Tag Archives: Make Something Unreal Live

Train2Game interview: Chris Ledger of Train2Game & Epic Games Make Something Unreal Live team Derp Studios

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Train2Game students are launching four new development studios in 2012 as part of ‘Make Something Unreal Live,’ a competitive process designed to accelerate their careers by giving them the tools and resources needed to release games for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch this spring.

The studios are Commando Kiwi, Derp Studios, Digital Mage and Indigo Jam.

The first titles released by the studios will be based on the Fighting Fantasy series of books created by Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson.

We caught up with Derp Studios’ Chris Ledger to find out how the road to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show has gone so far. Listen via Train2Game Radio or read it here on The Train2Game Blog.

Hi Chris, how did you come up with the name of your studio?

Well, we unnamed for our first few weeks, debating what to be called, and it turned out the most common phrase we were using was ‘Derp’ because we were making stupid mistakes and saying ‘Ah derp’ we ended up as Derp Studios from that.

How have you found working with the Fighting Fantasy IP, which particular book is your game going to be based on?

It’s based on The Citadel of Chaos, which is the second book in the Fighting Fantasy franchise. It’s been great fun to work with, we’ve had numerous playthroughs of it and we’ve bought some additional books to expand our knowledge about the lore of the franchise as well.

And how are you finding getting to grips with the Unreal Engine using UDK?

I really like UDK, it’s brilliant, absolutely fantastic. We had a few teething problems at the start with the mobile functions as it’s completely different to the PC version, almost. But we were gutted about the terrain, but we’ve worked our way around it by exporting an object and re-importing it, so we’ve overcome the teething problems and it’s going quite well at the moment.

How are you finding the work compared to pressured environment at the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam?

It’s probably equally as stressful sometimes, especially because of deadlines…and even though we’ve got more time to do things, our scope is a bit bigger than what we were doing at the game jam. I suppose it’s equally as stressful, but just as enjoyable.

What deadlines have you met recently, and what progress have you made with your game?

We’ve done our pre-Alpha, so we’ve compiled a small build with most of our mechanics in, just fine-tuning that. What we’ve been doing lately is mostly getting the character models out the way. We’ve done the majority of the levels that we’re planning to have in the game, and now it’s just the character models and adding the code to them.

Tell us about the genre of game you’re working on for Make Something Unreal Live.

It’s a first person RPG. I haven’t seen anything like it on IOS devices at all, I’ve seen first person shooters, but nothing that’s first person melee and magic based, so it should be quite eye opening and interesting to see when it’s fully done.

Does the game have a bit of a Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim vibe to it then?

Yeah, we’ve obviously, often referenced Skyrim, Elder Scrolls and other famous first person melee games. We got a bit nervous at first as people might think it’s just a watered down version of Skyrim, but…they’ll love it!

And it fits in nicely with the Fighting Fantasy IP as well.

Yeah, we’ve taken extra care to fit it perfectly with the IP. Our game is in fact a sequel to The Citadel of Chaos game book.

Why is it a sequel rather than being based on the book itself?

Well, it’s based on the exact same settings, it’s just happening a week afterwards. In the game book, at the end, you kill the main bad guy, and we thought we could have a bit of a twist on it where events happen after his death, but it’s all related to him. So, it’s got a lot of twists that relate to the book.

How are you looking forward to going to The Gadget Show and making a game in that public setting?

I’m nervous and excited at the same time. Well, more excited. It’ll be great just to show off what our studio is doing. It’s eye opening for the public as well.

How can people who want to find out more about Derp Studios on Facebook and Twitter?

We’ve got a Facebook and a Twitter page. Facebook is www.facebook.com/derpstudios and Twitter is www.twitter.com/derpstudios

Great Chris, thanks for your time and good luck.

Thank you.

Keep up to date with the latest news from Make Something Unreal Live here on The Train2Game Blog.

Train2Game interview: Jonny Robinson of Train2Game & Epic Games Make Something Unreal Live team Commando Kiwi

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Train2Game  students are launching four new development studios in 2012 as part of ‘Make Something Unreal Live,’ a competitive process designed to accelerate their careers by giving them the tools and resources needed to release games for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch this spring.

The studios are Commando Kiwi, Derp Studios, Digital Mage and Indigo Jam.

The first titles released by the studios will be based on the Fighting Fantasy series of books created by Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson.

We caught up with Commando Kiwi’s Jonny Robinson to find out how the road to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show has gone so far. Listen via Train2Game Radio or read it here on The Train2Game Blog.

Hi Jonny. Your team for Make Something Unreal Live is called Commando Kiwi, what made you decide on that name?

