Train2Game News Queen of Code Funding

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Female game developers and creators from across England have launched individual Crowdfunder projects to gain funding to make their great ideas a reality as part of Creative England’s Queen of Code campaign.

Jaspal Sohal, Head of Games & Digital at Creative England, said: “England’s creative industries are some of the best in the world, and we work to nurture this exciting home grown talent. Our partnership with Crowdfunder reflects this with initiatives such as Queen of Code taking centre stage.

“A widely reported 49% of gamers in the UK are women but only 12% of people making games are female. With this partnership we aim to put the spotlight on the creative talent of the female counterpart of the industry.

“We are incredibly impressed with the breadth of expertise shown by the Queen of Code campaigns, and this is really exciting for the games industry as a whole.”

Phil Geraghty, MD of Crowdfunder said: “We are delighted with the response Queen Of Code has received and the wealth of talent that has emerged from female game developers in England.

“Creative England has shown real innovation by embracing crowdfunding to distribute funds and reach out to new audiences. Queen of Code is a great example of how Crowdfunder is revolutionising fund allocation across the UK.”

The five projects to gain the most pledges and backers via their Crowdfunder campaigns will each receive £3k match funding from Creative England, a not-for-profit organisation investing and nurturing the country’s richly diverse games, TV, film and digital media industries.

It’s excellent to see deserving games designers get the recognition they deserve.

Train2Game News OlliOlli being ported

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Notorious street thugs Curve Digital and the pushers of intense digital experiences over at Roll7 are pleased to announce a collaboration that sends finger-skate-em-up OlliOlli kick-flipping over gamers’ couches and grinding all up on their Xbox One, Nintendo Wii U and Nintendo 3DS consoles in early 2015!

For the seriously out-of-touch, OlliOlli is a 2D side-scrolling skateboard game crafted by Roll7 from a solid block of pure raditude. This ain’t your grandpa’s skating game  – OlliOlli throws you feet first into high-risk, high-reward skate lines where ‘just one more trick’ can mean the difference between pulling off a gnarly combo and becoming just a smear on the concrete.

Fresh from its critically acclaimed debut on the PC and PlayStation consoles, players will be tearing up over 250 challenges across 100 levels, utilizing the 120+ tricks at their disposal as they compete for the highest score amongst their peers and other skater strangers.

All of the wild features return in full for the new versions, such as all four game modes, including the nails-hard RAD mode and the Daily Grind, which sees players worldwide competing on the same line for the highest score possible.

The game’s release is scheduled for early 2015, when you can finally pop shove-it into your console of preference.

Train2Game News Roll7 require testers for OlliOlli 2

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roll7Roll7 are looking for some people to test the sequel to the hit game OlliOlli.

Roll7 require someone who would be available to test the game at their offices in New Cross in London over the next couple of weeks from 10am to 5pm. They are willing to pay up to £30 travel expenses with food and drink provided for the day.

This is an excellent opportunity to get some experience at an established studio. You also never know what will happen as Train2Game student who previously tested games for the studio is still working for the company to this day and has had his contract extended in to next year.

If you want to get some hands on experience with some very talented lovely people then drop an email to Tom to book a time in at Tom@Roll7.co.uk

Good luck to all those that attend.

Train2Game News My blog is your blog

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Train2GameIt is coming up to the Christmas holidays and I am giving you the chance to voice your opinions on what you like to be heard on the Train2Game blog!

Some of you may remember that last year we had some students do some fantastic blogs that went out over the Christmas period and they were so popular we are going to do it again! You get to have your opinions heard and get your name out there in the gaming world.

You can write your blog on anything games related you like from reviews to opinions to advertisements for your upcoming games and studios, the choice is yours!

If you are interested in writing a blog to be seen on Train2Game News all you need to do is email me at Mark@train2game.com with the blog and a related image.

Get creative and have fun!

