Category Archives: Train2Game

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Train2Game News: “It’s the best time to be an indie” says Introversion co-founder

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Steam, the Apple App Store and other services mean it’s a better time than ever to be an independent game developer.  That’s according to Mark Morris co-founder of Introversion Software, the studio behind Uplink, Darwinia, DEFCON, Multiwinia and the upcoming Prison Architect.

His comments echo those made by Ian Livingstone at BAFTA Games Question Time.

“I think it’s the best time to be an indie.” Morris told PostDesk in a huge interview about indie development that’s worth reading for any Train2Game student.

“The Apple App store and Steam services are mature and reliable routes to market. There is an “indie” section on most gaming review sites and journalists that understand Indie games and are willing to review them and devote time to them.” he continued.

“There are indie conferences where you can chat with other developers and pick up ideas and business tips. None of this stuff existed when we started.” the Introversion co-founder added.

One such indie conference is Rezzed which takes place in Brighton on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th July, which see Introversion Software’s Mark Morris hosting a developer session.

There’s more about indie development, including advice on how to become successful in this field, here on The Train2Game Blog.

Do you agree with Mark Morris? Is now the best time to be an indie? Would you prefer the indie route to joining a bigger studio?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Modding is a fantastic way of ‘exploration’ says Day Z creator

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Modding is a great way to start the ball rolling with a project, one that allows you to explore ideas that it me not be possible to with full-games.  That’s the view of Bohemia Interactive game designer Dean “Rocket” Hall, who just so happens to have created the incredibly popular Day Z mod for Arma II.

“If you can cross off a few specific problems, then mods are a really fantastic way of dealing with your product.” he told Rock, Paper, Shotgun when asked about modding.

“Like, I’d tried to pitch this concept to other studios before, and people just weren’t interested in it. I’m sure [Bohemia Interactive CEO] Marek Spanel wouldn’t mind me saying that, if I came to him with the concept and without these kind of numbers, he probably would’ve thought I was a bit crazy as well. So modding allows you to do this kind of exploration.”

Hall believes the reason for Day Z’s success is almost entirely down to word of mouth via the internet.

“I think a lot of it comes down to social media. Social media has really come of age. Like, you look at all the protests going on all over the world. I think the same thing’s kind of happening with games.” he said

“It’s certainly why Day Z was successful. There was no promotion. I made one little tiny post in the Bohemia Interactive forums asking people to help me with testing. And then, all of a sudden, people began having these experiences.” he added.

The full Day Z interview with Dean Hall can be read on Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

Modding is a great way for Train2Game students to practice and show off their skills, and there’s a lot more about it here on The Train2Game Blog, including what Valve, Ubisoft and  id Software had to say to us about it.

Do you agree that modding is a good way for game developers to explore ideas that may not be possible with full games?  How important is social media? And are you playing Day Z?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Assassin’s Creed III gameplay video features game director commentary

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Get an insight into development of Assassin’s Creed III with a gameplay video from Ubisoft, complete with commentary from game director Alexander Hutchinson.

The Frontier walkthrough shows game design elements such as tree navigation, moving through snowy terrain and new controls in action, in addition to Hutchinson telling us a bit about Assassin’s Creed III protagonist Connor who he describes as “‘most robust character in 3D action games today.”

The game director also discusses Ubisoft’s new AnvilNext engine, which you can see in action throughout the demo. Watch it below, here on The Train2Game Blog.

There’s more Assassin’s Creed news here on The Train2Game Blog, while you can also keep reading for more from Ubisoft.

What are your thoughts on Assassin’s Creed III?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Sleeping Dogs art director on getting into the industry

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http://www.sleepingdogs.net/news/Meet-the-Team-Josh-Lee

Sleeping Dogs art director Josh Lee recently featured in a United Front Games ‘meet the team’ interview and offered his take on getting into the industry, revealing he started in fine art.

“I’m kind of old school. There are a lot of schools now that didn’t exist at the time that offer these opportunities… I was born and raised in Montreal, I studied painting and drawing at Concordia in Fine Arts.”  said Lee.

“From there, I was trying to figure out how to make a living, and I ended up moving into the Film Animation department. Subsequently, I worked in traditional animation for a number of years doing frame-by-frame animation. At the time, over 15 years ago, you could feel a shift in the industry.” he continued, adding that adding 3D skills was an important element in getting into games.

“Things were moving more digitally, so I started taking 3D courses to balance my traditional arts background with more CG tools. After a few years working in traditional animation, I ended up in a CG house in Montreal called 4-elements that was affiliated with Softimage.”

“We did trailers for games, special effects, CG for commercials, any number of things a small startup would do. That was my first exposure to the production side of games. When that company closed temporarily, I had an opportunity at EA.” Lee added.

It’s an interview that’s sure to be interesting to Train2Game students, as Lee discusses what his role as art director involves, life at United Front, and of course, Sleeping Dogs. Read it here.

Be sure to keep reading The Train2Game Blog for advice from professionals about getting into the industry, while we’ll also keep you up to date with the latest Sleeping Dogs news.

What are your thoughts on Lee’s route into the industry?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: First 15 minutes “key” to game design says Civilization creator Sid Meier

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The first fifteen minutes of a video game being enjoyable is one of the key rules of game design. That’s according to veteran game designer Sid Meier, the man behind the Civilization and the founder of Firaxis Games.

“One of the key rules of game design is the first 15 minutes. These introductory minutes have to be fun, satisfying, and exciting. You are letting players know they’re on the right track, you should reward them, and let them know cool stuff will happen later.” Meier told GamesIndustry.biz, before admitting mistakes with this when it came to his early games.

