Tag Archives: Game Development

Train2Game news: Square on Final Fantasy VII remake – it’d take too long to develop

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Train2Game forum users regularly post in the ‘If you could remake any game…’ thread, sharing which classic titles they’d like to see remade.  Final Fantasy VII is a title that keeps popping up in the discussion, and there are many out there who wish to see the classic PlayStation RPG remade.

Square have never really given a definitive answer fan requests for Final Fantasy VII to be remade, but in an interview with OXM, Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase said remaking the older titles in the series would take too long and cost too much. Meanwhile, Kitase also states that making Final Fantasy XIII-2 in a relatively short space of time is possible because its technology is so similar to Final Fantasy XIII.

“In the transition between XIII to XIII-2, it was quite easy because obviously we kept all the data and the engine – we had just finished using them so it was almost like they hadn’t gone cold. The technology was already warm and ready to use, so it was quite good.” Kitase told OXM.

Also within the team, we still had a feel for the game, it was still new to us, still lingering with us, so we were ready to move on to the sequel.” he added

Kitase says that it’d be a challenge to work on a past Final Fantasy title not only because it’d need a huge graphic overhaul, but also because the game worlds were bigger.

“But if we were to take one of the past Final Fantasy titles and make a sequel to it, I think that would be a lot more challenging because when they were on PlayStation and PlayStation 2 their actual game volume was a lot bigger, kind of.” said the Final Fantasy XIII producer.

“Graphically they weren’t as advanced as they are now, but there were lots of towns and worlds and cities and whatever.” he continued.

“So if we were to recreate the same kind of game – sequel or not – with the same volume, but give it a much higher level of graphical quality, it would us take three times, four times, even ten times longer to make such a game. So making a sequel for an old game would be a lot more challenging.” Kitase concluded.

As previously reported by the Train2Game blog, Final Fantasy XIII-2 was announced earlier this year and marks only the send direct sequel in the series. It’s scheduled for release on 3rd February 2012.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Kitase’s comments about not being able to remake older Final Fantasy titles? Does the acknowledgement that older game worlds were bigger suggest style over substance with current gen Final Fantasy titles?

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

[Source: OXM]

Train2Game news: Creative Industries Minister – UK needs to invest in game development

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The UK should invest in game development talent and make changes to the teaching of ICT and computer science in schools.

That’s according to Creative Industries Minister Ed Vaizey, as part of the government’s response to the Livingstone-Hope report about encouraging the next generation of game developers.

As reported by the Train2Game blog, the Livingstone-Hope report was launched in February this year.

“The economic and cultural value of the UK’s video games and VFX sectors is clear and the long-term potential of their global markets present a great opportunity for UK-based businesses,” said Mr. Vaizey.

“It is an industry that has real potential to create the high quality jobs of the future that will be so important as we recover from the recession.

“We need to invest in talent that will ensure the UK remains at the forefront of games creativity.”

Today’s government report addresses the concerns of Livingstone-Hope and can be seen in full here. It recognises a number of highly talented UK developers including Media Molecule and Rocksteady.

So Train2Game, what do you make of Vaizey’s comments? Do you believe the government report will eventually aid in the games industry?

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

[Source: Develop]

Train2Game news: Ultima creator Richard Garriott on game design

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Ultima series creator Richard Garriott  believes game design need to be more creative if the medium is going to continue to advance.

“There are tons of free-to-play, beautiful looking MMOs that are feature-complete and challengers in theory to World of Warcraft, they come across from Asia every day.” said Garriott, also known as ‘Lord British,’ in an in-depth interview with Industry Gamers.

“They’re all beautiful, they’re all full-featured – if you try to go why is this game not as good as World of Warcraft, you’d have a hard time picking individual features as to why, but with all of them you go, “look, it’s free to play, free to download, I’ll try it!”

But the man behind Ultima Online believes that rather than trying to introduce new features, many developers are just trying to recreate game design elements of their competitions titles.

