Tag Archives: Jagex

Train2Game News GameBlast15

Posted on by

image

The gamers’ charity, SpecialEffect, is aiming to build on the success of its inaugural GameBlast gaming marathon weekend in 2014 by calling on the UK games industry and gaming community to sign up for GameBlast15 as they look to raise over £100k towards the charity’s work.

The event, the UK’s largest game-based fundraiser, takes place 20-22 February and already has some of the UK’s top games industry names behind it including Jagex, the company behind the hugely successful Runescape. Jagex is SpecialEffect’s original GameBlast partner and last year raised almost £50k for the charity’s work in helping people with disabilities to access video games.

Along with a major marathon stream from Jagex from Friday to Saturday, the UK gaming trade body, UKIE, is supporting the SpecialEffect fundraising effort by hosting GameBlast LIVE, a 24-hour gaming broadcast from its headquarters in London. This will run from Saturday to Sunday.

Dr Jo Twist, SpecialEffect Vice President and CEO of UKIE, explained why she is so keen to get behind the SpecialEffect fundraiser, ‘They [SpecialEffect] were one of the first groups I met when I started my Ukie role in 2012 and I was bowled over by their dedication, their passion and their love. The innovative work they do to enable young people enjoy the games they love is incredibly inspiring. Games and the ability to play can enhance and enrich people’s lives in so many ways and everyone should have the right to play.’

The event, hosted by Matt Cuttle, promises 24 hours of unadulterated gaming and madness as BBC Click presenter and SpecialEffect Vice President, Kate Russell, builds on the £7,500 she raised through her Elite:Dangerous livestream at Christmas by flying a 12 hour Elite marathon alongside other enthusiasts of Frontier’s iconic space travel game. But Kate will be taking a break from space travel to battle it out with Jo Twist using SpecialEffect eye-control technology as they compete live on Twitch for the fastest lap in Codemasters’ popular Dirt 3 motor racing game. 

Kate explained why she has done so much to raise money and awareness of the charity’s work, ‘Ever since I found out about Special Effect a couple of years ago – a charity dedicated to helping those with physical limitations through illness or injury have fun playing computer games – it has been my pleasure and honour to be able to help raise funds and awareness about their tireless and dedicated work’.

If you’d like to join industry names like Jagex, Gamer Network and Multiplay and join hundreds of other gamers across the UK in raising money for SpecialEffect through the GameBlast15 gaming marathon go to:

http://www.specialeffect.org.uk/gameblast-about

Train2Game News BAFTA Young Game Designers competition

Posted on by

BAFTAThe British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has today announced the call for entries for the 2015 BAFTA Young Game Designers (YGD) competition in association with Nominet Trust, which aims to inspire the UK’s game-makers of the future by giving young people the chance to design and make their own game. The winners will be named at a special awards ceremony in July. Entries are now open at www.bafta.org/ygd until Monday 1 June.

Originally launched in 2010 for 11-16 year-olds, this year the age range for the competition has been expanded to include 10-18 year-olds, divided into age-specific sub-groups. Entrants – who can be individuals or a team of up to three people – can choose to enter two creative categories: The YGD Game Concept Award, to create a concept for a new game; and the YGD Game Making Award, to make a game using freely available software. The winners will receive a host of prizes, including further development of their game with industry professionals.

Two new categories have also been added this year: The YGD Mentor Award, for an inspirational individual involved in the education of young game designers; and the YGD Hero Award, for a games industry professional who supports young game designers. The public can nominate their YGD Mentor, while the YGD Hero will be selected by BAFTA’s Games Committee.

The BAFTA YGD competition is part of a year-round programme of activity which gives young people and educators unique insights into the games industry and access to the creative minds behind some of their favourite games. Support includes: a website (www.bafta.org/ygd) where BAFTA members, award winners and nominees share their insights and advice through interviews and exclusive video content; a web series, that takes a light-hearted look behind the scenes of the games industry; a range of teaching resources that link the BAFTYA YGD competition to the national curriculum; an online ‘feedback hub’ where young people can submit ideas or questions about their entry, with the chance of gaining a personalised response from a games expert; and live workshops around the country.

Nominet Trust – the UK’s only dedicated tech for good funder – is headline partner of the initiative, working with BAFTA to develop additional schools-focussed activity addressing the under-representation of women in the games workforce. Other supporting partners of BAFTA Young Game Designers include: Bethesda Softworks, Criterion Games (an EA Studio), Google, Jagex, King, Pinewood Studios Group, SEGA, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Unity, and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Abertay University supports the development of the games of the winners of the BAFTA YGD competition.

