Steve Hood also share what he looks for with talking to new people
Tag Archives: Games design
Train2Game at gamescom Emmanuel Lusinchi Associate Lead Designer of Star Wars The Old Republic
Emmanuel Lusinchi also shares how he got into the Games Industry
Train2Game News: Free CryENGINE®3 SDK for non-commercial use
Crytek has announced that they will release their latest all-in-one game development solution CryENGINE 3 free of charge for non-commercial use. The award winning SDK provides the complete game engine to create AAA quality next generation games for PC, and includes the CryENGINE®3 Sandbox™ level editor, a production-proven, 3rd generation “What you see is what you play” (WYSIWYP) – tool designed by and for professional developers. The free toolset is available for download at crydev.net, the former crymod.com community portal that offers documentation written by the developers of the engine, a thriving community and a supplementary knowledge base for CryENGINE 3.
The free CryENGINE SDK will be updated regularly, to make sure our community has access to all the advances we make to CryENGINE 3.
“With the release of our SDK we encourage creators to try out CryENGINE 3 and hope it will lead to new companies being formed and using our engine. More importantly we expect to increase the talent pool for CryENGINE developers, as well as boosting our online community of users. This SDK contains more toys than we’ve ever released before – it empowers people to create whole new games from scratch, not just mod Crytek’s own games, so we encourage all aspiring and indie developers to try it out.” said Carl Jones, Director of Global Business Development CryENGINE.
“For those who want to make the step into commercial gaming, we’ll offer a royalty-only license model for games made with this SDK, where Crytek require only 20% of the developer’s revenues from the commercial launch of their game.”
For more information visit http://www.mycryengine.com
Train2Game at gamescom Tim Willits Creative Director of ID Software talks about Rage to Danny Palmer
Train2Game at gamescom Tim Willits Creative Director of ID Software talks about Rage to Danny Palmer and he shares his tips to working in the games industry.
Train2Game at gamescom Brian Williams Lead Gameplay Designer at Yuke’s talks to Danny Palmer
Hear how Brian Williams started as a QA tester in the games industry
Train2Game / Game Horizon Developer Drinks
- Opportunity for students to meet industry professionals and discuss course details
- Developer drinks on Tuesday 19 July gives developers access to hot new industry talent
Train2Game, provider of games industry training courses, today announces details of its participation in the 2011 Develop Conference, including its first ever ‘Guru Bar’ on stand B12 – giving those interested in the games industry a forum to interact with key figures and ask questions about training, career development and the community at large.
For developers eager to wind down after a long day marching the floors of the show, Train2Game will also be teaming up with leading games business network, GameHorizon, to host an evening of drinks at Alfresco, a Brighton seafront bar. Here, developers are invited to meet future industry talent and rising stars of the course, as well as get more information on how to get involved with placement programmes.
Key facts of the placement schemes follow below:
- The placement schemes operate across the all Train2Game courses – Artists, Animators, Developers, Designers and QA.
- Developer placements programmes are subsidised by Train2Game and can range for periods of 2 – 6 months.
- Developers can choose from the top performers to suit their needs
Tony Bickley, Course Director at Train2Game sees events like Develop as the perfect place for the present and future of the games industry to collide: “While it’s easier than ever to connect online, there’s no replacement for meeting your peers face to face, both when on the hunt for new talent or considering a route into the industry. It’s the same logic which fuels our courses – substantial relationships and interaction online supported by face time wherever possible.”
Train2Game is a blended-learning organisation designed to fast track the best, most ambitious and motivated students into the games industry through comprehensive, expert-supervised courses. A big part of this is co-ordinating with the best developers in the country and providing top tier talented graduates for placements in the workplace.
Train2Game Guru Bar Details
Date: Weds 20 – Thurs 21 July
Venue: Develop Expo, Stand B12
Hilton Metropole, Brighton
Attendance is free, please RSVP at the Develop 2011 front desk
Train2Game/ Game Horizon Developer Drinks
Date: Tuesday 19th July
Time: 17:00 – 19:00
Venue: Alfresco,
The Milkmaid Pavilion,
Kings Road Arches,
Brighton,
BN1 2LN
Train2Game News, Cloud gaming service Gaikai founder on how to combat latency
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As previously reported by the Train2Game blog, streaming video games directly to televisions or other devices is increasingly being talked about as a means of getting them directly to the consumer.
However, with internet connections, well, notoriously unreliable there are those that doubt whether steaming games can truly take off in the near future.
Indeed, Dave Perry, founder of cloud gaming service Gaikai, acknowledges that latency is “the biggest elephant in the room” but claims the company has gone to great length to combat it.
“A lot of programmers went on record straight away saying ‘this’ll never work’, Perry told Edge “I am an engineer and I get it, I’m there with them, I understand the conceptual problem”
Of course, Train2Game game developers are working towards a career in the area of programming.
“The thing they don’t think about is I have about 60 people coming to the office every day working on this problem. We found many, many ways to do it, and we’re executing all of them.”
“The way the math works is that if I get two states closer to you, I actually get four states closer,” he said
“Two states is four states in latency, we had that epiphany pretty early on. That’s why we have so many data centres.”
Another solution is rather interesting, and also surprising.
“Imagine your game’s running at 30 fps on your console, but we run it at 60 fps [in the data centre], the amount of time that the game took while it was running,” he explains. “The engine itself took less time because we’re running it faster.
“So we take that time and use it for compression and sending, and you can suddenly see how the math starts to work in our favour. The faster we run the game, the more we overclock it, the lower the feel of the latency. This is one of many, many ways we’ve discovered to tighten up the feel of it.”
As previously reported by the Train2Game blog, there are those that truly believe cloud gaming is indeed the future of this industry, could Gaikai’s methods be a step towards this?
