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

Train2Game News GameBlast18 Total Raised

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The official total raised for GameBlast18, the UK’s largest charity gaming weekend, has been confirmed at over £220,000 ($300,000).

It’s the largest total in the event’s five-year history.

Gamers across the UK and beyond took on gaming marathons and game-themed events over the weekend of 23-25 February to raise money for the charity, who help people with physical disabilities to experience the fun and inclusion of video games.

As well as the hundreds of individual gamers and communities, many major names in the games industry backed the event, including Jagex, GAME, Multiplay, Twitch, Insert Coin and Ukie, alongside a host of eSports teams, streamers and studios.

Jagex, who raised over £100,000, hosted the GameBlast Games – a livestream of gaming, chaos and gruelling challenges broadcast live from their Cambridge headquarters.

GAME and Multiplay Events staff also hosted a major 24-hour stream, while across the country GAME stores and BELONG arenas brought GameBlast to the high-street, with charity promotions, auctions and esports tournaments amongst the activities on offer to customers throughout the weekend. Collectively they raised over £41,000.

“It’s an incredibly humbling total,” said Tom Donegan, the charity’s Events Coordinator. “We’ve been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of everyone involved, and to have the support of such a huge number of gamers is a massive boost to our team. As a result of their generosity, many hundreds more people will be able to enjoy the magic of video games for many years.”

The dates for GameBlast19 has been announced as 22-24 February.

Donations for GameBlast can still be made at through https://www.gameblast18.org.uk

Train2Game News Cyptocurrency Mining Game

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MyDream Interactive , a pioneering development studio in virtual reality and gaming technology, is thrilled to announce today that its new blockchain-based 3D mining video game, entitled AllMine, will debut with a playable expo floor demo at the 2018 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco at The Moscone Center, North Hall Booth # PL4014.

AllMine is a free-to-play puzzle game, initially developed for PC, with an in-game economy based on a new cryptocurrency called Jewelz. Players can earn Jewelz in two ways: by progressing through the game and by using the JewelzMiner client on their device.

AllMine features a series of mining-themed tile-matching games used to satisfy the cute, whimsical creatures known as Adoraboos, who live in a funny and edgy world of discovery. Players can discover new Utopias and Adoraboos, unlock aesthetic improvements and customizations, and advance their creatures and lands to higher levels. Players are encouraged to spend Jewelz in-game to improve and personalize their experience.

The team at MyDream Interactive is composed of seasoned veterans from the cryptocurrency and video game industries. The Jewelz cryptocurrency is powered by a patent-pending Serial Proof of Work algorithm that makes cryptocurrency mining a lot more energy efficient than Bitcoin mining and as easy to start as playing a video game. AllMine runs alongside the lightweight JewelzMiner client, which can be run in the background on any standard desktop or laptop computer. With Jewelz and AllMine, users can mine cryptocurrency without their hardware overheating or producing excessive noise.

“We decided to create Jewelz to enable anyone, regardless of their access to computation power, to participate in cryptocurrency mining. With the goal of democratizing cryptocurrency mining, we are building a stable foundation for the Jewelz cryptocurrency through gamification. Today we are introducing AllMine, a blockchain-based puzzle game, which will be the first stepping stone of the Jewelz mining application ecosystem. As the Jewelz platform grows, we will continue to release more games as well as educational applications to teach children basic economics, mathematics, and cryptography principles,” says Allison Huynh, CEO and founder of MyDream Interactive.

AllMine and Jewelz are scheduled for release on PC in Q3 2018 and for other platforms later this year.

Train2Game News Jagex GameBlast Success

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SpecialEffect’s GameBlast saw RuneScape developers take part in a variety of ridiculous activities live on Twitch.

The inaugural GameBlast Games, held over a 24-hour period at Jagex’s Cambridge headquarters, has successfully raised over £100,000 ($125,000) for the charity, SpecialEffect.

