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Train2Game news: RTI 2 launching to cover Train2Game and Epic Games’ Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show
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Train2Game students will be taking part in Train2Game and Epic Games’ Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show Live next week, as they compete to win a fully licensed Unreal Development Kit for IOS.
If you’re not one of the thousands of people who’ll be able the games based on Fighting Fantasy being built live on the Train2Game stand at the Birmingham NEC, you can still keep up to date with the latest developments through RTI 2, a new online channel launching next week, specifically to cover Make Something Unreal Live.
RTI 2 will being you reports, previews and interviews – including some with the legendary games industry figures advising Train2Game students – as Commando Kiwi, Derp Studios, IndigoJam and Digital Mage strive to complete their Fighting Fantasy games for IOS live in front of the crowds at The Gadget Show.
Reporters Danny Palmer, Harry Cole and Debby Penton will be there to bring you the latest news as it breaks.
You’ll be able to tune into RTI 2 live from next Wednesday, with perhaps a little sneak peak coming on Tuesday too. Tune in to the channel right here, or via the link below.
Interviews with Train2Game students taking part in Make Something Unreal Live are right here on The Train2Game Blog.
Train2Game news: Next-gen ‘Samaritan’ visuals available on PC “right now” say Epic
Train2Game students have probably seen Epic Games’ impressive Samaritan tech demo by now, and with the quality graphics and animation, you’d be forgiven for thinking that a game like that could only be achieved with a next gen console.
But according to Epic vice president Mark Rein, Samaritan like graphics are available “right now” if you happen to have access to a high spec PC.
“In fact, Unreal Development Kit has all the features that powered Samaritan – every single graphics feature you can do. We could have shown another 30 videos,” he told CVG.
“We have guys doing stuff on high end PCs that are just outside of the gaming space that are really pushing the envelope there. So that to us is pretty exciting – and you can do that now.”
As previously reported by The Train2Game Blog, Unreal Engine 4 was shown to a select group of developers at GDC. But Rein added that there’s still plenty of life left in Unreal Engine 3.
“The UE4 stuff is very futuristic. UE3 is really the horse for this year.” he said.
Of course, Train2Game students are currently preparing to use Epic’s Unreal Engine for iOS to make games as part of Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show
For more about Epic Games, the Unreal Development Kit and that Samaritan tech demo,see The Train2Game Blog interview with Epic European Territory Manager Mike Gamble, who was speaking to us at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam.
What are your thoughts on Rein’s remarks on the graphical capibilities of the current and future Unreal Engine?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game news: All the Make Something Unreal Live interviews in one place
Train2Game News has recently posted a number of interviews with students taking part in Make Something Unreal Live. The event, which takes place at The Gadget Show Live, sees four Train2Game student teams making games based on the prestigious Fighting Fantasy IP in an effort to win a fully licensed Unreal Development Kit for iOS.
In order to make them easier to find, we’ve put links to each Make Something Unreal Live interview below, in which the Train2Game student contestants reveal a bit about their games and tell us how they feel about taking part in the event. You can also listen to each interview here. Enjoy!
Team Digital Mage
Interview with Laurence Kinane.
Team Commando Kiwi
Interview with Jonny Robinson.
Team Derp Studios
Team IndigoJam
Keep up to date with the latest Make Something Unreal Live news, right here on The Train2Game Blog.
As usual, leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game interview: Daniel Rutter of Make Something Unreal Live team IndigoJam
Train2Game students are launching four new development studios in 2012 as part of ‘Make Something Unreal Live,’ a competitive process designed to accelerate their careers by giving them the tools and resources needed to release games for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch this spring.
The studios are Commando Kiwi, Derp Studios, Digital Mage and Indigo Jam.
The first titles released by the studios will be based on the Fighting Fantasy series of books created by Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson.
We caught up with IndigoJam’s Daniel Rutter to find out how the road to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show has gone so far. Listen via Train2Game Radio or read it here on The Train2Game Blog.
