Tag Archives: Train2Game radio

Train2Game News: Train2Game Radio interviews Michael Bird

Posted on by

Michael BirdTrain2Game radio interviewed Michael Bird last week. Michael has very nearly finished the Train2Game Art & Animation course. He tells about how he grew up and became the artist he is today with help from his parents. He also has a valuable bit of advice for all students!

You can listen to the interview with Michael here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1260505-train2game-student-michael-bird-on-t2g-student-radio

Or read the transcript below:

Hello my name is Michael Bird, I live in Kettering which is in Northamptonshire and the course I’m doing is the Art & Animation course.

Hi Michael, how you doing?

Hi, Mark, I’m all right thank you.

 

Excellent, So what’s your story? What are the past experiences that have shaped your life?

Well I’ve always been an artist. I was never taught how to be an artist, I inherited it from my parents. When they discovered I could draw from drawing on walls and stuff, they pushed me to do it and I’ve exhibited my work throughout my life, when I was at school and times after that. I have always had it as a passion and I’ve always played Video Games from the day the first Video Games came out like Pong and Pacman that we could play at home. Since then it’s been two passions, parallel with each other and this came along and I’ve had a chance to combine the two. Hopefully I can prosper doing them both!

 

So where as most people were told off for drawing on walls, you were encouraged!?

Yeah, yeah, basically yeah! Well you know, I wasn’t encouraged to draw all over the walls but they felt he has obviously got something, let’s give him some paper and pencil and let him just scribble. They guided me where I needed to be guided and yeah! I’m just blessed with being able to do it without being taught how to do it.

 

So are your parents quite good artists as well then I assume?

Yeah yeah, my Dad’s had art sold all over the world, commissions sold all over the world. My Mum is more of a colourist. She’s excellent with colour and I’ve picked it up off both of them. They’ve had all their work exhibited everywhere so yeah, it’s all good!

 

You said you’d exhibited some of your work somewhere, where have you exhibited your work?

My work has been exhibited locally around the Northamptonshire area. It’s been in the local press, this is going back to when I was about twelve, I think I had my first exhibition. I say, it got in the news because it was very different to everyone else. I was very fantasy art then, swords and dungeons and dragons and all that stuff and since then since I’ve done continuous exhibitions people have come up to me and say “I’d like to know if you can do this for me” and it’s commission pieces. Most of my work is actually all around my house.

 

To display to all the people who come in and see you I guess?

Yes! I do have comments like “What’s that?” or “Who did that?” and I say “Well I did!”. They then just stand there or sit there and stare at it and usually they come up and say “Oh. Can you do something for me then?”.

 

That’s got to feel nice when people come up and say that to you?

Yeah! They go through “well what inspired you to do that piece?” I say it’s just in my head so I do it! They say “What does it mean” well what do you think it means? Because what it means to me is different to what it means to them. When you do a picture or a piece of art it’s what a person thinks when they look at it.

 

So where are you in the course now?

I’ve just completed assignment 42, so I’m right near the very end. I’ve got one more portfolio piece to do and then I’ve got one more lesson and then I think it’s on to do a demo reel.

 

So that’s got to feel pretty exciting hasn’t it?

Yeah! I’ve gone through the waves and the troughs to do the course. You get so far and then you’re brain can’t take it any more and you wonder, can I really carry on with this course? Or you’ll have big failures and you think well I’ve got to carry on! What’s the point in doing it if you get half way through and can’t be doing it any more?

 

So you said you had a bit of trouble going through with the course, so what made you say you will keep going with everything, what made you push through?

Determination. Just the will to get it done! If you do it and you fail, you may as well not even have tried. You do get these bad points and you have to carry on. You do have these bad bits, you just pick yourself up and start again.

 

Well that’s perfect! Thank you very much for your time today Michael.

It’s a pleasure. Thank you very much for letting me do it!

 

It’s my pleasure, I will talk to you soon.

OK, thank you very much!

Train2Game Student Radio Featured Programmes

Posted on by

T2G RadioTrain2Game student radio has gone LIVE! This service will play all the best Train2Game interviews around on a loop so you never miss anything good.

The schedule for the interviews the service plays is as follows:

Phil Cross Audience Marketing Manager at Microsoft UK Mentors Train2Game Students: Phil answers questions from students and explains how Train2Game students can gain many areas of on-going support free from Microsoft.

