Tag Archives: Epic Games

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam interview: Train2Game Artist & Animator Amanda Blatch

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Train2Game & Epic Games gave Train2Game student teams the opportunity to win one of four places at The Gadget Show Live 2012 and compete for the chance to walk away with a fully licence Unreal Development Kit.  

Train2Game Art & Animation student Amanda Blatch (derelict-technica on the Train2Game forum) was one of those Train2Game students taking part. We had a quick chat with her during the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam to see how she was finding it.

Read it here, on the Train2Game Scribd, or listen via Train2Game radio

Find out more the about Train2Game & Epic Game Jam over at Unreal Insider.

We’re at about the half-way stage of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, how is it going?

It’s going quite well except for a few system crashes, but we’ve luckily regularly been saving so we haven’t lost too much, so yes, it’s going quite well. We will hopefully get it done in time.

So you’ve learned the importance of constantly backing things up with the system crashes, and was there a bit of a panic when that happened for the first time?

No, because I was going around at the beginning always saying save this, save that and I was getting on everyone’s nerves! So now everyone does it so I don’t bother them anymore.

The big question is have you actually slept yet, and if not, how are you finding it?

I haven’t slept yet, how many hours are we into this actually? I’ve lost track of time.

There’s about 28 hours to go.

I’ve done 36 hours in the past, I reckon I can still keep going because I’ve still got caffeine in my system!

What did you think about the Guy Fawkes theme when it was announced here at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam?

Should have seen it coming, really should have seen it coming. But luckily our team name fits the theme very well, which is Pryomation.

How did the first team meeting go after the theme was announced? What did you focus on, and was it a challenge to come up with something?

I think we’re all into similar sorts of games so it wasn’t much of an issue. We came up with a concept then about two hours in suddenly ideas changed, then we went back to our original concept seeing as how much we’d already developed it. We learned that keep to the idea we know best rather than doing something new and ruining everything.

There’s a big prize for the winners of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam as Mike Gamble announced in the opening ceremony, what would it mean to you if your team got to The Gadget Show Live next year?

A few people in my team weren’t aware of this prize and when they heard about it they were shocked for a long time afterwards, it drove them more into wanting to win this game jam. That’s why most of us have stayed up and haven’t slept yet and only two people crashed because they had to sleep.

How have you found the experience of game jamming, do you think it’s actually going to help you develop as an artist?

Yes it is. I’m learning quite a lot of new things from other people here because back at home you don’t have anyone else to talk to. Here you have help all the time and it’s really good and helpful.

It’s been a positive thing then, being able to meet up with 150 other Train2Game students?

I haven’t actually spoken to most of them yet because we’ve been so busy, only my team and a few others I knew from Eurogamer. I think we’re all set into winning this competition with such a huge prize that everyone wants their fame and fortune!

Judging by your experience so far, if you could do another Train2Game Game Jam in future, would you take the opportunity?

Hell yes! It’s really good fun.

Great, thanks for your time.

Thank you.

For more information go to www.train2game.com

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam on Unreal Insider blog

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Train2Game and Epic’s Game Jam was a huge success last weekend, and now Epic Games European Territory Manager Mike Gamble has posted about it on the Unreal Insider blog

Gamble’s post not only gives some great publicity to Train2Game, especially the winning game jam teams, but also offers some insider information about how difficult it was to judge the games made using UDK.

Read about the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam on the Unreal Insider blog here.

The Unreal Insider blog also promises to post future updates about the winning teams as they work their way towards Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show Live next year.

There’s still plenty of reaction to come from the TrainGame & Epic Game Jam, stay tuned to the Train2Game blog and Train2Game Audioboo for plenty of interviews, including one with Mike Gamble himself.

For more information, see the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam official website.

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam Interview: Craig Moore, leader of winning team ‘Team Gandalf’’

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Train2Game & Epic Games gave Train2Game student teams the opportunity to win one of four places at The Gadget Show Live and compete for the chance to walk away with a fully licence Unreal Development Kit.  

Train2Game Game Designer Craig Moore was part of ‘Team Gandalf’ one of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam teams that’ll be heading to ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at The Gadget Show. Train2Game caught up with him right after the winners were revealed to find out how it felt to win, how the game jam went, and if he’d recommend taking part in one.

Read the interview here,on the Train2Game Scribd page, or listen on the Train2Game Audioboo site. Leave your comments here on the blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Congratulations Craig, Team Gandalf are one of the winners of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, as team leader, how do you feel?

A bit dumbstruck but absolutely over the moon! We had such a fantastic team, they did such an amazing job. It almost felt as if it was going too well, we’ve had a brilliant weekend, just brilliant.