“In early Civilization games, I made Civ real-time, which meant everything happened in real-time: My first mistake was to make it real time.” he said.

“I modelled some elements of the game from SimCity, which was real-time. It was inspiring. But what we found was that in real-time gaming the player becomes the observer. Our mantra is that, “it’s good to be king.”

“When we made Civ a turn-based game, the player became the star, they made things happen.” Meier added.

The full GI.biz interview with Sid Meier on game design, his career and the industry as a whole is here.

As previously reported by Train2Game, the Civilization creator believes there are more opportunities than ever to be a game developer.

Meier’s Firaxis Games are currently working on a reimagining of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and there’s more about the studio here on The Train2Game Blog.

Do you agree with Sid Meier that the first fifteen minutes are a key part of game design? What games gave you the most memorable first quarter of an hour?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game student industry experience diaries: Jonny Robinson at DR Studios week 44

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Train2Game game designer Jonny Robinson is on a Train2Game work placement at DR Studios. In his latest industry experience diary, he discusses the importance of knowing when to relax while working in the busy world of the games industry.

Read it below or on our Scribd page , and catch up with Jonny’s previous diaries here on The Train2Game Blog. 

Train2Game News: Splash Damage CEO to give keynote developer session at Rezzed

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Splash Damage CEO and game director Paul Wedgwood will hold the keynote developer session at next month’s Rezzed.

Rezzed is a new PC and indie gaming show that takes place in Brighton on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th July. Wedgwood will deliver the keynote developer session “Independent, or Bust!’ at 12pm on the Saturday.

Subjects the session is set to cover include Splash Damage’s 2011 release Brink, the studio’s new direction and their upcoming mobile game Rad Soldiers.

Train2Game spoke in-depth about Brink, game design and getting into the industry in our interview with Splash Damage lead writer Ed Stern in November last year.

Tickets for Rezzed are available on the official website, and it’s looking to be an interesting event for Train2Game students to attend, with a variety of developer sessions including those from Introversion Software and The Creative Assembly.

We’ll be sure to keep you up to date with the latest news as the show approaches.

What would you be most interested to find out about in the keynote from Splash Damage?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: “There’s never been a better time to run your own gig” – Ian Livingstone

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Now is a better time than ever been before for an aspiring game developer to run their own business. That’s according to Eidos life president and games industry veteran Ian Livingstone who was speaking at BAFTA’s Games Question Time.

“There’s never been a better time to run your own gig” said Livingstone, after praising the introduction of games tax relief earlier this year. The Fighting Fantasy co-author added that the rise of digital downloads and trends such as monetisation through free-to-play have all contributed to making it easier than ever to set up an independent games studio.

Ian Livingstone was one of a number of industry figures who aided in mentoring Train2Game students taking part in Make Something Unreal Live last April. The Games Workshop co-founder said he was “delighted” to be part of the initiative.

There’s more from Ian Livingstone here on The Train2Game Blog.

Do you agree with Ian Livingstone in believing that now’s a better time than there’s ever been to do your own thing?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Register to take part in Paradox Interactive’s War of the Roses Alpha now

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Paradox Interactive are accepting sign-ups to join their War of the Roses Alpha, but hurry, because the short registration window closes this afternoon!

The open sign-up means anyone who manages to register will get to play the Alpha.

The publisher is looking for extra people to help test their upcoming medieval combat title, based during the 15th century wars between York and Lancaster that ultimately led to Henry VII becoming King of England.

Sign up to take part in the War of the Roses Alpha here.

There’s beta testing news, and information on how it’s useful for developers and Train2Game students, here on The Train2Game Blog. And be sure to keep reading for the latest news from Paradox Interactive.

Will you sign up to take part in the War of the Roses Alpha?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: United Front on the vast research behind Sleeping Dogs

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Game designers researching Sleeping Dogs at United Front Games have done so by taking newspaper cuttings, looking at films and taking 40,000 reference photos of Hong Kong.

“We took 35,000 to 40,000 reference photos and hour upon hour of video footage, but it’s not a street for street depiction. It was important for us to capture the essence of city. Lots of the landmarks are there, many of the names are similar yet, first and foremost, we wanted to make that space fun to navigate around.”  Executive producer Stephen van der Mescht told PlayStation Blog.

The United Front Games man went on to discuss how important it is for them to show the life of an undercover cop to Sleeping Dogs players.

“Well, the plot was built from scratch but we were heavily influenced by a lot of references. Look at movies like The Departed and Donnie Brasco – they both had an element of truth in them, which came from the stories they discovered by talking to people who were actually in those situations.” he continued.

“The important thing for us to get across was that dual world of a cop pretending to be a gangster, and the stresses that come with that, of having to live this lie.” van der Mescht continued, adding that while the plot of Sleeping Dogs, it’s influenced by a lot of their research.

“In terms of specifics, we referenced a lot of Triad crimes using newspaper cuttings. The game follows this guy becoming more intertwined with this world and we see his morality line get blurred. So yes, there are direct references to stories we discovered from the research we did.” said the executive producer.

Read the full interview, Sleeping Dogs And Telling Stories Through Games over at the PlayStation Blog. It’s likely to be interesting reading for anyone on a Train2Game course, especially game designers.

There’s more about Sleeping Dogs here on The Train2Game Blog, while you can also keep reading for the latest news from its publisher, Square Enix, here.

What are your thoughts on the research United Front are putting into Sleeping Dogs?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.