At the end of September Train2Game were at Eurogamer held in London’s Earls Court.
Below is the video from the event which has interviews with several students talking about their experiences with Train2Game and the Microsoft world record winning Game Jam.
Jason Bradbury spoke to The Sun to compare the Microsoft Surface to Apples iPad.
Mr Bradbury said: “It’s a lot less expensive than the iPad, if you compare like for like, and you get a touchscreen version of Windows 8, as well as a traditional Windows operating system.
“It also comes with a very innovative cover-slash-keyboard, which is one of the thinnest I’ve ever used. It’s only 3mm thick, and it really is exceptionally good.
“So what you’re getting is something that’s about the same size as the iPad, which is less expensive, has Office software, a relatively normal desktop operating system, and a keyboard.”
“Whether you’re a road warrior or a student, you don’t want to be touch-typing your 2,500 word essay, or your pitch.”
Jason also claims Microsoft’s tablet has the edge when it comes to design which was the traditional strong point of Apple’s tablets.
He explained: “The iPad used to be elegant and beautiful, but now it’s a little bit dated as a design, it hasn’t really evolved a great deal.”
Jason Bradbury will be in London this week for The Gadget Show live in London which will give people a chance to try out a Nintendo Wii U before its launch on Friday. As well as an array of new technology, The Gadget Show Live is set to feature a theatrical spectacular.
Running from November 30 and December 2, gadget fans can watch the TV star operating flying robots, driving a remote control car around an enormous loop-the-loop, and being towed on a skateboard at 30mph..
More information and tickets can be found at www.gadgetshowlive.net.
For our friends across the sea, it was Thanksgiving weekend last weekend. This is a time for family, being thankful and apparently Steam.
The digital distribution service from Valve managed to hit over 6 million users. The amount of players peaked at around 11:00 PST Sunday with 6,045,912 users logged on. This was probably due to the Autumn Sale and the waves of numerous major releases such as PlanetSide 2, Assassin’s Creed 3, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.
That is concurrent logins however, not active game sessions—while games define the vanguard of Steam’s excellence, the numbers rise from simply having the program launched and running.
Looking at the Steam Graph Chart of what people are playing shows a fair spread across PC gaming’s most popular genres. Dota 2′s beta boasted a little over 170,000 simultaneous players late on Saturday, while football-sim Football Manager 2013′s surprising strength topped at around 60,000. On Sunday night Black Ops 2 spiked at 51,000 soldiers, and PlanetSide 2′s fight for Auraxia swelled to 30,000 Steam conscripts last night. Lastly, as many as 15,000 stone-faced killers were concurrently shoving sharp metal objects into various people in Assassin’s Creed 3.
It was only in January that Steam hit a then-high of five million concurrent users. To hit six within the same year shows just how popular the service and gaming is getting.
The creators of Minecraft, Mojang, have developed a version of their hit game which can be loaded onto the Raspberry Pi.
Minecon was held in Paris last weekend and the news was announced that Minecraft: Pi edition will be released.
The Pi edition was developed by reworking the phone based, Minecraft: Pocket Edition. Mojang began work on this after the creators of the Raspberry Pi sent them a bunch of boards to work on a little while back.
The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card-sized single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of stimulating the teaching of basic computer science.
The port will have a revised feature set and support for several programming languages, allowing users to code directly into the game, opening a world of possibilities.
Mojang’s chief officer Owen Hill said “The possibilities are massive,
“You could organise the cheapest LAN party of all time, or use the Pi to learn the fundamentals of programming on a minuscule budget.
“It’s like hacking your way into Minecraft and modifying the game world with code, a bit like being Notch, Jeb, or Nathan, but arguably more fun and less stressful.”
The site states Minecraft: Pi Edition will be available for free “very soon”.
Hitman Absolution sneaks into second place this week following its release with Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 still sits proudly at the top. Lego LotRs entered at number 6, Udraw Studio: Instant Artist came in at number 13 and Sony’s innovative new game, Book Of Spells, just got in to the top 20 coming in at 20.