Hi Daniel, what’s the name of your team for Make Something Unreal Live, and why has it got that name?
We’re called IndigoJam Games, and there are a few different reasons. The main one is that Indigo is a colour that scientists can’t decide whether it does or doesn’t exist and it has a bit of mystery around it. And the word jam comes from, well, we all met at the Train2Game & Epic game jam. That’s how we got to know each other, that’s what we’ve got in common and those things came together and sounded quite tasty and so we ran with it.
You’re now moving forward to Make Something Unreal Live where you’re using the Fighting Fantasy IP to make a game, which is of the Fighting Fantasy books is your game going to be based on?
The book we’re doing is one of my personal favourites, and it’s Deathtrap Dungeon.
What genre of game are you making?
We were given the genre of the action adventure game, probably one of the broadest ones out there.
But it goes well with Deathtrap Dungeon.
Definitely. We had the choice of House of Hell or Deathtrap Dungeon. We thought House of Hell was more of a survival horror – still a good IP that we’d love to do at some point – but Deathtrap Dungeon fitted really well with our action adventure brief.
Tell us a bit about your game then, the mechanics, how it works.
We’ve opted for doing a first person action adventure game, keeping with the idea of the book that you are the player, it’s all about you, you don’t have another character there that’s getting in the way of the story, it’s just you and the action. We’ve also stuck to keeping dice for combat, which is very much rooted into that mythos, that’s what all of the books have, that’s what I fondly remember.
We also have a little things like environment kills and being able to sneak around; you can play through the levels in a couple of different ways depending on whether you like doing the combat with dice, or whether you’d rather avoid the enemies of dispatch of them in other ways.
And how have you found developing for the IOS platform?
Developing the game has been fantastic. We’re fairly early adopters for UDK on IOS, there have been a few games and they’re gradually coming out now, so it’s really been a finding our own way of doing things. But once you sort it out, it’s amazing, especially the way we can plug in our iPhone or iPad, plug in the game and actually have it there, play test it, it’s really, really good.
How have you found the transition from being a team at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, to being a fully functioning game developer working towards Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show?
It started off absolutely terrifying! Suddenly, you’ve gone from 48 hours where I’d turned up for the experience and to have fun, and we came out really well from it, which is really good. And then suddenly The Gadget Show is up for grabs, a licence is up for grabs, we really had to knuckle down and come up with something. But we’ve had to work around some clever ways of working because we’re not in the same room, you can’t just lean over and look at what another person is working on.
So, our lead programmer set us up with a forum where we originally started coming up with ideas. Then we were given our IP, we have a Teamspeak account so we can all chat online, so we verbally communicate. We use various web based software for sharing screens, so we are kind of working in the same room, but over the internet.
Are you looking forward to making a game at The Gadget Show live, potentially in front of thousands of people?
I’m really looking forward to it actually, I really am. I’ve always been interested in games, and if something like this had been going on I would’ve been there to see what’s going on and I’m sure lots of people will have lots of questions and I now feel like I’m in a position where I can answer some of those questions because we’re doing it. That’s really cool.
What are the contact details for IndigoJam on Facebook and Twitter?
Our Twitter handle is @IndigoJamGames and our Facebook page is also IndigoJamGames. So come along, like us, follow us, we’ll share information with you.
Thanks for your time and good luck for The Gadget Show.
Keep up to date with the latest news from Make Something Unreal Live here on The Train2Game Blog.
Train2Game interview: Stuart Moore of Make Something Unreal Live team Derp Studios
Train2Game students are launching four new development studios in 2012 as part of ‘Make Something Unreal Live,’ a competitive process designed to accelerate their careers by giving them the tools and resources needed to release games for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch this spring.
The studios are Commando Kiwi, Derp Studios, Digital Mage and Indigo Jam.
The first titles released by the studios will be based on the Fighting Fantasy series of books created by Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson.
We caught up with Stuart Moore of Derp Studios to find out how the road to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show has gone so far. Listen via Train2Game Radio or read it here on The Train2Game Blog.