And what does it mean to you to be one of the four teams going to The Gadget Show Live to Make Something Unreal Live next year?

It’s a fantastic opportunity, we couldn’t have asked for anything better. It’s such a hard thing to get into, but this should really help us get into careers and with everything really.

Tell us a bit about your Guy Fawkes themed game

What we were aiming for was almost a Medieval Portal style game and we had a fantasy theme with puzzle rooms. Basically, you’re the guy who dobbed in the whole Gunpowder plot scheme and you’re being chased by the ghost of Guy Fawkes and it’s very psychological, we went for dark rooms and an almost horror like game.

So how did your team find the whole Train2Game & Epic Game Jam experience?

A lot of learning went on, we had such a range of skills in our team. You could tell as we were getting towards the end of the jam the levels were getting better, our knowledge was getting much, much better and it was just flowing really well and we felt like such a good team together.

And how did you deal with the tiredness that took place during the game jam, because 48 hours is obviously a long time to work. It was an experience, right?

Oh, complete experience! Thankfully because it was going so well people were just planning out their time and jobs we had between us and just sleeping when they needed to. It just went really, really well.

And how are you looking forward to making a game over the coming months for The Gadget Show Live?

This is the dream for all of us, it’s working towards the main goal, the main prize, that’s going to be the driving force for everyone. It’s going to be a hard six months but should be a fantastic time as well.

And what would it mean to you if you won the big prize, the fully licensed UDK iOS development kit.

I couldn’t even explain what that’d mean to me, it’d just be incredible. It’s obviously the dream and it’s because of Train2Game that we’ve managed to get there. We’re going to go for it and it should be a really good fight.

Overall then, would you recommend taking part in a Game Jam to anyone else?

Without a doubt, if you’ve got the opportunity, go for it, go to a game jam. It’s an amazing chance not only to get a feel for making games, but also being in a team, working with people you don’t necessarily know, it’s a brilliant personality building opportunity as well.

Going into a game jam you’ve just got to keep a level head, try not to be too enthusiastic, within the engine you’re using, work out what you can and can’t do, work out with your team what their skills are and just plan.

Thanks for your time

For more information go to www.train2game.com

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam Interview: Nick Stones, leader of winning team ‘Nova Eye’

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Train2Game & Epic Games gave Train2Game student teams the opportunity to win one of four places at The Gadget Show Live and compete for the chance to walk away with a fully licence Unreal Development Kit.  

Train2Game Game Designer Nick Stones was part of ‘Nova Eye’ one of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam teams that’ll be heading to ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at The Gadget Show. Train2Game caught up with him right after the winners were revealed to find out how it felt to win, how the game jam went, and if he’d recommend taking part in one.

Read the interview her, the Train2Game Scribd page, or listen on the Train2Game Audioboo site.

 Nova Eye are one of four winning teams at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam with the opportunity to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show Live next year, what does that mean to you?

It’s such a fantastic opportunity and we’re definitely going to make every effort to make 100% of that. I’m over the moon at the moment. I came here, this is my first game jam, I didn’t know what to expect and it’s gone all in our favour. I was delivered a great team and I’ve been able to manage that very well and it’s shown and that’s it at the end of the day. I’m really excited to know that we’ve done our job and it’s gone well. I’m very anxious to know what we can do now for the future.

Was it difficult to contain your excitement when the winners were announced?

Since we’ve been doing this for 48 hours I was quite fine, but overall I was still shocked because I’d only just done my presentation to the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam judges. That was a gruelling experience in itself because I was quite nervous so it’s all still going through my head really.

How big an opportunity for you do you think it is for you to go to The Gadget Show Live and potentially walk away with a fully licensed UDK development kit?

We’ve been given this opportunity, we can put this on our CVs, this is a landmark for us. Everyone who has participated in the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, we can always say we have won a game jam and there’s nothing that can change that. Overall, it’s amazing and I’m really happy to know that this is possible.

 Tell us a bit about the game Nova Eye has produced here at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, based on the theme of Guy Fawkes.

Our Guy Fawkes theme was quite wacky. We basically wanted to break the fourth wall. Our game was about Guy Fawkes and his production levels for Bonfire night. Fireworks weren’t selling, they were being outsold by Halloween and Christmas. So basically, Guy Fawkes is attempting to make sure that Christmas is knocked out of the sale so his markets would increase. What he ends up doing is going to the North Pole and using his custom rocket launcher that shoots fireworks to blow up anything that’s in Santa’s workshop.  That idea is completely crazy, I know that but it’s worked and I think it’s very refreshing.

How did you come up with that idea?

