Tag Archives: developer

Train2Game News Charity Gaming Bike Ride

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Over a dozen heroic videogaming cyclists will be taking on the mammoth 352-mile, four-country, three-day challenge for the fifth consecutive year, between August 20th – 22nd, in an effort to raise funds for numerous UK-based youth and children’s charities.
Generating valuable funds for the worthwhile causes and hot on the wheels of gamescom, one of the toughest work weeks of the year, the troop will kick away their collective stabilisers with a 5am start from Cologne on Friday 20th August. The two-wheeling troop will set out across Germany, heading straight for the Dutch and Belgian borders, before finally venturing into France for the home straight.

Donations will be collected over the coming months and can be made at the team fundraising page here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gamescomtobrighton2016

Averaging close to 110 miles a day for 3 days solid, their mighty distances are on par with those endured by Le Tour De France’s most challenging routes. Hi-Rez will be supporting the cyclists with a sponsored van that will provide much needed aid every mile on the way.

Hi-Rez Studios has a long history of giving back through gaming and has raised over $830,000 for good causes over the past 4 years. You can check out some of the recent charity events of Hi-Rez Studios in this video.

Speaking about the partnership, Veronique Lallier, VP of European Publishing at Hi-Rez Studios Europe said, “We’re thrilled to be partnering with GamesAid on what has become such an iconic UK fundraising institution. In addition to the practical support we’ll be offering the cyclists, our community will be reaching out to them both virtually and, we hope, personally, boosting morale every pedal of the way. We wish them the very best of luck!”

Led by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s Cat Channon, and supported by industry veteran Keef Sloan, Director of Through The Line Consulting, it’s not too late for folks to show their support and join them and the gang or donate to the team’s fundraising efforts.

Those in need of inspiration need look no further than these videos for reasons to join the 2016 troop:

James Beavan, company director of Keymailer and cycle hero since the beginning, colourfully illustrates why you should join in his amusing video.

Keef Sloan, Director of Through The Line Consulting, is already on his training bike. He too has been with us since the beginning and has a few words to say about why you should join him this year.

Currently also pedalling in preparation for the epic cycle adventure are:

    Cat Channon, (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)

    James Binns, (PCGamesN)

    Tracey McGarrigan, (CEO & Founder, Ansible PR & Communications LTD)

    Tony Solon, (Keymailer)

    Alex Cook, (Senior Manager, Business Development, GAME)

    Ian Pickstock, (Senior Designer, Arooga)

    Michael Pattison, (VP Third Party Relations, Sony)

    Richard Keith, (Chief Revenue Officer, The Yogscast)

    Nick Haywood, (UK PR Specialist, Razer)

With everyone’s combined efforts they are hoping to raise more than ever before for GamesAid, helping disadvantaged and disabled children and young people across the UK.

As always, all costs associated with the ride are covered personally by the cyclists, ensuring every penny goes to the good causes GamesAid supports.

To join these brave travellers and get more details on the adventure simply get in touch at contact@gamesaid.org

Train2Game News BAFTA Game Lecture

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The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced today that Ilkka Paananen, CEO and co-founder of Supercell, creator of popular mobile games including Clash of Clans and Hay Day, will deliver this year’s prestigious BAFTA Games Lecture. 
The event will take place at BAFTA’s headquarters, 195 Piccadilly on Monday 5 September.

The BAFTA Games Lecture aims to deliver valuable insights into the creative minds of some of the world’s most compelling and esteemed games professionals, providing a platform for speakers to share their experiences, as well as their personal vision for the future of the industry. Previous speakers include Jade Raymond, Will Wright, Peter Molyneux, Hideo Kojima, Drs Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk and David Cage.

Ilkka Paananen co-founded the Helsinki-based Supercell in 2010. Since then its four games – Clash of Clans, Hay Day, Boom Beach and Clash Royale – have amassed 100m daily players and remain in the global top 10 years after launch. In June 2016 it was announced that Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Limited will acquire a majority stake in the Supercell, making it the first European technology start-up to reach a valuation of $10 billion.

