Category Archives: www.train2game-news.co.uk

Train2Game Alexa wants you to tell a story

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A team of Texas gaming developers have launched a groundbreaking Alexa-based multi-player game that is taking gaming creativity to a new level. The ‘Story Builder’ Alexa Skill unleashes storytellers around the world to collaborate on new works – one line at a time – using just their imaginations and voices.

“Story Builder is unique to Alexa Skills because it’s all about tapping the immense creative potential of Alexa users,” said Lazy Samurais’ Dayan Yar. “Story Builder inspires hive-mind storytelling – multiple people are creating sagas that are not only completely new, but undreamt of by any single storyteller.”

The Austin-based game studio Lazy Samurais says Story Builder is available exclusively as an Alexa Skill, the DIY gaming platform offered by the popular Amazon cloud-based voice-service.

Alexa users simply active Story Builder from the Alexa Store, and start creating.

“You can say, ‘Alexa, create a story,’ and recite the first line of an entirely new tale,” Dayan explains. “Story Builder will read the story to other players around the world, asking them to add a line on a first-come, first served basis.” Each player contributes one line and the story grows and changes as it is shared. “The outcome is completely unpredictable and the possibilities are endless,” Dayan said.

“Creative writers don’t have to be nailed to their keyboards, working alone, anymore,” Dayan added. “Collaborating and tapping the amazing creativity of others is now incredibly simple. Story Builder is a real game-changer.”
Dayan said the launch version of Story Builder will have a 20-line maximum per story. “With a line limit, story tellers focus on a beginning, middle and end. The fun will be in the twists and turns the story takes as different creatives add a line at a time.”

Lazy Samurai is exploring variable story lengths for future versions. “The initiating story teller may select short, medium or long, with preset line limits for each one,” Dayan says. “There is unlimited creative potential in the concept, and we definitely want to integrate feedback from players about how improve the experience.”

Also, players can also create private stories with their Facebook friends. “It’s a fantastic new way to use Facebook,” he Dayan adds. “You get to launch a Story Builder session with the creative people you already know.”

Story Builder has other built-in features that add to the experience. “You can participate in multiple stories at the same time and get updates as stories develop,” Dayan said. Story Builder also allows gamers to rate stories, hear completed stories, and listen to Story Builder’s ‘Top Rated’ list anytime.

Train2Game News Ready Player One a reality?

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A group of talented gaming industry veterans with over a century of combined experience working at leading publishers such as Nintendo, Microsoft and Electronic Arts have teamed up to form 8 Circuit Studios, a video game developer focused on utilizing blockchain technology to redefine the rules that govern digital interactive entertainment content. 8 Circuit Studios’ mission is to develop a new ecosystem for gaming that allows all participants — gamers, developers and publishers — to collaborate and work together seamlessly, with each group reaping the benefits.

By harnessing the potential of blockchains and cryptocurrency, 8 Circuit Studios believes that the Metaverse – a digital universe envisioned by authors William Gibson and Neal Stephenson and featured in Ready Player One, TRON and The Matrix – is closer to reality than we may think. In the Metaverse, visitors can traverse different virtual environments, maintaining an illusion of reality throughout – with a consistent, yet privacy-protected avatar, carrying with them the various objects that maintain usefulness and utility within (yet also specific to) each reality.

“At 8 Circuit Studios, we believe that games are portals to new worlds and experiences,” said James Mayo, Navigator and President of 8 Circuit Studios. “By leveraging the power of blockchains and cryptocurrency, game developers finally have the last piece necessary to build a functional Metaverse. Step one is making blockchains easy and fun to use, while the second step is showing people they can actually own their digital stuff in a completely new way. With blockchains, players never have to ask for permission from an authority to give, trade or even sell their digital assets.”

