Category Archives: Jobs

Train2game News Gfinity’s Tournament Builder

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Gfinity’s Tournament Builder is out now as a free download, exclusively for Xbox One – putting the power of eSports straight into your hands.

Gfinity have crafted a brand new app that give more power to you, the player. As part of a £1m investment in the world’s most advanced competitive gaming platform, the Tournament Builder app allows Xbox One players of any skill level to run or compete in player made eSports competitions.

For the first time, Xbox One gamers worldwide who want to play competitively can choose what, how and with whom they play. Gfinity Tournament Builder can be downloaded for free from the Xbox Marketplace, starting today.

Neville Upton CEO says “We are incredibly excited to launch our Tournament Builder app on Xbox One because like Microsoft, we are passionate about creating technology that is accessible to everyone – of all ages and abilities. Find out who is the best Rocket League player in the office in a head-to-head knockout cup; set up a Halo ladder for you and your mates to play in for bragging rights; or run your own FIFA league for your school…. It’s free and easy to use and perfectly compliments Xbox One’s Multiplayer features and we believe will make playing Xbox One games with friends even more fun!”

To celebrate the launch and get things started, Gfinity are also launching a Rocket League Tournament for Europe and North America – exclusively on Xbox One – with over $2,000 up for grabs in total prize money. Players simply need to download the Gfinity Tournament Builder app from the Xbox Marketplace to find out how to take part.

Tournament Builder gives players access to the following features;

–       Choose the game you want to build a competition for
–       Select a tournament format (Cup, League, Ladder) and name
–       Pick a tournament template using Gfinity rules or customizing your own
–       Decided whether to make your tournament public or invite only
–       Choose to make it an individual or team tournament and set the number of players
–       Create a dedicated tournament page with brackets and tournament details
–       Invite players and teams to take part in the tournament and accept or reject invites to a tournament
–       Post tournament results immediately online and resolve results conflicts
–       See all your tournaments in My Tournaments
–       View all your fixtures in My Fixture
–       Search for public tournaments or sign up to Gfinity Official tournaments

Train2game News Train2Game student joins UK studio

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Looking to make next step into the Games Industry Muir Halleron is volunteering with Games Development studio Atom Republic.

Muir who’s originally from the US now lives in Leeds with son and cat, has been with Train2Game for three years. At this stage coming to the end of the course and looking at City & Guilds qualifications.

Muir is volunteering with Atom Republic as a moderator, working on its Atom Universe social world, a project which is now available on PS4 and Steam.

Muir sees networking and working with professionals as a huge plus and has learnt a great deal from the experience. Now plans to use the experience to get into making games or as a foot in the door as a moderator or QA.

Train2Game student, Muir Halleron ‘I’m an American ex Pat and have been living in the UK for 15 years. Currently I live in Leeds, West Yorkshire with my teenage son Paul and our cat Felix. For the last 3 and a half years I’ve been studying T2Gs Computer programming and Game Design course.’

‘I’ve finished the programming part of the course and am on the last optional module that I’ve chosen (Design module D15 – Seeking Employment). In addition to this, I am currently working on the C&G diploma assignments. I’ve met lots of other students through my time on the course which is a huge positive. Another highlight is meeting some of the T2G staff a few years ago at a gaming convention in London.’

‘With only one month left of the six months extension I was given to do the C&G assignments, I am definitely feeling the pressure right now and have been all year. Out of the four assignments, I only have two of them complete, with another nearly done and the fourth about at the halfway mark.’

‘Working between 8 – 10 hours per day, 7 days a week, I should be able to get the last two remaining assignments working well enough to turn in on time though. I am 100% looking forward to finishing and will be taking at least a month off to unwind once it’s all done.’

‘Currently I’m working with Atom Republic as a volunteer forum moderator. Atom Republic is made up of a small team of developers and they are currently working on Atom Universe, a social world much like PS Home was before Sony retired it.’

‘So far, it’s been a good experience. I’ve worked with their Community Manager before, which is good, as it allows a bit more rapport. We know how the other works and have similar work ethics, which really help us to work together well.’

