Tag Archives: train

Train2Game News Pokémon GO Europe release coming soon

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Th​e Pokémon Company International and Niantic, Inc. are excited to announce the launch of the long-awaited mobile game Pokémon GO, which is now available for download at no cost on the App Store and Google Play. 
Pokémon GO is currently available in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and will be coming soon to Canada, Europe and South America.
In Pokémon GO, players around the globe will explore their surroundings to find and catch wild Pokémon hiding in their midst. Some wild Pokémon appear in their native environments—for example, Water-type Pokémon may appear near lakes and oceans. Once players have encountered a Pokémon, they can catch it by using their smartphone’s touch screen to throw a Poké Ball. Poké Balls and other special items can be found at PokéStops located at interesting places, such as public art installations, historical markers and monuments.

Pokémon GO’s features include:

·         Catch Pokémon: Pokémon GO invites players to step outside, walk around and catch wild Pokémon. As players increase in level, they’ll be able to catch more-powerful Pokémon and gain access to more-powerful items. While working to complete the Pokédex, players will be able to evolve Pokémon by catching multiples of the same species and can even find Pokémon Eggs which hatch after a player walks a specific distance. Players are encouraged to keep exploring and encountering the many different Pokémon needed to complete the Pokédex!

·         Join a Team and Battle: Players can join one of three teams, Mystic, Instinct or Valor  and assign Pokémon they have caught to an open Pokémon Gym location or to a Gym claimed by a fellow team member. Teams must battle against the defending Pokémon in their rival teams’ Gyms to lower a Gym’s Prestige and claim the Gym for their own team. Cooperation amongst team members is important in securing as many Gyms as possible.

·         Share the Fun: Activate the camera feature to take photos of Pokémon encountered in the world. With their real-life surroundings providing a backdrop for these photos, players will be able to share these memorable moments with their friends.

·         Customise the Trainer Avatar: Players can choose from a range of apparel and accessories to match their in-game avatar with their personal style. The customised avatar will appear on the map as players move around, as well as on their profile page. Trainer’s avatars will also appear in Gyms under their team’s control.

·         Soundtrack by Junichi Masuda: Pokémon GO will feature all-new music composed by GAME FREAK’s Junichi Masuda. Mr. Masuda has worked on Pokémon video games since the very first games and has composed many of the classic and memorable songs that have inspired fans for decades.

In-app purchases will be available for players who would like to enhance their Pokémon GO experience. Players can purchase PokéCoins, the in-game currency of Pokémon GO, which can then be exchanged for power-ups and extra items.

The Pokémon GO Plus device is a portable accessory that will enable Pokémon GO players to enjoy the game even while they’re not looking at their smartphones. This optional device connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth and notifies the player about events in the game using an LED and vibration. In addition, players can catch Pokémon or perform other simple actions by pressing the button on the device.

A brand-new launch trailer for Pokémon GO can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmhyG_d1QKU

For more information, and for details on compatible devices, please visit www.PokemonGO.com .

Train2Game News UK Games Fund

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Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy has today announced the successful applicants to the second round of the Government’s UK Games Fund.
The UK Games Fund attracted an incredible 235 applications for the second round of the Fund. The 23 businesses winning grant funding are located all over the UK – including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Belfast, Bristol, Brighton, Guildford and London, and represent the best of the UK’s emergent games development, innovation and creativity.

The £4 million, four-year UK Games Fund is accelerating the growth of games clusters around the UK – by helping creative young businesses develop new games idea and by supporting talent. The Fund will run until 2019 and will provide grants of up to £50,000 to support video games projects, create jobs and help develop new talent.

Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy said:

“The UK’s creative industries are one of our greatest success stories, generating more than £84bn a year for the UK economy. Our video games industry is world-renowned, but we know that many small businesses sometimes lack the capital to help develop their ideas and attract private investment. Our fund is helping bridge that gap and help developers take their ideas from the drawing board and into production.”