Hi Stuart, how have you found being part of Derp Studios on the road to Make Something Unreal Live?
Very chaotic, but also very enjoyable. I’ve got a great team working with me, there’s a whole range of personalities and they’re really lovely people, I’ve made some good friends and I’m really enjoying working with the Unreal Engine and making massive progress, some great leaps recently in installing the software onto the device and just seeing it in action blows your mind.
So, you’re enjoying using UDK?
Yeah, the software is really good, really intuitive. As a developer, using the tool that they’ve called Kismet, it really lets you visualise all the development that you’re doing. Instead of seeing lines and lines of code, you get to actually see images on the screen of the actions you want the engine to take.
You’re working with the Fighting Fantasy IP, which book is your game going to be based on?
We’re making a sequel to the book The Citadel of Chaos. That’s basically a story which revolves around a mage who was sent to assassinate the evil Balthus Dire, who is attempting to get another Army of Chaos from another realm.
So there’s a lot of Might & Magic style things in the game.
Yeah, there will be a lot of spells and we want the player to rely more on the spells and strategy and only use their melee as a last resort.
How are you finding developing a first person game for IOS?
As far as I’m aware, there aren’t many first person games for IOS, so I think we’re really hoping to revolutionise the platform and get more hardcore gamers on iPad and on iPhone. But also we want to incorporate a mini-game so you can play on a casual commute if you’ve just got half an hour on the train so you will be able to hack and slash. But if you want to sit at home for a few hours you can play through the story and that mode will be quite immersive, we hope.
So, you’re essentially doing two games in one.
Yeah, we’re hoping to have two completely separate modes, one rough and ready that gets you into the game to kill as many enemies as possible to get the highest score that you can. And also, we’re hoping to have an engaging, in-depth story mode to keeping the player interested, wanting to know what happens next, where is the next twist coming from.
The team formed at the Train2Game and Epic Games Game Jam, how have you found the transition from that to working as a fully operating game development studio.
I’d say one of the major difficulties that we have is the distance between some of our team members. We have to rely mostly on communicating over the internet using Skype and Facebook, and we’ve got a pretty good program called SVN which we can use to share files. But apart from that, you wouldn’t really be able to tell that we’re not having that many face-to-face meetings. We’re gelling really well and the progress is coming along leaps and bounds.
And there’s still plenty of time to go before you take part in Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show, how do you think you’re going to find building the final stages at the big event where potentially thousands of people could be watching?
The pressure is going to be on, to have five days to build the game. Hopefully we’ll know exactly what we’re doing, the whole process has been a massive learning curve.
And finally, tell us the contact details for Derp Studios, of your Facebook page and Twitter page.
We’re available on Facebook at www.facebook.com/derpstudios and on Twitter it’s www.twitter.com/derpstudios
Great Stuart, thanks for your time.
Thank you.
Keep up to date with the latest news from Make Something Unreal Live here on The Train2Game Blog.
Train2Game interview: Adam Sherratt of Make Something Unreal Live team Commando Kiwi
Train2Game students are launching four new development studios in 2012 as part of ‘Make Something Unreal Live,’ a competitive process designed to accelerate their careers by giving them the tools and resources needed to release games for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch this spring.
The studios are Commando Kiwi, Derp Studios, Digital Mage and Indigo Jam.
The first titles released by the studios will be based on the Fighting Fantasy series of books created by Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson.
We caught up with Commando Kiwi’s Adam Sherratt to find out how the road to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show has gone so far. Listen via Train2Game Radio or read it here on The Train2Game Blog.
Hi Adam, tell us about your team for Make Something Unreal Live, Commando Kiwi.
We all met at the Train2Game & Epic Games game jam in November. We all worked very closely together then and we actually came up with the winning game, obviously, that’s why we’re in this competition! We’ve all grown very close, working closely together on these projects, and we’ve got a nice range of skill sets – we have somebody who is good at just about everything – and it’s really working for us.