‘Through volunteering, I’m learning the different ways to manage the gaming community and how to develop and encourage a healthy community. The moderation team is larger than I’ve worked with previously, but I would say it’s just the right size, allowing everyone to get to know each other. ‘

‘Atom Republic is currently developing Atom Universe, as I said above. It is Free to Play and is currently available to the public on PS4 and Steam, where it’s in Early Access.’

‘As for personal projects, I have a few that I’d like to work on, but they’ve been put on hold until after I’ve completed the C&G assignments.’

‘I don’t think I’ll be applying for a job with Atom Republic, just because they live outside commuting distance from where I currently live. However, the experience will most likely serve me well when I do start applying for jobs around the Leeds area.’

‘Once I’ve finished the C&G assignments, my plan is to flesh out and improve on my knowledge and ability in C# and Unity as well as C++ and DirectX 11. I plan on doing this by designing and making a game or two in each language. These will then become a part of my portfolio, with which I hope to use to get a job in either the gaming industry or in a non gaming specific programming position, if any are available. If not, I should be able to get in on the ground floor so to speak in either QA or community management.’

Atom Republic, Atom Universe http://www.atomrepublic.com/AtomUniverse/
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 2016 Q1 Games Report

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Last year was the worst games deals ice age in a decade, but the topline numbers in Digi-Capital’s new Games Report for Q1 2016 (http://www.digi-capital.com/news/2016/04/games-deals-rebound-in-q1-but-rocks-below-the-surface/ ) make it look like there has been a thaw. However, the buoyant waters of the first quarter hide rocks beneath the surface, and games deal makers should look carefully before they dive back in.

The topline figures for games investment in Q1 make it look like a recovery, with more than $500 million raised. However, that half billion dollar figure is highly concentrated with three deals taking more than half of the total. The number of games companies that successfully raised money in Q1 2016 actually dropped 40% compared to the 2015 quarterly average. Similarly, games M&A appeared to make a spectacular recovery in Q1, with over $6.2 billion dollars of exits. Again the topline figure makes this sound like a huge wave of deals, but $5.9 billion came from Activision-Blizzard completing its acquisition of King. The remaining $300 million amounted to 36% of the 2015 quarterly average. Extreme concentration and a lack of momentum characterized games deal making in Q1.

The games investment market was dominated by games tech, web games and console/PC games sectors, with the largest deals happening in Asia. It is worth noting that the previously dominant mobile games sector took under 10% of games investment in the first quarter, where it had taken around $4 of every $10 invested in games in previous years.

Games M&A in the first quarter was all about the Activision-Blizzard/King deal. Everything else was small in comparison. There could be more thawing of games exits during 2016, with larger consolidation deals and take-privates coming over the horizon to move the market forward.

Train2game News Develop Brighton Indie Keynote Speakers

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Robin Hunicke, one of the games industry’s most talented developers, has been named as the Indie Keynote Speaker on Thursday 14 July at this year’s Develop:Brighton.

Over a career spanning an impressive 12 years, Hunicke has worked on a number of titles that have shaken the industry, including Journey (9/10 IGN), Boom Blox (9/10 Eurogamer), MySims (8/10 Game Informer) and The Sims 2 (94% IGN). She’s also the co-founder of indie studio Funomena, where she’s currently working on two upcoming titles: Luna and Wattam.

Though her glowing resumé reveals the depth of her knowledge, Hunicke’s candidacy for the Keynote spot is bolstered by an incredible commitment to fairness and diversity of both thought and participation in game design and culture. Recently recognised with an Influential Woman in Games award, Hunicke has also spent several years involved in the organisation of Indiecade while holding the role of Professor of Art, Games & Playable Media at UC Santa Cruz.

She believes game developers can create novel, experimental games by designing for feeling, and her talk will aim to highlight this by focusing on the core artistic and emotional inspirations at the heart of Luna, which focuses on themes of personal transformation. The talk will explain how decisions in art, sound and gameplay design are integrated via “Feel Engineering” to reinforce the games underlying themes and narrative.