“You go, “OK, kind of looks the same, here’s my town, here’s my shop, here’s my level one monsters I have to fight,” he said. “And you spend an hour or two going through the play cycle and finishing a quest and levelling up, and you go… well “OK, it works, but why do I care?”

“The vast majority of people are making these me-too games, they’re quality, there’s nothing wrong with them, there’s just nothing compelling about them.”

Garriott added that he hopes to be able to look at his own work, including Ultima and Ultima online and be satisfied with what he did to change games.

“And I’m hoping that if I look back on my career down through the years, I’m very proud of the fact that with some periodicity, I have truly advanced the art form in some meaningful way.”

The full interview with Richard Garriott, an interesting read for Train2Game students, can be seen on Industry Gamers.

So Train2Game, what do you make about his comments on game design? Does more need to be done in order to make games innovative?

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

[Source: Industry Gamers]

Train2Game news: Get involved with Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta Test

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Train2Game students can get their hands on a Star Wars: The Old Republic beta thanks to EA providing tens of thousands of beta codes to various outlets of the UK gaming press.

The Star Wars: The Old Republic beta keys, give Train2Game students the opportunity to take part in an upcoming beta weekend where EA and Bioware plan to stress test their servers ahead of the MMO’s December release.

While the Train2Game blog doesn’t have any Star Wars: The Old Republic beta keys to give away itseld, you can pick of thousands up from UK outlets including CVG, NowGamer, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

Just choose one of the links, then follow the instructions to receive your key for the Star Wars: The Old Republic beta weekend. The exact time for the STWOR beta will be revealed by email at a later date.

As previously reported by the Train2Game blog, Bioware have spoken about the importance of playtesting to game development.  Meanwhile, for an in-depth look at the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic, check out the Train2Game blog interview with Associate Lead Game Designer Emmanuel Lusinchi

Train2Game blog readers will be aware that beta tests are an important part of video game development as thousands of beta testers can find issues that may slip past a handful of QA Testers.

And in an interview with the Train2Game blog, End of Nations Senior QA Tester Karl Tars said that getting involved with lots of beta tests for one studio is potentially a way to get into the games industry.

So what are you waiting for Train2Game? Sign up for the Star Wars: The Old Republic beta now.

Have you been involved with beta tests before? Will you get involved with this one?

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

Train2Game news: “Dude in a suit” not involved with game development at Ubisoft Montreal

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Train2Game blog readers, aside from those who’ve been on Train2Game industry experience placements, may not know much about what happens behind closed doors at a game development studio.

Thankfully for them, Ubisoft Montreal creative director Jason Vandenberghe – who the Train2Game blog interviewed  at Gamescom earlier this year – has offered an insight into how the Canadian outfit works, revealing that the studio is a suit free zone in the process!

“The dude in a suit saying ‘Our studies show that we’re missing a marketing opportunity here’?” said Vandenberghe in a video Q&A for CVG that makes interesting viewing for Train2Game students, “It doesn’t work like that! None of us would work like that.”

“I’ve seen those kinds of presentations, and when they’re made the creative folks in the room are like ‘Wha? What are you doing? Why are you doing this?”

Vandenberghe goes onto speak about how those building Ubisoft’s games work together.

“Creating a video-game is incredibly complex, and it comes from teams – it comes from groups of people who are collaborating together. Who trust each other, who’ve learned to work together, who’ve learned to fight together and who’ve learned to challenge each other’s ideas.” he explained.

“What happens to Ubisoft is that you have these creative people with lots of opinions and lots of experience about what makes great games.”

“They come together in a room and they fight. You walk out and what’s left on the whiteboard is a bunch of great stuff. That’s how we do it here, and I don’t know a better way to do it.” Vandenberghe concluded.

Train2Game students can get a bigger insight into what it’s like to work in the games industry, and some advice on how to get themselves in, in the Train2Game interview with Jason Vandenberghe from Gamescom earlier this year.

