Category Archives: Student

Train2Game News Babcock Job Vacancies

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Babcock-logoBabcock have a numerous amount of jobs available for several different levels and areas of development.

Babcock is the UK’s leading engineering support services organisation with revenue of over £3.5bn in 2014 and an order book of circa £12 billion. They manage critically important assets that help to bring power to homes and businesses, keep trains running safely, ensure mobile phone networks stay operational and help our armed forces defend national interests.

Based in Milton Keynes they have jobs available for Developers and 3D Artists among others. What better way to end this year and begin 2015 with an exciting new career that will give you great experience readying you for heading into games development.

If this sounds like the right move for you then you can view a list of the jobs available here.

For all of those who apply I wish the very best of luck!

Train2Game News App Game Kit 2 released on STEAM

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App Game KitThe Game Creators today released App Game Kit (AGK) version 2 on STEAM, which means that the easy to use, instant coding tool for beginners, hobbyists and indies alike is now available on the largest digital store in the world.

Now anyone can easily and quickly code and build apps for cross platforms using AGKs BASIC scripting system. With just a few commands users can have demos or games up and running on mobile devices. AGK also caters for more seasoned developers, allowing them to use the AGK C++ libraries and benefit from all the features of AGKs core game engine.

AGK is available for both Windows and Mac platforms and apps can be deployed cross platform including iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry and Mac – all at the very affordable price of just $99.

Bob Duffy, Developer Relations Intel Corporation, said “ AGK is a great cross platform development tool. It allows developers to quickly optimise and compile apps for Intels x86 powered Android devices.”

The Game Creators Development Director, Rick Vanner, said “We’ve significantly improved AGK by making the IDE cross platform, speeding up the Compiler and adding new and powerful commands. Games can be developed and instantly deployed to their chosen mobile devices for rapid prototyping.

AGK2 was funded by Kickstarter backers and many of them are already using this game maker to create and publish their own apps. Developing apps for multiple stores is still a big issue for app developers. AGK does all the heavy lifting for you – making it easy to code, compile and then export apps to each platform. All you need to focus on is your game/app idea.

Bundled with AGK2 is a retro style shooter game called Echoes+. Chris Jeffels, the author of Echoes+, coded the game once and deployed it for both Windows and Mac platforms. When asked why he chose AGK2 for his game engine he commented “AGK2 is multi-platform, powerful, feature rich and continuing to grow, it was an easy and affordable choice.”

AGK2 was used to develop Driving Test Success Theory, Hazard Perception and Highway Code apps for UK publisher Focus Multimedia. Once developed the apps were immediately deployed onto the IOS App Store, Google Play, Amazon, Mac Store and Blackberry World and quickly became the UK’s #1 ‘Learning to Drive’ apps.

The App Game Kit official website: http://www.appgamekit.com/

Train2Game News LxB Games hiring

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LxB GamesIndependent studio created by Train2Game student offering paid contract work to Train2Game students

In yet another Train2Game success story, a student has setup her own professional studio and is now looking to the Train2Game community to service the studio. Students are invited to apply for paid contract work creating games. At this time LXBGAMES are looking for a Programmer but have many more projects planned in the future.

Laurece Brown, CEO & Founder, LxBGAMES, is on the hunt in the Train2Game community to find suitable people to work with her independent studio. Laurece, who is set to complete the Train2Game course in January 2015, is looking for support for students who will complete work on projects for a fixed fee. The games planned are not going to be huge and each project won’t take long to complete.

LxBGAMES is currently working on Sweet Life, details can be found on the team’s website (www.lxbgames.co.uk) and social media. The team has a lead programmer and lots of artists available. They are now looking to compliment the team with a hard working programmer, who has skills in: Animation, Action Script and Flash. Budgets are not huge at this time but students will be paid to complete the work. LxBGAMES are currently looking for support on Sweet Life but any applicants interested in contract work will be kept on file for future projects.

If you are interested, contact:

Laurece Brown
lxbgames@hotmail.com
www.lxbgames.co.uk

Train2Game News Flawless Studios recruiting

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New Train2Game student studio on the hunt for team members

Flawless Studios looking for Train2Game students to join existing young team and work on The Damned One

The Flawless Studios team are working on a British set survival horror game called: The Damned One. It is about a village where people are mysteriously going missing, after the lead character summons a demon through a Ouija board. The hero then goes through the game searching for his family, closely pursued by the demon.