Taking place from 12 noon on Friday 23rd February, the fundraiser was watched by more than 340,000 unique viewers on the RuneScape Twitch channel. The money raised by the event, held as part of the annual GameBlast18 fundraising weekend, will help SpecialEffect in their mission to make videogames accessible to people with physical disabilities.

Watch the highlights video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEhETmfUibA .

The RuneScape and Old School RuneScape player communities helped raise funds by purchasing GameBlast-themed cosmetic items, while Twitch viewers could also directly donate to the studio’s JustGiving page, and bid on gaming swag and experiences in an online auction.

A mix of gaming, gruelling – and disgusting – challenges and utter chaos, the marathon GameBlast Games saw three teams of staff and influencers compete in 3-a-side office chair football, budget robot battles, and drinking smoothies with a mixture of vile ingredients. Joining in the fun with Jagex were fellow games studios Frontier Developments, Codemasters and Slingshot Cartel, as well as peripherals producer, Razer, and esports teamwear designers, Raven.

Neil McClarty, VP of Product Management, Jagex, said:

“It was fantastic to once again host a GameBlast fundraising live stream for SpecialEffect, the staff always get stuck into taking part and helping raise money for what is an amazing and extraordinary cause. Many thanks to Codemasters, Frontier Developments, Razer, and our other industry friends, who came along to help take part during the 24 hours. This year was our most ambitious yet with The GameBlast Games, and having raised over £100,000 in such a short amount of time we just want to thank our incredible RuneScape communities for their generosity.”

Tom Donegan, Events Coordinator at SpecialEffect, said:

“Once again we’ve been completely blown away by the generosity of the Jagex and the wonderful RuneScape communities. The money raised will enable us to make an immense and immediate impact on the lives of many more disabled people by enabling them to play mainstream video games. A huge and heartfelt thank you to everyone involved in this incredible event.”

Train2Game News Retro Games Celebration in Cardiff

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The Arcade Vaults Brings an All-Day Celebration of Video Games to The Gate in Cardiff this Easter Holidays

The retro videogame event company, The Arcade Vaults, alongside The Gate Arts Centre in Roath, Cardiff, are organising a celebration of video games aimed at all ages and all types of game fans for the start of the Easter break.

“We’re taking the basic format from a smaller event last year and turning it up to 11. There’s going to be so much to do you may not have time for it all!” said CEO, Chris Munasinha.

On March 24th from 11am until 11pm, The Gate will be filled with five decades of consoles for the public to play. There’ll also be a huge Rocket League tournament, live speed-runs, Minecraft group sessions, team games on Spaceship Bridge Simulators, and a dedicated area for developer exclusives and talks in conjunction with Games Wales. The evening will feature live music including headliners Happy Fun Time Game Band and support act Atomic Supermen, as well as a board game area run by Rules of Play. And to celebrate this all, for the duration of March The Gate will feature an exhibition showing the best in artwork from, and inspired by, games.

Adults and children of all ages will be welcome with tickets for the event will cost £6 for adults and £4 for concessions for the day session. For the evening there is a separate charge of £5 a ticket. More information on specific sessions and tournament pricing will be announced via The Gate’s and The Arcade Vaults’ website and social channels.

Thomas Pritchard, The Arcade Vaults’ Content Producer says, “We had such a great time last year, and received some great feedback from our attendees, so being able to grow and build on that success is very exciting.”

Train2Game Caffeine and eSports

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Caffeine announced a deal with ESL, the world’s largest independent esports company, to bring esports content to Caffeine’s social broadcasting platform.

Live coverage kicks off this week with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive at the Intel® Extreme Masters (IEM) World Championship in Katowice, Poland on March 3 -5, 2018.

Caffeine was co-founded in April 2016 by Ben Keighran and Sam Roberts. The company is developing a social broadcasting platform that aims to fundamentally change the way people create, consume, share, and monetize live entertainment.