Week ending 24 November 2012
| POS. | TITLE | PUBLISHER | LAST WEEK |
|
| 1 | – | CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II | ACTIVISION | 1 |
| 2 | HITMAN ABSOLUTION | SQUARE ENIX | – | |
| 3 | – | FIFA 13 | EA SPORTS | 3 |
| 4 | – | ASSASSIN’S CREED III | UBISOFT | 4 |
| 5 |  |
HALO 4 | MICROSOFT | 2 |
| 6 | LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS | WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE | – | |
| 7 | – | JUST DANCE 4 | UBISOFT | 7 |
| 8 | |
SKYLANDERS GIANTS | SKYLANDERS | 5 |
| 9 | |
NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED | EA GAMES | 6 |
| 10 |  |
DISHONORED | BETHESDA SOFTWORKS | 14 |
| 11 | – | WWE ’13 | THQ | 11 |
| 12 | |
MOSHI MONSTERS: MOSHLINGS THEME PARK | MIND CANDY | 13 |
| 13 | UDRAW STUDIO: INSTANT ARTIST | THQ | – | |
| 14 | |
RESIDENT EVIL 6 | CAPCOM | 20 |
| 15 | |
FOOTBALL MANAGER 2013 | SEGA | 10 |
| 16 | |
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. 2 | NINTENDO | 18 |
| 17 | |
THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM | BETHESDA SOFTWORKS | 12 |
| 18 | |
MEDAL OF HONOR: WARFIGHTER | EA GAMES | 19 |
| 19 | F1 2012 | CODEMASTERS | – | |
| 20 | BOOK OF SPELLS | SONY COMPUTER ENT. | – | |
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (C)2012 UKIE Ltd
Peter Molyneux has announced the next project from 22Cans. He is going back to his early days with a brand new God game.
Peter Molyneux, was the man behind Populas over twenty two years ago and with the game he created a new genre known as God Games which sees you in a god like role overseeing a world you help create. He went on to create games such as Black and White and Dungeon Keeper. Molyneux has now come back to his roots with the next project from Guildford based company 22Cans, Godus.
Godus is the second project to come from 22Cans, the first being Curiosity: What’s inside the cube?. Curiosity far exceeded the expectations of the company, so much so that they had to work thirty six hours straight to boost the servers. Godus will be made using what the company has learned from developing Curiosity.
Godus is an innovative reinvention of Populous and delivers exciting global co-operation, competition, creation and destruction to a whole new generation.
Further game details included are:
The game is being funded by Kickstarter. The company is looking to get £450,000 by December 21. At the time of writing this they are currently at £103,426 with twenty eight days to go. If you would like to pledge to the games development, you can do so here.
22Cans also released a video about the new project which you can watch below
Sam Hawkins, level designer for Derp Studios spoke to me about his life and where he wants to go with his career.
You can listen to the interview here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1073130-train2game-student-sam-hawkins-talks-to-mark-on-t2g-radio
Or read the transcript below:
Hi, I’m Sam Hawkins. I’m from Chelmsford, Essex and I am on the Designer Course.
What’s your story Sam, what are the past experiences that have shaped your life?
Well starting from the beginning, I used to do a lot of Bmxing back in my original home town of Dagenham. It was a big group of us that used to do it, we used to go around streets of Dagenham and Romford, originally just around Essex at first, just doing street Bmxing. Eventually we just started getting around the UK, it was really good fun. After that, I moved to Chelmsford, where I am now where I did a bit of college for a year, doing Engineering. After that I took a real passion for music, it was relit from school. Music has always been a passion of mine and I played drums for a rock band for about 2 or 3 years. Then I found this course and I’ve been doing this ever since.
You’re also the main level designer for Derp Studios, had you done much level design before that?
Prior to the Game Jam that we had last year, no. None at all I have kind of just taken to it really well, it’s like finding my calling.
Do you think that’s what you are going to go on to in the industry its self. You want to aim for more level design stuff?
Yeah 100%.
Do you think that stems from your Engineering in college?
Possibly, yeah. When I was doing Engineering at college it was drummed into me that everything I made was 100% perfect. I loved the feeling of actually building something and getting my hands in to it. I’ve always admired the way levels have been played out in front of me, how they’ve been designed or engineered. I think it’s fascinating.
So out of all the things you’ve done with the Bmxing and everything like that, what do you thinks the most dramatic or exciting thing you have done through your life?
Being in the band, prior to The Gadget Show that was in the beginning of this year that was the pinnacle of what I have been doing so far. Before that it was being in the band. At one point we actually got signed for a little bit.
How’s Dire Consequences doing on the iOS store now?
I think it’s doing OK, It’s been received quite well. We actually do have a patch coming out for it very soon, to add new levels. There’s also been a lot of people giving us some really good feedback, some really good creative criticism, that we can take from and build on it.
Yeah, so are you happy with the game then and how it’s all turned out?
Yeah I am. It’s been really good fun working for it, also stressful at the same time, as most projects probably will be.
So how does it feel to be published?
It’s fantastic, it’s absolutely fantastic! I couldn’t believe it when I heard it
Do you think it will open up your gaming prospects and your prospects for your career and everything?
