Category Archives: train 2 game

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam winners “Over the moon”

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Train2Game & Epic Game Jam winners will wake up today in the knowledge that they’ve secured a place at ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at The Gadget Show Live and have the opportunity to walk away with an UDK iOS development kit

The winning teams were announced after a panel of judges including Epic Games Mike Gamble, and industry veteran Jon Hare saw every game developed by Train2Game students in the 48 hour period.

“This is a landmark for us.” said Train2Game student Nick Stones, Team B team leader. “Everyone who has participated in the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, we can always say we have won a game jam and there’s nothing that can change that.”

“It’s such a fantastic opportunity and we’re definitely going to make every effort to make 100% of that. I’m over the moon at the moment. I came here, this is my first game jam, I didn’t know what to expect and it’s gone all in our favour.” he said immediately after winning the 48 hour event.

Train2Game student Craig Moore, team leader of team G also said that winning the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam and going onto The Gadget Show Live is a great reward for his team.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity, we couldn’t have asked for anything better. It’s such a hard thing to get into, but this should really help us get into careers” Moore added that he felt “A bit dumbstruck but absolutely over the moon!”

“Going to The Gadget Show Live is amazing, it’s a real win and I’m glad not for me, but the team, they’ve really earned it.” said Team A’s Jonny Robinson, after staying awake for almost the entire Train2Game & Epic Game Jam.

“I just love it when a plan comes together.” he added. “As crazy as that seems I’m over the moon”

“The Train2Game & Epic Game Jam has been fantastic, a little tiring, but fantastic.” said Train2Game course leader Tony Bickley.

“It’s been a very good event and I’m proud at what the Train2Game students have been able to achieve, and even more proud of their dedication and passion.”

The Train2Game & Epic Game Jam winners will take part in ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ in the Birmingham NEC at The Gadget Show Live in April next year.

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam winners announced!

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UDK Train2Game blog imageThe Train2Game & Epic Game Jam is over and the winning teams are:

  • Team A (The A-Team)
  • Team B (Nova Eye)
  • Team G (Team Gandalf)

A fourth team has also been made up from individual students picked from the remaining seven participating in the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam

Each of them produced a game based around the theme of Guy Fawkes using Epic’s Unreal Engine.

These Train2Game student teams will ‘Make something Unreal Live’ at The Gadget Show Live 2012. The development teams will benefit from a six-month incubation period in which a range of senior industry veterans will nurture projects by reviewing key milestones, providing guidance and shaping scope.

During this time, talent will prepare for the final showdown at the Gadget Show Live, where more than 100,000 attendees will watch them bring to life Unreal Engine 3-powered creations in real time.

The winner of that will see their game get a full release.

Well done to the winning Train2Game & Epic Game Jam teams, and good luck preparing for ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at the Gadget Show next year. Good luck!

And thank you to every one of the ten Train2Game student teams that took part. Stay tuned to the Train2Game blog for more reaction.

Train2Game news: Grand Theft Auto V trailer

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Train2Game blog readers, the first Grand Theft Auto V trailer has hit the internet and you can see it here on the Train2Game blog.

The much anticipated trailer reveals that Grand Theft Auto V goes back to San Andreas, and features improved graphics.

When the Train2Game blog reported that Grand Theft Auto V had been officially announced, Train2Game students flooded the Train2Game Facebook page and Train2Game forum with what they want to see in the game.

Last month, the Train2Game blog reported that Rockstar believe they’re only “scraping the surface” of game design when it comes to Grand Theft Auto.

So Train2Game, After watching the Grand Theft Auto V trailer, do you think you’ve got what you wanted? What are your initial impressions of Grand Theft Auto V?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game interview with Trion Worlds Senior QA Tester Karl Tars – Part 2

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End of Nations is an upcoming MMORTS from Petroglyph Games and Trion Worlds. The game was on display at the Eurogamer Expo, and the Train2Game blog caught up with Trion Worlds Senior QA Tester Karl Tars to find out more about the game, QA Testingand how to get into the industry.