On BBC Oxford Mike Gamble from Epic advises Parents: Mike shares how parents can help youngsters wanting a career in the gaming industry.

BBC Radio Derby talks to Train2Game Student Daniel Gent: An inspirational interview with Daniel who following a car accident is now Quadriplegic, Daniel says if he can do a Train2Game course anyone can.

On Juice FM Mike Gamble from Epic advises Parents: Mike gives further advice to parents and would be students.

Steve Lindsay from the Princes’ Trust: shares how Train2Game often mirrors the aims of the Princes’ Trust with young people.

Train2Game Student Amy Methven from Scotland: explains how she has already started working with a student studio group.

Train2Game Student Dan Rutter explains: how Train2Game has given him the skills to become a published games studio and start his own games company with his wife.

Train2game student Gareth Brook shares: how an ex-Army communication technician has now joined a games studio.

Train2Game Student Neil Gorman details:how he has already gained work from Microsoft and further his Train2Game course has inspired him to now take a Masters Degree in games. Neil said of the course and the Train2game academic team “it’s been great, it’s been fantastic”.

Ken Gains from City and Guilds shares: how Train2Game works with City and Guilds.

Tune in via Train2Game Student Radio or more information via www.train2game.com

Train2Game News: Train2Game radio talks to Terri Mardel

Posted on by

Terri MardelI got the pleasure of talking to Terri Mardel last week about her work with Road Hog Games. She tells me about how her love of gaming grew from being a young child and the work she does with Road Hog.

You can listen to the interview here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1222192-train2game-student-terri-mardel-speaks-to-mark-on-t2g-radio

Or read the transcript below

Hello my name’s Terri Mardel, I’m on the Designer course and I’m from St Albans.

Hiya Terri, how you doing?
I’m OK thank you

Good! So what’s your story? What are the past experiences that have shaped your life to who you are now?
Well I have been a gamer since my Dad introduced me to games, say from about the age of 6. 5, 6, 7 maybe. I have very early memories of a sports game on a Spectrum which involved wiggling a joystick really fast. I think from there I’ve always played games. I had a Master System in my bedroom and I used to love playing Sonic and stuff like that, so I’d say it’s something I’ve grown up with and at the moment I work in Blockbuster so I’m constantly trying all the news games out and I’ve just loved games my whole life! Then a couple of years ago, I saw an advert in the paper about Train2Game and I was like “Yeah, why don’t I make games?”

Excellent! So you are quite a fan of the old classic games then?
Yeah, yeah as I say, I have very good memories of childhood, spent in my bedroom playing on Sonic and Alex Kidd and various other games like that!

So you’re now part of Road Hog Games, how did you get involved with that?
Well me, Gareth and Izzi all met at the Game Jam. I’d actually been talking to Gareth before hand, we met over the forums and stuff but the three of us met face to face at the Game Jam and we decided we work together so well that we were going to carry on afterwards and so its just grown from there really!

So What is it you do for Road Hog Games?
I’m the design director, that’s my official title, and basically myself and with Gareth’s input as well we basically design the games and come up with the story lines and all the attributes and features that we want to have. Then communicate that to Izzi the developer and Amy the artist and then it all comes together to make a game!

With Road Hog Games, you are working on Little Green Dude, what was the idea behind that?
It actually came out of wanting to make a game quick sharp and Gareth came up with the idea of doing like a Pong style game and then from there I suggested elements of other games that we could then bring in to make it more interesting, instead of just a single Pong game and its grown from there!

So it was quite a lot of influence from all those classic games you used to play then?
Yeah, yeah! There’s quite a few games I’ve designed through the course and for other things which are based on mechanics in games which I used to love as a kid.

So I know that Road Hog Games has input from an industry veteran, what’s it like working with him?
It’s really good! Just the wealth  of experience and knowledge that he has and that he is willing to impart that on us, it’s just amazing!  

You’re learning a lot from him then?
Yeah!

What is your greatest ambition in your personal career?
Wow, uh, one of several! I guess I’d like to create the next million dollar franchise, character and story behind it. I’d like Road Hog to take off and make something of ourselves that way. There’s tons of dreams!

Always good to dream big! Well I think that’s all we have time for today Terri, so thank you very much!
Ok then!