So Train2Game, do you think it’s the future of the industry? Does Perry address concerns about latency?
Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.
[Source: Edge]
Microsoft to release Kinect Development tools for PC
Perhaps it’s the first step towards a current Train2Game student being able to develop motion control based games for the PC in future. In any case, Microsoft will be releasing Software Development Kits that’ll enable Kinect to be modified via PC.
The intent of releasing a “starter kit” for application developers is to make it easier for academic research and enthusiast communities to create different experiences using the Kinect technology.
The starter kit will give academic researchers and enthusiasts access to deep Kinect system capabilities such as audio, system APIs, and direct control of the sensor. The Kinect Development tools will be released in the Spring, but there is no word on a commercial version as of yet.
Perhaps this’ll eventually lead to an official Star Wars lightsaber game for the Kinect! Although last year, one Sony Engineer claimed that the Microsoft motion controller wouldn’t be suited to such a game. You can read his comments in full here on the Train2Game blog.
Kinect offers the games industry another opportunity to push the boundries of Game Design, so Train2Game students may find it useful to take an interest in the development tools for the PC.
Last month it was revealed that 42% of all Kinect Games sold are made here in the UK.
So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Kinect development tools being released for the PC? Do you think it’ll lead to revolutionary new ways to play games? Or do you believe that there’s no need to develop motion control for the PC?
As usual, you can leave your thoughts here on the Train2Game blog or on the Train2Game forum. You can also let us know what you think the Train2Game Twitter.
Train2Game, in association with DR Studios and the University of Bedfordshire, will be holding a Game Jam at the end of March. For more information, see the official Train2Game Game Jam website or the Train2Game Game Jam Facebook page. Alternatively, keep an eye on the Train2Game Game Jam Twitter account.
Dragon Age 2 demo confirmed
Train2Game students will be able to get a taste of Dragon Age 2 later this month when EA release a demo on February 22nd. Completing the demo will allow players access to a special weapon for the full game.
The official press release from EA says the Dragon Age 2 demo will let players experience two different sections of the game and as any of the three playable classes:
“In the demo, players will venture through the game’s prologue, choosing from three different character classes. They’ll also learn more about Hawke and hone their skills and abilities that will make them the ultimate hero.
After finishing the prologue, players will enter a key new location in the world of Dragon Age, Kirkwall, befriending Isabela, a romantic interest in the game who is also a deadly smuggler. Upon completion of the demo, players will unlock a special weapon, Hayder’s Razor, an ancient dwarven blade which increases health, mana, and combat abilities, in the full release of Dragon Age II.”
The Dragon Age II demo will be available on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC from February 22nd, while the full game is released on March 11.
Train2Game students interested in the Game Design of Dragon Age 2 should check out this Developer Diary, previously posted on the Train2Game blog The information that’s been revealed about Dragon Age 2 so far seems to suggest that it’ll match or even beat the expert character development and story telling of the original game.
So Train2Game, will you be checking out the Dragon Age 2 demo? What do you think about EA’s promise of a special weapon for completing the demo? And will releasing a demo increase the sales of the game?
As usual, you can leave your thoughts here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum. Alternatively, you can let us know what you think via Twitter.
Train2Game, in association with DR Studios and the University of Bedfordshire, will be holding a Game Jam at the end of March. For more information, see this Train2Game blog post or the Train2Game Game Jam Facebook page. Alternatively, keep an eye on the Train2Game Game Jam Twitter account.
Michael Phelps swimming game for Kinect revealed
Many Train2Game students have a desire to push the boundaries of Game Design in the future, so may take an interest in the newly announced swimming game for Xbox 360’s Kinect.
Publisher 505 Games will be producing the first ever controller free swimming game and are being helped by multiple Olympic Gold Medal winner Michael Phelps who was motion captured for it.
The Xbox 360 exclusive title will be called Michael Phelps: Push the Limit will help players learn advanced swimming techniques. The Blitz Games developed title is expected to be released in June.
505 Games describe Michael Phelps: Push the Limit as “one of the most realistic and intense sports simulation video games ever” and “the first controller-free swimming experience to capture your true movements and translate them into accurate gameplay”
Speaking about the game Phelps said:
“Push the Limit is a fun, innovative, and physical way to game that is complete with elements that will challenge serious gamers, swimmers and casual fans,”
“I’m really excited to help bring a one-of-a-kind swimming video game to the market that is reflective of my competitive nature and passion for swimming. This definitely isn’t your typical video game; much like my training in the pool, Push the Limit is about improving and mastering every race element – from controlling your adrenaline on the block to perfectly timing your finish
“In my world, it takes a lifetime of dedication to get one-hundredth of a second ahead and I believe Push the Limit offers players a unique journey inside swimming that will challenge themselves as much as their in-game competitors.”
505 president Ian Howe added: “It is an honour for myself and everyone here at 505 to work with Michael Phelps, a truly transcendent athlete who has brought unprecedented glory to competitive swimming.
“His guidance and feedback have proven invaluable to the development process, and in-game he will mentor players in their journey from an unknown challenger to a powerful swimmer capable of beating the best in the world.”
So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Michael Phelps: Push the Limit? Do you think it’s an innovative new way of using Kinect? Will people buy a swimming game? And which sports do you think would make for an interesting new Kinect game?
As usual, you can leave your thoughts here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum. Alternatively you can tweet us.
Train2Game, in association with DR Studios and the University of Bedfordshire, will be holding a Game Jam at the end of March. For more information, see this Train2Game blog post or the Train2Game Game Jam Facebook page. Alternatively, keep an eye on the Train2Game Game Jam Twitter account.
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