How are you finding working with the Fighting Fantasy IP and the Unreal Engine?
The Fighting Fantasy is very exciting. I honestly hadn’t heard of it previous to this, but having read the book, I can see why the series is so popular and it was a very exciting experience to read the book and think ‘we’re going to make a game out of that.’ As for the Unreal Engine, it’s been incredibly helpful, it has little quirks, but I can honestly say, without using such an amazing technology, we wouldn’t be able to pull this off in the time we’ve got.
You’re making a third person game on IOS for Make Something Unreal Live, how is the process of that going? Building a game using UDK for iPad?
It’s a bit more difficult than making a traditional game for PC, there’s a lot of considerations you’ve got to have in watching the performance and that sort of thing; you’ve got to build things in a particular way. Obviously, being on a small screen means you’ve got to watch how it’s laid out. It’s been quite a challenging process but also quite rewarding, because it’s pushed us more to think about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it and how it’ll work for the player.
So you’ve learned new things as you’ve gone along, in addition to using the knowledge you already have through Train2Game courses?
That’s right. As the lead programmer I use a lot of Unreal scripts, and the Train2Game course teaches you C++ which is very similar. I must say, this experience has been incredibly educational, I’ve gone away and learned lots of different things, and putting these into the game has been very exciting and a great learning experience.
What have been some of the landmarks so far in the development of your game?
This first landmark was just getting a character on the screen and running around! We have a very simple touch and move interface, and just getting that nailed so anybody could play it – a 10 year old, a 40 year old, whoever wants to play it – it’s so simple anyone could play it. Next key, milestone is we’ve recently got battles working; once again it’s a very simple interface which we can’t go into much about now, secrets, secrets! But once again, it’s a very simple Fighting Fantasy meets Final Fantasy style, very exciting times.
How have you found the transition from being a team at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam to being a fully functioning game development studio working on IOS with UDK?
It hasn’t been too bad really because we got on so well at the game jam, and we all became good friends then. The only challenge really is communicating via Skype and the internet. We have our own forum, Facebook page, Basecamp, Skype conferencing every week and we talk to each other over the phone. The only challenging part really is the distance, but we keep in close contact with one another and as a result we’ve been able to stay close together as a team just like we were at the game jam.
Distance won’t be a problem when you’re at The Gadget Show Live, how much are you looking forward to being part of Make Something Unreal live at The NEC, Birmingham?
It’s incredibly exciting. I mean, I’d heard of it beforehand, but I never thought I’d get the opportunity to compete at it. So I’m incredibly excited to show the judges and obviously the 125,000 people there what we can do.
For those who want to keep up to date with Commando Kiwi on the road to Make Something Unreal Live, what are the details of Facebook and Twitter?
You can like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/commkiwi or on Twitter @CommandoKiwi.
Great, thanks for your time Adam and good luck.
Thank you very much.
Keep up to date with the latest news from Make Something Unreal Live here on The Train2Game Blog.
Train2Game news: PC is best platform to begin making games for says Bleszinski
Train2Game students looking to kick start a career in making indie games should develop games for PC. That’s according to Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski, who gave advice to the game developers of tomorrow at a panel session at GDC.
“Xbox Live and PSN, skip both of them because you’re at Sony or Microsoft’s will as to what’s on the dashboard. iOS, maybe, but you have to have Apple’s approval, there’s too much piracy on Android, no one has a Windows phone, Kickstarter’s wonderful, go Tim Schafer. I would go with the PC.” he said.
It’s not the first time Bleszinski has given advice to aspiring game developers, with the Train2Game Blog previously reporting that the Epic man suggests game developers need to make themselves stand out.
“First and foremost, make a great game but also have a personality. Be the guy with the hip glasses, with the one gauge earring and the gamer tattoo all the way to the sleeves with a skateboard. Stand out.” he said.
Keep up with Cliff Bleszinski here on The Train2Game Blog.