In the second part of an in-depth three part interview, Karl Tars tells the Train2Game blog about the team behind End of Nations, the importance of beta testing during game development and how it can be useful for those with aspirations to work in the games industry. Read the interview below, or on the Train2Game Scribd page.

Part 1 is available to read here on the Train2Game blog.

Tell us about the team behind End of Nations

The way it works is Petroglyph Games are the developer, that’s a studio founded by a bunch of former developers from Westwood Studios, the guys who did Dune and Command & Conquer. So veterans’ of those games are designing and developing the game. Trion Worlds is publishing, we’re giving them the servers and a lot of the back end infrastructure that makes the game work. That’s the studio that’s behind it.

When is End of Nations scheduled for release, will there be a beta?

We have a beta coming up, so if you go to www.endofnations.com you can sign up for the beta right now. If you have an existing Rift account, that account will work for End of Nations as well. We’ll have more information in the next few months as we don’t have a confirmed time for that for the release, but it’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to playing it on my own!

How important is the beta for the game development process?

Betas are really critical in terms of making sure the live servers can handle the real loads that players will put on our servers. We can test some of that in our labs but we certainly don’t have the manpower to try having 100,000 people connecting at once and with every single weird configuration of computer that’s out there. We don’t have the resources regularly do that.

Also, as clever as we are in QA, we’re not as good as every single player out there. We’re not going to be able to figure out all the interesting ways of using abilities that just break the game and make it un-fun for the other team. And so it’s also really important to have people go out there and try random things and finding ways of exploiting it so that we can tone those down or make them work within the system so it doesn’t feel unbalanced.

Is getting involved with beta testing a good way of getting a job in QA?

It can be. It used to be that was one of the primary ways of getting in in older days. However, more recently betas have become almost a marketing type of thing where the majority of people playing in a beta, they don’t really want to test, they just want to play the game early and see as they like it more like a demo than a testing environment.

However, if you can find a lot of good bugs and you can report them to the team in a good way, you can develop a fairly good rapport with some of the developers and that can get you in.  And if nothing else it gives you a chance to see these incomplete builds where it’s more likely to have bugs in it and so you can learn how to deal with that type of thing.

It’s definitely a way of getting in, but I wouldn’t say it’s a good way of doing it these days, but it’s definitely a good way to practice, get started and if you apply to the same company that you did a beta for, you can say ‘hey, I found this bug and these are the steps for it.’ That’s going to really impress the QA leads who are reviewing it and saying ‘This guy knows exactly how to write a bug report, he knows our game, he knows how to look for a bug and report it.’ That’s really what’s going to get you in.

Part 3 of our interview with Trion Worlds Senior QA Tester Karl Tars will be available soon. End of Nations is scheduled for release next year.

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum. Part 3 of the Train2Game interview with End of Nations Senior QA Tester Karl Tars is here.

Train2Game news: BAFTA announces new award categories for debut, online gaming and performing talent

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Train2Game students will be aware of the increasing popularity of online brower based games, which has seen industry giants attempt to grab a piece of the action.

Now BAFTA are set to recognise the importance of browser based games from next year, with Online – Browser one of four new categories for the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards.

The other categories new for 2012 are Debut and Performer and Online – Multiplayer.  Debut will reward the best game from a new game development studio that releases its first title in 2011, with the idea of rewarding the work of new studios. Perhaps a Train2Game student could potentially win this one in future?

The Performer award will recognise “excellence in performance featured in a game,” which could include anything from voice work to motion capture.  Meanwhile, Online – Multiplayer will be awarded to “the best online multiplayer games experience,”

“BAFTA annually reviews its Awards categories to ensure they remain relevant and valued within the industry,” said Chairman of BAFTA’s Video Games Committee, Ray Maguire.

“Over the last year, we have witnessed the increased sophistication and popularity of online gaming, and so our two new Online categories will ensure the scope of creative work in this area is being properly recognised.”

“We are equally delighted to begin recognising the performance aspect within games, as we do for film and television, which further demonstrates the common ground between the industries.”

“Debut Game is another important addition this year, which reflects the changing game-development landscape and the rise of new, independent studios.” he added.