It was actually just a spur of the moment thing. We were talking about how Halloween and Bonfire night, and somebody just went ‘It’s crazy to see all this Christmas stuff before Halloween’ and it went from there. What if, thinking of it from a market side, Guy Fawkes is angry about that and he wants to change it. So there it was, it was a catalyst out of nothing really, just a spur of the moment thought that happened through socialising. So, don’t think you have to go out of the way to make these fantastic ideas, they can come from anything.

So you’d recommend taking part in a Train2Game Game Jam to others?

Yes, I would definitely recommend it. The experience that you get is unlike anything else. You get thrown in at the deep end but it’s not as bad as it sounds. You get to work with some fantastic people, don’t feel unconfident in your own skills, believe in yourself, make sure you’re happy with yourself to come down. Everyone didn’t know what they were doing so don’t worry about it, just come down and get in the moment really! That’s all I can say, get in the moment.

And the team will have to go through the process of designing a game with the genre you’ve picked out for The Gadget Show live. Tell us about the genre, and what your initial thoughts on it are.

We were given Action Adventure.  Our game that we won with was an Action Adventure so it’s something we can already work with depending on the construction of the brief. But since we’ve already done Action Adventure I feel that our confidence level is just that little bit higher than anyone elses’ because we’ve already got something that we’ve worked with already and have previous experience with. I’m over the moon with it. It’s got broad environments so I can work with it and I know my team will be able to do just as well.

 

For more information go to www.train2game.com

 

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam interview: The A-Team’s Jonny Robinson on winning

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Train2Game & Epic Games gave Train2Game student teams the opportunity to win one of four places at The Gadget Show Live and compete for the chance to walk away with a fully licence Unreal Development Kit.  

Train2Game Game Designer Jonny Robinson is one of ‘The A-Team’ one of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam teams that’ll be heading to ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at The Gadget Show. Train2Game caught up with him to find out how it felt to win, how the game jam went, and if he’d recommend taking part in one.

Read the interview here, on the Train2Game Scribd page, or listen on the Train2Game Audioboo site.

Congratulations Jonny, your team, the A-Team are one of the winners of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, how does that make you feel?

I just love it when a plan comes together. [Laughs] As crazy as that seems I’m over the moon. I was saying to the team there’s a good chance we’re not going to win, but I said to every single one that we’re going to have as much fun as possible, we’re going to get along and we’re going to make friends. Don’t aim to win, aim to have as much fun as possible was my advice.

What does it mean to you to go onto The Gadget Show Live, to Make Something Unreal Live, and have the chance of walking away with a UDK development kit?

Nervous, maybe? I remember speaking to you earlier about this, saying I didn’t want to win because I was so petrified that there was a chance that I might win, there’s such pressure on you. Obviously as a team, the team felt the pressure in the 48 hours. But My God, you don’t realise that absolutely everyone who went to the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, the amount of pressure there was. Believe it or not our game actually broke an hour before it was going to be shown to the judges, and the team bundled together and managed to build it again which is amazing.

The pressure of going to The Gadget Show Live is amazing, it’s a real win and I’m glad not for me, but the team, they’ve really earned it. I’ve not really put any visual input into the actual UDK engine but more direction for them and they’ve gone with it and it’s worked so…win! And congratulations to The A-Team, not just me but everyone, they all deserved it.

Tell us a bit about your Guy Fawkes themed game

Believe it or not it took us 4 hours to decide on a theme for the game. The team wasn’t really getting along together because 10 people into one idea isn’t really a good idea in itself. The thing to be a good game designer is to take everybody’s opinion into account to make a game everybody wants to make and not just that one person. I’m not a power hungry person so I don’t really say ‘I want to make a game about me, or what I want’ I say ‘I want to make a game that’ll make you feel happy.’

This is a game we’ve all had input on and I said ‘We’ve got this vision, lets drive it’ And everybody’s been fantastic, the team are dead proud of themselves and I’m happy for them more than me if anything.

And they’ll need to go through the process of thinking of a game again with the genre you’ve picked for The Gadget Show Live. Tell us about the genre and your initial thoughts on it.

I kind of messed up the announcement at the presentation! I said ‘3 R D’ kind of announcing how tired I am. I meant 3rd person and I wish I’d cottoned on sooner! With 3rd Person Action I feel more confident a lot more than any of the others actually. I know FPS is the general given with the UDK engine. UDK I know, I’ve watched tonnes of tutorials. I want to give a shout out to two guys from 3D Buzz and The New Boston. These guys have really helped me, I spent hours learning their tutorials. I’ve learned the UDK engine within the space of 4 months. That’s a lot of hard work, I’ve been doing 3 hours of work a day to learn the engine, so yeah, it showed!

