Tag Archives: Train2Game & Epic Game Jam

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam Interview: Craig Moore, leader of winning team ‘Team Gandalf’’

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

Train2Game Game Designer Craig Moore was part of ‘Team Gandalf’ one of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam teams that’ll be heading to ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at The Gadget Show. Train2Game caught up with him right after the winners were revealed to find out how it felt to win, how the game jam went, and if he’d recommend taking part in one.

Read the interview here,on the Train2Game Scribd page, or listen on the Train2Game Audioboo site. Leave your comments here on the blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Congratulations Craig, Team Gandalf are one of the winners of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, as team leader, how do you feel?

A bit dumbstruck but absolutely over the moon! We had such a fantastic team, they did such an amazing job. It almost felt as if it was going too well, we’ve had a brilliant weekend, just brilliant.

And what does it mean to you to be one of the four teams going to The Gadget Show Live to Make Something Unreal Live next year?

It’s a fantastic opportunity, we couldn’t have asked for anything better. It’s such a hard thing to get into, but this should really help us get into careers and with everything really.

Tell us a bit about your Guy Fawkes themed game

What we were aiming for was almost a Medieval Portal style game and we had a fantasy theme with puzzle rooms. Basically, you’re the guy who dobbed in the whole Gunpowder plot scheme and you’re being chased by the ghost of Guy Fawkes and it’s very psychological, we went for dark rooms and an almost horror like game.

So how did your team find the whole Train2Game & Epic Game Jam experience?

A lot of learning went on, we had such a range of skills in our team. You could tell as we were getting towards the end of the jam the levels were getting better, our knowledge was getting much, much better and it was just flowing really well and we felt like such a good team together.

And how did you deal with the tiredness that took place during the game jam, because 48 hours is obviously a long time to work. It was an experience, right?

Oh, complete experience! Thankfully because it was going so well people were just planning out their time and jobs we had between us and just sleeping when they needed to. It just went really, really well.

And how are you looking forward to making a game over the coming months for The Gadget Show Live?

This is the dream for all of us, it’s working towards the main goal, the main prize, that’s going to be the driving force for everyone. It’s going to be a hard six months but should be a fantastic time as well.

And what would it mean to you if you won the big prize, the fully licensed UDK iOS development kit.

I couldn’t even explain what that’d mean to me, it’d just be incredible. It’s obviously the dream and it’s because of Train2Game that we’ve managed to get there. We’re going to go for it and it should be a really good fight.

Overall then, would you recommend taking part in a Game Jam to anyone else?

Without a doubt, if you’ve got the opportunity, go for it, go to a game jam. It’s an amazing chance not only to get a feel for making games, but also being in a team, working with people you don’t necessarily know, it’s a brilliant personality building opportunity as well.

Going into a game jam you’ve just got to keep a level head, try not to be too enthusiastic, within the engine you’re using, work out what you can and can’t do, work out with your team what their skills are and just plan.

Thanks for your time

For more information go to www.train2game.com

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam Interview: Nick Stones, leader of winning team ‘Nova Eye’

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

Train2Game Game Designer Nick Stones was part of ‘Nova Eye’ one of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam teams that’ll be heading to ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at The Gadget Show. Train2Game caught up with him right after the winners were revealed to find out how it felt to win, how the game jam went, and if he’d recommend taking part in one.

Read the interview her, the Train2Game Scribd page, or listen on the Train2Game Audioboo site.

 Nova Eye are one of four winning teams at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam with the opportunity to Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show Live next year, what does that mean to you?

It’s such a fantastic opportunity and we’re definitely going to make every effort to make 100% of that. I’m over the moon at the moment. I came here, this is my first game jam, I didn’t know what to expect and it’s gone all in our favour. I was delivered a great team and I’ve been able to manage that very well and it’s shown and that’s it at the end of the day. I’m really excited to know that we’ve done our job and it’s gone well. I’m very anxious to know what we can do now for the future.

Was it difficult to contain your excitement when the winners were announced?