Train2Game News: Train2Game Radio talks to Lee Sainsbury

Posted on by

Lee SainsburyEarlier this week I got the pleasure of talking to Lee Sainsbury, Game Designer of Icey Monty who are hoping to release there first title, Tamarex, this Sunday, Lee talks about how Train2Game has helped him and how the idea behind Tamarex was formed.

You can listen to the interview, here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1215262-train2game-student-lee-sainsbury-speak-to-mark-on-t2g-radio

Or read the transcript below:

Hi I’m Lee Sainsbury, I am 24 from Manchester and I am studying the Game Design course.

Hi Lee, how you doing?
I’m not to bad Mark, how are you?

I’m very well ta buddy! So tell me a bit about yourself, how did you get to where you are now?
Well I started the Train2Game Course in 2009, I really wanted to study Game Design all my life. I’ve always been a gamer and Train2Game just popped up and it was a perfect opportunity to study in my own time and yeah really give me the opportunity to grow.

What sort of things are you doing with it now?
Well since I’ve been on the Train2Game course for so long, I’ve made a lot of contacts, worked on a few personal projects and recently I’ve just joined Icey Monty, where we developed Tamarex.

How did the idea for Tamarex come about?
Well, before we worked on a project that ran into some circumstances and we had to stop. So really we wanted to come up with a really easy fun idea that we could just sit down and work on. The idea for a Tamagotchi game came around and of course, my generation, everyone had a Tamagotchi! I thought it would be fun to make a fresh take on the Tamagotchi genre. That’s where the idea for Tamarex came around.

So what’s the idea behind Tamarex?
Ah, the idea behind Tamarex. OK well, the idea behind Tamarex is that you take care of a pet Dinosaur. We didn’t really want to go for the usual Cats and Dogs. We found that the Dinosaur was a bit funny, a bit quirky. So yeah you have to take care of a pet Dinosaur, you can feed it, you have to wash it, you have to clean up after it, you can play with and yeah that’s it.

Were you a big fan of the Tamagotchi when you were younger then?
Oh definitely! I think every kid my age, at the time, had a Tamagotchi and we all used to palm it off on our parents when we went to school.

Yeah I remember doing the same thing! So how’s the course helping you get to making the game?
Well there’s no bounds, it’s helped me massively! Just understanding game design and game development was a help too. I think that if I hadn’t done the course, I wouldn’t be where I am now. It’s just helped me so much, it’s unbelievable!

Is that where you met the other members of Icey Monty?
Yes! John and Nick, both Train2Game students and they’re both programmers. We met through the forums, we did a couple of projects together and then decided we would go for a commercial release eventually, which was Tamarex!

Where can people find out more about the studio?
We’ve got a website which is www.iceymonty.com we also have a Facebook page at IceyMonty. Or you can come and chat to us on the forums at http://www.forum.train2game.com we are all on there.

Excellent, so it’s all going pretty well then?
Yeah, it’s going fabulous actually!

When is the game going to be out?
We have scheduled the release for this Sunday! If everything goes well with Apple, and they decide the game’s going to be released then it should be this Sunday, hopefully, fingers crossed! It will be on the Android store as well.

Excellent, brilliant news! Thank you very much Lee
Thank you very much Mark

And good luck with everything
Cheers

Train2Game News: Train2Game Radio talks to Dan Rutter

Posted on by

Dan and Vicki RutterTrain2Game radio got the pleasure of speaking to Dan Rutter about his new studio him and his wife have started, Turret Studios. They have a great game idea and a lot of ambition to get it done.

You can listen to part one of the radio interview here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1181723-train2game-student-dan-rutter-talks-to-mark1

and part two here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1181705-train2game-student-dan-rutter-talks-to-mark2

Or read the transcript below:

Hello my name is Dan, I am on the Art and Animation course and I live in Teddington.

Hi Dan, how you doing?
I’m fine Mark, how are you?

I’m great thank you buddy! So, tell me a bit about yourself. What’s your story and the past experiences that have shaped your life?
OK, I went to university studying Model Making for TV and Film. I came out of that with a degree, I’ve ended up working in the model making field, I’ve done some stuff for film and TV. I then moved in to Architecture but through all of that games have been a massive passion of mine and my wife. So I looked at the Train2Game course, applied in May 2 years ago now I think it was. Entered the Game Jam competition in November where we came in the top three, ended up going to the Gadget Show Live in April where we had some pretty good success. I mean, we didn’t win but it was a fantastic experience and I met loads of great people! I’ve been plodding on with the course since then and new year, new resolutions and new goals, decided to branch out and do something different this year.

