Category Archives: job

Train2Game News Sony at E3 2015

Posted on by

image

Sony ended its string of E3 2015 press conferences with an assortment of game news and announcements.

The company’s conference started off with a bang with a new trailer for The Last Guardian. It then followed up with tons of new trailers and footage for Street Fighter V, No Man’s Sky, and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. But there were also announcements for brand new games like the next Hitman game, Guerrilla Games’ new IP Horizon: Zero Dawn, and a remake of Final Fantasy VII.

Here’s a roundup of all the biggest news from Sony’s E3 2015 press conference.

Previously Announced Games With New Info:

    Sony began the press conference with a new gameplay demonstration for The Last Guardian, which confirmed that the long awaited Sony title is still alive and well. The game is being directed by Fumito Ueda and will release in 2016.

    A new trailer for Street Fighter V revealed classic series characters Cammy and Birdie for the roster.

    Hello Games gave an all-new gameplay demonstration of No Man’s Sky. It featured a glimpse of space combat and a planet generated on the fly.

    Media Molecule came up to give more information on their newest IP called Dreams. The developer also showed some of the interactive animated sequences that players can create.

    Santo’s humorous Firewatch was announced to be getting a release on the PS4.

    A new trailer announced the newest Destiny expansion called The Taken King.

    PS4 will be getting a Devolver Digital bundle of indie titles.

    Sony showed the other side of Assassin Syndicate with some gameplay of Evie Frye, the twin sister of Jacob Frye. The game will be getting content exclusive to the PS4.

    Sony showed off a cinematic trailer for Batman: Arkham Knight that covers the first moments of the upcoming open world game.

    Activision took to the stage to reveal Call of Duty: Black Ops III’s co-op campaign gameplay and a multiplayer gameplay trailer. It was also announced that PS4 users will be getting exclusive map packs and access to online betas.

    John Vignocchi appeared on to the Sony stage to show a new trailer of Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition, which adds Star Wars characters to the roster. The game is expected to launch this fall.

    DICE debuted new gameplay for Star Wars: Battlefront for the game’s survival mode. It had players fighting off waves of enemies while completing objectives.

    To end it off, Naughty Dog revealed new gameplay for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.

Newly Announced Games:

    Killzone studio Guerrilla Games announced their newest IP called Horizon: Zero Dawn. A gameplay demonstration was shown that had a tribal protagonist fighting off robotic dinosaur-like creatures.

    A trailer was revealed ahead of the Square Enix press conference for the new Hitman game, which simply titled Hitman. The game will release on other platforms but will feature content exclusive to the PS4.

    Square Enix debuted a trailer for a new game in the Final Fantasy franchise called World of Final Fantasy. It will release for PS4 and PS Vita in 2016.

    Square Enix also announces a remake of Final Fantasy VII. It will be coming to PS4 first.

    Sony announces the launch of a Kickstarter for Shenmue 3.

Other Sony News:

    The company announced more details about its cloud-based TV service called PlayStation Vue. The service will now be rolling into Los Angeles and San Francisco. According to Sony’s Andrew House, PlayStion Vue users can subscribe to individual channels instead of having to subscribe to multi-channel packages. PlayStation Plus members are also able to get discounted rates.

Train2Game News Be on Train2Game TV

Posted on by

image

Train2Game Students do you want to advertise yourself whilst supporting Train2Game? The newly launched Train2Game.TV will give you the opportunity to do just that.

Train2Game.tv is looking for some students with good quality webcams or video recording equipment to record a short video of yourself, maximum ten minutes, advertising yourself to future employers who may come looking.

As some of you know the best way to break into the games industry is to get yourself out there and be noticed by those who you admire. This will give you the perfect opportunity to do just that and will help support Train2Game at the same time.

If you are interested, please send your video via wetransfer.com to suggestionbox@train2game.com

Train2Game News Games Development skills in demand

Posted on by

image

Serial Entrepreneur says Games Development expertise are needed in his companies

Koldo Garcia is co-founder and BizDev Director at Madpixel, creator of Madgazine  and also co-founder and CEO at The Mad Video. We spoke to him to hear from this successful Creative about his career in areas similar to games development and to gain an understanding of transferrable skills. It was also a great chance to hear about his personal history and the incredible projects he is currently working on.

What is your personal working history?