“The quality of Robin’s output speaks for itself,” said Andy Lane, Managing Director at Tandem Events. “As someone who’s worked with both big studios and small indies, we know Robin will offer valuable insight and inspiration in her keynote, with her talk kicking off a day of great sessions from a talented cast.”

Other sessions in the Indie Dev Day include:

Pitching is Courtship
Shahid Ahmad, Indie Developer

How does someone in charge of budget for financing video games think? As a developer, how do you give yourself the best possible chance to unlock those funds? In this session, Shahid shares his experiences in commissioning over a hundred games. If you’re a developer and you’re looking for funding for your game, you’ll want to know how to give yourself every chance of success. In “Pitching is Courtship”, Shahid shares some of the things he looked for in a developer and their pitches when he was making funding decisions.

Killing the Indie Crunch Myth: Shipping Games Alive
Simon Roth, Machine Studios

Crunch has become commonplace in AAA and indie development, but it is often misunderstood, misrepresented and, more often than not, outright harmful to a game and the team developing it. This talk will explain the myths surrounding productivity and overtime in the indie games pipeline, illustrate how to avoid the common pitfalls and offer realistic strategies that can be used to keep your team healthy and your milestones on schedule.

Console Porting Indie Games with Network Support: Worth it?
James Parker, Ground Shatter

This talk aims to provide an understanding of the additional elements required to port games to console platforms. It’ll go into the knowledge you’ll need when trying to do network play with a micro-team, along with examples of who is currently doing this kind of work and what help is available.

How to Succeed and Where You’ll Fail: Money, Marketing, and Making a Mark
Chair: Joe Brammer, Bulkhead Interactive
Agostino Simonetta, ID@Xbox
Phil Elliott, Square Enix Collective
Gordon Van Dyke, Raw Fury Games
Howard Philpott, Bulkhead Interactive

This 30-minute panel will be discussing multiple avenues to success as an independent developer or studio, focusing on PC & Console. This panel will focus on the often forgotten parts of indie development; how to fund, market, and make a significant splash in the gaming community with your indie title. The speakers are interested in helping developers build sustainable and viable studios, audience members will have multiple opportunities to ask questions to the panel throughout the talk.

Alongside the expo, there are also a number of free-to-attend Indie BootCamp sessions.

Super Early Bird passes are available until 27 April, saving delegates up to 30% on a three day pass. Indie Dev Day passes cost just £90 if booked by this date.

Train2game News Game Marmalade game jam needs students

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Game Marmalade gathers momentum but needs more participants

Train2Game Game Jam organised by students has secured a major prize and support but needs more students to make the Game Jam a huge success

Train2Game student Slinks is organising the first ever online Game Jam for Train2Game students. She’s done incredibly well in setting up the event, four teams have signed up so far but the Game Jam could certainly get bigger.

Prizes have been secured and a theme will be decided at the beginning of the event. The Game Jam takes place on the 27th May. Students have heard about the jam and starting to sign up but more are needed. It’s a great networking opportunity, a way to improve skills and a great way to create more portfolio work.

Train2Game has provided a gaming laptop for the winning team. A student at YoYo games could also be providing a prize. Students will make a full game during the event and be able to use any games produced to impress future employers.

The organisers are on the lookout for more participants from all Train2Game disciplines and ideally want to source a Dev for the judging panel.

Train2Game student and Game Jam organiser, Slinks, said:  ‘It’s certainly a slow burner and although I’ve put a lot of hard work into getting the message out there, it’s been more difficult than expected to get people involved. However I haven’t given up and I will continue to work on making Game Marmalade a success, as I believe it is important for students to have contact with other students, especially on a distance learning course, as it can feel very isolated studying on your own. This is something I experienced in the second year of my course and what prompted me to start the Team speak channel and now organising Game Marmalade.’

‘Train2Game are still top of the stack when it comes to prizes, with their generous donation of a gaming laptop for the winning team. I’ve also been contacted by a fellow student, Ryan Pearton of YoYo Tech, who has some interesting ideas for prizes which will be confirmed in the next couple of weeks. When I have more information I will update the website. We currently have 4 teams of 4, with a good mix of people in each, so we should be able to get 4 great games together at least.’