The GAME British Academy Video Games Awards will take place on Friday 16 March 2012. As reported by the Train2Game blog, Heavy Rain was the big winner at this year’s ceremony, taking three awards.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the new categories? And who do you think currently deserves to be nominated?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Hogrocket’s Tiny Invaders available for free

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Train2Game blog readers may recall our interview with Ben Ward of Hogrocket about life as an indie iPhone game developer.

The studio got a pleasant surprise when their debut game, Tiny Invaders, featured in front of millions of people during Apple’s iPhone 4S announcement to help showcase the new notification features of iOS 5.

To celebrate, Tiny Invaders will be available for free for a limited period of time. Train2Game students can download it from the iTunes App store here. It’s a great example to Train2Game students of how to produce a great mobile game with just a small team of game developers.

To find out more about Hogrocket, the development of Tiny Invaders and how you can get into developing iPhone games, read the full interview with Hogrocket’s Ben Ward here on the Train2Game blog.

The insightful interview is also available to read on the official Train2Game website, or you can listen to it via Train2Game radio.

Have you played Tiny Invaders, if so what are your thoughts? Is it a good example of iPhone game development?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Uncharted 3 – ‘we do make up a lot of it as we go along’ reveals lead designer

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Train2Game students will no doubt be familiar with the highly successful Uncharted series for PlayStation 3.

Now, with game number three on the horizon, Naughty Dog look to be pushing towards the release of yet another technically impressive and critically acclaimed game.

And while Train2Game students may expect the Uncharted 3 to have been meticulously planned before development starts, it appears it isn’t the case.

“We start with a short description, but then we do make up a lot of it as we go along. I think that’s very important.” Uncharted 3 Lead Game Designer Richard Lemarchand told GamesIndustry.biz during an in-depth interview.

He revealed that Uncharted 3 uses a storyboarding technique similar to Toy Story and Cars creators Pixar, which doesn’t begin with a script, but animation.

“I attended a story seminar by one of the story artists at Pixar last year, and he told us that Pixar make their films in the same way: they don’t have a script when they start; they do lots of brainstorming, and they work up ideas, and they do lots of drawing, and they start to make animatics, which are like little rough-cut movies.” said Lemarchand.

The Naughty Dog game designer explained that the story evolves from this system, which is flexible enough for things to change if needed.

“So they discover the key moments of their movies that way, and over time the detailed structure of what they’re making emerges.”

“It kind of appears by them working at it and working at it. That’s good, because it means you don’t over commit to something that might be wrong, or not entertaining or interesting enough.” he said.

Train2Game students interested in how Uncharted 3’s script is written  and performed should check out this behind the scenes look on the Train2Game blog.

Uncharted 3 for PlayStation 3 is set for release on 2nd November, with the Train2Game blog previously reporting that Sony believe it’ll ‘show a new level in 3D gaming’

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the production behind Uncharted 3? Are you surprised it isn’t precisely planned? And how do you go about planning to build games?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]

Train2Game students, want to stand out in the games industry? Cliffy Bleszinski has some advice…

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Train2Game students will need to stand out both in ability, and as a character, in ordered to get noticed in the games industry. This could include wearing a silly hat.

That’s according to comments made by Gears of War 3 creator Cliff Bleszinski about what game developers need to do to make a name for themselves.

“It’s not always easy for the majority of them, but the best thing you can do for your career is to be an actual name as opposed to just, and I hate to say it, a gear in the machine,” he told Develop.

And the Gears of War 3 man recognises that you have to be good at what you do, but it’s also important to make yourself a little distinctive.

“First and foremost, make a great game but also have a personality. Be the guy with the hip glasses, with the one gauge earring and the gamer tattoo all the way to the sleeves with a skateboard. Stand out,” he said.

“Be a person, be a brand. Just do something so that people know who you are. Have an online presence more than ever. Understand social channels.”

Many Train2Game students will already know about Twitter, and how some can use it to aid in their success. Train2Game also has its own Twitter account.