The partnership will see the formation of three social broadcasts of ESL content on the Caffeine platform: a live broadcast featuring AAA esports tournaments (Caffeine.tv/ESL_Live), a 24/7 Greatest Matches broadcast (Caffeine.tv/ESL_Replay), and a 24/7 Highlights broadcast (Caffeine.tv/ESL).

A “Made for Caffeine” esports talk show, The Magazine, will premiere later this spring. Each broadcast will use Caffeine’s social, real-time features to bring a more personal and friendly experience to live-streamed esports.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with ESL. We want to bring friends together around the content they love in a casual, friendly way, and what better way to do that then to host the world’s most popular esports gaming company’s content on Caffeine,” said Ben Keighran, CEO of Caffeine. “This week, fans from around the world will be able to join each other and tune in to ESL live coverage, with highlights of the best events from this year and previous years following close behind.”

“Caffeine brings a new type of social experience to ESL’s esports content,” said Nik Adams, Senior Vice President, Global Media Rights & Distribution of ESL. “ESL is at the frontier of new streaming concepts and new technologies. One of ESL’s goals is to expand esports to new audiences and the partnership with Caffeine brings us one step closer to our goal.”

As a social broadcasting platform, Caffeine users find content based on the people they follow in their social circles and come together to share that content. Personal conversations between friends and broadcasters are given preference, enabling more meaningful social engagements while disposing of toxic chatter and endless feeds of meaningless comments. Since Caffeine is built on its own infrastructure, it will deliver ESL’s content and conversations with no latency, allowing broadcasters to answer questions in real-time and build stronger relationships with their fans.

To watch ESL on Caffeine and get notified of upcoming events, fans need only sign up for a Caffeine account, follow the ESL account of their choosing, and then invite their friends to join them as they tune in.

ESL on Caffeine:
– Live content of AAA eSports tournaments.
– Recent highlights from global tournaments.
– Replayed broadcasts from some of ESLs greatest matches, shown “live” for the first time on Caffeine.
– “The Magazine”, an eSports talk show that will premiere later in 2018, which allows broadcasters to present the latest esports news live, and to react in real-time to audience questions.

For more information or to start broadcasting your content, visit www.caffeine.tv .

Train2Game Grads in Game Awards

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After a record year for participation in their Search for a Star and Sumo Digital Rising Star Challenges, Aardvark Swift have announced the Grads in Game Awards.

The awards are designed to recognise the individuals and institutions that have made a real impact in improving the links between the games industry and education; the studios that have made an effort in not just hiring graduates but developing their skills and nurturing their talent; and they will also recognise the students and projects that are already firmly on this path, producing exemplary work and helping those around them to achieve more.

“We’ve been running a variety of Grads in Games initiatives for almost 10 years now. After so much support from institutions, lectures and studios; we thought it was only right to highlight the academics, universities, colleges, courses and developers that are going the extra mile, actively helping students make the leap from student to professional games developer!” Sharan Bassi, Senior Graduate Recruiter at Grads in Games.

The award categories for 2018 are:

  • Academic Award: Lecturers & academics who have demonstrated a real, positive impact with their students.
  • Educational Institution Award: Universities and academic institutions that have demonstrated a real, positive impact with their students.
  • Student Award: Current students who have demonstrated a real, positive impact within their work & with their fellow students.
  • Student Game Award: Student games projects published within the past 12 months, that demonstrate a strong talent and aptitude from its developer(s).
  • Graduate Employer Award: Games companies that have demonstrated a positive and pro-active approach in hiring and supporting graduates & interns.
  • Graduate Impact Award: Recent graduates and junior staff that have exceeded expectations in a studio role.

Nominations have been opened on the Grads in Games Website and the winners will be announced at the Search for a Star Final’s Day in Sheffield on the 6th of April.

Train2Game News European Women in Games Conference

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Women in Games WIGJ, the not for profit, games industry diversity organisation, today announced that Facebook will be its headline sponsor for the European Women in Games Conference, taking place on the 11th-12th September at City University.