Tim Hunter, Director of Learning and Events at BAFTA, said: “The BAFTA YGD competition is a great opportunity for young people to try their hand at game design and get feedback from the creative people behind their favourite games. The games industry is one of the biggest and most dynamic entertainment industries in the world; we hope this competition inspires entrants to consider a career in games, as well as helping them better appreciate the artistry involved in making games. We can’t wait to share the winners with the industry and public at the YGD Awards ceremony in July.”

Annika Small, CEO of Nominet Trust, said: “If the UK is to retain its world-leading position in the creative industries, we need to develop a highly skilled workforce. The BAFTA Young Game Designers competition equips young people with the creative digital skills, understanding and connections that they need to become the games designers of the future. It’s exciting to see young people move from simply playing games to designing and making their own ones. Nominet Trust is proud to be supporting this vital initiative – I can’t wait to see what ideas and games entrants come up with!”

The winning games from 2014 – Tomatos Role from 16 year-old Rhianna Hawkins, from Taunton, and AlienX from 15 year-old Adam Oliver – will be on show at BAFTA’s Inside Games Arcade in advance of the British Academy Games Awards in March.

For the Terms & Conditions, and to enter the BAFTA YGD competition, go to www.bafta.org/ygd.

Train2Game News Jagex to host SpecialEffect for Gameblast

Posted on by

image

Jagex Games Studio, creators and custodians of the fantasy MMORPG, RuneScape and the upcoming online multiplayer action game, Block N Load, is to lead the way in SpecialEffect’s upcoming GameBlast15 games marathon weekend.

The event, which takes place between 20th and 22nd February, launches a 24-hour gamer challenge to raise money and help enable individuals with physical disabilities play games.

During the inaugural GameBlast in 2014, the RuneScape and Ace of Spades: Battle Builder communities raised more than £48,000 for SpecialEffect, and more than 90,000 viewers watched Jagex’s livestream of gameplay, interviews, and real-world challenges. In addition to holding another marathon livestream from Jagex’s Cambridge headquarters, RuneScape players will also benefit from a double XP weekend.

“SpecialEffect is a cause that’s very close to our hearts at Jagex. We had a lot of fun last year with our livestream for GameBlast14, so it’s fantastic to get stuck in once again and get even more involved in GameBlast15,” said Phil Mansell, vice president of RuneScape. “We’re really looking forward to welcoming Mick and the SpecialEffect team to Jagex, as well as holding our own 24-hour marathon and double XP weekend, next month.”

David Solari, vice president of Block N Load, added “The Ace of Spades: Battle Builder community were really supportive during GameBlast14, so we can’t wait to see how the burgeoning Block N Load player base performs this year. We’re currently in the beta phase of development, so the 24-hour GameBlast marathon will really put the game through its paces ahead of its launch!”

“We were simply stunned by the amazing generosity of the Jagex community during last year’s GameBlast, and honoured that they’re gearing up for another 24 hours of activity in February,” said Dr Mick Donegan, founder and director of SpecialEffect. “Having such a major force in the gaming industry backing our work helping people with disabilities is a great boost, and I’m personally really looking forward to being at Jagex HQ during the event to be part of their GameBlast heroics.”

Hosting SpecialEffect and taking part in GameBlast15 is the first of a number of fundraising drives for planned by the Jagex throughout 2015. During 2014, the studio and its passionate RuneScape community raised more than $300,000 for good causes, including Oxfam and SpecialEffect. RuneScape was also the first games partner of United for Wildlife, and helped to raise awareness of the plight facing the world’s rhinos with a series of in-game quizzes and limited edition virtual pets.

Train2Game News WeWanaPlay Charity Live Stream

Posted on by

image

WewanaPlay are supporting Birmingham Children’s Hospital this Christmas with a unique event. 

What started as just a small project to help the children at this festive time has spiralled into something much bigger with companies such as Microsoft, Jagex and Tripwire Interactive already committing their support.

Deepak Pathak, WewanaPlay CEO explained “WewanaPlay has a history of working with the local Children’s Hospital, so when they approached us to help with their £25,000 ‘Let us Play’ room, we knew we had to get involved. I’d seen first-hand with my nephew this year just how much they needed a decent games room and set the challenge to the team to do something special”

The simple idea to do a 24 hour Twitch live stream somehow spiralled into an event which will bring together many well-known gaming companies and personalities. The 24 hour live stream will be split into 30 minutes slots with each going to one of the events partners and collectively creating a highly entertaining event.

