Tag Archives: games industry

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 at Eurogamer with Gamesbrief founder Nicholas Lovell

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Train2Game at Eurogamer with Gamesbrief founder Nicholas Lovell

The Train2Game blog interviewed Nicholas Lovell almost exactly a year ago, read the huge feature here.

Nicholas Lovell is a former investment banker and web entrepreneur who helps games developers become publishers. He also provides strategic and online marketing advice and is a non-executive director at developer nDreams. Clients have included Atari, Channel4, Channelflip, Dynamo Games, Firefly Studios (who recently self-published MMO Stronghold Kingdoms), IPC Media, Rebellion and Square Enix. He is the author of How to Publish a Game and blogs about the business of games at http://www.gamesbrief.com.

More information from http://www.train2game.com

Train2Game news: Sony – ‘Time still not right’ for download only consoles

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Train2Game students will be aware of the growth of digital distribution in the games industry, with games available to download via services including Xbox LIVE, PSN and Steam.

And while the Train2Game blog has previously reported that some believe future consoles won’t use discs at all, Sony don’t believe this will happen any time soon.

“We believe, for some consumers, the time is [right], but for other consumers, the time is still not [right],” SCE Worldwide president Shuhei Yoshida told Edge in an interview about the PlayStation Vita

Sony officially revealed their new handheld console at E3 earlier this year.

Yoshida said that current internet connections mean that it’s not yet time for a console to go digital only. This is despite Sony attempting a download only console with the PSP Go.

“So we believe the time is still not right to go download-only as a platform. Some PS Vita titles, like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, will be close to 4GB in size, which could be too large to download for consumers who do not have a fast broadband connection.”

Yoshida added that some consumers will appreciate being able to go to a retailer and pick up a physical copy of a game.

“Also, some consumers like shopping in retail stores, talking to knowledgeable store clerks, buying and playing games on the spot. We do not want to remove that capability from consumers.”

Sony are also aware that downloads haven’t taken off in every part of the globe.

“There are consumers in parts of the world – this is a global device – where the digital model has not yet fully been embraced,” added SCEE CEO Jim Ryan.

Last month, the Train2Game blog reported that Crytek don’t believe that the industry is ready for digital distribution via cloud gaming.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Sony’s remarks about digital distribution? Can you see consoles going download only?

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

[Source: Edge via Industry Gamers]

Train2Game students, want to stand out in the games industry? Cliffy Bleszinski has some advice…

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Train2Game students will need to stand out both in ability, and as a character, in ordered to get noticed in the games industry. This could include wearing a silly hat.

That’s according to comments made by Gears of War 3 creator Cliff Bleszinski about what game developers need to do to make a name for themselves.

“It’s not always easy for the majority of them, but the best thing you can do for your career is to be an actual name as opposed to just, and I hate to say it, a gear in the machine,” he told Develop.

And the Gears of War 3 man recognises that you have to be good at what you do, but it’s also important to make yourself a little distinctive.

“First and foremost, make a great game but also have a personality. Be the guy with the hip glasses, with the one gauge earring and the gamer tattoo all the way to the sleeves with a skateboard. Stand out,” he said.

“Be a person, be a brand. Just do something so that people know who you are. Have an online presence more than ever. Understand social channels.”

Many Train2Game students will already know about Twitter, and how some can use it to aid in their success. Train2Game also has its own Twitter account.

Bleszinski use’s creator of Minecraft – a hugely popular game on the Train2Game forum –  Markus ‘Notch’ Persson as an example of a developer using alternative means to make a name for themselves.

“He’s got over 300,000 followers and he has the hat. Clearly the guy gets a certain amount of the branding right, he’s got the cool nickname, he’s got the hat he wears everywhere. You spot him and know what he looks like. He’s an example like Jon Blow.” said the Epic Design Director.

The Develop interview – which Train2Game students can read here – should make interesting reading for Train2Game students, with Cliff Bleszinski also discussing development behind the Gears of War series.

Last month, the Train2Game blog reported that Bleszinski thinks there’s much more to come from current generation consoles.

So Train2Game, what do you think of Bleszinski’s comments? Is it important for game developers to be distinctive to stand out above the crowd?? Would you consider wearing a funny hat to be recognised?

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

[Source: Develop]

Train2Game game developers: how to be a ‘kick-ass’ coder

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Train2Game students on the Game Development course will be especially interested in this, a blog on how to become a ‘kick-ass’ gameplay coder.