Flawless Studios is made up of three members: Lead Designer and CEO: Aaron Miles, Ashley Miles: Audio engineer and composer and Artist: Mike Cahill. The team is looking for dedicated artists and developers. The successful applicant will be someone who can commit time to a project all the way to its completion. The team are currently looking for Artists and Developers. But they are open to interest from all Developers, if you are skilled, they want you in the team. It’s an unpaid opportunity but the experience will be great for students portfolios.

The team are relatively early into the course but they have the enthusiasm and dedication to get making games. Long term they plan to launch a successful games on to the Playstation Store and Xbox Live, they want to create a dedicated fan base of gamers following the work they create.

To apply all you need to do is get in touch with the team and be able to dedicate your time to a project. Apply by emailing aaronmilescontact@gmail.com

Train2Game News Winter Gaming Knitwear!

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GAME-store-logoThe nights are growing longer, and the shops on every High Street have begun to play Noddy Holder, it’s nature’s way of telling you it’s time to start thinking about your Christmas attire before the Tinsilitis kicks in.

There’s nothing like a new item of clothing to bring up the elf-esteem and this Christmas, GAME is offering customers the chance to pull a cracker as it brings a touch of retro with a new range of gaming-themed jumpers and socks for those who want to indulge in a little festive geekery.

The range includes jumpers that even your Grandmother’s knitting skills couldn’t match with a span of iconic gaming themes; Playstation, Sonic & Robotnik, and Street Fighter are all available for £29.99 in store and online at www.game.co.uk. The socks will please even the most ungrateful uncle at only £9.99, and with the same range of gaming themes and unique designs.

Charlotte Knight, Category Director at GAME says: “We know gamers eat, sleep, dream games and now they can wear them too… every stocking needs socks and these are the perfect gift for the gamer in your life.”

Train2Game News TopLoaded Rewards Skilled Gamers

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TopLoaded.com, www.toploaded.com,  is an innovative online community that rewards video game enthusiasts for playing their favorite video games.

TopLoaded.com is the first website, built from the ground up for gamers by gamers that is designed to showcase the skills of its members. TopLoaded.com allows gamers to show they indeed have game by rising to the top of the leaderboard in their game of choice – from FIFA 15 to World of Warcraft to Call of Duty Advanced Warfare. Games are played on any platform, then gamers upload a photograph of their best score to receive points. If they post a score and earn one of the top three places for a given competition, points are added to their profile, as well as a cool custom badge showing their skill level – recognizing gamers at the top of their game.
 
Once gamers have enough points, through competitions or through a variety of means to earn points, they can unlock challenges, the next level of achievement, with eight new challenges released each week. After completing the challenge, gamers upload a photo proving it has been completed, with the first person completing the challenge winning prizes such as gift cards, gaming gear, games, and entertainment packages. TopLoaded.com is mobile friendly, allowing gamers to upload a picture of their score pics using cell phones, tablets, as well as desktop and laptops. TopLoaded.com has no ads and is fully integrated with social media tools like Twitter and Facebook, allowing members to share in even more gamer glory.

Unlike other websites that host tournaments, there is no waiting period to play any of the weekly competitions and challenges. The entire TopLoaded.com experience encourages gaming skill enhancement.  Competitions and challenges are designed so that they’re hard enough that not everyone can accomplish them. They provide gamers incentive to keep improving in their chosen game.

“We live and breathe games, and we wanted a site to challenge our members and to give them an opportunity to be recognized for their skill through badges, prizes and other incentives because no such site existed,” said TopLoaded.com CEO John Phillippe. “We wanted to create a community for gamers by gamers that, had an easy barrier of entry, and provided them a chance to have fun through a community of like-minded people.”

Gamers have the option of using the site for free or by paying for an Elite membership. Free and Elite members can earn points for customizing their profile, as well as by completing competitions, posting comments to the forum, submitting game play videos, winning special forum contests and winning special Twitter contests. Points can also be added to a gamer profile by purchasing Top Paks.  Top Paks allow free and Elite members to add points to their profile without having to do the competitions.

TopLoaded.com is community-driven, meaning Elite members vote on the competitions and challenges for the next week. At the end of each week, highlights from the different competitions, gamer interaction, and site news are seen in the Weekly Wrap Up video on the Elite page, providing additional exposure for gamers.

In only a few weeks of operation, TopLoaded.com already has distributed thousands of dollars in gift cards and rewards.

Train2Game News Great British Winter Game Jam

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Great British Winter Game JamLondon games studio Space Ape Games, have announced the Great British Winter Game Jam.

