Tag Archives: Rezzed

Train2Game News EGX Rezzed 2016 Tickets

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EGX, producer of the UK’s premiere video games events, today announced that tickets for EGX Rezzed 2016 – in partnership once again with BAFTA– are now on sale.
  
Running from 7-9th April 2016, EGX Rezzed will build on the enormous success of this year’s event where over 12,000 gamers arrived to play more than 150 PC, console, virtual reality and board games from the likes of PlayStation, Xbox and Blizzard. Further developing the highly popular informal format, EGX Rezzed 2016 will feature more playable AAA and indie games, more Developer and Rezzed Sessions, more after show activities, more devs on the show floor and more free gaming stuff. Over 15,000 visitors are expected to attend.
  
All the headline features will be present, including the highly successful GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair. In 2015 49 Ukie Video Games Ambassadors and BAFTA Crew Games members, plus 8 games industry execs and many exhibitors advised the next generation of games industry professionals – including many school, college and university students – on how to land a career in games.
  
Visitors to EGX Rezzed 2015 were delighted with the show’s new home at the superb Tobacco Dock, London, reporting the highest ever satisfaction levels of any EGX event. Not only will the venue play host to EGX Rezzed 2016, BAFTA’s headline British Academy Games Awards will bring a touch of red carpet glitz and glamour to the event on Thursday 7th April.

“We can’t wait to return to London’s Tobacco Dock with an upgraded EGX Rezzed 2016”, said Matt Styles, Event Director. “Visitors and exhibitors loved the new and fascinating venue, especially the wonderful sense of gaming community it created. We’ll be building on the success of 2015’s Developer Sessions, which were a revelation. Valve dev Chet Faliszek’s Future of Virtual Reality and PlayTonic’s Yooka-Laylee announcement attracted record-breaking crowds both at the show and online. Developers and publishers are increasingly finding EGX Rezzed the ideal platform for their exclusive announcements”.
  
Starting from just £10, tickets are available to buy now from the new EGX Rezzed website (www.egx.net/rezzed/tickets). A variety of day and full event passes are available:

●        Thursday day ticket – £10 (lower price as the Developer Sessions begin Friday 8th April)
●        Friday and Saturday day ticket – £13.50
●        Early entry day ticket – £20
●        Three day Super Pass – £30

For the latest information, exclusive content and free giveaways please follow, like and subscribe to our channels:
  
EGX Rezzed event newsletter: www.egx.net/rezzed

Train2Game News Gamer Network reviews EGX Rezzed

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Gamer Network, the world’s leading network of independent video games websites and producer of the UK’s premiere video games events, takes a rosy look back at last week’s EGX Rezzed.

Freshly relocated to Tobacco Dock in London’s East End, EGX Rezzed 2015 cemented itself as the premier platform for independent developers to showcase their latest projects, as well as larger publishers to highlight their latest game updates. With the return of established features such as the Developer Sessions, Leftfield Collection and BAFTA Inside Games Arcade, plus the inclusion of new features like the GamesIndustry Fair and Rezzed Sessions, this year’s EGX Rezzed was the best yet for both consumers and exhibitors.

As is tradition, Gamer Network asked visitors to let them know their personal Game of the Show. ArenaNet arrived in force to EGX Rezzed with their newly announced first expansion for Guild Wars 2. With a packed booth for the entire event and a very warm reception from fans, Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns wins the EGX Rezzed 2015 Game of the Show.

In celebration of a successful event, the Gamer Network data kings have been gathering numbers:

●        Over 12,000 attendees arrived to play this year’s best games
●        110 exhibitors, from indie developers to AAA publishers, retailers, universities, trade bodies and beyond
●        Over 150 playable games across PC, console, browser and mobile
●        Over 300 screens of gaming
●        20+ VR games and experiences wowed the crowds
●        Xbox attended with 22 playable games in its ID@Xbox range
●        In addition to Game of the Show second place winner Bloodborne, Sony demoed 8 new indie games including Gang Beasts, which placed third
●        BAFTA’s Inside Games Arcade showcased 16 British-developed games
●        More than 300 games were submitted for the Leftfield Collection, of which 24 winning games were selected
●        15 tabletop games featured in the packed Esdevium Games area
●        10 Developer Sessions including Valve’s Vive VR and ex-Rare devs Playtonic’s new platformer
●        More than 60,000 viewers watched the sessions on the EGX Twitch and YouTube channels
●        Over 800 people attended Valve’s Virtual Reality in 2015 session – the largest in EGX history
●        Rezzed Sessions featured 10 informal dev talks including an Alien: Isolation post-mortem
●        8 games industry execs gave careers insight in the BAFTA & Ukie Careers Bar talks, including 3 BAFTA Breakthrough Brits and 1 British Academy Games Awards winner
●        49 Ukie Video Games Ambassadors and BAFTA Crew Games members advised the next generation of games industry professionals on how to land a career in games
●        6 teams competed in the Creative Assembly Game Jam, each given 8 hours to make a game from scratch based on Guardian news stories. Congratulations to Ultra Testibus!
●        The newly released EGX mobile app featured 17,715 game views and features a Google Play rating of 4.4