There wasn’t really any decision on the name, it was just a case of asking ourselves what sounded cool, what sounded indie and we just chose Commando Kiwi. Someone on the team just said ‘Commando Kiwi sounds cool’ so we decided to roll with it. It wasn’t a real decision, because we didn’t want to take ourselves too seriously as a team, we just want to have as much fun as possible.

And you had a bit of fun making the Commando Kiwi logo as well.

Oh yes. If you didn’t know, we hosted a little competition, a little social media pump if anything. We asked our Facebook fans to make us a logo, and the best one, a team decision, was made our actual logo, and thanks to Dave Higgins, we have a cool little logo. So that’s going to be representing us for the Make Something Unreal Live event.

You’ll be working with the prestigious Fighting Fantasy IP, which book in particular is your game going to be based on?

We’ve got The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the iconic one…unfortunately. Well, it’s not unfortunate but it’s just more pressure compared, I think, to the other teams.

And which genre of game have you been assigned to make?

We were given the third person style. At the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam, I read out ‘third’ at the presentation, so we’ve taken on the assumption of third person.

Does that mean the game is Fable-esque, perhaps?

No…I’d like to think our game has taken the course of Final Fantasy meets Infinity Blade. We’d like to say it’s a good looking game, really lush, with this kind of strategy element, making sure you pick the right moves at the right time like you’d see in a normal Final Fantasy. We’ve designed it that way so it has simple controls and not too thumbs heavy; it’s the same as another touch and play game.

How have you found working with UDK in the run up to Make Something Unreal Live?

It’s a great piece of kit. It’s been stressful at times, but it’s just like with any piece of software, there have been builds that have gone down and we’ve had to rebuild, luckily I’ve got an amazing team. We’ve tackled some hard problems on the UDK, we’ve bent the engine to our will, but it’s looking really cool and hopefully we’ll be delivering an awesome game.

And how have you found the transition from being a team at the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam, to being a fully functioning team going forward to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show?

One word? Nervous, just so nervous; the pressure is on, especially if you’ve got a big name like The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. I’ve read about it, I’ve read the books. I only first read the books two years back, but what I read was really cool because Train2Game actually talked about it (in the course books) which is why I was surprised when we got the IP of it! This is big.

How much are you looking forward to taking part in the event? How does the prospect of being there in Birmingham at the NEC while making a game make you feel?

Er, scared…Don’t get me wrong, it’s going to be an amazing experience. The reason I’m so scared is because it could change our life, and if anything there’s more pressure to get it right. If anything, these shots don’t happen very often, and we want to deliver as best as we can for this opportunity we’ve been given.

But the skills you’ve learned through the Train2Game course will help you throughout the process.

Oh yes, they’ve helped tremendously, especially for team management and project management for game design. It’s really opened a lot of the team’s eyes for what we’ve had to do. If anything, we’ve learned a lot more for this little development, and the Train2Game course helped.

What are the contact details of the Commando Kiwi social media pages?

It’s www.facebook.com/comkiwi and for Twitter it’s @CommandoKiwi We’re more than happy to engage with our fans.

Thanks for your time Jonny, and good luck.

Thanks Danny.

Keep up to date with the latest news from Make Something Unreal Live here on The Train2Game Blog.

Train2Game interview: Craig Moore of Train2Game & Epic Games Make Something Unreal Live team Digital Mage

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Train2Game  students are launching four new development studios in 2012 as part of ‘Make Something Unreal Live,’ a competitive process designed to accelerate their careers by giving them the tools and resources needed to release games for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch this spring.

The studios are Commando Kiwi, Derp Studios, Digital Mage and Indigo Jam.

The first titles released by the studios will be based on the Fighting Fantasy series of books created by Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson.

We caught up with Digital Mage’s Craig Moore to find out how the road to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show has gone so far. Listen via Train2Game Radio or read it here on The Train2Game Blog.

Hi Craig. Why did you decide to call your Make Something Unreal Live game development team Digital Mage?

Well, originally we were called Team Gandalf, and because we’re using the visage of a mage and everything like that, it just seemed a bit close to the bone in regards to licensing. So, we decided to change to something that was equally wizardy and call ourselves Digital Mage, which actually came about because we found a random name generator online and it happened that upon us. It kind of felt like fate.

And I guess it works well with the Fighting Fantasy IP you’re working on, can you tell us which book in particular your game is based on?

We’re working on Armies of Death.

And what genre is your game going to be?

Luckily for us, we’re making a strategy game, and we’re hoping to do something quite fun and interesting with it within what we can do with the engine itself.