So Train2Game, what do you make of the comments about life at Ubisoft Montreal? Does it sound like an environment you’d relish working in?

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

[Source: CVG]

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 interview: Train2Game game developer Paul Cullum from Merthyr Tydfil

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Train2Game student Paul Cullum from Merthyr Tydfil – AKA Superfurry on the Train2Game forum – is on the Train2Game Game Developer course. In an interview with Train2Game Radio, he tells us why he chose to study with Train2Game, how he fits it around his life as a musician and what he hopes to achieve in the games industry.

Read the interview on the Train2Game blog or on the Train2Game Scribd page. Alternatively, you can listen to it via Train2Game Radio. Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

OK Paul, what first got you into video games?

Probably my father. I’ve been playing computer games since about 5 on the Spectrum, that’s where I started. Manic Miner, that was the game that got me into it.

What made you decide you wanted to forge a career in the games industry?

Well I’ve always been into games as I said and I used to programme on the Spectrum and on the Amiga. I’ve had pretty much every console that’s come out.

So what got you into programming?

I just had the brain for it I suppose. I used to love programming little things on the Spectrum, little games from magazines, putting in thousands of code and then…it didn’t work! And then finding the problem. But I’ve never really programmed any games because I didn’t know how to really.

And is this why you decided to join the Train2Game Game Developer course?

It is, yeah.

What does your partner think about being on a Train2Game course?

She’s OK with it, she thinks it’s good. I mean she’s seen some of the programmes I’ve written. Her sister works for Nintendo advertising the games, the new Zelda game I think she was advertising that.

Tell us a little about yourself, what do you do?

I’m a musician, I play in pubs and bars, and I’ve played in Europe: Denmark, Sweden, places like that.

How do you find fitting the Train2Game course around the rest of your life then?

I’ve been ill for the last couple of months, in hospital, so I haven’t had much of a chance to get into it lately.

What’s been your favourite part of the Train2Game course so far?

I’ve not been able to get stuck into it that much, but just making little games from the first book, just making the little platform games, which I enjoyed doing because I love platform games. That’s my favourite part so far. And I’ve got a bit of knowledge of C++ and other languages already so I’m sure I’ll get to a point where it’ll fry my brain, but it’s going alright so far.

And what do you want to achieve with Train2Game this year?

I want to put together a portfolio, learn more C++, incorporate that with other languages and learn databases and things like that and how to put them in games.  Just to get a head start to get me into the industry.

How useful have you found the Train2Game forum so far?

I’ve met a couple of people actually. I met up with a few people in Cardiff a few months ago, and they want to work on a game with me when we’ve got further into the course.

How do you see yourself entering the games industry, would you like to get a role at an established developer, or do you want to form your own studio with other Train2Game students?

An indie done would be perfect because I’ve got some ideas once I get my head round stuff, and the two lads I met, they’ve got some good ideas for games so hopefully we’ll get to a point where we can develop it more.  It’s just ideas at the moment.

Can you see your music career and games career joining together at all?

Possibly, yeah. I use a lot of software to record stuff at home so it’s pretty easy to knock up a little background music for a game.

What would your ideal job in the industry be?

Just being a part of a team really, learning new things and getting better.

Thanks for your time Paul.

For more information go to www.train2game.com

Train2Game news: Gamers misunderstand meaning of ‘beta test’ say DICE

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Train2Game students – at least a few of them are – are likely to involved with the current Battlefield 3 beta, which a runs through to 10th October.

And while Train2Game students – especially the QA Testers – will understand that beta tests are an important part of game development, there filtering out bugs and tweaking gameplay, it seems gamers in general are less aware of this!

Some have criticised the bugs that have appeared while playing Battlefield, or the fact that’s only one map, but according DICE’s Patrick Liu, it’s because these people don’t get the reasons for an open beta.