Train2Game News UK Top 20 Games – 01.12.14

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Call of Duty Advanced WarfighterThe charts are out and Christmas sales are certainly taking a hold with Call of Duty Advanced Warfare returning to number one and Fifa 15 in number two. Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire enter the charts at number six and seven respectively with Driveclub just behind that at number eight. LittleBigPlanet 3 just managed to make it to the top twenty hitting number eighteen with its debut.

All formats

Week ending 29 November 2014

POS.  TITLE  PUBLISHER  LAST
WEEK 
1 CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE ACTIVISION 3
2 FIFA 15 EA SPORTS 4
3 GRAND THEFT AUTO V ROCKSTAR 1
4 FAR CRY 4 UBISOFT 2
5 ASSASSIN’S CREED: UNITY UBISOFT 6
6 POKEMON OMEGA RUBY NINTENDO –
7 POKEMON ALPHA SAPPHIRE NINTENDO –
8 DRIVECLUB SONY COMPUTER ENT. –
9 ASSASSIN’S CREED IV: BLACK FLAG UBISOFT 18
10 MINECRAFT: XBOX EDITION MICROSOFT 14
11 – MIDDLE EARTH: SHADOW OF MORDOR WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 11
12 MINECRAFT: PLAYSTATION EDITION SONY COMPUTER ENT. 9
13 SUPER SMASH BROS. NINTENDO 17
14 DISNEY INFINITY 2.0 DISNEY INFINITY 15
15 SKYLANDERS TRAP TEAM SKYLANDERS 16
16 DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION EA GAMES 5
17 DESTINY ACTIVISION 13
18 LITTLEBIGPLANET 3 SONY COMPUTER ENT. –
19 LEGO BATMAN 3: BEYOND GOTHAM WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 8
20 WWE 2K15 2K SPORTS 7
< previous week
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2014 UKIE Ltd

These charts cannot be reproduced either in print or online without obtaining permission from Ukie. If you wish to reproduce the charts in print or online, please contact david.smith@ukie.org.uk for the appropriate license.

Train2Game News Steam Dev Tools Sale

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Steam’s big Autumn sale includes a number of deals for its library of game development tools.

Those interested in the recently release App Game Kit 2 can pick it up at 33 per cent off for £50.91. 2D game animation software Spriter is also available at 50 per cent off for £22.49, while Mixamo’s character creation toolset Fuse is currently discounted by 55 per cent and costs £34.19.

Other tools on sale include the Axis Game Factory Pro and Premium, texturing tools Substance Designer and the Substance Indie Pack, 3D modelling application Silo 2, RPG Maker and game engine Leadwerks, plus a number of others.

Offers end on December 2nd.

You can find the full list of software on Steam here.

Train2Game News Insomnia 53 success

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Multiplay, hosts of the UK’s biggest gaming festival Insomnia, is delighted to announce another record year for the event with more visitors, more games, more special guests and more fun than ever before.

Driven by an increase in visitors across the year of over 64%, Insomnia cemented its place as the number one gaming festival in the UK. Insomnia53 alone was watched online by over a million viewers, streaming over 11 years of content across a single weekend.

Featuring debut tournaments for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Halo 2: Anniversary, Insomnia53 was once again the best place to take part in and spectate completely open UK eSports action. Featuring high level competition across a variety of returning games including League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2, this year also saw the introduction of tournament’s for Blizzard’s popular online card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, with hundreds of players battling it out across the year for a slice of the prize.

Throughout all of 2014 the Insomnia Gaming Festival has given fans a chance to meet and greet huge content creators from across the spectrum of gaming media, including The Yogscast, SkyDoesMinecraft, Syndicate, KSI of The Sidemen and many more. With a variety of interactive activities available for fans to participate in, there was no better place for young and old gamers alike to meet their heroes than at Multiplay’s Insomnia events.

Attended by tens of thousands of gamers, Insomnia remains the number one gaming festival in the UK; thanks to a wide breadth of content, Insomnia attracts a unique audience that encompasses every sort of gamer across not just PC but Console and Mobile, welcoming the hardcore and the casual alike.