“This year’s EGX Rezzed provided the most positive feedback of any show in the EGX family. Consumers enjoyed the discovery of a new and fascinating venue and developers enjoyed the opportunity to either take their own space or throw themselves together”, said David Lilley, Managing Director of Gamer Events. “Last week’s show provides the perfect springboard for this September’s EGX, the largest gaming event in UK history”.

Here’s the full top 10 EGX Rezzed 2015 Games of the Show:

1.       Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
2.       Bloodborne
3.       Gang Beasts
4.       Titan Souls
5.       Life is Strange
6.       Beyond Eyes
7.       Not a Hero
8.       Ratz Instagib
9.       Broforce
10.   Big Pharma

All eyes are now on EGX 2015, with ticket sales kicking off at 11:00 GMT (12:00 CET) this Friday 20th March. Set to be the largest UK gaming event ever, EGX 2015 runs from 24th-27th September.

Train2Game News EGX Rezzed Game Jam

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Creative Assembly, one of the oldest and largest UK development studios, will once again bring their Creative Assembly Game Jam game development competition to video games event EGX Rezzed on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th March.
  
The Game Jam will reside in the GamesIndustry Fair, which brings educators, employers and recruiters together to inspire the next generation of budding games industry professionals – whether they be students, graduates or those already in employment – towards a highly rewarding career in the games industry.
    
Partnering with leading media the Guardian for the first time, the Creative Assembly Game Jam is an opportunity for game developers, whether amateur or professional, to spend a day making a game to help inspire and educate the highly engaged and motivated GamesIndustry Fair visitors. Final games will be presented to a panel of prestigious judges from the games industry – including Creative Assembly and the Guardian – and will also be streamed across the Internet via the EGX Rezzed Twitch channel. Following a day of development on Friday, all teams will demonstrate their games in the GamesIndustry Fair area on Saturday 14th March.
  
In recognition of their achievement, winners will take away some fantastic prizes. One previous success story is Tango Fiesta, a PC/Mac game which grew to life in the first EGX Rezzed Creative Assembly Game Jam and has since gone on to become a critical and commercial success.
    
“We’re partnering with Guardian to elevate the profile of the Game Jam among developers and the public alike”, commented Sophie Malik, HR Business Partner from Creative Assembly. “We want to show their massive global audience how games can not only be entertaining, but a powerful creative force in the world”.
    
Guardian Games Editor Keith Stuart added, “The Game Jam at EGX Rezzed represents a fascinating chance to explore the possibilities of games as a medium for news. I think interactive journalism will be as important in the future as data journalism is right now – a revolutionary way to process big stories. This should be fascinating”.
  
The Creative Assembly Game Jam is intended for individuals and teams who wish to create a game in a day and have it reviewed by a panel of respected games industry professionals. Successful individual applicants will be placed within a team for the Game Jam. Entrants should be over 18 and have some knowledge of making games. Applications to the Creative Assembly Game Jam are open now until midnight on Tuesday 3rd March, with the selected teams being announced the following Friday 6th March. Successful entrants will each receive a complimentary all-show ticket for EGX Rezzed, which includes access to the GamesIndustry Fair.
   
If you would like to enter as an individual or team of up to five, please register your application here.
   
If you have further questions about the Creative Assembly Game Jam please contact Sophie Malik (sophie.malik@creative-assembly.com) at Creative Assembly.
   
For more information about the Creative Assembly Game Jam, the GamesIndustry Fair and EGX Rezzed please visit: www.egx.net/rezzed.

Train2Game News: EGX Rezzed 2014 tickets now on sale!

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Rezzed 2014Tickets are now on sale for EGX Rezzed 2014! Next year’s event will take place between the 28 and 30 March at The NEC, Birmingham.