“Although I have a degree in business administration early I changed my mind and re-oriented my career towards design. I worked as a freelance designer for years in several areas (graphic design, corporate identity, etc.) until I started to work as web designer around 1998. In 1999 I founded Madpixel with my colleague Iñaki Arredondo, with the idea of combining design and technology. There, I specialized in UI Design and UX. I also played the CEO role. In 2011 I founded The Mad Video, a start-up focused on interactive video, where I’m the CEO. But I still actively collaborate with Madpixel as BizDev Director and Product Strategy Advisor.”

What experiences shaped your development as person and your ideas?

Working with colleagues with strong ethics it’s been definitively very important in my life. Also my experience these three last years with my other project, The Mad Video, it has been very important. I lived for three years in San Francisco, as many other startups from everywhere, and this was challenging and also demystifying. And from the personal point of view, living in a completely different culture was very enriching too.

How did you get into what you do now?

“At the beginning, at Madpixel we were focused on any kind of multimedia projects, but in the last years we began to develop our own products, specially focused on providing digital solutions for Museums and Cultural Institutions. Why this sector? We developed several tailor-made projects for clients in this area which were really successful. This gave us the opportunity to detect some areas where we could offer innovative solutions for them, and we decided to jump into it. Now we commercialize three products/services for this sector: ArtGigapixel (super-high resolution images), SecondCanvas (app/widgets builder for Museums), and Madgazine (platform to build digital magazines).”

Do you find there are transferrable skills from Video Games to what you do?

“Well, I have to say that in our past activity in Madpixel, we developed several online games, and this experience was for sure something worthy for our next projects. But talking more specifically about our present activity, I think there are several areas where Video Games could have a fit with us: 3D environments combined with our gigapixel publishing technology could be something interesting, for instance. And of course, all the gamification techniques are very interesting to offer museums new experiences for their audiences, especially for the younger ones.”

Can you tell us a little bit about Madgazine?

“Madgazine is an online platform which allows any kind of user to build their own digital and multimedia publications, magazine-style. Its CMS allows you to create the content once, and automatically get different outputs adapted to different devices and platforms: web, mobile devices (iOS and Android, both in HTML5 and as native apps).”

How does technology enhance an experience?

“There are so many ways I can’t say just one example. Think of technological companies such as Tesla, Über, Next, Airbnb, and so many more, that are disrupting and innovating through technology so many different aspects of our lives. It’s not only about getting info but about taking actions and interacting with our environment, the closer one and the remote one. I feel like we are living right now a really trascendental change in our world through technology.”
 
Interaction is a theme, is leaping off the screen into a person’s world important?

“Definitively. Interactions combining both the digital and the real world are more and more important. It’s not the future, it’s the present, and is changing our relation with everything. There are so much opportunities in so many areas that I can’t imagine in the next year’s a single thing where interaction between both worlds doesn’t make sense. Being able to explore artworks that way, makes a big change on how we see, enjoy and understand Art. This definitively gives you a better context of the painting and the painter from several points of view: history, technique, or just curiosities. All of this together allows you to better understand and enjoy Art.”

And Second Canvas, how are you modernising the exhibition experience?

“First at all, we are providing the museums with tools to make easier the process of going digital. And that’s important because museums are facing a big challenge about its own essence, where the digital museum is becoming as important as the physical one: universal and remote access to content, enriched and curated experience, etc. Second Canvas Modules makes this process not only easier, but also affordable for any kind of museum.”

“In this context, some of the modules Second Canvas offers allow visitors (both physical and virtual) enjoy this content in new ways that complement and sometimes enhance the traditional visit: ability to explore artworks with your fingers in your mobile device, zooming in the areas you want to explore until the smallest details, or getting stories about the different elements in a painting, are some of the features we offer. But also the possibility of interacting with beacons during the visit, having experiences combined with wearable gadgets, or changing the way art can be taught at schools and universities. The experience has been really welcomed. Audiences are asking us for more and more artworks in these innovative formats, and that’s incentivising museums to create more Second Canvas-style content.”

Madpixel, please tell us more?