Deepak added: “WewanaPlay aims to bring gamers together, so It’s fantastic that companies such as Jagex (who make Runescape) and Microsoft jumped right in and saw the value of bringing their community together for crazy event.  We still have a lot of hard work left to do with filling the final slots with exciting companies and making sure the message of our event reaches many more people. If anyone out there can help, or know people who could help us, please get in touch!”

The event will run from:

Tuesday 9th December   3pm  (GMT:  UK time)
Until  Wednesday 10th December  3pm
On WewanaPlay’s Twitch channel: http://www.twitch.tv/wewanaplay

Full details including the JustGiving Donation Page can be found here:
http://www.blog.wewanaplay.com/events/

Please make sure you tune in and if you can help out in any way for this great cause lease get in touch via twitter:  @Wewana_Play or via their website.

Train2Game News Jagex support GameBlast 15

Posted on by

SpecialEffectJagex Games Studio, makers of the multi-award winning fantasy MMORPG RuneScape and upcoming Transformers Universe, today announced its continuing corporate support of GameBlast, the annual charity games marathon weekend in aid of gamers’ charity SpecialEffect.

Jagex held its own 24-hour games marathon as part of the previous GameBlast weekend in February 2014, which was live-streamed online to 90,000 unique viewers over the course of the event. Both staff and selected members of the RuneScape community played RuneScape and Jagex’s Ace of Spades: Battle Builder throughout the 24 hour period, raising over £48,000 as a result.

Riaan Hodgson, chief operations officer at Jagex, was vocal about the company’s continued support of GameBlast: “It’s great to see our staff get behind such a worthy cause once again, especially one so suited to our core company principles. At Jagex, games are a way of life and if we can have fun while welcoming others into this medium, then that’s definitely a good use of our time and resources.”

GameBlast is the UK’s biggest charity gaming marathon event, and is next scheduled for the weekend of 20-22 February 2015. Hoping to improve on last year’s total of £70,000, SpecialEffect is targeting a figure of £100,000 and is calling upon other games companies to join in and help people with disabilities benefit from the fun, friendship and inclusion of video games. The charity is hoping that other studios recognise the huge internal and external corporate social responsibility benefits from taking part, as well as the ability to directly benefit gamers in the best way possible.

“Jagex’s support was a major part of the success of GameBlast14,” said Dr Mick Donegan, founder and director of SpecialEffect. “We’re incredibly grateful for the generosity of its staff and communities, and we’re delighted that they’ll be participating again in 2015. The money they raise will enable even more people, whatever their age or physical disability, to enjoy video games and leisure technology.”

Donegan continued: “We know we can achieve so much more if the rest of the UK games industry follows Jagex’s lead and pledges their support for GameBlast15. There’s a warm welcome awaiting any developers, publishers or gaming communities who want to get involved, whether that’s at a small scale stream or at industry partner level.”

More information about next year’s GameBlast can be found at http://www.specialeffect.org.uk/gameblast

Train2Game News: Jagex supporting SpecialEffect GameBlast

Posted on by

image

Jagex Games Studio, makers of the multi-award winning fantasy MMORPG, RuneScape, is to host a 24-hour long marathon in support of the games charity SpecialEffect’s inaugural GameBlast weekend.

The challenge, to be held at Jagex’s Cambridge headquarters, will take place from 1pm GMT on Friday 21st February and will see staff and selected members of the RuneScape community play RuneScape and Ace of Spades throughout the 24-hour period. The event will also be live-streamed throughout via the official RuneScape and Ace of Spades twitch.tv channels, which will also include interviews with the RuneScape development team.

In addition to holding the marathon, Jagex will be running in-game events within RuneScape. Following a recent player vote, there will be Double XP for players during the GameBlast weekend. The Well of Goodwill, which saw players raise tens of thousands of pounds for a number of charities at the end of 2013, will re-open for a short time only. Players will also be able to purchase a virtual GameBlast tunic for their avatars, with all proceeds donated to SpecialEffect. During the GameBlast weekend, 50 percent of all profits from sales of Ace of Spades will be donated to SpecialEffect.

“Jagex has long supported numerous charities close to our heart, and we are thrilled to be able to continue our strong relationship with SpecialEffect by taking part in the inaugural GameBlast,” said Neil McClarty, Brand Director for RuneScape. “Our community truly are fantastic, and their generosity during our most recent charity campaign saw hundreds of billions of gold pieces and Bonds converted into real-world cash for good causes, including SpecialEffect. The weekend is shaping up to be big with lots planned including live streams and players recently voted to celebrate with double XP available all weekend, this is one not miss.”