With the objective to educate, inspire and help stimulate future generations, the inspirational two-day event will comprise of keynote speeches, panel discussions and workshops with insight provided by key staff members from Facebook HQ. There will also be over 40 speakers and panellists from across the games industry that represent the diverse wealth of sectors and the talent within them.

The event will take place at central London’s City University, highlighting the need to promote diversity through and within education, giving rise to a talented, inclusive new generation in the games and tech industry.

Aoife Brodigan, Head of Games Marketing, EMEA said, “Facebook has a rich history in broadening the audience for playing and building communities around games. We are excited to further this work with our Women in Gaming initiative that offers women in the games industry a platform to share their stories. As the headline sponsor for the European Women in Games Conference, we are looking forward to sharing some of these inspiring stories, working with WIGJ to power meaningful connections between women in the industry. Facebook is committed to supporting diversity initiatives in games and encouraging more young women to lean in to the industry and into leadership positions.”

Dr Radu Jianu, Lecturer in Computer Science commented, “City, University of London feels privileged to this year host the European Women in Games conference for its 8th edition, in central London. As an institution deeply committed to promoting diversity and one of the few universities in the country offering programs with a dedicated focus on games technologies, we are particularly excited about this partnership. We have watched the conference grow rapidly over the years into one that welcomes and inspires hundreds of computer games professionals and are looking forward to becoming part of its journey.”

Marie-Claire Isaaman CEO of Women in Games WIGJ said, “The Women in Games WIGJ, not for profit organisation exists to double the number of women working in the games industry by 2025. Our flagship event is the European Women in Games Conference which has a 7 year history of educating, inspiring, and helping to stimulate future generations of talent in the technology and creative industries. We welcome Facebook as headline sponsor. It sends a clear signal of the intent to change the face of games and the tech sector and we look forward to our long term partnership.”

Women in Games WIGJ is inclusive and male delegates are very welcome.

For further details about the conference please visit: http://www.womeningames.org/ .

Train2Game News HD SNES

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Introducing the SupaRetroN HD: Hyperkin’s latest console not only sports a classic retro look – it’s packed with tech to make playing your favourite SNES games more enjoyable than ever!

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was the best-selling console of the 16-bit era and when you’re looking for the reason why, you don’t need to look very far beyond an extensive library of thrilling games.

Hyperkin’s SupaRetroN HD is a new console dedicated to taking those games to the next level via top quality hardware and a vibrant HD output. Dust off those cartridges and feel the exhilaration of Nintendo’s greatest hits once again – it’s never been easier or more worthwhile!

Tech that loves your cartridges as much as you do.

Hyperkin knows how much time, money and effort retro gamers put into building their game collection. The SupaRetroN HD has been built in a way that looks after your favourite SNES cartridges, while making the games themselves visually stunning.

Central to this philosophy is new Pin Perfect™ technology. These new state-of-the-art pins have been engineered in-house by Hyperkin and maintain perfect pin contact, even if you bump or shake the cartridge! The presence of these high quality pins alongside a special cartridge eject button means you can swap cartridges with confidence all day long.

Once slotted in, the SupaRetroN HD’s HD output will display your games with incredible clarity – letting you experience those great SNES titles like never before.

Micro-USB input & 6ft charge cable.
720p HD Output for crisp, clear gameplay.
Easy-access Aspect Ratio Switch.
Includes 2 x Premium “Scout” Wired Controllers

Gamers have long been snapping up Hyperkin’s “Scout” premium controllers due to their classic look, solid build and comfortable ergonomic design.

The SupaRetroN HD comes complete with two, while original controllers are also supported.