Oh definitely. When you look at applying for a job in the industry, a lot of people want Designers or Programmers or whatever to have experience. With this behind my belt it is going to be a lot easier if I do venture out to look at other studios.
What’s your big game plan for the future Sam?
For the time being I am just concentrating on getting the course done and a lot of portfolio work that needs doing. Other than that I am going to be working for Derp Studios for a lot longer, get as many games under my belt as I can and really try and establish ourselves as a company as well. If we can do that and be really successful then I’ll just take it from there really! I may venture off into a much bigger studio but at the moment I’ll stay with Derp.
Well I think that’s all we’ve got time for today Sam, so thank you very much!
Thank you very much for your time Mark. Thank you
Cheers Buddy
Bye
Amanda Blatch
So this week (I am going to repeat myself from the last time I’m sure) I am still plugging away at the in-game UI. It’s been taking a long time to get it right but it’s starting to get there as everyday we’re finding things that need improving upon or can be done differently. Again, some things that may seem simple… never are. Or they are, but you do them in a million different ways (ok, maybe a dozen then.) to try and find that ‘perfect’ one. Most of the work has now been done for the game art-wise as far as I am aware, it’s just a matter of putting it all together and getting it out there for testing so we can try and ‘break’ the game to find all its weak spots and improve upon those issues.
The new project has been confirmed, however it’s still in the early stages of concept so it’ll probably be another couple weeks or so before any work can be done for it. So far the concepts are looking good and it’s on a subject matter I love! I’m hoping I can stick around here long enough to see that game all the way through and done in a way that has been talked about briefly. Exciting stuff..
Anyways, that’s it from me now.. this diary has taken me nearly four hours to write as I am working at the same time as doing this because… distraction!
Same time next week munchkins.
Craig Moore
We took some major strides this week in the look and feel of the game and it, thankfully, really is coming together. As much as we all learnt from the creation of My Sea Park, I feel that we have learnt even more from this one and it just means the next one is going to be, yet again, even better!
With the game coming together and Art having more free time, work has been going into promotional activities, icons, and the like as we gear up towards early artwork for the next title. The desire is to almost be working on two titles at the same time, as one comes to a close another one starts up so that we are constantly working on something with no downtime; it really is the best use of our time and makes the office like a little beehive.
I have a fun weekend of Train2Game work prepared this weekend, I am pretty much on my final portfolio piece, a behemoth of a document that will take me a few weeks but I am aiming to get it done before Christmas; and then that is me done. It will be weird feeling that I have actually come to the end of the course and hopefully I will pass, maybe more. Fingers crossed my experience here at DR along with my new qualifications should set me up for something bigger!
In yet other news, for those not aware, the Wii-U launches in the states on Sunday. I am incredibly interested in it having not had chance to give it a bash at Eurogamer and am particularly interested in consumer reception of it, particularly certain games like ZombiU.
Till next week!
Craig
Matty Wyett Simmonds
This week has been busy as usual, I’ve been mostly changing and editing the games ‘world’ this week which has been a very heavy job (I made the world myself, just didn’t make it easy to edit). I’ve been remaking and adding a lot of things to improve on the users experience with the game, making some things more obvious for the users where needed. Other than that I can’t really say much, as this is the only thing that’s taken up my entire week. I stayed late on Thursday on my own this time, ordered me some takeaway and blasted music on the sound system. I had to get things done for Friday morning!
I think my week has been pretty quiet to be honest. I’ve had goals to work towards and have been trying my best to get things done as fast as I can. Planetside 2 Beta is now closed and the game is being launched on the 20th! It’s free to play so no one has an excuse not to get it and play the game with me ^^. I’ve enjoyed the game so far and plan to continue playing it. Comparing it to another FPS such as Blacklight for example, I found that Blacklight was easier, people have less health/the guns have more damage than planetside2 and it makes for some pretty epic fights where you won’t die instantly and you won’t be able to kill anyone easily. If you do play the game before to drop me a message first to see what server I’m on ^^
Anyway, that’s all for this week as I need to get back to work now. Plus I’m running out of virtual ink.
MattyWS
A trailer for the next Borderlands 2 DLC has been released. It is full of explosions, carnage and hilarity. From the looks of the trailer, Tiny Tina is back which is great news, she is a highly amusing character. When I heard about this DLC I was worried it was going to be another “Moxxis Underdome” but luckily it looks like it’s a proper campaign. You can enjoy the trailer here.