Yeah and what was that?
My Wife and I have started our own company, Turret Studios, aiming to make apps for iOS and Android platforms using the Unity 4 engine.

Is it just Unity that you’re going to be using?
At the moment yes as it is the only engine we can find that enables you to make apps for iOS and Android, giving us as large a spread of the market as possible. We obviously loved using the Unreal Engine during the Game Jam but at the moment it only supports iOS. Whether the Unreal 4 engine will be any different, and I really hope it is because I do really enjoy using that.

Yeah, so what are you working on at the minute? If you can say
Yeah, we can. Our first game is called Digital Dojo and it’s kind of cross between Pokémon and Top Trumps. It’s a collectible type of game, the idea is you go around and scan the bar-code of an object and those numbers, from a pool of robot pieces, will generate a robot which you can level up and customize and then you can challenge your friends through Facebook and if you win you get points so you can upgrade your robot further.

That sounds quite fun!
Good!

I would be interested in that one. So is it just you and your wife working on it or have you got other people as well?
At the moment it’s just myself and my wife. I have a coder friend who goes by the name of Wurley who is giving some of his spare time to help work it out which is good, but we will be looking at trying to get some other students involved if possible. We actually have two competitions that we are going to launch, one is to design a robot character for the game and the other is to design an environment for them to fight in. All the details will be up on our website and you can download templates to sketch over the top of or Photoshop files with layers if you want to work digitally and then we will put them up on our website and let people do a poll so they vote for their favourites and hopefully those designs will end up in the game.

Very nice and what’s the website?
It’s http://www.turret-studios.com

Are you a registered company yet or are you still looking in to that?
Nope, we are a registered company. That paper work has been done.

You are?
Yup, so what I have recently done now is I have switched from full time work and have gone back to Free lancing as a Model Maker. So at the minute I am doing a lot of work for other companies just doing some technical drawings and laser cutting drawings just to bring in some cash that way, which enables us in to putting as much time as possible in to this to get it up and running.

Very nice and have you seen the new forum section that has gone up as well?
I had a browse around last night, I haven’t had a good rummage but I have noticed there have been a few changes.

Yeah like there is a new student studio section that you can apply for it and its only student studios that can post on that to get advice and get people talking, so that’s where you can put things like your competition.
That sounds fantastic! I’ll be doing that straight after this.

Excellent! So did you and your wife meet through gaming or was that something before?
My wife and I met at University. I was doing Model Making and she was doing Furniture and Applied Products but we soon found we were sat in front of the Playstation 2 back then playing SSX and all kinds of games which was quite good fun. We even had Little Big Planet wedding toppers at our wedding and our wedding cupcakes had Marshmallow space invaders on the top, so that’s how heavy in to games we are.

That sounds beautiful! That sounds like the kind of wedding I would like.
It was pretty awesome. Our favour boxes had Marvel Superhero candy sticks and penny sweets in.

So is your wife more the arts type like you or does she do other things as well?
She is very good with her Admin and things. She works in a job where she isn’t doing what she wants to do but it brings in money. In terms of the company and how she fits in to things, at the moment she is looking at learning coding, so she’s got some books and signed up to some courses as a long term goal and in the short term she is running all of our social media, the website and keeping the books, making sure things balance.

Very nice, is she going to get in to Train2Game as well do you think?
It’s definitely an option. It’s just trying to get some things set up and sorted and then try and find time for her to do that. She works quite long hours and works every other Saturday and things like that. So we will be looking in to that

So finally, what is your greatest ambition?
At the moment my greatest ambition is just to get that first app out there, hopefully succesful and what I would really love is to be stood on the train, look over some ones shoulder and see them playing our game. I think that would be fantastic!

That’s a beautiful idea
It’s a great idea, it’s kind of the app equivalent of walking in to a shop and seeing it on a shelf.

Excellent. Well I wish you all the luck with everything Dan
Thank you very much

My pleasure and thank you very much for talking to us today!
No trouble at all, cheers!

Train2Game News: Student Studio forum page

Posted on by

T2G ForumStudent studios invited to share experiences and advice in new group created on the Train2Game forum

Train2Game students who have created or joined indie studios are invited to join a specific student studios group and all students will be able to read contributions to this new forum page

The group has been designed for student studios to share experiences and advice on operating small independent studios. Train2Game will also work with the group to encourage discussions and pass on information about the work Train2Game does with start-up studios.