The talent element of the UK Games Fund – the Tranzfuser™ initiative, has also got off to a flying start.  A total of 19 teams of eager young graduates have been chosen to develop their games ideas over 10 weeks this summer, hosted in 10 regional centres covering the breadth of the UK. They are all working towards a showcase of their working games prototypes at a leading consumer-facing games forum in September. http://tranzfuser.com/

Paul Durrant, Managing Director, UK Games Talent and Finance CIC said:

“With 235 applications, there was unprecedented demand for our funding in this round so these successful applicants really do represent the best of the UK’s emergent games development talent. Now that the success stories from our first round are just beginning to emerge, we’re expecting to see a similar level of success from these projects.”

The successful applicants to the second round are:

Brightrock Games Ltd, Acid Nerve Ltd, Penny Black Studios Ltd, Draw and Code Ltd, A Brave Plan Ltd, Rekim Ltd, Mode 7 Ltd, S2 Entertainment Ltd, Skoogmusic Ltd, Fireblade Software Ltd, Twisted Tree Games Ltd, Beatnik Games Ltd, Broken Fence Games Ltd, Kinesthetic Games Ltd, Auroch Digital Ltd, Rhizome Games Ltd, Damp Gnat Ltd, Talony Games Ltd, Me, We Studios Ltd, Oddtales Ltd, SMAC Games Ltd, Silo Games Ltd, Inlifesize Ltd

The UK Games Fund is managed by UK Games Talent and Finance CIC and works with organisations such as Digital Catapult, BAFTA, Ukie, Tiga, Creative England, Creative Scotland and BFI.

More information on the next round of funding will be released after the summer. Follow @ukgamesfund for the latest information.

More details can be found at www.ukgamesfund.com

Train2Game News Several companies join OneSpecialDay

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Bossa Studios, Curve Digital, Game Swing and Magic Notion have joined the growing number of games industry companies supporting SpecialEffect’s One Special Day fundraising initiative on Friday 15 July.

SpecialEffect say the event will become an annual flagship day for the games industry to be loud and proud about supporting gamers with disabilities, and are encouraging other companies to join the One Special Day team.

So far over 20 companies have signed up, with many donating an entire day’s revenue of one or more of their games to the work of the charity.

One Special Day kicks off with a celebration party on Thursday 14 July at the Develop Conference in Brighton. Other activities will include an online auction of rare and collectable gaming merchandise, due to commence on 8 July, and a showcase at the Ukie Westminster reception on 6 July to celebrate the inclusion and creativity of the UK games industry.

Bossa’s early One Special Day on 8 July will see the revenue from the Steam sales of I Am Bread, Surgeon Simulator and Deep Dungeons of Doom from that day being donated. “Bossa are really excited to be part of One Special Day and help SpecialEffect change the lives of more gamers with disabilities,” said Ricardo Rego, Product Manager at Bossa. “We know the sales of our titles on our SpecialEffect One Special Day will make a big difference to their amazing work.”

Curve Digital will be donating Steam revenues from Stikbold, Stealth Inc 2 and Stealth Bastard Deluxe. Simon Byron of Curve said “Curve and Game Swing are delighted to be part of the One Special Day Initiative. For us, games are an intrinsic part of life and so easy to take for granted, so it’s a perfect fit to be able to support SpecialEffect in putting smiles back on the faces of people who would otherwise miss out because of a disability.”

Rich Franke of Magic Notion commented, “Magic Notion are delighted to be a part of One Special Day and donate the steam sales of Kitty Powers Matchmaker on July 15th. The work of SpecialEffect to help people with disabilities to experience the magic of gaming is amazing and we are happy to help them make a difference.”

All the proceeds will be channelled into the work that SpecialEffect do to help gamers with disabilities. Gamers like Tom, a 26 year-old who has spinal muscular atrophy and very little movement in his fingers. 

“With SpecialEffect’s help I was able to play for the first time in years,” he said, “And nothing can describe the feeling that gave me. So many things in life are limited because of my condition, but when I play a video game I’m in a world where the only limits are the ones I allow to be there.”