For those of you who haven’t experienced EGX Rezzed before, it’s an event brought to you by the team behind EGX London, formerly Eurogamer Expo. EGX Rezzed will boast many of the features that visitors to EGX London will recognise, with hundreds of next gen consoles and PCs packed onto our huge show floor. It’s a great opportunity for you, the gamers, to get hands-on with the hottest titles before they hit the shops.

In addition to playable games the organisers are planning a host of features including the return of the developer sessions which will see famous game designers presenting their latest projects directly to you in the dedicated auditorium. Meanwhile, the Leftfield Collection will showcase the latest and greatest from the world of indie games.

Plus, there will be an extensive board games area complete with demonstrators to give you a guiding hand, a Minecraft hunger games tournament stage and stands selling all manner of gaming merchandise including t-shirts, figurines, posters and more.

Tickets are available now and if you book before January you can take advantage of a 20% early bird discount. Day tickets are currently £9.60 while those of you looking to get the most for your money can pick up a three day pass for £21.60. Saturday and Sunday early entry tickets are £12.80, with afternoon tickets coming in at £7.20 each. Group discounts are also available.

Information on the playable games, the developer sessions and the rest of the EGX Rezzed features will be revealed over the course of the next few months.

To purchase tickets, see more about the event and look at what happened last year, visit http://www.egxrezzed.net/

Train2Game News: 2013 Game Events Round up

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EurogamerOne of the best ways a Train2Game student can expand in their career is by going to Video Game events and with that in mind here is a round up of some of the big up coming events.

The Gaming Den
When: 4 May
Where: Visual Collective, 10 Vyner Street, London
What: The latest in a regular series of events organised by Average Gamer. As editor Debbie Timmins explains, “One day a month we take over an art gallery in Bethnal Green and fill it with games for the ultimate multiplayer experience. With three massive projectors covering the walls, gamers can race head-to-head in the first public, multiplayer demo of GRID 2. Serious racers will be able to test their skills in the Vesaro racing rig. Set the best time on the Red Bull Ring Power Lap to win GRID 2 swag and a copy of the game when it comes out. Over in the retro room The Gaming Den has your favourite living room classics. Grab a drink from the cash bar and challenge your friends at Mario Kart 64, Micro Machines v1, v2 and v3, Virtua Cop 2, Super Smash Bros Melee, Tekken and many more.”

Wild Rumpus: On a F*****g Boat
When: 11 May
Where: MS Stubniz, Wood Wharf, London
What: The Wild Rumpus nights are a glorious mash-up of music, play and alcohol, showcasing some of the most intriguing developments in social gaming. Try Tenya Wanya Teens, hear Chipzel and MUCH more (keep checking the website for updates).

GameCamp 6
When: 18 May
Where: Keyworth Centre, London South Bank University
What: Described as an “unconference” this is an annual gathering of artists, designers and coders, with the aim of talking about and making games. From the website: “There’s a theme this year: Show and Tell, or Run What You Brung. Bring along a game you’ve made, a prototype you’ve got in testing or a work you have in progress, and be ready to show it off and talk about it. Digital or physical, both are great. Have a session to crow about your success or explore why something failed, or asking where you go from here, or to pull people into your new project. Get people to playtest and give you feedback on the day. Unashamed bragging is absolutely encouraged.”

GameDev Midlands 2
When: 18 May
Where: Utopia Bar, Birmingham
What: From the nice people who bought you GameDevNorth comes this midlands version – essentially a networking event for all developers in the area, whether they’re running a major studio or writing Android games in the garden shed. It’s free and there is a bar.

Leamington Backspace
When: 18 May – 2 June
Where: Leamington Spa, various venues
What: Taking place as part of the Leamington Looks Back heritage festival, this fortnight-long collection of events will celebrate the town’s rich history in games development. From the website: “The event will also include programming workshops, a cross-town ‘games trail’ and a careers evening, and is designed to showcase the current and future of creative innovation in the region as well as tell the story of times past.” Also, IndieCity will be running a Rapsberry Pi Workshop for anyone who wants to learn how to use this ingenious home computer.

GaMe 2013
When: 20 May
Where: Imperial College, London
What: A day of lectures on games-related research by academics and industry insiders. Eidos and Games Workshop founder Ian Livingstone is one of the speakers.

MCM Expo
When: 24-26 May
Where: Excel, London
What: Once again the London comic convention features a video game component, this year organised by the chaps at XboxAchievements. Site founder Dan Webb says, “We’ll be showing off a host of upcoming games, giving out cool prizes, getting all kinds of studio talent up on the stage for Q&As, as well as some big name voice actors and even closing the show with a video game-themed musical arrangement by a pianist.”