How have you found using UDK on IOS and how are you finding making a strategy game out of it.

In all honesty we’re working against the grain, it feels at the moment. It’s a lot of hard work but hopefully it should be good when we get it all up and running, we’ve managed to make some quite nice headway with it and we’ve got some really good stuff and it’s looking promising. We should be able to deliver the game we want to deliver at the end of it, the game we set out to deliver when we first started planning it all out.

What’s going to make your game different?

There are a lot of strategy games in general out there – tower defence is a huge genre on IOS devices – but one on the Unreal Engine is a completely different story, that’s a bit of a rare beast.

What particular element of strategy are you going for in particular?

We’re doing what we like to call ‘Tower Offence’ where we’re changing the game upsidedown on its head and you’re no longer places all the towers, you’re doing the attacking.

How have you found the transition from being Team Gandalf at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, to being Digital Mage, a fully operative game development studio?

It’s a lot of hard work, we have to spend a lot of hours in the evening just communicating things that could be done very easily in face to face situations. But it’s slowly coming together as a lot of people in the team who’d never worked in teams before are getting the hang of it now and it’s all kind of slowly falling into place which is really good. It’s a credit to the team themselves who are coming together nicely and it’s working well.

What targets have you met recently that you’re particularly proud of?

As sad as it sounds, about 1 a.m. last night he had a massive breakthrough. We managed to get all of our units appearing in the game and with little animations. It was kind of a real nice penny drop moment where we thought we could actually do this, and come up with something that potentially could be really cool.

And you’re looking forward to many more of those moments on the road to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show?

Yeah, hopefully! Fingers crossed we should have lots of more of those and they should just get better and better with each turn.

And how much are you looking forward to the event itself, working on the game in front of potentially a large audience in Birmingham?

It should be fantastic. The size of the crew and the crowd don’t really phase me in any way, it’ll be really nice just to have the team together in one place after all this learning experience building up to it, but having all that power and working knowledge in just one place again will be a really, really nice feeling and it should help us mould even better as a team.

For those who want to find out more about Digital Mage, what are your online contact details for Facebook and Twitter?

They can look for us on Facebook, just search for Digital Mage, we should show up with a little black icon.  And on Twitter we’re @DigitalMage.

Great, thanks for time Craig and good luck.

Keep up to date with the latest news from Make Something Unreal Live here on The Train2Game Blog.

Train2Game news: Interviews with participants of the upcoming Make Somethingg Unreal Live contest at The Gadget Show Live

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Train2Game Radio recently interviewed a number of Train2Game students who are set to take part in Train2Game and Epic Games Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show Live between 11th-15th April.

Links to all of the interviews are below, and are divided into the different studios.

Digital Mage (Facebook/Twitter)

Craig Moore of Digital Mage speaking to Train2Game Radio

Laurence Kinane of Digital Mage speaking to Train2Game Radio.

Commando Kiwi (Facebook/Twitter)

Jonny Robinson of Commando Kiwi speaking to Train2Game Radio

Adam Sherratt of Commando Kiwi speaking to Train2Game Radio.

Derp Studios (Facebook/Twitter)

Chris Ledger of Derp Studios speaking to Train2Game Radio.

Stuart Moore of Derp Studios speaking to Train2Game Radio

IndigoJam (Facebook/Twitter)

Ben Stoneman of IndigoJam speaking to Train2Game Radio.

Daniel Rutter of IndigoJam speaking to Train2Game Radio.

Keep reading The Train2Game Blog for the latest news in the run up to Make Something Unreal Live.

Train2Game news: Unreal Engine 4 to be previewed at GDC

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The Samaritan Train2Game blog imageTrain2Game students are preparing to use Epic’s Unreal Engine for iOS to make games as part of Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show but meanwhile, Epic are getting ready to show off Unreal Engine 4.

They’ll be previewing the next-gen technology behind closed doors to “select licensees, partners and prospective customers.” at GDC in San Francisco. The Game Developers Conference takes place March 5th to 9th.

It was earlier this month that The Train2Game Blog reported that Unreal Engine 4 would be shown off this year.

“People are going to be shocked later this year when they see Unreal Engine 4 and how much more profound an effect it will have,” said Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein.

It was at last year’s GDC that Epic Games first revealed the highly impressive Samaritan tech demo, which you can watch here on The Train2Game Blog. Earlier this month, it was revealed that the power of ten Xbox 360 consoles would be required to recreate the visuals.

For more about Epic Games, the Unreal Development Kit and that Samaritan tech demo,see The Train2Game Blog interview with Epic European Territory Manager Mike Gamble, who was speaking to us at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam.