SpecialEffect CEO Dr Mick Donegan said, “We’re honoured that the games industry are being loud and proud about supporting our work in helping people with all kinds of physical disabilities to play video games. Games are an amazing medium through which people make friends, socialise and come together for a common cause. To be able to extend that medium to people that would otherwise not be involved is both an honour and a privilege.”

“There is a warm welcome awaiting all companies who would like to join this exciting initiative.”

One Special Day is open to all companies working in the games industry. To find out more, visit www.onespecialday.org.uk

Train2Game News BioShock Remastered

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​It’s been nine years since Irrational Games and 2K took you on a terrifying journey to the depths of the underwater city of Rapture with BioShock. Five years since you returned to Rapture in BioShock 2. Three years since you grabbed a skyhook and sailed across the floating city of Columbia in BioShock Infinite. And on September 13, 2016 (September 15 in Australia and September 16 internationally), you can relive these award-winning adventures or experience them for the very first time remastered for current-gen consoles and digital PC with BioShock: The Collection.
BioShock: The Collection announcement trailer: https://youtu.be/cnB3efE0VLI

Countless fans have asked for this since the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One arrived – and we listened! Working with Blind Squirrel Games, we’ve remastered BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC making them look better than ever*. BioShock: The Collection brings the three titles together for the first time, complete with all single-player DLC** and a never-before-seen video series, “Director’s Commentary: Imagining BioShock,” which includes insights from Ken Levine.

If you’ve never experienced the series before, now is the time to play it and see for yourself why the award-winning BioShock franchise has topped countless “Best-Of” lists and garnered more than 125 awards including two BAFTA honors, as well as many Best of E3, Best of Gamescom, and Game of the Year accolades from respected outlets such as IGN, GameSpot, Game Informer, and many more . The weapons, plasmids, levels, and character models that shocked you years ago have been reskinned and retextured to look better than ever. On top of that, all single-player DLC created for all three games comes loaded in one package. The bundled content for BioShock: The Collection includes:

·          BioShock

o   The video series, “Director’s Commentary: Imagining BioShock,” featuring Ken Levine, creative director on BioShock and BioShock Infinite and Shawn Robertson, animation lead on BioShock and animation director on BioShock Infinite.

o   Museum of Orphaned Concepts: Walk through a Rapture-inspired virtual museum that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at discarded concepts that never made it into the original game.

o   Challenge Rooms: Outside the story of BioShock, tackle puzzles, splicers and Big Daddies. And achievements, of course.

·         BioShock 2 (Multiplayer will not be included)

o   Minerva’s Den: A self-contained BioShock story, presenting a side of Rapture you’ve never seen before. Use expanded combat abilities with the experimental Ion Laser and chaotic Gravity Well Plasmid, unique to Minerva’s Den, as you face off against the Lancer Big Daddy.

o   Protector Trials: Take control of an Alpha Series Big Daddy woken out of hibernation just before the events of BioShock 2.

·         BioShock Infinite

o   Burial at Sea – Episode 1 & 2 Add-On Packs: This major two-part DLC pack completes the BioShock trilogy by taking the series back to where it all began. Return to Rapture just before the events of the original BioShock!

o   Clash in the Clouds Add-On Pack: Face 60 waves of challenges across four additional maps for leaderboard glory and unlock areas to explore in The Columbian Archaeological Society hub museum.

o   Columbia’s Finest Pack: Combines the contents of the Industrial Revolution Pack and the Upgrade Pack and includes 500 Silver Eagles, five Lock Picks, six unique Gear items, and two weapon upgrades: Comstock’s China Broom Shotgun and Comstock’s Eagle Eye Sniper Rifle.

Remember: A man chooses. A slave obeys. So, would you kindly follow the new @BioShock handle on Twitter, visit us on Facebook or go to 2k.com/bioshock and prepare for a remastered BioShock experience?

BioShock: The Collection for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC will be available in North America on September 13, Australia on September 15, and internationally on September 16.