Bleszinski use’s creator of Minecraft – a hugely popular game on the Train2Game forum –  Markus ‘Notch’ Persson as an example of a developer using alternative means to make a name for themselves.

“He’s got over 300,000 followers and he has the hat. Clearly the guy gets a certain amount of the branding right, he’s got the cool nickname, he’s got the hat he wears everywhere. You spot him and know what he looks like. He’s an example like Jon Blow.” said the Epic Design Director.

The Develop interview – which Train2Game students can read here – should make interesting reading for Train2Game students, with Cliff Bleszinski also discussing development behind the Gears of War series.

Last month, the Train2Game blog reported that Bleszinski thinks there’s much more to come from current generation consoles.

So Train2Game, what do you think of Bleszinski’s comments? Is it important for game developers to be distinctive to stand out above the crowd?? Would you consider wearing a funny hat to be recognised?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Develop]

Train2Game news: Battlefield 3 beta aiding game development

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Train2Game students will be aware of the importance of testing games during development, and the significance of this is already being displayed in the Battlefield 3 Open Beta.

According to the Battlefield blog, the feedback from players is providing useful information to developers DICE when it comes to improving the game.

“The amounts of people flocking to our Open Beta is fantastic! We are happy to see so many players enjoy this Open Beta, and giving us their valuable feedback on the experience on the Battlelog forums,” the blog post says.

Train2Game students can see the Battlefield 3 blog for a full rundown of the changes that have been made as a result of testing during the Open Beta, and DICE say they’ll be updating the blog with further tweaks they make as more people provide them with feedback about Battlefield 3.

The Battlefield 3 beta for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC runs through to October 10th, and Train2Game students who wish to get involved can find out how to do so here on the Train2Game blog.

It could provide Train2Game students, especially those on the QA Tester course, with experience of properly testing a game in development.

Last week, the Train2Game blog reported that Bioware also feel that playtesting is an essential part of game development.

So Train2Game, are you involved with the Battlefield 3 beta? Have you spotted any bugs? How important do you think this Open Beta is to the development of the game?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Battlefield blog]

Train2Game news: There will always be subscription based MMOs say Star Wars: The Old Republic devs Bioware

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Train2Game students may be aware that many MMO titles are switching to a free-to-play model, one wherein revenue is made by microtransactions rather than monthly subscription fees.

However, while many games in the genre are going free-to-play, the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic – scheduled for release in December – is going to stick to the traditional pay monthly model.

And while many developers are switching to free-to-play, SWTOR developers Bioware believe that gamers will always be willing to pay a subscription fee for a quality product.

“I think there will always be a place for premium content at a premium price and that’s one of the differences,” Bioware co-founder Greg Zeschuk told Industry Gamers.

“Free to play is very much about trial, about ‘Hey, I don’t know what this is, I don’t have confidence that it’s any good, but I’m willing to take a look at it,’ versus ‘I know this is good, from a trusted source, and it’s the biggest license in the world.’ So it’s a different value proposition,” he said.

Fellow Bioware co-founder Ray Muzyka believes that increased competition from free-to-play titles is good for the games industry.

“There’s more competition for entertainment dollars now than ever before from social and play for free, and all sorts of entertainment, which I think is actually really healthy from an entertainment industry perspective”

However, he agrees with Zeschuk in that the subscription model will remain popular, but the games have to be worth it.

“But I agree with Greg that there’s a space for a certain number of premium products that are subscription based or whatever the premium pricing model is. But they have to merit it, they have to earn that from a consumer trust perspective and delivering and exceeding expectations.” said Muzyka.

Of course, he believes that Star Wars: The Old Republic is one of these games.

“I think The Old Republic is definitely in that triple-A premium category. That’s the feedback reading from the players and data testing.”

Earlier this week, the Train2Game blog reported on the importance of playtesting in the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

For an in-depth look at the development of SWTOR, read the Train2Game interview with Associate Lead Game Designer Emmanuel Lusinchi

So Train2Game, do you believe the subscription model for MMO still has a future ahead of it? Or will free-to-play titles become the dominant force?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Industry Gamers]