“SpecialEffect does fantastic work to level the playing field between abled and disabled gamers, and Jagex is excited to continue supporting the organisation’s efforts by participating in GameBlast,” said Rob Kinder, Brand Director for Ace of Spades. “Getting the Ace of Spades community together for a 24-hour marathon gaming session while raising money for charity at the same time is the perfect way to start the weekend, and we can’t wait for the event to kick off!”

“We’re absolutely delighted that Jagex are going to play a huge part in GameBlast. We’re already indebted to them for the wonderful support they gave us in 2013 through their Well of Goodwill, and to have their involvement in this weekend of gaming is fantastic,” said Dr Mick Donegan, Founder and Director of SpecialEffect. “There are thousands of people in the world that want to share our passion for video games, but their disabilities stop them playing any of the titles we love. The sponsorship that the Jagex players and staff raise through their marathon will help us to bring magic moments and opportunities for inclusion into many, many more lives.”

Train2Game News: Games Industry Jobs – 13.3.13

Posted on by

Train2Game brings you more jobs this week from around the games industry. Good luck with any you apply for!

 

ART

Job Title Artist
Job Category Art / Animation
Skills Required Art / Animation
Location Midlands
Job Description Studio Overview

Hardlight is SEGA’s third UK based studio and is focused exclusively on creating high quality, innovative game experiences for mobile and handheld platforms.

The Studio comprises small, agile teams working on new IP & well-known SEGA IP. Project durations are 5-10 months, building on the success of their first projects on iOS – Sonic Jump.

The team follows an ethos of staying compact, agile and focused – combining talent from a variety of game genres and backgrounds, and welcomes applications from candidates of all levels of experience.

Key Responsibilities

  • Produce Concept, Prototype and In-Game Art within design and technical limitations for mobile platforms.
  • Create an appealing and consistent look for the games visuals that suites both the genre and brand requirements.
  • Additional tasks as required

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

  • Self-driven individual with good organization skills
  • Traditional 2D & 3D art skills.
  • A good eye for lighting, shading, colour, detail and form
  • Thoroughly knowledge of Photoshop & 3DS Max and/or similar digital art programs.
  • An eye for accurate proportion, form, and detail

Pluses

  • Previous games industry on smart phone and tablets game titles advantageous.
  • Passion for computer games and digital arts highly advantageous

You can apply by going HERE.

 

DEVELOPER

Job Title Mobile Game Engineer
Job Category Programming
Skills Required Mobile / iOS / Android
Location Midlands
Job Description Studio Overview

Hardlight is SEGA’s third UK based studio and is focused exclusively on creating high quality, innovative game experiences for mobile handheld platforms.  With their first project ‘Sonic Jump’ released on iOS in late October, their next projects are due through 2013.

The team was founded with the ethos of staying compact, agile and focused – combining talent from a variety of game genres and backgrounds and working closely with SEGA R&D Studio to stay at the cutting edge of developments in technology, middleware and game experiences.

Key Responsibilities  

  • Work with other members of the team on creating high quality mobile titles
  • Implement game features in partnership with artists and designers
  • Learn and help develop various areas of features going into mobile handheld titles
  • Constantly develop your skillset and experience in the mobile space

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

  • Development experience in C/C++
  • Experience developing titles for mobile devices (either independently or as part of a larger studio)
  • Comfortable with game design and implementation
  • Examples of own demos, with source code, very beneficial dependent on past professional experience

Pluses  

  • Passion for computer games highly advantageous
  • Development experience with C# or HTML5
  • Knowledge of OpenGL ES and other graphical development libraries

You can apply for the position HERE.

 

DESIGN

Job Title Level Designer
Job Category Game Design
Skills Required Game Design
Location Midlands, UK, Midlands
Job Description Level Designer

My client is looking for a talented Level Designer to join their team. Working as part of the design team the successful candidate will become a key member of a creative group looking to shape the next wave of exciting triple-A action titles.

Requirements

• Understanding of game design theory such as accessibility, pacing and balancing
• Exceptional team player with the ability to collaborate and communicate without losing sight of the gameplay vision
• Previous experience of building levels in a visual game design tool
• Prior knowledge of visual scripting (using CryEngine Flow Graph, Kismet or similar) to define and develop gameplay logic
• Willingness to take design direction when offered
• Work well under pressure to meet deadlines
• Experience playing first-person shooters
• Demo / video examples of relevant work (e.g. personal portfolio or content created in at least one shipped title)
• A general passion for video games, along with the desire to make the best games possible
• Strong interpersonal and problem solving skills
• ‘Outside of the box thinking’ with a desire to create interesting and original gameplay experiences

For more information please contact Simon Hope via email at: simon@aswift.com

 

QA

Jagex Ltd, the UK’s leading independent Online Games Studio, is looking for a passionate Junior Software QA Tester to join our Web Systems team and assure the quality of company websites.