Train2Game News British eSports Association

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Following authority from the UK Government, today sees the  of the British eSports Association.

Located at Pinewood Studios, British eSports, acting as the National Governing Body for eSports in the United Kingdom, will work in conjunction with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to help and represent players at all levels; develop a grassroots competitive video game scene that will nurture future talent; support existing professionals and provide the infrastructure to create future British global champions. 

The activities for British eSports will be easily accessible at www.BritisheSports.org , a portal providing the latest news on events, teams and leagues, alongside impartial advice for both players and parents.

“The establishment of the British eSports Association is an important initiative in furthering the credibility of the eSports industry in the UK. Pinewood is excited to be part of this National Governing Body for eSports and is aiming to have a new National Training Centre for eSports to help with grassroots and future British Champions,” commented Jules Robinson, Head of Business Development, Pinewood Studios.

The not for profit organisation, British eSports will be chaired by Andy Payne OBE, with Chester King in the role of acting CEO. The next three months will see a consultation period, during which British eSports will be gathering feedback from the UK eSports sector to ensure it fully represents the interests of individuals, teams, game publishers and broadcasters alike.

Andy Payne, chair of British eSports, added, “I am an admirer of the work of other sports associations such as British Cycling, and I am very confident that if we welcome and embrace all parties in the UK eSports scene, we can deliver a range of benefits to all players, from professional to amateur in the UK over time. These are exciting times in eSports and the time is right to build this organisation from the grassroots up.”

Thoughts and ideas can be sent to info@britishesports.org .

Train2Game News Marmalade engine upgrade

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Marmalade Technologies Ltd, a privately owned technology company, brings C++11 support to the Marmalade Platform.
In September, Marmalade Technologies introduced a standalone beta of the Marmalade Platform with C++11 support. Today, with release of the  Marmalade 8.4, C++11 support comes out of beta and is now available as standard. 

“C++11 marks a step change in the overall capability of the language, enabling developers to write more expressive, efficient and maintainable code,” says Adalberto Bruno, CTO at Marmalade Technologies. “C++11 is also becoming increasingly popular in 3rd party codebases, many of which are complementary to modern game development.”

Continuing to deliver on its core cross-platform capability, the Marmalade Platform removes the need to write compiler or library specific code when using C++11, offering consistent and predictable behavior regardless of the target platform.

“Although C++11 is not a new standard, only now are compiler vendors reaching mature support and even then there remains differing levels of capability, depending on the toolchain and target platform,” says Ryan Gilmour, Head of Product Management. “We’ve taken all that additional complexity away and levelled the playing field for developers who want to take advantage of C++11, with a write once, deploy anywhere approach.”

Alongside C++11 support, this update brings over 200 bug fixes and improvements across all areas of the Marmalade Platform. From support for Slide Over and Split View multitasking on iOS 9 to the latest Chromium Embedded Framework for webviews on Windows Desktop,  Marmalade 8.4 is one of our biggest releases to date.

The latest version of the Marmalade Platform with C++11 support is available now from the Developer area of the Marmalade website.

Train2Game News Cyber Sprites win first ever Game Marmalade

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Train2Game toasts the winners of the first ever dedicated online Game Jam for students

The first ever Game Marmalade has drawn to a close and Cyber Sprites were announced as the winners. The winning team will be provided with a Games spec Laptop provided by Train2Game.

The student organised Game Jam for Train2Game students was well attended and the games produced impressed event organisers. The event was a great chance to meet new people and learn new skills. It was a close call between Psyber Sprites and the Loonys right up to the very end.

The event was created and managed by Train2Game forum member Slinks. She was extremely happy with how the event went, especially with the games the students produced and the networking opportunities created.

There’s potential for another Game Jam in the future but that’s not confirmed at this time. Slinks and participants will continue ongoing networking discussions and are happy for students to join in future chats via TeamSpeak.

Game Marmalade founder Slinks said: ‘Great evening in the channel, it was an awesome event with lots of positives for the future. I think everyone who took part should be really proud of everything they achieved. Congratulations and well done to all of you.’