Since we’ve been doing this for 48 hours I was quite fine, but overall I was still shocked because I’d only just done my presentation to the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam judges. That was a gruelling experience in itself because I was quite nervous so it’s all still going through my head really.

How big an opportunity for you do you think it is for you to go to The Gadget Show Live and potentially walk away with a fully licensed UDK development kit?

We’ve been given this opportunity, we can put this on our CVs, this is a landmark for us. Everyone who has participated in the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, we can always say we have won a game jam and there’s nothing that can change that. Overall, it’s amazing and I’m really happy to know that this is possible.

 Tell us a bit about the game Nova Eye has produced here at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, based on the theme of Guy Fawkes.

Our Guy Fawkes theme was quite wacky. We basically wanted to break the fourth wall. Our game was about Guy Fawkes and his production levels for Bonfire night. Fireworks weren’t selling, they were being outsold by Halloween and Christmas. So basically, Guy Fawkes is attempting to make sure that Christmas is knocked out of the sale so his markets would increase. What he ends up doing is going to the North Pole and using his custom rocket launcher that shoots fireworks to blow up anything that’s in Santa’s workshop.  That idea is completely crazy, I know that but it’s worked and I think it’s very refreshing.

How did you come up with that idea?

It was actually just a spur of the moment thing. We were talking about how Halloween and Bonfire night, and somebody just went ‘It’s crazy to see all this Christmas stuff before Halloween’ and it went from there. What if, thinking of it from a market side, Guy Fawkes is angry about that and he wants to change it. So there it was, it was a catalyst out of nothing really, just a spur of the moment thought that happened through socialising. So, don’t think you have to go out of the way to make these fantastic ideas, they can come from anything.

So you’d recommend taking part in a Train2Game Game Jam to others?

Yes, I would definitely recommend it. The experience that you get is unlike anything else. You get thrown in at the deep end but it’s not as bad as it sounds. You get to work with some fantastic people, don’t feel unconfident in your own skills, believe in yourself, make sure you’re happy with yourself to come down. Everyone didn’t know what they were doing so don’t worry about it, just come down and get in the moment really! That’s all I can say, get in the moment.

And the team will have to go through the process of designing a game with the genre you’ve picked out for The Gadget Show live. Tell us about the genre, and what your initial thoughts on it are.

We were given Action Adventure.  Our game that we won with was an Action Adventure so it’s something we can already work with depending on the construction of the brief. But since we’ve already done Action Adventure I feel that our confidence level is just that little bit higher than anyone elses’ because we’ve already got something that we’ve worked with already and have previous experience with. I’m over the moon with it. It’s got broad environments so I can work with it and I know my team will be able to do just as well.

 

For more information go to www.train2game.com

 

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam interview: The A-Team’s Jonny Robinson on winning

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

Train2Game Game Designer Jonny Robinson is one of ‘The A-Team’ one of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam teams that’ll be heading to ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at The Gadget Show. Train2Game caught up with him to find out how it felt to win, how the game jam went, and if he’d recommend taking part in one.

Read the interview here, on the Train2Game Scribd page, or listen on the Train2Game Audioboo site.

Congratulations Jonny, your team, the A-Team are one of the winners of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, how does that make you feel?

I just love it when a plan comes together. [Laughs] As crazy as that seems I’m over the moon. I was saying to the team there’s a good chance we’re not going to win, but I said to every single one that we’re going to have as much fun as possible, we’re going to get along and we’re going to make friends. Don’t aim to win, aim to have as much fun as possible was my advice.

What does it mean to you to go onto The Gadget Show Live, to Make Something Unreal Live, and have the chance of walking away with a UDK development kit?

Nervous, maybe? I remember speaking to you earlier about this, saying I didn’t want to win because I was so petrified that there was a chance that I might win, there’s such pressure on you. Obviously as a team, the team felt the pressure in the 48 hours. But My God, you don’t realise that absolutely everyone who went to the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, the amount of pressure there was. Believe it or not our game actually broke an hour before it was going to be shown to the judges, and the team bundled together and managed to build it again which is amazing.