Working within our growing Software Testing Department, you will be responsible assisting our internal web developers with the creation of applications used by staff and our players. The focus of the testing team is to ensure the highest quality and timely delivery of projects. You will also be expected to provide constructive feedback throughout the development lifecycle.

We are looking for highly motivated team players with strong communication and high attention to detail, who have a professional and methodical approach to work.

Key Duties Include:

  • Testing software tools and system applications
  • Providing constructive and qualitative feedback to developers
  • Analysing systems and developing the required tests
  • Providing design input to facilitate module testability
  • Creating structured test scripts and test plans
  • Contributing on a regular basis to improving processes and procedures
  • Regularly informing team leader of project progress and raising issues as they arise
  • Reviewing non-game website content

Essential Requirements:

  • Experience of software testing
  • Understanding of internet technologies including HTTP, HTML, CSS and JavaScript
  • Experience testing web/internet applications, including browser compatibility and security testing
  • Ability to understand software design documents to identify test scope and strategy
  • Excellent communication and organisation skills
  • Experience working in test driven agile development
  • A high level of attention to detail, strong analytical skills and problem solving ability

Desirable Requirements:

  • Good knowledge of bug tracking tool Jira
  • Experience of automated testing using Selenium
  • Experience with automated test tools, processes and test strategies
  • Experience analysing projects and determining their testing requirements
  • Passion for games
  • In-depth knowledge of writing automated and manual test scripts
  • ISEB Foundation qualified
  • Degree in Computer Science/Engineering  or equivalent experience
  • Experience of working on networked and MMO games

You can apply HERE.

Train2Game News: Games Industry Jobs – 20.02.13

Posted on by

Train2Game is again bringing you jobs from all across the games industry in the hopes that you will take that all important first step in to the industry.

DEVELOPER

Job Title Tools Programmer – Runescape MMO
Job Category Programming
Skills Required Tools
Location Cambridge, UK & Europe
Job Description Jagex Ltd, the UK’s leading independent online games studio, is looking for bright and passionate programmers who want to work with cutting edge technology to join our Tools Department. Joining the Jagex Technologies team, you would be developing new in-house tools to support our content development and graphics teams while also working with our code libraries, scripting language and game engine.

Key Duties Include:

  • Develop and maintain bespoke content creation tools using Java to the highest standards
  • Enhance and improve the game engine
  • Research new technology, platforms, techniques and ideas
  • Enhance both the tools team libraries and the game engine libraries
  • Act as lead on project, overseeing design and development

Essential Requirements:

  • High level knowledge of Java, C++ and object orientated programming techniques
  • Strong understanding of computer graphics or computer animation technologies
  • Strong understanding and appreciation of code design philosophies
  • Strong academic background at degree level or equivalent
  • Good industry track record, which may include previously published products, or tools development experience
  • The ability to think creatively to solve coding problems and to demonstrate a high degree of initiative, determination and flexibility

Desirable Requirements:

  • Knowledge of other platforms including, but not limited to, Mac OS, Linux, WII, PS3 and Xbox
  • Good understanding of GUIs and tools
  • Experience of working on network and MMO games
  • Experience as a lead programmer

You can apply, here.

DESIGN

Game Designer – UX (Runescape)

Jagex Ltd, the UK’s largest developer and publisher of online games, is looking for an exceptional individual to play a major role in shaping the world renowned RuneScape.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the UX design of key game features; guiding the production of their systems and content from original concept, to creation & prototyping, through final polish and community feedback.

This amazing opportunity to be a key contributor to a world class MMO from a successful and stable developer/publisher demands high levels of expertise, experience, passion and commitment.

Key Duties Include:

  • Channel the lead designer’s creative vision and management’s product strategy into everyday project development.
  • Support the creative process by producing UX design deliverables (wireframes, mockups, prototypes) of varying fidelity, used to communicate the desired experience
  • Use of industry best practice, heuristics and user testing to evaluate to relative usability of products
  • Set aims, use collaborative design and give feedback to ensure all projects achieve the best quality, stay within scope and are coherent with the wider game.
  • Design experiences, structural features and creative processes. Create and maintain high quality documentation.
  • Lead the creation of large, complex or multi-part features. Coordinate across development disciplines to prototype, implement and refine game content.
  • Be an expert on design practice and maintain awareness of the games industry and the online games market.
  • Be a mentor by giving support and guidance to the wider team

Essential Requirements:

  • Proven and demonstrable expertise in game systems design, including creativity, technical aptitude, commercial awareness and MMO genre knowledge.
  • Must have sound creative judgment and a solid understanding of broad UX design principles including interface design, usability, balancing and analytics.
  • Demonstrate exemplary UX design skills and knowledge
  • Strong communication & people skills. Able to work effectively with a diverse team, to give insightful feedback, to be able to write design specifications to high standard and able to verbally articulate ideas with passion, clarity and confidence.
  • A good general technical proficiency with game construction. Experience in game scripting, coding or development tools is also very beneficial.
  • Driven, organized and reliable. A positive attitude, steady under pressure, adapts to constructive feedback. Works in a thorough, timely and considerate manner.
  • A love of games & design, a broad knowledge of gameplay styles and an expansive yet insightful understanding of game mechanics.

You can apply, here.

ART

Job Title 2D Artist for Smartphone Games – London
Job Category Art / Animation
Skills Required 2D / Concept / Texture Artist
Location Hammersmith, London, UK & Europe
Job Description Capcom, Beeline is currently seeking a talented 2D graphic designer and animator to join our London studio. The successful candidate will work with the Lead Graphic Designer and Producer to design, create and animate graphical content for freemium social games.

Required Skills:

  • Ability to design appealing and original 2D game content.
  • Highly skilled in 2D animation.
  • High proficiency with Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator (or similar software).
  • Experience with isometric perspective.

Desired Skills

  • Adobe/Macromedia Flash.
  • Previous experience with graphics for mobile devices.
  • Previous experience working with a game development team or similar.
  • Audio experience; proficient with audio editing software.
  • 3D modelling/animation skills: Maya or Blender.

Profile

  • High creativity and attention to detail.
  • Strong background in sketching, drawing and illustration.
  • Ability to work within a schedule.
  • Genuine passion for the video games industry, design and animation.
  • Team player with strong social and communication skills.
  • Willing to learn, cooperate with the developers and open to feedback.
  • Good English language skills.

Applicants must be able to start ASAP and will work from our studio in Hammersmith.

Please send applications with your portfolio to jobs@capcom.com

 

QA

Job Title QA Functional Tester
Job Category QA / Localisation
Skills Required QA Tester
Location UK & Europe
Job Description Pole To Win Europe Ltd. – Functional QA Testers wanted for video game testing!

Pole To Win Europe Ltd. is looking for motivated and responsible people to join us as Functional QA Testers.

Ideal candidates will have a very strong knowledge of video games, ranging from consoles, handheld consoles and mobile devices. The video games industry is a fast paced industry; the candidate should have knowledge of video games history, having experience on previous generation of hardware as well as understanding the current status of the industry and its future development.

As a Functional QA Tester you will be responsible for finding bugs in the video game that you are testing. You will be making sure that all bugs that you find are written and tracked in a bug database, which the development team will receive and then fix the issues that are present. You will then have to verify that the fix has been successful in a new build, or sent the issue back to the developers in order to ensure the correct fix has been made.

The Pole To Win group is a leading company in providing quality services to the games industry with over 18 years of experience. Our West London Studio opened in April 2012 and has been expanding ever since! This is an excellent opportunity to join our passionate team and pursue a career in the videogames industry with opportunities to move up within the company.

The position is open to any person based in or around London. Contract will be based on the length of the projects.

Required Skills

  • Excellent knowledge of the video games industry
  • Experience in playing video games on a variety of consoles
  • High level of written and spoken English
  • Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines
  • Good communication skills and able to work as part of a team

Preferred Skills

  • Excellent MS Office Skills
  • Previous experience with using Bug Databases
  • Understanding of games and game terminology
  • Understanding the roles of other areas of the industry
  • Previous experience of Functional Testing, although training will be given on site

Due to the number of applications we are only able to contact candidates who have successfully passed on to the interview stage, thank you for your understanding

You can apply by emailing info@poletowineurope.com

 

Train2Game News: Game industry jobs – 7.11.12

Posted on by

Art

 

Jagex Ltd, a World leading independent Online Games Studio, is looking for a highly motivated Junior Web Designer to produce online art assets for our games, including TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE and RuneScape.

Working within our busy in-house design team, you will be responsible for designing a variety of banners, web pages, Facebook campaigns, logos and other art assets. Working with the Lead Designer for each product you will have a great opportunity to learn and improve your skills while gaining valuable industry experience.

This unique and highly rewarding role will suit an up and coming designer with little or no industry experience provided you have a strong online portfolio demonstrating your design talent.