“The past two years of growth for Insomnia and Multiplay as a whole have just been incredible, and we couldn’t be more thankful to our incredible community and partners for making all of this possible,” said Craig Fletcher, CEO & Founder of Multiplay. “We have an inclusive community, an event that attracts gaming fans of all ages and backgrounds, and partners that truly believe in what we’re doing; creating some of the best gaming events on the planet. 2015 is going to be amazing, and with a well earned rest for Christmas, we’re looking forward to our biggest Easter event ever on April 3rd.”

Insomnia54 takes place from April 3rd-6th 2015 at Coventry’s Rich Arena, promising the biggest spring event ever imaged, with more games, more tournaments, more special guests, and more visitors than ever. To ensure you don’t miss out on the action, book your tickets now: http://insomniagamingfestival.com/tickets/

For more information on all activities at Insomnia54, please visit http://insomniagamingfestival.com.

Train2Game News Games On Song

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Games on SongToday, the UK games industry charity GamesAid http://www.gamesaid.org/ is inviting Black Friday shoppers to add the Games on Song Christmas charity single to their virtual baskets, to once again help raise vital money for children.

The UK alone is predicted to spend over £1.205bn this weekend, apparently saving £233m on their purchases.

Out NOW, the Games On Song Christmas charity Single is available to download on iTunes http://tinyurl.com/oep3bzl for just £1.29 / $1.99. Not only the best purchase of the whole weekend, but the one that will keep on giving, as all the profits from every sale goes directly towards helping children’s charities across the UK, helping them to have a very merry Christmas!

The Games On Song choir is made up of members from the videogame industry including Sony, EA, GAME, Ubisoft, Mastertronic, OnLive, SEGA, Green Man Gaming, Bethesda, Riot Games, Marvellous AQL, Ukie, and many, many more.

“As an industry, we know the power of the consumer, and that they are passionate about the positive impact video games can have. “We hope they will help us spread the word as they shop this weekend and buy lots of singles!” said Emily Britt, Chair of GamesAid. “Those members who donated their time and voices to this single hope to bring a smile to Black Friday shoppers, and to the children who will benefit from every sale.”

Train2Game News Unity UI update

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Unity Technologies has released version 4.6 of its popular game engine, which introduces a brand new user interface system.

The tech allows developers to create their own UI within the editor. They can also check out the source code for the UI system, which lets devs “build a UI module that will work as a drop-in replacement for the bundled UI system”, according to the official blog.

“The release cycle has indeed been long,” the company wrote, “but we’ve taken the time needed to work with you to test the UI system and incorporate your feedback to ship a UI system that we’re really proud of.”

Unity 4.6 also adds x86 support for Android, opening the options of FAT, x86 or ARMv7 as a build target so devs can export for x86 Android devices such as Google’s new Nexus player.

Train2Game News GirlsGotGame Design contest

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One Small Step Games and Ares Magazine are holding a GirlsGotGame Design Contest, a competition that focuses on game designs by women.

“Since we launched the contest last month, we’ve received a lot of support and encouragement from people in the industry,” says OSS Games owner Michael Anderson, who decided to increase the grand prize to $200 and extend the contest through the holidays and to the end of January in order to give more women a chance to enter.

The Ares team hopes to publish a game from the contest in the fourth issue of the magazine. “Our plan is to highlight a number of science fiction and fantasy fiction stories written by women in the fiction line up for that issue,” says Executive Editor Carmen Andres. “Wrapping the magazine around a challenging and exciting game designed by a woman would strengthen the package.”

Designers receive $1000 if a game is chosen for publication.

Designers are free to use any format and components they choose, but Anderson notes that the purpose of the contests is to find games to publish in Ares.  Extra credit will be given to designs that use the components of games that run in the magazine.

The contest runs until midnight January 31, 2015. If more than eight designs are received, a runner up will be selected to receive $25. Entrants are limited to women.

Contest information, component guidelines, and the online entry form are on the website of Ares Magazine at www.aresmagazine.com.

To enter the contest, select Game Design Contest #2: Girls Got Game under the Ares Online menu. To subscribe to Ares, go to www.ossgamescart.com.