During the lecture, Paananen will use case studies to demonstrate how Supercell works to achieve excellence through its company culture and how, through nurturing an environment of small, independent teams, organisations of all sizes can enhance their creativity and business success.

Harvey Elliott, former Chair of the BAFTA Games Committee said: “Ilkka Paananen has been instrumental in establishing the ever-more important role of mobile within the games landscape as a whole. His belief in the importance of company culture in nurturing creative excellence, and his passion for creating simple, fun, memorable games are central to his work; and we look forward to him sharing these insights at the BAFTA Games Lecture which has over the years hosted creative leaders from all over the world, making it a truly global platform for the games sector and the wider creative industry.”

In addition to his role at Supercell, Ilkka Paananen helps other entrepreneurs as both an investor and as an active member of the Helsinki-based startup community where he mentors and coaches other founders. Alongside his co-founder Mikko Kodisoja, he has established the We Foundation to fight social inequality and help disadvantaged children in Finland.

Prior to founding Supercell, Paananen was the CEO and co-founder of Finnish games developer Sumea, which was later acquired by Digital Chocolate, where he worked as President until 2010.

‘BAFTA Games Lecture: Ilkka Paananen’ event details:

Monday 5 September at BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly in London

19:30 Champagne Taittinger Reception

20:00 Event commences

Public tickets for the BAFTA Games Lecture will go on sale at 13:00 on Friday 22 July 2016. To book tickets, please visit www.bafta.org/whats-on .

Video highlights, a podcast and a transcript from the event will be available in BAFTA Guru, BAFTA’s online learning channel www.bafta.org/guru . Recordings of previous Games Lectures are available now.

Train2Game News Batman Telltale Trailer

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​Today Telltale unveil the digital release date and world premiere trailer for BATMAN – The Telltale Series.
The first of five episodes in the season,   Episode 1: ‘Realm of Shadows’ will be available digitally worldwide starting Tuesday August 2nd on PC and Mac from the Telltale Online Store, Steam, and other digital distribution services, on the PlayStation®Network for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3, on the Xbox Games Store for Xbox One® and Xbox 360®, for compatible iOS devices via the App Store, and for compatible Android-based devices via Google Play and the Amazon Appstore. 

The series will also be available to purchase at retailers starting September 13th in North America as a special Season Pass Disc, which will include the first of five episodes in the season, and will grant access to the subsequent four episodes as they become available for download via online updates. The series will then be available to purchase at retailers across Europe on September 16th. 

Rendered to look like a living, breathing comic book, Telltale’s vision of Batman will feature an award-winning cast of talent, including   Troy Baker in the role of   Bruce Wayne,   Travis Willingham as   Harvey Dent,   Erin Yvette as   Vicki Vale,   Enn Reitel as   Alfred Pennyworth,   Murphy Guyer as   Lieutenant James Gordon,   Richard McGonagle as   Carmine Falcone, and   Laura Bailey as   Selina Kyle. Additional cast and characters will be revealed as the season progresses.

You can view the trailer at https://youtu.be/Za8G70bbKRY

Train2Game News Green Man Gaming One Special Day 

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Green Man Gaming, a global e-commerce technology company in the video games industry, has announced that the company are supporting  Special Effect by donating towards their One Special Day initiative today. 
The company will be partnering with developers taking part in the event by donating all the profit that they would earn from the sale of selected games to UK-based charity SpecialEffect.

Companies from across the video games industry will be donating 100% of today’s sales or profits of one or more games, advertising revenue, in-app purchases, DLC or income from a dedicated activity or promotion. All the proceeds will be channeled into the work that SpecialEffect do to help gamers with disabilities putting fun and inclusion into their lives by helping them play video games. The industry hopes to raise £25,000 for the charity.

The PC games that will be sold for the charity today include Stick it to The Man, Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones, Pure Pool, Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure and many more.    

The full list of  ‘One Special Day’ games sold at Green Man Gaming is available at www.greenmangaming.com/onespecialday

Train2Game News Batman Telltale Series release date

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BATMAN – The Telltale Series to Premiere this August; Available in Stores Sept. 16
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Telltale Games today announced a worldwide distribution agreement for the highly anticipated games BATMAN™ – The Telltale Series and Telltale’s third season of the Game of the Year winning series, The Walking Dead.