“Madpixel is the company developing our three products/services. I didn’t tell you anything about one of them, ArtGigapixel, yet. ArtGigapixel is a team within Madpixel, specialized in very high resolution images captures. We have developed the software and hardware required for this kind of projects, and we are right now the company leader in this technology, working with hundreds of museums all around the world. Madpixel has given me the opportunity of experiencing art as never before. And as designer, I really love this. To be able to explore these artworks, zooming on details, and see the painter technique, and the evolution of techniques along the years, it’s been really wonderful for me.”

What would you say to a student, wanting to get ahead in the world?

“Don’t be afraid of changing your mind. Follow your instinct and do what you makes you feel great. And work hard, but don’t forget that life is greater than projects.”

To hear more about Koldo’s work or speak to him about future projects, contact the Train2Game blog at Mark Kington (mark@train2game.com)

Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry

Train2Game is a proud supporter of www.plasisgamesportal.com

Train2Game News BadLand Games in the UK

Posted on by

image

The BadLand family is growing. We are thrilled to announce the opening of its first international office in one of the most active video game industries in Europe, The United Kingdom.

BadLand Games UK Ltd is the UK based operation of Spanish Publisher & Distributor BadLand Games SL. The UK team is tasked with establishing three business units: BadLand Indie, BadLand Tech and BadLand Games, all of which sit under the umbrella brand of BadLand Games UK.

Each business unit has its own objectives in 2015 – these being:

·         BadLand Indie: To offer indie development teams that are both UK and Internationally based access to resources and expertise that can help with every aspect of the development, publishing and global distribution of their gaming projects.
·         BadLand Tech: To establish the BadLand Tech brand and sell into the UK market the exciting range of cutting edge technology products.
·         BadLand Games: To act as a point of contact for BadLand Games UK based distribution partners and to also offer UK (and globally – if required) distribution for digital & boxed video game content.

“BadLand Games UK represents a new challenge, another one, for a small, new business like ours, and supports not only Spanish studios and talent, but also the general indie market.” – Luis Quintans, CEO

In the experienced hands of Ben Stevens, BadLand Games UK represents an important breakthrough for the company.

‘I am delighted to be joining the BadLand Games team, the opening of the UK office is an important milestone for the company and I am now looking forward to building the BadLand Games UK business’. – Ben Stevens, Country Manager

In 2015 the three BadLand Games UK business units will begin the process of building the BadLand Gaming & Technology brands and laying foundations for the ongoing growth of the UK and parent business.

Train2Game News BearGames recruiting

Posted on by

image

Interested in working with a start-up studio? Train2Game student studio BearGames on the lookout for additional team members

BearGames is looking for team members to join them in creating some really cool and exciting games. For junior developers working in a student studio is a great way to broaden your games industry network, have some fun and create content for a portfolio.

There are three team members in BearGames, the team are looking to expand to produce more work and complete their games. The team are currently working on a strategy spaceship game and have some huge plans for the future. In Particular BearGames is looking for team members with skills in: Development, Artistry/Animation and Music.
We spoke with team leader, Daniel Bartlett, 18, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, to find out more about his journey in games, experiences so far on Train2Game, the studio and the games they are working on.

“I realised I wanted to study game design when I would be sat in class or in my room thinking of ideas for games. And when I played games I would always be thinking ‘how could this game be better?’”

“Then one day searching through the internet to see how easy it was to become a games designer, I came across the Train2Game website. I liked what I saw so applied. A month later I had a phone call saying someone will be round to make sure this is what and then I started.”

“Studying Games Design at Train2Game is great because I study when I want and at my own pace. But when I get to a point I get stuck on, other students help me more than the tutor team does!”

“My team is called BearGames. We are currently made up of three people: me as the Games Designer, Finance, Marketing and Leader. Macaulay Tennant as the developer who I met on the 2014 fun day on Minecraft, Fabio Rodrigues as artist and animator who I recruited from the Train2Game FB page.”

“Both of them are great people and we are all great friends that can have a laugh and play games together. We are currently looking for another Developer and Artist/Animator to help on the work load and most importantly we need someone who is good at sounds and music.”

“We are currently working on a command your own spaceship fleet to defeat the aliens. It will include a campaign and various multiplayer modes so you can work in a team or on your own to complete different objectives. We don’t have a name for it yet but we do have most of the art work completed.”

“It is a combat strategy game, players will use a different strategy for each level that you will decide from either a pre-set group or one that the you created yourself. While shooting at the aliens who’s strategy will be constantly changing throughout each level.”