Key Duties Include:
– Working on the company’s products and designing art assets ranging from banners to websites.
– Working from a written brief, from concept to final launch.
– Following a products brand guide.
– Working closely with the Lead designer of each product.
– Working closely with internal clients & product brand managers

Essential Requirements:
– Good working knowledge of Photoshop.
– A strong online portfolio.
– A good eye for colours, typography, design and composition.
– Ability to show good initiative, judgement and excellent attention to detail.
– Good communication skills

Desirable Requirements:
– Working knowledge of Illustrator, InDesign, or Flash.
– Ability to paint with a digital tablet.
– Experience of working within large scale organisations.
– An interest in computer games.

You can apply HERE.

Junior Technical Artist

One of the most exciting and demanding challenges in modern game development is building bridges between increasingly complex art and code. The technical artist provides this vital link and combines an understanding of tools and technologies along with a keen artistic eye.

This Junior Technical Artist role will be for our Research & Development Art Team, prototyping and benchmarking the latest art techniques and supporting all our games in development. The successful applicant is expected to develop in the role and would be provided with the support network to learn all they need to know

Specific requirements for this role:

The following describes the full spectrum of expectations for a technical artist. Junior positions would not be expected to have experience in all of these areas.

Directly reporting to: R&D Art Director

Duties
-The evaluation of art creation pipelines to assess their effectiveness in the studio’s game development processes.
-The creation of tools and scripts to improve art pipelines in the studio. This can include Python, MEL or Z-Scripts and may extend to full tool creation within an applications API or in some cases windows based environments.
-The creation of pixel and vertex shaders for use in R&D and game development.
-The design and implementation of new processes in areas such as lighting, surfacing (shaders and materials), post processing and special effects.
-To document and communicate pipelines and technology updates to all relevant parties.
-Create and iteratively develop game assets from inception to final review on the target hardware within the game engine using appropriate tools (BlitzTech Tools).

Essentials
-A knowledge of applicable content creation applications such as Maya, Photoshop and Zbrush.
-Some knowledge of game development tools and pipelines in such environments as Unreal Engine, CryEngine, Gamebryo or BlitzTech.
-Some knowledge of scripting
-An understanding of techniques to accurately simulate surfaces in game. This may include texture, lighting and shaders.

Traditional Art Skills
-Appreciation and ability to make good fundamental artistic judgements.
-An understanding of the basic principles of lighting.
-Ability to develop and communicate ideas and concepts in a visual manner.

Self Management and Organisation
-Ability and willingness to work to a set brief and to deadlines.

Teamwork and Communication
-To maintain a good level of communication with all relevant parties at all times.
-Ability and willingness to fit into a creative team environment.

Professional attitude and work ethic
-A willingness and ability to learn is essential including the ability to accept constructive feedback.
-A consistent professional approach to naming, filing, backing up and archiving of all work in accordance with company and team policy.

 

You can apply HERE.

Developer

Games Programmer (iOS/Android)
Brighton

My client is looking for smart, energetic, friendly programmers with strong C++ or C# skills to join their growing company. The role will see you working on exciting projects with small team sizes, flexibility is key as the work will be varied – if you love games and technology and enjoy working in an environment where the pace of technological advancement knows no limits this is the role for you!
Required

• 2.1 degree in Maths, Physics, Computer Science or related, or equivalent industry experience
• Excellent knowledge of C# or C++
• Excellent knowledge of algorithms and data structures
• Experience of creating games on desktop or mobile platforms
• Desire to make great games
• Great communication skills (verbal and written)
• Happy to work as part of a team
• Demonstrable love for some area of game technology
• A passion for playing games and solving problems
• Flexible and keen to learn new skills

Great to have

• Knowledge of two or more other programming languages (for example Java, Python, PHP, Clojure)
• 1 or more years of games industry experience
• 1 or more shipped titles on console, desktop or mobile platforms
• Strong knowledge of console, desktop and mobile architectures
• Knowledge of asynchronous engineering techniques
• Experience of Unity, Unreal or XNA
• SQL
• Experience using digital content creation tools (for example Max, Maya, Photoshop)

You can apply HERE.

C++/C# Games Programmer

Ideaworks Game Studio was established in 2005 to develop AAA native C++ based mobile games. Using in-house cross-platform technology developed by parent company Ideaworks3D, the studio was able provide high quality, efficient and rapid development of console games to mobile. We quickly became the cross-platform developer of choice for leading games publishers and developers from all over the world, earning industry awards for our artistry and technical mastery. Some of the games we have brought to the mobile gaming market include original and franchise-based games Metal Gear Solid Mobile, Backbreaker Football, Call of Duty: WaW: Zombies, Call of Duty Black Ops: Zombies and Fable: Coin Golf amongst many others.