BATMAN – The Telltale Series  will be making its worldwide debut as a digital download with its first episode in August on consoles, PC/Mac, and iOS or Android based devices. The series will be available to purchase at retailers starting Sept. 13 as a special “Season Pass Disc,” which will include the first of five episodes in the season, and will grant access to the subsequent four episodes as they become available for download via online updates  in North America. The series will then be available to purchase at retailers across Europe on Sept. 16. 

“Telltale has a stellar reputation for delivering quality content based on world-renowned properties and these games make a great addition to our line-up,” said Kevin Kebodeaux, Senior Vice President, Sales, Americas, Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment.  “We previously worked with Telltale on The Wolf Among Us and now on the recently announced Batman – The Telltale Series, so we are very pleased to expand our partnership with worldwide retail distribution for its upcoming titles.”

“As a publisher and developer of award-winning content around the world, we’re thrilled to strengthen our relationship with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to further extend our reach to retailers across the globe.” said Steve Allison, Senior Vice President, Publishing, Telltale Games. “Warner Bros. has been an incredible partner to work with, and we look forward to working with them to help ensure players can discover our unique, story driven experiences in stores everywhere for years to come.”

BATMAN – The Telltale Series is an episodic game series licensed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and based on DC’s iconic character. Rendered to look like a living, breathing comic book, Telltale’s vision of Batman will feature an award-winning cast of talent, including Troy Baker in the role of Bruce Wayne, Travis Willingham as Harvey Dent, Erin Yvette as Vicki Vale, Enn Reitel as Alfred Pennyworth, Murphy Guyer as Lieutenant James Gordon, Richard McGonagle as Carmine Falcone, and Laura Bailey as Selina Kyle. Additional cast and characters will be revealed as the season progresses.

Revealed this June at the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, the highly anticipated third season of The Walking Dead – The Telltale Series will premiere later this fall across multiple platforms. The season will begin the tale of mysterious newcomer Javier, while also continuing the journey of young survivor Clementine as they both search for answers in a world ravaged by the undead. The Walking Dead is set in the world of Robert Kirkman’s award-winning comic book series and offers an emotionally-charged, tailored game experience where a player’s actions and choices affect how their story plays out across the entire series.

Train2Game News British eSports Association

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Following authority from the UK Government, today sees the  of the British eSports Association.

Located at Pinewood Studios, British eSports, acting as the National Governing Body for eSports in the United Kingdom, will work in conjunction with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to help and represent players at all levels; develop a grassroots competitive video game scene that will nurture future talent; support existing professionals and provide the infrastructure to create future British global champions. 

The activities for British eSports will be easily accessible at www.BritisheSports.org , a portal providing the latest news on events, teams and leagues, alongside impartial advice for both players and parents.

“The establishment of the British eSports Association is an important initiative in furthering the credibility of the eSports industry in the UK. Pinewood is excited to be part of this National Governing Body for eSports and is aiming to have a new National Training Centre for eSports to help with grassroots and future British Champions,” commented Jules Robinson, Head of Business Development, Pinewood Studios.

The not for profit organisation, British eSports will be chaired by Andy Payne OBE, with Chester King in the role of acting CEO. The next three months will see a consultation period, during which British eSports will be gathering feedback from the UK eSports sector to ensure it fully represents the interests of individuals, teams, game publishers and broadcasters alike.

Andy Payne, chair of British eSports, added, “I am an admirer of the work of other sports associations such as British Cycling, and I am very confident that if we welcome and embrace all parties in the UK eSports scene, we can deliver a range of benefits to all players, from professional to amateur in the UK over time. These are exciting times in eSports and the time is right to build this organisation from the grassroots up.”

Thoughts and ideas can be sent to info@britishesports.org .

Train2Game News Marmalade engine upgrade

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Marmalade Technologies Ltd, a privately owned technology company, brings C++11 support to the Marmalade Platform.
In September, Marmalade Technologies introduced a standalone beta of the Marmalade Platform with C++11 support. Today, with release of the  Marmalade 8.4, C++11 support comes out of beta and is now available as standard. 