Peter Molyneux has announced that up to six new features could be coming soon for the experiment app Curiosity. The new features are currently on the prototype phase. Molyneux hasn’t released what they are yet but did give the clue ‘Badgers’. The new features have been designed by watching how people are using the cube. As of 3pm today 30 layers have been chiselled away.
The company behind The Walking Dead episodic series of games has had to move to a bigger premises. Telltale currently employ about 125 staff, but the new space will provide enough room for 160 employees, and the company is planning a hiring spree for 2013.
Microsoft’s further venture in to entertainment sees a new app coming soon which will turn your Xbox into a Karaoke machine. You’ll able to purchase singing time in blocks of two, six or 24 hours with your Microsoft Points. The app, simply named Karaoke, offers over 8000 tracks. You’ll be able to warble along to pop, rock and country tunes, plus some R&B and hip-hop tunes.
Windows Phone may not have the market share of Apple or Google, but it does appear to be winning in one key area for game developers: monetization. According to data from EEDAR’s 2012 Mobile Syndicated Reports, Windows smartphone users “consistently outspend their peers” with almost 10 percent of Windows gamers classified as “Whales” (those who spend more than $25 a month) compared to just four percent on both iOS and Android.
Sony has released the public version of the PlayStation Mobile SDK, allowing developers to create content for a wide range of devices and sell through the PlayStation Store. As well as PlayStation Certified Android hardware, developers can build apps and games for the PlayStation Vita, PSP and the PlayStation 3 with an annual license fee of just £60.
Artist, Andrew Ryan, has created some gorgeous character art by putting Mass Effect character in to the Dragon Age universe. The Normandy is a high dragon ridden by Joker, Garrus is an awesome crossbow-wielding knight, Jack’s a blood mage elf and EDI is a golem. Each character was designed separately before being combined in the final diorama. You can check out the pictures on his Deviant Art page, here.
ART
Job Title Artist
Job Category Art / Animation
Skills Required Animator, Character Artist, Environment Artist, 2D / Concept / Texture Artist, UI Artist
Location Dundee
Job Description
We are looking for great artists to join our established art team. Artists with the passion and drive to create amazing, fun, characterful, mass-market games. Games the world wants to play. With the exceptional creative and technical art skills to create fun, addictive games, you will be contributing to the delivery of Outplay’s innovative, engaging and massively enjoyable games across the mobile and social gaming landscape.
What are you waiting for? Is this you?
The Person
• Ability to establish and maintain the creative vision for the next generation of social mobile games, producing concept sketches, illustrations and production artwork/animation in a variety of styles.
• Collaborates well with Art team and other disciplines
• Develops and manages asset pipelines
• Ability to take concept art to finished production level art
• 3D art and animation skills
• Graphic design/UI skills
• Several years of digital illustration, graphic design and/or 2D animation experience
• Demonstrable flexibility in style ranging from cheerful, cartoon illustration to more detailed, grittier artwork
• Solid working knowledge of 2D art production and tools including Flash, Photoshop and Illustrator
• Knowledge of current mobile, Facebook and casual games and passion and vision to help craft the next generation of social mobile games
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Ready to adapt in a rapidly changing, fast-paced creative environment
• Able to take direction well and, as required, constructively provide direction and guidance to others
• Able to handle multiple responsibilities, collaborate and excel in small team environments
The Extras
• Experience developing art for online, mobile, casual and/or social games
• Game design and/or creative writing ability
To apply go to: http://www.outplayentertainment.com/jobs/
DEVELOPER
Job Title Tools Programmer – Sumo Digital
Job Category Programming
Skills Required Tools
Location Sheffield, UK & Europe
Job Description Sumo Digital is one of the UK’s most prolific and secure independent game developers.
Since our inception in 2003, we’ve had a string of successful titles across all gaming platforms for partners that include SEGA, Codemasters, Sony, EA, BBC, Konami and many more.
Though most renowned for our action/arcade sensibilities through the success of franchises such as Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, Virtua Tennis and OutRun, Sumo has also garnered much commercial and critical praise for the consistent quality, ambition and playability of its involvement in many other series of games including the F1, Doctor Who, Broken Sword, New International Track and Field, and TOCA titles (as well as numerous PSN/XBLA games).
We are currently working on a number of unannounced but extraordinarily exciting AAA games across all formats and we’re looking for team members with the drive, passion and ambition that will help us make those games the best they can be.
The Role:
The Tools Programmer will be responsible for designing, implementing and maintaining software tools and processes in all disciplines. This may include but is not limited to interactive editor-style visual tools as well as automated pipeline or build system tools.
Essential Job Functions
– Design, implement and maintain software tools for art, design, production and programming.
– Continuously improve the user experience and performance of our tools.