Train2Game will work to create PR for the studios based around projects they are working on, with press releases and  interviews on Train2Game Radio to coincide with when their games coming out, where it will be listened to by hundreds of thousands of listeners.

All students will be encouraged to follow the group but contributions will only be accepted after an approval process. This is to maintain the group as specifically for student studios, though all students can read and therefore benefit from the discussions.

To qualify as a student studio you will need to be a registered company, with a website. Individuals and groups are both welcome to apply. All applications will be considered, so feel free to get in touch,

If you are not in a studio and would like to create or join one, you can visit the forum groups: student project recruitment and student project showcase. Here you will be able to find others who are in similar situation, and once you are part of a studio you  can join the student studio group.

The group will be maintained by student administrator Lee Sainsbury and Train2Game PR Harry Cole. If you would like to join the group or discuss anything about the group, please feel free to contact either of the guys through the forum, contact names: Calibur and harrycole

Train2Game News: Train2Game radio talks to Phil Stevens

Posted on by

Phil StevensTrain2Game radio spoke to Phil Stevens today who is the Developer for Savage Seas Studios. You can find out more about the studio at their website here: http://www.savageseasstudios.com/

You can listen to the interview here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1160831-train2game-radio-host-mark-talks-to-student-phil-stevens

Or read the transcript below:

Hello everyone, I’m Philip Stevens. I’m from Paignton and I am on the Game Development course with Train2Game.

Hi Phil, how you doing?
I’m fine thanks Mark and yourself?

I’m very well cheers buddy
Good, Good

So tell me what’s your story? What are the past experiences that have shaped your life?
Well, I have quite a few. It’s a fairly long story that I will divulge in to a shorter one. I didn’t exactly have a good Secondary school life, so I spent a lot of my time playing computer games. I kind of felt it was the direction I wanted to go in, nothing at school really felt right. I mean I.T felt more like an Admin course than it did anything proper. There was no coding involved. There wasn’t even mention of code when I was at school. It wasn’t really until I got to college that I discovered I liked coding and Visual Basic. So when my mate said there was a games course called Train2Game that he’d seen on TV, he recommended I should have a look into it. I called them up and they came around a couple of months later and here I am now.

Yeah I can definitely relate to how you feel about I.T at school. I felt the same way, it really wasn’t anything.
It’s terrible.

What started you off coding then, was it just something you were doing at college was it?
Yeah it was one of the 3 courses we were doing over the terms and I was doing HTML, Visual Basic and Databases. My programming teacher, who was called Lydia, was extremely helpful and she gave me a few extra bits of code on paper for me to do in my spare time really. I got so in to it by the end of it, I was able to produce a game, cheatingly using game maker at the time for the games course. I got so in to it that I just couldn’t stop. I think it was during my second year at college that I started Train2Game as well and I was able to breeze through the advanced programming lessons thanks to the combination of College and Train2Game.

Ah that’s good.  You’re happy that you’ve got in to something you have a proper passion for then.
Yeah, Yeah definitely.

So what do you think is the most dramatic or exciting thing you have done in your life?
Um, in my life, not really much. Joining the course was definitely a leap obviously with so many people saying it’s a scam and all the problems that come with that and you realise oh I have just become part of a scam which thankfully, Train2Game isn’t. That was quite a relief when you do the research and you find out it’s not and you can calm down not worry about it and get back on with your work.

The second thing is what Jo mentioned. Me and Joanna both co-created Savage Seas Studios which is a small indie game studio consisting of Myself, Joanna, Chris Straver, Kieron Baker and Luke Jackson. We currently have one project under way which we are doing in our spare time.

So how did you and Jo meet up and decide to start to do it?
Playing on the Minecraft server that I think Craig Moore started on the forums and that’s how I met Sam Welsh, otherwise known as Indie and Jo and a couple of others. We got talking and we played Xbox a lot together, me Jo and Indie. That’s when we decided to create a texture pack for Gears Of War for Minecraft and whilst me and Jo were working on that we decided to take it one step further than a texture pack and start a studio since we worked quite well together.

Excellent, so Minecraft brings you together to make games together.
Yeah!

Very nice, well I think that’s all we have time for today Phil so thank you very much for your time.
That’s alright, thank you very much for interviewing me.

My pleasure!