Artwork from winning game

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The Official Game Marmalade site: http://slinkydink68.wix.com/game-marmalade

For more information contact: mark@train2game.com
Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry
Read the Train2Game blog at www.train2game-news.co.uk Train2Game is a proud supporter of www.gamatier.com

Train2Game Fabble’s Adventure Development Update

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Train2Game student James Mahon updates on Fabble’s Adventure, his progress on the course and plans for the future

James Mahon and team are working on Children’s platformer Fabble’s Adventure, and its progressing nicely. He plans to use his experience making the game to learn more about creating games and as a platform to develop more games in the future.

The development of Fabble’s Adventure is going really well. In the game Fabble and Minx are on a quest to find lost rice grains. It’s a traditional platformer aimed at young players with a cute yet exciting storyline. There are now six worlds for players to explore. Rewards have been introduced and replay-value added.

Current focus is programming and getting levels right, which has taken a great deal of time. The team is finding it a challenge making a game but ultimately very rewarding. At this point James is working with another Train2Game student who has taken up a position of head of QA and they are not looking for any additional help until the game launches.

James is enjoying the course, he sees it as a great chance to learn and socialise with people that have a common goal. He’s now working on portfolio projects having successfully completed course work. In the future wants to continue making similar games that have a positive effect on kids.

Train2Game student James Mahon: ‘We’ve made massive progress on the game’s environments and challenges. It’s a platformer that embraces traditional gameplay in with a cartoon look and feel. There are six different worlds for players to explore. In them, collecting items is a major part of the game flow and finding the hidden objectives are the main goal. When goals are accomplished, the player will set their own personal achievements for them to beat again, allowing for replay-ability and extended gameplay time.’

‘The game story features Fabble and Minx who are on a quest to find the lost rice grains throughout the different worlds in their universe. Their ultimate goal is to defeat Ghosthead, a mutant bug that terrorized the lost rice grains into fleeing their home. There are a variety of monsters, big and small, to defeat and a good range of challenges to overcome on their quest.’

‘The current focus is in programming to make the game’s challenges work as planned. There a numerous obstacles and pitfalls that we have to get functional in order start creating levels. We’re a small team with a big project and it’s very time consuming especially programming so that’s where a large part of the workforce is currently.’

‘The journey so far has been challenging but a lot of fun nonetheless. Taking a concept from paper to a working product is hard work but a rewarding experience. I’ve learned to appreciate game-making much like playing a game. There’s always a personal sense of accomplishment when overcoming a challenge and that’s what motivates me to continue.’

‘I’ve successfully interviewed a candidate who is also a student of Train2Game on the QA game tester course. He’s currently providing much needed support with the programming tasks and has the major role as head of QA throughout development.’

‘The recruitment drive is over for now. We have enough workers to get the project done and on time. There will be a new recruitment drive when the game enters QA in the later stages of development. We’ll be on the lookout for beta testers and even testers that fit within the game’s target audience. The most preferable skill is a working knowledge of programming concepts to be able to break the game and find bugs that could ruin the game experience.’

‘Level design is next on the list for the game, as soon as the game’s challenges are implemented. My studies as a designer will help out with this most important aspect. I want to create simple but fun gameplay with a variety of challenges while embracing the traditional platformer gameplay style.’

‘I’m currently halfway through with my Train2Game portfolio projects after having successfully completed my tutor marked assignments. I enjoy reading through my course work and applying what I’ve learned. Also, being a part of Train2Game’s community seeing as I have somewhere to hang out and socialize with people that have a similar passion. There’s also the much needed support for students from staff to help make our ambitions become a reality.’

‘In the future, I want to start an independent videogame company to specialize in creating mobile and PC games for kids. Fabble’s Adventure is the only game I’m committed to at the moment. I have other games for kids in the concept stage waiting to be created. I want to finish what I’m doing with this game before I take on another project.’