Train2Game and Epic Games are working together to host Make Something Unreal Live, a contest taking place at The Gadget Show live which will see one Train2Game student team walk away with a licensed Unreal Development Kit. Find out more here on The Train2Game Blog.
So, what are your thoughts on Bleszinski’s advice? Do you agree that the PC is the best platform for indie devs to begin with?
Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
Train2Game interview: Jonny Robinson of Train2Game & Epic Games Make Something Unreal Live team Commando Kiwi
Train2Game students are launching four new development studios in 2012 as part of ‘Make Something Unreal Live,’ a competitive process designed to accelerate their careers by giving them the tools and resources needed to release games for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch this spring.
The studios are Commando Kiwi, Derp Studios, Digital Mage and Indigo Jam.
The first titles released by the studios will be based on the Fighting Fantasy series of books created by Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson.
We caught up with Commando Kiwi’s Jonny Robinson to find out how the road to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show has gone so far. Listen via Train2Game Radio or read it here on The Train2Game Blog.
Hi Jonny. Your team for Make Something Unreal Live is called Commando Kiwi, what made you decide on that name?
There wasn’t really any decision on the name, it was just a case of asking ourselves what sounded cool, what sounded indie and we just chose Commando Kiwi. Someone on the team just said ‘Commando Kiwi sounds cool’ so we decided to roll with it. It wasn’t a real decision, because we didn’t want to take ourselves too seriously as a team, we just want to have as much fun as possible.
And you had a bit of fun making the Commando Kiwi logo as well.
Oh yes. If you didn’t know, we hosted a little competition, a little social media pump if anything. We asked our Facebook fans to make us a logo, and the best one, a team decision, was made our actual logo, and thanks to Dave Higgins, we have a cool little logo. So that’s going to be representing us for the Make Something Unreal Live event.
You’ll be working with the prestigious Fighting Fantasy IP, which book in particular is your game going to be based on?
We’ve got The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the iconic one…unfortunately. Well, it’s not unfortunate but it’s just more pressure compared, I think, to the other teams.
And which genre of game have you been assigned to make?
We were given the third person style. At the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam, I read out ‘third’ at the presentation, so we’ve taken on the assumption of third person.
Does that mean the game is Fable-esque, perhaps?
No…I’d like to think our game has taken the course of Final Fantasy meets Infinity Blade. We’d like to say it’s a good looking game, really lush, with this kind of strategy element, making sure you pick the right moves at the right time like you’d see in a normal Final Fantasy. We’ve designed it that way so it has simple controls and not too thumbs heavy; it’s the same as another touch and play game.
How have you found working with UDK in the run up to Make Something Unreal Live?
It’s a great piece of kit. It’s been stressful at times, but it’s just like with any piece of software, there have been builds that have gone down and we’ve had to rebuild, luckily I’ve got an amazing team. We’ve tackled some hard problems on the UDK, we’ve bent the engine to our will, but it’s looking really cool and hopefully we’ll be delivering an awesome game.
And how have you found the transition from being a team at the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam, to being a fully functioning team going forward to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show?
One word? Nervous, just so nervous; the pressure is on, especially if you’ve got a big name like The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. I’ve read about it, I’ve read the books. I only first read the books two years back, but what I read was really cool because Train2Game actually talked about it (in the course books) which is why I was surprised when we got the IP of it! This is big.
How much are you looking forward to taking part in the event? How does the prospect of being there in Birmingham at the NEC while making a game make you feel?
Er, scared…Don’t get me wrong, it’s going to be an amazing experience. The reason I’m so scared is because it could change our life, and if anything there’s more pressure to get it right. If anything, these shots don’t happen very often, and we want to deliver as best as we can for this opportunity we’ve been given.
But the skills you’ve learned through the Train2Game course will help you throughout the process.
Oh yes, they’ve helped tremendously, especially for team management and project management for game design. It’s really opened a lot of the team’s eyes for what we’ve had to do. If anything, we’ve learned a lot more for this little development, and the Train2Game course helped.
What are the contact details of the Commando Kiwi social media pages?