The pressure of going to The Gadget Show Live is amazing, it’s a real win and I’m glad not for me, but the team, they’ve really earned it. I’ve not really put any visual input into the actual UDK engine but more direction for them and they’ve gone with it and it’s worked so…win! And congratulations to The A-Team, not just me but everyone, they all deserved it.

Tell us a bit about your Guy Fawkes themed game

Believe it or not it took us 4 hours to decide on a theme for the game. The team wasn’t really getting along together because 10 people into one idea isn’t really a good idea in itself. The thing to be a good game designer is to take everybody’s opinion into account to make a game everybody wants to make and not just that one person. I’m not a power hungry person so I don’t really say ‘I want to make a game about me, or what I want’ I say ‘I want to make a game that’ll make you feel happy.’

This is a game we’ve all had input on and I said ‘We’ve got this vision, lets drive it’ And everybody’s been fantastic, the team are dead proud of themselves and I’m happy for them more than me if anything.

And they’ll need to go through the process of thinking of a game again with the genre you’ve picked for The Gadget Show Live. Tell us about the genre and your initial thoughts on it.

I kind of messed up the announcement at the presentation! I said ‘3 R D’ kind of announcing how tired I am. I meant 3rd person and I wish I’d cottoned on sooner! With 3rd Person Action I feel more confident a lot more than any of the others actually. I know FPS is the general given with the UDK engine. UDK I know, I’ve watched tonnes of tutorials. I want to give a shout out to two guys from 3D Buzz and The New Boston. These guys have really helped me, I spent hours learning their tutorials. I’ve learned the UDK engine within the space of 4 months. That’s a lot of hard work, I’ve been doing 3 hours of work a day to learn the engine, so yeah, it showed!

Despite your tiredness, you’ve enjoyed the experience and would recommend it to others?

Oh definitely. We got to this point where we had the pessimistic and the optimistic. I was kind of the optimistic, trying to push people forward. There were a few team members who were negative but that just balanced it out. All together we’ve made a great game development team. I’d recommend anybody going to a Game Jam, especially a Train2Game Game Jam.

Thanks for your time Jonny, and best of luck.

Thanks very much.

 

 

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam winners “Over the moon”

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Train2Game & Epic Game Jam winners will wake up today in the knowledge that they’ve secured a place at ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at The Gadget Show Live and have the opportunity to walk away with an UDK iOS development kit

The winning teams were announced after a panel of judges including Epic Games Mike Gamble, and industry veteran Jon Hare saw every game developed by Train2Game students in the 48 hour period.

“This is a landmark for us.” said Train2Game student Nick Stones, Team B team leader. “Everyone who has participated in the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, we can always say we have won a game jam and there’s nothing that can change that.”

“It’s such a fantastic opportunity and we’re definitely going to make every effort to make 100% of that. I’m over the moon at the moment. I came here, this is my first game jam, I didn’t know what to expect and it’s gone all in our favour.” he said immediately after winning the 48 hour event.

Train2Game student Craig Moore, team leader of team G also said that winning the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam and going onto The Gadget Show Live is a great reward for his team.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity, we couldn’t have asked for anything better. It’s such a hard thing to get into, but this should really help us get into careers” Moore added that he felt “A bit dumbstruck but absolutely over the moon!”

“Going to The Gadget Show Live is amazing, it’s a real win and I’m glad not for me, but the team, they’ve really earned it.” said Team A’s Jonny Robinson, after staying awake for almost the entire Train2Game & Epic Game Jam.

“I just love it when a plan comes together.” he added. “As crazy as that seems I’m over the moon”

“The Train2Game & Epic Game Jam has been fantastic, a little tiring, but fantastic.” said Train2Game course leader Tony Bickley.

“It’s been a very good event and I’m proud at what the Train2Game students have been able to achieve, and even more proud of their dedication and passion.”

The Train2Game & Epic Game Jam winners will take part in ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ in the Birmingham NEC at The Gadget Show Live in April next year.