Full Features List

• Plays both SNES and SFC Cartridges
• HD Audio and Video: Crisp 720p HD
• Two premium controllers – The Scout – with 8ft cables
• Pin Perfect™ high-quality pins your cartridges deserve
• Cartridge Eject Button allows you to swap games quickly and easily
• HD Output and AV Output
• Supports 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios
• 6ft Micro-USB charge cable

The SupaRetroN HD will be released on March 9th and is available to pre-order now from FunStockRetro.co.uk and Amazon.

Train2Game News Benchmark app report

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Berlin-based app mobile measurement company Adjust today published the results of its annual benchmark report for 2017.

The data from the report was taken between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2017, tracking 11,000 apps, with 10.7 billion installs and 1.29 trillion events analyzed across the world. Deeper coverage of countries included China, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Turkey, UK and the US.

The benchmark report provides detailed insight into the app market and app user behaviour, providing in-depth monthly analysis of user engagement, retention, sessions and fraud by country and app vertical.

How the world engages with apps – WeChat dominates in China
Compared to 2016, retention rates and engagement in 2017 were much higher. However, the current Adjust benchmark report shows that app developers still face big challenges when it comes to retaining users. By day 14 after the download, only 13% of app users return. Retention on iOS is consistently higher than on Android, but only by 1-3%.

By country, Japanese users have the highest retention rates of all: consistently around 3% above average. Meanwhile, Chinese users are the hardest to keep. After day one, 80% have left an app, and by day seven only 7% continue to use one at all. This can partially be explained by the dominance of WeChat, and the lower likelihood of Chinese users leaving the platform for other apps.

Entertainment and Gaming apps keep their users well engaged. By day 30, Entertainment apps see the highest retention rates. Meanwhile, Travel apps have trouble keeping their users on board, with only a 7% retention rate by day 12, explained by the cyclical nature of travel booking.

The report also looks at elite retention, covering the highest performing apps in their own cohort. Retention of Utilities performs best of all, with 44% retention on day one (near half of the initial user base). By day 30, almost a third of users are still around. Business apps perform second best, and great Games perform similarly on day one, though by day seven there’s a 5% difference between the three verticals.

Monetizing Apps – Fight of the platforms
The mobile app market continues to be highly lucrative. In 2017, 2 million apps were released in both stores, and worldwide mobile ad spending increased 33.6% up to $142 billion[1], with $17 billion being spent on performance ads. Google and Facebook drive half of all attribution, and Google’s vast network seems to be slightly the better option to reach and engage users.

However, user engagement increased over time, regardless of source, by approximately 2.5 sessions per day. Utility apps are used the most, with 3 sessions per day. This is followed by Games and Entertainment apps with 2.5 sessions per day. E-commerce, Business & Travel apps range from 1.5 to 2 sessions per day.

In the first week after install, Android sees more events. But over a month, iOS far surpasses it’s rival, with between seven and eight events per day. By day 19, users perform one less event on Android than on Apple. By global comparison, the US seems to be in the lead, when it comes to a number of events. The US triggers around two more events per day than China or Russia.

Mobile Ad Fraud – Android suffers the most
Every vertical, country and network was affected by mobile ad fraud in some way in 2017. By vertical, Games are the most affected, over a third of fraud stopped by Adjust (per vertical) was targeting gaming apps. This is partially due to gaming apps spending more on mobile marketing than any other. Also, it’s not just those after ad spend who defraud Games, but users too.

Beyond the collection of ‘other’ categories, E-commerce applications feature a high distribution of mobile app fraud, about 20% of Adjust’s dataset.

While no device is immune to fraud, it is telling that around twice as much of it occurs on Android. There are a few reasons to explain this, from the ease of which Android devices can be jailbroken to the sheer amount of Android devices sold vs. Apple’s. However, Adjust’s Fraud Specialist, Andreas Naumann, believes “click injection” to be the main reason for this trend. This type of fraud is a sophisticated form of click-spamming which only affects Android devices.

The full report, including all results and graphics, can be downloaded here: https://www.adjust.com/resources/insights/mobile-benchmarks-report-2018/