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding of the term ‘beta test’!” the Battlefield 3 producer told The Guardian.

“We ran the alpha tests with a rush map and we wanted to have some sort of reference so we could compare results – so we needed to have more-or-less the same map.”

“But we do understand the concerns that we didn’t show a conquest map, but we have demoed Caspian Border, and we did run a conquest map as a limited PC-only test.

According to Liu, one of the main reasons for the Battlefield 3 beta test is to make sure the backend systems work when the game is release.

“He just wanted to know it wouldn’t crash and burn at launch” he said.

“It was horrible with Battlefield 1943 – it sold ten times the numbers we thought it would, and it was down for three or four days which is really bad. We don’t want to go through that again.”

As reported by the Train2Game blog, DICE have stated that positive feedback from the open beta is helping them tweak the multiplayer aspect of Battlefield 3.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Liu’s comments? Do gamers misunderstand the meaning of a beta test? And have you been testing Battlefield 3?

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

[Source: The Guardian]

Train2Game news: Behind the scenes of Batman: Arkham City

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Train2Game may be aware that Batman: Arkham City is released later this month. If early reviews are to be believed, the follow up to the highly successful Arkham Asylum from British studio Rocksteady looks to even more impressive that it’s predecessor.

Of course, developing Arkham City was far from a simple process and Game Director Sefton Hill has discussed some of the challenges.

“Creating Arkham City has been a tremendous technical undertaking.” he told Eurogamer.

Hill described down developing the title required an immense effort from everyone at Rocksteady.

“Our engine teams, optimisation teams, art teams and design teams have had to do a phenomenal amount of work to get this game to run and optimise it and run at a solid 30 frames a second throughout, while creating such a richly detailed city. So it’s definitely not easy.” said the Batman: Arkham City Game Director.

He praised the technical team in particular for doing a great job, doing whatever the rest of the team needed.

“Huge credit to the technical team, who said, look, we’ll make it happen. You design the best game you can think of and we will work hard to make that happen.” said Hill.

“Those guys did a phenomenal job with that. All credit to them because there are a lot of technical achievements in there we’d never done before and taken on.” he added.

Train2Game students can get an insight into the game design process behind Batman: Arkham City here on the Train2Game blog.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the work behind Arkham City? Is a game that you’re looking forward to?

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

[Source: Eurogamer]

Train2Game news: Ninja Theory – Triple A doesn’t let developers take risks

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Train2Game blog readers may have seen a post last month in which Ninja Theory Creative Chief Tameem Antoniades praised the ‘digital revolution’ and the creativity it brings.

Perhaps understandably, he also believes that the traditional Triple-A retail model is in fact harming creativity in the games industry.

“If you’re paying 60 bucks for a game, you want it to give you everything under the sun,” Antoniades told Gamasutra.

“It seems like Hollywood’s got much more diversity than the games industry has. And I don’t know exactly why this is, but I suspect it’s the publishing, retail model of 40 pounds, 50, 60 bucks a game doesn’t allow players to take chances with their money.

“It doesn’t allow publishers or developers to take risks. And the only way you can be sure to sell to someone is to sell them something familiar.”

As previously reported by the Train2Game blog, Ninja Theory’s Enslaved: Odyssey to the West was critically well received, but failed to make the impact needed at retail. As a result, the game won’t be getting a sequel.

However, the Ninja Theory chief believes that innovative games do sell, but the current retail and publishing model makes it difficult.

“I think that ultimately innovation does sell, and messaging is needed,” he said.

“But somehow there’s not enough diversity, I think, in our business models to create interesting, alternative games. At least on the triple-A side of things, the top end market. You’re not seeing very high end innovation happening.” Antoniades concluded.

Yesterday, the Train2Game blog reported that Bioware believe mobile games do let game developers take risks.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Antoniades comments? Is the traditional retail model and the need to be successful stifling creativity in the games industry?

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

[Source: Gamasutra]