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

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam winners announced!

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UDK Train2Game blog imageThe Train2Game & Epic Game Jam is over and the winning teams are:

  • Team A (The A-Team)
  • Team B (Nova Eye)
  • Team G (Team Gandalf)

A fourth team has also been made up from individual students picked from the remaining seven participating in the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam

Each of them produced a game based around the theme of Guy Fawkes using Epic’s Unreal Engine.

These Train2Game student teams will ‘Make something Unreal Live’ at The Gadget Show Live 2012. The development teams will benefit from a six-month incubation period in which a range of senior industry veterans will nurture projects by reviewing key milestones, providing guidance and shaping scope.

During this time, talent will prepare for the final showdown at the Gadget Show Live, where more than 100,000 attendees will watch them bring to life Unreal Engine 3-powered creations in real time.

The winner of that will see their game get a full release.

Well done to the winning Train2Game & Epic Game Jam teams, and good luck preparing for ‘Make Something Unreal Live’ at the Gadget Show next year. Good luck!

And thank you to every one of the ten Train2Game student teams that took part. Stay tuned to the Train2Game blog for more reaction.

Train2Game & Epic Game Jam tips from Train2Game student Fee Stewart

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Train2Game students are gearing up for the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam which begins tomorrow. Train2Game student Fee Stewart, who’s previously told the Train2Game blog about her experience with game jams, has posted some tips for those new to Game Jamming on the Train2Game forum. She’s kindly allowed the Train2Game blog to repost her advice in full. (You can find out more about Fee in her interview with the Train2Game blog)

1.Take with you wash stuff (no one likes BO!) a pillow if you can, a light weight fleece cover, one change of clothes or two and some money for food ( which is cheap at the uni)… Optional…some monster or Relentless or a drink of some sorts .. you seriously do not need any more then this! You have no access to showers unless you book a hotel that you really won’t have time to go to, so it is a bit of a waste of money.

2. When you find out what the theme is or what you are meant to produce spend a good few hours brainstorming with your team. Don’t rush into your 1st idea as it is quite often the 3rd or 4th idea that makes the most sense.

3. Allocate a team leader! This person is GOD! If they say go get some sleep GO! This is a team event and there are certain crucial points in the 48hours that you need to have your game at a certain stage of development if you hope to have at least 3 working levels (which is what you should be aiming for) by the end of the 48hrs. It is therefore imperative that people have some sleep in shifts and not leave it till 40 hours into the dev before you go regardless of how you feel at the time go get some sleep so you are there for when your team needs you! Do expect to only get 2 to 4hrs per 24hrs.

4. Set out what you are doing and stick to it as much as possible but do NOT be over ambitious if you have time to add extras at the end then do it but leave things like splash screens, credits, music even till AFTER you have 3 working levels. The MOST important thing is for your team to have a working game!

5. Have team breakfasts! This is important!!…. Take an hour out to ALL go get some food and a walk away from the labs for a while.

6. Allocate a good speaker in your team! This person should be responsible for talking to the judges and getting over as much information about your game in the short time you have… have team member two playing the game at the time so the speaker can explain and the judges can also see the game and offer for them to play it if they want to.

7. There should be a lead artist and programmer! This person makes sure everything is to style, allocates who does what in the art team/program team and talks to the other leads. Remember this is not an I AM event this is a team event there is no room for egos. You pick the best person for each role and you work as a team to produce some amazing stuff!

8. Have fun! Remember this is an incredible learning experience 48 hours does go VERY fast! Remember why you are there and try not to fall out with your team members.Sleep deprivation can do some weird things again why it is good to have a team leader who makes sure everyone gets some sleep at appropriate times.

9. Remember you will have been up probably over 50 hours with only a few hours sleep in that time. PLEASE do NOT drive home after the event.. book a cheap hotel or go home via public transport or something.

And finally GOOD LUCK! I am really going to miss you all this time!