– Create and maintain technical software documentation.
– Work closely with the other disciplines to identify and resolve workflow & pipeline problems.
– Work closely with the tool users to assess and debug problems with our tools.
Knowledge Requirements:
– Minimum 2 years experience in a relevant role
– Experience from outside the games industry or outstanding demos will be considered.
– C++
– MFC or other GUI toolkit experience (wxWndows, Qt, etc..)
– Experience using source control systems (e.g. Perforce, CVS, SVN)
Preferred Knowledge
– C#
– Maya API, MEL, 3dsMax SDK, MaxScript
– Scripting (python/perl/etc…)
– Knowledge of game content creation pipelines and tools
– Strong maths skills, especially in trigonometry and linear algebra
– Knowledge of games systems (3D graphics, animation, camera control, lighting)
– UI design experience
– Any SQL and/or .Net
Demonstrated Ability To:
– Work well/respond to pressure
– Communicate effectively within a large group/multiple project environment
– Think critically and apply analytical skills in resolving complex issues
– Quickly master proprietary tools and development processes
– Debug complex systems.
Email: careers@sumo-digital.com
Website: www.sumo-digital.com/career
DESIGN
Job Type: Permanent
Job Category: Games and Level Design
Region: UK
Area: East Anglia
County: Cambridgeshire
Location: Cambridge
Salary Description: Competitive
Recruiter: Frontier Developments Ltd
Innovative gameplay has been one of Frontier’s core strengths over the years, and is something we continue to focus on in all our developments. Designers have a central role in developing our games, and will work closely with art and programming colleagues on a game project.
We are looking for designers who are full of creative flare and enthusiasm and have a passion for, and extensive knowledge of, games and gameplay. The roles are varied – both original IP and AAA licenses feature in our strong project line-up, spanning a number of game genres, and our reputation for compelling gameplay is achieved by our designers contributing fully at all stages of our game developments, from concept through to final gameplay balance.
After initially influencing the basic design of a game level, designers will use Frontier’s game editor and scripting system to implement their own design concept through to the final gameplay detail, and can expect to be involved in extensive play-testing.
Successful applicants must have a broad experience of playing games, and be able to demonstrate a good understanding of player mentality / psychology and gameplay mechanisms. Successful candidates will also have excellent verbal and written skills, possess the ability to work closely with a team, have excellent communication skills and ideally be educated to degree level. Experienced candidates should have at least one AAA game design to their name.
Experience of game editors (e.g. Unreal Editor, Worldcraft or Quake editors), basic 3D modelling skills and / or experience of scripting systems (e.g Unrealscript etc.) will be an advantage.
Industry experience is important but not essential, as long as you have examples of high quality work that you have done. These do not need to relate to a game, but should show off your talent.
Please apply either by email (including a CV and any showreel/demos) to designerjobs@frontier.co.uk, or by surface mail to the address on the ‘contact us’ page of this website.
QA
Job Type: Permanent
Job Category: QA and Localisation
Region: UK
Area: South East
County: Oxfordshire
Location: Oxford
Salary Description: Competitive
Recruiter: NaturalMotion Games
Role Summary:
NaturalMotion is looking for a tester to work on its upcoming mobile platform titles. This is a full time, contract position with an expected minimum duration of 3 months.
Daily duties will include testing and reporting issues discovered, working to use and improve test cases and working with small, project-based teams to ensure efficient testing throughout a project’s life.
While extensive testing experience is ideal, it is not strictly necessary and a little testing experience combined with enthusiasm and additional transferable skills is welcome and there will be a chance to learn and train with the testing team.
Testing will cover such areas as the user interface, menu items, inspecting the 3D assets for errors, gameplay, progression, and all other non-gameplay areas in addition to the game itself. Diligence and the ability to commit to repetitive tasks will be required in these roles.
Requirements:
– Excellent verbal and written English skills as you will be required to communicate with staff from all disciplines (both technical and non-technical) and to write clear bug reports.
– Self-motivation and enthusiasm.
– Diligence in conducting sometimes-repetitive tests and bug isolation.
– Ability to quickly learn new software tools.
– Knowledge of current generation games and hardware.
– Knowledge and use of mobile platforms (such as iOS and Android)
– Previous experience of software testing (including mobile and/or social games)
Desirable additional Skills/Experience:
– Experience of software testing on several different titles.
– Familiarity with testing on the iOS and Android platforms.
– Experience in using bug-tracking and test management tools.
– Experience testing in an Agile environment.
– Understanding of and design of Test Cases.
-Working knowledge of a programming or scripting language.
You can apply HERE.