Held on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th November 2014, the Game Jam is a team-based event taking place at Space Ape’s studio’s in Soho Square, London. The competition is open to anyone, and teams of up to 5 participants can enter via http://tgbwgj.eventbrite.com. There are a maximum of 50 tickets up for grabs, which means that 10 teams can get through to the weekend session.

Space Ape Games are very excited to confirm the judging panel for the Jam, industry veterans David Gardner OBE and Miles Jacobson OBE, along with award winning scriptwriter Rhianna Pratchett. The theme for the Game Jam will be revealed on the first day of the competition, and judging will take place on the afternoon of Sunday 30th November.

The winning team will take home Unity 5 Pro licenses for each member of the team, with additional prizes being announced over the coming weeks. More importantly, everyone that takes part will get to spend time with the judges and have their games showcased to the London Indie community. Teams will need to bring their own equipment such as laptops, mobile devices and phones.

London is host to an impressive game dev community. Space Ape is pleased to bring them together for a weekend of fun, collaboration and healthy competition in the spirit of previous Game Jams such as The Great British Summer Game Jam earlier this year
For more information about The Great British Winter Game Jam, check out the Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/GBWGameJam. Information about Space Ape Games as well as career opportunities at the studio are available at www.spaceapegames.com

Train2Game News Games Developers on Twitch

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Twitch Games DevTwitch has added a new category that focuses on games development, offering an insight into the game creation process.

The new category – simply titled Game Development – allows studios to stream footage of their developers working on the game, whether its creating artwork, designing levels or tweaking gameplay mechanics.

The category actually launched on October 16th, according to Polygon, and so far has a few devs showing off their work-in-progress.

“We conducted a Twitch Town Hall session at PAX Prime, which is when we let our community share ideas they would like to see implemented on the platform,” said Twitch’s director of community and education Marcus Graham, aka djWHEAT.

“The idea of having a section for game developers was suggested and it resonated with the audience, so that inspired us to add it as a category.”

Source: Develop

Train2Game News The Cinema Suite

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unity-logoCinema Suite (www.cinema-suite.com) today announced a special limited-time bundle price on The Cinema Suite, a high quality cinematic toolkit for the Unity Game Engine (www.unity3D.com).

The Cinema Suite bundles four editor tools – Cinema Director, Cinema Mo Cap, Cinema Pro Cams and Cinema Themes – that can deliver outstanding visuals for professionals and amateurs alike easily and affordably. The Cinema Suite is available for a special introductory price of $100 through the end of November.

“Cinematic tools were one of the most requested features at Unity Unite this summer,” said Dan Gamsby, co-founder and CTO at Cinema Suite. “We have an easy to use collection of tools that streamline the process for creating quality video content within Unity, whether you want to create cutscenes and promotional video content for your game, or need a full-featured pre-visualization tool for your film project.”

Cinema Director, a tightly integrated, fully-featured timeline editor, saves users days and even weeks of work. Users can easily sequence in-game events for their Unity project and create captivating cutscenes in a fraction of the time that it would take by writing manual scripts or programming. Setting up camera shots, controlling events, adding multi-track audio and transitions make these projects come to life in much less time.

Cinematography in Unity has never been easier. An industry-standard lens tool kit, Cinema Pro Cams lets users create cinematics in Unity using cameras that act just how they would in the real world. Select film lens size, aperture, aspect-ratio, stereoscopic 3D settings and more, all accurate to industry standards. Cinema Director and Cinema Pro Cams can be used together as a very powerful real-time previz tool in Unity, leveraging Unity’s real-time graphics rendering engine.

Users looking for a way to quickly create their own animations can use a Microsoft Kinect with Cinema Mo Cap, the first motion capture solution native to the Unity environment. Users can quickly put their project in motion, by capturing animations from the comfort of their studio or home. Simple animations can now be achieved without laborious manual key-framing, or renting a professional Mo-Cap studio at a huge expense. Models are automatically rigged and generated inside the Unity project, and are 100% compatible with Unity’s animation system.

Finally, users can fine-tune the overall atmosphere of their project with Cinema Themes, a vast collection of Look Up Textures (LUTs) for Unity Pro. Scenes can be made to look dark and horrific, happy and bright, or even out of this world in minutes. Users can choose from over 50 themes to help find that perfect mood.

Train2Game News Eurogamer 2014 Video

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Train2GameTrain2Game was at Eurogamer last month and we have put together a video from some of our students who were in attendance about there thoughts on the Train2Game course. Enjoy the video below