Despite your tiredness, you’ve enjoyed the experience and would recommend it to others?

Oh definitely. We got to this point where we had the pessimistic and the optimistic. I was kind of the optimistic, trying to push people forward. There were a few team members who were negative but that just balanced it out. All together we’ve made a great game development team. I’d recommend anybody going to a Game Jam, especially a Train2Game Game Jam.

Thanks for your time Jonny, and best of luck.

Thanks very much.

 

 

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam winners “Over the moon”

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Train2Game & Epic Game Jam winners will wake up today in the knowledge that they’ve secured a place at ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at The Gadget Show Live and have the opportunity to walk away with an UDK iOS development kit

The winning teams were announced after a panel of judges including Epic Games Mike Gamble, and industry veteran Jon Hare saw every game developed by Train2Game students in the 48 hour period.

“This is a landmark for us.” said Train2Game student Nick Stones, Team B team leader. “Everyone who has participated in the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, we can always say we have won a game jam and there’s nothing that can change that.”

“It’s such a fantastic opportunity and we’re definitely going to make every effort to make 100% of that. I’m over the moon at the moment. I came here, this is my first game jam, I didn’t know what to expect and it’s gone all in our favour.” he said immediately after winning the 48 hour event.

Train2Game student Craig Moore, team leader of team G also said that winning the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam and going onto The Gadget Show Live is a great reward for his team.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity, we couldn’t have asked for anything better. It’s such a hard thing to get into, but this should really help us get into careers” Moore added that he felt “A bit dumbstruck but absolutely over the moon!”

“Going to The Gadget Show Live is amazing, it’s a real win and I’m glad not for me, but the team, they’ve really earned it.” said Team A’s Jonny Robinson, after staying awake for almost the entire Train2Game & Epic Game Jam.

“I just love it when a plan comes together.” he added. “As crazy as that seems I’m over the moon”

“The Train2Game & Epic Game Jam has been fantastic, a little tiring, but fantastic.” said Train2Game course leader Tony Bickley.

“It’s been a very good event and I’m proud at what the Train2Game students have been able to achieve, and even more proud of their dedication and passion.”

The Train2Game & Epic Game Jam winners will take part in ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ in the Birmingham NEC at The Gadget Show Live in April next year.

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam winners announced!

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UDK Train2Game blog imageThe Train2Game & Epic Game Jam is over and the winning teams are:

  • Team A (The A-Team)
  • Team B (Nova Eye)
  • Team G (Team Gandalf)

A fourth team has also been made up from individual students picked from the remaining seven participating in the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam

Each of them produced a game based around the theme of Guy Fawkes using Epic’s Unreal Engine.

These Train2Game student teams will ‘Make something Unreal Live’ at The Gadget Show Live 2012. The development teams will benefit from a six-month incubation period in which a range of senior industry veterans will nurture projects by reviewing key milestones, providing guidance and shaping scope.

During this time, talent will prepare for the final showdown at the Gadget Show Live, where more than 100,000 attendees will watch them bring to life Unreal Engine 3-powered creations in real time.

The winner of that will see their game get a full release.

Well done to the winning Train2Game & Epic Game Jam teams, and good luck preparing for ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at the Gadget Show next year. Good luck!

And thank you to every one of the ten Train2Game student teams that took part. Stay tuned to the Train2Game blog for more reaction.

Train2Game students, a timely reminder for you on the benefits of game jamming

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The Train2Game & Epic Game Jam begins today and gives the Train2Game students in attendance a great opportunity to build a complete, working game in just 48 hours.

Before the previous Train2Game Game Jam earlier this year, the Train2Game blog spoke to Mediatonic Director of Games Paul Croft about the benefits of game jams. Mediatonic themselves use them internally to create ideas for new games.

“I think it’s really good as it shows that you’re passionate and want to go beyond, and you’re actually genuinely enthusiastic and enjoy what you’re doing.” said Croft on the subject of Train2Game students participating in Game Jams.

“ It shows that it’s more than a job for you and you do it to have fun, you do it because you like it and that’s really the best indication that someone is going to good at their job is if they like it, so I’d say it can definitely help you from that regard. They might not be great portfolio pieces, because they’re kind of hacked together, but I guess with a 48 hour Game Jam you can get something pretty decent together in that time.”

He added that taking part in a Game Jam is also just a lot of fun.

“I encourage people to do Game Jams, I think it’s a great way to – of you’re in the industry or not in the industry – to break out, have fun. I personally like to do Game Jams because I get to do programming again. Just get involved and do it!”

