, 27 percent of respondents said they didn’t believe VR/AR hardware would ever surpass that level of adoption. Just 1 percent of those surveyed said they expected it to happen by 2018, the earliest time period available for selection. 44 percent of respondents expected it to happen by 2026, and a total of 54 percent believed it would happen by 2030.

In a separate, more conservative VR/AR install base question, 38 percent of respondents predicted that VR/AR hardware would be in 10 percent of U.S. households by 2020. 86 percent figure it’ll happen by 2030, and roughly 9 percent figure it will never happen.
       
Nearly 90 percent of developers believe that eSports is a sustainable, long-term business

As competitive gaming enters the mainstream consciousness, the developer survey reflects a growing confidence in eSports. 88 percent of developer respondents have affirmed their confidence in the sustainability of long-term business of eSports. This represents an 8 percent jump from the 79 percent of respondents who affirmed the same position last year.

The full survey results also reflected developer confidence in VR/AR, with 75 percent of respondents agreeing that the emerging technologies represented a sustainable business to be in. On the mobile front, Android and iOS are now neck and neck in ongoing app development, with 55 percent of respondents making Android games and 56 percent saying they are making games for the iOS. For the survey participants, self-publishing was still the predominant means of distributing titles, with 57 percent of responding developers working without a publisher, versus 24 percent who are (20 percent said they work at a publisher).

A more detailed analysis of the survey can be found at http://www.gdconf.com/news/ . For more information about the 2016 Game Developers Conference or to register online, visit www.gdconf.com

Train2Game News Games London

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London’s games and interactive entertainment industry is set for a £1.2m boost with the launch of Games London, a ground breaking new programme to make the city the games capital of the world, tapping into a market that globally is worth around $81bn.
 
Funded by the London Enterprise Panel (LEP), Games London is being delivered by Film London, the capital’s strategic agency for film and media, and games trade body Ukie and will build on recent growth in the games sector, which generated £2.8bn in revenue in 2015.
 
The three year programme will capitalise on the Video Games Tax Relief (VGTR), which was introduced in 2014. It will attract investment to the UK and help businesses based in the capital generate £35million in new revenue, adding nearly £10million, as well as creating hundreds of jobs and boosting skills and training.
 
The plan was announced today via an in-game press conference featuring Mayor of London Boris Johnson in one of the biggest video games in the world: Minecraft.
 
Mayor of London and Chair of the LEP Boris Johnson said ‘London is already a star player when it comes to games and interactive entertainment, but international competition is fierce and we need to ensure our city can compete with our global gaming rivals. Through Games London we are supercharging an increasingly important sector for our economy, one that exemplifies the capital’s reputation for creativity and innovation. From design to banking and civil engineering to film, games technology is being used in a host of different sectors. We are investing in a dynamic and constantly evolving industry to take London to another level as a world-leading capital for games and interactive entertainment.’
 
The Games London programme will deliver:
 
·         A new annual London Games Festival – with the first taking place in April 2016 – to showcase and celebrate the industry’s huge cultural and economic impact

·         A new international business-to-business networking event to attract top investment to the UK

·         Inbound and outbound trade missions to promote the tax relief and the sector overseas, in conjunction with London’s official promotional company London & Partners

·         A range of training and skills initiatives
 

The 2016 London Games Festival takes place 1 April to 10 April, and will include 15 official events across 10 different venues in the capital. Highlights include:

·         Now Play This (1 April – 3 April), a weekend festival of games and play at Somerset House, as part of Utopia 2016: A Year of Imagination and Possibility

·         The brand-new Games Finance Market (5 April – 7 April), a first of its kind event that recreates the successful formula delivered by Film London in matching film finance to film projects during the London Film Festival. The Games Finance Market will connect interactive content talent with global investors and partners from across sectors

·         A series of insightful ‘LGF @ BFI’ talks (4 April) programmed and presented by London Games Festival in partnership with BFI Southbank

·         The inclusion of already influential global events: British Academy Games Awards (7 April) and EGX Rezzed (7 April – 9 April)

·         An inspiring cultural programme that helps change perceptions of video games and champions the medium as a cutting-edge art form – plus a London Games Fringe of alternative and exciting smaller events

Games London is being led by Michael French who was appointed in September 2015. French has been working in the games sector for 13 years as a journalist and publisher, building brands and events that support and grow the games industry. Partners include BAFTA, London & Partners, Gamer Events, Somerset House and the BFI.