‘There will be a theme for Game Marmalade, as the aim of the event is to make a working game which uses the theme in some way. Teams have been asked to put forward their suggestion for a theme and at the beginning of the event all the suggestions will be put into a hat and one will be picked out at random. Whatever is picked out of the hat will be the theme for the entire event and teams will need to incorporate it into their game in some way. For instance if the theme was yellow you might make the UI buttons yellow, or you might use yellow in the title, but points will be awarded for how creatively the theme is used.’

‘I would really like to get a Dev on the judging panel as it’s totally artist heavy at the moment, the teams are going to have to come up with some good looking games if it stays the way it is lol. But yes, we are looking for as many people to get involved as possible. The more teams we have, the more interesting it’ll be to see the different art styles and the different ways the theme is used and interpreted.’

People can get involved by visiting the website http://slinkydink68.wix.com/game-marmalade which also has all the information about Game Marmalade, or contact Slinks directly by email slinky.dink68@outlook.com  and can also pm her on either of the Train2Game forums.

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 Develop Brighton

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Develop:Brighton’s annual search for the next big thing in independent games development is underway as submissions open for its sixth Indie Showcase at www.developconference.com.

The conference’s free-to-enter Indie Showcase celebrates the very best of indie game development with an exhibition featuring the ten best entries as chosen by a panel of experts, chaired by Assyria Games’ Adam Green.

All 10 finalists receive two free Indie Dev Day conference passes, up to five Expo passes, pre-event publicity and a profile on the event website, plus the opportunity to show off their games to around 1,800 developers and publishers at the event.

Over the past five years, more than 500 indie developers have submitted their games to the judging panel. Alumni winners includes the critically acclaimed Gunpoint; That Dragon, Cancer; Darklings which has made it into the top-100 grossing games chart on iOS; and last year’s winner, Hue by Fiddlesticks which scooped both the People’s Choice and Overall Showcase award.

“Each year, the quality of submission to the Develop:Brighton Indie Showcase seems to get higher and higher and it’s fantastic to see our growing list of shortlisted alumni going on to both critical and commercial success,” commented Andy Lane, managing director of conference organisers Tandem Events. 
 
“The showcase is now in its sixth year and continues to be a fantastic opportunity for indie developers to get their games in front of publishers, the gaming press and their fellow peers,” added Adam Green, managing director of Assyria Games and chair of the judging panel.

“The diversity and detail of games submitted to the competition is something to be admired and highlights the good health the UK indie game scene is currently in. I can’t wait to see what this year’s selection has to offer.”

Dan Da Rocha, director of 2015 Overall Indie Showcase winner, Hue, added, “Being involved in Develop:Brighton’s Indie Showcase is great for feedback and exposure for your game. Some of the industry’s top developers and journalists attend the event, so being able to get your game in front of them for free is brilliant. On top of this you can win an award or two, which gives you credibility as a developer and further exposure for your team and game.”

Submissions for the Develop Indie Showcase are now open and it’s completely free to apply. Applicants wishing to enter must comply with the following rules:

– Studios with no more than 15 people
– Studios – and games – that are non-publisher funded
– Games which are not published by a third party at the time of submission
– Games that have a development budget of less than £1million
– Games that are created in the “indie spirit”
– Full information and application forms can be found on the website www.developconference.com

The deadline to enter is 19 May and the overall Indie Showcase and People’s Choice winners will be announced to press and delegates at the Develop:Brighton Conference on Thursday 14 July 2016.

Train2game News No Man’s Sky Soundtrack

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UK instrumental band 65daysofstatic today announce the official global release of their first video game soundtrack, No Man’s Sky: Music for an Infinite Universe, via Laced Records on 17th June 2016.

The release will coincide with the release of No Man’s Sky, the highly-anticipated science fiction exploration game from Guildford-based studio Hello Games, available on PS4 and PC from June 21 in North America, June 22 in Europe and June 24 in the UK.
                      