London Game Jam
When: 1-2 June
Where: Modern Jago, Shoreditch
What: A two-day game jam with a five pound entry price that will be donated to SpecialEffect, Child’s Play and EFF. Organiser Roberta Saliani says, “Microsoft will give prizes such as a Windows 8 phone, a Kinect dev kit and a Windows 8 OS to the best Kinect/Windows 8/Windows mobile app or game. GiftHub will give out five free accounts and Insert Coin has already sent T-shirts!”

Rezzed
When: 22-23 June
Where: The NEC, Birmingham
What: Organised by RockPaperShotgun and Eurogamer, this showcase of PC gaming has grown considerably since its modest – yet unmissable – introduction in Brighton last year. We’re promised hands-on time with the biggest mainstream releases of the year, plus the chance to discover plenty of interesting indie titles. Introversion will be there showing off Prison Architect and there’s a live Total War: Rome II demo among many other sessions.

Eurogamer Expo
When: 26-29 September
Where: Earls Court London
What: The biggest UK video game event of the year returns with its usual mix of Triple A hands-on demos, tournaments, developer sessions and retro gaming. Expect to see most of the big Christmas releases on the showfloor, but don’t miss the packed programme of talks and discussions – a unique opportunity to see key game makers revealing the secrets of their craft.

Norfolk Game Expo
When: 11-12 October
Where: Epic Studios, Norwich
What: A new event featuring 50 developers from the region as well as national and international studios. From the website, “The Norwich Game Expo will showcase the latest videogames created by developers in the East of England and beyond, giving members of the public a chance to play games in development for consoles, PC, and mobile phones before they are released, and talking directly to the developers making those games.”

These events are brilliant for meeting other members of the games industry and getting some valuable contacts.

Train2Game News: Frogster producer Rüdiger Moersch on getting into the industry

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Getting involved with a gaming community and studying games related courses are great ways to attempt to break into the industry.  That’s according to Frogster producer Rüdiger Moersch who was speaking to The Train2Game Blog at Rezzed.

Frogster are publishers of upcoming monster-hunting MMO RaiderZ, which is currently accepting sign-ups of an upcoming beta.  The German company are also publishers of recently released MMO Tera.

“It really depends on what section of the games industry you want. If you want to go for CS, or something like that, or even some community management, you must have some experience in the community.” Moersch responded when we asked him for advice about getting into the games industry.

“The best way to get into community management for example, in my opinion, is to open up your own guild, manage it on a small scale, get the experience there, being involved in the games and love the games of course. If you want to get into programming or art or something like that, study.” he added.

The Frogster producer also revealed how he got started in the games industry.

“You know, I started something like 25 years ago! I was looking for a job at the time, living in Germany, and I stumbled over an advert in a newspaper looking for a computer gaming company for a CS guy, so I went for it, applied and ended up at Soft Gold.” he said.

“I don’t know if you know the name of it anymore, but it was a German publisher, and we had some really cool games like the early LucasArts games, and I worked my way up, basically.” Moersch added.

There’s more advice from games professionals about getting into the industry here on The Train2Game Blog.

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

Train2Game Interview: DayZ creator Dean “Rocket” Hall on getting into the industry

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DayZ is the hugely popular zombie survival mod for Arma II. Produced by Arma II game designer Dean “Rocket” Hall in his spare time around full-time work at Bohemia Interactive, DayZ has demonstrated the huge potential of modding.

The Train2Game Blog sat down with the DayZ creator at Rezzed to discuss the advantages of modding, his unconventional path into the games industry and advice for those looking to get into game development. 

Tell us how you get started in the games industry. You haven’t taken a conventional route through it.

Yeah, it’s sort of a bit bizarre really. I left the New Zealand air force and did some odd project jobs, and then I decided that, as I was doing a lot of modding, that I wanted to get into the industry and I landed a job as an associate producer, working on console development for movie licensed games. Did that for a couple of years, didn’t really like the industry that much, particularly the console development style, and particularly for movie license stuff, so I quit and joined the army. After awhile, I decided I’d go back and have a look at Arma III.

Landing that first games job as associate producer, modding was a big part of it, they saw the community website I’d been running and the mods I’d been doing, and it was obviously a way to prove I was passionate and that I have a basic understanding of the technology. So I think that was a real benefit, approaching the industry from that angle.

So modding is a great way for aspiring game designers to show off their skills to potential employers?