“C++11 marks a step change in the overall capability of the language, enabling developers to write more expressive, efficient and maintainable code,” says Adalberto Bruno, CTO at Marmalade Technologies. “C++11 is also becoming increasingly popular in 3rd party codebases, many of which are complementary to modern game development.”

Continuing to deliver on its core cross-platform capability, the Marmalade Platform removes the need to write compiler or library specific code when using C++11, offering consistent and predictable behavior regardless of the target platform.

“Although C++11 is not a new standard, only now are compiler vendors reaching mature support and even then there remains differing levels of capability, depending on the toolchain and target platform,” says Ryan Gilmour, Head of Product Management. “We’ve taken all that additional complexity away and levelled the playing field for developers who want to take advantage of C++11, with a write once, deploy anywhere approach.”

Alongside C++11 support, this update brings over 200 bug fixes and improvements across all areas of the Marmalade Platform. From support for Slide Over and Split View multitasking on iOS 9 to the latest Chromium Embedded Framework for webviews on Windows Desktop,  Marmalade 8.4 is one of our biggest releases to date.

The latest version of the Marmalade Platform with C++11 support is available now from the Developer area of the Marmalade website.

Train2Game Fabble’s Adventure Development Update

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Train2Game student James Mahon updates on Fabble’s Adventure, his progress on the course and plans for the future

James Mahon and team are working on Children’s platformer Fabble’s Adventure, and its progressing nicely. He plans to use his experience making the game to learn more about creating games and as a platform to develop more games in the future.

The development of Fabble’s Adventure is going really well. In the game Fabble and Minx are on a quest to find lost rice grains. It’s a traditional platformer aimed at young players with a cute yet exciting storyline. There are now six worlds for players to explore. Rewards have been introduced and replay-value added.

Current focus is programming and getting levels right, which has taken a great deal of time. The team is finding it a challenge making a game but ultimately very rewarding. At this point James is working with another Train2Game student who has taken up a position of head of QA and they are not looking for any additional help until the game launches.

James is enjoying the course, he sees it as a great chance to learn and socialise with people that have a common goal. He’s now working on portfolio projects having successfully completed course work. In the future wants to continue making similar games that have a positive effect on kids.

Train2Game student James Mahon: ‘We’ve made massive progress on the game’s environments and challenges. It’s a platformer that embraces traditional gameplay in with a cartoon look and feel. There are six different worlds for players to explore. In them, collecting items is a major part of the game flow and finding the hidden objectives are the main goal. When goals are accomplished, the player will set their own personal achievements for them to beat again, allowing for replay-ability and extended gameplay time.’

‘The game story features Fabble and Minx who are on a quest to find the lost rice grains throughout the different worlds in their universe. Their ultimate goal is to defeat Ghosthead, a mutant bug that terrorized the lost rice grains into fleeing their home. There are a variety of monsters, big and small, to defeat and a good range of challenges to overcome on their quest.’

‘The current focus is in programming to make the game’s challenges work as planned. There a numerous obstacles and pitfalls that we have to get functional in order start creating levels. We’re a small team with a big project and it’s very time consuming especially programming so that’s where a large part of the workforce is currently.’

‘The journey so far has been challenging but a lot of fun nonetheless. Taking a concept from paper to a working product is hard work but a rewarding experience. I’ve learned to appreciate game-making much like playing a game. There’s always a personal sense of accomplishment when overcoming a challenge and that’s what motivates me to continue.’

‘I’ve successfully interviewed a candidate who is also a student of Train2Game on the QA game tester course. He’s currently providing much needed support with the programming tasks and has the major role as head of QA throughout development.’

‘The recruitment drive is over for now. We have enough workers to get the project done and on time. There will be a new recruitment drive when the game enters QA in the later stages of development. We’ll be on the lookout for beta testers and even testers that fit within the game’s target audience. The most preferable skill is a working knowledge of programming concepts to be able to break the game and find bugs that could ruin the game experience.’