After the track ‘Debutante’ accompanied the first reveal of No Man’s Sky in 2013, the band spent over a year composing original music for the game’s soundtrack. No Man’s Sky’s procedurally generated universe is unlike anything yet seen in the gaming world, and 65daysofstatic’s sonic assault is equally ambitious.

The release itself comprises 10 tracks of original music, plus a second collection of 6 soundscapes and sound design, exclusive to Laced Records in an all-encompassing journey of almost two hours. This music, alongside a vast library of raw audio comprised of loops, sound textures and melody is currently being fed into the game’s unique music engine under the auspices of audio director Paul Weir, effectively creating a self-generating soundtrack to infinity.

Attempting to move away from the granular, soft-focus ambience often found in procedurally generated games, the in-game music aims to travel effortlessly between the minimal, barren melodies of outer space to the intense, visceral, aural squall of galactic survival. No Man’s Sky: Music for an Infinite Universe is equally grand in its ambition, an experimental and overwhelming sonic experience that pushes 65dos into new territory while retaining their innate sense of relentlessness, driving rhythm, and a tune you can hum.
                      
Work on the game’s audio will continue right up to No Man’s Sky’s release, and 65daysofstatic are immensely privileged to have been given the opportunity to work at the cutting edge of sound design and composition. Given that their involvement in the project is now reaching the two-year mark, they are equally excited to get back out on the road and bring the energy and scope of infinite space to the live arena.

65daysofstatic said; “Being involved with No Man’s Sky is as unlikely as it is exciting. Two years of our lives have disappeared into a black hole and we’ve been spat out into another dimension. The project has pushed us to explore new processes and techniques, to rethink our relationship with our own music and to essentially soundtrack every narrative thread of a ‘choose your own adventure’ novel that exists only in our minds. We’re really proud of the results, and can’t wait to release the album and play it live.”

No Man’s Sky: Music for an Infinite Universe will comprise of a ten track album including a second collection of six soundscapes, all essentially part of the same body of work. Recorded at Chapel Studios, Lincolnshire with co-producer Dave Sanderson (Reverend & The Makers), and mixed at Castle of Doom, Glasgow by Tony Doogan (Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian) in early 2015, the album will be released by Laced Records June 17th.

No Man’s Sky: Music for an Infinite Universe will be available for purchase and streaming at all major digital music retailers, as well as on deluxe double CD, 10 track double vinyl with digital download of all 16 tracks, and a deluxe vinyl collector’s edition featuring all 16 tracks spread across 4 LPs.

The artwork is currently being produced by long time 65daysofstatic collaborator, Caspar Newbolt of Version Industries (Louis CK, Alessandro Cortini, Daft Punk, Big Black Delta) and will be revealed at a later date.

Fans can now pre-order all editions of the audio-only soundtrack via the Laced Records store:
http://www.lacedrecords.com

Train2game News VR Tourism

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Realities, the first VR tourism experience to hit the global market, is released today as a free download.

The users can wander within photorealistic landmark environments from around the world. These places have been scanned using photogrammetry to capture every last detail. Graphine’s texture streaming technology ‘Granite SDK’ makes it possible to visualize this scanned content at the highest quality available while still only requiring a PC with the minimal specifications for VR. Users of Realities use the app’s innovative locomotion methods to explore these photorealistic environments.

realities.io is another addition to the list of leading content creating companies that use Granite for their VR projects. Other VR companies using Granite are Sólfar Studios with Everest VR, Nurulize with Nu Reality and companies like Oculus and The Mill with undisclosed projects.

“The need to display photo-realistic content at the most detailed quality level, while keeping a solid very high frame rate is a requirement from all companies that want to create state-of-the-art content for virtual reality. We are proud to support more and more companies like realities.io that use Granite to deliver extraordinary experiences to the consumers with unseen graphical fidelity.” affirms Aljosha Demeulemeester, Graphine’s CEO.

realities.io’s CEO Dominic Eskofier confirms: “With Realities, we put real, mesmerizing places 1:1 into Virtual Reality and make them fully explorable – at a quality level that we couldn’t achieve without Granite. Walking around in Realities’ unique environments is the closest thing to actually be at the places we capture – thanks to the great performance and extreme texture resolutions we get from Granite in Unreal Engine 4.”