Train2Game News: Train2Game Radio talks to Joanna Janse van Vuuren

Posted on by
CEO of Savage Sea Studios with Megan Marie of Crystal Dynamics.

CEO of Savage Sea Studios with Megan Marie of Crystal Dynamics.

Today, Train2Game radio Spoke to CEO of Savage Sea Studios, Joanna Janse van Vuuren. Joanna tells us how the studio came together and how an illness led her to the gaming industry.

You can learn more about Savage Sea Studios here.

You can listen to the interview here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1122380-train2game-student-joanna-janse-van-vureen-talks-to-mark-t2g-radio

Or read the transcript below:

Hi my name’s Joanna Janse van Vuuren, I’m on the Art & Animation course and I live in Brighton.

Hi Joanna, how you doing?
I’m doing great thank you very much.

Excellent. So tell me, what’s your story? What are the past experiences that have shaped your life and made you who you are now?
Uh, well, I’ve got quite a few of them! I’ve always loved Video Games since I was really small. I remember me and my sister got a really ancient Commodore 64 when we were little, we played it on a little black and white TV and then from there we got a PC. We played games like Age Of Empires 2 and Half Life and that’s what really got me in to gaming. From there, in my teens I got more energetic and I found out about Tae-Kwon-Do, it’s a martial art and I really love to kick people! So from there I went to Uni and did a sport and leisure management degree but unfortunately a couple of years in to it I got quite ill. I couldn’t do Tae-Kwon-Do any more because of the physical aspect of it so I spent a lot of time in bed or on my sofa, playing on my Xbox and I could see myself maybe doing something like that. After that I had a few basic jobs when I was healthy again. Shop jobs and call centres, all the kind of basic jobs. I definitely knew it wasn’t something I wanted to do in the future and then the Train2Game advert popped up in the news paper and I applied immediately.

Do you think you would maybe want to make a game about the old Tae-Kwon-Do and stuff?
Yeah, I’ve been considering it yeah but it’s a very fast sport, I’m not sure how it would work so much. I’ve been thinking about it and comparing it to games like Street Fighter and all those types of games because I used to love them when I was little. I think it’s just the violence of those sorts of things I like!

So What would you say the most dramatic or exciting thing you have done in your life is?
I think this entire year has been quite busy for me! A lot of things have happened. I’ve now started my own Tae-Kwon-Do school which gives me a lot of flexibility to work on my own coursework and portfolio and earlier this year which is probably the biggest thing I’ve done so far is me and Philip Stevens, who is on the developer course, have been playing around with a game idea for a while so we decided we wanted to make this game in to a proper product. So we started recruiting for some other students to help us out and that’s when we created our own studio, Savage Sea Studios.

So what’s the game idea you have been playing around with if you can say much about it?
Well we haven’t got a name for it at the moment. It’s still got a jokey code name at the moment which is, Project Trolling. It does have Trolls in it and some other things in it which I can’t reveal too much at this stage but it’s kind of like the old 2D pixel art games but with bringing more of a 3D aspect to the way it looks.

What sort of platform are you aiming for then?
At the moment we are just going to boot it on to the internet and then hoping when that’s sorted, because it’s our first game we want to develop and kind of continue our education of the game making process. So we are just taking it to the internet on your PC and maybe taking it to iPhone or Android.

What are you using to make the game?
We are using Game Maker Pro

How are you finding that?
It’s quite good. We have two developers that’s, Philip Stevens and Luke Jackson and they obviously do all the codey stuff for it and then there is me and another Artist Chris Straver and a designer who is Kieron Baker. We all work together because it’s quite a simple programme for us all to understand and it’s not to heavy on any of the game making process so we find it quite easy to use.

Finally, What is your greatest ambition and where do you want to go with your career?
Well I would quite like to get this game finished! It’s taking us a long while but obviously we have to balance our own jobs and personal lives and our coursework with studio work as well. All of us want to create a studio together where we would all get money and develop it up quite big or work in a big studio ourselves.

That’s fair enough! Thank you very much Joanna
Thank you very much for interviewing me.

Train2Game News: Train2Game Radio talks to Connor Adams

Posted on by

Connor AdamsTrain2Game spoke to Connor Adams this week about how I went from a Train2Game student to working at Atomhawk up in Newcastle.

Connor is a brilliant Artist you can check out his DeviantART page HERE or his portfolio HERE.