More details about Games Festival will be announced soon. Further information can be found at www.games.london

Train2Game News Student creates Tie Fighter

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Train2Game student 3D models what could be the next Star Wars Tie Fighter

Michael Bird working with US creative Michael Stribling to realise concepts of Star Wars spacecraft

Freelancer and Train2Game graduate Michael Bird is working with US based Creative to create incredible Star Wars 3D spacecraft.  The latest project created is a 3D Tie-Fighter based on the US Designer’s concept of what could be the next Tie Interceptor.

Michael found the original design’s creator on LinkedIn, before contacting him to get permission to develop his concept. Michael added in detail and has made the design game ready.

Michael is a Train2Game graduate who had a positive experience on the course; he’s worked with student studio Derp Studios and is now doing some freelance work.

Michael Bird, Freelance Animator and Designer:  ‘The project that I have just finished was a realised version on the Tie-Fighter from Star Wars films. That honour of the original concept goes to a man called Michael Stribling from the San Francisco Bay Area. I happened upon his concept art on LinkedIn and asked if could maybe build it in 3D and I was lucky enough to get a yes.’

‘I loved the concept and I saw it as a challenge to see if I could build it following someone else’s concept work but using my ideas as to the amount of detail, poly counts and texturing that would make it look like the concept but also to make it efficient for a game engine.’
‘I wouldn’t say spacecraft are a speciality even though I have two in my portfolio, I really want to specialise in asset/prop and environment work but it does show that I can do hard surface work. In truth if someone asks me to build something or if I ask if I can build it then I’ll try it no matter what it is. Every piece is a challenge that I relish.’

‘I am a big Star Wars fan. Always have been and always will be I grew up with Star Wars I think I saw the first film when I was about 9 or 10 and they have been a part of my life ever since to the point that know it word for word.’

‘In regards to the new film, I’m in two minds with it to tell you the truth I think I need to watch it again. It looks beautiful the way they have gone back to the old way of creating the beings that populate the Star Wars world instead of all CGI gives it a more realistic look. I’m really looking forward to seeing where this story goes.’

‘I think the reason Star Wars is so inspiring could be because the underlining story is about good vs evil, Black vs white, that’s something everyone can connect to in their life. Just the thought of having the Force powers or flying the ships it something that I would say everyone would want to do and have in their lifetime at least once.’

‘On the whole I would say the Train2Game experience has been positive, without the guidance that they offer I would never have been able to complete the course the way I did. There were time when I just couldn’t get my head around the lessons but they are always positive with their help they don’t tell you the answers they lead you onto the right path until you figure it out yourself. I would recommend the courses to anyone who is interested in getting into the industry.’

‘I finished the Art & Animation course in 2014, since then I work for a while at Derp Studios a micro online studio that helped me better my skills doing all sorts of 3D art for them, character creation and animation asset/prop creation as well as environment work. I left last year and since then I have been working for myself creating personal work and a bit of freelance when asked.’

‘I always have other ideas that I want to work on. I see my next project as an old graveyard with a small church with mist creeping between the headstone and trees all light in moonlight. I am at the concept stage at the moment but as I create I post WIP screen shot onto my website.’

‘Because the design was for my own personal pleasure it will go onto my website for the world to see www.michaelbird74.com’
 
For more information contact mark@train2game.com

Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry

Train2Game is a proud supporter of www.plasisgamesportal.com and www.gamatier.com