“For the success of our game we want to build a fan base that can help us fundraise for our next bigger game. We want to work with another studio to include voice activation in our games to make them more fun and interactive for the player.”

“We already have our next game planned and will be a much bigger project. Our long team goal is to become a well-known game studio that creates games we want and to make, games the community wants by using the ideas they have and putting some ideas together, then making games for You Tubers and other famous people in the games world.”

“My personal dream is to become the leader of a big games studio based in the UK that creates games for the community and to give a percentage of our profits to charity.”

If you’re interested in working with BearGames you can email mark@train2game.com with a copy of your cv.

Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry

Train2Game is a proud supporter of www.plasisgamesportal.com

Train2Game News Jagex QA Role

Posted on by

image

Jagex are looking for a QA tester. However, being a QA tester in the Old School team is so much more than you think.

You’ll be bringing your ideas to design meetings to help the company decide how the studio can best implement the players’ ideas. In time you’ll be creating content while under the mentorship of the content developers.

You’ll be answering the questions from the community in the live streams and on video. You’ll be using your understanding of the community to make every update as community focused as possible, but most importantly, you’ll be helping to turn the community’s wishes into reality.

You’ll need to be incredibly community focused and passionate about making Old School the best game it can be. You’ll need to be able to listen to the community and not be afraid to change your opinions based on what they say and you’ll need to know what happens when you use a herring on a tree.

You must live and breathe Old School, you must be a walking Old School wiki page and you must be able to work well with the Old School team.

You will be an integral part of the Old School team and Jagex strive to give their community the best!

If you haven’t applied yet, then have a look at the extra details on the site below and apply!

http://www.jagex.com/careers/jobs/1112

Train2Game News Site to bring indies together

Posted on by

image

Los Angeles based Pie Powered Productions launched their new website today, IndieDeveloper.com.

The website is aimed at the Independent Game Development community, and caters to all skill levels, from student to hobbyist to professional.

IndieDeveloper.com is primarily a social oriented community, providing tools and resources to developers to find, share, communicate, and collaborate with each other.

One of the more compelling features of the site, is a matchmaking search engine that allows Members to find other developers based on what their proficiencies and disciplines are, and what they are looking for from a collaborator.

The site features activity feeds, media sharing, public and private groups, forums and a blog, amongst other things.  Future features include exclusive deals with middleware and tools providers, game jam and creator competitions and much more.

Train2Game News Students smash Kickstarter target

Posted on by

image

Ten days into Kickstarter campaign Train2Game Students successfully clear target with over £5,000 of additional investment

Ben Cooper and Rich Clark have smashed their target for card game Beardy Vikings on crowd funding platform Kickstarter. The pair operating under the name Rounded Squarish have so far raised £7,855 of their original £2,000 target and are only ten days into their month long campaign.

Ruddy Vikings is a simple, fun, 2-4 player strategic card game in which players try and destroy each other’s hands using cunning strategies and epic Vikings. It usually takes between 5-30 minutes to play, depending on the number of players.

Ben Cooper, Rounded Squarish: “I came up with the idea of Ruddy Vikings, developing the core aspects and theme of the game in a hotel room in Milton Keynes! The game was then developed further by myself and Rich Clark. The artwork has been created by both myself and Rich Clark.”

“There were several games that inspired Ruddy Vikings. Although mechanically very different, games like Zombie dice shone out and appealed to the simplistic fun that we are so keen to promote. ”

“We felt that Vikings were an incredibly fun and varied race in which people could relate to. We also felt that our art style would fit Vikings perfectly. We love beards and this only helped make the choice of Vikings even easier. You can’t not have bearded Vikings!”

“Rounded Squarish was founded by myself and Rich Clark in 2011 whilst training with Train2Game. Our aim was to create small games that were incredibly fun and to try and infuse our humour into each title.”

“Studying with T2G gave me a core knowledge of how to go about creating great artwork for games. It also gave me the opportunity to work with other passionate, like minded individuals and enabled me to grow as an artist and designer.”

“I feel that other students would love this game and that supporting this combination of industries may unleash ideas from others. This community, from our experience, lives on the support of other creative minds. That is how we all progress and discover new opportunities.”