‘It’s still important for me to create games for kids. I wouldn’t want to turn down a good opportunity to create video game products, I believe, they will love. I also believe video games are a great learning tool and that means a lot more for me to create games that have a positive influence on kids.’

https://www.facebook.com/Fabbles-Adventure-937004039692461

For more information contact: mark@train2game.com

Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry

Train2Game is a proud supporter of www.gamatier.com

Train2Game Develop VR Panel

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Tandem Events has confirmed the creation of a new advisory board for its new VR conference and expo taking place in November.

The advisory board is made up of seven VR professionals who will help the team at Tandem Events to curate a conference that is both compelling and informative.

The panel is a mixture of developers from inside and outside the games industry and steer the conference programme that will include sessions on the VR and AR opportunities outside of games.

The seven advisory board members are:

Patrick O’Luanaigh, CEO, nDreams
Sam Watts, Operations Lead, Make Real
Jonathan Newth, CEO, Focal Point
Solomon Rogers, Rewind:VR
Jamie Macdonald, Co-Founder, Mindwave Ventures
Keith Russell, VR Consultant
Steve Jelly, Joint MD, Hammerhead VR

“At Mindwave Ventures we see great potential in the use of VR for amplifying the impact of existing therapies in mental healthcare,” commented Jamie Macdonald, co-founder at Mindwave Ventures. “Develop:VR recognises that VR is not just about games and brings together the wider VR community from different industry sectors. If you’re doing VR you’ve got to be at Develop:VR.”

Patrick O’Luanaigh, CEO of nDreams added, “Develop:VR is a great opportunity for virtual reality developers to share their insights and expertise with the community, and it’s fantastic that Develop recognises the importance of VR as an emerging medium by giving it such prominence at the conference. I’m delighted to be speaking about developing for the next generation of mobile VR at this event, and we look forward to dissecting our two original games for Daydream, Google’s platform for high-performance mobile VR.”

Andy Lane, managing director, Tandem Events commented, “From our years of organising Develop:Brighton we know what makes for a great event so we’re really excited about Develop:VR. With our advisory board we’ve got a stellar line up to help us cultivate a conference programme that’ll help our delegates realise the potential of VR and AR both inside and outside the games industry.”

Develop:VR is brand new event focusing on new commercial opportunities that Virtual and Augmented Reality present to today’s game developers, together with highlighting the tools and techniques needed to produce chart-topping VR and AR content.

Train2Game News XSplit Broadcaster on Steam

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XsplitStreaming superpower SplitmediaLabs and chat lurkers Devolver Digital have launched the pioneering and top-selling streaming software XSplit Broadcaster and Gamecaster on Steam [http://store.steampowered.com/app/433800/].

XSplit free is available now on Steam for – well, free – and the fully featured XSplit Premium is available for $9.99 per month.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering up with Devolver Digital to bring XSplit to players on Steam” said John Howe Marshall, CMO for SplitmediaLabs “Getting started with live streaming right now couldn’t be easier, and we’re looking forward to ushering in a new wave of awesome content creators and help them shape the future of gameplay broadcasting.”

XSplit Broadcaster is one of the most popular and widely used applications for live Internet broadcasting, with a user base ranging from hobbyists to prominent professional casters in more than 150 countries. XSplit allows users to record or live stream any type of media, while taking advantage of TV-like broadcasting features that anyone can learn to master.

XSplit Gamecaster is the world’s easiest live streaming and recording solution, allowing for users to upload and share their greatest gaming moments to popular video services such as Twitch and YouTube, at just the click of a button.

Both XSplit Broadcaster and Gamecaster have recently undergone a feature-wide update. XSplit 2.8 includes a major design upgrade for Gamecaster as well as new features including Unlimited Scenes, YouTube Gaming Chat Support, Custom URI support, and more. These platforms receive over 7,000 sign-ups per day and well over 200,000 new users every month.

“There will never be a time in my life that I understand nerds watching other nerds play nerd games on the internet,” said Devolver Digital CFO Fork Parker. “That said, you should buy XSplit from me and then stream all sorts of nonsense and get them subs.”