Read the full interview with Mediatonic Director of Games Paul Croft here on the Train2Game blog.

The Train2Game & Epic Game Jam starts today and runs through until Sunday. The winners will get the opportunity to ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at The Gadget Show Live.

Those Train2Game students attending the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam should check out advice from Train2Game student Fiona Stewart.

Stay tuned to the Train2Game blog for updates throughout the weekend.

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game and Epic Games to Host ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at Gadget Show Live

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Train2Game and Epic Games have announced Make Something Unreal Live, an unprecedented event that’ll take place over six months and conclude at Gadget Show Live 2012.

The winner of Make Something Unreal Live will receive a commercial Unreal Engine 3 license for iOS.

Winners of the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam, happening November 4-6 at the University of Bedfordshire, will compete in the event next April. In both competitions, all games will be developed for iOS devices using Epic’s Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of Unreal Engine 3 which has been installed on more than 1 million unique machines.

Following this week’s game jam, development teams will benefit from a six-month incubation period in which a range of senior industry veterans will nurture projects by reviewing key milestones, providing guidance and shaping scope. During this time, talent will prepare for the final showdown at the Gadget Show Live, where more than 100,000 attendees will watch them bring to life Unreal Engine 3-powered creations in real time.

“We are looking forward to working with Epic Games and Train2Game to bring a completely new element into the Games Zone at GSL 2012,” said Gadget Show Live Event Director Matt Hodgins.

“A huge number of our visitors are into gaming, and will undoubtedly be excited to see how new games are developed and brought to life at the event.”

“Once they’re out there in the real world, our students will flourish based on their ability to create fantastic experiences under pressure,” said Train2Game Course Director, Tony Bickley,

“This is one of the best opportunities they’ve had so far to prove themselves and create something they can be proud of that will springboard their burgeoning careers in gaming.”

“In a mere five days, these developers will kickstart their careers in an intense competition that will ultimately result in one team walking away a professional studio, with a full source Unreal Engine 3 license for iOS in hand,” said Mike Gamble, European territory manager, Epic Games.

Epic Games is known for its legendary Make Something Unreal Contest game development competitions, which utilize the Unreal Engine 3 toolset and reward grand prize winners with a commercial license granting full access to Epic’s high-end game engine technology. The $1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest concluded in 2010, with multiple teams going on to release commercial games based on projects made for the competition.  Developed by grand prize-winning team KTX Software and published by THQ, “ The Haunted: Hells Reach” was released for PC on October 24.

Tickets for The Gadget Show Live are now on sale at  www.gadgetshowlive.net. For more information about this weekend’s Train2Game and Epic Game Jam, see the official website.

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Unreal Engine 4 to be made public ‘sooner’

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Train2Game students are preparing for the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam where they’ll have 48 hours build games using Epic’s Unreal Engine.

But despite Epic first introducing the Unreal Development Kit to studios as far back as 2005, it only became available to Indies and modders in 2009. But as the Train2Game blog has previously reported, since the free-to-use UDK has been downloaded almost a million times.

The success of this seems to have encouraged Epic to make their next engine, Unreal Engine 4, available to the public much sooner than the current UDK was.

“What we’re doing with Unreal Engine now is a lot different to what we were doing about seven years ago when we first started using the tech,” Epic President Mike Capps told Develop.

“There was no Unreal Development Kit even four years ago, and I think it’s been real successful in getting people used to our technology. Should we have done that from day one with UE3? Yeah, maybe,” he added.

Capps said that they don’t have any specific plans for distribution of Unreal Engine 4, which is “probably” going to be released in 2014.

“I’m not sure if we’re going to do it straight away with Unreal Engine 4, but if you look at what we do now with UE3 – y’know, push a button and your game is built for mobiles – we could have done that before and we didn’t spend much time on it. How much that will figure into Unreal Engine 4 is up to us.”

He added that indie studios using UDK has helped Epic learn how their tech works on different platforms.

“In the past few years I think we’ve learned a lot about our technology and how it works for indie studios. How our tech works for iPhone games, for high-end triple-A studios and for a couple of guys who make a cool UDK game over the summer,”

“We’re going to apply all these lessons we’ve learned with Unreal Engine 4, and I think you’re going to see a lot of difference with UE3 within the first six months from launch.”

The Train2Game blog previously reported that Epic believe game visuals will match those of films within a decade. Train2Game blog readers may have seen a taste of this with Epic’s ‘Samaritan’ tech demo earlier this year.

If you’re going to be getting your hands on UDK at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam next week, why not add your name to the official Facebook event page?

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Epic making their next engine available to the public closer to the time it’s released to studios? Have you been practicing with the current UDK ahead of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Develop]