What are your hopes for Unreal Engine 4?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game Students given access to Fighting Fantasy IP to create games for Make Something Unreal Live

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The Train2Game blog chats to the teams about working with the Fighting Fantasy IP for Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show Live, as the teams become studios in their own right.

The hottest new Indies in town: Commando Kiwi, Derp Studios, Digital Mage and Indigo Jam

With student teams beginning to perform as independent studios and working on a world-renowned IP, we caught up with the development teams to get a few choice words on the latest news and to get some more details on the games they are working on.

First on our list was Commando Kiwi.

Jonny Robinson, Commando Kiwi, said: “When we found out we’d be working on a game inspired by The Warlock of Firetop Mountain; we were all in shock, a few of us have read the book before so our minds were blown away with pure awesomeness! We’re working on a classic IP from legends in the game industry; Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson.”

Next we caught up with Derp Studios to hear their thoughts on working on a Fighting Fantasy title and the genre of game they’re designing.  We also got the lowdown on what it’s like to work remotely when designing games.

Nigel Clark, Derp Studios, said: “Our game is a gripping first-person RPG, a sequel to the second Fighting Fantasy gamebook, Citadel of Chaos.  Strategically combined combat with both melee and magic will only get you so far.  The player must decide the best course of action.  A true test of “fight or flight” awaits our players.”

“To combat the distance factor, we’ve utilised tools within Facebook, Subversion (SVN) and contact points within Train2Game and Epic Games, along with Skype conferences to maintain good team communication. Working as a team is challenging in the first place.  However with your team spread throughout the country it’s even more of a challenge.”

Our next destination was Casa del Digital Mage, where we asked: What do you want to achieve with your game?

Craig Moore, Digital Mage, said: “Digital Mage hopes to help the player truly become engrossed within the battlefields of Allansia by providing ease of use and an intuitive control system enabling quick decisions to control an army as a general should!”

..and what do players have in store should they buy it?

“An exciting, diverse, and adventurous team is sculpting a mobile experience that will keep you on the edge of your seat and keep you coming back for more, with lush graphics and a sweeping soundtrack, Digital Mage is using every last trick in the book to make this the best mobile strategy game available on any platform.”

Lastly we caught up with Indigo Jam, where we asked: What have you been designing and can you get us excited about it?

Indigo Jam, Deathtrap Dungeon, Action Adventure

Ben Stoneman, Indigo Jam, said: “Indigo Jam studios brings the Deathtrap Dungeon title to life with gameplay featuring a dark tale set in Allansia that leads you to a Trail of Champions in the dark dungeon labyrinth of Fang, riddled with monsters and deadly traps and other unknown horrors. Countless adventurers have accepted the challenge but have never been seen again.”

Train2Game then went on to ask: How has the course helped you develop the skills to deliver what is such an imaginative game design?

“Indigo Jam is very lucky to have a good range of skills and abilities gained from the Train2Game courses complemented by the extra training for the UDK Game Jam in November. The team is getting along really well. They are confident in their own abilities, and have delivered at every stage of development.”

 With the energy and hype that the teams are creating, Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show Live can’t come soon enough.

As usual, leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game student studios Commando Kiwi, Derp Studios, Digital Mage and Indigo Jam launching 2012.

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Train2Game  students are launching four new development studios in 2012 as part of ‘Make Something Unreal Live,’ a competitive process designed to accelerate their careers by giving them the tools and resources needed to release games for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch this spring.

The studios are Commando Kiwi, Derp Studios, Digital Mage and Indigo Jam.

The first titles released by the studios will be based on the Fighting Fantasy series of books created by Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson.

Train2Game and Epic Games have created the ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ competition where students are challenged to create their own studios and develop games for the iOS platform using Epic Games’ Unreal Development Kit. The winning studio will receive a full source, commercial Unreal Engine 3 licence for iOS as well as gain invaluable professional experience in the games industry.

As part of the competition process, students competed in the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam last November. The Game Jam had teams facing off against each other to create full games to a set deadline and to a professional brief. Continuing this process, students have created four new studios from their original teams to launch games at this year’s The Gadget Show Live.

At this huge event, they will reveal their new projects to the world, each finalising a full game for distribution. Key industry icons will be on hand to aid and advise with game designs as the studios compete to win a full Unreal Engine licence and a holiday to Aquacity in Slovakia, www.aquacity.sk.

“Train2Game courses aim to teach students how to work professionally in the games industry. Helping them launch their first studio gives them invaluable, hands on, in the field experience of what it’s like to create and distribute their own games.” said Train2Game Course Director Tony Bickley.