It’s the latest in the #altdevblogaday series, and comes from FreeStyleGames’ Andy Bastable. It contains some excellent advice on how to become a great coder and is something that Train2Game game development students would benefit from reading!

One tip is the importance of working with the rest of the game development team, the game designers and artists, even if you don’t necessarily agree with what they want to do…

“Being an awesome gameplay coder means leaving that cynical attitude by the door. Yes, you may not like the feature you are tasked with all that much – and you may not even think it’ll work that well, but keep an open mind and you may be surprised by how it develops.”

“Work with designers and artists, and not against them. That doesn’t mean not speaking up when something is wildly unrealistic, or bound to contradict several TRCs – but it does mean being willing to try out things that don’t get all your creative juices flowing at first glance.” Writes Bastable.

Train2Game students can read the full ‘How to be a kick-ass gameplay coder’ piece at #altdevblogaday.

A previous #altdevblogaday post, mentioned here on the Train2Game blog demonstrated the importance of getting involved with Game Jams. Fortunately, next month’s Train2Game & Epic Game Jam will give some Train2Game students this opportunity.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the tips for becoming a kick-ass coder? And what tips would you give to others?

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

[Source: #altdevblogaday]

Train2Game news: Playtesting ‘necessary’ part of game design process say Thatgamecompany

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Train2Game blog readers may have read our post earlier this week in which Star Wars: The Old Republic project lead James Ohlen said playtesting is a very important part of game development.

Well it seems that he isn’t the only one. Thatgamecompany, the indie studio behind Flower and the upcoming Journey, recently spoke to Gamasutra, with founder Kellee Santiago revealing playtesting is an integral part of their game development

“We are exploring different emotions in game design. If you were to have this emotion of, “I want it to feel joyous but slightly sad,” and you go to an artist, the artist can probably bang out some art in a couple days, some concept art that has those feelings.”

“You go to a composer and you say that, and they can probably do it in half a day, write out a tune that has joyous but slightly sad.” said Santiago.

And while sound and art & animation style can be tested relatively quickly, the Thatgamecompany founder believes that playtesting is the only way to get a good feel of game design concepts.

“You go to a game designer and say, “I want to feel game mechanics that are joyous and slightly sad,” there’s no real defined process for it, other than making something and having other people play it, and finding out if that’s right or not” she said.

“And it’s just a longer process, and it is because it is still so new, I think. Prototyping and playtesting is just so necessary to the craft right now.” Santiago concluded.

Of course, it isn’t only game developers and QA Testers who playtest games, with open beta becoming increasingly popular. As reported by the Train2Game blog, the Battlefield 3 beta begins today, while Valve’s Chet Faliszek also told us that testing is a hugely important part of game development.

So Train2Game, how important do you believe playtesting is to game design?  Will there every be a defined process of testing game design concepts?

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

[Source: Gamasutra]

Train2Game news: Consoles will continue to be the ‘gold standard’

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Train2Game students will be aware about the huge increase in digital gaming over the last few years, with smartphones, Steam and as seen at the Eurogamer Expo, OnLive, all giving consumers ways of downloading or streaming games.

And as reported by the Train2Game blog, some have even speculated that there will eventually be no place for traditional consoles.

However, retailer GameStop believes that consoles are very much here to stay and for a long while yet.

“We continue to believe that the console is a strong platform and will continue to be the gold standard” GameStop President Tony Bartel told Industry Gamers

And he believes that digital content will become an increasingly important area for consoles.

“People will begin to digitally download first a lot more downloadable content. Eventually, full games will become more relevant to some consumers who want to do that”

“Then we think that streaming will continue to grow. As you get additional bandwidth, we think that it’s going to become more prevalent over time, which is why we’ve invested in it.” Bartel concluded.

The increasing importance of digital to consoles echoes comments made by THQ CEO Brian Farrell. As reported by the Train2Game blog, he believes future consoles won’t use discs and this will only be a good thing for game developers.

Meanwhile, Crytek believe that the games industry isn’t quite ready for an all digital cloud gaming way of working.

So Train2Game, do you believe consoles will always be a part of gaming? Or does the rise of digital mean that they have limited time left in the spotlight?

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

[Source: Industry Gamers]

Train2Game News: Free CryENGINE®3 SDK for non-commercial use

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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