You can listen to Connors radio interview here – http://audioboo.fm/boos/1114244-train2game-studio-radio-with-mark-talks-to-connor-adams

or read the transcript below:

Hello I’m Connor, I live in Gateshead but I’m from Weymouth and I took the Art & Animation course.

Hi Connor, how you doing bud?
I’m not too bad man, how are you?

I’m excellent, thank you
Awesome, it’s lovely to hear your voice again.

Yours too! So tell me, what’s your story Connor? What are the past experiences that have shaped your life to make you who you are now?
Oh wow, that is a deep question. I suppose I started off by playing a lot of video games when I was young, like everyone. I took quite a weird path, I left school after finishing my GCSE’s and I just started painting and drawing all day because I wanted to design all these games but I didn’t really know what path to take. So I was painting and things like that and then I saw the Train2Game course and joined up on that and I attended a lot of Game Jams whilst studying everyday on my own time and getting all that down. Then I applied for the internship up here and here I am. I’m sure there is probably a lot more to it, but that’s all I can remember for now!

So where is it you applied for an internship for?
I applied up to Atomhawk. It’s based in the Northern Design Centre in Newcastle.

What kind of games do they make there?
The guys at the studio, all of us are concept artists and illustrators, so we have no programmers, we have no designers or anything like that. So people come to us and they out source us for concept art and illustration. We do a lot of stuff before games are released like we worked on Mortal Kombat. We are working on a lot of stuff right now but none of it I can say because it’s all under NDA, which is typical. It’s a lot of stuff like Sony and Warner Brothers, people like that. So it’s quite big clients but we don’t actually work on the games, we just make the concepts and illustrations.

What is the most dramatic or exciting thing you have done in your life previous to being at Atomhawk?
Oh god! All these questions Mark, I’m not sure I’m ready for them! I think the most scaring and exciting thing, was leaving school. Trying to take things in to my own hands. From leaving School and going straight to Train2Game that made things a lot easier. Going down that personal route was quite scary at first.

I know you were also part of Derp Studios as well. How was that experience?
I was part of Derp Studios, yeah. That was really, really great. I mean the Game Jam and the meeting with people and going up to Luton and doing all that was just great. The whole experience was fun and these guys I still talk to a lot of them today, Me and Amanda are mostly talking a lot and it’s great. It was a great bonding experience. It was great for contacts, it was great for skills, great experiences. Well I met you up at The Gadget Show which was a lovely experience.

It was indeed! We have been firm friends ever since.
Yeah absolutely, it was really great.

We touched on it before, what is your reason for getting into the gaming industry particularly?
It’s just games you know? It’s like what kind of guy can say they go to work and draw men shooting aliens and you know, Zombies and Monsters! It’s all fun and games. It is serious at the same time but it’s all play. It’s hard work but it’s play. To get paid to do that is just fantastic.

When did you actually get the job at Atomhawk that you have now?
My internship was 3 months ago, so back in September, August was when I was applying and got the internship but a few weeks ago they offered me a junior position which is going to last 6 months which is fantastic.

So you get a nice job just in time for Christmas then?
Absolutely yeah which is a real relief as Christmas is a horrible time.

What is your greatest ambition?
Oh OK, well I guess just to be the best, like a Pokemon trainer! I gotta keep on going and hit the top of your field, maybe one day in the future I will have my own Graphic Novel and I’ll be working on some AAA games. I dunno the future is very unpredictable so it’s hard to say really.

Finally then, if you could work for any studio what so ever, what would you work for?
Actually, genuinely I would rather work for my self. I think I would rather get some of my closest friends and make my own studio and make the games that we love.

So we should probably start working on that soon then?
Absolutely!

Thank you very much buddy!
No worries, cheers mate.

Train2Game News: Gareth Brook talks to T2G Radio

Posted on by

Train2Game student Gareth Brook talks to T2G radio about his time in the army and how it has affected him today.

You can listen to part one here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1056755-train2game-student-gareth-talks-to-mark-part-1

Part two here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1056750-train2game-student-gareth-talks-to-mark-part-2

or read the transcript below.

Hi I’m Gareth Brook and I’m on the games designer course and I live in Leeds, England.

What’s your story? What are the past experiences that have shaped your life and made you who you are now?