The games are being developed using Epic Games’ UDK, the free edition of the award-winning Unreal Engine 3, helping students gain experience with tools used by leading studios around the world. During the process, students have their work reviewed, critiqued and mentored by a series of Train2Game tutors, current industry leaders and game specialists.

The final games will be distributed globally on the App Store and launched at this year’s The Gadget Show Live, the premier consumer show taking place from April 10-15, 2012 in Birmingham.

Train2Game news: Bethesda internal Skyrim Game Jam video showcases potential DLC

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Train2Game students who took part in last year’s Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, and Train2Game student fans of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be very interested in this new video from Bethesda.

It demonstrates the Skyrim development team created when they had their own week long internal game jam in which the only rules were “Do anything you want, and add it to the game.” Additions included new weapons, new creatures, new abilities, a really, really, giant mud crab and much more.

And speaking before the video was shown at the D.I.C.E summit, Bethesda’s Todd Howard hinted that some of the Game Jam creations could be added to Skyrim as DLC or free updates in future. Train2Game students can watch the video below to see what Bethesda created during their week long Game Jam.

Of course, as reported by The Train2Game Blog, the recently released Skyrim mod tools allow anyone to create their own additions to the Bethesda game.

Train2Game has held two 48 hour long Game Jams for Train2Game students, with the four winning teams at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, moving onto a Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show Live, where they have the opportunity to win a fully licensed UDK Ios development kit.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on the Skyrim Game Jam? How important do you think such things can be to both game development, and improving as a game developer?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Joystiq]

Train2Game industry experience diary from Game Designer Jonny Robinson

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Train2Game Game Designer Jonny Robinson has been on a Train2Game work placement at DR Studios. In his latest industry experience diaries, he details what he’s been up at the Milton Keynes based game development studio.

He also reveals a little about Commando Kiwi, his team for the Train2Game & Epic Games Make Something Unreal Live contest later this year at The Gadget Show Live.

Read what Jonny has to say about his Train2Game work placement  here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game Scribd page.

You can read his previous industry experience diaries from Jonny here on The Train2Game Blog.

As usual, leave your comments here, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam interview: Train2Game Game Developer James Valaitis

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Train2Game & Epic Games gave Train2Game student teams the opportunity to win one of four places at The Gadget Show Live 2012 and compete for the chance to walk away with a fully licence Unreal Development Kit.  

Train2Game Game Development student James Valaitis (Jams JV on the Train2Game forum)was one of those Train2Game students taking part. We had a quick chat with him during the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam to see what they thought about the event.

Read it here on the Train2Game blog, on the Train2Game Scribd site, or listen via Train2Game radio.

We’re about midway through the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, how are you finding it?

Well I’m actually really happy, you’ve caught me at my happiest because I’ve just finished the level I was working on, I’ve now scripted the whole level. We’ve basically broken our whole team up into three micro-teams, and ours has now finished our level and we’re polishing it up now. So I’m really happy with it all.

Are things going well for the team then? Has it all ran smoothly so far?

Yeah, the team is actually brilliant this time. This idea to split us up and group us up according to skill level and where we are with the course has worked really well and I’m really happy with my team.

Of course the prize at the end for the teams that win the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam is the chance to ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at The Gadget Show. If you got to that stage what would to mean to you?  

I’ve always wanted to develop a game and be known as a really good games programmer. All I want to do is be one of the best and to then have a chance to show I am better than someone else, it’d make me feel amazing, it really would. I’d love it.

So have you been using the skills you already know from the Train2Game course, and have you learned anything new during the Game Jam?

UDK is fairly different to the C++ that I’m learning, but the course has actually helped me to learn the fundamentals of almost all programming languages, because now whenever I see a programming language, I’m thinking “Well, this is how this would work in C++” and I can always just relate it to something I do know, and it just gives me that fundamental knowledge that I can probably do it.

When the theme of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam was announced, the theme is Guy Fawkes, what did you think about that and how did you go about coming up with an idea for a game?

Well it always seems to be the most random of things, but I guess it wasn’t so random considering we’re around the time of 5th November. I tried more outside the box and like everyone I researched Guy Fawkes and reading about this anonymous man who sent a letter to Lord Monteagle, it really appealed to me so we should base around this anonymous guy. Maybe Guy Fawkes found out that he’d betrayed him and had locked him up in a room, that’s basically what our game is about, it’s about challenge rooms and trying to get out. Almost like Portal but medieval I suppose.

Would you recommend it to others to take part in a Train2Game Game Jam?

No doubt, definitely.

Great, thanks for your time.

Thank you very much.

For more information go to www.train2game.com