By using the Ethereum blockchain, 8 Circuit Studios is able to create, attribute and safeguard digital assets — based on Smart Game Objects — that you can own and store, along with your cryptocurrency, in a virtual wallet. By developing Smart Game Objects, 8 Circuit Studios is building the foundation for eliminating the barriers between game worlds, while also creating a platform to make entry easy for both gamers and developers. Players will experience the opportunity to truly own their Smart Game Objects, while game developers and publishers will find new, exciting and profitable methods to develop even more highly immersive games.

To better illustrate Smart Game Objects and showcase the Ethereum blockchain’s real-world use, 8 Circuit Studios is currently developing two games: Alien Arsenal: Battle for the Blockchain, releasing in Spring 2018, and the self-aware A.I. focused D-PARC, releasing in 2019.

Alien Arsenal: Battle for the Blockchain – A mobile game for iOS and Android, Alien Arsenal: Battle for the Blockchain is a cooperative boss battling game where players collaborate with others to defeat invading bosses to win prizes and glory. Collect and evolve an arsenal of aliens, then trade, buy, sell and/or gift them with complete freedom on the Ethereum blockchain. Alien Arsenal is designed to make it easy and fun to play with blockchains without having to download wallets, plugins or navigate the often confusing world of cryptocurrencies.

D-PARC – A deep space survival game for console and Windows PC, D-PARCallows players to create a character that can live forever on the blockchain. D-PARC fuses first-person shooter gameplay with space combat in a galaxy where choices matter and have permanent consequences. Players inhabit an A.I. that learns that it must choose between self-sacrifice to save the last vestiges of the human race or opt for self-determination to embark on its own destiny.

For more information about 8 Circuit Studios, visit https://8circuitstudios.com.

Train2Game News GameGuru Game Engine Upgrade

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TheGameCreators today announced the long-awaited release of the newly upgraded graphics engine for GameGuru, giving everyone the ability to render their games using Physically Based Rendering (PBR) shaders for improved visuals and thanks to DirectX 11, improved frame rates.

Lee Bamber, CEO of TheGameCreators, said “The task of swapping out an entire graphics engine was tough, but we got stuck in and made it happen. Along the way, however, we did not lose sight of other features that our great community wanted to see, and we made sure that users not necessarily interested in better graphics also had something to look forward to.”

This major update to GameGuru includes:

Great Assets and Levels

  • Improved the Welcome splash to show off PBR game level
  • Updated Big Escape level to use PBR only assets
  • Added new ‘Miscellaneous’ folder with ‘Massive Chess’ for Chess Game sample
  • Security Fence and Gate
  • Added ‘Preview Orbs’ folder to Misc models for PBR material previewing
  • Added CityscapePBR folder which contains extra PBR assets for Big Escape
  • Added two new Grand Pianos to the Furniture folder
  • Added a new glass fence to the Fixtures folder

Much Improved Performance

  • Removed long-silence when standalone first runs (slow on some systems)
  • Launch time loading speed increased significantly (PCTEST: 60sec -> 12sec)
  • HLSL shaders and LUA scripts now compiled into binary for faster loading
  • Faster HUD rendering due to quad batching
  • Multicore AI for faster processing of character AI

Better Visuals

  • New post process shader used called FXAA-CV-LS (improves anti-alias and contrast)
  • Fixed issue with Steam Overlay not rendering correctly
  • Enlarged editor icons and gave them a new design
  • Cascade shadow mapping now with 8 cascades instead of 4
  • Standalone splash screen now detects closest watermark resolution
  • Can change sky shader in sky file and sky in realtime

And more……..

  • Added full weapon and animation behaviour to the Character Creator
  • More control over static light mapper
  • Added support for Logitech F310 controller to control Standalone menus
  • Improved FBX importing
  • Added lots of new LUA commands

At the start of the year TheGameCreators opened up the source code of GameGuru so their community could help expand and improve the game maker and received a tremendous response. Amongst the contributions from the community was an entire Chess Game, complete with board, chess pieces and the logic to run the entire chess game, including computer opponent to play against. A great demonstration of the power of the LUA scripting language for making GameGuru level logic.

Lee Bamber continued, “We hope our existing users enjoy this update and that new users are encouraged to try their hand at game making with GameGuru. We have more PBR assets and new features in the pipeline, with more help and advice for game-makers along the way. Our aim is to make your journey into game-making that little bit easier.”

Further information is available at https://www.game-guru.com

Train2Game News Wearable SDK

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Tap Systems, Inc., the company behind the Tap wearable keyboard and mouse, announced today they have released a developer SDK.

The released software kit enables interested developers to design applications that incorporate and/or include the Tap wearable and its functionality. The Tap device is a comfortable wearable that sits at the base of your fingers and senses finger taps as input. Connecting to any Bluetooth enabled device, Tap users can currently compose text, play games, point, click and scroll using just about any available surface.

“Since Tap’s inception we’ve been contacted by everyone from mobile game and language input developers, to folks developing for accessibility use and even enterprise,” said Dovid Schick, CEO and Founder of Tap Systems. “The Tap has so much potential and we are excited to share our SDK with the developer community to see what amazing applications and uses people come up with.”

Interested game developers can now create novel gameplay experiences and increase engagement by utilizing the precision and diversity of Tap’s input. These games can easily be ported between mobile, console and desktop platforms while preserving the same game interface. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality developers can now use Tap for eyes-free control and input for their virtual environments. Language Input developers will now be able to apply Tap for other languages and custom alphabets.

Tap System’s released toolset includes SDKs for both iOS and Android, a plug-in for Unity, as well as example applications and documentation. The company has also released an API to enable any BLE enabled platform to interface directly with the Tap wearable.

Interested developers can sign up to be a part of our Tap Developer community for updates, news and support: https://www.tapwithus.com/developers .

Train2Game News Enter the Purple Dragon

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Spyro has been unleashed! He’s all scaled up and ready to flare up some bad guys in Spyro™ Reignited Trilogy, a dynamic gaming collection that’s going to have fans “Spyro-ing” out of control on 21st September.

In Spyro™ Reignited Trilogy, gliding to new heights, unleashing fire-breathing attacks, and exploring lush environments is more fun in HD graphical glory on PlayStation® 4, PlayStation® 4 Pro and the family of Xbox One devices from Microsoft, including the Xbox One X.

Spyro™ Reignited Trilogy introduces players to a fully remastered game collection of the three original Spyro™ games that started the phenomenon: Spyro™ the Dragon, Spyro™ 2: Ripto’s Rage! and Spyro™: Year of the Dragon. The Spyro™ Reignited Trilogy is available now to pre-order via major retailers.

In celebration of Spyro’s 20th anniversary, Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) is bringing the heat to fans before his official return this September. As a throwback to the original Spyro unveil, starting Monday, 9th April Crash Bandicoot™ N. Sane Trilogy players in Europe, Australia and Latin America on PlayStation 4 can enter the iconic code (↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → square) into their controllers in the Crash Bandicoot™ 3: Warped title screen to watch the Spyro Reignited Trilogy trailer.

Remade from the ground up by lead developer Toys for Bob, the Spyro Reignited Trilogy features the fun and nostalgic gameplay that fans remember with more than 100 levels, enhanced reward sequences, Spyro’s gang of zany dragons and other goofballs (including Sparx the Dragonfly, Hunter, Sheila, Agent 9 and Sgt. Byrd) and more. The trilogy also includes improved environments, updated controls, brand-new lighting and recreated cinematics for added flavour in this one-of-a-kind adventure.

“We’re deeply passionate about staying true to the legacy of the original three Spyro games with the Spyro Reignited Trilogy,” said Paul Yan, Chief Creative Officer, at Toys For Bob. “We’ve poured a lot of love into making the personalities and worlds feel just like fans remember them, while also keeping the game collection surprisingly fresh with lush, high definition detail. We’re bringing back the Spyro we all fell in love with 20 years ago.”

Spyro Reignited Trilogy is an awesome gaming experience that builds on the excellence of the first three games. Each level in Spyro Reignited Trilogy is mapped faithfully from the originals. The characters are creatively re-imagined with additional flair allowing fans to rekindle the fire with Spyro and his crew like never-before. Players will experience a trilogy that’s loaded with an astonishing amount of detail, refreshed modern day mechanics, full analog stick support and smooth camera handling. Spyro Reignited Trilogy also re-imagines Stewart Copeland’s original soundtrack from the first three games.

Paying homage to fans, Tom Kenny, the original voice actor in Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage!, and Spyro: Year of the Dragon, has returned as the voice of Spyro in the trilogy Spyro Reignited Trilogy. For more information, please visit www.SpyroTheDragon.com and follow @SpyroTheDragon on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Train2Game News Games London gets Financial Boost

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Mayor of London Sadiq Khan today committed a further £1.2m to Games London in support of the capital’s burgeoning games industry.

The funding from the Greater London Authority guarantees a three-year programme of events and activities – including the annual London Games Festival – committed to generating revenue, supporting businesses, creating jobs and boosting skills and training.

The global games industry is worth over £100 billion per annum and the UK is the 5th largest video games market in terms of consumer revenues. UK games sales in 2017 generated a record £3.35bn, increasing 9.6 per cent on the previous year, and there are more games companies in London than anywhere else in the UK.

Games London is a partnership between the capital’s screen industries agency Film London and games trade body Ukie and the renewed three-year programme will include:

· The London Games Festival, showcasing the industry’s cultural and economic impact

· International networking events to attract top investment to the UK

· Trade missions to promote the UK’s Video Games Tax Relief and talent in the sector

· A range of training and skills initiatives

These activities are set to generate over £35m for games businesses and 270 full time jobs.

Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries said: “London’s creative industries are vital to our success as a global city. That’s why I am delighted that the Mayor has committed a further £1.2m to Games London. This deal will ensure the capital’s reputation as an international games centre will continue to grow and will provide a boost to jobs and investment in the city’s creative sector.”

Adrian Wootton OBE, Chief Executive of Film London and the British Film Commission, said: “Creative industries are the big success story of the London and UK economies and the rapidly expanding global Games industry is a key component of this success. London is a major player and I am delighted that the Mayor has recognised the importance of supporting the games industry, both within the newly launched Cultural Strategy and through the further investment into Games London to continue driving this cultural and economic success. It is a hugely exciting time and we are committed to cementing London’s status as a games leader and look forward to celebrating the sector’s achievements and talent at the London Games Festival in April.”

Dr Jo Twist OBE, Chief Executive of Ukie, said: “The Mayor’s continued support for the Games London programme is critical in maintaining and building on our global reputation as the capital for games and interactive entertainment. As an important part of the Mayor’s Cultural Strategy, the Festival celebrates the significance games play in an inclusive, diverse culture for all, and the investment programme is crucial in driving economic success for our innovative businesses making cutting edge experiences and technologies.”

The funding announcement comes as London gears up to welcome the third London Games Festival, arriving in the capital next month from 5 April to 15 April.

Delivered by Games London, the festival is expected to attract over 50,000 people across a mix of 40 public events for consumers and industry professionals in a programme the covers mobile, PC and indie games, VR and AR, esports, and fun and fascinating new forms of interactive entertainment.

For more information on the London Games Festival visit www.games.london

Train2Game News Live Action Text Game in London

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GamesAid today releases exclusive early bird tickets to the games industry for the live action text-based adventure interactive show The Dark Room.

Organised as a London Games Festival fringe event and hosted by GamesAid, the UK games industry charity, in partnership with the BFI Certification Unit, this one-off show will be on 10 April at BFI Southbank.

The cult hit touring the world since 2012, The Dark Room’s award-winning stand-up comedy is wedded to retro video games and fused into a deranged rock n’ roll game show where the audience play as contestants. It has been a huge success at Insomnia Gaming Expo, Runefest, EB Games Expo Australia, SFW, UK Games Expo, Soho Theatre, Gameblast, the Edinburgh Fringe, Underbelly Festival and MCM Comic Con.

Matt Spall, Chair of GamesAid said, “Expect no loot boxes, no DLC, The Dark Room is just good, old-fashioned 1980s-style torment and after its killer session for GamesAid at The Comedy Store two years ago, GamesAid is delighted to be partnering the BFI’s Certification Unit in hosting this day.”

Hosted by John Robertson, a comedian for 15 years and host of the Videogame Nation on Challenge, 2014-2016, this is how The Dark Room day works – the rules are simple:

1 – Options appear on the screen.

2 – Audience calls out the option they want.

3 – You’re either right, or dead.

4 – In the end, everybody plays!

The Dark Room reviews:

★★★★★ Sun

★★★★★ British Comedy Guide

★★★★ Den Of Geek

“NOT TO BE MISSED” – The Guardian

“Don’t miss it.” – The Daily Telegraph

“Hi, I’m Ian, I invented the thing you’re parodying.” – Ian Livingstone

Tuesday 10 April 2018
BFI Southbank – Blue Room
Doors Open at 7:30pm
Starts at 8:00pm
Ticket Price: £12.00
Tickets available here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/date/473194/

Train2Game News VR and AR for Unity

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Parkerhill Reality Labs is making public its plans for the BridgeXR Pro Toolkit for Unity, a lean SDK manager for developing cross-platform VR and AR applications.

BridgeXR is for developers implementing virtual reality and/or augmented reality applications using the Unity 3D game engine. BridgeXR manages multiple VR and AR SDKs in a thin device-independent layer within the Unity editor, while leveraging the best of breed software from leading VR and AR vendors.

“BridgeXR is designed to stay out of your way, permitting you direct access to performant vendor-supplied toolkits while keeping your project device-independent,” says Jonathan Linowes, president of Parkerhill. “With BridgeXR, you can avoid the industry’s API fragmentation that can disrupt your development.”

Using BridgeXR, you define platform bridges in the Unity Editor. A bridge is a platform-object mapping in your project providing dynamic in-editor serialization and runtime instantiation. Types of bridges include scene loader, player rigs, prefabs, input gestures, and plug-ins.

Developers continue to use the world-class optimized toolkits from leading tech giants. Rather than try to replace them, BridgeXR builds on top of the high level tools you know and trust, including SteamVR Interaction System, Google Daydream Elements, Oculus SDK, Windows Mixed Reality Toolkit, Google ARCore, and Apple ARKit. There is even a VRTK bridge for transitioning apps away from that toolkit.

With BridgeXR, you are encouraged to use Unity’s latest features and best practices, including in-editor developer tools, Unity events, scriptable objects, playables, timelines, and asset bundles.

BridgeXR also includes a reaction semantics framework using Unity Events. Translate device input events into your application’s semantic events. Assemble reusable reaction collections, including audio reactions, particle effects, timeline sequences and animations.

Parkerhill is taking inquiries to participate in the BridgeXR private beta release. Preference will given to collaborative contract clients interested in hiring the studio’s development services that build upon Parkerhill’s technology and Unity 3D. For more information, visit http://www.parkerhill.com/bridgexr/ or email info@parkerhill.com.

Train2Game Return of the Tamagotchi

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Tamagotchi is back! After the first launch of the iconic toy over 20 years ago, your virtual friends are back.

Today, they come to your mobile phone in a beautiful game from Bandai Namco and Paladin Studios. Hatch an egg and take good care of your little friend to keep them healthy and happy. My Tamagotchi Forever is now available worldwide on iOS and Android.

RECONNECT TO YOUR OLD FRIENDS

Meet Mametchi, Kuchipatchi and many more of your old friends in Tamatown. When you take good care of your Tamagotchi, they will evolve to adulthood. Help them achieve their dreams – from being an astronaut to science teacher or mayor. Each Tamagotchi has a place in Tamatown, and with your proper care and dedication, Tamatown and its adorable residents will thrive. With some diligence and love, you get friends for life!

A HAPPY DAY

Bathe, feed, play, and sleep – there’s always something to do to keep your Tamagotchi happy. Your Tamagotchi will let you know what they need. A warm soapy bath gets them clean. Shopping for food and feeding your little friend revitalizes them. With their energy restored, head to the arcade and play minigames to earn coins – from Match-3 puzzles to Hide-And-Seek. Then get out to Tamatown to decorate the village and create Memorable Moments. After a day of fun, when everyone’s tired, it’s time to head to bed and rest a bit. Turn off the lights and say goodnight – and rest assured that your little pal will be waiting for you when you get back.

READY TO GROW

From a tiny egg to full-grown Tamagotchi, your pet will go through several stages of evolution, each containing unique characters and evolution paths. Your actions determine which characters you get. There’s a lot of unique Tamagotchi, and each requires a specific kind of caretaking. Can you hatch them all?

SHARING IS CARING

Decorate Tamatown with playgrounds, trees, boats, swimming pools and dozens of other playful objects. Your Tamagotchi are happy to join in on the fun! Snap pictures to create Memorable Moments, and collect these memories in your photo album. You can then share the photos with your friends and compare notes on evolution and other game tips. When you want to connect with other Tama-fans, you can join the thriving community of Tamagotchi enthusiasts to chat about the game.

FUN FOR EVERYONE

Whether you are a Tamagotchi veteran or this is your first encounter, My Tamagotchi Forever has plenty of fun and love for everyone. The game is available now for smartphones and tablets, on the App Store and Google Play Store. Get it now – your Tamagotchi is waiting for you!

For more information, check out the Paladin website at www.paladinstudios.com/tamagotchi or the My Tamagotchi Forever website at www.mytamagotchiforever.com

Train2Game News Create Facebook Instant Games Using Gideros

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Leading open source games development kit, GiderosMobile, has added the ability to export to the popular Facebook Instant Games platform in their latest 2018.3 update.

Gideros allows you to code your game for multiple platforms using the same API and enhanced Lua programming language. One of the key features of Gideros is the ability to code, then quickly test your game live on the target platform – with Gideros you can make code changes then instantly test how the changes affect your Facebook Instant Game!

The process of adding the new export to Gideros started in early 2018…

“The first task was to get in touch with the right people to speak to at Facebook that would allow us to join the platform. I went to London games week in January to track them down – luckily, I was successful. The Facebook team have been great at providing us with enough information to create the export.” said Anthony Ball, one of the contributors to Gideros.

To make it suitable for the new platform, Gideros had to be made more efficient – both in terms of size and speed – that job became the responsibility of Nicolas Bouquet, the main Gideros coder and responsible for the original HTML5 export.

“When I began working on Instant Games for Gideros, I thought the work would be merely to package a standard HTML5 export for new platform – I was both right and wrong!” says Nicolas.

“Gideros has had HTML5 export for years, but Facebook Instant Games brings both a deployment framework and specific gaming services, for this Gideros had to make use of specific Facebook APIs. First, I had to modify our HTML5 apps loading system to play nicely with the Instant Games launch screen, then make a ‘player’ to ease further development. This allowed me to quickly code and test integration with instant games API. Then I had to put it all together and have gideros tools export projects specifically for instant games. All this work has allowed us to greatly improve gideros performances in HTML5 – now twice as fast as it used to be!”

Gideros brings some unique features to creating Facebook Instant Games:

  • Live asset and code uploading from the studio directly into your Facebook Instant Game for quick and easy development (both on desktop and Android).
  • Direct feedback from your game into the studio to help debug your code.
  • Support for Facebook ads and other Facebook Instant Game features.
  • Go from code to a fully built Facebook Instant Game in seconds, no compile time!
  • Fully open source development kit with regular updates and a great support community.

Download now from: http://www.giderosmobile.com