You could go back to my Army days, I joined the Army at the age of 16 after leaving school and that had a big role to play in who I am today. It turned me into the man I am, made me grow up very quickly. I spent five years working mostly over in Northern Ireland, that’s where my one and only posting was, for about three years. I worked as a telecommunications technician and working a lot in IT systems as well as that. After leaving it, it got me in to IT, not something I particularly wanted to spend the rest of my life in but it was paying the bills, it was OK money and I was good at it so for the time being I was still wondering what to do with my life and it’s only recently that I’ve actually come to a decision. It’s a decision that was easy to make and it’s one that I should of made years ago really.

 

You mentioned that you were in the Army, has that influenced your game designs at all?

I’m not to sure. The ones I am working on at the moment, I would probably say not too much. I’m not quite at the level where I’m putting out first person shooters and that kind of thing on a military scale. I think it will have some influence in the future because all though I have been a civilian for seven or eight years now I think, I don’t believe anyone that’s spent a fair amount of time in the forces will ever become 100% civilian. I am still a squaddy at heart and I think it is going to influence me in the future. Things like the discipline from the Army and things like that, it’s stuff that’s going to stick with me forever.

 

What made you decide to leave the Army in the end?

It was a family decision in the end, I decided to choose my family over my career in the Armed forces. It’s a single mans game is the army.

 

I know you’ve got a fiancé now and a couple of kids as well.

That’s right, yeah. I’ve got a step son and we have a daughter together that’s just turned one.

 

So how do you find your time to study and do all your games design and being a Father at the same time?

It was fine, it was OK, but in the last few months my daughter’s started crawling and she is getting in to everything and with my fiancé working, times have gone where I could crack on during the day whilst my daughter was just in a bouncer. Now she’s everywhere it’s pretty hard during the day to try and get anything done. I’m a bit of a night crawler though so I do quite a lot in the early hours of the morning.

 

After you left the Army then, what did you do after that did you say?

I worked as an IT contractor, short term contracts. I started off in a place in Cumbria, where I was working for a company called B.A.E which were developing the latest and last Hunter Killer class submarine at the time. Then it was back down to Leeds, where I was brought up, I worked all over Leeds, different contracts in Wakefield, York and then a lot of it was on the road visiting different clients, down the M64 corridor, that sort of thing. As far north as Middlesbrough, as far south as Leicester and Coventry.

 

So you’ve had quite the versatile life then?

I’d say so yeah! I’m turning thirty in April but most of the people that I know don’t seem to have had as many life experiences as I do. I feel a bit old before my time if you ask me!

 

Out of all the things you have done what do you consider the most dramatic or exciting thing you have done?

That’s a bit of a difficult question to answer considering everything I’ve done. I suppose the most exciting thing is beginning the path in the games industry. After twenty nine years on this planet it feels like a decision I should of come to a decade ago and it’s just such a perfect fit. Dramatic? Any number of things for the last year, my life is filled with drama. If you ask my best friend he’ll say “It’s just like watching a soap opera.”

 

What brought you to the idea of finally getting in to the gaming industry?

I think it was just on a whim really. I was bored in the current job that I was previously in. I wasn’t bored as such but I didn’t want to do it for the rest of my life, that much I know and I thought OK, what am I going to do? I would mill around with different ideas in my head thinking I could do this or I could do that but nothing really seemed to jump out at me and say right this is what I’m meant to be doing with the rest of my life. I looked around trying to find courses in Video Games industry and I came across Train2Game’s website and I thought, Oh this looks pretty good, so it went from there.

 

What is your big game plan for the future, what are you aspiring to be?

Well right now as I am still in the designer course, anything in a design capacity would be great to get me in the industry. Long term future I would say I’d be interest in the production sides of the games industry. That’s something I’m not involving myself in heavily at the moment but it’s something I’ve always got the corner of my eye on. Picking up knowledge where I can about the role.

 

After being in the Army, what do you think of games like Call Of Duty and Modern Warfare, games like that. How do you compare them?

It’s probably best comparing a game like Battlefield rather than Call Of Duty. Call Of Duty, I can’t really compare that, everyone really plays that for the multiplayer and it’s just not realistic at all. Battlefield, more so but I don’t think it’s ever going to be, or should be, as realistic as possible because it is quite different. A game still has to be a game and has to be fun. All though I was in an operational place, it wasn’t Afghanistan or Iraq and I’m sure people that I know will tell you that it’s not something they would like to sit down and live out for two hours a night in front of a computer.

 

Right, so thank you very much Gareth!

No problem!