Realities released today on Steam and is available for free to all VR users.

Granite is available as a standalone SDK that can integrate in any engine and as a plugin for Unreal Engine 4 and Unity3D.

More information on the web site:

www.graphinesoftware.com/blog/realities-released-on-vr-stores-includes-granite

Train2game News Develop Brighton 2016

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Tandem Events, organisers of Europe’s leading game developers conference Develop:Brighton, today announce Hideo Kojima, director of Kojima Productions, as keynote speaker for this year’s conference.
                                                                                               
Hideo Kojima is a world-renowned game creator and auteur known for pushing the boundaries of the video game medium.  Widely considered the father of the stealth genre, he is also credited with innovative story-telling and cinematic presentation in video games at large.

Famed for the hit Metal Gear Solid franchise, Kojima will be joined onstage for an hour long fire side chat with industry legend, president of Cerny Games and long-time friend, Mark Cerny. The discussion will focus around Kojima’s inspirations, process and his thoughts on the future of the game.

As well as delivering this year’s keynote, Hideo Kojima will be awarded the 2016 Industry Legend Award at the Develop Industry Excellence Awards on the evening of Wednesday 13 July, the same award fellow keynoter, Mark Cerny received in 2014.

“We’re delighted and honoured to announce Hideo Kojima as our keynote speaker for Develop:Brighton 2016,” commented Andy Lane, managing director of Tandem Events. “Known the world over as someone who’s at the forefront of what’s possible within video games, he continually pushes the boundaries. Alongside his good friend, Mark Cerny, these gaming legends have an amazing history within the games industry and I’m looking forward to hearing more.”

Develop:Brighton takes place at the Hilton Brighton Metropole from Tuesday 12 July to Thursday 14 July. The keynote entitled Industry Legends Discuss the Future: A Conversation with Hideo Kojima, will take place on Wednesday 13 July at 10am.

Other sessions announced for Develop:Brighton 2016:

Don’t Forget the Eyeballs: Developing Compelling Games for eSports Audiences
Ian Sharpe, Azubu

Converting an Established Genre in VR: Pitfalls and Opportunities
Martin de Ronde, Vanguard

What Not to Do as a Startup
Ella Romanos, Strike Gamelabs

Lets Talk Narrative with Rhianna Pratchett
Rhianna Pratchett, Writer

Harnessing the Power of the Crowd to Get Your Game Noticed
Kate Russell, Journalist, Reporter and Author

From 2 to 13: Growing from Nothing and Working with the “Big Boys”
Aj Grand-Scrutton, Dlala Studios

Community-driven Game Development through innovative Marketing Analytics
Ammar Jawad, Radiant Worlds.

Passes are currently available at http://www.developconference.com/

Train2game News Games Finance Market

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The Games Finance Market launches as part of the Brand New London Games Festival.

When: Wednesday April 6th, 9.30am – 6pm

Where: The Grange City Hotel, 8-14 Cooper’s Row, London EC3N 2BQ

The Games Finance Market is a brand new financing event and the only one of its kind in the UK. Handpicked British game developers will be introduced to potential VC’s, investors and business partners who are ready to sign up new product and finance deals. Games London will match some of the most promising games businesses in the UK with a carefully selected set of high profile financiers in a ’speed dating’ style event that includes over 500 pre-organised 20 minute  pitching meetings.

The following spokespeople are available for interview by appointment:

Dr Jo Twist: CEO of UKIE the governing trade body for the UK Video Games Industry. Jo can talk about the UK games industry in terms of what it’s worth to the economy and what the recent tax breaks have achieved.

Adrian Wootton: CEO of Film London and the British Film Commission. Film London has a long history marrying investment with British movie talent.

Alex Fleetwood: Founder of London-based games studio Sensible Object, which is working on an innovative new toys-to-life game for iPad.

London Venture Partners: A venture capitalist firm based in the city that has invested in a number of influential games developers around world including Supercell, creators of the world’s biggest game Clash of Clans.

Please contact Caroline at caroline@indigopearl.com directly for an appointment.