“The public, like others in the games industry, are becoming more and more aware of games and not just mobile, video games. Supporting this game and others like it allows for new games and more fun to be developed!”

“The long term plan for the card game is to enter the retail market. We plan to stock the game in shops around the country and, with luck, the world. We also plan to continue to expand the game further with different races. Rounded Squarish are continuing work on our first mobile game Print Jam, which should be out in a couple of months!”

“It is incredibly rewarding to see people getting behind the project and letting us know what they love and don’t love. That is how Ruddy Vikings is growing and I only hope that that never stops! The most amazing thing is knowing that people want this game to be created and we couldn’t be prouder.”

For more information on Ruddy Vikings and to support the game’s development, visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/roundedsquarish/ruddy-vikings-the-beardiest-card-game-ever

Train2Game bringing City & Guilds qualifications to the games industry

Train2Game News Tester Job Available

Posted on by

image

A new job is available for Train2Game students who are interested in games testing.

F2P GAMES QA TESTER – Based in Milton Keynes

Games tester required to join a proven industry leading mobile games
developer. We need a few pragmatic and self-motivated individuals who can
work on their own initiative and function well within a team.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

   – _ Write and run custom and bespoke test routines as required
   – _ Compile games test results and data into concise bug reports
   – _ Complete test report tickets

OUR REQUIREMENTS

   – _ 1+ years experience, preferably in games or related field
   – _ Strong team player, eager to learn and share with others
   – _ Bright, flexible and able to work to deadlines and under pressure
   – _ Tech savvy with an interest in F2P game on mobile and console
   – _ Strong written and oral communication skills
   – _ Excellent attention to detail
   – _ Ability to follow processes and suggest improvements
   – _ A good understanding of the software development and testing
   lifecycle

EXTRA KUDOS FOR

   – _ Professional development experience of mobile and console platforms
   – _ An understanding of the F2P games market
   – _ A passion for playing games, particularly on mobile
   – _ Initiative and drive for problem solving

Please send job applications to jobs@train2game.com

Train2Game News Playable City Award 2015

Posted on by

image

Watershed is delighted to announce the call for submissions for the £30,000 Playable City Award 2015 is now open.

Creatives from around the world are invited to propose distinctive ideas that put people and play at the heart of the Future City.

All over the world governments and tech companies are investing in smart systems for cities, using communication networks and sensors to join up services, collect data and make efficiencies. The Playable City Award asks us to imagine how we might use these same technologies to make our cities more livable, hopeful and collaborative. The winning proposal will be installed in Bristol, UK for the public to play in autumn 2015.

The Playable City Award, which has captured significant global attention, is open to artists and creatives from all disciplines, from any country. As well as a £30,000 award, the commission offers practical support and generous access to facilities to enable the creators to realize their ideas. Whilst making their project, they will also become part of a vibrant community of artists and creative technologists at Watershed’s Pervasive Media Studio in Bristol – providing extensive opportunities for collaboration. The winners will also travel to Japan in Autumn 2015, to share their project as part of Watershed and British Council’s Playable City Tokyo programme.  The call for applications will remain open until 17:00 GMT on 7 April 2015 and a shortlist will be announced on 5 May 2015.

The Playable City Award was established by Watershed in 2013, and has so far received applications from countries including USA, Japan, China, Uganda, Iraq, Italy, New Zealand, Brazil and Denmark. The first recipients of the award was design and research studio PAN, Tom Armitage and Gyorgyi Galik for their project Hello Lamp Post which received huge global attention and is currently installed in Austin, Texas as part of SXSW. Last year’s winner, Shadowing, created by Jonathan Chomko and Matthew Rosier has also gone on to secure international acclaim and is nominated in the Design Museum’s Design of the Year Award.

The award winner will be judged by a panel of industry experts including Tom Uglow, Director of Google Creative Labs, Sydney, Copenhagen-based play researcher Miguel Sicart, Claire Doherty, Director of Situations, with more judges to be announced in the coming weeks. 

Clare Reddington, Creative Director of Watershed and Executive Producer of the Playable City Award, says, “The international interest in Playable City has been phenomenal, both in terms of applications and requests to host the work. The award celebrates and reflects everything that is interesting, innovative and collaborative about Bristol – and I can’t wait to select a new project to share with the city and the world.”

www.watershed.co.uk/playablecity