For more information about the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam, see the official website.  And remember, the will appear at the Gadget Show Live 2012 as part of ‘Make Something Unreal Live’


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


 


 

					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Train2Game news: Unreal Engine 4 to be made public ‘sooner’

			
						

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Train2Game students are preparing for the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam where they’ll have 48 hours build games using Epic’s Unreal Engine.


But despite Epic first introducing the Unreal Development Kit to studios as far back as 2005, it only became available to Indies and modders in 2009. But as the Train2Game blog has previously reported, since the free-to-use UDK has been downloaded almost a million times.


The success of this seems to have encouraged Epic to make their next engine, Unreal Engine 4, available to the public much sooner than the current UDK was.


“What we’re doing with Unreal Engine now is a lot different to what we were doing about seven years ago when we first started using the tech,” Epic President Mike Capps told Develop.


“There was no Unreal Development Kit even four years ago, and I think it’s been real successful in getting people used to our technology. Should we have done that from day one with UE3? Yeah, maybe,” he added.


Capps said that they don’t have any specific plans for distribution of Unreal Engine 4, which is “probably” going to be released in 2014.


“I’m not sure if we’re going to do it straight away with Unreal Engine 4, but if you look at what we do now with UE3 – y’know, push a button and your game is built for mobiles – we could have done that before and we didn’t spend much time on it. How much that will figure into Unreal Engine 4 is up to us.”


He added that indie studios using UDK has helped Epic learn how their tech works on different platforms.


“In the past few years I think we’ve learned a lot about our technology and how it works for indie studios. How our tech works for iPhone games, for high-end triple-A studios and for a couple of guys who make a cool UDK game over the summer,”


“We’re going to apply all these lessons we’ve learned with Unreal Engine 4, and I think you’re going to see a lot of difference with UE3 within the first six months from launch.”


The Train2Game blog previously reported that Epic believe game visuals will match those of films within a decade. Train2Game blog readers may have seen a taste of this with Epic’s ‘Samaritan’ tech demo earlier this year. 


If you’re going to be getting your hands on UDK at the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam next week, why not add your name to the official Facebook event page?


So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Epic making their next engine available to the public closer to the time it’s released to studios? Have you been practicing with the current UDK ahead of the Train2Game & Epic Game Jam?


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


[Source: Develop]

					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Train2Game Announces bluegfx as Key Game Jam partner

			
						

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 Train2Game has partnered with bluegfx, a leading European Autodesk Gold Partner and supplier of Autodesk products, IT services, support and training, to provide resources for the upcoming Train2Game and Epic Game Jam on Friday 4th November. The company will be responsible for supporting all Autodesk products and associated plugins involved on the day, ensuring these vital content-creation tools run smoothly for competing teams.


Train2Game’s 48-hour video game creation marathon will bring together an estimated 150 games enthusiasts at the University of Bedfordshire, where they will go head-to-head to create innovative video games using Epic Games’ Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of the award winning Unreal Engine 3.


The Train2Game and Epic Game Jam is open to aspiring games developers, includingTrain2Game students and hobbyist games developers. On Friday 4th November, registered competitors will convene at the University of Bedfordshire’s new development lab to form teams and build games around a secret theme, which will be announced on the first evening of the event. The jam concludes on Sunday 6th November, when three teams will be selected as winners by industry A listers from some of the UK’s hottest development houses, as well as Epic Games.


Neil Parmer, Co-Founder and Company Director of bluegfx, sees this as a natural extension of the work his company does all year round: “When asked if we could help with the Game Jam, we leapt at the opportunity. Keeping customers running and helping them understand what’s possible with Autodesk tools is what we do on a daily basis, we’re delighted to be able to offer our services to the next generation with this competition.”


Myra Smallman, Head of Teaching at Train2Game said: “Just as we stand by Train2Game students throughout their studies, we’re glad to be working with bluegfx to make sure nothing will interrupt competitors hard work during the Game Jam. Experience with tools like Epic’s UDK is an essential part of students becoming the calibre of candidate that the games industry needs today.”


For further informatio about the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam please visit http://train2game-jam2.com/, existing students can login into www.train2game-online.com.