‘Level design is next on the list for the game, as soon as the game’s challenges are implemented. My studies as a designer will help out with this most important aspect. I want to create simple but fun gameplay with a variety of challenges while embracing the traditional platformer gameplay style.’

‘I’m currently halfway through with my Train2Game portfolio projects after having successfully completed my tutor marked assignments. I enjoy reading through my course work and applying what I’ve learned. Also, being a part of Train2Game’s community seeing as I have somewhere to hang out and socialize with people that have a similar passion. There’s also the much needed support for students from staff to help make our ambitions become a reality.’

‘In the future, I want to start an independent videogame company to specialize in creating mobile and PC games for kids. Fabble’s Adventure is the only game I’m committed to at the moment. I have other games for kids in the concept stage waiting to be created. I want to finish what I’m doing with this game before I take on another project.’

‘It’s still important for me to create games for kids. I wouldn’t want to turn down a good opportunity to create video game products, I believe, they will love. I also believe video games are a great learning tool and that means a lot more for me to create games that have a positive influence on kids.’

https://www.facebook.com/Fabbles-Adventure-937004039692461

For more information contact: mark@train2game.com

Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry

Train2Game is a proud supporter of www.gamatier.com

Train2Game News Free WoW with Warcraft Movie

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Warcraft MovieWhen the credits roll in the theater, a new adventure awaits at home—Blizzard Entertainment today announced an epic promotion that gives moviegoers a chance to continue the journey they began in Legendary Pictures’ Warcraft® movie.

In celebration of the film’s upcoming theatrical release (visit http://media.wow-europe.com/landing/wow/movie/ for European release dates), anyone who buys a ticket to see Warcraft from participating partners across Europe will receive a free digital copy of World of Warcraft®—the acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game played by millions of people worldwide.

“A whole new audience will experience the war between the Alliance and the Horde when the Warcraft movie hits theaters,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re excited to give moviegoers a chance to participate in that conflict firsthand and explore Azeroth for themselves after seeing it on the big screen.”

For a list of participating partners in Europe, visit here.

In addition, World of Warcraft players around the globe can celebrate the movie’s release by customizing their in-game weapons with four movie-inspired looks, including the ornate sword and shield carried by soldiers of the Alliance, a massive and menacing Horde axe, and the staff of the fel-twisted orc warlock Gul’dan. Players who log in to the game between May 25 and August 1 will automatically receive this free set of cosmetic gear to permanently add to their collection.

Find out more about World of Warcraft and this promotion at www.warcraft.com/movie .

Train2game News SDKBOX launches Amazon IAP

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SDKBOX today launched Amazon In-App Purchasing (IAP) within its revolutionary live game operations platform. Starting today, Cocos developers will be able to enable frictionless Amazon payment options such as in-game currency, expansion packs, upgrades, and more for purchase within apps.

Kai Zhao, Head of Operations for SDKBOX, said: “We are continuing to expand our platform leadership with seamless access to key services such as Amazon’s In-App Purchasing API. Cocos developers will be able to enable fast, easy purchasing to increase engagement and monetization within their apps.”

SDKBOX supports industry-leading services for mobile game production and operations, including analytics, user acquisition, monetization, advertising, compliance and more. A recent 2.0 update brought new capabilities including receipt verification for in-app purchases, live ops controls, cloud-based game configuration management and more.

With the addition of Amazon IAP to the SDKBOX platform, Cocos developers can enable simple, secure, and trusted 1-click purchase experiences, resulting in increased engagement and conversion rates for purchases within apps.

Over 700,000 registered developers leverage the award-winning Cocos2d-x open-source game engine, which currently features over 50,000 published titles to date, including some of the world’s top grossing games like Clash of Kings, Puzzle & Dragons, Monster Strike, Fantasy Westward Journey Mobile, Big Fish Casino, The Legend of Mir 2, and The King of Fighters’ 98. SDKBOX is dedicated to enabling simple and easy to integrate services, like Amazon IAP, for Cocos developers worldwide.

For more information on Amazon IAP for SDKBOX, please visit www.sdkbox.com