Yeah, absolutely, definitely, and I think you can show your passion, that you can understand someone else’s code and stuff like that and get good familiarity.

Which toolsets do you use when modding?

3D Max. I guess when I was working as a producer I had the advantage of the project going well and having a lot of downtime. So I used that downtime to learn how to do art and how to do programming and all those kinds of aspects from my team leads, so that meant I ended up with a really good overview, I think if you want to be a good game designer, if you want to work in design, that’s the best way to approach it. Just learn as much as you can about all disciplines.

What other advice would you give to anyone looking to break into the games industry?

You need to be passionate and persistent, and I guess you need to have an idea of what you want to do, what are the areas of game development you really want to focus on? I think the best thing, particularly if you want to get into design, is understand how games are made. That means production, that means how much it costs to make games, that means the different aspects of it; how do you make 3D models? How are those rendered in games? What do programmers need to consider?

And I think the most important thing, even more than raw skills is social skills, you need to have social skills, you can’t just be good. If you’re very good it probably doesn’t matter, but if you’ve got social skills than you can be a real asset to the team.

Thanks for your time, Dean. 

Keep reading The Train2Game Blog for more on coverage from Rezzed, modding and advice from the pros on getting into the industry. 

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

Train2Game News: “The most important thing, even more than raw skills, is social skills” – Day Z creator

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Good social skills are a real bonus for those aspiring to work in the games industry and are perhaps more important than being good at a particular discipline.  That’s according to creator of incredibly popular Arma II mod Day Z, Dean “Rocket” Hall

“I think the most important thing, even more than raw skills is social skills, you need to have social skills, you can’t just be good. If you’re very good it probably doesn’t matter, but if you’ve got social skills than you can be a real asset to the team.” Hall told The Train2Game Blog at PC and indie gaming show Rezzed.

The full interview, exploring the unconventional way the Day Z creator broke into the industry and his other pieces of advice for aspiring game developers will be published soon.  During the interview, Hall reassert’s his view that modding is a great way to explore new ideas and gain experience.

There’s more advice from games industry professionals on getting your foot in the door here on The Train2Game Blog. Meanwhile, be sure to keep reading for further interviews and updates from our time at Rezzed.

What are your thoughts on Hall’s advice?

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

Train2Game News: “This is the most exciting time in this industry” says Peter Molyneux

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Peter Molyneux believes we’re currently going through the most exciting time there’s been in the games industry. The veteran game designer made the comments during his hugely popular developer session at PC and indie gaming show Rezzed.

Molyneux told the packed room at The Brighton Centre, suggesting that while AAA titles like Call of Duty provide a feature film experience, the most exciting, innovative games are released for PC or mobile phones.

Indeed, Molyneux is extremely enthusiastic about the rise of mobile apps allowing almost anyone to produce a hit, multimillion selling game.

“You could go home and work on a game that could reach one hundred million people. How f**king cool is that?” he said.

Molyneux also spoke about how his enthusiasm for developing video games as he did when he started making them almost 30 years ago.

“I truly love what I do as much as I do when I wrote my first game.” he said.

Peter Molyneux is currently working on Curiosity, the first game from his new 22 Cans Studio. It’ll be released for free on iPhone and Androud on 22nd August, with the option to buy items including a $50,000 diamond chisel, which Molyneux says he’ll be shocked if anyone actually buys.

There’s more Peter Molyneux news here on The Train2Game Blog.

Do you agree that this is the most exciting time for the games industry? And what are your thoughts on Molyneux’s continued enthusiasm for development?

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

Train2Game News: Ghost Recon Online and Shootmania developer sessions added to Rezzed line-up

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PC and indie games show Rezzed has revealed more developer sessions for the Brighton event, with Ghost Recon Online and Shootmania developers speaking about their games.

Developers of both of the Ubisoft titles will be talking about their games on the second day of the show, with the Ghost Recon Online developers taking to the stage at .3pm, while the Shootmania team will discuss their title at 5pm.

Peter Molyneux,  Day Z creator Dean “Rocket” Hall, The Indie Stone,  Introversion Software, The Creative Assembly, Splash Damage CEO Paul Wedgwood and Gearbox Software’s Randy Pitchford are among those giving talks during the two day Brighton event, while a variety of games are available to play on the show floor.

Not only that, but everyone who buys a ticket for Rezzed gets a free DOTA 2 beta key. Rezzed takes place in Brighton on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th July, with tickets available here.

We’ll be sure to keep you up to date with the latest news as the show approaches and the final speaker is announced.

Will you be attending these developer sessions?

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