It’s www.facebook.com/comkiwi and for Twitter it’s @CommandoKiwi We’re more than happy to engage with our fans.
Thanks for your time Jonny, and good luck.
Thanks Danny.
Keep up to date with the latest news from Make Something Unreal Live here on The Train2Game Blog.
Train2Game interview: Craig Moore of Train2Game & Epic Games Make Something Unreal Live team Digital Mage
Train2Game students are launching four new development studios in 2012 as part of ‘Make Something Unreal Live,’ a competitive process designed to accelerate their careers by giving them the tools and resources needed to release games for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch this spring.
The studios are Commando Kiwi, Derp Studios, Digital Mage and Indigo Jam.
The first titles released by the studios will be based on the Fighting Fantasy series of books created by Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson.
We caught up with Digital Mage’s Craig Moore to find out how the road to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show has gone so far. Listen via Train2Game Radio or read it here on The Train2Game Blog.
Hi Craig. Why did you decide to call your Make Something Unreal Live game development team Digital Mage?
Well, originally we were called Team Gandalf, and because we’re using the visage of a mage and everything like that, it just seemed a bit close to the bone in regards to licensing. So, we decided to change to something that was equally wizardy and call ourselves Digital Mage, which actually came about because we found a random name generator online and it happened that upon us. It kind of felt like fate.
And I guess it works well with the Fighting Fantasy IP you’re working on, can you tell us which book in particular your game is based on?
We’re working on Armies of Death.
And what genre is your game going to be?
Luckily for us, we’re making a strategy game, and we’re hoping to do something quite fun and interesting with it within what we can do with the engine itself.
How have you found using UDK on IOS and how are you finding making a strategy game out of it.
In all honesty we’re working against the grain, it feels at the moment. It’s a lot of hard work but hopefully it should be good when we get it all up and running, we’ve managed to make some quite nice headway with it and we’ve got some really good stuff and it’s looking promising. We should be able to deliver the game we want to deliver at the end of it, the game we set out to deliver when we first started planning it all out.
What’s going to make your game different?
There are a lot of strategy games in general out there – tower defence is a huge genre on IOS devices – but one on the Unreal Engine is a completely different story, that’s a bit of a rare beast.
What particular element of strategy are you going for in particular?
We’re doing what we like to call ‘Tower Offence’ where we’re changing the game upsidedown on its head and you’re no longer places all the towers, you’re doing the attacking.
How have you found the transition from being Team Gandalf at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, to being Digital Mage, a fully operative game development studio?
It’s a lot of hard work, we have to spend a lot of hours in the evening just communicating things that could be done very easily in face to face situations. But it’s slowly coming together as a lot of people in the team who’d never worked in teams before are getting the hang of it now and it’s all kind of slowly falling into place which is really good. It’s a credit to the team themselves who are coming together nicely and it’s working well.
What targets have you met recently that you’re particularly proud of?
As sad as it sounds, about 1 a.m. last night he had a massive breakthrough. We managed to get all of our units appearing in the game and with little animations. It was kind of a real nice penny drop moment where we thought we could actually do this, and come up with something that potentially could be really cool.
And you’re looking forward to many more of those moments on the road to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show?
Yeah, hopefully! Fingers crossed we should have lots of more of those and they should just get better and better with each turn.
And how much are you looking forward to the event itself, working on the game in front of potentially a large audience in Birmingham?
It should be fantastic. The size of the crew and the crowd don’t really phase me in any way, it’ll be really nice just to have the team together in one place after all this learning experience building up to it, but having all that power and working knowledge in just one place again will be a really, really nice feeling and it should help us mould even better as a team.
For those who want to find out more about Digital Mage, what are your online contact details for Facebook and Twitter?
They can look for us on Facebook, just search for Digital Mage, we should show up with a little black icon. And on Twitter we’re @DigitalMage.
Great, thanks for time Craig and good luck.
Keep up to date with the latest news from Make Something Unreal Live here on The Train2Game Blog.
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