 

Job Description
We are seeking talented and capable programmers, with strong technical competence and passion for making mobile games. Candidates will professional development experience, and be capable of working in a collaborative team development environment. Excellent written and ability to articulateyour ideas are key, as are a dedication to quality, and the ability to adapt quickly to new challenges.
– Requirements
– C++, C# is a bonus
– Experience with scripting languages such as Python and Lua
– Ability to rapidly prototype
– Experience with animation, graphics or physics programming
– Familiarity with/ability to rapidly prototype
– Ability to work within a dynamic and collaborate development team
– Self-motivated with a strong work ethic
– Good verbal and written communication skills
– Bachelors degree in Software Engineering or Computer Science, or some work experience with a proven track record

Responsibilities

Candidates will be skilled and passionate developers, with a creative mind-set and a burning enthusiasm for making great games.

– Develop project-independent games technology
– Estimating code tasks and assignments
– Work with other disciplines [Design, Art etc] to plan & execute work
– Ensure that your code is configured to meet a high standard of technical quality
– Maintain a balance between long-term engineering goals and those driven by production realities and delivery constraints to deliver great games
– Contribute to the technical evaluation and resource planning of projects under consideration or under execution,balancing high-level aims (such as staff development and technical quality) against practical development demands.
– Work with other disciplines [Design, Art etc] to plan and execute work

 

You can apply HERE.

QA

Rockstar North is looking for enthusiastic and self-motivated individuals to join our Games Test team in
Edinburgh. You will be expected to play through our latest games looking for problems and reporting errors, to ensure game quality before release. 

Responsibilities

You will be finding and reproducing bugs, errors or problems in-game as directed. The role will require accurate, detailed and complete reporting to the required standards and subsequent revision of those errors or problems.

Qualifications

Successful applicants will have excellent written and verbal communication skills and enjoy working as part of a team. You will have good general computer skills and be a confident learner working with word processing, databases and spreadsheets. You will be able to show consistent attention to detail and have the ability to remain focussed when approaching repetitive tasks. We will be looking for flexibility regarding unsociable and extended working hours to meet the demands of the role.

Additional Information

Candidates must be 18 years of age and above and provide two references. The position will be a full-time fixed term contract. Applicants will preferably be educated to further or higher education standards.

This is a two stage application process. You will first be asked to complete an application pack from which you may be asked to attend an interview.

You can apply HERE.

Train2Game News: Minecraft meets guns

Posted on by

Jagex, the team behind RuneScape, have developed a new free-to-play first person shooter that has been described as Minecraft meets Team Fortress.

Jagex, Europe’s largest independent games studio, today formally unveiled details of its previously unannounced innovative shooter, Ace of Spades. Ace of Spades is the latest title from the multi-awarding UK studio behind the leading free-to-play browser MMO RuneScape.

Ace of Spades is a retro-looking intelligent creative shooter that gives players complete strategic freedom over a battlefield they can evolve and built on throughout a game session.  Featuring up to 32 players, Ace of Spades destructible environments are only limited by the imagination of the players creating them. The game provides players with all the ‘world-building’ freedom of a voxel-based sandbox, but with the addition of competitive, team-based multiplayer FPS gunplay.

Creativity is key to succeeding in Ace of Spades as the game gives players the freedom to construct anything from simple bunkers to elaborate fortresses and tunnel networks. This adds a new and innovative component to the game giving players unrestricted freedom to plan their own battles, construct purpose-built defences, and adapt the environment in real-time, changing the course of the battle.

Jagex CMO David Solari said, “If you’re tired of the same old first person shooters, coming out year after year with a fresh lick of paint and a hefty price tag, then Ace of Spades will tick all the boxes for you, offering an all action multiplayer featuring up to 32 player FPS combat and a fully customisable environment which will continuously develop throughout your battle.

“Despite keeping this game under the radar during development, it has still proved to be hugely viral with more than two and half a million players entering the prototype phase. Ace of Spades is set to take FPS to the next level, adding evolving tactics and strategy to twitch FPS gameplay. We have blended the artistic style of voxel-based sandbox games, such as Minecraft, with the class based combat of titles like Team Fortress, and added an extra dimension with real-time evolving battlefields to create a game which we firmly believe will appeal to FPS gamers looking for a bigger challenge.”

The game, which has been developed by Jagex and a small team of talented independent developers, has been running a massively successful prototype since April last year which has been downloaded in excess of 2.5 million times and currently has 550,000 active monthly users.

The full version Ace of Spades featuring an improved graphics engine and an armoury of new weapons will be available to download from Steam in December 2012 for a small one off fee.

You can watch the trailer for the game below: